Chapter 54 - Sacred Mountain in Myanmar (Part VIII)

Chen Shaoxian sighed and said to the others, “That was our only chance. The mountain boar’s body is covered with thick, coarse brown hair, which clings to its body like hard armor, virtually impenetrable by blade or bullet, making it extremely difficult to harm.”

“Although we managed to blind the mountain boar’s eyes just now, the thick fog it exhales can heal all its wounds.” But this very ability is also the mountain boar’s fatal weakness. “When the mountain boar heals, it opens up all its brown hair, which is like shedding its armor.”

“However, at that time, the outer layer of the thick fog becomes solid, able to rebound attacks like rubber.”

“Just now, after we blinded the mountain boar, once the wounds begin to scab over, the thick fog might lose its healing effect, so it had to quickly recover from its injuries.”

“Since the thick fog can temporarily replace its own brown hair, the mountain boar feels secure enough to heal without worrying about further injury, ignoring us and quickly gathering the thick fog to heal.”

“While the thick fog was gathering, I held my breath, sneaked in, and stabbed it. The mountain boar, distracted, couldn’t control the thick fog around it. That was when it was most vulnerable; otherwise, no amount of grenades would have seriously harmed it.”

“We’ve avenged this grudge, and we must be careful on our way back.” He then looked at the others and chuckled, “In ancient times, the mountain boar was worshipped as a Mountain Deity, even considered a dragon species. We’ve had a fight with a Mountain Deity; it’s quite a story to tell.”

Xiao Zhuang suddenly interjected, “Though telling the story, who would believe it?”

They all laughed heartily and chatted for a while before Xiao Zhuang suggested they rest, as they had a busy day ahead. At dawn, after packing up, they set off towards their destination.

By midday, they had finally reached the spot marked on the map. Chen Shaoxian looked at the karst cave in front of them. The cave entrance was tall and wide, unadorned by human hands, appearing as just an ordinary cave. A path, seemingly cleaved by a knife, ran through the lush weeds, likely made by the last group of people who passed through.

Several individuals checked the weapons they carried to ensure there were no oversights. After confirming everything was in order, they turned on their headlamps and walked into the karst cave. Contrary to what was expected, the interior of the cave was not damp but rather dry. The ground was uneven, and the sides of the cave were uncut, but as they walked further, the ground became flatter and the space on either side expanded, becoming wider. The cave was pitch black except for the light beams from their headlamps, which illuminated the path ahead.

About thirty meters in, electric lights mounted on the walls began to appear, and the color of the ground and walls turned a dark red. There was also a faint fishy smell in the air.

Chen Shaoxian motioned for the others to stop, then crouched down and pulled out his dagger to vigorously scrape the ground, dislodging a lot of dark red powder. Beneath the scraped-off powder, the ground revealed a bright red color.

Chen Shaoxian pinched some of the powder and brought it to his nose for a sniff, then looked up at the others and said, “This is cinnabar.” He then used his dagger to dig more forcefully into the ground, uncovering a thick layer of cinnabar. Chen Shaoxian thought to himself, “No wonder those things inside can’t get out.” He stood up and walked further until he reached the edge of the dark red path, where he indeed saw many scorched footprints on the ground and numerous scorched handprints on the walls. There were also several scorched human-shaped indentations on the ground.

Chen Shaoxian walked over to the human-shaped indentation and examined it closely, finding that the thickness was just enough for a human body and there were a lot of black residues inside. With his dagger, he scraped around and unearthed a few bones that hadn’t completely decomposed. Chen Shaoxian used his dagger to pick the bones out and threw them onto the cinnabar-covered path. As soon as the bones touched the dark red surface, white smoke immediately arose and quickly turned into black ash.

The others watched in amazement. Xiao Zhuang asked, “Shaoxian, what is this?”

Standing up, Chen Shaoxian wiped his dagger on the bottom of his foot and reinserted it into the sheath on the outer side of his calf. With a serious expression, he said, “This is a cinnabar path meant to ward off evil. It’s designed to prevent the creatures inside from escaping. It seems there’s something peculiar about this situation; it greatly differs from what Grandpa Nie described.”

“Grandpa Nie received some information that was probably intended to deceive. Perhaps the Japanese knew what was hidden inside when they constructed these defense works. Now, it seems there are two possibilities: either the Japanese were unable to conquer what was inside, so they assigned Inu Oni to guard it, or something went wrong and the Japanese feared the Inu Oni would escape and harm their own people, thus they used this cinnabar path to block it. One thing is certain, the Japanese did not retrieve what they desired.”

“What on earth could it be?” Chen Shaoxian wondered curiously to himself, then shook his head and stopped thinking about it.

The group continued walking forward, the road began to slope downwards, and under the illumination of the lights, a large iron gate that opened inward appeared ahead. Chen Shaoxian examined the talismans carved on the iron gate, which further confirmed his suspicions.

As they passed through the gate, a strong fishy smell enveloped them, and the ground became uneven with many patches of black ash similar to those they had seen earlier. The dark red color of the walls told everyone that this section was also a cinnabar path designed to ward off evil.

After navigating through the rough terrain, rooms appeared on both sides, all doors locked tight. They tried one door without success. Chen Shaoxian used the light from a window on the door to peer inside, and was startled by what he saw.

The room contained only a stone bed, on which lay a body pinned under a huge rock, dressed in what appeared to be a World War II Japanese soldier’s uniform. Surprisingly, the bodies of these Japanese soldiers had not decomposed, nor were they flattened by the rocks on top of them. The air coming through the room’s window was dry enough to be irritating to the nose.

Suddenly, the Japanese soldier on the bed twitched and took a breath. Seeing this, Chen Shaoxian quickly covered his mouth and held his breath, stepping back rapidly. He immediately pulled a mask from the pocket of his Tianma Armor and covered his nose and mouth, urging the others to do the same.

With his mask on, Chen Shaoxian’s voice was muffled as he said, “The creature inside is a drought demon. No wonder the cave is so dry. This creature is much harder to deal with than a corpse nightmare. Luckily, it’s pinned under the rock, or it might have risen from the dead.” He then glanced at the other rooms, feeling a chill on his scalp.

Xiao Zhuang, also wearing a mask, looked seriously at the others and cautioned them to be very careful.

Just then, a tearing sound suddenly echoed through the cave.