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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter 150: The Strange Stone Gate
Before me stood a monstrous creature with the body of a tiger and the head of a dragon, as massive as a giant elephant. It resembled a tiger but was not quite one, looking extremely ferocious, covered in black scales. Seeing this fearsome beast, I immediately recognized it as Bianhan!
As soon as Bianhan appeared, the two Zombies became terrified and turned to flee. However, at that moment, a flash of black light from Bianhan shot towards the two Zombies. In an instant, both Zombies were knocked to the ground, and with a thud, the incomplete bodies lay still.
In the blink of an eye, the two Furry Zombies had been torn into pieces on the ground, while Bianhan had already vanished without a trace, as if it had never appeared at all.
This scene left me so shocked that my mouth hung open in disbelief. How could it be resolved so quickly?
Cao Qilong also seemed to be in a daze, squeaking in confusion, "What... what just happened? Where did Bianhan go?"
I shrugged and said, "It must have left on its own!"
As I spoke those words, I was surprised by the outcome myself. How could such a malevolent deity have such an elusive nature? I had previously worried that summoning such an ancient divine beast would lead to complications, fearing that while it was easy to summon a deity, sending them away would be difficult. Yet here we were; the deity didn't need to be sent away—it simply returned on its own.
It is often said that summoning deities is easy but sending them away is hard because the deities that can be summoned are not typically righteous gods but rather some evil spirits or immortals. The temperament of these "gods" can be quite peculiar; some are gluttonous, some are greedy for wealth, and some may require you to serve them for a lifetime. In short, if you summon a "god" and cannot send them away, they will bring you much trouble and may even torment your descendants for generations. Therefore, summoning gods is not something to be taken lightly; it is no game.
Now that Bianhan had left so decisively, I began to understand some things. Although Bianhan is an ancient evil beast, it possesses a strong sense of justice and can distinguish right from wrong. In our predicament with the Zombies, we represented righteousness while the Zombies were evil entities; naturally, Bianhan would assist us and not cause us any trouble.
Of course, on the other hand, if this were an ancient tomb and Bianhan mistook us for Grave Robbers, summoning it could very well lead to our demise.
Speaking of Bianhan's justice, I am reminded of a legend about Bianhan. About 900 years ago during the Southern Song dynasty, there was a prison warden named An Yi. While overseeing the prison, An Yi treated the inmates as if they were his own family, explaining to them every day how to be good people after their release. As a result, many corrupt officials were jealous of him and sought opportunities to kill him.
Legend has it that the emperor at that time, Zhao Gou, was very superstitious, and there were seven or eight Taoist priests performing rituals for him daily. Among them was a Taoist named Seal Spell, who was the emperor's most trusted priest but had been bribed by corrupt officials. One day, while performing a divination using turtle shells, Seal Spell suddenly turned pale, and the shell fell to the Ground and broke in half. When the emperor asked what was wrong, he knelt before the emperor and pretended to say, "Your Majesty, I dare not speak." The emperor urged him, "Speak freely; you will not be punished." Only then did Seal Spell agree to say, "Your Majesty, I just saw six words vaguely on the turtle shell."
"What are those six words?" the emperor asked. "An Yi is the plague god." "What! Could it be that An Yi is truly a plague god sent from Heavenly to spread disease?" the emperor inquired. "Indeed, Your Majesty. If you do not quickly eliminate An Yi, the consequences will be unimaginable!" replied Seal Spell. Upon hearing this, the emperor immediately issued an order for the treacherous minister Qin Hui to handle the matter. Upon receiving the imperial decree, Qin Hui was overjoyed and immediately hosted a banquet for Seal Spell, rewarding him with one hundred taels of silver and one hundred bolts of silk.
After receiving the order, Qin Hui asked his fellow conspirators how to deal with An Yi. They all agreed: "He should be executed; it would be best to have him beheaded at noon today." Qin Hui accepted their suggestion and immediately sent someone to capture An Yi.
