Gou Zai, a corpse sewn into a spirit in a mortuary during the Republic of China era, became a spirit

The nights in March are still a bit chilly, especially in deep forests like the mass graves, where the dew is heavy in the dead of night.

The moon was obscured by the tall trees, with only sparse patches of light filtering through the leaves. Crows cawed low all around, and a chilling wind howled. From time to time, eerie green will-o'-the-wisps flickered on the graves, creating a truly sinister and terrifying scene.

Fortunately, everyone here is a member of the Yin-Yang sect, and they deal with the dead all year round. Having seen many such scenes, they are not too afraid.

Xie An, carrying his pack, walked at the front, occasionally looking back to urge everyone to hurry up and catch up. Li Erniu and Liu Hu, on the other hand, used long-handled sickles to cut through the thorns blocking their path.

Zhou Xuli helped Xie Bingxiang, whose legs were just beginning to heal, walk in the middle, while Xu Chun and Zhang Da each carried sticks and walked at the back, constantly on guard against wild animals, snakes, and rats in the mountains.

They walked for several miles, but still couldn't get out of the mass grave area.

This demonstrates the vast area covered by this mass grave.

Graves with coffins are rare. Most of the skeletons were simply buried in a pit dug on the spot. Some skeletons were dug up by wild dogs and scattered everywhere, with a pungent stench of decay permeating the surrounding air.

While chopping tree branches, Li Erniu asked, "Chief Zhou, this mass grave has been here since my first day in the village. How come there's such a large mass grave in Yongning County?"

Zhou Xuli helped Xie Bingxiang up and looked around. "Don't even mention you, you silly boy. This mass grave already existed when I first came to the manor. Only the manager knows the reason why."

Upon hearing this, everyone turned to look at Xie Bingxiang.

Xie An had scouted the place a few days ago, and now he couldn't help but look at his father with curiosity.

Xie Bingxiang walked forward with his cane, recounting in detail: "This mass grave has been here since I can remember. However, my father did tell me something about it; this mass grave appeared sixty years ago."

At that time, Tianjin was invaded by foreign powers, and a war that determined the fate of the imperial court took place. The imperial gazette called it "Defense of Dagu Forts," but the people of Tianjin called it the "Second Opium Destruction War."

At that time, the foreign fleet, the HMS Grey Cuckoo, was blocking the waters off the Dagu Forts near Tianjin, posing a threat. The imperial forts were holding firm, but news from the south was getting worse every day. Meanwhile, a volunteer army, known as the "Protective Army," was formed among the people of Beijing.

Zhou Xuli whispered, "Protecting the veins...is it protecting the dragon veins?"

"That's what the banner said." Xie Bingxiang nodded. "Back then, people believed that. They said that the foreigners' opium not only harmed people, but also the land and the nation's fate. This group set off from Beijing under the banner of 'destroying opium to protect the land and rectify the source.' When they arrived in Yongning County, they took a liking to this land—at that time, it wasn't a mass grave, but an old forest, backed by mountains and facing water, supposedly with abundant earth energy that could nurture their fighting spirit. So they set up camp here, saying they would rest and regroup before heading to Dagukou."

The wind suddenly picked up, making the surrounding old trees howl as if many people were crying in hushed tones.

Xie Bingxiang lowered his voice, almost drowning out the wind:

"That night, the camp was brightly lit with torches. The leader of the rebel army addressed the entire camp, saying, 'We are not going here for fame or glory, but only to cut off the root of the opium trade and to protect the sacred land from decay.' At midnight, the sound of reciting the 'Ode to Righteousness' could be heard from the camp... But the next day, when the sun was high in the sky, there was no movement at all in the camp."

Li Erniu listened intently, forgetting to swing his sickle: "And then?"

"And then?" Xie Bingxiang smiled bitterly. "Later, some woodcutters dared to approach and found the camp gate open. Inside... more than two thousand people were all lying on the ground. There were no wounds, no bloodstains, and their faces were calm, as if they were asleep. But when you touched them, their bodies were stiff, and their souls were long gone."

"The coroner examined them and said that they were 'suddenly struck by a miasma, and their heart and pulses were severed.' But how could there be such a uniform miasma? How could two thousand rebel soldiers die silently at the same time?"

What's even stranger is that all their provisions, swords, and even the silver coins they carried were still there. Only one thing was missing—"

Xie An blurted out, "Flag?"

"Yes." Xie Bingxiang gave everyone a deep look. "That banner of the 'Guardian Army' was hastily closed by the government afterward, who said it was 'divine punishment for the epidemic.' There were too many corpses to transport, so they dug a big pit on the spot and buried them."

He raised his cane and pointed to the indistinct, desolate graves around him:

"It started from there, burying one layer and sprinkling one layer of lime. But there weren't enough people to bury them, so the pits got shallower and shallower, until... it became what you see now. Over the past sixty years, countless nameless corpses and roadside bones have been added, and this land has become a mass grave where yin spirits gather."

The wind swirled up the ashes of the paper money on the ground, and drifted past a grave that had collapsed halfway.

