Ancient tomb excavation traces

I don't know what sinister agreement exists between the mountain spirit and Sima Yan, but I feel it's as treacherous as the hidden mechanism in the secret passage. Sima Yan might be using the mountain spirit to guard the tomb, which is why there was the stone figure mechanism. But there's one thing I don't understand: when I heard the knocking sound from the bronze hidden door, if there were two mountain spirits, it would be a disaster. If there was only one, how could it appear behind the hidden door when it was clearly in the secret passage? I'm posing this question.

The young Taoist priest explained, "Mountain spirits can gather the energy of heaven and earth and absorb the essence of the sun and moon. Generally, only good mountain ranges can harbor mountain spirits. Most people who can survey geography, when searching for burial sites, not only choose places that shelter from the wind and gather energy, but also look for places with mountain spirits based on the growth of all things. Mountain spirits are as rare as the 'Five-Colored Exquisite Heart,' and two of them cannot exist at the same time. In other words, the evil creature below and the one in the main coffin are the same one."

Upon hearing this, I exclaimed in surprise, "Then is there another pit behind it, and the part of the mountain spirit crawled out from inside, sticking to the hidden door like some kind of sticky worm? How big must that thing be?" I said incredulously, "And... since mountain spirits eat people, why did Sima Yan choose this location for the tomb? What if the mountain spirit gets hungry, wouldn't that cause trouble for the tomb owner?"

"That's right, little celestial master, with so many corpses in this tomb, if this mountain spirit keeps crawling around, won't it dig Princess Chu out of the tomb?" Old Tiao also wondered.

The young Taoist priest analyzed for us that what was behind the door might be the head of a mountain spirit, which had been hiding in a crevices, sucking the blood of the people who were being buried alive and devouring them. The dead bodies I had just seen were probably skeletons that had been spat out of its mouth.

When food ran out, the mountain spirit used a hole designed by Sima Yan to spit out a fleshy thread from its mouth and suck the blood of the human figurines. However, there were only two figurines, which couldn't satisfy the mountain spirit's appetite, so it fell into a deep sleep, becoming a motionless lump of flesh. If left for too long, the mountain spirit's body would eventually merge with the mountain. When Chu Ba stepped on the mechanism, it may have triggered its pain nerves, causing it to react in its slumber. When the young Taoist priest and Chu Ba fully depressed the mechanism, the mountain spirit's flesh was crushed, and it awoke.

This was a series of interconnected traps, and Sima Yan was meticulous, having arranged every detail in detail.

Judging from the burgeoning life of all things in the area, he estimated that the mountain spirit must be about a thousand years old. A thousand-year-old "Mountain Tai Sui" is five or six zhang tall. And this "Tai Sui" does not eat the dead, only the living! If it weren't for hunger, it probably wouldn't have sucked the blood of the two stone figures, and then, in its exhaustion, been used to create a mechanism.

After hearing what the young Taoist priest said, I was taken aback: Five or six zhang? According to the conversion of meters, that's at least a dozen meters!

Chen Yi exclaimed in surprise, "This is interesting! If that thing down there wants to eat us, it can just wrap us up like an 'Old Beijing Chicken Roll'!"

"Oh dear, ancestors, do you still have the mind to study this?" Bao Cai leaned against the wall, looking anxious. "This place is shaking so badly, and you've woken it up. It hasn't eaten for hundreds of years, it must be starving. When it comes out, it'll be like a wolf or a tiger, just thinking about it is terrifying. Why don't we retreat first, go out through that pottery urn passage, and then plan our next move...?"

Before Bao Cai could even utter the word "discuss," the mountain spirit's violent attacks resumed. We retreated to the wall, leaning against the bronze wall, and looked at the coffin-shaped pit. Listening carefully, we discovered that in addition to the vibrations, slapping sounds, and owl-like hissing, there was a special sound in the space. It sounded like the thick leg chains that ancient condemned prisoners dragged on their feet when they were executed.

Hearing this sound, I thought to myself: the mountain spirit struck the bronze interlayer with tremendous force, yet it didn't escape, only screaming incessantly, seemingly in a frenzy. And we could only catch glimpses of its true form through the coffin-shaped pit with each struggle. It had existed in this pit for hundreds of years, preferring to sleep rather than venture out to find food. Was it because it was lazy? Too lazy to come out of the interlayer? That would be far too willful of it…

Chen Yi also noticed this, and he asked in confusion, "What's going on? Does this 'Tai Sui' think there aren't enough of us to fill its teeth, so it's just causing trouble inside?"

I shook my head and said, "It shouldn't be..."

