The roaring sound of the underground river was amplified by the cliff.
With a miner's lamp on his head, Song Laosan was the first to grab the rope and begin descending the cliff.
Immediately afterwards, two members of the Wei family and Qu Ruilin also began to descend.
Seeing that all four of them had left, I took a deep breath and walked to the edge of the cliff.
The cliff beneath our feet was more than ten meters high. I grabbed the rappelling rope and moved down about two meters when Song Laosan's voice suddenly came from below: "That's enough, everyone stop!"
When I heard Song Laosan's shout, I couldn't help but feel a little nervous.
He told us to stop, which meant he was about to go into the water.
Although we agreed to protect each other, the first person to go into the water is left to fight alone when danger arises, without any support.
All of us in the team were connected by a two-meter-long rope. After Song Laosan shouted, none of us moved. We all knew that Song Laosan was doing his mental preparation before going into the water, and no one urged him.
About a minute later, Song Laosan's voice came again: "I'm going into the water. Everyone start moving. If I'm attacked, don't retreat. Instead, take advantage of me drawing the attention of those things in the water and quickly get into the water to form a defense!"
As soon as Song Laosan finished speaking, the people below began to move. I saw that Qu Ruilin also began to descend, so in order not to affect his movements, I followed suit.
Soon, I descended about two meters and heard the sound of water churning below. I couldn't help but ask, "Song Laosan, how are you?"
Song Laosan quickly responded: "Everything is normal. We haven't been attacked yet, but this water is damn cold!"
When I descended into the river using the rope, Song Laosan, Qu Ruilin, and the other three were already standing in a row along the edge of the river, all grabbing onto the rocks on the mountainside to steady themselves.
When Song Laosan saw me descend, he reminded me, "Xiao Duan, be careful. The river is very deep here. You won't be able to touch the bottom after you descend. You can only hold onto the rocks by the water to keep your balance."
"clear."
I agreed, then held my breath and jumped into the river.
A bone-chilling cold instantly hit me. Even though I was mentally prepared, the cold water still made me shiver. I started treading water vigorously to prevent myself from cramping up: "Damn it, how can this water be so cold? It's like falling into an ice cave!"
"Perhaps it's because we expended a lot of energy rappelling, and suddenly being immersed in cold water is not used to it. It must have been really tough on those two girls. I hope they're not menstruating yet, otherwise, running in such cold water will be a real hardship for them when they give birth!"
Song Laosan's teeth chattered from the cold: "But we also have good news. I've been in the river for half a day and haven't been attacked by any unknown creatures, which means that there are probably no things like those from upstream in this river. They are probably blocked by the mountain above the cliff!"
After listening to Song Laosan's words, Qu Ruilin said with a serious expression, "We still need to be cautious about this kind of thing. We don't know what might attract the monsters in the water. Perhaps they just haven't noticed us yet?"
At that moment, my attention was not on their conversation, but on something else.
What Song Laosan said in jest actually served as a wake-up call for me.
Before entering the tomb, I forgot to ask Jiang Man if she was menstruating.
As a successor of the Four Gates, Wei Shengnan must have known about this, but Jiang Man knew nothing about it.
As the ancients said: The way of heaven and earth lies in Qian and Kun, the way of Qian and Kun lies in men and women, and the way of men and women lies in Yin and Yang.
Because women are naturally feminine and lack the masculine energy of men, there have been very few women in tomb raiding gangs throughout history. This is also because women are generally weaker and less courageous than men, making them unsuitable for the physical labor of tomb raiding.
However, there are exceptions to this situation. Since most tomb raiding businesses are family businesses, those that can grow big and strong are groups like the Four Gates with fixed teams working together. This is because they are stable and reliable.
However, some family-run tomb raiding gangs, due to a lack of male members, can only include women, including couples, fathers and daughters, and mothers and sons.
Although there are more than a dozen tomb raiding schools across the country, with different customs and habits, almost all tomb raiding teams that involve women have an unwritten rule: they must never raid tombs when the women are menstruating.
A more scientific explanation is that the tombs are often damp and cold, and there is a high chance of encountering water caves like ours. Women who go into the water during their menstrual period are more likely to develop health problems.
Another theory suggests that menstrual blood is impure blood, which is most likely to attract evil spirits. Furthermore, during menstruation, a woman's yang energy decreases while her yin energy increases, which can also bring misfortune to the family.
According to my original agreement with Jiang Man, I didn't initially plan for her to enter the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace. Instead, she was supposed to stay on the outskirts to provide support for me. However, due to the attacks from the Black Robe and Ping An Village, we were forced to enter this place.
Although Jiang Man can no longer withdraw from the cycle regardless of whether she has her period or not, if she really is in this situation, I can ask Wei Shengnan for a talisman for her to have some peace of mind.
Just as I was lost in thought, the others had already gone into the water. Wei Shengnan and the others entered the well and shouted to the front, "We're all here, we can set off now."
"Everyone stay close to me! Everyone swim forward as fast as you can. Don't be lazy just because you're tied to a rope. That will only burden others and slow down the whole team."
After shouting these words, Song Laosan took the lead and swam forward along the river.
As Song Laosan made a move, the others behind him gradually followed suit. I saw Qu Ruilin swimming forward and turned to shout to the back, "Manjing, listen to the instructions from the front and be ready to tighten the rope at any time!"
A muffled voice came from behind: "Hey!"
I saw the rope between me and Qu Ruilin taut, kicked against the wall, and started swimming forward behind him.
Although we were swimming downstream, we were all connected by ropes, so our speeds were inevitably different, which affected us constantly during the swim and caused us to expend a lot of energy.
The icy river water was constantly draining our strength. After about three minutes, Song Laosan, who was in front, suddenly shouted, "What's wrong with the people in the back? Why aren't you moving?"
"The person in front of me is getting cramps and drowning! Everyone move closer to the shore!"
After Qu Ruilin, who was in front of me, finished answering Song Laosan's question, he turned around and shouted, "Hey, you guys in the back, speed up! Duan Shenxing, come help me rescue people!"
"They're here!"
I heard that someone ahead had run into trouble, so I swam toward Qu Ruilin with all my might. Just as I sped up, I suddenly noticed a huge shadow in the water.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com