Xie Bingxiang suddenly narrowed his eyes, a hint of coldness in his voice:

"The elders say that the rebel army didn't die of illness. It's because their 'protective spirit' was too strong and intense, which disturbed something in the mountains... Or perhaps, the 'spirit' they wanted to protect had long been eroded by the smoke of war and couldn't be protected at all. The resentment in this mass grave hasn't dissipated even after sixty years. I've heard more than one person reciting the 'Ode to Righteousness' at night."

As if to confirm his words, a very faint, indistinct chanting suddenly came from the depths of the distant dense forest, intermittent and barely audible:

"Heaven and earth possess...righteous energy...variously endowed...flowing in form..."

Everyone felt their hair stand on end.

Xie An turned his head sharply towards the source of the sound—there was only a jumble of rocks, pale white in the moonlight, and eerie green will-o'-the-wisps flickering in the cracks.

Li Erniu shrank his neck tightly, "Shopkeeper, don't scare me."

Xie Bingxiang said calmly, "These are all sayings from the older generation. Sixty years have passed; who knows what's true and what's false? Shoucheng, how far do we have to go? This mass grave is so vast; where are we going to find that 'bone demon'?"

"Let's find a place to stay first. Come with me. Erniu and Huge, don't cut through the thorns, or we'll leave traces."

Xie An looked around and headed towards the route he had scouted beforehand. After walking for more than two hours, he arrived at the Qinghe River.

Once you cross the Qinghe River, you'll reach the territory of Laojun Mountain, where the giant snake is not far away on the other side.

The area is lush and leafy, making it a great place to hide.

"Let's settle here. It's very humid and damp here. Erniu, go and see if there are any hidden caves nearby," Xie An said, stopping and looking around.

He had already scouted the area and found that there was indeed a convenient cave nearby.

Sure enough... Li Erniu lived up to expectations, and after Xie An guided him twice, he found a hidden cave: "Hey, the young master was right. There really is a cave, it's dry inside, and we can even make a fire to roast some wild game."

"Go in and take a look quickly."

Xie An led the way into the cave, which was about 20 feet high and several meters square, making it a perfect place to settle down.

Everyone put down their luggage, gathered some firewood to start a fire, and grilled meat strips and flatbreads, while also cooking white rice.

After a night of fussing, everyone was hungry. Once the meat and rice were ready, they all began to devour them.

During a break from eating, Xie Bingxiang called Xie An to a corner beside the cave and whispered, "Shoucheng, tell your father the truth. Did you bring us here to find that coffin?"

……

Meanwhile, Li Zhonglin was intimately embracing his concubine in bed in the middle of the night when his men forcibly woke him by knocking on the door. At first, he was quite disgruntled and roared a couple of times. Upon hearing that it was Ding Si, a soldier under Shen Molan, who had come to deliver a message, he immediately scrambled off his concubine, hurriedly dressed, and went out.

Although Ding Si was just a lowly soldier, he had Shen Molan's backing, so Li Zhonglin dared not be negligent in the slightest.

After learning the reason, Li Zhonglin immediately went out, gathered ten patrolmen under his command, and rushed to the back gate of Qinghe Mortuary with rifles. Upon seeing the corpse of the dead guard, he couldn't help but feel a chill of fear.

A junior policeman, shrinking back, said, "Good heavens, his head was crushed, and his chest was torn to pieces by claws... It really was the work of an evil spirit."

The other patrol officers were somewhat horrified.

Before long, Shen Molan arrived quickly with six armed soldiers. Ignoring Li Zhonglin's salute, she went straight to the soldier's body, squatted down to examine it, and finally frowned. But her eyes showed more...excitement.

She abruptly stood up, looked at the mass grave behind her, and reached for her gun holster with her right hand: "Let's go into the mountains!"

……

Zhou Residence, in the southern suburbs of Yongning County.

The lights were off and everyone was asleep.

Zhou Fu tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep. Seeing his wife Lin Lan breathing evenly beside him, he gently put on his coat and shoes. Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly heard his wife's voice behind him.

"What are you doing in the middle of the night?"

Zhou Fu was startled, then smiled and said, "We're out of wine at home, I'll go out and buy some."

Lin Lan glanced at the jar of liquor Xie An had sent her, which was placed not far from the bedside table. She didn't point it out, but instead opened the drawer, took out two silver dollars, and stuffed them into Zhou Fu's hand.

"Go early and come back early, and don't overindulge in alcohol."

"understood."

Zhou Fu took the silver dollars and hurriedly left.

Lin Lan sat on the edge of the bed, watching Zhou Fu's departing figure, a hint of helplessness flashing in her eyes: "Such a grown man, yet he acts like a child, afraid to speak up about his actions, always sneaking around..."

After leaving home, Zhou Fu did not go to buy wine, but went directly to the entrance of the Fushou Guild Hall, pulled up the copper ring, and pounded on the door.

They showed absolutely no manners and slammed the door loudly.

"Grandma Gu, open the door quickly! I need your help with something extremely urgent."