44: Chapter 44 The Mute Uncle Starts Running

Uncle Ya ran very fast.

His legs seemed to have springs installed; every step he pushed off, he could leap two or three zhang.

His gray figure appeared and disappeared in the morning mist, and in the blink of an eye, he had crossed the ridge ahead.

"Uncle Ya!" A-Fei shouted, lifting his foot to chase.

Lu Zhao pressed down on his shoulder: "You can't catch him. The way he's running, he's risking his life."

Han Meng panted heavily, staring at the direction where Uncle Ya disappeared, muttering: "This old thing... how are his legs so nimble?"

He Shan squatted down, picked up the rope Uncle Ya had dropped, and examined it over and over for a long time.

The copper bell on the rope was still trembling slightly, emitting an extremely faint "dingling" sound, as if pulled by something.

"This bell..." he frowned, "Can this thing made by Old Mo sense danger?"

Shen Qingqiu came over to look and said: "It's not sensing danger. It's resonance. If there is a strong fluctuation of Qi and blood, or Spiritual Qi, in front, the copper bell will ring on its own. Uncle Ya dropped it just now because he found it cumbersome—that old man's intuition is more accurate than the copper bell."

Lu Zhao didn't speak, just stared at the direction Uncle Ya disappeared. After a moment of silence, he said: "Follow."

The group of six became five, continuing to rush forward.

Uncle Ya ran too fast and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

But He Shan was a hunter, and his tracking skills were top-notch.

He walked while looking at the footprints on the ground, the broken grass stems, and the torn cloth hanging on tree branches. He tracked all the way without losing the trail.

After chasing for half an hour, a sharp whistle suddenly came from ahead.

He Shan's expression changed: "It's Uncle Ya's signal whistle!"

The group quickened their pace, crossed the last ridge, and the view suddenly opened up.

The mine pit had arrived.

But the scene before them stunned everyone.

At the entrance of the mine pit, rubble was scattered everywhere, the torches that were originally stuck in the ground had all been trampled out and thrown around.

Pickaxes, baskets, and bundles were scattered on the ground, along with several pools of dark red blood.

Uncle Ya was squatting on a pile of rubble, holding a half-dead person in his hand.

That person was covered in blood, trembling all over, his mouth making whimpering sounds, not knowing what he was saying.

Uncle Ya threw him to the ground and gestured to Lu Zhao: A batch ran away, caught one alive.

Lu Zhao walked over and looked down at the man.

He was about thirty years old, with a sharp-mouthed, monkey-cheeked face, wearing variegated clothes; it was exactly the Loose Cultivator who was warming himself by the fire last night.

At this moment, his face was full of terror, his crotch was wet, and seeing Lu Zhao come over, he shrank back desperately.

"Don't... don't kill me! I don't know anything!"

Lu Zhao ignored him and just looked around.

The mine entrance had been dug open.

The cave entrance, originally sealed by rubble, now revealed a pit tunnel about a zhang deep, pitch black, not knowing where it led.

There were fresh digging marks on the edge of the tunnel, the soil was damp, obviously dug open not long ago.

"They dug through?" Han Meng leaned over.

He Shan squatted down to look and shook his head: "Didn't dig through. Just dug open the entrance. Look at this soil, the dark color is new soil, the light color is old soil. The new soil is only three feet deep; it's still sealed underneath."

Lu Zhao nodded and looked at the Loose Cultivator.

"What did you dig out inside?"

The Loose Cultivator trembled: "Didn't... didn't dig in! Just dug to three feet deep, and this old thing rushed in! He... he alone, beat all seven or eight of us to the ground! Too scary!"

He became more excited as he spoke, his face covered in tears and snot.

"Where is Wu the Skinflinger?" Han Meng asked.

The Loose Cultivator shook his head: "Ran... ran away! Seeing the situation was bad, he took two people and ran east!"

Han Meng looked at Lu Zhao: "Should we chase?"

Lu Zhao shook his head: "Let him run. Him running back is just right to report to the people behind him."

