The Legends of the Qinling Mountains

The Ten Deadly Tombs, one of the most ominous graves!

It wasn't naturally formed but artificially constructed!

The "Secret Techniques of Faqiu" provides a very detailed account of this grand formation—put simply, this so-called Ten Deadly Tombs were designed based on the ancient Ten Extremes Formation.

According to old tales, the Ten Extremes Formation was created during King Wu's campaign against King Zhou, when Shen Gongbao, in order to resist Jiang Ziya of the Chan teachings, traveled all over Penglai and eventually devised the Ten Extremes Formation to block King Wu's army. It's said that each formation's eye was guarded by an immortal.

Of course, these mythologically rich stories shouldn't be taken entirely at face value, but the Ten Extremes Formation indeed exists and is incredibly complex. The "Secret Techniques of Faqiu" also describes it in a rather vague manner. I suspect even my ancestor didn't fully understand it, only mentioning that the Ten Deadly Tombs were designed based on the Ten Extremes Formation, with ten fiercely ominous graves positioned around it. The malicious energy from these graves nourishes the central main tomb, birthing something terrifyingly ominous within!

What constitutes a fiercely ominous grave?

It could be a grave containing a giant zongzi (dumpling) that not even a golden horned copper coffin could suppress.

Or it could simply be a mass grave of countless war captives and slaves!

In short, eight or nine out of ten of these graves contain something unclean. When these graves are gathered together, using their malicious energy to nourish a central main tomb, how could anything good come out of that tomb? Even if a person without any grievances in life was buried in the main tomb of the Ten Deadly Tombs, after brewing for so many years, they would probably be turned into a drought demon alive!

When I first read about these in the "Secret Techniques of Faqiu," I always thought the Ten Deadly Tombs couldn't possibly exist. After all, creating such a thing was just to nurture the ominous entity within the main tomb—who would bother with such a troublesome task? It's simply asking for trouble! Yet, to my surprise, my first tomb visit is to these Ten Deadly Tombs, making my legs go weak. Basically, every single one of these ominous graves contains something unclean!

"Kid, is it really that bad? You're already this scared?"

Zhang Jinya, this brute, didn't have a shred of sympathy, endlessly mocking me on the side: "At least I've taken you on a mission in Dingtao Village before, how come you haven't grown a bit?"

Hearing this, I was immediately displeased. This guy really had no filter, speaking without any consideration. If it weren't for my momentary greed for that hundred-splitting knife, I'd still be a decent person, attending school and looking after the curio shop. How could I compare with you guys who live by dealing with ghosts and gods every day? But I couldn't be bothered with this scoundrel, focusing more on what Wu Fatty had to say: "Are you saying my dad recognized these Ten Deadly Tombs?"

"Of course! Besides your Ge family, who else would recognize this thing? Anyway, our Tomb Raider Captain has no record of it."

Wu Fatty smirked, about to continue, but was abruptly stopped by Zhang Jinya.

"Zhou the Half-Immortal said, this kid doesn't know about his dad's story!"

Zhang Jinya glared at Wu Fatty, saying: "You better watch your mouth, otherwise I won't cover for you if something happens!"

As soon as Zhang Jinya spoke, Wu Fatty's face changed, and he asked in surprise, "This kid doesn't know about the old Ge family's affairs? Damn, Zhang, you've really saved Fatty's life!"

After saying that, Wu Fatty avoided me like the plague, cautiously telling me, "Little bro, don't ask me anything. If you really want to understand your old Ge family's affairs, there will be plenty of people to tell you when you walk the same path as us!"

After telling me this, Wu Fatty and Zhang Jinya ran off, leaving me utterly confused. I didn't know what these people were avoiding, but I became even more curious about my dad's story. I knew that to understand the cause of my death, I first needed to figure out his relationship with these people.

After learning about the depth of the Qinling ancient tomb complex, a shadow loomed over my heart. My previous stroke of luck vanished completely. It seems just as Zhou Jing said, this trip to the Qinling ancient tombs is a major disaster in my life, unavoidable. After sleeping on it, I went out with Zhou Jing to buy a camouflage military uniform and a pair of mountain boots. After all, we would be spending some time in the jungle, and ordinary clothes wouldn't do. Not to mention, they're inconvenient for movement and not durable, easily getting torn after not much use.

The next morning at ten, we packed our things and set off as planned. Nothing much happened along the way, but the closer we got to the Qinling area, the worse the roads became, eventually turning into rural dirt paths. By the time we reached our planned destination, Guangyuan Village, it was already past ten at night.

