Chapter 74 Liang Youyi: People to be found, grievances to be redressed
Bai Yuan turned and walked away, looking towards the direction where the sun was setting. The afterglow of the sunset illuminated the earth, gilding the mountains, plains, and villages with a faint orange-gold hue.
She slowly walked to the spot where she had fallen off the cliff and carefully examined the mess. She found several pieces of dry grass stems tangled in the wheels of the car.
Bai Yuan pulled out a blade of grass and examined it closely. There were a few drops of blood splattered on it, probably horse blood. She looked around, and inadvertently glanced at the collapsed cave dwelling.
When the carriage fell, it crashed into the earthen kiln, and a layer of yellow soil crumbled off the kiln wall, revealing a brown stone wall.
Bai Yuan paused, then walked towards the hidden stone wall. Upon closer inspection, he discovered that there were actually artificially carved patterns on the wall.
The brown wall is embedded in the loess. It couldn't have been something the villagers would have done themselves when they were digging the cave and building the kiln. They would have carved a mural for decoration and then covered it with loess. That would have been time-consuming and laborious, and no one would have had the time or energy for that.
A strange feeling flashed through Bai Yuan's mind, so he picked up a piece of broken wood with sharp edges and began to pry off the yellow soil covering it.
She spent a considerable amount of time until the sun had completely set, a crescent moon hung in the night sky, and a large section of the stone wall was gradually exposed.
Bai Yuan slowly swept away the dust, took two steps back to look, and saw a ferocious and terrifying monster leaping onto the wall.
The monster's form is abstract and bizarre, with a head as large as a bucket, a sharp rhinoceros horn on top, glaring eyes like protruding eggs, a mouth full of sharp teeth, and a long tongue sticking out to its chest. The monster's body is like a lion, with a human head trampled under its claws—no, there's a relief carving below it.
Bai Yuan crouched down and pried open the lower edge of the yellow soil again, gradually revealing a terrified human head. Bai Yuan continued to pry open the lower half of the yellow soil, slowly scraping out a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, while monsters trampled on the corpses, dominating the human world.
Bai Yuan stood there observing, not quite understanding what this scene represented—was a monster wreaking havoc on the village?
She didn't know how long the mural was, or whether it was necessary to dig up the remaining yellow soil. She heard footsteps behind her, but she didn't need to turn around to confirm. Just by listening to the sound of the bamboo cane hitting the ground, she knew who it was.
"What is this?" Zhou Yaren stopped, and a dark and indistinct wall appeared before her dark eyes. The wall was a mass of gray-black air.
Bai Yuan then turned around: "You can see?"
Zhou Yaren told Bai Yuan what he had seen. Bai Yuan approached the wall carving, raised his hand to touch the carved texture, and identified it as a "tomb guardian beast."
Bai Yuan gestured to him: "Touch down a little further."
After Zhou Yaren felt around and found the carvings below, Bai Yuan said, "A tomb guardian beast treading on mountains of corpses and seas of blood? Generally speaking, tomb guardian beasts are used by the tomb owner to ward off evil spirits, placed in the tomb to protect the deceased's spirit from being carried away by those damned mountain spirits and monsters. But this isn't a tomb, it's a village, the monsters carved on the mountain wall should be..."
It's probably not a tomb guardian beast; it's hard to say what kind of grievance it might be, but it certainly has some kind of symbolic meaning.
Bai Yuan glanced at Zhou Yaren, who was examining the wall carving, and asked, "What are you doing here?"
“I haven’t seen you go back for a long time, so I came out to look for you.” Zhou Yaren’s hand stroked the monster’s claws, and further ahead, there was an unidentified pattern half-hidden in the yellow soil. “The food is ready, I came to call you… Hmm, what is this?”
Bai Yuan casually pried open the soil covering the area: "Head."
"A head?" Zhou Yaren touched it with a complicated feeling.
So Bai Yuan squatted down next to him, staring at the head of the wall carving, and said, "It's a head wearing armor."
Next, wherever Zhou Yaren's hand touched, Bai Yuan would tell him: "This is a torso that has been cut in half at the waist, with the intestines sticking out and hanging on a spear. This is a soldier whose neck has been pierced. A knife is stuck in this person's left eye, with the tip protruding directly from the back of his head."
Her voice was calm and unremarkable as she described the scenes on the wall carvings, each one a cruel death, yet she spoke with utter composure.
Zhou Yaren's groping hand stopped, and Bai Yuan's words also stopped.