He walked to the mine entrance, stared at the dark tunnel for a moment, then suddenly squatted down and reached out to touch the soil on the edge of the tunnel.

The soil was damp, icy, and carried a strange, fishy smell.

"When they dug here last night," he asked, "did anything abnormal happen?"

The Loose Cultivator was stunned for a moment, thought about it, and said: "Yes... yes! When we dug to three feet deep, a white mist suddenly emerged from the pit, scary cold! Wu the Skinflinger said it was marsh gas in the mine and told us to stay far away. But the white mist puffed for the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, then suddenly shrank back, as if... as if something was sucking it!"

Lu Zhao and Shen Qingqiu looked at each other.

White mist. Cold. Can expand and contract.

Shen Qingqiu whispered: "Characteristics of cold-attribute Spiritual Qi. Down there, either there is a cold-attribute spiritual item, or..."

She paused.

"Or, there is someone who practices a cold-attribute Cultivation Technique."

Uncle Ya stood up, walked to Lu Zhao's side, and wrote four words on the ground: Open path when meeting mountains.

Then wrote four more words: Build bridges when meeting water.

Then he patted his chest and grinned.

In that smile, there was calmness, and also determination.

Lu Zhao looked at him, was silent for a moment, and said: "It's dangerous down there."

Uncle Ya nodded and wrote: Know.

"Might not come back."

Uncle Ya smiled even more brightly and wrote: Lived for over sixty years, enough.

Lu Zhao stared at those words for a long time, then suddenly smiled too.

"Good," he said, "Then we go down together."

The group rested outside the mine for half an hour, ate some dry rations, and checked their equipment.

Zhong Tiegu's steel-clad knives, three in total. Lu Zhao, Han Meng, and He Shan each had one.

A-Fei was young and not strong enough to wield such heavy knives, so he still used his short sword.

Shen Qingqiu had that rusty sword; although it hadn't recovered its sharpness, the material was extraordinary, and ordinary knives and swords couldn't cut it.

Five leather armors, one for each person. Lined with bamboo strips and covered with animal skin on the outside, they were heavy to wear, but could block bumps and scratches.

A stack of talismans. Five Cloud-Pattern Sword Feather Talismans newly made by Shen Qingqiu for communication; three Phantom Sound Talismans that could imitate various sounds; and several protective talismans she made herself, which could form a thin layer of light shield in front of the body when activated, unable to block heavy blows but could block hidden arrows.

Granny Xue's hemostatic powder, antidote pills, and insect repellent powder, one portion per person, kept close to the body.

Uncle Ya's rope was retrieved by Uncle Ya. He tied it around his waist again and checked the copper bells one by one, making sure they weren't broken, and then nodded with satisfaction.

A-Fei leaned over and curiously touched the copper bell: "Uncle Ya, can this thing really warn us?"

Uncle Ya rolled his eyes at him and ignored him.

A-Fei sheepishly retracted his hand.

Lu Zhao walked to the mine entrance and took one last look at the way they came.

The morning mist was gradually dispersing, and the distant mountains were becoming clear.

In the direction of Yangjiao Ravine, smoke rose from cooking fires; that was Yan Meng taking people to make a fire to cook.

He withdrew his gaze and took a deep breath.

"Let's go."

The first to jump down was Uncle Ya.

His figure was agile, landing without a sound, like an old cat.

After standing firm, he looked around and beckoned above.

Lu Zhao was the second to go down.

The tunnel was only a zhang deep; jumping down, his feet felt a jolt, landing on soft soil.

He looked up, and the light from the cave entrance above shone into the tunnel, making it hazy and barely allowing him to see the surroundings.

At the end of the tunnel was a stone wall.

The stone wall was blue-gray, covered with moss, and felt wet to the touch.

In the center was a crack, about half a foot wide, pitch black, emitting bursts of cold air from inside.

He Shan came over to look and frowned: "Is this naturally cracked, or artificially chiseled?"

Shen Qingqiu lit a talisman paper and threw it into the crack.

