The noise came from all directions.
Front, back, left, right, above the head and below the feet, it was like a vast ocean of whispers, chattering, laughing and joking. There were men and women, old and young, old and young. Wei Wuxian could even hear some sporadic words, but they were so fleeting that he couldn't catch the exact words.
It's really too noisy.
Wei Wuxian continued to press his temples with one hand, and with the other hand he took out a Fengxie Disk from the Qiankun Bag that could be placed in the palm of his hand. The pointer of the Fengxie Disk trembled and circled twice, faster and faster, and after a while, it started to rotate crazily!
Last time on Dafan Mountain, Feng Xiepan couldn't point out the direction, which was already weird. But this time it actually started to rotate automatically without stopping for a moment. This situation was even more incredible than the pointer not moving at all.
The ominous shadow in Wei Wuxian's heart grew thicker and thicker, and he shouted, "Jin Ling!"
The two of them had been walking in the stone castle for a while, but saw no sign of anyone alive. Wei Wuxian called out several times, but there was no answer. The first few stone chambers were empty, but after walking deeper, there was suddenly a dark coffin placed in the center of one of the stone chambers.
This coffin is placed here, very unexpected. But the coffin was completely black and the shape was very beautiful. Wei Wuxian was particularly fond of it and couldn't help but pat it. The wood was solid and the sound was deep, and he praised it: "What a good coffin."
Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian stood on both sides of it, looked at each other, and at the same time stretched out their hands to open the coffin lid.
The moment the coffin lid was opened, the noise around him suddenly doubled, drowning Wei Wuxian's hearing like a tide. It was as if they had been spied on by countless pairs of eyes. The owners of these eyes were quietly monitoring and discussing their every word and deed. When they saw them opening the coffin, they suddenly became excited. Wei Wuxian thought about dozens of possibilities, and was prepared for the rotten stench to his nose, claws to protrude, poisonous water to spray out, poisonous smoke to scatter, resentful spirits to attack his face, etc. Of course, what he wanted most was to see Jin Ling . However, nothing happened, nothing.
This turned out to be an empty coffin.
Wei Wuxian was a little surprised and a little disappointed that Jin Ling was not trapped here. Lan Wangji came closer, and Bichen unsheathed himself a few inches, and the cold light illuminated the bottom of the coffin. Only then did he realize that there was not nothing in the coffin. It's just that the things inside were much smaller than what he expected, like a corpse, and were hidden deepest at the bottom of the coffin belly.
There was a long knife lying in the coffin.
This knife has no scabbard, and the handle seems to be made of gold. It looks heavy and weighty. The blade is long and slender, and the blade is sharp. It is pillowed on a layer of red cloth at the bottom of the coffin, reflecting the color of blood, and it looks like a killing blow. Qi.
There was no body in the coffin, but a knife. Every part of this stone castle on Xinglu Ridge is weird, and every step reveals its weirdness.
The two closed the coffin lid and continued walking inside. They also found coffins like this in several stone chambers. Judging from the texture of the coffins, they were different in age, and each coffin contained a long knife. Until the last room, there was still no sign of Jin Ling. Wei Wuxian closed the coffin lid, feeling slightly uneasy.
When Lan Wangji saw him frowning and saying nothing, he pondered for a moment, placed the guqin horizontally on the coffin, raised his hand, and a string of string notes flowed out from his fingers.
He only played a short section, and then his right hand moved away from the piano body, concentrating on the strings that were still vibrating.
Suddenly, the strings vibrated and a note spontaneously popped out.
Wei WuXian asked, "'Ask the Spirit'?"
"Ask the Spirit" is a famous song composed by the ancestors of the Gusu Lan family. It is different from "The Conjuring" in that it is mostly used in situations where the identity of the deceased is unknown and there is no medium. The player uses the sound of the piano to ask questions to the deceased, and the echoes of the deceased will be transformed into music by "Ask the Spirit" and reflected on the strings.
The strings moved spontaneously, indicating that Lan Wangji had invited one of the dead souls in the stone castle. Next, it was time for both parties to ask and answer questions in Qin language.
Qin Yu is the unique secret skill of the Gusu Lan Sect. Although Wei Wuxian has dabbled in a wide range of skills, he is unable to understand the Qin Yu. He whispered: "Hanguang-Jun, help me ask it where it is, what it is used for, and who built it."
Lan Wangji is proficient in Wenling Qin language, and he can just make two or three clear sounds without thinking. After a while, the strings played twice automatically. Wei Wuxian hurriedly asked, "What did it say?"
Lan Wangji: "I don't know."
Wei Wuxian: "Huh?"
Lan Wangji said slowly: "It said, 'I don't know'."
"..." Wei Wuxian looked at him, and suddenly remembered a certain conversation related to "casual" many years ago. He rubbed his nose, the boss was bored, and thought to himself: "Lan Zhan is so promising that he even learned to choke me. "
When the question failed, Lan Wangji played another sentence. The strings responded again with the same two sonorous notes just now. Wei Wuxian heard that the answer this time was "I don't know" again, and asked, "What did you ask it again?"
Lan Wangji said: "Why did he die?"
