Chapter 42 Chapter Seventeen

When I heard what Xinhong said, I asked curiously: "What's the matter, do you know why it's called Qibao Mountain?" "Take a flashlight and see for yourself." Teacher Ye said to me while beckoning Xinhong to hand me the flashlight. I took the flashlight in doubt, then followed Xinhong's example, and shone forward.After all, this flashlight is not a special flashlight for exploration, so the intensity of the light is still not enough for us to see clearly in the dark, but I still vaguely see that there are six other mountains in front of us besides the mountain we are on!Simply put, there are seven peaks on a mountain, but these seven peaks are not like the peaks on the ground. The peaks of these seven peaks are connected by a stone bridge like a stone slab.These seven peaks go all the way to the depths of the darkness. From the faint light, it can be seen that the last peak is at least one kilometer away from us, and it seems that each peak is deeper than the other. Grabbing and rushing to sink underground.

"Teacher, I think we should find a chance to run out after we avoid the sprites behind us. It's very dangerous here." I thought that we just came in and encountered two ferocious animals. Maybe there will be something more powerful. "If you want to go out, go out by yourself, I must get that five-colored stone!" Teacher Ye replied stubbornly. Although I respect Teacher Ye very much, but he is so persistent in wanting the colorful stone that I don’t know if it exists, so I couldn’t help but curse in my heart: I’m not dead, you’ll regret it when you die!The voice below the rocky mountain became clearer and clearer. The sprites are indeed the spirits of mountains and rivers, and their speed up the mountain is not so fast!I panicked and kicked two stones down, and the sprites at the bottom of the mountain saw a few stones rolling down, and they were able to jump very high and far away, avoiding the rolling stones.The sprites stared at the three of us angrily, and they sped up frantically, and I could even clearly hear their gnashing of teeth.

Although this mountain peak is only 100 meters high, it took a lot of effort for us to climb up. I looked up and saw that the stone bridges on these seven peaks seemed to be formed naturally, and there were no traces of artificial carving. The bridge has been in the underground cave for a long time. It is humid and hot here. I wonder if it can bear the weight of three people? The sprites behind us are still chasing after us, as if they can't wait to eat us up right away.I was wondering while I was running away. Generally, sprites do not take the initiative to attack humans. Although I have never seen sprites with my own eyes before, it is recorded in ancient books that sprites will only confuse human beings with the voice of babies, and then harm pedestrians. It is not said that sprites will attack humans frantically and actively.

"Teacher, what's going on here? Why do sprites refuse to let us go? Where did we annoy them?" I asked panting. "How do I know, I haven't been here for four years!" Teacher Ye's answer surprised me a lot. "You haven't been here for four years?" Xinhong stopped immediately when he heard Teacher Ye's words and asked in a daze. My heart was also shocked by Teacher Ye's words. People usually tell the truth in a sudden question and answer. Then, Teacher Ye really came here before, and the time was four years ago. Then I will talk to Uncle Zou. Is it true that you have been here since 2003?Is it possible... I don't dare to think about it anymore, and I don't want to think about it anymore. I won't believe such a fact!However, this Xishui village was under the protection of Yunyang, and few people went to this place, and the underground cave was so hidden, would Teacher Ye come here with Uncle Zou four years ago?

"Why did you stop, go up to the top of the peak, and run from the stone bridge to another peak, otherwise how can we handle so many sprites?" Teacher Ye turned his head to urge us, but he didn't see me He Xinhong's doubts. "Four years ago, have you been here four years ago?" Xinhong ignored Teacher Ye's urging, and still asked Teacher Ye. "I came here four years ago, but after reaching this peak, I was forced to run out again. What's going on with you?" Teacher Ye finally saw our suspicion. I observed Mr. Ye's expression carefully, he didn't show any panic, his eyes were only mixed with confusion and fatigue, and he didn't have the excited and nervous eyes that he often had when he returned to the scene of a crime.This reassured me a lot, but I still worriedly added a sentence: "Are you here alone, or..."

"What time is it? Why are you all talking about things all of a sudden? If you don't go up, I'll have to answer you in the underworld!" Teacher Ye said helplessly. The sprites behind us were able to chase them vigorously, and they covered a long distance in one jump, as expected of animals that often walk in the mountains and fields.I signaled to Xinhong not to ask questions about this and that, but to avoid the sprites first and then worry about it.I just don’t know why, today the sprites are chasing us like crazy. I remember that night when I saw the sprites biting the body of a real clay sculpture in the woods, it didn’t attack us very much, and even frightened us when it saw us. Gotta run away.

