King of Tomb Raiders

Chapter 197

Just as several team members were about to raise their arms in celebration, Liang Wei stopped them with a stern wave of his hand: "Everyone, don't move. Make sure you're not in a bandit's den before you start talking."

He's right. It's very difficult for the simple, honest natives to survive in the deep mountains and forests. Often, these ancient wooden buildings are home to bandits who have taken over the place. Outsiders without experience in the ways of the world are like lambs climbing onto an altar—they're guaranteed to die.

I was sure there was no such village on the map, so I took Liang Wei's binoculars and looked towards the tallest wooden building.

On the first floor of the wooden building, a young woman dressed in coarse gray cloth was busy at the stove, her rough face glowing red in the firelight. At the window on the second floor, a man wearing a thick animal skin coat held a book in his hands, quietly turning the pages by the evening light.

All the wooden buildings face due east, a feature quite different from the architectural customs of the mountain people.

Liang Wei pondered for a moment, then suddenly spoke up: "Feng, the way these wooden buildings are constructed has nothing to do with Qimen formations, right?"

I nodded, and he immediately continued, "Thirty-five wooden buildings. Roughly estimated, there are no more than fifty able-bodied men who can fight back. The rest will be women and children, not worth mentioning. With our manpower, we can swarm down and control the situation in an instant, right?"

He couldn't make decisions about the actions of large groups of people, which is why he always asked me for advice.

I nodded again. The disparity in strength was enormous; we certainly had the ability to take control of this village.

Liang Wei looked up at the sky; the crimson sunset had already filled the western sky. In another half hour, the sun would set, and dusk would soon fall. These wooden buildings probably wouldn't have any electrical facilities, so the best time for us to act was when it got dark and we lit the lamps.

"Wait?" he asked again.

I laughed: "You're right, we need to wait."

Any military operation is like a skilled hunter. The best hunter is one who is good at defense and adept at offense, and who can obtain the greatest benefits with the least amount of effort.

Liang Wei lay on his back on the grass, picked a blade of grass and put it in his mouth, then closed his eyes comfortably. The other four followed suit, lying down as the best way to conserve their energy.

Through the binoculars, the man put down his book and stood up. He had large, strong hands, was tall and thin, but his body was slightly hunched, as if he were seriously ill. When he stood by the window, gazing eastward, I could sense his barely suppressed melancholy.

After quickly adjusting my focus, I saw clearly the book he had placed on the table—it was an English edition of *The Centuries*. The gray cover and gold-embossed lettering clearly indicated it was a 1985 London edition, translated and proofread by Lena and Jatherine, renowned theology professors at the University of London.

"The Centuries" is not a novel meant for leisure; it is filled with dry and tedious prophecies and is not suitable for mountain dwellers to read when they are bored. Its presence here truly surprised me. What purpose did this man in the leopard-skin coat have in hiding in the mountains to read this book?

The light was gradually dimming, and I couldn't see his face clearly, but I felt that he must have had a pair of thick and prominent eyebrows.

"Liang Wei, I think that man is a bit strange. Come and take a look."

Liang Wei rolled over and got up, grabbed the binoculars, and asked urgently, "Which man? I don't think I saw a man just now?"

I pointed to the tallest wooden building. Dusk fell quickly, and in the blink of an eye, my vision was blurring. Lights first appeared in the wooden building closest to the village wall—probably candles or oil lamps—the dim yellow light shining through the windows. Then, one building after another, lights came on, stretching all the way to the highest point. The tallest wooden building was the last to light up. On the first floor, a woman cooking was lifting the lid of a pot to add water.

“I can’t see her. There’s only one woman over there.” Liang Wei turned to look at me strangely.

The second floor was dark, and in that dim light, everything was blurred into a chaotic mess, impossible to distinguish.

I could only manage a wry smile: "What a strange man! Maybe I can try visiting him tomorrow morning."

"The Centuries" is the book that should never appear in a remote mountain village. Based on my intuition, that man was definitely not an ordinary person who went hunting in the forest.

Flying Eagle's main force had caught up. After a brief pause, they split into three groups and approached the village gate under the cover of dusk. The children who had been playing had all gone home, and the gate was quiet. Perhaps the people inside, busy preparing dinner, would never have imagined that a group of heavily armed outsiders would suddenly break in.

The team advanced along the road directly opposite the village gate, reaching the tallest wooden building, and then spread out laterally, silently blocking the exits of each wooden building.

Suddenly, the sounds of bowls and chopsticks, children playing and crying, and adults talking in the wooden building all disappeared, leaving only the flickering light shining through the doors and windows and the howling north wind, sometimes strong and sometimes weak.

