Chapter 8: Advancing into the Mountains

  Last time we left off, our group of five people finally set off into the mountains after making all necessary preparations.

  The midday sun didn't bring me any warmth. In order to let Uncle Cheng and the others get familiar with the terrain on the mountain, we first circled around the mountain a few times.

  "This mountain really gives people an inexplicable sense of oppression," said Cheng Shu to Ma Si Zhe after walking a few laps.

  Ma Si Zhe straightened his waist and looked at the mountain top, saying 'Indeed, when I first came here, I felt a bit short of breath. The mountain is not high, but every time I climb it, I get exhausted to death.'

  The two of them mentioned the feeling of oppression, which I didn't feel before. When I was a kid and climbed up and down, I thought about it too, but I don't know if it's psychological. Now that I think about it, it's indeed a bit strange. Actually, a long time ago, when the Mao'er Mountain Reservoir wasn't built yet, there were countless legends about Mao'er Mountain.

  Ma'ershan is called Ma'ershan because on the top of Ma'ershan Mountain, there is a stone that is wider than the mountain head. From a distance, it looks like a hat, so it's named Ma'ershan Mountain. Another magical place is that every time it rains on cloudy days, the joint between the mountain head and the stone of Ma'ershan Mountain, which is the brim of the hat, will always emit bursts of white smoke.

  The villagers all say that Maoer Mountain is a divine mountain where immortals live, and the smoke indicates that an immortal is manifesting.

  Then a hidden cave in the middle of Maoer Mountain was called Xianrendong (Fairy Cave).

  In the village, people used to raise cattle and sheep would go to Ma'ershan Mountain to graze, but everyone would avoid the area near Xianrendong Cave.

  The Immortal Cave is actually a real snake cave, with hundreds and thousands of snakes. The snakes in the cave usually live in dark places, but at noon they come out to bask in the sun. Someone once inadvertently saw the spectacular scene of the snakes in the cave coming out together to bask in the sun. Snakes of various colors intertwined and twisted together on the bluestone slab at the entrance. The original bluestone slab at the entrance had edges and corners, but over time, it was polished smooth by the snakes' activities.

  According to legend, there was a child in the village, about ten or so years old. One noon, this child went up the mountain to graze sheep, and the sheep ate grass on the slope. The gentle breeze made the child feel a bit sleepy. After thinking about it, he didn't dare rest, fearing that he would lose a few sheep and be scolded by his mother when he returned home.

  Following the sheep, they walked for over an hour and unintentionally arrived in front of a cave. The child saw the bluestone slab in front of the cave, which was clean and shiny, making people want to rest for a while. The child looked at the honest sheep and thought that resting for a bit should be fine, as the sheep ate their food and the child slept. In the end, they couldn't resist the drowsiness, so the child lay down on the bluestone slab. Ah, it was so comfortable! Before long, they fell into a deep sleep.

  "Child, wake up, you can't sleep here." An elder woke the little one.

  The kid rubbed his eyes and said, "Who are you? I don't recognize you."

  "I live on this mountain." The elder smiled and stroked his beard.

  "Is anyone still living on this mountain?" The child looked around and didn't think it looked like anyone's home.

  "Of course someone lives there, little doll, want to go take a look with me?"

  The child's curiosity was heavy, but the child also worried 'What about my sheep?'

  The old man waved his sleeve, and the sheep that were eating grass suddenly stopped moving. The child stared with wide eyes and exclaimed "awesome".

  "Where's your home?" the child asked.

  The elder pointed to the cave and said, "It's just inside, it's a lot of fun in there."

  The child couldn't resist the temptation and turned back to take a look at the stopped sheep, then followed the old man with a long beard into the cave.

  "Are you a fairy?" the children asked, surrounding him.

  The old man sneered, "Immortal? The most useless thing in the world is that stuff." After finishing speaking, his eyes became venomous and his expression was no longer as gentle and amiable as before.

  The child didn't see his expression and still asked in confusion, "But you can use magic, right?"

  "It's not just gods who can use magic," the old man said with a sigh.

  After passing through a darkness, the old man brought the child to a room. The golden splendor made the child's eyes wide open. The house was like a gold one, shining brightly in the dark cave.

  "Wow, your house is so big!" The child not only exclaimed. In the middle of the room was an eight-immortal table, and on the table were chicken, duck, fish, and meat that children couldn't eat during the New Year. The child stared with wide eyes.

  "Eat if you want to eat, don't be polite." The old man said, stroking the child's hair.

  "My mom says I shouldn't eat things given by strangers."

  You're not a stranger, I invited you as a guest, you are my guest, it's only right that I treat you to something.

