Chapter 133: The Perilous Land of Mount Mang

Zhang Qinglin had never intended to drag his friends into danger, but Cheng Che insisted on following him no matter what.

For Cheng Che, Zhang Qinglin's business was his own business, and both Jiang Xinyue and Chi Tan also insisted on staying behind.

Left with no other choice, Zhang Qinglin had to agree.

The Luo River was located near Mount Mang. After driving for over seven hours, Cheng Che finally arrived at the northern side of Luoyang City. Hu Geming was a native of Henan, making it easier for them to communicate locally, and they first rested in a nearby village.

Zhang Qinglin changed his clothes and saw Bai Weiwei walking out of the room while wiping her hair. The two exchanged glances, and Zhang Qinglin stopped her, saying, "Weiwei, actually, you didn't have to come with me."

Bai Weiwei softly replied, "Are you trying to chase me away? Don't forget you haven't repaid me yet. My life belongs to you, so wherever you go, I follow."

Zhang Qinglin certainly had not forgotten that Bai Weiwei had saved his life, but they were now facing numerous dangers. Watching Bai Weiwei's departing figure, Zhang Qinglin felt as though his very soul had been captivated by her.

The next day, Zhang Qinglin asked several nearby villagers about the exact location of the Luo River, but the villagers warned him that the Luo River basin lay at the edge of Mount Mang. To get there, one had to cross the unmanned zone of Mount Mang and pass through a valley called Flower Valley. However, right at the junction where the unmanned zone met the valley at the edge of Mount Mang, there was a deep ravine.

According to the elderly villagers, that ravine used to be called the Man-Burning Ravine. There were no streams inside the ravine; instead, it was filled with burned corpses. These corpses included not only humans but also various birds and ferocious beasts. The human corpses were those of people who, for unknown reasons, had suddenly burst into full-body flames while crossing the ravine, burning down to skeletal frames and falling into the ravine below.

The villagers claimed that the land harbored a ten-thousand-year-old imperial spirit specifically designed to deal with those harboring malicious intentions, and consequently, no one ever dared to go there again.

Yet, reaching the Luo River required crossing this Man-Burning Ravine. Zhang Qinglin had Hu Geming find a local guide, but the moment the man heard they wanted to go to the Luo River, he shook his head vigorously, insisting that the Luo River was haunted and that the Man-Burning Ravine was completely impassable.

Hu Geming grew irritated upon hearing this. Having explored quite a few ancient tombs, he was hardly afraid of such tricks; after all, everything had a method to be bypassed. Hu Geming snapped his cigarette in half, glaring with wide eyes, determined to see what kind of trick this Man-Burning Ravine really was.

That afternoon, Hu Geming managed to acquire a live rooster from somewhere. Holding the chicken in his left hand and grabbing the guide's arm with his right, he demanded that the man point the way, promising him one thousand yuan just to lead them past the unmanned zone to the vicinity of the Man-Burning Ravine, after which he could return.

Before leaving, Zhang Qinglin distributed the necessary equipment from the van to everyone.

Hearing that there was so much money to be made without having to cross the Man-Burning Ravine, the guide readily agreed to lead them into Mount Mang.

After walking for about two hours, they reached the unmanned zone. Wandering through the area, they eventually ushered the western evening glow into the sky.

Finally, they reached the edge of a forest, and the guide pointed to a hill behind it, saying, "Beyond this forest is the Man-Burning Ravine. I'm not going any further; you can go yourselves. If you turn into wandering ghosts, don't come looking for me. Pay me my money, and I'm leaving."

Impatiently, Hu Geming turned around, pulled several hundred yuan from his bag, tossed it into the guide's chest, and barked, "Make it snappy, get lost right now!"

The guide grabbed the money thrown at his chest, counted it, arched his eyebrows, and angrily protested, "Are you kidding me, fellow townsman? This amount is wrong, it's way too short. We agreed on a thousand."

"Fellow townsman my foot! With that pathetic attitude of yours, you didn't even bother guiding us properly. Giving you this much is already doing you a favor, and you still have the nerve to ask me for more? Scram, get out of here!" Hu Geming cursed.

Frightened, the guide immediately tucked away the money and bolted away at top speed.

Zhang Qinglin walked over and watched the fleeing guide. "Is this Man-Burning Ravine really that terrifying? It's getting dark soon, let's get moving."

At that moment, Cheng Che and Chi Tan ran out of the forest, panting heavily. Cheng Che came up to Zhang Qinglin and asked, "Old Zhang, where's the guide?"

