Chapter 84: It’s just a snow mountain tour
For two consecutive days, Feng Kuo and his group explored the snow mountain, returning each night covered in dust and grime. However, they eventually figured out what had caused the guides in Apu Village to become so disoriented.
A small avalanche had recently occurred, collapsing part of an ancient tomb in the mountain. The outer layer of the tomb, sealed for over a thousand years, was exposed. The air within the tomb was thick and murky, and without any exorcists to handle it, ordinary people who got close to it would lose their senses.
Feng Kuo was busy wrapping a bandage around his arm. He had accidentally injured it, leaving a large wound, while trying to open the first layer of the tomb that day.
“Tomorrow, we’ll go back and try to open the second layer.”
“Brother Kuo, you’re going back tomorrow? Aren’t you going to take a couple of days off since you’re hurt?”
“A little injury is nothing; it’s not like I haven’t been hurt before. Besides, I’m the only high-level exorcist here. If I don’t go and you three run into a ghost-turned-demon in the tomb, I’d have to come and clean up your bodies.” Feng Kuo grimaced as he secured the bandage on his arm.
“This tomb is really strange. The air outside was thick with murky energy, but after opening the first layer, there was actually a flow of vitality inside. We didn’t even see a single lingering ghost,” Da Wang remarked.
“It was precisely because it was unusual that it was dangerous. Bring more gear tomorrow, just in case, and take any hidden treasures you have,” Feng Kuo advised.
“The tomb wasn’t filled with deathly energy, but it was full of vitality? Is there a stone tablet with Li Dynasty characters on it in the first layer of the tomb?”
The four people in the room looked up in surprise and saw Feng Xuexiang standing at the door.
Chu Pei was astonished, “How did you know that?”
Feng Xuexiang’s gaze lightly swept over Feng Kuo’s arm as he said, “I’ll go with you tomorrow.”
Chu Pei, not understanding, looked troubled. “That tomb is very dangerous, we…”
Feng Kuo slapped him to the side and flashed a bright smile at Feng Xuexiang. Upon closer inspection, there was even a bit of flattery in it.
“Really? Little Ninth, you’re so great. Get up early tomorrow, we’ll be waiting for you!”
Feng Xuexiang furrowed his brows and turned to leave.
Feng Kuo, in a good mood, began to hum a tune off-key as he took out all the talismans and treasures from his backpack and started putting in snacks instead.
“Old Kuo, what are you doing? You just said to bring hidden treasures, why are you taking them out now?”
Feng Kuo snorted twice, “My brother’s coming, so I won’t need them.”
He smiled mysteriously and added a pack of drinks to his bag. “Let’s just treat it as a spring outing tomorrow.”
*
In Yu Shi’s room, when he heard that Feng Xuexiang was going with Feng Kuo and the others into the mountains tomorrow, he was momentarily stunned but quickly understood. “You’re worried about Brother Kuo, so you’re going to help, right?”
Feng Xuexiang replied, “…No, I’m just a little curious about that tomb.”
Yu Shi smiled knowingly. “Then you should ask Brother Kuo what to prepare. I’ll join you all tomorrow as well.”
“There’s no need to ask, I already know.” Feng Xuexiang had no objection to Yu Shi joining them and only suggested, “Bring a folding stool. If you get bored, you can sit and wait for me. You can bring some snacks too.”
Yu Shi: “………..”
He decided to go ask Feng Kuo anyway.
In the hallway, Feng Kuo, holding a can of beer, laughed when he heard Yu Shi’s question. “You’re coming too? There’s nothing special to bring. How about you just bring some snacks?”
Yu Shi thought to himself, ‘They really are brothers; neither of them seems particularly reliable.’
…
The next day, six of them went into the mountains together.
Although Chu Pei had heard what Feng Kuo said, he still had some doubts about Feng Xuexiang’s abilities. The mountain paths were difficult, and he worried that they might not be able to make it halfway.
But surprisingly, Yu Shi and Feng Xuexiang seemed at ease. They climbed steep cliffs and jumped across deep ravines without any trouble.
