Iron Bull taucht wieder auf

Kapitel 235

The palace complex stretched out for a long time. When he had searched two-thirds of it, he was exhausted and hungry, and could only sit down to rest. His backpack had been lost during the descent, and despite his superb wilderness survival skills, he couldn't find anything to eat or drink here.

The cleanliness here was beyond imagination, like a meticulously crafted model of a courtyard, without a speck of dust. There were no candles; the ground and buildings emitted a faint white glow, like lanterns veiled in white gauze. It was precisely this light, like a white paper lantern, that made him think of words like tombs, the dead, and eternal flames.

During the second search, he discovered a dark blue metal door embedded in the wall, six meters high and three meters wide. The presence of such modern materials in an ancient building would be utterly incongruous, and the door was remarkably thick, featuring a recessed human figure.

He tried to press his body against the indentation, but found he wasn't tall enough. The design was for people over two meters tall. Near the waist, there were four dark, round holes, each about the thickness of an arm, their purpose unknown. He tested them; the holes were about eighty centimeters deep, but not through-holes, just big enough to fit an arm completely. This indicated that the metal door was at least a meter thick.

Gui Luo's wristwatch had stopped working, becoming a complete waste, so he couldn't keep track of time. When he felt extremely tired, he would lie down to rest in front of the iron gate. Perhaps he had only dozed off for a moment when he was suddenly awakened by a strange sound, and it felt as if he were lying on a waterbed or waves—the ground was covered with snakes, green snakes with wings on their backs, which had lifted him up. Looking around, all he could see were ugly snakes of varying thicknesses, almost filling every corner of the palace, a green, surging wave everywhere.

Gui Luo had two swords strapped to his belt, a short fighting knife and a long machete, but against this snake formation, the power of the two swords was still too insignificant. His Iron Shirt Kung Fu had been trained to the point that his whole body was as stiff as iron, impervious to snake bites, and his only weakness was under his tongue, so he could easily hold out for an hour.

His plan was to use the momentum to fly to the rooftop and temporarily escape the snake array, but the snakes had been coiled around his hands and feet from the very beginning, giving him no chance to even draw his sword. Finally, a snake as thick as his thigh tightly coiled itself around a pillar, its head facing his face.

“These snakes are sentient beings; they actually saw through my weakest point—” This was the only thing that horrified him at the time, because the snake kept trying to plug his nostrils with its tongue.

In the standoff between man and snake, it was "King of Catchers" Gui Luo who lost. Even the most skilled person cannot breathe without a nose and mouth. In that situation, if he opened his mouth, he would likely be immediately devoured by the snake, suffering a fate far worse than those bandits who fled into the mountains.

What he found most resentful was that after twenty years of unparalleled dominance in the martial world, he would ultimately die in a dark, sunless underground palace. He had a woman he deeply loved, waiting for him in the capital to return, marry him, have children, and retire to the countryside together. He didn't want to die, so when he felt he could no longer hold his breath, he suddenly stretched his neck and let out a long howl—Red Little Devil's storytelling skills were quite good; his narration was captivating and engaging, firmly holding Gu Qingcheng's attention. When he said "let out a long howl," he also raised his head towards the white ceiling, making a loud shouting gesture to match the plot of the story.

Being entangled by a venomous snake is definitely not a pleasant experience. As he recounted the story, I kept replaying the terrifying scene I had seen through the sniper scope in my mind.

Could mutated snakes really be endowed with human-like thinking abilities? Is that even possible? Reality leaves no room for doubt. Regardless of what kind of radiation caused this situation, what we see before us is a group of strange snakes capable of "reading between the lines."

"And then? The 'King of Catchers' Gui Luo's 'washing his hands of the martial world' ceremony was held at Gu Shi Villa on the banks of the Qiantang River in Hangzhou. My brother was fortunate enough to witness it. Why has this part of history never been circulated in the martial world?"