When we were about to approach the peak, we finally saw the stone statue mentioned in the ancient books of the Western Han Dynasty.In the quiet darkness, the stone statue stood on the top of the peak. With the weak light of the flashlight, we finally saw the part that the author of the ancient book of the Western Han Dynasty did not see. As expected, it was indeed a statue of Nuwa. Strangely, Teacher Ye said it was the stone statue of Chang'e.This stone statue of Nuwa solemnly holds a huge stone box, and its eyes seem to see through the ends of the earth. "Teacher, there is...cough...cough..." I gasped for breath, but was choked by the strange smell in the cave.The smell is still the same as when I first came out of the water, the cold water mixed with warm air and some nitric acid.

"It's the stone statue of Chang'e!" Teacher Ye exclaimed in surprise, and he also quickened his pace excitedly. "It's Nuwa, teacher." Xinhong asked puzzled, "Why do you always say that Nuwa is Chang'e?" "I'll tell you later when I'm free. This story has to start from the Sanxingdui in Sichuan's Sanxingbanyue! In short, there is actually a big secret behind the story of 'Chang'e Flying to the Moon' that people often say!" Ye The teacher replied with a mysterious smile. Xinhong and I saw groups of sprites chasing after us, so we didn't ask any more questions, but we were very worried about Mr. Ye, what happened to him when he came here four years ago, he really just arrived at the first A peak turned back, did he really come alone?When I got close to the top of the peak, I found that there was a fat black shadow moving slowly under the Nuwa stone statue, and that black shadow seemed to be struggling and painful.

"Teacher, there is something moving on it!" I hurriedly told Mr. Ye what I found. Teacher Ye was startled at first, then gritted his teeth and said, "Whatever he is, it's better than being chased by a bunch of sprites!" I thought Teacher Ye was right, so I climbed up to the peak without hesitation. I still had strength, but my speed was not as fast as Xinhong and Teacher Ye, so I had to be left behind reluctantly.I was only focused on climbing to the top of the peak quickly, wanting to get a glimpse of the mysterious charm of the Nuwa stone statue, but I didn't notice that a sprite with sharp teeth rushed behind me.When I realized it, a sprite had already jumped up on my back, and its four claws hooked my back forcefully.I was so frightened that I shook my body vigorously in a hurry, trying to get the sprite off my body.The sprite was quickly thrown onto the stone desperately by me, but its four claws ruthlessly drew several deep blood marks on my back, the pain was so painful that I almost bit my tongue off.

Xinhong heard me screaming in pain from behind, and turned around to help me drive the sprite away.I cursed secretly in my heart, what a shame, why did I go crazy when I saw sprites, and I didn't provoke them.I endured the pain and continued to climb, but I heard Teacher Ye shouting in front of me: "Who are you?" Xinhong and I heard Teacher Ye's exclamation from below, and we both looked up hastily. Near the top of the peak, there was a thin and small man standing there in panic. He was very nervous and didn't know how to answer Teacher Ye. I just faltered, but I shouted excitedly: "It's you! Do you still know us? We bought your ancient books!"

That person is a peddler, actually the hawker we know!When he saw me and Xinhong, the awkward expression on his face disappeared immediately.The peddler looked surprised and asked, "Why are you?" "You guys know each other?" Teacher Ye seemed more surprised than the peddler when he heard our conversation. "We have known each other since we were still at home, and we even spent 8,000 yuan to buy one of his books!" I said with a wry smile. "Come up quickly!" The peddler shouted to us hurriedly when he saw the crowds of sprites rushing up desperately. The three of us ran to the peddler without daring to look back, but the peddler ran down the mountain unexpectedly.This move startled me. Is the peddler trying to "die heroically"?But it's not worth it, and it's not the time to "sacrifice".When the sprites ran up to the hawker, a miraculous scene appeared—the group of sprites, who had been so ferocious just now, suddenly stayed in place quietly when they saw the hawker.This scene reminded me that the black wild boar in the forest used to be as strange as sprites, but they stopped suddenly when they were about to attack. The peddler tried his best to appease the sprites, but the sprites were very unwilling to leave. Could it be that they really wanted to eat the three of us so much, but why was this monster so friendly to the peddler?I clearly heard the sound of gasping for breath coming from the top of the peak, so I asked Xinhong and Mr. Ye to look up together. The panting sounds very painful. Xinhong carefully took a flashlight to shine on it, and I suddenly realized after seeing it, no wonder this group of sprites chased us like crazy, it turned out that they were all for the guy who was panting in pain on the peak!