The story is good, quite exciting. Are there any others?" The story of the white-crowned black snake also left a deep impression on me and I couldn't help but want more.
"Others?" Xie Yilin looked at me and said, "The rest are pure legends. I don't know if they're true or not. Do you still want to hear them?"
"I do! As long as it has some semblance of truth, go ahead and tell us. We'll just take it as a story to entertain ourselves while we eat," I replied.
Upon hearing this, Xie Yilin furrowed her brows slightly and said, "Then let me tell you the most bizarre one - the legend of the insect woman that happened in Mount Modu."
"Insect woman?" This was my first time hearing this term and I couldn't help but feel curious about it. Even Jietou seemed interested as he forgot to move his mouth.
"What is an insect woman?" Jietou asked with a frown.
"If only I knew what an insect woman was." Xie Yilin shrugged her shoulders and continued, "This was a story told by a local classmate when I first started college. At that time, after listening to her tale, I was scared out of my wits but later thought she was just making things up because what she described simply could not exist."
"What did she say?"I asked.
"She said that hundreds of years ago during ancient times when Mount Modu was very wild with dense forests full of wild beasts roaming around freely; one year,a scholar went up into the mountains to live in seclusion so he could study without distractions.However,something unexpected happened..."
According to Xie Yilin's account,the scholar brought only a bundle of books and some dry food for half month's stay.When his family members realized that his food supply must have run out, they decided to bring him some more food. However, when they arrived at his grass hut, all they found were scattered books and the scholar was nowhere to be seen.
At first,they thought that he had been attacked by wild beasts and eaten alive.However,on closer inspection of the scene,no signs of struggle or bloodstains were found.This indicated that he wasn't killed by any wild beast.
Later on,the family members launched a search party with many villagers combing through the mountains but no trace of the scholar was ever found.He simply vanished without a trace.
"This mystery remained unsolved for an entire year," Xie Yilin continued as she put down her fish head and widened her eyes."The person who finally solved it almost died in the process."
"Don't keep us hanging!" I said impatiently.
"The person who discovered what happened to the scholar was actually a hunter who hunted in Mount Modu all year round..."
According to Xie Yilin's account,the hunter came from a long line of hunters. Since his father's time,his family had always hunted in Mount Modu.The father warned him from day one that there were certain places within Mount Modu where one should never go because if you accidentally entered them,you would anger the mountain god and suffer severe punishment.
The hunter followed the admonition of his ancestors and had never trespassed into the forbidden area on the mountain after hunting. However, unexpected things always happen. That year, there was a severe drought in the world, and the forests were dry everywhere. The wild beasts on the mountain decreased sharply, and for several days in a row, the hunter did not catch any prey. Finally, he encountered a leopard that day but only managed to wound it with an arrow before it fled with the arrow still stuck in its body. The hunter chased after it until he reached the edge of the forbidden area.
For hunters like him, this was a prohibited zone; however, for animals like leopards, it wasn't so much of one as they could easily enter without fear or hesitation. As soon as he entered this place where even his ancestors dared not go near to hunt down his wounded prey which had escaped inside earlier on - deep within Mordu Mountain's hidden forest - he discovered something strange.
The dense forest was overgrown with weeds and vines while being shrouded by darkness all around except for a small stream running through its center making everything seem very primitive indeed.
After chasing deeper into this forested area than ever before seen by anyone from their family lineages past or present alike due to curiosity about why that leopard stopped at bamboo grove outside beside stream instead of entering further inside despite no apparent danger visible anywhere nearby; suddenly realizing too late what lay ahead when finding himself trapped waist-deep within quicksand-like mud beneath surface covered entirely by leaves hiding true nature below ground level causing panic-stricken attempts at escape leading ultimately towards falling headlong downwards through hole opening up unexpectedly underneath feet!
As he fell halfway down into what seemed like an enormous underground cavern whose edges remained invisible due to dim lighting conditions prevailing throughout entire space save some glowing objects scattered here-and-there providing faint illumination enough just barely allowing him glimpses of what lay ahead. These objects seemed to be treasures, and the hunter's heart was set on exploring them further.
Fortunately, at this time, he had a bundle of rope on his shoulder. He connected that rope with the one hanging him and finally came down to the ground along that rope.
The ground was very damp and covered with thick moss like a blanket. The hunter groped around and collected some dry moss, lit it with a fire starter, made a dim torch, and then went all the way into the cave to explore.
However, what disappointed him was that when he came to those glowing things and shone them with his torch, he found out that they were not treasures at all but some scattered bones - human bones. This horrified him greatly as he didn't know what was going on and instinctively wanted to run away.
But just as the hunter turned around ready to escape, suddenly there came from deep inside the cave a faint laughter which sounded like an innocent girl's voice.