Chapter 120: The Uncontrollable Demon Lord
June 21, 12:00 PM
A dull bell rang from under the stone slab that suppressed the Tian Gang. What a strange feeling this was? The huge burning footprints disappeared at the edge of the stone slab. The cumbersome clothes of the great Nuo master were also burned to ashes at the edge of the stone slab. The wooden stick was also thrown to the side, the end of which was still burning and smoking, but the cushion in the middle did not burn.
Her ringing sound came from under the stone slab. Although the sound was very soft, it was not too far away. It was clearly right under the stone slab.
Even if Bao Longtu shouted to open the stone slab, no one dared to act immediately. Firstly, the scene was too weird. Secondly, there was no tool on hand to pry open the stone slab.
Shen Kuo and Xu Chong were still the ones who mustered up their courage and slowly walked to the edge of the stone slab. This stone slab was not much different from the other stone slabs in the hall. It was square and each side was two feet long. It was called a gold brick, but it was actually just an ordinary stone brick.
Xu Chong picked up the mat and threw it aside. Shen Kuo carefully observed the cracks on the four sides of the stone slab. It was exactly the same as what he saw yesterday morning. There was mud and mortar embedded in the cracks, which had long been fixed to the stone slab. There was no sign of prying. But the sound of the bell was clearly coming from below. He slowly lay down and put his ear to the stone slab.
Now he could hear the bells below more clearly - weak but regular, as if a weak hand was shaking. When his right cheek was pressed against the stone slab, his left eye could just see the heavenly book hanging above. The heavenly book was hanging there quietly, not moving at all. Why didn't the troll destroy it when he dragged Fang Xiangshi in just now? The troll was more than ten feet tall, and with the wooden stick in his hand, he could just reach it? Maybe this heavenly book really had magic power?
This was just a passing thought, which made him feel ashamed that he seemed to hate irrational assumptions, but he never really broke away from the supernatural. Whenever there was no solution, he would have such a flash of reliance on supernatural explanations. But now, he had to stop and reflect, because the bell under the stone slab stopped ringing, but the stone slab was heating up. Soon he had to get up because the stone slab was heating up.
When he stood up, smoke began to rise from the cracks around the stone slabs on the ground. Everyone around him retreated in fear. Even Bao Zheng retreated half a step.
Xu Chong squeezed in from the crowd. Just when Shen Kuo lowered his head to listen, he rushed out of the main hall and picked up the sword that Li Cheng'an had dropped. Today, they were under the strict order of Lao Bao to capture the prisoners alive, so they did not bring swords, but only chains. At least he was smart enough to finally remember a tool that could be used, which was this sword. Li Cheng'an also came back in despair, hiding behind the crowd and watching. None of his four disciples were left alive.
Xu Chong inserted the sword into the gap between the stone slabs, trying to cut the adhesive at the joint. Generally speaking, when building such a hall, the soil is compacted, slaked lime is spread on it, and then stone slabs are laid and adhesives such as glutinous rice are used to fill the gap. He found that when the sword in his hand passed through, it was completely easy, without the expected feeling of inserting into a hard object. The adhesive in the gap was softening and heating up.
Before he could react, flames burst out from the place where he was stabbed. This was a green flame that most people here had never seen before. Xu Chong dropped his sword and retreated in fear, and the others also retreated in fear.
However, the green flames began to spread, and soon flames spewed out from the cracks on all four sides of the stone slab.
"Could it be the fire of hell?" asked an officer.
This sentence scared the people around, so the crowd retreated faster.
"Go and get some water," Bao Zheng shouted.
Several people fled to fetch buckets of water.
However, the stone slab did not stop, it began to arch upwards, as if something steaming underneath was about to burst out. Strangely, all the stone slabs around it did not move at all, only this stone slab was moving.
"The Heavenly Book can no longer suppress the situation. Is Tiangang trying to come out?" Someone came up with this idea, and as soon as the words came out, everyone was frightened and fled out of the hall.
"Stop, don't run!" Bao Zheng shouted loudly.
His roar came at the perfect time, and everyone in the hall stopped moving. If it had been a few minutes later, they would have been unable to stop the collapse of their hearts and would have fled in all directions.
"Even if the Heavenly Book can't suppress it, I'm still here. What can the evil spirits do to me?" He took a big step forward and stopped in front of the green flame. I don't know if he was really not afraid or just pretending to be fearless, but the flames actually subsided, and finally calmed people's hearts.
"Quick, bring some water!"
Xu Chong quickly snatched the bucket from the hand of the policeman who was holding the bucket but was afraid to move forward, took a few steps forward, and poured the water on the stone slab.
As soon as a bucket of water was poured in, a hissing sound was heard. The water seeped in from the cracks on all sides, and white smoke quickly seeped out, spreading in all directions and blurring the view.
