After eating the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, Zhang Tianyi carried a few bottles of wine and a few knives of fire paper and went up the back mountain.

Da Kui and Moriko are buried very closely, and the black and white photos on the tombstone are both wearing police uniforms and police hats, smiling brightly.

Zhang Tian poured the wine glass to the brim, and repeated softly in his mouth, why is this like this? A homicide case has shattered the entire police station, the dead fleeing and fleeing, and a series of cases crashing forward like waves, what is ahead? Is it darkness? Or is it born?

"Sentimentality won't help you solve your problem."

Wu Shengnan's voice came from behind him.

Zhang Tianyi turned around and said, "I don't seem to have any other way than to be sentimental." ”

Wu Shengnan came over and said, "Everything is for a reason, just like you eat Chinese New Year's Eve dinner alone." ”

Zhang Tianyi smiled: "What about you?" Why don't you go back? ”

"It's a person who goes back, and it's a person who doesn't go back, so what's the difference if you don't go back?" Wu Shengnan looked at the mountain and lost his mind.

Zhang Tianyi caught the change in Wu Shengnan's face and said, "Don't talk about this, I don't know if you are interested in talking about going to the earth gate now." ”

"Do you want to go through the dirt gate? It's a real headache. Wu Shengnan turned around and said, "What do you want to know?" ”

"I want to know everything about walking through the dirt gate." Zhang Tianyi has been holding back in his heart for a long time.

"Do you know what the word "dirt walking" means?" Wu Shengnan asked.

This Zhang Tianyi really doesn't know, and it's not easy to understand between the lines, how to go to the soil? Transporting the dirt away? Zhang Tianyi definitely didn't understand the doorway here.

Wu Shengnan laughed a little when he saw Zhang Tianyi's deflated appearance, and then said: "I told you last time that the Tumen has existed since the Xia Dynasty. The tribe of Tumen seems to have appeared out of thin air, no one knows where they come from, no one knows where their tribe comes from, only that they are derailed from the real society, and no one has ever contacted the people inside them. ”

"Then I heard you say that there seem to be many people who have beaten their ideas since ancient times?" Zhang Tianyi asked.

Wu Shengnan nodded and said: "That's right, you must know that a dynasty with a history of more than 400 years in the Xia Dynasty has also been annihilated in the long river of history, but a tribe in Tumen has been passed down to this day, although the seclusion in the mountains has reduced their attention from the outside world, but now it still seems incredible." ”

Zhang Tianyi was also surprised, from the Xia Dynasty to the present, thousands of years of history, even a country as strong as the Qin Dynasty could not avoid the destruction of the vulgar, and how did a little-known tribe in Tumen come down?

So will it have something to do with the unreasonable existence that Wu Shengnan said last time?

Zhang Tianyi thought for a while and asked, "Does the Tumen still exist in this world?" ”

Wu Shengnan pondered for a moment and said in a tone of uncertainty: "Since the late Qing Dynasty was overthrown, I haven't heard of the news of going to Tumen, but there are rumors in the market that many people from their tribe have left the mountain. ”

Think about it, after the late Qing Dynasty, the war swept through China for eight years, large-scale weapons bombardment, whether you are in the deep mountains or tunnels, a bomb falls and must not be killed or injured, after all, they are just a tribe, no matter how strong they are, it is impossible to survive the ravages of war.

"And ...... that picture of yours?" Zhang Tianyi stopped in the middle of speaking, he believed that Wu Shengnan could understand what he meant.

Wu Shengnan hugged his arms and said: "That photo was indeed not taken by me, but the photo is true, it was also the last time that the Tumen appeared in the public's sight, and since then they have evaporated like the world, and at the same time, Bashu has also become the last place where the figure of the Tumen appeared." ”

Listening to Wu Shengnan's truth, Zhang Tianyi was not as relaxed as he imagined, although the photo was blurry, it would definitely not be a product of that era, although there was already imaging technology abroad when the country was opened in the late Qing Dynasty, it would not have such a high definition, so I am afraid that the picture was processed later.

In winter, it was still a little cold on the mountain, so Zhang Tianyi picked out the unburned fire paper, wrapped his clothes and asked, "What is the mysterious power you talked about last time?" ”

Wu Shengnan met Zhang Tianyi's gaze and said, "I really don't know, otherwise there wouldn't be so many people who want to figure it out." ”

Zhang Tian took a heavy puff of cigarette, and now that he is walking through the earth gate, it is becoming more and more mysterious, what kind of power can make the people of all dynasties chase after him?

"Then do you know what is the connection between the white fox and the earth gate?" I didn't have time to ask last time in the White Fox Den, Zhang Tianyi couldn't wait to figure it out this time.

Wu Shengnan patted his forehead and said, "There is a totem in the Tumen, you should be familiar with this, right?" ”

Zhang Tianyi was stunned for a moment before he realized that the totem that Wu Shengnan said should be the pattern engraved on the mysterious wooden plaque at the scene of the crime, including the same pattern on the spiritual seat enshrined in his ancestral hall.

