Chapter 8: Mountain Valley (2)

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  I had a faint feeling of foreboding, the mist in the valley grew thicker, and under the clear moonlight, it seemed to reveal an eerie and mysterious atmosphere, as if some unknown conspiracy was secretly brewing.

  In a place like this, on a night like this, there definitely won't be anyone else in this valley except for us three thieves. Besides the animals and plants in this forest, there's probably something else lurking here, because if poisonous insects or ferocious beasts were to attack, it wouldn't be as quiet as this.

  Thinking of this, I couldn't help but feel a little nervous. This place is only five miles away from the tomb of the Witch King. Legend has it that in ancient times, the surrounding areas of these royal tombs often had accompanying graves or burial pits, which were places where death energy was strong and grievances accumulated. These places have been uninhabited for thousands of years, who knows what kind of evil paths are hidden in this gloomy mountain valley.

  So I didn't dare make a sound, and quietly crept to Oil's sleeping bag, shaking him awake.

  Youzi had a good personal habit, he suddenly opened his eyes, but didn't make a sound. I made a silencing gesture to him, pointing to the depths of the dense forest, and made a "throat-cutting" motion, indicating that there was danger in this forest.

  He didn't dare to be slow either, and quietly got out of the sleeping bag, took the hunting rifle from my hand, and let me wake up Aixia first.

  So I went to wake up Aixia again, and the three of us slowly gathered in front of the fire pit, with our respective tools already clutched in our hands. Youzi handed me his hunting rifle, while he himself gripped a mountaineering axe tightly, and Aixia held up a short knife.

  Youzi also felt that something was wrong around him, but he didn't find anything, and asked me in a low voice: "What's going on?"

  I said to Oil: "I don't know either, I just feel uncomfortable all over, like there are many pairs of eyes staring at us from the dark."

  Youzi didn't dare to slack off and asked Aixia if she had found anything. Aixia shook her head, saying: "I don't know, but there must be something nearby, and it's definitely targeting us."

  I heard Ai Xia say that, and I felt even more uneasy. In my heart, I thought of the "Gu technique" created by the goddess Ya Shen. I thought that there might be such a thing in the three-eyed god's tomb, and maybe this witch king's tomb also has it. So I asked Youzi if this could be the Dao of the ancient tomb. Youzi said he had the same idea as me, but if it was true, then this place would probably be even more sinister than the three-eyed god's tomb.

  At this time, Ai Xia had already taken out her flashlight and said to us: "I'll go take a look around."

  I grabbed her and said, "Don't make any sudden moves. Look at the fog in the woods getting thicker, and there's not a breath of wind. There must be something lurking around us that's definitely not human, nor is it a beast."

  "Ai Xia asked me: 'How did you know?'"

  I said to Ai Xia: "This mountain valley, no matter how quiet it is, can't avoid the airflow passing through the valley due to the temperature difference that exists sooner or later. If the wind in the valley stops, then something unnatural must be changing, and this change may have temporarily changed the geomantic omen."

  Ai Xia said: "Even if it is, we can't stay here all night with it. I'll climb up the tree to take a look first. The position is high and I can discover any danger immediately."

  After finishing speaking, Ai Xia walked to the bottom of a nearby large tree and started climbing up with a short knife in her mouth. Her movements were very quick, and she climbed halfway up in just two or three moves, stopping on a branch. The big tree was over ten meters tall, its thick canopy blocking out the moonlight, and we could no longer see Ai Xia's figure, only the strong light emitted by the flashlight in her hand.

  Here is the translation:

  We were still outside the ancient tomb, and although each of us had a flashlight, this place wouldn't have any supplies, and we didn't dare to use them freely. So for now, we temporarily made two simple torches and stood under the tree to wait, in case Aixia had an accident on the tree and fell down.

  Aixia, although she was very brave, wasn't reckless and didn't dare to climb into the dense tree crown again, only staying on the branches to observe her surroundings. Youzi worried about her safety, so he had me stand guard at the bottom of the tree, also using his hands and feet to climb up the tree.

