Chapter 065: Sudden Change in Heaven and Earth - Mudslide

  Liu Yi hung up the phone and asked Zhou Bingbing with a sly expression, "I'm asking, Sister Shifu, what information has Professor Zhou found out about the Tian Gong of Jiuding Mountain?"

  Zhou Bingbing's mouth twitched, and she said: "There's nothing much to the information, it's just that I flipped through some unofficial histories of the Han Dynasty. It says that Qiangmu Zhu led the Qiang people in a big battle against the Geji Qiang people at Mount Riyue, and then they ran to the vicinity of Jiuding Mountain for another big battle. After that, Liu Heng died there, so the tomb should be related to Liu Heng! According to legend, it's a place where vengeful spirits gather for a thousand years, extremely dangerous!"

  Liu Yi was greatly surprised, since it was the information found by Professor Zhou Tao, it must have a possibility of more than 80%, and it is somewhat similar to what Wang Dachuan said. Adding that last night Wang Dachuan said that the tomb was the burial site of Qiangmu Zhu, these two points also confirmed his own speculation. This Jiuding Mountain Tian Gong, must be the yin-yang joint burial of Qiangmu Zhu and Liu Heng!

  As he thought of this, he unconsciously glanced at the newspaper in his hand. The A1 headline caught his eye!

  The first edition of the Qilu Evening News, apart from publishing major news, had its bottom right corner, one-sixteenth of a page, bought out by "Qixi Real Estate Development Co., Ltd." for the whole year's advertisement. As expected, it usually published information about their property listings, but today was different from usual. On top, an urgent notice was posted:

  At 1 am this morning, I received an urgent notice from the Propaganda Department of Maoxian County Committee of Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province. Due to sudden changes in weather, heavy rain and landslides occurred at Jiuding Mountain in Fengyi Town, resulting in one death and over 100 missing persons. Members of the Guqiang Cultural Exchange Association investigation team who were conducting research in the mountains yesterday, as well as some foreign tourists, have lost contact. The county armed forces and state armed police are currently conducting a tense search and rescue operation. For the time being, non-professional personnel are not allowed to participate in the rescue efforts to avoid unnecessary harm.

  Due to road collapse, traffic is not convenient, the annual "Qiang Nationality Mountain Worship Festival" has been temporarily cancelled. We hope that people from all walks of life across the country will inform each other and apologize for any inconvenience caused. Thank you for your understanding!

  After reading the news, Liu Yi's heart skipped a beat. He took out his phone and dialed Ma Liya's number, but it was unreachable. Then he dialed Bi Xueyan's number, still unreachable. Finally, he dialed Professor Lin Yang's number, also unreachable!

  "He grumbled in discontent: 'These guys didn't even wait for me before setting off, unbelievable!'"

  It's not strange at all, with Professor Lin Yang's fiery personality, he couldn't wait for a moment and had already set off to Mount Jiuding in Mao County, Sichuan when Liu Yi and others were boarding the plane.

  He handed the newspaper to Zhou Bingbing and pointed at the short message asking: "Bingbing, what do you think?"

  Zhou Bingbing glanced over and said, "I've seen it, isn't this very normal? When heaven and earth rage, who can stop it?"

  At this time, Liu Yi suddenly remembered Wang Dachuan's words -

  Your father is no ordinary person, and since he let you see the map, it proves that the time has come.

  What timing? Heaven's wrath mudslide? This is no coincidence, it must mean something.

  He thought of this and was about to call Wang Dachuan to ask what was going on, but unexpectedly, Wang Dachuan called him instead. He picked up the phone and heard the other person say: "I'm ready here, when are we leaving?"

  It seems that Wang Dachuan still has some small expectations for this trip to Jiuding Mountain Tian Gong.

  "Let's set off immediately, see you at the airport!"

  He hung up the phone and asked Zhou Bingbing, "Do you need to go back and prepare any equipment?"

  Zhou Bingbing pointed at herself and said "This lady is the equipment!"

  Liu Yi was speechless about this, and then the two of them went out, hailed a taxi, and headed to Jinan Airport.

  After getting off the rental, they saw Wang Dachuan, wearing a worn-out purple Taoist robe, with a green round hat on his head, like a watermelon, holding a black teapot in his hand, drinking something with flying eyebrows and colorful eyes at the domestic departure entrance, chatting with several beautiful girls, guessing that he was calculating his marriage luck or something, looking at his talkative appearance, if not for his strange dress, it would have a bit of an immortal style.

  Regarding Wang Dachuan's this getup that doesn't make sense, Liu Yi expressed his puzzlement - you say you want to dress up as a Taoist priest, at least do it thoroughly, wear a Taoist crown and hold a peach wood sword or something - what kind of thing is wearing a watermelon hat? The key point is that it's green! Moreover, there's also a black braid on the back of the hat! It looks exactly like an old scholar from the Qing dynasty!

  Liu Yi sighed, preparing to pretend not to know him and quietly walk past him. However, Zhou Bingbing, who was beside him, saw Wang Dachuan and shouted loudly: "Scoundrel, don't run!"

  Liu Yi hadn't figured out the situation yet, when Zhou Bingbing suddenly darted out like an arrow, very quickly. Although he knew that this senior sister had studied Taekwondo for a few days and was said to be a black belt third or fifth dan, with good martial arts skills, he didn't know she was also so awesome at sprinting.

