The Huai Shui God's Cave

Chapter 10

1. Beauty Snake Cave
At this time, the house was already full of snakes, rats and poisonous insects, and some of them suddenly fell from the thatch of the roof.Suddenly, Ma Chuchen pulled out a paratrooper knife and stabbed at my neck.I was taken aback and called out, "What do you want?"

Before I finished speaking, I saw a three-foot-long red-spotted poisonous snake cut in two and falling from my side.It turned out that she had quick eyesight and quick hands, and when she saw a snake almost wrap around my neck, she cut it off.A big centipede fell on the professor's head. Fortunately, I found it immediately. I picked up the bag in my hand and swept it over, and swept off the professor's glasses along the way. I was so embarrassed.

It seems that this room can't stay anymore, so we helped the professor pick up the glasses, and the few of us hurried out to protect him and stood in an open place.Those birds and beasts almost ran with the black cat.The snakes, rats and poisonous insects in the house did not chase us when they saw us going out, but the roof windows were still covered. It seemed that they wanted to protect the house and not let us in.

Taking advantage of this spare time, I asked the professor: "What is the origin of this Tang Mei? It seems very simple!"

The professor said: "He was introduced to me by a friend in the antique business. I don't know the specifics. It is said that he is the godson of the shopkeeper of the Panjiayuan Sun family. Last year, the Sun family was implicated in the Shi Mingshan tomb robbery case." Many people, the big shopkeeper has also gone to prison, and Tang Mei is even missing. This time he took the initiative to find him. His skills and experience are first-class, and we need such people."

The professor said that Tang Mei had participated in the excavation of several ancient tombs and the salvage of some ancient shipwrecks, most of which were voluntary.Every time, no matter how dangerous the situation was, he was able to escape unscathed.But these are not the main reasons why he is famous in the tomb robbery and archaeological circles.What everyone admires most about him is that he has donated national treasures to the national cultural relics department for free many times.He also sold some small artifacts to some collectors, but he mercilessly rejected foreign businessmen who offered him huge sums of money to buy them.

I don't think this person is so simple, so I asked the professor: "Although he didn't ask you any conditions, I think he probably came here for the funeral objects in the tomb."

The professor said: "He should not be the kind of person who is greedy for money. Have you seen his weapon? It is a real national treasure called King Yu. There is an ancient legend about its origin. It is said that it was the earliest The tools used to dig mountains and cut stones during water control and the artifacts used to suppress demons and ghosts in the rivers were mainly used as magic tools and placed at the gate of the temple to replace the role of the Four King Kong. Later, it appeared in the honor guards of emperors in all dynasties. It is to show that the emperor has made extraordinary achievements like Dayu. His weapon is all made of bronze, and it is a real ancient weapon with inestimable value."

I was taken aback and asked, "Then where did he get this ancient artifact? It looks amazing, and it can emit light to hold that black cat in place!"

The professor shook his head and said: "It is said that shopkeeper Sun Da picked him up on the Yangtze River three years ago. At that time, he was unconscious while holding this King Yu. No one knows who he is or where he comes from. Shopkeeper Sun only used him as a tool to make money at the beginning; later, he found out that he was indeed extraordinary, so he was adopted as his godson."

At this time, Yang Xiaoxie came over with a young man, and I couldn't laugh or cry when I saw them. Both of them were wearing yellow firefighting suits, covering their heads and faces, and also wearing a steel helmet.

Yang Xiaoxie yelled from a long distance: "Oh, luckily, I learned how to be smart this time. I am fully armed to avoid being scratched by the thorn forest. I didn't expect to meet a lot of wild cats and foxes just now. Thanks to my thick clothes, Otherwise, I won't be able to see you."

He also patted his chest, bragging to us about the mysterious birds and beasts, saying that he had never seen so many animals running forward so fast.Ma Chuchen gave him a blank look.We are too lazy to tell him about the black cat driving wild animals. It is estimated that what he saw also heard the call of the black cat and followed the past.

I asked Yang Xiaoxie to take the broken cat tail back for inspection, and check the age and breed of the cat.He handed the cat's tail to the young man, and said, "You heard it clearly, take it back for testing, and ask the forensic doctor to call me immediately if there is a result."

The young man hurriedly agreed, turned around and left, wiping his sweat before leaving, and didn't dare to ask any more questions.It is estimated that he has long wanted to leave this terrifying place.

I said to Yang Xiaoxie, "Why don't you leave?"

