The sound of the evil wind whipping from outside the Corpse Cave roared, gathering the wails of ghosts and the howls of wolves from heaven and earth, like the cry of a dragon echoing through a long valley, shaking the cave walls intermittently. Sheets of black dust swirled in the air; we casually brushed away the black smoke attacking our faces, finding our fingers slick and greasy with hot oil, unable to discern if it was human fat or tallow.

Old Sheep Skin cried out that things were dire—the Demon Dragon was returning to its lair. To be caught in that black wind would be like being melted by the heat of a crematorium; living, breathing people would instantly be reduced to ash.

I knew this was no trifling matter. Without stopping my feet, I urged everyone to flee quickly. The terrain inside this Tortoise Bone Cave was flat as a plain; if that scorching wind trapped us inside, none of us would survive. Our only escape route was to bolt into the dark river beneath the Fallen Water Bridge before that formless, invisible demonic wind appeared. At that point, who had the time to consider causes and effects? Everything disposable on our bodies was thrown off; we moved as lightly as possible.

The clamor of ten thousand ghosts crying outside the cave entrance grew louder and louder. We scrambled and tumbled almost to the edge of the bridge, sliding down the smooth rock beside the Fallen Water Bridge into the ice-cold subterranean water. The water wasn't deep, barely reaching our chests. The sensation of the eyeless, blind fish slipping past us felt like countless cold, slimy, strange hands touching our bodies, further chilling our hearts. Above us, an endless hellfire roared, burning fiercely. If we dared to lift our heads above the water, the piercing sound of hot wind whistling past would strike our ears.

We waited submerged for a long time. The wind abruptly ceased at the cave opening above the Fallen Water Bridge; absolute silence descended. The four of us wetly poked our heads up from the dark river, only climbing shakily back onto the bridge after confirming we were truly safe. We shivered uncontrollably, our upper teeth chattering against our lower ones, unable to even part our lips to speak. We had no choice but to fumble our way out of the entrance. Outside, in the vast Corpse Cave, almost every body had been melted by the scorching wind, reduced to black ash. This fact matched the legend of the Tortoise Slumbering Ground precisely: the corpses buried in the Tortoise Bone Cave had ultimately all achieved transcendence, leaving not even a speck of bone behind.

We returned the way we came. By then, the massive fire in the research institute's basement had been extinguished; the flames had not spread to the upper floors. In a room upstairs, we considered stripping some clothes off the dead to change into, but the garments felt unwearable, so we gave up. Instead, we started a fire in the building to warm ourselves. We were all deathly pale, our lips tinged blue. Recalling our experience in the Hundred Eyes Grotto was truly agonizing, especially for Old Sheep Skin, whose brother, Yang Er Dan, had been burned to ashes along with many other corpses in the basement. In his ancestral home in Shaanxi, Old Sheep Skin had always adhered to the custom of earth burial; only after his body was covered by a handful of yellow earth upon death could he truly face his ancestors—the concept of eternal rest in the ground was deeply ingrained. At that moment, the half-pouch of tobacco hanging on his pipe was also soaked through. Without tobacco, he was restless, shaking his head one moment and sighing the next, his true thoughts utterly unknowable.

Fatty, however, seemed completely unconcerned by the day's events, even trying to encourage us: "Why do you all look so crestfallen and listless? Aren't we still alive and well? Not only have we witnessed the cruel, relentless power of nature, but we've also significantly tempered our willpower. These minor setbacks are nothing. Remember, the torrent of revolutionary struggle has only just begun. When the seas surge, our true heroic mettle will shine on the battlefield."

My mind was a turbulent mess, and I kept my head down, preoccupied, ignoring Fatty's grandstanding. Only Ding Si Tian was busy tending to everyone's wounds. Though the gash on my shoulder was deep, fortunately, it hadn't struck bone or tendon; as long as it didn't become infected or inflamed, it should pose no danger. Fatty, on the other hand, had a significant piece of flesh torn from his neck by Old Sheep Skin's bite. His injury was severe; any large movement would cause blood to seep from the wound. But with his bear-like bulk and iron-ox tough hide, he paid little heed to the pain.

