Chapter 15: The Ancient Tribe of Qiang

  The old lady called herself Mrs. Kork and said:

  You should have also seen the murals inside the Diaolou, so let's start with the story on the murals.

  It is said that a long time ago, our ancestors lived near Qinghai Lake and made a living by herding. Suddenly one year, the harvest was bad, and in order to survive, they began hunting wild animals, with Tibetan antelopes being the most common. Later on, some people got sick from eating antelope meat, you know that Tibetan antelope meat contains many parasites and is not edible. It's likely that the disease was caused by those parasites.

  It was unexpected that the disease spread quickly, and everyone in the tribe contracted a severe illness. No matter how much they ate, they still felt hungry, and many people starved to death within days. They called this disease "starvation disease", which seemed to have some implication, humans destroying nature's animals and plants would ultimately reap what they sowed.

  Our ancestors were terrified, thinking that the killing of the Tibetan antelope by their own people had brought about this disaster. So they made sacrifices to heaven and earth by the lake, praying for heavenly forgiveness. As they were making sacrifices, a beautiful girl riding on a Tibetan antelope came from afar. She wore a tiger-headed hat and a leopard-skin robe, with an air of majesty on her face.

  The ancestors determined that this woman was a goddess sent by heaven to save them, so they knocked their heads and asked the woman to save their people.

  The woman walked to the shore of Qinghai Lake, held a holy bottle and sprinkled medicine powder into it. She told our ancestors that drinking lake water can cure diseases. The tribesmen rushed to the lakeside, drank water and got rid of their illnesses. It's strange to say that the lake water with medicine powder had a sweet taste. After they drank it, they felt comfortable, relieved from pain, and recovered a lot. They thanked the woman.

  The woman cured the people of her tribe and instructed them to live in peace with animals, not to be arrogant, and not to slaughter everywhere. This pain is just a small punishment given by heaven. The ancestors felt their mistakes, cried and repented, then asked the woman's name. The woman smiled lightly and said, "I am Xiwangmu, the practitioner of Kunlun Mountain." Twelve days later, on the full moon night, send twelve women from your tribe to my practice valley to worship me as a teacher, I want to spread the Tao throughout the world! People remembered Xiwangmu's great kindness and virtue, often offered sacrifices to her, and thought she had the radiance of the sun, so they called her "Taiyang Shengmu" (Holy Mother of the Sun).

  She continued, "You should be curious why the last painting inside the pagoda was destroyed. The last painting depicted the location of our clan's sacred place, where our twelve ancestors went to learn their skills. Our village ancestors destroyed the painting a long time ago in order to keep this secret safe and prevent any villains from getting any ideas."

  Liu Yi turned to Professor Zhou Tao beside him with a puzzled expression: "Isn't the Queen Mother of the West just a bad goddess in folklore, known as Wangmu Niangniang, who broke up the good marriage between Cowherd and Weaving Girl? Did such a person really exist in ancient history?"

  Everyone was curious about this issue and waited for Professor Zhou Tao's speech.

  Professor Zhou stroked his beard and smiled, saying: "Various historical records show that the Western Queen Mother indeed existed. The Classic of Mountains and Seas describes the appearance of the Western Queen Mother as wearing a headdress with tiger teeth and leopard tail. If it were human, how could it be so strange? I had previously guessed that it should be a description of its image, clothing or facial makeup. According to what Old Lady Ke said just now, it perfectly matches the item of clothing. Moreover, the Western Queen Mother lives on Mount Kunlun in Qinghai, which is relatively close to Qinghai Lake. It's also very possible that she occasionally appeared and saved the ancient Qiang people!"

  "Isn't what's described in 'Shan Hai Jing' all about demons and monsters? Can it be true?" Ma Liucao muttered to himself.

  Professor Zhou Tao was about to speak when Old Lady Ke suddenly interrupted, "The current Shan Hai Jing is just the remaining fragments of our ancestors' measurements of the world and the illustrations in the Shan Hai Jing. It's said that Da Yu held a Shan Hai Tu when he controlled the flood, which was obtained from our ancestors after much begging. Of course, the other He Tu in his hand has nothing to do with my ancient Qiang people!"

  "Oh!" Everyone was quite surprised.

  Keke sighed and said, "Can the wisdom of the ancients be fathomed by us? I believe that everything described in the Shan Hai Jing Tu existed, but the ancients wrapped all things in a mysterious cloak, which is why they survived the textual catastrophe of several thousand years and were preserved until today!"

  What Old Lady Ke said made a lot of sense, and everyone expressed their agreement. People like Lin Xueyan, Big Beard, and Ke Kexi nodded vigorously, and even Professor Zhou Tao admired Old Lady Ke so much that he felt inspired himself.

  Keke continued: "The twelve people who went to learn the art didn't leave any legend, but later they founded their own tribes after going down the mountain, each named after one of the twelve zodiac animals. There were the White Tiger Qiang people, the Ling Mouse Qiang people, the Song Chicken Qiang people, and so on. The leaders of these twelve tribes took the leader of the Goat Qiang, Da Shibei, as their chief, and established a country called the Western Queen Mother. Later generations inherited the title of Western Queen Mother. Gradually, they formed a polytheistic cult centered around the "Sun Goddess". From then on, they multiplied and thrived until a great change occurred within the tribe..."

  She didn't continue speaking, but instead started coughing violently, spitting out fresh blood. Her granddaughter quickly pulled out a handkerchief from her pocket to wipe the old lady's mouth. It seemed that she had been seriously injured in the previous battle with the foreign witch.

