Chapter 16 Chapter 15 Mysterious Muzhai

That year, not only the Miao Village, but even the people in the nearby ten miles and eight villages did not dare to sleep peacefully for a few nights.Fear is like a dying soul, haunting this cursed land day and night.Twenty years ago, just hearing the word "Muzhai" was more terrifying than getting the summoning order from Lord Yama. Yuan Sen returned to his residence, made some arrangements and bought a train ticket to Lanzhou, boarded the train at night, and transferred to Yinchuan, Ningxia.Yuan Sen grew up in an orphanage in Yinchuan. When he was ten years old, he was adopted by a couple visiting Ningxia from other places. Since then, he has been away from his hometown. Yinchuan, Ningxia is quite unfamiliar to him.

The train was delayed by ten minutes. On the train, Yuan Sen had carefully analyzed the route he was going to take for this trip. As soon as he got off the train, he took a taxi to the West Bus Station closest to the train station, and got on the minibus to Helan County.Yinchuan City is only 12 kilometers away from Helan County. The road between the two places is very well repaired. It is wide and has few cars. There is no problem of traffic congestion in other cities. The minibus drove for less than 20 minutes, and Helan County was already far away. . The bus station is built in the old city, and the minibus drives all the way. There are old and simple buildings everywhere on both sides of the road, and the houses are low. Although there are a large number of high-rise buildings, compared with other places, the architectural style of Helan is reflected. .

Yuan Sen bought a map of Helan at the passenger station, and then transferred to a minibus leading to Fengdeng Town. The minibus was a private car, and it took Yuan Sen to a remote village inhabited by Miao people on the edge of the town. As soon as Yuan Sen got out of the car, he asked about the Mu Village the old man was talking about along the way. He asked a few passers-by, but almost all of them were at a loss, and they had never even heard of it.Enthusiastic locals doubted whether Yuan Sen was looking for a scenic spot, and told him that the nature reserve had to cross two villages and go west along the Helan Mountain Pass to reach it.

According to the old man's description, Muzhai, where the remnants of the one-eyed people live in groups, is in this area of ​​Helan County.According to common sense, the whereabouts of the one-eyed people are secretive and full of mystery. According to this, the one-eyed people are likely to hide in the Helan Mountains that stretch for hundreds of miles.If there is no guide and no map, how easy is it to find a small tribe in the hinterland of Helan Mountain?Moreover, Helan Mountain has a long terrain, stretching more than 200 kilometers from south to north, and the mountains are densely forested and the mountains are undulating. Looking for a small tribe requires only one person's strength. I really don't know where to start.

Thinking of this episode, Yuan Sen thought of the old man. Even if the old man couldn't find Muzhai in this mountain, it meant that the location of Muzhai must not be conjectured by common sense. Once you can find it, it must be a fluke.Finding the Miao village at the corner of Helan Mountain must be much easier. I don't know if the old hunter surnamed Xie is still alive.If Mr. Xie is still alive by luck, we don't know whether he is sane or not, and whether he can still keep the secret. Yuan Sen searched all the way, and after a few hours, no one knew that there was a man named Xie Wangan living here, but there were several Miao villages at the foot of Helan Mountain.There is no way to go on like this, Yuan Sen has no clue, but it is already evening.In desperation, Yuan Sen could only stay overnight with a family in Miao Village.The owner is a middle-aged man, wearing a typical cross-stitch embroidered Miaojiang costume, with a cigarette pipe in his mouth, and a very kind face.Helan County has the largest concentration of Han and Hui ethnic groups. However, due to the war decades ago, ethnic minorities in Yunnan and Guizhou moved to the north in large numbers to avoid the Japanese invaders. In the past few decades, many Miao people have also migrated from Ningxia.Because of the long history, the Miao people have already blended with various local ethnic groups, so the language they use now is also Chinese.

The middle-aged man is called Jiubao. He lives with his wife and has no children.Dinner was eaten at Jiubao’s house. In order to welcome the guests from afar, Jiubao’s wife made her specialty fried meat maggots with scallions. The fat and plump meat maggots were stir-fried until they were crystal clear, which was very eye-catching. Yuan Sen looked at these strange things and dared not put down his chopsticks. Jiubao's wife explained to Yuan Sen that the meat maggots were not ordinary maggots, but meat maggots raised with fat pork. It takes nineteen days to reach the fullest state and taste the most delicious.

Yuan Sen had a grudge in his heart, but the host was too hospitable to refuse, so he picked up a few chopsticks and put them in his mouth.The meat maggots are crispy, tender and refreshing, and it melts in the mouth. It tastes so good that people want to eat it again.Jiu Bao took out the wine brewed by himself and chatted with Yuan Sen while drinking, and the chat was very speculative. Outside the door suddenly heard the sound of thundering drums, and someone called outside, "Brother Jiubao, the sisters and flowers are all gathered, and the show is about to start, when are you coming?"

