Yamafu Military Affairs

Chapter 659 Snake Tracks
"Ok?"

Upon smelling the strange odor, Qin Huai's eyes lit up. He immediately pushed open the closed door and, using the light of the lantern, began to carefully search for subtle differences throughout the room, based on the subtle variations in the concentration of the scent in the air.

Soon, Qin Huai found several irregular stains of varying sizes on the wainscoting next to the bed, from which the very faint strange smell was emanating.

As Qin Huai looked at these marks, the more he looked at them, the more he felt that they were remnants of human blood splattered on the wall.

"No, normal blood that has oxidized should be dark red, not grayish-black. And if it really is spurting blood, it shouldn't be blood splashed from a cold weapon. Judging from the direction and force of the flow, is it coughing up blood or splashing water? Or did you accidentally knock something over?"

In a short time, Qin Huai came up with five or six possibilities, but due to the scarcity of clues, even after turning the small courtyard upside down, he found no other leads.

"Sir, are you alright?"

Upon seeing Qin Huai emerge, the Han Chinese constable who had been waiting at the door immediately straightened his back and greeted him.

"Let's go to the next one."

After inspecting the remaining houses, Qin Huai finally found a small piece of pottery under the bed of a soldier named Hu Yong.

These pottery shards are only about one-tenth the size of a normal person's palm, and you can see that they are very well made, with traces of painting on the outer surface.

Although only a portion of the design was visible, Qin Huai easily recognized that it depicted some kind of serpentine animal.

After carefully examining the exquisite painting and the rather realistic scale patterns, Qin Huai nodded, wrapped the pottery shard, which also emitted a peculiar odor, in a cloth, and put it away.

"Alright, you've been busy all night, go home and rest early."

Watching the constable's departing figure, Qin Huai thought for a moment, then made a decisive move, returning to the yamen and entering the archives where the county records were stored.

He was inspired by the story Ash had told him earlier. Since the Yazhou government had a deep connection with the Black Bone Yi people, collecting more myths and legends about the Yi people might make his trip to Nanyu tomorrow go more smoothly.

With a clear goal in mind, Qin Huai spent three hours searching before finally discovering new clues in the complex ancient Yi books.

Ancient Nanyu Kingdom.

With the translation support provided by Lu Wu's main body through soul empathy, Qin Huai, who had clarified many Yi myths, also understood the origin of Ba Hui's followers.

According to the records of these myths in the Jiageku, there once existed an incredibly powerful empire in the mountains southwest of ancient Shu, which may have prospered for hundreds or thousands of generations. At that time, the true Huaxia people had not yet been formed, and even the ancient Shu region was only inhabited by a group of primitive people who had just entered the Neolithic Age.

According to ancient records, the people living on this land were called the Yu Hui clan. They were likely a group of inhabitants who migrated from the southwestern plateau region. The exact time when the ancient Nanyu Kingdom was formed is unknown, but it is certain that it eventually developed into an extremely powerful empire—its territory encompassed the vast mountains of central and southern Hengduan Mountains, and even the Bashu Plain was once within its sphere of influence. In the later stages of this ancient kingdom's decline, it engaged in a large-scale war with the emerging ancient Shu Kingdom. This war ended in reconciliation; the ancient Nanyu Kingdom relinquished the Bashu Plain and retreated into the mountains; while the ancient Shu Kingdom was required to pay annual tribute to the kingdom to maintain the agreed balance and avoid further conflict. This situation lasted for approximately a thousand years, leading to a large influx of legends and religious beliefs related to the ancient Nanyu Kingdom into the Shu region, which were ultimately recorded in Chinese culture.

