Chapter Thirty-Three: Strange Grass in the Crevice

“Keep looking. If we haven’t found it by midnight, we’ll head back,” Zhou Yi said. The two of them continued searching along the cracks in the ground. The deeper they ventured, the wider the fissures became—by now, the gaps were over a foot across.

Bei Qiao disliked watching his feet as he walked; he always moved with his head held high. One careless step, and Bei Qiao slipped, tumbling into a fissure. Zhou Yi quickly grabbed his front leg and hoisted him back up.

Once back on solid ground, Bei Qiao flatly refused to go any further.

Zhou Yi had no choice. He couldn’t just leave Bei Qiao behind. “Let’s go home,” he said, turning around, planning to return to explore the battlefield of Zhuolu during daylight.

They’d taken only a few steps when Zhou Yi noticed Bei Qiao hadn’t followed. Looking back, he saw Bei Qiao’s hind leg tangled in something black and threadlike. Bei Qiao was struggling to break free, biting at the strands.

Zhou Yi hurried over to help untangle the threads from Bei Qiao’s leg. They felt damp and sticky to the touch. “It’s hair,” he muttered. The strands were long and unusually tough. Zhou Yi tugged at them, but couldn’t tear them apart, so he tossed them aside.

“How could there be hair here?” Baozi asked.

“Want to go down and see for yourself? Dare you?” Zhou Yi teased, knowing full well that Baozi could never resist a challenge.

“Remember what I told you inside the mountain? Whoever backs out isn’t a real man. You or me, who’s going first?” Baozi replied, not waiting for Zhou Yi’s answer before continuing, “If you won’t go, I will. If I call for you, then you come down.”

With that, Baozi braced himself on both sides of the fissure and lowered himself in.

Zhou Yi had only meant to prod him a little, never expecting him to be so stubborn. He hurried after, unwilling to let Baozi go alone—it was far too dangerous, and besides, Zhou Yi’s pride wouldn’t allow it.

The fissure wasn’t wide at first; they could brace themselves with hands and feet against the walls, inching downward. But the deeper they went, the wider it grew, making it harder to find purchase.

“Baozi, stop! We don’t know how deep this goes. Let’s come back tomorrow with a rope. Who knows what’s down there? If we fall, we’re done for,” Zhou Yi called.

“Stop whining, I’m at the bottom already. Hurry up!” Baozi’s voice came from a couple of meters below.

Hearing that, Zhou Yi jumped down after him.

Below was a platform, about ten meters from the surface, shrouded in total darkness. Baozi picked up a handful of hair from the ground, slimy and greasy to the touch. He brought it to his nose and sniffed—a foul, rancid stench.

Zhou Yi, seeing this, tried to stop him, but it was too late. The hair seemed to come alive, wriggling up Baozi’s nostrils.

Baozi tried desperately to yank it out, but it wouldn’t budge. He cried out in pain.

Zhou Yi grabbed hold of the hair, trying to help, but suddenly the hair recoiled, yanking both of them off their feet and dragging them rapidly along the ground.

There was no time for words, only frantic shouts as they were hauled away.

Finally coming to a halt after what felt like ages, the two scrambled to their feet and looked around. As soon as they stood, the ground began to swallow them. In a panic, Zhou Yi grabbed Baozi’s arm. “Lie down! Don’t struggle!” he shouted, already pressing himself flat against the ground, which stopped the sinking. Baozi quickly followed suit.

The surface beneath them wasn’t earth—it was sticky and revolting. The walls around them continued to ooze green slime, which trickled down and was absorbed by the dust on the floor.

Baozi managed to pull the hair from his nose, but blood dripped from his nostril. “Yi-ge, where are we?”

“No idea. Let’s see if we can get out. Crawl,” Zhou Yi said, frowning, and began dragging himself forward on all fours.

The slime on the ground grew thicker—over ten centimeters deep. Neither dared stand, keeping their heads up to avoid the ooze getting in their mouths, but the effort drained their strength.

After what felt like forever, they’d only crawled a dozen meters or so. The hair had dragged them at least a kilometer—if they tried to crawl out, either the slime would drown them or exhaustion would kill them.

“Yi-ge, are we going to die here?” Baozi gasped, dragging himself forward.

“Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Keep moving—this place is revolting,” Zhou Yi replied, his voice strained. The slime was like glue; every movement took all their strength.

A wolf’s howl echoed—“Owooo!” Zhou Yi recognized Bei Qiao calling for him. “Bei Qiao, wait for me! I’ll be right out!” he shouted.

Another howl answered him, loud and clear, as if right beside his ear. Zhou Yi was momentarily startled, then turned to Baozi. “Baozi, did you hear Bei Qiao?”

“His howl is so loud, how could I not?” Baozi replied automatically.

Zhou Yi stopped crawling and just lay there, laughing.

“Yi-ge, how can you laugh at a time like this? Let’s get moving—I don’t want to drown in this disgusting muck,” Baozi grumbled, resuming his slow crawl.

“It’s an illusion. It can’t drown you,” Zhou Yi said, voicing his suspicion. With that, he sat up, formed a mudra with his fingers, and recited a Daoist incantation for clarity of mind: “Guard stillness, cast out desire, remain true to oneself. Let ears not hear, eyes not see, seven apertures turned inward, falsehood dispelled and truth retained.”

As the incantation ended, the scene changed dramatically. Baozi still lay in place, but now strange grass grew from the ground, coiling around their bodies—the more they struggled, the tighter the vines constricted.

Above them, Bei Qiao sat at the edge of the fissure, watching curiously. He couldn’t understand why the two of them were lying below, thrashing about.

Zhou Yi was momentarily stunned, then drew a knife from his trouser leg and hacked away at the vines binding him. “What kind of grass is this? I’ve never seen anything like it.” He picked up a severed vine to examine it.

It resembled a mutated morning glory: only tendrils, no leaves, and it grew at an astonishing rate. As soon as Zhou Yi cut one vine, several more sprouted to take its place.

“Hurry, climb up! You can’t kill this plant!” Zhou Yi called, seeing Baozi cutting new vines from the ground—trying, no doubt, to eradicate the plant at its roots.

Zhou Yi quickly stopped him. “Get up there now!” He braced himself on the walls of the fissure and climbed out. In moments, both had returned to the surface. Zhou Yi pulled a length of the strange vine from his pocket; exposed to the air, it quickly shriveled into black threads like hair. He tugged hard, but still couldn’t break it.

Baozi emerged from the fissure and asked, “Yi-ge, how did you know it was all an illusion?”

P.S. It’s Monday, and I’m hoping the new book can climb the rankings. Two chapters together today—if you enjoyed it, please send some flowers! Every flower is worth ten clicks—thanks a million!