Chapter 13 of Yunding Tiangong: The Gap (Part 1)

Changbai Mountain is a potentially active volcano. According to historical records, the last small-scale eruption was about 1,000 years ago. Although the volcano is now dormant, the geothermal energy nearby is extremely rich. Many geological fissures and lava mouths from the volcanic period maintain extremely high temperatures. Behind the Panlong Fengshi, there may be a steaming crack in the ground, which is why the smell of sulfur comes out.

This is undoubtedly good news for us. In such an environment, having a stable heat source is definitely more economical and practical than lighting a bonfire. However, the huge black Panlong sealing stone is pressing on it. It is estimated to weigh at least ten tons. We do not have any mountain-opening equipment, so it is really difficult to turn it over.

The fat man was a man of action. He raised his arm and asked us to move the stone. A few people went up and tried to lift it twice. The group of people were sweating and their faces were red, but the stone didn't move at all.

The fat man panted and cursed, "No, old man, you should have told me that our equipment is not good enough. Look at the situation now. It would be great if we had some explosives."

Monk Hua said if you don't understand then don't talk nonsense. Our old man has crossed more bridges than you have walked, and it was right not to bring explosives. You said we are at the bottom of the valley now, and there is snow above your head. If you put a blast hole anywhere and shake the snow down, you will be buried alive.

The fat man had nothing to refute. At this time, I saw that there were many stones of different sizes stuck on the bottom edge of the Panlong Stone. I suddenly had an idea and said to them, "Maybe we don't need explosives. Let me do it."

As I said that, I took out a mason's hammer from my luggage, walked to the side of the Panlong Sealing Stone, carefully checked the several larger stones below, then hit one of them with the inside. On the one hand, the stone was under a pressure of more than ten tons, and on the other hand, it was hit from the side by my hammer, so it immediately cracked, followed by a series of stone friction sounds, and the Panlong Sealing Stone on it began to slide along the stone slope because of the sudden change in supporting force.

We quickly retreated, and the Panlong Sealing Stone slid down a few inches and began to tilt again, but the stone was too heavy, and it stopped after sliding a little bit. Even so, we still saw a crack in the mountain behind the sealing stone.

The crack in the rock is as wide as a head, and a person can barely pass through. Looking at the edge of the cave entrance, it looks like the rock layer has been torn, and there is no trace of artificial excavation. The bursts of sulfur smell come from inside.

The fat man turned on the flashlight, reached in and took a look, then turned around and said, "It's warm inside, but the angle is too uncomfortable, and I can't see anything. Besides, there seem to be words on the stone wall inside."

"What does it say?" I asked.

The fat man squinted his eyes and looked at it carefully, saying, "I can't understand it. I don't know what it's written on it."

As he said this, he tried to bend over and get in, but the fat man was indeed too fat, and the hole was obviously not suitable for him. He squeezed several times but couldn't get in. Finally, he took off his outer coat and barely got in.

Chenpi Ah Si asked Ye Cheng, Lang Feng and Pan Zi to stay outside to take care of anything. We followed the fat man and got into the gap.

This is a crack in the rock that was created when the mountain moved. After entering, I found that the crack was a steep downward direction and it was very dark inside. It looked very deep and probably led to the interior of the mountain.

The space at the opening of the crevice is not large, and two people cannot walk side by side. Moreover, it is very difficult to walk inside the crevice. There are large rocks at the bottom with sharp edges. The smell of sulfur in the cave is very strong, and the temperature is at least 30 degrees. Even the stones are hot when you touch them.

We walked forward a few steps, and the fat man shone a flashlight on one side and said, "Look, what are these words?"

I turned my head and saw that the words were not carved on the wall of the crack, but on a piece of rock lying horizontally at the bottom. They were all unfamiliar characters, a bit like Chinese, and a bit like Korean, and were carved very messily.

Monk Hua leaned over to take a look and confirmed, "This is Jurchen writing."

"What's written?" asked the fat man.

Monk Hua said, "Wait, I'm not that good. I need to see it first. Let me draw it first."

We waited for a while, and Monk Hua copied the words into the notebook. The fat man took the lead, and we lined up and continued to walk deeper into the cave.

Although it is called walking, in fact, hands are used more often than feet. The entire gap is almost 30 degrees downward, and there are no stairs, so one has to crawl down almost entirely. The inside is sometimes wide, sometimes narrow, sometimes high, sometimes low, and there are some places where people have to sit to pass through.

The only thing that made people feel comfortable was that it was much warmer inside. As we climbed, we began to sweat and had to unbutton our clothes. At this time, the fat man asked, "Old man, do you think that the seal stone blocking this gap is not a coincidence?"

Chenpi Ah Si chanted: "When the mausoleum was built, local materials were used. There are so many rocks outside here. They should be the stone quarry used to quarry when building the mausoleum. Maybe this crack was discovered when they were quarrying. I don't know why, but they had to use sealing stones to press it down in the end.

After descending less than a hundred meters, the smell of sulfur became stronger and stronger, and the rocks became darker and darker, and began to show the luster of glass. Those were the traces of mica melted at high temperatures. I cried out, and was already thinking that this must be a lava vent of a volcano. Changbai Mountain is a potentially active volcano. If it erupted suddenly and magma gushed out from the interior of the mountain, we would be dead.

While he was daydreaming, suddenly, the two people leading the way stopped and shone their flashlights. It turned out that the crack in front of them suddenly shrank, and the rocks overlapped, leaving only a tiny gap for going down.

I squatted down and shone the flashlight inside. This was caused by the collapse of a gap. The gap inside was very small, and it seemed that I had to crawl to get in.

Chenpi Ah Si looked at the cave entrance and knew that he didn't have enough strength to climb in. After some discussion, I asked Monk Hua to accompany him and wait for us. Fatty, Menyouping and I went in to see what else was inside.

We took off our outer clothes to minimize our size. This time, Monk took the lead, and the three of them went down one after the other, squeezing into the gap little by little.

I thought this section of collapse was only temporary. If we crawled forward a few steps, there would definitely be an exit. If it was real, we could turn back in time. I didn't expect this gap to be so long. After climbing for a long time, we found that the gap in front was passable. It was unexpectedly deep.

The rocks inside were very sharp, and after climbing a few steps, my clothes were torn in several places. The rocks squeezed my lungs, and with the temperature rising, I gradually felt difficulty breathing.

The fat guy behind me felt the same as me, and he grabbed my foot and said, "No, the air quality here might be a problem. It's too reckless for us to come in without even exploring."

I wanted to look back, but the space was too small. I couldn't do anything. I just crawled a long distance and I was reluctant to go back. In the current situation, crawling backwards would be more painful than coming here. So I said, "Let's go a few more steps forward. If we still don't have a clue, we can retreat."

The fat man responded. Suddenly, the oil bottle in front of him shouted, "Huh?"

I turned my head and looked forward, but there was nothing in front of me. The oil bottle that was blocking my way just now disappeared. Only a dark rock gap was left, and I didn't know where it led to.