Huailiang and Shen Kuo also approached, waiting for the water vapor to slowly spread. Behind the smoke, the bell rang again, this time much more real, no longer like a stone slab between them, but right in front of them.
When the smoke cleared, I saw that the stone slab had cracked into several pieces, bulging in the middle. At the intersection of the cracks, a charred hand stretched out. The hand was holding the copper bell, which was swaying gently in the wind, making a crisp sound. The charred hand was clearly missing a finger.
"What are you all standing there for? Pry it open." Bao Zheng shouted.
Xu Chong commanded the rest of the officers to approach, but no one dared to approach. He could only take the lead himself, holding the sword that was still stuck there, prying the cracked stone slab open and pushing it to the side. Another pus-filled hot mist spurted out, and when the mist dissipated, a pair of naked, charred legs could be seen curled up underneath.
The rest of the police reluctantly stepped forward to help, moving the remaining broken bricks away. The body below gradually revealed its full appearance. It was a charred, smoking body of a woman. The body was naked. Apparently, when she was dragged down by the troll, the burning clothes were left outside. Of course, she was not completely naked, because she was wearing a mask on her face.
"Is it the great Nuo master?" Shen Kuo asked in surprise.
Huailiang didn't say anything, just watched with a frown. He heard Shen Kuo shout out the three words "Great Nuo Master" and seemed to want to say something but stopped.
Bao Zheng walked to the front and took a closer look. The naked female corpse was in a strange shape, curled up. One hand was holding the bell upwards, and the other hand was holding the treasure box.
He was shocked to realize that the treasure box was also here. He quickly looked up and saw that the huge table for the ancestors of the demon-suppressing ancestors in the main hall was empty. When he came here yesterday morning, the treasure box was clearly here. How did it end up down there in the blink of an eye?
"Drag the man out." Lao Bao gave the order.
The policemen had no choice but to rush to pull out the body.
The body was still a little hot, the skin was completely burned, and it gave off a foul odor. The man was dragged to the stone slab beside him. He could no longer lie upright, and could only lie on his side with his arms around him.
Someone found a piece of cloth to cover the body. Now only the strange mask was left. Looking under the stone slab, the treasure box was crookedly pressed on a large vat below, and had broken the mud seal on the vat, just blocking the mouth of the vat. Looking at the vat again, most of it was still buried in the ground, but you could already see several thick iron chains tangled on it, and burnt yellow talismans were scattered around. The place where the vat was hit by the square treasure box had already cracked and was oozing water. Huailiang walked up to it and squatted, reaching out to touch the compacted ground around the vat. It was saltpeter lime and rammed earth, and it was still hot.
Shen Kuo squatted next to him and asked in a low voice: "Master, what's going on?"
Huailiang shook his head but still said nothing.
"Master Li, where is Master Li?" Bao Zheng shouted.
"I'm here..." Li Cheng'an whispered behind the crowd. He was grabbed by Xu Chong and dragged in front of Lao Bao.
"Master, in this jar are the thirty-six heavenly beings suppressed below?"
"This... is exactly what happened. Thirty years ago, after the Hat Monster's rebellion, my master captured thirty-six Heavenly Gangs and suppressed them under the stone slabs. They are wrapped in iron chains and suppressed with talismans in this large vat."
"Please come and identify the body again. I heard that you saw the true face of this great Nuo master three years ago?"
"I have seen it, but now that it has been burned like this, I am afraid I can't recognize it."
"Xu Chong!" Lao Bao called Xu Chong again.
Xu Chong understood, stepped forward and took off the mask. It was strange that the face was not burned, but still lifelike, exactly as it was before death - pale and horrible, with eyes open.
"Is her face okay?"
"Husband, the covering must have blocked the fire. That's why his face was not destroyed." Xu Chong said.
They turned around to look at Li Cheng'an together, only to see that his face was paler than a corpse and his lips were trembling slightly.
"Master, this is Fang Xiangshi."
"It's her. It's her. I can recognize her even if she's burned to ashes. Look at the earthworm-shaped scar on her forehead. She argued with me that day and made me furious. I will remember ."
Bao Zheng came to the open floor again and looked at the vat below.
The mud seal on the mouth of the jar had already collapsed, but the treasure box was stuck on it. It seemed that when the great Nuo master was dragged down to hell by the evil ghost, he was blocked by the jar, so the treasure box fell on the mouth of the jar.
"So, the thirty-six heavenly warriors and the seventy-two earthly demons are complete?"
"Yes, sir, it's really scary." Xu Chong said.
"Xu Chong, dig out the box and the jar. I want to see what else is hiding underneath."
“Could this be the passage to hell?”
"Even if it's a passage to the underworld, dig it for me."
"yes!"
Xu Chong was determined to get the jar out today. He led a few people to figure out how to dig it out. They grabbed the iron chain wrapped around it and tried to pull it out, but the jar seemed to be rooted in the ground and didn't move at all. So they could only wait for the others to find tools.
