Chapter 79: The Secret Village
The mountain forest after the rain is like a steamer full of steam. After walking in it for a while, it makes your whole body full of sticky sweat, completely different from the dry heat of the north.
Compared to us, the Daxing Da Wu and his men seemed to be in a worse situation, because they were bitten by mosquitoes along the way. However, my master and I had the special medicine from the Snake Sect with us, and we didn’t attract these mosquitoes. Several times I wanted to take out the secret medicine and share it with the Daxing Da Wu and his men, but my master next to me saw through my thoughts and stopped me with a hint, telling me not to take out the secret medicine.
I also noticed a detail. Master was clearly not bitten, but pretended to be bothered. I didn’t understand why.
Wasn’t he a close friend of the Da Xing Da Wu? Why did the master have to act like that? But at this point, it was obviously not the time for me to ask.
The scenery in such a steamer is still quite good, with verdant mountains and freshness after the rain. The scenery at every corner of the secluded path reminds me of the scenery I once saw in a hallucination with a Taoist monk… except that it lacks the mysterious aura of being surrounded by a layer of heavenly air.
But even the best scenery is not a pleasant thing to walk for an hour in the hot, humid summer after the rain in a mountain forest full of weeds.
“Old Mu, when will we reach the secret village?” The master had already unbuttoned his shirt and draped it over his back, disregarding his appearance… he was only wearing his shorts, because the weather here was really too hot, and so was I. But when I turned around, I noticed that the master had a deep mark on his chest, or rather, a deep scar, which ran from his chest to his lower abdomen.
Was it a knife wound? Or was it something else? I couldn’t tell at the time, because the wound had already scabbed over. Judging from the crooked stitches, the wound had been treated. But according to Uncle Chen’s skills, would it have turned out like this?
I suddenly realized that my master seemed to have many secrets, but I was at a loss and knew nothing… At this moment, I really couldn’t help but want to ask, but Da Xing Da Wu interrupted me: “Ahead, turn around that mountain pass, and you will reach the secret village of our Lei Shan Miao village.”
This made me suddenly realize that it was inappropriate to ask here, and following the words of the Da Xing Da Wu, there was indeed a mountain pass not far ahead. This secluded and deep path ran through it, and then turned a corner, not knowing where it ended.
With a goal in sight, I felt like I had more energy in my legs… The mountain pass was not very big, and with our deliberate quickened pace, we passed through it in about 20 minutes. As soon as we turned the corner, we felt the mighty mountain wind coming out, and then I saw a different view!
Who would have thought that behind this mountain pass was a sheer cliff? It was just a cliff sticking out, forming a large flat area… Above the cliff was the endless blue sky, and below the cliff were the rolling green mountains…
On top of the cliff is a flat rocky ground with very few weeds, only a few clumps of weeds growing here and there. But on top of this cliff are five or six large trees that look like they have been here for a long time, growing crookedly but showing more vicissitudes of life.
The canopy of the big tree is like a roof, and the crooked tree trunk looks unusually thick. The dense root system winds and spirals, extending all the way to the bottom of the cliff platform. From the entrance where we are standing, we can see that the bottom of the cliff is almost wrapped in tree roots.
It is as if it is holding up the entire platform.
Next to these large trees are several simple stilt houses, very primitive, with rough logs as the main body of the house, and piles of thatch on the roof, which looks very simple and primitive. The only decoration is a variety of strange totems painted with white paint.
These are not the most eye-catching things on the platform. The most eye-catching thing is the rough altar in the middle of the platform, surrounded by large trees and simple stilt houses. Why is it rough? Because the altar doesn’t even have a basic shape. It’s not round or square. It’s like the altar’s foundation is what it looks like, and the altar is what it looks like. It hasn’t been carved at all.
But on closer inspection, it seems that the altar is carved with intricate patterns and even things that look like writing. The platform is surrounded by some seemingly messy stone carvings.
