Chapter 12 Chapter 12: The Sunken City at the Bottom of the Lake

The train is seriously overloaded, and the aisles are full of people, so that some people are lying on the luggage rack, the air is cloudy, and it must stop at every station, and the train is changed and water is added. It is dark outside, and the night is getting dark. I don’t know if it stops. When I got to the station, Big Cigarette and Thick-skinned were beside me, each stomped their backpacks to their feet, one leaned his head against the car window with his hands in his hands, drooling from the corner of his mouth, the other lay on his stomach on the table, snoring like Lei, I was dying of sleep. I woke up and found a few bloodstains on the back of my hand. I was horrified. The nightmare became more and more real every time. I remembered the distorted face under the gold cover of the Khitan female corpse. It must have been frightened to death by a thousand-year nightmare. Yes, I don't want to end up like that.

However, how could the female corpse of the Liao Kingdom dream of the ancient tomb of Xiong'er Mountain?Are the gold figurines in the jade coffin and the dead man with a broken belly really in the underground palace of the Xiong'er Mountain Ancient Tomb?If we go to the west of Henan to rob the tomb, won't we encounter a dead body?None of these doubts I can understand, but according to the content of the murals, the corpse change in the ancient tomb palace happened when the black dog was eating the moon, that is, the total lunar eclipse. I heard that there will be no There is no need to worry about that kind of celestial phenomenon. Soon, the train started slowly. Nine out of ten passengers in the carriage were sleeping and dozing off. , so I squeezed outside and took a breath between the two cars. I sat in the cheapest hard-seat car No. 9, No. 10 was a dining car, and No. 11 and later were high-end soft-sleeper cars. It may not be possible to buy a ticket. I often take the train, and I know where it is quiet. I walked through the dining car and arrived between the two cars of No. 10 and No. 11. This place is windy and airy, and there are no people there. I listened to the rattling of the train. The sound of running, smoking a cigarette to pass the time, I saw a fellow next to me, in his thirties, not tall, with a unshaven beard and a pockmarked face, with two pointed ears growing upwards, he was sitting on the luggage bag, his eyes were fixed Looking at me intently, I handed him a cigarette, and the fellow took it and thanked him repeatedly. It turned out that he had run out of cigarettes, the things on the train were expensive, and he was not willing to buy them. He was having a hard time at night, so he lit a match immediately. Cigarettes, squinting your eyes and taking two puffs, we both puffed up and smoked, smoking one after another, chatting all over the world, this person is quite good at talking, I learned that his nickname is Ma Donkey, A native of Laojieling in western Henan, the straight-line distance between Laojieling and Xiong'er Mountain is not too far, so I happened to ask him about things there.

I heard from Malu that in the Caoxieling area of ​​Xiong'er Mountain, there are few people, the mountains are steep, and the vegetation is dense. Birds and animals are infested in it. There are many fish in the water. Surrounded by mountains, deep ravines and ravines gather clouds and mist. It’s rare to clear once in ten days and a half months. Like a girl in the mountains, she is ashamed to see people. When the weather is good, you can see turtles as big as millstones, drying their shells on the stones by the river, and mice weighing three to five catties. It's not uncommon, but there are pythons several feet long, which are really scary. Older mountain people think that those have good skills, and no one dares to touch them. Jilong Mountain is densely forested and the terrain is complicated. Gunma Mountain is the most dangerous. It is an ancient battlefield. There are many caves in Caoxie Ridge. There is a cave called Huangchao Cave. It is a dry cave. There was no water before liberation. It is also called Fish Crying Cave. Can escape, met an old man in the mountains, this old man took the yellow nest to hide in the cave.

Da Yandie and I went to Tongtianling last time. Although it is also the Funiu Mountains, the stretch of mountains is too big. Tongtianling is in the north of Funiu Mountain, and Caoxieling is in the south of Xionger Mountain. The landforms are quite different, like Huangchao There are many caves in karst landforms, big or small, dry caves or water caves, which are not uncommon in western Henan. There are at least three or five caves named only Huangchao. It's nothing to listen to, I just ask the horse donkey about the topography and landforms, especially the details of Xiandun Lake. Malu told me that Caoxieling Xiandun Lake is surrounded by mountains on the north, west, east and west sides, blocked by peaks and ridges, and there is no road. The lake is much shallower than before liberation. The south side is a large reed wetland. Pheasants, the lake was flooded in summer and autumn. At that time, there were many wild ducks, and the donkeys were so big that they had never really entered Xiandun Lake. It is said that the place is very evil. I don’t know if there are ghosts in the lake or what. For example, the weather was good. At the slightest sound, thick fog immediately rose up, and most of the people who entered the lake never returned. The donkey only went with his father to cockcrowing to fight wild ducks when he was a teenager. On a sunny day, Suddenly it rained heavily, and his father and son were worried about encountering flash floods, so they didn't dare to hunt wild ducks anymore, so they fled in a hurry.

I was secretly surprised, and asked the donkey: "The name of Xiandun Lake is very strange, so there is really a Xiandun in the lake?" The donkey said: "Xiandun is there, my father's father's father has seen it with his own eyes..." As soon as I heard this, I got it right and asked, "So what's going on?" The donkey said: "Brother, give me another cigarette, and let me tell you about this Xiandun." According to my guess, a prince of the Western Han Dynasty was buried under Xiandun Lake, who died tragically with his belly disemboweled for some reason. There are countless treasures in the underground palace, and many living people were buried with him. He was born and bred in Laojieling, Western Henan, and I would also like to hear what he said. He immediately gave the remaining half of the package of Hongta Mountain to the donkey, and told him not to be impatient.

