Xu Zirong followed the direction of my pointing finger, and his eyes immediately widened.
“That’s a stone tablet, and it has characters on it too!” He stated with certainty.
Layers of green branches and leaves draped downwards, concealing a half-meter-tall stone tablet within them. The tablet’s surface was covered in green moss, making it almost blend into its surroundings. If not for my good luck, it might truly have been overlooked.
I quickly pressed, “What characters?”
“Too far, I can’t see clearly…” Xu Zirong said, then took a sharp breath and jumped from a standstill!
A sports student truly was different; he leaped across the stream, which was over two meters wide and nearly three, without even getting his pant legs wet.
Xu Zirong reached the stone tablet, squatted down, pushed aside the obscuring weeds, and meticulously tried to decipher the characters, his handsome, long brows furrowed.
“Hmm… hmm…”
Seeing him “hmm”-ing for a long time without a response, I couldn’t help but ask, “What is it, exactly?”
Xu Zirong stood up, a bit awkwardly, and scratched his head, facing us: “I don’t recognize this character.”
Me: “……”
Qiu Lu also helplessly covered her face, with an expression that said, “I don’t know him well, so his embarrassment isn’t mine.”
I drew in a deep breath, backed up two steps, gathered momentum with a small run, and sprang forward with all my strength!
I barely made it to the other bank.
My balance was off, and I almost fell forward. Fortunately, Xu Zirong was quick, stepping forward to steady my arm. Although my landing wasn’t as graceful as Xu Zirong’s, at least I made it across safely.
I stepped forward to examine the stone tablet.
This tablet seemed quite old; the moss made it feel slimy and unpleasant to the touch. A few small insects clung to its surface, but before I even touched them, they scattered in alarm, as if I were some kind of insect-hunting beast.
The edges of the stone tablet were carved with patterns and totems I couldn’t understand. They looked like a mix of butterflies and phoenixes, along with some decorative flowers and flying birds. In the middle, two lines of characters were etched. They must have been painted red once, but years of erosion had long since stripped away the color. I frowned, carefully trying to decipher them.
One line of characters was unlike anything I had ever seen, it was crooked and distorted. The other line was in an ancient seal script, which I could barely recognize.
There was a research institute for ancient Chinese characters at my literature college, and a professor from the institute once taught us for a semester. I was very curious back then and quite interested in ancient Chinese characters, so I followed him for half a semester.
Now, I was incredibly grateful for my past self.
“Shi…” I traced the engravings on the tombstone, struggling to recognize each character as I spoke aloud, “Shi Di… Shan… Jie — Shidi Mountain?!”
After saying it, I immediately got goosebumps!
This place was, it actually was… Shidi Mountain, the place the boss from the inn once told me about?
I hadn’t even found this place on the navigation, yet I’d stumbled upon it by accident?
“That name sounds so familiar.” Xu Zirong murmured.
Qiu Lu and the others called out from the opposite bank, “Can you see it clearly? Can you read the characters?”
Xu Zirong, feeling a bit put on the spot, immediately said, “It’s ancient Chinese characters. If it wasn’t for Ah Ze, you wouldn’t recognize them even if you came over!”
Wen Lingyu asked, “What does it say?”
Xu Zirong replied, “Shidi Mountain.”
Across the faint gurgling of the water, Wen Lingyu’s delicate brows furrowed slightly as she said, “Shidi Mountain… isn’t that the place Ah Li mentioned?”
Qiu Lu was still bewildered, repeatedly asking Wen Lingyu, “What? What did Ah Li mention?”
Wen Lingyu said, “Ah Li let it slip back then. There’s a place called Shidi Mountain, where some Miao people who practice ‘Gu’ are supposed to live. If I’m not mistaken, they might be the legendary ‘Unassimilated Miao’.”
Wen Lingyu’s guess completely coincided with mine.
She turned her head, and her gaze suddenly met mine. I nodded in agreement and appreciation, and Wen Lingyu also offered a smile, her cheeks flushing a faint red.
“What did you say? I can’t hear you from over here.” Xu Zirong bounced a couple of times and waved. “You guys come over, come and take a look!”
Qiu Lu pouted. “I can’t jump across, and I don’t want to get my shoes wet either.” Then she raised her brows, one hand on her hip and the other pointing at Xu Zirong. “You come carry me!”
“Am I your slave or something?” Xu Zirong grumbled, but his face held a sweet smile as he resignedly took off his sneakers, rolled up his pants, and waded through the water.
Qiu Lu stood there delicately, waiting until Xu Zirong came over, turned his back to her, and bent down. Only then did she lazily raise her arms and jump onto his back.
Wen Lingyu glanced at me and quietly sat down on a rock to take off her shoes and socks. She rolled her pants higher and silently followed through the water as well.
Perched on Xu Zirong’s back, Qiu Lu shot me a fierce glare, as if I’d committed some unforgivable crime.
Xu Zirong carried Qiu Lu effortlessly, not even out of breath, and called to me, “Ah Ze, keep an eye on Xiao Wen. The water’s slippery, one misstep and she could fall!”
No sooner had he spoken than Wen Lingyu stepped on a slick stone. Her balance shifted, and she teetered dangerously. I quickly stepped forward and handed her the branch I’d been holding. Wen Lingyu barely managed to grab it and steady herself.
