Deep inside the cavern, Xiao stared at the gold door, watching as the words formed one after another, nearly filling the entranceway with its message. "Jiang, hurry, there's another clue, hurry."

Jiang shook the morning's sleep from his eyes as he rushed to the man he loved, watching the words as they revealed themselves on the door.

"This must be another message from Fan Xiliang."

"No, it's not a message, it's just isolated words."

Jiang took out his notepad as Xiao read off the message word by word:


     I, Fan Xiliang, have found the way
     But you __________________
     You ___________________ between life and death ______
     must accompany your ______________ place,
     The place provided by the gods.
     Kuan Yin appeared to me
     She told me _________________________
     She gave me life when no one cared
     She gave me food and water
     And nourished me
     But no one listened
     and now everyone _________________________
     Buried in this cavern, ______________________
     Many are ________________________
     But they _____________ to me
     They could ___________ to________________ Kuan Yin
     They would ____________ all be free, if only they had
     listened to the words of the goddess Kuan Yin
     If they had only followed ____________ of Yin ________.
     They would _________ today with her.
     Here is the answer
     I have written for Meng Jiangnu, my true love, my bride
     Because I love you and I ______________ too
     The gift __________ free and open to all
     But you must ______________________
     Boldly without looking back
     You must do it____________
     Because you have so little time
     You must do it now because you are alive
     But there is so little time
     So little time
     _________ reborn
     I Fan Xiliang
     I
     I
     I, alone, am The Great Wall of China
     But you, too, can ____________
     The answer _______________;
     Rebirth, through the tunnel of life
     Because
      you are me and ____________
     If we want to live forever, now,
     You must, I must, open ___________ and _________ walk straight through.

"This makes no sense.

"It validates yesterday's message."

"You sound like one of those Christian missionaries now. Do you also believe in following the will of the one true god?"

"Who knows what the gods desire. I don't know even know if there's one god or a million, but I do know we have a mystery to solve, otherwise we could spend eternity here, like the man who scribbled this message on the door. We are meant for each other; these messages prove it. We've been together for all eternity and we're going to remain together forever."

Jiang blushed scarlet; he knew what Xiao meant and he knew he'd help solve the puzzle until they broke its secret; then they would be free to love.

"Let's look at it carefully; the gods would never give us a problem we couldn't solve." Xiao's butterfly mole started to itch and as he touched it, it felt warm to his touch; he watched as it became alive and flew around the cavern, as if it were watching and waiting for him to solve the puzzle.

"Look, my butterfly's moving; that's always a good sign. It means the goddess is nearby."

"I don't see anything moving except your mouth," Jiang laughed. "Do you want to solve this or stand here jabbering?"

"I don't think the puzzle is that difficult. Let's fill in the missing words, we might make some mistakes, but if we don't try, we'll never know what this means." Xiao didn't wait for Jiang's reaction as he dove into the problem feet first, "From the beginning of the message, we know Fan Xiliang found the way. He tells us to open something and the only thing to open is this door. Let's assume that's what the missing phrase is and take it from there."

"Then we have to do something to get from life to death . . . we must move there; we must open the door and go through it."

"That's good. Write that down!"

"But it says he must accompany someone. Who?"

"His bride, Meng Jiangnu, of course, who else could it be?"

Jiang wrote that in the missing spaces and the boys continued solving the puzzle.

"Kuan Yin's name is mentioned again; she's obviously revealed herself to Fan."

"And she revealed herself to Meng Jiangnu, as well. I told you the goddess had a divine plan for them . . . and for us." Xiao continued solving the puzzle, "She told me . . . she gave me life when no one cared.' What's that mean?"

"Fan's talking about life, death, and safety. Perhaps it's that simple."

"Perhaps this door leads from one dimension to another. Perhaps life and death are the same thing-maybe it's just a different portal."

"You're really stretching, you know that?"

"Maybe, but I know that my life has always revolved around the goddess, Kuan Yin, and the hero, Meng Jiangnu. And what does Meng's legend say? Didn't she end up living forever? Let's put that in the blank and see how it fits."

Jiang wrote, "She told me life is death and death is life," but he didn't like the words, and his pencil slipped out of his fingers as he wrote.

Xiao didn't stop his analysis, however, "She gave me food and now everyone something, something, and I am buried in this cavern."

Now Jiang's imagination whirled, "That's easy-but no one listened and now everyone is dead and I'm alone buried in this cavern.'"

"Write it. Write it."

"But he's sad and he knows he'll never see Jiangnu again so the rest of the sentence has to be about her, 'and now everyone' what? Everyone is dead?"

"Yes, but there's more to it. Everyone is dead and . . . there are still more spaces here."