The donkey said: "Your brother is really a friend. If you have a chance, you can come to my house and sit down. Don't look at how poor I am, but the fried noodles in our place are not available everywhere. My daughter-in-law has nothing to do except to have a baby." The ability of her is just that she has been in the pot for many years. Her skill of making fried noodles is also well-known in the surrounding towns and villages. You can't do it if you don't try it. Listen to me first, my father's father's father... …, I can’t tell which generation it is, anyway, it is the matter of the previous generations of my family. There was a famine that year, and many villages in the mountains lost their cooking. They ate tree bark and grass roots. There are generals everywhere, and other mountain people dare not go deep into the mountains for fear of encountering bandits. One of the elders in my family does not believe in evil, and he is so hungry that he can't help it, so he went to Xiong'er Mountain to grope wild duck eggs. But there is a strange thing in that lake. There are fish in the water, but no one dares to catch them and eat them. There are only groups of wild ducks around the southern end of the chicken crowing. In the past, people often went there to hunt wild ducks and dig wild duck eggs, but the danger is not small. , don’t even think about getting out when you’re stuck in the mud.”

I said, "It's really strange. How come no one dares to eat the fish in the lake? That fish looks scary?" The donkey said: "You will know after listening to me. The old man in my family went into the mountain alone to the cockcrowing swing. He waited for a day by the swinger, but he didn't see any wild ducks. With his heart on his back, he thought about walking inside, maybe the wild ducks were deep in the reeds, so he pushed the dense reeds and walked forward. Hey, he saw a big tomb in the distance. It is frighteningly large, and there are countless houses around the tomb. If there were no such houses, he might not dare to go there. Seeing that there are so many houses and many people walking back and forth among them, he didn't think too much about it. Too much, he was also very hungry, and wanted to find someone to ask for something to eat, even if he had a mouthful of soup, but when he walked up to him, no one would pay attention to whoever he was talking to. Strange, is it a deception? He doesn’t pay attention to people from outside. He thinks it’s better to take away the things in the house and see if those people are still pretending not to see them. He took out a lot of rice and stuffed it into his pocket, but those people still ignored him. He took the rice and turned around and walked back. He was still puzzled when he came to the reeds where the rooster crowed, and he turned his head and glanced back. He was terrified, there was only water behind him, the graves and houses all disappeared, and when he touched the rice in his pocket, it had turned into foul-smelling green mud, as if it had just been pulled out from the bottom of the lake."

I didn't believe it, so I said casually: "I must have hit an evil spirit. Fortunately, I left quickly, or my life would be lost." The donkey said: "Who says it's not? After he escaped, he heard from an old man in the mountain that many years ago there was no lake here, but only an ancient tomb in the mountain. They sank together at the bottom of the lake. The people he saw were all ghosts, and the world was separated, and the rice couldn’t be brought out. Sometimes the mound of the ancient tomb would have half of the surface of the water, so it was called Xiandun Lake. Fish grow so big because they eat dead fish, if you knew about it beforehand, brother, would you still eat the fish in that lake?"

I shook my head and said, "Don't dare to eat..." I thought: "Doesn't the wild duck eat fish and shrimp in the water? Don't the mountain people still eat wild ducks?" The donkey continued: "One is in the deep mountains with no roads, and the other is that the place is really evil, so few people come outside, and the people in the mountains at most go to the cocks to beat a few wild ducks and catch them. Otter, if you go deeper, you won’t dare to leave.” I tentatively said, "Most of the barren tombs and ancient tombs contain treasures, and no one has been digging them all these years? Isn't it said nowadays that if you want to get rich, dig ancient tombs, and you can earn a million households a day?"

The donkey said: "I say that place is very evil. Who doesn't want to live to dig old graves there? Isn't it more afraid of death if you are afraid of poverty? If you dig something, you will die. Besides, isn't there still a king's law?" ?” I said, "That's right, that's what I said, no matter how much we hate the evil old society, we can't mess around, right?" I was talking to the donkey when I suddenly found someone standing behind me, and I said to myself: "No, don't let others listen to these words." I turned around and saw a beautiful girl standing behind me. In his early twenties, he may have come from the dining car in car No. 10 and wanted to go back to the soft sleeper car No. 11 to rest.It was late at night, and no one was moving around in the train. In order to sit comfortably, I rolled the donkey’s luggage across the aisle, crossed my legs and only talked, blocking the road without paying attention.I saw the girl looking me up and down, as if she heard me talking about the robbery and digging of the grave with the donkey, she walked very lightly, and stood behind me for an unknown how long, I just realized it at this moment, so I quickly shut up and moved away The legs give way back.The girl said "thank you" and walked past me with her head down.I smelled a fragrance in my nose, but I heard the donkey say: "Hey, what's the use of being good-looking, embroidered pillows are useless, and a wife is still looking for a woman like my daughter-in-law, don't look at the rough hands, Lie on the pot and burn the stove, give birth to the baby and cultivate the land, everything..." The girl took only two steps, and when she heard the donkey's words, she turned her head and looked at us again, as if to blame.The donkey was embarrassed, he realized that he had slipped his tongue, and hurriedly lowered his head, as if he had been caught for doing something wrong.I didn't care, I raised my head and said to the girl: "We didn't talk about you, let's go quickly, let's go, sister, you go forward boldly..." The girl blushed, turned and entered the No. 11 carriage.The donkey let out a long breath: "You can do it, brother!" I said, "This kind of girl is self-righteous, and she looks down on the working people in our hard-seat carriages from the bottom of her heart." The donkey nodded: "Yes, I didn't say anything. She just stared at something, she must have regarded us as blind people."

