I lowered my head, my palms covered in cold sweat. Originally, it was nothing, but Xiao He's words made a shiver uncontrollably run through my body. In my mind, it felt as though the three of us were gathered around a lantern, and something dreadful was silently approaching from the periphery. Not to mention turning back, my body dared not even move.
My heartbeat drummed like thunder. Could it be that the entity has truly arrived?
Xiao He also lowered his head, avoiding glancing at that spot. He whispered, "Do you know about the 'jibowl' ritual? In my hometown, there's a tradition. When someone passes away, on the evening of the burial day, we go to the grave to burn willow branches and smash a bowl. Afterward, don't look back, no matter who calls you."
"Once, my father received a sign, and when my grandfather passed away, it was my eldest uncle who led me to perform the 'jibowl.' My grandmother repeatedly reminded me not to look back. That night, after smashing the bowl at the grave, as we walked back, not far away, I heard someone calling my name. I turned to look, and to my surprise, my grandfather was sitting in front of the grave eating pancakes. I quickly turned back, almost crying, and told my eldest uncle. He picked me up and ran. When we got home, I slept for three days. I almost scared my grandmother to death. Later, my grandmother said, someone in samadhi has a protective fire on their shoulders, and filthy things dare not approach. But if you turn back, it blows out. So, late at night, if someone calls you, never turn back."
Xiao He swallowed, his voice getting even lower, trembling a bit. "I just crawled over there and found a grave."
"There's an empty bowl beside the grave, and I placed the beef we brought inside."
At this point, Liangzi suddenly pointed at the shadow cast by the lantern. In addition to our three long shadows, there was a small, pointed one, trembling as it emerged. Its shape resembled that of a person with restricted movement, inching closer step by step.
I stared at that shadow, almost in tears. "Is it not fed? Perhaps it doesn't like beef."
Xiao He gripped a short knife in his hand. "Our yang energy is too strong. This fellow is probably attempting to borrow a corpse. Let's go into the tent."
Saying that, Xiao He and I entered the tent where Shanmao was sleeping, while Liangzi went into Lao He's. Perhaps our movements were a bit loud; Shanmao woke up suddenly. He looked at us drowsily, just as Xiao He was about to speak, he covered Shanmao's mouth. At the same time, I saw a long shadow, pulled by the light, quivering, appearing on the tent. I drew in a cold breath; it had indeed come.
Shanmao saw the shadow clearly. Sleepiness vanished instantly. He pulled out two slings from his toolkit and handed one to me. The three of us formed a triangle, huddled together. The shadow came to the middle of the two tents, as if sniffing in our direction, then slowly approached us.
My hand holding the sling was icy; my back was already soaked in sweat. The shadow arrived at the side of the tent, pressing both hands against it. In the middle, a black shadow gradually enlarged on the tent. It looked as if someone outside was desperately trying to get inside. I could even feel his face facing mine.
The thing's face was pressed against the tent, and its hands kept knocking, continuously knocking, as if knocking on a door.
Shanmao held the sling, gritting his teeth. "Should we confront it?"
As soon as the thing heard the sound, it suddenly stopped knocking, as if listening intently. The scene fell silent. Cold sweat trickled down, and I could even hear my own thumping heartbeat. I feared it would forcefully enter. Encountering such a ghostly thing in the wilderness was exceptionally unlucky.
In these few seconds, the thing unexpectedly retreated a few steps. The shadow gradually disappeared from the tent. After a few minutes, it didn't reappear. The three of us exchanged glances, none daring to make a sound, not even daring to breathe loudly, carefully listening to the surrounding sounds. I looked around, including the tent's top, fearing that the thing would climb on top of us, pierce the tent, and drop down.
We were unsure if it had left, and no one dared to approach, afraid that if we opened the tent, a strange face would stretch in.
We held this stalemate for half an hour. I glanced at the watch; there were still ten minutes until five o'clock. The eastern sky was already slightly bright. In a little while, the sun would rise.
This gave me a bit of courage. We looked at each other, and I suggested going to check. The thing should have left by now. Xiao He nodded. Holding the knife, he slowly moved towards the tent entrance. Shanmao and I stood at the entrance, and he unzipped it gently. I was extremely nervous, raising the sling in both hands, ready to strike if the thing hadn't left. Thankfully, when he pulled down the zipper, there was no sound outside. Xiao He took a deep breath, squatted down, and flipped out. We followed right after. Outside, it was already slightly bright, and there was no sign of the creature.
Liangzi also came out of the tent, followed by the stern-faced old hunter and Lao He.
