novelsite Chapter 43 Hot Spring
Chapter 43 Hot Spring
"My goodness..." The fat man stared at the black claw in the snow, his voice trembling slightly, "What... what is this thing? A snow mountain version of a crayfish?"
"Don't move!" Ye Cheng shrank back in fright, but stumbled in the deep snow and almost buried himself again.
Qin Yuan knew what this thing was, but fearing that reality might differ from the novel, he put Qin Jiu down, carefully grabbed his snow axe, and went down the snow slope to clear away the accumulated snow.
Fortunately, just as I remembered, as the snow was cleared away, a long, multi-legged stone carving gradually came into view.
"It's carving." Wu Xie breathed a sigh of relief.
With the help of Lang Feng and Monk Hua, Chen Pi Asi stumbled over. He squinted his old eyes, leaned close to the stone carving, almost pressing his face against it, and even stopped playing with the iron pellets in his hands.
After observing for a while, he straightened up, slowly exhaled a breath of white air, and uttered three words: "Centipede Dragon".
"A dragon?" The fat man leaned closer, shining his flashlight on the stone sculpture. It did indeed resemble a dragon, but it was also somewhat awkward. Its body was long and slender, covered with countless tiny legs, like a hybrid of a centipede and a dragon. Its head was ferocious, and it held a badly weathered stone bead in its mouth. The whole thing exuded a savage and ferocious aura. "This dragon looks... a bit shabby, doesn't it? Like it hasn't fully evolved."
The usually taciturn monk Hua spoke up at this moment, his voice steady: "Fatty, this is not the dragon shape commonly seen in the Central Plains. The image of the dragon has varied since ancient times."
He shone his flashlight across the hundred-legged stone carving: "Early dragons were simple in appearance, even possessing a fierce quality reminiscent of primitive totems." He paused, looking at the black stone dragon before him: "This hundred-legged dragon seems to be a product of combining elements of earth dragons, flying serpents, and certain local totems. Look at its legs; they aren't randomly carved, but rather symmetrically distributed along both sides of its body. This seems to represent its characteristic of 'benefiting from the earth,' perhaps symbolizing guarding the earth's veins and connecting with the underworld."
The fat man listened, stunned, and after a long while, he finally managed to stammer, "...Dude, I didn't realize you were such a cultured person! You speak with such eloquence!" He patted Monk Hua on the shoulder, "So, according to you, this thing that looks like a skewer of grilled centipedes is actually an old dragon with a powerful background?"
Hua the monk smiled but didn't reply.
Wu Xie frowned, more concerned with the practical issue: "The problem isn't what it looks like, but why it's here? Who put it in this desolate, snowy mountain wilderness? Judging by its appearance, it looks a bit like a decoration carved on a door."
Chen Pi Asi snorted and poked the frozen ground around the stone dragon with his hiking stick: "Hmph! You don't know anything, this is an ancient tomb sealing stone."
"A sealing stone?" Wu Xie looked around at the vast, white snow-covered slopes. "Where's the tomb here?"
Chen Pi raised his chin. "Monk Hua, go check on the dragon's mouth."
Hua the monk responded, carefully brushed away the snow and ice shards near the dragon's mouth, reached into the gaping mouth of the ferocious stone dragon and groped around for a while before pulling hard.
With a loud scraping sound, a large section of a black iron chain was pulled out of the dragon's mouth!
Everyone was taken aback.
The fat man perked up: "There's a chance! Pull! See if there's something hidden behind it!"
Unfortunately, there was no response from behind the chains. Monk Hua released his grip. "It's no use. It seems the mechanism is broken."
Hope, barely ignited, was extinguished again, and the atmosphere grew gloomy once more. Exhaustion and coldness descended upon them in double measure.
Chen Pi stared at the iron chains and stone dragon, his face grim, and remained silent. The others discussed resting there for a while.
Qin Yuan put Qin Jiu down and let him stand at his feet. The little guy looked up at the huge stone dragon, blinked his bright green eyes, and suddenly whispered, "Dad, it's warm behind the stone..."
At this moment, Zhang Qiling, who had been standing a little distance away, walked to the black stone dragon and slowly stroked it along the patterns on its body. His fingers stopped at the part where the dragon's head met the mountain and gently tapped it.
