After walking for about five minutes along the winding path, they emerged from a pine forest to suddenly find a temple.
The village at the foot of the mountain was desolate, but this temple on the mountain did not seem to be. Its blue bricks and concrete structure, with the bright lacquer on the temple gate, indicated it was a newly built modern temple.
The temple gate was tightly shut. The plaque above was carved with three characters: Han Yin Temple.
"One person does not enter a temple," especially in the middle of the night. I planned to go around and continue climbing, but after circling for a while, I realized this temple was precisely situated on the mountain path.
To the left was a cliff, bottomless.
To the right was a patch of sea buckthorn, its branches covered in thorns. Unless one wore armor, passage was impossible.
With no other choice, I returned to the front of the temple and pulled the iron ring on the door, knocking three times: "Hello, is anyone there?"
There was no response. I knocked a few more times, still no sound. It seemed I would have to force my way in.
I locked the wheels of my suitcase and placed it in a corner. Stepping on the suitcase, I climbed onto the wall and peered into the temple.
What should have been a terrifying sight did not faze me. My courage had been hardened by previous experiences, and I did not lose control—there were no buildings inside the temple grounds. As far as the eye could see, dense rows of tombstones were laid out, over a hundred of them, all within the temple's walls.
At the end of the tombstone array, opposite the main temple entrance, was a back door. Exiting through there should lead to Jiuxian Cave.
I straddled the wall and observed for a while longer. Confirming there was nothing else unusual besides the tombstones, I decided to pass through.
I’d leave my suitcase here; no one would likely steal it.
I flipped over the wall and into the graveyard, carefully avoiding the haphazardly placed stone tablets, heading towards the back door.
The stone tablets bore the names of the deceased and their birth and death years. The time spans were vast, mostly featuring the reign titles of Qing emperors, such as Kangxi's 48th year or Guangxu's 3rd year. However, all the tombstones were made of the same stone and showed the same degree of wear, indicating they had been uniformly relocated by later generations.
I also noticed that the names of the tombstone owners were preceded by the inscription "Liaodong Ye Bu Shou," just like Song Lei's tombstone, without exception.
Could "Ye Bu Shou" be a brand of tombstone?
If so, it was quite remarkable, with funeral services already becoming industrialized.
Soon, I reached the back door. It was hung with a padlock, so rusted that even with a key, it would likely be difficult to open.
This small temple was built against the mountain. The terrain at the back door was considerably higher than at the front, and the surrounding wall was correspondingly lower.
I easily scaled the back wall and found myself in another patch of sea buckthorn. However, within the thicket, there was a narrow flagstone path. Carefully avoiding the thorns on both sides, I traversed the forest. The path abruptly ended, blocked by a cliff face about ten meters high.
On the cliff face were nine cave openings, arranged in a pattern resembling the Bagua – the eight outer caves were positioned like a Bagua formation, encircling a central cave, making a total of nine.
At the very top of the cliff, above the caves, were carved three vigorous characters: Jiuxian Cave!
Finally, I had arrived. This was the "home" of the girl from my dreams. Regardless of fortune or disaster, I had to find her first. I let out a long sigh, but then quickly noticed a new problem.
The nine cave openings, even the lowest row, were still quite high off the ground, about the height of a basketball hoop, by my estimation. The cliff face was also very smooth, making it likely impossible for even professional rock climbers to ascend.
A long ladder would be needed to climb up.
Just then, dark clouds from the horizon pressed in again, obscuring the moon. The nine cave entrances before me became increasingly blurred, gradually losing their outlines.
Forget it. That's enough for tonight. Protected by the "Nine Immortals" here, it should be relatively safe. I'll wait until dawn.
Utterly exhausted, I sat on the ground, leaning against the cliff face. I lit a cigarette, closed my eyes, and rested.
Before I finished the cigarette, I drifted into dreams...
The dreams were chaotic. I dreamt of Song Lei and my paper cousin, of the temple and the graveyard. I also dreamt that I learned to fly, soaring up the cliff and seeing that each cave entrance had a stone door about a meter inside, completely blocking entry. Fortunately, I knew the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms and forcefully blasted open the sealed doors.
As the doors opened, a swarm of insects, birds, fish, and beasts flew out. Only the central cave yielded nothing. I surmised the girl was in the middle cave and boldly walked in.
Inside, there was an eternal lamp, and the chamber was deep and large. In the center lay a large, red coffin.
I twisted my waist and lifted the coffin lid. A girl dressed in traditional wedding attire sat up rigidly, her face covered by a red veil.
With a pounding heart, I lifted the veil. It was indeed the girl.
"Yaoyao, I'm here," I said.
Yaoyao patted the coffin board with her small hand and gave me a ghastly smile. "Chengfeng brother, this is a double coffin. Hurry and get in!"