Suppression

A tremendous roar surged from all directions, and we, like a small boat in the vast sea, could be submerged at any moment in the impending storm.

Back to back, we stared intensely in our respective directions. The colossal thunderous noise, akin to a torrential mountain flood in a valley, resonated in our ears, tormenting us with its intensity. Even Big Head, usually thick-skinned, was nervously tense; I could feel the tightness in his back as he leaned against me.

Oddly, the roar seemed somewhat exaggerated. Like an invisible flash flood rushing through, the sound gradually faded within a few minutes. We exchanged glances, all feeling a sense of relief after surviving that ordeal. Big Head shouted with a hoarse voice, "Thunder without rain. Did God just let out a fart?"

I surveyed the surroundings, finding no visible changes. The bizarre "flash flood" just now seemed to rush in from all directions simultaneously. If we could identify the source of the sound, we might find an exit.

I searched around, checking if there were any vents on the walls of the main hall. However, there was no discovery. Suddenly, I glimpsed a peculiar structure on the top of the hall. A thought struck me, could this strange roof configuration be the cause of the earlier "flash flood"?

I asked Big Head to focus the beam of light on a particular "ear" structure. Inside, I could see a deep and distinctly layered fold. Contemplating for a moment, I cupped my hands, shouted at the hall's ceiling, and, with the relatively spacious interior, the sound echoed twice before gradually fading. I shrugged at them, "Doesn't seem like..."

Before I could finish, a distant and approaching "zhā" sound, like the roar of a celestial being, echoed through the hall, lingering for a while before fading away.

Seeing a door, I exclaimed, "Sound-emitting structure."

"What?" Big Head looked puzzled.

Suddenly, the floor beneath us shook. Caught off guard, except for Han Sheng, the three of us stumbled dangerously. At the same time, a stone slab near the clock tower sank, and each subsequent slab backward descended, forming a descending flight of stairs.

Big Head, excitedly, "Damn, not bad, we shouted a path out."

Confused about what was happening, I didn't pursue the truth at this moment. The four of us, without hesitation, followed the stone steps downwards. Below was a spacious corridor with drainage channels on both sides, containing brownish substances. There were lamp holders on the walls, but the oil had burned out.

The passage wasn't long. At the end, a moderately sized stone chamber appeared. On both sides were placed over a dozen giant tripod bronze cauldrons. Opposite was an exaggerated upward stone staircase. At a glance, there were at least a hundred steps, leading to a bronze door at the top, with seven or eight door bolts directly embedded in it.

Big Head, with a sly look, asked me, "Cao, what do you think? These cauldrons hidden so deep, could they contain treasures?"

"You said this trip has already paid off," I replied.

"Hey, who wouldn't be happy with money? Reject a gift from heaven, and you'll suffer for it. As long as everyone contributes a bit of love, the world will become a beautiful place. I have to climb up and take a look." Big Head said solemnly, uttering some nonsense. I scolded him, not understanding what he was talking about. While talking, he had climbed up using the cauldron ears.

I turned to see Han Sheng heading towards the bronze door. A bit worried, I was about to go over when Big Head shouted from above, "Cao, help me focus the light, this thing is quite heavy." I reluctantly took the flashlight to help him illuminate. These cauldrons seemed ancient, with a thick patina on the outer layer, and they displayed an ancient style with raised ears, bulging bellies, and columnar legs. Especially unique was a double-headed python statue on the cauldron lid, its material indistinguishable. Big Head, red-faced, struggled but couldn't lift it, cursing in frustration.

Out of curiosity, I circled the bronze cauldron and observed. The patterns on the mouth were typical dragon and phoenix motifs, with linked thunder patterns on the abdomen and two ears and three legs. It had a clear style of the early Zhou Dynasty. While looking, I noticed a peculiar square shape on the cauldron wall, slightly concave. I walked over and gently touched it, finding it was a blocking plate that could be pushed in. It reminded me of the alchemy furnace used by Laozi to refine the monkey. How come there was a small window here?