Next, I inquired about many anecdotes about Xiong'er Mountain from Ma Lvkou, but they were not very useful. I got off the train in Nanyang the next day, and Ma Lv had to go to Laojieling via the Yahekou Reservoir. Gunma Mountain on the east side of Xiandun Lake is not far away, and it is also the only way to go to the chicken crowing, but we try to avoid people's eyes and ears on this trip, and plan to go around to the north side of the uninhabited Caoxie Ridge, and we don't follow the horse donkey We said we were going to Xiandun Lake, so we said goodbye at the mouth of the Yahe River. The three of us prepared all the dry food, found out the route, took a car to the mountains, and then entered the deep mountains. There was no longer a road. And the compass, it took two days to reach Caoxieling. On the other side of the mountain is Xiandun Lake, but the mountain is towering and majestic, and it is an insurmountable natural barrier. I went to the bottom of the ridge before dark. I thought I was going to rest in the mountains that night. I was worried, but I found an ancient museum at the bottom of the ridge. It was surrounded by mountains and forests. The house was surrounded by old trees. Stacked, with rusted iron locks on the door, it looks like it has been abandoned for decades. Cheeky said: "Seeing that it's getting dark, it would be great to have this place to spend the night." Big Cigarette said: "It's a bit exciting to stay overnight in the barren mountain ancient museum..." Before he could finish his sentence, he had already smashed the iron lock with a cheeky face, opened the waist-deep grass and pushed the door in. There were two houses in the east hall and north hall of the mountain pavilion, one half collapsed, and the other had a big hole in the roof. Only the west hall with incomplete eaves, the walls are still solid, the hall is full of dust and cobwebs, dark and damp, we turned on the flashlight and saw three coffins. Thick-skinned cursing: "Who the hell is so wicked, there is a coffin that is not buried in the ground, but put in the house to scare people?" I said: "I heard what the donkey said on the train. There was a custom in the Shanxi-Yuan area before liberation, and coffins were often placed in the west hall of rich families." Big Yandie said: "Well, the people in the mountains are superstitious. This means getting promoted and getting rich." I said: "That's not true. They have three wives and four concubines. When a wife and concubine die, they can't go directly to the ancestral grave. They will be buried in the West Room first. When the head of the family returns, they will be buried together. Of course, some people prepare birthday materials for themselves in advance." No, there are empty coffins in the house." Big Cigarette took a sip, and said: "Seeing an empty coffin and an empty grave is not auspicious. I heard that an empty coffin is a fatal thing. There are no more than three coffins in the room, and we happen to be three people, but Don't... don't let it kill you!" Cheeky and disapproving: "The coffin can't move, it's just a few rotten wooden boards, can it still eat people?" Big Smoke Disc said: "You don't know. The empty coffin and empty tomb are placed in the wrong place. If you make up the situation, it will be fatal. Your brother and my great-grandfather were landlords before liberation. They wanted to buy a piece of land outside the city. In order to raise the price, the owner of the few acres of land secretly dug out eight empty graves in the field, claiming that their ancestral graves were here, and wanted to extort more money. People started to die in their family, and eight of them died in a row, which was just enough for the empty grave, do you think this is evil?" He said to me again: "You should also know that the empty grave wants people, Isn't that right?" I nodded and said, "I heard from Old Yi that blind..." But when I got closer, I saw that there were long nails on the lid of the coffin, obviously it wasn't an empty coffin. It was getting dark early in the mountains, and there was no light outside when we entered the house. We were tired from walking and didn’t want to find another place to rest. Since we have the courage to dig ancient tombs, we shouldn’t be afraid of the coffins in the houses. So I spent the night in this ancient museum deep in the mountains. All the coffins were parked under the wall of the west hall. The coffin boards were all rotten, and the coffins were obviously useless. It is said that it is the custom in this area not to put funeral objects when the coffins are parked, so as not to attract thieves We didn't want to disturb the dead in the coffin, so we spread some hay at the door and sat on the ground to eat dry food. While eating, I told Big Cigarette and Cheeky about what I found out from the donkey, and the two became interested, and talked about how to cross Caoxieling tomorrow, and said cheekily: " The