Asura

Chapitre 12

Realizing this was no place to linger, I decided not to answer Lao Xu's question for the time being, leaving my doubts to myself until we were out of danger. My headlamp swayed from side to side, casting a blinding white light everywhere.

I said to Lao Xu, "I really don't know where Lao Qin is. Don't think too much about it, Lao Xu. We still need you to get out of danger. Let's talk about it when we're safe."

Old Xu probably realized he had overreacted, so he nodded and remained silent.

The three of us carefully observed the movement under our feet, took a few steps forward, and were covered in sweat. I thought to myself that this was not a solution. Black Maitreya was much faster than us. If we couldn't shake off these man-eating creatures, we would never be able to get out.

Inside this gate of hell was a hidden world. After walking a few steps, we noticed that the environment had changed. It turned out that this was just a corridor. A cold wind blew in from the front. Looking over, we could see the snow shining white in the moonlight, as if it led to an open-air place. Could we be about to walk out of the cave?

I don't know what's going on ahead. Is there a mountain within a mountain, and the top of the snow-capped mountain is a huge hollow pit? That's too strange!

I didn't care about anything else. I knew that Old Cat and Black Maitreya were lurking around, waiting for us to let our guard down so they could pounce and have a feast.

I tried hard to make out what was ahead and walked forward cautiously. It seemed that the top of the snow mountain might really be a hollow crater, like the crater on the moon, except that the opening was much smaller. There were some things hanging on it like a fishing net. We unexpectedly passed through the belly of the mountain and stood at the flat bottom of the crater.

There was a small path ahead, paved with what looked like black stones, which stood out in the snow. The path was not long, only about twenty meters long, and there was nothing on either side except walls. It wouldn't be long before we reached the end.

After hesitating for a moment, I thought that this road was undoubtedly paved by man. Could it be our destination if we went through this road? What about the Black Flame Tower and Luzhen Pavilion that Master Qin mentioned? Even if it wasn't, something should happen. I smelled the scent of Black Maitreya getting closer and closer, so I quickly called Tian Li and Lao Xu to walk into the path together.

As I approached the corner, I suddenly noticed an old cat lying at the alley's bend, with three large white dots on its back forming a triangle.

Without thinking too much, I had already turned the corner and continued walking to the right. I said to Tian Li, "I suppose we've taken the shortcut to immortality, and this great mission is about to come to a perfect end. Xiao Tian, what do you think all those fairies in heaven would think of a mortal like me?" I chuckled twice, but before I could finish laughing, I froze. There was another T-junction in front of us, and right at the corner of the right-hand side, there was an old cat lying there, with three equally conspicuous white spots on its back.

Tian Li was a little confused: "Don't get your hopes up. Have we gone the wrong way? Why does this old cat look so familiar?"

I feigned composure: "Never mind it, let's keep going." We turned right, and after a few steps, we saw the same situation as before. I couldn't help but gasp, inwardly groaning.

Something was getting increasingly wrong. We hadn't noticed anything strange about the path before we started walking up it, and now this straight path seemed to be filled with an eerie atmosphere. The ground and both sides were paved with black stones, which fit together perfectly. It was like this no matter where we walked!

Old Xu growled angrily, "A ghost wall, no doubt about it! You Han people are really good at thinking things through. So there really are ghost walls! No wonder they're so straight! We're doomed! We'll never get out of here in this lifetime!"

After trekking for so long, just as I was about to reach the end, I found myself trapped in a maze of illusions. My body went limp, and I sat down against the wall. My knowledge of life and the world was completely overturned, and for the first time, I began to question the scientific validity of dialectical materialism.

Old Xu seemed rather agitated, showing no sign of having anything to hide. I reckon that even if Old Xu wasn't with those carrying the sky lanterns, he probably wasn't with Master Qin and us either. He was acting as our guide with ulterior motives, but since everyone was in a difficult situation, it was best not to expose certain things. Besides, he seemed completely lost right now.

Could this really be the legendary "ghost wall"? How could such a strange phenomenon occur? What is the underlying principle? I racked my brains but still couldn't figure it out. I could only say to Tian Li, "It's all my fault. I've been having a lot of bad luck lately, and today I might bring trouble on Xiao Tian. Are you afraid of this ghost wall?"

Although Tian Li was a woman, she refused to show weakness in front of us. She forced a smile and said, "We're all in the same boat, I'm not afraid."

Seeing that Tian Li was having trouble smiling, I patted her on the shoulder to encourage her: "Let's keep going. I've heard people talk about being trapped in a maze of ghosts before. If we just walk a little further, we'll get out. Don't worry."