Gu Zhijin is well-informed in the martial arts world, so if anything strange happens, it shouldn't be kept from him and his sister.

“Yes, only three people in the martial arts world know this story, plus a monster who may or may not be considered a ‘human’.” Red Ghost took out a palm-sized electronic notebook from his pocket, pressed a few keys, and then held it up to me and Gu Qingcheng. “See, it’s better to let Gui Luo tell the story himself; that would be more credible.”

A clear, moving image appeared on the two-inch square LCD screen: a middle-aged man with short hair, dressed in a Tang suit, sat upright in a grand chair, holding a piece of emerald green crystal, about the size of a baby's fist. Behind him hung a banner with vigorous calligraphy, bearing the four large characters "Return My Rivers and Mountains" by Yue Fei, the anti-Jin hero.

“Senior Gui Luo.” I recognized him, a renowned master of the righteous path who had been famous since childhood.

"Jadeite? There are such large grape-shaped jadeites in the world? My God, if Gu Zhijin saw this, he would be green with envy—" Gu Qingcheng's attention was drawn to the crystal held in Gui Luo's palm, and she couldn't help but exclaim in admiration. Influenced by Gu Zhijin, she was naturally skilled in appraising gemstones and jade.

"It's jasper. He said there's a place that's practically a massive jasper mine. Not just jasper, but also red crystal, amethyst, and topaz, which South American jewelers consider the finest in the world. You can even find the legendary priceless black crystal. The quantity of them is beyond everyone's imagination, even hundreds of times more than the combined annual output of the world's major gemstone producing regions."

Red Little Devil shrugged dismissively, completely disregarding these things that could drive women all over the world crazy.

"Did Senior Gui Luo say those things? And are those crystal mines located beneath this mountain?" The details are about to be revealed, but the deeper we delve, the more perplexing the results become.

"You guessed right, I've already told the first half of the story. The second half is recorded in my notebook, please take your time reading it—"

Red Devil turned the volume knob to the maximum, and Gui Luo's slightly Shandong-accented Mandarin immediately rang out: "I screamed, my chest, which had been suffocating for so long, felt like it was about to explode, but my arm was tightly wrapped by the snake, and I couldn't break free at all. In an instant, I shamefully fainted."

He wiped his neatly trimmed mustache and smiled sheepishly.

"I, Gui Luo, the world-renowned 'King of Catchers,' was actually terrified by a poisonous snake and fainted. If word got out, I would have no face left in the martial world. Even in my unconscious state, I could clearly feel the wet snake tongue sweeping towards my face. As my inner energy dissipated, my Iron Shirt technique immediately lost its protective effect, and I was about to be torn to shreds by the poisonous snake. Just then, a shadow suddenly approached, a flash of light, and the poisonous snake beside me was instantly severed into seven or eight pieces, and the restraints vanished. The shadow grabbed my arm and soared into the air as if riding on clouds."

"I only saw his profile. The technique he used didn't seem to be traditional lightness skill, because only a few seconds passed between killing the snake and escaping and entering a large pit filled with crystals. I suspect he practiced the long-lost 'Transcendental Divine Skill,' which allows him to ignore any spatial distance and arrive instantly at a speed thousands of times faster than ordinary lightness skill. The irregularly shaped circular pit was about thirty meters in diameter, and the bottom of the pit where we landed was at least fifteen meters above the top. The pit walls were covered with crystals of various colors."

Gui Luo paused, weighed the jadeite worth over fifty million US dollars in his hand, and casually tossed it onto the table. If someone had visited an uncountable crystal mine, they certainly wouldn't have given such a single gemstone much thought.

"My spirit was on the verge of collapse and I could only lean on the person who saved me. My gaze went through his armpits and saw a golden-armored warrior sitting opposite me. That kind of heavy armor can only be seen in period dramas to this day, but he sat solemnly on a pile of jasper, holding a handful of gems in each hand as casually as a farmer holding clods of dirt or a mountain quarryman holding stones."