mountain is so high and so dangerous, how can we climb over it tomorrow?" Da Yandie said, "You just don't use your brain, let's figure it out sooner, and according to the map left by Zhou Yuji, we will pass through the mountain through the Huangchao Cave." Thick Face said: "Didn't you call it Yukui Cave before, why is it called Huangchao Cave again? Is that a cave? Don't go the wrong way." I said: "It's a cave with two names. At first it was called Fish Weeping Cave, after Huang Chao was defeated, he went to hide in that cave under the guidance of an old man, so it was renamed Huang Chao Cave." Cheeky asked: "I only know Nestle, who is Huang Chao?" Big Yandie said : "Huang Chao was the leader of the peasant uprising army at the end of the Tang Dynasty. He was known as the soaring general. He led hundreds of thousands of troops to attack Chang'an in Luoyang. He really killed people like hemp. There is a saying that Huang Chao killed 8 million people - doomed, that is very famous Yes." Cheeky said: "I have never heard of it, and this person may not be famous." The big cigarette said: "The Huangchao rebel army is very powerful, but after all, it is a mob who killed officials and rebelled. What is out of the ordinary? Not only did he lead his troops to steal and dig the imperial tombs, but when there was no military food, he also let his subordinates eat human flesh. In the end, he was defeated and died in the Wolf and Tiger Valley. Tomb robbers are still with us." I said: "Huang Chao has robbed tombs, yes, but he can't fight back. He led a group of 100,000 thieves to dig Qianling, forcibly dug a big ditch in the mountain, but even the tomb I haven't found the door yet, so it seems that I am not very good at figuring out the situation." Da Yandie said: "I heard that a day of marching costs a lot of money, and the rest is suspended, the river is blocked, and a hundred thousand troops will eat as much as they eat every day. Food? Drinking water can dry up the entire river, think about it, so many people steal an imperial tomb, no matter how many buried treasures in the tomb are not enough.” Cheeky and bearded: “follow the boss It’s really knowledgeable, but there is still one thing I can’t figure out, why is Huangchao Cave called Fish Crying Cave, the name is weird enough, how can fish cry?” This time, the big cigarette dish was stopped again, and he hesitated: "This, this... the fish is in the water, who can tell if it is crying or not?" I said: "The south of Caoxie Ridge and the north of Caoxie Ridge call this cave differently. The south of Caoxie Ridge calls this place Huangchao Cave, and the north is called Yukui Cave. I also heard about the origin of the place name Yukui Cave. What’s going on? It’s said that there was still water in the karst cave in Caoxieling in ancient times. At that time, there was a pair of mother and son. The family was so poor that they couldn’t eat a meal a day. An old man came to ask for a place. The old man was very grateful for the only rice porridge he had, and secretly told the son of the family to wait at the edge of the cave tomorrow. At a certain moment, fish schools will swim out of the cave, remember Don’t move the leading big fish, and those behind can be caught at will. The son was dubious, so he went to guard the entrance of the cave the next day. I forgot what I said. I aimed at the big fish that took the lead. When I caught it, I opened it up and scraped the scales. I wanted to put it in the pot to make fish soup for my mother. When I cut open the belly of the fish, I found that there was undigested rice inside. Congee, just realized that the big fish was transformed by the old man. The mother and son regretted it. Late at night, they heard the fish crying in the cave from afar. After that, the water in the cave gradually dried up, and the fish became less and less. A dry karst cave has been built, and the mountain people north of Caoxie Ridge have called this cave the Fish Crying Cave. It can be seen that people's greed is together, and they can't care about anything." Cheeky said: "Listen to what you said The old man who saved Huang Chao's life was also transformed by the fish god." Da Yandie said, "It's not good for the fish god to save anyone, but to save Huang Chao. I think Huang Chao killed too many people and committed a taboo, so he took him to the The fish god who was hiding from the pursuers in the cave did not end well either." After talking for a while, we burned some water to scald our feet, closed the door of the west hall of the ancient museum from the inside, and blocked the door with wooden sticks, then lay down on the straw with our clothes on, and spent the night in the barren mountains and ridges, don’t worry When someone comes in, they are afraid that bats will fly in and startle them. The tall grass is growing, the chill is threatening, and the bright moonlight shines through the cracks in the eaves of the wall, so there is