Lao He stepped out, looked around, and asked Xiao He, "What is it?"
The old hunter's face turned grim. "It's a mountain ghost. Some people have seen them at night, so I warned you not to enter the forest at night."
Liangzi, still a bit frightened, looked in that direction and asked, "What is a mountain ghost?"
"It's the souls of those who died unjustly in the forest. Their spirits can't leave, so they roam in the forest at night, dragging anyone they find alive into it."
I gasped a cold breath, pointing to the forest outside, asking him how we could continue our journey. The old hunter said that as long as there's sunlight, they won't come out. We should wait a bit for the sun to rise before moving on.
The weather was still chilly, and reluctantly, we returned to the tent, lit the lantern for warmth, and Mountain Cat brought out compressed biscuits, giving each of us a piece. We all chewed in silence, especially me. Without even reaching the grave, we encountered such a bizarre event. Besides the slight excitement deep within, there was more fear. As someone who grew up in the city, accustomed to coffee, computers, and big malls, it's challenging to comprehend the eerie events happening in this desolate mountain wilderness.
Mountain Cat pulled out a silver, flat-mouthed flask from his pocket, containing homemade liquor from the village. He took a sip and asked me, "What was that thing? Did you guys see it?"
I took the flask and had a sip. It was fiery going down. I shook my head. Only Xiao He saw it up close. At this moment,
Xiao He, seemingly troubled, said, "I can't be sure what it was. Initially, I thought it was some unclean thing, but just now, I found some linear traces at the tent entrance, like something crawled over."
"Could it be a snake?" I asked him. From a distance, that thing looked distinctly humanoid, and it seemed to be wrapped in something.
Liangzi, skeptical, asked, "Is it possible that it's some other wild animal, maybe a bear or a wild boar?"
As he said that, Xiao He and I exchanged glances. It was plausible. However, if that was a bear, it was too thin. Could it be that two bears had a territorial dispute, one got injured, was driven out of its territory, and, without the ability to hunt, was lured over by our campfire at night?
Liangzi said that with my description, it sounded quite vivid— a stubborn bear walking in the cold wind.
I looked at Xiao He. Only he had seen that thing up close. He said he couldn't be sure, but I could sense that something seemed off with him. I couldn't pinpoint where.
We rested for another two hours. Around seven o'clock, the day was already quite bright. Sunlight filtered through the dense branches, casting a mosaic of fragmented shadows. We continued our journey. My initial tourist-like mindset was gone, replaced by a sense of caution. Moreover, I noticed it wasn't just me; even the usually carefree Liangzi became serious. I asked him if he, who often ventured into the wilderness, was scared too. He replied with a wry smile, saying that usually, it's like going to the toilet to take a dump when they go down. In desolate areas with no people around, humming a song, they would bring things back. But if every time was this eerie, no amount of money would make him do it.
According to him, though, Second Master had often been to such graves, initiated corpse revivals several times, and always managed to turn danger into safety.
The second half of the journey was extremely difficult to traverse. The old hunter led us, twisting and turning in the mountains. It was almost dusk when we reached our destination, and the sun had almost set. Along the way, Xiao He suddenly stopped us, his face looking grim. "We might be in trouble."
He pointed to a slope ahead, saying, "There's a strong smell of blood there."
We all looked, and it turned out to be the place the old hunter was going to lead us through. The old hunter turned back, glanced at Xiao He, drew out a machete, frowned, and looked towards that direction. In a stern tone, he said, "It's still quite fresh."
Mountain Cat took the mule from Xiao He's hand. Xiao He and the old hunter took the lead. After crossing this mountain slope, we saw two tents silently pitched in the open space below the slope. Some cooking utensils and equipment were scattered outside, but no one was in sight.
"What the hell is that?"
Liangzi pointed to the tent on the left, and as I looked over, a sudden spasm hit my stomach. Almost instantly, a surge of sour liquid rose to my throat. I forcibly suppressed it at the back of my throat with the base of my tongue. My goodness, what had I seen? Next to that tent was a pool of fresh blood, and in the midst of the blood was a ragged figure lying there, resembling a torn cotton wad. I took just a glance, and it became apparent that there wasn't a single unharmed part on his body. It looked as if he had been tortured.
The expressions of everyone turned grim. Xiao He remained vigilant, scanning the surroundings. Lao He walked over, reaching out to turn the guy over. I saw him sigh in relief, squatting there and saying, "Fortunately, he's not one of ours."
