Chapter 45: Eclipse of the Sky

Just when I hesitated to reach into the water to "grope" for a while, Shirley Yang, who inspected the pattern of the tripod body, had already discovered, she asked me to squat down to see the pattern cast on the tripod, I looked at it according to what she said, only to see that the tripod body was divided into eight sides, all of which had yin marks, and it seemed that the copper had been embedded with gold wires, and the gold had been taken off for a long time, forming a piece of sunken figures, showing in detail the situation of the burial of the hated heaven after his death.

We only looked at a small half, and then suddenly realized, 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 it has not yet reached the moment of "running to the moon for eternal life", the ancient city on the island fell into the sea, and the surviving remnants were scattered like stars, and became the "Tan people" who lived on the sea by pearling and whaling.

I was about to turn to look at the back of the copper tripod, but I heard Uncle Ming greet me in front of the mouth of the whalebone fossil, so I had to turn around and take a few steps back, and asked him what was the matter with this old and unproductive man? Uncle Ming wiped the sweat from his head and said to me, "Have you noticed that in the stomachs of these stiff women in the tomb, there are some dead children with missing arms and legs?" ”

It turned out that Uncle Ming and the others were guarding fearfully outside the whalebone, and saw that the corpses lined up in the tomb were covered under the skin of the scales, as if a large quilt was closed, and it was very unusual for the dragon to be wrapped in bulging bags, and he thought that the five corpses that had not been transformed for thousands of years had burial goods, even if they didn't take it, they opened it and took a few looks, those antiquities that have been preserved in the ruins for thousands of years are extraordinary, even if it is good to just open the eyes.

Who knew that when I opened the "dragon cover", I found that the three female corpses in the center were all tragically broken when they were pregnant before their deaths, and the fetus in the belly was shaped, not to mention eight or nine months in size, but they were all ripped out alive and placed on the open belly of the female corpse, and the abdomen of the corpse was stuffed with a round stone called "cold jade", the cheeks were slightly bulging, the mouth was filled with pearls, and the abdominal cavity of the corpse was stuffed with things, so it still seemed to be bulging and swollen, as if it was about to give birth.

The dead baby doesn't seem to have done anything, but with the help of the cold jade and the "Zhuyan Pearl" in the female corpse under him, the shape is still there, and the charred black "color" plate is made into a ball, which looks like the hair is all hairy, and then carefully shine with a flashlight, these three dead babies are either missing an arm or a leg, and it seems that they are all congenital deformities.

Uncle Ming was taken aback, I'm afraid there is something weird in this? In the past, among the tomb robbers who "carried the corpse", there was a rumor of child ghosts and fetal ghosts, and there were tomb owners who deliberately hid fetuses that died unjustly in the tomb, and any tomb robbers stole the tomb utensils, or damaged the tomb owner's body, they would be entangled by the little ghosts, and they would not be able to live day and night, and sooner or later they would be killed to "sexually", so Uncle Ming saw that the situation was not good, and hurriedly beckoned me to see if this hated Tian's family had raised a little ghost in the tomb.

When I heard this, I immediately inspected several stiff people covered by the "dragon skin", and as expected, the three dead babies who had been pulled out seemed to still retain the posture of painful struggle at the end of their lives, but one of their limbs, or arms or legs, was missing, and it was not as if they had been cruelly amputated, but because of congenital deformities, if you looked closely, you could distinguish the human hands as small as rat's paws, and for some reason, they did not develop and grow with the rest of the body.

There are few things about ghosts in the tomb, only in some remote areas in the south, most of the craftsmen who have never seen the inverted bucket in their lives, the east and west of Guangdong, but there are a lot of such legends, at the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, there are a group of tomb robbers who are active in the two Guangxi regions, doing the tomb robbers who carry the corpse and turning over the kiln, and some of them really have people who carry the ghost home from the tomb, and they have killed their "sexual" lives, which are all modern things, not some nonsense, it can be seen that this is a regional "sexual" quality is a relatively strong custom, And it is said that it only began to appear in the Ming and Qing dynasties, Guangdong and Guangxi are located in a remote area, and it was not until the Ming and Qing dynasties that the cultural economy was able to develop, so no one can verify where the tradition of hiding ghosts in the tomb to prevent robbery came from.

