Chapter 5 Chapter 4 Shouling Yu: The Fantastic Beast from "Shan Hai Jing"

After experiencing a series of weirdness just now, everyone felt a little bit drummed in their hearts. Under the leadership of Shuanzi, they quickly fled up the mountain road to Yizhuang on the mountain with a lantern. The mountains in the night are extremely quiet and pitch-black. Pairs of eyes of nocturnal beasts are looming in the dense bushes, flickering like will-o'-the-wisps in the grave, and there are strange and piercing "croaks" of night owls everywhere. sound. The group of people finally stepped into the fork in the middle of the mountain, and came to a sparse wild forest. Although the branches and leaves in this area are not dense, it is always shrouded in a mist, and the atmosphere is very mysterious.

Shuanzi, who was silent along the way, checked the surrounding environment, pointed to the not far away and said, "After passing through this forest, there will be Yizhuang behind!" I stood by the fork in the road and peeked inside. "I said Ba Ye, damn it, you are right, this place is really evil!" The voice of the third fat man Chen Jianguo rang in my ears. I glanced at him and nodded. Before, because of the long distance, I could only see a hazy mist. Now that I was in front of me, I suddenly realized that the mist came out of nowhere, and it was so thick that it almost covered the entire deserted forest. shrouded in it.

"Where did the heavy fog come from?" This place is really weird. Several people gathered together to observe carefully, and then frowned in unison. When they stepped into the area where this wild forest is located, everyone seemed to have entered another world, and they couldn't even tell the direction. Under the guidance of the lights, he could only move in the direction of Yizhuang along the winding path. As for what the hell is in this desolate forest shrouded in hazy mist, you can only find out when you get close. A few people walked step by step in the desolate forest with twigs, and the sound of dead branches and leaves breaking under their feet from time to time seemed extremely abrupt in the silent night of Congling.The strange cry of the night owl came from the surroundings from time to time, and a gust of cold wind blew in, making people shudder, and the tall shrubs and plants around seemed to be full of phantoms.

I don't know why, since I entered this extremely secluded wild forest, my heart suddenly became aroused, as if in this desolate dense forest shrouded in mist, there was a pair of eyes watching us maliciously in the dark. There was a dead silence in the wild forest, and a smell of damp and dead branches rushed straight into his nostrils. There was not a single bit of light in the surroundings, and the dense branches and leaves covered the moonlight above our heads. Even though the few of us were still carrying lanterns, we still couldn't see the road ahead. I walked at the front of the team with extra care. All kinds of weird things that happened before have completely aroused everyone's precautions and caution. I carefully discerned the movement around me without blinking my eyes.

"What's that?" Three Fatty said to himself. In front, black mounds blocked the way. They were not tall, but densely packed, like a continuous stretch of sand dunes, lying there. I hastily picked up the lantern, held it in my hand, and walked a few steps forward, so that everyone could see clearly. Not far away, there is actually a cemetery. The black graves stand side by side, especially in this gloomy environment, giving people a strong sense of oppression. Seeing them, it seems to be on the dividing line between the underworld and the yang world. "There are so many bumpkins, damn it, this is a mass grave." Now even the third fat man was getting a little nervous.

Shuanzi and Xiaomei also stared blankly. This Qinglong Mountain is where Yizhuang is located. When there were famines and plagues in the past, many businessmen and travelers who came and went died in foreign lands. They were all buried on this Qinglong Mountain. There is nothing wrong with a large natural cemetery. However, at this moment, seeing so many wild graves suddenly, even the two of them locals couldn't help feeling a little apprehensive. "Don't worry about it, people are scary and scary, here is too dark, let's go to Yizhuang as soon as possible!" I stabilized my mind, carried the lantern, and continued to move forward.

In this cold and desolate forest, along the ancient path, we are like disturbed intruders, step by step approaching some terrible truth. The surrounding air seemed to gradually become thinner and cloudier. In the darkness, except for the heavy panting of the crowd, no other sound could be heard, and it was as quiet as a grave of a dead person.In this dull space, the atmosphere is getting more and more tense. No one spoke, and everyone just kept moving forward, the night was as cold as water, and a damp smell of rotten branches and leaves enveloped them, making people very uncomfortable. I don't know if it's my illusion, or it's just because of being too nervous, an indescribable coldness has gradually shrouded my heart.

