Chapter 36 Iron Buddha Tu
There were no oil lamps in the coffin shop, and the birch coffins displayed around them revealed only a vague outline, like giant square nails set in the darkness.
The drunken young master walked in the front, and no one came close to him.
Lin Yan also deliberately kept a distance from him. The scholar who looked dumbfounded in front of him was actually a poisonous snake with hidden teeth.
This made Lin Yan even more vigilant. The outside was not as good as the Longmen Pavilion, and he must not underestimate anyone easily.
Following the others, Lin Yan and others, led by the old man, walked along the gap between the coffins on both sides and came to the backyard of the coffin shop, beside an old dry well.
The well was overgrown with weeds, but the edges of the well were very clean. The old man pointed at the old well with his withered fingers and laughed like a crow: "Which one of you will go down first?"
Everyone looked at the young master with scarlet hands.
The young master burped again and raised his hand: "Oh, what a bunch of cowards! I can't wait any longer."
After saying that, he took the blood sack, took two steps forward, turned over and jumped directly into the ancient well, as if he was familiar with the road.
Seeing him taking the lead, several other people also breathed a sigh of relief, and then stepped forward one after another and climbed in along the edge of the well.
Lin Yan followed the same pattern, waited for a few breaths, pressed the edge of the well, and pretended to turn in skillfully.
After a slight panic of weightlessness, Lin Yan stepped on the ground. The well was not deep, about two meters, and ordinary people could jump down.
He looked up and saw that only a circle was left in the dim sky. Then he looked left and right and found a doorway that was less than a person's height. Then he ducked into the doorway.
The doorway was very narrow and tilted downwards. Lin Yan had to bend down to walk through it. The surrounding rock walls were also very rough. The friction that was inevitable during walking gave it a clammy and slippery touch.
The surroundings were already dark and nothing could be seen. Lin Yan could only hear that there was a person in front and not far behind, each moving forward in a rustling manner.
In this position, if someone behind him wanted to sneak attack, he would have no power to resist.
Lin Yan's insecurity was overwhelming. He fumbled and accelerated his pace. The people in front of him obviously had the same idea.
In the dark and narrow passage, only the horrifying sound of friction was left.
Like food waiting to be digested in the intestines...
Lin Yan shuddered as this metaphor came to his mind.
I don’t know how long I’ve been walking, but the temperature around me has obviously increased a lot, making it very hot.
Lin Yan suddenly felt that he had emerged from the narrow passage, and the space around him suddenly opened up. There were gusts of wind blowing, mixed with a thick, wet and strange smell.
A dim yellow light also lit up in front, illuminating a hazy figure.
Lin Yan quickly straightened up, took out the beeswax red candle and fire sickle that he had prepared long ago, struck and lit them.
The orange-red tongue of fire suddenly lit up, squeezing out a faint circle of light and reflecting a huge cave around it.
The dome is about four or five stories taller. The entire cave is like a huge upside-down bowl. The surrounding "bowl walls" are covered with jagged and strange rocks. There are also many dark cave passages, as if they are intertwined with a honeycomb. I don't know which one is the most beautiful. It is the gathering place of ghost market this time.
Lin Yan raised his head and his eyes narrowed slightly. The stalactites hanging upside down on the top turned out to be a bright red color, as if they were dripping blood.
"Pang Tong said that there are many entrances and exits to the Dripping Blood Cave, and Chengshoufang is just one of them. The cave is intricate and has many passages. If there is no one to guide you, you will get lost accidentally.
"This is also the reason why the ghost market in Dripping Cave is difficult to stop after repeated bans."
“I now observe that this blood hole has no trace of man-made artifacts, and looks very much like a natural cave formed by the action of flowing water.
"It's just that the stalactites hanging upside down here are, for some reason, this blood-red color."
At this time, Lin Yan frowned slightly, stepped aside, turned his hands into tiger claws, and directly took the hand stretched out from behind, looking coldly at the person behind him.
After he entered the cave, he observed and guarded secretly. Unexpectedly, one of the people who entered the cave behind him quietly approached him through the darkness and stretched out his hand to him.
The man grabbed his arm and struggled to free himself, but his hand seemed to be bound by an iron band and he did not break free.
He immediately panicked: "Uncle, I was distracted for a moment, forgive me..."
Before he finished speaking, he suddenly stretched out his other hand, the cold light in his palm exploded, and stabbed Lin Yan in the chest.
But Lin Yan had already been extremely vigilant. When he saw the cold light, without thinking, he kicked the man hard in the chest like a hammer.
The man suddenly screamed and flew backwards, hitting two rough stalagmites behind him, rebounding and falling to the ground.
Only then did the man shout in horror: "Spare, spare my life..."
Lin Yan was unmoved, and was about to step forward to apply a few more touches to avoid further trouble. Suddenly, he saw the young master carrying a blood sack, and jumped out from the side with a smile on his face, and walked straight to the side of the fallen man. .
"Hey, here comes another one. It's a good harvest today!"
The young master smiled drunkenly, flicked his wrist, and took out a gleaming dagger. Without any hesitation, he squatted directly beside the man on the ground, raised the dagger, and plunged it down!
The shrill screams were instantly ear-piercing. The young master was very familiar with the task, and he stabbed the man's abdomen with a dagger, pulled it sideways, and disemboweled him on the spot!
