Chapter 12: The Centipede Dragon

I brushed the snow away from my eyes and for a moment I didn't know where I was. I just felt a sharp rock on my back and Ye Cheng was below me, shouting.

I calmed myself and subconsciously looked to see what Ye Cheng was afraid of. I looked down carefully and found that we were now leaning on a steep rocky slope, about five or six meters away from the bottom of the slope. The rope around our waists was caught on a rock corner, so we didn't roll down directly. The bottom of the slope was full of snow and rocks that had just slid down with us. Several long black claws were exposed in the snow.

I felt a suffocation and unconsciously pressed my back against the rock behind me. Looking along the direction of my claws, I saw a black object as thick as a bucket coiled in the snow. Its segmented body was covered with scales, some of which were hidden in the snow and some of which were exposed outside. At first glance, I thought it was a hibernating snake, but upon closer inspection, it looked like a centipede.

This thing was stuck to the rock, not moving at all. I had no idea whether it was dead or alive. I couldn't see its head or tail, and I had no idea how long it was.

I felt puzzled. This was above the snow line and there were very few living things. What kind of creature was this? Looking at its centipede-like claws and its size, I instinctively felt uncomfortable.

Pan Zi insisted on going down, and Ye Cheng kept shouting. Fatty also saw what was going on below, so he made a ball out of the snow beside him and smashed it on the back of Ye Cheng's head, cursing softly, "Keep your voice down, you want to wake it up?!"

I looked around and saw that this should be a small closed valley filled with snow avalanches. However, because the rocks were piled up too messily, a lot of bubbles were generated. The fat man walked on top and broke the fragile snow layer, causing a chain reaction, and the snow layer collapsed all of a sudden. In the end, we brought him all down.

The snow on top is still collapsing. Often after such a landslide, the surrounding snow will gather like quicksand and cover the collapsed area again. This process is extremely fast. Many alpine expedition teams lose members in such situations, and the entire team disappears in a few seconds.

Fortunately, the snow on the side was relatively solid this time. It might also be because we tied ropes together and pulled them down one by one, so the snow around us was rolled flat and there was no whole piece collapsing.

This is the leeward side, the wind is obviously much weaker, not as cold as before. I was able to take a few deep breaths, carefully sat up, and moved down a few steps. Although it is very steep here, the surface of the slope is covered with gravel, some as big as the front of a Jiefang truck, and some as small as a ping-pong ball. It is very convenient to climb, and it is not difficult to go up or down.

Pan Zi and Men You Ping had already untied the ropes. Since they were not far from the bottom, they jumped down with a splash, carrying the snow with them. After landing, they rolled to cushion the force and rolled to the bottom of the slope.

The two of them crept up and moved towards the black object, one in front and one behind. Our hearts were in our throats.

After walking a few steps, Men You Ping and Pan Zi both straightened up and obviously relaxed. Pan Zi looked at Men You Ping, shrugged his shoulders, and gestured for us to come down.

We were surprised. Fatty untied the rope and rolled down. Menyouping had already swept away the snow on the stone sculpture. It turned out to be a stone dragon lying on the cliff. It was carved from black stone. The cliff carving was very lifelike. If it was hidden in the snow, it would be impossible to see it.

We went down one after another. When Chenpi Ah Si saw the stone sculpture, his face changed visibly. He was unsteady on his feet, so he asked Monk Hua to support him. He walked straight to the front of the carved stone sculpture and began to touch it.

This dragon is different from other dragons. Under its body, there are countless centipede-like legs carved. It is obviously not a carving from the Central Plains, but should be an alienated dragon from the nearby nomadic peoples.

The fat man asked me, "Why is this dragon so ugly? It looks like a tapeworm and is filled with evil spirits. It is much uglier than the dragon on the Forbidden City's wall. Could it be that it was carved badly?"

Monk Hua said, "Don't talk nonsense if you don't understand. This is a centipede dragon, not a coiled dragon. The early dragon carvings of Dongxia Kingdom all looked like this. In the early days of China, ancient Chinese dragons had very different shapes. Some dragons even had pig noses. This is not surprising."

The evolution of the Chinese dragon took a long time. At the beginning, the dragon crawled on its stomach. It was just a dragon made by putting an animal head on a snake. At that time, each tribe had its own dragon totem, and each tribe evolved separately. In the end, the dragon's shape was also different. Later, as Han culture spread and Yi and Xia cultures merged, the image of the Han dragon began to mix with the dragons of various ethnic minorities, and finally the dragon gradually unified into the current Panlong.

