Zhu grabbed the strange man's neck from behind, and his feet wrapped around the strange man's body. As a result, its sharp teeth couldn't reach me. I tightly held the bone dagger in one hand, and the other hand supported the strange man's arm. The strange man began to howl like mad, his pitch-black eyes constantly rolling, and strange saliva oozing from his mouth.
"Quick, kill him!"
Zhu shouted loudly, and I was about to exert force to pierce its chest, but the strange man roared and demonstrated its terrifying power, throwing the two of us out at the same time. I fell heavily on the floor, my chest felt stuffy, and for a moment, I couldn't catch my breath.
The strange man staggered back a few steps, first being pierced in the chest by Zhu's steel needle, and then being continuously attacked by the fat man and me. It seemed to be injured and appeared unsteady.
It slowly bent over, the roar turned into a low moan, and slowly pulled out the bone dagger. Through the terrible wound, decaying flesh and blood within its body could be seen.
"Ugh... Ugh..."
It was difficult to breathe while it moved back towards the door of the Zen room.
The strange man was finally scared!
I tried to prop up my body, but my back was burning, while the fat guy had caught his breath and came to stand in front of me with a shovel, protecting me.
"Don't let it escape!"
Zhu shouted, but it was too late. The strange man pushed open the door of the Zen room and ran out. The fat guy didn't dare to chase after it alone, and it was only after the strange man disappeared from sight for some time that Zhu and I managed to get up from the ground.
"Fat guy, you can use god strike, right? Do it to him!"
Zhu grumbled with some dissatisfaction, and the fat guy made a bitter face and said, "I'm not very skilled, I still need to perform a ritual and pay homage to the ancestors."
"It's useless!"
No wonder Zhu was cursing. The three of us were armed, but still couldn't handle this strange person. It was quite embarrassing. I picked up the bone dagger from the ground and walked slowly into the yard, leaning against the wall.
There was no trace of the strange person. He must have hidden in the well, where the dead dog we saw earlier was also taken. The well had visible bloodstains extending downward.
"It escaped, what do we do?"
Fatty asked, turning back.
"We can't let it recover, let's go down and kill it!"
Zhu's words seemed a bit extreme. It was pitch black down there, and using flashlights would be ineffective. Fighting the monster in the darkness was suicidal.
I stood aside and said, "I want to figure out what this creature really is."
This had been bothering me. It resembled a human in appearance, but its abnormal strength, skin, and organs were anything but normal. Calling it a monster, I couldn't find any clues in "Mountain Wild Tales".
Its origin was a mystery to me. If we didn't fully understand what it was, we wouldn't know its weaknesses. Like hunting, not understanding the prey's habits might result in falling into its trap.
Seeing that I was hesitant to take direct action, Zhu was not pleased, but he couldn't handle it on his own. He sat down, lit a cigarette, and I asked, "Zhu, could this thing be a zombie?"
Zhu flicked the ashes and after a moment's thought said, "It looks like it, but it's not!"
"Don't zombies always hop around? Xiaoshan, stop guessing."
Fatty muttered beside.
"You're talking nonsense too. Who told you zombies only move like that? You've watched too many videotapes!"
Zhu cursed, and Fatty felt a bit embarrassed.
"You've seen those zombies in the videotapes, they're controlled by the grave-digger and jump when the bell rings. In the deep mountains and forests, any dead thing could turn into a zombie, especially a wild animal. Because they are clever creatures and still have some spiritual energy, they can also become zombies after death. But what we just dealt with was different. It had no undead presence. If it had, my two lightning stone needles would have destroyed it ages ago."
Zhu's two tools were called lightning stone needles, said to be polished with magnetic stones struck by lightning, containing a weak electrical charge. They could be used as magical instruments if empowered by a master.
"My lightning stone needles were also blessed by a lama, and would disperse any ghosts or ghouls. But look, when I pierced the creature's chest, there was little reaction. So, it's definitely not a zombie."
Zhu shook his head.
"Then it's not human, right?"
Fatty asked anxiously. If it was human, we couldn't do anything. Even if they had gone insane, we couldn't just kill them, could we?
"I don't know, but it probably isn't human. My lightning stone needles did react to it. Didn't you see the obvious burn marks on its body? It shows that this thing has a heavy dark presence. As for what exactly it is, I really can't say."
Zhu was also clueless, leaving me and Fatty perplexed. It was only then that I remembered the strange scar on the back of the creature's neck.
"I think I saw a scar on the back of the creature's neck, it looked like a brand."
I squatted on the ground, picked up a piece of rock, and drew the shape of the scar based on my memory. But I don't have the talent for drawing, so the pattern I drew looks weird and distorted.
In my memory, the mark was first a circle, with a pattern in the middle that was similar to the Chinese character "中", but the sides of this "中" character were concave. Specifically, I didn't see it clearly.
But unexpectedly, after Zhu Zi looked at it, his face changed slightly and he grabbed my hand anxiously and asked, "Xiaoshan, are you sure you didn't see it wrong?"
