Chapter 30: Twenty-six female skulls

The three of them walked along the road, and there was a wooden door in front of them blocking the way, and there were two big characters on the lintel, and there were four lines of small characters on its side. Liu Changsheng stepped forward and read: "One step of yin and yang, in an instant, retreat into the door of the dead ghost." If you are not afraid of death, it will be difficult to survive life or death. ”

Zheng Ming said: "This is frightening again, think we entered the stone gate, there are also four lines of small characters written next to the stone gate, persuade not to come in, but we came in, although a little weird and delirious, but did not see any demons and monsters, this is obviously someone tricked to intimidate the world not to come in, its purpose is very likely to hide some ulterior secrets inside, maybe there is some treasure, or what ancient tomb." ”

Liu Changsheng said: "Since the above is written like this, there must be his reason, maybe the first stone gate is to warn, persuade people not to enter, so that there is no mechanism, these two wooden doors, will not let people pass easily, maybe there is some mechanism to set up, in order to punish those who do not listen to advice, if you are not careful and cautious, open the door rashly, you may mistakenly hit the organ and die." It's better to believe it than not to believe it, just in case, you two retreat, or let me test if I can open this wooden door. ”

He looked closely at the wooden door, and on the two thick door panels, there were two large rings attached to the mouths of the two beast heads, and the beast heads were fierce, staring at the two big eyes, revealing a fierce light, which was daunting. He didn't find out where the mystery of the wooden door was, and vigilantly tried to push down the wooden door, but the heavy wooden door did not move at all, and it was estimated to weigh thousands of catties. He didn't dare to take it lightly, and decided to try again to see if he could push the wooden door open, but no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't push the wooden door.

He looked carefully again, and there was nothing on the wooden door except for the two large brass rings held in the mouths of the two beast heads, not even a small hole, and the two wooden doors were tightly sealed, as if they were a whole. He looked at the four lines of small characters again, "One step of yin and yang in an instant, retreat into the door of the dead ghost and pass the ......" that is to say, if you insist on opening the door alone, there is only one way to die, which implies that there is a mechanism inside, full of dangers, it is better to believe that it is not credible, whether it can get by, whether it can be passed, depends on the creation of the person who opened the door.

He repeatedly looked at and considered, and felt that the mechanism that started the wooden door may be on the two rings, but how to start, is to grasp the two copper rings and rotate hard, or upside down, or one is upside down, he is like buying a cat in a cloth bag, what it is, it is not known, that only try to make a bet with his life, if he is lucky, he can get away with it, just like a blind cat meets a dead mouse, the start mechanism opens the door, if the luck is not enough, a thought of the wrong machine, will die, between this life and death dilemma, he must make a decision to gamble, because Zheng Ming and Liu Baishun are watching him from behind。

He decided to fight fate and death again, and stepped forward and stretched out his hands to grab the two large brass rings on the door, determined to use them against the rules of the first go. According to the past, use it to set up the mechanism, either twist the copper ring to rotate clockwise, or counterclockwise, but he grabbed the copper ring with his left hand and rotated it counterclockwise, and grabbed the copper ring with his right hand while rotating clockwise, and accumulated strength on both legs.

He used his arms together in his hands, and he heard a creaking sound in the door, knowing that the mechanism had been activated, and while he was happy, he also paid attention to observing, lest he fall into the plot. At this moment, he suddenly noticed a flash in the eyes of the two beast heads on the wooden door, and he thought badly, and instinctively lowered his head and shouted: "Be careful!" It was too late, but it was too fast, and several sharp arrows were shot through ......his head from the eyes of the beast head. Thanks to his timely reminder, Zheng Ming and Liu Baishun in the back were lucky to dodge and survived, looking back at the sharp arrow that landed, the ground around them turned black, obviously a quenched arrow, so poisonous that it was jaw-dropping.

They looked ahead, and the wooden door had been opened, and the wind was chilling, and the light was dim, and they seemed to see some bright light, flying like fireflies. There was no turning back when he opened the bow, Liu Changsheng gritted his teeth and took the brunt of the front. The farther they went, the dimmer the light became, and they could see the faint green flames drifting in all directions, and they were amazed when a puff of white smoke suddenly rose not far ahead, swirling upward, and then a figure wearing a hat and a long robe appeared.

Zheng Ming was surprised and said: "What I saw outside the wooden door was this figure, why did it suddenly appear here again, is it to stop us from moving forward and want to harm us?"

Liu Baishun said: "No matter what he is, I'll give him a shot first......"

Liu Changsheng stopped: "Don't panic, calm down, and see what you're saying." ”

They fell to the ground and watched the movement in front of them, when they smelled a pungent smell and were suspicious, when they suddenly saw the figure disappear with a puff of white smoke, and its body was on fire, which was red at first, and then glowed green, like a rope of fire swimming forward.

