Chapter 45: The Spirit of the Mountain: Not a leaf can blind you, not a flower can dazzle you...
Lin Zhuyue and Shi Can were assigned to area numbered B6.
Area B6 is located below the cliff. Compared to other plots, it is relatively flat and has fewer trees, making it easy to search.
After the two arrived at the area, they took out a compass from their backpacks and followed the process instructed by Fu Xingwei to investigate any supernatural reactions nearby.
Lin Zhuyue held a compass in his right hand and a walkie-talkie in his left hand, walking under the cliff while communicating with Shi Can:
"It seems like there are quite a few supernatural reactions."
"Same here."
Shi Chan's voice came from the intercom.
"But this is normal. Deep in the mountains and forests like this, there are all kinds of spirits lurking. They will actively or passively interfere with the magnetic field. Plus, the ground energy will mask the corpse energy to a certain extent, making the search for the ancient corpse very difficult."
"Be careful. There's water and fish nearby. Snakes love to come here to feed."
An hour later, the two men completed a rough inspection of the B6 area.
There are too many and too complex paranormal reactions to determine whether there are any ancient corpses in the area.
But since Gong Yongyuan and Gong Banxian said that there was a high possibility of ancient corpses in the area, Shi Can could only be patient and think of a solution.
Lin Zhuyue and Shi Can returned to where they had left their backpacks.
Shi Can took out a fishing rod from his backpack, pulled out the sharp fishing line from the fishing reel, and hung a piece of talisman paper on the fish hook.
He cast out the hook and said:
"Yin is the firewood, spirit is the bait, travel through mountains and rivers to discern Yin and Yang."
The fishing rod in Shi Can's hand glowed with a faint purple light. The once light and fluttering ball of talisman paper gained weight, sinking into the ground with the hook attached. The floating float on the ground also seemed to have entered the water, bobbing up and down.
Shi Can handed the fishing rod in his hand to Lin Zhuyue, and then fiddled with the other fishing rod he brought with him.
Lin Zhuyue asked, "Are you just waiting for the ancient corpse to take the bait?"
"Well, that's a very stupid method."
Shi Can sat down with his back against Lin Zhuyue, threw the fishing hook in the opposite direction, and said,
"Although this is a spell specifically used to catch ancient corpses, ancient corpses often burrow very deep underground and may not respond to bait."
"Shangshuang Village originally had a method for finding corpses, but it's been lost. Nowadays, the corpse keepers only know how to raise them, not how to catch them. They're truly a bunch of geniuses. The corpses they raise often go out of control, and they're not afraid of being eaten alive by these ancient corpses."
Lin Zhuyue asked: "Do ancient corpses eat people?"
“Food is included.”
Shi Can held the fishing rod and said,
"Zombies bite and suck blood. When I was a kid, I often heard adults say that a zombie from a certain family would escape and suck the blood out of backpackers entering the Qinling Mountains, leaving not a drop of blood behind."
Ancient corpses are really difficult to catch.
Lin Zhuyue and Shi Can fished for more than ten hours but didn't catch anything. At the appointed time, they packed their backpacks and returned to the camp with strong flashlights.
Shi Can swept the ground with a stick, fearing that he and Lin Zhuyue might accidentally step on the old viper coiled under the tree. Although he had brought serum, being hit by something like that suddenly would be painful, even if the serum was administered in time.
A fire was being lit in the camp for cooking.
The spiritual masters bought chickens from the villagers and stewed them with dried mushrooms softened in hot water. The rich chicken soup was bubbling, and white steam rose with the fragrance, making people salivate.
The staple food is rice noodles, which are easy to carry and cook, and are very suitable for eating when camping.
Lin Zhuyue and Shi Can sat down next to Wen Miyan.
Although Shi Can didn't say anything mean today, he usually raised his hatred value too high. As soon as he sat down, he was mocked by Gong Yongyuan:
"Genius, is there no air force today?"
Shi Chan asked, "You don't have an air force?"
Gong Yongyuan raised his head proudly:
"I caught two ancient corpses."
"Banxian, with your aura, I thought the remaining twenty or so ancient corpses were all captured. How come it took you so long to catch two?"