Wei WuXian said: "If someone accidentally assassinates you, it is indeed possible that you don't know why you died. You might as well ask it if it knows who killed it."
Lan Wangji raised his hand to pluck the strings. However, the response was still two clangs - "I don't know."
A dead soul imprisoned here has no idea where he is, why he died, and who killed him. This is the first time Wei Wuxian has encountered such a dead person who has no idea about these three questions. His thoughts changed and he said: " Then change it to another one. Ask it whether it is a boy or a girl. It will never know this."
Lan Wangji played as he was told. After withdrawing his hand, another string was played powerfully, and Lan Wangji translated: "Male."
Wei Wuxian said, "Finally, I know something. Now, let me ask, is there a fifteen or sixteen year old boy who came in here?"
Answer: "Yes."
Wei Wuxian asked again, "Then where is he now?"
Qin Xian paused for a moment before responding. Wei WuXian hurriedly asked, "What did he say?"
Lan Wangji looked solemn and said, "He said, 'Right here'."
Wei Wuxian was speechless.
"Here" should refer to this stone castle, but they just searched it and didn't see Jin Ling. Wei WuXian said, "He can't lie, can he?"
Lan Wangji said, "I'm here, so I can't."
Also, the person asking the question is Lord Hanguang. Under his suppression, Lai Ling cannot lie and can only answer truthfully. Wei Wuxian rummaged around in this stone room to see if there were any secret passages that he had missed. Lan Wangji thought for a moment and asked two more questions. After receiving the answer, his expression changed slightly. Seeing this, Wei Wuxian hurriedly asked, "What did you ask again?"
Lan Wangji said: "How old are you and where are you from?"
These two questions were all testing Lai Ling's identity, and Wei Wuxian knew he would get an unusual answer: "How?"
Lan Wangji said: "Fifteen years old, from Lanling."
Wei Wuxian's expression suddenly changed.
The soul invited in "Ask the Spirit" is actually Jin Ling? !
He hurriedly listened carefully, and in the overwhelming noise, it seemed that he could faintly hear Jin Ling's weak shouts, but he couldn't hear them clearly.
Lan Wangji continued to ask questions. Wei Wuxian knew that he must be asking about the specific location, and stared at the strings, waiting for Jin Ling's answer.
This time the response was longer. After listening to it, Lan Wangji said to Wei Wuxian: "Stand where you are, facing the southwest, and listen to the sound of the string. Once it sounds, take a step forward. When the sound of the string stops, you will before.'"
Wei Wuxian said nothing and turned to the southwest. There were seven string sounds behind him, and he took seven steps forward. However, there is always nothing ahead.
The sound of the piano continued, but the intervals became longer and longer, and he walked slower and slower. One more step, two more steps, three more steps...
After walking six steps, the sound of the piano finally fell silent and stopped ringing.
And in front of him, there was only a wall.
This wall is made of gray-white stone bricks, and the blocks fit together seamlessly. Wei Wuxian turned around and said, "...He's in the wall?!"
Bichen unsheathed, four blue lights passed by, and a neat tic-shaped shape was cut out of the wall. The two stepped forward and started to remove the bricks. After removing several stone bricks, a large area of black soil was exposed.
It turns out that the walls of this stone castle were double-layered, and the middle of the two layers of solid stone bricks was filled with soil. Wei Wuxian dug out a large clod of soil with his bare hands, and in the middle of the dark soil, he dug out a human face with eyes closed.
It is the missing Jin Ling!
Jin Ling's face was submerged in the soil. As soon as it was exposed, air suddenly filled his mouth and nose, and he immediately coughed and inhaled violently. Wei Wuxian finally felt relieved when he saw that he was still alive. Jin Ling's life was really hanging by a thread just now, otherwise his soul that was about to leave the body would not have been captured by "Ask the Spirit". Fortunately, he was not buried in the wall for long, otherwise he would have suffocated to death if he had waited a moment longer.
The two of them were busy digging him out of the wall. Unexpectedly, when they pulled out the carrot and brought out the mud, the moment Jin Ling's upper body was unearthed, something else was hooked out of the long sword on his back.
A bone-white arm!
Lan Wangji laid Jin Ling flat on the ground, checked his pulse and treated him. Wei Wuxian picked up Bichen's scabbard and poked and dug in the soil skillfully along the white bone arm. After a while, a complete skeleton appeared in front of him.
This skeleton, like Jin Ling just now, was buried in the wall in a standing position. The contrast between the pale bones and the dark soil was sharp and dazzling. Wei Wuxian dug through the soil, removed a few bricks on the side, stirred it up, and found a second skeleton nearby.
But this one was not completely rotten. There was still skin and flesh attached to the bones. There was long black and unkempt hair on the skull. The torn clothes were water-red. It was clearly a woman. She was not standing, her frame was bent. The reason for bending over is because there is a third skeleton beside her legs, which is squatting.
Wei Wuxian stopped digging.
He took a few steps back, and the noise in his ears surged like a tide and was unbridled.
He was almost certain. The entire thick wall of the stone castle was filled with human bones.
The top of the head, the soles of the feet, southeast, northwest; standing, sitting, lying, squatting...
What on earth is this place? !