083. Doubt
The Nameless Peak has no name in the Cangjun Mountains, but it is the only one. In fact, there is a good auspicious school in this deep mountain, but Shang Changheng's tomb is buried under the solitary and steep peak that stands tall and looks like a sword cutting down a person.
All the glory and fame were buried in the dark place.
When the tomb was dug through, the smell of corpses rose to the sky, and the already damp and dark valley became even colder.
Qing Ling's scalp suddenly went numb, and he tensed up in alertness. Shang Changheng, who was standing by the tomb passage, also said, "I'll go check it out first, you stay outside—"
Before he finished speaking, a hoarse voice came from the bottom of the pit: "Who...?"
Qing Ling was stunned: "What is this thing that can talk?"
He even felt that the voice was... somewhat familiar.
Shang Changheng was even more stunned. Before he could go down, the cold and fishy corpse gas suddenly erupted, and a figure jumped out from the tomb as fast as lightning. The figure was very flexible, far more flexible than a living person.
The more Qing Ling looked, the more familiar he looked, until the man landed steadily on the ground, wearing armor but without a tasseled helmet. Shang Changheng was also suddenly stunned.
It was at this moment that Qing Ling was able to recognize his identity even though only his back was visible.
"Hou Su."
Qingling whispered the name.
Hou Su was one of the three generals, as famous as Zuo Baichuan and Wei Qingxia. The tombs under Huangshan Ridge contained the two generals, while in the Cangjun Mountains was Hou Su, whom Qingling had seen several times in his dreams. He was not only a general, but also seemed to be Shang Changheng's personal guard. When Zuo Baichuan and Wei Qingxia died, he was still by Shang Changheng's side.
Qing Ling was able to recognize him because he was thin and small, like a 13 or 14-year-old boy who had not yet grown up, but his movements were fast, as quick as lightning.
Shang Changheng also whispered, "Hou Su, it's you."
But Hou Su was now full of corpse qi, as if he had been trained to be a very ferocious corpse. He said hoarsely: "Break into the tomb... and die!"
Before he finished speaking, the man had already rushed forward. Shang Changheng blocked with his long sword, but was forced back two steps by Hou Su. When he raised his eyes, his expression was complicated. Hou Su's face was also a strange blue-gray color, but his eyes were not a chaotic gray, but as black as ink. His lips were dark purple, and his whole face looked stiff and terrifying.
His brutality far exceeded that of Zuo Baichuan and Wei Qingxia.
The more powerful all demons or other evil spirits are, the more similar they are to living people, both in appearance and intellect.
In the eyes of Zhu Lezhi and Miao Yuan, Shang Changheng is a ghost who is no different from an ordinary person when he does not lose control. He is unique in thousands of years.
Hou Su was clearly a dead man, with a strong corpse aura on his body. If he scratched a living person with his claws, an ordinary person would have died on the spot. But he could actually speak human words. Qing Ling felt even more surprised and suspicious. He watched the two evil spirits fighting for a while. Most of the time, it was Hou Su who was fighting and Shang Changheng who was defending, and the two sides were in a stalemate.
Qing Ling pursed his lips and said nothing. No matter how moved he was, that was Shang Changheng's past. How could the empathy of an outsider compare to the pain of having experienced it personally?
Shang Changheng fought and retreated. Although he was forced back away from the entrance of the tomb, he quickly went back. He entered the tomb without hesitation and led Hou Su in.
Qing Ling did not follow. With his physical condition, he was often unable to accomplish anything and was more likely to cause trouble in front of evil spirits. He could only listen to the faint noises coming from inside, but soon, a shrill roar suddenly came from inside.
"roar--!!"
Qingling's heart was lifted.
But soon it became quiet again, without any sound.
For a long, long time.
A figure walked out of the tomb passage. It was Shang Changheng, dressed in modern clothes. He was holding a long knife in his hand and chopped the cliff face calmly. The tomb was buried as the rubble slid down.
Until the tomb passage was blocked by rubble.
Qing Ling always felt that Shang Changheng seemed calm, but in fact he was already silently collapsing and roaring. When Shang Changheng turned to face him, he only said: "Is it over?"
“Yeah.” Shang Changheng’s voice trembled a little, and his expression was no longer so confident. He walked towards Qingling and whispered: “Inside are my... arms, which are already destroyed. I buried him... in it. Although this is not a good tomb, the person is dead, so what does it matter if the tomb is good? Even if buried in the best tomb, the dead will never come back to life. We..."
Suddenly.
Qingling reached out and hugged him.
Shang Changheng's voice suddenly disappeared. He slowly raised his hand and held Qingling in his arms.
"Chang Heng." Qing Ling whispered, "Chang Heng, it's okay."
"It's okay, let's go back." Shang Changheng and Qingling touched foreheads.
They occasionally have very simple intimate actions, without any ambiguity or charm, just a gentle touch to make each other feel at ease.
.
On the way back, Qingling mentioned Hou Su and said, "He is different from Zuo Baichuan and Wei Qingxia. Changheng, he is stronger. I heard him shout inside. Was it because you destroyed your corpse?"
"Yes." Shang Changheng supported Qingling as he did when he came, and walked slowly. "If he were alive, and fought alone, Hou Su would be far inferior to his senior brothers and sisters. He is also the youngest among the three generals. He has a poor family background. I found him in the market not long after the battle of Yangcheng."
