Chapter 7 Chapter Seven: The Dog-headed Figure

The three of us started to climb forward for more than ten minutes.Everyone was injured, and the fat man's big body couldn't move in this narrow secret passage, so in fact, he didn't climb very far in the past ten minutes.The fat man suddenly shouted from the front: "Commander Hu, we're here." My heart jumped uncontrollably, and just as I was about to open my mouth, the fat man said, "Fuck, this side is also sealed." Hearing what the fat man said, I seemed to have fallen into a hole in the ice, and suddenly thought of the When Kunlun Mountains.The whole body is completely cold.Are we sealed in this underground labyrinth?

Shirley Yang said calmly: "Fatty, feel it carefully to see if there is a mechanism that can be opened. There is no reason to design such a difficult route just to trap people here." After listening to Shirley Yang's words, the fat man began to touch carefully near the exit.Shirley Yang and I waited quietly behind the fat man, the air seemed to freeze.I don't know how long it took before I heard the fat man yell, "I found it!" The iron plate in front slowly opened with a rattling sound.Fatty took the lead and got out through the trapdoor, Shirley Yang and I followed closely behind.

The three of us got out of the secret passage and found ourselves in a dark room. Shirley Yang opened his wolf eyes, and a huge statue stood in the middle of the room half a meter away from us.Under the strong light of the wolf's eyes, the statue looks treacherous and unpredictable.As the light moved, a huge dog's head was reflected on the wall behind, its fangs showing.The flashlight moved down, and it seemed to be a horse standing on the ground, with a strong figure. The fat man looked up and down and said, "Could this statue be a treasure? It doesn't look very valuable, at most it's a statue made of copper. But wasn't there a horse riding a swallow in ancient times that was very valuable? Maybe this horse carried a dog on its back." It’s also from that dynasty. But how do we get it out when it’s so big?”

My wolf eye fell into the water when I was fighting with the ghost sunflower. I said to Shirley Yang, "Take me to look around the room, maybe I can find something." Shirley Yang nodded and walked towards the corner .The place where the flashlight shines is a clean wall, which seems to have the same structure as the kitchen secret room that he entered before. Shirley Yang shone the flashlight down, and an ugly face came into view. The muscles on the face were twisted, and the mouth was wide open, revealing a mouthful of fangs. Shirley Yang didn't expect such a hideous face to appear at all. She let out a low exclamation, took a step back, and leaned towards me.

Hearing Shirley Yang's exclamation, the fat man hurried over with his wolf eyes raised, and was surprised when he saw that face, "Could it be that this is a zongzi?" I took the wolf's eyes and looked carefully at the corner of the wall, and found that the ugly face turned out to be a statue of a man, naked, kneeling on the ground with his head held high, his eyes closed, his bloody mouth open as if calling, and like It's about trying to swallow something.I turned the flashlight to look at other corners of the room, and found nine identical figures kneeling along the walls of the room, forming a circle, with the dog-head statue in the middle.The three of us stood beside the dog-headed statue, surrounded by nine naked portraits, only two wolf eyes glowing palely, and there were many dark shadows, looking gloomy.

The fat man took a flashlight and carefully looked at the portrait in front of him. The whole body of the portrait was covered with a layer of black substance, and his own color could not be seen.The fat man boldly reached out and knocked, and the figure made a muffled sound, which didn't sound like metal.The fat man turned to me and said, "Old Hu, why do I have a hunch that this figure seems to be made of a real person." Shirley Yang also looked at the portrait carefully, especially focusing on the bloody mouth, shining a flashlight into it.She suddenly turned around and said to me: "Old Hu, give me the lighter in your backpack." I took out the lighter and threw it to her, and she tore off a piece of cloth from her clothes and twisted it into a thin strip, and put it in the mouth of the portrait. inside.With a thud, the cloth was lit, illuminating Shirley Yang's face.

"Could it be..." I said thoughtfully. Shirley Yang walked quickly in front of several other portraits, tore off the strips of cloth and put them in the mouths of the portraits as before, lighting them one by one, and the whole room suddenly appeared in a bright fire. The fat man shouted loudly: "Old Hu, look!" I turned my head, and the dog-head statue in the center stood in the room exuding a faint halo unique to bronze ware.The lower part of the statue is a handsome war horse, with its two front hooves raised in the air, which is extremely lifelike.There is a person on the horse, the right hand is holding the rein tightly, and the left finger is pointing forward to the left.However, the strange thing is that this person has a dog's head on his body!It turned out that the dog's head we saw in the dim light just now was actually on a human body!

