Chapter 16: The Old Dragon Hides the Antelope

  The Qiang people's funeral rituals are extremely complex and cumbersome, and the deceased can only be cremated three days after death. However, with such a huge change in Keku Village, only Kekesi, a small man, is left to hold any funeral ritual, which is not very realistic. They had no choice but to use the simplest method - putting the wooden box containing the villagers' ashes into their "Mother River" and letting them drift away on their own, guided by God, to find their final resting place.

  Suddenly, Kexi let out a long howl towards the sky, three long and one short: "Ou-ou-ou, ou..." After the cry ended, from a stone cave on a distant slope, a lazy Tibetan antelope poked out its big head.

  "Koko! Over here!" Kelsy yelled, waving her hand at the takin.

  Liu Yi originally thought Xiao Ke was a person's name, but it turned out to be a Tibetan antelope!

  The old horse can recognize the way, but I don't know how this Tibetan antelope knows the way.

  The Tibetan antelope heard Kekexi's call and slowly walked out of the cave, calmly and slowly walking towards Liu Yi and others. As it walked, a ray of sunlight shone on it, making it look mysterious.

  The average height of an adult male Tibetan antelope is around 80-85 cm, but this one is twice as tall. Its body is also a circle fatter than the average Tibetan antelope, it seems that the living conditions in this village are good, and this guy is gluttonous and lazy, lacking exercise, which has resulted in such a stout figure.

  Liu Yi looked at the old and frail Tibetan antelope and thought, "No wonder it's slow, it would be strange if it could run fast with a body like that!", and he secretly began to doubt the antelope's abilities.

  Xiao Ke was raised by Kexi's father and is now six years old. The average lifespan of a Tibetan antelope is between 6-8 years, which means that if we calculate its age in human terms, Xiao Ke has already entered old age and can be considered an elderly man in his sixties or seventies.

  Kekesi told Liu Yi and the others, "Don't underestimate Xiao Ke, he goes to the sacrificial site with his father every year on March 3rd, and is a knowledgeable and experienced Tibetan antelope."

  Xiao Ke had not yet reached the front of the crowd when Kexi Sasa ran over, deftly grasping the goat's horns and flipping himself onto its back.

  Xiao Ke was clearly unhappy that Kexi had jumped onto his back without warning, and he shook his head and swished his body a few times in an attempt to shake him off. When this failed, he snorted in exasperation, looking utterly resigned.

  The young Korkut, sitting on the back of a sheep, like a general about to go into battle, was full of energy. He waved his hand at Liu Yi and the others, saying: "Follow me, I'll take you to the 'Vertical Well'!"

  The crowd followed closely behind, extremely curious about the places Koxinga mentioned.

  Liu Yi guessed in his heart that the place called "Vertical Well" by Kexi was likely to be the entrance to the sacrificial site.

  The Tibetan antelope, Xiao Ke, did not slow down its pace despite the added burden on its back. Instead, after hearing Kekexi say "go to the 'vertical well'", it let out two loud cries and actually quickened its pace.

  It obviously has a natural liking for this place of vertical well.

  After walking for about twenty minutes along the edge of the forest at the north end of the village, Keksi jumped down from the sheep's back and pointed to a huge circular sky pit in front of him, saying: "This is the vertical well in our village. Every year when Father goes to the land of death to worship, he starts from here!"

  The little Tibetan antelope slowly walked to the edge of the large pit, looked up and bleated twice, then lay down, watching the slow and aimless flow of water in the pit, tilting its head, seemingly lost in thought.

  The water surface of the heavenly pit is about five meters away from the ground, and this stream should be another branch of the mother river of Keke Village, which flows out in this special underground tunnel-like cave to form a stream rushing towards the Death Valley.

  "Is the outlet of this water flow close to the place of sacrifice?" Liu Yi asked Ke Kexi.

  "I don't know, but my father mentioned it before. From here on out, the exit is Death Valley." Korksi sighed: "My father and I agreed that this year he would take me to the place of worship in person. I've grown up and will soon be able to take over his work, and I'll soon have to learn the Da Reba spell. But my father stood me up, and now I don't know if he's dead or alive."

  Liu Yi walked over and patted his shoulder: "Don't be sad, we will definitely help you rescue your father!"

  Kexi sank into thought for a moment, as if he had made up his mind. He turned to Liu Yi and said, "Can you take me with you to the place of worship? Although there are rules within our clan, but this is an extraordinary time, the gods won't blame me, will they?"

  Kekesi's question suddenly made Liu Yi realize a very important issue, that is, the equipment and personnel arrangement for this trip to the Kunlun Death Valley.

  As for Korksi's request, he couldn't bear to refuse. He felt that at this time, Korksi and himself were both 'emotional orphans' who had fathers whose lives or deaths were unknown, and yearned to find their fathers.

  He nodded and asked everyone to sit down, starting to discuss the personnel arrangement for going to Death Valley. On this issue, several men reached a consensus, that is, prohibiting women from following.

