Chapter 010 Shoe Prints

Si Weiqi stopped here for a while and saw the way forward. Then she walked up to the back mountain, which is rarely visited all year round. There are several consecutive peaks forming a barrier, with canyons and streams inside, covered with thorns and shrubs, and there is almost no way to go.

Looking at the unobstructed heavy snow above my head, I had a hunch that this time would not go well. I always felt that there was some huge danger hidden in the dragon burial pit in the back mountain, and some big actions were inevitable. At this time, everyone's heads were covered with falling snowflakes. Although they were wearing rain gear, they still looked a little miserable.

"Sister Qi, there is no road ahead, do we still have to walk forward in the snow? I'm worried..."

Si Weiqi said to me, "The clouds in the sky are getting thicker and thicker, and the snow is probably going to get heavier and heavier. Let's go quickly and try to reach the top of the mountain before the heavy snow closes the mountain."

Without further delay, I took the machete and chopped off the bamboos blocking the way as I walked. Sister Fo was responsible for clearing the way in front of me. There was pure white snow under my feet. If there was no one to explore the way in advance, I would accidentally do it. It is possible to fall into the ditches and ridges scattered all over the mountain, or to slip down a mountain stream, and you must be careful. Cheng Yiyun and I were responsible for cutting away the bamboos and shrubs blocking the road in the front, while Xu Qian held the line at the back. Even so, we still couldn't move fast.

The snow is falling heavier and heavier, and the dry branches are decorated with white snow, which is no longer monotonous. Looking down from the mountain, you can see a picture covered in silver. Snowflakes fell on the fields, covering the rice fields with thick quilts, allowing them to spend a comfortable winter under the quilts. Look at the dazzling white color in this crop field. Next spring, there may be a bumper harvest.

After this arduous trek, we finally climbed over the first mountain and entered the real back mountain area. However, this was only the first step in a long journey of thousands of miles. The rolling mountains still blocked the front, and there was a stream in front of us. , sandwiched between two mountain peaks, the slope is very steep. As soon as we entered with our front feet, we heard the sound of rushing water with our back feet.

"Sister Qi, what should I do? In this season, it's probably impossible to swim there!" I was puzzled.

Sister Fo found a thin bamboo and stretched it into the water. The stream was nearly one meter lower than the ground, and the water was about three meters deep. The water flow was very slow. It might be a tributary of Xiaoshun River, flowing in this deep mountain and old forest all year round. , wild and untamable, it is not easy to get over it.

"Xiao Qian, what do you think?" Si Weiqi turned to look at Xu Qian.

Xu Qian thought for a while and said, "Maybe we can get over by building a bamboo raft."

"That's it." Si Weiqi nodded.

I think this is new, building roads across mountains and building bridges over water. This is the first time I heard about building a bamboo raft to cross the river, but I thought there are no bridges to cross the river in these barren mountains and wild mountains. On the contrary, bamboos are everywhere. It is very convenient to use local materials.

Sister Fu didn't waste any time. She took a machete and chopped several thick bamboos. Xu Qian was responsible for cutting off the branches of the bamboos with a knife. Since ancient times, Xieling has had the unique skill of "making roads across mountains and filling bridges when encountering water", and their "centipede hanging mountain ladder" is even more powerful. But this kind of activity was not of much help to Yiyun. After losing her memory, many of her skills were unfamiliar. Except for things that were almost instinctive, such as fighting for gold, she was like a little girl who knew nothing else.

Si Weiqi tied the processed bamboo with ropes, and the three of them divided the work and made rapid progress. Bamboo is abundant in southern China and can be found in almost every province. Therefore, this type of bamboo raft is also widely used as a water vehicle. However, the bamboo rafts used by ordinary people need to be used for many years. It is quite troublesome to make. The bamboo needs to be heated with hot oil. It must be boiled first before it can be used as raw material. We are completely following the situation first, and crossing the river safely is the first priority.

After all this busy work, I finally made a small bamboo raft. I pushed the bamboo raft into the water and inserted a bamboo pole into the water from the front of the bamboo raft to fix the bamboo raft to prevent it from being washed away by the current. I jumped up first, followed by several others.

Although this bamboo raft is simple, its practicality is quite good. In the mountain streams of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, this kind of bamboo raft can be seen everywhere, and its stability is surprisingly good. It is not a problem at all to accommodate seven or eight people.

"Sister, you sit on the bow of the boat, brother, I will walk on the shore, love each other, and let the rope swing for a long time..." I took a bamboo pole and crossed the bamboo pole to the other side of the stream pole by pole. In order to maintain balance in the middle, Someone also needs to use bamboo poles to stabilize the bamboo raft to prevent it from becoming unbalanced. Once it becomes unbalanced, such a bamboo raft will definitely capsize immediately.

"Can you stop singing? We are in the deep mountains and old forests. Can you be more serious?" Chen Ziyue glared at me, "Besides, who is your sister, my junior!"

