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墨書 Inktalez
The so-called Ancient Poplar Forest is a veiled reference to the Nine-Tiered Corpse Tower. Anyone with even a slight understanding of mysterious events knows the dangers of such places. It is not something an ordinary "gentleman" could construct; it was crafted by a master with profound knowledge of feng shui.
Let me briefly introduce a site that the Archaeological Community has made public regarding the Nine-Tiered Corpse Tower.
A few years ago, two farmers stumbled upon a two-story dune while gathering firewood in the desert. The dune was covered in coffins, spanning several miles. The high platform was built from many interwoven poplar trees. The tomb was scattered with white bones and coffins made of poplar. Inside the tomb, the coffins had no bottoms or lids, containing both adult males and females buried together, with females placed above males. There were also numerous child burials, totaling over three thousand bodies. Due to grave robbers inadvertently damaging the internal structure of the tomb and the early release of killing intent from the decayed wood, it posed no immediate danger, which is why relevant authorities were willing to open it to the public.
We are headed to the Black Desert in Alar City, where this Nine-Tiered Corpse Tower instills fear in insiders. It is one of the most sinister tombs established during the height of Khotan's sorcery!
The Mausoleum Secrets contains extensive records about Khotan's Nine-Tiered Corpse Tower. In summary, this type of tomb is derived from the celestial formations used during King Wu's Campaign Against Zhou, later modified by local sorcery into an extremely malevolent tomb.
Such tombs can contain as few as three thousand bodies or as many as tens of thousands. Insiders—specifically within the cultivation community—believe that during the period of the Western Regions' Thirty-Six Kingdoms, most disappeared by the Tang Dynasty, their cities buried under quicksand and their inhabitants vanishing without a trace. It is highly likely they were turned into Nine-Tiered Corpse Towers. For instance, Niya Ancient City had thirty to forty thousand residents who vanished overnight. The ancient city of Qule had seventy to eighty thousand people who also disappeared in a single night.
The so-called Nine-Tiered Corpse Tower is sustained by the killing intent of tens of thousands of deceased individuals, nourishing the corpse at its peak and transforming it into a terrifying existence. The Drought Demon is already considered one of the most fearsome entities among insiders, but eliminating a Drought Demon is as easy as crushing an ant!
This type of tomb is less a burial site and more a mass grave; The Graveyard pales in comparison before it. The killing intent within is several times stronger than that found in a Corpse Raising Ground. The most formidable Jealous Woman Ghost I have encountered would be insufficient to fill its gaps.
When I first read Mausoleum Secrets, I understood this type of tomb's nature but never imagined I would one day visit such a place. It seems my grandfather tricked me twice; he definitely did not go to the Western Lord's Tomb but rather to the Nine-Tiered Corpse Tower! Otherwise, my supposedly impressive grandfather would not have suffered losses against some exotic beasts. Indeed, Old Man Li has once again deceived me!
"Why are you being such a coward? Old Man Xia single-handedly leveled a Nine-Tiered Corpse Tower! This caused quite a stir among insiders; how can you claim to be his descendant acting like this?"
"What? My grandfather who works in archaeology was that formidable?"
"Damn Bald Qiang! If Old Man Li finds out about this, you'll be in for it!" Big Mouth Lee glared at Bald Qiang and moved to cover his mouth. Hearing this, Bald Qiang broke out in a cold sweat! "Forget what I said!" I felt frustrated and cursed inwardly, "Half-truths lead straight to disaster!"
Now, I finally understand the dead end that Sanmao Zhenjun faced. His death was not just due to the Ghost Infant incident; it seems to be connected to the Nine-Tiered Corpse Tower calamity. The shadow in my heart grew heavier at this realization. After all, wasn't the Ancestor Master's phrase "no way out above, no door into the earth" precisely referring to this Nine-Tiered Corpse Tower? There was no way up or down.
We set off according to plan, initially intending to find a guide named Anliman. This old man shook his head vigorously when we mentioned going to Poplar, refusing to go no matter what. Instead, he sold me a map for over three thousand. Dong Tong bought a few camels from him and took the map. We then headed towards the Black Desert.
We arrived at an oasis, slightly dark in color, around one o'clock Beijing time. In Xinjiang during June, it usually doesn't get dark until ten at night. This oasis was only about the size of two football fields, featuring a crescent-shaped pond. Strangely, there were signs of habitation in the oasis, yet not a single person could be seen.
In fact, this place couldn't even be considered a true desert; every twenty or thirty miles there was either a lake or an oasis. Along the way, we often encountered migrating herders and caravans, and there were also agricultural transport teams passing by. We found a house made of Poplar wood and settled down, casually cooking some dinner and lighting a campfire.
With nothing to do at night, we gathered around the campfire since everyone was relatively familiar with each other. I asked, "Sister Dong, why did we take a detour from Minfeng County to Alar City before entering the Ancient Poplar Forest?" Dong Tong smiled and said, "There are people behind us; I need to confuse them so they can't figure out our destination!" I took it as a joke and didn't think much of it at the time.
