Merchant of the Underworld

"It's very possible." The man in the T-shirt nodded, then turned to the bearded police sergeant who had been guarding the door and said, "Let's go to Huba Village and have a look."

Soon, the two police cars left the alley and continued along the mountain road.

The police chief introduced to us: "Huba Village is a local indigenous village in Hong Kong. It is extremely remote. People in the village rarely interact with the outside world. It is said to have a history of thousands of years. Some extremely ancient traditional customs are still preserved to this day. Such as archery and worshiping the water god.”

"Thousands of years?" I was quite surprised when I heard this.

Chinese civilization has a long history, spanning five thousand years. But it has always been centered on the Central Plains. Even coastal cities have been sparsely populated for a long time, let alone Hong Kong. How can there be a village that has existed for thousands of years?

The police chief heard the surprise in my tone and smiled: "It is said that the village has been around since the Qin Dynasty. Later, experts visited it and found that there are indeed some relics of the Qin Empire."

When he said this, I became even more suspicious. Could it be that the water monster in the river really had something to do with this ancient village?

After walking along the mountain road for more than an hour, the police car stopped at the foot of a hill.

The mountain is not high, but very steep. Yihong Mountain Spring winds around the hill for most of a circle, and then runs into the distance.

"This is the source of the river where the accident occurred!" the police chief introduced, flipping through the map in his hand.

We got out of the car and walked slowly along the rugged mountain road. After walking for a long time, we turned around a lush crop field and suddenly saw a small village in front of us.

This place is surrounded by mountains, towering abruptly like a huge bowl, and the village is located at the bottom of the bowl.

The village is not big, with only twenty or thirty households at most. The houses are also very dilapidated and mostly made of local materials and piled stones. At first glance, it looks no different from the small stone village built by the Buyi people. No one would have thought that such a simple village is located in Hong Kong, the most prosperous area in Asia.

Dang, Dang, Dang!

A group of us had just walked halfway along the path when a very clear bell rang very suddenly.

"What's going on? Could it be that this village is extremely xenophobic and will ring the bell as a warning whenever an outsider enters?" I felt very strange, but after all, there were several police officers accompanying me, so I wasn't too scared.

clang! clang!

The bell continued to ring, and the sound went away, hitting the surrounding mountains, and echoes kept coming.

We followed the mountain road and stepped onto a high ground in front of the village. We immediately saw the whole village clearly, and at the same time we saw a very strange sight!

There is a high platform in the center of the small village. Under the platform are densely packed hundreds of people kneeling. Everyone is extremely devout and motionless, with their heads bowed deeply. On the stage stood a wrinkled old lady, wearing a robe embroidered with strange patterns and a strange pointed hat on her head. She was holding a black cane and was chanting something loudly.

Her tone of voice was high and low, very strange, like a medieval witch chanting some spell.

clang!

There was another crisp bell, and she put down her crutches and stretched out her hand forward.

A woman kneeling in the last row quickly got up, holding a screaming baby in her arms, and walked up to the high platform step by step.

The old lady raised her arms to the sky, as if she was praying for something?

Then he took something out of his pocket and put it around the baby's neck with great solemnity.

"This thing should be the amulet that Grandma Hu said, right?" I thought to myself.

The man in the T-shirt glanced at me and said, "What kind of ceremony do you think this is like?"

"Ritual?" When he mentioned the word 'ritual', a word immediately popped into my mind.

"Crown!" I blurted out.

"Not bad." The man in the T-shirt nodded.

Speaking of ancient rituals, in addition to the emperor's enthronement and proclamation of ancestors, the most solemn was the ennobling and crowning of generals.

Whenever a general returns triumphantly, this ceremony is indispensable. The old lady's movements and clothes seemed strange just now, but when I think about it again, it is indeed very similar to the ancient coronation.

Strangely enough, after the baby put on the pendant, he immediately stopped crying and started giggling instead.

It was the first time for several police officers to see such a scene, and the expressions on their faces were very strange.

The man in the T-shirt and I looked at each other, each feeling a little more solemn.

This ritual has long been lost in mainland China, but it has been continued from generation to generation in remote villages in Hong Kong. And that seemingly simple pendant contains a mysterious power that can not only stop children from crying, but even the water monsters in the river are afraid of it.

It seems that we have come to the right place in Huba Village!

Seeing that the ceremony was over and the villagers in the audience dispersed, a group of us approached.

The bearded police sergeant led the policeman who could speak local dialects to lead the way. I wonder what he said to the witch who presided over the ceremony just now? The witch looked at us, hesitated for a moment, and then nodded.

Immediately, the police officer who knew the local dialect translated: "Chief Chu, this grandma is the village's priest. They were praying for the newborn just now. If you want to know anything, just ask!"

The man in the T-shirt walked two steps forward: "Grandma, I just saw that your ceremony was very ancient. It seemed to be a coronation ceremony in ancient times. I wonder if there is any history in it?"

When the witch heard this, she looked at us again, and then slowly said something.

The police officer quickly translated: "You have good eyesight. This is indeed a commemoration of the moment when our ancestors were granted the title."

"Our ancestors were the kings of the Great Qin Empire, and were ordered to sit in this land and water. Although our ancestors have passed away, their heroic spirits are still there. As long as we wear this ancestral stone amulet, we can protect our people from disasters, disease, and longevity."

"It's the pendant again!" When I heard this, I couldn't help but take two steps forward: "Grandma, is this pendant also left by your ancestors?"

"At the beginning, Qin Shihuang ordered our ancestors to lead 3,000 naval troops to guard the sea areas, and personally gave him the three characters 'King of the South Sea'. Our ancestors carved these characters on the rocks on the top of the mountain. But later, when the Qin Dynasty fell, the rocks also exploded at the same time. Then our ancestors had dreams. , let us make a pendant from the mountain stone, hanging it on the chest to keep safe, this custom has been passed down from generation to generation." the witch replied.

"Qin Shihuang? King of Nanhai?" My heart suddenly shook.

"Grandma, can you take us to see that big rock on the top of the mountain?" the man in the T-shirt asked.

The witch refused very decisively: "The ancestral stone has been hidden by us. People outside the village cannot see it, but you can visit the ancestral temple."

"That's fine." The man in the T-shirt said solemnly, "Thank you so much, grandma."

The ancestral temple of Huba Village is built at the foot of the mountain. Although Huba Village is poor, the temple is extremely grand! Fully half of the hill was hollowed out, and a row of colorful stone pillars stood outside. The entrance of the cave was engraved with four large golden characters, "Nanhai Wang Temple".