Xishuangbanna Valley of Horrors

Chapter 3

Legend has it that long, long ago, on the outskirts of a city, vast fields of spider lilies, flowers that evoked memories of past lives, bloomed. Guarding these flowers were two spirits: a flower spirit named Manju, and a leaf spirit named Shaka. They had watched over the spider lilies for thousands of years, yet they had never met, for when the flowers bloomed, there were no leaves, and when there were leaves, there were no flowers. They longed for each other desperately, tormented by this pain. Finally, one day, they decided to defy the gods' decree and secretly meet. That year, the vibrant red spider lilies, set against a striking backdrop of emerald green, bloomed with an extraordinary, bewitching beauty.

And it was to be expected that the gods would punish them.

Manju and Shahua were cast into the cycle of reincarnation and cursed never to be together, destined to suffer in the mortal world for all eternity. From then on, Manjusaka was called the flower of the other shore, meaning a flower that blooms in heaven, its shape resembling hands praying to heaven, but it never appeared in this city again.

Because this flower blooms on the road to the underworld, every time Manju and Shahua are reincarnated, they can smell the fragrance of the red spider lily on the road to the underworld and remember their past lives. They then vow never to be separated and fall into the cursed cycle of reincarnation again.

This flower is truly beautiful, yet it lives a very tragic life, much like the epiphyllum, both of which are flowers that have never received blessings.

Just as some feelings are not blessed, even if they are beautiful.

After rambling on for most of the day, Ye Min finally finished recounting the legend, but the atmosphere in the car became heavy with the tragic background of this flower. I drove steadily, my heart also feeling as if a bottle of mixed emotions had been spilled, and a large roll of long-sealed memories, like old film reels, suddenly unfolded in my heart with a sharp, biting wind.

Section 19: The Mysterious Ancient Architectural Complex (3)

The depths of her disturbed heart were exposed, revealing a large number of scars.

The other three men also seemed to have unspeakable, heartbreaking histories, and they all fell silent, heads bowed in deep thought. After listening, Su Yan was deeply moved by the persistence of the two fairies in the legend, and even more so by their tragic fate. After a moment of silence, she pressed Ye Min for more information about this flower.

Ye Min told her that the name Manjusaka comes from the Sanskrit word "Mahamanjusaka," which originally meant "heavenly flower," one of the four auspicious flowers that descend from heaven. Buddhist scriptures also say that Manjusaka (Manjusaka) is a flower that blooms in heaven, white and soft; seeing this flower removes evil from those who see it. Buddhist sayings also state that the last flower to bloom in the season is the last flower to bloom; after the last flower blooms, only the flower that blooms on the other shore, where one forgets their past life, remains.

Even her voice trembled with emotion as she thanked them. Sigh, it seems everyone here has a story to tell.

The atmosphere was too gloomy and sad, which was very stressful. I coughed a few times and teased Ye Min, "How come I never knew that Miss Min had such profound knowledge? You must have made this up from hearsay, right? How could a flower be so miserable?"

Seeing that I doubted the credibility of her story, Ye Min hurriedly told the truth: "How could it be hearsay and made up? This legend and this information can be found in books!"

"Huh? You're trying to fool us by reciting things from the book? Believe me, I'll kick you off the bus and leave you in this poor county town to be someone else's wife!"

"Ah... well, I don't have as much free time as you guys, to go around listening to people tell stories! I can only read them in books..."

"Sophistry! Throw him down! Throw him down!"

"You're not allowed to leave even if you throw me down!"

"Why are you being so shameless?"

"No way!"

My antics gradually lightened the atmosphere in the carriage. Ye Min, if you can't speak properly, don't speak at all! In the end, I have to clean up the mess. Honestly…

Although the atmosphere had eased somewhat, no one in the group spoke again. It was unclear whether they had run out of stories to tell, or were somewhat influenced by the flower. Silence was more interesting than pretense, so I didn't mind; I could just drive quietly.

"Um... do you guys know about accident-prone and dangerous road sections?" After a long silence, Lin Pang, probably unable to withstand the pressure, blurted out this very inappropriate question. Is that even human language? As the saying goes, when crossing a river, don't talk about its dangers; when climbing a mountain, don't mention its steepness. This guy, of all people, brought up the most inappropriate topic: accident-prone and dangerous road sections while driving.

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I was about to ask him if he had any doubts about my driver's license when I heard a voice echoing from the back seat—it was clearly Horse Face Head.