Yuan Sen was taken aback, and the person outside said again: "Jiu Bao's sister-in-law is also here, Brother Jiu Bao must not dare to go, I'll go play first—" After finishing speaking, there was the sound of going down the steps, Jiubao laughed and said, "Who dare not go--" He pulled Yuan Sen up and said, "Guest, today is the sisters' day between our village and other villages, girl On the day when you are looking for a groom, go and play, maybe you will have good luck." Yuan Sen was very interested in the customs of the Miao people, so he happily agreed, said goodbye to Jiubao's wife, and followed Jiubao to the center of the village.

Jiubao introduced to Yuan Sen that the Sisters’ Festival is one of the biggest festivals in Miao villages. Girls from several neighboring Miao villages gather together. They dress up and invite young men to have a sister’s meal and go outing to pick drums. , You Fang sings to each other, looking for a partner, if the two parties have a good impression of each other, they will give a token and choose a date to get engaged. The tall pine locusts have lush branches and leaves, and the pavilions are like covers. Several bonfires are lit under the giant trees. Beautiful Miao girls dance hand in hand with cheerful steps and sweet smiles.The fire is bright and dark, and under the silver pendant headdress of the girl, her face is clear and beautiful, and her temperament is refined.

Around the bonfire, young men sang Yatiao Miao songs, their voices were loud and intoxicating, and the twittering was melodious. The drums and sheng interlaced, like clear springs flowing. After a while, young men stood up one after another and joined the dance of the girls. A group of people held hands, singing and dancing, and it was very lively. Jiubao pushed Yuan Sen, and Yuan Sen stumbled into the dance circle. The enthusiastic Miao girl took Yuan Sen's hand and led him into the dance circle. Yuan Sen clumsily followed everyone's steps, temporarily forgetting the problem of the disappearance of the one-eyed clan and the mysterious old man, and had a great time playing with everyone.

