Chapter 141
The archaeological team disappeared into the thick fog, and the audience's vision became blurred along with the camera.
[It was pitch dark, and beyond ten meters, one couldn't tell people from animals.]
[I'm really worried that something might suddenly appear in the fog.]
Even if there was nothing, the visibility was still dangerous, and it made it extremely difficult for the team to move forward.
In addition to the thick fog, what worries the audience even more is that the scene changes, and outside the Black Pine Valley, after the guide leaves, a trio with unkempt hair and trying to cover their ears and steal the bell approaches in a sneaky manner from another direction.
[I remember there were three guys in the corner of the cover that looked malicious.]
Tracking?
Yes, tracking.
Standing in front of Black Pine Valley, the three looked at each other.
The man, with a blue shirt collar peeking out from under his camouflage uniform, said, "Brother, it looks like they've gone in."
Wearing the same camouflage uniform, the red-collared man, whom the blue-collared man called "Big Brother," glared at him and said impatiently, "Nonsense, I'm not blind."
The blue-collared man shrank his neck and said, "Brother, shall we go in with you?"
The shortest one with a green collar also nodded vigorously: "Yes, brother, the old people in the village all said that this fog was caused by a man-eating monster. Otherwise, otherwise..." Let's go back.
Under the glare of the big brother with red collar, the ones with green collar and blue collar shrank their necks like chickens. Although they were a little hesitant in their hearts, they didn't dare to say it out loud.
Red Collar raised his foot and gave each of them a hard kick, cursing, "You two are cowards. You don't want money anymore, you don't want to get married anymore. Ah, I'm asking you something, speak up."
"think……"
"But even if you have money, you still need a life to spend it..."
Red Collar raised his leg and kicked twice: "Still talking back, still daring to talk back, what are you afraid of? That group of people dared to go, are they all fools, all going to die? If they dared to break in, it means they have a way to leave, there is no monster at all."
"Maybe he's just a fool." Green-collared man muttered.
Red Collar: "Did you get told to speak? Shut up, Third Brother. Let me ask you, can you still smell the powder they're sprinkling on you?"
The third brother with green collar sniffed, and the eldest brother looked at him expectantly. Although his third brother's brain was not very good, his nose was sharper than a dog's since he was a child. The ancestors of the three brothers were not only mountain movers, but also had some real skills. That's why they dared to follow the archaeological team, hoping to grab a fortune at the critical moment.
As for what happens next, of course, they will retire, find a country with good feng shui, take the money and get away with it, and live a carefree life lying on the little goldfish. Who the hell would continue to do such shady things?
However, the third brother did not give an answer for a long time.
Boss: "What's going on? Can't smell it anymore?"
The third brother shook his head hurriedly.
Boss: "Shake your ass and talk."
[Xiaohong, you're the one who doesn't let your younger brother speak.]
The second brother also answered in the same way. As a result, the second brother and the third brother who spoke up for the third brother were kicked by the angry eldest brother.
【This person is really unreasonable. 】
Little Green and Little Blue feel wronged, but they don't say anything.
Led by the third brother "Dog Nose", the three collared men also plunged into the fog. The third brother sniffed the ground all the way and followed the direction of the archaeological team again.
In the fog, the archaeological team was not unprepared. In order to prevent getting lost or falling behind, everyone's waist was tied with ropes.
There was indeed something unusual in the Black Pine Valley. The dashing mixed-race young lady in charge of the instruments and equipment frowned. The pointer of the pathfinder in her hand kept spinning, and it was malfunctioning and could not be located at all.
In addition, some team members also found that all communication equipment had completely failed, and the timing equipment and guidance equipment were also out of order.
Dana looked at Fu Yan seriously, but Fu Yan nodded and shook his head as if he had expected it.
The one who built the tomb for King Ling was none other than the Yin-Yang Master Zhai Xingji, who had retrieved the Ganoderma lucidum for him. He had left many legends in history, and it was said that his skills in Qimen Dunjia had reached a superb level.
