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  Whether it's a wandering soul or a deceased person, after many years, they will eventually disappear. There is no one in the world who can live forever, and there are no ghosts in the underworld that can live forever either. As any form of existence, they must follow the natural law, and both humans and ghosts cannot resist time.

  Many tomb raiders have told me that they would rather dig up those holes from thousands of years ago. These holes, apart from being valuable, are also the safest because it's unlikely to encounter any traps - even if everything has rotted away and turned into a lump of mud, what harm can it do? People with some experience know that tombs from the Ming and Qing dynasties are the ones they least want to touch. The risks are huge: firstly, the mechanisms and hidden doors still work; secondly, it's easy to encounter dirty things. The more luxurious the tomb, the higher the probability of encountering dirty things. The master of the tomb had enjoyed wealth and glory in his lifetime, how could he easily let go after death? These people often cling to their wealth and status in the underworld, relying on a single obsession that can keep them lingering for hundreds of years.

  The exact lifespan of a ghost is not stated, but modern mysticism generally believes that the maximum will not exceed 500 years. One version is in Journey to the West Chapter 2, where Sun Wukong kneels in front of his master's bed at midnight and says:

  "I beg of you, Master, to impart the way of longevity to me out of your great compassion and kindness. I will never forget your favor!" The Ancestor said: "You have a good affinity with me now, and I am also happy to speak. Since you have recognized the hidden riddle in the tray, come closer and listen carefully, and I shall impart the wonderful way of longevity to you."

  Wukong wanted to learn "longevity", and the master also taught "longevity". Wukong thought he had learned everything, but the master said "but only guarded against three disasters and harms." "The master's words are wrong." Wukong didn't believe it at all when he heard it. I have already learned longevity, how can there be a "three disasters and harms"?

  "The Patriarch said: 'This is an extraordinary path, seizing the creation of heaven and earth, invading the mysteries of the sun and moon. After the elixir is formed, ghosts and gods cannot tolerate it. Although it can stop aging and prolong life, after 500 years, heavenly thunder will strike you down. You must see your nature and clear your mind to avoid it in advance. If you can avoid it, your lifespan will be equal to that of heaven; if not, you will meet with sudden death.'"

  As a novel, "Journey to the West" is a story about trying to defeat monsters and level up, but more and more people are interpreting it as a religious conspiracy. I once chatted with Cha Wenbin at home about this, and I asked him, since Daoism is so powerful and has so many gods, why can't they defeat a monkey?

  Zha Wenbin replied to me at the time: Taishang Laojun was beaten by a monkey in the book, and his temple was smashed. However, look at the back, Laojun's mount, the green cow, subdued the four masters and apprentices. Do you really think that Laojun's magical power is not as good as a cow?

  Myths belong to myths, legends belong to legends. However, Cha Wenbin did indeed discover that ghosts are truly becoming rarer with age, unless they are corpses that have undergone special treatment. His method is simple: this place has not been visited by anyone for thousands of years, and ghosts also need to eat and drink, so people will set up those gold and silver treasures, incense, and offerings to worship. How could the owner of such a grand tomb endure the loneliness of no one worshipping for thousands of years?

  "Like Xiaoyi, when we were in Northeast China for three years, I never had braised pork, and suddenly you come back and give me a plate, what would I do?"

  "I replied without thinking: 'Eat! What's there to ask? We're all starving to death!'"

  Zha Wenbin smiled and said: "That's right, whether it's human or ghost, they can't escape its nature. If there's really something here, I'll light a stick of incense to try."

  Incense is naturally fragrant, and this thing is also divided into three six nine grades. The poor incense is just sawdust, while the good incense is particular about the ingredients added to it, which are not inferior to those used in a bottle of fine perfume. Zhang Wenbin's incense has many varieties, most of which are homemade. In some Taoist sects, many have their own secret formulas for making incense that are not passed on outside. This time, he used an unusual green-colored incense, which I had never seen before. As soon as the incense was taken out and not yet lit, I caught a whiff of its strange aroma, which is hard to describe. Upon smelling it, I suddenly felt something rush to my forehead, and instantly felt invigorated.

  What surprised me was that the incense stick lit up but couldn't see any smoke, only saw the incense head burning, Zha Wenbin held the incense high and respectfully bowed in all directions: "Yu Hua disperses scenery, nine airs contain smoke; fragrance clouds dense gauze, straight through the nine heavens! Attendant fragrance golden boy, conveys words to Jade Girl; above hears Emperor's presence, orders minister long life; world as immortal, whatever is opened whatever is wished, all beg as spoken, Supreme Old Lord urgently like a law decree!"

  The incense stick was inserted into the ground with reverence, and we could only wait in silence. At this moment, even if Wen Bin didn't remind us, we understood that we absolutely couldn't disturb it. Burning incense, whether at a Taoist temple or a grave, is a solemn matter that must not startle the spirits; otherwise, the incense would be wasted.

  About three minutes later, Cha Wenbin said: "Okay, there is a rough result."

  As he spoke, he went to fetch the incense. Underneath the incense was a piece of paper. The incense pierced through the paper and inserted into the mud. By the time Zhang Wenbin took down the paper, the surface had already left scorch marks from the falling incense ash. He turned the paper over and looked at it, and those burn marks were actually in the shape of a human head!

  Zha Wenbin held up the paper and said, "Indeed, there is something, be careful."

  "Where can you see it?" I asked.