"Yes, I know. There are a few notorious deadly road sections, what were they again?"

A famous dead end? These two uncles are really good at bragging. Wen Malian picked up where Lin Pang left off, and although I didn't say anything, I was unconvinced.

"Yes, there are. As of 2006, there were as many as 29 high-risk accident-prone road sections like these, which were listed in the national blacklist of dangerous road sections supervised and managed by the Ministry of Public Security and the State Administration of Work Safety."

This time, it was the girl with the plain face who answered, and she even spoke in a very serious manner.

"Besides that, the most famous are the top ten deadliest roads in the country. They are..." I really didn't realize this girl knew this. I listened for a while, frowning, and then couldn't help but repeat it—

"The Line of Death—National Highway 318 (Sichuan-Tibet Highway); The Terrifying Bermuda Triangle—National Highway 320 (Huanghuaqiao Section); The Five Kilometers of Death—Badaling Expressway; The Valley of Death—National Highway 213 (Dujiangyan to Wenchuan-Yingxiu Highway); The Road of Death—Beijing-Tianjin-Tanggu Expressway; Truck Killer—Beijing-Zhuhai Expressway (Northern Section in Guangdong); The Devil's "U" Bend—Taike Highway; The Death Zone—Jitu Highway; The Death Slope—Luohandong Slope; The Terrifying "Z" Shape—National Highway 308 (Xinhe Section in Hebei Province)... These are the top ten?"

"Oh? You have a good memory. As expected of someone from the Yang family. Impressive."

I've always had a good memory, so remembering this wasn't difficult for me. It was Su Yan who seemed quite impressed with my memory; was she flattering me? I felt a little smug. "Not at all," I quickly waved my hand, feigning modesty.

"Huh? There really is? Is it really that weird?" After we recited these solid evidences as if we were reciting "The Memorial to the Throne," Fatty Lin was shocked and looked very frightened and helpless in the back seat of the car.

"You're afraid, yet you still bring it up!" everyone said almost in unison. Sigh, I suddenly feel a headache coming on. What kind of people are these?! Speechless.

"Are there any similarly terrifying sections in all the routes we're planning right now?" Less than two minutes after shutting up, Fatty Lin dared to "lift the kettle" again, completely oblivious to the danger.

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"You still dare to talk!" the crowd exclaimed in unison once again.

"I don't think so, right?" Ye Min couldn't help but chime in. The ten deadliest highways we had just mentioned, as well as the twenty-nine dangerous road sections mentioned earlier, didn't seem to mention anything like "Yunnan, Guizhou, and southern Yunnan." Her thinking was quite reasonable.

but……

We were just driving through a U-shaped mountain bend, and through the sun-dappled windows, I could clearly see trees, houses, and various molecular particles rushing past on either side... including, of course, the brightly colored warning signs. After a lazy smoke ring curled between my fingers and quickly dissipated outside the window, I expertly stubbed out the half-smoked cigarette, glanced at Ye Min in the rearview mirror, and murmured, "Who says a short knife doesn't hurt? Not being on the blacklist doesn't mean there's no danger. Remember, wherever there's a road, there will be accidents."

"That's right. Yunnan is located on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, and its terrain is predominantly characterized by high mountains and steep slopes. Even most highways are built around mountains, meaning they're basically bisected by mountains on one side and cliffs on the other. Because of this, Yunnan's road conditions can be described as extremely complex. Speaking of complexity, another point worth mentioning is that when driving in Yunnan, you'll find that no matter where you go, the road conditions are largely the same—they're all known for their treacherousness. On a stretch of highway, there's almost a 'dangerous road' every few kilometers." The emergency braking lanes were covered in sand and mud, not to mention the numerous and densely packed distress phone stands. Leaving that aside, just consider the route from Kunming to Xishuangbanna—the very route we're about to take—which includes several extremely long, continuous downhill sections, each averaging over twenty kilometers. These are the sections that locals dread, the so-called "high-risk" roads you've mentioned. And if it's the rainy season, it's even more nerve-wracking for drivers. But don't worry, with my years of adept driving experience, this little…”

"Won't the ghosts of those who died unjustly on these roads drag passing pedestrians and vehicles to take their place?" Damn it, I was just getting to the point when that fatso Lin Yong interrupted! I was furious and immediately retorted, "Of course they will! It's a really scary rumor! Didn't you know?" I had to give him a good scare.

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Unexpectedly, everyone on the bus, including Horse Face, gasped in disbelief after hearing my explanation.