"He left."

Cheng Che put his hands on his hips and shouted, "He left? Damn it, Old Zhang, we've been scammed by that guide. On the other side of the forest is a wide river, and across the river is a hill—there's no ravine at all."

Bai Weiwei followed closely behind, accompanied by Jiang Xinyue and Chi Tan, none of whom seemed to have spotted any ravine.

Zhang Qinglin scanned the surroundings and then looked at Hu Geming, who was holding the large rooster. The rooster suddenly let out a cluck, and as the last trace of the evening glow faded, its eyes turned blood-red, glowing like two fireballs. Abruptly, the bird began to struggle violently.

Noticing the rooster's abnormal behavior, Hu Geming gripped its legs tightly and saw that its neck and head were pointing fixedly in one direction, letting out continuous squawks toward that spot.

Hu Geming closed his eyes and made calculations with his fingers. Suddenly, he snapped his eyes open, clutched the rooster, and sprinted toward that direction.

Before the others could react, Hu Geming had already vanished from sight. Faint, distant clucks echoed through the darkening sky. Pulling out their flashlights, Zhang Qinglin and the others chased after the sound of the chicken.

When they reached a desolate patch of land, the clucking grew intensely loud. With a sudden muffled roar, a ball of fire flickered ahead, and standing right in front of the flames was Hu Geming.

Zhang Qinglin and the others rushed forward to look at the burning fire.

Zhang Qinglin saw Hu Geming staring with wide, incredulous eyes at the blazing inferno raging inside a deep ravine right in front of him.

Looking closer, it was a ravine more than a meter wide. Across from it stood a mountain, near which was a cave, though its interior was obscured by the pitch-black night.

Chi Tan gasped, "Th-that, is, is that the rooster? H-how did it turn into a fireball!"

Cheng Che extended an arm to block Jiang Xinyue, saying, "Xinyue, be careful, don't fall in."

Zhang Qinglin had never expected the Man-Burning Ravine to be so horrifying, capable of truly incinerating a living creature. He swept his flashlight beam across the inside of the ravine.

Hu Geming raised his head to gaze at the sky and muttered, "I thought it ignited during daylight, but it's not using sunlight after all!"

Bai Weiwei stood next to Hu Geming, looking down at the charred rooster at the bottom of the ravine. Her eyes shifted sideways as she turned to Hu Geming and asked, "Big Beard, how did this fire ignite? Did you throw that chicken down?"

Hu Geming replied, "I didn't throw it down; it fell in by itself. The chicken dived into the ravine as if it were possessed, and I couldn't hold onto it. It's truly bizarre. Could this fire be ghost fire? I must find out what sacred or demonic place this is."

With that, Hu Geming pulled out a geomantic compass from his bag and began tinkering with it. Zhang Qinglin walked over and asked, "Don't make it sound so mystical. How on earth did it catch fire? Did it ignite the moment it fell?"

Hu Geming carried his compass to the side to observe the directions.

Supporting her chin with her hand, Bai Weiwei said with a puzzled expression, "Ghost fire spontaneous combustion? That phenomenon is highly unlikely!"

"Weiwei, what are you trying to say?" Hearing this, Zhang Qinglin turned to look at her.

Lifting her flashlight to illuminate the bottom of the ravine, Bai Weiwei slowly raised her gaze from the fire source at the bottom and said, "In cases of spontaneous combustion, shouldn't there be combustible materials undergoing slow oxidation until the temperature reaches the ignition point for self-ignition?

Chronologically speaking, I don't think that's possible. But if it's an ignition point triggered by some chemical substance, that might be explainable. Look at this ravine—aside from the burned skeletons, there isn't even a single weed, and even the edges are completely bare, as if meticulously carved by human hands."

Zhang Qinglin nodded, took a few steps to Bai Weiwei's right, and shone his flashlight downward. This ravine was indeed rather peculiar; not only were the ravine walls flat and smooth, but the bottom was as well.

At that moment, Jiang Xinyue noticed a layer of dark red small stones along the edge of the ravine, which emitted a faint glow under the direct beam of the flashlight.

What kind of stone is this, and why does it glow? Jiang Xinyue wondered to herself as she stepped forward, picked one up, and examined it in her hand.

To her surprise, the dark red stone split open in an arc, which suddenly snapped wide open and let out a ghostly, piercing screech. Jiang Xinyue's expression changed drastically, and she was frightened out of her wits.

"Ah..."