The man screamed miserably and in agony.
But the young master turned a deaf ear and punched the man in the throat with one hand.
Lin Yan heard two or three faint sounds of vomiting from the side, and the sound of hurried footsteps dodging.
Not talking about them, Lin Yan already had three lives in his hands, but this young man still made his throat roll slightly.
The young master was in a drunken state, then turned around and said to Lin Yan in a drunken state: "This belongs to me!"
Lin Yan looked at the man on the ground. He was covered in black cloth and couldn't see his face, but his body kept shaking, and he was obviously not dead yet.
He looked at the young master coldly, took a step forward slowly, and said nothing.
The young master burped in annoyance and lazily walked aside.
Lin Yan's eyes were filled with cold light. This young man was too dangerous. Three people were already dead in his hands before he even saw him in the ghost market.
He walked to the side of the dead man on the ground and took off his hood. He saw a young man with a pale face and no beard. His face was full of fear. He was now completely dead.
After a brief search, except for an iron awl as long as a baby's arm, this person had nothing on him.
Just as he was about to leave, Lin Yan suddenly thought, what was this man doing in the ghost market without bringing anything? Day trip?
With a thought in his heart, he blew out the candle, dragged the man's body to the dark shadows on the edge, and began to carefully touch the man's clothes from head to toe.
"Sure enough, there is something!"
When Lin Yan touched the man's trouser legs and the cuff of his right hand, he found that there was an inner layer sewn inside.
Using a sharp awl to roughly open the clothes, Lin Yan quickly pulled out what was sewn in. There were three or four taels of silver sewn into the cuffs, and a leather-like book on the trouser legs.
Putting the money and books in his arms, Lin Yan lit the candle again. With the candlelight, he opened his clothes and scanned the cover of the book covertly.
""Iron Buddha"?"
Lin Yan raised his eyebrows slightly. The name sounded like some kind of martial arts technique.
This man carefully sewed it on his trouser legs and carried it with him. He obviously took it very seriously, but now it was easier for him.
After waiting for about half an hour, six or seven more people came down from the coffin shop.
At this time, a light of fire appeared from the other end of the cave, and then gradually expanded into a ball of orange-red fire. A tall, thin man with a black iron mask and smartly dressed walked out from the other end of the cave, holding a torch. .
"follow me!"
The man's voice was hoarse, he just said something, then turned and left.
Other people in the cave followed one by one holding various candles and oil lamps. Lin Yan heard Pang Tong say that this was the guide to the ghost market, and he was naturally as light as dust, so he followed carefully.
The guide chose a cave passage and led them to climb into it. Along the way, they encountered forks from time to time and the road was complicated.
In addition, there is only sporadic light in the cave, so it is impossible to see the surrounding situation clearly. Without comparison, trying to write down the order of the roads is tantamount to fantasy.
Lin Yan tried for a while and then gave up.
There were about ten people in their group, lined up in a row, each one separated widely, holding various candles to open up a small patch of light around them.
Along the way, there was the sound of ding-dong water in the distance, and a slippery moisture seemed to fill the air.
But as he walked, Lin Yan frowned again. He found that the person in front of him seemed to have stopped and was approaching him intentionally or unintentionally.
"Another one?"
Lin Yan felt alarm bells ringing in his heart. He adjusted the position of the candle with one hand and took out the iron awl he had just obtained with the other hand. He hid it in the shadow behind him and waited for an opportunity to make a fatal move.
The man seemed to have noticed Lin Yan's change, and immediately took two steps forward, his voice full of fear: "No, uncle, don't misunderstand me."
Lin Yan made a low and hoarse tone: "Are you looking for death?"
"Uncle, don't get me wrong! My name is Zhang San, you can call me Xiao Zhang."
This is obviously a pseudonym.
"If you fart quickly, let it go!"
"Yes, yes, we are relatively familiar with this ghost market. I would like to ask you if you would like to hire a guide?"
Lin Yan's eyes flashed coldly: "Why are you looking for me?"
Zhang San coughed twice: "Can we take a step to talk?"
Lin Yan thought for a while and deliberately slowed down, and the two of them fell to the back of the team.
Zhang San kept a safe distance and whispered: "Uncle, as soon as you come in, we know that this is your first time going into the blood hole."
Lin Yan didn't speak.
"It seems that you are aware of it yourself. After you lit the candle, you stared at the blood stalactite above your head so carefully. You can tell at a glance that you are a newcomer."
Lin Yan was silent, but helpless. When entering a new environment, observation is human instinct.
"Tell me, what's your use?"
Zhang San's voice was obviously much more excited: "Okay, we have spent a lot of time in this ghost market, and if we don't know it well, then we are well-informed.
"We all know where to buy and what to sell, special food, hidden antiquities, the Colosseum, and men... ahem, we all know it all."
So many services?
Lin Yan glanced at the dozen or so people in front of him and asked, "How big is the ghost market?"
"That's not a small one." As soon as Zhang San saw Lin Yan's gaze, he understood what he wanted to ask, "You mean, there are too few guests? In fact, we are just the first batch, and there will be several batches later.
"In Ding'an City, there are also many entrances to the Blood Cave, so there are a lot of people. And most of the people who enter the ghost market are martial arts masters with a lot of money."