no need to light candles for lighting.Cheeky lay down and went to sleep, but Da Cigarette was worried that the dead in the coffin would crawl out in the middle of the night, so he couldn't sleep, smoking one cigarette after another.I see that the lid of the coffin is nailed very tightly, and it hasn’t been opened for decades. The dead people inside may even have rotted bones. There is nothing to be afraid of. To be safe, put the gunpowder and lead bullets on the earthen gun and press it under the backpack. , with his head resting on his backpack and his eyes closed, he wanted to sleep, a dark cloud covered the bright moon, and it was so dark that he couldn't see anything in the ancient museum, only heard the cry of a child outside the house. My heart trembled, I opened my eyes and listened again, the mountain was completely silent, and there was no movement at all. Big Cigarette said in a low voice: "Brother, did you hear that a child was crying outside just now!" I said: "Xiong'er Mountain's Caoxieling is so remote, and there are no cottages nearby. Where did the child come from? Maybe it's a night owl." Big Cigarette said: "It may be that I heard it wrong, but night owls come into the house-everything comes. After dark, night owls peek into the house. They are counting the eyebrows of people. If they are counted clearly, they will kill the soul." Go hook up..." I knew in my heart that the cry of a night owl was not this kind of movement. Although the cry just now was far away, it was clearly the voice of a two or three-year-old child. Is there a cry of a child? In such a distracted way, I didn’t hear what Da Yandie told me to prevent night owls from counting their eyebrows. Although it was weird, I was really tired after walking in the mountains for a day. Involuntarily moving towards one another, I don't know how long I slept, and then heard the cry of the child, the distance was much closer, the cry was so real, it made people worry. Big Yandie and I opened our eyes at the same time, the dark clouds had already passed, and the moonlight shone in from the crack of the eaves. I saw the astonishment on Big Yandie'er's face, and he whispered, "It's not like a night owl..." I nodded, stood up quietly, and leaned over the hole in the paper window to look out. I saw the moon was as bright as day, the silver frost was everywhere, and there was no one in the wild smoke and decaying grass. Big Cigarette said, "What did you see? Are there any children?" I turned around and said, "There's no one outside..." Big Cigarette: "Why don't we go out and have a look?" I glanced at the three broken coffins under the wall and said, "You can't go, I think this place is full of evil, you can't go out in the middle of the night, it's best not to even open the door, you'll be fine after dawn." Big Cigarette was not worried about the coffin in the house, and asked again: "Do you think...the little devil in the coffin is causing trouble?" I said: "I don't think the size and shape of these coffins seem to be for children. Brother Dier, don't be suspicious." Big Yandie said: "Since there are dead bodies in the coffin, why haven't they been carried into the ancestral grave and buried in the earth after all these years?" I said: "I thought it was a family member of a rich family before the liberation. The coffin was waiting to be moved into the ancestral grave, but after a closer look, it turned out to be a white stubble coffin. It was a cheap coffin without lacquer leather. Most of it was a dead person who was not claimed by the owner. It was temporarily restrained here. According to legend, Xiong'er Mountain in western Henan has deep water and soil, and people who have just died can't be buried directly in the grave, otherwise the dead body will turn into 魃 in the soil and cause drought. Therefore, the coffin must be parked for several years before it can be released. It’s safe to be buried in the ground, I think it’s because the mountain hall has been abandoned, and no one cares about the coffins waiting to be buried here.” At this moment, he sat up cheekily rubbing his eyes, and asked in a daze what happened? I asked him back, "Didn't you hear a child crying outside?" Cheeky said: "I didn't hear it, I just heard you two walking back and forth in the room, disturbing me so much that I couldn't sleep well, how could there be children in the deep mountains and old forests, aren't you talking nonsense? I didn't mean you , I think you are a little too nervous, you may not even realize it, you have nightmares and sweat every day, and your face is getting uglier every day, I will find you two donkey kidneys later, don't be too naive, that thing has to be Eat it raw, crush the cheba and mix it with garlic, it will work if you eat it." I was taken aback, and knew in my heart that it was caused by the entanglement of that nightmare. The shaman may have died like this. I told Big Cigarette and Cheeky about this, but