Zhang Enpu sighed, "My child, you simply don't understand. In feudal society, many families considered it an honor for a child to be chosen to accompany a high official or nobleman in death. A large portion of these children were given up by their own parents. Those who were rejected would be cruelly berated by their parents, seen as bringing shame upon the family. But the chosen ones? Their parents rejoiced, walking the streets under the envious gaze of others!"

"Damn their ancestors to the deepest hell, how utterly ignorant these people are. Even the fiercest tiger won't harm its own young, let alone a human being! These parents have let dogs eat their hearts; they are worse than beasts!" Young Master Liu cursed, filled with righteous fury.

Zhang Enpu smiled faintly, "That is why humankind, in this world, is the most savage and treacherous animal!"

"Hey, come look at this! What is this?" Tian Guoqiang pointed at the circular disc held by the head of the Mercury Child Corpse.

Everyone crowded around. Young Master Liu shone his flashlight onto a small hole beneath the bronze disc. "Look here!"

They saw an extremely fine wax thread emerging from a central eyelet beneath the bronze disc, disappearing into the child's skull.

The group exchanged glances, their eyes all turning to Zhang Enpu, hoping for an explanation.

Zhang Enpu leaned in close, plucked the wax thread, and examined it carefully before letting out a sharp cry, "This is a Heaven Gate Candle!"

What?! A Heaven Gate Candle? What a strange name.

Zhang Enpu pointed at the wax thread. "Look, one end of the wax thread connects to the candle, and the other end is inserted into this child's head. If I’m not mistaken, this child's head has been hollowed out and filled entirely with wax oil."

Hearing this, Young Master Liu was suddenly reminded of a scooped-out watermelon, and a sudden nausea welled up, causing him to retch violently again.

Tian Guoqiang said, "Celestial Master Zhang, perhaps we should leave this place immediately. Just looking at this Mercury Child Corpse gives me the creeps!" As he spoke, he walked forward on his own. Suddenly, Tian Guoqiang let out a sharp scream and plummeted downward. Young Master Liu reacted with lightning speed, turning and grabbing his wrist.

"Hold on to me! Oh my God! Pull me up quickly!" Tian Guoqiang shrieked in terror.

At that moment, Tian Guoqiang was suspended in mid-air. An icy, cold wind howled up from below, swallowing the lower half of his body into the chaotic darkness. Only the arm gripped by Young Master Liu and his pale face remained visible.

"Quick! Help!" Tian Guoqiang yelled back to the others, clinging to the edge of the platform.

Zhang Enpu hurried over and helped Young Master Liu haul Tian Guoqiang up from the dark abyss. Tian Guoqiang collapsed onto the ground, gasping for breath. He repeatedly slapped his chest, "Damn it! That scared the life out of me! It terrified me!"

Bai Er Laizi stepped up, "What happened? What went wrong?"

Zhang Enpu pointed towards the chaotic darkness ahead. "There's no path left!"

"How can that be?" Bai Er Laizi took a step forward, but Zhang Enpu quickly stopped him, "Be careful!"

The four of them were now standing on a platform at a corner, and beyond the platform, there was simply no path, as if facing a sheer cliff. They stood stunned at the edge of this precipice. The foul, rotting wind screamed sharply, forcing them to close their eyes.

Young Master Liu thought to himself, Damn it, with such a fierce wind, this place must be bottomless!

Tian Guoqiang, having narrowly escaped death, was too frightened to wander anymore, sitting in a daze, still reeling from the shock.

"Master, there’s no road ahead. What do you suggest?" Young Master Liu asked Zhang Enpu.

Zhang Enpu looked back at the stone steps they had taken, then at the chaotic darkness ahead, murmuring, "Impossible! There must be a path here! Some step must have been missed, where did we go wrong?"

"Hey, Da Shao, turn off your flashlight to conserve power. Aren't there candles on the head of that Mercury Child Corpse? Why don't we light the candle?" Bai Er Laizi suggested from the side.

"Yes! The candle!" Zhang Enpu snapped his fingers excitedly. "The key is in the candle! Quick! Light the candle immediately!"