Shi Can sat down next to Gong Yongyuan, patted his shoulder, and said in a serious and sincere way,
"That's incredible! You must have put in a lot of effort, right? When the chicken soup is ready, I'll leave the chicken kidneys for you to eat to nourish yourself."
"You've been busy all day and still have the energy to make a fuss?"
Fu Xingwei handed a handful of chopsticks to the students.
"Dinner is about to start, go wash the chopsticks."
Shi Can and Gong Yongyuan glared at each other, took the chopsticks and headed towards the well. Both of them were very dissatisfied, but because they were afraid of being punished to wash the dishes after the meal, they had to stop for the time being.
“Young people are full of energy.”
Yu Xingguang, the mission leader, said with emotion,
"Xiao Fu, you are really good at teaching students. It's your first time as a homeroom teacher, and you've already brought out such outstanding students."
Fu Xingwei often feels tired.
It was his first time as a homeroom teacher, and the Spiritual Master House had already assigned him this class. Every student in the class was incredibly talented, and most were either wealthy or noble, spoiled by their families and difficult to manage.
Especially Shi Can, he has a small fight every three days and a big fight every seven days. Which class teacher can tolerate such a student?
And then there was Lin Zhuyue. Although she was a well-behaved girl, her background was too complicated, and she was often caught up in trouble. Fu Xingwei knew he couldn't blame her, but every time something happened, he was terrified and wished he could take six quick-acting heart pills.
"How come you can't even wash chopsticks properly?"
Shi Chan snatched the chopsticks from Gong Yongyuan's hand.
"Stay away, you useless piece of shit."
Gong Yongyuan actually wanted to scold Shican, but he didn't want to wash the chopsticks. In the end, between doing physical labor and being a coward, he chose the latter and rolled away.
He sat down next to Lin Zhuyue, opened a bag of beef cubes he brought with him, and shared his private goods with the two girls.
"Thanks."
Lin Zhuyue unscrewed the paper that wrapped the beef cubes, stuffed the fingernail-sized snack into his mouth, chewed it twice, and said,
“It smells so good.”
Gong Yongyuan opened the bag and handed her the beef cubes:
"Then eat more."
Shi Can: “…”
Shi Can was fuming, gritting his teeth as he washed his chopsticks. He had lived for eighteen years and had known Gong Yongyuan for eighteen years, but this was the first time he wanted to smash Gong Yongyuan's head in so badly.
Shican is a bit of a germaphobe, and he washes the chopsticks very carefully.
By the time he finished washing, dinner was about to start in the camp. Everyone took some rice noodles from the pot and shared some chicken soup.
The nights in the mountains were still a little cold. Lin Zhuyue held the bowl and drank a big mouthful of the warm soup with satisfaction. He was so comfortable that his eyes narrowed.
Shi Can didn’t like mushrooms very much, so he used his chopsticks to sneak the food in his bowl into Lin Zhuyue’s bowl.
Lin Zhuyue didn't mind much——
The mushrooms on the Shangshuang Mountain side taste quite delicious.
After dinner, everyone sat by the campfire for a meeting.
"Shangshuang Mountain is divided into thirty-six areas."
Yu Xingguang scratched on the blackboard with chalk,
"We've already checked twice and are currently in the third round. We checked these areas today. We'll temporarily cross out these twelve areas and check the remaining twenty-four over the next two days. I'll assign everyone tasks for tomorrow."
Three more ancient corpses were found today, bringing the total number of captured corpses to nineteen, with eighteen still missing. There's no good way to find the corpses, so we can only search the mountains over and over again until we find them all.
After the meeting, everyone packed up and were assigned tents to sleep in.
After washing up at the well, Lin Zhuyue went into the tent with the cup in his hand, wrapped the cup in a plastic bag, and stuffed it back into the suitcase.
After cleaning up, she lay down next to Wen Miyan.
"I don't know when we'll find this efficiency."
Wen Miyan added an extra thin quilt and said,
"I'm afraid we won't be spending the New Year here. Although we haven't been treated badly in terms of food, I really miss the meals at home."
In another tent a little further away.
Shi Chan lay on his side with his eyes open, using his fingers to draw small crescent shapes on the inflatable mattress underneath.
"Stop scratching."
Ye Yangjia listened to the scratching sound, turned over and said,
"If you tear the mat, I'll throw you into the well tonight."
