No toques a mi hombre

Capítulo 12

When I stood up again, I saw the giant mosquito lying motionless on the ground, its chest pierced by a tactical knife, from which some dark red, viscous liquid was oozing. Looking at the others, I saw they were still entangled by the remaining giant mosquitoes. So I quickly pulled out a piece of the waterproof mat I'd been using as a sleeping mat and shouted, "Dunzi, come help! Lift the mat and cover these giant mosquitoes!" Hearing me call him, Dunzi quickly slipped away and ran to my side. As he ran, a giant mosquito followed. So when the giant mosquito swooped in, Dunzi and I quickly lifted the mat, each of us holding one side to the left and right, using the mat to block the mosquito's path.

With a "bang," the giant mosquito, unable to slow down in time, crashed onto the mat, bounced back, and slammed to the ground. Dunzi immediately ran over and, before the mosquito could take flight, stomped down hard, crushing it into a puddle of mud with a "smack." At the same time, Abao, with his agility, eliminated another giant mosquito. In a short while, only two of the five giant mosquitoes remained. Seeing their companions dead, these two mosquitoes knew that further conflict would be pointless, so they flapped their wings and slunk away.

Watching the two giant mosquitoes disappear into the distance, Dunzi and I plopped down on the ground, only then realizing we were completely soaked. "This is really weird. Not only are the plants in this forest huge, but even the mosquitoes are enormous! It's fucking terrifying!" Dunzi said after calming himself down. "Luckily, there were only five. If it had been a swarm, they would have drunk us dry." "You have the nerve to say that? Who was on duty just now? Such a dangerous situation, and you were sleeping like a log." I joked with him. Dunzi, realizing his mistake, smiled sheepishly and said, "I didn't mean to. These past few days have been exhausting; I feel unwell all over and I'm completely worn out. I just fell asleep as soon as I sat down."

I knew everyone had been working very hard these past few days, so I didn't say anything more to him. Looking at the sky, it seemed like dawn was approaching. Because we were afraid that more giant mosquitoes would come, we discussed it and decided to leave immediately and make further plans.

The path ahead seemed even more difficult to traverse, with thick vines twisting and turning like pythons, coiling around the trees or hanging from their branches. The ground was overgrown with countless unidentifiable wild grasses and thorns, each taller than a person. If it weren't for Ah Bao leading the way with his machete, there would have been virtually no path to follow. After walking for about two or three hours, everyone had cuts and scratches from the thorns and weeds. Dunzi grumbled and complained about the tall, dense thorns as he lazily lagged behind the group. Suddenly, I heard a cry of "Ah!" and felt a heavy shove from behind. Before I could react, the force propelled me towards Ah Bao at the front of the group. With a "thud," I crashed into Ah Bao's back, and we both tumbled into a patch of grass in front of our original path.

When you're down on your luck, even drinking cold water can be a problem. Who knew there would be a ditch in the grass, and it was incredibly narrow, probably only about a meter wide, but very deep, maybe seven or eight meters. We were completely unprepared and pushed into it. Luckily, the ground in the woods was covered with long vines, and the stone walls on both sides of the ditch were also overgrown with weeds and vines. Because of these plants and branches, the impact was reduced, so when we fell to the bottom of the seven- or eight-meter-wide ditch, although we all suffered minor injuries of varying degrees, we were fortunate enough to escape serious harm.

"I'm so sorry, I'm really sorry." Dunzi patted the weeds and pebbles off his body and said, "It's all this damned forest's fault. The ground was covered with tangled tree roots and vines, which tripped me up. Hehe, sorry." Since it had already happened, there was no point in blaming each other, so we didn't say anything more to Dunzi. We just told him to be more careful when he walks in the future.

It was already broad daylight. However, due to the dense foliage of the surrounding trees, sunlight could hardly penetrate, making the area still quite dark. Nevertheless, we could roughly see our surroundings. We stood at the bottom of the ditch and looked at it. The ditch was densely covered with wild grass and vines, completely blocking the path in front of it. However, we could still roughly discern the direction of the narrow ditch from the growth patterns of the plants, and found that it stretched very straight, seemingly not a naturally formed ditch.

Just as I was carefully examining the ditch in front of me, I suddenly heard Jenny let out a soft cry. I quickly turned my head to look. Jenny was looking at us, then pointed to a patch of grass on the side of the ditch and said, "There's a corpse in there." Dunzi immediately stepped aside. I took the machete from Abao and gently pushed the weeds aside with the tip of the blade. When Jenny saw me clearing the grass, she immediately turned her head away, seemingly unwilling to see the corpse again. When I saw the corpse hidden in the grass, my heart skipped a beat. However, because I had been somewhat prepared beforehand, I didn't scream like Jenny did from sudden fright.

I saw a decaying, blackened mummy standing in the clump of weeds. In places, insects and rodents had eaten away at the skin, revealing dark brown bones inside. One eyeball was likely long gone, the socket sunken and shriveled, while the other eye had probably been eaten away, leaving only a dark hole. The jawbone was severely dislocated, causing the mouth to gape open at an angle, giving the face an utterly horrifying appearance. Looking at its body, I felt another wave of nausea. The mummy had been completely ripped open from the chest down. The internal organs were gone, replaced by thousands upon thousands of finger-thick, milky-white maggots crawling inside. Judging from this state, it must have been brutally gouged out, its eyes and abdomen ripped open, causing it to gape open in agony and die a painful death. Dunzi, staring at the mummy, covered his mouth with his hand, groaning uncontrollably. "This forest is fucking bizarre; even the maggots are so fat, it's disgusting," he said angrily.