This centipede is a hybrid of a dragon and a centipede, but for some reason, seeing an ordinary dragon with so many arthropod legs growing under its body not only fails to give people a sense of majesty, but instead makes people feel very uncomfortable and a little weird.

After listening to Monk Hua's introduction, the fat man smiled and said, "Brother Scar, I didn't realize you are quite literary. Then this stone should be from Dongxia Country?"

Monk Hua looked at the stone carving, then raised his head to look up the hillside, and asked in confusion, "Yes, but where did this stone with the dragon carving come from?"

It was already dark at this time. We each turned on our flashlights and used them to sweep away all the snow on the stone. We found that the stone was almost a huge flat plate that was five meters high and three meters wide, leaning against a rocky slope on one side. The stone was extremely flat and black, which was obviously different from the other stones here.

I looked at the marks where the stone was broken and said, "It may have collapsed from above. Fourth Grandpa is right. The place we want to go is still above. Look at the asymmetrical shape of the dragon. This is a pair of dragons playing with a pearl. Such stone carvings should have another side. They are usually carved on stone doors, one on each side."

Chenpi Ah Si coughed and said weakly, "Bullshit, you have only a half-understanding and are just talking nonsense. What stone gate? This is the sealing stone in the tomb passage."

As he said this, he pointed at the dragon's mouth. Monk Hua immediately went over and put his hand into the dragon's mouth. When he pulled, he actually pulled out a black iron chain as thick as his wrist. The fat man looked at it and said, "Oh, it's over. You pulled out the dragon's intestines."

Chenpi Ah Si said, "This is the horse chain used to pull the sealing stone when the tomb was sealed. This side is facing inwards."

I blushed at what he said, looking around and saying, "Ah, it is true, I was mistaken, but why did the sealing stone appear here?"

Monk Hua pulled the chain hard, but the stone didn't move. A trace of doubt flashed across Chenpi A'si's face. He shook his head and looked up. I exclaimed in my heart, knowing what he was worried about. If this sealing stone collapsed from above, it meant that the tomb passage above was severely damaged. Even if we found it, could we still get in?

There was a raging snowstorm overhead, and it was almost dark. I looked at my watch, wondering when the snowstorm would end.

Discovering this stone sculpture increased our confidence in finding the Heavenly Palace, but I didn't know whether I should be happy or depressed. Monk Hua took a photo of the stone sculpture, and Chenpi Ah Si recovered his spirits and told us to take care of our things first and take a rest if we needed to . This place is a good place to shelter from the wind, so we can wait until the wind dies down before we do anything else.

We sorted out the equipment, and Monk Hua went to take care of the wounded soldier. I was looking through things, and he came over to tell me that there was a problem, and Shunzi was basically unresponsive.

We laid Shunzi down and shook his head. He could only make a dull "hmm" sound and his consciousness was blurred. It was obvious that he had hypothermia.

"We have to light a fire, otherwise he won't last long." Pan Zi came over and said , "If he falls asleep, he won't wake up."

I looked around and saw no firewood at all. If I started a fire, I was afraid that the sled would burn. But climbing the snowy mountain requires a lot of equipment. Without a sled, I was afraid that I couldn't go on the road below.

Monk Hua looked at Chenpi Ah Si, obviously not daring to make the decision on his own. The latter's face was very gloomy, maybe because of the cold or something. He frowned and said, "Don't let him die for now, I still have something to ask him."

I breathed a sigh of relief. Monk Hua unloaded the things on the sled and prepared to pull out the wooden strips to use as firewood. However, the sled was now soaked with snow and he didn't know if it could be lit. Just as I was worrying about it, I suddenly smelled a scent of sulfur.

I don't know where this smell came from. My mind jumped. I told Monk Hua not to move and stood up to smell it carefully. The others smelled it at the same time and stopped what they were doing. The fat man took a deep breath and said, "Comrades, it seems to smell like a hot spring!"

Chenpi Ah Si winked at Ye Cheng and Lang Feng, asking them to go out and look for him. Fatty picked up his backpack and said he wanted to go too, but all three were stopped by Pan Zi. Fatty asked, "What are you doing?" Pan Zi pointed at Menyouping with his chin and said, "Why are you panicking? Don't forget that we have a master here."

At this time, Men Youping had already bent down and touched the stones below one by one with his two unusually long fingers. Suddenly, he frowned and said, "Huh?", then turned to the centipede coiled dragon sealing stone on the side.

We came to the Panlong Stone. There was no smell here just now, but now the smell of sulfur is very obvious. Menyouping touched the faucet, looked behind the stone, put his hand on the faucet, pressed it, and said, "Strange, there is nothing behind the faucet."