Volume 2: The Ancient Country of Lando Chapter 33: Collapse

  Yulong Snow Mountain is located near the intersection of geological terraces. In Feng Shui, it is the fourth-level residual vein under the Kunlun Mountains' ancestral dragon vein. The terrain of the Hengduan Mountains has been forming the southernmost large snow mountain in the Northern Hemisphere over billions of years. Because it has thirteen peaks, it is also called "Thirteen Broad Pearl Dragon" in the "Wind-seeking Dragon Technique".

  The snow peak where the Lan Palace is located is the dragon energy hub of the entire Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, surrounded by three dikes. It is a rare "land of heaven" due to its special geographical location. As a result, many large-scale spaces have been generated inside the mountain body, which have experienced millions of years of changes and are now in a very delicate balance. We first drilled through the ice layer at the entrance of the Lan Palace and entered the interior of the palace, only to find that the space inside was extremely unstable. Even slight external forces or resonance disturbances would trigger a collapse crisis.

  The stone pillars around us have been crushed and tilted, we dare not stay here for long, fearing that the unknown thing hiding in the dark will launch a sneak attack again. If the noise gets too loud, everyone will be in trouble. Just as we were about to move deeper into the ruins to find a more stable place to discuss our next move, a rustling sound suddenly came from the path we took to get here, and it seemed that many unknown things were chasing after us.

  We didn't dare to slack off, and we all raised our flashlights to look back. Suddenly, we saw a large patch of black things rushing towards us from behind. They looked like ants, but their bodies were much larger than ordinary ants, almost as big as an adult's thumb. We were all shocked, thinking "What the hell is this place? How can there be so many giant ants?"

  Liu Dapao saw this group of things and knew that they were not something ordinary people could deal with, so he hastily shouted for everyone to run quickly. But just as we had taken two or three steps forward, a large group of the same kind of thing surged out in front of us. I thought to myself, what the hell is this thing, it can even divide into two groups and surround us?

  I didn't care about anything else at that moment and shouted to the crowd: "Quickly climb onto the stone beam!" After speaking, I climbed up a pillar first.

  Others didn't care about the current situation and scrambled to find a pillar to climb up, knowing that the stone beam couldn't support everyone's weight. They dispersed and climbed onto different beams. The swarm of ants moved quickly, and as soon as I climbed onto the beam, I saw two black waves converging in front and behind me, spreading upwards along the pillars.

  I stepped on the stone beam, and heard the stone beam creaking, fearing that this huge beam could not withstand my weight. At this moment, I didn't dare to move at all. Seeing the ants climbing up along the stone pillar, I couldn't help but feel a little flustered. Su Qin's stone beam was not far from me, and when she saw the ants rushing towards me, she asked me to jump over to her side quickly.

  I thought these stone beams could barely hold one person, and I was going to jump over to her side again. If we both fell, there would be no way out. So I said to her: "I've heard that the man-eating ants are very fierce, but I didn't believe it in my heart. Now that I've encountered them, how can I retreat? Miss Su, you just stay on that side and see who will win - us or these magical ants."

  He finished speaking and ignored her, thinking quickly, suddenly remembering that there were still two cans of gasoline in his backpack. He immediately took off his backpack, took out a can, poured it on the pillar, and lit it with a lighter. Suddenly, he felt that everything around him was illuminated by the firelight. The big fire spread down along the pillar, and the bottom immediately became a sea of flames. The large ants seemed to be afraid of fire, retreated in a hurry, and dared not approach the pillar.

  I saw that this side was temporarily safe, and I quickly crawled to the other pillar with light hands and feet, took out the second can of kerosene, and also set the bottom on fire. Everyone saw the situation and followed suit, pouring the kerosene from their backpacks onto the pillars and setting them on fire. Soon, the ants were completely blocked by the big fire below.

  Youzi let out a mouthful of air, plopped down on the stone beam with a thud, and wiped the sweat from his forehead: "Just now I thought I was done for, damn it, where did these big ants come from?"

  Liu Dapao said, "These ants are probably not ordinary ants, but rather specialized corpse-eating ants. Only a large number of corpses could feed the ants to such a size, it seems that there is another mass burial site around here."

  "I exclaimed: 'A place to gather corpses? This underground palace has a history of at least several thousand years, and it's on a snowy mountain. Where can you find so many corpses for these ants to eat?"

  Liu Dapao shook his head and said, "I don't know about that, but I'm sure these ants are corpse ants. These things that eat human flesh are very sensitive to the yang energy on living people's bodies. Otherwise, they wouldn't have come out in such a large group to surround us. In short, no matter what kind of corpses these ants rely on for reproduction, they definitely won't mind occasionally tasting the flavor of fresh meat. I think the fire oil under the pillar won't last much longer, so let's think about retreating."