Flying Eagle, Flying Moon, Liang Wei, and I stood at the end of the road. We climbed about twenty stone steps carved into the cliff to reach the entrance of the wooden building. The four team members looked up, their guns aimed at the entrance.

Based on our intuition, the one living at the highest point is undoubtedly the leader of the village.

After waking up, Feiyue remained listless and stayed close to Feiying, rarely speaking. At this moment, she had two guns in her hands and kept scanning the wooden buildings of varying heights around her.

"Who?" a young woman in the wooden building asked in a low voice, speaking Mandarin with a Yunnan accent.

"Passing by, disturbing you for the night. Please have the village leader come out and answer me." Flying Eagle patted the handle of his gun at his waist, laughing without a care in the world. In the deep mountains and forests, the gun represented everything, and he had every right to demand the other party's willing submission.

“Our village is full of women, so it’s not convenient for outsiders to stay overnight. Please find somewhere else to stay.” The woman’s voice was chilling.

"We're staying here tonight. If you're in charge, please come out and meet us." Flying Eagle was a little carried away, revealing his usual roguish and thuggish nature. No matter how rich or powerful a gangster is, the savage and despicable nature in their bones can never be eradicated; it will be revealed given the chance.

"Hmph—" The woman chuckled coldly. The light flickered, and the wooden door at the entrance opened silently, revealing a raised brass oil lamp. Under the lamplight was a terrifying face. On one cheek, there was a crisscrossing scar, meeting at the bridge of the high nose. From the forehead to the chin, the features were distorted beyond recognition.

“I’ve already said it’s inconvenient to keep guests, why force them?” Her lips were restrained by the scars, and with each word she spoke, they twitched painfully, making one’s stomach churn as if following her smile. On her right wrist, which held the oil lamp, was a small, winding black snake, like a strangely shaped bracelet, constantly flicking its forked tongue.

Flying Eagle's expression changed. He put away his pistol, cupped his hands in greeting, and said, "The wind is strong and the frost is heavy in the mountains. Please give us a few rooms to rest in. We will definitely thank you handsomely tomorrow morning."

I glanced behind her a few times but didn't see the man who had been reading follow her down. There was only one lamp in the wooden building, and after she brought it out, the whole place became pitch black.

“We don’t have any spare rooms.” She refused Flying Eagle’s request without hesitation, steadily holding the lamp in one hand and shielding herself from the wind with the other, as she slowly descended the steps. When she stood in front of us, I then noticed that the belt-like thing around her waist was actually a long snake, albeit a grass-green one, with its head obediently biting its tail, resting quietly under her left rib.

Girls are all afraid of snakes, and Feiyue had already quietly hidden behind her brother, not daring to show her face.

Flying Eagle sneered: "I just want to stay the night and don't want to cause trouble. Don't be so stubborn!"

With a gun in hand, he wasn't afraid of just two poisonous snakes. Fortunately, this wasn't in a small African country, otherwise a massacre of the village would have been inevitable.

The woman held her head high, looking us up and down, her sharp gaze landing on my face several times. She was dressed in the coarse cloth gown and wide-legged trousers of a mountain dweller; by all accounts, she looked like an ordinary mountain woman.

“Alright, since you insist on staying overnight, I’ll call everyone out and see who’s willing to give you their house—” She covered her lips with her right hand and whistled, the sound echoing far and wide through the village. Clang, clang, clang—the doors of every house opened, and standing at the door was almost always a woman leading a child, each with two snakes, one small and one large, wrapped around their wrists and waists.

Volume Four: The Divine Trapped in the Epang Palace

Part 1: The Mysterious Borderlands - The Disappearance of Sulun

— Chapter 9 — A Dissident of the Five Poisons Sect —

“Our main building is completely full; we can’t vacate any more rooms, can you see?” The woman pointed to the wooden building, her voice even harsher. “Outsiders, if you dare to trespass into these mountains, you must have your own ways of solving problems. Please leave and don’t disturb our peaceful lives, otherwise—”

Liang Wei suddenly shouted, "So what if I disturbed you? You're just a bunch of outcasts from the Five Poisons Sect, what's so great about you?"

He pointed at the woman's face and continued in an increasingly harsh tone: "Traitorous theft is an unforgivable crime. Drown alive, skinned alive, and expelled from the sect. The Five Poisons Sect no longer wants you. Don't think you're so great..."

With a flick of the woman's wrist, the light shone, and the small snake coiled around her wrist leaped into the air, lunging towards Liang Wei's Adam's apple.

Knowing the consequences of Liang Wei's words, I acted first, exerting force with both palms and pushing them out from a distance, before Liang Wei could react, sending the snake bouncing back onto the woman's wrist.

