Chapter 216 Jinjiang
In the dark mountains, there was not a single ray of light from the moon, and dark clouds covered the sky, as if the heaven and earth were covered with a blanket of light and could not look down at the human world.
The terrain of Nanming Mountain is rugged and the steep peaks seem to reach straight into the sky, blocking everything from the outside world with their silent and tall figure, like an insurmountable barrier.
The endless mountains around it surround the entire world, making the village in the mountains seem like an independent little world, free from interference from any other people or gods or ghosts.
In such a dangerous place, if a master of Feng Shui stood on the top of the mountain and looked down, he would be shocked to find that this is the boundary where Yin and Yang meet.
This also caused the magnetic field chaos in this area.
People in the past did not know where the boundary of the universe was. The limitations of technology prevented them from exploring the truth, so they said that there was a round sky and a flat earth, and that there were also ends of the earth and seas, and that would be the end of everything.
As for yin and yang, people in the past also believed that they had boundaries, and even in the human world, there were places where they bordered each other.
According to legend, at the junction of each solar term, the twenty-eight constellations rotate and the gods take over, and there will be a moment of gap. During this period, the yin and yang of heaven and earth are at their most vulnerable and unprotected.
If someone happens to be at the boundary between Yin and Yang at this time, he can step from the land of the living into the underworld.
The souls of the dead in the underworld can also return to the world of the living.
Life and death are in chaos at this moment.
However, the legend has been passed down for too long, the classics have been lost, and even the original source cannot be traced. In the process of transmission, it has been repeatedly polished and lost, and in the end it has become unrecognizable.
Even if many people heard it, they just regarded it as a storyteller's strange tale and would just laugh it off and forget about it.
However, many sects that still have a tradition know that this legend originated from the Shiwanda Mountains in the southern region.
The boundary between yin and yang is also located between the mountains.
Some people have heard that there are still people and villages guarding this border, like the villages and towns that once guarded the border.
However, no one has ever seen such a village, so people just think it is a creation that was embellished in the process of legend, and it is not real.
There is actually nothing wrong with this statement.
What's the point of defending a village where only one person is left after all the deaths?
Nantian only felt that he was trapped in darkness, and all the small wooden building, the rotten corpses, the coffin and the old lady were all moving away from him.
When he forced himself to open his eyes again, he found himself at the door of his grandmother's house many years ago.
The moment he saw the surrounding scene clearly, Nantian was shocked, thinking that the nightmare that had haunted him for many years had come back again.
But he soon discovered that this time was different from the nightmare he remembered.
He no longer looked like a child, nor did he hold food in his hands.
Instead, he was shown in his current adult form, holding a bouquet of yellow chrysanthemums in his hand.
Nan Tian suddenly remembered the white chrysanthemums he saw on Yan Shixun's coffin before he lost consciousness. He was startled and immediately threw the chrysanthemums in his hand away.
But in just a blink of an eye, the yellow chrysanthemum was back in his hand.
Nantian looked at the chrysanthemums in his hand with horror, and subconsciously wanted to run towards the door of the old lady's house next door.
In his opinion, as long as he returns home and locks the door, he will be safe.
However, when Nantian turned his head, he could no longer move forward.
——In the yard with the gate open, there were many rotten corpses standing densely.
Their bodies seemed to have been soaked in water for a long time, and had become swollen like a 400-pound fat man. Under the translucent pale skin, one could vaguely see the flowing muddy yellow pus and the flesh and bones that had been separated from the skin.
The rotten corpse was still wearing pieces of cloth that had decayed away. They did not look like the style from outside the mountain, but rather like the clothing from Nantian's hometown village in his memory.
The swollen faces of these corpses could no longer be recognized in their original appearance. Only pairs of red eyes were staring blankly at Nantian.
Nantian was almost nauseated by the scene, and the feeling of nausea rose up his throat.
It suddenly occurred to him that this must have been a dream—otherwise he would have vomited it out long ago.
After Nantian looked at the corpses, the corpses that were originally standing there unconsciously seemed to have received a signal. They slowly raised their eyes, and stared at Nantian with red eyes full of resentment.
They seem to be asking—
Why, why did we die here, but only you survived?
Why, why! Come on, become the same as us, all of us in our village, together forever.
