"What's strange about it?" I asked.
"I can't quite say," Fatty replied, "but the way he looked at us, it just made me feel uncomfortable."
"You're overthinking it," I said.
"I think that old man is definitely not simple, and this village... even if it's not a ghost village, it's probably not much better. It's so late at night, and there's not a sound. I noticed a lot of houses along the way looked like no one was living in them." Fatty said.
"Don't talk nonsense," I said. "We're here now. Even if it is a ghost village, we have to spend the night. If we're out here this late, we'll freeze to death if we're not scared to death by ghosts."
Fatty blew a smoke ring and stared at the offering table not far away. "I'm going to get another candle. It's quite cold."
With that, he walked over, lifted the cloth on the offering table, and took another candle.
It was then that I noticed the wooden statue being worshipped on the offering table. No matter how I looked at it, it resembled a rat.
Fatty clearly noticed it too. He stared at it for a long time and said, "Xiang Ye, come over and take a look."
I walked over, and Fatty pointed at the rat. "What is this thing? If I'm not mistaken, this is a rat, isn't it?"
I looked closely. "It looks like a pangolin?"
"A pangolin?"
Fatty reached out to pick it up, but I quickly stopped him. "What are you doing? Don't touch it randomly."
"I just want to see," Fatty said. "Who worships pangolins?"
I suddenly remembered something my grandfather told me when he was still alive, when I was about seven years old.
I reached out and picked up the pangolin. At the bottom, I saw the character "遁" (dùn).
Seeing this character, I was certain. It seemed it really was them.
Fatty leaned closer. "What is it, Xiang Ye? Did you figure something out?"
I put the statue back on the offering table and said in a low voice, "Don't touch anything here randomly."
Seeing my serious expression, Fatty's eyes darted around. Judging by his look, he wouldn't give up if I didn't tell him.
I quickly called him aside and whispered, "We've walked into a hornet's nest this time."
"A hornet's nest? What do you mean?"
"My grandfather told me that a hundred years ago, there was a sect of tomb robbers called the Armor-Piercing Gate. Any tomb they had plundered was usually left barren. These people were ruthless and didn't abide by any rules. They worshipped pangolins, and they also ate pangolins the most."
Fatty was stunned. "You mean that old man just now was from that... Armor-Piercing Gate?"
"Very likely. And not just him, this entire place is probably the base camp of the Armor-Piercing Gate." I said.
"If they worship pangolins, why do they also eat them?" Fatty asked, confused.
"That's a rule of their trade. The Armor-Piercing Gate originated from bandits. Legend has it that their founder was once trapped in a tomb during a robbery. He couldn't get out and was saved by a pangolin. After getting out, the founder of the Armor-Piercing Gate didn't hesitate to slaughter the pangolin, then ate its meat and drank its blood. From then on, they called themselves the Armor-Piercing Gate disciples."
Fatty pursed his lips. "This lineage is that bizarre?"
I nodded. "My grandfather said he once had dealings with someone from the Armor-Piercing Gate. That time, he almost lost his life. He said that the people of the Armor-Piercing Gate were vicious and never followed any rules..."
Hearing me say this, Fatty swallowed. "What do we do now?"
I sighed. "I don't know. But what my grandfather told me is ancient history. This is a new era, and perhaps the people of the Armor-Piercing Gate are not as ruthless now..."
"How did we end up encountering people from the Armor-Piercing Gate?" Fatty asked.
His question made my heart skip a beat.
That's right, how could we have encountered people from the Armor-Piercing Gate?
My grandfather had said that the people of the Armor-Piercing Gate were nomadic, mostly living in deep mountains and old forests, and they never settled in one place for long.
They built such a village here, could it be that there's a major tomb nearby?
Thinking of this, I felt it was very possible.
Generally, when tomb robbers discover a large tomb, they either clear land and farm or build houses there to cover up their activities.
This is to conceal their tomb-robbing operations.
Some larger tombs cannot be breached in a day or two, especially those with many intricate traps. It requires long-term reconnaissance and thorough study before daring to make a move.
Many imperial tombs, besides traps, also have self-destruct mechanisms. If handled improperly, they could be completely destroyed.
The tombs I had entered before, besides the one belonging to Great Chang and the Emperor, were not really major tombs. 138 Reading Net
As the saying goes, without the skill of three or two, you don't dare to go up Liangshan. Without a dou of rice, you don't dare to enter an imperial tomb.
This "one dou of rice" refers to the skill of entering tombs. Ancient jianghu people often used "dou" to describe a person's ability.
For example, the common saying: "How many dou of rice do you have?"
It means, how capable are you?
If there is a major tomb in this area, given the Armor-Piercing Gate's modus operandi, they probably won't let us leave alive.
After all, if we were to leak any information, their plans spanning so many years would be ruined.
Judging by this village, it would have been impossible to achieve its current scale in less than three to five years.
The more I thought about it, the more I felt we needed to leave quickly.
I shared my worries with Fatty. Fatty said, "But it's so late at night, where can we go?"
Then he gestured with his mouth towards Jiang Feng and Jiang Lingxi not far away. "And them, will they follow us? How will you tell them?"
This was truly a troublesome problem. If I told them the truth, they might not believe me.
I thought to myself, it seems I have no choice but to try.
I woke Jiang Feng up and called Jiang Lingxi over. "We can't stay in this place."
"What's wrong?" Jiang Lingxi asked me. "Isn't this place quite good?"
"I think that old man is not simple, and this place is very likely a bandit stronghold," I said.
Jiang Lingxi couldn't help but laugh. "Xiang Fei, I never realized you could be so amusing. A bandit stronghold? In this day and age, where are there any bandits?"
"When we entered the village, did you see that big black dog that barked at us?" I asked.
"What about the dog?"
"That dog was raised on human flesh. Didn't you see that the dog's fur was different from ordinary dogs? And the dog's teeth were longer than an ordinary dog's... That old man looks quite old, doesn't he? But he led us all the way here without even getting out of breath. Don't you find that strange?"
"Keep making it up, just keep making it up," Jiang Lingxi said. "Do you really think I'm easily scared?"
Seeing that this approach wasn't working, just as I was about to tell the truth, I found my vision blurring, and a strange smell entered my nostrils...