pozo profundo

Capítulo 47

"It's okay, it's all over now." Fang Lei suddenly hugged me tightly, patted my back, and comforted me.

Li Yang, Li Hai, and Bai Yun were squatting in front of the corpse, examining it carefully, while A Bao was hiding somewhat timidly behind the motionless Old Gentou, glancing at me every now and then.

"I...I didn't kill him." Although I knew this explanation sounded like I was protesting too much, I couldn't help but try to defend myself. In fact, I still felt like I was dreaming. How did I end up in this locked hall with no windows to climb into? This hall was a secret chamber!

"I know, I know," Fang Lei said, holding my hand tightly.

I glanced at Li Yang and the others, hesitated for a moment, but finally walked over and asked them, "Should we call the police?"

“I’m afraid that won’t work.” Old Gentou, who had been silent, suddenly said, “The road down the mountain was destroyed by flash floods last night, and we probably won’t be able to get down the mountain for the next few days.”

"What?" We all exclaimed in unison. Did this mean we were trapped in this temple deep in the mountains?

"Don't worry, the villages below will definitely notice. After a few days, once the villagers have cleared the mountain path, they can naturally go down the mountain." Old Gentou didn't seem to care about the death at all, and said calmly.

We exchanged a helpless glance, knowing that perhaps only we ourselves could help us now. Reaching the body, I had recovered from my initial shock and said, "Let me examine the body."

Li Yang and Li Hai exchanged a glance, stood up and stood to the side. Fang Lei also came over, grabbed my arm and said, "Bai Yun and I are here, you should rest!"

"No!" I roughly shook off Fang Lei's hand and said, "I can do it."

"Hehe, you won't give up until you let him examine him!" Bai Yun smiled and winked at Fang Lei, then pulled out a pair of gloves from who-knows-where and tossed them to me.

Taking the gloves, I ignored Fang Lei's attempts to persuade me and squatted down. I touched the corpse's body; it was completely stiff. Generally, the lower body begins to stiffen five or six hours after death, and the whole body stiffens after twelve hours. Judging from the current state of stiffness, it must have been dead for more than twelve hours. That means, I checked my watch; it was 8:30 in the morning. So, An Zhengxi must have died between 6 and 10 pm last night. But excluding the fact that we had dinner together around 6:30, the time should be pushed back to around 7 pm, after we had dinner.

Unfortunately, there were no autopsy tools around. I looked at Baiyun helplessly and said, "The time of death should be between 7 pm and 10 pm last night."

"That's right, the cause of death seems to be massive bleeding caused by a ruptured trachea!" Bai Yun said, looking at the wound on the deceased's throat.

"That's not necessarily true!" Fang Lei suddenly interjected, squatting down as well and pointing to the deceased's neck, saying, "Look, there seems to be a wound here!"

Indeed, although the slit throat was covered in bright red blood, a thin black mark could still be seen upon closer inspection. This was likely caused by strangulation.

"What, did you find anything?" Li Yang asked.

"It looks like he was strangled!" I pried open the wound at the throat with my hand. Although the killer tried hard to make the wound the same depth on both sides, there were still some differences. This was clearly different from the other three victims, meaning someone was imitating the cause of death of those three victims, trying to confuse us. So, who was doing this?

I stood up and said, "It seems someone is trying hard to imitate the other three cases."

"Whether it was a human murder or something else, we'll know now!" Li Hai pulled a yellow talisman from his pocket, muttered a few words, and then slapped it onto the corpse's forehead. This was probably a talisman for testing innocence, but it didn't react at all.

"It seems to have been done by someone," Li Hai said, as if he had breathed a sigh of relief.

“That’s right, so the question now is, Lin Xiao, how did you get in?” Li Yang stared at me and asked, his habit of suspecting everyone came out again.

With a helpless sigh, I said, "I don't know either. Last night I heard someone outside the door, so I opened it, and I can't remember anything after that."

"But this hall really is a secret chamber!" Li Yang looked around the hall. Only now did I have the chance to examine the hall closely; the red color scheme made my eyes feel bloodshot.

