We repaired in Luofeng Village for two days and set off in the early morning of the third day.
Follow a trail in the back mountain of Luofeng Village and go straight through Mount Banai.
Only by crossing the Banai Mountain can we truly enter the scope of the Phoenix Earth Map.
So this time our group of six not only brought a lot of equipment, but also brought enough dry food.
Because everyone knows that this journey will not be too short.
The person who led us was a lean old man from Luofeng Village, known as Ba Lao. He was about sixty years old and an old bachelor. Apart from him, there was only one skinny blind dog left in the family.
Ba Lao is a very talkative old man with sparkling eyes.
According to him, he participated in the anti-Japanese guerrillas when he was young.
After arriving, one of his hands was amputated by the Japanese, so he stayed in the village and spent most of his life.
This is my first time to go into the mountains, especially into this semi-primitive mountain forest, and I am extremely curious about the surrounding scenery.
That kind of beautiful scene is far beyond what a few words can describe.
We walked from early morning to evening and finally climbed over the beautiful Mount Banai.
After crossing Mount Banai, there was a mountain stream behind us. We rested on the edge of the stream.
Ba Lao is an old hunter here. While we were setting up the tent, he started preparing food.
Uncle Yan took out the photo, squatted in front of the fire and looked at it, and from time to time he compared it with the stars in the sky to identify the direction.
I went over to check, but couldn't see why.
I just feel that the mountains here are the same as far as you can see, with jagged rocks, towering trees, and a unique earthy smell filling the air.
Uncle Yan looked up at me, with a smile on his lips and said, "How do you feel?"
Uncle Yan's words made me stunned for a moment, but then I came to my senses, shrugged my shoulders, and said nonchalantly: "It's very good. The mountains and rivers here are beautiful, and the people are outstanding. Is it much more comfortable than Luo City?"
At this time, Da Zhuang came over and said hehey to me: "What Xiao Wu Ye said is that I hope you can still be in such a good mood when you go to the ground."
I frowned and retorted: "Brother Da Zhuang, are you looking down on me? Even if I have never eaten pork, I have seen pigs running away?"
Alai, who was finishing the tent at the side, didn't say anything, just looked at me and smiled honestly.
I didn't know what to say because of their smiles, and then I looked at Uncle Yan who was squatting aside.
Uncle Yan frowned, looked up at me and said worriedly: "Xiao Xu, I have a very bad feeling, I'm afraid something will happen this time, or..."
"Okay, Uncle Yan, you're doing this again for me, right?"
"After all this has happened, why are you still doing this afterthought?"
Da Zhuang also came over, put his arm around my shoulders and gestured to Uncle Yan with a smile.
"Fifth Master, I think Xiaoxu is right. We have already reached this point. It would be a bit mean-spirited to say anything else."
"Xiao Xu is not a child anymore. When I was his age, I had already fought three hundred rounds with the rice dumplings in the tomb."
Uncle Yan looked at Da Zhuang and said, "His situation is different from yours."
Da Zhuang nodded: "I, Da Zhuang, know a little bit about Xiao Xu's affairs. In fact, I think he would be unwilling to let us keep him in the city like this."
"It's better to give it a try this time. We're already here anyway, so we can't let Xiaoxu go back now."
"To take a step back, when the time comes to go to the tomb, let Xiaoxu be on the periphery and Alai accompany me. The Fifth Master and I can find out what's going on."
"It's all about going down to the tomb anyway. Entering the main tomb chamber and following the corridor is almost the same..."
"Hey... Brother Da Zhuang... you..."
I pushed away the strong arm on my shoulder and was about to retort when Balao came back with a few hares in his hands. I don't know how he hunted with one hand.
In the evening, everyone ate something simple and then went back to their tents to sleep.
Early the next morning, I was woken up by Uncle Yan, saying that I needed to find a place before it rained today.
After Uncle Yan finished speaking, I noticed that the sky today was gray, with no trace of sunlight above my head, and everything was covered by thick dark clouds.
Hearing this, I didn't say much. After packing up their luggage, everyone continued moving towards the northwest again.
Originally there was a road along the stream due east, but our destination was obviously different from the proper road.
Ba Lao said nothing and held a machete in front, splitting the thorny branches, and we followed behind him, one step at a time.
During the march, I got close to Uncle Yan and asked in a low voice how Uncle Yan allowed such an old hunter to serve as our guide.
And our group of people with big bags and small bags don’t look like serious people. Aren’t the locals a little suspicious?
Uncle Yan explained: "Because we have proof."
As he said this, he took out a small book from his body, with a certain geological exploration team printed on it. When he opened the book, there was also the official seal of our Luocheng City Geology and Culture Bureau.
Seeing this, I was a little unbelievable and asked Uncle Yan if this was true.
Uncle Yan glared at me and said, "Nonsense..."
Then he stopped talking to me and walked to the front of the team to talk to Mr. Bala and Mr. Ba.
During the march, we did not encounter any crisis, but around three or four o'clock in the afternoon, raindrops began to fall overhead.
At around six o'clock in the afternoon, we passed through this mountain forest, and a flat area appeared in front of us.
The most eye-catching thing is the seven red-colored tombs located on the ground. There is no vegetation around them and even weeds are scattered here and there.
After being washed away by the rain, the entire ground seemed to be stained red with blood, and those who watched it felt uneasy and nervous.
It was when he saw these seven tombs that our guide Balao stopped moving forward.
He said yes, this was the farthest distance he could reach, and he would never go further.
Uncle Yan also wanted to persuade the other party, but Lao Ba firmly disagreed and said to Uncle Yan: "Actually, I know what you do."
"But I won't tell anyone, because if you continue past these seven tombs, it's impossible for you to come out alive."
"I'm an old man, I earn some hard-earned money, so you should settle the bill for me..."
Hearing what Balao said, we all looked at each other.
Except for Leng Yue, all of them had embarrassed looks on their faces.
Even Uncle Yan was stunned for a moment before asking what Ba Lao meant.
Balao pointed to the seven blood-red tombs around him and said, "Have you seen these seven tombs?"
"Twenty years ago, I was their guide. They wore military uniforms and told me that they were from the geological exploration team and came here to do research."
"I have been waiting here for seven days, except for one madman who has completely gone crazy and disappeared in this jungle."
"The remaining seven people all had no heads and died in the forest covered in blood and flesh."
"I buried them..."
I asked with some confusion: "Since you said you have never gone deeper, how did you find these corpses?"
Balao explained: "I was not leading the way alone at that time. There were two dogs with me. My dogs brought them back when they went hunting."
"It's just that after I buried them, one of my dogs also died. The skin was ulcerated all over his body. You must have seen the other one at home."
When Balao mentioned his dog, I thought of his skinny dog, which lay motionless in the kennel as if it were dead.
The reason turns out to be here.
Hearing this, Uncle Yan asked what was in the depths of the Balao forest and why he didn't tell him in advance before entering the mountain.
Ba Lao said that he himself is old and does not have many years left to live, because he has suffered irreversible internal injuries due to traveling in and out of the mountains all year round.
Not only because he was afraid that the other party would not use him, but also because he wanted to earn more coffin money.
In fact, there is nothing wrong with what Mr. Ba did. Everyone has selfish motives, including me.
Take tomb robbing as an example. Some people do it to get rich, some do it to find excitement, and some, like me, are looking for that unknown answer.
In the end, Uncle Yan gave the remaining money to Balao, but warned Balao that if he dared to reveal even a word, it would end badly.
Balao seemed to have not heard anything and shook his head indifferently.
"You will not come out alive. This blood mountain is a mountain that eats people. Anyone who crosses the blood mountain will not end well..."
