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墨書 Inktalez
Human Sacrifice
I never expected the truth that Guo the Blind showed me to be like this. The matter of Ghost Killing was still unresolved, Zhang Kun's cause of death was unknown, and Zhang Kun's family had been wiped out for offending Huang the Lame.
After selecting a burial site for Zhang Kun's family, Huang the Lame hurriedly joined us with Huang San'er and two young men. There was something strange about the cliff on the back mountain of Bright Moon Village; if they didn't handle it properly today, more people would die tonight.
After the chaos from last night, it was clear that the remaining two young men had become much more obedient. Whatever Huang the Lame instructed them to do, they complied without daring to show any disrespect towards Guo the Blind. The death of Zhang Kun's family had instilled in them a sense of fear.
At that moment, I suddenly realized that a person's arrogance often stems from ignorance. Just as Guo the Blind had said, the more one knows the truth, the more one fears it.
Our group of six arrived at the back mountain we visited last night and stood on the cliff above Winding Mountain Road to discuss how to investigate the sheer drop. Huang the Lame tied a rope he had brought in advance to a root of a juniper tree at the edge of the cliff. These roots were firmly wedged in the crevices of the rocks, strong and resilient; tying the rope there posed little risk of breaking.
However, when it came time to decide who would go down, everyone fell silent. First, Huang the Lame, being older and with poor legs, certainly couldn't go down. Guo the Blind was also of similar age and walked slowly; it was uncertain whether he could make it back up if he went down. Thus, those who could descend had to be chosen from among us four young people.
"I think it would be better to vote by raising hands," one of the young men suggested.
Guo the Blind chuckled and said, "Just let Yang Hao go down; why bother with all this? I think it would be better to just kick you down."
The young man laughed awkwardly, not daring to retort. Guo the Blind scolded him harshly: "Weren't you tough when fighting? Now that it's serious business, you start making excuses. Is your life more important than others'?"
"Forget it, Old Guo. I'll go down," another voice interjected. "Huang San'er is too heavy to go down easily; as for those two useless ones who can't even recognize all their characters, I don't expect them to find anything."
"Who are you cursing at, Yang Hao? Do you believe I won't kill you?" one of the young men shouted at me.
"Oh? So now you're feeling bold? Why didn't you volunteer just now? Think about it—aren't you right about Yang Hao? You can't do farming work, can't recognize all your characters, and just because you've fought a few times you think you're tough? You know a few drinking buddies and suddenly believe you have brothers who would die for you? Besides dreaming about getting rich overnight or becoming a crime lord in your future, what else can you do?" Guo the Blind mocked.
The young man turned red with anger from Guo the Blind's insults. Huang San'er gestured for him not to retort, so he could only remain silent with an expression of discontent.
Huang the Lame cleared his throat and said, "Brother Guo is right. Going down to investigate the hanging coffins is definitely a technical job. A rough man might not even recognize the characters on the tablets, making it hard for us to determine what’s strange about it."
"Brother Huang, Yang Hao can read, but he doesn’t know how to deal with evil spirits. It’s already confirmed that there’s something unusual down there. If he goes down empty-handed, he might not make it back," Guo the Blind raised an eyebrow.
"So what do you mean, Brother Guo?"
"Naturally, you should give him the compass in your hand. This Zhou Compass is a Taoist relic; it protects against ghosts and deities. If he holds it, he might survive if he encounters something formidable." Guo the Blind noticed Huang the Lame's reluctance and continued, "Otherwise, let your grandson go down. He’s skilled and has been with you for so many years; he must know some ways to deal with evil spirits. He would be perfect for this."
"Grandpa..." Huang San'er looked troubled as he gazed at the hundred-meter-high cliff, feeling anxious inside.
After hesitating for a moment, Huang the Lame reluctantly said to me, "Then I’ll lend you the compass for protection. Just be careful not to break it."
Huang the Lame handed me the compass. As I looked at the square Copper Inlaid Jade compass, I suddenly felt an unusual sensation. When my fingers touched it, a sharp jolt of electricity coursed through my body, leaving me numb and causing smoke to rise from my hand as a patch of skin burned.
"Huang the Lame, what do you mean by this?" Guo the Blind was furious upon seeing that the compass had injured my hand.
"I... I don’t know what happened!" Huang the Lame explained, looking genuinely perplexed.