"Where is this place? How could there be such a mummified corpse?" Ah Bao asked me, standing beside me after seeing the scene. I didn't answer immediately. Instead, I used my machete to clear away the weeds and vines around the corpse, revealing a section of the ditch's side wall. Upon closer inspection, it appeared very smooth, constructed of bricks and stones. The standing, decaying mummy was positioned in a depression in the ditch's side wall, as if the depression had been specifically created for it. Seeing this, I realized that the mummy seemed to have been intentionally placed there; it wasn't a coincidence.

65. Sacrifice Ditch

After discovering these things, I pondered quietly for a while, and gradually I seemed to have figured something out. So I said to everyone, "This ditch doesn't seem to be naturally formed; it looks like it was built by man. And this decomposed mummy in front of us seems to have been placed here as a sacrifice after some kind of cruel ritual. If I'm not mistaken, there must be other sacrifices nearby. Everyone, quickly search carefully; this is very likely related to the ritual recorded in that tattered scroll. Let's see if we can find any useful clues here." Hearing this, everyone immediately took out their shovels from their backpacks and began carefully searching the ditch while clearing away the plants and vines. Dunzi seemed very reluctant, probably afraid of seeing something disgusting again. So he held the shovel in one hand, stretched it far out, and then used the shovel head to carefully pry open the weeds on the side of the ditch, giving it a very rough examination.

A moment later, sure enough, we heard Ah Bao shout from ahead, "Come quick, there's another decomposed mummy here!" We rushed over, with only Dunzi lagging behind. Pushing aside the weeds Ah Bao pointed to, we found another similar decomposed mummy. The skin was rotten and blackened, the abdomen hollowed out, and inside lay a nest of maggots. Scattered around the mummy were many rotten wooden planks. Clearly, these mummy had originally been sealed in the crevices of the ditch wall with planks. But now, due to the decay and cracking of the planks, the mummy had been exposed and, soaked by the rain, began to rot slowly.

After a thorough search, we discovered five or six more similar decomposed mummies in the same ditch. This essentially confirmed my hypothesis. I then said to everyone, "It seems this is a sacrificial ditch, a pit specifically used to place offerings." I looked at everyone and continued, "Because the offerings placed here are made from living people, it's also called a 'living sacrifice ditch.' This is very similar to the burial pits near ancient tombs, except that the items in burial pits are generally used to sacrifice to the deceased, while the offerings in this living sacrifice ditch are generally used to sacrifice to heaven, earth, or deities."

After I finished explaining, everyone seemed to understand, and they were all extremely dissatisfied with this practice of using living people as sacrifices. They all felt that such methods were simply too cruel. They wondered what reason the person performing the ritual would have to go to such great lengths, even at the cost of their own good karma, to cruelly kill so many people alive and then use them as sacrifices.

And so, we slowly made our way along the sacrificial ditch, carefully examining the surrounding vegetation. Dunzi was initially clearly dissatisfied with this task, but he became slightly pleased after finding several three-legged bronze wine vessels with taotie patterns, likely used for holding wine during sacrifices, placed in the ditch. He stuffed these vessels into his backpack and then ran to the front of the group, beginning his search with unusual diligence.

Because the vegetation growing in the sacrificial ditch was so dense, we had to stop after each step and wait for the person at the front to clear away the weeds and vines blocking our path before we could move forward. Therefore, although the ditch was only two or three hundred meters long, it took us a long time to reach the end. After a careful search, we discovered a total of eighteen mummies in the ditch, along with a small number of scattered sacrificial items, such as wine vessels, musical instruments, and candlesticks. Dunzi happily picked out a few lightweight, intact, and exquisitely crafted artifacts with the highest artistic and collectible value and placed them in his backpack.

Besides, we also discovered some of the mysterious patterns we had previously seen on the brick and stone walls of the sacrificial ditch, the same patterns we had seen in the shaman's house and on the outer walls of the underground shrine. This confirms that the sacrificial ditch was indeed built on the orders of the two tomb raiders. Originally, I thought those two tomb raiders, who helped the mountain people ward off evil spirits and wild beasts with magic, bringing peace to the area, must have been kind-hearted and helpful people. But now, judging from the clues we've discovered along the way, especially this sacrificial ditch that uses living people as sacrifices, they seem to have become utterly wicked demons. Why did their personalities and thoughts change so drastically? I still can't understand it.

Seeing that there was nothing else suspicious in the sacrificial ravine, we decided to climb out and return to the forest floor. Leopard took the lead, biting his machete in his mouth, then grabbing a vine about the thickness of a wrist and quickly climbing up the side wall. I followed suit, finding a vine and pulling myself up, but halfway up, perhaps because the vine, though seemingly intact on the outside, was already rotting inside, it couldn't support my weight and suddenly snapped. I fell heavily from the three-meter-high ravine. There was a loud "bang," and my body smashed into the bottom of the ravine, creating a large crater and getting firmly stuck inside. When I looked around, I realized I was trapped in a large piece of broken wood. Luckily, I landed on a rotten plank; if I had fallen squarely on the ground, my back would have been broken.

As soon as Dunzi and the others saw me suddenly fall, they quickly scrambled down the side wall of the sacrificial ditch. They then came to my side and carefully helped me up. I rubbed my sore buttocks and looked back at the ground where I had fallen. There were two dark brown wooden planks laid flat on the ground. Because my body had smashed a large hole in them, a dark opening was visible beneath the planks. Judging from the size and shape of the two decaying planks, they were very likely two wooden door panels. Since these two door panels had originally been laid flat on the ground, and a thick layer of decaying soil had accumulated on them, we hadn't noticed them in the ditch before.