He knew, of course, that Bai Yuan was used to seeing people die with their heads separated from their bodies, which was why she was so calm and indifferent, almost to the point of being heartless and loveless. Perhaps for Bai Yuan, life and death could no longer stir up the slightest ripple.
"A white injustice."
"Any questions?"
Upon hearing this question, Zhou Yaren hesitated for a moment before speaking seriously, saying, "Not far from Fengkou Village is a mass grave. When Huang Dashan dug up his daughter Huang Xiaoyun's remains yesterday, he found some spears, swords, and iron armor in the filth. In your opinion, that place may have been a battlefield."
"That's right."
"The walls are also carved with scenes of battlefields, and the casualties were horrific."
"so what?"
"So this proves that you are right, the mass grave was once an ancient battlefield."
Bai Yuan was speechless: "...It's so obvious, isn't that just a pointless statement?"
"It is both an ancient battlefield and a mass grave, with countless corpses and unpredictable evil spirits. That's why people carved tomb guardian beasts to suppress evil spirits. Carving them on the mountainside can block all the evil spirits in the mountain and prevent them from leaking out and harming people."
This explains why the tomb guardian beasts tread on mountains of corpses and seas of blood, because people believe that soldiers who die on the battlefield died violent deaths and that they harbor deep resentment and may harm others.
But another question remained. Bai Yuan said, "If you want to ward off evil, just carve a tomb guardian beast and that's it. Why step on the bones of these soldiers? These soldiers died for their country. Every soldier who died on the battlefield could have been their husband or child. How could they use a tomb guardian beast to step on the spirits of their loved ones?"
“Yes,” Zhou Yaren pondered, “so this wall carving is very likely the work of the enemy.”
Bai Yuan, however, vaguely sensed something else in the conversation and changed the subject: "You went on a military campaign?"
Zhou Yaren shook her head: "No."
"Blind masters are knowledgeable about the weather and weather, and are accustomed to using sound divination to predict good or bad fortune. They usually accompany the army on expeditions."
"In recent years, the border areas of Daduan have been relatively peaceful."
In other words, he was still of no use and had no place in this field, so Zhou Yaren's greatest use to the court was to find the Yin Sui.
The thought of Yin Sui filled Bai Yuan with displeasure, and his gaze toward Zhou Yaren instantly turned cold and sharp.
Sensing the other person's suddenly unfriendly gaze, Zhou Yaren asked in confusion, "What's wrong?"
Bai Yuan suppressed the anger that surged in his heart, turned around and left: "I'll look around some more."
The other party's sudden change of mood left Zhou Yaren bewildered. No matter how quick-witted he was, he couldn't possibly connect the trip with Yin Sui directly from the military expedition; it was too far-fetched.
Zhou Yaren was even taken aback for a moment before remembering the purpose of her visit: "The food is ready, would you like to eat some together?"
The path of justice never faltered; she needed no further intervention.
The person should be found, and the injustice should be redressed. Why waste time eating a meal that is meaningless to her?
Bai Yuan guessed that if what the village woman said was true, Liang Youyi would definitely not let it go. Since Cao Dali had escaped from his hands, he would definitely come back to Fengkou Village to look for him again.
However, since he killed Wang Sanhu in prison, the county government is searching everywhere for him. To avoid attracting attention, Liang Youyi will not appear openly in public, so he will most likely visit Fengkou Village at night.
With Cao Dali's cellar exposed, it was tantamount to losing ground and a matter of life and death. He would never believe that a few strangers he had only met once would keep it a secret for him, but he could not let anyone see him. Therefore, Cao Dali would definitely try to escape after nightfall.
Night is the best time to conceal one's tracks, and everything unfolded just as Bai Yuan had predicted. Cao Dali, who was sneaking around trying to escape, was caught red-handed by Liang Youyi, who was lying in wait.
Based on the description from the village woman, it can be judged that Liang Youyi is definitely a man who does great things in silence. He can observe every household in Fengkou Village without saying a word, not only people, but also chickens, dogs, cattle and sheep for a long time, not to mention cats waiting in a certain place for "prey to come out of the cage".
Caught off guard, Cao Dali was tackled to the ground by a figure that leaped out like a tiger. With a flash of cold light, Cao Dali kicked away the knife-wielding assailant, rolled away in fear, and scrambled to his feet to escape for his life.
Just as he got up, the person behind him raised the long knife again, but when it fell, it only slashed the bundle on Cao Dali's back. His clothes and money fell to the ground, but Cao Dali didn't bother to pick them up and ran forward as fast as he could.
The wind whistled past his ears, and Cao Dali didn't even dare to look back, but he could clearly hear the person chasing closely behind him. He was filled with misery, wondering how he had messed with such a living devil.