"Old Hu, what's going on? The horse is carrying a man with a dog's head on his shoulder. It's too damn ugly. Could it be that this is some kind of immortal worshiped by the people of Shanhaiguan?" The fat man stepped forward and asked Knocking and touching the statue, muttering in his mouth. "Chief of Staff Yang, have you heard of any allusions about the dog's head and human body in Shanhaiguan?" I turned to Shirley Yang and said. "I don't know why, but I always feel that this statue has been mentioned somewhere, but I can't remember it. By the way, Lao Hu, don't you think the figures around you are weird?" Shirley Yang still stood in the corner, studying carefully portrait.

"Are these figures full of lamp oil?" I asked Shirley Yang. "Yes, there is lamp oil, but there is not much. There are still traces of wicks in the mouth, but it seems that it is almost rotten. It seems that these nine people are like human-shaped lamps." Shirley Yang said. "It is indeed a lamp, not just a human lamp, but a human lamp." I said. "Human lamp!" Hearing my words, Shirley Yang and the fat man turned their heads in surprise. "What does that mean?" asked the fat man. "If I'm not mistaken, these human lamps should be made of real people." The fat man made a movement of vomiting when he heard what I said, and couldn't help but walked over to the human lamps to look carefully.

"These human lamps should use some method to kill people and air-dry them while they are alive, and then apply some antiseptic agents to make a mummy. They boil the internal organs and other objects into corpse oil and pour them into the human lamp body , put a wick on it, and you can light it to make a lamp. Corpse oil can burn for a long time, although it’s not like the oil of deep-sea sharks that can last thousands of years, but at least it’s no problem to light it for hundreds of thousands of years.” I said slowly. "However, monks pay attention to compassion and strictly prohibit killing. This Xichen Temple uses living people as human lamps. It is too cruel and violates Buddhist teachings." Shirley Yang shook his head and sighed deeply after listening to my words.