  Professor Zhou Tao asked: "As far as I know, the Qiang people mostly build houses on mountains, with watchtowers as the main type. Why are all the houses here made of wood?"

  Keke Old Lady smiled: "What's the big deal about wooden houses and earthen houses? Don't be too obsessed with things in books, seeing is believing! Relying on mountains to take materials from mountains, relying on forests to take materials from forests, what a normal thing!"

  Professor Zhou's face turned red as he said, "I've learned something!"

  Liu Yi interjected from the side: "Do you know that your tribe has a Seven-Star Crystal Goat Head?"

  Mrs. Ke looked at him and said, "I don't know!"

  Liu Yi exclaimed "Oh" and thought: "Is it that only the great elder of the tribe knows the secret of the crystal goat head?"

  Old Lady Ke coughed and shook her hands, saying: "I'm done for... the foreign wizard's methods are too vicious..."

  She stood up, holding a torch in her hand, and walked towards the place where the villagers' bodies were piled under the altar, singing an unknown song along the way, low and desolate, probably a funeral dirge.

  In the eyes of the ancient Qiang people, fire had a scorching heat and light like the sun's rays. They believed that "fire" was the messenger left in the world by the "Sun Goddess Mother". As long as they handed over their corpses to the "messenger" for handling after death, they could see the Sun Goddess Mother after death. This led to the custom of cremation, which should be a manifestation of religious consciousness.

  In fact, the ancient Qiang people, as a nomadic nation, lived in no fixed place for many years, running around everywhere, and carrying dead bodies was a very inconvenient thing, so cremation was produced.

  Only Mrs. Kork was seen, her whole body trembling, throwing the torch in her hand onto the pile of corpses.

  "With a 'whoosh!' sound, a massive flame burst forth, like the hellfire god opening its jaws, burning wildly. Everyone kept their distance, listening to Old Lady Keke singing a sorrowful sacrificial song."

  The fire is getting bigger and hotter.

  Everyone else was far away, feeling extremely hot on their faces. But Old Lady Ke was very close to the fire, yet seemed completely unaware. She walked step by step towards the fire, suddenly stood up and jumped into the center of the flames.

  No one expected her to make such a move, and the distance was too far to save her in time. Her granddaughter Keke Yue cried out and rushed forward, but was pulled back by Liu Yi just in time.

  "Grandma!" Kork Moon shouted loudly and struggled hard, scratching, clawing and biting.

  Liu Yi feared she would impulsively jump into the sea of flames and refuse to let go until death.

  "The road to the underworld is cold and dark, I must take my people through the netherworld to reach the place where the Sun Goddess resides..." As Old Lady Ke's voice echoed in the sky, Liu Yi saw that the tears at the corner of her eyes turned into water vapor, and then her face contorted and she gradually turned into ashes in the fire.

  The crowd involuntarily bowed their heads and saw off the old lady who knew her life was coming to an end on her last journey.

  Keke Yue cried until she became a tearful person, Liu Yi's arm was bitten by her into one moon-shaped mark after another, with faint blood seeping out. Lin Xuewen walked over and pulled Keke Yue into her arms, constantly comforting her.

  Since arriving at Coco Village, Liu Yi and others have been in a heavy mood. Now that they see Old Lady Keke jumping into the fire pit, how can they be happy?

  They gathered the villagers' ashes and put everyone's ashes into a large black wooden box. The box was rectangular in shape, with a carving of a Tibetan antelope on top. Kekexi told them that the sheep god could guide the tribe to heaven.

  They then went to their respective wooden houses to rest as they had important things to attend to the next day.

  ……

  The dark forest was as calm as ever, as if nothing had happened at all.

  The night was uneventful, and everyone woke up when the first rays of sunlight reached the village.

  They simply had breakfast and prepared to go to the "Mother River" on the edge of the village, to bury the villagers' ashes and find "Xiao Ke" along the way. According to Kexi, Xiao Ke knew the road to the sacrificial site.

  The ashes of all the people in the village are buried together. They were connected by blood when they were alive, and their ashes rely on each other after death, living together for generations to come.

  The wooden box holding the ashes was carried by Koko Village's last descendants, Kekesi and Kemoyue. The short-statured duo struggled to carry the over-one-meter-long wooden box, stumbling forward in front of everyone, facing the morning sun, one step at a time, advancing steadfastly.

  Their struggling appearance moved everyone's heart, Liu Yi and Ma Liujia offered help several times, but were firmly rejected by the two.

  Perhaps they wanted to use their weak shoulders to hold up the future and hope of Koko Village.

  Lin Xuewan's heart softened as she watched the two of them gritting their teeth and persisting, sweating profusely, with fine blue veins bulging on their arms, bruises gradually appearing, and secretly wiping away tears from the corners of her eyes behind them.

  Kekesi and the other person walked, stopping occasionally to rest, and continued on their way. After about forty minutes or so, they arrived at the outskirts of the village, where the Mother River flowed, a tributary of the river that Liu Yi and the others had waded across earlier.

  Kexi and Kek Yue lowered their bodies, placed the wooden box by the riverbank, Kexi glanced at Kek Yue, they nodded to each other, and together reluctantly pushed the wooden box into the river.

  Their loved ones drifted on the river water, rushing towards where they belonged.

  Kokxy had previously been angry with Kok Yue's father for betraying their people, but now that they were the only ones left in the village and had to rely on each other to survive, he took the initiative to walk over and pull up Kok Yue's small hand. The pure and precocious Kok Yue's face turned red as she lowered her head, but her eyes kept glancing at the wooden box as it gradually disappeared into the distance until it was gone.