Chapter 40: The Eight Trigrams Formation

  I saw that pillar come to life and was almost frightened out of my wits, I didn't have time to think much, and Zhou Huan and I quickly lay down on the ground and retreated backwards.

  As the gunfire rang out again this time I finally understood, and it really was just as Zhou Huan had said, that the gun wasn't aimed at us but rather in the direction of that pillar.

  He went back to look at the pillar, twisted a few more times, and then rushed towards the direction of the gunshot at an extremely fast speed. He immediately disappeared into the darkness in the thick fog.

  I exchanged a glance with Zhou Huan, seeing that she was also full of terror and confusion, so I asked blindly: "You guys, when you used to rob tombs, have you ever encountered pillars becoming spirits?"

  "You're really sick, I found out that every time I meet you, strange things keep happening."

  I thought to myself, this woman is really unreasonable. If she hadn't dragged me here to rob the tomb, how would I have ended up in such a godforsaken place? Just as I was about to open my mouth to retort, I heard from the direction of the gunfire a blood-curdling scream, as if someone had suffered an extremely terrifying attack. It sounded especially frightening and made my hair stand on end.

  This is really going to be the death of us, I reckon it must have been that so-called pillar that attacked them. Neither Zhou Huan nor I had any weapons on us, and we couldn't even run because there was no direction to go in. For a moment, we were trapped in a predicament.

  Then go listen to Zhang Zhuang and others, the mournful cries had been covered by gunfire, for a time, those who opened fire opened fire, those who shouted shouted, the scene was extremely chaotic.

  Slowly I felt that the sound seemed to be coming towards our direction, extremely fast, and it sounded like a group of people were running.

  When Zhou Huan and I were still lying on the ground and hadn't gotten up yet, footsteps had already approached from nearby. I was so scared that I didn't dare to move, and then someone tripped over me and fell to the ground with a thud, coincidentally face to face with me.

  Their flashlights were also turned on, so they immediately saw that it was me and Zhou Huan. Then I was lifted up by someone, and when I looked down, the person who lifted me was Zhang Zhuang, who was staring at me with a furious face.

  "Zhang Lao Da, you, don't misunderstand, we just accidentally got lost a little while ago." I quickly explained.

  "Are you kidding me? You think I'm an idiot?" Along with Zhang Zhuang's angry curse, a handgun was pressed against my forehead.

  At this time, I didn't know what to say either, thinking: since I've already been caught, what's there to explain.

  Zhang Zhuang saw that I was no longer speaking, and in a fit of rage he raised his pistol and slammed it against my head. With the intense pain came blood flowing immediately, covering my entire face.

  "I'm going to... You damn..."

  "What's wrong with you, are you tired of living? Let me tell you, kid, don't think that I'm not willing to kill you. In fact, you're just a waste of space, whether you exist or not makes no difference."

  I was just about to get angry when Zhang Zhuang pointed at me and scolded a lot, I was confused for a moment, covering my head and not speaking again.

  "Big brother, big brother, quickly retreat, that thing has come again." A subordinate holding a gun said hastily.

  I was guessing what kind of attack they had encountered when I heard a rustling sound coming from the ground behind me, as if something was crawling along the ground.

  "Wait a minute, I'll settle the score with you later." Zhang Zhuang threw down this sentence and immediately two people came over to hold me and Zhou Huan together, running towards the darkness on one side.

  I counted the number of people in the light, and except for the guy who came in with a fire extinguisher on his back, everyone else was present. I guess the miserable cry just now was made by that person.

  Just thinking of that terrifying scream makes me particularly anxious, and I don't need anyone to urge me on. Along with Zhou Huan, I start running closely behind Zhang Zhuang.

  They also didn't know the direction, ran wildly for a while and then stopped. I panted heavily to listen, and felt that the sound behind me had disappeared. I reckon we left it behind.

  At this time, the older man in Zhang Zhuang's team who was the only one not holding a gun said: "This won't do, we're out in the open while the enemy is hidden, we'll definitely be at a disadvantage."

  "What's to be done? Old devil, you'd better think of a solution quickly!" Zhang Zhuang hastily replied.

  I think this old ghost, by Zhang Zhuang's side, should be a certain thing or a teacher's role. Previously, I saw him following in the team with a gentle and refined manner, which was not eye-catching at all. Now hearing Zhang Zhuang's tone towards him, it seems that this person's status is also quite high.

  That old devil looked around in all directions, seemingly unable to think of a good solution for the time being.

  I hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward and said to Zhang Zhuang: "What's the matter, I'll add a sentence. Now our biggest problem is that we can't see things clearly, the gun's attack range is limited, but if you have explosives, it should be better."

  I didn't actually want to help, I just really wanted to get out of this place as soon as possible.

  That old ghost listened to me finish, his eyes lit up, and then said to Zhang Zhuang: "Not bad, it makes sense. I thought the environment here was like an obstacle illusion, maybe it's the layout of the house or the lighting that caused the fog to form small spaces, and every few steps we take will enter another space, so no matter how strong the flashlight is, it can't shine out far."

  I took a look and this old devil is still quite formidable, his explanation seems to make some sense after all.

  "Alright, then use explosives..." Zhang Zhuang immediately agreed with our idea.

