Beipai Tomb Raiders Notes

Chapter 597 Escaping from a Deadly Situation

Amidst the billowing dust, Chief Ji appeared before me as if a divine warrior had descended from the heavens.

Next was Xiaoxuan, followed by the head, and a simply dressed middle-aged man.

This person... it turns out to be Uncle Cha.

"Yunfeng!"

It wasn't until Xiaoxuan grabbed my hand that I dared to believe it was all real.

"How did you get your hand so badly injured?" Xiaoxuan asked with a pained expression.

I was about to speak when I turned my head and said in a deep voice, "Yunfeng, this is not a safe place to stay. Where is everyone else?"

"I know! I'll go get them!"

After calling everyone over, Uncle Cha took out a number of small white cloth bags tied with ropes from his bag and distributed them to each of us. He said with a solemn expression, "Hang them on your waists."

"What is this?" one person asked.

"Don't ask questions. If you want to live, just do as I say," Uncle Cha said with a dark face.

As instructed, I tied the white apron around my waist, and only then did I notice that Uncle Cha was barefoot; he wasn't wearing anything on his feet.

"Keep up, remember, don't fall behind, don't talk, and don't look back."

"Clang!"

Uncle Cha took out a copper bell, shook it, and walked barefoot to the front.

Watermelon Head was being carried on his back by his men. He looked quite badly injured; it was unclear whether he had any broken bones.

I had a lot of questions in my mind, but Uncle Cha wouldn't let me speak, so I could only look down at the road.

The moonlight was pale, and the night was deep.

The desolate mountains and wilderness were littered with broken stones and withered branches. Uncle Cha cut his foot, but he didn't care at all and kept ringing the bell rhythmically.

Instead of taking that grove of trees, we took another path. When we reached the halfway point up the mountain, we saw Uncle Cha take out a handful of incense sticks from his bag and light them with a lighter.

Uncle Cha handed the burning incense to Xiao Xuan.

Xiao Xuan took the incense stick and went to the end of the line. She pulled out one of the sticks and forcefully stuck it into the ground.

Every time they walked a certain distance, as soon as Uncle Cha stopped ringing the bell, Xiao Xuan would take out an incense stick and stick it in the ground. The two worked together seamlessly, as if they had planned to do so in advance.

At this moment, Uncle Cha's pace changed.

I can understand some of it.

Uncle Cha always steps forward with his left foot first, then moves his right foot in front of his left, and finally brings his left foot together with his right. That's one step.

Next, step with your right foot, then step your left foot in front of your right foot, then step with your right foot again to join your left foot. This is two steps.

Repeat the first step, that is, step with your left foot, step your right foot in front of your left foot, and step your left foot together with your right foot. It seems like nothing, but the posture is a little awkward.

This is called the Three Steps of Yu. Every two zhang and one chi (approximately 6.6 meters) you have to lift your foot three times. If you walk on snow, you will leave nine footprints every five meters because the third step is actually a parallel step with the previous one and can still be counted as one step. Therefore, some people also call it "Nine Footprints in Three Steps".

Before long, we reached the foot of the mountain.

Uncle Cha told us to quickly throw away the bags around our waists.

We did as instructed.

After walking for a while, I looked around and was so shocked that I couldn't speak.

It was already dawn.

Looking back, the barren mountains were bathed in the warm morning light, and wild birds occasionally flew by in the forest; everything seemed ordinary.

It took us an extra half hour to get down the mountain, but just half an hour earlier, it was still the dead of night in that courtyard...

Uncle Cha was sweating a lot. He looked towards the sunlight and breathed a sigh of relief. He turned to the group with the watermelon head and said, "Alright everyone, you're safe now. As they say, those who survive a great calamity are bound to have good fortune later. Don't mention what happened last night to outsiders. Go back, take a shower, change your clothes, and burn these clothes if you can. If you have time, you can go to the temple and donate some incense money."

The group thanked them and quickly said goodbye and left, as if they didn't want to stay there for even a second longer.

The boy with the watermelon head was perched on someone's back. He turned around, looked at me, and held up one finger.

I muttered a curse under my breath, "What an idiot."

"Uncle Cha, didn't you run away a long time ago? When did you come back?"

"When did I run away? I retreated behind the scenes! To avoid the limelight! Now you know how powerful I am, right?"

"kindness."

Xiaoxuan handed me her coat, which was a little small. I hurriedly put it on and said with lingering fear, "I still don't understand what happened, that yard..."

