Shao Ling stared silently at the sudden darkness before him, comparing it in his mind to the scenes he had experienced before. If those previous darknesses were all dramatic, then what lay before him was terrifyingly real.
The pale moonlight allowed him to vaguely make out the grave mounds and tombstones in this cemetery. Occasionally, strange, unheard-of birds would utter their calls. Under his feet, he trudged along the hillside path, the shadows of the trees swaying gently, and crickets chirping softly in the grass.
His nostrils were filled with the unique scents of the mountains—grass, soil, rocks, and these ancient tombstones.
"When I was working in Beijing," Li Xiaochun suddenly spoke, "I heard old Beijingers say that when someone 'died,' they said it was because they 'went to listen to the crickets chirping.' I didn't quite understand at first, but now I realize that there are a lot of crickets in the cemetery." Shao
Ling didn't rush forward but stopped temporarily at a spot a little distance from the graves: "It's getting dark too fast."
"Aren't the paintings all quite abnormal?" Li Xiaochun accepted the abnormality of the painting so quickly.
"No, the day and night usually follow a certain pattern. Even if the daytime is only four hours long, the world will only 'go dark' after four hours," Shao Ling used the painting "The Journey" as an example, "but the darkness here is very sudden, as if… it's man-made."
Li Xiaochun didn't say anything. He believed that the darkness couldn't be "man-made"; it had to be "man-made."
In the pitch black of the graveyard, Li Xiaochun wasn't afraid, but years of living away from home had taught him that even if he was timid, he shouldn't let others see it—not out of fear of Shao Ling, but because he had grown accustomed to hiding his true nature in certain aspects.
Li Xiaochun stood beside Shao Ling, feigning composure, listening to the crickets chirping, his heart pounding, his eyes involuntarily darting around. Once he started looking, he couldn't help himself; his long-cultivated habit was instantly shattered—"Ahhh—!" Several screams pierced the night, startling several night birds into flight.
Shao Ling also managed to maintain his composure
: "What are you yelling about?" Li Xiaochun stammered, "There's something behind you."
Shao Ling cautiously took two quick steps forward before suddenly turning around. Sure enough, he saw a cluster of red flames with a long tail. Even more terrifying, this flame seemed to follow him; with every movement, the flame moved.
Shao Ling gasped, staring motionlessly at the eerie red flame.
Li Xiaochun was so frightened that he backed away repeatedly. Shao Ling hurriedly said, "Don't move, or it will follow you."
"This...this painting contains feudal superstition..." Li Xiaochun felt his calves cramping and he didn't have the strength to move. "Mr. Shao, is this...is this a will-o'-the-wisp?"
"The scientific explanation is phosphorescence," Shao Ling said, watching the flame slowly weaken. "We're in a mass grave, so naturally there will be some bones that haven't completely decomposed. These things might produce phosphine, which has a very low ignition point and could spontaneously combust in the summer."
"But, will-o'-the-wisp, no, phosphorescence, why can it follow people?" Li Xiaochun had witnessed will-o'-the-wisp following people and scorching them when he was a child in his village.
"Because when you walk, the airflow around your feet is high and the pressure is low." Shao Ling's explanation was a bit hesitant. "My science isn't great, but that's roughly the idea."
Li Xiaochun stared intently at the phosphorescence as it gradually went out, as if he couldn't fully believe Shao Ling's "scientific explanation" until he saw it extinguish.
To everyone's surprise, the fire did not go out. Instead, just as it was about to burn out, it suddenly burst into many small sparks and then burned into a large ball, about the size of a basketball, which was half-suspended in the air with a tail-like flame hanging down below.
Li Xiaochun was completely terrified. He pinched his thigh hard, hoping he would wake up in the folk art museum's exhibition hall. But after the pain subsided, the terrifying will-o'-the-wisp was still hovering there, flickering. Li Xiaochun sprinted to Shao Ling's side: "Mr. Shao, this...this..."
Shao Ling took a few steps back, but his eyes were fixed on the will-o'-the-wisp. Based on this strange burning phenomenon, it could be basically determined that it was not phosphine burning, but...
"Mr. Shao," Li Xiaochun tried to calm himself down, "Do you think it's this will-o'-the-wisp that made the sky darken?"
