Volume Two: The Secret Burial of the Cliff Valley - Chapter 124: The Bird King, Qin Wuyu

After I finished speaking, Liang Yue and Ma Su were taken aback. Liang Yue asked, "Are you saying that the place we went to wasn't Nanliu Village? We asked several people; could they all have been wrong?"

I gave a bitter smile. "Nanliu Village and Nanliu Village—written down, they are two different places, but if you say them out loud without careful distinction, can you tell them apart? Besides, I asked Old Tantou about this Nanliu Village, and he seemed to have some unspeakable secret, avoiding the name. That’s why I suspect that this Nanliu Village most likely doesn't exist anymore. You won't find it on any map."

Ma Su touched the broken stone tablet and remarked, "This stone feels like it has some age to it. Even if it isn't an artifact, it's certainly an old object. It's a pity it's too heavy to carry; otherwise, I'd take it back to study."

I pointed at the tablet and asked, "Old Ma, doesn't this thing have carvings on the back? Take a look and see if there are any valuable clues."

Ma Su shook his head. "How could there be? Only tombstones or tablets in temples have inscriptions. This is just a boundary marker with the village's name on it; surely there wouldn't be any written records..."

Despite his words, he still ran his hand over the back of the tablet. To his surprise, he paused, then walked around to the back to examine it more closely. Seeing that he had found something unusual, Liang Yue and I rushed over to observe the back of the stone.

It was covered in moss, and nothing was visible on the surface, but as Ma Su felt around, he said, "There are actually characters carved here."

Since Nanliu Village was crucial to our mission, I was excited by this discovery. Even though we were worried about my third uncle's safety, we couldn't just walk away. With Liang Yue’s help, I cleared away the thick, slick moss, which clearly hadn't formed overnight. It took us quite a while to finally reveal the surface of the stone.

Ma Su gestured for us to stop. He pulled out a small flashlight, pressed it against the stone, and had Liang Yue ready with paper and pen to record. He carefully verified the characters, recognizing what he could and feeling out those he couldn't see clearly, reading them out one by one.

Liang Yue recorded them character by character. Ma Su struggled with some of them, needing a long time to decipher them. Because they were read out in isolation, we couldn't immediately form coherent sentences and remained in the dark about the content. At first, Ma Su was slow, but as he grew familiar with the handwriting, he picked up speed. By the time he finished, Liang Yue’s paper was densely packed with notes.

Ma Su let out a long breath after reading the last character. I rushed over to look at the paper. "Quick, what does it say?"

I tried reading a few lines, but the text was written in an archaic style and didn't seem to flow well. I asked Liang Yue, "Can you make sense of it?"

Liang Yue shook her head. "I tried reading it while I was writing it down. It seems to be recording the rise and fall of this Nanliu Village, but many sentences don't make sense."

Ma Su wiped his hands with a towel and said, "It’s normal that it doesn't flow. The tablet is worn in many places, and I had to leave gaps where I couldn't decipher the characters. I have experience with this kind of text; let me take a look."

Liang Yue handed him the paper, and Ma Su read through it three times from start to finish. I was getting anxious—we didn't know what was happening with my third uncle and couldn't afford to waste time. "Old Ma, can we save it for later? Let's keep moving."

Ma Su nodded. "That's fine. We can talk as we walk. I've pretty much grasped the gist of the record."

"Really? Old Ma, you're amazing," I said sincerely. There are few people left as knowledgeable and multi-talented as him.

We left the stone tablet and continued onward. The wild grass underfoot was boundless, stretching as far as the eye could see. It was easy to lose one's way here; without a guide, we would never have found the entrance to the valley. We had to constantly change direction, leaving clear marks as we went.

Curious, Liang Yue asked about the content of the tablet as we traveled. Ma Su explained: it was indeed a history of Nanliu Village.

During the Yongzheng reign of the Qing Dynasty, the village was not called Nanliu, but Nanyang Ao. Situated in a valley, it was shielded from fierce winds and heat by the mountains, making it a place of eternal spring and favorable weather—a true paradise. The people there farmed and raised livestock, living in self-sufficiency.

However, in the fifth year of Yongzheng, a once-in-a-century plague of insects descended. Dozens of species of pests swarmed the valley, devouring crops, attacking livestock, and even poisoning people. The villagers were terrified. Although they managed to save some resources by organizing defense efforts against the initial wave, the swarms grew unrelenting. Within two days, the entire valley faced total destruction; without evacuation, the villagers would surely perish, turning Nanyang Ao into a graveyard of bones.

Just as hope was fading, a man descended like a deity. He wore a cloak woven from a hundred types of feathers and led a massive flock of birds. The birds feasted on the insects, and a brutal battle between bird and bug raged for a full day and night. The birds were victorious, though they suffered heavy losses.

The villagers were saved and filled with gratitude. When they asked for his name and offered their wealth, the man only smiled. Under their persistent questioning, he finally told them to call him Master Nanliu, Qin Wuyu.

Fearing the insects might return, the villagers convinced him to stay and built him a wooden hut at the valley entrance. Every day, Master Nanliu lived a carefree life, tending to his birds. He possessed a supernatural ability to command them; rare and exotic birds circled his hut, turning the area into a fairyland. Impressed, the villagers privately dubbed him: Bird King Qin Wuyu.