Fatty noticed that Ding Si Tian's hand wound hadn't healed either—that was from when she seized the knife in the tree hollow. Looking back, the most perilous time was when the four of us were trapped in that tree hollow, facing the two Yellow Weasels who could read minds. Recalling it now, if not for the narrow terrain and unique environment, we really would have perished in that old tree hollow.

Fatty, relentless in his pursuit of truth, insisted Old Sheep Skin look closely at Ding Si Tian’s hand—such a tender, beautiful little hand, slashed so deeply the bone was almost visible. This was all Old Sheep Skin's doing! If he had told the truth earlier, none of us would have nearly risked our precious lives. But even now, this detestable Old Sheep Skin, masquerading as a poor and lower-middle peasant with a face etched by class suffering, still seemed to harbor a belly full of secret schemes, which was infuriating. It seemed he was determined to be a martyr for the landlord class, and it was time to rally the revolutionary masses to hold a critique session against him.

Ding Si Tian disagreed with Fatty’s view: "Chairman Mao repeatedly emphasized that we must adhere to the principle of seeking truth from facts, and that everyone must be equal before the truth. When the truth is unclear, we must absolutely not be arbitrary or oppress the people like warlords. I believe Grandpa Old Sheep Skin has his own burden to bear, and Little Fatty, don't forget, he saved all our lives."

Fatty shot back at Ding Si Tian: "The principle you mention only applies to contradictions among the people. There is absolutely no room for compromise on matters of political line. In the relationship between ourselves and the enemy, we must be clear about our stance. I think Old Sheep Skin harbors ill intentions; who knows what betrayal he's hiding in his heart?" He then turned to me: "Old Hu, state your position too. Am I wrong?"

I said to Fatty and Ding Si Tian: "Logically, the matter of the lost herd has nothing to do with me, but over the past two days, we've faced death without flinching, and no one acted like a coward. Why? I think it’s precisely because we believe Old Sheep Skin is genuinely poor from three generations, and we educated youths share a bond with the poor and lower-middle peasants. We proletarians cannot be divided. I disagree with both your points just now. While I reserve judgment on Old Sheep Skin's class background, and even highly suspect the motives behind his actions, unsure of what trickery he’s up to, I am also extremely nervous, worried, and uneasy about Little Fatty's recent extreme behavior, because it contradicts the basic objective attitude of 'specific problems require specific analysis' in Marxism-Leninism."

Fatty remained insistent on exposing him: "Old Hu, damn your second uncle! Don't talk to me about objectivity and attitude. You are practicing naked compromise! What you said is meaningless. I demand you state your position as the descendant of a revolutionary soldier!"

Just as the three of us were arguing fiercely, Old Sheep Skin suddenly interjected: "Stop arguing, what's the point? It’s not that I intended to hide things from you educated youths; it’s that I was afraid Secretary Ni from the organization might find out..."

This statement was utterly unexpected. We didn't know why Old Sheep Skin suddenly brought up Secretary Ni. Could he also have some unknown connection to this Hundred Eyes Grotto? We all paused our debate, urging Old Sheep Skin to explain, as it would indeed be impossible to account for the situation if we were questioned upon returning to the pastoral area.

As Old Sheep Skin explained, it turned out he hadn't meant to conceal the facts from us. It was just that in that era when everything deemed 'old' was swept away, even someone with his low level of political awareness and revolutionary fervor knew certain things couldn't be spoken lightly, or one would instantly become a public enemy. What he concealed were merely rural matters. While it wouldn't be a problem if educated youths who had assimilated into local customs knew them, it would be disastrous if word reached the Revolutionary Committee.