Suddenly, Yuan Sen's feet slipped and he fell forward. There were many people and he couldn't stand still.In a panic, Yuan Sen threw himself on a girl, but the girl reacted quickly, turned to one side, and supported Yuan Sen's shoulder with one hand, so as to support the weight of his whole body. Yuan Sen wanted to take advantage of the situation to stand firm, but his jaw suddenly hurt, and his mouth opened involuntarily. Yuan Sen was shocked and wanted to avoid it sideways.In a panic, one hand clenched his jaw tightly, and a furry thing quickly jumped into his mouth, going down his throat and about to crawl into his stomach. Yuan Sen's mind was blank, and his back was hit hard. He gathered Qi in his dantian, gathered a mouthful of phlegm, and spat it out.At the same time, one turned over and rolled out of the crowd, and then he regained his breath and opened his eyes to see the situation in front of him clearly. At a glance, Yuan Sen's face immediately turned pale. The night was dark and the shadow of the moon was slanting. There was no bonfire or young men and women under the big locust tree.The place where the jubilant crowd gathered just now was actually a patch of lush green grass. The grass was intact and there was no trace of being trampled by people. Yuan Sen was sweating all over, and his whole body was soaked in an instant. Could it be that everything just now was really a lie?Are those happy men and women, including Jiubao, ghosts? In the pale moonlight, Yuan Sen looked not far away, and there was a row of random graves at the foot of the locust tree, some of which didn't even have steles.Yuan Sen is conceited and bold, and has even entered the primeval forest, but this time he is really a little timid.The shadow of the moon shone faintly on the overgrown graves, which made people feel hairy. "Boy, hurry up, someone wants your life—" An indifferent voice suddenly rang in Yuan Sen's ear. Yuan Sen turned around in a daze. The night wind blew the locust tree and swayed it from side to side. The shadows of the trees whirled and rustled. There was no shadow of a person. Feeling guilty, Yuan Sen shouted boldly, "Who the hell are you? Come out if you have the ability—" The voice was still indifferent, and said: "Follow the small path in the middle of the random graveyard, go straight ahead, pass the cliff in front of the random graveyard, don't look at anything, don't think about anything, just jump off!" Yuan Sen said angrily, "I've alarmed those wild ghosts just now, and now I'm still running into the random graveyard, and jumping off the cliff when I get out of the random graveyard, you think I'm mentally retarded!" The voice was extremely firm, and said: "Stop talking nonsense, hurry up and do it for me, if you don't want to die!" Yuan Sen was helpless, he didn't know what to do in the current situation, so he had to walk carefully into the chaotic mound, brushed aside the messy weeds with his feet, and made sure there was a path before walking forward while testing. The further he walked, the more frightened Yuan Sen became. His grandma's, this is not a mass grave, it's a mass grave.The tombstones were scattered here and there, and there were even a large number of broken human bones exposed in the weeds. Some were half buried in the soil, and some were lying entirely in the grass.The moonlight shone palely on it, and the crows in the distance pierced the sky, and there were bursts of cries. Whoever saw this scene was not afraid that it was fake. Yuan Sen walked a few hundred meters, and there was indeed a cliff in front of him. Below the cliff, there was a cloudy atmosphere, and the cold wind blew people down to the bone. The voice scolded: "Jump down—" Yuan Sen said angrily: "Damn, even if you want me to die, give me a reason, at least you have to tell me who you are, so that I can be a sensible ghost if I die." The voice said: "Where is there so much nonsense, let me get down!" Yuan Sen only felt as if he had been hit hard on the back, his feet fell into the air, and he fell towards the cliff. The wind whistled in his ears, like a ghost crying in the middle of the night, and his whole body became numb in an instant. Yuan Sen opened his eyes, his whole body ached terribly, the moonlight leaked in through the pane, illuminating the room.In the middle of the room, the two sat opposite each other. That’s right, the middle-aged man with wide-eyed eyes was exactly the Miao man Jiu Bao who warmly entertained him at night, while the man opposite Jiu Bao had gray hair, ragged clothes, and exuded A foul stench.The most unbearable thing was that Yuan Sen was still lying at his feet. Jiubao's face was covered with a chill, "Crazy Xie, what on earth do you want? Wasn't the village suffered badly enough by you back then? Now you want to provoke that devil again?" The old man called Crazy Xie didn't make excuses, but said in a deep voice, "I want to take him away—" Jiubao stared angrily, and said, "People who are related to earth ghosts can only die—" The old man ignored Jiu Bao, put Yuan Sen under his arm, and walked out the door. Behind him, Jiu Bao roared dully like an angry lion, and the old man ignored him. Even though the old man was very thin and weak, he was trembling when he walked, but he carried Yuan Sen who was 1.8 meters in between, without any effort.Walking out the door, the old man put Yuan Sen on the ground and walked straight forward. Yuan Sen didn't dare to stay, so he had to follow behind the old man. The old man walked along the path in the woods outside the village, and Yuan Sen followed suit. Passing through a few shades of trees, he suddenly saw a dilapidated house hidden behind the remote woods.The house has an adobe brick facade, and old newspapers are pasted on the windows.The old man walked over and opened the door, which was unlocked, and Yuan Sen followed him in. The old man walked into the side bedroom, and did not turn on the lights, but only opened the window wider to let the moonlight in. The old man said: "You stay here until dawn, and you have to leave at dawn!" Yuan Sen asked strangely, "Why?" The old man said coldly: "There is no reason. I don't know why you are looking for Muzhai, but you'd better stop looking for it. It will bring you death." Yuan Sen heard from the old man about Hunter Xie's experience in Muzhai. On the night he came back from Helan Mountain, all the single men in the village in their 30s and 40s were blind. strong earthquake.It's not surprising that the old hunter behaved like this, it would leave a shadow on whoever such a thing happened to. The old man said coldly: "Young man, do you know that you have already passed through the gate of hell? If I hadn't passed by, I couldn't bear to see you die unjustly under the insect gu of Jiubao, so I would save your life." , you have