Volume 5 Chapter 13: Clearing the way

It was too late when we rushed over. Pan Zi had already fallen and disappeared. There were turns in the cave, and the flashlight couldn’t reach the bottom.

I was so hot-headed that I wanted to jump in, but the fat guy was faster than me. He grabbed the rope on his feet, pulled out his saber, and jumped into the cave. I wanted to jump in after him, but Hua monk pulled me back, saying that the diameter was too small, and even if you jumped in, you wouldn’t be able to fight your way out. If it worked, Fat Boy could save the person by himself, but if it didn’t work, you would be dead if you jumped in.

I coughed and looked into the hole, but I couldn’t see anything. I could only hear Fat Boy’s voice as he kept slipping down. The rope above was quickly pulled into the hole, and I couldn’t help but be anxious.

After a minute, the rope suddenly stopped, and then there was a vibration from the end of the rope. Then the fat man suddenly yelled from deep below: “Pull the rope!”

We quickly pulled the rope, desperately pulling it up. Soon, the fat man appeared, dragging Pan Zi, who was still kicking his feet. Obviously, the corpse still hadn’t let go.

Chen Pi A Si told us to move aside, and he frowned, took out a handful of iron bullets, and shot one at Pan Zi’s ankle. He hit the corpse’s head hard, and the corpse screamed and let go. But as soon as it let go, it wanted to rush up again.

Chen Pi A Si didn’t give it a chance. Another iron bullet hit it and knocked it over. It rolled down again.

We took the opportunity to pull them both out of the hole, and the others immediately moved away from the hole. Hua Monk swung his shovel and waited on the side. Sure enough, it didn’t take long for the thing to suddenly shoot up again. Hua Monk “bang” shot it down alive, and we heard a scream and quickly fell to the depths of the cave.

The fat man was pale, panting and saying to Pan Zi, “Did you see that? It seems that your wife still likes you more.”

Pan Zi was scared stiff and waved his hand, “No more talk, we’re even.” He then asked Hua Monk, “Is this hole the nest of the corpse fetus? If so, I’ll blow it up and let it reincarnate soon.”

Hua Monk waved his hand, “No, the corpse fetus is not an animal, so where would there be a nest? This hole is really strange. When you fell in just now, what did you see inside?”

The fat guy said, “I didn’t bring a flashlight, so I couldn’t see anything, but I felt a few stone slabs, so this hole must have been artificially dug.”

Artificially dug? Hua looked a little concerned, and I also turned my attention back to the big hole.

The hole looked a little like a well, and it was a little fucking deep. I thought it was an abandoned well, but it wasn’t. The diameter of the well was a bit too big. It was impossible for a well to be drilled to this extent at the time. There were traces of excavation on the edge of the well, and it wasn’t a natural volcanic lava hole. I took a look, and the corpse inside was gone. It looked like it had fallen inside. I don’t know if it had been killed by Hua. This thing is not very powerful, except that it looks a bit scary.

The walls of the well were originally inlaid with some stone slabs, but later they were gone, and they were very uneven, a bit like the inner wall of a human duodenum. There was a slight smell of dampness, and when I stuck my head in a few meters, it was pitch black inside. I didn’t know where it led to.

The fat man looked strangely and said, “It’s a bit like a cellar in the northeast? It’s not the place where the craftsmen used to pickle cabbage when they built this spirit palace.”

The monk didn’t pay any attention to him, but felt the hole with his hand: “The wind is blowing from here. This well is not solid, so it must lead somewhere.”

The fat man asked, “Could it be the back door to the palace of the heavens and the palace of the earth, the secret passage between the three dragons you mentioned?”

I said softly, “The three-dragon plot has already been proven to be false, and even if it were true, the secret passage should be in the palace of the earth, so how could it be here?”

The fat man said, “You don’t understand. This is a diversionary tactic. Didn’t Chairman Mao say that the most dangerous place is the safest place? Maybe this is the ‘barking’ strategy.

The fat guy couldn’t remember Wang Zanghai’s name, so he just gave him a nickname. I almost laughed when I heard it. I said angrily, “Please show some respect. After all, Wang Zanghai is a master of this school. You have to call him the ancestor when you meet him. And that’s not what Chairman Mao said. It’s what Chu Liuxiang said.

The fat man said, “Don’t give me any ancestor worship. What ancestor? If he recognized me, I wouldn’t recognize him. Let’s not talk about this. What should we do with this hole? Should we go in and take a look? Maybe I’m right. That corpse fetus will be a scourge in the future. If it makes a nest in this hole, it might harm people. Let’s go down and kill it.”

The monk Hua shook his head and said it was impossible: “Since the Dragon Throne is fake, there is no need to dig through the three mountains. This makes sense. They simply don’t have the manpower or energy to do such a huge project. Building a palace on the top of the mountain is already a challenge. This hole is here, and I’m afraid there is a lot of knowledge.

I saw his eyes light up a little, and he obviously had an idea. I let him speak, so that everyone could discuss it.

The monk Hua said, ”I just have a preliminary idea. You may not believe it when I say it.”

