Chapter 45
I told them about Erma's situation. Without further ado, they hurried back to prepare some equipment, and the three of us drove back to Tongcymbal Mountain.
As mentioned earlier, Tongbian Mountain was considered a rebel stronghold in ancient times and remained a forbidden area for thousands of years. From the late Tang Dynasty until the end of the feudal era, a boundary stone inscribed with the words "Anyone who trespasses will be executed immediately" stood at the foot of the mountain.
At the end of the Tang Dynasty, the imperial court was in tatters, and chaos reigned. Huang Chao stormed into Chang'an, ending the Tang Dynasty's unbroken rule. Huang Chao's military leadership was unique, and he specifically chose steep mountainous areas as strongholds. When passing through Tongbian Mountain, he saw that the mountain was steep and easy to defend, making it a natural fortress, so he established his stronghold there. However, establishing a stronghold on such a mountain also had a disadvantage: there was no supply after the mountain was closed, and so many people on the mountain could not go without food and water.
The ban was issued at this time. The imperial court ordered the mountain to be closed and no one was allowed to enter or leave, otherwise they would be killed without mercy.
After the fall of the Tang Dynasty, the ban persisted throughout the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. This was due to the unique geographical location of Tongbi Mountain, which provided a natural refuge. Small bandits or rebels hiding there were impossible to suppress, so the imperial court maintained the ban to avoid further trouble. However, even during the Ming and Qing dynasties, many rebels still took refuge there, causing significant trouble for the court.
Of course, Tongcymbal Mountain is now open, but only partially open because it is too dangerous.
The three of us parked at the foot of Tongbian Mountain, loaded our gear, and headed up. I led them up the same mountain path I'd taken down, all the way to the Pen Demon. The two coffins were still there.
I made a phone call here, but didn't hear Erma's phone ring. In fact, I didn't hold out much hope, so I had to call every once in a while. Along the way, we saw those ancient military fortifications, which had a heavy and old feeling.
The weather on the mountain is changeable. It may be sunny just now, but it may be covered with dark clouds and rain the next second.
Now we are facing such a situation, dark clouds gradually cover the sun, and soon raindrops will fall.
We quickly looked for a place to shelter from the rain. There was a fortification in front of us. I don’t know which dynasty it was built in, so the three of us hid inside.
This fortification must be a cave, but it was very deep. We turned on the flashlight, but we didn't dare to go deep into caves like this, fearing there might be wild animals inside. So we rested at the entrance.
"How could Erma disappear in such a place?" said Mao Jianming.
"I don't know either. She said she was going to chase that person, but in fact it was just a paper man. I have already destroyed the pen monster, so I think the paper man must have turned back to his original form long ago. But I didn't see Erma in the mountains that night." I said.
At the beginning, Erma said that she was chasing someone in the direction of Shangrao, so she should have come to the Tongbian Mountain area. In addition, her cell phone signal showed that she was always in Tongbian Mountain, so I firmly believe that she is in this mountain.
"It's really difficult to find someone in this deep mountain and wilderness," said Zhang Song.
This is true. There were so many rebels in the mountains at that time that they could cause great trouble to the court. It would be like looking for a needle in a haystack for us to find one person.
As we were talking, we heard footsteps from inside the cave. They weren't human, but animal. Along with the footsteps came a grunting sound. We immediately looked inside nervously. Zhang Song shone a powerful flashlight inside and saw a wild boar emerging.
As the saying goes, one pig, two bears, and three tigers. It is very dangerous to encounter a wild boar in the wild. They have violent temperaments, large bodies, and two fangs. It is definitely dangerous for ordinary people to encounter them.
It must have heard the three of us talking. This is its territory, and wild animals will fight to the death against any intruder. The three of us slowly retreated, but the boar didn't stop. Behind it was another, even larger one.
We broke into their den. Judging from the appearance of the wild boar, it seemed that it had just given birth not long ago.
"What should we do?" Mao Jianming said.
"Brother Song?" I didn't dare take my eyes off the wild boar.
As we were talking, the two wild boars ran towards the three of us.
The three of us turned around and ran, but if we were pushed by these two guys, we would probably have lost our lives.
"Climb the tree!" Zhang Song shouted.
We definitely couldn't outshoot them if we ran. Hearing Zhang Song's shout, Mao Jianming and I looked for our targets separately. The trees were too thick for us to climb, not to mention it was raining and extremely slippery. I tried twice but couldn't.
Mao Jianming was not in a much better condition. He hugged a tree and pushed up several times, but ended up slipping off the trunk.
Because of our delay, the two wild boars came closer.
I knew the situation was urgent, so without time to think, I immediately summoned two golden-feathered arrows. They couldn't be called golden anymore; black feathers would be more accurate. But before I could fire, I heard two loud "bang, bang!" sounds, and two wild boars collapsed to the ground. They screamed and twitched, their blood mixing with the rain and soaking the ground.
Zhang Song had just fired two shots, dispatching them directly. It turned out that while Mao Jianming and I were climbing the tree, the two wild boars had charged directly towards us, giving Zhang Song time to pull his pistol from his backpack. His marksmanship was incredibly accurate, and with barely a second between shots, he had killed both boars.
I looked at the two wild boars lying on the ground with lingering fear, and then walked to Zhang Song with Mao Jianming.
"Brother Song, if you had shot any later, I would have been eaten by them," said Mao Jianming.
"You think you are a cabbage?" Zhang Song was humorous for once.
"I'm not a cabbage, but my little sister is also a big cabbage, right?"
I patted him on the shoulder, and he realized that I had recovered my memory.
He looked at me and smiled awkwardly.
A bolt of lightning struck the big tree next to us, and the whole tree caught fire.
“Crack!”
Thunder roared from the sky, deafening.
I shuddered with fear.
Now I am particularly afraid of the thunder and the power of heaven. It has struck me twice. It is the real physical sense of thunder. The key point is that I don’t think I have done anything against heaven. On the contrary, I have done good things for the sake of justice. How can I explain this?
Fortunately, the thunder did not hit me this time. It seemed to be just an accident.
The two of them were also frightened by the thunder. Mao Jianming said, "Why don't we go back to the cave? The wild boars are dead, so we don't have to be afraid anymore."
After saying this, he looked at Zhang Song again and said, "I'm not afraid of the living anymore."
The three of us returned to the cave to shelter from the rain. At this time, a group of wild boars were wandering at the entrance of the cave. They didn't know that their safe haven was no longer there.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