On the way to the Execution Ground, people along the streets voiced their grievances for An Yi. When he arrived at the Execution Ground, he shouted to the heavens: "I, An Yi, have served my country and people all my life; I have never wronged Your Majesty. It does not matter if you execute me, but please do not believe that Taoist's slander; otherwise, the Song Dynasty will be in peril and common people will suffer!" He then turned to those treacherous ministers and said: "You beasts in human clothing! You harm others without remorse. Even if I turn into a beast, I will seek revenge on you!" With that, he was beheaded. The crowd present wept loudly.
At that moment, thunder suddenly roared from the sky, and a monstrous creature appeared among the clouds. It had a dragon's head and tail with wings like a phoenix, treading on auspicious clouds across the land. This creature swept up the Taoist priests and corrupt officials with a whirlwind and hurled them onto a mountain peak. The mountain split open a crevice and sealed them inside.
This creature was called Bianhan, an incarnation of An Yi. Later on, Bianhan became both a symbol of prisons and a guardian spirit for common people.
To get back on track, we were fortunate this time; we invoked the right spirit. Bianhan can discern right from wrong and possesses justice, which is why we avoided an irreparable situation.
Four Furry Zombies appeared; two were torn apart by Bianhan, while we managed to immobilize the other two using a Control Corpse Talisman. Thus, the zombie problem was resolved. Once danger subsided, I and Cao Qilong sat down on the Ground, gasping for breath. It could be said that this was a stroke of luck; although Cao Qilong tore off one of the Corpse's Control Corpse Talismans, he only removed four talismans. Had he ripped off seven or eight at once causing seven or eight instances of Corpse Corpse Transformation, we would have surely been finished.
We sat on the Ground for quite some time to regain some strength. However, we soon faced another challenge: our path forward was blocked by a massive Stone Gate.
The stone gate was heavy and thick, adorned with various carvings on its lintel and door panels. On either side stood sculptures of an Azure Dragon and a White Tiger; two door knockers resembling basins gave an imposing feeling. In between these door knockers was a grotesque carving of an Evil Spirit, its fierce expression making it look terrifying and uncomfortable to behold.
Once again, I and Cao Qilong pushed against the Stone Gate, but it remained unmoved. We then wrapped our arms around the basin-sized door knockers and tried pulling outward; still, there was no response from the gate. It felt as if something inside had locked it shut; no matter how hard we pushed or pulled, it was all in vain.
After struggling for a while, both of them were drenched in sweat. Cao Qilong was so angry that he sat down on the ground and started cursing, "Damn it, why is there such a broken door in this cave? This heavy Stone Gate can't possibly be pushed open by human strength."
I also found it strange. Logically speaking, this place didn't seem like an ancient tomb, so a Stone Gate shouldn't exist here. The Stone Gate in front of us looked particularly odd; it was not only thick but also impossible to open. Looking at the patterns on the door, which depicted a terrifying and fierce ghostly face, it clearly couldn't be used as a tomb door because tomb doors usually feature auspicious symbols or flying figures, not something so sinister.
The two of us stared at each other in confusion. Eventually, Cao Qilong stepped forward and began to feel around and push against the door for quite some time. According to him, such a heavy Stone Gate must have a mechanism.
Although his reasoning made some sense, he was still just fumbling around. The door didn't budge at all. He searched for mechanisms on the door but found no clues. Then he focused on the door knocker, thinking that since this Stone Gate was still a door, any mechanism should be related to the knocker. Although the knocker was large and intimidating, it didn't seem particularly special; however, since there was a knocker, there must be a reason for its existence.
Yet, despite his logic, he couldn't find any mechanism. After groping around in front of the Stone Gate for quite a while, he finally sighed in frustration and kicked the Stone Gate before returning to sit down heavily on the ground.
Of course, I also believed that this door couldn't be opened by human strength because the Stone Gate looked extremely heavy and stood three to four meters tall, weighing thousands of pounds. To open this Stone Gate clearly required some kind of mechanism.
So while Cao Qilong was blindly searching in front of the Stone Gate, I was carefully examining this peculiar Stone Gate before me. Upon closer inspection, I actually discovered some clues!
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