I turned on my wolf-eye flashlight and shone it into the dark hole under the wooden plank. I discovered that there seemed to be stairs leading downwards inside, suggesting another hidden passage. The entrance to the passage was damp from being buried under rotten soil for years, emitting a pungent, musty smell. Since we now know that this sacrificial ditch was likely built on the orders of those two tomb raiders, the tunnel within must also be connected to them. Therefore, we should certainly go down and investigate.

We used shovels to smash off the remaining door panels at the entrance of the passage, revealing the entire passageway. The passageway itself was also made of bricks and stones, just large enough for one person to pass through. Fearing that the passageway, buried under the rotten soil for many years, might contain toxic gases such as methane, we put on gas masks. Then, each of us took out a wolf-eye flashlight and entered the passageway one by one.

Although the entrance to the passage was damp, the interior was relatively dry. Scattered haphazardly on the ground were some rotten and moldy cloth and bamboo slips, along with what appeared to be some pottery vessels and fragments. Dunzi showed no interest in these decaying and incomplete items, obediently following behind me.

The passageway didn't seem very long, probably only about a hundred meters. When we reached the very end of the passage, we found ourselves in a sealed basement. The basement was about twenty or thirty square meters. In the center was a raised platform of about seven or eight square meters, with a wooden pole in a cross shape standing on top. Several bronze chains were wrapped around the pole. Judging from these items, they were probably used for binding prisoners. Along the basement walls and floor were many instruments of torture such as curved knives and hooks, along with bronze tripods and candlesticks for burning incense and candles. Some burnt fragments of tortoise shells and animal bones were scattered on the ground.

66. The Qiankun Stone Gate Formation

We carefully examined our surroundings but found no clues we were looking for. I said, "Judging from these curved blades and hooks, this might be the execution site where those mummies in the sacrificial ravine were gouged out and disemboweled. Judging from the bronze cauldron and candlesticks nearby, they seemed to be performing some kind of mysterious ritual while carrying out the executions. But these don't seem to have any connection to the treasure poem we found." "How cruel! Don't say that," Jenny said. "Since this isn't the place we're looking for, and we don't have the clues we're looking for, let's go back up." I nodded and followed Jenny and the others out of the passage, back to the sacrificial ravine.

By the time we successfully climbed back down into the dense forest from the ravine, it was already getting dark. Although we had discovered some things in the sacrificial ravine that day, none of them were relevant to the clues we needed, which was somewhat disappointing. We had been searching these mountains for quite some time now. Everyone was exhausted and had sustained injuries of varying degrees. Worse still, our ammunition and food were running low, and if we couldn't find the secret treasure location soon, it seemed we wouldn't be able to hold on much longer.

In order to make a discovery in this forest as quickly as possible, we decided to split into two groups to search the dense woods temporarily. Dunzi and I would be in one group, and Jenny and Abao would be in the other. We also agreed that if either group found any suspicious clues, they would signal the other group with a gunshot. In this way, we should be able to save nearly half the time to conduct a full search of the forest.

By dusk the next day, Dunzi and I had been searching the forest all day without finding the clues we were looking for. Just as we were about to search the other side of the forest, Dunzi plopped down on a large rock covered in vines and said, "Ugh, I'm exhausted. We've been working on this all day. Let's rest for a bit." Looking at Dunzi's sweaty and worn-out appearance, and considering how we hadn't even had a proper meal that day in our haste to save time searching the forest, I realized he had indeed worked very hard. So I nodded and said, "Okay, let's eat something and rest for a bit."

Dunzi was overjoyed when I agreed. He quickly unloaded his backpack and luggage from his shoulders. Then, he took out the little food he had left and sat down on the ground, leaning against a boulder, eating heartily with the spring water from his canteen. Watching him eat so deliciously, I had no appetite at all. Because I couldn't find any clues below, I couldn't care less about anything else.

Soon, the sun dipped below the horizon, and a new moon rose high in the sky. I peered through a gap in the trees at the crescent moon and calculated the days; we'd been out for almost ten days. "Time flies," I said with a slight sigh. "So many days have passed. I thought things would go smoothly." Dunzi, hearing this, also showed a hint of disappointment. I repeated the treasure poem over and over: "'Frosty stones form the gate, gnarled trees block the sun.' What exactly are these frost stones? And where in this forest are they hidden?" I murmured to myself. Dunzi sat quietly to the side, no longer his usual chatter. I knew he was also pondering this question.

After resting for about an hour or two, eager to make a discovery as soon as possible, I urged Dunzi to set off. But just as we stood up to leave, we were both suddenly stunned by what we saw. The huge rock we had been leaning against had, inexplicably, begun to emit a faint white light. The light was extremely weak and hazy, making the rock appear as if it were covered in a thin layer of frost. Upon seeing this, we both exclaimed in unison, "Frost Rock!"

Then we saw several more large rocks of similar size around us, all faintly glowing white. Because these rocks were almost completely covered by weeds and vines, they were initially difficult to spot. But now, the hazy white light emanating from the rocks and seeping through the gaps in the weeds and vines made them exceptionally conspicuous in the darkness. Dunzi and I were very excited and immediately fired our guns to alert Jenny and the others.

