Ghost Blowing Lantern II

Just when I was hesitating whether to reach into the water and fumble around, Shirley Yang, who was inspecting the patterns on the tripod, had already discovered something. She asked me to squat down and look at the patterns on the tripod. I followed what she said and saw The body of the tripod is divided into eight sides, all with shadow marks. It seems that the copper was once embedded with gold threads, and the gold fell off over time, forming a pattern of depressions, which shows in detail the scene of Hentian's burial and rising moon after his death.

We only watched half of it before we suddenly realized it. We looked back at the row of ancient corpses. It turned out that they had not had time to be officially buried after death, but stayed here to wait for the full moon to come. It seems that they have not yet reached the "moon". At the moment when "seeking immortality", the ancient city on the island fell into the sea, and the surviving residents dispersed like stars and smoke, becoming "dan people" who lived on the sea to fish for pearls and hunt whales for a living.

I was about to turn to look at the back of the bronze tripod, but I heard Uncle Ming calling me in front of the mouth of the whale bone fossil. I had to turn around and take a few steps back, asking him what's going on with this old loser? Uncle Ming wiped the sweat from his head and said to me: "Have you noticed that there are dead children with missing arms and legs hidden in the bellies of these zombie women in the tomb?"

It turned out that Uncle Ming and others were guarding fearfully outside the whale bones. When they saw a row of corpses lined up in the tomb, covered under the skin with vertical and horizontal scales, it was like a big quilt. The bulging bulges in the dragon wrap were very unusual. He thought that five corpses were lined up in the tomb. There are grave goods on corpses that have not changed for thousands of years. Even if you don't take them, you can open them and take a look at them. Those ancient artifacts that have been preserved in the ruins for thousands of years are extraordinary. Even if you just open your eyes, it is good.

Unexpectedly, when the "dragon cover" was opened, the three female corpses juxtaposed in the middle were found. They were all pregnant women who suffered dissection during pregnancy, and the fetuses were formed in their bellies. They were at least eight or nine months old, but they were all born. It was cut out and placed on the open belly of the female corpse. The corpse's abdomen was filled with a round stone called "cold jade". The cheeks were slightly bulging, and there was a pearl in the mouth. The corpse's abdomen was filled with things. , so it still looks bulging and swollen, as if it is about to give birth.

It seems that the dead baby has not been treated in any way, but based on the cold jade and "Zhuanzhu" inside the body of the female body, the body is still there, and the carbonized hair is black and coiled, making it look like the roots of the hair are hairy. A closer look with a flashlight revealed that these three dead babies were either missing arms or a leg. It looked like they were all congenitally deformed.

Uncle Ming was surprised. Is there something weird in this? In the past, the theory of child ghosts and fetus ghosts was widely spread among tomb robbers who "carried corpses". Some tomb owners deliberately hid fetuses that died unjustly in the tombs. Any tomb robbers stole the visible objects in the tombs or damaged the corpses of the tomb owners. , he will be haunted by the little ghost, and he will not be able to live in peace day and night, and will be killed sooner or later. So when Uncle Ming saw that something was not good, he quickly called me to see if the Hentian clan had raised a little ghost in the tomb. As he spoke, he broke into a cold sweat. He walked down, obviously very frightened.

After hearing this, I immediately looked at the several zombies covered by the "dragon skins". At first glance, it was true as it was said. The three dead babies that were taken out seemed to still retain the painful struggling posture at the end of their lives, but their limbs Among them, one of the arms or legs is missing, and it does not seem to have been cruelly amputated, but due to congenital deformity. If you look carefully, you can distinguish human hands as small as rat paws. I don’t know why. The reason is that it fails to develop and grow together with the rest of the body.

It is rare to see ghosts in graves. It only occurs in some remote areas in the south. Most craftsmen who fight upside down have never seen it in their lives. However, there are many such legends in eastern and western Guangdong. In the late Qing Dynasty, people In the early days, there was a group of tomb robbers who were active in the Guangdong and Guangxi areas, carrying corpses and digging through graves. Some of them actually carried little ghosts back home from the tombs and were killed. These were all recent events and were not some unfounded nonsense. , it can be seen that this is a relatively strong regional custom, and it is said that it only began to appear in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Guangdong and Guangxi are located in remote areas. It was not until the Ming and Qing Dynasties that the cultural economy was able to develop, so no one can verify that in the tomb Where did the tradition of hiding imps to prevent tomb robbers come from?