  I smelled the smell wafting up from below, and indeed found that amidst the burnt smell was a nauseating stench of rotting flesh. I thought to myself, "This time we've really run into a group of 'ghouls'!", and wondered if there's still a way out.

  So I raised my flashlight and shone it around, only to see that everyone was trapped on the stone beam at this moment. Even the snow python had retreated to the top of the stone pillar and didn't dare to come down. Below, a large group of dead ants were swarming, blocking both entrances and exits. To escape, one would have to grow a pair of wings.

  As the flames gradually weakened, everyone couldn't help but tense up again. Oil lamp's eyes turned red with excitement, and he shouted: "Damn it! We can't keep retreating, that would only be pushing ourselves towards a dead end. I think we should charge forward, launch a counterattack, and break through from the front line. If we're going to die, let's die on the battlefield! I'll take the lead, you guys follow me!"

  After he finished speaking, he was about to jump down. I saw a large patch of dead ants below, and even if we opened 11 routes, it's unlikely that we could get out by riding a motorcycle. I hastily stopped him: "Oil child, don't rush, aren't we not at the point of despair yet? Letting the fire burn for another three to five minutes is no problem. Everyone think carefully, is there any other way? If all else fails, then we can make a desperate last stand."

  The poisonous insects in the ancient tomb are very common, and we have also prepared some insect-repelling medicines. However, no one expected to encounter such a large group of corpse ants. Each person only brought two bottles of insect repellent, which cannot be used lightly until the critical moment arrives.

  I suddenly remembered when we were being chased by poisonous insects hatched from the "Tomb of the Witch King" in the 《蛖螂经》, at that time, we were able to run out of the tomb passage filled with 《蛖螂经》, all thanks to Zhou Xing's strong acid bottle. So I quickly asked if Zhou Xing still had any of those acid bottles on him and whether he could clear a path for us to get out.

  Zhou Xing shook his head and said: "I only have two bottles on me, which is far from enough."

  I thought this time I really walked into a dead end, now thinking about it, that thing that was neither human nor ghost earlier knew we had many people and might not have intended to attack us actively, but instead deliberately lured everyone here to let the corpse ants surround us. This move is too damn sinister!

  The more I think about it, the harder it seems. Maybe the oil vendor's decision is right. Everyone should take advantage of the fact that they can still run and make a breakthrough to seek a glimmer of hope. If heaven really wants to end us here, then I have nothing to say.

  Just as I was about to discuss with everyone whether to charge forward or not, suddenly a loud cracking sound came from the top of the space. I thought it was because these stone beams had reached their load limit, so I called on everyone to lean against the pillars to reduce the burden on the stone beams. Su Qin raised her flashlight and shone it upwards, telling us that this wasn't a problem with the stone beams, but rather the entire space here was about to collapse, possibly due to our setting fire earlier.

  I thought for a moment and suddenly realized that it's now summer, the weather is changeable, the temperature is generally high, and it's the time when ice and snow are melting. The glaciers on Yulong Snow Mountain are most unstable during this period. Not to mention the retreat of the snow line, even the ice and snow on the snowy peaks are prone to landslides.

  The remains of the Lang Palace of the Ya God tribe, its internal space is all in the natural geological movement, from the inside of the mountain body from bottom to top cracked open, over millions of years gradually balanced, because this place has abundant earth energy, supporting the entire underground space. It is also because of this that we will see the phenomenon of inclined beams and pillars without collapse.

  The tens of millions of tons of glacier snow on the summit of Xuefeng, probably due to seasonal changes, had already undergone irregular local melting, causing the internal balance of the mountain to reach a critical point and become extremely unstable. This time, in order to prevent the ants from crawling up the stone beam and biting people, we again set off a large fire on the stone pillar, dispersing the accumulated earth energy in the space, resulting in a sudden change in air pressure, so this slanted space could no longer support itself and finally began to collapse.

  The ants below also sensed that something was wrong and could no longer afford to surround us, starting to flee in a panic.

  The ants exploded the pot, and we were even more frightened. We only heard the sound of gravel getting louder around our ears, and rocks started falling from above. I hugged my head and lay on the stone beam, not daring to move. I thought that staying like this wasn't a solution, but the ants below were in a state of panic and hadn't retreated completely, so we couldn't jump down immediately either.

  The tremors are getting more and more violent, although the top is not very high, but the falling rocks are getting bigger and bigger. If they fall on our heads, that's enough for us to drink a pot of wine. Unfortunately, the ants are still crawling around at the bottom. The thinking of these little bugs is too simple. If we jump down, when they see fresh meat, they will definitely forget about the collapse and attack us instead.