But this kind of thing is extremely rare in the rest of the provinces, and it may not come from the ancient law, how can there be such an evil art in the ruins of "Guiru", which is thousands of years ago? But why did these babies who are about to be born fall victim to this poison? The other three are all deformed, congenital disabilities, and some of them are too coincidental, and we are in danger, so we can't say that we don't believe in evil and ghostly theories, but some things really have to be guarded against.

Thinking of this, I already had the heart to destroy the corpse, so I asked Uncle Ming and the others what to do? Uncle Ming has always believed in some old things handed down by his ancestors, and when he heard me ask about the countermeasures, he hurriedly said: "At this time, let's not be merciful, otherwise even if we return to the sea, at least three people will have the imps on their backs, why should there be ghosts in the ancient tomb?" Because the fetus has been formed, the reincarnated lonely soul and wild ghost has been attached to it, at this time from the pregnant "woman" belly dug out alive, those little ghosts covet their own remains, so they refuse to leave, the fetal death of the little ghosts is the most narrow, vicious, they see the living, do not entangle people to death will never be finished, so according to Uncle I see, one does not do, two endless, the remains of the thieves are cremated, it is the best policy. ”

Uncle Ming slapped the mermaid lamp candle in his hand as he spoke, his face was extremely ugly under the candlelight, thinking that it was taboo to carry the little ghost home from the bones, and the fat man also babbled to light the fire, but before burning the corpse, it was best to pick out everything in the dead man's mouth first, otherwise it would be corrupt and wasted.

I looked at Gu Chai, the kid was stunned, he hadn't figured out what his "dragon household" had to do with the ancient tomb under the sea, and he didn't care about setting fire to the corpses of these dead babies, and Duo Ling's courage was the youngest in this group, and he didn't dare to come over to see the zombies in the whalebone.

Judging from my past experience, the matter of carrying a little ghost is rather credible, not credible, the dead baby in the tomb must have something strange, rather than let the trouble come to the door, it is better to burn it in advance, why bother to trace the source and find out what is going on, so I was ruthless and nodded to Uncle Ming, Uncle Ming took the fat man Guchai and others to hug up, and then took the "Zhuyan Pearl" first, and then put the "fire".

Everyone was just about to make a move, but was stopped by Shirley Yang, she was always looking at the nine-legged tripod, heard our side discussing the fire to burn the zombies in the tomb, hurriedly asked Uncle Ming and others to stop, she said that from the tomb to carry out the little ghost, there are similar rumors among the mountain movers, these are the folk magic that has only appeared in the mountains in the past two or three hundred years, how can there be in the ruins? And I have never heard of a ghost hidden in the tomb, deliberately to choose a deformed and disabled fetus, can this be true in the world? Blazing it on fire will really cause trouble.

We were all speechless by her, and the shortage of fetal limbs was extremely strange and incomprehensible, after all, no one had really seen how the ancient tomb where the ghost of the child was hidden was arranged.

Shirley Yang said: "The Hate Heaven Clan has cast this matter on the Nine-Foot Ding, and if we want to escape from this coral cave wreck at the bottom of the sea, we are afraid that we will have to count on these zombies in the South China Sea." ”

When everyone heard that they had a plan, they were all moved, and Uncle Ming was so excited that his eyes were blurred with tears: "Miss Yang, your uncle is old and his brain is a little dull, do you mean that these ancient corpses can take us back?" I don't know what to do? I hope to make it clear, so as to relieve my foolishness......"

Shirley Yang asked everyone to see the back of the "Nine-Legged Ding", it turned out that the coral cave that was deep under the ruins and isolated from the outside world was not an ancient tomb, and the fetus was missing feet and arms, which was actually related to the "lunar eclipse" that occurred in ancient times, the five ancient corpses covered with dragon skin in the whalebone, one old and one young were all the deceased who were about to be buried in the coffin, and the three pregnant "women" who were dissected were unfortunately seen "lunar eclipse", and were used as sacrifices for burial.