The statue enshrined in the hall was of the Moonshadow Clan's goddess, the Goddess of Senluo. However, she no longer possessed the terrifying appearance of the one in the building behind; instead, her robes flowed freely, and her features were complete. Upon closer inspection, one would find her to be a truly beautiful woman, possessing an ethereal quality. Her face was serene and solemn, her right hand outstretched, palm facing upward. Four dragons, exquisitely carved and lifelike, coiled around the statue, seemingly poised to soar into the clouds at any moment. In stark contrast, beneath and beside the dragons were several hideous demons, their eyes filled with fear as they gazed upon the high above the Goddess of Senluo. The entire front of the hall consisted of this strangely styled statue, lending the spacious hall an eerie yet mysterious and solemn atmosphere. Apart from this, the entire hall was devoid of any other decorations.

"There might be a secret passage!" Ah Bao said cautiously.

"That's right! There's a secret passage in my room, isn't there? If that's the case, it's possible that there's a secret passage in this main hall too." After thinking about it, we prepared to start searching, but Old Gen's words poured cold water on our hopes.

“I’ve lived here for over ten years and have never discovered any secret passage,” Old Gentou said coldly.

"Really?" Li Yang sighed dejectedly. The hall was so empty that there was no entrance or exit that could be used as a secret passage, except for this statue. But there was nothing wrong with the statue.

I stared blankly at the statue of the Goddess of the Underworld, the exquisite goddess and the hideous demon appearing strangely harmonious in the hands of the ancient sculptor, as if each was indispensable. Looking at the goddess's outstretched right hand, I suddenly felt a sense of emptiness; there should be something in her palm. Her posture made it seem as if she were holding something. Looking down at An Zhengxi's corpse, her left eyeball lay quietly beside her. A strange and somewhat absurd thought popped into my head, and I couldn't help but bend down and pick up the eyeball.

"What do you want to do?" Li Yang asked me curiously.

"Just an experiment." After I finished speaking, I stepped onto the statue in front of me. Fortunately, the statue was not difficult to climb. Amidst the gasps of surprise from the crowd, I had already climbed to the right side of the statue, which was outstretched.

Just as I expected, there was indeed a tiny indentation in the palm of the goddess's outstretched right hand, about the size of a human eyeball. Because her palm was facing upwards, it would be completely invisible unless one climbed up like I am now!

I gently placed An Zhengxi's eyeballs into the right hand of the Goddess of the Underworld. As soon as I did, I heard a slight turning sound emanating from inside the statue. After jumping off the statue, everyone's eyes were focused on it.

With a soft snap, the right hand of the statue suddenly turned, and the eyeball fell from the palm. Strangely enough, the eyeball landed squarely in the gaping mouth of a demon below. Then came a sound like a mechanism being activated, or perhaps the sound of a bead rolling on the floor.

With another snap, the demon's clenched fist opened, and An Zhengxi's eyeball rolled out of its palm, falling into the hand of another demon beside it, and then disappearing in an instant.

Glug~~~~

The eyeballs seemed to be spinning inside the evil spirit's belly, and then the evil spirit's chest suddenly opened, and the eyeballs rolled out and fell into the hands of another evil spirit with its hands clasped together...

And so, to our astonishment, our eyes seemed to be drawn in and out of the bodies of the evil spirits by some strange force, like dominoes triggering each ingeniously designed mechanism.

Finally, the eyeballs had been transferred into the body of the last evil spirit, and we then discovered that the statue of this evil spirit only had a right eye, while the left eye socket had no eyeball at all.

Suddenly, with a very soft thud, a blood-red eyeball appeared in the demon's left eye socket—wasn't that An Zhengxi's eyeball? One was a black, statue-like eyeball, while the other was a living human eyeball, creating a bizarre scene against the demon's hideous face. The image, both real and surreal, jolted our senses. Just as we were marveling at the ingenuity of the ancient craftsmen, the entire statue suddenly opened like a door…

"My God!" Li Yang exclaimed, echoing the thoughts of everyone present. Who would have thought that such a simple temple would contain such ingenious mechanisms and secret passages!

