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墨書 Inktalez
Zhong Kui's Diary
I don't know how long I have been walking, but finally, a stone bridge appeared ahead. The bridge looked very old, in an arch style, with greenery faintly visible in the cracks of the stones, making it hard to tell if it was grass or moss.
As I approached, I noticed the bridge was not wide, at most about two meters. It was built with green stone slabs forming steps. There were handrails on both sides, about a meter high, adorned with carvings that seemed to depict dragons and phoenixes.
The two of us exchanged glances and stepped onto the bridge, secretly raising our guard. We had both been warned that there could be some trouble on this bridge.
Just as we reached the middle of the bridge, the highest point, a voice came from the bridge itself: "Are you two heading to Dominion Villa?"
I stopped along with Sima Sanguang and looked at each other in surprise. It was no wonder; there was no one around us, and this voice did not come from the dense forest ahead but seemed to be emanating from the bridge itself.
Damn, even the bridge can talk now? Have I watched too much Journey to the West?
"Who are you?" I shouted loudly, gripping my gun tightly to ensure it was still in my hand.
"I'm right beneath your feet!" the voice chuckled.
What the hell, it really is the bridge? How is it even able to speak? Unable to contain my curiosity, I asked, "Are you an arch bridge?"
"Does your family's bridge talk?" The voice sounded somewhat annoyed. Then there was a rustling sound as a figure climbed up from the handrail of the bridge. It turned out this person had been hiding underneath.
Seeing this person made me gasp in shock; he was incredibly shameless.
All of his facial features were gone, as if a sharp butcher's knife had sliced through his face, leaving only a few holes where his eyes, nose, and mouth should be. However, within the two eye holes were blood-red eyeballs, and sharp teeth filled the mouth hole.
For a moment, I didn't know what to say. Instead, it was Sima Sanguang who spoke up and asked, "What do you call yourself? We really are heading to Dominion Villa."
"Just call me Hua Wuqiu," the shameless man chuckled, his expression unchanged. "You want to go to Dominion Villa? No problem, just pay a toll."
"What toll?" I asked in surprise.
"Have you never heard of it? You don't even know what a toll is!" Hua Wuqiu suddenly exploded in anger, pulling out a dagger and banging it against the railing of the stone bridge. "This mountain is mine, this tree is mine. If you want to pass through here, leave a toll! Have you heard that before?"
I was both amused and exasperated. "So how much do you want?"
If he only wanted a few hundred, I would just give it to him. At this point, it's better to avoid trouble. As Lingfeng said, if it can be solved with money, it's not a big deal.
"What do I want money for? I want things! You all lay out everything valuable you have on you, and I'll pick something fun. Yo Xie, you still have a gun, huh? Go on, shoot me!" Hua Wuqiu banged the dagger against the railing again and suddenly pointed at the Yin-Yang Ancient Coin on my left wrist. "Hey, this thing looks good. I'll take it!"
"I really can't give you that; it will cost you your life!" I didn't hide anything from him.
I had no good feelings towards this highway robber Hua Wuqiu. He looked terrifying and was shamelessly trying to rob people. If it were anywhere else, I would have knocked him out already. Even so, I didn't plan to let him die foolishly; after all, he was a life, and every life has the right to exist.
Hua Wuqiu was clearly intrigued by my words, his bloodshot eyes glimmering with interest. "What do you mean by that?"
"He means it's for your own good!" Suddenly, an ancient voice echoed in the air. I felt like I had heard this voice before; it must have been a long time ago, but I couldn't recall when.
"Who?" Hua Wuqiu shouted loudly, waving his dagger wildly in front of him.
"Who?" Sima Sanguang also shouted loudly.
The air around us felt tangible; I could see it rippling like water waves as a figure appeared beside me—a white-bearded old man.
"Ghost Zombie!" I suddenly remembered; this old man had saved my life during the Jin Family Incident and had taken away the Yin-Yang Ancient Coin—the Demon known as Qing Qiu's grandfather—Ghostly Zombie Old Man.
Ghost Zombie smiled at me and got straight to the point, saying, "You're here again for the Yin-Yang Ancient Coin. We really have a connection; out of the seven Yin-Yang Ancient Coins, two are in your possession."
What connection? You’ve already taken one of my Yin-Yang Ancient Coins. Now you’re here to take another, and you still have the nerve to talk about connections. If I could beat you, I would have turned against you long ago.
