An old woman’s voice suddenly rang out from beyond the bamboo forest, “Who allowed you to come here? Get out now!”
Eh? Someone’s there? Could it be the master of Yu Mi, the senior sister I’ve never met? Bao Gu turned around and was immediately startled by the strange appearance of the old woman. She was a short, flower-clothed old woman, less than four feet tall, hunching over and squinting her eyes that glowed with a cold green light. The old woman’s skin was as black as coal dug from the ground, her face wrinkled like old tree bark, and she was extremely ugly. She held a cane made from a tree root, as tall as she was. The hand gripping the cane, though human with five fingers, had protruding bones like knotted tree roots, and the fingers were more than twice the length of a normal person’s, resembling tree roots.
Bao Gu seriously suspected that she was a transformed tree demon. She had heard many stories about mountain spirits and ghosts, and it was hard not to associate this oddly looking old woman with those tales. No wonder the forest was so quiet earlier; with such a large and ugly tree demon around, what other beasts could there be?
Seeing Bao Gu hesitate, the old woman waved at her with a kind face and said, “Come, come, come to Granny!” Her tone was gentle, but with that visage, she looked just like the legendary monsters that lured people away.
Bao Gu was so frightened that she turned and ran deep into the bamboo forest.
The old woman stomped her foot and called out, “Hey, girl, come back, that’s a forbidden area!”
Forbidden area? If it were truly forbidden, shouldn’t there be a few steles with inscriptions like “Forbidden Area, No Trespassing!” or “Forbidden Area! Trespassers Will Be Executed!”?
The more Bao Gu thought about it, the more she felt the old woman was deceiving her. How could there be a demon capable of taking human form in the sect? Lingyun Peak only had four people, and even the great white snake Uncle was counted as one of Lingyun Peak’s population. So, if this old woman belonged to Lingyun Peak, even if she was a demon who had evolved to take human form, she should be counted as one. Yet, Bao Gu had never heard of her.
In these wild mountains, if Bao Gu were to be killed by this mysterious old woman, she would just die in vain.
Better safe than sorry!
She ran half a mile through the misty green bamboo forest without feeling anyone chasing her. After looking back and confirming that she didn’t see the old woman, she stopped. She looked around uncertainly, only to see a thin mist enveloping the forest, the wind rustling the bamboo leaves, and the ground covered with thick bamboo leaves, casting an indescribable tranquility over the bamboo forest.
Every year, she would accompany her father to the countryside to hire workers to harvest and purchase rice. During the hot harvest season, it was too warm to nap inside the house, so her father would move a lounge chair and set up a mosquito net in the bamboo forest behind the house for her to sleep in. She remembered how pleasant it was to nap in the bamboo forest, listening to the wind blowing through the bamboo leaves and the birds chirping in the cool breeze.
Birds chirping? Bao Gu was suddenly startled! There were no bird calls in this bamboo forest.
Not only were there no bird calls, but she also couldn’t find a single fly, spider, or ant.
Bao Gu became uneasy. Could there really be something strange about this bamboo forest?
She hesitated, thinking of leaving, but feared that the old woman might be a malevolent demon. Although the bamboo forest was eerily quiet, it was still within the sect, so there shouldn’t be any life-threatening dangers. Otherwise, someone would have erected a stele outside the forest to warn the disciples not to enter.
Bao Gu steadied her nerves and gripped her axe as she walked deeper into the bamboo forest.
After walking for half an hour, she suddenly saw a path ahead. The path was paved with white stone slabs, interspersed among the bamboo, with many bamboo leaves accumulated on it. The stone path extended upwards, with stone steps at the slopes. She followed the stone path for a while and then saw tall steps appear before her.
She climbed the steps, and halfway up, she looked back to see a lush sea of bamboo beneath her. The wind blew, and the bamboo sea undulated like waves, shrouded in mist, truly a scene of Immortal Mountain beauty.
Bao Gu continued to climb up the bamboo sea. She thought that if she followed these stone steps, she might see the majestic gate of Lingyun Peak and witness the grandeur of a cultivation sect.
Before long, she saw a pile of broken stones scattered on the ground.
Bao Gu climbed into the pile of rubble and was shocked to find a wide platform and the remains of what should have been a stone archway, now damaged for some reason. The base pillars of the archway were still there, and judging by the size of the huge base pillars, which were twice the size of a large millstone, the archway built here must have been very grand. Looking at the broken stones on the ground, with their exquisite carvings of auspicious clouds and mythical beasts, she could tell they were once vivid and lifelike. On one side of the platform stood a two-zhang-tall stone with its top sheared off at an angle as if by a sharp sword. At the break, there was a huge character that was cut off, with only the bottom half visible, and the word “platform” below it. Next to the broken stone lay another stone, tilted to the ground, with half a character engraved on it. The complete character was “unload,” and when the two broken characters were put together, they formed the word “sword.” These three characters together read “Unloading Sword Platform.”
Bao Gu crossed the Unloading Sword Platform, covered with fallen yellow bamboo leaves and continued to climb, seeing many destroyed stone steps along the way. She pushed aside the accumulated yellow decaying bamboo leaves and found that the destroyed stone steps had turned into small pebbles.