Chu Pei, on the other hand, slipped a few times and fell twice along the way. Meanwhile, Feng Xuexiang was still in the mood to play with snow on the roadside, carefully molding it into a ball and handing it to Yu Shi.
Feng Kuo was also making snowballs by the side of the road, and he threw one at Feng Xuexiang’s head, earning an angry glare in return.
Feng Xuexiang threw a snowball back at him, repaying the intentional provocation.
Feng Kuo caught the perfectly round snowball and only laughed harder.
Chu Pei: What’s going on? This feels like a fun outing!
Before long, they successfully reached the tomb.
They crawled through a collapsed opening into the outer tomb passage, and there was a new breach leading further inside, which Feng Kuo and the others had opened the day before.
Feng Xuexiang led Yu Shi toward the stone tablet. The characters on it were faint and unclear. As his fingers brushed over two incomplete characters, his eyes flickered.
These were Li Dynasty characters, and coincidentally, he recognized them.
—Chi Heng.
The previous chain tomb he had visited also had a stone tablet like this.
At that time, they had all believed that the tomb was Chi Heng’s, but now it seemed like that was just a decoy. And this one…
Feng Xuexiang surveyed the surroundings. The stone walls fit together seamlessly, and though the tomb door was intricate and the carvings on it were quite beautiful, it couldn’t compare to the previous chain tomb. This one was smaller in scale.
This was probably not the real Chi Heng tomb. However, like the previous chain tomb, this one was also related to Chi Heng.
Feng Kuo and the others had already started to open the tomb door. The door was easier to open than they had expected. Since the door was easy to open, the real challenge was bound to be what lay behind it.
Feng Xuexiang took the lead.
Countless butterflies flew out of his hands, gracefully landing in the tomb passage and quickly filling the entire corridor.
They touched every crack between the bricks, with most rushing inward, leaving only a few dozen on different bricks.
“Those,” Feng Xuexiang said to Feng Kuo.
“Got it.” Feng Kuo threw a dozen or so stones, hitting each brick. The others only heard the sounds of bricks and stones moving, and soon a new passage was revealed.
During the shaking, the stone shells on the surface of the green bricks fell off, revealing the lustrous jade underneath.
They walked through the jade tunnel, all marveling at its beauty.
Chu Pei looked at the patterns carved on the jade bricks and said, “These are traditional local patterns. The Zhuo family has old bricks with similar patterns. They told me that these are ancient magical symbols.”
Feng Xuexiang noticed the familiar sixteen lotus flower lamps in the tomb, arranged just like in the chain tomb.
The chain tomb had not been dangerous; the spirits in the jade vases had been easy to handle, as they were standard Chi Heng tomb sacrifices, which even mid-level exorcists could deal with.
This tomb was similar. It was very clean everywhere, with only seven attendant statues kneeling on each side of the long coffin.
The spirits trapped inside the statues for a thousand years sensed the presence of people and began to overflow from the mouths of the statues, quickly turning into pitch-black demons.
Before they could even reach the group, they were drained by the swarm of butterflies, as if they were extracting nectar.
One by one, the demons emitted high-pitched howls before dissipating into the air.
Feng Xuexiang kept holding onto Yu Shi, guiding him through the swarm of butterflies towards the coffin.
It was also an empty coffin, containing only a scroll of jade text.
A similar jade scroll had appeared in the chain tomb, which had later been taken by the Crisis Bureau.
Feng Xuexiang thought that this tomb seemed to be waiting for someone to come and search for it, and that the guarding demons were merely there to filter out ordinary tomb robbers.
Having witnessed Feng Xuexiang’s prowess and seen him retrieve the jade scroll, the others said nothing.
After all, they were only there to address the issues in Apu Village and needed to confirm that there were no major threats to nearby villages. Da Wang and her husband were more interested in the magical symbols and inscriptions in the tomb.
Feng Kuo approached Feng Xuexiang with interest and asked, “What’s this? Let me see.”
“Don’t touch it,” Feng Xuexiang said, pulling his hand away.
Seeing that Yu Shi also seemed curious, Feng Xuexiang handed the jade scroll to him. “Do you want to see it, Ashi?”
Feng Kuo: “……..” What an unworthy younger brother.