Fu Yan lowered his eyes and said softly, "When the tomb was built for Prince Ling, even the outside of the tomb must have been set up by the Yin-Yang Master to prevent future generations from entering and disturbing it."
Following Fu Yan's gaze, Ji Qiaoyu had squatted on the ground at some point, writing and drawing on the map with a tree branch he had picked up from somewhere, and muttering some difficult-to-understand formulas.
"Qian three connected, Kun six broken, Zhen upside down bowl, Gen overturned bowl..."
In the silent silence, time passed by little by little. The world became completely quiet under the thick fog and surrounded everyone. In the eerie silence, everyone's emotions kept changing. Some people opened their mouths to say something, using sound to relieve the anxiety in their hearts, but Fu Yan raised his hand to stop them, so as not to disturb Ji Qiaoyu who was concentrating on the deduction.
Under Fu Yan's arrangement, the group surrounded Ji Qiaoyu with him as the center. The outermost layer was the security team led by John. They looked alert and ready to deal with "beasts" and accidents rushing out of the fog at any time.
Fortunately, apart from the thick fog and the damnable silence, the group did not encounter the attack they had imagined.
"Found it!" Ji Qiaoyu breathed a sigh of relief. When he looked up, he saw that he was surrounded by the team members in three layers. At this moment, everyone was looking at him.
Ji Qiaoyu blinked, but didn't keep the question in suspense. Instead, he spoke quickly and concisely, "There are eight gates in Qi Men Dun Jia: Kai, Xiu, Sheng, Shang, Du, Jing, Si, and Jing. Kai, Xiu, and Sheng are three auspicious, while Si, Jing, and Shang are three ominous. Du and Jing represent Jia Zhongping."
A member of the Xia Nation team chimed in, "I've heard of this. Some Bagua formations are designed to be extremely dangerous. Only by finding the single exit can one truly escape, or else they'll be trapped and die. Now that Zhai Xingji has set up a massive formation, he must have left only one correct path. The guide mentioned the fog devouring people here, but that's because people or wild animals who strayed into the formation couldn't find the correct way out and were never able to escape."
"So, what we are looking for now is the way out?"
Ji Qiaoyu snapped his fingers: "There is indeed only one correct path, but we are not looking for the door to life, but the door to death!"
"The life gate is certainly a ray of hope, but if we follow it, we will end up outside the Black Pine Valley, returning to where we came from." Ji Qiaoyu said the first half of the sentence, and Fu Yan continued thoughtfully:
"However, our destination is the tomb of Prince Ling, which is also the place Zhai Xingji doesn't want us to go. Therefore, the correct direction is the Death Gate."
Professor Miao also nodded in agreement. Their analysis was sound: "Knowing there is a tiger in the mountain, one still goes there."
But even if we know that we are looking for the Death Gate, the question is, where is the Death Gate?
Fu Yan: "The notes say that the Misty Valley is unpredictable and adaptable. I now think that the master of Qimen Dunjia must have set up this Bagua formation to change at any time, so there is no fixed correct path."
Ji Qiaoyu snapped his fingers quickly, "Young Boss is right. This formation should be a large formation that changes with the year, month and time. If we want to find the correct way out, we need to combine our Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches with the time to determine the location of each gate."
"Look at the plants around us. Have you noticed the pattern of their arrangement?"
Everyone looked at the surrounding plants, and Fu Yan was still the first to keenly notice the abnormality: "It's a tree."
"Yes, they are trees, either in groups of three or as a single tree with only three branches."
"I'll omit the details here, but my conclusion is that right now, the Death Gate is located in the northwest. In less than half an hour, the direction of the Death Gate will change again."
Ji Qiaoyu stood up and said quickly: "We have to speed up."
Ji Qiaoyu was about to bend down to pick up the package on the ground, but Fu Yan was faster than him. Both of their hands were on the backpack straps at the same time. Ji Qiaoyu looked up, and Fu Yan said calmly: "Lead the way, I will help you carry the things."