The rotten corpse stretched out its arms and pointed straight towards the south sky, and its legs, moving with difficulty, also walked towards the direction of the south sky.
A mixture of stench and dampness assaulted my nostrils.
Nantian was filled with the strong sour and stinky smell that went straight to his head. He instantly realized the situation and ran away.
However, he soon discovered that it wasn't just his yard that was filled with rotting corpses.
In the yards of all the houses along the way, there were rotting corpses standing in a daze.
After Nantian ran through the village road outside the door, it was as if the breath of the living disturbed the dead souls. Those rotten corpses staggered out from various courtyards, staggered after Nantian, and reached out their hands to grab him.
But the bloated bodies of the corpses hampered their movements.
Among the dense group of corpses, several were squeezed or tripped to the ground, and the corpses behind continued to move forward unconsciously, stepping on the corpses lying on the ground.
"Puff!"
Blood and flesh splattered everywhere.
When Nantian heard the sound and turned back subconsciously, he watched the swollen mass of water burst, and the flesh and blood inside splashed everywhere. The original rotten corpse quickly turned into a piece of human skin, which shrunkenly fell into the pool of flesh and blood.
But the strong visual stimulation also revived Nantian's long-lost memories, and he suddenly recognized the face on the human skin.
It was the neighbor who died when he was a child.
Nantian's pupils constricted.
He suddenly realized that if this one was the neighbor who died that year, then could the other rotting corpses also be people who died in the village that year?
That year was the "Ghost Year" and many people died in the village... Could it be that those dead people have re-entered his dreams after so many years?
Nantian felt so confused that he even slowed down his running. He kept looking back absent-mindedly.
However, Nantian slowed down, and the rotten corpses that came out of every household along the way to chase Nantian never stopped.
When Nantian realized the danger and came to his senses, he was horrified to find that a rotten corpse had caught up with him!
He watched helplessly as the rotten, hideous hands reached out to him, and even the stench was close at hand. However, even though he was anxious, he was blocked by the corpses, and it became difficult for him to speed up.
Nantian felt despair and sadness in his heart. He looked at the rotten corpse that was almost touching his face. He didn't know if he would really be killed by these things. And what would happen to him after he died in the dream? Would he also become such a disgusting thing...
At this moment, Nantian heard a loud shout from behind.
“Get lost!”
The voice sounded old, but it was powerful enough to scare the corpses surrounding Nantian so much that they scattered instantly. They looked behind Nantian in fear, then turned around and walked towards the yard from which they had originally come.
For a moment, Nantian was the only one left standing on the empty village road, unable to recover.
If there weren't still traces of flesh and blood from exploded corpses on the dirt road, Nantian would even doubt whether everything that had just happened had really happened.
Who helped me?
Nantian turned around blankly, but when he saw the person standing behind him, he slowly opened his eyes wide.
The hunched old woman stood at the end of the village road, with her hands behind her back. Her aged face was stern and murderous enough to kill evil spirits.
The breeze blew up her white hair that hung on her temples, gently blowing it in the air.
The image of the old woman gradually overlapped with Nantian's memory.
Although she was much older than he remembered, as if she had been deprived of all vitality, Nantian could still recognize her. She was the old lady he had missed for decades but had never dreamed of again.
"Grandma!" Nantian shouted in surprise and ran towards grandma.
He opened his arms excitedly, wanting to hug grandma.
Unexpectedly, the old lady's stern brows did not relax at all after seeing him, but instead revealed anger.
"What are you doing back here?"
Grandma Nan asked sternly, "Didn't I tell you that after you leave Nan Village, never come back!"
Nantian was stunned: "Grandma..."
He wanted to say that he didn't mean it, and in fact he had never been able to enter Nanming Mountain.
If it weren't for director Zhang Wubing, he might never come back.
He wanted to say that he missed his grandma very much, but he had never dreamed of her in decades. Even her voice, appearance and smile were gradually fading away.
There is so much he wants to say.
It is like a child who has been on a long journey returning to his elders. All the strength he has forced himself to maintain turns into tears of grievance, and he wants to act like a spoiled child to his elders.
When the old lady saw Nantian's look, she was so moved that her eyes became wet.
She moved her lips and trembled as if she wanted to say something. She stretched out her hands behind her back, wanting to touch the grown-up child and take a good look at the child who did not grow up by her side.