"Solar eclipse" and "lunar eclipse" are two major astronomical phenomena, although the ancients did not know the reason, but the understanding of these astronomical anomalies has a long history, there is a legend since ancient times, pregnant "women" can not see "lunar eclipse", once seen, after the birth of the fetus in the womb, the limbs must be mutilated, this kind of legend full of mysterious "color" color, is not chasing the wind and catching shadows, even in the modern era of science and medicine, can not completely explain the mystery, have seen the "lunar eclipse" of the pregnant "woman" born of the baby, nine times out of ten are deformed and disabled, The proportion is incomprehensible, and in the ancient understanding full of "superstitious" beliefs, this is due to the "total lunar eclipse" is a "big break", and the rest is a "small break", the moment of the moon breaking is the moon yin essence is invaded by heaven and earth, and those with fetal qi must feel it when they see it.

Ancient civilizations are all originated from the "big river", hating the sky is originated in the Yellow River Valley, after crossing the sea and moving south, it still retains the ancient mythological totem worship, in addition to symbolizing the war and slaughter of the "shooting" day, there is also the pursuit of immortality "running to the moon", the name of the country of hating the sky, is the later scholars according to the records on the copper tripod of the Zhou Mu Dynasty made up, may not be accurate.

The country of hatred of the sky took dragon fire and created an unprecedented bronze civilization, but probably because of the excessive "superstition" of the legend of the immortal "medicine" in the Moon Palace, the power of the whole country was poured into excavating the sacred wood at the bottom of the sea and forging bronze, and ten thousand people cut down wood, but no one ascended to heaven, resulting in the ancient city sinking into the sea of the Moon Palace.

Shirley Yang said: "The disabled fetus caused by the lunar eclipse, which was called the eclipse of heaven in the Shang and Zhou dynasties, was the 'medicine' of refining the 'medicine' of immortality, and this concept was very common in ancient times, from the Yin Shang to the Qin and Han dynasties, there are a large number of cultural relics with traces related to it." ”

I nodded and said: "During the Qin and Han dynasties, it was the era when I was most enthusiastic about seeking immortality and seeking immortality. Where is it after death? This is difficult for mortals to understand, after all, life is in a hurry, in a blink of an eye, the green silk turned gray, compared to the limited time, of course, people pay more attention to the eternal nothingness, whether they can get eternal life, this trend to the Tang and Song dynasties slowly faded, even the emperor Lao'er refused to deceive himself, to the world once you can not escape life, old age, sickness and death, where there will be immortal immortals, the ancients "superstition" can be forgiven, our "superstition" is too undeserved, is it to throw these three babies with few arms and legs into the bottom of the water, Can we follow these old and young stiff people and fly to the Moon Palace together to eat immortal "medicine"? ”

The fat man also said: "That's it, if you want to say that, then why build a moon rocket?" Isn't it in vain that the United States and the Soviet Union have been busy for so many years, and the ancestors of Guchai have climbed to the moon thousands of years ago by climbing trees......"

Uncle Ming hurriedly said: "You two decrepit boys have always believed in nothing, so you can't let Miss Yang finish talking and you blow water?" He said to Shirley Yang again: "Miss Yang, don't be like these two decrepit boys, Uncle I believe in you the most, you can go on and say, can we come down after taking the immortal 'medicine' on the moon?" Although this immortality is a very cool thing, it is still necessary to be able to return to the bottom and enjoy the glory and wealth......"