  The situation is becoming increasingly critical, and there is not a single safe place in the entire space. The falling rocks are getting more and more numerous, and also bigger and bigger. We have already turned pale with fear. Previously, we only thought about how these ants would deal with us, but unexpectedly, the thing that really wants our lives is this entire space itself.

  In the blink of an eye, the crack on top suddenly expanded, and a massive boulder weighing over a thousand catties broke off from the main body, falling straight down like a meteorite. It smashed into the giant beams and pillars below, causing a loud crash that shook the ground and created a huge crater. The stone beam I was lying on also shook three times, and the cracks in the beam everyone was standing on began to appear. At this moment, it didn't matter whether we hid or not; we didn't even have time to say our last words.

  But even if I want to entrust my last words, I couldn't find anyone to talk to. Everyone has already stepped into the Ghost Gate with one foot, and in no time, they will probably go to report to King Yan. It's a pity that I'm still young, not even married to a girl, and I don't know how to explain myself to my ancestors when I meet them later.

  Just as I was indulging in flights of fancy, Su Qin suddenly shouted at us: "Quickly look, there's a road up ahead that we can take to get out!"

  I hastily raised my eyes to look up, and saw that Su Qin's flashlight was shining on the top, just where the huge boulder had fallen off earlier, revealing a large cave entrance. Earlier, I only looked at the falling boulder, but didn't know that deep within this large crevice, smoke and dust swirled, and it turned out to be another cave.

  Liu Dapao said, "The collapse here is too severe, if we want to get out, we can only take advantage of the present moment, not a single moment can be delayed. Young master, you quickly let the python go up first to respond, we use the flying tiger claw to climb up, and there should still be enough time."

  I took a rough measurement of the distance from the top opening to the stone beam and found that Flying Tiger Claw could reach it, but in the intense shaking, it would definitely be difficult to exert force. The only way was to rely on Snow Python above to receive us, so I quickly shouted at the top of the pillar: "Python Uncle, come up and receive us." After saying that, I pointed to the crack at the top.

  The snow python raised its head and looked up, immediately arching its long body forward and jumping into the gap in the middle of the crack. Then it lowered its head and looked at us. Liu Dapao hastily took out the flying tiger claw, shook it back and forth, stood up from the stone beam, grasped the rope and swung it a few times, and threw the claw head towards the snow python.

  The snow python was very agile, and with one bite, it grasped the Flying Tiger's paw. The python's head pointed upwards, pulling slightly, indicating to Liu Dabao to hold tight. Liu Dabao waved his hand at the snow python, saying "I'm ready, pull!"

  Then the snow python began to rotate its body, and the rope wrapped around it circle after circle. Soon, Liu Dapao was pulled to the top. I shouted at Liu Dapao to climb up quickly and find a relatively safe place to stand, so that the snow python could make room to rescue people.

  Soon, the python put down the rope again, and with a flick of its head, it threw the rope towards me. I saw that Oilzi was in the most danger, as the stone beam was about to break, so I loosened the rope and shouted at the python: "Save Oilzi first!"

  Xue Mang heard this and immediately swung the rope towards You Zi, who was about to catch it. Just as his foot was about to land on the stone beam, it suddenly sank down by half a foot, causing him to lose his balance. He was about to fall off when he made a swift jump upwards and barely managed to grab hold of the rope.

  Soon, Youzi was also pulled up.

  The space trembled more and more violently, I found that Su Qin was also in a precarious situation, standing on the stone pillar pointing at Su Qin to Xue Mang, just about to let it throw the rope over, suddenly heard the sound of crackling beneath my feet, the stone beam supporting me was also about to break off at this critical moment.

  Even Snow Python was taken aback, and didn't know who to save first. In that brief moment of hesitation, I saw the long rope hanging just a few meters in front of me. At that time, I don't know what I was thinking, my mind went blank, and with a sudden burst of adrenaline, I took a deep breath and leaped forward with all my might.

  Time seemed to slow down at this moment, all I could hear was the sound of the wind whistling in my ears, my body was drawing a parabola flying towards the falling rope, but it was too far away from me, and I didn't even know if I could catch it.

  However, the snow python seemed to understand my intention and immediately shook its head, sending the rope flying towards me. I didn't dare to be slow and quickly stretched out my hand to grab it.

  Taking advantage of this momentum, the snow python swung me towards Su Qing again. The stone beam under Su Qing's feet was about to break off, so she also jumped forward like I did, and happened to land safely in my arms.