Beneath the waterfall, a man stands bare-chested, wearing only white silk pants. At this moment, he turns sideways, tilts his head back, and gathers his long hair behind his shoulders. Water drips from his full forehead along his prominent nose as the rushing stream splashes against his muscular chest and abdomen, creating sprays of water. In the glow of the setting sun, the entire figure is enveloped in mist adorned with a rainbow halo. His face, with a distinct and sculpted Euro-American beauty, shines in a golden splendor.
North feels an intense headache, her vision blurs, and her consciousness begins to blur. She murmurs incessantly, "Thunder God, I saw the Thunder God..." and then softly collapses onto the bamboo raft.
Cheng Mo turns his head and sees the bamboo raft losing control in the confluence of streams, spinning towards the shore. He urgently shouts, "Cheng Tian!" At the same time, he leaves the waterfall, puts on his outer garment, and leaps onto the bamboo raft. He makes eye contact with the man who appeared earlier and crouched beside North. Seeing him shake his head slightly, Cheng Mo bends down, extends two fingers under North's nose, then places them on her wrist to check her pulse. After a moment, he makes a decision.
"She is extremely weak and unconscious, probably coming down through the mountain cave ahead. But no one has ventured this deep into the cave before. How did she enter? Arrange everything quickly, find out the source! Transfer her and the things on the raft to Uncle Zhong's boat. We're leaving the valley."
As the conversation ends, Cheng Tian has already disappeared from the spot. A flat-bottomed wooden boat with copper-trimmed edges emerges from the confluence ahead. A venerable elder in his fifties, clad in dark clothing, swiftly brings the boat alongside and jumps onto the bamboo raft. Without uttering a word, he places two fingers on North's wrist upon seeing her, then looks at Cheng Mo and says, "Young Master, she may need another five or six hours to wake up. What should we do here...?"
"When I saw her, she had just drifted out of the cave and fainted. I probably didn't get a clear view of the valley."
"Alright, let's transfer her to the boat and leave the valley," Cheng Mo commands. Several people quickly come over, moving North and the belongings on the raft onto the wooden boat. Just as they are about to leave, Cheng Mo suddenly pauses.
"Uncle Zhong, why is there still a basket here?"
"It only contains a few burned bamboo joints and some soil, so I didn't have them move it."
"If it's her belongings, bring it along," Cheng Mo decides.
"Yes, Young Master." Cheng Zhong says no more, lifting the straw basket and hopping onto the deck of the wooden boat. Once Cheng Mo is on board, he signals the boat to head towards the valley's exit.
North is temporarily placed in a room with miscellaneous items. Due to the limited size of the boat, only this room, occasionally used by people reporting, is prepared with a small bed. Cheng Mo finishes his grooming in the room, staring through the partially closed cabin door at the girl sleeping on the bed. Dressed in an ordinary blue cotton jacket, tied at the waist with a rope of unknown material, her youthful face is adorned with slightly curled, long eyelashes. Her small, delicate nose and tightly pursed lips reveal a hint of stubbornness. This should be just a child from an ordinary medicinal herb-gathering family, around thirteen or fourteen years old. There shouldn't be any need to be on guard. Deeply watching the long eyeliner unfolding slowly along her clear, small face, Cheng Mo wonders how she will look when she wakes up. Unbeknownst to him, there is no sense of caution or alertness towards this girl who somehow entered the valley alone from somewhere unknown. This curiosity lingers until Uncle Zhong approaches.
"Young Master, we've entered the village. After leaving, should we make a detour before going to the town when she wakes up?"
"Sure, about thirty miles. Anchor at the Cane Forest Station. Let her know we encountered her 100 miles away in Liuhu."
Cheng Mo swiftly suppresses any undefined expectations, closes the cabin door, and stands at the bow of the boat, watching as it leaves the entrance of the valley and continues downstream to the southeast.