Shirley Yang said: "I didn't say that I could really climb into the Moon Palace from the sacred tree under the sea, I just explained from the pattern cast on the nine-legged tripod, this kind of burial method evolved from the legend of immortality, may be a kind of sea burial, the giant tripod under the water is a mechanism, which is hidden in the mark of the hexagram, which seems to be able to lead to undercurrent...... Or is it something else, in short, it can drag the corpse out of the ruins out of the sea, but I don't know if this mechanism is still useful after so many years? ”

I hurriedly looked at the pattern cast on the tripod, as Shirley Yang said, there is a giant tripod marked with a "seismic hexagram" mechanism in the water, and now it seems that the symbol of the earthquake and the earthquake seems to be some kind of mechanism, once opened, the sea water in this coral cave will hold the huge "楥木" to the sea, but whether this is the case, we still need to dive down to find out the truth.

I suddenly thought of the tattoo behind Gu Chai, under the coral cave with zombies, it should be the tomb of the shark "cave", and then deep is a dragon remains, I don't know where the giant tripod with the "Zhen Hexagram" mark is, he has the "Penetrating Sea Array" passed down from generation to generation, hiding the truth of the ancient tomb of Guixu, maybe it is the ancestors who hope that their descendants can return to the sea eye and officially bury the remains of their ancestors, but it is not until the last "dragon household" of Gu Chai, that he has the opportunity to stray into this place with us to see the water flow situation in this coral cave, It seems to be closed and isolated from the outside world, and we don't know how deep the water under this tomb is, and if the depth of the Dading is beyond the limit, we will not be able to reach it.

I decided that it would be up to me, the fat man, and the three of them to dive down immediately, and first reconnoiter the location of the underwater giant to see if we could open this huge mechanism, but I knew that this was just a stroke of luck, and the vague records from thousands of years ago, how could it be done accurately? Besides, maybe the ancestors of these Tan people remembered that one play was another, and they made up some kind of joke to bluff people, so I asked Shirley Yang and Uncle Ming to stay on this reef, not to worry about us, and to continue to think of other ways.

I briefly discussed the diving plan with Shirley Yang, and brought the "water splitting sword" of the Hate Tian clan to defend himself, even if there is an accident underwater, it should be enough to deal with it, Shirley Yang said: "You must not forget, it's just diving reconnaissance, as soon as you see the underwater Dading, you will come back immediately......"

I knew that if she continued, she should follow herself, we have limited scuba to carry, and we must have reservations when acting, so when the situation is still unclear, it is impossible to go into the water all at once, so I quickly diverted her words away, and asked her to take care of Uncle Ming and Duo Ling, the water surface is silent, it seems that the underwater situation is not dangerous, we just go down to reconnoitre, and it doesn't hurt, and then eat some compressed biscuits with Gu Chai and the fat man, and each of them cleaned up neatly, and each hugged a fetalized skeleton that had eclipse the sky, Put it in your carry-on dive bag and make it to the water's edge.

In a short period of continuous action, so that Gu Chai has gradually developed some tacit understanding with us, I don't need to tell him anything, and he has excellent vision under the dark water, and he relies on his help to search for Dading and confirm the route, he still has no scuba, bare-chested, and the dragon arc short blade of the mouth is scraped by the egg man.

When I saw that the fat man and Guchai were ready, I pointed to my frog mirror with my hand and told them to pay attention, and then the three of them entered the water at the same time, the water in the coral cave was unfathomable, it was pitch black, and our underwater searchlight was exhausted, and we could only rely on a diving flashlight to illuminate it, and a few meters in front of us, it was dark and unrecognizable.

The underwater space of the coral cave is deep and wide, people are overwhelmed for a while, occasionally some aquarists with bioluminescence devices approached, no one saw what it was, it has passed by like a meteor, disappeared in the dark water, suddenly, only to see a light flashing in the dark, although I was under the water, but it was like being in the sea of stars, I was dazzled and fixed at a glance, it turned out to be thousands of tens of thousands of "ghost worms", swimming back and forth under the water, these "ghost worms" can emit a ghost-like blue "color" light all over the body, You can use the dark blue "color" biological light to attract small aquarium approach, and then look for an opportunity to devour it, the luminaire can also be used to scare off the dead enemies in the sea, but they do not actively attack divers, but they play a good role in lighting for us, the deeper the water quality is, the clearer the water, but the "ghost cricket" flickering and scattering, rolling up waves of light and mist at the bottom of the water, "blurring" and changing the situation, making people dazzled "chaos".