It seems that somewhere in this dark and dead silence, there are still some unclean things hidden! The few people moved forward with one foot deep and one foot shallow, and the slight crisp sound they made as they stepped on the fallen leaves seemed so thrilling in this gloomy and quiet environment. "Crackling", "creaking"... At this moment, we have reached the central area of ​​the wild forest, surrounded by dark shadows, and we can see black mounds shrouded in mist in the distance, looming, full of oppression. After walking another distance, I suddenly stopped, only to feel a gloomy chill rushing up from the soles of my feet.Immediately, I turned my head and looked behind me with a frown, but there was nothing but darkness behind me.

"It's his grandma, Ba Ye, don't be so startled, okay. Fatty's heart is about to be frightened by you." The third fat man was startled by my action, and his body trembled. "Shh, keep your voice down, don't you feel it?" I motioned him to be quiet and said in a low voice. "What's the matter? What's the matter?" The three fatty didn't know why, and said in a daze. "It seems that there is, there is something that has been following us." Shuanzi was breaking out in cold sweat. Although Xiaomei didn't speak, seeing her pale face, she obviously sensed something different.

"No way." Seeing our expressions, the third fat man, Chen Jianguo, looked around and couldn't help shrinking his neck. Hearing Shuanzi's words, I frowned. If I was the only one feeling it, maybe there might be some deviations, but if three people felt it at the same time, it proves that the whole thing is really weird. "Never mind, let's continue walking first." I looked around again for a while, but found nothing.I beckon everyone to move on. And the moment I turned around, the feeling of being stared at by something reappeared. The cold chill like a maggot attached to the bone behind me made me feel more and more uneasy.