Yu Shi couldn’t discern much from it and returned it to Feng Xuexiang. He had followed just to ensure Feng Xuexiang’s safety, but it seemed it wasn’t necessary.
Not only Yu Shi, but Chu Pei and the others also felt mixed emotions. They had expected a fierce battle, but it turned out to be just as Feng Kuo had said—a pleasant outing. They hadn’t used a single talisman from their packs.
They completed their exploration easily and returned just as effortlessly.
On the way back, David asked Feng Kuo quietly, “Old Kuo, who exactly is your younger brother?”
Feng Kuo replied, “Can’t you guess?”
David said, “I think I’ve figured it out, but I can’t believe it.”
Da Wang, linking arms with David, also shook her head in amazement. “I never expected it, never!”
Feng Kuo asked, “You didn’t expect to see the Southland family’s treasure with your own eyes?”
Da Wang responded, “I never expected you were once a young master yourself. It’s hard to tell.”
Feng Kuo: “……..”
…
On the way back, Yu Shi occasionally stopped to take photos. They were quite close to the main peak of Jinxi Snow Mountain, which was perfect for photography.
The weather was favorable, with the clouds over the peak clearing up, and golden sunlight shining on the snowy summit.
“If you want to take pictures, walk a bit further that way for a better view. With a bit of luck, you might even catch a glimpse of Jinxi!” Chu Pei, who was somewhat familiar with the area, said, feeling that this trip was more like a vacation.
They were in no hurry to descend and decided to take another path to photograph Jinxi.
At the foot of the main peak, where it met the secondary peak, there was a mountain stream where melted snow gathered into a winding brook.
When sunlight hit the stream just right, the water turned golden, like flowing amber.
Yu Shi’s camera was aimed at the snowy peak, then moved down to the stream at the mountain’s base, and finally shifted to Feng Xuexiang nearby.
Feng Xuexiang was bending down, scooping up some snow, and shaping it into a ball with a relaxed and carefree expression.
Yu Shi captured the moment of his smile in a photograph.
As they descended the mountain, Feng Xuexiang said, “If we didn’t manage to photograph Jinxi, let’s come back tomorrow.”
Yu Shi replied, “There’s no need. Even though we didn’t get Jinxi, the other photos are still great. It’s not a regret.”
Back in Apu Village at the foot of the mountain, Zhuo Mu, hearing that the issue had been resolved, happily went to fetch a small goat. She said that to show their gratitude, they would cook goat meat for them in the evening.
Da Wang suggested splitting the goat meat for a barbecue and volunteered to handle it with David.
Yu Shi helped Zhuo Mu in the kitchen, preparing the remaining half of the goat meat.
He served the most flavorful pieces to Feng Xuexiang and also grilled a large skewer of goat meat, placing it in front of Feng Xuexiang.
“Eat up.”
Feng Xuexiang looked down and smiled.
Even if he told Yu Shi that he could hardly taste the flavors, Yu Shi would still put effort into making delicious food for him, never finding it meaningless or being dismissive.
Feng Kuo, observing the interaction between the two, raised an eyebrow and took a sip of beer, deliberately saying, “Little Ninth, since you don’t actually need to eat, why not let Seventh Brother have it?”
Feng Xuexiang blocked his hand, and Feng Kuo turned to Yu Shi. “What do you think?”
“He needs to eat; ‘wanting’ is also a kind of need,” Yu Shi said, pushing the plate of lamb chops toward Feng Kuo. “Have this, Brother Kuo.”
Feng Kuo withdrew his hand. “Alright, alright, I won’t fight him for it.”
They continued chatting and drinking, taking their time to enjoy the meal. Afterward, Yu Shi helped Zhuo Mu clean up the dishes. When he came out, he found Feng Kuo sitting alone on a chair.
“Come on, let’s have a chat,” Feng Kuo said with a smile when he saw Yu Shi.
As Yu Shi sat down across from him, Feng Kuo started, “I remember when I went to the Feng family before, you told me that you wouldn’t have any emotional entanglements with your employer.”
“But now, seeing how you interact with him, it doesn’t seem like a typical employer-employee relationship… I’m curious, what do you think about it?”