We hugged the fossil of an ancient coral tree, and took the opportunity to look around, too far away to see, all kinds of coral fossils in front of us, and there were large groups of crustaceans crawling rapidly in the crevices and holes, I was about to lean down and continue to dive deeper, when I suddenly found that the coral tree fossils next to me were like sieve holes, densely covered with innumerable holes, each cave was the size of one person, and there seemed to be something hidden inside.

I waved to the fat man and Gu Chai, the three of them came closer, and the beam of the diving flashlight shone into it, only to see the corpse of a merman lying in the cave of the coral tree, the skin and flesh have been eaten by the fish, only the bones are scattered, there are some scales connected to the tendons hanging on it, and the jagged fangs are "exposed", which looks so hideous and terrifying, and I looked at several caves one after another, countless caves in the coral number fossils, almost all of them are full of mermaid corpses, this coral tree is the tomb of the scale tribe under the sea.

When I saw the corpses of thousands of sharks, I couldn't help but feel a little frightened, fortunately they were all dead, otherwise if I met such a group of evil ghosts under the water, where would I still have my life? However, the faces and bodies of these mermaids have been eaten by small fish, but the bones have not been melted, it is rumored that this is due to the fact that they have fish beads in their brains, mussel beads are divided into sea pearls and lake beads, and fish beads are the same, are rare things in the water, the reason why fish beads have not been handed down in the world, because it has been out of the water for a long time, its essence is lost, so it has always been not as precious as mussel beads.

I don't know if this legend is true or not, I have pondered that since there is a mark of the merman's tomb "hole" on the dragon family tattoo, it must be an extremely important place, and it should be understood of course, so he made a gesture to the fat man, reached into the hole, and pulled out the head of a merman, and the fat man followed with the "water sword" into the merman's eye socket and picked it up, the sword body was dark and heavy "water sword", there was a layer of dim light under the water, and the image of the shark spitting blade may be the sharp weapon to deal with the evil ghost shark under the water in ancient times, the sword blade turned up, Already pick the hideous fish head into two halves, there is indeed a walnut-sized black "color" bone ball, no luster, when the merman just died, the fish beads themselves should also have fine light, preserved the bones for many years, the essence dissipated dim, with a twist of the hand, the fish beads immediately turned into powder.

Gu Chai looked curious in the water, and he had the courage to put his arm into another cave, wanting to "touch" a mackerel head that looked like a human head to see if there were fish beads, but as soon as he stretched out his hand, a withered claw full of black scales silently poked out from the tomb "hole" in the coral tree, firmly grasped his wrist, and dragged him inside.

Gu Chai was caught with one hand, but with the other hand, he grabbed the air snail, and in the crook of his arm, he was still holding a sealed bag containing the remains of a stillborn child, and the sealed bag was always on his body, but this guy was reckless and didn't know how to let go of the dead baby, took off the sharp blade in his mouth to solve himself, just propped himself up on the coral tree with his feet, and desperately tried to get rid of it backwards, and he was at a stalemate for a while.

The fat man and I were also shocked when we saw this, and the mermaid in the sea was suddenly dead? Where can I think about it, raise my hand and swing a sword, the "water sword" is so good, I don't feel the slightest resistance when waving it in the water, the ancient sword fell, and suddenly waved the claws stretched out in the hole into two sections, a stream of dirty blood came out of it, and the blood in the water appeared, in the light wave of the "ghost worm" rolling, I saw that in the dense hole of the coral tree, there were countless black scaled sharks, like a stream of black "color" turbidity current gushing out.

A large number of mackerel suddenly appeared from the coral fossils, like a black "colored" hurricane rolled up in the water, and some nearby "ghost crabs" escaped a little slowly, that is, they were swallowed up by the black "tide" like sharks, and the ghostly blue "color" light waves turned into countless escaping meteors, and in an instant, a large number of "colored" colorful coral fossils were obscured into black "color" by this turbidity current.