A thousand words boiled down to one phrase: thank the First Emperor.
If back then, instead of sending large numbers of Chan Tou Jun, he had sent an exploration team of about ten people, the subsequent story would likely have been completely rewritten.
Xing Shen suddenly thought of something: “But Lin Xirou still got out, and not through the Golden Gates.”
Yan Tuo laughed self-mockingly: “Blame my father for digging the coal mine too deep.”
Opening a new exit for the Di Xiao, letting out such a demon spawn.
Nie Jiuluo vaguely felt things weren’t so simple: “Don’t forget the great marsh in Xingbazi Village. The story of that young woman?”
That marsh was another exit, though that young woman was far inferior to Lin Xirou. Her “business” hadn’t even gotten started before things went wrong repeatedly, and finally, molten iron was poured down, welding the exit shut.
Indeed, Yan Tuo’s heart tightened: “We thought there were only four exits, so the Chan Tou Jun set up four gates. Looks like they didn’t find them all—how many are there?”
Xing Shen’s mind stirred, and he blurted out: “Seven.”
Nie Jiuluo was surprised: “How… how did you calculate that?”
Xing Shen said: “I just remembered Chan Tou Jun’s flying message, where the top was blood-soaked with only three characters remaining: ‘Kua’, ‘Fu’, and ‘Seven’.”
This reminded Yan Tuo: “Kua Fu’s Seven Fingers?”
Previously they couldn’t understand what “Kua Fu’s Seven Fingers” represented, but what if it referred to seven exits? In legend, Kua Fu was a giant who chased the sun. After falling, he kept digging with his hands, wearing down three fingers, leaving seven—each one becoming a passage to the outside world.
And that flying message was the Chan Tou Jun in the Black and White Rapids trying to warn their companions: there weren’t just four exits, but seven.
Nie Jiuluo felt a chill: “Seven exits—the Chan Tou Jun sealed four, molten iron sealed one, the Yan Mountain coal mine is one, so where’s the seventh? Where is the seventh exit?”
No one could answer.
This place wasn’t exactly scenic, and they couldn’t rest here indefinitely. After careful consideration, Xing Shen decided they should return to the Golden Gates.
They had come to “exchange people,” but now everyone was scattered, there was no point in exchanging anymore. They could only hope for good luck and perhaps pick up one or two companions on the way back.
No one objected. Though Yan Tuo wanted to find his sister, firstly, the area was too vast with no clear leads, and they didn’t bring much food; secondly, the situation was truly dangerous, and he couldn’t let personal matters endanger others.
First, survive, then make long-term plans.
…
The return to the Golden Gates was both smooth and not smooth.
It was smooth because of Xing Shen—his eyes were practically divine instruments here. Since he saw light rather than form, within visible range, no living thing or trace of movement could escape his eyes.
Nie Jiuluo felt somewhat emotional. Back when she had raged about Xing Shen ruining his eyes, she never dreamed that one day, she would be grateful for these eyes of his.
The difficulty lay in the route. The terrain below was already complex, and the map was crude. Even holding the map, they had to search slowly. After that scattered fleeing earlier, they were lost. Trying to reconnect with their previous route wasn’t easy.
A group of ten-plus people moved as quietly as possible, guided only by two dim light sticks front and back. Xing Shen would climb high mounds periodically to look around—after all, height was needed for distance viewing.
Nie Jiuluo walked hand in hand with Yan Tuo, listening to the whispers of those ahead.
—”Really, we’ve walked so far, why haven’t we seen any of our scattered people?”
—”They weren’t all taken out by those white-whatever ghosts, were they?”
—”Do you think the Bai Tong Gui can talk? If they could, we might communicate with them.”
Yan Tuo suddenly raised his hand and tapped the shoulder of the person in front: “Excuse me, when you encountered the Bai Tong Gui, did you see if there were any children among them?”
The person kept walking: “Who had time to notice? We were too busy running. Only saw those white eyeballs in the darkness.”
He helped tap someone further ahead: “Hey, were there any children among those white-eyed ghosts?”
One by one he asked, getting several negative answers.
Seems not, then. Yan Tuo said thanks and fell silent.
Nie Jiuluo’s thoughts stirred: Would her mother Pei Ke be among the Bai Tong Gui?
The next second, she found herself amusing, found both herself and Yan Tuo amusing: unable to find what they sought, directionless, they were becoming superstitious, suspecting everything they saw.
Just then, Xing Shen, who had just climbed a high mound ahead, suddenly flattened himself against the ground and let out an extremely low whistle.
Even without the whistle, his body language alone indicated trouble ahead. Everyone’s emergency response was quick—instantly scattering left and right, guns ready, backs pressed against earthen mounds or stones, not daring to breathe.
After several seconds, Shan Qiang couldn’t hold back anymore and whispered hoarsely: “Brother Shen, what is it?”
Xing Shen didn’t answer, just waved his hand, probably telling everyone to stay quiet. After a while, still prone, he slowly moved to the edge of the platform, then lightly jumped down, covered in dust.
Datou was anxious: “What’s the situation?”
“Bai Tong Gui, moving in a fan formation to encircle this direction. We can’t pass through.”
Fan formation to encircle?
The situation was too bizarre. Nie Jiuluo’s scalp tingled: “How many are there?”
Xing Shen thought carefully.
“Ones with actual white eyeballs, I only saw five, but on either side of the Bai Tong Gui, there were…”
He paused here—the things besides the Bai Tong Gui were hard to describe, and since he mainly saw outlines and light, with no details, it was even harder to explain: “The things on their sides moved on all fours, like trained beasts. Each Bai Tong Gui had two, fifteen total, spaced apart at intervals, forming a large fan shape, moving this way, basically cutting off our path in that direction.”
Someone immediately panicked: “Then, then what do we do? The Golden Gates are in that direction!”
Xing Shen remained calm: “It’s fine, there’s plenty of space below. Let’s change direction, walk a bit further, and try to go around them.”