they didn't believe it at all. I was just about to say that I There was another cry of a child outside the house, this time it was closer, and the sound was right in front of the door. The child seemed to be frightened by something, and the cry was very shrill. He said cheekily: "Don't tell me there are really cries of children, whose child got lost in the mountains?" I said: "No, we entered Xiong'er Mountain and walked all the way to Caoxieling. Except for this mountain pavilion that has been abandoned for many years, have we ever seen any traces of people?" Cheeky said: "It's obviously a child crying, I have to go out and see what's going on." I said to Cheeky: "Don't open the door, there might be something crying outside the house, let's give it a chance to see what's wrong, and the blame will be self-defeating!" How could Cheeky be willing to listen? As he spoke, he picked up the wooden stick holding the door. A gust of cold wind blew into the room, and I felt goosebumps all over my body. Look, there are autumn grass and fallen leaves everywhere in front of the dilapidated mountain pavilion, but there is no one there. No matter how courageous he is, he can't help but feel hairy. He said strangely, and was about to close the door when he suddenly heard a shrill scream from deep in the grass. We heard the cry of the child, which came from the wormwood under the broken wall. Although the moonlight was bright, the long grass covered it, so we couldn't see what was going on inside. Thick-skinned and meddlesome, regardless of the obstruction of me and Big Cigarette, I raised my legs to see what happened. I found that the cry sounded like a child being frightened, but it was high-pitched and strange. The cry of ordinary children can be high or low. After crying for a long time, the breath will not continue, but the cry deep in the wormwood is different, and each cry is the same. , it seems that there is no real feeling, just pretending, revealing a strange feeling. At this moment, seeing Cheeky-skinned approaching to check, I realized that the soil gun was still pressed under the backpack, and was about to turn around to fetch it, when suddenly there was a rustling in the piece of wormwood, a thing with four limbs and a body like a snake crawled in the grass When it came out, it was nearly one meter long, with a triangular head that resembled a flat shovel, sticking out Yin Hong's long tongue, and the neighing sound was exactly like that of a child crying. The three of us startled it, and shouted cheekily: " Aunt Snake!" It is said in the mountains that the four-legged snake is "Aunt Snake", because it looks similar to a snake, and this name is somewhat anthropomorphic, and it has no vocal cords, so it cannot make a sound, but most people in the mountains have heard "snake hissing" at night. It was the noise from the snake lizard, which is not surprising, but the neighing of the aunt snake was like the cry of a child, which is very rare. I thought to myself that there was an aunt snake pretending to be a child late at night near the abandoned house on the barren hills. Crying, attracting people to go out to check, it really looks like a ghost, and seeing the snake aunt's body is gray, with scarlet eyes, which is completely different from ordinary four-legged snakes, it is obviously poisonous, and I feel a chill in my heart. Cheeky just happened to hold the wooden stick for the door in his hand, seeing Aunt Snake crawling up to him and opening his mouth, he picked up the stick and hit him, but Aunt Snake was surprisingly fast, and he landed in the empty space with one stick. In a flash before my eyes, I saw a cloud of gray mist flashing by under the moon, heading straight to the thick-skinned side, I hurriedly dragged him back to dodge, Aunt Snake bit the wooden stick in his hand, and the poisonous saliva flowed onto the wooden stick On the ground, there was a chirping sound, if this bite bites someone, I am afraid that the whole body will be black and dead on the spot in an instant.Surprised and cheeky, he hastily let go and threw away the stick.Big Cigarette shouted: "Quick... Come into the house!" He didn't care about turning around, he fell back and fled in somersaults.Cheeky and I pushed the door side by side, thinking that no matter how powerful Aunt Snake was, she wouldn't be able to get in after closing the door.Unexpectedly, before the hall door was closed, Aunt Snake breathed out a yellow smoke, the stench was extremely strong, thick-skinned and I saw that this situation was wrong, so we had to retreat, although we retreated quickly, we did not let the yellow smoke-like mist touch us, But there was a dead fish-like smell in his nose, blood dripped involuntarily, the nosebleed couldn't be stopped with his hands, and his eyes turned black in bursts, only a few seconds later, the hall door couldn't be closed , hearing the shrill cry, Aunt Snake had chased into the house amidst the