Old Sheep Skin knew the situation in the Hundred Eyes Grotto like the back of his hand because his brother, Yang Er Dan, had found that bronze coffin and taken it to the Japanese research institute in the Grotto, after which he disappeared. Old Sheep Skin, overcome by timidity and cowardice, dared not investigate the truth inside. However, he hadn't been idle over the years. Back then, he had learned some tomb-raiding skills from that grave robber leader named Chen. He knew that grave robbers had many special ways to track dragon veins, such as disguising themselves, inquiring about places rumored to hold ancient tombs, and gathering intelligence from locals—asking if there were any legends about the mountain, or any traces of past events. These clues served two purposes: first, to locate the tomb, and second, to gauge the dangers surrounding it indirectly. In the underworld, this practice was called cai panzi (scouting the territory). Cai panzi was originally a folk entertainment act, implying extreme caution and probing the auspiciousness or danger of a situation. Grave robbers called the vital clues gathered through this method she lou (leaked tongues).

Old Sheep Skin collected countless she lou fragments from the surrounding mountainous and pastoral areas, piecing together these scattered folk legends and filtering them through his past experience. Gradually, he came to know some of the inner secrets of the Hundred Eyes Grotto.

In truth, the Hundred Eyes Grotto was not a Corpse Cave of the Xianbei people, nor did it contain many Xianbei corpses. However, the Grotto, like the Gaxian Cave, represented two sacred grounds of Yin and Yang, of life and death. This was because the ancient inhabitants of this land discovered numerous giant tortoise skeletons buried here, and scenes resembling immortal palaces often appeared within the cave. The ancients, unaware this was a ghost market generated by the sea vapors from the tortoise shells, believed it was the destination for the dead entering the underworld. Moreover, nomadic peoples traditionally favored sky burial and did not emphasize burial on earth, yet many groups with different cultural backgrounds and religious beliefs still came here to worship the mountain.

Eventually, a religion called the Yuan Sect appeared near the Greater Khingan Range. 'Yuan' meant yellow/star, and the great deity they worshipped was the Great Yuan Immortal. Since 'yellow' clashed with 'metal' (in the Five Elements theory), they referred to it as 'Yuan' instead of 'Yellow,' and the sect once flourished immensely, gathering countless followers. The chief shaman of the Yuan Sect was said to be a female figure transformed from the Great Yellow Immortal, who sat masked in the main hall daily, receiving worship and granting requests from male and female devotees.

In reality, that so-called Great Yellow Immortal Maiden was merely a hollowed-out human skin puppet made from an unidentified female corpse. The charlatans fitted an old Yellow Weasel inside, using illusions to mislead the populace. Old Sheep Skin, however, was unaware of this; he believed the female corpse was truly the vestige of the Great Yellow Immortal. Fatty and I, having seen this kind of hollow human skin in the Yellow Weasel Grave and its secret chamber, knew the trickery involved.

When I told him about the human-skin puppet, Old Sheep Skin seemed to have a flash of realization. He then continued intermittently about the Yuan Sect. The Yuan Sect absorbed much local Northeastern shamanism, such as tiao da shen (spirit possession dancing), which was essentially practicing shamanism, but conducted in extreme secrecy. Later, their sphere of influence gradually expanded to the grasslands. The Hundred Eyes Grotto was a crucial location connecting the grasslands and the desert. At that time, people and livestock frequently disappeared near the mountain pass. After the death of the Great Yellow Immortal, the charlatans of the Yuan Sect publicly claimed that a ghost dragon from the netherworld emerged from beneath the earth to cause trouble. They claimed that by burying the remains of the Great Yellow Immortal in the Hundred Eyes Grotto, the dragon’s soul could be suppressed. Thus, they built a tomb featuring a Golden Well and interred the Great Yellow Immortal there. In truth, they did this to seize control of this precious location where tortoise bones lay and living water condensed. They preached that sect followers who abandoned material possessions and were buried here after death could achieve ascension. As a result, many people exhausted their fortunes, and followers flocked in droves. Over two hundred years, countless people were buried in the Hundred Eyes Grotto.

