That night, the chaos dragged on and on. Nearly the entire Tianshi Estate in the back mountains of Mount Longhu, along with a vast stretch of the surrounding forest, was engulfed in flames and the din of fighting. The staff at the scenic area in the front mountains and the visitors who had stayed behind to watch the sunrise were dumbfounded. They assumed the Daoist priests had accidentally started a wildfire with their incense and candles, so they immediately called the fire department.
To their surprise, firefighters and police arrived right away, but they only set up a cordon at the main access points to the back mountains. They showed no intention of sending anyone in to put out the fire. The firefighters were merely ordered to stand guard around the perimeter and prevent the blaze from spreading. They didn't seem inclined to venture into the back mountains to fight the fire, either.
The official explanation was that the mountain paths were rugged and difficult to navigate, the roads were impassable, and it was dark and slippery. The back mountains of Mount Longhu were also undeveloped and dangerous, and the situation at the fire was extremely complicated. For the safety of the firefighters and the public, they would wait until daylight, when the fire and conditions in the back mountains became clearer, before deciding how to proceed.
The scenic-area staff and visitors were still somewhat worried, but they didn't find the highly professional-sounding explanation unreasonable. All they could do was gaze at the distant wildfire from the mountaintop and hillside attractions in the front mountains, silently praying for the Daoist masters of Mount Longhu, who supposedly lived and practiced deep in the back mountains.
What most of them didn't know was that the wildfire rapidly spreading through the back mountains