A lot of calculations were done in the shortest time possible. Even though Ji Qiaoyu tried to appear relaxed, Fu Yan did not miss the sweat on his forehead and his slightly pale face. Of course, he wanted to help Ji Qiaoyu carry the heavy-looking package, which was just the most correct choice based on his rational judgment. As he said, Ji Qiaoyu would still be needed to lead the way on the rest of the journey, so it was necessary for him to conserve his strength.
Ji Qiaoyu grinned and said, "Thanks, but there's no need for the young boss to do it for me. Although I can't catch up with Big Brother John, my physical strength is definitely better than the young boss's. It was all trained under the Urban Management. It's so terrifying. Besides, these are all my belongings in the bag." He was really worried about others carrying him.
Under the leadership of Ji Qiaoyu, everyone set off again, and their pace quickened.
On the way, John couldn't help but approach Ji Qiaoyu. He seemed to be hesitant to speak, which made Ji Qiaoyu feel uncomfortable: "Brother Yue, what's going on?"
If Brother Yue is constipated, Dora Yumeng can take out new miracle medicine from her treasure chest.
John: "Ahem, Ji, that move you just made was the magical Great Xia Yin-Yang technique, right? It must be a secret technique that your sect doesn't pass on. Um, Ji, what do you think of me?"
Ji Qiaoyu blinked again and again: "Brother Yue, what are you referring to?"
John said with longing, "If I want to learn from you, I wonder how many boxes of small yellow croakers I need to be accepted by you?"
The teacher added it, Ji Qiaoyu:...Not really, really not.
However, under the temptation of the small yellow croaker, Teacher Ji still looked John up and down carefully. When he met John's clear big eyes, he shook his head with some regret. Teacher Ji loves money and makes it in a legitimate way. It is not advisable to cheat people.
Seeing Ji Qiaoyu shaking his head, the tough brother John shed tears: "It really doesn't work. I was just imagining things. Ji, just pretend I didn't say anything."
Looking at Brother John, whose eyes were red and who was thirsty for knowledge but had no access to it, Ji Banxian was silent for a moment: "Actually, if metaphysics doesn't work, we can still use science to explain it."
【???】Interstellar audiences and Big Brother John all had question marks over their heads.
【I think I heard something wrong.】
Then, Ji Banxian solemnly led everyone to approach science: "There are two roads in front of you, one flat and one bumpy. When you encounter danger, you subconsciously choose the flatter road, thinking it will be easier to escape, right?"
"After many two-way choices, you might be surprised to find that you've returned to your starting point or to where the person who set up the formation wanted you to go. This is a simple application of this kind of thinking and psychology."
"Simply put, it's a form of predictive thinking and modeling. It combines rigorous logical reasoning with mathematical calculations, along with observation and analysis of natural laws and social phenomena. Ultimately, it can achieve the effect of changing the world and influencing the universe. Do you understand?"
“I seem to understand, but I also seem not to.”
Ji Qiaoyu nodded secretly, this was exactly the effect he wanted.
[Brother Yue, wake up! Don't let Xiao Ji fool you.]
[It's reasonable to suspect that Xiao Ji made up a theory on the spot. He might have even forgotten what he said.]
【Xiao Ji's mouth is a deceitful ghost.】
[Hahaha, I really like Xiaoji's quirky yet slightly mischievous personality.]
[Frankly speaking, after thinking about it carefully, what Xiao Ji said seems to make quite a bit of sense. A psychology researcher has applied to participate in the competition and needs the assistance of a math expert.]
[I'm not a big shot, but I've won first prize in the ball class. If you need me, please send me a private message.]
[…I’m just an ordinary person, I’ll climb first. It’s not just a movie for you guys, why should you be so serious? I’m guessing that the two people above are from Juntian.]
[My ancestral home is Juntian, how did you know? ]
【……】
The direction of the barrage was almost led astray by some bigwigs who "became interested" in Qi Men Dun Jia. The reason why I said almost was because it was not successful yet. The film itself drew the audience's attention back with its own strength.
Something unexpected happened on the screen.
"Swish swish."
Suddenly, strange noises were heard in the thick fog. John, who was a professional, plucked his ears and judged from the sounds that the creatures making the sounds were initially far away from the team, but were nearby in a flash.
