Ghost Flag - Chapter 19
"It should be the head of the tomb owner. Somehow, Sun Huizu twisted it off and brought it here."
Xiahou Ying squatted down and stared at the head—no, she was looking at the extra round hole.
I noticed that her body was trembling slightly.
Wei Buhui sighed. This head must have been incredibly glorious back then, but now it's separated from the body.
Xiahou Ying stood up and said softly, "I never thought that legend was actually true." She swayed slightly, and I quickly helped her up.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"It's nothing, I'm just a little disappointed." Her face showed an undisguised dejection, and it was more than just a little disappointment.
“Let’s go in. Although I can no longer achieve my original goal, it’s better to take the book,” Xiahou Ying said, taking a step forward.
Following Wei Buhui and Xiahou Ying, I stepped into the tomb.
The inner tomb chamber also had a device similar to the eternal beaded lamp. Wei Buhui easily found the opening point by the tomb door, and the lamp was lit in the blink of an eye.
Compared to Wei Xian, Wei Buhui's detection tool was much simpler, just a metal rod. After tapping it on the ground a few times, he looked up, but suddenly involuntarily took half a step back and turned to look at Xiahou Ying. No, it should be said that he was looking at the symbols on Xiahou Ying's clothes.
“It’s fear,” Xiahou Ying said. “The symbols on the walls of this tomb chamber suggest fear.”
When the firelight flared up, I sensed something, though it was only a faint feeling in my heart. It must have been the symbolic mark drawn on Xiahou Ying's clothes that played a significant role.
The Secret of the "Third Eye" (3)
Wei Buhui took a half step back and chuckled, "It seems this old man is being a bit paranoid." He looked around the empty tomb again and said, "There shouldn't be any traps in this tomb. Just to be safe, you should follow behind me."
Xiahou Ying nodded: "It's normal that there are no traps. The symbolic symbols drawn on the walls here are actually quite powerful. Even after you've been repeatedly given my calming and tranquilizing suggestions, you can still sense them. Most people, upon entering, wouldn't even need to light a fire to see them; they would be scared away by the field created by these densely packed symbolic symbols. After experiencing the death-related symbolism in the outer tomb passage, even if they retreat..."
"Even if I go out, I'll die sooner or later anyway."
This tomb chamber, which is about four or five hundred square meters in size, is irregularly shaped like a water droplet and has no furnishings or decorations. There is also an archway opposite it.
“Look,” Wei Buhui pointed to the ground.
Following his hand, I noticed a small, dark stain on the marble floor leading from here to the opposite archway. The stain was faint; you wouldn't notice it unless you looked closely.
“It’s Sun Huizu’s blood,” I blurted out.
Wei Buhui nodded: "It's blood that has seeped into the marble, but there's no sign of any mechanism being activated."
“Let’s go. However, the outer tomb passage is a sign of death, while this one is a sign of fear. After we pass through the archway ahead, the meaning of the signs should be different again,” Xiahou Ying said.
Upon hearing Xiahou Ying's words, before taking a step forward, Wei Buhui did exactly the same thing as me—he stared intently at her clothes.
Standing at the archway, Wei Buhui did not immediately enter the next tomb chamber, and Xiahou Ying and I stopped behind him.
What lies ahead is less a burial chamber and more a winding tomb passage.
Bloodstains that had seeped into the stone were still visible on the ground, making me imagine how Sun Huizu ran out covered in blood back then.
The eternally linked lamps at the first archway appear to have lit all the lamps in the tomb chambers, but because the tomb passage is winding, the end cannot be seen at a glance.
"There doesn't seem to be any sign of a mechanism being activated. Are there no mechanisms in this tomb passage?" I said.
Wei Buhui squatted down, stared intently at the ground for a while, then tapped the metal bar a few times before standing up and saying with a grave expression, "There's a mechanism, but it hasn't been activated."
"It wasn't activated? How could that be? Didn't Sun Huizu trigger the mechanism back then?" This time, it was Xiahou Ying who asked the question.
"The activation conditions of the mechanisms here are quite strange. These kinds of mechanisms will not be triggered if you walk or run normally. They will only be activated if you stand still in one place."
“That’s right.” Xiahou Ying’s words surprised us all.
Don't you feel a little different when you look ahead?
When I looked ahead just now, I had a slightly different feeling, but with the help of the symbols drawn by Xiahou Ying, this strange feeling was extremely slight. Now, hearing Xiahou Ying say this, I looked at the tomb passage ahead again, silently pondering it in my heart.
It was definitely a feeling different from fear, but I really couldn't find a word to describe it right away. Looking at Wei Buhui, it was the same.
"The effects you are experiencing now are so minor that they are difficult to discern. The preceding cues have a psychological effect of causing frustration."
"Frustrated?" I compared my feelings to those in my heart, and sure enough, that was it.
“I understand,” Wei Buhui said in a deep voice. “When ordinary people are extremely frustrated, they will inevitably squat on the ground and cry their hearts out. Those with stronger will always stand still for a moment. But once they stand still, the mechanism will be activated immediately.”
