In the evening, Gongsun Yan walked out of Anhua City. Facing Shuangtou Ridge at the north gate, he immediately quickened his pace and had to go up the mountain to find a safe place to spend the night before it got completely dark.
Compared with the Shuangmang Mountains he had walked through before, Shuangtou Ridge was obviously much taller and more steep. When Gongsun Yan climbed to the mountainside, it was completely dark. He climbed up a nearby pine tree to find a place.
He found a tree branch where he could lie down, hung up his backpack, took out dry food and water bags, and started eating and drinking. After running around for a day, he was already hungry.
Lying in his clothes on the tree, Gongsun Yan was not sleepy. He began to think about his next plan. The most important thing was to find a "nest" for him to live in for a long time. Thinking of this, he straightened up and used his hands to
He leaned forward and said "Huh". He found that it was much warmer tonight. It was very cold at night in the past few days. Sometimes he would wake up from the cold when sleeping in a tree. After thinking about it for a while, he realized that this was South China.
Compared with the temperature in the canyon and the northern slope, the temperature here was significantly higher. He decided to find a "nest" to settle down on the southern slope of Shuangtou Ridge after dawn.
Early the next morning, after breakfast, Gongsun Yan started to take action. For three days in a row, not only the south slope, but also the north slope of Shuangtou Ridge was searched, but he did not find the "nest" he wanted. It was not a place.
It was too small and could not protect it from the wind and rain; it was not secretive enough and could be easily discovered. There was a cave in the ground that was secretive and spacious, but it was dark, damp and bottomless, and Gongsun Yan did not dare to stay there any longer.
After a few days, Gongsun Yan figured out the geographical location and basic situation of Shuangtou Ridge. Shuangtou Ridge is a conjoined mountain peak, connected to the west by what the middle-aged man calls the "big mountain". That mountain is worthy of being called a "big mountain"
, Shuangtou Ridge is the "little brother" in front of it. The peaks are abrupt and gloomy, towering into the clouds; on the east side of Shuangmang Mountains, the grand canyon ends abruptly; both the north and south sides are hilly areas that are similar to plains. Looking at Shuangtou Mountain from a distance,
Touling is like two python heads in close contact, hence the saying.
Since Anhua City is to the south of Shuangtou Ridge and is close to densely populated areas, there are not many medicinal resources in the mountains near it, and rare medicinal materials are even extinct. If Gongsun Yan only collected medicinal herbs to make a living in this area, I am afraid it would be difficult for him to make a living.
Following.
After much thought, Gongsun Yan decided to venture into the "big mountains". Since there were fewer people there, there must be more medicinal materials, and he might be able to find a place suitable for him to live.
When we arrived at the foot of the mountain, we saw a sign erected next to the only way to climb the mountain. It said, "The mountains are high and the forests are dense, and ferocious beasts are infested. Please be careful."
Gongsun Yan ignored it and started climbing without hesitation.
The mountain is very steep, and the paths are rugged and difficult to walk. Some of the curves have cliffs on one side and mountains on the other. It took Gongsun Yan nearly an hour to climb to the top. He thought he could get a panoramic view of the mountains at the top, but he didn't know.
It is a "land that can't be seen for more than two miles at a glance". Not far away, there are still towering peaks and deep canyons, and it is obvious that one mountain is higher than the other.
There were shrill howls, cries, and occasional roars in the canyon, which was terrifying. Although Gongsun Yan often went in and out of the canyon, he rarely encountered ferocious beasts. Seeing this scene, he was also a little frightened. He decided
Don't go deep into the canyon yet, just collect herbs near the outer peaks.
In the past few days, he collected many rare herbs, some of which were like red-headed clams and red-blooded vines. It was his first time to collect them. He expected to sell them at a good price.
This morning, the sky was clear and the visibility was very high. After breakfast, Gongsun Yan came to a peak and was thinking about where to collect medicine. He found that there seemed to be several red plants on the cliff facing the mountain in the north. It would be difficult not to observe them carefully.
He found that based on his many years of experience in collecting herbs, most of the red plants growing on the cliffs were treasures. However, the mountain peaks were abrupt and shaped like bamboo shoots. The place where the red plants grew was tens of feet high from the bottom of the valley. There were no vines hanging down around it, so it was difficult to find them.
pick.
But this did not faze Gongsun Yan. He quickly reached the bottom of the valley and began to climb the cliff. He climbed there in less than an hour. After a closer look, he was overjoyed. It was a cliff ginseng, and there were two black cliff ginseng trees. The so-called
"Red for thousands of years, black for thousands of years", the black ginseng has extremely high medicinal value and is a top-quality herb that has not been found for thousands of years. He quickly used a small shovel to carefully pick the ginseng, trying to preserve the roots and seeds for the convenience of future generations.
After doing this, he found a position where he could use some strength, took out his water bottle and took a few sips. He looked back at the mountain peak he was standing on just now, and found that this cliff was somewhat special.
U-shaped, the convex part of the cliff is like a screen, which can mostly block the view from the south peak. No wonder no one has discovered this cliff.