"Everyone be careful."
Along with weapons thrown from the thick fog, blurry figures similar to human figures but taller than ordinary people flashed from the fog, approaching quickly and leaving quickly. With John's reminder and the vigilance of the security team members, the first wave of attacks was resolved.
Fu Yan also took a step forward as soon as the creature in the fog launched an attack, and flashed in front of Ji Qiaoyu and Professor Miao. The dagger and the stone thrown from behind the fog collided in mid-air, and for a moment it seemed as if sparks were produced by friction, which showed the great strength of both sides.
Ji Qiaoyu started cheering for the young boss, forgetting his earlier mockery of the "research institute" graduate not being able to match the physique of a charlatan like him. He immediately called him "brother," "Brother Yan is awesome, but if you didn't know, you'd think that stone was a bullet. It's incredibly powerful."
As he spoke, he shouted to remind everyone: "Quickly find cover, don't get hit."
Following Ji Qiaoyu's line of sight, he could see that a stone had hit a tree trunk not far away, smashing through the bark and leaving the stone deeply sunken into the trunk.
Under the protection of the security team, the archaeological team hid in groups behind trees or rocks. A young archaeologist from Haicheng took a deep breath and said with lingering fear, "What is that? Are there really wild people here?"
[It really looks like a humanoid creature. Oh my god.]
[Are there really savages, the kind that eat people? And from what I can see, they seem stronger than ordinary people, especially their strength, which is ridiculous!]
What should I do? Did I take the wrong road?
Behind the stone, Fu Yan glanced around sharply. Professor Miao was protected by Ji Qiaoyu's raised hand. The old man did not show much fear. Instead, his eyes became brighter. He quickly analyzed, "Meeting these guys means we are on the right path."
"Legend has it that Prince Ling was an exceptionally brave warrior, conquering all lands. He also had two loves: beautiful women and rare beasts. His first love was only one: Lady Wang, the woman he favored and the one who earned his undivided love and affection. His second love was rare beasts, and his favorite wasn't a tiger or an elephant, but a giant ape he captured during his expedition to Kunlun."
"This great ape is not only extremely intelligent, but also led his tribe to offer King Ling a century-old fine wine brewed from the Kunlun Spirit Spring. He is also extremely powerful and strong. He led his tribe to occupy the top of the mountain, and even the king of all beasts dared not approach."
"Even on the battlefield, this white ape was incredibly powerful. During one campaign, it even saved Prince Ling from an assassination attempt at his own expense, sacrificing its own arm. Since then, Prince Ling has bestowed upon the white ape the title of valiant general and guardian beast of the realm. Its image often appears alongside Prince Ling."
"In 214 AD, Madam Wang died. Zhai Xingji was only one month away from returning from the overseas immortal mountain with the Ganoderma lucidum. However, due to a series of circumstances, he was unable to save Madam Wang."
"Prince Ling and Madam Wang had made a promise that after consuming the Ganoderma Lucidum and becoming immortal, they would become the Jade Emperor and his wife, and become the most carefree couple in heaven and earth. Madam Wang left, leaving Prince Ling deeply saddened. He gave up his dream of eternal immortality alone. Since they couldn't become immortals together, they decided to go underground together and become immortal couples."
"Zhai Xingji was ordered to spare no manpower, material resources, and financial resources to build the underground palace within a year. After nearly exhausting all of the Xu Dynasty's national strength and money, this massive project was finally completed. At the end of the 214th year of the Daxu calendar, Prince Ling entered the mausoleum alone and was buried with his wife in the underground palace."
The members of the Haicheng Archaeological Team nodded in agreement. They had all heard of this history, and they all agreed that if it weren't for Prince Ling's stubbornness and love-sickness, the extremely powerful Da Xu Dynasty would not have collapsed so quickly. In fact, if Prince Ling were still alive and continued to fight, the territory of Da Xu might have doubled, and it would not be impossible for it to directly occupy the entire Asian plate.
Unfortunately, there is no if.