I shouted to Big Head above, "Don't waste your effort; there's a window below. You come down and take a look." He doubted, "What window? Don't fool me; how can a cauldron have a window?" I scolded him to come down and see for himself, pushing open the small window and looking inside. The cauldron was too dark, so I used the flashlight. I suddenly saw a person sitting against the cauldron wall. The clothes were very worn, and the hair was disheveled, seemingly dead for a long time, not moving.

I was startled, took a step back, and Big Head asked me what was wrong. Shocked, I said, "There's a person inside."

"Wait, that's not right. It should be a monkey," Big Head said.

I said, "I'm not kidding; come down and see. I suspect it's the owner of the bloody handprint."

He saw that I wasn't joking and slid down along the cauldron ear. My heart thumped as I wanted to take another careful look at that person. Holding the flashlight in one hand, I pushed the small door open with the other. As the bronze plate was pushed open, a withered and pale face appeared behind the small door. The two sunken eye sockets stared at me, and my mind buzzed. All the pores on my body exploded, and I screamed. Reflexively, I took a few steps back, accidentally stepping on Big Head's foot, making him wince.

"There's... something..." I stammered, frightened.

Big Head stomped his foot, looking confused, "What something? Isn't it a person?"

Stammering, I said, "Not a person, a transformed person. Damn it, it's that ghostly thing that's been chasing us."

Han Sheng, also alerted by my shout, along with Xiao He, rushed over. He wanted to go over and see, but I stopped him, "Don't, it's that ghostly thing."

He shook his head, indicating it was okay. Gently prodding the bronze door open, as soon as it cracked open, it was forcefully pushed back, and a hair-raising sound of fingernails scraping against the cauldron wall came from inside, making my whole body shudder.

Wide-eyed, Big Head incredulously pointed at the other bronze cauldrons, "What's in these too? What the hell are these things?"

Xiao He said, "Regardless of what they are, the key is why they were sealed here. If

 this temple is indeed a place of worship, it should be essential. Why would they lock up these monsters?"

"Grave guardians?" Big Head speculated.

"No." I said, "If it were to guard the tomb, they wouldn't be locked up."

Big Head obviously felt that his speculation wasn't holding up and scratched his head, saying, "Yeah, using these things to guard the tomb; one is already so powerful. If all were released, we would have been doomed long ago."

"Wait a minute, what did you just say?" A sudden thought flashed through my mind.

"Release? Just saying if one is so powerful, then if..."

"Yes, just one." I interrupted him, "Have you ever thought about why there is only one in the tomb? These large cauldrons are obviously used to suppress these creatures. That means people at that time understood the terror of these things. They obviously had no better way to deal with them, so they suppressed them. But why leave one outside?"

"We can deduce from the reverse. If they had planned for the descendants to come and take away the bodies, how could they have left a monster in the temple? Maybe accidentally, our monster chasing us from outside is an anomaly! Or perhaps, at that time, this monster might not have existed yet. If the monster is not from the tomb, then where did it come from? Firstly, it must be from the outside, secondly..."

At this point, I looked at everyone, "Reincarnation."

"The origin and emergence of such entities were beyond the control of the people at that time," I explained.

Big Head countered, "How could it come from the outside? Are you suggesting that a living person... would transform into that ghostly appearance?"

I replied, "When we were with the Cao family, we also encountered that monster. Surprisingly, it stripped a Cao family member naked and put on their clothes. I found it strange at the time, but now, isn't that a characteristic of a human? If it were a dumpling, would you expect it to have any sense of shame, maintaining the Five Disciplines and Four Beauties?"

"I am more inclined to believe that the creature underwent some peculiar transformation related to this tomb," Han Sheng suddenly spoke, then continued, "But there is a mistake. It's not just one; there are two of those entities in this tomb."

"Are you saying it's a kind of mutation?" Big Head looked incredulous.

"More like a kind of demonization."

Listening to Han Sheng, I suddenly understood a crucial point. In the Dragon Transformation Pool, why, apart from Bai Gongsheng, was my father's corpse also inside it?