Chapter 18: The legendary demon

After a long journey back to the shack, the moment I pushed open the heavy door, a warm breeze came rushing in, accompanied by soft lighting, which made me feel extremely relaxed and sleepy.

“These two people are sleeping, and they’re not afraid of falling asleep.” Lao Zhang smiled and scolded, then went into the room and propped up the window with a stick. After all, the door of this house is thick, and the window is not a glass window, but a solid wooden window. If you sleep in it for a long time, and the fire is burning in the room, it is easy to run out of oxygen.

A small slit was left in the window, and a chill breeze rushed in, but it was quickly warmed by the warmth inside the room, which made people feel awake. Snow was still curled up in bed, breathing quietly and peacefully, which made people feel at ease. I walked over to touch her hand, warming it, and then I retreated quietly.

As for Chengxin, he was still holding the book in his hand, but he was leaning against the wall and had fallen asleep.

I didn’t want to wake them up. I guess it was the cold air that had entered the room. First, Ruoxue woke up, and then Chengxin woke up. As soon as they woke up, they asked me in unison, “Chengyi, is it dawn yet?”

Looking at Cheng Xin Ge, I guessed he was still confused, so I smiled and said, “No, I just came back from hunting with Lao Zhang. You can sleep a little longer and wait for dinner.”

Chengxin didn’t go back to sleep, and Ruoxue got up. Zhang, however, said, “I’ll go and clean up. We’ll be able to eat soon.”

An hour later, a rabbit was roasting on the fire pit. The fire was just right, and the golden brown skin was dripping with oil from time to time, causing the fire in the fire pit to ‘chitter’ and ‘chitter’.

The big pot was hanging over the fire pit. At this time, the snake soup was simmering fragrantly. The whole house was filled with the aroma and heat of the snake soup. Old Zhang had found some rice in the house and was waiting for the right time to put it in the soup so that we could eat the hot and fragrant snake soup.

The room was quiet, and Old Zhang skillfully turned the rack on which the rabbit was being roasted. From time to time, he added some seasoning, and from the bag he carried with him, he took out a packet of cumin and sprinkled some on it. “When I was in the mountains, I couldn’t do without this stuff. Roast something to eat. Without it, it’s really not good.”

I looked at Zhang and thought for a long time before finally gathering the courage to say, “Zhang, I don’t want to hide it from you. In fact, we are not ordinary people. I guess the place we are going to is likely to be dangerous in the forest. I want to say…”

Old Zhang looked calm and waved his hand at me, saying, “In our place, there is a saying: if you want to talk about things, you should wait until after you have finished eating, so as to avoid causing discomfort. If you can’t eat anymore, that would be a double loss.”

After saying this, Old Zhang smiled at me with a simple and honest look, which made me feel uncomfortable. This person is really sincere.

Lao Zhang’s cooking is really good. The skin of the rabbit is crispy, the inside is tender and fragrant, and the taste is also absorbed. Every bite is delicious. Needless to say, the snake soup is hot and fresh, the snake meat is tender, and it is completely melted into the porridge. When you drink it, a warm current flows down your throat and into your stomach, and the whole person is hot and steaming.

Despite my worries, I ate a lot at this meal. The wild game was really delicious, and I didn’t want to eat less because I had spent a lot of physical energy during the day.

After the meal, Lao Zhang began to clean up quickly, and Ruoxue helped him silently. A few minutes later, the cleaning was finished, and Lao Zhang put a pot of snow on the fire to boil: “To wash my feet in hot water.” Lao Zhang explained this way, and while he was talking, he lit his pipe and frowned, not knowing what he was thinking about.

This situation made me feel awkward, because I knew that Zhang was thinking about it, and I could only wait for him to think about it in silence.

At this time, the old ghost Wu floated out again, and as soon as he came out, he yelled, “Young man, are you that honest? If people don’t follow us, what will happen? We can’t do that!”

I understand Wu Laogui’s desire for revenge. In this vast forest, without a familiar guide or a good hunter to accompany us, no matter how capable we are, we might be trapped here. The taboos and dangers are even more blind, and we might be inexplicably trapped in danger.

Chengxin and Ru Xue knew me well and understood that I was determined to explain to Zhang the dangers involved, so they kept quiet and waited quietly for Zhang to see what he had to say. In the face of Wu Lao Gui’s anxiety, Chengxin rarely argued with Wu Lao Gui, but just made a gesture to keep quiet.

Wu Laogui grumbled angrily, “How much effort have I put in? Can’t I do this? Fine, fine, let you do it.”

After that, Wu Laogui floated in the air, sitting cross-legged with his arms folded, but in the end he didn’t say anything. This made me think that Wu Laogui actually had a bit of kindness in his heart, and that he restrained himself in such a state of revenge.

Lao Zhang was silent for about five minutes, tapped the ashtray in his hand, and said, “Actually, our ancestors have passed down a treasure.”

A treasure? I was a little surprised. Why did Old Zhang mention this?

But before we could ask, Zhang opened his jacket and carefully removed a small cloth bag from the inside of his clothes. Then he took out a folded piece of excellent parchment from the cloth bag.

What is this? Old Zhang didn’t beat around the bush, and directly spread the parchment on the ground. I only noticed then that the parchment was a map, a map of the mountains, extremely detailed, with danger and other things marked. I was stunned just by looking at it, because it was covered with tiny, dense characters, and it was still a hassle to look closely.

But I knew without Zhang having to tell me that this was a treasure. This was not a general map issued by the state, but the crystallization of the hard work of Zhang’s ancestors, the mountain people.

With this map, I’m afraid that the chances of survival for an ordinary person in these deep mountains and forests are much greater.

I don’t understand what Zhang is trying to show by laying out this map, but I can clearly see that there are several places on the map marked with question marks. Obviously, even the old hunters and guides of the ancestors have not explored these vast mountains and forests, so you can see how dangerous they are.

“It can be seen that this young man is honest with me. So tell me, where are you going?” Old Zhang is indeed very direct.

Where to go, I and Chengxin only know the general idea, but in the face of this detailed map, we can’t point out the specific location. Old Wu was excited when he saw the map, and he kept guiding Chengxin where it was. After listening, Chengxin pointed to the map and said, “This is it.”

Old Zhang was silent, because the location that Brother Chengxin pointed to was a place marked with a greeting. In addition to the question mark, there were also three bright red crosses. I didn’t understand what it meant, but looking at the bright red color, I also understood that this was probably not a good sign.

“Here…” Old Zhang hesitated a bit, but in the end he said, “This is almost the most dangerous place in the forest, and…” Old Zhang was afraid that we wouldn’t understand, so he pointed to a place. I could see that it was almost on the edge of the edge, and he said, “We are now in this position. To get to the place you mentioned, the best route is this way.” Old Zhang pointed to a place. Isn’t that where the old ghost Wu and the middle-aged Taoist went up the mountain? That’s where the group was going to go up the mountain.

“The roads in the mountains are not all connected. Some places are dead ends, impassable! But from here, no matter how dangerous the final destination is, you only need to pass through here, here, and here, three dangerous places. But if you start from where we are, you have to pass through here, here, here… seven dangerous places. These places, these places, are said to be…” Old Zhang raised his eyebrows, and the frowns on his forehead deepened a little. He obviously found it difficult.

“What is the legend?” This time, it was rare that Ruoxue asked the question, looking very interested.

“A legendary powerful monster!” Old Zhang sighed after saying this. He probably thought it was nonsense, but he believed it so much that he could only sigh.