“Thank you.” Once ashore, Wen Lingyu murmured her thanks, her voice soft and sticky-sweet.
I shook my head, unconcerned, and led her over to the stone stele.
Wen Lingyu’s brows drew together slightly. “This stele is at least from the Ming or Qing dynasty. The carvings are already very faint. And I think I’ve seen this pattern in a book before.”
Qiu Lu clapped. “Our Xiao Yu is amazing!”
Xu Zirong echoed, “Ah Ze, she didn’t let us guys lose face! You two working together, you’ve already figured out what’s written on the stone and when it was erected.”
“Hmph!” Qiu Lu rolled her eyes at Xu Zirong and crossed her arms, falling silent.
Wen Lingyu had just been praised, but her face didn’t look too good. She said, “An Pu told us before that Shidi Mountain is dangerous. Someone even died here once, the search and rescue team never found them…”
That one sentence completely extinguished Qiu Lu and Xu Zirong’s playful mood. Just then, the sun moved behind a cloud, and the forest immediately grew dim. The temperature dipped abruptly, and a chill slipped past the sun’s grasp, creeping up around us.
I shivered, feeling an uncomfortable prickle on my back, as if a pair of eyes were watching us from the dense woods. My gaze quickly swept over the layers of forest; the trees, ferns, and plants stood silent, completely still.
Qiu Lu hugged herself, quickly rubbing her thin arms. “Let’s go back. I’m a little scared.”
Wen Lingyu also said, “We’ve got water; let’s hurry and leave. The forest isn’t safe after all.”
We started walking back along the path we had taken. To avoid getting lost in the forest, Xu Zirong, who was at the back, was in charge of marking nearby trees. With an outdoor knife in hand, he moved quickly, carving “X” symbols as we went.
I used my wooden branch to explore the path ahead, following the marks back. Everyone was watching their steps, and for a while, no one spoke, only our increasingly heavy breathing sounded.
After an unknown amount of time, I finally realized something was wrong.
We had just set out to find water, and our walk couldn’t have taken more than half an hour. Last night, we could hear frogs from the concrete road, proving the stream wasn’t far from the road. But now, we had been walking for nearly an hour, yet we were still in the dense, sun-obscured forest.
“Something’s wrong!” I stopped. “There’s no way we’ve been walking this long.”
Wen Lingyu put her hands on her hips, panting. “I also feel like we’ve been walking for ages… But why haven’t we gotten out yet?”
Qiu Lu said, “I hear the sound of flowing water again ahead!”
We forced our way through a small stretch of jungle, drawn by the sound, but the sight that met us hit like a bolt of lightning.
After an hour of walking in circles, we had returned to the very stream where we had just gotten water! The stone tablet was also on the opposite bank, standing silently. Fresh footprints along the stream’s edge proved that we had indeed returned to our starting point.
“How can this be?!” Xu Zirong looked around in shock, but the truth was undeniable.
“This is too strange! We clearly followed the marks, how could we end up back here!” Qiu Lu was in a panic.
Could it be a ghost hitting the wall[mfn]A supernatural phenomenon of getting disoriented and returning to the same spot[/mfn]? But it was broad daylight; where would a ghost come from?
But this was truly too strange.
“Perhaps we just got disoriented as we walked.” Wen Lingyu took a deep breath, forcing a smile that looked worse than crying. “Let’s try again. Just walk in one direction, we’re bound to get out!”
Right, now wasn’t the time to lose heart.
I said, “Let’s go again. Maybe I wasn’t paying attention when I was leading the way.”
Qiu Lu and Xu Zirong exchanged glances, nodding reluctantly.
We set off from the stream again.
This time, I was extra careful, intentionally pausing for a moment at each mark.
We walked for another ten minutes or so.
The constant, repetitive movements of clearing the way had become almost automatic, until suddenly, the branch beneath my hand gave way with an unexpected softness!
Before my brain could react, my body had already instinctively retreated two steps.
At the same time, I heard a sharp “hiss,” and a black snake, about two meters long, shot up from the spot I had just prodded!
“Ah!” Wen Lingyu’s scream pierced my eardrums.
Qiu Lu also hid behind Xu Zirong, scared. “Snake! It’s a snake!”
Xu Zirong shielded Qiu Lu, but he himself was also trembling with fear.
Most of our group’s knowledge of snakes came from books, with the rest from online videos. We’d seen very few real snakes, let alone in an environment like this.
The snake seemed to be in intense pain, rearing up, flicking its scarlet tongue. Its black scales had a slight sheen, and its two bean-like eyes stared at me, slowly coiling its body.
This was a prelude to an attack.
To say I wasn’t scared would be a lie.
My palms were drenched, cold sweat trickled down my forehead, my heart pounded almost out of my chest, and my temples throbbed.
I only knew that to hit a snake, you had to hit its ‘seven-inch'[mfn]A vulnerable spot[/mfn], but I had no clear idea where that was.
I just hoped it wasn’t venomous, or at least not highly venomous.
Just as I was bracing myself, the snake suddenly paused, its coiled body abruptly relaxed, and it quickly slithered back to the ground, moving away without warning.
Was it scared off by our presence?