Yang Xiaoxie replied with a smile: "How can I not follow such an exciting thing? I thought about it when I came here. I won't listen to my dad this time, so I will follow you; if you don't let , I secretly followed behind."

Professor Han couldn't hear it, so he had to agree, and asked him to follow everyone closely and not leave the team privately.Seeing that he could go with him, Yang Xiaoxie beamed with joy, and agreed to everything.

At this time, it was almost dawn, and the birds and beasts in the forest had almost subsided, leaving some poisonous insects and snakes entrenched in the small hut.We dare not go in again.Tang Mei hasn't come back yet, the professor and everyone are very anxious.Let's discuss and wait for a while. If Tang Mo doesn't come back, we will go in and find him together.

At this time, a figure flashed in the woods, it was Tang Mei, with blood stains on his body, everyone rushed to meet him.Yang Xiaoxie took the opportunity to be courteous, and made a gesture to check where he was hurt.Tang Mei gently shook off his hand and said, "It's the blood of the leopard, I'm fine."

Yang Xiaoxie hurriedly laughed twice, and said: "With your skill, there must be no problem."

I wanted to ask him if he caught up with the black cat, and what happened after that, but he didn't say anything. He picked up the bag on the ground, wrapped his King Yu in it, and said to the professor, "Let's go."

The group ate some compressed biscuits, drank some mineral water, and began to move towards the virgin forest.

From entering the forest, the ground is full of moss, the dead branches and leaves are covered with damp, the trees stand up to the sky, the bushes are overgrown, the shape of the mountain is tall and straight, the mountain is majestic, surrounded by ghost ridges and demon pines, the scenery is very strange and completely full of mist. There are no signposts.The mobile phone has no signal here, and the navigator has failed.We can only continue to move forward by cutting a path with a compass and a machete.

The road we took was also very strange. The mountains on both sides were relatively high, and the middle was slightly flat. Surrounded by towering trees surrounded by ten people, the trees were covered with lush moss along the roots to the trunk.

According to Ma Chuchen, her uncle and Daoist Qingfeng once came here together.As for why she came here, everything was impossible to talk about because of her uncle's death.When Qingfeng went to report the funeral at their home, her father once asked, but Qingfeng kept silent and only told the relevant route.That's the way they went.

We cut a few sticks to make wayfinding sticks and kept going.On the first day, I met a group of golden monkeys. A mother monkey led her cubs to watch us curiously not far away, then squeaked a few times and jumped up the tree and disappeared.At night, we walked to the highest point of the mountain, and the whole journey after that was slightly inclined downward.

After walking for two days and two nights, we gradually became numb.The road is extremely difficult to walk, and there are dead vines and branches everywhere.The canopy shades the sun, and the sun can hardly be seen. The temperature is getting colder and colder, the light is getting darker and darker, and the feeling is getting more and more gloomy.Yang Xiaoxie was wearing a fire suit and was shivering non-stop. He quietly pulled me and said, "Dude, why do I feel like there are eyes staring at us all the time!"

I tapped his head and said, "If you are afraid, don't follow us. If you insist on coming, it's too late to say anything now!" Having said that, I also feel that someone is always following us.It's not just me who feels this way, Ma Chuchen and Tang Mei have also been watching behind them vigilantly.It's just that we didn't find anything.

As we went deeper, the atmosphere became more and more gloomy, and the feeling of uneasiness in our hearts became more and more obvious, and everyone frowned.In order to dissipate this bad atmosphere, I took the initiative to talk to the professor when I stopped for a rest: "Professor, I see that these low-lying trees are very different from those on the slope, and they are obviously much smaller. , very regular."

The professor looked at the growth of the surrounding trees, thought for a while, and said, "You are right. I guess there may have been a road here hundreds or thousands of years ago. These trees were planted by humans."

Pointing to a tree, he said: "Along the way, most of the slopes are filled with firs. Although there are also boxwoods, they are obviously much larger than the ones down the slope. Well-proportioned, with slightly the same spacing."

Yang Xiaoxie interjected: "It must be that after the ancients built a mausoleum, they planted a big tree here to prevent future generations from robbing the tomb."

The professor smiled and said, "You make a lot of sense. I think there must be a role in this aspect."

While talking, we found a very strange big tree, which stood on the low slope on the left side of these boxwoods, with luxuriant branches and leaves, but there was a big hole in the trunk more than 30 centimeters from the ground, and the surrounding was dark and reached the roots .