  The decision they made was for women's safety considerations and did not mean discrimination.

  The danger of this trip to Death Valley was unpredictable, and whether we could reach the land of sacrifice through Death Valley was a big question. From folk legends and records, it can be seen that Death Valley is full of dangers, with venomous snakes and ferocious beasts everywhere, and almost everyone who enters Death Valley dies, with very few survivors.

  Lin Xuewan said with a pout on her face, "I'm going with you guys to explore, I want to go!"

  As soon as this was said, Liu Yi suddenly burst into a rage. He stood up and pointed at Lin Xueyan, roaring:

  "We each have our own mission, like me and Koko Xi are searching for clues about our father, like the professor is driven by his scientific spirit, like Big Beard who after experiencing the Coco Village incident thinks that those poachers are not just ordinary poachers but possibly tomb raiders hired from abroad. So, what about you? Are you just here for adventure? Is Death Valley really that fun? We don't even know if we'll make it back alive! If you die, how will we explain to your family? And Koko Xi is so young, are you going to leave him behind?"

  Liu Yi, who had always been taciturn and rarely spoke, suddenly burst into flames, making everyone feel very uncomfortable. They stared at him with wide eyes, especially Lin Xueyan, who was so frightened by Liu Yi's roar that she sat there in terror, staring at her with slightly red eyes and tears welling up.

  "You're bad! You're a bad guy! You bullied my sister!" Kork Moon pointed at Liu Yi and shouted.

  Liu Yi also felt that his tone was a bit heavy: "Okay, I admit my tone is a bit heavy. But this is for your own good. And this wasn't a decision made by just me, it's a decision made by everyone."

  In fact, Liu Yi's roar was not without reason. He is now very anxious and eager to reach the so-called sacrificial site at the fastest speed, and he wants to know what his father saw there.

  If Lin Xueyan, this timid girl, is brought along, it will not only be necessary to protect her, but the overall speed of action will also inevitably decrease.

  As for Ma's army and that mysterious foreign black-robed wizard, I reckon they've already arrived at Death Valley ahead of us. If we delay any further during our journey, I'm afraid we won't be able to see anything when we arrive at the sacrificial site.

  He may also be aware of the style of some foreign adventurers, which is a kind of banditry. As long as they find something, they will take it away if they can carry it, and blow it up if they can't. They won't leave anything for later generations.

  They even blew up Mayan pyramids; isn't destroying a place of worship a normal thing?

  Tears of grievance finally couldn't be held back, bursting out. From young to old, Father had always pampered himself, afraid he'd fall, holding him in his mouth lest he melt away, taking meticulous care of him. School and work were also smooth sailing, no one had ever treated him this way before. Lin Xueyan wiped away a tear, sobbing: "I, I, I won't go, that's all!"

  Professor Zhou glared at Liu Yi and said to Lin Xueyan, "Liu Yi is also for your own good. The Death Valley is not a place to fool around. If you're not careful, there's a risk of losing your life. Your father asked you to guide me, if something happens to you, I'll be held responsible!"

  After being comforted by Professor Zhou Tao, Lin Xueyan's wounded heart gradually calmed down, and she sat aside in silence, listening to everyone making arrangements for various matters.

  Although Liu Yi couldn't wait to set off into the Death Valley immediately, they currently had nothing but guns, ropes, flashlights on them, not even a tent for camping outside at night, let alone other things. After some discussion, they decided to temporarily return to Xining, Qinghai, send Lin Xueyan and Ke Kemu back safely, purchase equipment and collect materials.

  Because the little antelope only knows the way to the sacrificial site when it starts from the well in Kekou Village, after they are ready, they still need to return here and head to Death Valley from the underground dark river in the well.

  After making up their minds, they returned from the road they came from, crossed the Mother River, took a stone cart to the top of the hill, got on a broken jeep and rushed back. When leaving Keke Village, Kekesi was reluctant to leave, looking back every three steps, but he knew that in the end he would have to come back here, so he left with peace of mind.

  It was just after 8 am, the sun was shining brightly, and going down the mountain was much faster than coming up. It took more than half an hour to get down the mountain, and then I rushed back to Xining City at around 4 pm.

  Upon arriving in the urban area of Xining City, the staff at the protection station called Big Beard to inform him that a shootout had occurred between the protection station's personnel and a poaching gang, resulting in multiple deaths and injuries.

  Big Whiskers worried about the safety of his teammates, instructing Liu Yi and others to find "Dumb Pumpkin" and rescue Kexi's father, then hastily bid farewell to everyone and rushed back to the Xondarge Protection Station.

  Lin Xuewan then took Keke back to her own home and temporarily settled down.

  Liu Yi and others moved into the hotel that had been booked in advance, and began preparations for departure, purchasing equipment, and learning about Death Valley in detail.

  Professor Zhou Tao told the expert team that brought crystal sheep head to Sichuan for investigation, they have not obtained any useful information so far and can only wait patiently for their investigation results.