In this kingdom, religion held a pivotal position. Unlike other early East Asian civilizations, the Yu Hui clan did not practice any form of nature worship or totem worship; these mysterious ancient inhabitants worshipped only one deity and its descendants. This deity was called "Ba Hui," also known as the "Great Serpent"—the Yu Hui clan believed it to be an unimaginably enormous serpent; its body sank to the bottom of the four seas, coiling around the eight directions and encircling the entire land; while its head rested in the abyss beneath the earth. Ba Hui was so enormous that even the slightest movement would shake the foundations of the earth, causing the earth to tremble and mountains to collapse, so it usually remained still. For this reason, any deep cave in the ancient Nan Yu kingdom was considered sacred and the most suitable place for sacrificial ceremonies. To be close to the deity, people lived in deep caves and gathered in the deepest caves for grand sacrificial ceremonies—because such places were closer to Ba Hui and therefore more likely to gain the deity's favor. Priests were also the rulers of the kingdom, and the highest-ranking high priest—who was also the center of power in the country—was chosen during grand sacrificial ceremonies.

To be fair, once you remove the obviously mythical content, the records about this "ancient Nanyu Kingdom" are not some earth-shattering fantasy. However, in Qin Huai's view, the description of the Ba Hui is quite similar to the Midgard Serpent of the West.

"Perhaps the Serpent of the Central Court is the Western manifestation of the Ba Hui, and the influence of the Divine Star is omnipresent."

Qin Huai put down the ancient book in his hand, pushed open the door and walked into the courtyard. The sky outside was gradually turning white.

"Your Excellency has been investigating the case all night. Have you found anything? I am absolutely certain that those gentlemen did indeed go to the mountains as guests."

Seeing the prefect waiting for him in the courtyard since early morning, Qin Huai waved his hand dismissively and said, "Perhaps. Prepare my horse; I'm going to find them."

Seeing that Qin Huai did not pursue the matter, the prefect was overjoyed and immediately helped him choose a strong horse and the already packed luggage, and escorted Qin Huai out of the city.

With the clatter of hooves, Qin Huai rode his horse southwestward toward the towering mountains that reached the sky, soon disappearing into the silence of the desolate wilderness.

The roadside vegetation began to grow lush and dense, layer upon layer, like an insurmountable and unpredictable maze, threatening to swallow the man and the horse.

The Nanyu Mountain that Qin Huai was going to was a full three hundred miles away from Yazhou City. Even if he had the Blood Fire technique to stimulate the potential of horses, it would probably take him two days to catch up, even if he traveled day and night.

After Qin Huai had been traveling for four or five hours in a tedious manner, he saw some land cultivated by humans by the roadside, as well as Yi ethnic ornaments hanging on trees. Gradually, small terraced fields made of stones appeared.

As the yellow-green path turned around a protruding hillside, a simple and typical Yi village suddenly appeared before Qin Huai.

Just then, Qin Huai frowned. In the fresh air of the wilderness, he smelled a familiar scent.

With extreme vigilance, Qin Huai slowed his horse and slowly entered this typical Yi village.

The mottled eaves and gray-white earthen walls with narrow vents silently tell the story of this village's ancient history. Qin Huai looked around and found that the few large wooden structures there were also very old, displaying a dark color that had been eroded by wind and rain. Qin Huai circled the village several times but did not see a single person, not even a trace of chickens, ducks, cats, or dogs. It seemed that this village had been abandoned for a long time, and the Yi people who lived there had long since disappeared.

Following the peculiar, slightly fishy smell, Qin Huai searched along the street, turning houses upside down. He actually found a few interesting items in the nooks and crannies, including a small knife with a slightly curved blade, similar to the castration knife used by eunuchs when entering the palace; and a long strip of Yi ethnic fabric with two round pieces of cloth attached, which looked like a bellyband or bra, but he didn't know what it was used for.

Without lingering in this strange village, Qin Huai followed the narrow path that the soldiers who had been recruiting soldiers a few months earlier had taken, heading west into the desolate mountains.

There are hardly any paths between the bushes and shrubs, only occasional bare ground and piled stone marks, proving that these were once traces left by Yi hunters.

Gradually, the mountain path began to climb upwards, and the surrounding mountains became steeper, even more treacherous than before.

The Jianchang horses prepared by the prefect were short, strong, agile, and had a strong carrying capacity. They were good at climbing mountains and wading through rivers and had always been indispensable draft animals on the Tea Horse Road. However, the mountain road was too difficult to travel at this time, and there were almost no continuous sections. Qin Huai, who originally intended to conserve his energy, had to dismount and walk, leaving the horse behind.