Professor Han walked over, tapped the side of the hollow with his hand, and heard the sound of "dong dong".He said: "This tree is called the ancient Thoreau tree. It is a deciduous tree and is a national first-class protected plant. It is the first time I have seen such a big tree. It must have a history of thousands of years."

Yang Xiaoxie also said: "The vitality of this tree is really strong, the heart is empty, and the branches and leaves are still so luxuriant." As he said, he stretched his head to look into the tree hole.

Unexpectedly, a gray triangular head suddenly protruded from the tree hole, spitting out a letter, it was a poisonous snake!
Yang Xiaoxie was already frightened, but fortunately Ma Chuchen was standing right behind him, and pushed him aside with a slap.At this time, a poisonous snake more than one meter long jumped up.When I heard the sound, I swung the machete in my hand, chopped it into two pieces, and fell to the ground.

The professor carefully looked at the stump of the poisonous snake, and said with some regret: "This is the jade-spotted snake, also called the beautiful snake, which is a national key protected animal. It is almost extinct now, and it is not a poisonous snake, but its color looks like Very colorful."

This Professor Han is worthy of being a scholar, and every word and every sentence carries the term "national protection".It's just that we came to look for graves, not to protect animals and plants. If we all have the same thoughts as him, we are not sure when we will encounter poisonous snakes and beasts protected by the state. If we don't pay attention, we will lose our lives.

After all, we don't refute him.When it's time to kill, you still have to kill.

Yang Xiaoxie regained his composure, patted his chest, and said, "Beauty, can you be gentle with your hands, alas, it seems that I disturbed this snake's cleansing."

At this time, Professor Han squatted down, touched around the tree hole with his hands, and said, "Strange..."

Because of the lessons learned from the past, he was worried that there would be another poisonous snake, so Ma Chuchen stood next to the professor with a dagger to protect him.Seeing the professor's puzzled expression, we all felt very curious.

Even Tang Mei, who had never spoken much, came over, stretched out his hand and scratched around the tree hole, then put it under his nose and smelled it, and twisted it carefully with his thumb and ring finger, and said: "It was burned by fire." of."

The professor also determined that it was the charring marks left after the fire.In other words, there are indeed traces of human actions around this tree hole.We discussed it, and concluded that when the ancient tomb was being built, a poisonous snake was found in the tree hole, and someone burned it with fire.

It seems that we are indeed on the right path. It should be the path opened up by the ancients when they built the mausoleum, and then planted big trees and used the forest as a protective barrier.

Just as I was about to move on, I suddenly discovered that the two severed snakes that were just beside me were missing the head part.I thought to myself: Could it be that the snake was dead but not stiff, and slipped away while we were not paying attention?
So, I hurriedly searched along the bloodstains, and suddenly saw that half of the snake's body was twisting bloody towards the back of a bush.I yelled: "Where are you running!" I slapped down with a machete and chopped off the end that was about to disappear.At this time, only a meow was heard, and a black figure jumped out from behind the bushes.

It's Yuan Xiazi's black cat!It held half of the snake's body with the snake's head in its mouth, and once again shot us fiercely with its venomous eyes, and quickly jumped into the woods.It seems that we have always felt that there are two eyes following it, and it is this cat. I really don't know what purpose it has.

Tang Mei shook out his King Yu and was about to chase after him. Professor Han stopped him and said, "The situation here is not good. It's best not to act alone. What we need now is to hurry."

2. Xuanyuan Mirror

We continue on our way.On the afternoon of the third day, Professor Han sprained his ankle. He was getting old, and it was really too much for him to travel for several days.Ma Chuchen discussed with everyone to stop and rest first, and found a place with sparse trees where light could penetrate, and camped there at night.

Lin Xiaowei and Ma Chuchen frantically boiled some hot water with mineral water for everyone to drink, and the dinner was still compressed biscuits.Yang Xiaoxie swallowed with difficulty, while sighing and complaining.I understand that he is used to big fish and big meat, and he is not used to the fresh water and biscuits for several days.

In fact, we all find food difficult to swallow.It's just that the situation is different. Now is not the time to pay attention to food and drink. It is good to fill your stomach and maintain your physical fitness.Only Tang Mei, leaning on a big tree, chewed slowly, as if tasting the delicacies of mountains and seas, his eyes were still slightly squinted, thoughtful.

In the evening, some mist rose from the mountains, as is often the case in the jungle, and the night was more gloomy and mysterious.Everyone set up a tent to rest and built a bonfire; after simply drying the clothes, Ma Chuchen extinguished the fire.Yang Xiaoxie protested: "It's cold and humid in the forest at night, it's warmer by the fire, why did you turn off the fire?"