I suspect that Gui Luo recorded these videos to show someone, perhaps even to Hong Xiaogui. Therefore, their relationship must have been very close.

The warrior lifted the golden helmet on his head and asked with dissatisfaction, "Yang Tian, why did you bring this person back? People who covet jewels and gold should die. Let him fend for himself in the snake formation!"

I was suddenly taken aback. The samurai had actually spoken my elder brother's name, and they must have been quite familiar with each other, otherwise he wouldn't have called him by his name.

Gu Qingcheng took the notebook from Hong Xiaogui's hand, her hands trembling slightly from the tension.

“Feng, I’m pretty sure there’s a huge crystal mine somewhere inside this mountain. Maybe we can find it and split it in half, how about that?” Red Ghost’s face grew increasingly grim, but he didn’t show excessive greed; instead, he wore a look of deep loathing.

He paced back and forth impatiently, constantly smoothing his messy hair.

I have no interest in the crystal mine; I only want to find out how my elder brother ended up with a mysterious ancient warrior. The snake wall remains high, but I've made up my mind to persevere until I reach the end and find my brother's whereabouts.

Gui Luo's voice still echoed: "I've heard of the name 'King of Tomb Raiders' Yang Tian, but I never expected to meet him here, let alone be rescued by him. After I calmed down a bit, I suddenly noticed that the warrior had a pair of strange square eyes on his face, like two blackened dice. My first reaction was that that person was definitely not from Earth, but a demon that had escaped from hell, yet he clearly spoke fluent Mandarin and could make human expressions on his face."

Yang Tian said, "I am an Earthling, and I will not let my fellow human beings perish in the belly of snakes. Once the energy radiation ends, I will send him out." The warrior sneered, tossing out a crystal, the entire pit filled with a clattering sound. He said, "I am also an Earthling, yet I have encountered inexplicable misfortune. I can only save myself; no one can help me. You Earthlings only know how to frantically plunder gold and gems, but you don't know how to use them. You collect loads of them and then store them away, occasionally taking them out to show off—"

Here, I noticed a very obvious grammatical error in Guiluo's speech. The warrior said that he was "also an Earthling," but why did he say "you Earthlings" to his elder brother? It seems that he wanted to separate himself from others.

Just like when I looked at Li Kang's family records, there was no information indicating that a human with square eyes could exist on Earth. Intuitively, I felt that the square-eyed monster belonged to another planet, or that the artist had deliberately distorted its appearance. Now, with Gui Luo's words as corroborating evidence, it is enough to show that a square-eyed monster does indeed exist in this mountain.

Gu Qingcheng suddenly exclaimed in surprise: "Mr. Feng, could it be that there is such a strange person with square eyes who has lived from the Qin Dynasty, when the Li family's ancestors lived, all the way to today's 21st century, and can still communicate and talk smoothly with Earthlings? This... is really unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable!"

Although she kept holding the notebook tightly as she listened to Gui Luo speak, her brows furrowed more and more, and she understood less and less.

Yang Tian said, "It's all fate. Who told us to be connected to this planet? The radiation level is still not high enough. I think you should continue to increase the depth of the energy tower, at least four times its current size." The warrior immediately cried out, "Four times? I've worked hard for fifty years to carve this huge pit in the radiation core. Four times the depth would take another two hundred years, and I simply don't have the time. The King of Terror is about to descend from the sky. Forget it, my mission will never be completed. Let it be. At worst, we'll all perish."

Gui Luo's narrative grew increasingly chaotic. Twenty years ago, mentioning the "King of Terror" was still a novelty for Asians. I smiled wryly, because the samurai claimed to have spent fifty years digging the pit, as if time on Earth was merely a physical concept to him, incapable of causing his physical body to age, grow old, get sick, or die.

"I wanted to listen carefully, but Yang Tian slashed my carotid artery with his palm, and I fainted for the second time. When I woke up again, I was in the mountains and forests, and Yang Tian was just a dozen steps away in front of me, only his profile was visible to me. Fortunately, I secretly hid a piece of jasper in my palm, not because I coveted its value, but as a souvenir of this strange journey."