  I spent the night in the deep mountains for the first time, and I didn't know what would happen in such a place. Looking at the dark canopy of this big tree, I couldn't help but worry about them. It's said that ferocious giant pythons often lurk in the old forests of the deep mountains, these giant pythons can't fill their bellies even after eating several people, and they can easily pick up a huge beast with their mouths open and take it to the tree. If there really is one lurking in the canopy of this big tree, those two oil men might not be enough for it to fill its teeth.

  With a worried heart, I hastily raised my shotgun and aimed upwards, lest any unexpected event occur.

  Youzi lowered his head to look at me holding the gun, startled, and quickly said to me: "Don't point the muzzle upwards, be careful not to misfire and blow me up. You first retreat to the side of the fire pit on guard, don't be careless. We won't be in danger on this tree, let alone leopards and snakes, even insects won't be here."

  I nodded at him and shouted "be careful" then carefully looked around and slowly backed away towards the fire.

  At this time, Ai Xia suddenly shouted from the branch: "Don't get close to the bonfire!"

  I didn't dare make a sound from start to finish, but suddenly hearing her words, my heart skipped a beat, I raised the shotgun and turned around, aiming at the direction of the bonfire. However, there was nothing unusual there, the flames were still burning quietly.

  Feeling strange in her heart, Ai Xia shouted loudly from the tree again: "Quickly retreat! Quickly! There's something under the ground!"

  Although I didn't know what was going on, I was startled by Ai Xia's shout and turned around to run towards the bottom of the tree. Just as I took two steps, I suddenly heard a loud "boom" sound coming from behind me, which sounded incredibly loud in the mountain valley, like something had burst out of the ground. I felt the surroundings darken, and when I turned my head back, I saw a pitch-black area behind me, and the bonfire that was burning earlier had been completely extinguished!

  At that moment I broke out in a cold sweat, and felt that the fire behind me had not even left a single spark of warmth, but instead brought a chill, and in my panic, I hastily turned around and fired a shot.

  This shot was impossible to aim, I only felt the powerful recoil coming, and then heard the bullet hitting metal with a loud "clang". It was at this moment that a piercing scraping sound came from over there, and the sound was rapidly approaching me.

  Youzi and Aixia both turned on their flashlights and shone them at my back, shouting loudly at me to climb the tree quickly. I didn't dare look back, threw down my gun and started climbing the tree. Just a few meters up, I heard a loud "boom" and the big tree shook violently, many branches broke off and fell down on my head like hailstones.

  Where else would I dare to stay? At this moment, he rushed up like a madman and climbed up with great difficulty. Just as he reached the branch, something below hit him again. Suddenly, the big tree shook violently again. Oil son had just stretched out his hand to pull me, but unexpectedly slipped under his feet and almost fell down. If he hadn't used his ice axe to hang on in time, I'm afraid this would be the end.

  When we were pulling the oil up, the big tree had been swaying constantly. The three of us looked like dead men, tightly grasping the branches to avoid being shaken off. We could hear the sound of metal scraping against each other below, and from time to time, the sound of roots being snapped off. Our hearts almost jumped out of our throats.

  I have a feeling that the thing below is not simple, looking at the huge force it's using to toss this big tree around, I'm afraid this tree will be uprooted sooner or later. For now, the only option is to take a risk and observe it closely, first see what exactly this thing is, so as to find a way to counter it, turn passive into active, and avoid tonight's disaster.

  So I borrowed a mountaineering axe from Youzi, hung it on the tree trunk with one hand, clamped my legs tightly around the thick branch, and freed up one hand to feel for the flashlight.

  As I looked at the thing below carefully, all three of us were shocked. It was seen that this thing resembled a starfish, with many thick arms and claws growing on it, its tail extending to the fire pit, where there was a large hole, obviously opened by this creature.

  This monster was enormous, with a flat and rough body, its surface covered in thick scales that were unevenly sized but exceptionally sharp, reflecting a metallic luster. Its claws were all curled around the tree trunk, and its body kept crashing forward, each crash causing the large tree to shake violently.

  Youzi saw this thing and his face turned green, shouting: "**, what the hell is this thing?"

  I said, "I think it's probably a creature raised in the Witch King's tomb, possibly a monster guarding the ancient tomb. Let's all be careful not to fall down, otherwise we'll definitely die without a whole body."