Both boys thought for a long time before answering. "He's alone," Jiang screamed. "He's alone and he knows he's never going to see her again. That has to be it! This is easier than I thought."

"And the rest of the puzzle is easy. 'I'm buried in this cavern' something, something. The missing words could be forgotten by the one I love-Fan doesn't know Meng Jiangnu is looking for him. He must think he'll never see her again. Only Jiangnu knows the truth. She looks for him; she finds his body trapped here under the Great Wall and, Oh my God," Xiao stopped mid-sentence, as if he were having an epiphany. "Fan Xiliang died in this cave; this is the section of the wall that collapsed when Meng Jiangnu screamed."

"And if we believe anything about the legend, we know Meng and Fan were ultimately reunited."

"After death? What are you saying, Xiao, do you want us to die, as well?"

"I only know what the words say. I'm not sure what death is. Maybe life and death are waiting for us on the other side of the door. I don't know."

"'And now everyone' is dead and I'm alone, 'buried in this cavern,' forgotten by the one I love-forgotten by Meng Jiangnu?"

"Write it, I think that's it."

Xiao looked carefully at the next segment of the puzzle:


     They are_____________________________________
     But they could have listened to me
     They could _________________ to ____________ Kuan Yin
     "They are all dead and buried here with me."

"I bet there are a million skeletons on the other side of this door."

"Then why did Fan write his message on this side; is his skeleton here, as well?"

"I don't know, but this is a mass grave. I guess everything rotted-it's been two thousand years, after all."

"What's the next line?"

"'They could have' . . . what?"

"Been free if they had listened. That's what Fan's so excited about; he's sharing his message with us and if his friends had listened, they would have been saved, as well."

"You do jump to conclusions, boy" Jiang said as he wrote everything down.

"We can change it later-if we have to."

"Sure."

"'They could have' something, something, listened to me. Let's try this: 'They could have been free if they had listened to me.' That makes sense, doesn't it?"

"I don't know any more," Jiang said, as he wrote down Xiao's words, "but we have to write something-and we can-"

"Always change it later . . . I know." Both boys laughed heartly now-knowing they had just about solved the puzzle-knowing the had worked it out together-but mostly just knowing how much love can conquer any problem

"But I'm right because Fan repeats himself-let me fill in the same blanks here. He says the goddess is in charge, write this down: they could have been free if they had listened to Kuan Yin. They would, we would, all be free."

Jiang wrote as he glanced at the message on the door. "Yin goes with Yang and it's the path of Yin and Yang. There are always two ways to look at every problem. Do you think reincarnation is the only way? Will we have to die or is there another way?"

Xiao didn't answer-he was afraid of dying. "And everyone would be alive today if they had followed the advice of the goddess."

"But what's the gift?"

"Life! Fan's been telling us how to attain the gift of eternal life."

"Then he talks about his love for Meng again and says he must open the door if we want to find the secret of life. Let's do it; Let's find a way to open the door."

"And walk through it, obviously, otherwise the charm will never work."

The boys quickly filled in the last missing words of the puzzle as they read it aloud:


     I, Fan Xiliang, have found the way
     But you must open the door
     You must make the movement between life and death
     You must accompany your bride to this better place,
     The place provided by the gods.
     Kuan Yin appeared to me
     She told me life is death and death is life.
     She gave me life when no one cared
     She gave me food and water
     And nourished me
     But no one listened
     and now everyone is dead and I am alone
     Buried in this cavern, forgotten by the one I love.
     Many are dead and buried here with me
     But they could have been free if they had listened
     They could have been free if they had listened to Kuan Yin.
     They would, we would, all be free, if only they had listened
     Listened to the words of the goddess Kuan Yin
     If they had only followed the path of Yin and Yang
     They would be alive with her.
     Here is the answer
     I have written for Meng Jiangnu, my true love, my bride
     Because I love you and I know you love me, too
     The gift of life is free and open to all
     But you must open the door and walk through
     Boldly without looking back
     You must do it now
     Because you have so little time
     You must do it now because you are alive
     But there is so little time
     So little time
     To be reborn
     I Fan Xiliang
     I, alone, am The Great Wall of China
     But you, too, can be free
     The answer is reincarnation,
     Rebirth, through the tunnel of life
     Because you are me and I am you
     If we want to live forever, now,
     You must, I must, open the door and boldly walk straight through.

Xiao looked at Jiang and smiled, realizing life's enigma: There was life after death because there was reincarnation, but he didn't want to die to prove it.


On to Chapter Twenty-Seven
Tao
Back to Twenty-Five
The Secret of the Chamber
Complete Chapter List

The Scot Walker Story Page

Tarheel Writer Home Page

I'd love to hear what you think!  Leave me a comment on our contact us page.