In the central open space of Shenyu in the ancient city, a cow dung cake half as tall as a man was burning for warmth.
In a closed environment, burning so many cow dung cakes will give you a sour and refreshing taste.
But for the caravan tea merchants who have been doing business in the snowy areas of Tubo all year round, this "fragrance of the air" has long been accustomed to it. Outside Shenyu, there is a shrieking wind and snow, and everyone in the house is still drinking from big bowls, eating meat, talking loudly, and making a lot of noise. Isn't the atmosphere good?
lively.
However, this fire could not bring warmth, so everyone gathered around in twos and threes and lit additional small bonfires.
Thanks to the vast space of this divine space, it can accommodate so many people.
At this time, Young Master Yiyun suddenly asked Zhao Jinchuan: "I think they are talking about the corpse cave. What is that?"
Hearing this, Jin An and Qi Bo both looked around at the people in Shenyu.
As if he was avoiding this matter, Zhao Jinchuan deliberately lowered his voice and said: "When we entered the ruins of the ancient city during the day, we wanted to clean up the wild animals and check if there were any dangers. As a result, we found a corpse cave in the mountain not far from Shenyu.
, the corpse cave is so dark, you can smell the stench even before you get close, and the corpse cave is full of human skeletons."
"Do you think this is unlucky or not?"
"But it's too late to change the place. The weather here changes at any time, so we have no choice but to bite the bullet and stay here."
Zhao Jinchuan continued to whisper: "Some people speculated that it was a place where prisoners were imprisoned, others speculated that it was a corpse cave, and some even speculated that it was a place to suppress demons. But no matter what it is, we try to avoid getting involved in these things as much as possible.
Be less curious and get on the road as soon as daybreak to leave this abandoned place."
Zhao Jinchuan has a very cautious character, and this is exactly how he has been able to settle down and make a living on the Tea Horse Road for so long.
The wind and snow were still falling outside the door, and the wind and snow beat hard on the door, making a banging sound. In the snowy night, a group of people were telling various legends about the corpse cave, and the stories became more and more bizarre.
Among these caravan tea merchants, there are both cautious people like Zhao Jinchuan, and rude people who always hide their heads in their waistbands to earn a living. The latter have no taboos and don't care that there is a corpse cave next door.
The various legends about the Corpse Cave are just frothing at the mouth and cannot be easily explained.
"Don't tell ghost stories at night, because people like to hear them, and ghosts also like to hear them." Jin An, who was warming his hands on the bonfire, suddenly said something meaningless.
"What?" Zhao Jinchuan's hair stood up immediately. He was frightened and began to look around suspiciously.
Jin An smiled at Zhao Jinchuan: "Nothing, just go to bed early. I hope to see the snow stop and the weather turn sunny when I wake up."
I don't know if he was frightened enough by Jin An's words. After lying down, Zhao Jinchuan tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep. Even if he was close to the fire, his body felt cold and he couldn't feel the temperature of the flames. He was in this half-dream and half-awake state.
, he was suddenly awakened by the cold wind.
It was as if someone from behind breathed a cold breath on him, and he woke up with a jolt.
As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw a black figure walking to a corner of Shenyu and disappearing on the spot.
Zhao Jinchuan almost screamed out in fright, but his teeth bit his tongue, and he breathed in the smell of rust, and his brain suddenly woke up from the pain.
"You're awake."
Zhao Jinchuan almost fainted when he heard a voice next to him. His tongue was bitten by him for the second time. When he turned around, he saw that the speaker next to him was Jin An, who was wearing Taoist robes.
"Taoist Master Jin An, what was that just now..."
Zhao Jinchuan really wanted to ask if that was a ghost just now, but he didn't dare to say it and hesitated.
Jin An naturally knew what Zhao Jinchuan wanted to ask and said, "That's a human being."
Hearing this, Zhao Jinchuan let out a breath.
Then he came back to his senses and said in surprise: "That man's back looks so familiar, he looks like Wang Yong..."
Zhao Jinchuan explained that the man named Wang Yong was the brother-in-law of the owner of another tea merchant. That boy was lazy and peed a lot. He even went outside to poop after dark. He didn’t know if he was blocked by ice slag.
This lasted for half an hour. Just when the caravan was about to go out to look for him, the boy ran back by himself. Ever since he ran back, he had been silent and ignored anyone who said hello to him.
It is precisely because of this that Zhao Jinchuan has a particularly deep memory of the man named Wang Yong.
Jin An was thoughtful, then stood up and walked towards the place where Wang Yong disappeared. At this time, Zhao Jinchuan followed him out of curiosity and courage.
"Hey, when did an authentic person appear here? Where did the wind come from?" Zhao Jinchuan was not good at this. His character was startled, and soon the rest of the people in Shenyu were awakened.
Everyone asked what was going on and what was going on.
Zhao Jinchuan began to explain everything he had just seen with an exaggerated expression. At this time, he was the center of attention. There was no trace of fear on his face. He was only excited about being the center of attention. He kept talking like a gourd.
, during this period, he added some extravagant ideas of his own, and as expected, everyone was stunned for a moment.
