Adventure Behind the Bronze Door Episode 1 Recap
> Adventure Behind the Bronze Door Recap
My name is Wu Xie, and I run an antique shop called Wu's Mountain Abode. While I say I run it, I'm not skilled in the traditional ways of my tomb raider ancestors. I have two partners: Wang Fatty, who is optimistic and energetic, and Zhang Qiling, who is known for his strange temper and being difficult to get along with.
Understanding the story I have to tell means starting with Zhang Qiling, which is complicated because no one truly knows who he is. When I met him, he had already lost his memory, remembering only a long period spent walking endlessly in the snowy mountains, searching for something unknown.
In his search for memory, Zhang Qiling ventured into the Zhang Family Ancient Tower, hidden deep in the southwestern mountains and believed to be his family's shrine containing clues about his past. After he went missing for days while exploring the underground caves there, Wang Fatty and I went to rescue him. We managed to access the tower, noting the difficulty of reaching it and the strange environment covered in white ash.
Being careful, we attempted to use an intercom and kept our guard up. I recalled reading in my grandfather's notes about dangerous creatures like the Mystic Claw (密扎陀), which ancient people supposedly kept using jade disks. Following footprints within the vast tower, which seemed to be the Zhang family shrine, we discovered extensive signs of a fierce struggle, including claw marks, indicating Zhang Qiling had been involved in an intense fight.
Shortly after, we encountered one of the Mystic Claw creatures and quickly dealt with it; it dissolved into green pus. Continuing our search, we saw that the footprints became mixed up from the fight, though I believed I could still identify Zhang Qiling's. We came across numerous rooms filled with books, appearing to be the Zhang family's ancient texts and historical records, which made us realize the immense scale and history of this family.
I was astonished by the interior of the Zhang Family Ancient Tower, realizing how little I actually knew about Zhang Qiling. Suddenly, we smelled something burning and found that our flare had ignited the wooden floor, which we quickly put out using our backpacks. Moving further into the tower, we discovered gear belonging to Zhang Qiling's team, suggesting someone had fallen from above.
Then we found the bodies of his team members, which filled us with concern for Zhang Qiling's safety. Searching among the fallen, we found Zhang Qiling himself. Wang Fatty and I repeatedly called out to him, urging him to wake up, until he finally did. We later learned that Zhang Qiling had survived the hazardous conditions, which included a hallucinogenic miasma within the tower, by deliberately lowering his heart rate through bloodletting to slow down the effects of the poison.
After his rescue, we expected to continue our search for his memories together, but Zhang Qiling informed us that he had to leave for ten years to resolve a major, difficult issue that required someone to handle it periodically. He told me that if I still remembered him after ten years, I could return to the location and potentially see him again.
It was only later that I learned this task was originally meant for me, but Zhang Qiling had hidden the truth and taken my place, enduring ten years of hardship. Overwhelmed with guilt, I resolved that during those ten years, I would investigate the reasons behind his memory loss, hoping to see him again and uncover his secrets. Years later, a string of beads Zhang Qiling left behind became a crucial clue.
I knew the task ahead was challenging but essential. My childhood friend and antique dealer, Xie Yuchen, discovered a string of these beads. Examining one, he identified it as a moonstone, an organic gemstone whose toughness makes it suitable for detailed micro-carvings and which was historically used for secretly conveying information. Looking closely, he found a hidden clue around the perforation: a scorpion pattern.
Xie Yuchen noted the various symbolic meanings of the scorpion and agreed to help me trace the pattern's origin, while I sensed its critical importance as a key to something larger. Jin Wantang, another antique dealer, approached me claiming to have important information related to the scorpion pattern, suggesting it involved Zhang Qiling. Initially angered by his past involvement in my troubles, I was hesitant. Jin Wantang explained he saw my public notice searching for the scorpion pattern's background.
He presented a bead identical to mine, which he obtained from a descendant of a wealthy family named Ma whose fortunes had declined. To convince Jin Wantang of the bead's value, the descendant had shown him a memoir from his grandfather, Ma Pingchuan, a wealthy man from Ma'an Village. The memoir recounted how Ma Pingchuan's family had claimed a mountain behind their village, shaped like the Wuqu star, believing it would bring wealth, and moved their ancestral graves there.
However, that same year, strange occurrences began on the mountain. The memoir detailed how the mountain mysteriously turned black. Ma Pingchuan, sensing something was gravely wrong, decided to move the graves yet again. However, upon digging over ten meters deep, they discovered that all the coffins were missing. Concurrently, all vegetation within a vast area around the village withered and died, and the ground turned the same black color as the mountain.
Ma Pingchuan's investigation confirmed that the missing graves were concentrated precisely within this withered zone. Amidst the ensuing panic at the heavily guarded Ma residence, a mysterious kid suddenly appeared on the roof, proclaiming that he knew exactly where their missing coffins had gone.
