"Jiutian," the Taoist priest fumbled and reluctantly climbed up, "are you okay?"
"I...I'm fine," Luo Jiutian stood up on the mud, "Taoist Master, why did you jump down?"
"Someone pushed me down."
"What?!" Luo Jiutian was shocked, "Are they those dead people? Those villagers? Are they starting to attack us?"
"No, it shouldn't be..." The Taoist Master listened attentively for a while, "At least they are not the kind of people we saw during the day. Besides them, there are other people in Lianshui Village."
The two stood side by side in a narrow well. The bottom of the well was filled with thick and wet mud. Their feet were stuck in the middle of the mud, and their bodies were all sticky.
Luo Jiutian waved his hand to call Panlongchi out, "Let's go up first and then talk."
"Wait a minute," the Taoist Master held down Luo Jiutian's Panlongchi, "Jiutian, you put the Panlongchi away first."
"Why?"
"If it is not necessary, try not to let Panlongchi appear in the world," the Taoist priest lowered his voice, "After all, it is very important."
Luo Jiutian understood what he meant and quickly took back Panlong Pond.
After all, Zhang Boyin's real body can be found here.
"Then how are we going to get up there?"
"There are many ways," the Taoist priest slapped his hands on the well wall. "Before that, let's check here first. Did you see the candlelight just now?"
"No, there is no light here at all," Luo Jiutian wiped off the mud on his hands, "I suspect it was just an illusion."
The Taoist Priest didn't think so. He reached out and touched a few handfuls in his arms, grabbed a talisman that was folded into a five-pointed star, and crushed it. The talisman instantly turned into a small ball of bright light.
The weak golden light illuminated the two people in the well. The Taoist priest and Luo Jiutian looked at each other's dirty faces, showing "who are you" expressions at the same time, and then laughed together.
"Taoist Master... Haha, did your face get stuck in a mud puddle?"
"...Jiutian, you have my shoe prints on your face."
Luo Jiutian immediately wiped his face, "Why does my face hurt?"
"Let's look for it quickly," the Taoist priest turned sideways and shined a light on the well wall, "This thing won't stay lit for long."
Some disgusting bryophytes grew deep in the well walls. The green plants and green mud mixed together and stuck to the stone wall. It felt like jelly and smelled more like jelly that had expired several years ago.
"Oh my god..." Luo Jiutian stood farther away from the well wall, "If I had seen these things just now, I would definitely not have grabbed them directly."
The Taoist priest held up a light source and carefully observed the moss, mud, and stone walls of the well. Although it was disgusting, it was normal to feel nauseated.
There is a smell of humus floating in the air, but it's nothing special.
"Did you find anything?" Luo Jiutian asked, hunched over.
The Taoist priest shook his head, "There is nothing on the wall of the well... Jiutian, have you ever looked down the well?"
"Under the well?" Luo Jiutian raised his feet, "It's all mud."
"Is it just mud?" The Taoist priest bent down and dug up the mud pile at the feet of the two of them with his bare hands.
Luo Jiutian was shocked and a little embarrassed. He mobilized himself for a few seconds and then dug up the mud. "No, you fell down before I even hit the bottom."
The two dug dirt seriously. Luo Jiutian kept brainwashing himself, telling himself that it was the same as digging dirt and digging holes in the yard when he was a child, but he became more and more enthusiastic as he dug.
Until his fingers touched something unexpected.
At about the same time, the Taoist priest also said, "There is something."
"I have something here too."
The two looked at each other, and the Taoist priest said, "Keep digging."
Luo Jiutian simply squatted down and dug with both hands along the spot where the foreign object appeared. Within a few seconds, a gray-white color completely different from the mud appeared.
The same thing also appeared on the Taoist side.
Luo Jiutian heard the sound of his own heartbeat. He stared at the gray spot and continued digging.
A few minutes later, he straightened up with a pale face and looked at the Taoist priest with a solemn expression.
Under the damp soil, two ossified human hands appeared.
The Taoist leader is still digging, and as he goes down this hand, the radius and ulna gradually appear.
He wanted to continue digging, but seemed to have encountered some difficulty.
"Taoist Priest?"
"There is something," the Taoist priest put his hand in the soil and tried to move it around the bones, "it's... like a stone."
It's just stone.
The Taoist priest pushed hard, and the thing in his hand moved. The soil was turned over, and a stone slightly larger than a human head arched out of the ground.
"Stone?"
"There's more than one piece," the Taoist priest looked down. "It seems like...it's all stones."
Countless stones squeezed the bones buried under the soil, and even some of the bones were squeezed to the point of deformation. The moment the stones were removed, the skeleton shook and scattered, turning into a pile of residual bones.
***
"Ask Ling, can you see anything?"
Qin Yin and Wen Ling held each other's arms tightly and walked slowly on the steps leading to the underground. The white light of the flashlight could only illuminate a small area. It seemed that nothing could be seen except the black stone steps under their feet.
Wen Ling turned his head and looked at Qin Yin, "You."
"I'm talking about something else," Qin Yin said softly, "Is it okay if you can't see me?"
Wen Ling squinted his eyes and looked around.
What was reflected in the gray eyes was only darkness.
"No."
"Let's go on," Qin Yin sighed, "Maybe Xiaolan is waiting for us down there."
As soon as they finished speaking, the two of them took a step forward and found that the stairs finally came to an end.
There is no Xiaolan.
There is only an open space of unknown size.
"Is there anything around?" Qin Yin didn't dare to act rashly, "Is... is there anyone?"
No one answered.
There wasn't even an echo.
The two of them carefully took two steps. When they turned around, they found that the steps they had just taken had disappeared.
Because this was really expected, the two of them did not express surprise and started the development work with unconfident steps.
It didn't take long for the two of them to see it.
A rectangular object about the height of a person stood upright in front of them.
"What is this?" Qin Yin walked around the cube, "It looks like a box."
Wen Ling stretched out his finger and quickly poked the surface of the square box.
"Stone."
"Is it a big stone?" Qin Yin also poked at it, "Is it some kind of symbol? Totem? Image worship?"
Wen Ling shook his head.
Then, as if answering her question, the side of the stone facing them suddenly slid open to the right, revealing the space inside the stone box.
It's hollow.
It is indeed a stone box.
The two looked at each other.
Qin Yin touched the inside of the stone box and asked, "Are you letting us in?"