Guangyuan Village, located in the Qinling mountains, is definitely one of the country's impoverished villages. The villagers still live in the cave dwellings commonly seen in the northern mountainous regions. The village isn't large, with only about twenty households. In such a place, let alone a hotel, there isn't even a small inn, so we could only stay in a farmhouse. Our group split up to find our own accommodations, agreeing to meet at the village entrance at nine the next morning before heading into the mountains together.

Zhou Jing, Heizi, and I stayed with a lady named Li in the southern part of the village. Li Dajie (Big Sister Li), in her forties, is a typical rural woman from the mountains. Her son is studying away from home, and her husband works in another city, making her a standard left-behind woman in rural Shaanxi. The conditions at her home aren't great, but when I offered her a hundred yuan, she happily agreed and arranged for me and Heizi to stay in a cave dwelling next to her house, which used to be her child's room.

This was my first time living in a cave dwelling, and I found it quite novel. Upon entering, I immediately fell asleep. Surprisingly, despite its unimpressive appearance, the cave dwelling was incredibly cool in the summer, much more comfortable than sleeping in a luxuriously decorated room with air conditioning in the city. After that sleep, I felt much better, and the near-exhaustion from the car ride eased significantly.

Li Dajie is a very warm person. In the evening, she took the initiative to prepare a table full of farmhouse dishes to welcome me and Zhou Jing. After traveling all day and surviving on dry food, I was starving and didn't hold back, devouring a large bowl of rice with the farmhouse dishes.

Li Dajie watched us with a smile, and after I finished eating, she asked: "By the way, young man, Big Sister almost forgot to ask you. You look like a well-educated person, why did you come to our poor place?"

I wiped my mouth and replied with a smile: "I think the mountains and waters here are quite beautiful, not what I'd call a poor place. If possible, it would be nice to retire here."

"It's only you city folks who fancy our kind of place. If it were up to the people in our village, who wouldn't want to leave? Especially the children from poor families in our village, as long as they have the opportunity to study, they'd wish they could devour books whole, all for the chance to make something of themselves and leave this poor place."

Li Dajie laughed warmly, her demeanor exuding the simplicity and sincerity characteristic of rural women in the northwest. As she cleaned up the dishes, she said with a smile: "Big Sister sees you as a good young man and doesn't want you to run into trouble here, so I had to ask. Whatever you do, don't go into the deep mountains!"

Curious, I asked: "Big Sister, is there something about these deep mountains?"

"There's a lot to say about that!"

By then, Li Dajie had already moved the dishes to the sink and began washing them by the stove, saying: "I live in this place, how could I not know about it? The deep mountains are not for ordinary people to venture into; it's very eerie there, and there are even rumors of wild men!"

Wild men?

Hearing this, I couldn't help but laugh. I've encountered all sorts of ghosts and goblins, and I believe in them! But wild men? That's something I absolutely don't believe in.

Seeing me laugh, Li Dajie immediately glared at me with a bit of annoyance: "Why are you like this, young man? Big Sister is kindly warning you, why don't you believe me? There really are wild men in the deep mountains. People in our village have seen them with their own eyes, stronger than men in their thirties or forties, covered in black hair, very frightening. And the deep mountains are very sinister. Last year, when silver plate mushrooms could fetch a good price, a strong man from our village went deep into the mountains to gather more for a better profit. When he came back, he was like a madman, drooling at the sight of women, making his wife scream every night, loud enough for half the village to hear. He died less than half a month later. You should have seen how he looked when he died, it was pitiful. A man weighing over 160 pounds died skin and bones, barely 90 pounds left. Doesn't that tell you how sinister the deep mountains are? Don't go there if it's not necessary!"

Li Dajie's words made me blush. She really didn't hold back, almost going into detail about how the strong man made his wife scream, making me somewhat embarrassed. After chatting with Li Dajie for a bit more, I hurried back to sleep. After all, as a young man, I couldn't quite engage in such "bold" conversations with these simple and straightforward rural women.

However, I took Li Dajie's words to heart. Tossing and turning on the kang (a traditional Chinese heated bed), it took me a while to fall asleep. I thought to myself that the Qinling mountains were indeed extraordinary. It's likely that the strong man encountered something evil in the mountains, leading to those events. It seems Rosha was right about not walking in the deep mountains at night. I need to be extra cautious in the coming days. I came to this eerie place to preserve my life, and it would be a huge loss if I carelessly lost it here.