The fat man gently cut the arm of a man with a parasail knife.Although this human lamp is made of flesh and blood, it has been coated with antiseptic potions, and may have been processed with special techniques, so it is already as hard as a stone.Even though the paratrooper's knife was sharp, the fat man took a lot of effort to cut off a small piece of meat, pricked it with the paratrooper's knife, and observed it carefully in front of his eyes.Finally, he came to a conclusion and said: "Old Hu, your guess is absolutely right. This fucking human lamp is really made of people. Although the meat is weathered, the texture is still there. It's so fucking disgusting!" After finishing speaking Shake the meat into the mouth of the human lamp, and slowly submerge it into the lamp oil. In the center of the room stands a equestrian statue with a dog's head and a human body, surrounded by nine human lamps made of living people. The orange fire light reflects a huge black shadow on the wall. This room reveals an indescribable strangeness and fear.The three of us leaned together unknowingly, looking at the room cautiously. Shirley Yang suddenly poked me and said, "Old Hu, look, is the waist of this statue movable?" I heard the words and looked at the waist of the statue. The lower body of the statue and the horse are made of bronze, and there is no gap between the upper body and the dog's head. Same.When the fat man heard Shirley Yang's words, he stepped forward and tried to turn the statue.I hurriedly stopped him and said, "Little Fatty, when will you get rid of your bad habit of eager for quick success and quick gains? We can't fight unprepared, and we must eliminate any opportunity for the enemy to attack us. The formation in this room is secret, maybe If you have any mechanism, don't act rashly." The fat man said angrily: "According to what you said, when can we go out? It has been several hours since we entered the cave. If I don't want to go out, I will starve to death here. I don't think it is possible. Let's go back Go and grill that jellyfish, it probably tastes similar to grilled squid." Shirley Yang and I were already hungry, so hungry that our chests were stuck to our backs, but what do these statues and nine human lamps mean? But to no avail. "Old Hu, it's unrealistic to go back the same way. We don't have the ability to go back to the man-eating ant formation alone. I think the key to whether we can go out is all in this room." Shirley Yang pondered, " I don't know why, but I always feel that this house is related to the Chen family." I sat on the ground against the wall, closed my eyes, and quickly thought about the documents in the temple that I read at noon, trying to recall whether there were any records related to the Chen family. Suddenly the fat man said, "Old Hu, what is the name of Erlang Shen's dog?" I opened my eyes and said angrily: "Comrade Wang Kaixuan, feudal superstition is not a good thing. You should be a good young man taught by materialism. Don't keep thinking about these useless things." "No," the fat man said anxiously, "don't hurt me all the time, okay? Seriously. When we were looking for that blank man-eating tree in the county library, I just stayed and looked through something. Shanhaiguan legends and so on, I seem to have read in the book that General Chen has a nickname, what kind of dog is it called. He hasn’t eaten enough food for the past two days, and his brain is not working well, so he can’t remember it.” "Shoutiangou?" Shirley Yang said tentatively. "That's right, that's right, it's the Roaring Dog!" The fat man said excitedly, "It seems that because General Chen is very good at fighting against the enemy, and he is a dog, so the people gave him the nickname General Roaring Dog to show his strength. Fight bravely." "He is brave and good at fighting," I jumped up from the ground, "Xiao Pang, you have made great achievements this time. In this way, the dog-headed body may refer to General Chen. Wait, do you still remember the song?" Poetry?" I said excitedly. "Horse hooves flying into the air and barking urgently?" Shirley Yang also exclaimed excitedly. "That's right!" I said, "it's not too far-fetched. General Chen is known as General Roaring Dog, and the horse in this statue is clearly a war horse with armor and armor! Most importantly, Chen The poem in the family tree clearly says 'horse hooves soar into the air and bark urgently', which is completely consistent with this statue. This shows that this statue is the statue of General Chen!" Shirley Yang and Fatty were also very excited after listening to my analysis. We actually found a clue in the four lines of the poem by mistake. This has to be said to be a wonderful arrangement of fate. "But what's the use of our verification that this house matches that poem?" the fat man asked. "These clues must be used to guide us to find the tomb of the Chen family. Maybe this statue is the point of the next clue." Shirley Yang stared straight at the statue and said intently. "Hey, hasn't this General Chen already pointed it out to us?" The fat man pointed at the statue and pointed to the hand on the left front. "Little Fatty, you are really a single-celled organism. It is a compliment to say that you are a paramecium. If it is so simple, you can point out where the next clue is. Why is the waist of this statue designed to be able to rotate?" I said. "This..." Fatty was obviously speechless, and said harshly, "I don't care, I'm really going to lose my temper if Fatty doesn't go out anymore, you two should study this matter." Both Shirley Yang and I couldn't help laughing, went to the statue to study carefully and ignored him. Shirley Yang said to me: "Old Hu, I think this arrangement seems to imply a mystery. Look at the nine human lamps, which coincide with the number of three or three, and each group of three surrounds the statue. I don't know much about the Book of Changes." The number of gossip, can you think about it in this way and see what you can answer?" I nodded, indicating that I think Shirley Yang's statement is very reasonable.I