At that time, Shang Changheng took advantage of the victory to recover a lot of lost territories. Hou Su grew up in an old city occupied by the Dongyi people. As far as he could remember, he had no father or mother and could only survive by stealing in the market. He was a fast runner and had nimble hands and feet, so climbing trees was no problem for him. Even so, he was often caught and beaten half to death.
When Shang Changheng saw him, he was so hungry that he stuffed dry grass into his mouth, with blood all over his hands.
That’s how he brought himself up.
"Why is he called Hou Su?" Shang Changheng asked, "Did your parents give him that name?"
"I named it myself." Hou Su smiled. "Corn is a good thing. I have never had a bite of it in my life. As for the last name... I remember my mother's last name is Hou. I don't know about my father, maybe he died even earlier. So I'll just call him Hou Su."
Corn was indeed a precious commodity for the Great Zhou Dynasty, where natural disasters frequently hit and crops were lost.
Shang Changheng choked up and said with his eyes downcast, "Hou Su had a good temper and got along well with the soldiers. He was also fierce and ruthless on the battlefield. He learned everything quickly. He could not recognize many words at first, but he could remember everything he was taught and recite military books. Unfortunately, the army had no food at that time. They ate what they called vegetable porridge, but in fact there was no corn in it, only wild vegetables, grasses and leaves. Later, it was grass roots and tree bark."
"Maybe... he never ate corn once until his death."
Qing Ling also felt bitter in his heart. He asked softly, "Hou Su should... become a general very soon."
"Well, but that's not because of his outstanding military achievements." Shang Changheng whispered, "It's because too many people died. The veterans all died on the battlefield, so there are young generals like Zuo Baichuan, Wei Qingxia and Hou Su. There are even some who are better at fighting than them, but they just died on the battlefield. Therefore, the survivors are promoted quickly in the military."
Qingling was silent.
He suddenly asked, "When you died... Hou Su was still alive, right?"
Shang Changheng hummed, "I don't remember...how I died, but at least in my memory, Hou Su did not die on the battlefield."
But Qingling just saw Hou Su's face in a hurry. If we ignore the horror of the dead man's appearance, Hou Su should have died very young. The cause of Hou Su's death was not mentioned in "Guangyouzhi", but Zuo Baichuan and Wei Qingxia should have died in the year Shang Changjun ascended the throne, and the Great Zhou collapsed the following year. Shang Changheng should have died before that, and Hou Su... When did Hou Su die?
How did he die?
The most important thing is... who raised them into evil corpses and placed them in Shang Changheng's tomb to guard the mausoleum?
Qingling felt that it was unnecessary. As for Shang Changheng's tomb, tomb robbers were reluctant to enter it because it was obviously a very unlucky place. The tomb was so small and shabby, and there were no treasures inside. It would only lead to death.
Moreover, Qing Ling felt that the only useful tomb was the one under Lincang Zhanlong Mountain, which imprisoned Shang Changheng's soul and could transfer his energy to the Qing family. As for the others... it was said that there were five tombs connected into a formation to sacrifice to Shang Changheng, but they were useless no matter how you looked at them. Or were they indeed formations, but the trend of mountains and rivers has changed over the years, so the formation was broken?
"What are you thinking about?" Shang Changheng noticed that Qingling's brows were furrowed, so he asked.
"A lot. I find it very strange." Qingling said, "Human sacrifice is different from human sacrifice. Human sacrifice was very common before the Great Zhou Dynasty. After the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty, human sacrifice was abandoned. The three animals were the main sacrifices for ancestors, heaven and gods. Why did your Taizhu named Jie plan to sacrifice you? And the plan was successfully executed. He was just an official equivalent to the current Minister of Rites. What about other officials of the same level as him? You took the position of Grand Marshal Wei Shanfu and led the army as a prince of the Zhou Dynasty. Your status must be higher than his. Why did he do that?"
Without waiting for Shang Changheng to speak, Qingling asked again: "It is clear that he wrote down the note after he finished the work. What about Zuo Baichuan? He died in Jicheng. I don't believe that his body can become a fierce corpse guarding a tomb in a fierce tomb. Even if he was lucky, what about Wei Qingxia and Hou Su? It is so lucky that they didn't have the right time and place when they were alive, but they became extremely fierce after death? How did Zuo Baichuan, who died in Jicheng, get buried under Huangshan Ridge, thousands of miles away, and buried with Wei Qingxia?"
This is something he has never been able to figure out.
"Guangyouzhi" wrote that almost half a year after Zuo Baichuan's death, that is, two months before the real collapse of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the Dongyi people fought to the outside of Luyuan City. Wei Qingxia defended Luyuan for ten days and ten nights, and finally died under the city.
The timing doesn't make sense at all. Not counting Hou Su, there was a half-year difference between the deaths of Zuo Baichuan and Wei Qingxia. Shang Changheng must have been alive at that time, because he was also guarding outside Luyuan City. Then how come Zuo Baichuan and Wei Qingxia's bodies did not decay, waiting for Shang Changheng to die as well? They even dug a tomb and sent them to such a far place to be buried together.
Qing Ling looked up at Shang Changheng and asked in a deep voice: "Someone has been planning all this for a long time. They must have wanted to sacrifice you for a long time."
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