Uncle-Master said we should go in and take a look, then we climbed over the Stone Door and headed inside.
The farther in we went, the more we noticed a greenish glow. Eventually, we could see our surroundings clearly without flashlights.
After walking for a while, we arrived at a place that looked like a burial chamber.
The space here was especially vast, and there was an Eight Trigrams Array made of stone on the ground.
The Eight Trigrams Array was enormous. Confused, I asked Uncle-Master what it was for.
Uncle-Master looked at the Eight Trigrams Array before him and said, "This seems to be a major Daoist sealing formation.
"If I'm not mistaken, there must be four sacred beasts around here."
After saying that, Uncle-Master walked farther away. Sure enough, more than two hundred meters from the Eight Trigrams Array,
there was a stone-carved statue. Uncle-Master said it was a Vermilion Bird statue, and there had to be others nearby.
We circled the Eight Trigrams Array once. Though the place was lit by that greenish glow,
once you went beyond several dozen meters, you could no longer make out the surrounding environment.
Then we saw the remaining statues: Black Tortoise, White Tiger, and Azure Dragon, positioned around the four sides of the Eight Trigrams Array.
Uncle-Master looked at the statues and said, "That's right. It's the Daoist Four Symbols Sealing Array."
Then he muttered to himself, "But formations of this level are usually used to seal extremely powerful demons, ghosts, and the like. Why would it appear here?"
I knew nothing about any of this, so I had no way to answer him.
While surveying our surroundings, Uncle-Master said to me:
"Look for a way to activate the formation and go down to take a look. I feel that when Master sent your grandfather and me here back then,
it wasn't only because of that incident that happened in this village. There must have been something else."
Then we walked over to the Eight Trigrams Array. Uncle-Master stood on it and studied it for a long time before saying,
"This Eight Trigrams Array has two Yin-Yang Fish. We'll each stand on one and pour our cultivation into them."
Uncle-Master and I stood on the yin and yang of the Eight Trigrams Array, then poured spiritual power into them together.
The two yin-yang stones in the center of the array slowly separated.
I swayed unsteadily as I stood on top of it. When I looked at Uncle-Master, he was steady as a mountain.
Slowly, the Eight Trigrams Array opened a hole leading downward, and a blast of frigid wind blew out from within.
How could I describe it? It was like standing somewhere more than ten degrees below zero while someone threw a basin of cold water all over you.
That feeling needed no further description.
Then another icy gust slammed into my face. My body immediately began to stiffen, and even my movements seemed to be playing in slow motion.
Next, a plume of white smoke shot into the air, and then there was no more movement.
I told Uncle-Master that I was freezing badly, as though my limbs no longer obeyed me.
Uncle-Master came over to examine me and said the yin energy was too heavy. When the seal had opened, I had been struck by the yin energy that had accumulated there for a long time.
Then he took out a talisman. With a flick of his hand, it ignited without fire.
He pressed it onto my forehead. Won't this burn me?
After waiting a while, I felt no burning sensation. Instead, feeling gradually returned to my body.
I had seen this in the Maoshan Talisman Compendium Uncle-Master had given me.
It seemed to be called a Sun Suppressing Talisman, and it could disperse yin energy.
I could draw one, but I had felt it was useless at the time and hadn't paid it any attention.
I thought that once we got out, I would definitely study properly. After a while, I felt that my body was fine again.
I walked to the opened Eight Trigrams Array and leaned over to look inside. It was a dirt tunnel sloping downward.
Uncle-Master and I exchanged a glance. Then he went down, and I followed close behind.
We kept descending until we reached a small platform. On the right side of the platform was a set of stairs leading farther down.
Standing above, we looked down and saw that the entire space was dimly green.
I could vaguely make out small black dots moving around below.
I asked Uncle-Master whether we were still going down. He said we should take a look.
Then we followed the stairs on the right, descending one step at a time.
Halfway down, I glanced below. That single look nearly scared me to death.
Those weren't little black dots moving around. They were clearly human heads.
No, they should have been the heads of corpses. Those corpses stood where they were.
Their upper bodies swayed back and forth, left and right. Whenever their upper bodies moved, their heads moved with them.
So when viewed from above, the corpses' heads looked like little black dots shifting around.
At a glance, the corpses formed a vast, black mass.
I was badly frightened. Looking at Uncle-Master, I asked in a low voice, "Uncle-Master, what do we do?" Even my voice trembled.
Uncle-Master frowned as well. "First, we need to find a way to see the whole place. We don't know the situation yet, so don't go down."
I asked how we were supposed to see the whole place. Uncle-Master hesitated, then raised his hand and sent a handful of talismans flying out.
They flew all the way above the corpses, then began to burn.
As the light from the burning talismans shone below, we saw that the entire space was filled with corpses.
They were packed so densely that there was no end in sight. Thousands? Tens of thousands? I couldn't estimate their number at all.
There were too many—truly too many. Even Uncle-Master could not help drawing in a sharp breath.
There was no need to mention me. My legs had gone weak, and I even felt like I was about to wet myself.
Looking more carefully, some of the corpses were modern, some ancient. Some wore burial clothes, others rough hemp garments.
Some wore tattered armor, while some had nothing but a few strips of rotten cloth on them.
Even more terrifying were those shriveled corpses with only a layer of skin left on their bodies.
Their eye sockets were deeply sunken, their noses collapsed, and their gums jutted out. This was what true skin and bones looked like.
Uncle-Master said with a grim face, "This time, we're in real trouble. If things go wrong, uncle and nephew alike may be buried here."
Then he told me to pull myself together. In my current state, I would certainly die if I faced these things.
I asked whether we could go back. Uncle-Master said it was too late.
The burning Talisman Paper had already alarmed the corpses. They were now moving toward us.
I came back to my senses and looked carefully. Those things were indeed slowly moving toward us.
I told Uncle-Master that they were so slow, they definitely couldn't catch us. If worst came to worst, we could grease our soles and run.
Uncle-Master shook his head. "What good would getting out do? We'd release them all, and everything within a hundred miles would suffer.
"Besides, this was what my Master instructed me to do. I was here decades ago, waiting for this very day."
Hearing what Uncle-Master said, I remembered what had happened in the village.
I said angrily, "Then where were you on the day something happened in the village?"
Uncle-Master looked at me and spoke slowly. "Someone came to find me that day and asked me to help with something.
"Because it was a favor I owed from before, I had no choice but to go. Looking back now, it seems I was led into a trap."
Then he added, "Forget that for now. The urgent matter is dealing with these things in front of us.
"Once we get out, I'll explain everything to you from beginning to end."
I took several deep breaths, then violently shook my head.
My legs were still trembling, so I pinched the flesh on my thigh hard. At once, I calmed down considerably.
A trace of resolve appeared in my eyes as well. There was no other way. I knew that when enemies met on a narrow road, the brave won.
Then I said, "Then let them come. At worst, I'll die."
Uncle-Master looked at me and said I finally had a little of my grandfather's bearing.
With that, he reached into his robe, pulled out a thick stack of talismans, and handed them to me.
He motioned for me to take them. I accepted them and looked them over. They were all attack-type talismans.
There were Fire Talismans, Lightning Talismans, Explosion Talismans, Sword Talismans... a thick stack that felt heavy in my hand.
I stared at Uncle-Master in shock. He said these were the savings he had accumulated over many years.
He told me to take them to save my life. Once the fighting started, I was to stay close to him or find somewhere to hide.