Then he looked up at everyone and said, "The area behind the dragon head is empty."
"Empty?" Wu Xie's eyes lit up. "Speaking of which, I think I just smelled sulfur. Is the hot spring behind here?"
This time, Chen Pi Asi didn't refute, but squinted at the junction of the stone dragon and the mountain: "The stone is used to seal the tomb; you can't just move it by force."
"What should we do then?" the fat man exclaimed anxiously. "We can't just kowtow to a rock, can we?"
Wu Xie ignored the fat man's complaints and walked closer to the stone dragon, carefully observing the gap between the dragon's head and the mountain.
Qin Yuan was also observing. As a transmigrator, he vaguely remembered a similar scene in the original story, but it had been too long to recall clearly. He stepped forward and, imitating Zhang Qiling, tapped the mountain wall around the stone dragon with his hand. The sound was dull and solid. Only the area behind the dragon's head produced a hollow echo.
His gaze fell on the base where the stone dragon was perched. The base appeared to be one with the mountain, but upon closer inspection, there was an extremely thin crack, almost completely filled with ice and snow, encircling an area about two meters square below the stone dragon.
Wu Xie's eyes lit up when he saw this: "I understand! Let me try."
These top students from Zhejiang University are truly exceptional. They used their ice axes to tap the loose rocks beneath the sealing stone a few times, prying them out. Under the pressure of the snow above, the sealing stone slowly slid down a short distance.
This movement immediately revealed a dark gap between the sealing stone and the mountain!
At the same time, a warm, humid stream of air carrying a distinct sulfurous odor suddenly surged out from the crevice!
"It's done!" the fat man roared excitedly.
The gap wasn't large, but it was big enough for a person to squeeze in sideways. Faint light and the sound of water could be heard coming from inside.
Zhang Qiling was the first to walk to the gap, shine his flashlight inside, and then squeeze in sideways. His figure quickly disappeared into the darkness behind the gap.
"Safe." His voice came from inside after a moment.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, followed by a surge of elation at surviving a disaster.
"Go in!" Chen Pi Asi ordered. He was getting old, and his face looked terrible after all the commotion.
Lang Feng, Ye Cheng, and Hua Heshang carefully helped Chen Pi Asi inside, followed by Pan Zi carrying the unconscious Shunzi, and then Wu Xie and the fat man holding his nephew.
Qin Yuan took one last look at the cold, biting world outside, then at the warm, piercing gap before him. He took a deep breath of the sulfurous, warm air, turned sideways, and squeezed into the darkness.
Behind the crevice, there was indeed a hidden world.
This is a relatively small natural cave. The light from outside, combined with the beam of a flashlight, allows us to see inside. The most striking feature is the steaming hot spring pool in the center of the cave, about ten square meters in size! The water is clear, a pale milky white, and the rising steam carries the smell of sulfur. There is also a small patch of dry sand beside the pool.
The steam from the hot spring dispelled the biting cold, and the entire cave became warm as spring, almost bringing tears of joy to everyone's eyes.
The fat man plopped down on the warm sand and let out a long sigh: "Heaven...this is definitely heaven..."
Wu Xie slumped down, feeling the long-lost warmth enveloping his body, so comfortable that he didn't want to move.
With Lang Feng's help, Chen Pi Asi drank some hot water, and his complexion improved slightly. He looked around the cave, his gaze finally settling on the shadowy area deeper inside the cave, opposite the hot spring pool, his eyes deep and thoughtful.
"Rest first and replenish your energy," Chen Pi Asi reminded him. "Don't let your guard down; this place isn't as simple as it seems."
As his words fell, the crowd calmed down slightly from their euphoria at finding the hot spring and began to examine the shelter. Warmth was certainly precious, but in this secluded, snow-capped mountainside, a hot spring cave protected by artificial stones… was it really just a chance refuge?
Qin Yuan held Qin Jiu in his arms, enjoying the warmth of the cave, but his vigilance remained undiminished.
He looked down and saw Qin Jiu staring intently into the deep darkness opposite the hot spring pool with her bright green eyes. Her face was expressionless, but the hand gripping Qin Yuan's clothes tightened slightly.