When Jenny and the others arrived after hearing our gunfire, Dunzi and I had already cleared away the weeds and vines around the boulders with shovels. The boulders looked like enormous lanterns scattered throughout the dark forest. Jenny carefully examined the glowing boulders and said, "These stones are black and shiny, hard, and smooth; they look like some kind of meteorite." "Meteorite?" I asked. "Generally, meteorites on the ground are very rare. When they pass through the atmosphere, many burn up completely and turn to ash. But there are so many here at once, and they're so huge! That's highly unlikely." Hearing this, Jenny replied, "They must be meteorites, and they might even be emitting some kind of radioactive material, which is why they've affected this forest, making the creatures here grow so tall."

Just as Jenny and I were discussing whether these boulders were meteorites, Dunzi next to us said, "Oh well, never mind that, let's hurry up and find some useful clues." We thought that made sense, so we stopped discussing whether the boulders were meteorites.

I carefully examined the enormous, white-glowing stones before me. At first glance, they seemed scattered haphazardly throughout the dense forest, but a closer look revealed that the distance between each stone was roughly the same, and the entire pile of stones formed a roughly circular area. It wasn't so much a random distribution as it seemed; rather, their arrangement appeared to follow a certain pattern, forming a massive megalithic array. I wondered to myself, what exactly did the phrase "frost-covered stones as a gate" mean?

As I stared at the massive rocks, deep in thought, a man next to me suddenly exclaimed, "Hey, there's a character carved on this stone!" We immediately went over. Looking where he pointed, I saw a palm-sized character "二" (two) carved in Han Dynasty seal script. The stone around the area with the number was noticeably different from the rest, clearly inlaid. What did this number mean? A thought struck me, and then I suddenly realized something. I quickly ran to a nearby boulder for a closer look. Sure enough, there was also an inlaid number "七" (seven). We then examined the other boulders, and indeed, as I suspected, each stone had a different number inlaid. Only two boulders were slightly different; they each had two numbers carved on them. One had "三" (three) and "五" (five), and the other had "二" (two) and "十" (ten).

I carefully counted and found there were eight huge rocks in front of me. Ten numbers, from one to ten, were carved on each rock. As I looked at these numbers, I tried hard to recall any clues to solve the problem. My hand was touching the numbers on one of the rocks, and in my deep thought, I unconsciously applied a little pressure. Suddenly, I pressed down on the number that was originally embedded in the rock, causing it to dent. Just as I was surprised, I heard a soft sound, as if something had flown out of the rock. I instinctively turned my head to avoid it, and the object struck a large tree behind me squarely, instantly setting it ablaze. It turned out the object was a fireball. Thinking about it afterward, I was terrified. If I hadn't reacted quickly, I would probably be a human torch by now.

67. Hidden Numbers

At that moment, Dunzi and the others were also checking the situation near the other boulders. Seeing the accident I had encountered, they were all startled and rushed over to ask what was wrong. I said, "There seems to be a mechanism on these stones. I accidentally pressed that number, and a fireball flew out of the stone." I thought for a moment and added, "It seems these numbers must have some meaning. Perhaps we need to press them in a specific order, like a password. We need to press the correct password to open Stonehenge; otherwise, our clues will end here." Jenny hesitated slightly after hearing this, then asked, "But what order? The treasure poem is the only clue to finding the treasure, but it doesn't tell us there's such an order." Yes, since the treasure poem is the only clue to finding the treasure, if a certain numerical password is needed to open the stone formation, it should be reflected in the treasure poem, I thought to myself. So I silently recited the poem several times from beginning to end.

I walked around the stone formation while reciting the poem. When I reached the giant stone engraved with the numbers "three" and "five," I realized that this stone was different from the others; it must be a key clue. So, I carefully paid attention to the numbers three and five while silently reciting the treasure poem several times. When I read "Sparrow dwells in Wushan" for the third time, my eyes suddenly lit up. The "Wu" in Wushan sounds similar to "five," and the "Shan" in Wushan sounds similar to "three." Could this be the key? With that thought, I immediately picked up a twig from the ground and wrote the entire treasure poem on the soil.

When Dunzi and the others saw me suddenly scribbling on the ground, they all gathered around to watch. After I finished writing the entire treasure poem, I went through it word by word, looking for characters whose pronunciations were similar to numbers. Sure enough, this search yielded a clue. I burst into laughter. Dunzi and the others were very puzzled by my actions. So Dunzi nudged my shoulder and asked, "What are you laughing at? Did you find a clue?" I nodded and said, "Yes, I finally have a clue." "Then tell us quickly!" Dunzi's impatient temper flared up again, and he hurriedly asked me. "Look," I said, "in the line 'turtle lies on the Si River,' the middle 'Si' sounds almost the same as the number 'four'; in the line 'sparrow dwells on Wu Mountain,' 'Wu' sounds almost the same as the number 'five,' and 'mountain' sounds almost the same as the number 'three'; in 'deer terrace overlooks the distance,' 'deer' sounds almost the same as 'six.'" Upon hearing this, Jenny thought for a moment and then asked, "Then how do you interpret the phrase 'Taiji Hunyuan'? There aren't any words in it that sound similar to numbers, are there?" Hearing her question, I chuckled and said, "Yes, I was stuck here too at first, unable to figure it out. But then I thought about it. The *I Ching* says that Taiji generates Yin and Yang, Yin and Yang transform into the Four Symbols, and the Four Symbols transform into the Eight Trigrams. So Taiji contains the meaning of 'one'." After my explanation, everyone seemed to begin to understand.

