Upon hearing that the corpse puppet could come back to life, Song Laosan calmly released the safety on his pistol. Monkey, however, scoffed at the idea: "Young Master Duan, what are you talking about? This corpse has been swimming in the water for over a thousand years. Even a turtle would have drowned by now!"
"What's in there isn't water, it's corpse oil! My great-grandfather encountered a corpse puppet in a tomb and lost an arm and two legs. My great-grandfather even left a will in the Judge's Record: whenever you encounter a tomb that enshrines a corpse puppet, you should leave immediately and not touch it!"
I recalled this passage: "Although my great-grandfather never saw the corpse puppet in person, he consulted many experts and reviewed a lot of information because of his father's situation. According to his investigation, the corpse puppet was not actually a resurrected corpse, but rather had corpse marrow worms inside it."
Song Laosan glanced sideways: "What is a corpse marrow worm?"
"Legend has it that the corpse marrow worm was cultivated by Pan Geng, the nineteenth emperor of the Shang Dynasty, to guard his tomb. This man was a feng shui genius who found the auspicious land of Yin through geomancy and made it the new capital. After the capital was moved, the Shang Dynasty went from being on the verge of collapse to being revived."
I paused for a moment and continued, "My grandfather also made annotations in the Judge's Record. He believed that the principle of the corpse marrow worm should be similar to that of the horsehair worm. The hosts of the horsehair worm are mostly grasshoppers and mantises. Once this worm parasitizes the host's body, it can secrete a neurohormone, causing the host to become disordered, jump into the water and drown, allowing it to reproduce in the water."
The principle of the corpse worm is similar to that of other parasites such as horsehair worms, toxoplasmosis, and trematodes. It parasitizes the bones of a corpse, absorbs the corpse's nutrients, and splits its body into the shape of the corpse to hibernate. Because it can manipulate the corpse, it is called a corpse puppet.
Once awakened, the corpse worm will control the corpse to find a living parasite, enter the host to suck the bone marrow, and infect the new host. It can ignore the host's immune system, change the body's dopamine, make the host full of desire for adventure and no longer afraid of danger! So that it can be preyed upon by more powerful prey, or go to resource-rich places, so that this worm can find a more suitable place to reproduce!
The corpse oil in that jar is actually for the corpse worms to absorb nutrients and for preserving the corpse. The inscription on the jar was written with quicklime, rhinoceros horn, and glutinous rice powder. The corpse worms hate these ingredients, which is why they stay obediently inside. Once we trigger the ghostly balance here, causing the lid to detach and the jar to shake, the corpses parasitized by the corpse worms will attack us. This mechanism is incredibly vicious!
According to unofficial historical records, many large tombs from the Shang Dynasty contained corpse figurines. During the Zhou Dynasty, many of these figurines escaped from their tombs due to floods, earthquakes, and other causes, wreaking havoc on the land. King Wu of Zhou, Ji Fa, then ordered the prohibition of this practice, leading to its loss. The presence of these corpse figurines in this Tang Dynasty tomb suggests they were likely excavated from a Shang Dynasty tomb and moved there by some means.
"If it's a parasite, then this explanation makes sense! Viruses that have been frozen under Antarctic glaciers for tens of thousands of years are still active!"
Song Laosan glanced at the pottery jar containing the corpse puppet: "In your opinion, what should we do next?"
"Keep your movements quiet and continue searching for the immortal scripture. Let's get our hands on it first!"
I took a deep breath and walked to the jar on the other side: "The jar containing the corpse puppet will make me hallucinate. To avoid trouble, the two of you will conduct the next examination!"
After hearing the story of the corpse puppet, the monkey and Song Laosan became much gentler in their movements.
We quickly inspected all the pottery jars.
Of the thirteen pottery jars, the four on the sides contained corpse figurines, while the remaining nine jars were filled with burial goods.
These burial items were diverse and exquisitely crafted, but notably, no scrolls were found.
The monkey scratched his head, looking at the gold, silver, and jade artifacts in the jars. "This is the deepest part of the tomb. All the burial goods are here, but not a single one has any writing on it. Do you think that the evil monk collected the Tang Dynasty's books to destroy the culture and left them behind?"
