Witchcraft

  The old village chief's death was more bizarre than sudden.

  Qin Guiren was very puzzled by this, because when they arrived at the village, the old village chief looked a bit old, but his body and spirit were still quite robust, without illness or disaster, how could he have passed away in just three short days?

  Qin Guiren recalled the words of the old village chief that night, and his intuition told him that the old village chief seemed to have foreseen his own death, which was why he had told him that three days later someone would be heading north from the village, taking them out of the mountains.

  It is said that people become more astute with age. Many elderly individuals seem to have a premonition of their impending death when they are on their deathbeds. Is this really true?

  Of course, this speculation is not tenable, but if one were to say that all of this was just a dramatic coincidence, it would seem unreasonable. Fortunately, Qin Guiren did not tell the soldiers what the old village chief had told him, because anyone who has led troops in battle knows that some things cannot be casually revealed to soldiers, as this could easily cause unrest among the troops. At the time, these soldiers had already sensed that large-scale warfare might have ended, so they were all eager to return home. Moreover, they had been wandering in the mountains for many days, suffering from hunger and fear, and their emotions were extremely anxious. If three days later villagers could indeed lead them back to their northern homeland, then there would be no need to hide this good news. But if something unexpected happened, Qin Guiren's prestige among these soldiers would inevitably plummet, a point that Qin Guiren was well aware of.

  That night, almost all the villagers in the village stayed up all night, regardless of men and women, old and young, to mourn the body of the old village chief. Some villagers even held a mysterious ritual for the old village chief throughout the night.

  Those rituals were strangely shaped and not the usual kind of funeral rites, but rather like an ancient ancestral worship ritual.

  Qin Guiren and others also stayed outside all night as a sign of respect, hardly sleeping.

  The ceremony lasted a very long time, from midnight to the early morning of the next day. Here, as a narrator, I cannot add oil and vinegar at will, nor can I make some detailed descriptions, but only give a general idea.

  What's worth mentioning is that after the old village chief died, the villagers somehow brought in a huge coffin. Its shape was different from the usual wooden coffins and was similar to the large stone coffins of the Han Dynasty or earlier.

  The entire coffin gives people a first impression of being somewhat old-fashioned, with an even thin layer of dust on it, as if it had just been dug up from the ground.

  Qin Guiren felt curious and thought to himself: "Could it be that the villagers have become so poor that they even reuse coffins, something used for the dead?"

  Also out of strong curiosity, Qin Guiren walked forward and under the light of the fire, he saw the style of the coffin clearly, and suddenly took a breath of cool air.

  The coffin was entirely dark green, about two meters long and half a meter wide, with countless totemic symbols carved on it, similar to auspicious clouds. From a distance, it looked like a painting, but up close, it seemed like some kind of unknown text. However, what really surprised Qin Guiren was not the pattern on the coffin, but its material - it was actually a bronze coffin.

  The villagers first put the old village chief's body into a bronze coffin, then they also placed some unknown herbs like tobacco leaves inside the coffin, and finally covered the bronze coffin.

  After covering the bronze coffin, six young men came and lifted it up with a wooden stretcher, placing it on top of some firewood. Then an older woman lit a fire. Strangely, the firewood seemed to have been soaked in water or something else beforehand, so it didn't really burn, but instead emitted rolling grey smoke. Upon closer inspection, it appeared that a small amount of charcoal had been placed among the firewood, slowly roasting the bronze coffin.

  The cook beside Qin Guiren couldn't help but say: "I'm telling you, this is a small fire stew, we need to add water, otherwise it'll be a dry pot."

  Qin Guiren turned around and glared at him, indicating that he shouldn't speak carelessly, as this might be a local custom. In such a desolate mountainous area, it's not a good idea to make fun of others' customs casually.

  They stood quietly beside, staring blankly at everything that was happening in front of them, and no one said another word.

  It was unknown how long it had been, but the firewood no longer smoked much, and the charcoal inside seemed to have little heat left. However, the bronze coffin did not react at all, still looking cold as ice.

  Suddenly, Qin Guiren discovered the anomaly of the bronze coffin. The seam of the coffin lid had also emitted a faint white smoke at some point, which was not as irritating as the gray smoke earlier, but instead had a faint fragrance. Upon closer inspection, it was found that these smokes were not only coming out from the seams of the coffin lid, but the entire bronze coffin seemed to be emitting white mist, as if the mist could easily penetrate the bronze coffin.

  At this time, the young people in the village actually started dancing around the huge bronze coffin with a strange form of dance. The villagers' footsteps were stiff, as if they were a group of zombies walking around the coffin.

  The villagers jumped for a while, then surrounded the bronze coffin in a circle and knelt down, leaving only one place empty. The old woman who had just lit the fire walked into the circle from that empty space, muttering to herself, saying something that no one knew what it was, but under such circumstances, as long as you're not an idiot, you could guess that she must be reciting some kind of incantation.

  The chanting voice was sometimes high and sometimes low, sounding like whispers at times and angry arguments at others. It went on for a while, and Qin Guiren and the others were almost asleep when suddenly there was movement in the bronze coffin.

  At that moment, the whole village, including Qin Guiren and others, held their breath, as if something terrible was about to happen. The old woman also stopped cursing and knelt in front of the bronze coffin with other villagers, looking very devout.

  "What the...? How is this possible? Didn't that old village chief die?" asked Qin Guihe, Qin Guiren's brother.

  Qin Guiren didn't respond, but instead quietly watched everything that was happening in front of him. Suddenly, the bronze coffin made another noise, this time the sound was even clearer, and it seemed like the old village chief was struggling inside the bronze coffin.

  "The village head is not dead! Quick! Open the door to save people!" Qin Guiren almost instinctively rushed forward. Immediately, several villagers rushed up to stop him.

  At first, Qin Guiren still wanted to struggle to save the old village chief, but soon he stopped struggling and felt a very strange and terrifying atmosphere.

  At this moment, he raised his head and suddenly found that the auspicious cloud-shaped totem pattern on the bronze coffin had unknowingly begun to seep out with bright red **, instantly, a strong stench overpowered the fragrance of the white smoke.

  At this moment, the other soldiers around Qin Guiren were also stunned, while the other villagers showed even more devout and respectful expressions. In short, for a time, the entire village once again focused all their attention on that bronze coffin, and at this time, the bronze coffin made two more noises after its last movement, but then there was no other movement, only the bright red **gurgling sound coming out from inside.

  "This... this can't be blood, right?" the cook asked.

  Qin Guihe was also stunned on the side and said: "If nothing unexpected happens, it should be blood."

  All of this made people feel a chill run down their spines. Qin Guiren and the others suddenly realized that this unknown small village was absolutely not simple!

  The next morning, Qin Guiren took a group of soldiers to find the old lady who had lit the fire last night. From the ceremony last night, it seemed that after the death of the old village chief, the most prestigious person here was probably this old lady.

  Unfortunately, the old lady didn't speak Chinese, but fortunately, the old village chief had seemingly entrusted her with something before his death. The old lady muttered and gestured for half a day, and Qin Guiren finally understood that this afternoon a group of young people would head north, and all they had to do was follow them to find their way home.

  Qin Guiren nodded, letting out a long sigh in his heart. By noon, they had simply packed up their equipment and brought some dry rations given to them by the villagers. However, since last night when they tried to stop the old village chief's death ritual, the villagers seemed to have developed some hostility towards them. Qin Guiren once again warned the soldiers not to relax their vigilance.

  At noon, they walked out the door, but were stunned by the scene in front of them. They saw six young people using a specially made wooden stretcher to carry yesterday's strange bronze coffin standing there waving at them.