"Then why doesn't it come out and show itself when it has meat to eat?" Chen Yi couldn't understand, so he took a step forward, as if he was going to lead the charge.

I grabbed him and said, "Old man, you're not planning to sacrifice your fat body to save us from this mess, are you?"

Chen Yi turned around and said, "Get lost. I just think that hiding isn't a solution. Why don't we go and see what's going on? If this 'Tai Sui' crawls out and tries to eat us, it'll be a piece of cake."

Chen Yi's words made sense, and I also found it strange, so I let go of his hand and said, "Then don't rush to leave the organization alone. If you want to go, we'll go together."

Chen Tiao nodded. We split into two groups. Chu Ba, Lao Tiao, and I went to check the situation, while the other three stayed behind so we could help each other if anything happened.

The leader was Chu Ba, because he was quite agile and had good knife skills. We thought that if we encountered danger, he could at least slice off some flesh from the mountain spirit. At this moment, the three of us crouched down and carefully approached, because the tremors were still continuing, so we dared not let our guard down.

As we approached the pit's edge, the mountain spirit, in its final struggle, seemed to have lost all strength. The three of us exchanged a glance and slowly straightened up. In my daze, I remembered the old woman's words about the mountain spirit being "cunning," and a deep unease gripped me. I wondered: Could that thousand-year-old "Mountain Tai Sui" have sensed our presence and faked its death?

The eighth day of the month advised us to be careful in everything we did. I nodded and looked down.

The interlayer was larger than I had imagined, and the mountain spirit truly resembled an enlarged tongue. It lay motionless inside, its body covered with numerous mutilated corpses. At its tail were two large gashes, from which blood gushed. This blood, splattered on the walls of the interlayer by the violent swinging of the "Mountain Tai Sui," created a mottled, crime-like scene that sent chills down one's spine. Those two gashes were clearly the work of Chu Ba and the young Taoist priest.

My heart was pounding. The mountain spirit's sudden silence was accompanied by an eerie atmosphere, as if a ferocious beast was observing us, ready to strike and kill us.

Chen Yi, holding a torch, approached the eastward end. He was bold and didn't care much, slowly bringing the fire closer to the large lump of flesh. As the firelight drew nearer, my heart tightened, because I saw four arm-thick iron chains on either side of the mountain spirit's body. The chains pierced through its flesh and were finally fixed to the sides of the bronze interlayer wall. Behind those sides, the gears of a mechanism were vaguely visible.

The two holes that pierced the mountain spirit rotted over the years, and a layer of purplish-gray rotten flesh piled up on the wounds, which was a shocking sight.

I was horrified, my scalp tingling. I immediately understood why the mountain spirit hadn't escaped from the coffin-shaped pit—it was trapped. My initial assumption that Sima Yan was trying to appease the mountain spirit collapsed at that moment. As the truth surfaced, I felt this hidden layer was filled with a sinister conspiracy. As a child, I always thought the mountain spirit was cunning and even considered it a nightmare. Now that I understand, I realize that Sima Yan is the true mastermind of this treacherous world.

He imprisoned the mountain spirit! The reason for the imprisonment may be, as the young Taoist said, "the mountain spirit can gather the energy of heaven and earth and absorb the essence of the sun and moon." Sima Yan wanted to use the mountain spirit to bring the feng shui of this ancient tomb to its peak.

Chen Yu and I speculated that Sima Yan brought the sacrificial victims into the interlayer, attracting mountain spirits. These spirits, fond of devouring the blood of the living, hunted and killed indiscriminately once inside, before Sima Yan somehow trapped them. This method was beyond human comprehension, and we couldn't even imagine it. But the feeling was horrifying; for those innocent people who died unjustly in that coffin-shaped pit, the tragedy was unimaginable at the time. All of this demonstrates the profound depth of Sima Yan's feelings for Mi Ling, surpassing anything we could comprehend.

Thinking about this, I got goosebumps. Unraveling the truth step by step, peeling back the layers, is often the most grueling part.

Just as I was feeling sentimental, I noticed something very strange. In the hole in the bronze wall on the east side, a red thread was slowly rising up. It was like a gloomy and vicious person hiding in a corner, preparing to strike at the person standing in the light.

My angle was directly opposite the red thread, so I noticed what was happening. Chen Yi, however, was completely oblivious, watching the enormous creature below. The little Taoist priest and the others also paid no attention, because the thread's movements were too subtle.

This point illustrates the mountain spirit's cunning; it's like a person who smiles while hiding a knife, appearing to be smiling but actually holding a knife in its back, ready to take our lives at any moment.