The talisman paper burned with a faint blue light, fluttering down, illuminating the scene deep in the crack—stone wall, stone wall, and more stone wall, falling seven or eight zhang deep before the bottom was vaguely visible.

"There is space below," she said, "Very deep."

Han Meng scratched his head: "How do we get down? A half-foot-wide crack, a person can't squeeze in either."

Uncle Ya squatted down, stared at that crack for a long time, and suddenly reached out to touch the moss on the edge of the crack.

The moss was very thick, but there were a few places that had been rubbed off, revealing fresh stone marks.

He raised his head, pointed to those rubbing marks, and then pointed to the depths of the crack.

He Shan understood: "Someone has been down?"

Uncle Ya nodded and gestured: Not just one, at least three or four, and they went down recently.

Lu Zhao frowned.

Wu the Skinflinger's group? Doesn't look like it. They only dug open the entrance last night; if someone had gone down, it would be a matter from even earlier.

Shen Qingqiu suddenly said: "Look here."

She pointed to an inconspicuous depression on the edge of the crack. In the depression were a few gray-white fine threads, thin and soft, like... hair.

He Shan leaned in to look, his expression changing slightly: "This is not human hair."

"Then what is it?"

He Shan was silent for a moment and said: "Looks like the fur of some wild beast. But so thin, so soft... not a wolf, not a bear, and not a wild boar."

Uncle Ya took those few fine threads, twisted them at his fingertips, and brought them to his nose to smell.

Suddenly, his expression changed, he threw the fine threads to the ground, and made a gesture for silence—there is danger, don't make a sound!

Everyone held their breath.

The mine pit was silent, with only the sound of dripping water occasionally from overhead, "drip, drip," echoing in the empty tunnel.

Lu Zhao listened intently and suddenly heard an extremely faint sound—

"Hiss... hiss..."

It was like something was breathing.

Or like a snake's tongue flickering.

The sound came from the depths of the crack, very light, very far, as if it existed and yet didn't.

He looked at Uncle Ya.

Uncle Ya pointed to the crack and made a throat-slitting gesture—there is something down there, it will kill people.

The five people stayed in the tunnel for a full hour.

Uncle Ya lay on the edge of the crack, listening motionless for an hour.

He Shan guarded the entrance, vigilant of movement outside.

Han Meng and A-Fei were responsible for guarding the crack, for fear that the thing would suddenly rush out.

Lu Zhao and Shen Qingqiu squatted to the side, discussing in low voices.

"That fine thread, I guess it's the fur of some kind of Yao Beast," Shen Qingqiu said.

"Can live underground, likes cold, has intelligence, can breathe... most likely a snake, or some kind of cave-dwelling beast."

Lu Zhao nodded: "Uncle Ya's reaction, that thing is not easy to deal with."

Shen Qingqiu said: "But we must go down. If we wait for it to come out, or wait for Wu the Skinflinger to bring people back, it will be even harder."

Lu Zhao was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked: "That rusty sword of yours, can it be used?"

Shen Qingqiu was startled, drew the rusty long sword from her waist, and weighed it in her hand.

"Yes," she said, "These days, I have been nourishing it with Sword Intent. Although it hasn't recovered its sharpness, it can already sense my heart's intent. In a critical moment, it should be able to block a blow."

Lu Zhao nodded and looked at He Shan.

He Shan understood and whispered: "Three consecutive arrows, within a hundred paces, I can hit its eyes. If its scales are too thick, I can also shoot its mouth, anus, and other weak spots."

Han Meng grinned: "I have a steel-clad knife; I can't cut through the scales, but cutting the mouth should be fine, right?"

A-Fei clenched his short sword, didn't speak, but there was no fear in his eyes.

Lu Zhao looked at Uncle Ya.

Uncle Ya stood up from the edge of the crack, walked in front of him, and held up three fingers.

Three days.

At most three days.

Within three days, if you don't come out from down here, you will never come out.

Lu Zhao looked at those three fingers, was silent for a moment, and nodded slowly.

"Just three days," he said.

