The Mountain God

[る·Kaeru]

This word is a bit special; it is generally used in two scenarios.

"Go home, or go back to where we should be." Meteor pushed up his glasses and wrote the Japanese translation in his journal. "Shinto City is Japanese territory. It seems our hosts don't welcome us. Brother Ping'an, what do we do now?"

Rockbursts are a natural disaster, but the psionic tides that accompany them are the real event. Before the journey even begins, it seems an unseen mountain god is already blocking the path in the underground world of the Ryukyu Islands, issuing a warning to the unfamiliar visitors.

"Young brother, let me think about it," Daoist Master Ping'an was an honest man and didn't intend to make empty promises to A Xing. He explained the actual situation clearly, "The road ahead is dangerous. Why don't we turn back here and go home as others have suggested?"

Meteor pressed, "Why?"

Luo Ping'an carefully explained to the Black Brother at the back of the group that he should turn around and head towards the tunnel exit.

"You said this Japanese message was very meaningful. They just wanted us to go home; they didn't mean to make things difficult for us. They were very polite; they didn't tell us to get out or insult us. It seems they don't want us to go any further."

"Moreover, rock bursts are extremely powerful natural disasters. You can hear the huge sonic boom when the earth shakes—rocks and sand are ejected together, and the power is more terrifying than bullets. According to the standard 9mm Paragon bullet fired by North American Iaijutsu, the kinetic energy of the weighted projectile is at most 400 joules."

Meteor was still wondering, this Daoist priest seems to really like firearms, how modern!

Brother Ping An didn't even turn his head, pointing with his Thumb at the mine pit behind him.

"If you think of this rockburst mine pit as a cannon muzzle, the fine sand and iron fragments that are fired are not something ordinary armor can stop."

"This warhead is made of high-density hematite that has been compressed within basalt layers for hundreds or thousands of years, and then ejected through the compression of a mountain weighing tens of millions of tons. Our physical bodies absolutely cannot withstand this kind of attack."

Meteor glanced back at the wall opposite the mine; the riddled holes were the answer—to cause such destructive power, it would probably take dozens of shrapnel shells from a cannon.

The fresh wounds caused by the recent sand and gravel blast, along with the immense mechanical force lingering in the pit, had all been converted into pure heat. The broken steel bars glowed a bright red. Brother Ping An was right—they might be able to cross this pit, but who knew what they would encounter next.

"Alright, then I'll listen to you, Brother Ping An." Bu Liuxing immediately followed Mr. Ping An's steps, retracing their steps. "Exploring unknown territories certainly requires courage, but knowing when to retreat is also a kind of bravery, don't you think?"

Luo Ping'an saw through A Xing's little scheme—this hot-blooded young man in his mid-twenties was definitely not convinced, but he would certainly get away with it with his words.

"Yes, yes, yes! You're absolutely right!"

Then, the two brothers, separated by who knows how many years, walked back the way they came towards the exit. In less than ten minutes, they arrived at the rock platform at the tunnel entrance.

They walked in silence. When Meteor emerged from the tunnel, he inexplicably felt the pressure in his heart disappear, and the intense spiritual pressure dissipated as well. He felt a sense of relief, as if he had escaped from the jaws of death.

He began to examine his body and mind. This was not the first time he had struggled with this conflict. In the previous battles to wipe out the Madness Butterfly Sect, there were many rounds where he had endured this kind of high-pressure environment and teetered on the brink of life and death.

But nowadays, when faced with natural disasters in the Haofeng Ridge Tunnel, this fear of the unknown is much stronger.

It was merely a tunnel prone to rock bursts, with an unseen and intangible mountain god blocking the way. Yet, this oppressive feeling caused Meteor's physical body to surrender willingly, like seeing a giant wave rushing towards him, the earth beneath his feet beginning to tremble. This series of near-death experiences, difficult to describe in words, created a rift within him.

You should know that A Xing has loved extreme sports since he was a child. Conquering mountains and giant waves, and skydiving from thousands of meters high, the adventure of surviving near-death experiences is what he loves most.

But when he emerged from the tunnel and was about to return to the civilized world, he was surprised and bewildered. For a moment, he wanted to admit defeat.

At this moment, cold sweat broke out on A Xing's forehead. He recalled the first time Ming Ge faced the golden egg in the sea of Fang Feng Village. The immense spiritual pressure almost shattered Meteor, but his older brother remained unmoved—that was the superpower that Meteor had always admired and respected.

Luo Ping'an reminded him, "Shall we go, young man?"

Meteor remained silent, holding his breath, and silently climbed onto Black Brother's saddle, wanting to escape this place as soon as possible.

Daoist Master Ping'an didn't say anything. He followed A Xing and climbed onto the wolf's back. They could then return the way they came and ride the wolf back to the front-line stronghold to report the situation.

