Chapter 26: The Mysterious Soul of Wǎwū Shān

  There was a moment of silence on the other end, then a flat voice came through: "It's me. I'm at Wawu Mountain."

  It's Qing Ning! Hearing this calm and ethereal voice, my spirit trembled involuntarily, and I excitedly asked: "Where is your specific location? I'll go find you!"

  "Mì hún dào." He said this and then hung up the phone. I didn't think about how he knew my number, but immediately went online to search for "Sichuan Wawushan Mihundao". Unexpectedly, Baidu spat out one piece of information after another, and I clicked on several to take a closer look. As I looked, I couldn't help but laugh bitterly.

  It's called the Soul-Lost Trail, but a more accurate name should be the Soul-Lost Gorge. Wawu Mountain is located in Meishan City, Sichuan Province, where China's largest primitive forest is found. The most famous one among them is the "Soul-Lost Trail". It is said that ordinary people can't get out once they enter, and there are many examples of adventurers getting lost or even starving to death inside.

  "The soul is trapped, strange within the strange, entering inside is not easy to survive." This sentence did not come out of thin air, due to its mysterious and terrifying nature, the local government had to designate it as a tourist restricted area when developing the Wawushan resources, to prevent tourists from accidentally entering. Moreover, what's even more amazing is that the geographical location of the Soul Trapping Valley coincides with the Bermuda Triangle on the same latitude, so it's affectionately called the "Death Latitude Line" and the "Bermuda Triangle on Land".

  The Bermuda Triangle doesn't need any introduction, I suppose. Unexpectedly, Qing Ning rushed straight to Wawa Mountain after leaving Hei Zhu Gou. It's as if he's drawn to the most dangerous places! Of course, I also acknowledge that strange places often hide unknown secrets, and these secrets might be what we're searching for. This is what they call "not entering the tiger's den, can't get the tiger's cub".

  After sleeping in a hotel for a while, I went to see Da Bao's parents. Although they seemed okay, I think it must be very hard for them to bear the pain of losing their child at such a young age, especially since Da Bao died because of me.

  "Auntie, I might be leaving here tonight, don't be too sad, I think Da Bao wouldn't want to see you all so distressed either." I said to Da Bao's mom with some self-blame.

  "En." She nodded and looked at me, saying: "I know, actually Bao'er has always been by my side. Although I couldn't see his appearance or hear his voice, I could feel it, he's always been by my side. Haha, although they all think I'm crazy, but I know you believe me, right?"

  Looking at her pale and bitter smile, I nodded and hesitated to say: "Dabao has been thinking of you all the time, but he wants to leave, and he will be leaving with me tonight."

  "Leave? Why does Bao'er want to leave?" Her expression was somewhat agitated, looking at me in a disbelieving and flustered manner.

  "Auntie, Da Bao is already dead, but for some unknown reason, he wasn't accepted into hell and became a lonely ghost. Even King Yanluo didn't want him, so he can't move on and has to wander around everywhere. Do you really want him to stay like this forever?"

  After finishing, I looked at her and saw that she still couldn't accept it. So I had to persuade her again with a heavy heart: "Auntie, you have to know that ghosts aren't immortal either. They will also have their day of death. We don't know when Da Bao might suddenly disappear from this world forever. Have you thought about how terrifying it is to completely disappear? From the cycle of reincarnation, they are gone for good. These lonely and wild ghosts find it very hard to meet a Bodhisattva. Even if they want to change their ways and start anew, it's not easy at all. That's why I want to help him out. Although my power is small, I at least want to use the last bit of strength to protect his last shred of dignity."

  As expected, her mother became frightened and hastily grabbed my hand, asking: "What should we do? Can you help Bao'er? I don't want him to disappear completely. He must be very scared, no... I'll go with him..."

  Seeing that she was becoming more and more incoherent, even having thoughts of suicide, I felt increasingly guilty and remorseful. After all, the things I said about Yan Wang Ye not collecting souls and the six paths of reincarnation were just nonsense, my intention was to prevent Da Bao from leaving, fearing that his mother would have an accident. So, holding her hands firmly and looking into her eyes, I guaranteed: "Auntie, don't worry, Da Bao can still be saved, I have a very capable friend, this time I'm going to find him, and Da Bao will definitely be saved!"

  "That's good, that's good, you must find him..." She repeated this sentence with a tired and haggard expression. I comforted her for a few more sentences and made big promises, which finally calmed her down and allowed her to prepare herself for the possibility of not feeling the loss of Bao later on. Then I bid farewell to her and left.

  I was waiting for him at the intersection where I first met Da Bao, and as the sky gradually darkened, my head became more and more dizzy. At this time, Da Bao suddenly jumped out and scared me. I stared at him with a pair of angry eyes and said, "I've already talked to your mom, do you want to go back and take one last look at her?"

  Seeing me being scared, Dabao seemed extremely happy and had a great sense of accomplishment. Even his tone was much more cheerful as he said: "No need, I've already gone back and said goodbye to mom earlier. By the way, where's my little house?"

  "Ah." I took out two cylindrical glass bottles of different sizes from a small pocket in my bosom, opened the wooden stopper and said: "You choose one yourself."

  Dabao was stunned, pointing at the small glass bottle in disbelief and said to me: "I'm such a big person, you actually let me go inside something so small, are you even human!?!" Dabao said with disdain, using his thumb and index finger to measure a size, looking at me with contempt, "You're discriminating against ghosts!"

  I shrugged and said helplessly, "What can I do? I couldn't possibly carry something that big around everywhere, could I? Don't be too picky, at least there's a place to sleep. If you're cold, my body heat can warm you up." I smiled mischievously.

  "Ugh! Can't you stop disgusting me?!"" Da Bao pretended to vomit a few times, but despite saying so, he still pointed at the large glass bottle with a resigned expression and said: "It's this one, I'll let it slide since you look pitiful, just make do with it."

  After quarreling with him for a while, I took a taxi to the airport. Having money is great, no need to take that crowded train and wait for this and that. It's much simpler to fly directly. But Da Bao couldn't do it, I don't know if he can get on the plane, so I had to put him in a small glass bottle and carry it with me to prevent losing him.

  Because Meishan has no airport, I can only take a flight to Chengdu first and then transfer to there. After flying for nearly two hours, I arrived in Chengdu and then took a bus all the way to Wawushan, after about three and a half hours of driving time, I finally arrived at Wawushan, it was almost four o'clock by then.

  So I started calling Qingning, but unexpectedly no one answered. Since I couldn't go into the mountains alone in the middle of the night, I had to find a public bench and lie down, starting to sink into deep thought...