He took a breath and prepared to go down the mountain. In order to save time and energy, he took out the rope and looked up for a place where he could tie the "knot". Suddenly, he found a small green plant similar to Thuja growing in the shade above the depression.
He rubbed his eyes and took a closer look. He couldn't help but be stunned, his heart trembled, and he almost fell down.
He calmed down his mind, stabilized his emotions, and began to climb there. When he got closer, he could see it more clearly. That's right! This small piece of green plant was the "Nine-Death Resurrection Grass" known as the "King of Herbs". He
He picked them with slightly trembling hands and carefully put them into his backpack. Gongsun Yan wiped the cold sweat from his head and calmed down his excitement. He was secretly happy that today was really a lucky day and good things happened one after another.
He carefully looked around again, looking for a place where he could tie the rope. He saw a small rock protruding from the upper right side of where the cliff ginseng grew just now, only more than ten feet high from his current position. He quickly climbed there, and then
The upper cliff is covered with moss and is difficult to climb, but the rock is flat enough to stand on and fasten ropes to.
Gongsun Yan climbed up the rock nimbly and found that not only moss grew on the cliff, but also mushrooms grew in several places. He felt strange, how could mushrooms grow on the rock wall? Mushrooms usually grow on wood.
! He tried to remove the mushrooms and moss with a shovel, and sure enough, he saw that there was rotten wood underneath. He continued to use the shovel to peel off the moss on the surface of the wood, and the outline of the wood gradually emerged. The area was not large, about six feet square. Although the surface
It has decayed but is still relatively hard inside.
He became more and more strange. The wood embedded in the rock wall was obviously made by man. What did someone do with inserting wood here? He decided to find out and took the medicine hoe from his waist. He started digging gently and immediately heard "
The "dong-dong" sound of an empty drum indicates that the back of the wood is empty.
After a while, he dug out a corner, revealing a black hole. At this moment, he understood that the wooden block was used to block the entrance of the hole. He stopped moving and listened quietly. He did not hear any sound coming from inside, but only heard a sound.
There was a musty smell, but it was not strong. He continued digging for a while, only to hear a "crash" sound, and the remaining part of the rotten wood fell toward the hole, revealing a hole more than six feet square.
Gongsun Yan sorted out the debris at the entrance of the cave and climbed in quickly. He did not go deep in hastily. He sat at the entrance of the cave and looked around carefully. He found that the height inside the cave was enough for a tall adult to stand. The entrance was rectangular and the edges were neat. It was still necessary to enter the inside.
Going up a level, it doesn't look like it was formed naturally.
After waiting for about a quarter of an hour, when there was no movement, he took off his backpack, found a slightly longer piece of wood from the pile of rotten wood, took out a dagger to cut off the rotten part, then took out a small porcelain bottle, and
Pour some turpentine inside on the wood to make a simple torch. After lighting it, holding the torch in one hand and holding the dagger in the other, he walked in with an alert look.
Although Gongsun Yan is young, he is indeed experienced. He holds a torch to explore the cave. Firstly, it is for lighting; secondly, many unknown creatures are afraid of fire and can avoid being attacked. More importantly, the burning flame can explore the cave.
Is there a lack of oxygen to prevent suffocation?
Less than ten feet deep into the cave, Gongsun Yan found a stone room, about one foot square. Inside, there were stone tables and stone benches. The walls were empty, and there was a wooden frame on the table.
, there is a light gray translucent stone on top; there is also a suite inside, which is of average size, with only a stone bed and nothing else.
Gongsun Yan held up the torch and observed carefully. The walls and floor of the stone chamber were all very flat, and the traces of man-made artifacts were obvious, which confirmed his guess that this was a cave specially built by someone.
What is puzzling is who can be so big? Why build this secret cave? Why abandon it after spending so much energy? Gongsun Yan is puzzled. From the black cliff ginseng growing near the entrance of the cave, it is inferred that the cave is sealed.
It has been around for at least nearly ten thousand years, unless the people who lived here at that time did not know the medicinal materials. Of course, it may also be possible that the outsiders disdained it.
Don't think about it if you don't understand it. Gongsun Yan immediately decided to live here from now on. He first went to the entrance of the cave to take the basket into the stone room, took out the dry food, took out the two precious medicinal materials and spread them out; then he went to the entrance of the cave to collect the rotten wood.
Clean up the debris and put it into a backpack, and then take it down when you are ready to go down the mountain. If you habitually discard rubbish under the cliff for a long time, it will be easily discovered by interested people.
Without tools, Gongsun Yan couldn't do anything. It was too late to rush to Anhua City to buy things. Today's harvest was huge, and he didn't want to continue collecting herbs. He sat leisurely at the entrance of the cave and looked out. The entrance of the cave was just blocked by
The protruding "screen" on the cliff blocked the view of the opposite mountain peak. It was already late at this time, and the sunlight could slant onto the side wall of the cave entrance. He planned to go to Anhua City to buy things early tomorrow morning, and by the way, he stored some things in several other trees.