The starving students wailed for mercy.
"Don't worry," said Iba Algi. "I will take the little master to Consort Su. She is the wealthiest woman in Great Yao, and has an appetite for provocative art. The little master will be happy in Plum Terrace Palace. The Sixth Princess will think he's cute, and he doesn't have enough muscles for the Fourth Prince to fondle perpetually."
Ri Ran scrambled forward on his bed.
"Really?" he asked.
"You said you broke the chains which keep souls tied to this place," said Lady Wu.
"I have," nodded Iba Algi. "Now everyone must answer a question. If I say I can lead you to a great big treasure under this house, what do you say back?"
The princess's demeanor became comically menacing.
"No!" said Pin Fun.
"What?" said Bon Bao. "Of course we want to see the treasure!"
"What kind of treasure?" asked Lady Wu.
"Golden amulets from the dawn of the Qianqiu Dynasty," said Iba Algi.
"No," repeated Pin Fun.
"This mansion is not that old," said Lady Wu.
"It isn't," agreed Iba Algi. "But it has superior stratigraphy."
"Unearthing such a treasure will attract too much attention," said Pin Fun.
"You've turned timid for a rogue who cheats at gambling," said Bon Bao. "Why don't we look at the treasure and then decide what to do with it?"
"As soon as we see it," said Pin Fun, "powerful clairvoyants will have visions of its existence."
"The Princess has already seen it," said Bon Bao.
"The Princess is a Born Empyrean," replied Pin Fun. "Her mhoddim component will blind precognitive techniques."
"What about her companions?" asked Bon Bao.
"They stood inside her light."
Iba Algi giggled.
"You're underestimating my companions," she said. "But what Cute Boy says is true. We should cherish this moment. It's rare for cute boys to recognize their limits. Once you see the treasure, the clock toward you doom starts ticking! Do you still want to see it?"
She grew comically menacing again.
"If we have the treasure," asked a starving student, "will it help us avoid doom?"
All the starving students agreed that was a great question.
"It will," said Iba Algi. "But there won't be any room for error!"
Bon Bao walked over to Pin Fun and palmed his perfect butt.
"Instead of being a buzz-kill," he said, "you should use your knowledge about such things to figure out how we can outsmart the bad guys and stay rich. Think of what a triumph it would be not only for yourself, but also for Jian Peak Abbey."
Pin Fun's opposition softened.
"Well," he said, "there is that."
"Resources would help find your comrades," added Bon Bao. "Unless the Princess wants to tell us."
"I don't," said Iba Algi.
"Why not?" asked Bon Bao.
"Telling won't make you ready to rescue them," she replied.
"It will help," said Bon Bao.
"It won't," said Iba Algi.
"Let's see this ancient treasure," said Lady Wu.
A contingent descended into the cellars. They weren't as damp and unpleasant as Bon Bao recalled. The princess stopped in front of a wall and snapped her fingers.
"Cute Boy," she said. "This is your department!"
Pin Fun tapped the wall with his fingers several times. A moment later, a section pulled apart like a puzzle. Bon Bao asked where the trigger was hiding. Then he understood.
"Disembodied fingers," he said. "The trigger was inside the wall."
"There wasn't a trigger," said Pin Fun. "The mechanisms could only be manipulated directly. This is a sophisticated construction. But it isn't from the Qianqiu Dynasty."
"No," agreed Iba Algi. "That stuff is farther."
Pin Fun opened more doors. Bon Bao began to suspect they were no longer under the mansion. It also felt like they were going up as often as down. The walls became more diverse. Usually they were brick. Sometimes they were granite, however, and sometimes they were a kind of sandstone.
"Are we under the rock crag east of the mansion?" Bon Bao asked.
"We are!" agreed Iba Algi. "Tens of millions of years ago, Jade Palace Mound rose from deep within the earth. It smashed through sedimentary beds that had accumulated on the bottom of a shallow sea and tipped them upwards."
"That sounds like the 'partying in Hell' origin myth for the Mound," said Bon Bao. "Only without the party."
"I'm not familiar with the Hell Party origin myth for Jade Palace Mound," said Iba Algi.
"Are you familiar with any stories about hulking gangsters and delicate magistrates?" asked Bon Bao.
"I read those stories for their commentary on the socioeconomic dynamics of class in a highly ordered society," said Iba Algi.
"Of course," said Bon Bao. "Wouldn't it take you tens of millions of years to see everything that happened for tens of millions?"
"Everything that happened for tens of millions of years is right here in this wall," said Iba Algi. "But you've identified one constraint on clairvoyant mhoddim techniques. That's pretty good for a hulking gangster who likes spanking weaker males. It takes time now to see what happened some other time."
"Lord Bon," said Pin Fun, "did you spank the twink who won the bet?"
"I was trying to summon Snowblind…."
Pin Fun stuck several fingers in his mouth.
"But how do you know a big rock smashed through sentimental beds?" asked Ri Ran.
"Sedimentary beds," said Iba Algi. "I know what the geomancers have figured out."
"Then what happened to the rest of the rocks that got smashed?" asked Bon Bao. "Shouldn't they be lying on top of everything?"
"All the flat ground for as far as you can see is what's left of the sedimentary beds after they got ground to bits by erosive forces," said Iba Algi, "and then buried by more erosion. The Feng Meng Badlands between us and the Meng River used to be mountains twenty thousand feet tall!"
"Is that so?" asked Bon Bao.
"It is!" insisted Iba Algi.
"Then why are the Jormu Mountains still twenty thousand feet tall?" asked Ri Ran.
"They're taller than that!" said Iba Algi. "But they're also a lot younger than what's left of the Feng Meng Badlands."
"It's easier to say there was a rollicking party in Hell one night," said Bon Bao.