Following the tracks of the ballast road, Black Brother ran the 60-kilometer stretch in just one hour.

But things are getting increasingly strange...

--According to the geological and topographical map, this winding mountain road has become an endless maze.

"That's not right, young man, something's not right." Luo Ping'an pointed to the fluorite on the road, "We've been here before, more than once."

According to the ironclad rules of the material world and the laws of pathfinding, if you follow the psionic markers, you will definitely be able to get back to the base.

At this moment, Meteor still cannot see any traffic signal base stations, and mobile phones and FOB multifunction terminals have no signal. However, they have the most basic compass function. If you remember a certain direction before the network is cut off, they will surely be able to point you in the correct direction.

Luo Ping'an handed the logbook to Meteor.

He followed the wolf's steps to calculate and roughly drew a topographical map.

They went in a big circle and ended up back somewhere on the map.

Looking around, Luo Ping'an saw nothing but the railway infrastructure and the only traces of civilization that could be called the lighting equipment left by the exploration team. All that was left were steep mountains.

"We're going around in circles, little brother."

Mr. Ping An pointed to the route map in the logbook, his finger following the clues all the way forward.

"First, turn right and drive straight for 14 kilometers. It looks like a straight road. Then there's a culvert that you have to go around. After the culvert, it's a mountain road. The terrain on both sides starts to become steep. Then you continue for another 21 kilometers on the mountain road. On the left is a cliff, and on the right is a field. More than 600 meters beyond the field is the end of a cavity. There's no road there."

"In this way, we were supposed to walk 1,800 meters to the northeast to see a base station, but instead we went around the bridge and into the tunnel, and ended up back here."

Meteor asked nervously, "Could it be a ghost wall?"

"There are no ghosts in this world," Luo Ping'an said dismissively. "Even if there were, it would depend on the situation. You, a wandering ghost, want to harm a psychic? How dare you?"

Meteor: "Brother Ping An? What does that mean?"

Luo Ping'an frowned and pointed behind him. "I'm afraid this 'going back' doesn't mean we have to go back to the stronghold."

Meteor: "Are you afraid we'll be scared by the rock burst? Do you want us to go back to Shinto City?!"

"That's right, this mountain, this land, are threatening us." Luo Ping'an's eyes showed worry. "Young brother, we've been going around in circles here, it's definitely not some kind of spiritual labyrinth, because there's no spiritual energy reaction—my divine sense, ptooey, spiritual pressure, can't sense anything unusual."

Meteor: "In other words..."

Luo Ping'an dismounted from the wolf and squatted down beside the stone ballast of the Dao Foundation.

"What tricks or illusions? Nothing beats the reality of moving mountains and filling seas. I think there must be a mountain god beneath our feet, changing the path and moving iron and stone mountains. This 60-plus kilometers is far too long for us—we're halfway there and can't feel anything happening 10,000 meters away. Perhaps it was that rock burst that trapped us here."

Meteor became nervous, but also excited.

"Should we turn back?"

Luo Ping'an: "Let's walk one more lap. Just one more lap—I want to give it a try."

Meteor grabbed Brother Ping An's wrist and pulled him onto Ahei's back. When A Xing gripped the Seeker of the Tao's right arm and their Five Fingers touched, he noticed that the Daoist priest's right hand was very white and tender, almost unlike a man's hand—very strange.

The main issue is that hand; it's so different from Brother Ping An's left palm.

As Brother Ping An said, he really was a farmer a hundred years ago. His left hand was used to handle farm tools, and years of hard work left countless calluses on his palm, which were fierce palm lines that could kill a person.

Her right hand was fair with a rosy tint, with long, slender fingers, white lunulae on her nails, and neat, untouched fingertips. Her skin was also much fairer.

Luo Ping'an saw the sudden look in Liuxing's eyes but didn't explain anything. He gently patted Ahei's belly.

"Black Brother, could you run one more lap? Just run straight ahead along this road, don't look back yet."

Following the geological and topographical map, another hour's journey passed.

On the way, a shooting star asked curiously--

"Brother Ping An, why do we keep running forward?"

"Suppose there's some kind of mountain god, I wonder if it can actually hear us."

How do you know if it can hear you?

"Didn't we just say that we'd given up on the idea of returning to the front lines? If it could hear us, it would surely put all these mountains back in their places before it could lead us back to the tunnel."

"Oh! What if it can't hear me?"

"If you can't hear me, I'm going to start yelling."

Meteor looked at Brother Ping An in surprise; it seemed this VIP was indeed holding back a lot of anger.

The Black Brother was panting heavily after running another lap.

Luo Ping'an held a fluorescent stone in his hand, which filled the empty space. He finally understood that the mountain god could not hear their conversation and could only judge their location by the faint spiritual pressure.