  Wang Daquan was blowing the cowhide with all his might, when he heard a loud shout. He glanced sideways and his soul flew away, and he ran away in a hurry.

  Liu Yi watched the two of them running into the waiting hall, one after another, feeling as if he had boarded a pirate ship. Two lunatics like them were following him around, and they could stir up trouble even when there was none. It seemed that the two of them still had conflicts. This was great - three people traveling together but not in harmony would surely lead to losses!

  He thought to himself, "Could Wang Dakuan have sold fake antiques to Zhou Bingbing? Ah, it must be so, this old scoundrel is capable of such a thing." As he thought this, he shook his head and walked into the waiting lounge, where he saw Zhou Bingbing dragging Wang Dakuan by the ear from near the restroom towards him. It seemed that even running into the men's room hadn't helped Wang escape his bad luck.

  At this time, Wang Dachuan had lost the majestic aura of his days on Mount Tai. He was seen waving his hands wildly in the air, too embarrassed to grab onto the girl's clothes, like a crab grasping at nothing. His mouth shouted: "My dear lady, spare me!"

  Liu Yi hastily stepped forward to mediate, saying: "He is Wang Daquan, our teammate this time. Whatever you do, don't spoil the harmony and don't fight, let's talk it over!"

  He said "Auntie, please" on the left and "Sister, I'm begging you" on the right, finally calming down Zhou Bingbing for the time being. Later, he learned about the source of their grudge, and it turned out to be just as he had thought: Wang Dachuan had sold a fake bronze sword to Zhou Bingbing, who had looked for him several times but refused to admit his mistake, and was beaten up by him several times. He hadn't expected to run into Zhou Bingbing again in this place.

  Although the atmosphere was a bit awkward, those who should be on their way still had to go, and they would arrive at their destination at whatever time.

  ……

  They first flew to Chengdu, Sichuan, and then took a long-distance bus to Maoxian County. When they arrived, it was already past 5 pm. The three of them found a restaurant and ordered a few dishes, planning to eat quickly and head to Heilongzhai.

  While eating, I heard whispers from the next table talking about that mudslide.

  Someone sighed in a low voice: "I don't know what's wrong with our Sichuan, it's shaking all day and making people nervous, and then there's the mudslide to add to the excitement."

  Another person said: "You say, when we were young, people at home all said that there are evil spirits haunting underground here, could it be true?"

  He looked around cautiously, seeing no one paying attention, and said in a low voice: "You mustn't talk nonsense. During the Cultural Revolution, someone who said something like that had their leg broken."

  "What can't be said? It's not that time again!"

  "It's not that time, you also have to know when to score. Normally, it's just a joke, no one believes it, but now someone has started spreading rumors that the "Black Dragon Soul" sealed by Da Yu back then has been reborn, so there are abnormal heavenly changes. If you continue to follow this nonsense, aren't you adding trouble for the government?"

  "Never mind, it's nothing big deal..."

  The two of them stood up and left the restaurant after paying the bill.

  Although Liu Yi and the other two did not intentionally eavesdrop, they couldn't help but hear the conversation drifting into their ears. The three of them exchanged a glance, said nothing, quickly finished their meal with their heads down, hailed a black taxi, and rushed to Heilongzhai.

  More than 30 minutes later, he got off the highway and stopped at a small path in front of a mountain. He refused to go any further, saying that it had rained heavily yesterday and the road was too difficult to walk on. Even if you pay me more money, I won't go there, he said. I'm not going to risk my life for money.

  Zhou Bingbing was about to lose her temper, but Liu Yi stopped her. After the three of them got out of the car, they walked forward along a muddy mountain road. This road is the only way to Heilongzhai, and it's so narrow that it can barely fit two cows walking side by side. The ground was full of puddles of various sizes. At first, Liu Yi was worried that Zhou Bingbing would complain about how difficult this "muddy road" was to walk on, but unexpectedly, she walked happily, as if intentionally causing trouble. With one step, her snow-white sneakers instantly turned into "mud color", and water splashed everywhere, getting all over Wang Dachuan's body behind her. Of course, Liu Yi beside her didn't escape this misfortune either.

  Wang Dachuan, this old fellow, was like a child, and he even imitated Zhou Bingbing by kicking his foot. And then, you will see three adults, like children, running, fighting, and playing on the muddy road.

  They ran out of breath, and surprisingly, they ran for thirty minutes before stopping to rest. They looked at each other's muddy clothes and burst into laughter. A smile can dispel a thousand worries, and the unhappiness between Zhou Bingbing and Wang Dachuan was temporarily resolved with the help of the mud. As for whether this debt will be settled in the future, it depends on Miss Zhou's mood.

  They rested for a while and continued on slowly, the next cliff precipice winding mountain road was even more difficult to walk.

  Although the road is difficult to walk, the surrounding scenery is still good. The green leaves reflect a wonderful color of life under the gentle sunlight, and the air is exceptionally fresh, which also makes people feel comfortable.

  After the sun went down, they saw in the distance a group of three-story flat-roofed buildings built on the mountain, which was a typical Qiang ethnic minority watchtower. The first floor raised livestock, the second floor lived people, and the third floor stored grain and miscellaneous items.

  There were about thirty or fifty households, but they saw that in the middle of the village, a bonfire was burning, and many people knelt in front of a white stone tower about two meters high, bowing their heads silently, as if holding a prayer ceremony.