neighing, exhaling into mist under the moonlight, it was creepy to see. It happened suddenly, and before I could pull out the gun from under the backpack, Aunt Snake crawled into the house. We kept retreating, but this big house only had the front door, and there was nowhere to go when we retreated to the wall where the coffin was placed. Aunt Snake exhales yellow smoke from her mouth, getting closer and closer, the big cigarette dish's face is ashen: "It's over, it's over, it seems that today is... a hard time to get over this hurdle!" I pressed my bleeding nose and said to Cheeky: " Erpilian, listen to me just now, we won’t die here without knowing why.” He said cheekily: “You are not in charge, why should I listen to you?” He then said to Big Cigarette: “ Boss, do you see that we are all dying, and this kid is still thinking about robbing the class and seizing power!" Da Yandie'er sighed: "Oh, what personal grievances you two brothers have, can't we save it for the next life?" Leaning against a coffin behind me, I was in a desperate situation, unable to take another half step, but I was unwilling to wait for death, a thought suddenly flashed in my mind, I hurriedly greeted the two people: "Let's push the coffin quickly!" He said cheekily: " Yes, push the coffin and crush Aunt Snake to death!" The three immediately pushed the coffin behind them.The three coffins had been left in the house for many years. The roof was leaking through the wind and rain, and the coffin boards had long since rotted away. We tried our best to overturn the coffins in order to survive.But Aunt Snake moved too fast, she turned around the pressed coffin, and in the blink of an eye, she went around the base of the wall, and bit Cheeky Skin with her mouth.However, we pushed too hard, so we followed the overturned coffin and rushed forward.Aunt Snake was crawling like flying, she lost her mouthful but didn't turn around, she circled around the coffin, and came to the opposite side of us, with the coffin still between the two sides, she stood upright, as if to blow yellow smoke.We had no choice but to push the coffin again, but the coffin had been exposed to wind and rain for too many years, and the coffin boards were already rotten, and they could no longer bear the force. When we lifted it, the coffin lid cracked into several pieces.I saw that only a large piece of the coffin lid was lifted, and without thinking about it, I threw it at the snake aunt viciously.Aunt Snake shrank back and dodged the coffin lid, climbed onto the coffin suddenly, and let out a snake hissing like a child crying at us. At this moment, she was so close at hand, no matter whether it spit out yellow smoke or opened its mouth to bite, we had no way to avoid it. Unexpectedly, Aunt Snake climbed onto the coffin and was just about to exhale mist when she suddenly let out a long hiss, turned her head, and left the room like a gust of wind, and disappeared in an instant, and the yellow smoke it exhaled dissipated immediately. The three of us, Cheeky and Big Yandie, opened our mouths wide open, unable to close them for a long time, unable to figure out why Aunt Snake escaped suddenly. I thought to myself that the lid of the coffin was broken, Aunt Snake must have seen the dead person in the coffin, and for some reason she was so frightened that it fled as if flying away. The fine Aunt Snake, thinking of this, I involuntarily glanced into the coffin. I remember seeing a wild stage play in Dushikou called "Zhang Tianshi Eliminates the Snake Demon". The snake demon had four legs and made a woman's cry at night, leading the scholars who stayed overnight in the ancient temple to the mountain to eat. It happened that Zhang Tianshi passed by this mountain and saw a snake demon eating people, so he immediately took a measuring ruler to eliminate the demon. It was sealed in an iron box engraved with a spell and buried in the ground. After many years, it was dug out by the farmers who plowed the land, causing another disaster. Perhaps the original shape of the snake demon in this kind of folklore came from our encounter in Caoxieling. The Aunt Snake who came here said that it was a snake demon, but why was it scared away by the dead man in the coffin? For a moment, all kinds of thoughts came to her mind, and the big smoker and thick-skinned didn't say anything. They may be the same as I thought. The three of them looked into the coffin almost at the same time. At this time, dark clouds passed by in the sky, blocking the moonlight. The room was dark and the dead body in the coffin could not be seen. There was silence all around, I could even hear the heartbeats of myself and the two people around me, but there was darkness in front of my eyes, maybe it was okay to be able to see, the more I couldn’t see, the more I thought about it, and I couldn’t let go of my hanging heart. I was even more worried that Aunt Snake would go and come back. I was stunned for