Brother Ping An tumbled off Ahei's back, cleared his throat, and, very formally and politely, began to speak.

"Fuck your mother, you stinking idiot!"

"The local deities are so rude!"

"I'm not even on your turf yet! You're not going to give me any face at all?"

"Do you know how much supplies we brought? Are you just going to trap me here like this?!"

Meteor felt ashamed, looking at the foul-mouthed immortal who was cursing loudly—he was a little confused, but he could somewhat understand the feeling.

It's as if we've been forced into an unfamiliar place, and then an irresistible force compels us to participate in a completely unfamiliar game.

Ping An suddenly asked, "Little brother! How much food do we have left?"

"Oh! Ahei should still have four days' worth of food in his package. If we're careful with the canned food, it can last eight days."

"Did you hear that?!" Ping An continued to curse, "Eight days! And I still have to eat canned food! The shit I ate was fucking stinky! I was looking for a toilet in that dark tunnel! Is this how a human being lives?"

"Listen up, you little Japanese land god! Taowu wants me to go down to this godforsaken place like yours to understand the people's plight, to rebuild your abandoned town, and to re-explore this godforsaken wasteland!"

"You came up here and tried to mess with my mentality without saying a word! Making all sorts of weird faces and doing these shady things! Do you think I can't handle you?!"

Meteor's eyes lit up immediately. "Then Brother Ping An, you have a way to deal with it?"

"No." Luo Ping'an regained his composure quickly, "Otherwise, why would I only be able to curse it? And why wouldn't I dare let it hear me?"

Meteor: "Huh?"

Brother Ping An said, "Before we set off, we should always vent our bad feelings. I'll go with you—if I have inner demons or evil spirits, I might get angry with you, which isn't good. So I'll scold them. Anyway, they can't hear me. If we really meet, we can greet each other amicably."

Meteor didn't know what to say. He thought to himself, "What this real person said makes a lot of sense. He doesn't tell a single lie."

The two brothers, one big and one small, finally resigned themselves to their fate.

They turned back and continued on their way.

This time, after only ten kilometers, we arrived at the tunnel entrance again.

Luo Ping'an explained to Liu Xing.

"I think this mountain god uses spiritual energy fluctuations to determine our location. For example, if we only want to walk counterclockwise on the map, it will start to cause trouble—but when we three little ants changed our minds and wanted to go back to the Shinto City, we changed to a clockwise route, and it immediately led us to this tunnel."

"Why doesn't it just create obstacles at both ends of this maze?" Meteor muttered. "If only there were tunnels in front and behind!"

Luo Ping'an shook his head and explained.

"I'm afraid that won't work. If we do it that way, it would have to constantly use its mountain-moving power. If its psionic energy efficiency were that great and its precision that high, why would it bother making us navigate a maze? Why not just shrink the distance to an inch, build a conveyor belt, and create a super elevator to send us to the Shinto City?"

Meteor nodded, seemingly understanding but not quite.

Luo Ping'an: "It's not as strong as you think. It's more like a huge, sentient creature in the mine. It can't hear us, but it can sense our location."

Meteor gasped in surprise. "Could it be Mother Earth?!"

In the Niflheim Trench, Mother Earth's tentacles are rolling iron cores, the parts of which protrude above the surface are tens of thousands of square kilometers of cilia resembling neurons, and the golden lightning is its active bioelectricity.

The mountain god that wreaks havoc in Haofeng Ridge can now move over sixty kilometers, silently altering the terrain, much like Mother Earth is causing trouble.

Luo Ping'an didn't directly deny it. "The Original Seed shouldn't have self-awareness, that's a possibility. Their power forms are very similar, but those psionic fluctuations urging us to go home—that shouldn't be Earth's doing."

Stepping back into the tunnel, that strange Inspiration Pressure returned.

A Xing followed behind Brother Ping An, proceeding cautiously step by step, and returned to the side of the hematite mine.

Luo Ping'an said, "Open your mouth."

Meteor immediately followed suit; the survival magazine in the Arcane Library had covered this technique.

--When humans face enormous wind pressure and sonic booms, they can open their mouths to relieve pressure on their nasopharynx and facial features, protecting their ears and eyes.

As long as you open your mouth, your eardrums are unlikely to be ruptured by the loud sound.

Everyone says that the ultimate goal of Power is intelligence. A Xing's books weren't read in vain; he's already a brute with a boost in intelligence.

The rockburst phenomenon occurred once again, like the slow, heavy heartbeat of this Dashan.

After the loud noise, Ping An pulled A Xing across the pit and continued forward. Ahei easily leaped over the five or six-meter-deep pit.

