Chapter One: The Hidden Paradise -1
After bowing three times before his mother's grave, Alex Stone glanced behind him.
A small path meandered out of the forest, and from this resting place of his parents' bones to the outside world was just over 100 meters, yet the two sides were such different worlds. In this twilight hour, the sounds of nature rose from all around, making this place seem like paradise. This was his favorite environment: tranquil and natural. Here, he could fully listen to the murmurs of creation—unfortunately, it was too close to the bustling world.
There was nothing left in the outside world that held his heart!
A few years ago, his beloved wife died in a car accident. Last year, his only daughter married her childhood sweetheart, and this year, they had their own daughter. His son-in-law was a reliable man with a decent career. He was confident they would live well. Now, his elderly mother had also put away her lifelong concerns for him and left this world. Truly, there was nothing left in this world for him to yearn for.
The mundane world is laughable, but how many can truly laugh? Alex Stone felt that he might be one of the few who could laugh a little. Compared to so many struggling to survive, he could at least choose.
From the evening he bid farewell to his mother to today, about 100 days had passed. During these days, Alex Stone had not been idle. He ended his business, left his wealth to his daughter, sent the purchased items to their destination, and then left a letter for his daughter, simply saying he was traveling the world. He was sure his daughter wouldn't worry too much about him because he had traveled alone before, though some concern was inevitable. After all, he might not return for a long time. Of course, a final farewell was impossible; Alex Stone himself didn't believe he could truly let go.
Since he accidentally discovered this place 12 years ago, he had always hoped to come here to live in seclusion. That time, he was exploring this primeval forest with a few friends when a small accident left him alone in the forest for five nights and six days. Although it was a near-death experience, he gained a lot—he discovered this hidden paradise.
This place was a valley among the mountains, surrounded by low hills with gentle slopes. The valley was about the size of ten football fields, exceptionally flat, covered with knee-high wild grass, with trees only near the foot of the hills, growing taller as they went up. From the flat ground, the hills were no more than 500 meters high. Alex Stone knew that the peaks around had altitudes over 2500 meters, with forests and cliffs on the other side, making them inaccessible. This flat land in the mountains was truly an anomaly.
The path into this place was discovered by accident when he was lost. It was like finding a secret passage in a martial arts novel. Driven by curiosity and necessity, he found a natural cave, not deep, visible at a glance. When he had no other way out, he found a passage hidden by rocks on the left side of the cave, with clear signs of human carving, leading him here.
The midday sun shone on the green grass, with unknown little flowers blooming like stars. He remembered it should be the 12th month of the lunar calendar, nearing the end of the year, the coldest season. Although this place was in Sichuan, at an altitude of over 2000 meters, it shouldn't be this warm. If the flat land were planted with peach and plum trees, they might be blooming now!
Someone must have lived here before. The first half of the passage was a natural crack, but the latter half was definitely man-made, a nearly 200-meter-long, 2-meter-high, and nearly 2-meter-wide oval passage, with walls smooth as mirrors, as if coated with glaze. If it were indeed man-made, just this passage would be a miracle.
The stone chamber where Alex Stone now lived was also man-made. The difference was that this chamber seemed to be carved from a single rock, with square and straight sides. A stone bed, a stone table, and several stone cushions were all integrated with the ground, making the entire stone chamber a piece of stone sculpture art, truly breathtaking.
About 100 meters to the left of the stone chamber, a spring formed a 10-meter-square pool, with clear and sweet water. In the woods at the foot of the hills, wild fruits were abundant. Living here was absolutely carefree. It was indeed a perfect place for seclusion!
The stone table was still spotless, as if a diligent housewife lived here. The portrait on the table remained vivid, depicting a person sitting cross-legged with a starry sky background. Strangely, the image was neither carved nor painted but deeply embedded in the stone, appearing three-dimensional. Thinking carefully, only 20th-century printing technology could achieve this. Initially, there was also a scroll on the table, which now lay open on Alex Stone's lap. The scroll contained images of a meditating figure, which Alex Stone had studied for over ten years without understanding, but the two characters "Heart Refinement" intrigued him, revealing endless mysteries upon closer inspection.
The scroll had a total of eighty-one images, grouped into nine circles, each depicting a meditating figure with different hand gestures, some simple, some complex. In recent days, Alex Stone finally memorized these images and could perform them accurately and seamlessly, which took him nearly three months. Fortunately, he had plenty of time now. Initially, he didn't want to study those complex gestures, but this scroll was extraordinary. Although he had it for a long time, once he left this stone chamber, the words and images on the scroll would disappear, like the legendary heavenly book. It seemed that the wordless heavenly books circulating in the mundane world were similar. In certain places, the wordless pages would reveal their contents.