“So, in the phrase ‘frost-covered stone gate,’ the word ‘stone’ sounds similar to the number ‘ten’; in ‘gnarled tree blocking the sun’, the word ‘gnarled’ sounds similar to the number ‘nine’; in ‘coiled snake’, the word ‘ba’ sounds similar to the number ‘eight’; and in the phrase ‘strange beast watching the sky’, the word ‘strange’ sounds similar to the number ‘seven’.” Dunzi explained, pointing out the numbers as he went. “But it seems like we’re missing a ‘two’. Where is it?” Jenny asked after listening. “In the phrase ‘frost-covered stone gate,’ the word ‘frost’ sounds similar to ‘double’, and ‘double’ means the number ‘two’,” I explained with a smile. Jenny nodded and said, “I see.”

I continued, "Look, aren't these eight lines of poetry corresponding to the eight giant rocks here, and the ten characters in the poem correspond to the ten numbers on these rocks?" "Great! I didn't expect your reasoning skills to be so strong," Jenny said with a smile after hearing my explanation. Hearing her say that, I replied, "I also happened to see the 'three' and 'five' on this giant rock, and suddenly found the breakthrough in the poem." "Luckily, those two tomb raiders deliberately left this breakthrough with two numbers on the poem and the giant rocks, otherwise it would have been really hard to think of this," Dunzi added with a laugh.

Next, we arranged the characters in the treasure poem according to their order of appearance, resulting in the number "534612987". Then, I carefully approached the giant stone engraved with the numbers "3" and "5" and gently pressed down the number "5". A few seconds later, nothing unusual happened as before, so I thought I was right and immediately pressed down the number "3" next to it. As soon as I pressed down the "3", we saw that the giant stone, which had been emitting a white light, dimmed and eventually returned to normal, no longer glowing.

We were all excited to have solved one of the giant rocks, proving our reasoning was correct. I quickly went to another giant rock inscribed with the number "four" and pressed it down. The white light on that rock also gradually disappeared after I pressed it down. After we had extinguished the light from all the giant rocks, a soft "creaking" sound came from the ground in the center of the megalithic formation. The dense weeds and vines rapidly rose up, eventually opening a stone door from the ground.

The stone gate was already open, so why wait any longer? We shouldered our backpacks and bags that we had put aside earlier, turned on our wolf-eye flashlights, and walked through the stone gate one after another.

We've already traversed several passages, but they were all quite narrow. This one, however, is remarkably wide, almost allowing three or four people to pass side-by-side. The side walls of the passage are adorned with numerous murals. These depict scenes from the time when the two tomb raiders used magic to drive away ferocious beasts in the mountains, and later, the construction of a sacred altar within the mountains for sacrificial rites. Among these are scenes we've previously witnessed: the beheading of living people and burying them in mass graves, then piling their heads around an altar for sacrificial rites; and the disembowelment and gouging out of the eyes of living people before placing them in a sacrificial ditch.

Looking at the murals on both sides of the passage, one side depicts a person driving away wild beasts to benefit the people, while the other side shows a person performing cruel rituals to persecute the mountain people. These contrasting accounts of good and evil make it impossible for me to understand how a person could have such a huge difference in thought and personality, and I also can't figure out whether these two tomb raiders are good or bad.

We walked along the passage, looking around as we went. The passage seemed quite long, and it took us a while to reach its end. When we emerged from a hole at the end of the passage, it was already broad daylight. We found ourselves out of the dense, dark forest, and before us stretched a wide valley. A broad river flowed down from a waterfall in the distance, curving along the mountainside before disappearing behind the valley. The green mountains on both sides of the valley soared into the clouds, like two giant pillars supporting the blue sky. Several golden eagles circled above the mountaintops, occasionally letting out a loud cry.

Since we hadn't had any water in the dense jungle for a long time, as soon as Dunzi saw the clear river in front of him, he immediately picked up his empty water bottle and ran excitedly toward the riverbank.

68. Twisted Pine Trees on a Sheer Cliff

We filled our bottles with spring water at the riverbank, washing away the dust we'd accumulated in the dense forest over the past few days, and then walked along the riverbank into the valley. This valley was different from others; huge rock paintings appeared intermittently on the steep cliffs on both sides, naturally depicting the grand scenes of various sacrificial rituals performed by the two tomb raiders. Near the rock paintings were also some large, strange inscriptions we had seen before on the outer walls of shamanic temples and spirit altars. As usual, Jenny sketched the rock paintings and inscriptions she saw into her thick notebook as we walked.

After noon, we arrived at the heart of the valley. The once wide valley narrowed significantly here, becoming a funnel-shaped river valley. The riverbanks gradually narrowed as well, until both sides of the river became steep cliffs, with no path to be taken. "According to the clues in the rock paintings along the way, we should be going in the right direction. How come there's suddenly no path here?" Dunzi asked, frowning slightly as the path disappeared again. I looked ahead and saw only a river; there was indeed no path forward. Did we have to follow the river to get in? But this was deep in the mountains and forests; it was difficult to even encounter a person, let alone find a boat. What should we do? I looked around at the surroundings, intending to find some small trees to cut down and make a raft. Just as I was searching for usable trees, I suddenly heard Abao shout, "Look, that tree on the cliff looks very similar to the next clue mentioned in the treasure poem!"

Upon hearing Ah Bao's words, we immediately looked in the direction he pointed. There, atop a steep cliff on the opposite bank of the river, stood a powerful old pine tree, its roots exposed and deeply embedded in the precipice, climbing upwards along the cliff face. Its branches twisted and turned, winding their way upwards, truly resembling a vigorous dragon bursting from the river below and leaping into the air. Moreover, from our current position, the pine's branches reaching the cliff top perfectly obscured the setting sun. This scene perfectly matched the phrase "a gnarled tree blocking out the sun" from the treasure poem.