With a bang, to our surprise, countless oil lamps simultaneously lit up on the walls on both sides of the passage. The lampshades were all shaped like the masks of the dead, and flickering red and yellow flames shot out from their exaggerated smiling mouths, illuminating the downward-reaching stairs.

"Shall we go down?" Li Yang swallowed hard and asked.

"Of course." Without thinking, I lifted my foot to go down, but Li Hai grabbed me.

"That'll have to wait until I go back and get some things!" Li Yang turned to look at Fang Lei and said, "Let's go back and get some props before we go down together!"

"Okay!" Fang Lei nodded in agreement.

After a long wait for Li Hai and Fang Lei to return, our group, including Lao Gentou, totaling seven people, entered the staircase of the secret passage. A bone-chilling wind blew in from the darkness below. The moment I stepped onto the stairs, that familiar, mournful sigh echoed once more…

********

"Auntie, why don't my mom and dad want me?"

"Because...because..."

"Is it because I'm an unlucky child?"

"No way! Ayi is the most well-behaved child in the world!"

"Then why don't they want me? Why? Everyone says I'm a bastard, an illegitimate child!"

"No...no, that's not true!"

He could never forget his childhood, a life devoid of parental love and abundance, filled only with his aunt's frail shoulders and the constant poverty of going hungry. Hunger, loneliness, resentment, and anger constantly surrounded him, until a man claiming to be his biological father appeared.

But so what? What he got was not the warm and broad shoulders of a father he had imagined, but an endless, hellish training career, although it gave him a physique stronger than that of ordinary people.

"Don't cry, get up. My son, An Zhengbei's son, will not lose to anyone."

"Look at you, do you even deserve to be my son?"

"Get up right now! You'll lose to him if you keep going like this!"

"Do you still want to see your mother? If so, then continue!"...

The roar of the man who called himself a father still seemed to echo in his ears. What kept him going was not to win any face for this man, but only two things, two desires buried deep in his heart.

One's goal is to defeat him, to surpass him—that person, also surnamed An, yet receiving everyone's love and expectations, and being around the same age as oneself. Why is it that, despite sharing the same bloodline, he enjoys the spotlight while one lives a life worse than that of a pig or a dog?

The other one wanted to see his biological mother. Although he had looked at her from afar, he really wanted to call her "Mom" openly and honestly, and he wanted to be the one she was holding in her arms, the one she was worried about, and the one she was taking care of!

These two wishes sustained him, but the man was so outstanding and had such a powerful backer that he really had no chance of defeating him.

But fate is fair. The fire thirty years ago, though it killed his beloved and his most hated, also brought him a turning point. A retainer of the An family found him after the fire and formally recognized him as a member of the clan, establishing his status. Unfortunately, that person hadn't perished in the fire and was instead designated as the next heir to the An family. However, to his surprise, that person had absolutely no interest in inheriting the An family, focusing solely on painting. This was truly a stroke of luck. If he could find the Moonshadow Clan's treasure of the dead this time, he could rightfully inherit the An family.

Thinking of this, a smug smile crept onto his lips. Staring at the mask of the dead on the stone table, he clenched his fist. No one could stop him, not even his own family.

Listening to the sounds outside, it seemed the inevitable had arrived! But no matter, the real show was just beginning. The resin mask felt icy cold to the touch, and when it was placed on his face, his body inexplicably trembled.

********

The oil lamps on either side didn't actually provide much light; instead, their flickering light made us uneasy. Touching the jade pendant on my chest, which was gradually warming, I glanced worriedly at the lampshades. The eerie, demonic smile on one of them made it hard to breathe. Looking back at Old Man Gen, who was trailing behind, his white mask glowed faintly with blood in the lamplight. The steps ahead seemed to be slowly distorting in the lamplight. Shaking my head, I realized my eyes were definitely playing tricks on me.

"Are you alright?" Fang Lei whispered in my ear.

I turned and gave her a reassuring smile. I tightened my grip on her small hand and walked without saying a word through the maze-like dark passages.