I was also a little nervous and nodded, saying, "I shouldn't have seen it wrong, but of course, I just glanced at it."
"D*mn it, this time we've come across the 'King'!"
This was Zhu Zi's colloquial saying, using the king and queen cards in poker to describe the difficulty of things. He said that "King" represents that dealing with this weird person would be very tricky.
"However, it's also a chance to make a fortune! Maybe this time we can make a big fortune!"
Zhu Zi's contradictory words left me and Fatty puzzled.
Seeing the two of us looking at him strangely, Zhu Zi hurriedly explained, "I saw this pattern once three years ago. At that time I was doing a business deal in Changsha and met a few colleagues who said there was something new for me to see, so I followed. At that time, there was a tough guy in Changsha called Wu Dong, who was involved in both black and white activities. He hired a group of experts in the business and excavated an ancient tomb, and unearthed some treasures, which were said to be from the Han Dynasty. I went with a few friends to see them, and each piece was worth at least six figures. At that time, they were sold to foreign collectors, and I was really envious!"
Fatty, upon hearing this, asked strangely, "So what does this pattern have to do with that?"
"Don't interrupt," Zhu Zi took a puff of his cigarette and continued, "Apart from the unearthed treasures at that time, surprisingly, because of a request from a foreign collector, they also excavated a coffin!"
I had heard that foreigners had many peculiar preferences, but I never expected that someone would like corpses. At the time, I heard that mummies from foreign countries were valuable, but I didn't expect that even Chinese coffins were sought after!
"I still remember that coffin to this day, it was particularly luxurious, with seven emeralds set in the lid in the pattern of the Big Dipper. The side of the coffin was adorned with a row of gold paper, and although it had been buried underground for many years, it still shone brightly when it was unearthed. The whole design of the coffin was also quite exquisite, and it looked like a large bird with wings spread out. At that time, the coffin alone was worth a fortune."
Both Fatty and I were fascinated, and dared not interrupt. Zhu Zi extinguished his cigarette and continued, "After opening the coffin, there was a thoroughly dried-up corpse inside, but the most valuable thing was what was held in the mouth of the corpse. After a person dies, their orifices, including the mouth, eyes, nose, ears, and of course the anus, need to be sealed to prevent the escape of qi from the body, especially the mouth, which must contain something precious! However, what sealed the mouth of that corpse at the time was not jade, can you guess what it was?"
Fatty and I shook our heads urgently, it was impossible to guess.
Zhu Zi smiled and said, "It was a stone tablet! This stone tablet was engraved with a pattern, which is sixty percent similar to the pattern you drew!"
A stone tablet, used to be placed in the most important part of the corpse, this should have been the most valuable among the burial items, so this stone tablet must have had a big backstory.
"What happened next?"
Seeing that Zhu Zi didn't continue, I hurriedly asked.
"There is no next, the corpse was bought by a European at the time, and it was smuggled out of China along with the coffin. What's strange is that after Wu Dong made this deal, he vanished without a trace, and until today, we haven't seen him again. I don't know what this pattern represents. However! When this pattern appeared, Wu Dong made a lot of money. The weird person under the Xuanming Temple is also related to this pattern, so I think maybe there is a tomb or something similar underneath!"
I've said before, people in this line of work divide their business into three categories, and opening coffins and robbing graves are not part of the professional trafficking of ghosts and evil spirits, so if you can avoid it, you will. But for the sake of profit, the three of us were all short of money and could only bite the bullet.
"So, since that weird person is injured, I don't think he'll recover so quickly. Let's take a risk, shall we?"
Fatty nodded, and he and Zhu Zi were on the same front. I shook my head helplessly and said, "Alright then, let's set up the ladder first and try to get rich tonight!"
At that time, we were using bamboo ladders with two iron hooks tied to one end and hung on the edge of the well. In my opinion, the older generation's things may not always be convenient, but they are very durable. Compared to the stainless steel ladders that Fatty and I used later, the old bamboo ladders were even stronger.
The ladder extended all the way to the bottom of the well, with Zhu zi leading the way down, me in the middle, and Fatty bringing up the rear.
While on the bamboo ladder, I looked down and saw that the turtle's body was still there, untouched by the weird creature, emitting a foul odor like the stench of rotten fish and shrimp in a market.
I covered my nose and mouth with my sleeve. The wooden door was open, clearly left unattended by the weird creature when entering.
"I'll go in first with the flashlight in my mouth. Once we pass through the front slate, I'll figure out a way to secure it to myself," I said as I entered the wooden door with the flashlight in my mouth, heading into a long stretch of darkness. The air was filled with a strong smell of blood, and I could even see the bloodstains on the ground with the flashlight.
Zhu zi didn't even bother to climb in, instead casually following me after bending down. Poor Fatty, however, struggled to pull himself up, looking like a big bear. I glanced back, shook my head, and chuckled.
Passing through the low slate, we entered a large hole at the bottom of the well. I shone the flashlight around. I didn't find any traces of the weird creature, and the green light we had seen last time was still faintly flickering on the ground. Keeping an alert eye on the surroundings, Zhu zi walked up to the green light and picked it up with his gloved right hand.