It turns out the next clue was on the cliff face opposite. Luckily, Ah Bao had sharp eyes, otherwise we might have easily missed it and gone deeper into the valley along the river. Finding the clue was both exciting and daunting. We were excited because we had finally caught the clue we needed and were closer to our destination. The challenge was that we had to cross the river, and if we needed to search for other clues near the old pine tree, we'd have to climb up that cliff. That wasn't something we could do easily. Nevertheless, we decided to focus on crossing the river first. After all, this wasn't the first time we'd encountered difficulties, and we now firmly believed in the old saying, "Where there's a will, there's a way."

Before crossing the river, we carefully observed the riverbank and found that it wasn't very wide, averaging about thirty meters on average. The current wasn't very strong either, so it should be relatively easy to swim across. However, for safety reasons, we decided to send one person across first with one end of the safety rope, and then the others would pull themselves across one by one. This way, even if there were unseen strong currents underwater, they wouldn't easily sweep us away.

Ah Bao said he had received rigorous field training during his military service and should be a pretty good swimmer, so he volunteered to be the first to cross the river. We tied a sailor's knot with the safety rope around his waist and shoulders, and then watched him jump into the water with a "plop" and swim vigorously towards the other side. About four or five minutes later, Ah Bao finally reached the other side. Then, one by one, we all pulled ourselves across the river safely using the safety ropes.

When we arrived at the foot of the cliff, we were truly perplexed. None of the four of us were skilled climbers, and we certainly didn't have wings. This sheer cliff, accessible only to eagles and golden eagles, truly stumped us. By then, it was already late, and the sun had long since set. Unable to come up with a good solution, we decided to temporarily set up camp in a sheltered spot at the foot of the cliff, intending to spend the night there.

As we ate the fish that Dunzi had caught from the river, we discussed how to get up the cliff face the next day. Suddenly, Jenny had a new idea. She said, "Shouldn't we think about this from a different angle? It's impossible for the average person to climb such a sheer cliff. Look at this ancient pine tree growing on this cliff, seemingly leaping towards the summit. Could it just be a marker, telling us there might be some suspicious clues at the top, instead of forcing us to go up to the ancient pine tree to look for clues?" We thought Jenny's suggestion made perfect sense. And Ah Bao said that if we really wanted to see the ancient pine tree, climbing up the cliff from below was probably impractical. It would be easier to get to the top first, then lower a safety rope and descend to the pine tree not far from the top. So we decided to first wander around the area near the cliff, looking for a path to the summit to climb up first.

The next morning, we walked around the area as planned, and after walking about three or five miles, we found that the cliff began to disappear and the terrain became gentler. Although it was covered with thorns and weeds, and there was basically no path to follow, it was still much better than climbing up a near-vertical cliff. Ah Bao led the way, and the four of us struggled up the mountain. We finally reached the ridge around noon.

As soon as we reached the summit, we were captivated by the scene before us. High atop the mountain lay a natural lake, much like the Heavenly Lake of Changbai Mountain, its waters crystal clear and blue like sapphires. Even more surprising was the small island in the middle of this mountaintop lake, shrouded in mist, its reflection in the water creating a scene of ethereal beauty. A towering peak jutted out from the center of the island, making the entire island appear from afar like a giant serpent coiled in the lake, its head raised high. Upon seeing this scene, I immediately recalled the phrase "the coiled serpent" from the treasure poem. So I couldn't help but exclaim, "So this is what 'the coiled serpent' refers to!" But Dunzi didn't seem to understand, so he asked me, "How do you know it's here? By the way, what exactly is this 'Bashe' in 'the coiled serpent'?" Hearing his question, I told him, "The Bashe is a giant serpent in ancient mythology. It is said that it swallowed an elephant and only vomited its bones three years later. Later, it was killed by Hou Yi, and people piled up its bones, which actually became a small mountain." After listening, Dunzi seemed to understand and nodded at me. I then pointed to the small island in the middle of the lake and said, "Look at that small island in the middle of the lake, there's a giant peak standing in the middle, doesn't it look like a Bashe coiled up in the lake with its head held high?" Dunzi finally understood after I explained it to him and couldn't help but say, "I knew it!"

Next, we went to the lakeside to check and found that the island in the middle of the lake was about five or six hundred meters from the shore. Our safety rope wasn't long enough, and while Ah Bao might be able to swim across by hand, we weren't so sure about the rest of us. So, in the end, we decided to cut down some suitable trees from the shore to build a raft, and then use the raft to get to the island. Luckily, Ah Bao had built rafts before, so by dusk, a sturdy raft was already in front of us.

69. The Monster of Tianchi Lake

After loading our bags and backpacks onto the raft and securing it with ropes, the four of us paddled towards the center of the lake in this makeshift raft. The weather was perfect, and the lake was completely calm. As Dunzi and I rowed with our makeshift paddles made of tree branches, we watched the sunset slowly dip below the hills. The crimson afterglow painted the entire lake a fiery red. The scenery was undeniably beautiful. But for some reason, perhaps because the journey had been too smooth, I felt uneasy. In my eyes, the red lake water resembled a pool of blood, making me extremely uncomfortable. I silently prayed that nothing unexpected would happen.

With their final goal within reach, Dunzi and his companions were overjoyed. Dunzi, paddling, loudly hummed an old song from the Railway Guerrilla. His consistently off-key singing made Jenny and Abao chuckle behind him. Just then, a small wave suddenly appeared not far from our raft, rocking it a few times. Because the lake had been perfectly calm, we were all startled by the sudden movement. But when we realized it was just a small wave, we slowly calmed down. "What a big fish!" Dunzi exclaimed, staring at the vanished wave, watching it gradually turn into ripples. However, at that moment, I seemed to see a long shadow in the water, quickly sinking to the bottom. My intuition told me that things weren't so simple. After these few days of calm, another thrilling moment awaited us.