However, this kind of thing is extremely rare in other provinces. It may not come from ancient magic. How can there be such evil magic in "Guixu", a ruins thousands of years ago? But why did these babies, who were about to be born, suffer such murderous attacks? The other three are all deformed and born with disabilities, which is a bit too coincidental. We are in extraordinary dangers, so we can't say that we don't believe in evil spirits, but there are some things that we must guard against.

Thinking of this, I already wanted to destroy the corpse and eliminate all traces. I asked Uncle Ming and others what to do? Uncle Ming has always believed deeply in some of the old stories handed down from his ancestors. When I asked him about countermeasures, he said hurriedly: "Let's not be merciful at this time. Otherwise, even if we return to the sea, at least three people will have to carry our backs." Why are there little ghosts raised in ancient tombs? Because the fetus has already taken shape, and the ghosts that have been reincarnated are already attached to it. At this time, they are dug out alive from the belly of pregnant women. Those little ghosts are greedy for themselves. They are still in the shape of a corpse, so they refuse to leave. The dead ghosts are the most narrow-minded and vicious-hearted. When they see a living person, they will never be finished unless they entangle the person to death. Therefore, according to what I saw, uncle, I will not let go. Do it without stopping, and the best way is to burn the bodies of the little thieves."

As he spoke, Uncle Ming patted the mermaid candle in his hand. His face looked extremely ugly under the candlelight. He must have a deep-rooted taboo on carrying a kid home on his back. The fat man also kept asking for a light, but before burning the corpse, it was best to first burn it. Pick everything out of the dead man's mouth, otherwise there will be corruption and waste again.

I looked at Gu Cai again. That kid was in a daze. He hadn't yet figured out what the relationship between his "Long House" and the ancient tomb under Haiyan was. He didn't care about setting fire to the corpses of these dead babies. Duoling's courage was so The youngest in the group did not dare to come over and look at the zombies in the whale bones.

Judging from my past experience, it is better to believe that the kid is there than not. There must be something fishy about the dead baby in the tomb. Instead of letting trouble come to you, it is better to burn it in advance. Why bother to trace the source again? To find out what was going on, I made up my mind and nodded to Uncle Ming. Uncle Ming, with Fatty Guchai and others, swarmed up and wanted to take the "Zhu Yan Bead" first, and then put the "Going to Make Fire".

As soon as everyone was about to take action, they were stopped by Shirley Yang. She had been looking at the nine-legged tripod. When she heard that we were discussing how to set fire to the zombies in the tomb, she hurriedly asked Uncle Ming and others to stop. She said that from now on There are similar rumors about imps being recited in tombs, and there are similar rumors among Taoists who move mountains. These are folk magic that only appeared in mountainous areas in the past two or three hundred years. How can they be found in Guixu? Moreover, I have never heard of a kid hiding in a tomb, and specifically choosing a fetus with deformities and disabilities. Is this reasonable in the world? Setting fire to something recklessly will really cause trouble.

We were all speechless by what she said. The fact that the fetus had a shortage of limbs was extremely strange and really difficult to understand. After all, no one had ever seen how the ancient tomb where the ghost of the child was hidden was arranged.

Shirley Yang said: "The Hentian clan cast this incident on the Nine-legged Cauldron. If we want to escape from the ruins of this coral cave on the bottom of the sea, I'm afraid we have to count on these South China Sea zombies."

When everyone heard that there was a quarrel, they were all moved. Uncle Ming was so excited that his eyes blurred with tears: "Miss Yang, your uncle is old and his mind is a little slow. Are you saying that these ancient corpses can take us back? Do you know what the plan is?" I wish I could make it clear to clear up my foolishness..."