The fat man said, “It’s okay, just say it first. If there’s a mistake, the comrades will help you correct it.”

Huashan laughed and nodded, “Okay, then I’ll talk about it. Let’s not talk about anything else for now. Let’s just say that the opening of this hole is located in this area below the spirit hall, which is very intriguing. If you think about it, the opening of this hole here must be for concealment purposes, and the wind blowing out of it shows that this hole is a passage to somewhere. some of the traces of excavation are all counter-chiseling, which means that the hole was dug from the inside, not from here. According to our experience, we can deduce that this may be a tunnel, possibly a way out for the tomb builders to escape if the tomb was sealed.

I was surprised: “A tunnel? No way. So there is still a crypt underneath? Although this is not the Three-Headed Dragon, it was still built as a burial mausoleum?”

Hua Monk shook his head: “It’s unlikely. We didn’t find the entrance to the crypt under the sealing stone. If there is an entrance to the crypt, it must be there. If there is no entrance, there is definitely no crypt. This is an unchanging truth. Building the entrance outside the feng shui position is very bad for the master.”

The fat man said, “This person is very eccentric. Maybe he built the entrance somewhere else.”

The monk waved his hand and said, “Don’t think so complicated. Wang Zanghai still has limitations of the times. If he doesn’t even follow the burial scriptures and does whatever he wants, we would die a thousand times.”

I thought so too. If he doesn’t even follow the burial scriptures, then there is no need to look at the feng shui. Like Genghis Khan, he just dug a hole in a random place and buried him there. No one has found it yet. I asked him, “Since there is no underground palace, where do you think this tunnel leads to?”

Master Hua said, “By elimination, first, this tunnel is built under the fake tomb, so it must be related to the craftsmen of the Yunding Palace; second, where else in the vicinity could such a tunnel be built? There is no doubt that it is only the underground palace of the Yunding Palace! Therefore, my conclusion is that the tunnel was most likely dug all the way from the underground palace at the foot of the Three Saints Mountain.

I immediately exclaimed, “How is that possible? It’s too far away. If they really wanted to dig a tunnel as a back-up route, they wouldn’t have dug it all the way here. They could have simply dug it all the way up to the Three Saints Mountain. Wouldn’t that have saved a lot of effort? And how long would it take to dig such a long tunnel in the mountains? Could humans even accomplish such a project?”

Huashan explained: “A project as large as the Yunding Palace would have taken at least 60 or 70 years to complete in ancient times, or even several generations. I think it’s not impossible that the craftsmen secretly dug a tunnel out of the palace knowing that they would eventually die. As for why they would dig the tunnel’s exit so far away on another mountain, they must have had their own reasons. We’ll go down and take a look, and we’ll definitely find out.”

Ye Cheng, who had been listening, asked: “Monk, are you sure about this idea of yours?”

Hua Monk paused for a moment and said, “To be honest, I don’t dare say, but I think it’s worth a try. It’s better than going out and running another trip. Now all the signs indicate that this is a tunnel. If I’m wrong, then it’s somewhere else. It’s not a bad thing to enter. We haven’t seen this kind of tunnel before, so there shouldn’t be any danger. No one would set up traps on their way to escape.

I thought about it, and Hua’s words were very attractive. First, the feng shui here is too chaotic, and I can’t make out what Chen Pi and A-si are saying. I’m not interested in whether the feng shui here is good or bad. Second, I don’t know how Ning and the others are doing on the other side. We’ve already wasted a lot of time, and we still don’t know the purpose of Third Uncle’s “going underground” arrangement. If we lose everything because of this round trip, I’m really sorry to him.

Another consideration is that Shunzi probably knows what we are doing now, and he is standing quietly on the side without saying a word. But this person is not stupid. I have been watching him, and I have never seen his hand leave his knife for more than two feet. This shows that this person is already on guard against us. Once this person returns to the village, who knows what he will do? Maybe he will sell us right away. Chen Pi A Four must have considered this. If we have to go back to the mountains, the first thing we must do before entering the village is to kill him or buy him off with a large sum of money. At that time, we will not be able to find a guide. If you go to the snow mountain once and come back by yourself, who will take us in again if the guide does not come back? Second, there may not be many people in the village who can take people to the snow mountain.

After discussing it among themselves, they couldn’t agree on a plan. Ye Cheng was afraid that the corpse would definitely not agree to go down, Pan Zi also felt that it was strange, and the fat man and I thought that we could try it. Hua Monk went to ask Chen Pi A Si, saying, “Old man, shall we try one move?”

Chen Pi A Si had been sitting there with his eyes closed listening to us. Hua Monk asked him several times, but for some reason, he didn’t react at all, as if he was asleep.

The fat man couldn’t hold back any longer and went to pat him and said, “Old man, say something, don’t pretend to be cool here.” After a push, Chen Pi A Si shook a bit, but still didn’t open his eyes.

When Hua Monk saw this, his face changed, and he ran up and grabbed the old man’s hand.

When everyone heard this, they all froze for a moment. Dead? How could that be? He was fine just a few minutes ago. But as soon as we saw the fat man’s face, the sweat on the monk’s forehead, and the lack of response from Chen Pi A Si, we all realized that something was wrong, and everyone immediately surrounded him.