The entire stone staircase was covered with fallen leaves, and she couldn’t see the full picture. She also cleared some leaves from the intact stone steps but didn’t find anything.
Bao Gu continued to climb with doubts and after another half an hour, finally reached the end of the stone steps. At the end of the stone steps lay a huge carved stone, which seemed to have been there for some time, covered with a thick layer of soil and many decaying bamboo leaves. Climbing over the stones blocking her path, she looked up and was shocked by the sight before her.
All she saw were broken walls, shattered stones, and huge pits. There should have been a very wide square in front of her, with the thick stone slabs on the ground broken into countless pieces, crisscrossed with various large cracks, some looking like they were smashed by huge weights, others like they were split by sharp divine weapons. Around the square, one could vaguely make out the traces of palace buildings. From the sporadic standing columns, the collapsed jade buildings, the scattered glazed tiles, and the gemstones shining in the sunlight, Bao Gu could imagine that this place must have been more splendid than the imperial palace in its heyday.
Bao Gu believed that Lingyun Peak must have had a glorious past.
Looking at the current state of the place, one could tell how splendid Lingyun Peak once was, and to think of the current Lingyun Peak with only four people, the difference was like heaven and earth.
Bao Gu climbed over the pile of rubble at the end of the steps and came to the square covered with broken stones, with countless swords and weapons scattered around. She bent down to pick up a three-foot-long sword covered in dust at her feet, only to grab a handful of debris.
The extreme splendor and downfall made Bao Gu feel a touch of sadness. She took a deep breath and let out a long sigh.
Bao Gu found it strange. There were still people at Lingyun Peak, so why didn’t anyone come to clean up this place? Was it because the catastrophe that led to such decay made Lingyun Peak and even the Xuantian Gate decline, unable to rebuild this place? Or did they choose another location to rebuild? What surprised her the most was that although the place was mostly rubble, due to the long passage of time, the weathered stones and bamboo leaves blown from the mountain had formed a layer of half-inch-thick humus dust. Normally, the place should have been overgrown with weeds, but there was not a single blade of grass. She also remembered that the bamboo sea below only had bamboo, without even a trace of grass.
This place was full of oddities, oddities that made Bao Gu feel uneasy. She remembered the old woman she encountered when entering the bamboo sea and felt even more that this place was full of strangeness and not a place to stay for long.
Just as Bao Gu turned around, she was startled with a scream! A middle-aged man with disheveled hair and wearing a black robe appeared silently and without warning behind her, staring at her expressionlessly. Bao Gu was so scared that she stumbled back several steps, tripping over a stone, and fell to the ground with a painful crunch on her buttocks.
Bao Gu was terrified. She stared at the expressionless middle-aged man and asked tremblingly, “Pre… predecessor, are you Yu Mi’s master? I… I am a new outer disciple, my… my name is Bao Gu, I… I didn’t mean to break in here, I… I just got lost.” As soon as she finished speaking, the man disappeared, and the wolf fur scarf around her neck tightened, pulled back by a great force.
Bao Gu was choked uncomfortably and hurriedly used her left hand to pry open a gap in the wolf fur scarf around her throat, gasping, “Pre… predecessor… let go… or I won’t be polite! Ouch, it hurts!” The man’s strength was immense, dragging her along, and her buttocks scraped painfully against the stones on the ground.
Bao Gu gritted her teeth and swung her axe at the person behind her.
The axe cut through the man as if slicing through mist, hitting nothing.
Bao Gu was so scared that all her hairs stood on end! A ghost!
She struggled desperately but couldn’t break free. She couldn’t hit anything with her axe! She was dragged by the “ghost” across the ruined square, past a collapsed palace, and Bao Gu screamed in terror.
The ground was littered with skeletons! There were human bones, animal bones, and even some decaying plant remains, all piled up densely. Bao Gu was dragged into the pile of bones, sliding over unknown white bones.
She also saw many bird skeletons, some of which seemed to have died recently and were in a state of decay.
Beside them, there were also humanoid skeletons wearing the sect’s clothing, and it was unknown how long they had been dead, as the bones were decayed.
“Help me…” Bao Gu cried out in fear, sobbing!
Suddenly, the force twisting her neck disappeared, and the person who dragged her here was gone. Scared and weak, Bao Gu cried as she crawled out. When she reached the outer edge of the bone pile, where the bones were thickest, it was as if an invisible wall blocked her, preventing her from moving forward.
Bao Gu was so scared that her lips quivered, and she told herself, “Don’t be afraid, don’t cry!” She quickly looked around for a way out. Although she knew it was highly unlikely there was a way out, otherwise there wouldn’t be so many skeletons lying here, but if she didn’t find a way out, she would just add another pile of bones to this place. She finally understood why this place was so strange—it was haunted! And the ghost was particularly fierce, coming out in broad daylight. She wiped the tears from her face, puffed out her chest, and told herself several times, “Don’t be afraid, my father said I have a great fortune!” She shouted in her heart, “Dad, please protect Bao Gu!” Suppressing the fear in her heart, she shivered and looked around.
PROTECT BAO GU!!!
