After Gao Azheng's figure disappeared, the old Taoist priest led the musical instrument team to beat the practice, and it took half an hour to leave with the villagers one after another.
After everyone left, Yue Guanchao stared ahead carefully. Sure enough, there was a person hiding in the bushes. This person was dressed in black, with a bamboo hat on his head and a raincoat on the back. A black cloth wrapped half of his head, and he was sneaking into the old dragon cave. , obviously observing the situation.
"Here we go, let's wait for him to go in and then we'll catch a turtle in an urn. I want to see who is such a coward who doesn't even dare to stand in front of the stage at this time."
While the peacock was muttering in a low voice, the mysterious man had already slowly walked to the entrance of the cave. He first picked up the fire stick to illuminate the entrance of the cave. After making sure that there was no one behind him, he sneaked into the cave.
When the mysterious man walked away, Yue Guanchao waited for a stick of incense, quickly picked up the long knife, turned over to the entrance of the cave, and followed the mysterious man's traces into the cave with a flashlight.
When we first entered the cave, the bright skylight quickly extinguished, and the surrounding area fell into darkness. All we could see in front of us was the bare grotto. The river flowed through the low-lying areas at our feet and rushed out of the cave entrance along the terrain.
Yue Guanchao looked around. Huge old wood formed various tripods, supporting the narrow and slender mine. The stone walls were covered with dents and slots left by the demolition of mortises and tenons. There were axes, hammers, shovels, hemp ropes scattered on the ground, or they had already been Rotted or full of rust.
Dark red gossamer veins can still be seen on some ores, and there are also some ores on the ground that have been washed away over the years and become as round and porous as pebbles.
"Why are there so many cinnabar mines here?"
Song Siyuan turned on the flashlight and followed them into the cave entrance. It was full of dug-out cinnabar ore. Under the flashlight, it looked like a murder scene, full of horror.
“This used to be the cinnabar mine in Huahuan County!”
As mentioned earlier, Laolongkou used to be a mine, and the output was cinnabar used in alchemy and disinfection.
The world's cinnabar comes from Chenzhou. Among the cinnabars used in the world, Chenzhou cinnabar is the best. It is said that Chenzhou cinnabar is bright in color and has less impurities. It is fine and moist after being ground into powder. It can be mixed with tung oil and other substances to make royal ink pads. It is a traditional Hunan cinnabar. Tributes sent from the capital.
The government of Chenzhou is Yuanling County in western Hunan. Huayuan counties are not far from Yuanling. There are also cinnabar mines here. However, with the collection of cinnabar, some mines have been abandoned, leaving only mines of different sizes. If not It was a mudslide that destroyed the mountain. These mines have long been covered by vegetation, making it impossible to find traces.
Ren Peacock introduced the history of the mine and kept taking them for a walk. After they walked into the depths of the mine, there were countless sealed branch openings. The openings were sealed with yellow mud and rammed earth, leaving only a large water tank. High stone niche.
Right now, these stone niches have another use, and they serve as shrines, with the dead Luohua Cave Girl sitting in them.
Yue Guanchao looked at the flashlight and observed carefully. Most of these Luohua Cave girls were dressed in bright clothes. Their bodies had been corroded and only their bones were left. They sat in the niche in a cross-legged meditating posture. The skeletons picked up the wedding documents in their hands. This was the only experience that could be experienced. Something that time corrodes.
The wedding slip is a document that the Luohua Cave girl holds in her hand before entering the cave. It is usually made of Miao silver and is soft and easy to fold. On it is engraved the Luohua Cave girl's surname, place of origin, life history, personality and temperament, and is also written on it. Ming volunteered to fall into the cave and marry the cave god as his wife. As long as he saw the wedding slip, he could understand the life of the Luohua Cave girl clearly.
Yue Guanchao and the others walked all the way over, picked up the wedding slip and slowly identified it. The bodies of the Luohua Cave girls starting from Ma Chunxiu were all here. Soon, they discovered something strange.
"The old master said that after the cave girl was redeemed, the forged body and marriage certificate would probably be here. The body was just here to replace the living person. If every marriage contract of the Luohua Cave Girl is consistent, Sister Ren You’ve fallen into a trap too, where is your marriage certificate?”
In other words, as a girl from Luohua Cave, Ren Peacock will have a marriage certificate here to guard her even if she redeems her body. From the beginning to the end, the marriage certificate is consistent and flawless, which proves that Ren Peacock may not have fallen into Cave at all. Therefore, there is no marriage certificate.
After thinking about this, everyone felt a chill running down their backs, as if ghost claws had touched their necks, and goosebumps arose.
"It seems that my guess is correct. Sister Ren, you are probably not a Luohua Cave girl at all, and of course there is no Luohua Cave."
Song Siyuan's words made Ren Peacock even more confused: "Mei Yao, I'm not a girl from the Luohua Cave, so why should my parents redeem my life for me?"
"I don't know about this. So far, I can only judge that you became the Luohua Cave Girl because of artificiality. There is some hidden secret in it. Only your parents and the old Taoist priest know."
Then, everyone looked at the huge sacrificial stone lying in the depths.
Most cave gods are actually mountain gods of a certain mountain. When people worship mountain gods, if they are serious ones like Taishan God or Huashan God, their statues will be displayed. Wild cave gods do not have specific images and are usually carved out of stone. Take human form and worship it.
The Cave God Mountain Stone in front of you is located in the deepest part of the cave. It is shaped like a spire peach with flowers and leaves. It may not be able to be hugged by three people. The surface is rough and dull, with many marks of being chipped and polished. It is thought that it was carved into a strange shape on purpose. It's like a person wearing a mysterious mask, or like an evil ghost stretching its head and shrinking its head. It looks extremely weird, and it doesn't look like a good god at first glance.
In front of the stone is a long and narrow stone table. Whenever the cave girl fell into the cave, the mountain people would place chickens, ducks, fish, geese, flowers and fruits on the table to offer to the cave god for blessing.
"The cave god in Laolongkou is a dragon king. Legend has it that when the cave was dug, a giant dragon jumped out of the cave entrance in the clouds and mist. Later, the cave god was carved on this big stone in the shape of a dragon king. This is the first time I have seen it in so many years. This statue is very strange."
Yue Guanchao looked towards the last shrine. Gao Azheng's seat was obviously empty. Just now he saw the woman sitting cross-legged near the shrine, but she disappeared in the blink of an eye.
"No, Gao Azheng was snatched away by that person."
When Song Siyuan saw Gao Azheng disappear, she realized what had happened. She picked up the flashlight and walked around behind the sacred stone. There was a shadow holding a person running deeper.
Ren Peacock's quick eyes and hands quickly picked up the silk knife, and entangled him in two or three steps. The silk knife flew out and directly wrapped around the man's arm. He couldn't easily avoid it and couldn't hurt Gao Azheng, so he had to put the person down first and pick it up. He cut off the silk knife with his dagger and hid deep in the cave.
After Song Siyuan helped Gao Azheng up, she took her to the stone platform and let the peacock take out the gourd, poured out the anti-venom medicine prepared by Lan Ruling and fed it to her.
Some people died, but not completely...