"You mean the white fox is their totem?" Although Zhang Tianyi didn't think it was like it, he still asked.

Wu Shengnan nodded and shook his head, confusing Zhang Tianyi.

"It can be said or not, the original totem of the earth gate is not a white fox, but it is also a fox, they call it a spirit fox." Wu Shengnan explained.

"Then why did you end up being a white fox again?" Zhang Tianyi asked.

Wu Shengnan deliberately delayed for a while before saying, "Have you ever heard of the Chenjiaba incident in Sichuan?" ”

Zhang Tianyi didn't know what medicine was sold in Wu Shengnan's gourd, but he still nodded.

How could Zhang Tianyi not be clear about the Chenjiaba incident in Sichuan, which caused public panic in China at that time. It is said that there is a place called Chenjiaba in Nanjiang County, Sichuan, although the village is not big, but there are also small 200 people, that is, not long after the autumn, the towns and villages under Nanjiang County frequently occurred plagues, and people thought it was a cold and fever and did not care about it until the plague broke out completely. So he sent someone down to check, it didn't matter, but the commissioner sent at that time was scared half to death, and all the 200 or so people in the village of Chenjiaba died, and a corpse was spread on the road into the village like a salted fish.

Yuan Datou had just established the Beiyang government at that time, and he attached great importance to this matter, and also sent personnel from the capital to investigate the situation. According to later generations, all the blood in the bodies of those corpses had mysteriously evaporated, and the loose human skin covered the skeleton, and some of the skin was pecked into holes by crows, like a sieve, in short, there was not a single living mouth in a village.

This incident was explained by a professor once when Zhang Tianyi was studying at the police academy, and I can't remember exactly what I said, which probably means that animals are not allowed to become sperm after the founding of the People's Republic of China, and everything is a murder carefully planned by someone.

At that time, Zhang Tianyi was just listening to it as a joke, but now that I think about it, the death of those villagers is very similar to Wang Xing'er.

Zhang Tianyi understood what Wu Shengnan meant, Wu Shengnan looked at him thoughtfully and continued: "At that time, some people speculated that it was done by going to the earth gate, and the purpose was to renew the life of the spirit fox. ”

"Spirit Fox continues to live?" Zhang Tianyi lowered his head and repeated, letting Wu Shengnan continue.

Wu Shengnan said: "It is said that the reason why the Tumen has been prosperous for a long time depends on the spirit fox, the spirit fox is their belief totem, it is said that this spirit fox has been worshiped as a god in the tribe since the formation of the Tumen. I guess that the reason why the outside world is looking for the purpose of walking the earth gate is probably for the spirit fox, after all, it can ensure the prosperity of a tribe, maybe it can bless a country's luck and fortune, which emperor of the past dynasties did not want to follow his surname. ”

"Although the spirit fox is not a vulgar thing, but it is not a disciple of Taishang Laojun to sit down, as far as I know, there have been many incidents similar to Chenjiaba from ancient times to the present, and it is estimated that they are all done to renew the life of the spirit fox and go to the earth gate, that is, these few appearances have only revealed some secrets of the earth gate." Wu Shengnan let out a long sigh after speaking.

"With the gradual improvement of the law after the founding of the People's Republic of China, people's sense of self-protection has been strengthened, and there is no way to continue to commit crimes to help Linghu continue his life, so the luck of going to Tumen has fallen to the tribe, and some people have to come out of the mountains to find a glimmer of life. However, there should still be some clansmen who choose to be stationed in the mountains, but at that time, the spirit fox was obviously weakened and even facing death, so the white fox then became their new totem. Wu Shengnan smiled and said, "Of course, this is just my speculation, and the Eight-Nation Alliance's entry into this land should have caused them a lot of trauma. ”

"Could the sacrifice of walking through the earth gate also be related to the continuation of the life of the spirit fox?" Zhang Tianyi asked after listening.

Wu Shengnan nodded with a solemn expression and said: "I believe you have also seen that photo carefully, the person lying on the altar is the sacrifice, that is, the most critical part of renewing the life of the spirit fox." I don't know if you noticed the small black dot on the face of the sacrifice, that is the spirit fox, lying on the face of the sacrifice and waiting for the clansmen to help it continue its life. In the process of continuing their lives, the clansmen are divided into four corners, southeast, northwest and northwest to kneel and worship, which means that the fortune of heaven and earth is blessed with the prosperity of the Tumen, and there should be a chief priest as a medium to communicate with the spirit fox to hold sacrifices. ”

"Then this day of the sacrifice can't be any day, isn't there any taboo?" Zhang Tianyi already had an answer in his heart.

Wu Shengnan hesitated for a moment, looked at Zhang Tianyi and said, "You can only perform sacrifices when the blood moon appears." ”

Really......

As soon as Zhang Tianyi took the last puff of his cigarette, his fingers suddenly stinged.

No wonder the lovely person was taken away five times and three times, and it turned out that he was used as a sacrifice to give the spirit fox a life. Although I had already guessed that the person was a sacrifice, I didn't know what this sacrifice represented at the time, and now I don't want to believe it after knowing it.