Chapter 66: Landslide (1)
“Shwaaaaa Shwaaaaa~”
Mi Wan quietly fixated her eyes on the dead tree demon and wondered if she was hearing things. No matter how tall or lush this tree had been, a tree demon without consciousness was no different from the rest of the average vegetation that resided around Mount Gu Yuan. So how could it send out a warning?
“Mi Wan, what’s wrong?” seeing Mi Wan had stopped in her tracks, Han Xiao asked curiously.
“Nothing.” Mi Wan shook her head and hastened her steps to catch up.
“Did you hear something?” Liu Gu suddenly asked.
Mi Wan froze, stared at Liu Gu with uncertainty, and asked, “Did you hear it too?”
“So you really heard something?” Liu Gu appeared more surprised than Mi Wan.
“What, what, what sound?”Jin Mingzuan hovered over curiously.
“We have a legend here. People sometimes hear strange noises in these mountains. The elders say it is the tree deity talking to us.” Liu Gu explained.
Mi Wan stiffened and took another careful glance at the ancient tree behind her. Nope, still no demonic energy.
“Mi Wan, did you really hear something?” Jin Mingxuan was not naturally superstitious, but seeing Mi Wan’s expressions made him feel less certain.
“Was it a buzzing noise, like someone was talking beside you but doesn’t sound too clear?” Liu Gu asked.
“Yeah.” Mi Wan nodded but did not reveal the details that she was able to understand. She wasn’t trying to hide anything, but that voice was so vague and muffled, that even though she was able to roughly deduce what was being said, that sound didn’t reappear, so she was unable to make any confirmations. Besides, as an experienced demon hunter, Mi Wan could detect any signs of danger in this forest, that much she was confident.
“I heard it too as a child.”
“You heard it too as a child?” Han Xiao asked Liu Gu with a shocked look. Jin Mingxuan and Mi Wan also turned towards them curiously.
“Yeah. I was about 5 or 6 years old when my parents took me here to pray to the tree deity. I heard a kind of buzzing sound as we were heading back. I stopped hearing it as I grew older, and most of the people who were able to hear those noises in the village were children.” Liu Gu replied.
“There’s a belief in my hometown, that children have naturally pure consciences, so they can easily hear divine voices.” Han Xiao recalled an old tale.
“Our family also has the same belief. They say children often see things that adults can’t, such as ~~~Ghosts~~~” Jin Mingxuan deliberately stretched out his vocal cords, and made a face as he bobbed his head over to Mi Wan with the intent to scare her. Unexpectedly, Mi Wan remained indifferent and utterly expressionless.
“Hey, are you sure you’re a girl? Why aren’t you scared when we were talking about something so ominous?” Jin MIngxuan complained defeatedly.
“What’s there to be afraid of? After all…I’m a floater (ghost).” Mi Wan pointed at her own feet. Jin Mingxuan quickly looked down and was startled to discover that both of Mi Wan’s feet were suspended in midair.
“AH~~” Jin Mingxuan yelped and scuttled backward. When he regained his senses, he saw Mi Wan and his two roommates still standing at the same spot, laughing in his direction. Jin Mingxuan glanced over at Mi Wan’s feet once more, both of which were currently planted on the ground so firmly, that they even left some deep footprints in the soil as she stomped in laughter.
“Oi, stop laughing,” Jin Mingxuan couldn’t believe his prank had backfired on him and was subsequently embarrassed, but this wasn’t enough to stop his dorm mates from laughing at his expense.
“Fine, fine, let’s stop fooling around. It’s already 2 o’clock. Let’s hurry up and gather our samples and aim to leave the mountains by 3:30 so we can get back to school by 8:00.” Han Xiao repressed his laughter and organized everyone to begin taking some sample collections.
“Let’s start from the back of the mountains.” As one of the locals in the area, Liu Gu was the most familiar with the terrain, “the vegetation in the back of the mountains has been declining in growth for the last two years with large barren spots.”
“Sure, lead the way.”
The group trekked uphill and after about 20 minutes, they arrived at Liu Gu’s so-called barren destination. However, since it was currently winter, the surrounding plants were naturally withered, so at first glance, it was difficult to grasp the severity of the barren wasteland that Liu Gu was describing.
“Let’s start over here.” With that, Liu Gu dug his shovel into the ground and unearthed large amounts of wet, red soil.
“Wrap it up with multiple plastic bags. It has been raining for the last few days, so the soil is too wet. Try not to get your backpacks dirty.” Han Xiao advised as he retrieved several waterproof plastic bags from his backpack.
“I’ll go pick a few plant samples back.” Jin Mingxuan pulled out his spade and began scraping on the side where the roots were still visible.