"Crackling", "creaking"... The feet stepped on the thick dead branches and leaves piled up on the ground, making a slight crisp sound, which echoed in the air.I tried to slow down my pace, and sure enough, as everyone's footsteps gradually slowed down, everyone heard a trace of discordant footsteps. The cold sweat on my forehead "brushed" and flowed down. The voice was closely behind us, far away, but it was certain that it did not belong to the third fat man, Chen Jianguo, nor did it belong to me, Shuanzi or Xiaomei. So... whose footsteps are behind this? A chill surged from the bottom of my heart, and quickly spread to the whole body, and goose bumps appeared on everyone's backs. We listen. That thing followed closely behind us, but it always kept a considerable distance from us. We moved it and it moved, and we stopped it and it stopped. At this moment, even Chen Jianguo, the three-fat man who has always been nervous, felt the weirdness of the atmosphere. In such a deadly environment, he could clearly hear the discordant footsteps coming from not far behind him. Immediately, he shrank his neck in fright.Shuanzi and Xiaomei also turned pale with fright, and kept looking back behind them. "Brother Erba! Fatty brother! What's the matter? I, why do I feel that something is following us?" Xiaomei's terrified voice came from next to her ear. After experiencing so many strange things, even this little girl was so bold that she was frightened enough. "It's okay, don't think about it. Maybe it's a wild cat or something." I can only comfort her like this. The three fat guys poked their necks, carefully looked at the surrounding environment, and said: "Hey, it's okay. Even if there is something, how much meat can you have with your body? If you want to eat, you have to look at me, Fatty." This body is fat..." Several people took a few steps forward again, their feet made a slight sound when they stepped on the ground, and fell into a thick layer of decayed leaves. The discordant footsteps continued to sound behind us, still following us closely like a shadow. "That thing, that thing came here again..." Xiaomei almost cried. Chen Jianguo lost his composure at first, and tore a dry tree trunk from his side with a "click", and gave us a wink: "Comrades, Chairman Mao said that revolutionaries are not afraid of difficulties and obstacles. They are bullied to the point of view." Come forward, I'm afraid of a bird, what are you waiting for, let's put the damn son down together." "Hey..." Before the third fat man finished speaking, a sinister sneer came again, and the dark figure in the mist flashed away again. "Damn it, this damn thing dares to provoke Fat Lord me." The three fatty grumbled and rushed over. "Damn it, fat man, be careful." I was worried about the safety of the third fat man, so I told Shuan Zi and Xiao Mei to follow the direction of the figure and rushed over. The black humanoid was very fast, and rushed into the shadows in a blink of an eye.The thick tree trunk thrown by Chen Jianguo missed it, and the three fat men cursed in anger. I chased after it, and illuminated the front with a lantern. "What the hell is that?" "I don't know. It's not a ghost anyway. It's covered with black hair. It looks a bit like a horse monkey, but it's much bigger. Listening to the sneer, it looks like a monster that came out of hell. It makes people feel uncomfortable." Fatty Three and I didn't catch that thing. In order to avoid being shot down individually, everyone gathered together again and walked out of the wild forest along the path. When we walked about a quarter of the distance away, the third fat man and I were still talking about the black shadow we saw just now, guessing what it was. Seeing me and the third fat man thinking wildly, the silent Shuanzi suddenly said to me: "There has always been a legend in our local area. On some very gloomy days, if a person walks in the woods at night and hears There are footsteps coming, and there is a figure following you not far away, you must not turn your head, just go forward. In case you hear someone calling your name, you can’t agree, just step forward Kick it down, and then run away. It is a ghost called 'mandrill' that calls people." I had never heard of this thing, so the third fat man asked him: "Why can't you turn back?" Shuanzi said: "It is said that there are three fires on a person's body, one is on the head and the other two are on the shoulders. It is said that it is the Yang fire on the person's body. When walking at night, if someone calls your name, Never look to either side. If you look back, the fire on your shoulders will be blown out by the breath from your mouth and nose, and evil spirits will approach you... Let ghosts like mandrills effortlessly The earth takes away the soul of a person, so there is a folk saying that "a man lights a candle, a ghost blows a lamp." "This man lighting candles is talking about the three fires that people are born with, so I tell you not to look back no matter what you hear." Fatty and I were taken aback by Shuanzi's words. We all looked at each other in blank dismay, not knowing what to say.After a long time, the third fat man asked him: "Where did you learn these principles? Is there a way to deal with that thing that is following us?" Shuanzi shook his head and said, "I've also heard about it. The ghost blowing the lamp was told to me by the cripple Wang from Yizhuang when I accompanied the village party secretary up the mountain. I didn't take it seriously at the time, but now I believe it. It's just a little late." The three fatty sighed, and said: "Listen to what you said, the situation is not good. The lame Wang has lived in Qinglong Mountain for a long time, and he knows everything about this place. I'm afraid it's not aimless. If the mandrill really came after me, then I He and Ba Ye both looked back at that thing, could it be that they won't be able to come out alive after entering here this time." I felt that what he said was too evil, and said: "If you believe it, you have it, and if you don't believe it, you don't. It's all superstitious