Xiahou Ying nodded: "Although the hints are unlikely to kill people immediately, when combined with the traps, this place can become a place of certain death."
"But how come the Sun brothers were unharmed back then?" Actually, as soon as I asked this question, I already knew the answer.
"This is because..." Xiahou Ying didn't finish speaking, so I interrupted, "The flag."
"Yes, I've seen that half flag. If the symbols on the missing half of the flag were completed, it would have a similar effect on the people around the flag as the symbols on my clothes. However, because this flag also serves as a threat and a source of fear for people in the distance, the effect is not as good as what I'm drawing now."
Speaking of that half-flag, a question suddenly came to mind, and I couldn't help but ask it: "Back then, the Sun brothers used that flag to probe the location of the underground tomb, and they actually found signs in the vicinity. The fearful implications emanating from the flag suddenly intensified tenfold. What's the reason for this?"
The Secret of the "Third Eye" (4)
After thinking for a moment, Xiahou Ying said, "I'm not sure about the reason behind this. After all, there are many things that I only know the result of but not the reason behind. However..." Xiahou Ying pointed to the tomb passage ahead, "When you go up there later, you should be mentally prepared. Your feelings of frustration will be stronger than when you are standing here looking at it. Don't freeze up and let the mechanism activate."
"oh?"
"If it's just one or two simple symbols, they basically need to be seen with the naked eye to have any effect; but when many symbols are arranged together according to a specific pattern, they will naturally have an effect. It's a bit like the ancient Chinese battle formations. Don't confuse them with the battle formations of ancient armies; they are completely different things."
"I know that." Weren't we almost trapped to death in the cave in Shennongjia because of the Dragon-Trapping Array set up by Xiao Xiuyun?!
Xiahou Ying was somewhat surprised: "You seem to have quite a broad knowledge. If we were to explain it using the closest terminology in modern science, it would be a force field. These symbols can form an outward-radiating mental force field. Getting close to the center of the force field at a certain distance will have an effect on people. If two force fields overlap, it might not cause any problems, or it might..."
Xiahou Ying didn't continue, but I already understood her meaning. The sudden incident back then was the result of the overlap between the spiritual energy field emanating from the flag and the energy field underground. However, why the intense fear field only erupted for a fleeting moment after the overlap, and then returned to normal, is probably not something we can figure out through simple deduction. We at least need to understand the principles behind the design of these symbols.
"Let's go, and remember not to stop."
Following Wei Buhui at a brisk pace, we covered the bend almost at race walking speed. Having prepared ourselves mentally, the slight frustration we felt wouldn't cause any real trouble. After a sharp turn, there was another archway ahead, this one a bit larger than the previous one. At Wei Buhui's signal, the three of us squeezed together side by side under the archway.
The space ahead, between the burial chamber and the passageway, is a long, narrow triangle. The archway entrance where we are is the widest part, and the path narrows as we go forward, ending at another archway at the tip that can only accommodate one person at a time.
Right there in this tomb chamber, I saw three skeletons.
There were also short iron arrows scattered all over the ground. The same kind found on Sun Huizu's body in the outermost tomb passage.
Needless to say, the remaining three Sun brothers are all here.
“Anger,” Xiahou Ying said.
Wei and I both knew what she meant; in the previous tomb chamber, the symbols were meant to incite anger.
Even without her saying it, I could already feel her resentment.
Among the three skeletons, I saw a piece of cloth that hadn't been corroded. Only that half-flag could have such a miraculous material.
"With the rudimentary skills that the Sun brothers and I learned, of course we wouldn't be able to get through. Here, if you take even the slightest wrong step, you'll trigger the traps," Wei Buhui said.
“But these four walls are all smooth marble, so where did these arrows come from?” I asked.
"Idiot, many parts are trapdoors; once the mechanism is activated, the trapdoor will flip over."
I gave an awkward smile. But even a tomb raiding king like Wei Buhui, without Xiahou Ying's calming suggestion, would have been consumed by rage upon arriving here, and wouldn't have been able to distinguish between safe and dangerous places, and would have been riddled with arrows just the same. As for the Sun brothers, although they had a flag for protection, they were unfamiliar with traps and died without a burial place, tearing the flag to shreds before they died.
Wei Buhui was rummaging through his backpack, seemingly looking for something. I looked at the triangular tomb chamber in front of me and suddenly had a thought. I said, "Haven't you guys noticed that the shape of this tomb chamber has been somewhat like a Chinese character since we came in? At least the curve we just passed, plus the triangle in front, doesn't it just look like a hook?"
Wei Buhui paused, looked up at me.
"You noticed it too?" Xiahou Ying said, using his hand as a pen to write a character in the air.
The initial irregular teardrop-shaped tomb chamber was actually just a dot, followed by a hook. At this point, the character that Xiahou Ying wrote in the air was the character "心" (heart) in running script.
"So-called suggestion is simply working on a person's mind," Xiahou Ying said calmly.
"Isn't it the brain?" I countered.
