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墨書 Inktalez
Zhong Kui's Diary
"Three, this is a bit rushed. Do you have any clues?" I walked over to Kong Xuan and Aijia Yu. Honestly, I felt very safe standing next to them.
"The Land of Slumber is highly spiritual, and the location changes every time it appears. Three hundred years ago, my ancestor stumbled upon the entrance to the Land of Eternal Sleep. To control this sleeping gate and prevent it from wandering everywhere, my ancestor put in a lot of effort and finally came up with a solution." Lin Tao revealed a faint smile, sighed, and rummaged through his belongings, pulling out a pack of 5 yuan White Sand cigarettes. He lit one up and asked us, "Want one?"
"We'll smoke our own." I winked at Kong Xuan, who smiled knowingly. We each took out our cigarettes to light up; mine was White Sand, while Kong Xuan's was Huanghelou 1916. We proudly held up our Cigarette Cases, intentionally showing them off to Lin Tao. Thanks to Lingfeng for providing us with some good cigarettes to impress others.
Lin Tao didn't mind and continued, "My ancestor set up a Golden Formation next to the gate, using a large amount of gold to firmly hold it in place..."
"Eighteen Caverns Gold?" I couldn't help but exclaim, as that legend immediately popped into my mind.
"That's right; the legend of Eighteen Caverns Gold is true. However, the energy of The Gate of Slumber is incredibly mysterious; it even tried to escape with the Golden Formation. Fortunately, my ancestor had enough gold, so The Gate of Slumber didn't get too far and could only hide around Tianzhuang Township." Lin Tao's words left us dumbfounded.
What kind of gate is this? It can actually run away? And hide? Is your language teacher Jiang Ziya or Shen Gongbao?
"After much painstaking calculation, my ancestor finally found the hiding place of The Gate of Slumber. However, due to overexertion, he ran out of time and could only leave behind five words before he died: Upper Hollow and Lower Hollow! As for the subsequent folk song, that was added by later generations to see if anyone could discover this location." Lin Tao smiled and continued, "To summarize what we've learned: The Gate of Slumber is in Tianzhuang Township. In six days, it will reappear. As long as we find the Golden Formation, we can locate The Gate of Slumber."
"Upper Hollow and Lower Hollow..." I silently repeated this line from the folk song.
In the following days, Lin Tao led us around to familiarize ourselves with the terrain and see if we had any new discoveries. Everyone observes from different angles; thus, what they see varies. To put it bluntly, even from the same spot, Yao Ming and Guo Jingming would see different views.
Unfortunately, after several rounds, we found nothing. All the mountains here are convex in shape; there are no saddle-shaped peaks with depressions in the middle. Without any concave shapes, how could there be a joint?
On the seventh day—the day mentioned in the legend when the Land of Slumber would appear—Lin Tao began to grow impatient and ordered us three to quicken our pace. Whenever we showed even slight resistance, he would use Thunder Demon Sound to control us. Aijia Yu repeatedly wanted to fight him but seeing that both Kong Xuan and I were under his control, she could only hold back her anger. Besides, Aijia Yu might not even be able to defeat him; after all, An Ran's Aging had already healed, and that Lean Man in dark green was not easy to deal with—at least he was on par with Kong Xuan.
Time passed quickly; by dusk we were still wandering on the mountaintop. Lin Tao said irritably, "We’re not going back tonight; we’ll spend the night on top of Big Pine Tree!"
With a bitter smile, I thought that under such circumstances one must bow their head; Big Pine Tree it is then. After all, sleeping in a tree would be somewhat safer than being eaten by wild boars.
I had climbed this mountain three times already. Near the steep slope at the top stood a gigantic Pine Tree that must be several hundred years old; its trunk required four people to encircle it completely. The tree was densely branched, with some branches as thick as my waist—well, my waist compared to Ding Fatty's.
After the three of them climbed up, they took out some chocolate to eat and then lay on the thick branches, lost in their thoughts. Meanwhile, Lin Tao and the others built a bonfire under the tree, seemingly roasting some animal.
Confused was awakened in the middle of the night by the cold; the temperature difference in this mountainous area was extreme. Looking around, Aijia Yu was above me, and Kong Xuan was below my feet, both breathing steadily and apparently deep in sleep. Only Mo Green was sitting at the base of the tree, occasionally adding a branch to the fire, while Lin Tao and An Ran were nowhere to be seen. I couldn't help but think they might have gone off to do something inappropriate.
Once I woke up, I couldn't fall back asleep. With my hands behind my head, I gazed through the branches at the round moon above, momentarily lost in thought.
"Help me! Help me!" Aijia Yu's sudden murmurs interrupted my reverie. Damn, she wasn't stuck in that dream again, was she? We had privately discussed what happened at the hotel several times and concluded that Lin Tao was behind it all. However, we couldn't figure out why he would do such a thing, nor did we even know if this Lin Tao was human or ghost.
I shook Kong Xuan awake and pointed at Aijia Yu, whispering, "Aijia had that dream again; she isn't stuck again, is she?"
Kong Xuan pondered for a moment and seemed uncertain. Finally, he tentatively pushed Aijia Yu.
