Qu Ruilin's words left me completely confused: "What exactly did you discover? Stop beating around the bush."
"The reason this place is kept at a low temperature and dry is because all the corpses are sealed with wax! Of course, sealing with wax may not be the main reason for the corpses not decomposing, but it is certainly one of the important factors! In this mortuary, all the lifelike corpses are covered with a layer of wax, while the mummies are not!"
Or to put it another way, these mummies weren't without wax on their bodies; rather, they were once waxed, but the wax on their skin has simply disappeared!
Qu Ruilin pointed to a mummified corpse in front of him: "Taking this corpse as an example, there is only a small amount of wax left on his hands and neck, so the skin color in this area is obviously different from other areas."
I tried to understand Qu Ruilin's statement: "You mean that the underground river was used to cool the bodies here, and the bodies were preserved by sealing them with wax, but at some point, the underground river dried up or changed its course, causing the temperature here to rise, which melted the wax on the bodies and turned them into mummies here?"
Qu Ruilin didn't answer my question directly, but instead asked, "How often do you think someone will die in Ping'an Village?"
After his reminder, I instantly understood: "The mummies here are not naturally formed, but caused by human factors! Because the formation of mummies is definitely not something that happens overnight. Since this is the cemetery of Ping'an Village, they would send new bodies here whenever someone dies. It's impossible that they didn't notice this situation! Even if they couldn't find the problem with the bodies at the back, they must have seen the ones at the front. Even if they tried to remedy it, some bodies would still decompose."
"That's my idea."
Qu Ruilin nodded: "So I think the mummies that appeared in this mass grave were deliberately created by the people of Ping'an Village. They intentionally scraped off the wax sealing the corpses! But I can't understand what their purpose was in doing this!"
"While this wax seal can preserve a body, it's too susceptible to environmental factors. Do you think they might be gradually creating mummies?"
I tried to speculate: "If someone dies in the village, they will seal the body for future generations to commemorate. After a while, they will preserve it as a mummified corpse..."
Halfway through my statement, I realized it was untenable: "In Ping'an Village, only the clan chief can come to this place, so the idea of a memorial service is impossible. Besides, the oldest corpse here is probably over a hundred years old, so how could anyone possibly be offering a memorial service?"
"This should be a kind of ritual. The people of Ping'an Village are using the dead villagers to set up an array. This would explain the significance of the Buddhist hall and the Sanyin Town Hall above."
After Qu Ruilin finished explaining his thoughts, he asked me, "Do you think it's possible that Ping'an Village is the tomb keeper of the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace?"
I was taken aback by this bold guess: "These kinds of things require evidence."
"Since it's an investigation, what evidence do we need?"
Qu Ruilin continued to share his conjecture: "According to the information released by Fengmen Village, to find the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace, one must first come to Ping'an Village. However, the people of Ping'an Village avoid talking about the legend of the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace, which has always made me suspicious of them. If we consider Ping'an Village as the guardian of the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace, then it makes sense."
Ping'an Village has been passed down for so many years, yet they live only in this desolate, primeval forest. There must be a reason for this, right? If it's to escape war, the country has been at peace for so many years now! If it's to live in seclusion in the mountains, then why would they give up the conveniences of modern society to live such a hard life?
After much thought, their very existence seemed unusual, unless they had some compelling mission to live in these mountains! Guarding the tombs was the most likely explanation. The reason they had lived here generation after generation was because the very purpose of their village was to protect the Miao celestial palace!
I wasn't impressed with Qu Ruilin's bold assumption: "What you said is indeed very convincing, but have you considered that the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace is a legend that has existed for thousands of years, while the Buddhist temple above our heads was built in the Ming Dynasty? First of all, in terms of time, they don't match! Moreover, the idea that the village guardians set up an array doesn't make sense either!"
Based on our current clues, this is just an ordinary cemetery. Whether it's the Three Yin Guardian Hall or the underground Buddhist shrine, their purpose seems solely to prevent the corpses here from decaying! This has absolutely nothing to do with Ping'an Village guarding the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace! Because this formation didn't prevent us from going to the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace; in fact, we came to it ourselves.
After hearing my words, Qu Ruilin also fell into self-doubt, smacking his lips and saying, "If Ping'an Village has no connection with the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace, then what is the purpose of its existence?"
“I don’t think we need to waste any more time here. At least this place won’t provide us with any clues about the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace.”
I had completely lost interest in this mass grave by now, and turned to walk back in the direction I had just entered.
As I was returning, a wax corpse in front of me suddenly turned its head and looked at me.
Holy crap!
Walking among a group of corpses, I was startled when one of the corpses suddenly moved, and I immediately shone my flashlight in that direction.
The corpse stood quietly in place, facing the same direction as the other corpses.
Once I realized I had misread it, I breathed a slight sigh of relief and quickened my pace to leave the place.
"Gulp!"
Just then, a muffled thud came from behind me.
I turned around and saw that Qu Ruilin had already knocked down a corpse.
"Qu Ruilin, what are you doing!"
Seeing Qu Ruilin's actions, I turned back and said, "Not destroying corpses is a rule of the Four Gates. Don't do anything reckless!"
Upon hearing my words, Qu Ruilin shone his flashlight on the corpse on the ground: "I didn't knock this body down!"
"Do you think I'm a three-year-old? There are only the two of us here. If you didn't do it, who else could I have done it myself?"
I frowned and looked at him: "Not destroying the body is the bottom line of the Four Gates!"
Qu Ruilin was somewhat displeased with my suspicion and said in a deep voice, "Do you think I'm the kind of person who would do something but not admit it? I really didn't do this to the corpse. I was just about to leave when the corpse suddenly collapsed in front of me. I was startled too!"
I was about to say something, but when I opened my mouth, I swallowed the words back.
Because I was talking to Qu Ruilin, I was shining a flashlight on him.
In the corner of my eye from the flashlight, I could clearly see this time that a wax corpse behind him slowly turned its head.
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