Can modern science really prove that human thoughts, or even the soul, reside in the brain? Probably not. The "heart" I'm referring to isn't the physical heart, but rather the origin of the human soul and wisdom. Although we don't know exactly what it is or where it is, it certainly exists.
The Secret of the "Third Eye" (5)
"From this perspective, there are two more points. The last point should be where the coffin is placed."
Xiahou Ying nodded: "Usually, there shouldn't be any clues at the last place where the coffin is placed. So, after this tomb chamber, there is another tomb chamber with clues. So far, we have successively shown fear, frustration, and anger. The next one must also correspond to a negative emotion."
Wei Buhui took out a bottle of liquid from his backpack, poured some on the soles of his shoes, and said, "I'll go first. Follow my footprints and make sure you don't step in the wrong ones. If you make too big a mistake, you'll be turning into a hedgehog."
Wei Buhui walked slowly forward, leaving a red footprint in each step. When he took his third step, he suddenly stopped, clenched his fists, and my heart leaped into my throat. Fortunately, a few seconds later, he continued walking.
We wound our way through the tomb, our footsteps skirting the three skeletons, and reached the archway safely. Wei gestured for us to follow, then began smearing red liquid on the soles of his shoes, preparing to continue forward.
Xiahou Ying led the way, and I followed carefully along the red footprints on the ground. This way of walking was incredibly difficult to maintain balance; my strides were inconsistent, sometimes large, sometimes small. After only two or three steps, each step made me sway, almost causing me to lose my balance and fall to the side. Only then did I understand why Wei Buhui had paused slightly earlier. According to Xiahou Ying, I was now fully immersed in the mental energy field formed by the surrounding talismans, feeling more than twice as intensely as when I was peering out from the archway. A sense of anxiety and frustration rose in my chest, but a glance at the "living talisman" ahead of me suppressed this nameless anger.
Following Wei Buhui's footprints was no problem for Xiahou Ying, but my feet were probably two sizes larger than Wei Buhui's, so even if I stepped on them precisely, there was always a circumference outside the footprints. Although I was a little uneasy, I figured these minor mistakes wouldn't actually trigger the mechanism.
As I passed those three skeletons, a wave of sadness washed over me. When I stepped on them, most of my foot slid outside the skeleton, and I broke out in a cold sweat. But the fact that I was sweating meant that the people inside were still alright.
Xiahou Ying was almost at the archway when Wei Buhui finished his preparations and started to walk forward. In the blink of an eye, a sharp whistling sound came, and Wei Buhui groaned, clutching his left shoulder as he retreated back to the archway.
The dinging sound lasted for several seconds before stopping.
The king of tomb raiders actually triggered the mechanism?
Wei Bu turned around and said in a hoarse voice, "You should stop for a moment."
Even if he hadn't said anything, we would have had to stop. There was only enough room for him under the archway. Xiahou Ying was already just one step away from him, and I wasn't far behind. We couldn't just stop here; we had to maintain our stride. Xiahou Ying and I were like statues, taking one step and daring not to move again. Our posture must have looked quite comical, but at this moment, who could laugh!
"What's going on? Can't we get past the trap ahead?" Xiahou Ying asked.
"I stepped on the wrong foot." Wei Buhui took out gauze from his backpack and quickly bandaged the wound, then rubbed red paint back onto the sole of his foot.
"That's amazing!" I gasped. Had I come this far only to fail at the last hurdle?
Wei Buhui shook his head: "It's not that the mechanism is powerful, it's those symbols that are causing trouble. I don't know about you two, but as we came through section by section, the symbols had a greater impact on my emotions with each archway I passed. I only took two steps before I couldn't hold on and stepped on the wrong step. Luckily, I felt something was wrong when I stepped on it and retreated quickly, otherwise I would have been dead. I was lucky that the arrow wasn't poisoned."
“I feel the same way. What is the purpose of the symbols in the previous tomb chamber?” I asked.
"It's a bit like anger, but more severe. It suddenly gives me a hysterical urge to scream and vent my anger."
“It should be madness; there’s a kind of hint that can drive people mad,” Xiahou Ying said.
"Miss Xiahou, what should we do now?" I asked Xiahou Ying.
“It was my oversight. The symbols in these tombs have a cumulative effect on people, and their power is quite great. They have stirred up all kinds of negative emotions in people. Mr. Wei, could I borrow the paint you used to wipe your shoes earlier?”
"Got it." Wei Buhui said, tossing the small plastic bottle to Xiahou Ying.
Xiahou Ying unscrewed the bottle cap, dipped his index finger in it, and said to Wei Buhui, "Extend your hand, your right hand, because your left side is injured. I'll draw another talisman on your hand. Look at it as you walk, and the influence of the surrounding symbols will be further reduced. Hopefully, it won't distract you."
The Secret of the "Third Eye" (6)
“Sharing this snack is better than being hysterical.” Wei Buhui leaned forward and extended his right hand to Xiahou Ying.
After finishing the drawing, Wei turned around and walked forward again.