Shi Chan raised his eyebrows and asked:
"You finally couldn't help but want to murder me?"
"Only gods can tolerate you."
Ye Yangjia rolled his eyes and cursed,
"You have a mean mouth and a mean claw. Just be thankful that you are strong enough, otherwise you would have been beaten to death long ago."
"Could you please stop talking next door?"
Gong Yongyuan shouted,
"You two living dads are not sleeping, but others are!"
Shi Chan sat up and asked, "Is the sound insulation so bad?"
Ye Yangjia looked at Shi Can with a lunatic look and asked:
"What do you think? Man, it's just a tent. What kind of sound insulation are you looking for?"
Shi Can patted his chest and said:
"That was a close call. I almost confided in you."
Gong Yongyuan and Meng Qi next door also became interested.
Meng Qi asked, "What's on your mind?"
Gong Yongyuan said in a sarcastic tone:
"What else could it be? What could I possibly want to talk about before going to bed at night?"
"Don't you two want to go to bed?"
Shi Can pulled the quilt back and said,
"Go to sleep quickly, or you'll blame me if you can't get up tomorrow."
Gong Yongyuan and Meng Qi began to whistle.
"Can you guys please calm down a bit?"
Fu Xingwei's tired voice came from the side.
"If you don't sleep now, not getting enough sleep at night will be your biggest worry tomorrow."
The two tents containing the young people finally became quiet.
In the morning, when Lin Zhuyue came out of the tent, she saw a white haze around the camp. She sniffed and could smell the smell of damp soil.
"It's getting foggy."
Wen Miyan walked towards the well carrying toiletries.
"When we first came here, there were a few days of fog. Although it didn't hinder our efforts to capture the ancient corpse, the mountain roads were quite difficult to travel in such weather."
Lin Zhuyue and Wen Miyan brushed their teeth together by the well.
We cooked white rice porridge in the camp. The rice was soaked in water last night, so it cooked quickly.
Shi Can got up earlier. He sat not far from the cooking pot, playing with a piece of grass he had picked up.
Wen Miyan said, "You got up quite early."
"I've been feeling uneasy lately and can't sleep well at night."
Shi Can threw away the grass in his hand, stood up and said,
"Let me check the luggage again."
Lin Zhuyue and Shi Can were assigned to area D6, which was a bit far from the camp and they couldn't get back at night. They packed their bags before going to bed last night and checked them several times to make sure they hadn't forgotten anything.
After Shi Can left, Wen Miyan and Lin Zhuyue sat down on a stool near the rice cooker. Lin Zhuyue subconsciously took out his cell phone and unlocked it, only to find that there was no signal.
Wen Miyan asked, "This phone seems to be the same as Shican's?"
"Well, I fell into the water when I left the underworld. My phone was soaked in water and it's not working well anymore."
Lin Zhuyue handed the phone to Wen Miyan,
"He happened to have lost his phone, so when he bought a phone, he bought mine as well."
Wen Miyan looked at the phone carefully:
“It’s quite nice.”
"Will you buy one when you get home?"
Lin Zhuyue took Wen Miyan's arm and said,
"We use sister machines."
Shi Chan quickly came back after checking the luggage.
Everyone in the camp also got up one after another, and after washing up by the well, they gradually gathered to the place where they would eat.
"Eat porridge again."
Ye Yangjia looked at the breakfast and said disappointedly,
"This stuff doesn't fill me up. Every time I finish eating it, I can't even make it to lunch. I still have to eat compressed biscuits in the end."
"It's good to have food for you to eat."
Gong Yongyuan patted Ye Yangjia's shoulder.
"Look at those two. Not only are they eating compressed biscuits for lunch today, they're also going to eat instant food tonight and tomorrow morning."
"Whatever they eat is better than honey."
Ye Yangjia slapped Gong Yongyuan's hand away and said earnestly,
"No matter what we eat, it's like eating dog food. Man, be careful. You're so miserable, yet you still show off."
Gong Yongyuan: “…”
Shican was in a good mood and didn't feel the compressed biscuits were bitter at all.
However, he still made great efforts to prevent his life from being reduced to compressed biscuits. He robbed the snacks that Gong Yongyuan hid in his backpack and brought into the mountains, and dragged Lin Zhuyue to the D6 area under Gong Yongyuan's angry gaze.