The living Yama was determined to take his life today, so he picked up a stone and smashed it into the back of Cao Dali's head. The latter staggered a few steps with his head bleeding, and Liang Youyi quickly caught up and swung his knife to strike, but Cao Dali, dizzy and disoriented, fell forward and barely avoided the blow.
Just as Liang Youyi was about to stab someone again, Cao Dali, in a moment of dizziness, managed to regain some clarity and kicked Liang Youyi in the shinbone.
With a sharp crack, Liang Youyi fell to the ground, knife and all. Without even getting up, he immediately swung his knife at Cao Dali.
Cao Dali, in a panic, couldn't dodge in time. He raised his arm to block the knife, and immediately let out a scream as the blade embedded itself in his flesh. Cao Dali jerked back and grabbed a handful of yellow soil, throwing it at Liang Youyi who was rushing towards him.
They engaged in close combat, wrestling and grappling.
Liang Youyi was desperate, and Cao Dali fought desperately. The two rolled and struggled, fighting to the death.
Cao Dali raised the bloodstained rock and slammed it down on Liang Youyi's wrist, the one holding the knife. One, two, three blows later, the long knife was knocked from his hand. Before Cao Dali could pick it up, Liang Youyi dug his fingers into the wound on Cao Dali's arm where he had been stabbed.
Cao Dali was in great pain. He grabbed one of Liang Youyi's fingers and twisted it violently in the opposite direction until the finger bone broke and dislocated. Liang Youyi gritted his teeth and groaned. Then, his temple was hit hard again.
Just as Cao Dali raised the stone to strike a second time, Liang Youyi suddenly jumped up and bumped his head into the other man's nose.
Cao Dali fell backward, bleeding from his mouth and nose, and the stone landed in Liang Youyi's hand.
As fate would have it, Liang Youyi, with one finger that couldn't be put back in place, raised a stone and smashed it hard on Cao Dali's head, once, twice, three times, four times, five times... until Cao Dali was no longer able to resist, his head and face covered in blood, and his left eye was also smashed open.
Panting heavily, Liang Youyi threw away the stones, looked around, and found his knife.
Cao Dali was on the verge of death. He opened one eyelid, and through the narrow slit of his eye, he could only see the cold glint of the blade on the back. He tried his best to defend himself, but his voice was weak: "It wasn't me..."
Liang Youyi, carrying the knife, seemed unsteady on his feet. He stood there catching his breath for a while before speaking in a deep voice: "Where's the child?"
However, Cao Dali fainted after saying those words.
Liang Youyi bent down, grabbed Cao Dali's leg, and dragged him away like a dead dog.
Bai Yuan remained hidden in the shadows, coldly observing the life-or-death struggle. He then followed behind, crossing ravines and entering the mountains, treading on weeds that were almost as tall as a person, until he arrived at a secluded and hidden cliff.
Liang Youyi moved aside the weeds piled up on the cliff, revealing a hole about half a person's height, and dragged Cao Dali inside.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Bai Yuan slipped inside, pressed against the gloomy, cold cliff face. It was pitch black inside, and she couldn't see anything. She heard a rustling sound; Liang Youyi had thrown Cao Dali to the ground. Then, a muffled whimper came from the right corner, one after another.
There were other people in this cave, and more than one!
Could it be those people who went missing from Fengkou Village?
The next moment, Liang Youyi blew on the tinderbox to light it.
There was nowhere to hide inside the cave, and Bai Yuan was instantly revealed in the light and fire.
Liang Youyi was caught off guard when he saw another person standing there in the cave, which almost made him lose his mind.
Where did this woman in white appear from without a sound?
The tinder suddenly fell to the ground, but thankfully it didn't go out.
"Who goes there?!" Liang Youyi was so frightened that he drew his knife and pointed it at the other person, his whole body on guard. At the same time, a chilling feeling crept up his spine. No, was she a human or a ghost?
"Liang Youyi?" Bai Yuan asked calmly. "Did you capture all these people?"
Her gaze swept across the corner, and to her surprise, she spotted a familiar face among the four people who were bound hand and foot. It was an unexpected bonus: "Doctor Ding?"
With his hands and feet bound and a wad of coarse cloth stuffed in his mouth, Dr. Ding lay curled up in the corner like the other three. His weathered and haggard face was upturned, and he seemed somewhat dazed and confused, not recognizing the woman before him for a moment. It took him a moment to realize who she was before he suddenly remembered and whimpered a few times towards Bai Yuan.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