Here I saw the familiar stone sculptures of Qiongqi, as well as a stone sculpture that looked very similar to the shadow behind Qiangzi. There were also a variety of other stone sculptures, but the most eye-catching were the stone sculptures of Qiongqi and the shadow behind Qiangzi.
This is the so-called secret village of Leishan Miao Village, and it should also be said to be the holy land of Leishan Miao Village… Compared to the beautiful and almost unreal Snake Gate Holy Land, this Miao village holy land lacks the soft natural beauty, but under the blowing of the strong mountain wind, it has a little more vicissitudes of life, mystery, and indescribable shock of the mysterious atmosphere.
At this moment, I finally recognized what the shadow behind Qiangzi was. No matter how stupid I am, I could still recognize the stone carving.
It is another ferocious beast described in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, the Ao-hen, or it also has a famous name, called the Mou-lu… In the description of the Classic of Mountains and Seas, this is a more “vicious” ferocious beast than the Qiongqi, which is only cold and bloodthirsty… while the Mou-lu is full of human emotions.
From its other name, Ao-hun, you can get a sense of it.
My master and I were shocked by this mysterious secret village, and my master was silent for a long time before saying to the Da Xing Da Wu next to him, “Are you sure there are no problems? Behind Qiangzi… If I’m not mistaken, it’s Mouwu, right? Is Qiangzi’s drastic personality change related to this?”
The mountain wind blew the sound of Master’s voice in and out, but it could not blow away the heaviness in his words, nor the hint of blame he directed at the Da Xing Da Wu.
I glanced at Qiangzi, who was lying on the back of the Hmong man. He had been unconscious for so long that he looked a little pale, his lips were chapped, and his eyebrows were still tightly furrowed in a coma. I don’t know what he was thinking… From this appearance, you can still see the shadow of the previous honest and simple Qiangzi.
Didn’t people say that only the sleeping face can reflect a person’s true nature? What happened to Qiangzi?
And now, why hasn’t he woken up? Did Yang Sheng really cause him so much harm? In fact, Yang Sheng shouldn’t have hurt him that much!
Now, why doesn’t he wake up? Did Yang Sheng really cause him so much harm? In fact, Yang Sheng shouldn’t have hurt him that much!
Facing his master’s words, Daxing bowed his head, paused for a moment, and then said to his master, “Darong is very important to our village now. Old Jiang, you and I have been together for many years. Do you think I would harm Qiangzi? All the words are difficult to explain, so let’s go to the secret village and talk about it.”
As he spoke, the Great Shaman of the Da Xing tribe sighed and walked into the secret village first, while the Miao carrying Qiangzi followed him in a trembling manner… As for Ah Mao Dou, he walked behind me and the Master, and I don’t know what kind of expression he had.
When they were almost at the altar, the Da Xing Da Wu said to the Miao man, “Give me Da Rong.” Then he took the unconscious Qiangzi on his back and let the Miao man leave… As for A Mao Dou, the Da Xing Da Wu looked at him and said, “Why don’t you go to the Da Wu to receive punishment?”
Amo Dou walked out from behind me and the master, his face pale, bowed to the Da Xing Da Wu, then bypassed the altar and walked towards the stilt house at the far end of the secret village.
Da Xing Da Wu looked at Ah Mao Dou’s back, standing silently for a long time without saying a word. When Ah Mao Dou walked into the stilted building, Da Xing Da Wu waited with Qiangzi on his back… My master and I were guests, so we could not move around at will, and we could only wait with Da Xing Da Wu.
Ah Maodou didn’t stay in there for long. After about ten minutes, he came out… and with him were two young boys who didn’t look like they were fourteen or fifteen. They followed Ah Maodou to the edge of the cliff and then stopped.
These scenes made me pause. Could it be that the punishment for Ah Maodou was to jump off this cliff? If so, isn’t that too cruel?
I heard the Da Xing Da Wu beside me sigh… and this sigh was also scattered in the air by the strong mountain wind on this cliff… and it disappeared in an instant.