In order to increase his credibility, Zhao Jinchuan turned to Jin An: "Taoist Master Jin An, come and testify for me, I didn't lie..."
When he turned around, he found that Jin An was gone. Zhao Jinchuan hurriedly lay down at the entrance of the tunnel. He shouted several times, only to be answered by a shrill scream.
Whoosh!
The screams came too suddenly and shrilly, like a curse from a resentful spirit, and the other tea merchants in the caravan were so frightened that they all stepped back.
Only Zhao Jinchuan shouted nervously, with anxious eyes: "Master Yiyun, Qi Bo, Taoist Priest Jin'an have entered the tunnel! Is there any danger?"
It can be seen that he really cares about this fellow countryman Jin'an.
But as soon as he finished speaking, Jin An came out of the tunnel unscathed.
Young Master Yiyun looked at Jin An from the distance: "Is it solved?"
Jin An nodded: "Solved."
As he spoke, he threw out a bead. Bang, Mr. Yiyun reached out to catch it. It was a smooth bone bead made of polished human bones. The surface of the bone bead was engraved with complex characters. The characters were very strange and the shape looked like a ball.
Only human eyes.
This is clearly Gabala.
Wine bowls and ritual utensils made of human bones are very popular in Tubo, and are also the most common techniques of the local Bon religion in Tubo. Tubo Tantra is another sect of Buddhism that is different from Mahayana Buddhism and Hinayana Buddhism after the fusion of Buddhism and Bon religion.
, so Tantric instruments will still retain some Bon characteristics to some extent. For example, in some Tantric branches, there are still cruel human bone wine bowls, human bone beads, and human bone flutes...
When they were in the desert Buddhist country, Jin'an and the others had encountered the Gabala magic weapon, so they were no strangers to the Gabala magic weapon. Master Yiyun naturally recognized at a glance that the bone bead with the eye characters engraved on it was actually a piece of art.
Gabala magic weapon.
I just don’t know whether this Gabala is a remaining magical weapon of Bon religion or a branch of Tantric Buddhism.
Jin An: "I pried this out of Wang Yong's mouth after I killed him. It must have been possessed by this thing, eating his soul and occupying his body."
Hearing that this thing was pried out of a person's mouth, Mr. Yiyun's eyes were slightly cold and he glared at Jin An angrily.
Click!
The hard bone beads were kneaded into bone powder by slender white hands that seemed to have little strength.
Jin An pretended not to see it: "This tunnel is sloping all the way to the corpse cave. I guess that the corpse cave should be a place where death row prisoners are executed. The Shenyu here is a place where prisoners are judged.
Those who have been sentenced to death will be thrown into this tunnel."
"Perhaps it is due to year-round erosion by wind and snow, and as the mountain weathered, corpse caves dug into the mountain were exposed."
"Perhaps today is the first time someone has entered the corpse cave, and those who are not determined are more likely to be targeted by the resentful spirits in the corpse cave, take advantage of it, and occupy the magpie's nest."
Before Jin An could finish his words, Wang Yong's brother-in-law over there was already running past with a livid complexion: "You murderer, you are so disrespectful of human life, why do you say Wang Yong is not a human being!"
"Everyone, please don't believe what this Taoist says. I think he is the evil Taoist! Think about it, how can any normal person drive in such a heavy snowstorm? Have you forgotten those legends about people being scapegoated?
, people who die in snow-capped mountains and glaciers will use living people as scapegoats, hoping to find their bodies and get out of the snow-capped mountains!"
"It's said that Wang Yong is not a human being. It's all said by this monster himself. None of us have seen it. Everything is just a mouthful. Why should we believe you? Killing someone is a life, so you must repay Wang Yong's life! Everyone.
Kill the other two people who are walking together, Demon Dao, and don’t let them escape!"
These caravan tea merchants all knew each other. Compared to Jin An, an outsider, it was easier for them to form a group among themselves. For a while, everyone was wary of surrounding Jin An.
Seeing that the atmosphere suddenly became tense, Zhao Jinchuan, who was caught in the middle, was anxious and urged everyone to calm down and talk about things slowly. The truth became clearer and clearer. Once the knife was impulsively used, there would be no room for recovery.
It was only the first day that Zhao Jinchuan spoke for outsiders. The brother-in-law Wang Yong glared at Zhao Jinchuan angrily: "Zhao, you are making it clear today that you are going to have trouble with your brothers, aren't you? I think you are obsessed, you
He has also been bewitched by demons! He is no longer a human being!"
After hearing this, Zhao Jinchuan was so angry that he spat at Xingzi and cursed: "Fart, I am also a person with a temper. My surname is Luo. Please explain to me today why I, Zhao Jinchuan, am not a human being! I just want to persuade everyone to be angry."
Don't be so big to avoid any misunderstandings!"
"Taoist Master Jin'an, why don't you explain it to Luo Laosan so that Luo Laosan won't be convinced?" Zhao Jinchuan turned his back to Luo Laosan and winked at Jin An, meaning to advise Jin An not to do anything at this time.
Use excessive language to avoid irritating other people present and causing bloody conflicts.
At this time.
To be continued...