Shirley Yang asked everyone to look at the back of the "Nine-legged Cauldron". It turned out that the coral cave deep under Guixu and isolated from the outside world was not an ancient tomb. The matter of the fetus missing legs and arms actually happened in ancient times. It is related to the "lunar eclipse". The five ancient corpses covered with dragon skins in the whale bones, one old and one young, were all the dead who were about to be buried in coffins. However, the three pregnant women whose bellies were cut open were due to the misfortune of seeing them. "Lunar eclipse" was used as a burial sacrifice.

"Solar eclipse" and "lunar eclipse" are two major astronomical phenomena. Although the ancients did not understand the reason, they have been aware of these astronomical phenomena for a long time. There has been a legend since ancient times that pregnant women cannot see "lunar eclipse". Once they see it, After the fetus is born in the abdomen, its limbs will be mutilated. This mysterious legend is not based on rumors. Even in the modern era of scientific and advanced medicine, it cannot fully explain the mystery. Babies born to pregnant women who have seen a "lunar eclipse" Nine out of ten cases are deformed and disabled, and the proportion is so high that it is difficult to understand. In the ancient understanding full of superstitious concepts, this is because "total lunar eclipse" is a "big break", and the rest are "small breaks". The moment it breaks is when the moon-yin essence is invaded by heaven and earth, and those with fetal energy will definitely feel it when they see it.

Ancient civilizations all originated from "big rivers". The Hentian clan originated from the Yellow River Basin. After crossing the sea and moving south, they still retained the ancient mythical totem worship. In addition to "shooting the sun" which symbolized war and massacre, they also pursued immortality. "Flying to the Moon", the name of the country that hates the sky, was made up by later generations of scholars based on the records on the bronze tripod during the reign of King Mu of Zhou Dynasty. It may not be accurate.

The Kingdom of Hatred used dragon fire to create an unprecedented bronze civilization. However, probably because of its excessive superstition in the legend of the elixir in the Moon Palace, the entire country devoted all its efforts to digging out the sacred trees on the seabed and forging bronze. Thousands of people felled the trees, but no one was able to do so. As a result, the ancient city sank into the sea. According to the record of the Nine-legged Giant Cauldron, there is a larger bronze cauldron at the bottom of this coral cave. It would take three deformed children injured by the "Moon Break" to be thrown into the sea. Only the giant cauldron can allow the souls of the dead to pass through the "楗木" to the moon palace where the elixir is hidden.

Shirley Yang said: "The disabled fetus caused by the lunar eclipse was called eclipse in the Shang and Zhou dynasties, and was used to refine the elixir of death. This concept was very common in ancient times. From the Yin and Shang Dynasties to the Qin and Han Dynasties, there are a large number of cultural relics with it. Relevant traces.”

I nodded and said: "The Qin and Han Dynasties were the most enthusiastic eras of seeking immortality and immortality. If you think about it, you can understand. Where was a person before his life? Where will he be after his death? This is difficult for mortals to understand. After all, life is so hurried. , black hair turns to gray in the blink of an eye. Compared with the limited time, people are of course more concerned about whether they can get eternal life in the eternal nothingness. This trend gradually faded away after the Tang and Song Dynasties, and even the emperor did not I have deceived myself. Once I walk in this world, I cannot escape birth, old age, sickness, and death. There are no immortal gods. The ancients can be forgiven for being superstitious, but we should not be superstitious. Should we throw away these three babies with missing arms and legs? After entering the big cauldron under the water, we can follow the old and young zombies and fly to the moon palace to take the elixir?"

The fat man also said: "That's right, if you put it this way, why build a moon landing rocket? Aren't the efforts of the United States and the Soviet Union all these years in vain? The ancestors of Guchai climbed trees thousands of years ago and climbed to the moon. Already..."

Uncle Ming said anxiously: "You two bastards have never believed in anything, why can't you let Miss Yang finish her words and then talk nonsense?" He then said to Shirley Yang: "Miss Yang, don't talk to these two Uncle, I trust you the most. Please tell me quickly, after we take the elixir of immortality on the moon, can we still come down? Although immortality is a very exciting thing, we still have to be able to come back. It’s better to go down there and enjoy the glory and wealth..."