"Something unusual must be amiss," Shao Ling stared at the abnormally red flame. He found that the longer he stared, the more he could see through the flame to the burning core inside—a large piece of bone. "It is indeed bone burning."
"What story is burning?" Li Xiaochun asked, mustering his courage.
"The bones are the remains of a person after the body has decomposed or been cremated," Shao Ling said. Afterward, he suddenly noticed that the burning bone fragments were becoming clearer, even revealing the edges of the bone, as if it had been smashed by a heavy weapon. "This bone fragment doesn't seem to be from decomposition or cremation."
"Then what caused it?" Li Xiaochun also saw the burning bone; it seemed to be desperately trying to show its flaws.
"I think it was caused by a blow, and not from a sharp object like a knife or axe, but more like a hammer or a wooden stick," Shao Ling analyzed.
Li Xiaochun felt this was increasingly eerie and couldn't help but shout to bolster his courage: "This is Zhu Xian Town, where General Zhu Hai is buried! General Zhu Hai has become an immortal, how dare these evil spirits haunt us!"
The will-o'-the-wisp suddenly "banged," growing even larger.
Shao Ling, however, thought of something from Li Xiaochun's words: Zhu Xian Town, Zhu Hai, bones struck by a heavy weapon, Jin Bi.
Jin Bi.
"Are you Jin Bi?" Shao Ling asked.
The will-o'-the-wisp hovered in mid-air, almost at the same height as Shao Ling's face. The flames no longer flickered wildly, but remained almost still.
"Are you 'Hou'er Veteran General' Jin Bi?" Shao Ling asked again.
Small flames rustled down from the will-o'-the-wisp, the bones at its center almost glowing.
"Do you have a grievance?" Shao Ling asked.
The will-o'-the-wisp continued to rustle down, as if an unseen ghost was shedding fiery tears.
"This is... Jin Bi's ghost?" Li Xiaochun asked cautiously.
"It should be."
"Why doesn't the ghost manifest itself in the middle of the night?" Li Xiaochun said.
"Historical reasons. The story of 'Stealing the Talisman to Save Zhao' has been passed down orally among the people, causing some souls to be unable to coalesce, yet they remain resentful," Shao Ling said, gazing at the will-o'-the-wisp.
"Is it like we just analyzed? Zhu Hai killed Jin Bi out of loyalty to his master, Lord Xinling, and Jin Bi, who doubted him, was also loyal to his master, King Wei?" Li Xiaochun understood the logic and wasn't as afraid as before. "So, Jin Bi feels wronged?"
Shao Ling looked at the will-o'-the-wisp that kept dropping flames: "Hou'e Sujiang, can you show yourself? Or tell us your grievances in your own way? We will do everything we can to help you."
The will-o'-the-wisp actually slowly moved away from Shao Ling and Li Xiaochun, heading towards the distance of the cemetery.
"It… it's gone?" Li Xiaochun himself couldn't believe it.
"It's probably trying to find a way to communicate with us," Shao Ling said.
"Mr. Shao, what is this 'Hou'e Sujiang' you just mentioned?" Li Xiaochun asked.
"Jin Bi was a veteran general of Wei, known as the 'Hai'er Veteran General.' 'Hai'er' means strong and brave, and 'Veteran General' refers to an old general," Shao Ling said, his tone tinged with regret.
"So, Jin Bi wasn't buried after his death, and only this piece of bone remains?" Li Xiaochun asked.
Shao Ling didn't know how to answer. It seemed that was the case. Jin Bi, this old general, was killed by a forty-pound hammer, and probably didn't leave behind a complete body. At that time, there was a battlefield everywhere, so it seemed he wasn't buried, not even a cenotaph, which is why he felt wronged.
As Shao Ling was thinking, suddenly a flash of light appeared, and a ball of fiery red will-o'-the-wisp drifted over, followed by dozens of balls of various sizes. These will-o'-the-wisps floated to the two of them, and at the core of each ball of will-o'-the-wisp was a piece of bone of different sizes and shapes! The only thing they had in common was that the edges of all the bones showed signs of being shattered by a heavy weapon.