Seeing Zhang Enpu's agitation, the others sensed a turning point and quickly took out tinder to light the candle on the Mercury Child Corpse’s head. They had expected the half-burnt candle might not ignite after such a long time, but with a mere touch, the candle flared up instantly. To everyone’s astonishment, the light emanating from the flame was a spectral blue. What puzzled them even more was that despite the strong wind, the eerie flame did not waver in the slightest. This reminded Young Master Liu of a Tang poem his teacher had taught him: "In the vast desert, a lonely plume of smoke rises straight; over the long river, the setting sun is perfectly round." Now, it was: "In the ancient tomb, the candle flame stands straight!"

"Look! There's a path ahead!" Tian Guoqiang, who had been sitting on the ground, suddenly exclaimed in surprise.

The others turned and saw a long stretch of stone steps extending downward from beneath the platform, winding and spiraling into the depths. Watching these ghost-like steps appear, everyone was too astonished to close their mouths. Moments ago, there was absolutely nothing here; Tian Guoqiang had nearly fallen off this very spot. How could a long staircase materialize the instant the candle was lit? Could there truly be spectral interference? At this thought, cold sweat beaded on Young Master Liu's spine. The sudden appearance of these steps was too incredible; the very notion chilled him to the bone.

"Qiangzi, you go test it out. See if these steps are solid," Young Master Liu suggested.

"Hmph, you wish! Why don't you go practice what you preach?" Having learned his lesson, Tian Guoqiang was no longer falling for Young Master Liu’s tricks.

No one dared to casually test whether the steps were real or illusory, fearing that a misstep into the void would mean instant death. To prove the staircase's existence, Young Master Liu turned his shotgun around and tapped the front steps with the butt. The impact against the stone produced a loud clang-clang sound, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. "It seems the steps are real!" However, as to why the steps hadn't existed moments before and then suddenly appeared, even Zhang Enpu couldn't offer an explanation. The group decided to let the matter rest—let it be what it might.

Perhaps it was an optical illusion, perhaps an ingenious mechanism designed by the ancients—who truly knew? There are too many things in this world that we cannot comprehend or fully understand. But one shouldn't be overly insistent on clarity; if life becomes too transparent, it loses all meaning. That is why we often say 'it's hard to be clear is sometimes best'—that is the rationale.

The moment Young Master Liu placed his foot forward, Tian Guoqiang suddenly shouted, "Wait a minute!"

The shout startled Young Master Liu so much that he flinched and quickly retracted his foot. "What is it?"

Tian Guoqiang said, "You only tested if the initial steps are solid. What if the steps disappear halfway down? Wouldn't we all be doomed then?"

It seemed the fellow had been thoroughly shaken, yet he had managed to consider this possibility, which was somewhat logical.

Zhang Enpu explained, "Based on what we see now, the candle is very likely the mechanism. When the candle is lit, the steps appear. As long as the candle remains lit, the steps should not vanish."

Tian Guoqiang argued, "But what if the candle suddenly goes out?"

The question left everyone speechless. Finally, they agreed that Young Master Liu and Bai Er Laizi would scout ahead, while the others remained above to guard the candle against being extinguished. Young Master Liu glanced back at the faint blue flame; it showed no sign of being blown out. If it were going to be extinguished, it would have happened already. Why wait for them all to descend? Still, these strange phenomena were hard to predict.

Young Master Liu asked Bai Er Laizi if he was ready to proceed. Bai Er Laizi took a deep breath and confirmed he was ready. He then turned to Tian Guoqiang and gave instructions, "I know you are the leader in your Xiushui Village. If I don't return, please look after the two children I adopted; consider it fulfilling my duty to Sister-in-law Hu."

Tian Guoqiang replied, "Don't worry, I will do my best to help those two children."

Bai Er Laizi patted Tian Guoqiang's shoulder. "Good brother, truly loyal!"

Tian Guoqiang returned the pat, "Go safely!"

Bai Er Laizi nodded solemnly and turned to step onto the long, ghostly stone staircase.

Young Master Liu and Bai Er Laizi advanced slowly, step by step. Every few steps, they used the butt of their guns to tap ahead, ensuring the stone was solid before daring to take the next step. This made their progress agonizingly slow, like two snails.

After what felt like a long time, they looked back and realized they had only descended about ten steps. Tian Guoqiang, that rascal, was still nagging from above: "Da Shao, Laizi, hurry up a bit! Relax, I’ve tested that candle flame; it absolutely won't be blown out!" As he spoke, Tian Guoqiang pouted his lips, looking quite endearing, and blew vigorously at the candle flame while saying, "See? I told you it wouldn't go out!"

