After leaving Liu Wen's house, I went straight to the old village chief, ready to pack up and go into the mountains. Unexpectedly, just when the three of us had just packed our bags, we heard a burst of noise outside the village chief's house.
"Could it be that something happened?"
I muttered to myself, so I turned my head and said to Zhou Jing: "Xiao Jing, go see what's going on outside?"
Zhou Jing nodded and went out. After a while, he ran back and said to me breathlessly: "Brother Tian, the news that we are going to enter Luoma Mountain has spread. The villagers in the whole village have come to the door and are now blocking us outside. Even the old village chief is outside. They won't let us go into the mountain!"
"Won't let us go into the mountain?"
I was stunned. What do these villagers mean? Don't they know that I am here to help them solve the problem? What's the matter with blocking the door!
I was so anxious that I didn't care about anything else. I threw down my backpack and ran outside. As expected, there was a large crowd of villagers outside.
When the old village chief saw me coming out, he came up to me and said, "Little kid, you really can't go into Luoma Mountain. It's more dangerous than a dragon's den or a tiger's lair. Some time ago, a gentleman from the neighboring village went in and never came out. Now I'm afraid he is in danger! You don't know what that gentleman is capable of. At that time, there was a person in their village whose life span was not yet over and whose soul was taken away by the ghost. He dared to fight the ghost on the Naihe Bridge to save people. If he goes in and something happens, we really can't let you go in. You are a good kid. The whole village cares about you. They don't want to stop you because of us!"
I took a breath after hearing this. How dare he be a ghost on the Naihe Bridge? That is the realm of the Taoist true soul leaving the body, which is equivalent to the fourth stage of murderous aura! !
It seems that heroes have always been among the people. I didn't expect that I would encounter such a master in this mission!
This master died here, so can I do it?
I was a little confused for a while, but then I thought about it and my heart gradually calmed down.
The villagers in this village are lovely. They have the simplicity and kindness that have long been eliminated in this fast-paced era. Even though they are now in disaster, they are still thinking about me. They blocked the door and refused to let me leave because they were afraid that something would happen to me...
Such good people should not be harmed in any way! ! !
No matter whether it is a person or something that harms them, it will be punished by heaven! ! !
If heaven does not punish, then I will enforce justice on behalf of heaven!
I stand up, right now! ! !
Otherwise, what am I doing as the guardian of the entire Shanxi?
When dealing with dirty things, sometimes it is useless to have a deep understanding of Taoism. It depends on how you use your means!
My will, which was a little shaky, gradually became firm again. I held the old village chief's hand, which was as rough as old tree bark due to the years and the hardships of life. I looked up at the concerned eyes of the villagers around me and smiled gently. I knew that I, a young man in my twenties, did look a little unreliable, but I still tried to give them a little strength with my smile. They needed this kind of strength: "Before I came, fifty-seven people had died, and thirty-one women in the village had disappeared. These were all human lives. Do you think I can sit back and do nothing? If I don't care, I'm afraid more people will get into trouble! Luomashan is the only clue now. Even if it's a dangerous place, I have to go there!"
I can't guarantee anything else, but I'm sure that the thirty-one missing people are definitely still alive! !
Judging from the current clues, those dirty things are definitely capable of killing people, but they didn't kill those women, they just took them away. I'm afraid they have other uses!
I just don't know what those dirty things are doing with women? What's the point of cutting off the "three-inch golden lotus" of the old lady with bound feet?
These are the doubts in my mind!
After hearing what I said, the old village chief's eyes turned red and he was speechless. The villagers around him were also speechless. I knew they were hesitating between me and the more than 30 missing women, and they didn't know who to choose.
This simplicity touched me so much that I simply stopped explaining and gave Zhang Bowen a look. Zhang Bowen nodded and went back to the old village chief's home. After a while, he took out the backpacks that we had packed. I waved goodbye to the villagers and left with my backpacks. The villagers probably hadn't recovered from what I said at this time, but they didn't stop me.
"Little Master!"
Suddenly, someone in the village shouted, and then a sturdy young man who looked about 27 or 28 years old stood out from the crowd, and said with red eyes: "You are not familiar with the situation in Luoma Mountain, I will accompany you into the mountain!"
As soon as he said this, a middle-aged woman next to him suddenly changed her face: "Yike, you can't go to Luoma Mountain, it's too dangerous!"
As she said this, the middle-aged woman reached out to grab the young man, but the young man quietly dodged and said to the middle-aged woman in a deep voice: "Auntie Liu, don't stop me. I was abandoned in the mountains when I was born. It was the blind date people in the village who picked me up. I came back. I have been eating at the hands of many families for so many years. Now that my fellow villagers are in trouble, I really can't just stand by and watch. This time, I might be able to help him by following the young master into the mountains. It can be regarded as doing my part for our village! After all, the three kind-hearted outsiders gave us money and helped us save people, but we just stood by and watched. If we didn't do it, others would say that there is no man in our Shigu Village! "
After saying that, the young man walked up to me and smiled at me, a little shy, completely different from his passionate appearance just now, as if he was not the same person.