Liu Baishun was shocked and said: "The ghost whips ......" Liu Changsheng said: "Don't say it's the ghost whip, even if the ghost hits the wall, it is difficult to stop our footsteps." We might as well learn from the boldness of the ox, whether it is a ghost whipping or a ghost hitting the wall, and chase after it. ”

They chased and lost their target, only to see coffin fragments everywhere, how many bones were indescribable, counting from the skulls, there were twenty-six human skulls, and the hair left behind was long black hair, and strangely, there were watermelon seeds scattered on the ground.

Liu Baishun is more elaborate about the skull, and said with more confidence: "These twenty-six skulls are all women's skulls, and in terms of age, they all died between the ages of 13 and 25. What I don't understand is why these young women died together at the same time."

Zheng Ming said: "These young women died together at the same time, probably for a powerful man to be buried, and that man must be some kind of official, and these martyred women may be his wives and concubines." There are so many women to accompany the funeral, so magnificent, fortunately it is possible to have a royal funeral. ”

Liu Changsheng shook his head and denied it: "Judging from the scale and form, this is by no means a royal tomb, nor can it be the wife and concubine of a great official, you see, there is a large coffin not far away, it may be a man who is buried, if these women are his wives and concubines, their coffins should be side by side with the coffin, judging from the broken thin plates of these broken coffins of the women who were buried, their coffins are much smaller and thinner than the large coffins that are more complete, and they can only be said to be coffin boxes, which shows that these twenty-six young women died, It is impossible to be the wife and concubine of the deceased man, besides, only the royal prince can have so many wives and concubines, it is impossible for officials to have so many wives and concubines during their lifetime, and there may be clear regulations in the royal family. ”

Liu Baishun proposed: "Let's go to the big coffin and have a look." ”

When they approached the big coffin, they felt even more curious and surprised, there was actually a person sitting on the top of the coffin, in front of which was placed a 10-string piano, 67 centimeters long, the surface of the piano was uneven, the person stretched out his hand as if he was playing the piano, the image was realistic, wonderful and beautiful.

Zheng Ming was puzzled and said: "There is a zombie on the coffin that does not fall, it is so weird, maybe there will be something strange inside, but be careful." ”

Liu Changsheng corrected: "If you look carefully, it is not a zombie, but a bronze figurine. ”

Zheng Ming looked carefully, the bronze statue sitting on the lid of the coffin was very strange, with clouds and sideburns, and an exaggerated appearance, a bit like a hundred opera figurines in the Qin Dynasty, with uncoordinated limbs, long arms and short legs, and slender fingers, caressing the surface of the piano. The most bizarre thing is the face of the bronze figurine, not smiling or angry, the mouth is trying to open as much as possible, as if singing while playing the piano.

Liu Baishun said: "In Suixian drum pile Zeng Marquis B tomb has found a guqin, that is Zhang Qixianqin, I did not expect that there is a guqin on this coffin, more than it two strings, you can imagine the preciousness of this guqin, the deceased in this coffin must have loved the sound of the qin and listen to music before his death, but I don't understand that the deceased did not bury the guqin in the coffin, but put it on the coffin cover, and cast a bronze figurine to play the qin? ”

Liu Changsheng hurriedly stopped and said: "Don't go, don't go, since the deceased in the coffin loves the qin and didn't bury the guqin in the coffin, there must be something strange in it, maybe it is a mechanism specially set up to prevent thieves from opening the coffin, just like the mechanism set up by the wooden door, if you touch the bronze figurines or the guqin, you may shoot poisonous arrows from the coffin or the mouth of the bronze figurines, or release poisonous gas, then none of us can escape, and we will die here for no reason."

"From the bronze figurines and guqin on the lid of this coffin, I found the answer to the twenty-six female skulls. They were not the wives and concubines of the deceased in the coffin, let alone the concubines of the royal prince, but most likely a group of kaki dancers, that is to say, the deceased in the coffin was a master with a lot of wealth, or the head of this class of kaki dancers, when he was dying in the world, he knew that his time was short, and the oil had run out, so that these kaki dancers could be used up for his pleasure in the Yellow Spring, and he specially instructed his close people to think of burying this group of kaki dancers with him after his death.

"Because these kaki dancers were born in poor families, they were bought by the dead, they had a low status, they had no freedom, and they had a choice between life and death. Their relatives gathered this group of kabuki dancers together, secretly went down to the watermelon, and gave them the cut watermelon piece by piece in the name of reward, so they were all poisoned and died at the same time, becoming the funeral objects of the deceased, because of their low status, they gave twenty-six thin coffins to bury twenty-six young women, which could not be placed around the master, but could only be kept away. ”

Liu Baishun said: "In this case, more things are better than less things, let's not disturb the peace of the deceased in the coffin, let's go quietly." ”

Liu Changsheng hurriedly grabbed him, pointed to the front, and said, "What do you think is that?"

Liu Baishun and Zheng Ming looked in the direction he pointed, there were countless green fireflies of light, ghostly flashing one after another, gradually approaching them from afar, it seemed that they could still hear the sound of cooing, and their hearts were horrified, what was that? Could it be that the ghost wearing a hat and a long robe came?