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墨書 Inktalez
Living Funeral
At this moment, the place was eerily quiet; apart from us, there was not a single soul around. Suddenly, we heard a voice that startled us.
“Old man, you’re not dead!” Gao Ling shouted from above.
The old man grunted in response, then lit a cigarette or something else. Regardless, a coordinate appeared below us, revealing just how deep this pit was. Looking down, anyone with a fear of heights would feel their heart drop.
How the hell do we get down? It must be at least several dozen meters deep.
I called out, “Just tell us what’s down there.”
The old man replied, “Some things you have to see for yourself to believe. So come down.”
Zhang Xun spoke up at that moment, “Let’s go down.” Since Zhang Xun was going down, we had no choice but to follow. But how to descend was crucial! There was nothing here; we needed a rope. Gao Ling then said, “I brought a rope. I’ll go get it now.”
After Gao Ling finished speaking, he ran down the mountain. About an hour later, he returned, during which the old man had only muttered a few words intermittently.
Gao Ling came back panting heavily as if he had run for his life. Damn, this path is really tough. He held a bundle of hemp rope in his hands. Once the rope arrived, we didn’t hesitate; we found some stones to secure it and then began to climb down.
It took us about fifteen minutes to reach the bottom of the pit. Upon arrival, we discovered a mangled corpse. I glanced at the body and realized it was the old man. Judging by its condition, he seemed to have been dead for quite some time.
I froze for a few seconds; this…
It was normal for him to be dead—falling from such a height would surely kill anyone—but if he was dead, then we were truly seeing ghosts. The one who had just spoken to us wasn’t alive at all; the old man must have died from the fall, and what we had just conversed with was his spirit.
After coming down, I noticed that this space was somewhat large but felt rather cold—perhaps due to its depth.
Gao Ling remarked, “This village is eerie from start to finish; that damn fortune teller is also an eerie person. It seems like birds of a feather flock together.”
“Come out!” Nian Chen shouted suddenly.
A ghostly figure emanating a faint light appeared—it was the old man again. He looked at the four of us with an expression of calmness and said, “I knew from the start that you four were not ordinary people; I guessed correctly.”
I asked the old man, “What did you want us to see?”
He replied, “Follow me.” The old man then walked ahead, and we followed closely behind. After turning a corner, we entered a more expansive area. This place was enclosed but had an impressive height that made it feel grandiose. However, even more imposing than this space was a statue—a magnificent-looking statue that towered over everything else.
"Dragon," Gao Ling exclaimed in surprise.
I glanced back and was equally astonished; it was indeed a dragon, towering at least twenty meters high, an imposing sight. But how could there be a dragon beneath Guanyin Temple? Perhaps this was the secret hidden within the temple.
Before long, I suddenly felt as if I understood something. However, I wasn't entirely sure, so I kept quiet. I asked the old man, "What does it mean that there's a dragon hidden here?"
The old man sighed and replied, "Actually, this was never Guanyin Temple to begin with; it was originally Dragon King Temple."
We were somewhat taken aback by this revelation. In fact, I had thought the same thing earlier but dismissed it as absurd—how could there be a Dragon King Temple beneath Guanyin Temple? Gao Ling asked, "How could there be a Dragon King Temple down there?"
The old man explained, "Years ago, this area suffered from a flood. Out of nowhere, a dragon bone surfaced. This dragon bone was genuine, and someone discovered it. After finding it, this person kept it quiet and traveled from afar to bring craftsmen here. They used the dragon bone as the model to create this statue; that's how Dragon King Temple came to be."
Gao Ling inquired, "So there's actually a dragon bone hidden inside?"
"Absolutely," the old man confirmed.
At that moment, the old man seemed to have lost all sense of his own mortality, yet he appeared unconcerned about his fate. He continued, explaining that this person had dug a deep pit to hide the dragon bone and built Dragon King Temple underground. Because many people drowned during the flood that year, the locals developed a strong aversion to the Dragon King. Many families moved away.
However, after this person constructed Dragon King Temple, there were no more floods in the area. To ensure that Dragon King Temple received enough offerings, he built Guanyin Temple above it. Over the years, many people began to return, and the temple's incense offerings flourished. In truth, Guanyin in that temple received none of it; all of it went to the Dragon King instead.
In recent years, the nearby villages had enjoyed favorable weather and prosperity.
I couldn't help but interject, "If that's the case, why did so many people die this time? With the protection of the Dragon King, things should be safer."
The old man replied, "I'm curious about that too. Five newborns in the village mysteriously died. I wonder if someone cast a spell causing their deaths, which angered the villagers into destroying Guanyin Temple. As a result, they might have provoked the Dragon King's wrath."
I felt a bit skeptical about all this.
Nian Chen asked, "Are you saying that the Dragon King is alive?"
The old man nodded affirmatively. I found it hard to believe that a living Dragon King existed.
We looked at him with suspicion. It seemed as if he could read our thoughts when he said, "If that weren't true, why would Guanyin Temple suddenly collapse?" Gao Ling suggested it might have been due to structural weakness.
The old man countered, "Who has been here longer—you or me? Although Guanyin Temple has been around for some time, its collapse is impossible. It has been repaired several times over the years. Do you remember how it happened? The entire temple collapsed all at once."
I recalled my first impression of Guanyin Temple; I had praised it as the best building around. When it collapsed, it happened almost instantaneously—could it truly have been the wrath of the Dragon King?
My thoughts grew heavy. Did the Dragon King really exist?
In truth, this old man had always been connected to the Dragon King. Our attention was entirely focused on the Dragon King, but we overlooked one person—the one who built the Dragon King Temple and the Guanyin Temple. This fellow must be someone with profound abilities to have absorbed all the incense offerings from the Guanyin Temple for the Dragon King.
So I asked the old man, "Who is the one who built the Dragon King Temple and the Guanyin Temple?"
The old man shook his head. "He was a fortune teller. I don't know his specific name, but I did see him once long ago. I wonder if he is still alive now?" The old man before me looked to be around sixty years old, so even if that fellow started fortune-telling in his teens, he should be in his seventies or eighties by now.
I asked him again, "How old did he look when you saw him?"
The old man replied, "He looked to be in his twenties or thirties. But since then, I haven't seen him again."
I found something off about what he said. If the old man had never met that fortune teller, how could he know so much about these matters? Was he trying to deceive us or hide something?
I stared at the old man intently, making him uneasy. He asked me, "Why are you staring at me like that?" Then he added, "I think you are the most skilled among these people. When you look at me, it feels like my soul is about to be ignited by fire."
I didn't waste any more words with him and directly asked, "Since you've only seen the fortune teller once, how do you know so much about these matters? Could it be that you are that fortune teller?"
As soon as I said this, everyone fell silent.
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