As I watched from a distance, just as I was about to ask if it was a night pearl, Zhu zi's glove was suddenly ignited by the terrifying green flames, which then began burning fiercely!
"Zhu zi, what's wrong?" Fatty asked in surprise.
Zhu zi hurriedly took off his glove, but the flames had already reached his arm. I quickly rushed over and saw a noticeable burn on Zhu zi's forearm, bright red and substantial.
"Are you okay?" I asked anxiously.
"F***, it's a firefly, not a night pearl!" Zhu zi cursed, taking out a small bottle he carried and sprinkling some powder on his hand. The powder was transparent and looked like white snow. Once it landed on Zhu zi's hand, the burned area seemed to improve noticeably.
"It's ground snow wood, useful for burns," he said, putting away the bottle and stamping out the flaming glove on the ground. But I saw that the green light was rapidly crawling on the ground, much like an insect!
"It's running away!" Zhu zi chased after it and stomped on the green light, causing the flame to erupt and spread outwards. Zhu zi retreated a few steps, and the strange green flame illuminated the surrounding walls. I heard a strange, sharp cry from the ground, as if an insect was shrieking. The flame spread outward from the center around Zhu zi, Fatty, and me, and we hurriedly backed away. The flames illuminated strange murals on the walls of the cave around us!
When I descended earlier, it was too dark to see anything except the polished cave walls. But this time, I could see more - the murals seemed suggestive but were very rough. They were nowhere near the level of the Dunhuang murals I had seen in photos before.
Nevertheless, despite their crude appearance, they were old, and it at least proved that there had once been people here. There must be some kind of secret hidden beneath Xuanming Temple!
The strange green flames slowly died down, and Zhu zi waved us over. Fatty and I hurried up to him.
Under his foot was an insect that looked somewhat like a hermit crab, with a stone on its back, which Zhu zi had already crushed. The insect's body was also in pieces. I asked curiously, "Zhu zi, you called it a firefly. Do you know this thing?"
Zhu zi nodded and said, "I've encountered this thing in the past. I don't know its scientific name, but the people in my line of work call it a firefly. They feed on dry bones and slowly develop a green-glowing stone on their backs. When in danger, this stone releases flames. What we just saw was the green flame. Generally, when we encounter them, we kill them right away because it's easy to get injured, just like I did. Once the flames catch on, you'll lose half your life even if you don't die. I was careless; I didn't expect there to be such unclean things under the temple."
I noticed that Zhu zi referred to the creature as unclean, so I couldn't help but ask, "You said it's unclean? What's the story behind it?"
"Oh, let me tell you this. Generally, places where this thing exists are not clean."
Zhu did not explicitly say it, but Fatty and I also understood a little bit. The so-called unclean things might be evil beasts or even ghosts...
I tied the flashlight to my shoulder, so that it would be convenient for me to free up both hands to hold the dagger and shovel. Zhu looked ahead, it was pitch black, but the terrain seemed to extend downward at a certain angle. In other words, if we continued forward, we would likely end up going deeper underground.
"Let's go."
Fatty took the lead, the underground was very quiet, only the flashlight's beam could illuminate the surrounding objects. The silence made me uneasy. I didn't have claustrophobia or any similar psychological problems, but in a place where strange things could appear at any time, it would be a lie to say I wasn't afraid.
I walked forward for a while, when Zhu suddenly said, "Stop."
After stopping, Zhu looked around and then said, "We might be walking on top of a dried-up underground river."
Both Fatty and I didn't react to this at first, looking at Zhu somewhat stupidly.
"Well digging is usually for groundwater, and there are underground rivers in urban areas. The well in Xuanming Temple must have been dug into a dried-up underground river, and then the well became dry." These things Zhu said, Fatty and I knew as well. Seeing that we didn't react, he furrowed his brow and explained more clearly, "If we are walking on such a dried-up underground river, firstly, we don't know where this underground river leads to! Secondly, we don't know how wide this underground river is. Finally, if we combine the murals we just saw, perhaps this underground river was artificially drained and cut off, so the direction we are walking in might lead to some constructed place. Moreover, I carefully observed those murals just now, to be honest, they look like they were left by a cult."
Now Fatty and I finally understood. According to Zhu, it is possible that a cult drained the underground river and built some kind of structure under Xuanming Temple. At the same time, Xuanming Temple served as a cover for it.
"Get ready, if we really encounter this kind of situation. There might be some creatures that are even scarier than ghosts."
Zhu finished speaking and continued walking ahead. Fatty and I hurried to keep up. After all, he was experienced, and his words made me feel a little chill in my heart.
After walking for about five or six minutes, the path ahead suddenly ended. The three of us split up to look for a way out. I walked along the stone wall holding the flashlight for a while, and I could vaguely hear some kind of sound because it was a quiet underground space, so I could hear it clearly.
"Goo, goo, goo..."
It sounded like something rolling, I frowned and looked back. At this moment, there seemed to be something in the darkness. Just not far from where I was, a long thing was slowly climbing up from the ground!