After going to bed, I pondered over her words carefully. The more I thought about it, the more uneasy I felt. Take the Ghost Infant incident for example—who could have set up such a grand scheme against me at Poet Bay? At that time, someone like me could have been easily taken down by just a few security guards. Why go through such elaborate trouble? And why did Lu Jianguo happen to move into the apartment above mine? During that Paper Man incident in Damao Town, I clearly saw a figure of a Taoist priest! It seemed utterly unnecessary for everything to be aimed at me.
Suddenly, I trembled as a shocking thought crossed my mind. Could it be that they were targeting the Xia Family and those old men? The more I considered this possibility, the more terrified I became. Tossing and turning in bed, sleep eluded me.
At night, under the frost-white moonlight, it felt somewhat cold. I strapped on my Azure Dark Sword and wandered alone in the oasis. As I walked to the back of the oasis, I spotted a large patch of Hami melons in the desert. Hami melons come in hundreds of varieties and it's not surprising that they would ripen at this time of year. However, seeing such a vast expanse of Hami melons was a first for me as a southerner.
This reminded me of some anecdotes about Hami melons.
During the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty, there was an editor named Hong Liangji from Hanlin Academy who often criticized government policies and was exiled to Ili. After being pardoned after a hundred days, he returned home via Hami and bought quite a few Hami melons. In one poem titled "From Hami to Bitter Water," he wrote: "Two carts and one horse loaded with luxury; behind them are Dunhuang melons piled high. For ten days on the Gobi with no food; fortunately, I encountered melons just in time." The mention of Dunhuang melon seems like a typo but is actually not; Hami melons had been tribute for over a hundred years by then, and someone as knowledgeable as him couldn't possibly have been unaware.
The Book of Han states that "Dunhuang, formerly known as Guazhou, produces sweet melons so large that a fox can completely burrow inside without showing its head or tail!" According to records from Taiping Guangji: "Emperor Ming of Han's favored concubine dreamt of eating melons and found them delicious. Coincidentally at that time, Dunhuang presented unusual melons called 'Qionglong'." The pronunciation of "Qionglong" is similar to how Uyghurs refer to sweet melons as "Kuhong." Thus, what is known as Dunhuang melon is actually Hami melon.
I looked around and saw no one in sight and thought: "Perhaps these are wild Hami melons; what's the harm in picking one to eat?" So I crouched down and picked one yellow-green Hami melon before turning to leave.
"Stop right there! Naxigan costs a lot of money, you know!" Naxigan is a variety of Hami melon, meaning Rock Sugar Melon. An aged voice called out, and I turned to look at the old man. Habitually, I noticed the shadow beneath his feet; it was part of my profession! The old man was dressed in traditional Uyghur attire, his beard completely white, holding a Kantuman, which means hoe, standing in the melon field.
So I chuckled and asked, "How much?" "Money? I don't want that! I need you to stay and watch over the melon field!" I thought the old man was joking and paid him no mind as I turned to leave. "Kid, my melons are so sweet they'll make you burst!" "No way, I don't want your melons!" "That's not how this works!"
Ha ha ha!
A strange laugh echoed, and when I looked back, the old man wasn't laughing, but the sound clearly came from his mouth. A chill ran down my spine; could it be that I encountered Dirty Things again? Surely I couldn't be that unlucky!
"Youth, Dunhuang Melon is free; how about staying and being my partner?" The old man said as he picked a melon. He cut it open and surprisingly pulled out several fans from inside, waving them around! Dunhuang Melon was a term used two hundred years ago; how did this old man know about it? Could he be two or three hundred years old? The more I thought about it, the more frightened I became. Was this person a Monster?
While Monsters aren't ghosts, they harbor deep resentment, reaching at least level ten of Killing Intent. I was definitely no match for him. Perhaps Zhengyang could barely hold his own against him! In situations like this, running wouldn't help. I remembered a story from Mausoleum Secrets: "It is said that the great beauty of Yue State, Xishi, once went to wash silk at Mount Zhaoluo and returned late at night. On her way back, she was captured by a Monster, who wanted to marry her. Naturally, Xishi refused. The Monster had countless 'Pomegranates'! Those Pomegranates could understand human speech; each seed could transform into various things. He used the Pomegranates to amuse Xishi. She told him that if he could count how many seeds he had, she would agree to marry him. So the Monster counted the seeds over and over again, afraid of making a mistake. Meanwhile, Xishi transformed one seed into a fine horse and quietly slipped away!
At that time, I laughed it off; after all, Pomegranates were fruits from the Han Dynasty, so how could Xishi have known about them during the Spring and Autumn period? But now that I think about it, perhaps this story is true. Our so-called ancestors are like targets for arrows; stories are attributed to them. What we see as Xishi is merely what later generations have built upon.
I couldn't be sure if he was a Monster, so following the pattern of that story, I tried asking the old man, "Can you count how many seeds your Dunhuang Melon has? If you can count them accurately, I'll stay!" "Alright! I'll count the melons right now; just wait for me!" As he bent down to count the melons, I thought to myself, "Hell no! I'm outta here!" Tossing aside the Hami melon in my hand, I took off running!
As I dashed into the Poplar house, a shadow leaped down from the roof...
I drew my Azure Dark Sword, ready to strike. At that moment, the shadow lunged at me!
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