The old man on the side seemed to be rigid, with his eyes closed and sitting motionless, like an ice sculpture.

I touched Chen Pi A Si’s wrist, but I couldn’t feel the pulse at all. I just felt that his skin was dry and astringent, and it was horribly cold. And the flesh inside seemed to be stiff.

Could it be that he was really dead? I was horrified. While we were examining the pit, Chen Pi A Si was sitting here, and his heart had stopped beating?

Although this is very consistent with the way hypothermia kills, hypothermia requires at least 20 minutes at a low temperature before the person actually dies. We had only been sitting for less than five minutes, so how could he suddenly die? This doesn’t make sense.

I still had a glimmer of hope. Fat Man was not a reliable person. He had only touched Chen Pi A Si’s neck and judged that death was too hasty. It was possible that he had only suffered from shock. He had run too fast just now. How could a 90-year-old man possibly have withstood it?

However, Hua Monk frowned, opened the old man’s eyes, and shone a flashlight at the back. His face became more and more ugly. Finally, he glanced back at Ye Cheng and shook his head.

Hua Monk had some medical knowledge, and when he shook his head, we all gasped in shock, knowing that we were right. He was really dead.

Pan Zi asked softly, “What happened? How did he die?”

Hua Monk sighed. I don’t know if he didn’t know or didn’t want to talk, but he suddenly slumped to the ground with a gloomy face. Fat Man then pulled Pan Zi and said, “At this age, it doesn’t matter how he dies.”

I couldn’t help but sigh. It’s true that for a ninety-year-old man, coming here is really too much of a strain. It’s understandable that this kind of thing would happen by accident. Chen Pi A Si probably didn’t expect that he would die like this. It’s also his retribution.

My grandfather died suddenly like this in the end. I was eating at the time, and a minute before he asked me to get him some wine, and a minute later he was gone. My father said that many grave robbers die in this way when they get old because they were exposed to a lot of grave gas in their early years, and it’s a good thing, because this is the most comfortable way to die.

We were all a bit at a loss. On the one hand, Chen Pi A Si was their leader, and now that he was dead, it made no sense for Ye Cheng and Hua Monk to stay here. Second, we got a big bargain, arriving here smoothly, but now that Chen Pi A-si is dead and the Mung Oil Bottle is not here, it’s not going to be easy to rely on Fat Man and Pan Zi to take us.

Just as I was thinking fast, Chen Pi A-si suddenly shuddered. I was startled and thought it was a reflexive movement of the corpse. Who knew that “pop” my neck was grabbed by him, and at the same time he suddenly straightened up and opened his eyes.

We were all shocked, and Ye Cheng fell five or six meters. Fat Man and Pan Zi also retreated, and Fat Man exclaimed in alarm, “A corpse is coming to life!”

I quickly tried to break free, but the old man’s withered, branch-like hands were extremely strong, like a pair of pliers, and I couldn’t even move. I hurriedly coughed and yelled, “Get… the hooves, quickly!”

Before he could finish his sentence, Chen Pi A Si suddenly loosened my neck, pushed me, and scolded, “What are you talking about?”

My mind was already confused, so I quickly retreated behind the fat man, but the fat man wouldn’t let me pass. At this time, I suddenly thought, no, a corpse can’t talk. I looked at Chen Pi A Si again, and it was obvious that his spirit had come back, and his breathing had returned.

We looked at Chen Pi A Si with a puzzled look, not knowing what had happened just now. The fat man was even more puzzled, staring at Chen Pi A Si with his eyes wide open. But all of a sudden, Chen Pi A Si seemed to have returned to normal, and there was no sign that his pulse had stopped beating just now. It seemed that what we had seen just then was all an illusion.

Hua Monk was stunned for a long time before he reacted, asking, “Are you all right, old man? What did you just do?

Chen Pi Asu seemed to have no idea that he had just died, looked at him inexplicably, lit a cigarette, and said, “What?”

Hua Monk looked at Chen Pi Asu’s expression and was a little dizzy, not knowing what to say.

Chen Pi Asu looked at him coldly and said, “Don’t worry, old man, I’m not going to die so easily.”

I looked at Chen Pi’s expression and tone, which were no different from before, and it didn’t seem like he was possessed by a ghost. Suddenly, I felt that I had been fooled by him. But why would he play such a trick at his age?

Chen Pi suddenly “resurrected,” and no one reacted at first. But looking at him, we couldn’t bring ourselves to put him down and dissect him to see what was going on. I gradually began to suspect that perhaps Hua and the fat man had made a mistake. It is difficult to feel the pulse of an elderly person, and the two barefoot doctors may not have felt it in the right place at all. And Chen Pi A Si is old, and it is normal for him to occasionally get lost in thought.

Everyone was puzzled, but they couldn’t show it.

Although Huasheng was puzzled, he put his mind at ease when he saw that Chen Pi A-si was fine. He then repeated what we had just discussed. Chen Pi A-si looked at the ice cave for a while and said, “It makes sense. It seems worth a try.”