remarks, so don't pay too much attention to it. However, since you are being targeted by that thing, I am afraid that the next The road is not very easy, everyone, don't separate, it's better to be careful." The three fat men curled their lips, laughed at me and said, "According to what you said, it was a hell of a thing just now. Anyway, I have already climbed up to this Qinglong Mountain. It is mules or horses that have come out to wander here. There is nothing to be afraid of. of." I thought to myself that I couldn't figure it out with this fat man, so I darkened my face: "This is an extraordinary period, don't try to be a hero for me. There are a lot of people behind me, you are not afraid, this Xiaomei and What are Shuanzi and the others going to do? It’s all about being careful now, and when you get out of this woods, you little brat.” Shuanzi obviously agreed with my point of view, and said to the three fat guys: "Yes, yes. I also think what Erba Ge said makes sense. Now we don't know what is behind us. It is always a big mistake to be careful. Yes. When we arrived at Yizhuang, there was old cripple Wang watching, and these things didn’t dare to approach easily.” At this time, Xiaomei who had been standing behind me also spoke: "Now is not the time to argue, everyone should get out of this forest first, so as not to be targeted by something again." Seeing that the three of us formed a coalition of the same front, the three fat men knew that they were in an absolutely weak position in terms of numbers, so they directly raised their hands and surrendered: "Okay, okay. Isn't it okay for me to surrender? His grandma, you guys It’s to engage in class discrimination and isolate me from the front line. Forget it, I’ve fallen into this field anyway, so you can do whatever you want.” Shuanzi said: "Let's go out of this forest along the path first, don't be too far away, if there is any problem, everyone can take care of each other." Everyone nodded. Anyway, the matter has come to this point, and there is no point in discussing it here. It is better to take one step at a time. So everyone continued to walk in the direction of Yizhuang. We walked very carefully along the way, and the remaining distance was very short. Soon, the field of vision in front of us suddenly widened, and we were about to walk out of this wild forest. I was secretly happy in my heart, and thought that I had walked out of this strange forest, out of this barren forest, and entered the area where Yizhuang is located, so there must not be so many strange things happening. "Has it finally come out?" Xiaomei smiled happily. Judging from her somewhat pale face, she was indeed quite frightened before. "Damn it, this place is too evil." The third fat man was still brooding about what happened just now, and kept mumbling. "Fortunately, we were extra careful along the way, otherwise we would be in big trouble now..." Shuanzi was a little thankful. "Hey hey..." Suddenly, there was a sinister laughing voice from behind. The voice was extremely cold and evil, and it seemed particularly frightening in this dark and dead environment. "This thing again, why does it always follow us?" "The black-haired monster is here again!" The sinister laughter in the dark wild forest is creepy, and the voice spreads all over the world, as if it came from hell, evil and vicious. "Damn it, you bastard." The third fat man Chen Jianguo and I turned around abruptly, looked back, and shivered at the same time. Less than ten feet behind us, a pair of cold and cunning eyes appeared in the darkness, staring at each other. stare at us. "boom!" Just as we were about to fight back absolutely and fight that mandrill to the death, we suddenly felt a vibration in the air behind us.Turning our heads suddenly, we were shocked to find that in the black night behind us, at some point there were countless indifferent red eyes shining. I hastily lifted the lantern in my hand and leaned forward, trying to see what it was. But this action was like poking a hornet's nest. Perhaps it was startled by the firelight of the lantern, and there was a sudden "crash" in the forest opposite. "Quack..." Suddenly, piercing calls sounded, and dense red eyes flashed on the black branches.One after another, things with black feathers and pale women's faces flew out and swept over. Almost the entire sky was covered by this group of black shadows. At this moment, we finally saw clearly that they were huge "white-faced aunts". "God, things are not good. Why are there so many strange birds here? It seems that there are at least a hundred of them. We are in a terrible situation." The faces of the three fat people changed color. "Quack quack." From the narrow cracks between the black cliffs on both sides, "white-faced aunts" with pale women's faces rushed out one after another, with black feathers all over their bodies. "Quack!" "Quack!" "Quack!" resounded throughout. "There are so many fair-faced aunts, they are sure to die." At this moment, even Chen Jianguo, the third fat man who has always been heartless, began to feel nervous. Shuanzi was even more frightened at this moment, staring blankly at the huge strange birds densely packed in the sky, and was stunned. "Damn it, what are you doing there, get down, get down quickly!" I yelled loudly, and at the same time pulled Xiaomei beside me to the ground. At this time, Chen Jianguo, the third fat man, was the first to react, and sat down on the ground with his buttocks. Shuanzi followed suit and quickly lay down on the ground. "Hide your head, hands, and feet well, and hide them in your cuffs. Don't expose your surface skin." I shouted to everyone to prepare for the worst. The only strange thing is that the large group of white-faced aunts seemed to have no interest in us at all, like a black sandstorm, they directly lowered their bodies and passed over our bodies, making a series of sharp and piercing calls. Meanwhile, behind us. "what……" An extremely shrill sound resounded like a howling ghost, and the entire deserted forest seemed to be pierced by this sound, bringing with it a