Yang Tian said, "You've been exposed to a large dose of radiation, and your body is severely damaged. Although I've done my best to repair your body, it's all in vain. You only have about ten years to live. I hope you can warn everyone not to try to find out what happened here, and even less to waste your efforts coveting those colorful crystals." He only said that much before disappearing like a phantom. I lost my gun and continued chasing the bandits with only two knives, only to find them all dead in the wilderness, without a single wound on their bodies, and their faces showed no terror at the time of their deaths, but only the blissful expressions of someone who had overdosed on hallucinogens.

"And so, I completed my mission, adding a final layer of gold to the name 'King of Tomb Raiders.' Upon returning to the capital, I immediately underwent an X-ray examination, the results of which left me disheartened. My body's hematopoietic function had partially ceased, and I could only rely on medication and artificial blood transfusions to prolong my life. However, as Yang Tian said, I lingered on for another ten years, spending time with Shishi. These were the happiest and most meaningful ten years of my life. Now, I am about to die, and I am writing these things down for you to hear. Remember, never try to explore what's inside that mountain. The words of 'King of Tomb Raiders' Yang Tian are never meant to be mysterious or sensational."

When Gui Luo, the "King of Catchers," finished speaking, his expression was calm, as if he had no regrets and was ready to die.

“Feng, he once left behind a painting, which depicts Yang Tian’s profile. Since I was four years old, I have hung it at the foot of my bed, looking at it day and night, hoping that one day I could meet that legendary figure. Xiao Yan once saw that painting and pointed out that your profile is very similar to that painting, so I gladly came to the mountain to lend you a hand.”

Red Devil put away his notebook and continued to laugh self-deprecatingly: "Right now, only you, me, Miss Gu, Yang Tian, and Square-Eyed Warrior know about the crystal mine. Even if it's divided into five parts, we can still amass a mountain of wealth and stand out among the top ten richest people in the world according to Forbes magazine."

Gu Qingcheng sighed thoughtfully, "Mr. Feng, do you think there's a reason why Hero Yang Tian didn't let Gui Luo see his face?"

Part 5: The Blade of Distance

— Chapter 7 — The Most Dangerous Fishing Game —

Red Devil quickly raised his hand and answered: "It's very simple. Under the extremely strong radiation, his body also underwent a mutation. Like that square-eyed samurai, his oval eyes turned into square ones. Based on the data from the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, it can be inferred that the first mutations in people who suffered from devastating radiation started with their hair and facial features."

A chill suddenly ran down my back. "King of Catchers" Gui Luo was a direct descendant of the Shaolin Temple, a disciple of the "Jue" generation. He had profound attainments in both internal and external martial arts, but under the mysterious radiation, he was powerless to resist and could only wait to die.

Could it be that my brother's face has really undergone some kind of mutation? I felt my facial expression becoming increasingly stiff. Although the little devil hadn't explicitly stated my relationship with "King of Tomb Raiders" Yang Tian, it was just a thin veil that would break at the slightest touch.

"Perhaps things aren't so bad after all? My elder brother once said that Yang Tian, the 'King of Tomb Raiders,' is a god in the underworld, capable of anything, influencing any outcome, and reversing any defeat. Since he's a god, he naturally possesses unknown abilities—"

Gu Qingcheng stopped looking at me and turned her face to stare at the snakes that were slowly wriggling. As if by some tacit understanding, the little red devil also hummed a little tune and strolled to the side, and the three of them immediately became individuals who would not interfere with each other.

After seeing the square-eyed warrior in Li Kang's ancestral book, I subconsciously regarded him as an alien. Now it seems that there was some misunderstanding, because I learned from Gui Luo that the square-eyed warrior also spoke Mandarin, not the unknown language that was being mumbled in the movie footage.

