On the cliff beside the underground river, I heard Lin Que say something and looked at him speechlessly: "Ever since we came ashore in the river, we've been stepping on corpses the whole way. What's so surprising about seeing corpses in a place like this?"

Lin Que pointed behind him: "The corpse I'm talking about is different from the skeletons we saw before."

I raised an eyebrow: "You mean, the people who died up ahead were Duan Jinyan's men?"

Lin Que pointed inside: "No, it's not that. Anyway, the things that happened before were quite strange. I can't explain it clearly. You should go and see for yourself."

After hearing Lin Que's explanation, I immediately quickened my pace and jogged along the cliff towards the inside.

After running about fifty meters along the cliff, we reached the end. In front of us was a horizontal mountain wall, and the underground river below the cliff flowed into the mountain through the cracks at the bottom of the wall.

On this front wall, a huge human face is carved, still with inverted triangular eyes, distorted features, and a protruding mouth.

Where the cliff path meets the mountain wall, there is a cave about half a person's height, from which shines a lush green light, a color that none of our flashlights could capture.

When I reached the cave entrance, I noticed a bowl of rice with four incense sticks stuck in it, but they weren't lit. I asked Lin Que, "Did Wei Shengnan light these incense sticks?"

Lin Que shook her head: "No, when we arrived we found these four incense sticks, but Wei Shengnan didn't let us touch them. She just told you to come and take a look."

After listening to Lin Que's words, I squatted down and used a knife to poke at the pile of rice to make sure there were no traps underneath before pulling out the three incense sticks.

These three incense sticks weren't unlit; rather, they were lit and then inserted upside down.

Lin Que sniffed when he saw the four extinguished incense sticks in my hand: "Brother, why are the incense sticks stuck upside down here? Is there some kind of superstition about this cave?"

I replied, “As far as I know, there are three uses for incense sticks placed upside down. The first is in folk sacrificial rituals. If a mother dies, the child has to go to his maternal uncle’s house to report the death. If the child is usually unfilial, or if the maternal uncle finds the cause of his mother’s death unacceptable, he will place the incense sticks upside down to symbolize severing ties.”

The second type is used by sects such as Longhu Mountain and Maoshan to mobilize troops and generals when performing rituals. It can also be used to capture wandering ghosts or demons for one's own use!

The third explanation comes from tomb raiders: inserting the incense sticks upside down seals the yin and yang, preventing ghosts and spirits from passing through. It also suppresses the wandering ghosts in the tomb, preventing them from causing trouble. Simply put, it consumes yang energy to suppress evil energy. This method of inserting incense sticks upside down is very bad for one's yin virtue. People who do this will either die or be injured. Therefore, only tomb raiders who dig up graves without descendants and have no ties would do this!

Of the methods described above, the first two require three incense sticks, while the third requires four.

After hearing my words, Lin Que blurted out, "Brother, do you think these three incense sticks were put there by your father? Is he trying to kill you this way?"

"Get out! I have nothing to do with Duan Jinyan, and he doesn't deserve to be my father!"

I cursed at Lin Que, then broke Duan Jinyan's three incense sticks. At the same time, I took out my own incense box from my travel bag, pulled out four more incense sticks, and took out a lighter.

"Hey, big brother!"

Lin Que grabbed my wrist: "Didn't you just say that this method is immoral? Your father... Duan Jinyan and the others are crazy, but you're not a desperate person! Since this method is risky, then you..."

"Inverted incense sticks harm both the incense stick and the person in it. Moreover, they can only suppress some wandering ghosts. If they encounter something difficult, they will backfire on the incense stick. I will not do such a despicable thing."

I scattered the pile of rice on the ground and opened my grain bag, pouring out some grain: "Although I don't know what's going on inside, Duan Jinyan and his group are all experts. The fact that they can perform rituals here means there must be something strange going on! Step back and don't disturb me!"

Lin Que and I stepped back a few paces, knelt on one knee, and bowed towards the cave in front of us with four lit incense sticks: "The Emperor wields his axe and commands the Heavenly Soldiers. Spiritual officials patrol and investigate, listening for any sound. The deities of the Nine Provinces call out names one by one. They slay the wicked, and those who commit heinous crimes are punished severely. The wicked die, the merciful live. They behead and cut off their feet, smash their bodies. Demons and monsters are swept away, and humanity is at peace. Wherever the true energy reaches, all demons are crushed! Our ancestors have passed away, and we, their descendants, pay our respects! We, the younger generation of the Duan family, are cautious in our journey through this place. We have no intention of disturbing you, so please forgive us. Your merits are immeasurable!"

Seeing that I stuck a few incense sticks into the grain and then stood up from the ground, Lin Que came over and asked, "Brother, you're making such a big fuss. Is this cave really haunted?"

“These are all things passed down from our ancestors, so we just do them as they are. No matter what the situation is, it gives us some peace of mind.”

I saw four incense sticks burning slowly. When Song Laosan caught up, he bent down and crawled into the cave.

Behind the cave is a man-made passageway, about six meters wide, with an unknown length.

The walls on both sides of this passageway were all emitting a green phosphorescent glow, giving people a very eerie feeling.

Apart from a narrow passage in the middle, the two sides of the passage were filled with rotting corpses. Judging from their neat arrangement, these corpses must have been placed here by humans.

Because of the high humidity in the underground river, the corpses were not completely decomposed, and their surfaces were covered with a layer of light yellow mucus, as if a glob of phlegm had been spat on them.

At this moment, Wei Shengnan and Qu Ruilin and their group were standing in a corner of the passageway. A circle of red silk threads was laid out on the ground beneath their feet. One end of the threads was hooked to Wei Shengnan's hand, and several bells resembling small bells were hanging from a section of the red thread suspended in the air.

When Jiang Man saw me enter the cave, she quickly waved her hand and said, "Duan Shenxing, come here quickly, there's something strange in this cave!"

I saw Jiang Man's tense expression and drew my pistol: "What happened?"

Qu Ruilin gripped the peach wood sword smeared with the blood of convicts, his eyes fixed on the surroundings like an eagle's, and said in a deep voice, "This thing has an evil aura. Just now, when everyone was examining these corpses, the fluorite on both sides suddenly went dark, and I saw a dark shadow appear behind Sheng Nan."

Song Laosan shone his flashlight on the stones on both sides: "This passage should have been dug out by man. There are also traces of splicing on the stones on both sides. They should be natural stones with phosphorescence. The luminous pearls we often talk about are a type of stone like this. Logically speaking, it shouldn't be shimmering. Could you be seeing things?"

"No, it's impossible for everyone's vision to go dark at the same time."

Jiang Man shook her head: "And I also saw that dark figure. It looked like a person stood up, but it disappeared in an instant."

"Is this place really haunted?"

Lin Que subconsciously moved closer to me and whispered, "Brother, you said they encountered something unclean inside. Could it be related to the incense you just pulled out?"