As Lao Xu gradually calmed down, he stopped turning right at the intersection and instead pulled us to take the left side, which we hadn't done before. However, when we reached the end, we were back at the T-junction. The same thing happened when we went back. No matter which direction we went, we couldn't leave this vertical T-junction alley.

In a moment of desperation, I said to them, "Let's jump over the wall."

Tian Li climbed onto the wall and pulled me up to sit on it. Old Xu said, "You two jump over first and wait for me here. Don't wander off. Be careful not to get separated in this place."

Tian Li agreed and jumped over, and I gritted my teeth and followed her.

As soon as I landed, I saw Lao Xu standing in front of me, rubbing his hands together as he was about to climb up the wall. I quickly called out to him, "Lao Xu, we're here, behind you."

Old Xu turned around and saw Tian Li and me standing behind him, our faces ashen. He was immediately terrified: "Didn't you jump over the wall? How come you're behind me?"

I said, "I jumped down from the wall and stood right behind you."

Old Xu said, "Then you wait here, I'll jump over and take a look. You guys stay here and don't wander off. If there's a path over there, I'll climb back over to get you."

Old Xu easily climbed over the wall. When he landed, he was surprised to find Tian Li and me looking up at the wall with our backs to him. It turned out that he, like us, had jumped down from the wall and returned to the alley.

We ran and jumped, using every trick in the book we could think of, but we still couldn't get out of this narrow alley that was only a dozen meters long. All three of us were so exhausted that we were covered in sweat and had to sit down to rest.

It looked like it was almost dawn. The sky was high and the clouds were light, the bright moon hung high, and the stars twinkled. Looking up in the alley, you couldn't tell how high the sky was or how far away the moon was. Everything was shrouded in mottled shadows overhead, gray and eerie.

I looked at my watch; it was exactly 00:03. I couldn't help but wonder, when we walked onto the path, I checked the time and it was exactly midnight. We wandered around this path, jumping over walls and roofs, and had been doing this for over an hour. How come only two or three minutes had passed?

This place seems incredibly eerie; the concepts of time and space don't apply here. I've always believed that ghosts don't exist, but after experiencing it firsthand, I can't help but believe it. I thought to myself, "If only I could fly."

I patted my head to calm myself down and think about what was going on.

The term "ghost wall" refers to the phenomenon where, at night, in the suburbs or any familiar place, you suddenly find yourself trapped in a circle, unable to get out no matter how you walk around. Few people have experienced this, but many know about it.

I recall an article I once read that said if you completely blindfold a bird and then release it in the open sky, you'll find that it flies in a circle. If you blindfold yourself and walk in a straight line on a school playground or in an open space, relying entirely on your senses, you'll find that you're also walking in a large circle.

Why? Because there are subtle differences in body structure. Birds have subtle differences in the strength and muscle development of their two wings, and humans have differences in the length and strength of their two legs. As a result, the distance they take will naturally differ. For example, the left leg takes a longer step and the right leg takes a shorter step. Over time, this will result in a large circle. The same principle applies to other living things.

But why are we able to maintain a straight line? It's because we use our eyes to constantly orient ourselves, correct our direction, and adjust the distance between our two legs, so that we eventually walk in a straight line.

Okay, now that we're talking about getting lost, at this point we've definitely lost our sense of direction, meaning we're already completely lost.

If the corrective functions of the eyes and brain are no longer present, or if the corrective signals given to us by the surrounding environment are false or chaotic, we may feel that we are walking in a straight line, but in fact we are walking according to instinct, following the prompts given by the surrounding environment. Once we walk out of this state, we will be controlled by the environment and will inevitably end up in a circle.

Sometimes in fixed areas, such as cemeteries, you might encounter a "ghost wall" or similar obstacles. This seems mysterious, but it's actually because the landmarks in these places are easily confused. They look almost the same everywhere. Since you mainly rely on ground landmarks to determine your direction, when these landmarks give incorrect information, even if you feel you still have a sense of direction, you're actually already lost. When a person is lost, if they don't stop and keep walking, coupled with the natural feeling of panic, they will definitely move instinctively and end up in a circle.

This illusion was grasped by some skilled feng shui masters. When building imperial tombs, they would use this principle to artificially arrange ground markers, making it easy for people to get lost and feel like they were in a ghost wall. There was also a guy who was even more skilled in this, namely Zhuge Liang from the Three Kingdoms period. He could use some stones to arrange a Eight Trigrams Formation, and thousands of troops could walk in and not be able to find their way out. Perhaps it was the same principle.

Therefore, the phenomenon of people walking in a maze-like state, or people writing characters that appear to be drawn by ghosts, are all somewhat interconnected.