So I took out my weapon from my backpack, stared intently at the lake, not daring to be careless for a moment, and said, "Everyone be careful. I don't think that wave was just made by fish." Seeing my tense expression and hearing what I said, the others also sensed that something was amiss, so they put aside their previous relaxed attitude and took out their weapons to observe the movement on the lake.

About two or three minutes later, just as we were carefully watching the lake surface to see what was happening in the water, our raft was suddenly and violently struck from the bottom. The entire raft was thrown into the air before crashing back down onto the lake. Because it happened so suddenly, Ah Bao and I were thrown into the lake. Jenny and Dunzi probably instinctively grabbed onto a anchor bar on the raft when they were hit, which is why they weren't thrown into the lake.

The instant I fell into the lake, I vaguely saw what appeared to be a huge shadow moving rapidly around us beneath the surface. I initially wanted to dive over for a closer look, but I was choking on water and had to surface for air. At that moment, Ah Bao had already swum back to the edge of the raft, and Dunzi and the others were struggling to pull him aboard. So I quickly swam over as well.

But before I could swim to the raft, the shadow in the water suddenly surged out of the water again, a huge wave lifting me into the air. Only then did I see clearly that the object that had emerged from the water was nearly twenty meters long, its body seemingly covered in scales, dark red in color with speckled white markings. Its head was enormous, taking up almost half of its body volume. Its pincer-like mouth had two thick, long whiskers and many smaller ones. Because it immediately fell back into the water after emerging, I didn't have time to see it more clearly.

At this moment, the lake water, stirred up by the monster, was crashing towards us with one huge wave after another. Several times I tried to swim to the raft to rejoin the others, but I failed each time, always being tossed aside by the sudden surge of a large wave. Since we were running low on ammunition, although Dunzi and the others had picked up their hunting rifles and crossbows, they dared not waste their ammunition until they had a clear aim at this enormous monster.

Dunzi, aiming his hunting rifle at the lake with both hands, shouted to me, "Swim over here! Swim over here! It's coming towards you!" Hearing Dunzi's shout, my heart leaped into my throat. I involuntarily looked behind me. What I saw shocked me. The enormous creature was rapidly emerging from the water behind me, opening its two enormous, pincer-like mouths, ready to swallow me whole. At this critical moment, a gunshot rang out—I don't know who fired it. The bullet struck the monster's massive mouth, instantly creating a bloody hole. The lake monster's dark red, gooey blood gushed out. In pain, it leaped and thrashed about, slowing its charge and giving me a chance to escape danger. Using this opportunity, I quickly swam forward several meters, finally reaching our raft. But while that shot saved my life, it also enraged the enormous lake monster. After a series of leaps and bounds, it suddenly charged at our raft like a madman.

Ah Bao and Dunzi on the raft fired two shots simultaneously, but they seemed to hit the lake monster's thick, hard scales, failing to penetrate its body. By this time, Jenny had pulled me onto the raft, but my hunting rifle had fallen into the lake. So I took a crossbow from the baggage secured to the raft, aimed at the charging lake monster, and with a "whoosh," fired a steel arrow. It struck the monster squarely in its left eye. Enraged, the lake monster charged recklessly towards our raft. Ah Bao and Dunzi were busy reloading, unable to stop the monster's attack in time, and were finally slammed against the edge of our raft.

With a loud bang, our raft was sent flying. Luckily, we were prepared and each of us held onto the safety pole tightly with one hand, preventing us from being thrown off. But as the raft fell from mid-air and crashed heavily onto the water, there was a loud crack. I glanced over and saw that the raft had been smashed open. Just then, the lake monster charged again, opening its giant pincer-like jaws and biting down on one corner of the raft. The arm-thick tree trunk we used to build the raft was easily snapped in two.

Our small raft was gradually falling apart, on the verge of collapse under the weight of the four of us. The lake monster gave us no chance to breathe. It leaped into the air, then its massive body slammed down onto our raft, intending to capsize and sink it completely. However, just as it leaped into the air, it revealed its only seemingly soft spot—its abdomen. Seizing this opportunity, Dunzi and the others, having just reloaded their ammunition, quickly raised their guns and fired without even aiming at the lake monster's huge, grayish-white belly. Two shots rang out; the lake monster was hit twice in the abdomen, writhing in pain as it fell from the air. Luckily, we dodged in time. The lake monster's body grazed the edge of the raft and fell into the lake. The resulting giant wave nearly capsized the raft again.

But the matter wasn't over yet. Due to its momentary carelessness, the lake monster had been hit in a relatively serious area, and thus was no longer as rampant as before. Instead, it turned around, revealing its hard scales to us, and raised its enormous, fan-like tail, repeatedly slapping the lake surface, creating towering waves that tried to capsize our raft. At this moment, the raft swayed wildly in the waves, and we could barely stand, even starting to feel seasick. We had no free hands to fire at it.