The two of them shared snacks as they walked.
Lin Zhuyue stuffed the packaging into a garbage bag and followed Shi Can, who was using a wooden stick to confirm that there were no poisonous snakes on the road ahead. After walking for nearly half a day, they finally arrived at area D6.
As usual, each of them took a compass and checked for supernatural reactions in the D6 area. If no obvious abnormalities were found, they would return to where the luggage was placed and start fishing for ancient corpses.
The fallen leaves are piled quite deep in this area.
Lin Zhuyue held a wooden stick in one hand and a compass in the other, groping forward in the mountain fog.
She didn't know why, but she felt the fog was getting thicker. It was already noon, so the fog should have gradually faded. Why was it getting thicker?
Come to think of it, it seems like I haven’t received a call from Shican for a while.
Shi Can was always a chatterbox, and lately, he'd been even more talkative. Yesterday, Lin Zhuyue couldn't walk more than a few steps before his voice would come over the intercom. But today, the intercom seemed completely silent.
Lin Zhuyue took out the intercom and called:
"Shican, did you find anything over there?"
Lin Zhuyue's calls fell on deaf ears.
She frowned.
Something went wrong.
Is there a problem on her side, or is there a problem on Shican's side?
Lin Zhuyue stopped in front of an old tree.
Did she just pass by here? Although her path was winding, she paid attention to the direction and would never return to the starting point.
Lin Zhuyue took a step forward and moved forward in a straight line.
About twenty minutes later, she returned to the tree again.
Lin Zhuyue tried to move forward again without giving up. Half an hour later, she raised her head and looked blankly at the tree standing in front of her.
I'm stuck in a maze.
Was it a ghost?
Lin Zhuyue put down the compass, stood on tiptoe, and knocked down a green leaf with a wooden stick.
"One leaf, two leaves, three leaves, four leaves, leaves grow, leaves fall, leaves flourish; one flower, two flowers, three flowers, four flowers, flowers bloom and fall, flowers are endless."
Lin Zhuyue held the small leaf in both hands.
"A single leaf cannot obstruct my vision, a single flower cannot confuse my eyes. If there is a spirit that hears my voice, the illusion before my eyes will fade with the flower—"
Almost at the same time as he finished chanting the spell, Lin Zhuyue heard the sound of a mirror shattering.
Shi Can's voice came from far away: "Lin Zhuyue!"
The boy ran towards her hurriedly.
"Are you okay?"
Lin Zhuyue looked at Shi Can running over with a surprised expression. But she quickly suppressed her surprise, adjusted her mood, and said:
"It's okay, I'm just lost."
Shi Can looked relieved and said:
"I'm glad you're okay. I'll take you away."
Lin Zhuyue nodded: "Yeah, okay."
Shi Can walked in front, and Lin Zhuyue followed behind. The two of them stepped on the fallen leaves in the mountains, and the dried and curled leaves made a small sound.
Lin Zhuyue asked, "Where's your stick?"
Shi Chan looked at his empty hands and said:
"I lost it while looking for you."
Lin Zhuyue reluctantly accepted this answer, but soon she asked the question again:
"So, where did you put the compass?"
Shi Can: “…”
"My mission is not yet complete."
Lin Zhuyue summoned the Golden Amber Fire and asked,
"Sir, where do you want to take me?"
"Shi Can" stopped, turned around and looked at Lin Zhuyue in surprise.
Lin Zhuyue approached him without any fear and said:
"Your eyes are beautiful, but also sharp. Only wild beasts have pupils that stand upright like that. My partner's personality is indeed very sharp, but his eyes are very gentle."
Lin Zhuyue probably felt that although Shi Can in front of him had a stronger yin energy, he still had some yang energy, which meant that he was not a ghost, but a spirit or monster in the mountains.
Shi Can also said that there are all kinds of spirits in Shangshuang Mountain.
Lin Zhuyue was not very afraid of him.
She could feel that her spiritual power was overwhelmingly superior to the opponent's. Furthermore, she possessed the Golden Amber Fire, which would completely suppress the opponent's Yin Qi.
"The spirits in the mountains all stick together. I don't want to be retaliated by a group of spirits, and I don't want to hurt you."