Dozens of will-o'-the-wisps slowly gathered, becoming a large, bonfire-like flame. Dozens of bones at the center of this flame formed a mutilated human skeleton.
Li Xiaochun was speechless for a long time, feeling both fear and a vague, inexplicable emotion.
Shao Ling's expression was complex. After a long pause, he finally said, "You want us to help you take revenge?"
The large flame remained motionless.
Shao Ling could only continue guessing: "So, you want to be buried in peace?"
The large flame only moved slightly.
Following this line of thought, Shao Ling continued, "You wish to be buried intact?"
The large flame trembled violently, shaking off dozens of flames.
In an instant, the flame burned with unparalleled brilliance, as if it were illuminating the sky.
And then, it truly dawned.
The darkness of the night was like a short dream, like a delirious dream during a nap.
But the bones remained, hidden among the weeds in the graveyard. Dozens of fragmented bones had formed a shape; upon closer inspection, it appeared to be a human figure.
Li Xiaochun seemed still dazed from the situation, patting his face. "Was that real, or was it a dream Jin Bi sent us?"
"Whether it was real or a dream, we have to find a way to fulfill our promise," Shao Ling said.
"His bones were shattered to pieces. As you said earlier, Mr. Shao, this is the Ming Dynasty, many, many years after the Warring States period. Those bones are impossible to find." Li Xiaochun said, looking around, wondering what would be a better substitute for the bones.
"If we could find them, he wouldn't need to use will-o'-the-wisps to beg for our help," Shao Ling thought carefully, sensing that this matter wouldn't involve a pointless, aimless search, but rather follow a predetermined path.
"Let's get these bones out of the weeds first," Li Xiaochun said, and began to work. First, he found a fallen stone tablet, swept the dirt off with his sleeve, and then carefully removed each bone from the weeds, arranging them one by one on the tablet. He was very meticulous throughout the process, afraid of making a mistake.
Shao Ling watched Li Xiaochun do all this, still thinking about what to use to replace the bones.
"Mr. Shao! There's something under these bones!" Li Xiaochun suddenly shouted.
Shao Ling rushed over and saw a square, chessboard-like object on the weeds beneath the bones. However, instead of chessboard squares, it had sand on it, resembling a modern sand table.
Unable to figure out what it was, Shao Ling wrote a character on the sand table.
Li Xiaochun pondered for a while: "This is the character for 'bone,' right? It looks like an ancient form. Looking at it this way, it really resembles a person standing there, with a head, body, and limbs."
"This is seal script," Shao Ling smoothed out the character for "sand" he had just written and wrote another character.
Li Xiaochun didn't recognize this one; it was a large square on the outside, with something resembling a letter inside: "Why is there an 'r' inside this large square?"
"This isn't a letter; it's the character for 'divination,' the 'divination' in 'fortune telling,'" Shao Ling explained. "It's a pictograph for the character 'bone,' because shamans used to use bones for divination."
Just as Shao Ling finished speaking, the character for "sand" in the sand tray suddenly emitted light. When the light faded, Shao Ling tried to brush away the sand and discovered a bone buried there, covered in characters for "shaman."
Unfortunately, Shao Ling didn't recognize a single one of the characters.
"What is this?" Li Xiaochun asked.
"This is a primitive bone, or rather, a bone with primitive significance." Shao Ling personally placed the bone among the skeletons displayed on the stone tablet. "I don't know if this bone can help us…"
Before Shao Ling could finish speaking, he noticed the skeletons on the stone tablet rapidly shifting positions, even growing new growth along the damaged edges. In a short while, a complete skeleton appeared on the stone tablet—the tablet could no longer hold the entire skeleton; the leg bones were on the ground beside it.
"Have we pieced it together?!" Li Xiaochun exclaimed incredulously, looking down at the magical sand table, only to find a "moon" character had appeared on it.
Shao Ling walked over and saw the character, remarking, "It seems this requires us to help the skeleton find its 'flesh'."
Author's Note:
[Xingyue's Notice] This story is the shortest; I feel there's nothing more to write. The next chapter will move on to the next set.
Shao Ling: "..."
Li Xiaochun: "Mr. Shao, why do the comments section disappear as soon as we're on stage? Did all the audience grab their chairs and leave...?"
Shao Ling: ...