Bao Zheng suddenly remembered Shen Kuo and hurried to him for advice.
"Now there is such a strange thing again, what do you two think?"
"It must be some vicious trick, but I still can't figure it out now." Shen Kuo said.
"That's what I thought. How could someone be stuffed under the floor in such a short time? The floor is clearly solid and can't be opened at all? Did they use that wooden stick to pry open the gold bricks?"
Shen Kuo felt that Lao Bao's thoughts had been led astray, but he himself had no clue at the moment and could only shake his head.
Lao Bao looked around for Huailiang and found that the monk had already left and reached the main hall entrance, squatting on the ground studying the marks on the ground. He hurried over.
"Master, what do you have to say?"
"I think..." the monk finally spoke.
"How do you feel?"
"My husband, look at the threshold of this hall. It is one foot high."
"So what?"
"How did that troll manage to drag a person across this threshold?"
"Of course it is extremely powerful?"
"No, even if you are extremely strong, it is not easy to drag someone over alive. There must be some traces."
"Ah, it was my fault that I let a group of people rush in and mess up the traces on the ground."
"I was thinking, we all saw Fang Xiangshi being dragged in face down just now. He had a metal mask on his face, but Xu Jieji took it off easily. Why didn't it fall off when he was dragged all the way upside down?"
"Yes, it's very unusual." Bao Longtu immediately understood the doubts that Huai Liang saw.
"My husband, I want to give it a try."
"How to try?"
"We just need to find someone who is similar in height to Fang Xiangshi and is light in build, and have someone strong enough to drag him in. Let's see what happens."
"good."
Lao Bao stood up and randomly pointed to a short policeman, asking him to lie face down outside. Then a few strong men came over and each grabbed one of the legs and pulled the man inside regardless of his life or death.
The unfortunate man lying on the ground was dragged to the threshold while crying and screaming, and his hips got stuck. He yelled and screamed that it hurt, but no one paid any attention. He was dragged over the threshold by several people who joined in, and fell heavily to the ground. His hat fell off, his belt broke, and his clothes were pulled forward, exposing his belly.
Huailiang had been squatting and watching carefully. When he saw the poor fellow fall heavily on the ground with his belly, he stood up with confidence.
"Master, I can see it clearly too. The person that the evil ghost was dragging backwards just now was obviously much lighter." Shen Kuo said.
"Not only is it light, even if it was a paper dummy, if it was dragged backwards, the clothes that fit the body would roll up and expose the belly when they rub against the floor. The Fang Xiangshi was wearing a cloak and cape, which were far from fitting tightly, and there were so many jade ornaments on his body, but they were not in disarray."
After he finished speaking, he squatted down at the threshold and found two tiny scratches hidden in the messy footprints on the ground, all the way to the threshold. He made a simple gesture with his hand and found that the distance between the two parallel scratches was about a palm width.
"Master, so what?" Bao Zheng asked.
"I'm thinking that the so-called magic trick is nothing more than letting the audience see the appearances that you want them to see, while hiding the truth that you don't want them to see."
"That is to say, the person who was dragging the car backwards was fake?" Shen Kuo immediately realized.
"That's right. What does the dummy fear the most? Being seen through the clothes and seeing that there's nothing inside. Therefore, the clothes can't touch the ground, otherwise it'll be easily exposed."
"So, there are wheels hidden under the Fang Xiangshi who was dragged in upside down just now?"
"Well, judging from the traces here, there must be wheels. So..."
He pulled himself together and stood up, just in time to see Xu Chong trying to move the square treasure box that was placed on the jar.
"Xu Jieji, no!" Huailiang shouted, but it was too late.
Xu Chong had already moved the treasure box. He only saw a flame gushing out from below, brushing past Xu Chong's face.
He was pushed by a gust of air and fell on his back . He was just glad that he had escaped. But he saw the heavenly book hanging above his head burning. A cloud of black mist gushed out from the mouth of the jar, and countless flying insects flew out of the mouth and flew around in the smoke. Soon, it filled the hall. Everyone was frightened and scattered in all directions, fearing that they would be contaminated by this ominous black mist and flying insects.
Then the black fog dissipated, and the flying insects disappeared. Everyone either lay on the ground with their buttocks sticking out, or hid under the altar trembling, or hid behind the pillars like a fool. Only Lao Bao, Shen Kuo and Huai Liang stood at the door, watching this embarrassing scene.
"Xu Jieji, you released the Tian Gang and Di Sha together? And you also burned the Heavenly Book?"
The policeman next to Xu Chong said in horror.
Xu Chong lowered his head and looked at the box in his hand with the lid opened. He was trembling with his mouth wide open. A roll of silk that was mostly burned slowly fell from his head and landed between his legs.