The two then heard the spiritual energy fluctuations accompanying the rock eruption, like countless wandering souls mournfully yearning and speaking in Japanese, "Go back."

Continuing forward, the pitch-black tunnel was illuminated by a powerful flashlight, and more graffiti images appeared on both sides of the tunnel, like cultural labels left by people from a previous era.

Various commodity symbols from the mundane world, such as Disney comic book heroes or labels like Mickey Mouse, the monastic faces left by motorcycle bikers, or various idioms with unclear meanings, such as "[The Azure Heaven is dead, the Yellow Heaven shall rise]" followed by "[Yelang died nine times]", probably because they think Chinese characters are very cool, and it's just something young people do casually.

The cracks on the wall were very deep, and the graffiti landscape was severely damaged after the geological environment changed. The Japanese characters in the hiragana and kana on the nameplates were cracked, and Meteor couldn't find any useful information in them.

The moment I stepped out of the tunnel, a bright and open view opened up before me.

They had officially entered the underground world of the Ryukyu Islands, into the territory of Shinto City.

It was an indescribably open area, with hundreds of meters ahead being a deep, dark zone. But several kilometers further ahead, along the winding mountain road, looking for more than ten kilometers, there seemed to be some sources of light.

Meteor: "There are people living here?!"

"I don't know, but based on my experience, that's probably not a light source. This place is too far from Shinto City." Luo Ping'an analyzed logically, "In 1984, if someone lived around Haofeng Ridge and encountered a geological disaster, they would probably have moved back to the jurisdiction of Nine Realms Station immediately—no one would have stayed here."

The shooting star seemed to have found its target in the distant lights ahead.

The two had walked about ten steps forward when they immediately discovered a new clue.

At the entrances and exits of the tunnels, there are sections of rock platforms and stone bases serving as auxiliary roads for maintenance personnel to pass through and to guide the water accumulated in the tunnels to the ditches that drain down the mountain. On both sides, there are iron fences to keep wild animals and lost pedestrians away.

On the left-front side of the exit, near the cliff, a corpse lay supine on a rocky platform.

When Mr. Ping An discovered the body, even this seasoned old Daoist priest was so frightened that he cursed, "Damn it!"

Meteor was curious about what could possibly make a VIP yell out loud—after all, neither the deadly rock burst nor the strange mountain god had broken the Daoist priest's defenses.

When he finally saw what the flashlight was shining on, he was so shocked he couldn't speak, as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over him.

It was the body of a male who looked no more than twenty-one or twenty-two years old, with a mohawk hairstyle.

Let's call him Mohawk for now.

The mohawker was wearing a leather jacket. The cause of death was unknown. Judging from the appearance of the body, it looked like he had been hit in the sternum by a rock, causing his chest cavity to collapse and hemorrhage—which is not unusual.

The strange thing is that the body dates back to 1984.

Luo Ping'an only confirmed this fact after seeing the Mohawk driver's license among the scattered debris on the ground, which terrified the fresh corpse so much that it made him curse.

After a long while, neither of the two passengers dared to touch the strange corpse. The mohawk looked stiff, and the hair, beard, exposed body hair, and clothing all seemed frozen solid, fixed to the rocky road.

And there are several other suspicious points --

--This mohawk guy's neck and body are not the same skin color, and there are obvious stitches, as if he had undergone a head transplant.

These strange phenomena, which defy common sense, prompted Meteor to ponder them with utmost caution.

He couldn't figure it out, so he stopped thinking about it.

"Brother Ping An, if we don't intend to touch this man's body, let's continue forward."

Ping An stood up and shone his flashlight on the side of the mountain. He saw a grayish-red piece of wreckage embedded in the mountain. It seemed to be the motorcycle of this biker gang. It looked like it had been there just before the disaster. The biker gang was riding on the mountain road, eventually crossing the tunnel and climbing the rocky road. He accidentally fell and was killed by flying rocks. The motorcycle was not so lucky; it was completely destroyed.

Unlike its owner, the motorcycle had no secret way to resist the passage of time. It had long since succumbed to the ravages of the mountain winds and become a pile of wreckage.

However, the fresh corpse had no odor whatsoever.

Ping An felt uneasy, so he crouched down to examine the body again. Apart from some scratches on the clothing and the fact that the body was firmly fixed to the ground like a sculpture, there were no other useful clues.

"Walk!"

The meteor asked, "Where are you going?"

Luo Ping'an: "It seems these cities are filled with demonic energy. We should go and confront the demons."

Meteor: "Huh?"

It is said that when a person dies, their light goes out, and they are laid to rest in the earth.

Luo Ping'an muttered to himself.

"Whether it's psionic energy or some other strange thing, technology or ruthless skills—"

"--More than fifty years have passed, and this person still cannot rest in peace. What else could it be but a demonic aura?"