Chapter Six: Wind Burial

  Qin Zhong, with respect for other ethnic groups, on the basis of protecting Meng Na, knelt down to those few dog-headed men, and step by step said what that shaman in animal skins had said.

  Look at that shaman, his whole body shook, and he said in a low voice: "You little boy, you are an outsider. On the face of my tribesmen, I will spare your life this time. If you harm our tribesmen, it will be your death."

  Qin Zhong slightly raised the corner of his mouth, didn't say a word, and symbolically bowed his waist to make a slight bow. It seemed that the shaman was already very satisfied with what he had done, and everyone began to take turns taking the bear meat onto the fire rack. The skinned bear meat sizzled and crackled on the fire.

  He pushed his glasses with his big teeth, and saliva flowed out from the gap between his two big buck teeth: "I really don't know what this bear meat tastes like. If I eat a mouthful of the national protected animal's meat, I don't know if it's against the law."

  "Against the law." Qin Zhong glanced at Da Ya, and his mouth slightly curled up: "But in such a primitive place, who comes to manage it? Moreover, is this even our Chinese territory or not? It's unknown, maybe we've already entered Russia."

  Kuo Ta-fu burst out laughing: "That would be interesting if we could get out of the country for free."

  Qin Zhong nodded and spent the evening with everyone in the tribe drinking and talking freely.

  Until the ceremony was over, the old man came on stage and said to his clansmen: "We Oroqen people are one of the most ancient branches of the female chastity in Northeast China, with only a few dozen people left. So today's guests who have come from afar can be considered as having a fate with us. When you enter our village, you should follow our customs. Since you've arrived here, you must abide by our rules. Tomorrow morning, we will set out to hold the wind burial for the bear bones, in order to comfort the spirits of our ancestors."

  "Does Uncle mean we have to participate too?" Qin Zhong asked.

  The old man stroked his beard and nodded: "You are the ones who send bones, that is, one trip to the place, all bear bones are carried by you."

  Qin Zhong didn't ask any more questions and went to sleep in the tribe that day. The next morning, Yingzi brought him breakfast, and Qin Zhong asked her about the Shaman's anti-Japanese activities back then, but she told Qin Zhong to go find his own grandfather instead.

  After communicating with the old man for half a day, he finally learned that the two Saman who were cleaned up by the devils on that day were actually people from their tribe. However, due to the repeated pursuit and killing by the devils later, the original two Saman had already disappeared without a trace. Therefore, Qin Zhong could only temporarily put this matter aside and decided to go send the bones first before heading in the direction of what he considered a sacred region.

  On the day of Fengzhao, Qin Zhong followed the Shaman, Guo Dafu, Da Ya and Yingzi out of the tribe. Similarly, their eyes were covered with black cloth. After they left the hidden area, the black cloth was removed, and Qin Zhong re-identified the direction, seemingly finding the sacred region he discovered that day.

  "Hmm, must we go to a designated place for wind burial?" Qin Zhong asked.

  Shaman thought for a moment: "This is not necessary, but we must go to where there is wind."

  Qin Zhong lowered his head and took a look at the bear bone wrapped in willow branches. He deliberately changed direction, heading towards the divine realm. After walking over two hills, Qin Zhong felt that he had found the place he was looking for. However, the shaman's face suddenly changed as he fiddled with a pair of chopsticks.

  "It's bad, we've gone the wrong way, the weather is going to change!" The shaman looked up at the sky and said: "When we reach the highest point, there will be a great disaster. It's bad, all the bear bones have been invited out. If we go back now, our ancestors will still blame us, and our tribe may be destroyed."

  "Then let's continue up the mountain, we'll leave after we've finished what we need to do."

  "I'm afraid we can't get down."

  Qin Zhong was skeptical of Saman, but he didn't take it seriously, holding the willow-wrapped bear bone tightly in his hand and walking ahead. Of course, Guo Dafu followed closely behind him, with Da Ya following suit, leaving only Yingzi and a few others, including Saman, trailing behind.

  In less than half an hour, Qin Zhong and the others reached the top of the mountain. He put down the bear bones, looked around at the mountains below, where piece after piece of dark cloud was under his feet. Suddenly a strong gust of wind blew up, and the shaman's face turned deathly pale. He hastily ended the bone-sending ceremony, grabbed Yingzi and the people who had come with her, and they all ran back down.