  The child thought about it and what he said made sense, so he said thank you and started eating at the table. There was not only delicious food on the table but also fine wine, however, this couldn't attract him, after a while, the fine wine on the table hadn't been touched, but the food had been eaten more than half.

  After eating, the old man took the child to explore the cave again. The child was attracted by the scenery in front of him and didn't expect that there would be such a side in the dark cave. It's completely different from the houses outside, with golden decorations shining brightly, just like the imperial palace described by storytellers. As they walked further, the light grew weaker and weaker, gradually moving away from those beautifully decorated houses.

  "How come I can't see clearly?" the child asked.

  As soon as the voice fell, a green light suddenly appeared in front of him, and the little boy couldn't open his eyes for a moment. After his eyes adjusted, he looked again and found that there was actually a deep pit tens of meters deep in front of him. Countless snakes were coiled together at the bottom of the pit, making people feel nauseous. The little boy squatted down and started dry vomiting, but nothing came out of his mouth.

  Look around, where is the old man with white beard? The child plucked up the courage to look into the pit again, and there were probably over a thousand snakes slithering in the pit. It seems that the rumors in the village are not false. The child saw something wrapped under the snake's body, but it was a bit blurry due to the distance. The child rubbed his eyes, and what was wrapped underneath was actually a human body! The child was so scared that he fell to the ground, his legs trembling as he crawled to the edge of the pit, shouting several times, but the person didn't respond at all.

  The eerie green light made the atmosphere even more terrifying. The snakes in the pit kept crawling, some of them climbing up to the edge, but unfortunately, the pit was too deep and they fell back down after a short distance. This time, the child saw another person's corpse, sandwiched between the snakes. Every time the snakes moved, the child would see new people, one, two, three... there were over a hundred people in the pit!

  The child was shocked by the scene in front of him and turned to run away. As soon as he ran, he bumped into a person. The child looked up and found it was the old man with white beard from just now. Just as the child was about to tell what he had seen, the old man's beard suddenly turned red, his eyes were also filled with blood like red, and his mouth was spitting out threads, making a hissing sound.

  The child was frightened stiff, his legs became uncontrollable and unable to move. The old man opened his big mouth and bit towards the child, the child saw a row of small teeth on his oral cavity and smelled a foul odor.

  "The child cried out and woke up. The sun was about to set, the child wiped away the cold sweat on his forehead, it turned out he had a nightmare. This dream was really scary. The child looked at the setting sun and hurriedly drove the sheep back home."

  While having dinner, the child suddenly remembered and told his mother about what happened at noon today.

  "Mom, I had a dream at noon today, and in the dream, there was an old man with a red beard and an old man with a white beard."

  Mom hit the kid's head with chopsticks: "Let you herd sheep and you sleep again"

  The child pouted and didn't dare say more. The whole family didn't take it seriously and went to bed early.

  Who would have thought that the next day, the child suddenly contracted a mental illness for no reason, muttering all day about a red-bearded old man and a white-bearded old man.

  "Because of that wine," said Uncle Cheng after I told him what happened.

  "What wine?" Jiang Liu asked.

  "Sun Yi just said that the little kid had a meal in the cave, and only the wine on the table was untouched," Ma Si Zhe replied to Jiang Liu.

  "If this is true, then the wine should be the reason why that kid can escape," Cheng Shu speculated.

  "These are all legends I heard when I was a kid, may not be true"

  "Kid, you don't understand. Sometimes these folk legends are more useful than any exploration results. Since there's this legend, there must be some truth to it. This place isn't simple. Who knows, maybe there's a shortcut inside the cave that leads directly into the mountain."

  Cheng Shu asked me again, 'Do you know where this Immortal's Cave is?'

  "I know it's there, I just never went in"

  "This time we'll go in and take a look, maybe there will be some unexpected gains"

  Among us, Jiang Liu is a big roughneck, Huo Ying is an autistic, Ma Si Zhe is a mentally ill person, and I have never had any ideas, so Cheng Shu became the leader.

  Ma Si Zhe whispered to me, "We'd better dig a tunnel quietly, don't let Cheng Shu hear."

  "This is the top of the mountain, and if you dig carelessly, it's all rocks. Besides, even if we were to dig a tunnel, how deep would it need to be? If we really start digging, forget about returning to Hangzhou before the new year."

  "I don't want to go in anyway"

  Because you're afraid of snakes

  I'm not afraid of Ma Si Zhe's tough talk.

  "I'm not afraid of you, go ahead then"

  "Go if you must go"

  Ma Si Zhe is just so easy to deceive.