"No! Although Naropa is very likely the murderer who killed Li Shimin, besides being a spy, he is also a sorcerer! If the Immortal Scripture is truly a miraculous book that even Yuan Tiangang and Li Chunfeng praised highly, he has no reason to destroy it!"
I examined each of the earthenware jars in front of me, then turned my gaze to the lotus platform behind them: "There's a lot of space behind that lotus platform. I wonder if there's anything inside."
"But how are we supposed to get there?"
Song Laosan shone his flashlight on the stone under the jar: "This stone slab connects all the way to the bottom of the lotus platform steps. Even the weight of a golden bowl would cause it to tilt, let alone the weight of a living person."
"Or I can go over there!"
The monkey stepped forward: "Of the three of us, I am the lightest. If the two of you can hold the stone slab in place from both sides, I can walk across."
I rejected the monkey's suggestion: "No, that's too risky! Given the sensitivity of this balance stone, if we make a mistake, you won't have time to run back!"
The monkey retorted, "We're here to rob tombs, how can there be no risks? If you won't let me through, what better way do you have?"
"I think we can give the monkey's idea a try! There are no other roads here, so let's be careful. This method is still feasible."
Song Laosan patted my arm: "I know you two are brothers, and you're reluctant to let Monkey take the risk, but don't forget, this hall is a complete trap. Once the building collapses, it will be difficult for us to escape. So, it's three people taking the risk. So many of us died trying to enter the Demon Monk's Tomb. Are you willing to leave empty-handed?"
The monkey laughed along, "Young Master Duan, don't worry, I'm confident I can do this! Don't forget, I was a roller skating champion, I have excellent balance!"
“I’ll go!” I looked at the two of them and made the final decision: “Although the monkey is light, he doesn’t know anything about mechanisms, so it’s safest for me to go.”
The three of them came up with a plan. Monkey and Song Laosan moved to the sides, using leverage to hold down the horizontal stone. I saw the two of them make a hand gesture, so I held my breath and stepped on it.
As soon as I stepped on it, I heard the sound of ice cracking behind me, but I only swayed for a moment before regaining my balance.
My heart finally settled down the moment I stepped off the crossbar.
Before me was a statue made up of three corpses, behind which was a row of steps with reliefs, and above that was the golden lotus platform where the demonic monk sat.
I crouched down to examine the steps closely and confirmed that they were carved from a single piece of stone, but there were gaps on the golden lotus platform.
Unable to determine whether the lotus platform contained any mechanisms, I did not approach the demon monk's corpse. After taking a few steps, I discovered that behind him was a small room that had sunk into the ground, wider on the outside and narrower on the inside, filled with many tall shelves.
I bypassed the lotus platform and went into the back room to examine it. I found that the items on these bronze shelves were ancient Indian documents, so this place should be the library in the tomb.
Ancient India did not have papermaking technology. Many of the so-called books there were made of dried leaves, as well as copper plates, stones, and clay tablets with engraved characters, most of which have decayed.
On a shelf nearby, there were some bamboo slips and scrolls, all written in traditional Chinese characters.
During the Tang Dynasty, bamboo and wooden slips were gradually abandoned, but there were still no page-turning books. People at that time still had the habit of using bamboo slips to record things. Although paper replaced the cumbersome bamboo slips, they still adopted the method of reading by rolling up the curtain and storing them in bundles with leather ropes, which were called scroll books.
Without even looking, I saw the words "Immortal Scripture" on the cover of the scroll book in the very middle.
Just as I was about to reach for the immortal scripture, the monkey's shout suddenly rang out: "Shenxing! What happened to you?!"
I was startled by the monkey's voice. I was about to turn around to answer when I realized that the corpse on the lotus platform had turned around and was facing me.
The monkey clearly noticed the anomaly, calling out, "Be careful! Be careful?!"
"I'm fine!"
Fearing their voices might wake the puppet, I whispered a reply and then took the immortal scripture from the shelf.
I had assumed the bookshelf in front of me would be a single unit, but as soon as I picked up the scroll, the shelf collapsed like a stack of building blocks, knocking down the other shelves in the process.
"Jingle bells!"
The sound of bookshelves collapsing followed one after another, the clanging of metal amplified infinitely by the horn-shaped room.
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