Chapter 929 Chapter 8: Headless Buddha
At noon, led by the old police officer, the group finally arrived at this ancient village deep in the Danye Mountains.
At the entrance of the village, two scarecrows stood there quietly. They were sculpted to look lifelike, but because they lacked vitality, they looked particularly gloomy in the dim forest.
"What the hell is this place?" the young female police officer muttered softly, her voice trembling slightly.
The old police officer stopped, turned around, glanced at her with a smile, and said, "This is Black Spring Village. The last time I was here was half a year ago. Looking at it now, it seems basically unchanged. Sigh."
His voice stopped abruptly, and he seemed unwilling to say more.
They continued to move forward, and as their footsteps got closer, an indescribable feeling of oppression gradually enveloped the entire team.
There seemed to be an ancient curse in the air, causing everyone's heartbeat to accelerate involuntarily.
The scarecrow at the entrance of the village seemed to be watching them go deeper into this dead land.
The houses in the village are dilapidated, and the cracks and peeling paint on the walls reveal the traces of time.
Occasionally, an old man would poke his head out of the house and look at the uninvited guests with cloudy eyes.
"Hey, old man."
The old policeman walked up and greeted an old man who was carrying a hoe and wearing coarse cloth.
The old man slowly turned around and looked at everyone without saying a word.
The old policeman stepped forward, his tone somewhat disdainful, and it seemed that he looked down on the people in this village from the bottom of his heart.
"These are the masters from Tokyo, here to investigate. Tell us what you know."
The old man slowly turned his head and looked at Leia and others.
What made Li Muhan feel confused was.
The old man's eyes didn't look awkward like someone seeing a stranger, but rather like he was examining merchandise.
What made Li Muhan feel even more strange was the old police officer's attitude towards these people.
Although it seems crude, it is very natural.
He knew these people.
Sherlock sent a message to Li Muhan in text form.
[I think so too] Li Muhan said.
[Be careful, this village may not be as simple as it seems] Li Muhan warned again.
"Investigating...what?"
The old man spoke in a weak voice.
"Investigate those who died in the mountains!" the old policeman said loudly, fearing that the old man couldn't hear clearly.
"So! Old Village Chief! Quickly gather everyone together!"
"Okay... okay."
The old man left with his hoe on his shoulder, his body trembling.
The old policeman stood with his hands behind his back, seeming very satisfied with his arrangement.
About an hour later, the villagers gathered in the dilapidated square.
Leia and others also learned about the backwardness of the village.
There is no electricity or water in the village, and everything seems so primitive and backward.
The villagers live entirely on subsistence farming, growing a small amount of crops and raising a few skinny livestock.
As night falls, there is no light in the village, only the occasional fire flickers in the dilapidated windows, like hope struggling in the darkness.
"Is this kind of place...really habitable?"
The female police officer complained in a low voice, with a hint of uneasiness in her voice.
The whole village was shrouded in a strange atmosphere, and everyone could feel the invisible pressure.
A solemn expression also appeared on Yagyu's face. He knew that there was something hidden in this village, and this thing had been staring at them in the dark.
The villagers told everyone.
This village is not the original Black Spring Village.
The real Heiquan Village should actually be called Heiquan Shoushen Village. It is just a small village rebuilt by some descendants of Heiquan Shoushen Village who came back to express their gratitude to their ancestors.
"There are no young people in the village... As you can all see, no young person can survive here."
The old man, leaning on his cane, spoke to everyone.
These people did not come here to build a village out of nostalgia for their ancestors.
Sherlock sent a message to Li Muhan in his mind.
How do you know?
If they were grateful to their ancestors, why didn't they just settle down in Heiquan Hunting God Village? Instead, they found another place to live.
So you think it might be?
Judging from their age, I suspect this group of elderly people are trying to avoid conscription during the Fuso War.
That sinful battlefield will be the eternal pain of the Chinese people. One nation could actually do such cruel and inhuman things to another nation.
Even the local gods of Fusang felt disgusted and scorned by him.
When asking about the six stone Buddhas with their heads chopped off in the forest outside the village.
The villagers hesitated for a moment, but finally the old man sighed and told the story of Danye Mountain.
In the ancient legend of Mount Danye, there is a creepy story.
The villagers' reverence for the forest is like their devotion to the gods. When night falls, they never set foot in the forest again, for it is the domain of the headless mountain god, a cursed place.
According to legend, long, long ago, Mount Tanye was a peaceful place.
However, due to the invasion of bandits, countless lives were lost.
The bandits chopped off the head of a village warrior and hung his body from a tree.
That night, a cold wind blew violently, and the headless warrior transformed into a mountain god and killed all the bandits.
From then on, the mountain god protected the creatures in the mountain and the villages at the foot of the mountain with his compassionate heart.
However, after Kamakura Buddhism, Shintoism became popular. A group of foreign monks, with their obsession with Buddhism, believed that the mountain god was an evil demon if he did not enter the six realms of reincarnation, and decided to suppress it with the power of Buddhism.
They carved 107 stone Buddhas of various sizes, each with a face that expressed solemnity and compassion.
The monks placed these stone Buddhas deep in the forest to seal the power of the mountain god.
Since then, the tranquility of Mount Danye has been broken, and the anger of the mountain god has turned into endless resentment, permeating the forest.
Originally, because the stone Buddha was there, even if the mountain god was angry, he could do nothing.
But for some reason, the stone Buddha's head was suddenly chopped off.
What surprised everyone was that the first time the stone Buddha was chopped down was not when Director Yang Yi took the old police officer up the mountain thirty years ago.
Instead, it happened during the war in Fuso.
[So that's how it is. I think I understand.] Sherlock said.
"What do you understand?" Li Muhan asked.
[Those stone Buddhas were probably cut down by the villagers at the foot of the mountain at that time]
"What do you mean?" Leia asked with a smile.
[It's so easy to understand, Miss John, please use your brain that is useless except for its beauty, otherwise it will get rusty.]
Rhea glared at Sherlock angrily.
During the war, in order to give soldiers an almost inhuman fighting spirit, Japan abolished Buddhism and deified the gods, and revered the late emperor as a living god, the highest deity in Shintoism. The Yasukuni Shrine, now despised by everyone, was born out of such a twisted and ugly belief.
[In other words, during that period, even worshipping gods and Buddhas other than the Emperor was a crime, and fanatics even destroyed many temples and statues. I think the gods and Buddhas in this mountain might have been destroyed by fanatical militaristic Shintoists during that time.]
[Shortly after the statue was destroyed, in 1955, the first headless murder case in Danye Mountain occurred] Li Muhan said.
"So, this is indeed a crime committed by an anomalous individual? Because the Buddha statues in the mountains were destroyed, the mountain god's restraints were gradually lifted, so he killed people to vent his anger?" Li Muhan asked again.
Sherlock smiled and shook his head.
The more this happens, the more I feel like this is man-made. It's been a while since I've encountered such an interesting case. I really want to see with my own eyes what kind of person is behind this.
At this moment.
Sherlock caught a glimpse of a dilapidated house's window from the corner of his eye. There was a creature with half of its head sticking out, staring at everyone with a pair of black eyes.
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