I thought about it, and finally took this young man named Lv Yike with me, because I really didn't know much about Taihang Mountain, and I would be at a loss once I entered the deep mountains. I originally wanted to ask the old village chief for someone familiar with the mountain environment, but later I saw the villagers' fear and awe of Luoma Mountain, so I thought about it and let it go. Now that this young man is willing to lead the way, it is naturally the best thing.
Without saying goodbye, a few of us left Shigu Village and went all the way west into Luoma Mountain.
The young man who led us was named Lv Yike. I also talked to him on the way. He actually hadn't been to Luoma Mountain, but he had been to a high mountain not far from Luoma Mountain. Standing on the top of that high mountain, you can roughly see the terrain of Luoma Mountain, especially the shallow beach where the old general Zhong Shidao of the Northern Song Dynasty fell off his horse and died in battle more than a thousand years ago. Even after more than a thousand years, there has been no change, which is particularly eye-catching. That shallow beach is also called Luoma Beach.
After all, Lv Yike is a mountain man. As long as he has seen the general terrain, he will not get lost in the mountains. He relies on his eyes to identify the direction, which is better than a compass. After entering the mountain, he chatted with me while going straight into the deep mountains. His movements were very agile. Around three or four o'clock in the afternoon, he led us into a ravine and said that it was actually very close to Luomatan, less than a hundred miles away. I was relieved. If I really had to rush like last time in Qinling, I would have collapsed.
Who knew that the weather was not good. It started to rain heavily not long after we walked in this small ravine.
Lu Yike's face changed immediately, he turned his head to look at the high mountains on both sides, and whispered to us: "The face of the mountain baby is really changeable, we brothers should find a place to hide from the rain first, I think the rain will last for a while, the position where the four of us are standing is not very good, let's move quickly, otherwise the landslides on both sides of the mountain will cause mudslides and we will be buried alive!"
Mudslides are very common in Taihang Mountain, because Taihang Mountain is located in the Loess Plateau, the soil here is sandy, the sand on the mountain is easy to roll down when it rains, and the mudslides formed by mixing with rainwater and stones are very powerful, and once a person is caught, he will be finished, and he will be buried alive. When the rain stops, the mud and stones will be dry and can't be dug out with a shovel, which is stronger than reinforced concrete!
I looked at the mountains on both sides, but it was not very good. The ravine in front of us was the gap between two mountains, and it was no more than ten meters wide. The mountains on both sides were steep and most prone to mudslides. If the rain lasted longer, the mountains would definitely slide. If there was a mudslide, I'm afraid the ravine would be filled up by seven or eight meters immediately. There would be no escape for us.
"Why are you still standing there? Hurry up!"
I glared and ran away without saying a word. I thought of many ways to die. Even being bitten to death by a wild beast was better than being buried alive by a mudslide!
The three of them probably had the same idea, so even though they were exhausted after a day's journey, they still ran forward desperately. Fortunately, the ravine was not too deep, and they reached the end after running for half an hour. At this time, a "rumbling" sound came from behind us, and it was obvious that some areas had already experienced landslides. We were really worried. If we were any slower, we would be finished!
"We can't travel in the mountains in such heavy rain, it's too dangerous!"
Lv Yike said breathlessly: "Why don't we find a place to rest for a night? Anyway, we are not far from Luomatan. We will arrive at 2 o'clock tomorrow when the rain is light!"
We were almost buried alive by the mudslide. We were still scared. After thinking about it, we agreed. After all, it will be dark in a few hours. At present, we don't even know whether there are ghost soldiers in Luomatan. Running there in the middle of the night will only make ourselves unhappy. It's better to rest for a night and go tomorrow.
Seeing that we agreed, Lv Yike began to lead us to find a place to shelter from the rain. I noticed that he always went to a higher place, so I asked him why. Lv Yike smiled and told me that the rain in the mountains is unusual. It's like watering. After a mountain rain, the low-lying areas will be flooded. Going to a higher place to find a place to shelter from the rain is also for safety to prevent drowning while sleeping.
With an expert like Lu Yike leading the way, we found a place to stay on the hillside within 20 minutes. It seemed to be a cave, but there were obvious signs of artificial repairs. The entrance was piled up with granite in the shape of an arch bridge, so I asked curiously: "This cave is built in a unique way. Could it be that someone lives here?"
"There are indeed people living here, but they are not living people, but dead people!"
Zhang Bowen looked at the granite at the entrance of the cave and sighed: "This is basically an air-raid shelter. Look at the granite at the entrance of the cave. There are craters with a diameter of more than five centimeters everywhere. Bullets cannot make such craters. They are made by shrapnel after the explosion of the shells. In other words, this air-raid shelter has been bombed and people must have died in it!"