Chapter 173: The Self-cultivation Of Rations
“Lin Yan, you say.”
Wu Xie hesitated and looked at Lin Yan, wanting to ask his thought, after all, the thing deduced according to his own line of thinking might not be reliable, and pooling everyone’s wisdom might reveal the truth.
Lin Yan looked at Wu Xie’s dazed expression, hesitated for a moment, and shook his head: “This… it’s really hard to say. What we know now is that Wang Canghai has been here and took the bell from here, but we don’t know where this bell was placed before he took it. And… if he really did, I mean if—”
He glanced at Wu Xie and found that the panic in his eyes was almost uncontainable: “If he really got some inspiration from here, or found some thing, then where would he use these things?”
At this point, Wu Xie was silent for a few seconds, his shoulders slumped, like he breathed a sigh of relief, or like he had lost his strength: “Where else could it be? Nine times out of ten it’s in his Cloud Top Heavenly Palace.”
He recalled the mountain trends on the murals of the Sunken Ship Tomb at the bottom of the sea, vaguely understanding the general location of the Heavenly Palace. But there were so many peaks, and searching them one by one would be a hassle. If only there were other clues here.
However, he thought again and felt that there probably wouldn’t be more clues here. Judging by the era, this was not the oldest tomb that Wang Canghai had visited—no, it shouldn’t be called a tomb, this was just a sacrifice place, but from a causal perspective, this might really be the first place he came to.
Wang Canghai’s pursuit of longevity might have started with this magical bronze tree.
But there was one problem. Wu Xie frowned and asked Lin Yan: “You say, why didn’t Wang Canghai seal this place completely after coming here, but let it be discovered by people?”
“What’s so strange about that? You should remember the era he lived in, right? This place has been dug for several centuries, and maybe people were still digging here even in the Republic of China era. Not many people knew, but definitely not few.” He pointed to himself and Wu Xie: “Us two, and those two bosses from Guangdong, right? We came here by a twist of fate.”
Wu Xie still couldn’t figure it out: “Wasn’t he afraid of others getting this power? I thought with Wang Canghai’s personality, he wouldn’t let others know. Unless… he was confident that others couldn’t get this power?”
“His personality, what personality?” Lin Yan rolled his eyes at him and pointed to the darkness beneath their feet that looked like a bottomless abyss: “Look, over these years, besides us—oh, and Lao Yang—besides us few, how many people have gone out alive? Don’t think that book The Riverwood Collection doesn’t mention it, but surely quite a few people died. Boss Li’s ancestor getting out was already a narrow escape, so Wang Canghai had no need to seal this place. Besides, maybe he came back later?”
“Yeah, maybe he came back later!” Wu Xie calmed down at this point, rubbed his arms that had goosebumps from what Lin Yan said, and his brain cells worked at full speed: “I suspect, if Wang Canghai really…” As he spoke, he shivered again.
“If he really lived to that time, maybe he arrived right before or after that group ordered to tomb raid. Think about it, why did they think what they saw below was Banajiemu? They must have seen that… corpse? Let’s call it a corpse—they saw the appearance of that corpse, and verified other places to confirm it was their god. And what we just saw coming out from inside, that thing like a giant snake, has nothing to do with a pregnant woman at all!”
Lin Yan nodded upon hearing this: “So, after he came back, he made that female corpse disappear and put a giant snake in? No, what was he trying to achieve by doing this?”
The two looked at each other, neither able to think of a reasonable explanation. Could it be that Wang Canghai turned that female corpse into a snake? That was impossible, one alive and one dead—even the bronze tree… wouldn’t be that easy, right?
Now that both had the bronze tree’s ability, they weren’t sure anymore. In this place where anything was possible, this situation could indeed happen, provided that Wang Canghai could wield this power like an arm.
Wait, what did Wu Xie say earlier? Lin Yan felt like they had forgotten some thing, frowned and tilted his head to recall: “You just said… that giant snake?”
“Yeah, what’s with the giant snake?” Wu Xie nodded, not yet noticing anything wrong, while Lin Yan had an ominous premonition in his heart, feeling that the giant snake might be nearby: “Haven’t you noticed yet? That giant snake knocked down half of the bronze tree, made such a big movement, but now outside it’s completely quiet. Aren’t you curious where it went now? Don’t wait until we find out where it’s hiding and then it’s too late.”