"What do we do, brother? Think of something!" Dunzi shouted at me, gripping the raft tightly to steady himself, hoping I could come up with a good idea. I was actually quite anxious myself. But facing such a massive, heavily armored creature on this watery surface that made movement difficult, I couldn't think of anything good. Jenny had been rowing the raft as close to the island in the middle of the lake as possible. But with the relentless pounding of the giant waves, no matter how hard she rowed, the raft wouldn't get any closer, so she simply stopped. Hearing Dunzi's shout, she thought for a moment and then called out to me, "How about we try using explosives?" Jenny's suggestion suddenly reminded me of the plastic explosives I had in my backpack. While explosives could indeed deal with this lake monster, we first needed to attach them to its body. This is no easy task either. It's very likely that before we even get close to it, its powerful, giant fan-shaped tail could smash our heads to pieces.

Just as I was thinking about how to secure the bomb to the lake monster and escape quickly before it attacked me, it suddenly turned around, opened its huge mouth, and charged towards us. Seeing this, my eyes lit up, and I immediately had a bold plan.

70. Lake Bottom Illusion

Then I pulled the safety rope from my backpack and shouted, "Secure my body first, then fix the other end of the rope to the raft. When you hear me yell 'pull,' pull me back quickly." Ah Bao and the others probably didn't understand my full meaning at first, but they understood when I said to fix the rope to the raft. So they immediately did as I said, securing the rope firmly to the raft. Then I took a plastic explosive from my bag and jumped into the river with a "thud," swimming vigorously towards the lake monster. Dunzi was dumbfounded. At this crucial moment, he should have been avoiding it, why was he willingly walking into its trap? He hurriedly shouted at me, "Hey bro, are you out of your mind? That's dangerous, come back!" He then tried to pull my rope back. In my panic, I waved my hand frantically at him and shouted, "Stop! Don't pull me! Don't pull me!" Seeing my anxious expression, Dunzi didn't know what I was up to, so he let go and didn't dare to pull me back any further.

Just then, the enormous lake monster saw me jump into the lake alone and swim towards it. It froze for a moment, then opened its massive jaws and lunged at me. When it was three or four meters away, I shoved the plastic bomb I was holding into its mouth. Without even looking at what it was, the lake monster snapped its jaws shut and swallowed the plastic bomb whole.

Seeing that the lake monster had indeed fallen for the trap, and that half the plan was complete, I was secretly pleased. I quickly turned around, waved vigorously at Dunzi and the others, and shouted, "Dunzi, quick, pull me back!" At that moment, Dunzi and the others were staring intently at me, afraid that something might happen if I got too close to the lake monster. Only when they saw me stuff the bomb into the lake monster's mouth did they roughly understand my plan. Hearing my shout, they immediately worked together to pull the safety rope binding me back with all their might.

Perhaps the lake monster only realized the hard, sticky substance it had swallowed after ingesting the plastic explosives, and it didn't immediately give chase. When I was some distance away, I figured it was time, so I shouted, "Everyone, lie down! I'm going to detonate!" Then I gently pressed the remote control in my hand. With a deafening roar, a giant wave surged across the lake. Then, lake water mixed with pieces of the lake monster's body and dark red, viscous blood splattered all over us.

After the bloodshed subsided slightly, I couldn't help but look back. There, the enormous lake monster floated belly-up on the surface, slowly sinking to the bottom with each ripple. A third of its body had been blown away, revealing a large gash, its internal organs mangled beyond recognition. Seeing this, we breathed a sigh of relief. I turned to continue swimming towards the raft. But just as I was about to swim, I suddenly felt a long, rope-like object reach out from under my feet, tightly wrapping around my ankle and dragging me underwater with tremendous force. Caught off guard, my heart pounded, and I quickly looked back. The enormous lake monster wasn't quite dead yet. In its final moments, with its last strength, it extended two thick, long whiskers from its mouth to my feet, binding my ankle tightly. Then, as its body rapidly sank to the bottom, it dragged me down with it.

At that moment, I panicked and hurriedly reached out to untangle the two long tendrils binding my feet. Unfortunately, the tendrils were as tightly bound as steel wire, impossible to untangle, and I was being dragged deeper and deeper into the lake. Seeing my peril, Ah Bao and the others on the raft quickly pulled on the safety rope, trying to pull me back. But the lake monster's carcass was simply too enormous; not only could the three of them not move it, but if they continued dragging it, the raft would likely be pulled to the bottom as well. Seeing the urgency of the situation, Ah Bao jumped into the water to rescue me. But after he used the sharp dagger he pulled from his boot to make several cuts into the lake monster's tendrils, he discovered that the tendrils were exceptionally tough and could not be easily severed.

I sank deeper and deeper. My eardrums were starting to throb slightly from the pressure of the lake bottom. Then, thanks to the safety rope attached to the raft, my descent suddenly slowed. The rope tightened around me and the raft, making me very uncomfortable. Ah Bao didn't want to leave me like this, but he couldn't think of any other good solution. So he could only dive down with me. I knew that continuing like this was also very dangerous for him, and the raft could be pulled to the bottom of the lake with me at any moment. So I pointed to the surface, telling him to go back to the surface and not worry about me anymore. Then I took the tactical knife from his hand and forcefully cut the rope binding my body. The instant the rope broke, the powerful pull quickly dragged me further down into the pitch-black lake bottom.

After sinking another twenty meters or so, Ah Bao stopped following. I knew this depth likely exceeded the diving limit for an average person. My eardrums were ringing from the immense water pressure, and everything around me was pitch black; I couldn't see anything. My mind went blank; I had already given up, ceasing all hope of surviving. And so, I sank deeper and deeper with the lake monster's corpse, not knowing how far I had gone. Just then, a white dot flashed before my eyes. Looking closer, I saw a translucent, jellyfish-like object not far from me. It emitted a faint bioluminescence, slowly contracting and expanding, standing out starkly in the dark water.