Facing Yan Qing's provocation, Yu Nian remained completely unfazed. She turned to look at A Heng and Granny Qiu. After the mission was issued, the two had been minding their own business, as if living in their own little world.
Seeing that it was still early, Yu Nian, Feng Chengyuan and the others walked out of the room.
Their shoes crunched on the soft snow with a continuous creaking sound.
Feng Chengyuan turned to look at the gradually shrinking house and asked in a low voice, "Nian Nian, what exactly is a flower-cave girl?"
Yu Nian's eyes flickered. When she looked back again, there seemed to be a trace of barely perceptible desolation in her eyes. "Do you know the three evils of Western Hunan?"
The three evils of Western Hunan refer to the three major witchcrafts in Western Hunan. The first is the corpse driver, the second is the art of gu, and the third is the flower-cave girl.
"In the beliefs of some regions, everything has a spirit. Flowers have flower gods, grass has grass gods, and caves have cave gods. Especially cave gods. In the deep mountains of some regions, there are often wells formed by karst caves. These wells are extremely sinister. Locals dare not make loud noises when passing by the caves. Occasionally, a thirsty traveler will enter the cave to get a drink of water. After drinking, they need to weave a kind of knot-like fabric with the waterweeds that grow naturally beside the well and place it in the cave to show gratitude and respect to the cave god, so as not to invite disaster. And the so-called flower-cave girls are girls aged around sixteen to twenty. Most of them are beautiful and intelligent. It is said that flower-cave girls can cry the leaves off evergreen trees, and they won't die even if they don't eat or drink for several days and nights."
"These girls are not allowed to set off firecrackers when they get married, for fear of disturbing the cave god. When the cave god sees a beautiful girl, it will try to steal her soul. From then on, that girl becomes a flower-cave girl. Flower-cave girls are in a daze all day long and will never be interested in secular men again. They often sing and dance. In a daze, they will see the cave god coming on clouds, shining with golden light, to marry them. Usually, when this happens, the families of the flower-cave girls are very anxious. They will quickly find a cave around the village to offer sacrifices and burn paper, saying that their daughters are stupid and not worthy of the god's affection, and praying for the god to return their children. If the girl recovers, the family will think that it is the god's grace and will bring good wine and food to the cave to fulfill their vows. But if the girl remains in a daze, the family has no choice but to accept their fate and silently wait for the girl's death. On the day when the cave god comes to marry the flower-cave girl, the flower-cave girl will die with a smile on her face, and her body will emit a strange fragrance. The family of the flower-cave girl is teary-eyed but helpless. According to the custom, it is a blessing for flower-cave girls to marry the cave god, so the family will not hold a funeral for the flower-cave girl. Instead, they will hold a wedding to celebrate."
After hearing this, Xue Yier twitched the corner of her mouth and whispered, "The behavior of this cave god sounds a bit strange. Is it a good god or an evil god?"
Yu Nian calculated with her fingers in her sleeve and strode towards a certain direction in the forest. "Whether it's good or evil, we'll know once we go and take a look."
The others followed Yu Nian and soon came to the outside of a cave about one person tall.
The entrance of the cave was covered with a thick layer of snow. It took them half a day to dig it open again.
The inside of the cave was pitch black. They could only grope their way forward. After walking about fifty meters, the space inside the cave suddenly became spacious. The distance from the ground to the ceiling was as high as four or five stories. There were large stones on both sides, and they could faintly hear the sound of dripping water.
A gust of cold wind blew. Qi Rongsheng frowned and threw a fire talisman deep into the cave. By the light, they found that the rock walls were engraved with dense scriptures and statues.
Strangely enough, all those statues had angry expressions, glaring eyes and bared teeth. They were extremely terrifying.
Qi Rongsheng wanted to take a closer look, but the next second, the fire talisman was extinguished by a strong wind blowing from deep in the cave.
In the darkness, hundreds of pairs of fierce orange-yellow eyes suddenly appeared, and a stench wafted towards them.
Yu Nian stared at those things for a moment and suddenly said in a low voice, "Quickly turn off all light sources!"
They were all stunned. Before they could react, they saw a swarm of bats like a dark cloud fluttering towards them. Each bat had a rat-like face and bared its teeth as it pounced on them!
They immediately panicked. While dodging, they threw fire talismans at the bats.
Xue Yier picked up a thick wooden stick on the ground and waved it vigorously, trying to drive the bats away.
Yu Nian waved her hand and set up a nearly transparent protective shield in front of them, temporarily blocking the attacks of the bats.
But those bats were incredibly stubborn. They seemed not to feel pain and fought with their lives, ramming into the protective shield again and again with their bodies.
Seeing that the protective shield had started to show cracks, Qi Rongsheng frowned and said, "These beasts are really hard to deal with. How about we retreat first and plan later?"
Yu Nian shook her head. "No need."
The cave they were in was an illusion, so these bats were also an illusion.
No matter how the surrounding world changed, the illusion always represented the desires and obsessions deeply buried in the heart of the illusion master.
Yu Nian had an idea and slowly recited the Heart-Cleansing Mantra. The calm and holy voice echoed throughout the cave, soothing the restlessness in everyone's heart like a cold mountain spring.
Noble, majestic, and enlightening!
At the same time as she recited the last line of the mantra, Yu Nian suddenly opened her eyes. She flipped her palm and sent out a powerful spiritual force.
The blazing light of the talisman illuminated the cave. All those extremely fierce bats turned into ashes like a dream bubble.
Qi Rongsheng and Xue Yier stood there in a daze for a long time. They still couldn't find the words to describe their shock.
This...
They had recited the Heart-Cleansing Mantra since childhood and could recite it backwards by now, but they never thought that a simple Heart-Cleansing Mantra could have such an effect!
It was like you had mastered the ultimate martial arts technique and reached the ninth level, but only to find in actual combat that its effect was not even as good as the starting move!!
When the dust settled and the cave returned to silence, they saw a dismembered cloth doll lying quietly on the ground under the place where the bats had been perched.
Xue Yier twitched the corner of her mouth. "This is so weird. Why is there such a doll everywhere? It's really haunting!"
Yu Nian stared at the fragmented clothes of the doll for a while and found that they were very similar to the ethnic costume that Granny Qiu was wearing.
The doll had a pair of misty eyes. Maybe it was just Yu Nian's illusion, but she always felt that there was an indissoluble sadness in the doll's eyes.
If this doll also had a heart, it must be as broken as its scattered body.
Thinking of this, Yu Nian walked towards the doll and carefully picked it up piece by piece, holding it in her palm.
The moment she put the doll back together, a panicked and helpless voice came into her mind. A girl was crying.
"I'm so scared... so scared... Who can come and save me?"