Volume Two: The Secret Burial in the Cliff Valley — Chapter 132: The Cave of Hidden Bones

I described Old Tantou to Third Uncle: "An old man carrying a lantern, with a banner on his back, wearing the same red robes as me..."

Third Uncle shook his head. "I don't know him. Never seen him."

"Then how did you get in here?" Ma Su asked. "You knew Liang and I were in danger, yet you didn't save us; you just ran off. You're quite heartless."

Third Uncle pulled a long face and defended himself: "Look, Old Grumpy, you can't blame me for that. I was like a clay bodhisattva crossing a river—barely able to save myself, let alone you. When we saw that spirit banner, under normal circumstances, my cultivation would have been enough to resist being lured away. But the spiritual power on that banner was far too strong, exceeding anything I could withstand; it was as if a great deal of resentment had been forcefully imbued into it. After struggling against that power for a while, I couldn't take it anymore. By then, you had already been bewitched and were walking straight ahead, following that procession. I had to focus on guarding my own soul to keep from being led away by the banner. I exhausted a vast amount of my vital energy, so I couldn't save you, but I was worried about your safety, so I followed the procession secretly all the way into the mountains."

I asked Third Uncle, "Did you see what that banner-bearer was?"

Third Uncle spat on the ground. "That damned thing wasn't human; it was a monster covered in fur. Damn it, I've practiced Taoism for years and couldn't even stand up to a monster. It's truly shameful."

I nodded. "It seems that thing holding the banner really was one of those mountain demons. I never expected a creature like that to have evolved to such a degree."

Ma Su shook his head. "Absolutely impossible. If that thing were a mountain demon, it would at most be a type of primate; it would never be capable of using sorcery to summon souls. I've studied biology for too many years to be wrong about that."

Third Uncle curled his lip. "You don't know squat. There are plenty of things in this world you don't understand."

Seeing the atmosphere souring, I quickly said, "Third Uncle, please go on."

Ma Su glared at Third Uncle but said nothing more. Third Uncle continued: "After we got into the mountains, I tried to save you several times, but my Taoist arts seemed suppressed, as if they had no effect at all. In the end, I couldn't hold onto my soul, and a fragment of my spirit was snatched away. That soul fragment was then driven into the body of a girl. She seemed to have drowned; her body was covered in water. Because I've practiced Taoism for so long, even after that fragment was forced into someone else's body, I was still able to maintain clarity. When I saw Li Yang, I was even able to speak."

Only then did I understand: the girl's corpse I saw hadn't been an illusion; it was real. It was just that a fragment of Third Uncle's soul had been driven into it, and because his cultivation was high enough, the girl's body retained some of his characteristics.

But Old Tantou had said he didn't collect the girl's corpse, hadn't he?

I pondered this carefully and suddenly remembered the story Old Tantou had told me about the mountain ghost. A girl had supposedly gone missing while fetching water by a pool. Thinking back, that must have been the same girl.

Third Uncle waved his hand. "Let's make a long story short. This is no place for idle chatter. That fragment of my soul followed the girl down the cliff, and all the other corpses jumped down, too. I followed that monster holding the banner, descending from there down to the valley floor."

Ma Su asked, "If the banner-bearer was so powerful, he didn't notice you?"

Third Uncle shook his head. "I only said the banner was powerful, not the monster. The monster seemed to do everything in a methodical way, as if someone had programmed it and it was just executing a fixed routine. I followed him, and he didn't notice me at all. Later, right here, he climbed up a tree and vanished. I followed him and discovered there was a hollow in the tree. I wanted to keep tracking him, but because I had lost that fragment of my soul, my spirit was damaged, and I couldn't hold on any longer; I fainted right here. Later, I heard Li Yang shouting his lungs out, and that's when I came up to call you."

Ma Su looked around and asked, "So, the person holding the spirit banner didn't come out?"

Third Uncle nodded. "Certainly not. Otherwise, he wouldn't have let me be if he saw me passed out here. But it's possible there are other exits."

I looked inside and said, "There should be a much larger space in there."

Liang Yue, sharp-eyed, suddenly pointed inside and shouted, "Look, there's a light in there."

We all looked at once, and sure enough, deep within the cave, points of light appeared. We were all startled, instinctively thinking the sand-wolf insects had returned.

However, after a brief moment of panic, I realized the lights looked different—they were glowing with a faint green hue.

Ma Su warned, "Everyone be careful. The poisonous insects around here seem trained. Normal insects wouldn't attack humans in such swarms; there might be some other kind of venomous creature in there."

With sand-wolf insects outside and unknown dangers ahead, we hesitated.

But Third Uncle insisted that no matter how great the danger, he had to get his soul fragment back.

Naturally, we couldn't back down. Besides, everything that had happened had already piqued our intense curiosity. What was this cave doing under Nanliu Village, and what kind of things were hidden inside?

The cave was quite dark, so we turned on two high-intensity flashlights and walked, step by step, into the depths.

As we ventured deeper, that biting, chilly air rushed toward us again.

In a place like this, the presence of yin energy was bound to be strong, which came as no surprise. What was unexpected was a thick, sour, and putrid smell wafting from within.

After walking about ten paces, I suddenly felt my foot strike something, and the object rolled away with a clatter.

Our flashlights naturally followed, illuminating the object.

It was a pale, ghastly human skull.

Even though we were somewhat prepared, the sudden appearance of such a thing made us instinctively recoil.

Then, Liang Yue shone her flashlight further ahead, and an even more terrifying scene was revealed.

The light was powerful and reached a great distance. Within the reach of the beam, the ground was filled with bones and skulls. Clearly, they were human remains, piled layer upon layer.

Under the glare of the flashlights, these bones gave off a faint, eerie green glow that made one's scalp tingle.

Ma Su muttered, "How many bones are here? Must be hundreds of people, right?"

Liang Yue said, "Could this place be a mass grave left over from a war?"

Ma Su shook his head. "I was thinking... do you remember that Nanliu Village has been abandoned? We once speculated whether the whole village had migrated or if they had encountered some natural disaster. What we're seeing now is likely the answer..."

I was stunned. "Old Ma, are you saying these are the people from the old Nanliu Village?"

Ma Su nodded. "That's just a guess, of course, but I think it's the closest thing to the truth."

Looking at the dense mass of human bones, a chill went through me. This was nothing less than a bone-storage pit.

If this conjecture were true, then the entire village of Nanliu had been wiped out. What on earth had they encountered?