  "This is a smokeless incense, I also call it 'Divine Reversal', just smelling it will make even the gods stumble. It's made from over 500 years old cypress powder, mixed with dragon's blood, safflower and a small amount of agarwood powder, even the water used for mixing is collected from the morning dew on lotus leaves at dawn. This craftsmanship has long been lost. In our school, there was once a master incense maker who left behind only ten sticks, this one I'm using now is the eighth. When lit, everything within a radius of ten miles will be attracted by its fragrance, just now it was the trace left behind, yet I didn't notice anything even though it's only a few feet away from me, and my compass didn't move at all, indicating that this time we've encountered a formidable opponent."

  What he called a hard master were those very difficult to solve dirty things, and the dirty things were also divided into levels. Ordinary ones could be solved with a spell or a talisman, and a curse would do. Those with more resentment might require opening a altar and doing a ritual to summon heavenly soldiers to dispatch them. The most severe cases required coordination, often needing several people to perform rituals together in order to have a chance of subduing them, which would necessitate seeking guidance from major sects or even using array magic.

  Tianzhengdao has always emphasized single transmission, with masters teaching apprentices in a one-on-one manner. The drawback of this approach is that the craft may be lost, and the production of top-grade incense is not only difficult to find raw materials but also requires precise formulas and firing techniques. Cha Wenbin's incense burns extremely fast without producing smoke, yet its fragrance can still be smelled, truly a divine product, no wonder it's said that even gods would fall for it.

  "He reminded us: 'It may be right next to us, or it may be very far away from us now. In short, we must be careful.' I always feel that his words are the same whether he says them or not."

  As you walk further in, the road becomes flat and the water flow and rocks start to increase gradually. It can be seen that the terrain is slowly rising, and branches of the river keep appearing on both sides, until later, every five meters, you can see living spring eyes gushing out around. Most of these springs are only as big as a bowl mouth, with square openings, and have obvious signs of artificial excavation.

  "Dragon Grandpa is quite knowledgeable, he said: "This is the air hole used by our ancestors, inside there are hollow bamboo tubes that connect directly to the outside. Later, the soil filled in was loose and easily washed away by water, so it was reopened. In the past, when we searched for tombs, we would also look for springs. This scale of distribution is also a first-time discovery."

  "Does this mean our current location is in the tomb passage?"

  "Alright, we're almost there," said Long Ye. "I reckon just a few dozen meters more and we'll reach the end. This mountain isn't that big after all."

  "Within ten meters." Ye Qiu spoke up again: "I've already smelled the stench of death."

  Ten meters? The illumination distance of our flashlight is about thirty meters, and in front of us is a straight passageway. It's hard to say how far it goes, but within ten meters, apart from some scattered rocks, there's nothing else.

  At this time, I also didn't dare to speak rashly, and could only look at those few masters. Dragon Master said to me: "Little Yi, there is a flare in your backpack, throw it over and take a look at the situation."

  I rummaged through it and found a small iron lump, which looked similar to a hand grenade, but was filled with white phosphorus, which would explode as soon as it came into contact with air. At a distance of ten meters, even an old rural woman could throw it over. I threw one in the general direction of the front, and a dazzling flash of light suddenly blinded everything. It wasn't until my eyes had slowly adapted that the entire front was illuminated like daylight.

  "Fall back!" Zhang Wenbin and Long Ye almost shouted at the same time, I had no idea what they found, but they have already started turning around to retreat.

  Have you seen the cross of Jesus? I don't mean in a religious sense, but it's really like that here. When the flash bombs go off for an instant, the scenery on both sides is enough to take you back to the legendary Roman Empire.

  That was a row of corpses, like dried meat, piled up on both sides of the passageway. All these corpses had withered away, and their remains blended in with the color of the surrounding stone walls. If it weren't for the illuminating grenade, it would be hard to see clearly.

  For a full half minute, we subconsciously watched this breathtaking scene while slowly backing away. This kind of place is absolutely not where you can easily walk away from, because for those with experience who have fallen into pits before, the thing they fear most is encountering this legendary dead-end road.

  What is a beheading road? It's not that there's no road ahead, but rather an ancient witchcraft used to prevent theft. As for who invented it, it's unclear, but in the archaeological and tomb raiding communities, there's always been this saying: cutting off a living person's head with a quick knife, within minutes after the beheading, the severed head still has consciousness.

  The beheading was not on the execution ground, but in the tomb passage. The executioner would stand behind with a masked face, raise his knife and cut off the head. The severed head would be placed facing outward, because the deceased did not know who had killed him, so he would stare wide-eyed wanting to see who it was. Unfortunately, he would never again see the shadow of the executioner. Because the selected executioner would retreat into the tomb chamber to die and be buried with the dead, these people's skulls could only forever see the tomb passage where no one would ever enter again.

  Year after year, these unjustly dead souls will accumulate a lot of resentment and transform into ferocious evil spirits, waiting for the appearance of their enemies every day. When there are tomb raiders who pass by the grave with joy, he is the first person to appear in the eyes of those skulls. So you become the target of that cunning hand shifting gaze, all the hatred will rush towards the tomb raider in the first time, and the resentment accumulated for thousands of years will be released in an instant, so people who venture into this kind of grave often have only one outcome: being devoured by ten thousand ghosts.

  The legend of the beheading road has been circulating for a long time, but those who have actually seen it are extremely rare, and the reason is simple: those who saw it are already dead...