"Everyone on this boat is my sister, do you like to hear it?" I said with a proud smile.

"If you are singing, I will push you down!"

"Hey, stop it. This can't be done. Do you want the child in your belly to lose its father?"

Si Weiqi, who was at the back, said to me and Chen Ziyue, "You two, stop arguing and be serious. Let's wait until we cross the river. No one will stop you."

I smiled secretly and said, "Listen, Sister Qi is even jealous."

Fortunately, the stream was not too wide, and the current did not deliberately obstruct them. After about ten minutes, they finally reached the other side. Sister Fo jumped ashore first and tied the rope to a tree trunk. This bamboo raft might still be useful when we come back, so we dragged it up again to prevent it from being washed away by the running water.

Afterwards, Sister Fo got into the dense bamboo forest to survey the terrain ahead. I took out the flashlight from my backpack. It was already on the shady side of the mountain, and it was snowing in the sky. There was not much daylight, so I could only rely on the flashlight. Explore and slowly enter the depths of the mountain forest.

my country's subtropical areas are rich in moso bamboo. The tall moso bamboo can reach more than ten meters high. When you look up, you will find that the bamboo has slightly covered the sky, and everything is pitch black. You can't see anything without turning on the flashlight. Different from the weather outside the mountains, the deeper you walk inside, the cooler the breeze becomes.

"Lin Kun, why do I feel like this place is so scary? It doesn't look like a virgin forest, but more like I've been to an ancient tomb." Chen Ziyue said timidly.

"Don't tell me, I feel the same way, it's very weird."

Si Weiqi coughed and said, "This is Zhong Xie, please shut your mouth."

I was surprised. I didn't expect that I would arrive at the tomb while walking. From time to time, I saw groups of phosphorus fires flickering in the distance deep in the bamboo forest. Although there were still no traces of artificiality, It seems that this is completely a virgin forest.

At this moment, Sister Fo's flashlight signal suddenly came from the bamboo forest in front. She waved the flashlight at us. Si Weiqi immediately made a movement to stop moving forward. I stopped suddenly, and my hand was already gone. He picked up the engineer shovel hanging under his backpack.

Everyone became nervous and quickly approached Sister Fo. I saw Sister Fo squatting on the ground, looking at something on the snow. When she got closer, she discovered that there was a line of very shallow footprints on the ground.

"Footprints?" I asked in surprise, "Did anyone besides us come here?"

"Could it be..."

Sister Fo shook her head and said, "This footprint is not fresh. The shoe print on it has been frozen, which means it has been a while. Because the snow does not fall in this place, it has not been completely covered until now, so it looks like Very shallow.”

"So, this shoe print is probably from Ye Heping?"

At this time, Sister Fo looked along the footprints and said, "This line of footprints leads directly to the stream in front, and the footprints disappeared there."

I frowned, "Is it possible that Ye Heping crossed the river?"

"It should be like this. I checked the bamboo nearby and there are obvious signs of cutting. He must have made a bamboo raft to cross the river like us."

I turned to look at Si Weiqi and asked, "Sister Qi, what do you think?"

"The stream in front leads directly to the cave facing the bottom of the mountain. After passing through the cave, you reach the foot of the Dragon Burial Pit." Si Weiqi said, "Ye Heping may have gone there."

We soon understood and immediately started making another bamboo raft. However, the flow of the stream was much faster than before, and the small bamboo raft might capsize if we were not careful. I picked up the short pole and barely maintained my balance. The river was more tortuous than before, with big turns appearing from time to time.

After entering the cave, the scenery in the depths is unimaginable. The flow inside is rapid. Those jagged and weird stalactites only flashed before disappearing into the darkness, as if they had entered a bizarre dream maze. Under the light, the walls on both sides of the cave in front are lined with rows of naturally formed smooth lava terraces. The layers are like the waves of the sea, really like a solidified silver ocean.

"I can't believe that there is such a wonderful place hidden here." I couldn't help sighing.

"This is much more interesting than the Shuanglong Cave in Jinhua."

"Be careful!" Si Weiqi reminded from behind.

At this moment, a huge stalagmite emerged from the water, and the sharp stalactites above also hung upside down. We had to duck down to barely get over. Looking up again, the river water seemed to flow into the mouth of a huge beast head. It opened its bloody mouth and roared crazily, revealing its sharp fangs, trying to devour the uninvited people like us. .

The river just passed through the mouth, and what we faced was like a door to hell. Our heartbeat accelerated, our breathing became heavy, and we unconsciously held the bamboo pole in our hands tighter.

After finally crossing the most dangerous section on the bamboo raft, our eyes suddenly became brighter. The speed of water flow also slows down. The people on the bamboo rafts looked at each other in silence, not knowing what they were thinking in their hearts, and I frowned even more, suddenly having a very uneasy premonition, as if just walking through this place, in this dark and deep cave, I would Your hands will touch a thick layer of fog from ancient times.