When I heard Song Laosan say that there was a monster in the Golden Sheep Cave, I asked, "Is the monster you're talking about a pink-skinned rat, like the Gu creatures we saw in Ping'an Village and Liulin Village?"

"No! It's definitely not that thing! The monster we saw was huge, with an exceptionally long tentacle, and it looked like an octopus magnified countless times! We were running around frantically at the time, and the lighting was limited, so I only saw the tentacle and didn't see what it actually looked like."

Song Laosan replied firmly, "Although I don't know what that thing is, it's definitely not what we saw in Ping'an Village!"

"In other words, the monsters in the Three Treasures Cave are all different things."

I licked my lips and asked, "Is the Golden Sheep Cave you entered a tomb or an altar?"

Song Laosan looked puzzled: "An altar?"

Seeing his expression, I also sensed something was wrong: "Did you see a coffin inside the Golden Sheep Cave?"

"No, that's not true! After we entered the Golden Sheep Cave, we found a large number of corpses. We explored deeper into the cave along those corpses and found a natural cave. The Golden Sheep was placed inside that cave at that time. Its head had already been removed and was being held in the arms of a corpse."

Old Song lowered his head and recalled: "At that time, there were many mummies in the cave, and there were several other caves that led further in. We analyzed that it was likely an ancient cave tomb, and the place we were in was just a side room!"

Then we heard noises coming from the cave inside. Looking at the corpses scattered everywhere, I already felt something was wrong in the cave, so before the thing even appeared, I told everyone to evacuate. Qu Ruilin also grabbed the sheep's head in the chaos… You know what happened next. We were attacked by a tentacle, and finally used explosives from a corpse's backpack to blow up the cave. There were other teams arriving outside, but the patrolling police were also attracted by the noise, so we all retreated.”

"You're lucky. If you had continued deeper in, you would most likely have perished there!"

I threw away my cigarette butt: "That cave wasn't a tomb at all, but an altar! The Golden Bull Cave we're going to next is the same. According to the information we have, these caves are guarded by indescribable monsters, and their existence is likely related to the ancient Miao people's witchcraft!"

Based on your description, the monsters in these three caves likely increase in power progressively. The golden rooster is a pink-skinned rat, the golden sheep is a tentacle monster, so what's in the Golden Bull Cave is probably even more terrifying than the other two caves!

After hearing my words, the monkey swallowed hard and said, "Young Master Duan, we are not only short of manpower, but also lack equipment. Why don't we call the town and ask for reinforcements?"

"It's too late."

Old Song shook his head: "Originally, Cao Xiong planned to kidnap us and make us enter the Golden Bull Cave to help them search for treasure first thing tomorrow morning, but after your interference, they will definitely speed up their progress! It takes several hours to send people in from outside the mountain. If we want to get ahead of them, we must set off now!"

My idea coincided with Song Laosan's: "Monkey, take stock of the equipment!"

The monkey took the travel bags from me and Manjing and quickly gave feedback: "Sufficient food and water, sufficient medicine, fully charged flashlights, fifteen crossbow bolts, twelve flares, one rope gun, and six fifty-meter ropes left! Six pieces of plastic explosives!"

I stretched my body: "Distribute the crossbow bolts, five each for the three of us in Manjing! Let's set off now!"

"No, you're not going to give me any equipment?"

After hearing my orders, Song Laosan said somewhat speechlessly, "This time we're not going to rob a tomb, but to explore an altar. Besides, there are ancient Miao people's Gu poisons inside the altar. I'm sincerely cooperating with you, you can't expect me to die, can you?"

I pulled a stun gun out of my travel bag and tossed it to him: "This is all I have, take it or leave it!"

Old Song wanted to say something more, but seeing that we had already set off, he could only mutter to himself as he followed behind: "Fine, having someone is better than being empty-handed!"

Because our actions had alerted Cao Xiong and the others, we couldn't use flashlights while moving forward. Fortunately, we were equipped with night vision goggles, and my vision was very clear under the moonlight.

The mountain's shape is clear, so we don't need to figure out directions. We just need to keep walking along the ridge to reach the horse's head.

As the crescent moon moved to the west, our group arrived at the foot of a mountain.

Along the way, the mountain walls beside us were very steep, and there was no way to go up the mountain.

I originally thought that the situation would be better at Matou, which is the starting point on the other side of the mountain, but I didn't expect the situation to be even worse here.

The mountain peak at the horse's head rises abruptly from the ground, surrounded by sheer cliffs carved by chisels and axes, at least forty meters high. There is no mountain path, not even a scrambleable protrusion.

After observing the surrounding terrain, Song Laosan shook his head and said, "The terrain here is too complicated. We can't climb up. The only way is to run around the foot of the mountain and find a way up."

"We don't have enough time. It's already taken us more than three hours to get here. Continuing to take a detour will only waste time."

I stood at the bottom of the cliff, took out the rope-throwing gun, and then began to look for a suitable angle to throw the rope.

"Your idea is too risky!"

Seeing my actions, Song Laosan reminded me, "We don't know the situation at the top of the mountain, nor can we be sure if there are any objects up there to support the grappling hook. Falling from such a height is no joke!"

"Whoosh!"

I ignored Song Laosan and pulled the trigger directly.

The launcher we carry is the kind used on naval vessels, with a launch range of up to 250 meters and a vertical height of up to 60 meters. It does not require any external power source and is particularly suitable for use in the field where there is no power.

With a muffled thud, the grappling hook tore through the air and launched upwards toward the cliff.

After the rope was tightened, I put it on my shoulder and started pulling hard in the opposite direction. After taking a step, I suddenly felt the rope loosen and I fell to the ground in a sorry state.

"Bang!"

A few seconds later, a rock fell from the mountaintop and shattered into pieces.

I stood up, rubbed my arms, pulled the rope back, and fired again.

This time the rope finally got stuck on the mountaintop, and no matter how much I pulled, it didn't budge.

Seeing my actions, Song Laosan still had a speechless expression: "Xiao Duan, the first condition for rock climbing is to ensure the rope is secure, and you don't even know where the rope is stuck. Isn't this playing with your life? Take my advice, this height is too risky. If you climb up, you'll be committing suicide!"

I loosened my grip on the rope and turned to look at Song Laosan: "I know this is risky, but I'm not afraid, because you're the one going up."