  Ai Xia held the branch tightly with both hands, sweating profusely, and said to us: "Even staying in the tree won't work, looking at this situation, it won't be long before this tree falls!"

  As soon as she finished speaking, a loud cracking sound suddenly came from below, and it seemed that the tree trunk had been split. We only felt a sway of our center of gravity, and then we felt this big tree slowly tilting down.

  The thing below was enormous in size and possessed incredible strength. The roots of the big tree were being twisted and battered by it, and truly couldn't hold on for much longer. It could be said that it was on the verge of collapse. If it were to crash into us two or three more times, the trunk would completely break off. We three people were at a considerable height, if we fell with this tree, we'd definitely end up as mush.

  "Youzi said to me at this time, 'Wait until the tree leans a bit more, then we'll jump down! Longqiu, throw away your mountaineering axe and be careful not to get stabbed by it.'"

  The three of us were planning to jump down, just waiting for the tree to tilt to a relatively safe height before making a break for it. But just as we were about to do so, a figure suddenly emerged from the darkness and threw something at the creature, which immediately began to writhe in agony, its claws loosening their grip on the trunk of the tree.

  Youzi sniffed his nose and said to us: "Who is this person? The thing he threw seems to be a glass bottle containing strong acid. It looks like that monster is afraid of acid."

  I lowered my head and sniffed carefully, and indeed found a pungent smell coming from underneath.

  That person who suddenly appeared was still holding the glass bottle in his hand, and the monster rolled on the ground for a moment before retreating. It moved incredibly fast, "whooshing" back into the hole in an instant. A faint tremor could be felt coming from beneath the earth, but soon everything returned to calmness.

  The person standing under the tree was quietly standing in place, with their back to us. From the light of the flashlight, I could make out that this person was not Officer Li Xiang, nor did they seem like someone we knew. He had a slightly slender build, wearing hiking boots and sportswear, appearing to be a man.

  The three of us were lying on the tree, staring at each other in dismay, none of us knew who this mysterious man was or why he had appeared here.

  However, he saved us, so we should at least say thank you. He invited Yu Zi and Ai Xia to go down with me.

  Until we three walked up to the mysterious man's side, he still didn't turn his head back, so we had no choice but to walk around in front of him again, and only then did we see what he looked like.

  He was a very young man with long bangs, his eyes somewhat dull and with faint dark circles. His lips were tightly pursed, with a circle of stubble on the outside, as if he hadn't shaved in a long time. Nevertheless, it could be discovered that under this slightly weathered exterior, he actually still looked quite handsome.

  We have already stood in his line of sight, but he didn't even glance over, just staring at the hole where the strange creature emerged from the ground, wondering what he was thinking.

  Youzi was somewhat wary of this person, first picking up the hunting rifle I had thrown down earlier, and only then asking the young man: "Hello brother, thank you for saving us, may I ask..."

  Before he could finish speaking, the young man suddenly spoke up. His voice was extremely cold and his tone was flat as he said to us, "Leave."

  We wouldn't leave, but this person was really too strange. No matter how we asked him, he didn't speak and stood still for a while, then suddenly turned around and left us, walking to the front of the mountain wall and sitting down against a rock. I exchanged a glance with Youzi, and could only give up.

  Tonight, they definitely couldn't sleep again. Who knows what other ghosts are here, and the monster from just now might come out to ambush them again. So the three of them lit another fire and sat around it chatting. I kept turning my head to look at the young man sitting beside me. He was leaning against a rock, with his arms folded under his head, but he wasn't sleeping - he was staring blankly into space again.

  Youzi whispered to me: "This person is probably mentally ill, otherwise who would come here so late alone?"

  Ai Xia disagreed with You Zi's words, she thought that this man must be a master, maybe he was also a reversal expert, ordinary people even if they had a strong acid bottle in their hands, would definitely not dare to face the monster alone just now.

  I said, "Anyway, tomorrow we'll be entering the Witch King's tomb, and it's not necessarily going to be the same road he takes. Since he doesn't care about us, there's no need for us to keep trying to get his attention. This man saved my life, but even if I thank him, he won't acknowledge it, so just keeping that debt of gratitude in mind is enough."

  Ai Xia furrowed her brow and said: "I'm worried that he might stop us from entering the ancient tomb tomorrow."

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