already gone to hell by now." Recalling the scene just now, Yuan Sen shivered and said, "Because I asked him about Mu Zhai?" The old man nodded, looking at the old man's appearance under the moonlight, his eyes were melancholy, his face was covered with deep furrows and wrinkles, and he looked sad and bitter. Yuan Sendao: "Where is Muzhai? You have made it so mysterious. We have been to even the most terrifying places. It is not bad. Tell me, what did you encounter in Muzhai?" The old man smiled wryly and said, "Muzhai—Muzhai—it's a place that people can't get rid of once they touch it, and even if they die, they won't be at peace—" The old man stared at the moonlight outside the window, the features on his face twisted together, he stared at the clustered woods outside the window, staring blankly. Seeing that something was wrong with the old man, Yuan Sen touched him lightly and said, "Old man, what's the matter?" The old man raised his head suddenly, tears streaming down his face, his eyes squeezed into slits, he yelled, wailing like a beast, with saliva running down the corners of his mouth, "Muzhai—Muzhai—you let me go— - let me go -" The old man tilted his body and fell to the ground. He flung himself down like an empty sack. Yuan Sen was completely taken aback, completely unprepared.The old man kowtowed frantically to the window, his forehead hit the ground like pounding garlic, and he made strange noises from his mouth, and the corners of his mouth were covered with phlegm. Yuan Sen didn't know what to do. The old man was coaxing Jiu Bao just now, but he immediately suppressed Jiu Bao and saved Yuan Sen's life.In the blink of an eye, he changed into a different person, babbling wildly. Yuan Sen looked out of the window, and the old man was kowtowing to the window and pounding garlic. Looking into the distance, the shadow of the moon was faint, and he saw the shadows of trees dancing outside the house, surrounded by a circle of trees, forming a huge darkness.Surrounded by mountains in the distance, there are overwhelming black shadows everywhere, which makes people feel small. Deep in the black shadows is the Helan Mountain that stretches across several provinces. After communicating with the old man at the third entrance, Yuan Sen pulled the mystery from the Taklimakan Desert to Helan Mountain. The historical doubts and the suspense in the Shahai ancient tomb have a real relationship with the Helan Mountain, which lies across the east and west. .It is full of yearning, fear, and doubt. Yuan Sen was thinking wildly about what happened after chasing him from the Shahai ancient tomb all the way here, when suddenly the old man jumped up and grabbed Yuan Sen's neck fiercely.Yuan Sen's Adam's apple hurt so badly that he couldn't breathe. The old man had been hunting and catching animals in the mountains for many years. He had practiced a brute force that could hold back wild animals, let alone Yuan Sen.Yuan Sen was so stuck in a cold sweat that he couldn't yell out, his chest felt like a fire was burning, and he was in extreme pain. The old man roared like crazy, "Mu Zhai—Mu Zhai—, you are also the one who provokes the local ghosts, I will kill you——I will kill you—" The old man's grip became tighter and tighter, Yuan Sen's face was blue and purple, and he violently broke off the old man's hand that was as thin as a claw.The old man felt that Yuan Sen was struggling hard, and he wished to put all his strength on Yuan Sen's neck. In desperation, Yuan Sen raised his knee and kicked the old man's knee.The old man's knee was kicked, and his hands loosened. Yuan Sen's brain flashed, and he suddenly shouted: "I have a one-eyed green sheep logo on my shoulder blade. I want to find Muzhai and find out my life experience..." The old man stood there dumbfounded as if struck by lightning. His dirty, snot-and-tear-stained hands let go from Yuan Sen's neck, grabbed his face tightly, and looked carefully under the moonlight, his eyes widening. As if to fall. Seeing that this trick worked, Yuan Sen yelled again: "Your name is Xie Wangan, right? Twenty years ago, an old man stole a piece of jade from you. Is there such a thing?" The old man's pupils contracted and his eyes showed a fierce look. When Yuan Sen saw the old man's posture, he took a step back and opened his fists to prevent the old man from attacking again. The old man coughed violently, and he found a crutch from the corner of the wall. Leaning on the crutch, he walked tremblingly inside, panting for a long time after walking a few steps, as if he had aged instantly, and his life had departed from his body.Yuan Sen has been observing the old man's movements since he was close to the woods. He compared the description of the old man who measured characters, the front and back of the house, and the old man's reaction. It was him, so Yuan Sen shouted loudly, trying to restrain Xie Wangan. The inner room was even darker, the low windows let in the sparse moonlight, and the room was extremely hot and stuffy.The old man's bedroom is very shabby, hardly like a modern person's living room.The bed frame was padded with bricks, the plank bed was covered with sheets with several large holes, an old table was beside the bed, and a low stool with a broken leg was placed in the corner of the room. Panting heavily, Xie Wangan sat on the bed with his whole body leaning against the wall. Yuan Sen said: "Old man, just tell me, what the hell is Muzhai? As for the horror that mentions these two words, is it so serious that your people will kill me?" Xie Wangan closed his eyelids, remained silent, and remained motionless, as if entering a state of suspended animation.Yuan Sen stared at him, he had to sink his patience, he felt that the old man's will had begun to loosen. Xie Wangan gasped violently for a long time, regained his energy, and then said slowly: "Muzhai is an ominous place, young people, you must remember that if you mess with Muzhai, you will have no peace for life!" "You will have no peace for the rest of your life, life would be better than death—" the old man sat up suddenly from the bed, stared into Yuan Sen's eyes, and howled crazily. His cloudy eyes showed a strange and gloomy light. Under his gaze, Yuan Sen couldn't help feeling chills in his heart. Thin cold sweat ran down his back. He had never seen a person's eyes suppressing such deep fear. What happened to this old man in Helan Mountain? what? Xie Wangan motioned Yuan Sen to sit down on the low stool, and he slowly recounted the tragic scene that happened in the Miao village twenty years ago. Dare to sleep peacefully for a few nights.Fear is like a dead soul, haunting this cursed land day and night. Twenty years ago, just hearing the word Mu Zhai was more terrifying than getting the summoning order from Lord Yama. Twenty years ago——