Before I could say anything, Ghost Zombie reached out, and I felt a lightness on my wrist. Looking down, I saw that the Yin-Yang Ancient Coin had vanished, leaving only a rope on my wrist—an intact rope. I had no idea how the Yin-Yang Ancient Coin slipped away from it. When I looked up, that coin was already in Ghost Zombie's hand.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Hua Wuqiu waved his dagger wildly. If I heard correctly, there was a hint of fear in his voice.
Ghost Zombie smiled slightly and waved his hand. Suddenly, a water column as thick as an arm surged up from beneath the bridge, gushing like a fountain. Ghost Zombie reached out and surprisingly lifted this water column as if it were a wooden stick.
Then, Ghost Zombie touched the Yin-Yang Ancient Coin to the water column, and with a puff of white mist, the water column instantly froze into a crystal-clear ice stick. He flicked his finger, and the ice stick shattered into pieces that fell to the ground.
"I did it for your own good!" After demonstrating the power of the Yin-Yang Ancient Coin, Ghost Zombie smiled faintly and vanished into thin air just as he had arrived.
"What just happened?" Sima Sanguang asked in shock.
"Can't you tell? He's a thief who stole our weapons," I replied irritably.
"Hey, was that old man performing magic just now?" Hua Wuqiu stopped waving his dagger and asked breathlessly.
"Whether it was magic or not doesn't matter; what matters is that he took what you wanted," I said with a smile at Hua Wuqiu.
Seeing Hua Wuqiu swinging his dagger fiercely earlier made me chuckle; for a moment, I didn’t find his frightening appearance so terrifying anymore.
Hua Wuqiu paused for a moment and suddenly asked a strange question: "Aren't you afraid of me?"
"What is there to be afraid of?"
"I'm so ugly!"
"Is being ugly scary? A plain face isn't frightening; a wicked heart is what truly terrifies!" After saying this, I couldn't help but feel a bit regretful. Wasn't that just pointing out how ugly he was? However, this fleeting thought quickly faded away; after all, he was ugly to begin with.
Hua Wuqiu stared blankly for a moment, nodded at me without saying a word, and then turned to leave. Soon, his figure disappeared into the dense forest ahead.
The two of us stared in disbelief as Hua Wuqiu vanished from sight. After a while, I asked, "Is he not going to ask for tolls anymore?"
Sima Sanguang grinned at me and said, "Zheng Nan, don't you think that guy is a bit strange?"
"What's strange about him?"
"Don't you think his backside is rather large?"
"You're really disgusting!"
"I am. He might actually be a woman!"
"...Uh, you're still disgusting!"
...
The two of us continued on our way. Without the protection of the Yin-Yang Ancient Coin, my gun's power wasn't very strong, so we remained vigilant. If anything seemed off, we were ready to climb up a tree. Generally speaking, as long as there weren't any giant pythons or leopards around, being in a tree was relatively safe.
However, the journey turned out to be surprisingly uneventful, almost like taking a stroll in the forest. After walking for about two hours, we reached the green hill just as the sun was setting.
As we got closer, both Sima Sanguang and I couldn't help but gasp in astonishment. We exchanged glances and saw the shock reflected in each other's eyes because everything before us was simply too incredible to believe.
In front of us was a massive Basin, surrounded by steep cliffs that dropped straight down like they had been carved by a knife or axe. The cliffs were about four to five hundred meters high, with occasional vines or shrubs growing on top, but mostly there were bare rock walls. The Basin before me felt like a gigantic stone bowl.
What truly shocked me and Sima Sanguang was not the sheer cliffs of the Basin, but the fact that there was only one tree inside it—a colossal tree. The green hill we saw from a distance was not a hill at all, but the canopy of this giant tree.
Damn, can I curse? Because I have no words other than that.
How big must this tree be? Just the size of its canopy is enough to make you understand the grandeur of this tree. To be more specific, how big is a football field? This Basin could easily fit at least twenty football fields arranged in a 4-5 formation. Inside this enormous Basin, there was only one tree, and it nearly filled the entire space.
For a moment, I felt an overwhelming urge to kneel and worship; it was simply too magnificent. Then I remembered why that Scarred Boss had said that once I saw this great tree, I would understand. Yes, I finally understood what a great tree was. The six-meter diameter tree I had seen earlier was nothing compared to this one; it was practically a toothpick.
Sima Sanguang and I stood there in stunned silence, gazing at the giant tree without saying a word. We didn't know how long we stood there until the colors began to darken and our vision started to blur, prompting us to collect our thoughts.
"Damn! What an eye-opener!" I licked my lips and muttered under my breath.
Sima Sanguang nodded vigorously in agreement, his mouth also spewing curses; he probably didn't know how to express his feelings either.
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