Shirley Yang said: "I didn't say that you can actually climb into the moon palace from the sacred tree on the seabed. I just explained it from the patterns cast and painted on the nine-legged tripod. This burial method evolved from the legend of the undead, and it may be a part of sea burial. The giant cauldron at the bottom of the water is a mechanism. There are signs of Zhen Gua hidden in it. It seems that it can lead to undercurrents...or something else. In short, it can drag the corpse out of the sea from Guixu. I just don't know how this mechanism will work after so many years. Does it still have any effect?"

I hurriedly looked at the patterns cast on the tripod again. Indeed, as Shirley Yang said, there was a huge tripod marked with the "Zhen Gua" mechanism in the water. Looking at it now, the symbols on the top and bottom of the tripod seemed to be some kind of Once the mechanism is turned on, the seawater in this coral cave will support the huge "barbaria tree" on the sea surface. But whether this is the case, we still need to dive to find out the truth.

I suddenly thought of the tattoo on Guchai's back. Under the coral cave with zombies, there should be a shark's tomb. Deeper there is a piece of dragon bones. I wonder where the giant cauldron with the "Zhen Gua" mark is. , the "sea penetration array" passed down from generation to generation on his back hides the truth about Guixu Ancient Tomb. Perhaps it is the ancestor's hope that some descendants can return to the sea eye and officially bury the ancestor's remains, but until Guchai this Only the last "Long Hu" had the opportunity to enter this place by mistake with us. Looking at the water flow situation in this coral cave, it seems to be closed and isolated from the outside world. We don't know how deep the water under this tomb is. If the depth of the cauldron is Beyond the limit, we have no ability to reach it.

I decided that Fatty, myself, and Guchai would dive immediately to scout the location of the giant cauldron underwater to see if we could open this huge mechanism. But I knew in my heart that this was just a matter of luck, a blur from thousands of years ago. How can we keep records accurately? Besides, maybe the ancestors of these Dan people remembered what happened one after another and made up some random jokes to scare people, so I asked Shirley Yang and Uncle Ming to stay on this reef, not to worry about us, but to continue to think about it. There is another way.

Shirley Yang and I briefly discussed the diving plan, and brought Hentian's "Water Dividing Sword" for self-defense. Even if there were any accidents underwater, we should be able to cope with it. Shirley Yang said: "Don't forget, Just diving for reconnaissance, I will come back as soon as I see the big cauldron under the water..."

I knew that if she kept talking, I would have to follow her. The scuba tanks we carried were limited and we had to be cautious when moving. Therefore, when the situation was still unclear, it was impossible to dive into the water all at once, so I quickly ended her words. Lead her away and ask her to take good care of Uncle Ming and Duo Ling. The water surface is quiet and calm. It seems that the underwater situation is not dangerous. We just went down to do some reconnaissance. The information is fine, and then we eat with Guchai and Fatty. Some compressed biscuits were packed up neatly. Each person held the decomposed body of an eclipse fetus and put it into a diving bag, and then they came to the water's edge.

Through continuous actions in a short period of time, Guchai has gradually developed some tacit understanding with us. I don't need to tell him anything, and he has excellent eyesight in the dark underwater. Searching for the cauldron and confirming the route all rely on his To help, he still didn't wear scuba, his arms were bare, and he held the short dragon arc blade of the clam scraper in his mouth.

Seeing that Fatty and Guchai were ready, I pointed to my frog mirror and told them to pay attention. Then the three of them entered the water at the same time. The water in the coral cave was unfathomable and pitch black. We had lost all our underwater searchlights and only You can rely on a diving flashlight for illumination, but a few meters in front of you is already dark and unrecognizable.

The underwater space of the coral cave is deep and vast, which makes people feel at a loss for a moment. Occasionally, some aquarium animals with bioluminescent devices approach. No one can see what they are, but they pass by like meteors and disappear into the darkness. In the water, suddenly, I saw a flash of light in the darkness. Although I was underwater, it felt like I was in a sea of ​​stars. I was dazzled and took a closer look. It turned out that there were thousands of "ghost octopuses" walking back and forth under the water. When swimming around, these "ghost octopuses" can emit a blue light like a will-o'-the-wisp. They can use the blue biological light to attract small aquariums and then look for opportunities to devour them. The light emitter can also be used Scaring away the deadly enemies in the sea, they do not actively attack divers. Instead, they play a very good lighting role for us. The deeper the water, the clearer it becomes. However, the "ghost octopus" gathers and disperses, rolling up waves at the bottom of the water. The haze of light and the confusing and changing situation dazzled people.