This tough, highly venomous wire snake is indeed a specialty of the Five Poisons Sect in Yunnan. The crisscrossing scars used as punishment are a signature punitive measure employed by the Five Poisons Sect against traitors. I diligently searched for anecdotes and stories from the martial arts world of Yunnan and Guizhou in recent years, and finally remembered her name—"Natural Enemy" He Jishang.

“Miss He, we are just passing through and do not wish to make enemies. If it is truly inconvenient for us to stay overnight, we will leave on our own. Please show mercy.” I was well aware of the Five Poisons Sect’s methods, and He Jishang was one of the most infamous “femme fatales” in the martial arts world fifteen years ago. Her nickname “Natural Enemy” should be interpreted as “the natural enemy of men”—her face was like a peach blossom, but her heart was like a venomous snake. Hundreds of famous men had fallen for her charms.

"Little friend, why didn't you shoot? You're kind enough not to hurt my wire snake. Hmm, I'll let you go for your sake. But you'd better advise your friend from sub-Saharan Africa to watch his words in the future, lest he seek his own death!" He Jishang sneered, gently stroking the wire snake, not taking the Flying Eagle's men seriously at all.

The wire snake is one of the toughest snakes on Earth; its skin is comparable to a bulletproof vest made of silkworm silk, and ordinary bullets and swords simply cannot penetrate it. These creatures are rare and precious, and those that can be raised to the point of understanding human emotions are even rarer, which is why I didn't rashly fire my gun.

Eagle was still pondering; he didn't want to slink away after just a few words from the other party. A peaceful night's sleep in a wooden building was worlds apart from a night spent in a tent in the wilderness.

Liang Wei's face darkened further. He should have known that his martial arts skills were far inferior to He Jishang's, and he shouldn't have dared to verbally offend her.

“Aren’t you leaving? Don’t think there are only a few snakes in the village. Our village guardian spirit hasn’t received any offerings in a long time. There are enough of you for it to eat for two months. If you don’t leave, I’ll tell everyone to close the gate and invite the village guardian spirit out to meet us.” Her hideous and terrifying face looked especially eerie under the lamplight, making it impossible to look at her a second time.

After careful consideration, Flying Eagle clasped his hands in a fist and said, "I apologize for disturbing you, Miss He."

He knew more about the martial arts world than I did, and he had naturally heard of the infamous female demon He Jishang. Rather than causing trouble by staying overnight, it would be better to leave cleanly and avoid any worries.

Liang Wei looked quite disheveled, after all, he was the first to suggest going into the village.

I looked up at the top of the wooden building, hoping to spot the man reading again, but the windows had already disappeared into the twilight, and I couldn't see anything.

As the large group retreated, He Jishang suddenly stared at my face and asked loudly, "Little friend, what are you looking at? Is there something interesting hidden on the roof of my wooden building?"

I avoided her piercing gaze and nodded: "Yes."

"What is it?" He Jishang's oil lamp flickered again, as if her emotions were stirred.

I shook my head and retreated with the eagle. The history of the Five Poisons Sect spans from the Tang and Song Dynasties to the present day. Every member of the sect deals with poisonous snakes and insects every day, their bodies are covered in poison, and their thoughts and consciousness have undergone very complex changes. I don't want to get involved with such people.

"Explain yourself before you leave—" He Jishang swayed and flew in front of me.

With two sharp "clicks," Flying Eagle and Liang Wei simultaneously pressed their pistols against her neck, their index fingers on the triggers, ready to fire at any moment and smash her neck to pieces.

"Don't touch my friend." Liang Wei's tone was cold and harsh, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down with difficulty.

The wire snake's fangs were pressed tightly against his neck, its tongue licking at his Adam's apple. Shooting was easy, just a flick of the index finger, but he couldn't escape the wire snake's bite; he would die a gruesome death.

Flying Eagle's situation wasn't much better than his. The green snake that had been wrapped around He Jishang's waist had now coiled around his neck, its head raised, facing him directly.

"You're a true friend! If you have the guts, then shoot!" He Jishang slowly held the oil lamp in front of me, and a slightly fishy, bitter smell wafted over.

Fei Yue smiled coldly: "And me, four guns pointed at you!" She pressed her two guns hard against He Jishang's back. The tense atmosphere affected the watchful team members, who simultaneously raised their submachine guns towards the unarmed women with strange snakes wrapped around their waists.

"Four guns? Little girl, is he your lover? Is he worth your concern? But I must give you a piece of advice: women shouldn't be too attached to men. Their hearts will always be in the martial world, never entirely in yours, even if you're willing to die for him—" As she spoke, her face became increasingly ferocious, like a demon, the two crisscrossing scars bulging violently, their deepest parts reaching straight to the bone, separated only by a thin layer of skin.

Feiyue spat, and two blushes suddenly appeared on her face.