Aijia Yu's breathing suddenly stopped; she sat up abruptly with her eyes half-opened, and there was a flicker of silver light in her eyes. Damn, I was increasingly convinced that she had fallen victim to Lin Tao's schemes; otherwise, how could this situation occur?
"Ai! Ai!" we called softly.
"Uh!" Aijia's eyes slowly opened; she looked at us in confusion as the silver light disappeared from her gaze, returning to normal. Under the moonlight, her eyes appeared dark as pitch yet gleaming.
Kong Xuan and I exchanged glances and smiled wryly. "Aijia, what did you dream about just now?"
"Nothing at all! I didn't dream of anything!" Aijia Yu rubbed her eyes and asked, "What did I say in my sleep?"
I recounted what had just happened to her. Aijia Yu's face turned pale as she fell silent for a moment before turning her gaze toward the distance.
Instinctively, I followed her gaze. The distant mountain peaks were draped in a layer of silver gauze under the moonlight. The night breeze swept through the forest, making the gauze dance beautifully. Unable to resist, I stood up and took out my phone to capture this stunning moonlit scene; such beauty wasn't something you could see every day.
I snapped several pictures rapidly and then sat down to invite Kong Xuan over to admire it with me.
Kong Xuan showed little interest but couldn't resist my enthusiasm. He casually glanced at a few photos but stifled a yawn and was about to lie down to continue sleeping when suddenly he straightened up and leaned over excitedly, pointing at my phone screen. "Look! Look here, Zheng Nan!"
"What's wrong?"
"Look, this... this lake!" Kong Xuan suddenly stuttered, and Aijia Yu leaned over to take a look as well.
Kong Xuan was pointing at the lake in the photo. It was a natural lake located halfway up the opposite mountain; it could hardly be called a lake, as it was just a larger water pool. The lake was oval-shaped, about the size of a football field, and its blue depths seemed unfathomable.
We had passed by this lake many times without noticing anything unusual, but now Kong Xuan was excitedly pointing at the lake in my photo. What had he discovered?
Upon closer inspection of the lake in the photo, I noticed something strange as well. The reflection of the mountain peak was perfectly centered in the lake. Due to the varying depths of the water, the moonlight illuminated the surface, outlining a concave shape. The mountain's reflection closely matched the contours of the water's surface.
The three of us exchanged glances, and we all showed expressions of astonishment and delight, exclaiming in unison, "Upper Hollow and Lower Hollow!"
I never expected Upper Hollow and Lower Hollow to be like this. It was only because of tonight's moonlight that the reflections of the shallow and deep areas of the lake were outlined so clearly, and my position while taking the photo was just right. This mystery would likely remain unsolved by anyone else.
Even if someone stood on this tree during the day to look across, the sunlight would not allow for such an outline of the deep water area because it would penetrate directly through the surface. And at night, who would be crazy enough to climb up this tree? Seriously, I'm not myself.
"Zheng Nan, you really have some luck!" Kong Xuan chuckled softly.
"You have luck!" I rolled my eyes.
"Hey hey, Zheng Nan, you really have some luck!" It seemed like a voice was repeating.
"Hey, are you a parrot? No need to repeat it!" I shot Kong Xuan an annoyed glare.
"I didn't..." Kong Xuan started but stopped mid-sentence. I didn't need him to explain further because suddenly there was a ripple in the air beside us, and An Ran appeared.
"Eavesdropping has no skill involved!" I couldn't help but complain. Damn it, does she always have to show up out of nowhere?
An Ran smiled but didn't say anything. She simply leaped into the air with a flash of silver light and vanished completely. Great, here comes that trick again.
Looking down again, Lin Tao had somehow arrived under the tree, and An Ran instantly appeared by his side, whispering a few words. Lin Tao was taken aback for a moment, then his face broke into a wide smile as he waved at us and said loudly, "Let's take a break tonight, and we'll set off first thing in the morning!"
I really dislike people who put on airs; just speak Mandarin without mixing in English, okay?
The next morning, it surprisingly rained. The six of us took shelter under the Big Pine Tree until the rain stopped before heading to the opposite mountain. Due to the rain, the path became muddy, and we walked carefully, stepping in deep and shallow spots. Luckily, I was wearing casual shoes with deep treads that provided good grip. However, Kong Xuan's Adidas sneakers, which were super light and breathable in sunny weather, were now filled with dew from the grass along the roadside seeping through the ventilation holes, turning them into soggy messes.
We stopped by the lake, and everyone looked towards Lin Tao. This should be the spot; now it depends on how you summon this Gate of Slumber.
"Moon Attendant, go down and confirm the location of the entrance," Lin Tao said as he nodded towards An Ran.
Moon Attendant—what a cool name! Much better than Moon Demon Heir.
An Ran nodded and walked straight towards the surface of the lake.
"An Ran, what are you doing?" I couldn't help but shout as I saw her approaching the water.
She turned back and smiled at me before continuing forward. When she was about a foot away from the water's surface, a magical bubble appeared around her. The colorful bubble enveloped An Ran, making her outline visible but obscuring her completely.
As soon as the bubble touched the water's surface, it forcefully parted the lake. An Ran walked directly down through the split water. When the top of the bubble dipped below the surface, the lake water surged back over it, covering it completely. The water surface returned to calmness as if nothing had happened.
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