"Watch out!" Li Hai, who was walking in front, suddenly shouted. Just as he finished speaking, several arrows shot out from the wall and flew towards us. I quickly dropped to the ground and pinned Fang Lei beneath me.

"Ah!" A scream rang out; it was Li Yang's. My heart tightened immediately. Looking back, I saw Li Yang shielding A Bao beneath him, an arrow deeply embedded in his right arm, bright red blood gushing out.

"Are you injured?" As soon as the rain of arrows stopped, we rushed to Li Yang's side. Li Hai looked terrible and stared at his younger brother, somewhat at a loss.

"Don't move, don't pull it out yet!" Fang Lei stopped Li Yang, who wanted to pull out the arrow himself, and said, "Let me do it." As she spoke, Fang Lei gestured for me to hold Li Yang's body down, and then carefully took the arrow.

The slightest touch caused Li Yang, who was already wincing in pain, to contort his face even more, while A Bao, standing next to him, turned pale, trembling with fear, his eyes already filled with tears.

"Bear with it!" Li Hai also helped me hold down Li Yang's body, and Fang Lei immediately pulled hard when she saw the opportunity.

"Ahhhh!" With a scream of extreme pain from Li Yang, the arrow had been pulled out by Fang Lei, and the blood dripping from the arrowhead fell to the ground with a splatter.

"Look at the color of the blood!" Bai Yun suddenly pointed at Li Yang's arm and exclaimed worriedly.

Oh no! I anxiously looked at the blood that was gradually turning black and Li Yang's face growing even paler. Was the arrow poisoned? The thought immediately gave me a major headache. Where were we supposed to find an antidote? Were we supposed to go down and ask the dead of the Moonshadow Clan for one?

Volume Two: The Devil's Left Eye, Chapter Twenty-One: A Bao's Background

Volume Two: The Devil's Left Eye, Chapter Twenty-One: A Bao's Background

Seeing Li Yang's face gradually darken, everyone was extremely anxious. However, there was no way out now, because when we went back, we found that the secret door we had entered through was now firmly sealed. In other words, the seven of us were trapped in the Moon Shadow Clan's secret passage, and our only option was to try to find another way out.

"Li Yang, hang in there!" Li Hai supported Li Yang and encouraged him.

"Didn't you bring any medicine for healing?" I asked Fang Lei anxiously. Didn't the books say that cultivators all had pills and elixirs?

"Yes, there are, but none of them are antidotes!" Fang Lei sighed helplessly and replied.

"Then we need to find an exit as soon as possible. I don't think he can hold out for much longer," Bai Yun said worriedly, looking at Li Yang, whose face had turned completely black.

"Li Yang!" Abao, who hadn't said a word until now, suddenly stared straight at Li Yang and asked, "Why did you save me? Didn't you hate me?"

"Haha!" Li Yang could still laugh at this moment, saying, "You're a girl, huh? My mom said that a guy who hurts a girl is really incompetent!"

"Is...is that so?" Abao lowered his head, his hands clenched tightly in front of his chest. After taking a deep breath, he suddenly raised his head, his face showing a resolute determination, and said, "Li Hai, put him down first."

"What?" Li Hai asked, looking at A Bao with a puzzled expression.

"Give him the antidote!" Abao smiled and walked over to help Li Hai put Li Yang on the ground.

"Do you have the antidote from the Moonshadow Clan?" Fang Lei asked A Bao curiously. How could she possibly have the antidote from the Moonshadow Clan?

"I didn't." Abao didn't turn around, but suddenly drew the Antarctic Star Sword from Li Hai's waist. As soon as the sword was drawn, a bright, cold light flashed before his eyes.

"What do you want to do?" I was a little nervous. Was she thinking of doing something drastic?

“You’ve always wanted to know my surname, haven’t you? Now I’ll tell you,” A Bao smiled sadly and said, “My surname is Moro. Qiong. Kachi’er. A Bao is just my nickname. I am actually a member of the Moro tribe, one of the ancient ethnic minorities you mentioned. Our tribe is skilled in medicine.”