Looking at the rugged granite cliffs and towering peaks reaching into the clouds, Qin Huai walked further and the terrain became increasingly steep. The thick trees began to thin out, gradually giving way to low mountain shrubs, but the view did not become wider. On the contrary, the majestic mountains pressed in from all sides like impenetrable walls, blocking out all the scenery and leaving only a small patch of sky. The mountains to the west were even taller, their snow-capped peaks blending seamlessly with the clouds lingering around their waists, making it difficult to discern their true boundaries from a distance.

Qin Huai stared at the Hengduan Mountains, straining to discern whether the beautiful, flowing patterns were the result of natural geological movements or a hallucination caused by his demonic possession.

He stood alone on the ridge, looking at the majestic and wild mountains along the riverbank, and the more he looked, the more he realized how small and insignificant he was.

"I think I understand now why the ancient Yi people who lived on this land worshipped and sacrificed to these mountains as deities."

Hearing his own mutterings, Qin Huai suddenly shuddered, forcing himself to reach for the gourd at his waist and gulp down a mouthful of spring water.

But his feelings and state of mind did not change at all; it seemed that everything in front of him was indeed just the natural landscape.

Withdrawing his gaze from the distance, Qin Huai closed his eyes, sat cross-legged, and chanted a calming mantra. Only after the strange feeling subsided did he set off again, following the map markers to find the entrance to Nanyu Mountain.

After trekking through mountains and rivers, crossing forests and ridges, Qin Huai searched for two whole days and nights in the mountains before finally spotting a huge cave at the bottom of a steep cliff.

Qin Huai observed the surrounding terrain and quickly determined that the cave was located above a prehistoric cirque. Judging from the frost heave cracks and erosion marks, the geological structure was relatively stable and there should be no risk of sudden collapse.

The cave entrance is enormous, irregularly elliptical, about thirty feet high and fifty to sixty feet wide at its highest point. In front of the entrance is a vast open space, mostly bare rock transported by prehistoric glaciers, covered only by a thin layer of soil and covered with low alpine shrubs.

Having mastered feng shui and divination, and possessing extensive geological knowledge, Qin Huai gained a basic understanding of the cave after observing its entrance and the surrounding mountain terrain.

This is likely a geological fissure connecting to a vast fissure system deep underground. At the end of the Ice Age, meltwater from the surrounding glaciers flowed down the mountainside into cirques, filling the fissure and creating the entrance to an underground river. Over time, this river eroded the rock walls of the fissure, forming the cave we see today. Later, the glaciers disappeared, and the river dried up, completely exposing the cave.

After gazing deeply into the cave, which resembled the gaping maw of a giant beast, Qin Huai took out a torch soaked in tung oil from his storage items, lit it with blood fire, and, with the Qingfeng Seven Star Sword in his right hand, cautiously walked inside.

As Qin Huai's figure gradually disappeared into the dark cave entrance, the snow-covered mountain peaks in the distance, bathed in the radiant sunlight, seemed to flicker for a moment.

Quiet.

Quiet.

A deathly silence.

As soon as Qin Huai stepped into the cave, everything around him instantly fell silent.

The whistling wind in the mountains and the warm sunlight in the sky had all vanished completely.

The cave was quiet; apart from Qin Huai's own footsteps and the sound of the torch burning, there was no other noise.

As he walked deeper into the cave, the terrain gradually sloped downwards, and Qin Huai knew clearly that he was following the traces eroded by an ancient underground river as he ventured deeper underground.

The cave extends downwards far beyond imagination, and as the slope continues to descend, the cave's outline changes in countless ways.

Regardless of how its outline changes, the cave remains spacious, showing no sign of narrowing or branching off. Although the cave is full of bends and twists at various angles, it always leads downwards.

The ground slope mostly remains between 30 and 45 degrees, which seems to suggest that it extends into the depths of the earth that are almost inaccessible to humans.

There aren't many stalactites and stalagmites growing in caves, probably because the altitude and climate here are not suitable for the growth of these deposits. What's more common are large pebbles and smooth rock surfaces eroded by water.

When Qin Huai reached the number 23,891 in his mind, he finally smelled that peculiar, slightly fishy odor again.

(End of this chapter)