Chương 5: Chapter 5 WuLing leads the way
I shook my head and said, "The Nine Dragons Maze in the ancestral hall has nine variations. At that time, Wuling taught me a method to break it, but I have never seen such a large mechanism!"
Hearing this, Mile seemed somewhat alarmed. He thought for a moment and said, "The entrance to Dragon Bone Ridge is supposed to be directly south of Wufang store. If we keep heading north, we should find an exit, right?"
Mile took out his phone and opened the compass app, pointing straight ahead, "That's the north, let's go that way!"
He started walking, and I followed. After about an hour, I stopped, and Mile stopped too. He looked puzzled and said, "Iron, we've been walking for an hour, but why does it feel like the dense forest in front is not getting closer, but farther away?"
I glanced at the compass. The compass on the phone consistently pointed north, but the more we walked, the more uncertain I felt. The black dense forest in front seemed like a black abyss, waiting for us to step into its pre-set trap. A deadly idea suddenly flashed through my mind. I hastily said, "Give me the phone!"
Mile handed me his phone, and I watched the compass. As I turned around, the compass seemed to get stuck and showed no change. This discovery startled Mile, and he asked, "What's happening? Is the compass malfunctioning?"
"It seems that modern technology doesn't work well here!" I handed the phone back to Mile, taking the opportunity to tease him.
"Where are we now?" Mile asked anxiously.
"I don't know, but we can't continue forward!" I cautiously looked around and said, "It's highly likely that we are getting farther from the entrance of Dragon Bone Ridge!"
"Now what?" Mile asked anxiously.
"Keep calm, adapt to the situation. Let's rest here for now. It would be best to wait until it's daylight, and after the fog dissipates, we can see the direction clearly before making a decision!" I suggested.
Mile had no better ideas, so he nodded.
We sat down on the ground, back-to-back, waiting for dawn without a hint of sleepiness.
"Iron, do you think we've encountered a maze or something like the 'Ghost Hits the Wall' phenomenon?" Mile handed me a cigarette and said in a low voice.
"Hehe, didn't you used to not believe in ghosts?" I smiled bitterly.
"I didn't believe in ghosts but look at our current situation. We can't walk out, right?" Mile pointed to the dense forest not far away. "Hey, do you think this is related to what the fortune-teller at the foot of Mount Tai said five years ago? He said you would face a calamity at the age of thirty and warned you not to return to your hometown. Maybe both of our lives will end up here!"
"Superstition!" I scoffed. "Superstition works like this, first it mystifies you, then you believe it!"
"But how do you explain the current situation? Look at the dense fog in front. We can't walk out, and even the compass on the phone is malfunctioning. Isn't this supernatural?" Mile argued.
"Ghosts exist only in your mind!" I said to Mile, facing away. "We may have entered a mechanism bureau!"
"A mechanism bureau?" Mile was stunned. "What is a mechanism bureau?"
"In fact, I only have a general idea about this. Grandpa mentioned it before. A mechanism bureau is a kind of interconnected mechanism art. Usually, the person who sets up such a mechanism is extremely intelligent. They combine many mechanisms and integrate them with Feng Shui, topography, and terrain, creating a huge mechanism bureau. Mechanism bureaus are diverse and powerful. Even if you have a thousand troops, as long as you dare to enter, you will end up in ruins. It's like Zhuge Liang's Eight Diagrams Formation and Qimen Dunjia, both belonging to the category of interconnected mechanism bureaus!" I explained.
"No wonder a Ming army, escorting silver, besieged by the Qing army for two months before breaking through!" Mile pondered.
"Yeah, I guess those Qing soldiers must have put in a lot of effort. In the end, they could only wait for the Ming army to run out of supplies before finding an opportunity to attack!" I speculated.
"Then who do you think would build such a mechanism bureau in this place?" Mile asked.
I shrugged and said, "How would I know?"
"True," Mile said, losing interest. He took a deep drag of his cigarette, lying on the grass. "Hey, I haven't even gotten married yet. It wouldn't be worth it to die in this ghostly place!"
"It's already this late, and you still have the leisure for that?" I replied disdainfully.
"I can't die before experiencing it, right?" Mile sighed and said, "I've lived for thirty years in vain!"
Then, both Mile and I fell into silence. I looked at the thick fog above and remembered Mile's words. Could it be true that the fortune-teller at the foot of Mount Tai was right five years ago? Could it be that I was really going to die in this eerie place? Who set up this intricate mechanism maze, and what purpose does it serve? Most importantly, how did my grandfather escape from this mechanism bureau back then?
These questions lingered in my mind. At that moment, I heard Mile's faint snoring. I couldn't help but smile, thinking that this guy was carefree enough to sleep soundly even when things were critical. I lay on the grass, listening to the rustling sound of the grass around me. After a while, a wave of drowsiness overcame me. I yawned and slowly closed my eyes.
"Xiao Tuo, you can't sleep, wake up quickly!" Wuling urgently shouted.
I suddenly opened my eyes, only to see darkness around me, thick fog in the air. Mile, who was sleeping nearby, had disappeared, and it seemed like countless pairs of eyes were peering at me from the black mist. Nervously, I stood up and whispered, "Mile, where are you?"
Just then, a dark figure suddenly rushed from the fog and pounced on me, knocking me to the ground. I could clearly see that the dark figure was a decaying corpse wearing rusted armor, emitting a nauseating stench. Its face was decomposed, with maggots crawling, and its eye sockets were deep, almost letting the eyeballs fall out. With great strength, it pressed me to the ground, its putrid face approaching mine, emitting a foul odor. Summoning strength I didn't know I had, I kicked it hard in the groin. The corpse tumbled away, and I heard a painful "ouch."
I quickly got up from the ground, only to find Mile lying nearby, hands protecting his private parts, groaning. He scolded, "Not only do you snore, grind your teeth, and talk in your sleep, now you're sleepwalking!"
I panted and apologized, "Sorry, sorry, I just had a nightmare!" I apologized repeatedly, "But that dream felt so real, so..."
I stopped as Mile frowned at me. "What's wrong?"
"The fog has cleared!" I said slowly, "And the forest is gone!"
At that moment, we were still below the cliff, surrounded by dense trees, and beside us was an abyss. However, there was now a dark cave under the cliff, and faint light emanated from inside.
"Light?" Mile also noticed the light emanating from the cave.
Just then, a dark figure flashed past us, directly into the cave. The light inside the cave revealed the figure clearly. Mile immediately got excited, saying, "It's him, he's the one who led me here!"
Saying this, Mile rushed towards the cave under the cliff, and I followed closely. Standing outside the cave, a cold wind blew from inside, carrying a faint smell of blood. I frowned and said, "This cave should lead through!"
At this moment, Mile suddenly bent down, picked up a dark silver ingot from the ground, and we looked at it on the phone. The size of this silver ingot was exactly the same as the one Mile found earlier, and the engraving on the back was also the same.
"How did this silver ingot end up here?" Mile and I looked at each other and said.
"There's more over there!" Mile pointed forward. I followed Mile's direction and saw several silver ingots scattered ahead, seemingly increasing as we went deeper into the cave.
"Could it be that the military funds are hidden in this cave?" I wondered.
Mile's face immediately lit up, saying, "Then we're making a fortune today. What are we waiting for? Let's go, buddy!"
Mile finished speaking and hurriedly ran into the cave. I looked at the cave in front of me, full of doubts. Hundreds of years ago, the Qing army failed to find these military funds when they entered the pass, and decades ago, the over a hundred bandits also failed to find them. Could it be that we were just lucky and found the right place? Just then, Mile suddenly shouted, "come and see!"
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