Young Master Liu and Bai Er Laizi were terrified. If this fool actually managed to extinguish the candle, they would all be finished. They immediately quickened their pace. Internally, however, they cursed Tian Guoqiang thoroughly. Bai Er Laizi pondered that if they ever made it back, he would give the man a good thrashing. Young Master Liu nodded in agreement: "More than that! I have half a mind to extinguish him!"

After walking for about ten minutes, they looked back. The shadows of Tian Guoqiang and Zhang Enpu had become mere hazy specks. Young Master Liu raised his flashlight and waved it, signaling that they could safely follow now.

They reached another corner, and both Young Master Liu and Bai Er Laizi stopped simultaneously because they saw another Mercury Child Corpse waiting on the platform around the bend. This one, however, was a little girl, whose pigtails stuck slightly upward. Her posture was identical to the little boy they had seen earlier: kneeling on both knees, both hands raised above her head, holding a disc in her palms. On the disc was half a candle, and an extremely fine wax thread threaded through a hole beneath the disc, vanishing into the little girl's skull. The entire girl looked like a large candle.

"Sigh," Young Master Liu sighed. "These children are truly pitiable! I wonder what the feudal rulers of ancient times were thinking, liking human candles—it's just perverse!"

Just then, Tian Guoqiang and Zhang Enpu walked down and saw the Mercury Child Corpse as well.

Young Master Liu peered ahead of the platform; indeed, it was a pitch-black void, like a sheer drop, with no stone steps visible at all. So, Young Master Liu lit the Heaven Gate Candle on the little girl's head. Strangely enough, the moment the candle ignited, the stone steps beneath the platform reappeared out of thin air. Tapping them with the shotgun butt produced a loud clang. Now they were certain: the Heaven Gate Candle must be the mechanism controlling these steps.

As the ghostly blue candlelight flickered eerily, Bai Er Laizi suddenly said with tension in his voice, "Look behind you!"

The three turned back to see that the Heaven Gate Candle above them had abruptly extinguished, and the section of stairs they had just traversed vanished along with it, leaving only swirling masses of dark wind coalescing.

Now, they had no choice but to continue forward. On these ghostly stone steps, the group walked for nearly an hour, passing six corners. At each corner stood a Mercury Child Corpse, alternating between male and female: three little boys' corpses for the odd-numbered corners, and three little girls' corpses for the even-numbered ones. Each corpse had a Heaven Gate Candle on its head. Young Master Liu was inwardly stunned: "I wonder who the master of this tomb was, to set up such exquisite mechanisms. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would never believe such an unbelievable thing could exist in this world."

He calculated their current position. Each flight of stairs dropped about ten meters. They had descended six flights, meaning a vertical drop of nearly one hundred meters, plus the ten-plus meter drop from the weir—a total depth exceeding one hundred meters. By this rate of descent, they estimated they had walked from the surface of the great river all the way to its riverbed.

As they walked, an arched stone doorway appeared before them. The arch was about two meters wide and three meters high, with no actual door. Mounted on the stone wall in the center was an octagonal bronze mirror. Patterns were drawn on the mirror with fresh blood, likely some sort of talisman designed to suppress demons and monsters. Young Master Liu had seen rectangular mirrors, square mirrors, and round mirrors, but never an octagonal one. Faint ripples seemed to flow across the mirror’s surface, though it was unclear where this light originated in the deep underground.

He asked Zhang Enpu, "Master, what does hanging a mirror here signify?"

Zhang Enpu replied, "This mirror is likely called a Soul-Returning Mirror. It's placed here to suppress evil spirits. It appears the main burial chamber lies behind this arch!"

Hearing they had reached the main tomb chamber, the group felt a knot of unease in their stomachs. Zhang Enpu assured them there was nothing to fear; even if they encountered an 'Old Zongzi' (stiff corpse), it shouldn't pose a problem.

Tian Guoqiang asked Zhang Enpu what an 'Old Zongzi' was, while Bai Er Laizi was even bolder, asking if an 'Old Zongzi' tasted good and if it contained cured meat!

Zhang Enpu waved his hands repeatedly, saying, "An 'Old Zongzi' is not the type of zongzi (sticky rice dumpling) we usually eat. It's specialized jargon. What we call an 'Old Zongzi' is a Jiangshi—a real zombie!"

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