Yuanmei and I glanced at each other, silently sat back on the stool, except for the sound of rain outside, the whole cave was silent, Yuanmei took out the human skin map, put it on the stone table to continue to study, I looked at the desolate back of the second master with guilt, I don't know what to do.

The second master squatted for two incense sticks, cigarettes one after another, half a pack of cigarettes was finished in a while, the cave was filled with light blue mist, mixed with water vapor, everything in front of him became ethereal, like a dream.

Yuanmei, who has never liked the smell of smoke, although she frowned, continued to look at the map without saying a word, the second master kept pinching and rubbing the empty cigarette case, and finally formed a ball, threw it lightly into the distance, folded the note in her hand carefully, put it in the pocket of the "skirt", stood up slowly against the wall, beat her legs, and turned into the cave.

He picked up his pants from the bed as if no one was around, walked behind Yuanmei and dressed neatly, picked up his backpack and fishskin knife, walked to the entrance of the cave, looked at the sky and sighed, turned his head and said to the two of us: "What are you doing, let's go?" ”

Yuanmei and I didn't react from beginning to end, as soon as I heard this, the two looked at each other, hurriedly jumped up and packed up my things, I put all the torches in the cave into my bag, in case of emergency, at this time the second master had already walked outside the cave, standing in the rain waiting for us.

After Yuanmei packed her bags, she walked to the stove, picked up the stone pot and extinguished the fire in the stove pit. With a sound, she stared at the stove pit for two seconds, then turned and walked out of the hole, and the three of them continued to move forward.

The second master shook off and strode in front, Yuanmei and I followed closely, and I asked her, "What did you see just now?" ”

Yuanmei shook her head, as if she didn't know what to say, thought about it, and suddenly asked me: "What did you fill in the stove pit?" ”

The second monk I was asked replied casually: "What's wrong with the dead branches and rotten leaves on the edge of the stove pit?" ”

After hearing this, she stared at me with a puzzled expression, I was furious by her, scratched my head, I didn't understand what she meant, she continued to ask, "When did you light the fire?" ”

A sentence woke up the person in the dream, I suddenly realized, yes, from the morning to the stove pit to now, not to mention three or four hours, not to mention that it is a handful of dead branches and rotten leaves, even pine and cypress logs, it is impossible not to add firewood to burn for a few hours, is there a hidden organ in the stove pit?

Yuanmei saw through my thoughts, nodded and said: "There is indeed something in the stove pit, but I'm not sure if it's what I think, I guess the answer should be in front, if that's the case, I'm afraid our previous guesses are wrong." ”

I don't care if it's right or wrong, we all have to move forward if there is a mystery anyway, and since the answer is in front, it's only a matter of time before the mystery is revealed, and I'm curious about what can be so burn-resistant?

Turning a straight bend, the sky suddenly darkened, a high mountain suddenly blocked in front of us, this mountain seems to appear out of thin air, steep upward, towering into the clouds, pointing to the sky, looking up, the smoke rises above the peak, looming, starting from the top of the valley, the boundless dark green all the way upward, and our grassless valley forms a clear contrast.

After walking hundreds of steps towards the high mountain, the three of them stood at the same time, and in addition to the stone chips that were inches thick, there were many bones and coffin fragments scattered under their feet, as well as some objects that should be funeral goods, and clusters of small yellow flowers grew from under the bones, and they bloomed extremely brightly.

Yuanmei stared at the little yellow flower and said lightly: "Forget the worry grass", and then looked up.

On the stone walls on both sides, starting from two or three feet above the head, there are dense coffins, each coffin is erected on three logs deeply inserted in the stone wall.

I don't know if it's the effect of the heart or the perennial sunshine in this valley, but I feel the cold air floating by, coupled with the white bones scattered everywhere under my feet, which makes people's hearts tighten.

I found that there is a rule for these coffins, the higher they go, the older the coffins are, and all the way up, there are fewer and fewer intact coffins, and the coffins below are much more numerous and in much better condition.

What is even more peculiar is that the high part of the stone wall is engraved with an identical image, a huge human face, the most prominent of which are two large disproportionate eyes, and the lines on the top of the head that resemble the rays of the sun.

I took a closer look and found that although the shape of these carved human faces is simple, it is not the same as the murals in the stone cave, and it is obviously much more complicated than it, which is strange, just looking at the shape of the coffin to know that the age is very old, if it is not for them, could it be that there are other tombs here?

In this way, it seems that the age on the cave paintings is even older, so who are the people in these coffins in front of you? Why don't you seek to be in the soil for safety, but hang in this barren mountain and wilderness, what is the purpose of doing this?

Another gust of cold wind blew, and Yuan Mei obviously shivered, and said to herself: "The servant hangs the coffin."