But the old lady soon thought of something.
Her brows furrowed, and instead of extending her hand to embrace Nantian, she slapped him hard on the chest.
“Wake up!”
The old lady said angrily: "Look at where you are. You are about to die and you are still crying!"
This palm strike showed no mercy at all, and it sent Nan Tian flying, falling towards the fork in the road.
He opened his eyes wide in shock, watching the old lady getting farther and farther away from him.
The next second, Nantian suddenly opened his eyes.
He was gasping for breath and his heart was beating so hard that it seemed like it was going to jump out of his chest.
Before he could come to his senses, he suddenly realized that his chest, which had just been patted by the old lady in his dream, was burning and hurting him so much that he grimaced in pain.
It was like a piece of red-hot coal being thrust into his chest.
Before Nantian could even take a clear look at his surroundings, he quickly took out the thing from his clothes on his chest.
Then he took a ball of bright light in his hand.
Nantian squinted and took a closer look, only to find that it was a folk fabric.
As he slowly came to his senses from the nightmare, he quickly realized that this was the life-saving thing that Yan Shixun had given him.
With the help of this light, Nantian could finally see where he was.
Cramped, dark and damp.
The top is the roof and the bottom is the pillow, and there are wooden boards all around.
He's in a...coffin.
The swaying coffin seemed to be carried on someone's shoulders. The eerie mountain wind blew away the warmth inside the coffin through the wooden boards, making it as cold as if it were in a freezer.
Nantian forced himself to suppress his drum-like heartbeat and listened carefully, but he heard the mountain wind howling and wailing outside the coffin, like a group of ghosts crying in the mountains, echoing around.
On the steep mountain, there is only a narrow path leading out of the mountain, winding up the mountain wall.
Outside the path was an abyss so deep that the bottom could not be seen. Occasionally, rubble would roll down the cliff, but no echo could be heard for a long time.
The road was so narrow that it was less than one foot wide and only one person could pass through.
The dirt road, which was created by footprints, was full of potholes and defects, making people worry that if they didn't take the right step, they would miss the opportunity and fall off the cliff.
And on such a narrow path, there was a little pale light, moving slowly forward.
The white light gathered into a long belt on the mountain road, stretching endlessly.
A lantern is held in the hands of every villager.
Their faces were stiff and slow, their expressions were dull, and they didn't look like living people.
They held the lamp in one hand and raised the other hand to support the thing on their shoulders.
Every two villagers carried a coffin on their shoulders.
They said nothing, but just numbly followed the leader in front of them. The whole team was so long that there was no end in sight.
And at the very front, a silver-white robe dragged on the ground, emitting a moonlight-like glow under the pale lantern.
The master crossed his hands in front of him, a calm smile on his face, but his eyes were sparkling with eager excitement.
It was as if what was about to be accomplished was his lifelong expectation.
…
Yan Shixun remembered very clearly that he was confronting his master and wanted to save Nantian, but he could only watch Nantian being stuffed into the coffin.
When he regained consciousness, he suddenly turned over and sat up, subconsciously taking a defensive posture, and still remembered to save Nantian.
However, a childish voice came from beside him.
"Big brother?"
Yan Shixun looked in the direction of the sound.
But he found that a child was looking up at him with a look of surprise.
And that face... looks like a smaller version of Nan Tian.
Yan Shixun's pupils constricted.
He quickly raised his head and looked around, and was surprised to find that he was no longer outside the small wooden building of the village chief of Changshou Village, and there was no rotting corpse or master in front of him.
He was now in an ordinary house, with items hanging everywhere giving off a strong flavor of life.
The environment is peaceful and tranquil, the blazing sun shines in from outside, and you can faintly hear the chirping of summer cicadas.
It was as if he had just had a nightmare, and everything that had just happened was just a scene in the nightmare, it was all fake.
Only what he sees now is real.
Yan Shixun closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, his eyes, which had been a little confused, became firm again.
He lowered his eyes and asked the child beside him: "What is this place?"
The child blinked and said, "This is South Village."
"Big brother, have you forgotten? I am Nantian."
Yan Shixun murmured softly, repeating the other person's name.
He knew Nantian.
Only, it shouldn't be this one.
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