"Three days later, whether we found the ruins or not, we must go back."

He looked at Shen Qingqiu.

"Your father's matter, I remember. But staying alive is more important than anything."

Shen Qingqiu's eyes were slightly hot, and she nodded.

Another half an hour passed.

Deep in the crack, that "hissing" sound disappeared, as if the thing had fallen asleep, or left.

Uncle Ya pressed his ear against the crack, listened for a long time, then suddenly raised his head and nodded to Lu Zhao—can go down.

Lu Zhao took a deep breath and was the first to squeeze into the crack.

The crack was very narrow, only allowing one person to squeeze in sideways.

He pressed against the cold stone wall, moving down inch by inch, with a pitch-black abyss under his feet, unable to see the bottom, only able to hear his own heartbeat.

"Thump, thump, thump."

Every sound was so clear.

He looked up, Shen Qingqiu was following behind him, carefully moving down.

Further up, it was He Shan, Han Meng, A-Fei.

Uncle Ya was the last to come down, the copper bell at his waist hanging at his side, swaying slightly, but not ringing.

The crack became wider and wider.

When they went down four or five zhang, they could already straighten their bodies.

Lu Zhao took out a fire starter, blew it, and held it in his hand to shine downwards.

Seven or eight zhang below, the ground was vaguely visible—it was rock, flat rock, as if it had been artificially paved.

His heart was filled with joy, and he increased his speed.

After going down another two or three zhang, his feet finally stepped on solid ground.

He stood firm and held the fire starter to look around.

This was a naturally formed stone cave, three or four zhang in radius and about two zhang high.

The surrounding stone walls were wet, covered with dark green moss.

Countless stalactites hung upside down from the cave roof, interlocking like dog teeth, dripping water down tick-tock.

The ground was made of flat bluestone, paved neatly piece by piece, obviously done by humans.

"This is..." Shen Qingqiu landed beside him, looking at the bluestone under her feet, muttering, "Ancient mine tunnel?"

Lu Zhao squatted down and touched the surface of the bluestone.

The stone surface was smooth, the edges were severely worn, not knowing how many people had walked over it.

In the gaps of the bluestone, fine moss grew, very slippery.

He stood up and held the fire starter to shine forward.

Ahead was pitch black, and a passage could be vaguely seen, winding downwards, not knowing where it led.

On both sides of the passage, every few zhang, there was a thick stone pillar supporting the cave roof.

The stone pillars were carved with full patterns, blurry, not clearly visible.

Just as he was looking, Uncle Ya landed.

The copper bell at his waist suddenly "dingling" rang once.

Very light, very short, as if it had been lightly flicked by something.

Uncle Ya's expression changed, he reached out to press the copper bell, and looked around vigilantly.

Everything around was silent, with only the sound of dripping water, "drip, drip."

But that "drip" sound suddenly became uneven.

It was as if something was following its rhythm, dripping water together.

Lu Zhao gripped the hilt of his knife, his gaze sweeping across the surroundings.

In the darkness, he vaguely saw a pair of eyes.

Dark green, at the end of the distant passage, flashing and disappearing.

Lu Zhao stared at the direction where the eyes disappeared, and just as he was about to speak, A-Fei's exclamation suddenly came from behind.

"Sir! You look!"

Everyone turned back.

At the entrance of the crack, A-Fei, who was climbing down, pointed upwards, his face pale.

Everyone looked in the direction his finger was pointing—at the top of the crack, at the entrance where they had climbed down, a huge black shadow was crouching at some unknown time.

The black shadow had thick limbs, a huge head, and two eyes glowing with dark green light in the darkness.

It was leaning down, looking into the crack, as if it were sizing up a group of prey that had broken into its territory.

The copper bell at Uncle Ya's waist suddenly rang crazily!

"Dinglinglingling—!"

The harsh bell rang in the stone cave, shaking people's scalps.

Hearing the bell, the black shadow abruptly retracted its head.

The next moment, a deafening roar came from above the crack!

The entire stone cave was trembling, and rubble fell down with a rustle.