Guo the Blind snorted and seized the compass from Huang the Lame's hands. "Why does this compass harm me but specifically injures Yang Hao?"
I looked at my injured finger; thankfully, it wasn’t bleeding—just a burnt patch of skin. I remembered my mother always warning me to be careful and not get hurt. I never expected that Huang the Lame's compass could deliver an electric shock.
"Forget it, Old Guo. I'll go down like this. It's broad daylight; I'm not afraid of any ghosts. I’ll just be careful," I said as I tied a rope around my waist, preparing to descend.
Guo the Blind snorted again and returned the compass to Huang the Lame before pulling a black long nail from his pocket and handing it to me. "Just in case something happens, this nail might come in handy."
The nail was something I saw Guo the Blind take out from a box sealed with tape when I went to find him in the morning. I had never believed in the Feng Shui Master's collection of jars and bottles, but the events that had transpired recently made me uneasy. Carrying this nail gave me a bit of courage.
I carefully lowered myself down the rope hanging from the cliff, afraid that if I lost my grip, I would fall to my death. Huang the Lame and Guo the Blind had warned me to watch for any vines or loose pine branches covering potential caves on the sheer cliff face. Generally, those who chose to bury their dead in cliffside coffins wouldn’t completely seal off the burial site; they believed in connecting with the earth's energy below and the heavens above, achieving a balance of yin and yang to create a Feng Shui treasure spot.
After descending about thirty or forty meters, I noticed a large tree rooted in the cliff had broken several branches. There were still some strips of cloth hanging from its trunk, looking relatively new. I recalled Zhou Manman telling me that she had survived by falling onto a tree trunk; it seemed this was where she had landed.
Standing on the trunk of this pine tree and looking down made me break into a cold sweat. The cliff was only about a hundred meters high, which didn’t sound too daunting, but standing up there felt like being dozens of stories above ground. It was hard to imagine how Zhou Manman had managed to climb down that steep wall that night.
After resting for a moment, I was about to steady myself against the mountainside and continue my exploration when suddenly my hand slipped, and I fell headfirst into a tangle of vines.
I found myself in a cave, completely shrouded in darkness where I could see nothing. Panic surged through me as I quickly retreated back onto the tree trunk outside.
"What’s going on up there?" Guo the Blind's voice called from below; he had somehow made it to the wasteland at the base of the cliff.
"There’s a cave! It’s too dark inside; I can’t see anything!" I shouted back.
"Clear away the vines and see what’s inside. The entrances to such burial sites aren’t usually deep!" Guo the Blind urged.
Taking a deep breath, I moved forward and suddenly pushed aside the vines. Sunlight flooded into the cave, revealing that it wasn’t very deep—only about four or five meters—and I could see all the way to the bottom.
However, right in the center of the cave lay a vividly colored object.
A Big Red Coffin.
I stumbled backward in shock, my legs turning to jelly. Although I had seen elderly people pass away in Bright Moon Village and had witnessed their coffins, I had never encountered such an enormous red coffin before.
In front of the Big Red Coffin, the words inscribed were not the usual characters for "longevity" or "offering" found on ordinary coffins, but rather two lines of unfamiliar characters that emanated a chilling and oppressive aura.
"What did you find?" Huang the Lame shouted from above.
"A... a Big Red Coffin!" I swallowed hard, my voice trembling slightly. "It looks heavy, over three meters long."
Huang the Lame gasped in surprise, furrowing his brow. "That long?"
"Check around for any spirit tablets or see if there are any inscriptions on the coffin," Guo the Blind called from below.
"I can only see two lines of text on the coffin, but I don't recognize any of them; they're not even in the dictionary," I shouted back.
Back when I was preparing for my language exam, I memorized the entire Xinhua Dictionary. I might forget how to pronounce some less common characters, but there shouldn't be any that I've never seen before.
"Try to see if you can push the coffin down; the oddities must be inside it," Huang the Lame suggested.
Guo the Blind frowned at Huang the Lame's suggestion. "A coffin over three meters long? Even if it's empty, four strong men might struggle to lift it. Asking him to push it alone is just ridiculous."
After being reprimanded by Guo the Blind, Huang the Lame looked defeated and turned to Huang San'er. "Go down and help push the coffin!"
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