My elder brother was in that enormous crystal pit with a strange Earthling. Since the intense radiation would kill Gui Luo's body, my brother's chances of survival wouldn't be high either. Gui Luo died ten years ago, but what about my brother? Under such intense and prolonged exposure to radiation, wouldn't he also— My thoughts were suddenly jolted; this logical connection seemed perfectly reasonable from every angle.

My elder brother has been out of contact with the martial arts world for so long. Perhaps it was because his health changed and he could no longer see people, so he hid in the deep mountains and died alone. I tried my best to control my emotions, but my eyes were still burning, as if something was about to burst out.

The sound of three jeeps engines echoed on the way. Gu Qingcheng turned around abruptly, took out a small bottle of whiskey from her pocket, and said with a wry smile, "Here you go. Perhaps the alcohol will help you. Now, you are the backbone of the whole team. Don't let anyone notice anything unusual."

She didn't dare look me in the eye, and her hand trembled slightly as she handed me the bottle.

I mumbled a thank you, only to find my voice terribly dry, my Adam's apple throbbing painfully. The strong alcohol went down my throat, carrying a wild, untamed energy that poured into my very being, instantly filling my body with a boiling, feverish sensation.

"Drugs were added to this wine?" I didn't want to directly mention the word "stimulants," as I've always abhorred that kind of stuff.

Gu Qingcheng smiled and shook her head: "It's not what you think. It just has some American ginseng essential oil and mimosa extract added. It's 100% plant-based, not a synthetic product like opium poppies. How are you feeling now?"

My energy and mood instantly improved, and I straightened my back again.

"Thank you anyway." I handed the bottle back to her, my hands already tinged with the scent from her pocket. At this moment, maintaining team morale was paramount. As key figures, she and I should always face all team members with unwavering confidence.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you, just like back at Fengge Temple, I always believed you wouldn't hurt me. The world may be treacherous, and true friends may be few and far between, but some people's inherent nature can't be changed. Perhaps we are the closest of kindred spirits, do you believe me?"

Her words were full of mystery, and her gaze was fixed intently on the approaching jeeps.

"I hope so, Miss Gu. If we can successfully rescue Su Lun this time, we will definitely treat you to dinner at the most luxurious hotel on Hong Kong Island to express our gratitude. She is very important to me, more important than my own life. I will repay anyone who is good to her with my life." My unspoken message was very clear: I would never accept someone's kindness without a reason, even if the kindness was offered voluntarily.

The car came to an abrupt stop below the platform. Tiger jumped down impatiently, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, and cried out, "Feng, can you believe it? In the other passage, there are scorpions, toads, and centipedes, and all of them have mutated, with wings on their backs, just like those flying snakes."

Most people were still licking their chapped lips, looking at each other in disbelief, unable to speak.

"I told you, those side paths are off-limits. Don't even think about them. Being careful will never hurt me—" The tiger was very agitated, waving his hands in the air.

Gu Qingcheng whispered, "His love is already terminally ill. You see, isn't love also the most powerful kind of poison in the world, enough to make people lose their minds and not be able to distinguish east from west?"

Before I could answer, she made a gesture, and Uncle Wei, who was still sitting in the passenger seat, suddenly leaped up and used the "Ladder Cloud Leap" footwork to rush straight to the platform.

"Uncle Wei, what's going on?" Gu Qingcheng's calmness contrasted sharply with the anxiety and panic of her teammates. When she casually tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, the light and graceful movement was like that of a top dancer slowly dancing to music, every gesture a masterpiece.

Uncle Wei glanced uneasily at the snake formation, and before speaking, he let out a long, somber sigh.

“Miss, the situation in the passage is terrible. The three types of poisonous insects are more than five times larger than usual. They have a total of four wings on their backs, which look asymmetrical. I suspect that the wings are not for flying, but have some other strange purpose.”