a while, then I took out a match and lit a match, and pushed the door to the front. I threw the stick outside, and now I found another wooden stick to close the door. It is said that Aunt Snake stays day and night. After dawn, there is no need to be afraid of it coming out to hurt people.At this time, the two people also got the flashlight, and once there was light in the room, they felt much more at ease.Seeing that my thick-skinned nose and I were still dripping blood, Big Cigarette was also terrified, and said, "It is said that Aunt Snake in the mountains mates on the roof at night. When it dripped on the body, the hair and flesh of that person would turn into blood in a blink of an eye. The mountain people feared it like a tiger. I think the snake aunt we met is also terrible. The poison it spit out can make people nose Luckily, it escaped suddenly, otherwise it would be...unbelievable!" Said thick-skinned: "That thing seems to have seen the dead in the coffin, and was scared away?" Big Cigarette said: " Aunt Snake couldn’t see anything, so how could she see the dead in the coffin, but she smelled something wrong after we opened the coffin, and then ran away in fright. What’s so powerful in that broken coffin ?” Cheeky said: “Aunt Snake can’t see it but can smell it?” Big cigarette dish said: “Of course, didn’t you see it has two holes in front of its nose?” Cheeky said: “But it also If you have eyes, you should be able to see." When I was looking for golden veins in the mountains with Sonia, I heard her say that Aunt Snake is similar to a snake and can smell smells with her tongue. After learning about it, Big Cigarette and Cheeky said, "Now that the coffin cover has been lifted, let's take a look at what's inside. It must be weird to scare Aunt Snake away." Cheeky said ：“对，没准有宝啊，蛇妖盗宝的传说在民间流传已久，咱是听说过没见过，今天可要开一开眼了……”他说到这，似乎觉得无法自圆其说，只好住口，举起手电筒，当先往棺材里照去。 我也握了顶上膛的土枪，走到近前去看个究竟。大烟碟儿虽然不敢离得太近，但他同样好奇，躲在我身后探头探脑地看，又不忘提醒说：“你们俩可别把血滴到棺材里！” 我和厚脸皮各自按住鼻子，仰起头控了片刻，刚才失血不少，脑子里有些发晕，又脱掉沾满血迹的衣服，然后大着胆子，将手电筒的光束照过去，只见朽烂的棺材中有张绿色的怪脸，更比一般人的脸长了将近一半，我感到头皮子好一阵发麻：“棺材里的死尸是人吗？” 大烟碟儿和厚脸皮两人也是一脸骇异，没想到棺材中的脸会呈深绿色，这张脸不仅长，而且面目模糊诡异，那样子怎么看都不像人，干尸却也有两手两脚，身上黑乎乎的，我们用手电筒对着棺材里照了半天，看出死人脸上是狰狞的树皮面具，由于年头太多，枯皱扭曲的面具已同干尸合而为一，再也揭不开来。 厚脸皮道：“棺材里死人的样子虽说不怎么好看，也不过就这样了，怎能将蛇舅母吓退？” 大烟碟儿道：“说不定这位老爷是有些道行的！” 我说：“人死如灯灭，哪还有什么道行，我看是它脸上的面具吓跑了蛇舅母。” 大烟碟儿说：“干尸脸上是面具？看起来更像……枯树皮。” 我说：“树皮做的面具，上边嵌有石黄，那是蛇舅母最怕的雄黄。” 大烟碟儿恍然道：“原来是石黄，咱们进山盗墓也该随身带一些，再遇上蛇就能不怕了。” 我们能够看得出来，停放在山馆里的死尸，多半不是死后直接放进棺材，因为棺板裂开时，谁都没发觉积郁多年的尸气，很可能是在山中老坟里挖出来的古尸，可说到这脸上有树皮面具的死尸是什么人，又为何放到草鞋岭下荒废多年的大屋中，那便猜想不透了。 不过我忽然想起在那趟拥挤的火车上，听麻驴说解放前某年大旱，草鞋岭黄巢洞的水枯了，以往进不去的地方，那时就能进去了，有山民在洞里发现了僵尸，那洞里有水的时候，从没进去过人，估计是发大水时，让仙墩湖底暗涌带进了洞中，不知沉在水底多少年了，山民们担心是旱魃，不敢埋在土里，先装在棺材里，停上几年再掩埋，当时麻驴一说，我一听，没往心里去，现在想来，草鞋岭棺材里的这三个死尸，也许是解放前山民们在洞里找到的僵尸，在湖底积年累月，所以树皮面具变成了深绿色。 据说这种脸上有树皮面具的僵尸，在湖底为数不少，可能都是给那座地宫陵寝陪葬的人，仙墩湖中的古墓，是处覆斗形山陵，只要见到山头，便可断定地宫深浅，秦陵汉陵的地宫周围都有车马兵俑坑，然而埋下这么多带树皮面具的活人殉葬，天底下绝无仅有，以往盗挖山陵，都要出动成千上万的人力，牛牵马拽一块块拖出塞住甬道的巨石，再凿穿几重墓门，之后才能打开地宫取宝，民国之后炸药用得多了，可这么大的活儿，绝非三五个人能做得来，即便有入地寻龙的眼力，想挖进熊耳山古墓也是难于登天，我意识到我们三个半吊子把事情想得太简单了，正应了“人心不足蛇吞象”那句话，可是开弓没有回头的箭，不到黄河不死心，只要那古墓没在水下，也未必没有得手的机会，至于用玉棺金俑陪葬的墓主是哪位帝王或诸侯，到现在仍没半点头绪，我寻思等明天进入黄巢洞之后，或许会瞧出些端倪，当晚和厚脸皮动手将棺材遮住，三个人提心吊胆地在山馆中挨到天亮。 这一夜，我把《阴阳宝笈》中所载的盗墓之法，结合瞎老义的口头传授，逐次在脑子里过了一遍，天刚破晓，我们从树皮面具上抠下几块石黄，带在身上防蛇，又在山馆后头刨了个土坑，将棺材中的三具干尸入土掩埋，随即动身出发，参照地图中的方位，在草鞋岭下寻到一个山洞，山洞的洞口甚是窄小，看来并不起眼，位置也不好找，往里走可就深了去了。 草鞋岭因地形得名，陡峭险恶，插翅难上，岭子里却都是洞窟，黄巢洞可以穿过草鞋岭抵达仙墩湖，几十年前，黄巢洞里面还有水，形成了“洞洞相通，洞中有洞，洞中有山、山中有河”的奇特地貌，虽然在当地有“上河通天、下河入地”的说法，却因水深进不去人，自古以来与世隔绝，如今却已变为旱洞，说明仙墩湖的水位也不深，我分给厚脸皮一支土枪，以防遇到野兽，三个人收拾齐整，点了火把走进洞去，初时那长廊般的山洞狭窄蜿蜒，举步维艰，眼前所见，尽是形态各异的奇岩怪石，民间传说中救鱼神变成的老头救过黄巢，当年它就住在这个洞里，结果让人开膛刮鳞，死得好惨，深处似有呜咽之声，听来如泣如诉，也难怪山民们称此地为“鱼哭洞”。 大烟碟儿举着火把，边走边嘀咕：“黄巢洞这么深，里面真住着妖怪神仙也不出奇。” 我说：“当地传说中山洞里曾有鱼神，原本是神仙窟宅，不会有鬼怪。” 厚脸皮说：“你这话不对，神仙应该在天上，大鱼变的老头住在山洞里，充其量是山妖土鬼。” 我说：“谁告诉你洞里住的全是山妖土鬼，道家修炼向来在洞府之中，离了山洞还能算洞府？” 大烟碟儿道：“是有这么一说，别的不提，位列仙班之首的鸿钧老祖洞府紫宵宫便在东北谢家崴子，前两年我出去收东西，到过那地方，是辽宁的一座大山，鸿钧老祖将那个山洞当做他的宫殿，这也是有个起因，据说啊，鸿钧老祖是个大曲蟮修炼得道，土里生土里长，离不开地洞，也不想离开地洞，万一遇到劫数，躲在地洞里才能逃生。” 厚脸皮问道：“土里生土里长的曲蟮……那又是什么？” 大烟碟儿道：“咱把话说白了，鸿钧老祖是条大蚯蚓，躲过天地开辟的劫数，后来得成大道。” 厚脸皮道：“要这么看，大蚯蚓变成的鸿钧老祖，不也是个修炼成精的老怪？” 我说：“其实是仙是怪，是得道还是成精，全看人们怎么说了，不现原形是神仙，现了原形便是妖魔鬼怪。” 大烟碟儿道：“说的也是，神仙鬼怪皆由人心所生，但黄巢洞的暗河枯竭多年，深处却好像有呜咽之声？是鱼在哭？” 黄巢洞又名鱼哭洞，相传洞中鱼神让人吃了，在洞外都能听见它的子孙在哭，大烟碟儿想到昨天半夜之事，兀自心有余悸。我和厚脸皮均以为那是风声，草鞋岭下的山洞太深了，有风声并不奇怪，说话间，那狭窄蜿蜒的廊道转为开阔，我发觉头顶有些轻微的响动，当即停下脚步，举起火把往高处看，火光照不了太高，洞顶仍是一片漆黑，我们睁大了眼，竭力想看清高处有什么东西，但见漆黑的洞穴顶壁上，忽然出现了无数双阴森惨绿的眼，呜咽声如同连山潮涌。 一怔之下，我们三人已看出洞壁上密密麻麻麻的眼，是成千上万倒悬的蝙蝠，急忙抱着头俯身趴下，此时栖息在洞中的大群蝙蝠，也已受到惊动，尖啸着逃出洞去，火把都被它们扑灭了，黄巢洞中的蝙蝠都是白色，不过手掌大小，但是数量太多，声势惊人，我们闭着眼抱头伏在地上，谁也不敢稍动，过了许久，洞穴中的蝙蝠才尽数飞出，我和厚脸皮拽起大烟碟儿，重新点燃火把，一看周围，是置身于笋柱如林的溶洞大厅，地面尚有半尺深的积水，清澈见底，半透明的鱼在其中游弋。 我想黄巢洞鱼哭的传说，或许和蝙蝠在洞穴里发出的响动有关，好在这些蝙蝠并不伤人。 厚脸皮道：“进山这几天，嘴里都快淡出鸟来了，不如捉洞中肥鱼来吃，还能省下些干粮。” 大烟碟儿说：“当地山民都不吃这些鱼，因为湖底有僵尸，鱼是吃死人长大的。” 厚脸皮说：“全是山里人的迷信传说，有多少僵尸能让鱼吃这么些年？” 我说：“仙墩湖里的鱼吃不吃死人也不好说，山洞里的鱼却是常年不见天日，否则不会变得透明，这地方又没别的东西，它们准是吃掉进水里的死蝙蝠和夜明砂生长，你要想吃尽管去吃，我们却没这等口福。” 厚脸皮听我这么一说，觉得很是恶心，立时打消了吃鱼的念头，又找借口道：“你们别当真，我也就是说说，勤俭节约是应该的，却没必要冒着生命危险执行。” 黄巢洞的结构，是一条地下河串起的几处地下湖，廊道长达几公里，连接着几个或大或小的洞穴大厅，其中一两处还有积水，有时走到高处，会无意间看到一些天狗吃月的古老岩画，内容残缺不全，形态诡异，甚至还有些恐怖，让人对这幽杳深暗的万年古洞，望而却步。