The Great Yellow Immortal referred to by the Yuan Sect was actually that empty female corpse, along with a Soul-Summoning Bronze Casket containing a reanimated old yellow weasel. The Soul-Summoning Casket was hidden within the Golden Well, and nearby, several yellow weasels were kept specifically to guard this casket. It was rumored that the souls of all the deceased buried in this grand tomb would be drawn into this box. If surviving family members wished to speak with someone who had died many years prior, they only needed to offer golden pearls to the Yuan Sect, and the Great Yellow Immortal could summon the deceased soul through this bronze box.

When things reach an extreme, they reverse. After reaching its peak, the Yuan Sect was finally suppressed by the ruling class and gradually declined. The remaining adherents fled with the Soul-Summoning Casket back into the deep forests of the Greater Khingan Range, building a Great Yellow Immortal Temple to continue their sinister activities. At that time, there was a gold vein nearby, and many people were digging for gold. Since there had long been a saying that the gold in the mountains was hidden by yellow weasels, gold miners offered incense and sacrifices to the Great Yellow Immortal, and the incense fires at the yellow weasel temple revived.

But the good times did not last. A few audacious individuals, driven by curiosity, secretly looked inside the Great Yellow Immortal's bronze casket. Subsequently, many people died nearby, and the mountain's gold vein either ran dry or inexplicably vanished. Later, a mudslide buried the Great Yellow Immortal Temple, and nothing inside was ever seen again. Because of this incident, Tuanshanzi, that land without even a mound of earth, came to be known as the Yellow Weasel Grave. However, very few people knew the origin of this name; Old Sheep Skin learned it incidentally as a she lou.

Later, the Kwantung Army established a secret unit dedicated to researching killing weapons, officially claiming to be a water epidemic prevention unit. They were intensely interested in this legend. Believing the box to be a mysterious and ancient weapon, they excavated the Hundred Eyes Grotto fruitlessly, then bribed collaborators to search everywhere, finally succeeding in obtaining it. However, immediately after the bronze box was brought into the Hundred Eyes Grotto, a massive catastrophe followed, leaving no living soul behind. As for how the people in the research institute died, there are multiple possibilities. It's not necessarily true they were all drained of life by the sluggish worms in the bronze coffin. It might even have been the work of those white-haired yellow weasel spirits. Instinctively knowing the casket held their ancestor, they followed and slaughtered everyone alive in the Hundred Eyes Grotto overnight. With their bizarre and terrifying methods, carrying out such an act was certainly possible. In that sense, the yellow weasels arguably contributed to the resistance against the Japanese invasion. Of course, this is only our speculation after the fact; unless the dead rise to tell us everything that happened that day, there will never be a true answer. In any case, the fact that no one in the research institute survived is certainly connected to the Mud-Eater bandits bringing that box inside.

Although Old Sheep Skin knew the Soul-Summoning Casket had ended up in the Hundred Eyes Grotto, and his own brother, Yang Er Dan, had most likely died inside, he never mustered the courage to investigate over the years. After all, it was rumored to be a ghost bureau from which the living never returned. Therefore, he remained on the grasslands working odd jobs until after the liberation when he was classified as impoverished and became a herdsman in the pastoral area, giving him even more opportunity to avoid the Hundred Eyes Grotto.

However, fate is fickle. This year, various pastoral areas suffered disasters, but this particular grassland remained peaceful, becoming a model for grasping revolution and promoting production. Secretary Ni, dispatched there, relayed an instruction: there were large tracts of unused pastureland approaching the Mongolian border that should be fully utilized. A group of displaced herdsmen, along with their livestock, should be relocated there to survive the winter famine.