“Miss He, we have no grudges against each other, why make things so tense?” I smelled the bitter odor emanating from the oil lamp, and suddenly felt dizzy and lightheaded. I swayed, unsteady on my feet, and felt a strange tightness in my chest. I quickly took a breath and shouted, “Everyone be careful, there’s something strange in this lamp…”

"Too late, little kid." He Jishang laughed strangely.

The gun in Liang Wei's hand clattered to the ground, his body went limp, and he and Flying Eagle fell to the ground at the same time.

Feiyue retreated rapidly, but He Jishang didn't turn around. Suddenly, he kicked out backward, aiming straight for Feiyue's chest. The strange snake that had been wrapped around Liang Wei's neck sprang up at the same time, wrapping around Feiyue's hands like a rubber band, tightly constricting her, making it impossible for her to even pull the trigger.

"Have mercy, sir." I mustered my strength and lunged forward, grabbing He Jishang's ankle at the last second, giving Feiyue time to dodge. However, we were both caught off guard by the poisonous gas in the oil lamp and fell together.

"What a loving young couple! With such a good mood tonight, should we arrange for you to consummate your marriage?" she murmured, her eyes filled with a perverse madness.

None of the team members escaped unscathed; they all collapsed to the ground. It turned out that every lit oil lamp contained that invisible and intangible poisonous gas. As soon as we stepped into this village, we were trapped.

"Drag them into the torture chamber. Tomorrow morning, choose the ones who look pleasing to the eye to feed the village guardian spirit. Tie up the rest properly, and save the most repulsive ones for last." He Jishang waved his hand and ordered the women dressed like mountain folk. The children shouted excitedly, as if dragging people to feed the village guardian spirit was a joyful and important event.

The Five Poisons Sect originated in the Miao region of Yunnan. The locals worship "guardian gods of the sect, mountain gods, courtyard gods, village gods, and Dharma gods," all of which refer to giant pythons with extremely long bodies. Since they could not find enough animal meat to feed them in the wilderness, human flesh became their primary food source.

Feiyue suddenly chuckled: "Hey, what's going on? Good-looking people have to die first, while ugly people live longer?"

She was the only one who hadn't been frightened by the Five Poisons Sect, simply because she had never witnessed the terrifying scene of "Five Poisons Devouring the Body." Many heroes of the martial arts world, after seeing that scene, would be so terrified that they would run away at the mere mention of the three words "Five Poisons Sect."

"Little sister, you don't understand. The more handsome a man is, the more sincere he is when he lies. On the contrary, ugly people don't lie and are honest. You're so young, how much do you know about relationships between men and women? You only know that this pretty boy with delicate features has a sweet tongue and knows how to care for people, so you've given your heart to him one-sidedly. And in the end? He's gone, and you can't even find his grave to cry to. Hehehehe..."

Two tears suddenly fell from her strange eyes, winding their way down the grid-like scars.

He Jishang's history has become an unsolved mystery in the martial arts world. All I know is that she stole one of the sect's "Five Treasures," the "Azure Blood Night-Shining Toad." After her scheme was exposed, she was severely punished and expelled from the sect. However, the "Azure Blood Night-Shining Toad," a treasure that could counteract snake venom, also disappeared from the world.

Watching an extremely ugly woman cry is a very uncomfortable thing.

She suddenly rushed up to me and grabbed my collar hard: "Tell me, why have you been looking upstairs? What did you see? Tell me now!"

I answered truthfully: "A man, a man wearing a leopard-skin coat reading a book by the window."

She suddenly exclaimed "Ah!", her mouth agape to its limit, looking up at the building with an expression of utter astonishment: "What? A...man...a man..."

I nodded, barely managing to lift my chin, and pointed upstairs: "I saw him half an hour ago, reading a book at the east-facing window. I wonder if he's still there—"

She suddenly released her grip, leaped into the air, and pounced towards the second floor, her lightness skill so superb that even a flying crane would be left in awe. The oil lamp remained in her right hand, her left hand shielding her from the wind, and even as she leaped rapidly, the light continued to burn.

"Brother Tian, Brother Tian, Brother Tian..." She was outside the window, and she was already calling out urgently, her voice filled with a mixture of anxious sweetness.

My heart sank suddenly. Ignoring the sharp pain in my shoulders after falling to the ground, I rolled to my feet and stumbled forward. The words "Brother Tian" and "The Centuries" suddenly reminded me of something, but the toxic gas I had inhaled was too strong, and my legs were no longer under my control.

The stone steps were very steep. I didn't have time to think. I bit my tongue hard, and a sweet, fishy smell burst out. I then activated the "Disintegration Technique" to enhance my internal strength with my own blood, barely suppressing the poison. I rose up from the ground, five seconds behind He Jishang, and also flew to the second-floor window.