"Huh?!"

I felt weak all over again, and my head kept hurting...

"How could that be? There are no ghosts in this world." Though I thought this, I quipped, "Really? You guys don't know? Hey! It's best you don't know, because it's really terrifying! Think about it, major traffic accidents, how horribly people die! Horrible, right? Tsk tsk, I've heard that on certain sections of road, whenever it rains heavily or there's thick fog, strange noises always come out. It's true, many locals have heard about it, everyone says so. At those times, any vehicle or pedestrian, regardless of size or number, will have an accident, it never fails! So, during those times, no car dares to pass on those roads. Even if there's a huge emergency, drivers are forced to stop and wait for the rain to stop and the fog to clear before continuing their journey. On special days, passing drivers and pedestrians scatter yellow paper as offerings! I've also heard that even the traffic police don't have to work then, because nobody dares to go!"

Sometimes I'm really impressed with my own eloquence; I speak so logically and persuasively that even I get goosebumps listening to myself. The others, on the other hand, all looked increasingly uncomfortable, hahaha…

"Rumors? That's hard to believe. Besides, it's springtime now; even in a primeval forest, there shouldn't be much heavy rain or fog... Even if there really is, it's alright. Mr. Yang, your driving skills are excellent, and besides, we have a bunch of experts in this car. Nothing will happen. You shouldn't worry too much, right?" Wow, there are always mountains beyond mountains and towers beyond towers. To be able to blend flattery with reason, and then combine that with such lofty optimism in a single sentence, truly surprised me.

The new college student, Lü Fang, sat in the back seat and mumbled something like that. He completely ruined the atmosphere I'd painstakingly built up. Lin Pang and Ma Lian, even Su Yan and Ye Min, nodded in agreement. These people lacking in composure…

I was a little indignant. Why did people always have to argue with me? As soon as Lü Fang finished speaking, I immediately and aggressively retorted, "Superstition is superstition, of course I understand that, but many places have their own beliefs and taboos, especially border areas like Yunnan where ethnic minorities make up the majority of the population. Since that's what they believe, we should naturally respect local customs. We should just keep those things to ourselves. Besides, aren't there many things that science can't explain? So I say, it's better to believe it exists than not to believe it doesn't!"

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It was obvious that I had started to argue illogically. Although Lü Fang was also a hot-blooded young man, he dared not refute me due to his position in the company and other reasons. I saw him hold back for a long time before finally blurting out, "That's right, that's right." Only then did the conversation come to a satisfactory end.

After that, everyone chatted about this and that, eventually veerging back to the usual topics of family, work, and relationships, while I returned to the pleasure of driving. To be honest, I wasn't sure if this college student named Lü Fang was truly as optimistic and cheerful as he appeared. Perhaps… because he wasn't wearing makeup, I should have scrutinized him more closely. But in fact, only after I saw the whole truth did I recall a quote from Li He that perfectly described his character—

"People who put love first are so resolute, but in this materialistic age, having only love is almost equivalent to being penniless. And it is precisely because they have nothing that they say those resolute things."

Although I don't have the insight to fully grasp the meaning behind those words, thinking back on them afterward, it does seem to make sense. At least, after the next few dozen hours, I genuinely felt sorry for Lü Fang from the bottom of my heart—simply pitiful for having nothing.

Thinking about all these random things, I didn't remember the old saying until I went to sleep—you can eat whatever you want, but you can't say whatever you want.

The next morning, we took the main road in Wen County and then turned onto the straight highway. We laughed and joked all the way without incident. In the evening, we officially bid farewell to the luxurious highway and turned onto the old, desolate roads. Driving on the bumpy roads, I was more than once thankful: Thank goodness I didn't buy a car in the first place…

The first night, Lin Pang drove all night. The main highway in Wen County was deserted, so resting in the car wasn't too bad. Tonight was slightly different; the bumpy ride made it impossible to sleep. A group of us huddled in the car, half-asleep. The dark vehicle looked like a hearse from the outside. I drove patiently, but my eyes couldn't leave the sleeping woman, Su Yan.

She is really beautiful.

"Oh? We're in Naniso territory now." The horse-faced man suddenly blurted out, nearly scaring me half to death. Still shaken, I glanced at the roadside and saw a large sign that had appeared out of nowhere—Niso Hill.