Old Sheep Skin was terrified upon hearing this. Due to various sensational rumors over the years, no one had truly entered the hilly jungle of the Hundred Eyes Grotto. If herdsmen were moved there, the Revolutionary Committee would eventually discover the Soul-Summoning Casket hidden in the mountains. Other things aside, Yang Er Dan’s soul was probably still trapped inside, and he certainly couldn't just stand by and watch people die. But how could he possibly reveal this directly? Yet, he found himself venturing deeper and deeper into the Hundred Eyes Grotto until he saw Yang Er Dan's corpse wrapped by the Corpse Ginseng. He briefly lost control and nearly uncovered the Soul-Summoning Casket to call a soul for him, fortunately being stopped by Fatty just in time.

While we were exhausted and asleep, Old Sheep Skin, being older, slept lightly. After drifting off for a while, he awoke. His years of tomb-raiding had not been wasted; his skills at slipping away were superb. He used a knife edge to saw through the leather belt binding his hands and feet, secretly slipped back to the hidden chamber, and wept bitterly over Yang Er Dan’s corpse: "The sea of sin is boundless; why didn't you turn back sooner?"

Fatty felt his heart soften upon hearing Old Sheep Skin's miserable tale and interjected with encouragement: "Dying as a bandit or a traitor—it’s lighter than a feather..." Ding Si Tian feared Fatty would speak carelessly, then launched into a string of flowery nonsense that struck a raw nerve with Old Sheep Skin, so she raised her hand and clamped his mouth shut.

Old Sheep Skin sighed deeply. Dying was indeed lighter than a feather. "A person leaves a name when they die, a goose leaves a sound when it flies past. To die as something even lighter than a feather is a great tragedy of regret." Upon seeing Yang Er Dan's corpse for the second time back in the secret chamber, Old Sheep Skin finally had some awakening. A person’s path is one they forge themselves. He had pleaded with his own brother hundreds, thousands of times; having done his duty as a brother, he had done all he could. Old Sheep Skin worried that in a few days, the matter of the Hundred Eyes Grotto would be exposed, and that box might be opened by ignorant people, harming innocent lives. He decided to bury it in the Golden Well beneath the Tortoise Bone Cave. In the process, he accidentally broke that bronze coffin and, in his haste, jumped down into the Golden Well with everyone else to survive, thus barely escaping death. The Great Yellow Immortal’s Soul-Summoning Casket was utterly destroyed.

Hearing this, I felt that the matter of the bronze coffin containing the corpse of the old yellow weasel being capable of summoning souls was now difficult to judge. In the old days, shamans and female shamans had similar means to cheat people of food and drink, and the practice of summoning vengeful spirits to resolve lawsuits had existed since antiquity. Who knew if it was real or fake? However, I preferred to believe it was deceptive illusion. Otherwise, if people couldn't find peace after death, and people "upstairs" could simply pay money to drag you back for a chat, that situation was truly unacceptable to me as a materialist.

Old Sheep Skin didn't elaborate on the soul-summoning and the Great Yellow Immortal because he was genuinely afraid Secretary Ni might find out. Although he didn't understand the political situation, he knew being labeled wrongly meant ruin—not only would he suffer, but his son's family would also be implicated. Before liberation, he engaged in grave robbing with the leader for several years, gaining broad experience and knowledge, though he usually kept it hidden. While he didn't understand the theories of feng shui or geomancy, through contact with ancient tombs and burial mounds, and through hearsay, he knew a few key concepts. In the eyes of geomancers, the water in the Golden Well was where the dragon’s qi gathered—the dragon spitting out celestial dew, possessing the power to revive the dead. That formless, invisible dragon qi at the entrance of the Hundred Eyes Grotto came from this source. In his view, that life-devouring dragon qi was a real dragon. Speaking of this, Old Sheep Skin extended his clenched fist, opened his palm, revealing a bronze, eyeless dragon talisman, and placed it before us for everyone to examine. He then shared one last she lou with us.