bit of indescribable pain and despair. This voice turned out to be that mandrill. I was startled, and I exchanged a glance with Chen Jianguo, the third fat man beside me. The two of them secretly aimed their gazes to the rear, and they were shocked immediately. They saw a horrifying scene that I couldn't believe. The entire dense forest completely boiled at this moment. The white-faced aunt who covered the sky with black wings screamed and swooped down. There were hundreds of them covering the sky and covering the land behind the mandrill. submerged. These strange birds called white-faced aunts have all become spirits, and they are not ordinary birds at all. At the moment, they seem to be crazy, covering the body of the humanoid creature with long black hair, tearing it ferociously The flesh on the body... Although the black and long-haired humanoid creature tried its best to resist and struggled painfully, but the number of black and white-faced aunts was simply too much to resist. "Quack..." Hundreds of fair-faced aunts screamed crazily, their voices piercing the darkness and resounding across the wilderness, making one's heart chill. This is a very terrifying scene, like a hungry wolf dismembering a corpse, revealing the bloody laws of nature. I saw that even the face of the third fat man Chen Jianguo couldn't help but turn pale. "My God, what's going on, this white-faced aunt actually killed the mandrill?" Several people were terrified when they saw it. However, everyone still resisted the urge of curiosity, closed their eyes one by one, lay down on the ground and pretended to be dead, and let the white-faced aunts in the land not far away compete for flesh and blood. "This white-faced aunt is too evil, isn't she? She even ate monsters like mandrills!" The third fat man exclaimed inwardly, and muttered, "Could it be the legendary "fighting poison with poison..." "Perhaps these strange birds are the legendary god birds, which specialize in killing mountain ghosts like mandrills." Xiaomei whispered from the side. "what!" Finally, there was a shrill scream, and black blood flowed all over the ground. The black humanoid creature covered in animal hair was completely torn into countless parts by the sharp claws of the white-faced aunt, and died completely. "Quack..." The white-faced aunt continued to enjoy the long-lost feast, and the ear-piercing screams kept echoing in the dense forest, which lasted for a long time. The four of us were so frightened that we didn't dare to move. After a long time, we dared to stand up again. At this moment, the group of black and white-faced aunts had dispersed, and we didn't know where they were flying to. The remaining ones were still hovering in the sky, but they also gradually disappeared into the darkness. On the ground, apart from the thick black blood, there was only a handful of long black hairs flying around, and there was nothing else left. "This……" Several people looked at each other in blank dismay, and couldn't help but gasped. No wonder Shuanzi said before that this Qinglong Mountain was a bit weird.What's so weird about this, I don't even know how I died. "These fair-faced aunts actually tore up the whole mandrill and ate it?!" We were all stunned. The mandrill, which seemed so vicious before, was left in a blink of an eye with only a strand of black animal hair left, not even a piece of flesh or bone. "What's going on? Why are there so many white-faced aunts all of a sudden?" The three fat man Chen Jianguo struggled to get up, patted the ashes on his clothes with his hands, and grinned. "Why does this fair-faced aunt only eat mandrills, but doesn't touch us at all?" Xiaomei walked to my side, her face pale. Shuanzi also seemed hesitant to speak. At this moment, several people seemed to be surprised and uncertain. I sighed and said, "It's a bit weird!" "Forget it, the ghost knows what the reason is, there must be blessings after death, let's leave this ghost forest as soon as possible." The three fat men took the lead and walked out of the forest. I smiled helplessly, but my heart became more and more uneasy. Just up the mountain, we encountered so many weird things along the way, and this is not the deepest part, God knows what kind of terrible things we will encounter here, everything is so unpredictable, beyond imagination. It wasn't until many years later that I learned from an old ancient book that Qinglong Mountain is located in the western part of Hubei Province, in a corner of peace, with strange peaks and rocks, swamps and mires, misty dense forests, deep streams and dangerous gullies... It is all over it, and it has been preserved since ancient times. It has many original ecological features.The black-haired humanoid creature that followed us all the time was recorded in the ancient books of the pre-Qin period. It was called Xingxing (xingxing). Because it likes to haunt wild cemeteries and mass burial mounds, it is also called Shoulingyu among the folks in the Northeast. (hou), cruel by nature, is a beast with a human face and likes to eat human flesh.As for the so-called white-faced aunt, it is the legendary "Guhuo bird". It is said that it is a nocturnal monster that only hovers back and forth in the dark night sky and sucks human ghosts.There are bloodstains on the roof every time they land, and the world thinks it is ominous. It is recorded in ancient books that many creatures in the wild are opposing populations that are natural enemies of each other, and the scorpion and the white-faced aunt are one of them, especially when one party occupies a very favorable situation, once they meet, it will be an endless situation. .Thinking about it now, the reason why the group of chicks let us go and attacked the mandrill madly that night may have something to do with it. However, these are all things to say later, I only said that after the three fat guys and I went through this thrilling journey, we finally arrived at the location of Qinglong Mountain Yizhuang. We passed through a small area of ​​weeds one after another, and gradually came to the area where Yizhuang is located.