I understood his implication. On our way here, he had told me that this time, it was Second Master who called the shots, and the one responding to the call was a bald guy from the north, accompanied by some unsavory characters. Only these desperate individuals dared to venture into such places. Apart from Mountain Cat, Second Master also had two brothers from the same sect with him, clearly not the person lying there.
"This is a knife wound," Mountain Cat also crouched down, poking the tattered corpse with a makeshift stick. The old hunter squinted his eyes, made a surprised sound, and then his face changed. "It's a knife wound, but he did it to himself."
"Hmm?" I questioned.
Xiao He, after searching the surroundings, also approached. He lowered his head to inspect the body, nodding and saying, "Indeed, self-inflicted wounds. The shape of the injuries is quite distinct, all self-inflicted."
Mountain Cat furrowed his brows. "This guy is brutal. How could he do that to himself?"
Now that I had recovered a bit, I looked around and remarked, "Perhaps we should be asking why he chose to harm himself."
The body on the ground was too bizarre, and everyone fell silent. Lao He lit a cigarette, spoke up, and said, "I've encountered such a situation once before with Second Master."
Several youngsters turned their attention to him. During the time when Second Master was still on the ground, these guys were still in open-crotch pants. Lao He was one of the few old men who had been with him continuously since then. He took a drag from his cigarette. "In that year, someone near Jiayuguan, Gansu, discovered a tomb. Since Second Master wasn't home at the time, one of our capable guys from the sect, who was good with his hands, took a few men for an exploratory mission. They went for several days without any news. As soon as Second Master returned, learning about this, he immediately took us and rushed over that night."
"As soon as we arrived at the vicinity, Second Master said something was amiss with the Feng Shui there. The underground wouldn't be clean, and there might be changes. When we descended, the antechamber was in chaos, with body parts of several brothers scattered on the ground. As we proceeded, we indeed found several 'zongzi' that had started to rise. Second Master led them to the edge of the pit, looped ropes around them, and had people pull them up from above. Once exposed to sunlight, those things were finished. We continued downwards and found a collapsed passage, probably blasted with explosives. After moving the stones, a foul smell hit us. We saw that guy, the one good with his hands, lying on the ground covered in blood, not a single intact part on him. He had clawed himself. Second Master said he suffered from corpse poison, and that guy hadn't died yet, almost turning into a corpse. In the end, Second Master beheaded him and gave him a proper send-off."
Liangzi looked at the bloodied corpse on the ground, clicking his tongue. "Did he suffer from corpse poison?"
"It doesn't seem likely," Lao He fingered a bit of the blood on the ground, sniffed it, and shook his head. "This blood is fine; it shouldn't be corpse poison. It's just strange. How could a living person mutilate himself like this?"
I looked around and noticed a peculiar phenomenon. There were several piles of ash around the small campsite. I walked over and picked up a piece of wood, peeling it apart to reveal some charred residue. Obviously, something hadn't burned completely. I beckoned them over to take a look. "Previously, Second Master's team must have carried solid fuel. Even if they were cooking, they wouldn't have lit so many fires, and if you look."
Xiao He crouched down, picking up a piece of cotton-like residue, sniffed it, and his face changed. He turned and said, "They burned human flesh."
I was startled, surveying the surroundings. What had happened here before? They must have encountered some unforeseen circumstances. This situation couldn't have occurred suddenly because they had the time to set up these fires, and looking at the burn intensity of these several fires, there were intervals. So, it's possible that they had found a way to deal with the situation, hence choosing not to retreat.
Lao He shook his head. "There's another possibility. The situation suddenly deteriorated on the last day, catching them off guard." Pointing to the guy in the blood pool, he continued, "He might be the cost of the sudden change. Second Master and the others probably went into the cave."
Lao He extinguished the cigarette butt. "We can't afford to delay any longer. If Second Master and the others have indeed gone inside, without this batch of equipment, they won't get far. We'll go in tonight and meet them first."
The equipment we brought this time was a few sets of scuba gear. According to the information relayed by Second Master, there was a part with accumulated water below, and they sent someone down to find that this waterway was unusually long. Without professional underwater equipment, it was impossible to traverse. If the situation was true, Second Master and the others probably hadn't gone deep into the cave, perhaps trapped near the water passage.
The old hunter adamantly refused to go inside. He said that within three days, there would be heavy rain, and even he wouldn't be able to get out by then. So, he would wait for us outside for three days. Originally, Lao He didn't want me to go down with them, but the strange events here were too unsettling for him to leave me with the old hunter alone. After numerous reminders, we finally descended into the cave after making sure not to wander aimlessly, especially after notifying Xiao He to keep an eye on me.