Wu Xie’s face turned pale: “It didn’t go out, did it?” He thought about the consequences of this several-meters-thick, who-knows-how-many-meters-long giant snake going out, couldn’t help but shudder, thought it was bad, and quickly turned back to call Lin Yan: “Quick, find the exit. Try to get back before the people outside discover this giant snake came from here, otherwise…”
“Heh.”
Lin Yan gave a wry smile, looking at the thing above and to the side of Wu Xie that reflected the flashlight’s light source, suddenly having an impulse to smoke. He now understood why so many tomb raiders smoked; except for Zhang Qiling, the others seemed to be heavy smokers. If it were him, he’d want a cigarette to calm down now too.
“What’s wrong with you, why are you smiling so ugly?” Wu Xie hesitated, not using the word miserable, but he didn’t expect his own face to soon wear a mask of pain too.
“Before saying that, why don’t you look behind you.” Lin Yan sighed, put the little white zombie on his shoulder down into his hands, turned off the flashlight and put it back in the bag.
“There’s nothing behind me, right?” Scared by Lin Yan’s words, his face changed, Wu Xie quickly turned his head but saw nothing. Within a dozen meters, besides the remains of the bronze tree, it was just the cave. He couldn’t help but turn back again, suspiciously asking: “You’re not scaring me, are you?”
“Scaring you? Am I that bored?”
Lin Yan had an impulse to roll his eyes. Why was Wu Xie so off at a time like this? Seeing Lin Yan didn’t seem to be lying, Wu Xie turned back and swept the flashlight around again, still finding nothing, couldn’t help but frown: “There’s nothing here, what are you—”
Lin Yan got impatient and interrupted his muttering: “Can’t you look upwards?”
“Upwards?” Wu Xie raised the flashlight, and saw two things shining like big light bulbs about ten meters above, almost blinding him: “Where did these light bulbs come from!”
“Light bulbs?” Lin Yan sighed: “That’s clearly the snake’s pupils!”
He didn’t know from afar, but up close he realized this snake was really big! Wu Xie narrowed his eyes and only then saw the giant snake’s delicate scales from the reflective edge of the snake pupils—a kind of iridescent black. Don’t say, if this snake wasn’t staring at them right now, it would actually be quite beautiful.
Cold sweat broke out on Wu Xie all at once, he licked his lips and lowered his voice: “So what do we do now? Why is this snake staring at us?”
“Who do I ask if you ask me?” Lin Yan was helpless. How would he know what this snake was thinking? What if this snake was starving and came hunting? Were they supposed to deliver themselves to its mouth?
Not to mention he didn’t understand snake language, even if he did, could he persuade this giant snake that’s who-knows-how-many years old? Although judging by when Wang Canghai put it in here, this thing was only a few hundred years old, as if that made it young enough to beat!
While they whispered, the snake flicked its tongue, as if interested in them, and slowly swam down. Wu Xie could only see the two big light bulbs gradually sinking, soon the giant snake’s ferocious head appeared in the flashlight’s light range, making him break out in cold sweat: “…What do we do?”
“…Run?” Lin Yan was silent for a moment, then tentatively asked.
“Can we fucking… outrun it?” Wu Xie was silent for a moment, then stated this heartbreaking fact. Now unless Lin Yan could use the bronze tree’s ability to immediately send both of them outside, in a few minutes they would be face to face with this big thing.
When Wu Xie got nervous, he tended to think of strange things, and with someone next to him, he couldn’t stop talking: “You think this snake is hungry? You think it’s not coming to eat us, right? No, it’s coming so slowly, maybe it’s just interested in us. You think if we stay still, it’ll leave in a bit?”
Damn, how would he know? As the giant snake approached, Lin Yan gradually got nervous, because when he touched Wu Xie earlier, he tried and found he couldn’t get both of them out of this cave. He didn’t know if it was his operation problem.
Now there was only one way. He stared into the giant snake’s eyes, trying to force it back. But maybe because this giant snake had stayed inside the bronze tree too long, his ability on this snake… seemed useless?
The giant snake seemed to sense something, flicked its tongue and stopped, tilted its head very human-like, its two light bulb eyes meeting Lin Yan’s gaze.
