We had been running for half a day, feeling dizzy and disoriented, yet we still couldn’t see our destination. Doubts had already begun to creep into our minds. When I heard Liang Shiye suddenly say this, Lao Yang stopped and asked him, “Shiye, what do you mean by ‘caught in a trap’? What’s going on?”

Liang Shiye, while rubbing his chest, pointed to the ground and said to us, “You two young gentlemen, take a look at this bone. Doesn’t it look familiar?”

Upon hearing this, I raised the torch higher and indeed saw a skull on the ground, with a hole in it, likely the one that was crushed when he fell down the cliff. I felt a sense of foreboding in my heart. Turning back to shine the light, I found that not far behind us was the very cliff we had just descended.

Lao Yang looked around and complained, “Old Wu, how did you lead us here? Isn’t this the place we just came from?”

I replied irritably, “I don’t know either. Everything looks the same around here. Damn it, I didn’t pay attention while walking, and I don’t know if we took a wrong turn and ended up back here.”

Liang Shiye calmed down and waved his hand at us, saying, “No, that’s not right. You all didn’t notice, but I remember clearly that this path has always been straight, without any turns or forks. This isn’t simple. If I’m not mistaken, we might have been misled by something.”

Lao Yang sensed something was off, and his face turned pale as he said, “That’s bad. Could it be that the vengeful spirits of these corpses are protecting their sacred ground and preventing us from approaching that open space?”

I couldn’t help but chuckle bitterly in my heart. With so many corpses around, it’s hard to believe there are no malevolent forces present. However, Liang Shiye shook his head again, “I don’t think so. I have some consecrated items with me. If there’s something to confuse you, it might affect you, but I should be fine.”

I knew he had some knowledge, so I asked him, “Liang Shiye, you probably have more insights on this than we do. What do you think is going on? Our torches won’t last much longer, and once they go out, we’ll really be in trouble. We need to think of a way quickly.”

Liang Shiye said, “In my opinion, the reason we walked in circles is due to the arrangement of the corpses here. These thousands of bones are intertwined, possibly using some strange techniques to turn the entire cave into a maze. You know about Zhuge Liang’s Eight Formation Array, which could trap hundreds of thousands of troops with just a few piles of stones. Here, with just a few piles of bones, trapping the three of us should be a piece of cake.”

We both knew the story of Zhuge Liang using stone formations to block Lu Xun at the beach of Fish Belly, but we also understood that novels often exaggerate. I couldn’t believe that a few piles of bones could have such a significant effect. If that were true, why bother building so many tanks and cannons?

Lao Yang didn’t believe it either and said to him, “Shiye, don’t try to pull the wool over our eyes with that trick you used on the Guangdong boss. You’re stuck here too. The story of the Eight Formation Array, as I heard in storytelling, isn’t what you say it is. Besides, when we looked from the cliff, the arrangement of the bones here was chaotic and disorganized, and we didn’t notice any special setup. How could it trap us in circles once we came down? Are these corpses capable of moving on their own?”

After saying this, Lao Yang suddenly realized something, quickly covered his mouth, bowed to those around him, and whispered, “Good luck and great fortune, the children don’t understand, please don’t hold it against them.”

Master Liang said, “This is different. What you see from above is just a rough idea. In such a short time, can you remember the entire layout of the corpses? Once we come down, it will be pitch black here, and if even one corpse is slightly misaligned, it could lead us down a pre-designed wrong path, and before we know it, we could be retracing our steps. You two young men have also been through this, and I won’t go into the big principles, but we must not underestimate the wisdom of the ancients.”

I felt that Master Liang had a point, but I couldn’t fully trust him. Regardless, there was definitely something suspicious going on here. Getting to that open space would not be a simple matter, so I asked him if he had any ideas.

Master Liang sighed, “I’m not bragging, but this little formation is nothing to me; I can definitely handle it without any surprises. However, everything takes time, and I’m afraid our torches won’t last that long. Moreover, I believe we have something more important to decide at this moment.”

I understood what he meant and felt a headache coming on. The main issue now wasn’t breaking the formation, but how to face our situation. Not moving was not an option, but moving forward wasn’t either. If we were lucky enough to return to where we started, going again might not be so easy. If the torch went out, we’d be stuck with nowhere to go, and it would be surprising if we didn’t end up in trouble.

Actually, the simplest way to break the formation would be to step over those corpses on the side, but no one suggested that.

After a few minutes of stalemate, the flame of the torch flickered a few times and gradually weakened. Lao Yang looked at the torch and suddenly shouted, “Damn it, I have an idea! Why don’t we just burn all the bones here? Let’s set fire to the whole place, and once it’s burned clean, it will be all good!”

When I heard this, I was struck by how sometimes he could be foolish and sometimes clever. I scolded him, “The bones here are almost petrified; they definitely won’t catch fire. Even if they did, wouldn’t that be self-immolation? Even if you didn’t burn to death, you’d suffocate from the smoke! Forget it, how about this: I’ll go ahead first, and you all keep an eye on the direction of my torch. If my movement strays off course, just call out to stop me, and we’ll know where the problem lies.”

Lao Yang said, “No way! What if the torch goes out halfway? Your situation would be even worse then. Who would go rescue you? We absolutely can’t get separated at a time like this.”

I was getting anxious and was about to retort when the torch in my hand suddenly flickered twice and finally could not hold on any longer, going out with a soft puff.