Uncle Cha glanced back and squinted, saying, "It's truly terrifying. I never imagined that someone in the world could apply feng shui to such an extent, combining the four symbols and nine palaces, drawing the earth's energy downwards, trapping the dragon with evil energy, and creating houses and mountains. Even the commoner masters of the past might not have been able to achieve this."

"Kid, to tell you the truth, if someone hadn't pointed out the location of the Gate of Life in advance, you people would probably be in grave danger."

“Uncle Cha, I know there’s a life-saving gate in the courtyard. I’ve calculated it; it’s only a few meters away from where Ji Ba’s head was blown up.”

"You've figured out nothing!"

"Even I can't figure out the location of the birth gate! How could you possibly do it?"

"I really figured it out! I used my homemade horoscope to calculate the position of the Life Gate! Although there are some errors, it's still very close!" I argued.

"You just got lucky! You were completely blind!" Uncle Cha waved his hand and said.

He didn't believe me, and I couldn't do anything about it, so I asked again, "What was in the small bag you just asked us to leave behind?"

He said irritably, "The paper dolls that you put on are called 'soul-gathering and hanging on the waist.' Luckily, I was well prepared. This mountain is a dead land in terms of feng shui. There is only entry and no exit. I made them stay there forever in your place."

"You said someone told you the location of the Gate of Life, who was it?"

"Who did you say you were?"

"Could it be... the sect leader?"

Uncle Cha neither admitted nor denied it. He turned around again and looked towards the barren mountain.

This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading!

He casually remarked, "The Eight Evils of the Dragon that you told me about on the phone before are nothing compared to this."

He chimed in, "Thank you for your hard work, Mr. Cha. We asked you to deliberately conceal the truth from Yunfeng so that we could test him today. Before, we couldn't see things clearly because it was like looking at flowers through a fog. Now we can see things a little more clearly. For safety's sake, we should hurry back to our lodgings."

What did you see clearly when you looked up?

Just as I was about to ask, I saw him turn around and say, "And Brother Ji, thank you for your hard work. You'll have to stay with us for the next couple of days. We need to trouble you with anything else. Once this is over, we'll definitely give you double the travel expenses."

"Ah, Chief Wang, you're mistaken. If you need my help, just say the word! Don't worry about money."

"Didn't Brother Tian come?" I asked.

He shook his head and gave me a wink.

I immediately clasped my hands in thanks and said loudly, "Thank you, Uncle Cha! Thank you, Chief Ji! I will repay your life-saving grace in the future!"

Uncle Cha waved his hand, and Master Ji pointed at me and laughed.

When he smiled, all the wrinkles on his face came together.

"Hey kid, I told you two years ago not to keep calling me 'Chief Ji'. I've spent my whole life working for others, I've never been a chief. All I know how to do is set off a small firecracker, I don't have the brains to be a chief."

The reason I like to call him "Chief Strategist" is because I know he likes to hear it.

Working in this line of work is nerve-wracking, full of life-and-death situations. After a lifetime of this, who wouldn't want to be called "boss"?

The leader said, "We are of the same generation. In terms of seniority in the Northern School, there are few people who are higher than you."

He waved his hand again: "Sigh, what qualifications? If others recognize you, that's called qualifications. If others don't recognize you, that's called taking advantage of your age. I retired after that incident in Yongzhou two years ago. Boss Tian didn't treat me badly and gave me a large sum of retirement money."

I said, "That's to be expected. After Aunt Luo passed away, Brother Tian's attention was no longer on our line of work. It's better for you to retire sooner rather than later."

When I mentioned Aunt Luo, his lips moved, and his eyes misted over.

It seems that this, including Uncle Cha's, was all arranged by the boss.

The boss always manages to anticipate things. Only now did I finally understand where Brother Yu went during the month he disappeared. He must have gone to find the boss.

The disappearance of Brother Yu, Uncle Cha's sudden departure, the unexpected arrival of the head of the Ji gang, the mysterious master of the Jingmen sect... the head of the Ji gang's every move was ahead of its time.

Suddenly, Xiaoxuan grabbed my hand.

I asked her quietly what she was doing.

Xiao Xuan looked up at me, her eyes red, and said, "Yunfeng, please don't blame yourself. We've always believed in you."

Taking a deep breath, I also gripped Xiaoxuan's little hand tightly and gently rubbed it.

That's enough.

With Xiaoxuan's words, what does it matter if I die?

Seeing that I had taken Xiaoxuan's hand, Uncle Cha came over and pushed me away. He scolded me, "You stay away from Miss Xuanxuan. You look so unlucky, don't spread your bad luck to the girl."