walked around the statue and found that these portrait lamps are three men and six women, three men form a group, behind the portrait, and six women form two groups, respectively on the left and right of the portrait, while the front of the portrait is empty come out. "Could it be so?" I murmured softly. "Old Hu, did you think of something?" Seeing that I was muttering something, Shirley Yang asked quickly. I didn't make a sound, still staring intently at the equestrian statue with a dog's head and a human body.Well, that's what happened, I see. "Fatty, Chief of Staff Yang, come here." I stood in front of the statue and greeted.Fatty and Shirley Yang heard my greeting and knew that I must have come up with something, so they hurried over. "Old Hu, you must have figured out the mystery here, don't be fooled and tell me quickly, I am so hungry that my legs are weak." The fat man said first. Shirley Yang didn't say anything, just looked at me. "It seems that the person who arranged the formation has studied Zhouyi very thoroughly. Although there is only a simple statue and nine human lamps in this room, it implies the essence of Zhouyi. First of all, there is a statue in the middle surrounded by three sides It looks like the basic prototype of Zhouyi Zhongzhen Gua. Zhen means movement, which explains why the direction indicated by the statue is not the direction of the next clue, and needs to be changed to get the correct direction. The arrangement of the nine lamps is There are three groups of three men and six women. Men and women respectively represent yang and yin. The left and right are yin, and the back is yang. Only in the direction of Suzaku is there no human lamp, which coincides with the hexagram Kun. Kun, Shun also. Now the right hand of the statue points to the left front It is intersecting with the portrait on the left, if I guess correctly, it should be turning the portrait to the right until it intersects with the portrait on the right, which is called following the trend.” "I understand Lao Hu, the direction the statue is pointing after turning is the direction of the next clue, right?" the fat man rushed to say. "If it's so simple, people who don't understand Zhouyi can see through the mystery of the statue's rotation by mistake, so why set up such a difficult situation?" I said disapprovingly.Fatty didn't get angry because he didn't guess right, anyway, he was used to it. "This statue with a dog head and a human body on a horse actually has a mystery. It is not just a representative of General Chen. The dog is the Gen hexagram, which is on the top. The horse is the Qian hexagram, which is on the bottom. The upper part is Gen and the lower part is undecided. There are some mysteries that have yet to be answered," I went on. "There is no answer to the mysterious matter. Does this imply that there is a follow-up to the search for the Chen family's tomb? But there is no need to hint, because this is only the second line of the poem, and the last two lines and the first line have no answers. It is inevitable to say that it is redundant " Shirley Yang shook his head and said. "I also find it a bit strange here. It is obvious that the secret has not been solved, and there is no need to remind it. Maybe the hexagrams that go up and down have a deeper meaning. But no matter what it is, it is an indispensable and important clue. Maybe we can find an explanation in the next clue," I said. "But is it possible that you misunderstood it? Maybe this hexagram implies how many degrees to turn the statue? If you turn it wrong, God knows what will happen!" Shirley Yang said anxiously. "Oh, Chief of Staff Yang, you don't want to be mother-in-law," the fat man said impatiently, "I have explained everything that Hu can explain, and neither of us understands the Book of Changes, so what's the use of thinking here without trying it?" !" "I think what the fat man said makes sense. I only have so much ability, and I really can't guarantee whether the specific explanation is correct. But if we don't follow my analysis right now, is there any other way we can do it?" I said Said to Shirley Yang. Shirley Yang bit her lower lip, a habit she had every time she made a decision. "Okay, Hu, let's try. There's an old saying in China, when soldiers come to block you, water comes to cover you. At worst, we'll die together." "Bah, bah, bah, I said why are you so clumsy," the fat man said dissatisfied, "Give back your China, as if you are not Chinese." Shirley Yang just wanted to refute, so I quickly took over the conversation: "Okay, fat man, don't talk nonsense, let's move the statue quickly!" After speaking, I hurried to the statue and held my upper body with my hands.Seeing this, Fatty and Shirley Yang also came to help. The statue has not been rotated for hundreds of years, probably the parts of the mechanism are rusted, and it is very difficult to rotate.All three of us tried our best to breastfeed, and our faces were flushed before we heard the jerky clicking sound of the organs in our waists.As General Chen's right hand gradually pointed from the front left to the front right and coincided with the human lamp on the right, the mechanism was fully activated, and then turned to the right by itself. Shirley Yang quickly took out the compass, and calculated that it appeared in the direction pointed by the statue, 54 degrees southeast, which should be the location of the next clue.While Shirley Yang was recording the location of the clues, there was a booming sound from the wall behind the statue, as if some kind of large mechanism had been activated.The three of us immediately became tense and stood back to back to prevent any lethal hidden weapons from being fired. After a while, no hidden weapon was fired, the wall behind slowly moved to one side as a whole, and a ray of sunlight shone into our eyes.After staying in the dimly lit room for a long time, all three of us were temporarily blinded by the strong natural light outside.After the eyes got used to the light and found that the whole wall was gone, it was shockingly clear