He bent down and took off the combat boots he had specially changed into today, gesturing with a wry smile: "The body length of scorpions and centipedes is almost the same as this boot. According to common biological knowledge, the carapace of two-year-old venomous insects turns grayish-black, while those over three years old are charred black. I just observed through binoculars that many centipedes have completely black carapaces, chelipeds, and antennae, and their venomous pincers are as sharp as blades. They are probably venomous insects that have become sentient over many years."

I chimed in at the opportune moment: "Uncle Wei, are the poisonous insects all trapped beneath the platform, unable to surge into this five-pointed star array we're in?"

This is very important. I don't want to go deep into enemy territory alone and then be blocked by a swarm of poisonous insects, which would mean certain death.

"Yes, that seems to be the case for now, but Mr. Feng, who can guarantee that they are permanently imprisoned? Perhaps under certain conditions, they will also—"

Gu Qingcheng raised her hand to interrupt his assumption: "There's no need to continue, Uncle Wei. Let's go back to the camp. Today's operation is over."

A stir ran through the team members below the platform; they had probably been waiting for this order for a long time. To be honest, no one wanted to stay too long in this winding and strange mountainside; the oppressive and stifling atmosphere could drive a normal person crazy.

Here, there is no distinction between dusk and bright sunshine; only the faintly glowing stone walls induce waves of drowsiness. Not only them, but I too long for the bright sunlight outside the cave.

Red Devil stood at one end of the platform and suddenly laughed loudly: "Feng, I want to catch two snakes to make specimens. I just thought of a good idea. Can you guess what it is?"

He swaggered back, hands behind his back, head held high with an air of arrogance, looking down on everyone else.

Uncle Wei was taken aback. He walked to the edge of the platform, squatted down, and looked at the snake formation.

With his "Ladder to the Clouds" lightness skill, he should have a greater than 60% chance of leaping to the top of the snake formation, seizing the venomous snake, and then flipping back in mid-air. However, Gu Qingcheng would never allow him to do such a foolish thing, because those were vicious, adult snakes, not chickens roaming in a threshing ground. If he couldn't control the snake's vital spot from the very first move, the consequences would be unimaginable.

"Can you believe it?" Red Devil said smugly, waving to the group of terrified team members.

Tiger is definitely a smart man, but his mind is completely focused on Tang Xin, leaving him with nothing but a mess of thoughts that prioritize romance over friendship.

"Can you guess? I think the answer is yes." Gu Qingcheng revealed her large, deep dimples and looked at me with a slightly playful expression.

I smiled faintly: "It's a child's trick; he could figure it out with a flick of his fingernail. But where is he going to find fishing line and rod?"

The little devil was simply trying to catch a couple of snakes by "fishing," a practice common in many swampy and wetland countries around the world, where fishermen use live flies as bait to fish for water snakes. However, I had a strange feeling that these snakes wouldn't take the bait, because they possess an unimaginable spirituality.

Gu Qingcheng tossed her long hair and smirked, "I'd like to see how he's going to fish for me?"

We think about problems at very similar speeds and in very similar directions, almost moving forward in sync. This feeling of being in sync always brings me unexpected surprises.

The little red devil fumbled around his waist, slowly untying a red silk belt. It was surprisingly long; the belt was wrapped around his body more than six times. Then, he tugged at his left wrist a few times, pulling out a transparent nylon fishing line, which he tightly tied to one end of the belt.

Gu Qingcheng frowned: "Mr. Feng, do you think he might use the Shaolin Temple's 'binding wetness into a stick' technique, channeling internal energy into his belt to turn it into a fishing rod?"

I glanced at her and replied calmly, "Perhaps. Gui Luo is proficient in all 'Seventy-Two Shaolin Arts.' This 'Wet Staff Technique' is just one of the lowest-ranked internal energy techniques. If he wanted to teach it to Little Red Devil, it would be an easy task."

"Feng, do you know what I'm going to do?" Red Devil grinned mischievously as he unfurled the fishing line, which stretched out to be about fifteen or sixteen meters long.