Professor Miao wasn't mentioning this to show off his knowledge. He pushed his glasses up and continued, "On the same day that Prince Ling entered the tomb, the White Ape King and his tribe, having lost their master, quietly left the capital of the Great Xu Dynasty, using unknown means, while the other officials of the Xu Dynasty focused all their attention on Prince Ling.
After that, it was not that no one wanted to look for this "Guardian Monkey", but it was as if he and his tribe had never appeared. Even after the demise of the Great Order, they never appeared again, and there was no trace of them in subsequent history.
So much so that some scholars now doubt whether the "guardian monkey" ever existed in history, and whether it, like the dragon totem, originated from people's worship and imagination.
[Now that I put it that way, it seems to make sense. It's like a human, with immense strength.]
[So, the divine ape really does exist, and it arrived in the Bagua Formation after Prince Ling left. The real divine ape must have died of old age, and the ones left here must be his descendants.]
[They are guarding Prince Ling's tomb! ]
If the formation is broken, or someone stumbles upon the correct path, they will be the second line of defense. It's so difficult. It feels like we've reached the end before we even enter the tomb.
Although most of the archaeological team members found shelter, they soon faced a new wave of attacks.
The "savages" finally revealed their true faces. Just as Professor Miao had guessed, they had long arms, wasp waists, hairy faces, and were led by an ape king who was nearly three meters tall and covered in white hair. More than twenty apes gradually surrounded the archaeological team.
Some monkeys were running on the ground, some were swinging vines hanging from the treetops with one hand, and some were jumping directly from one ancient tree to another. I don’t know if it was because they have lived in the Bagua formation for many years, but the fog that blocked their vision did not seem to have any effect on these monkeys.
The ape king jumped down from a great height, hanging on a thick dead vine. As he flew over the ground, he stretched out his long arm and easily caught a huge rock in his arms. As he let out long howls one after another, the other monkeys followed suit and launched a new round of attacks.
If the previous "sneak attack" in which the pebbles thrown by the apes were a warning signal to outsiders, then at this moment, when the hairless monkeys did not accept the kindness of the giant apes and cleverly left, the apes began their real attack.
Fist-sized or larger stones fell from the sky. The Ape King threw the boulder, which formed a large hole in the ground and then fell to the ground without stopping. The muscles in his arms bulged, and with a long roar, he pulled out a pine tree from the ground along with its tangled roots.
【!!! 】
[Brother Ape, please accept my greeting.]
【Ahhh, this is going to be real, run.】
Of course they have to run, but relying solely on their leg strength, they will definitely not be able to outrun the monkeys who are more familiar with the terrain and can climb walls and run across the trees.
If you don't have enough strength, you can make up for it with equipment.
Under John's leadership, the security team members had already put on new equipment when they were hiding just now.
"Bang, bang, bang."
The wooden cannon fired rapidly in the direction of the giant ape. There was no smell of gunpowder as anesthetic needles were shot at the ape group.
Although they were unable to stop and aim properly, the apes themselves were also sensitive enough to cause many anesthetic needles to deviate from their course and target, fortunately, two out of ten needles still hit the target.
The measurement that could knock out an elephant allowed the apes who were brave enough to advance in the fog to see the power of technology for the first time. One of the culprits who had charged after the leader and had previously injured a team member's arm with a stone staggered and slowly fell down.
The other shot was given by Captain John, whose target was the Ape King, and he actually succeeded.
It was obvious that the entire ape group was commanded by the Ape King. John's idea was very simple. To use an old saying from the Xia country, to catch a thief, you must first catch the king. If the Ape King fell, without his leadership and deterrence, the ape group would probably stop again.
However, John's plan was good, as the Ape King showed extraordinary physical fitness at this time. His pace slowed down slightly, and it was obvious that his mind was a little dizzy under the influence of the anesthetic needle. However, as the descendant of the legendary beast, he actually raised a huge rock again and smashed it on his head. As blood flowed through his hawk-like pupils, under the stimulation of pain, his mind became clear again, and he roared, and instead of retreating, he advanced and charged at the archaeological team again.
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