We hugged the fossil of an ancient coral tree and took the opportunity to look around. It was too far away to see the fossils of various corals. There were large groups of crustaceans crawling rapidly in the gaps and holes. , I was about to lean down and continue diving deeper, when I suddenly discovered that the coral tree fossils next to me were like sieve holes, densely covered with countless holes. Each hole was big enough to accommodate one person. There seems to be something hidden.

I waved to Fatty and Guchai, and the three of them came closer and shined the beam of the diving flashlight in. They saw a shark's corpse lying in the cave in the body of the coral tree. The skin and flesh had been eaten away by fish. There were scattered bones left, with some scales connected to the tendons hanging on them, and the jagged fangs were exposed, looking so ferocious and terrifying. I looked at several caves one after another, and almost all of the countless caves in the coral fossils were filled. The corpse of the shark, this coral tree is the tomb of the underwater scale tribe.

I saw thousands of mermaid corpses, and I couldn't help but feel a little scared. Fortunately, they were all dead. Otherwise, how could they still be alive if they encountered such a group of evil ghosts under the water? However, the bodies of these shark-like faces have been eaten up by small fish, but the bones have not been removed. It is said that this is because they have fish beads in their heads. Clam beads are divided into sea beads and lake beads. Like fish beads, they are all in the water. The reason why fish beads have not been handed down to the world is that if they are left out of water for a long time, their essence will be lost, so they have never been as precious as clam beads.

I didn't know whether this legend was true or not. I thought that since there was a mark of the shark's tomb on Ryūdo's tattoo, it must be an extremely important place. Of course, I should see it clearly, so I gestured to the fat man, reached into the hole, and pulled it out. A shark's head, the fat man then used the "Water Dividing Sword" to stick it into the shark's eye socket. The "Water Dividing Sword" with a dark sword body actually had a dim light under the water, and it was made into a shark's vomit. The image of the blade may be the sharp weapon used to deal with the evil shark fish in the water in ancient times. Where the blade turned up, the ferocious fish head had been picked into two halves, and it turned out that there was a black bone ball the size of a walnut. , without luster. When the shark dies, the fish bead itself should also be lustrous. After preserving the bones for many years, the essence dissipates and dims. With a twist of the hand, the fish bead immediately turns into powder.

Guchai was curious about what he was looking at in the water, and he boldly stretched his arm into another cave, wanting to touch the head of a mackerel that looked like a human head and come out to see if there were any fish beads. Unexpectedly, as soon as he stretched out his hand, the tomb on the coral tree Inside, a withered claw covered with black scales silently reached out, firmly grasped his wrist, and dragged him inside.

Guchai was tightly grasped with one hand, but the other hand was holding an air snail, and he was holding a sealed bag containing the remains of the stillborn fetus in his arms. The sealed bag was always on his body, but this guy was so reckless that he didn't know how to let it go. He dropped the dead baby and took out the sharp knife in his mouth to kill himself. He just used his feet to support the coral tree and tried his best to get rid of it backwards. There was a stalemate for a while.

The fat man and I were both shocked when we saw this. Are the sharks dead in the sea? Without thinking too much, he raised his hand and swung out his sword. The "Water Dividing Sword" was so well made that he felt no resistance at all when he swung it in the water. The ancient sword fell down, and the claws protruding from the hole were immediately removed. It was waved into two parts, and a stream of dirty blood emerged immediately. Blood appeared in the water. In the rolling light waves of the "Ghost Octopus", in the dense caves of coral trees, there were countless mackerel fish covered with black scales. , like streams of black turbidity coming out.

A large number of sharks suddenly appeared from the coral fossils, like a black hurricane rolling up in the water. Some "ghost octopuses" nearby escaped a little slower, and were swallowed up by the black tide of sharks. The light waves turned into countless fleeing meteors, and in an instant, large areas of colorful coral fossils were covered in black by this turbid current. (To be continued. If you want to know what happened, please log in. There are more chapters. Support the author and genuine reading!)