  Then I saw the old devil take off his backpack and pull out a bundle of explosives with exposed fuses. This kind of explosive was different from what Zhou Huan and others used, although it looked rougher, but its power would be great.

  Zhang Zhuang took over the explosives, then pulled out a cigarette and lit it with a lighter, after taking a puff he went to light the fuse of the explosives.

  With a loud whoosh, Zhang Zhuang stretched out his hand and pushed me away, took a few quick steps back, swung his arm and threw the explosive into the darkness.

  We all covered our ears and lay on the ground, then a loud explosion sounded, I felt the whole mansion shaking.

  I lay on the ground for a long time before my ears recovered a bit, and when I stood up, I felt a bright light in front of me. All the previous fog disappeared, and the flashlight could shine very far away.

  Look around and find that we are actually standing on the wall of this house, at most a few steps away, but everyone has been circling around and never reached the wall.

  Zhang Zhuang looked very pleased with himself, and shouted to the crowd as he came back: "Damn it, after working on it for half a day, we only managed to get this far from the wall. Now that's done, everyone follow the wall and let's get out of here first."

  I think the previous fog was really guessed by that old ghost, and it actually divided into many small spaces, so we were isolated from each other, and other places couldn't be seen or heard.

  Zhang Zhuang's subordinates walked towards the wall after he finished speaking, and Zhou Huan and I had no choice but to follow them along the wall.

  Just a few steps out, I found that there was a triangular recess on the wall, which should be the corners seen outside before. In each recess, there was something like a sunflower.

  When I saw this 'sunflower', my whole body was shaken, because I had seen it before. Previously, I saw it once in the ancient tomb of Zhēng má líng (蜇麻岭). The center of the petals is a thing like a wick that can be ignited.

  I'm really puzzled to the extreme, and I never thought that I would see this thing again in such a strange building.

  Zhang Zhuang may also be seeing this 'sunflower' for the first time, feeling very strange, holding up his flashlight to take a closer look for quite a while, probably still not understanding what's going on.

  At this time, I went to see Zhou Huan, her expression also looked very surprised, she followed Zhang Zhuang and walked over, stretched out her hand to touch the 'sunflower' lamp, as if it was also inexplicable.

  "How is it, Miss Zhou knows what this thing is?" Zhang Zhuang asked, turning to face Zhou Huan.

  "It's something I've seen before, but I'm not quite sure what it is. All I know is that it's a lamp and can be lit." Zhou Huan haughtily explained the principle of this thing to Zhang Zhuang.

  Then Zhang Zhuang carefully looked at the 'sunflower' again, and after a long time, he said: "It really looks like an oil lamp, let's light it up and take a look."

  After he finished speaking, he took out a lighter to light the wick. Without much effort, a faint flame ignited.

  Zhang Zhuang took a look and saw that it was indeed possible to ignite, so he called out to the crowd to continue walking along the wall. As expected, one by one, the 'sunflower' lamps appeared along the way. Every time Zhang Zhuang saw one, he went to light it up. After circling around the room once, all eight 'sunflower' lamps were lit up.

  The entire room is now clearly visible, and the flashlight is no longer needed. I find that this is a completely empty black stone room, except for us, there are no other things or objects, let alone the attacking monster pillar that was not seen, even the door we came in from is gone, this room is completely sealed, with no entrance or exit.

  What's going on now? Are we supposed to have come out from underground or something?

  It's not just me who finds it strange, everyone seems to be at a loss, and the atmosphere suddenly becomes tense.

  At the moment when everyone was at a loss, Zhang Zhuang's older subordinate walked alone to a 'sunflower' lamp and took several deep breaths in the direction of the lamp core. He then turned around and shouted to everyone: "It's bad, it seems we've entered an array by mistake."

  Zhang Zhuang hurried forward a few steps and asked: "What formation is it? Can you explain clearly, is there any danger?"

  At this time, I saw the old ghost's face turn very ugly, looking around and replied: "If I'm not mistaken, we are now in the 'Bagua Yin Ghost Formation', this formation was created by the Taoist master of Maoshan in ancient times. Anyone who falls into this formation will surely die without a place to bury."

  After listening to him, I was disdainful. This kind of "sunflower" lamp is not something I haven't seen before. At the time, I was busy dealing with those dumplings and didn't see anything unexpected happen.

  I was lost in thought when I suddenly smelled a very strong fragrance, the scent was incredibly wonderful, it made me feel refreshed and comfortable.

  "Look quickly, the floor in the middle of the house is moving..." someone exclaimed.

  I hastily went to the middle of the house floor and found that the originally quiet ground was undergoing a drastic change. The originally motionless soil seemed to come alive, and it started rotating around a circle.

  As the rotation speed gets faster and faster, it slowly forms two colors of black and white, completely turning into a real eight trigrams pattern.

  "My god, it's a ghost... I quickly went to see Zhou Huan, she also looked confused. At this time, I heard Zhang Zhuang anxiously shouting at one of his subordinates: "Hurry up and go take a look, what exactly happened?""

  That team member also looked extremely frightened, but under the command of the elder, he couldn't disobey, holding his gun and trembling all over, he walked towards the center of the ground.