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The sign facing the road had three large red characters painted on it, crooked and rather frighteningly painted. If I hadn't looked closely, I would have thought it was the base of a roadside cemetery tombstone. I only glanced at it and felt a chill run down my spine. I realized... the characters on the sign were painted almost exactly like the characters painted on the tombstones I saw when I was a child visiting graves during Qingming Festival.

When I was young, during the Qingming Festival, my elders would always take me along to sweep the tombs, burn joss paper, and pay respects to our ancestors—this was perfectly normal. But what was strange was the content on those obelisks. Some not only lacked photographs, but even birth and death dates were missing; the bare stone only had a few names lightly carved in the center. What terrified me back then were those few carved characters in the middle—

The characters were all painted red, so much so that the paint overflowed, flowing haphazardly from the grooves of the characters before solidifying on the surface of the stele, making them look like they were bleeding. Because of this, I was deeply impressed, so seeing something similar again late at night sent a chill down my spine.

Even the most unexciting real-life experiences are far more terrifying than the most horrifying ghost stories.

I mumbled a few words to the horse-faced man and then called out to Fatty Lin, who was dozing off, "Change drivers, change drivers, I need to rest." Fatty Lin was still half asleep and couldn't answer for a while. "I'll do it," the college student named Lü Fang said. As he spoke, I had already parked the car. I got out of the car without looking at him and went straight to the back seat.

In the early spring night, even the air was filled with a vibrant energy. I stretched and greedily inhaled the alluring spring air; a refreshing coolness immediately filled my lungs, like rain nourishing the earth, invigorating me and instantly easing my fatigue. I stretched my aching neck and opened the car door, only to realize we had entered a remote place—the road beneath my feet was uneven, and waist-high grass grew on both sides. The wind rustled loudly in the darkness, a testament to the lushness of the grass. There were definitely snakes in there…

As I gazed at the grassy forest gradually disappearing into the darkness, the word "python" came to mind, and I couldn't help but shiver again. Deep within the forest stretched endless mountain peaks, their forms appearing rather menacing against the night sky. I frowned, looking into the distance. Scattered across the undulating mountainside were many tiny points of light, flickering lamplight and candlelight—the forest was not without life; it turned out people still lived here.

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Using the headlights, I looked ahead again: the rugged, bumpy mountain road stretched out before me, winding and obstructed by trees, but I couldn't see anything. I felt a pang of unease. Were most of the people in the car suffering from oxygen deprivation or something? Shouldn't they be going to some kind of resort during their "vacation"? Why did they have to come to this remote, desolate place?

I glanced around quickly, feeling the night was a bit chilly, and climbed into the back seat. The moon was bright, the stars were few, and I was drowsy, but his usually sharp eyes gleamed with a cunning light, which was quite jarring in the darkness. Feeling puzzled, I asked him, "Hey Mr. Ma, what's all the excitement about so late at night? We're still quite a distance from our destination. Look at you, be careful not to scare your female colleagues." I then gave him a mocking, pitying look.

Horse Face didn't answer, just chuckled a few times and continued looking around through the car window. I thought to myself that this guy probably foresaw that he would spend the rest of his life in poverty in the countryside, so he was doing his research now. So I ignored him and looked around at everyone who was fast asleep, so I also closed my eyes and started to doze off.

"Hey, there's a row of houses ahead, and it looks like there's light coming from them. Let's go in and stay the night, and continue our journey tomorrow."

I rubbed my eyes and saw that Lü Fang had already parked the car next to a dark, swirling mass of things on the side of the road. He said this as he got out of the car. I followed him out of the car, and in the bright light of the headlights, I glanced at the scene. My brows furrowed involuntarily.

2 Wrong Decisions

This row of "houses" looked quite strange. Logically, a house should at least resemble a house, with red tiles and white walls, and so on. But this row of so-called houses looked completely out of place; no matter how I looked at it, it seemed to be just a row of high walls, very old and dilapidated. If it weren't for that man named Lü Fang's preconceived notion of "houses," I wouldn't have had any concept of them being houses at all.

"What's this place for? Such a big walled enclosure, is it a mental hospital?" Fatty Lin asked curiously from behind. The others also got out of the car one after another. I looked back and saw that they were all looking at each other in confusion. I couldn't help but ask Lü Fang, "What kind of house is this? It looks so strange."

Lu Fang smiled and said, "The architectural style around here is like this: several walls encircle several houses, and within the high walls, the houses are further surrounded by several small courtyards. According to their customs, this is called 'enclosed dwelling,' which is based on the same principle as the inner region of the Great Wall. In ancient times, the world was always a cycle of unity and division, so wars often raged across the borders. Building houses in this way served two purposes: first, it provided excellent defense; second, if all the villages in a region were like this, it would form a huge maze, using defense as offense and stillness to control movement. Although we are at peace now, this custom has not been abandoned and has been completely preserved."