Lin Zhuyue emphasized his position neither servilely nor arrogantly.
"So, please let me go. In return, I won't make things difficult for you."
Shi Can faced Lin Zhuyue, his lips slightly parted as if he wanted to say something. But he said nothing, and his figure, along with the illusion that had not yet been completely broken, turned into smoke and dissipated.
A voice came from the intercom in Lin Zhuyue's pocket:
"Lin Zhuyue!"
Shi Can asked anxiously:
"Where are you? Speak!"
Shi Chan noticed something was wrong before he finished investigating the area he was responsible for.
He used the intercom to ask Lin Zhuyue whether she preferred a blue or pink phone case. If Lin Zhuyue liked pink, that would be fine, but if she wanted blue, he could also consider giving in and using a bright red one himself.
Lin Zhuyue didn't answer him.
He thought Lin Zhuyue was annoyed by him.
But after saying a few more words and getting no response from the other party, Shi Can knew that something might have happened.
"Sorry, I don't know where I am either."
Lin Zhuyue looked around blankly and said,
"But if we can talk, we should be not far apart. Let me check the compass..."
It took Lin Zhuyue nearly an hour to return to where he left his luggage.
Shi Can was so anxious that his throat was about to smoke.
She had already explained what had happened to Shican on the intercom.
Shi Can really hated this guy who used his appearance to deceive Lin Zhuyue. He was very annoyed and thought that if the other party had the guts to show up again, he would definitely skin this guy alive.
The two men stood back to back and assembled the fishing rod.
Lin Zhuyue asked, "The spirits in the mountains shouldn't be evil, right?"
“It’s hard to define whether a spirit is good or bad.”
Shi Can threw out the fishing hook and said,
"They are like animals, some are kind and simple, while others are complex and ferocious. The Spiritual Master House has always advised spiritual masters not to contact mountain spirits unless necessary, because these spirits sometimes lure humans to jump off cliffs."
"You may seem to be walking in circles in one place, but you are actually following the other person's guidance. You might even end up on the edge of a cliff."
Lin Zhuyue and Shi Can fished in the D6 area for a whole day but didn't see any trace of the ancient corpse.
They were supposed to rest together at night.
But after Lin Zhuyue's encounter with the spirit, both of them felt that the D6 area was not very safe, so they decided to take turns to keep watch. Shi Can would watch the first half of the night, and Lin Zhuyue would watch the second half.
When Lin Zhuyue opened his eyes, his face was full of confusion:
"Why is it dawn? You didn't call me."
"I saw you were sleeping so soundly, I felt embarrassed to wake you up."
Shi Can handed Lin Zhuyue a comb.
"My hair is messy after sleeping, can you comb it?"
Lin Zhuyue took the comb and started a fight with her hair. Her hair was long and of average quality, not very smooth. It would become tangled after washing it before going to bed.
"Are you going to pull your hair out?"
Shi Can couldn't bear to watch it any longer, so he took the comb and started to comb Lin Zhuyue's hair patiently.
"Are you the kind of person who, when your hair gets tangled, either pulls it out or cuts it with scissors?"
"Well...because it's faster this way."
Lin Zhuyue touched his hair and said,
"I don't spend a lot of time on my hair."
Shi Can spent nearly twenty minutes taking care of Lin Zhuyue's hair. He tied up the combed hair and took the shark clip handed to him by Lin Zhuyue and clipped it.
Breakfast is compressed biscuits with milk.
"If you keep eating like this, you'll get constipated sooner or later."
Shi Can sat next to Lin Zhuyue and said,
"When will this day of catching ancient corpses end?"
“What a strange taste.”
Lin Zhuyue ate the sweet and salty compressed biscuits in his hand.
"Can't you just buy something sweet? Why does this stuff also come in braised beef and pickled mustard greens flavors?"
Shi Chan couldn't help rolling his eyes:
"There's also chicken stewed with mushrooms. I'm going to buy this factory when I get back, and I won't allow them to produce this stuff as instant noodles anymore."
After reluctantly finishing their breakfast, they both got up and headed towards area D7.
After fishing for mummies in the D7 area today, they can return to the camp. Although they don’t eat chicken every day in the camp, anything is better than eating these weird-tasting compressed biscuits.
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