I didn't hear clearly, so I leaned over to her and asked, "What hanging coffin?" ”

She looked at the stump and broken arm on the ground and said: "The servants began in the Western Zhou Dynasty, they had participated in the battle of Muye of King Wu of Zhou, and won many military exploits, and then were named the marquis, and established the marquis state in the area of Yibin now, which has been multiplied until the Ming Dynasty, and then because of dissatisfaction with the rule of the Ming court, the army rebelled, and finally in the Wanli period, the governor of Sichuan at that time, Zeng Shengwu, led the troops to break through the cottage, isolated the servants, and as a result, in the Ming Chongzhen, Qing Shunzhi years, all the servants gradually disappeared, leaving only the legendary servants hanging coffins, As for the reason for the disappearance, there are different theories, but there is never a convincing statement, and the carved human face should be the sun emblem of the servants' beliefs, it is said that the servants revere the sun the most, and regard it as the highest god, so the hanging coffin after death must be close to the sun emblem, so that the soul can soar. ”

The second master stepped aside at this time, squatting on the ground and staring at a pair of still intact bones without knowing what he was looking at, I asked Yuanmei: "The murals in the stone cave, are they made by servants?" ”

"It's hard to say, it doesn't look very similar, the servants don't have words, they transmit and record events through painting, there should be a lot of murals on it, I'm afraid it's blocked by coffins, and the people who rely on pictures to transmit information should not be like that."

I nodded, pointing to a copper bowl on the ground that was already covered with green rust: "But the shape of this bowl is very similar to the stone lamp in the stone cave."

Yuanmei squatted down, picked up the bowl and looked at it carefully and said: "This should be the ever-bright lamp used by the servants, the servants hang the coffin, and they must use nine ever-bright lanterns, and each wooden pole puts three lanterns, and this custom of the ever-bright lanterns, the Han people have also had it since ancient times, I think the stone cave must have some kind of connection with here, but maybe it is not as simple as we think." ”

While reflecting on Yuanmei's words, I stretched out my hand and pointed to the mountain in front of me and asked, "The tunnel should be there, right?" ”

Before Yuanmei could answer, suddenly a strange wind rose from the ground, and the wind was loud in my ears, what Yuanmei said, I didn't hear a word, and secretly thought to myself These days, lightning and thunder, heavy rain poured and no wind rose, why did it suddenly rise so strong now?

The more the wind blows, the stronger the wind, and in an instant, the sky and the earth are dark, the sun and the moon are dark, the wind rolls up the gravel and sand on the ground, wrapped in rainwater, like a leather whip dipped in water, accompanied by a "whoosh, whoosh" sound on the body, I hold my head tightly, look out from the gap between my elbows, looking around for shelter from the wind, in case a coffin is blown, no matter who is smashed, it will be either dead or injured.

But all around was smooth as polished stone walls, and there was no shelter from the wind, and I found that the wind seemed to rise from the ground, because the hanging coffin, which was closest to the overhead, was still lying peacefully on the log, without the slightest shaking.

There must be a demon when something goes wrong, I saw that Yuanmei had already pulled out the mountain knife, it seems that she also found an abnormality, I hurriedly pulled out the knife in my hand, no, what about the second master? Flying sand and walking stones, but only the figure of the second master is missing, I remember talking to Yuanmei, he has been squatting by the stone wall, why is it missing now? Yuan Mei's stature is safe, and there is no reason for him to be blown away.

I couldn't find the second master, so I approached Yuanmei, and at this time she was slowly moving towards me, and the two of them stood together with their heads in their hands, looked at each other, nodded, and looked around vigilantly.

The wind gradually became smaller, and the gravel and gravel also fell, but even so, the two of them still couldn't hear clearly, and I shouted to Yuanmei at the top of my voice: "Have you seen the second master?!" ”

She shook her head and pointed around, her fingers drawing circles in the air, and I followed her fingers to look around, stunned.

In fact, the wind did not diminish at all, it just turned into a huge whirlwind, and we were just standing in the center of the whirlwind.

The whirlwind clings to the stone wall, keeps circling, the speed is getting faster and faster, the wind is getting stronger and stronger, the stones collide with the stone wall, from time to time there are sparks, the slightly larger coffin wood is swept into it by the wind, and it is broken into pieces in an instant, the dusky whirlwind is like a huge yellow dragon, roaring to surround us in the center, a huge open space in the middle, still do not see the figure of the second master, I feel bad in my heart.

I look around like a headless fly here, Yuanmei gently pulled down my clothes, I looked back at her, she pointed straight ahead with a frightened face, I hurriedly looked up, only to see a person faintly walking out of the wind, looking at the figure, it was the second master who was not fake.

When I saw him come back, a nameless fire suddenly rose in my heart, what the hell did I go, even if it was convenient, at least I had to say hello, and I didn't look at what kind of place this was, and if I said it would disappear, what if there was a mistake.

I was about to step up to meet me, Yuanmei grabbed me, staring at the direction of the second master, I looked at her curiously, and then looked at the second master, at this time the second master stood two or three feet away from the opposite side, looking at us silently, I shook off Yuanmei's hand and shouted at him: "Come here, why are you standing there?" ”

The second master's eyes widened expressionlessly, looked at us, looked at us for about a few seconds, suddenly opened his mouth, from his huge body, a woman's hoarse voice came out, angrily shouted a series of words, I widened my eyes, I couldn't believe my ears, demented looked at the second master who was still talking, only to find that his eyes were only a miserable white, pupils were gone.