As soon as Lin Yan’s eyes met those reflective pupils, his whole body stiffened, inwardly screaming trouble.
This damn… it backfired! He should have thought of it when he knew this snake had been living here. Everyone in this range could get that ability, so why couldn’t this snake? When he tried to use his ability on it earlier, it must have sensed it!
Lin Yan’s expression gradually turned bitter, regretting his suicidal action. Wu Xie next to him had cold sweat flowing down his forehead, not even daring to wipe it at his eye corner, heartbeat like a drum: “Lin Yan, what do we do? Is it tilting its head to look at us?”
Lin Yan only felt his sixth sense frantically alarming—if he had such a thing—his sweat soaked his entire back all at once: “How the fuck would I know what to do! If it doesn’t attack us now, I’d thank the heavens!”
“Attack us?” Wu Xie felt more and more off, Lin Yan’s tone.
“You didn’t do something to it, did you?” Wu Xie’s words were full of disbelief and despair, and deep helplessness: Facing this thing that obviously couldn’t be resisted, couldn’t they two just stay quiet and hunker down? Why did Lin Yan have to provoke it!
He gritted his teeth inwardly, slightly turned his head, saw Lin Yan staring dead at the giant snake’s eyes, and suddenly had an idea: “Wait, stall it for time!”
“Fuck!” Lin Yan cursed inwardly, just about to tell Wu Xie not to move, lest he anger this big thing in front of them and they both die—something even the bronze tree couldn’t save—but Wu Xie had already stepped behind him, and conveniently put his own flashlight in his hand: “This angle, shine it and don’t move!”
“What the fuck are you going to do?” Lin Yan squeezed the words through his teeth. If he didn’t know Wu Xie’s personality wouldn’t abandon him, he’d think Wu Xie was running away!
Seeing his action didn’t alarm the giant snake, Wu Xie was slightly delighted inwardly, then lightly and quietly retreated into the darkness, conveniently grabbing a broken, sharp bronze tree branch.
With his peripheral vision watching Wu Xie disappear from his sight, Lin Yan panicked inwardly, but now he could only hope Wu Xie could make some movement or have some other way to lure this giant snake away… Although he didn’t know if this thing found them because it was hungry, but obviously… now this giant snake was more interested in him, to the point that it didn’t care Wu Xie disappeared!
Snakes sense prey through heat sources, not related to light conditions, so there wouldn’t be Wu Xie disappearing in the darkness and it losing sight of him. Wu Xie was just too nervous and forgot this—although he only thought of it after turning off the flashlight, otherwise he’d have pulled Wu Xie and run!
So, this snake wasn’t here to settle scores with him, was it? But logically, this snake had been squatting here for quite a while, so it shouldn’t be for that reason. Could this snake be coming specifically for him and Wu Xie?
No, maybe it was coming for Wu Xie, but he stupidly went up and tried to make it leave, shifting its attention from Wu Xie to him! Thinking of this, Lin Yan wanted to slap himself. Why did he have to court death? Look at Wu Xie, originally the giant snake’s target, now ran off and the snake didn’t even care!
He also wanted not to be cared about by the snake, but currently it was impossible!
Gradually, as the giant snake’s body hung down from the stone wall above, its head was only five or six meters from Lin Yan. He could clearly see the delicate, glossy scales on its face, reflecting iridescent light on the black scale base under the flashlight.
If not here, he’d have to praise that this snake was well-kept…
The little white zombie was quiet as a chicken in his arms. He glanced at it with peripheral vision; this little guy’s eyes were squinted into slits. Was it asleep? No, your master is being stared at by this big guy here, and you have the mind to sleep?
Lin Yan couldn’t hold it anymore, secretly used some force to pinch it, but this little white dumpling had no reaction. Lin Yan gritted his teeth inwardly, thinking if something really happened later, the first thing he’d do is throw this little thing into the snake’s mouth! Although he probably couldn’t bear to…
While he was lost in wild thoughts, the giant snake stopped two or three meters in front of him. This really wasn’t coming to eat him? If this snake really wanted to hunt, it should have opened its mouth a few meters away, right? Combined with the little white zombie’s attitude, Lin Yan had a vague idea inwardly. Could this snake just be purely curious, with no intention of eating him?
Until the giant snake opened its mouth, its forked tongue brushing past his face.
“Fuck!”