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He's truly a man of few words, but when he speaks, he's astounding. I thought all college students these days were the same, but I didn't expect him to be so knowledgeable besides his eloquence. I countered, "Isn't that similar to a maze city like Sun City in the US?"

Lu Fang said, "This city isn't quite at the level of a big city, but it's pretty much the same in nature. We're really lucky to have encountered it on our journey."

Everyone listened with wide eyes, even the horse-faced man who had just gotten off the bus was amazed. I sarcastically remarked to him, "Haven't you been here before?"

At this moment, Lü Fang said something that baffled me: "Didn't you also think it was beautiful?" After saying that, he picked up some luggage and strode over to the dilapidated wall. His eyes were filled with fascination as he stroked it, and he continued, "Don't let its dilapidated state fool you. Long ago, this wall was as solid as a rock, impregnable. Even if someone managed to break through, once they fell into the illusionary formation, not even a god could escape..."

I suspected the young man might have had a few drinks while driving, making him somewhat incoherent. I was also worried that the dilapidated old wall might collapse at any moment, and then that old man with the horse-like face would be burying his son. So, I ignored his babbling and quickly tried to pull away the incoherent Lü Fang. But as soon as I reached out, Ye Min's shrill scream exploded in my ears from behind.

A shrill female voice suddenly rang out in the middle of the night, its effect quite astonishing. A group of people were terrified by her scream. Su Yan was especially shocked, her face turning deathly pale. I was naturally startled as well. After regaining my composure, I wanted to ask Ye Min why she was screaming, but when I turned around, I saw her face filled with fear.

"W-what happened?" Fatty Lin asked tremblingly. The others also looked at Ye Min with lingering fear.

"I just saw something running past without any clothes on...it looked like a child..." Ye Min answered in a trembling voice.

"No...no way? Where?" Fatty Lin looked around, while Horse Face and Plain Face also seemed a little nervous.

"It's over there by the wall, not far from where General Manager Yang and the others are." Ye Min pointed to a spot not far behind me and Lü Fang.

"A child?" It was already past midnight, the night was pitch black, and the headlights were only able to illuminate a very limited distance. I squinted and looked for a long time but couldn't see any child she was talking about. Could she still be engrossed in the ghost stories she was telling in the car? I assumed that was the case, so I casually offered her a few words of comfort. Horse Face and Fatty Lin also chimed in with their own words of comfort.

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A gust of wind happened to blow through the grassy grove not far from us, causing a stir. Although I knew it was just the wind passing through the grass, I still couldn't help but feel a little uneasy. But before I could say anything, Lü Fang spoke up.

“The presence of children suggests there might be other families living in this walled compound.” With that, Lü Fang turned to leave, but I quickly grabbed him and said, “Wait, this dilapidated wall doesn’t even have a door. Are we supposed to climb over it?”

Lü Fang said that this is also possible.

"The walls surrounding the palace have many different entrances. Their functions also vary depending on the entrance. Some entrances are obvious, with doors and courtyards; some are accessed through broken walls; and some have no entrance at all, requiring one to climb over or chisel through them," Lü Fang explained patiently, then paused and added, "This wall is a continuous shade of blue, and there are faint patterns of golden locks binding dragons on the wall. It must belong to the Enchanted Chamber within the enclosed palace."

The Lost Abode, also known as the Bewildering Illusionary Residence, has the most complex structure. As its name suggests, in addition to the high walls that are consistently built around its perimeter, the interior is also filled with numerous walls, crisscrossing and interwoven. Within these walls are rooms, and within rooms are walls, creating a labyrinthine network of pathways and buildings, making it extremely easy for someone to lose their way and eventually become trapped and die. Furthermore, due to certain special reasons, the outer walls of the Lost Abode are painted with blue glazed tiles and decorated with a design of a dragon trapped in golden chains. I didn't know these details at the time; I only learned about them later from reading about them in a book.

Lü Fang told us that the overall shape of the Mihua Dormitory resembles a snail's shell, so the entrance wasn't hard to find. Sure enough, after searching along the wall for a while, we found the entrance to the Mihua Dormitory, covered in vines, deep in the dark corner of the wall.

However, the entrance doesn't quite match the legendary imposing "bedroom".