Ma Chuchen said coldly: "Don't you know that it is very dangerous to light a fire in the forest at night? It is easy to attract some large and ferocious animals to approach."

In the first half of the night, I kept vigil, and Yang Xiaoxie volunteered to accompany me, and the two of us chatted one after another.

Yang Xiaoxie sighed and said: "Dude, I didn't expect jungle adventure to be fun at all. My clothes are wet all day long, I can't sleep well, I can't eat well, I feel like I've lost a lot of weight. Look at my pants. falling down."

As he spoke, he lifted his waist exaggeratedly, and it really seemed to reveal a little gap.I couldn't help laughing, and said: "It's just for you, a fat man, to lose weight. When you go back, you will be a mess of handsome, and more beauties like you."

He flicked his hair, posed a pose, and said, "Brother, am I not handsome now? Fat people are as cute as fat people, but if I lose weight, I will lose my characteristics!"

Just at this moment, I heard a loud voice, I hurriedly waved my hand at him, and whispered: "Hush!" Yang Xiaoxie immediately fell silent.The two of us listened carefully, and the voice was in the bushes next to it, getting closer.Because the sky was too dark, when it finally approached, we vaguely saw that it was a chubby hare!
It moved forward with its head probing.Yang Xiaoxie couldn't control the greedy insect, so he rushed over at once.The rabbit suddenly turned around and ran away.Yang Xiaoxie stomped after him, and said, "You still want to run with the fat in your mouth, there's no way, let's see how I catch you!" After finishing speaking, he followed the hare and chased after it.I whispered to him a few times from behind, but he ignored him and disappeared after a while.I was worried about waking up the professor to sleep, so I kept quiet and followed.

I chased after him with a flashlight for a long time, but Yang Xiaoxie was nowhere to be seen, and I became a little anxious.The woods are overgrown with weeds and haunted by ghosts. If you get lost, it will be difficult, so I had to call out a few more times: "Xiaoxie, Yang Xiaoxie..."

At this time, I heard a sighing voice from someone beside me: "Ah, ah!" In the deep mountains and old forests, there was silence, and the voice sounded real, an old tone.I swallowed my saliva in my throat, calmed down, and tiptoed over to the sound.Behind a big tree, an old woman in a gray double-breasted coat was sitting on the ground looking up at me.That face was sharp and wrinkled. I was so frightened that my whole body trembled, my legs trembled, and I turned around and wanted to run.

The old woman said hoarsely behind her, "Young man, can you do me a favor? Take me home."

I had no choice but to turn around, try to gather myself together, and ask her: "Who are you, why are you here in the middle of the night?"

The old woman said: "My family is a hunter in the mountains. My son hasn't come home from hunting all day. I went out to look for him, but I can't walk here. Can you carry me back?"

I looked at the old woman, she was beating her legs with her hands.I really admire her. She came to the jungle in the middle of the night to find her son. At this age, she is estimated to be 70 or [-] years old.I asked her, "Where is your home?"

Panting, she stood up, pointed forward with her hand, and said, "Not far away, there is a thatched hut there, and I live there. You can carry me back."

I thought she was pitiful, so I squatted down and let her climb on my back.She looks thin and small, but she is heavy on her back.I took two steps forward, glanced back inadvertently, and suddenly saw a figure lying on the ground behind the tree she was leaning against just now.If it wasn't Yang Xiaoxie, who else could it be?
I suddenly thought about it again: in the middle of the night, this old lady appeared too strangely.This primeval forest has been seldom visited by people, how could there be hunters living here, and this old woman's face is too strange, her face is an inverted triangle, thinking about it, it looks like... like... a snake!

It just so happened that we killed a snake during the day, and the old lady said she came out to find her son, could it be... is that snake's mother?Thinking about it this way, my scalp suddenly became numb, and cold sweat flowed out suddenly.There was a trace of cold air coming from the back of the neck, extremely cold, it was the old woman exhaling.

Immediately, I felt bad, and wanted to throw the old woman off my body, but found that my whole body became stiff and I had no strength at all.

The old woman laughed "hehe", rolled over from my back with a squeak, and slapped me hard.I immediately fell forward, lying on my side on the ground.At this time, I couldn't move up and down, only my eyeballs could move.I saw the old woman slowly walking up to me, and said viciously, "I want to avenge my son and swallow you all in my stomach."

(End of this chapter)