Mi Wan didn’t know what to do, so she grabbed a plastic bag to help Mingxuan collect his samples.
After taking their soil samples, the group was about to repeat the process at a different location when the skies started to pour. Luckily, everyone had brought their rain gear and was able to avoid getting drenched.
“It’s been dark and gloomy all day. I knew it would rain.”
“That’s not foresight. It’s been raining the whole weekend. As if anyone needed your forecast.” Liu Gu rolled his eyes at Jin Mingxuan.
“It’ll be better tomorrow. The weather report said the skies would clear up, followed by a week of nice weather.” Han Xiao monitored the weather more closely due to the on-site nature of their research.
“It’s bound to clear up at some point, or I’m gonna run out of underwear.” Thinking about the line of wet underwear in their dorm that stubbornly refused to air dry, Jing Mingxuan sighed.
“Shut up, you!”
Liu Gu and Han Xiao both kicked him in the shins. The roads were wet from rain, the cold never wavered, and Jing Mingxuan fell on his butt after the two blows and glared at both men in annoyance, “What’s with you two?”
Both men simultaneously looked towards Mi Wan. Mi Wan chuckled back without embarrassment.
“Hah~~” Jing Mingxuan sighed as he patted his butt and stood up, and pretended as if nothing happened, “Then, let’s continue our work. The faster we finish, the sooner we return.”
The group followed behind Liu Gu to an area where vegetation looked slightly lusher and gathered more soil samples when Mama Liu called.
“My mom had said that it’s raining, so the mountain roads are getting dangerous, and wanted us to leave earlier.” Liu Gu hung up and relayed the message to his friends.
“We should leave then since we’ve finished gathering our samples.” Han Xia said as he packed everything up in his bag.
“Which side do we go to? Do we need to pass by the tree deity again?” Jin Mingxuan asked.
“No need, there’s a closer shortcut here that gets us down faster.” Liu Gu tilted his umbrella towards a path up front.
At this point, it had been raining for about half an hour, and though it was not heavy, the rainwater had gathered without any signs of letting up. Soon, the mountain path was filled with flowing water streams.
“Let’s pick a wider road. There’s too much water here and the shortcuts are far too slippery.” Han Xiao found himself struggling along the walking path as a strapping young lad, and was worried that Mi Wan, a young woman, might accidentally fall along the road.
“Sure.” Liu Gu found Han Xiao’s words to be reasonable and so the group changed directions, and headed towards the original road where the tree deity was situated. As they passed the tree deity, the joss sticks that Liu Gu had lighted up in the stone altar were still burning. The spirals of green incense smoke were a stark contrast to the increasingly heavy rain.
“The rain is getting worse. Let’s hurry.” Jin Mingxuan glanced at the skies. Though he brought an umbrella and wasn’t worried about getting drench, the wintery climate and rainwater chilled him to the bone.
Just getting blown by the wind is unbearable!
Mi Wan eyed the tree deity, still wondering about the voice she heard earlier. She carefully gave the tree deity another look over, only to reaffirm that this was just an ordinary tree with no spiritual consciousness.
“Mi Wan.” Seeing that Mi Wan was loitering behind, the group called out to her.
“Coming.” Mi Wan stopped pondering and quickly caught up to the group.
“What’s wrong, did you hear something again?” Jin Mingxuan was beginning to notice that Mi Wan kept acting peculiar whenever she saw the tree deity.
“No.” Mi Wan shook her head, “I’ve just never seen a tree this big.”
“This is nothing. Wait till we visit Life park. The trees there are truly majestic.” Jin Mingxuan answered.
Life park? That’s the park that Fan Chen constructed, right?
Indeed, given his demonic powers, growing a larger tree than this tree deity wasn’t a difficult task for him.
“I’ve also heard the botany professor once say that the forest in Life park did not seem man-made. It was as if those were the original wild thickets that had emerged out of an ancient wasteland, having undergone progression and growth through the natural passages of time.” Han Xiao repeated his tutor’s words.
“We can do a comparison when we take a trip to an all-natural primitive jungle.”
The group continued chatting while making their way down the mountain, but halfway through, that familiar sound returned once more. As if mimicking the thunder, it rumbled anxiously, as if it were a person trying its best to articulate the issue but unable to spit out the words.
“Stop talking, all of you.” Mi Wan shushed the other three and strained her ears to the buzzing sounds in the wind.
What’s with her? Jin Mingxuan eyed his friends quizzedly.
Han Xiao shook his head, and Liu Gu gestured a finger on his lips. The three men looked unconvinced, but no one made a sound.
“Buzzz ~~ Hurry~~ Buzzz~~ Flee~~”
Mi Wan’s eyes widened.
This again.