  Qin Zhong said in a low voice, "Dà Yá, follow them back, be sure to remember the road, go quickly." He knew that at this time, following them running into the tribe, the Shaman would not remember to put a blindfold on Dà Yá. Then he pulled Yingzi back, "Girl, don't go, stay with your brother Zhong for now."

  "What! What are you going to do?"

  "I want you to be our guide, we'll wait for the blizzard to arrive right here." Qin Zhong's words sounded like those of a madman.

  "Are you crazy? The ceremony is over, who waits for a blizzard here? At least find a cave."

  "Cave? Did you see a cave on your way here?" Qin Zhong said, turning his head and running down half the mountain slope. The shaman and Daxia had already reached the foot of the mountain, but they stopped halfway down and found a place that seemed to be able to avoid the wind.

  Due to the strong wind, the thick snow on the pine tree was blown down mercilessly by the strong wind and hit Qin Zhong and Yingzi's heads.

  Qin Zhong tightly wrapped his arms around Yingzi's head, and his own head also tried to hide under his armpits. After a few minutes, the three of them were buried in the snow. Qin Zhong didn't know how long it took, but he stretched out his hand to dig outward, digging and digging until he hit something hard: "Strange, this wasn't here before, what is it?"

  He first stuck his head out of the snow pile, and with one pull, he pulled Yingzi out of the snow pile. The head shouted: "Guo Dafu!" Dafu also stretched out his head, took a long breath and said: "Damn it, that was close."

  "Is everything all right with Yingzi?"

  Yingzi's face turned red as she shook her head, seemingly a bit embarrassed to be held by Qin Zhong.

  Qin Zhong used his hand to sweep away the snow from the hard spot earlier, and after he swept away this pile of snow, what was revealed before the three people's eyes was a tombstone that had already lost its color.

  "Big brother, look!"

  "Sister, we've arrived at the tomb. Qin Zhong was in the middle of a difference and turned his head to look at Yingzi: "How can there still be a tomb in this place?"

  Yingzi shook her head like a rattle drum: "I've never been here before, and I don't know if anyone lives here. But in such a primitive place, there is a cemetery, so it's not necessarily a modern cemetery."

  Qin Zhong listened to this and it seemed to make some sense, but the astronomical signs he had observed the day before indicated that this was not a burial site. Although he didn't know much about graves and tombs, he understood at this moment that people all want to find a good place, let alone the dead.

  He immediately brushed the snow again, sweeping the tombstone clean, carefully distinguishing the words written on the tombstone: The Tomb of Anti-Japanese League Warriors.

  "The Anti-Japanese League warriors came here, which is still normal, but why were they buried here? Did a fierce battle take place here?" Qin Zhong asked himself. With one glance, he had Guo Dafu clear the snow around them, and only after clearing an area of five square meters did Qin Zhong discover a very strange phenomenon - in front of this tombstone, there was actually a snowy trench, with hot air rising from it.

  Moreover, in the snowy valley, hot water was circulating and flowing. Qin Zhong stretched out his hand to touch it, and the water was indeed warm. He suddenly remembered the story that Yingzi's grandfather had told him about how a shaman had defeated two Japanese battalions, which seemed to be related to several Anti-Japanese League soldiers. Could it be these people? No way, it couldn't be such good luck, although this place is sacred territory, it's very likely that it's just a place where the wind buries bear bones or a burial ground for ancestors.

  Just as Qin Zhong was puzzled, a rumbling sound came from underground, and the ground began to shake. The sound was like an earthquake. Guo Dafu walked towards Qin Zhong, his feet crunching on the frozen snow. At that moment, Yingzi was shocked to find that the three of them suddenly felt the ground beneath their feet begin to sink.

  Qin Zhong and the three others quickly ran towards the mountain top, and when they arrived at the place where the wind buried the bear bones, they found that it was actually a cliff. However, when Qin Zhong looked down at the foot of the mountain, the dark clouds from earlier had dispersed, and the scenery below the cliff unfolded before his eyes. At this moment, he made a new decision and prepared to go down along the cliff.