that there was a meditation room outside the secret room. "It's bad, old Hu. Have they found our whereabouts? Maybe there are police outside waiting to arrest us." The fat man said nervously. "Hmph, no, if they dare to call the police, I will ask carefully why there are nine human corpses in this non-killing temple." I gritted my teeth and said gloomily. A voice in the meditation room outside said loudly: "Three benefactors, there is no police here, please rest assured." The voice was the abbot.I was still hesitating, but Shirley Yang had already taken the lead and walked out.When I saw her go out, I was relieved, because I knew she was not a rash person. The three of us walked out of the secret room, and it turned out that the outside was the abbot's meditation room.It was already high in the sun, and the sound of monks chanting sutras in the morning class could be vaguely heard in the Buddhist hall.The abbot smiled and led us to sit on the chairs, handed us three wet towels, and said, "Three benefactors, please go ahead. I have been waiting for you for a long time." "You must have discovered our whereabouts when the monk in the kitchen was preparing breakfast." Shirley Yang said while drinking tea. "Master Mingjian, in fact, I guessed the intentions of the three early in the morning, but I confirmed my thoughts in the early morning." The abbot smiled slightly. "Indeed, the whereabouts of the three of us are relatively obvious this time, and the master's state of mind is clear, so it's not difficult to see. Presumably you will tell us the secrets of the underground Xichen Temple next." I see that since the matter has been exposed , let’s just say it on the bright side. Unexpectedly, the abbot shook his head and said, "Amitabha, forgive me for not being able to tell you." As soon as the abbot said this, the fat man stood up and shouted: "Are you kidding? The three of us tossed and tossed under your Xichen Temple all night, and finally came out. You actually said that you don't know why there are those monsters down there?" "My benefactor, the three of you broke into the important area of ​​the temple without the permission of the temple. May I ask why I have to explain the reason to you?" The abbot was not angry, he still smiled and said. The fat man became angry for a while, and couldn't find anything to refute, so he could only drink tea angrily.Shirley Yang and I didn't talk when we saw this. After so many tomb robberies, it was the first time that someone discovered and detained us on the spot. The abbot said: "The three benefactors don't need to be angry. The old monk's inability to tell is not pretending to be suspenseful, but because I don't know the specific situation inside." Hearing this, the three of us looked at each other in blank dismay.The abbot continued to explain: "This Xichen Temple was built by the Chen family in the 16th year of Chongzhen. The Ming Dynasty died in the second year after it was built. It is reported that the first abbot of this temple is Master Yinkong, a close friend of the Chen family. Because the Chen family believed in Buddhism and often made good friends, they made good friends with Master Yinkong. When Xichen Temple was completed, Master Yinkong came here as the abbot. There is a big secret hidden under this Xichen Temple, which is known and kept by every abbot. Conservative. Presumably you already know that it is the statue of General Chen. As for what this statue is for, and what else is there besides this statue, then I don’t know. But looking at the appearance of the three, It must have been a lot of hardships.” The three of us looked at each other and smiled wryly. The appearance of each other can only be described as horrible. The abbot went on to say: "The Chen family left a message before they disappeared, please protect the Xichen Temple, and find a suitable monk to pass on the position of abbot so as to keep the secret. As for the purpose of this secret, the Chen family has no idea." There is no explanation. Since the three have discovered the secret, they must be predestined people. If you really want to find out, then continue to explore according to the guidance. The old monk will not stop." The fat man said angrily, "If we had known this statue was in your room, we should have come to your room and smashed the wall. We would have saved so much energy and nearly died inside." The abbot clasped his hands together and said: "Don't be angry, benefactor. The stone wall in the old monk's house is made of refined steel. It is pretended to be a stone wall on the outside and cooperates with some organs. It is really not easy to break it. There are thirty-two monks, if three of them want to smash the wall, I am afraid the monks will not sit idly by. Besides, if the benefactor had not seen the secret behind the dish rack, how could he have guessed that there is a hole in the old monk's room?" The fat man waved his hand and said, "Forget it, forget it, I won't argue with you anymore. Master abbot, is the meal ready? We are all starving." The abbot smiled and said: "Don't worry, benefactor, I will take the three of you to the dining hall right away. But before you go, please ask this benefactor to take medicine, otherwise your eyes will be disabled." He found a small box of ointment and handed it to the abbot. I. Shirley Yang hurriedly took the ointment and applied it to my eyes, and the itching was relieved immediately.I thanked the abbot with my palms together, and said, "Thank you, abbot, for telling us. The three of us are not bad people, but we were entrusted to find a place. Since the abbot didn't stop us, we will go on our way as soon as possible." The three of us were all starving, so we ate a hearty meal in the dining hall. Although it was still steamed buns, green vegetables, and gruel, we still found it extremely delicious.Seeing that it was still early, I went back to the meditation room and took a nap. When I woke up in the afternoon, I felt that my physical strength had recovered a lot.Then he thanked the abbot and stopped an ox cart to return to the county.