She hurled the dark red stone away. The stone fell into the ravine, instantly sparking a loud "boom" of firelight. Sparks flew everywhere inside the ravine before extinguishing a moment later.

Cheng Che hurried forward and asked, "What happened? Xinyue, are you alright?"

Zhang Qinglin also stepped forward and grabbed her arm in concern.

"The stone... it opened its eyes, and it screamed!" Jiang Xinyue's face was pale as she pointed in terror at the stones along the edge of the ravine.

"Xinyue sister, you must have heard wrong. How could a stone scream?" Chi Tan stretched his neck forward to peer, then shrank back as he spoke.

Zhang Qinglin shined his flashlight along the edge of the ravine, noticing that the colors of those stones indeed looked abnormal.

However, just as Zhang Qinglin pointed his flashlight toward the pitch-black area on his right, a white figure appeared within the beam. It had a face covered in red veins and a pair of lightbulb-like eyes glaring straight at him.

Clad in a long white robe, its skeletal, hunched figure resembled that of an elderly person.

Seeing Zhang Qinglin shining the flashlight on it, the figure's mouth twitched as it blinked its eyes shut and open.

Suddenly, it widened its mouth in shock, swayed its body, and fled in panic toward the right side of the ravine. Zhang Qinglin chased after it, shouting, "Hey, stop right there!"

Although the white-robed freak had the physique of an elderly person, its movements were extraordinarily swift. The fact that it could move with such agility in the dark meant it either possessed some super-strong nocturnal ability or had built-in headlights in its eyes.

After chasing it for about a mile, the white-robed freak stopped. Leaning its body toward the ravine, its hands seemed to grab onto something invisible in mid-air, and it rapidly vaulted across to the opposite side of the ravine.

Zhang Qinglin ran up quickly, followed by Cheng Che and the others, watching the white-robed freak stand on the far side of the ravine, hunched over and staring at them.

"Is... is that a person or a ghost?" Cheng Che exclaimed in shock.

"It's definitely a person. Have you ever seen a ghost afraid of people?" Bai Weiwei did not seem scared at all; she was merely baffled by how it had crossed over without spontaneously combusting. This proved that the Man-Burning Ravine wasn't impassable—they simply hadn't found the right path across.

Chi Tan pointed at the white-robed freak and said, "If he's a human, why didn't he catch fire? Look at how terrifying his face is."

Hu Geming strode forward and shouted, "All of you step aside, I'll handle this."

Holding the compass in his palm, his stern face fixed forward, Hu Geming took large strides toward the edge of the ravine.

Zhang Qinglin and the others cleared a path, watching the aggressive Hu Geming, who then bellowed, "Whatever monstrous fiend you are, show your true form, and I'll spare your life!"

As Hu Geming was about to take a step down into the ravine, Zhang Qinglin fortunately grabbed his backpack and yanked him back. When they looked back at the white-robed freak, it had already crawled into the pitch-black cave.

Releasing his grip, Zhang Qinglin walked over to the spot where the white-robed freak had just stopped. Crouching halfway down, he shone his flashlight on the ground and swept the beam toward the cave opposite. In that split second, a flash of light caught Zhang Qinglin's eyes. Lowering his head, he noticed something hidden among the withered weeds. Pushing them aside, he discovered three hook-rings firmly anchored into the ground.

Zhang Qinglin finally understood how to cross the Man-Burning Ravine. He hurriedly called out to Hu Geming and the others, "I know how to cross this ravine now! Cheng Che, get the rope ready. Chi Tan, find the grappling hooks."

Once the rope and grappling hooks were brought to him, Zhang Qinglin tied one end of the rope securely to the ground rings and the other end to a grappling hook, instructing Hu Geming to throw this end toward the cave, hook it tightly, and secure it so they could climb across.

"Little Lin brother, won't this thing drop us?" Chi Tan asked anxiously from the side.

Zhang Qinglin gave the rope a firm tug and said, "It should be fine. Old Brother Hu, come up and try first."

Hu Geming adjusted his clothes, walked up to the rope, and reached out to grab it.

Just as Hu Geming was about to lift his leg to climb, a group of people rushed over from the unmanned zone behind them. Zhang Qinglin looked back and was astonished to see Wu Guan根 and his men, who had tracked them all the way here.

"Damn, they actually managed to follow us," Cheng Che muttered.

Standing about a meter away, Wu Guangen shouted loudly, "Good kids, you've gotten bold, haven't you? Swindling and stealing alike—grab them all and bring them back!"

Hu Geming grabbed Chi Tan and urged, "Quick, climb across right now!"