Chapter 31: The Debt Is Settled, and the Mountain Awakens

I lost track of time; it felt as if countless years had passed.

Suddenly, at that moment, I was stunned to see the yellow marten crouching on the tree branch slowly turning its head. Its fur transformed into pure white...

A yellow marten entirely covered in white fur.

I had heard that the older a yellow marten gets, the whiter its fur becomes.

As it turned its head completely, I clearly saw its eyes—blood-red... blood-red eyes.

Under the moonlight, they looked eerily strange.

Then, the corner of my mouth began to twitch involuntarily, and I found it hard to speak clearly.

“Master Lao Chen... Master Lao Chen...”

Before I could finish, the pure white marten suddenly raised the corner of its mouth, revealing a sinister smile toward me.

The moment I saw that smile, I froze on the spot.

Familiar. A disturbingly familiar smile.

Yes! I remembered.

That yellow marten’s smile was exactly the same as the one from before when it came begging us for chickens.

Smack!

Master Lao Chen suddenly slapped my forehead. The pain mixed with darkness before my eyes, making me cry out reflexively.

“Ouch!” I held my head, looking at him in confusion. “What’s wrong, Master Lao Chen? Why did you hit me?”

“Sanqi, I didn’t hit you! I want to ask what the hell you’re staring at!” Master Lao Chen said with a frown.

“Master Lao Chen, didn’t you see? There was a yellow marten...” I started, pointing at the tree branch, but midway, I froze.

Because the yellow marten that had been staring at me from the branch was gone.

“What?” Master Lao Chen frowned.

I couldn’t believe it. “Master Lao Chen, there was a pure white yellow marten sitting on the branch just now! Did you see it?”

But hearing this, Master Lao Chen grew angry. “What yellow marten? You must be dreaming.”

I was even more confused.

Could it be...

I was dreaming?

But no!

Everything just now was so real; how could it be a dream?

“All right, Sanqi, let’s go!” Master Lao Chen said coldly, then headed forward.

“Oh, okay!”

But after we followed the old forest path from memory for half an hour, suddenly before us stood a weathered clay statue over a meter tall. In front of the statue was an altar table, covered in dust and leaves.

Master Lao Chen stood before it, staring intently at the statue. Then he said, “Sanqi, are you sure you saw a pure white yellow marten?”

I nodded firmly. “I’m sure!”

I knew why Master Lao Chen had to believe me.

Because the clay statue before us was of a yellow marten.

After a moment of gathering my thoughts, I told Master Lao Chen everything I had seen about the pure white yellow marten. When I finished, he fell silent, then walked over to the altar and wiped away the dust and leaves.

“Sanqi, come look!” Master Lao Chen suddenly said.

I stepped closer, and under the moonlight, I saw an inscription carved on it.

“Master Lao Chen, this writing... seems to be...”

“Manchu script!” he said quickly.

I was taken aback. “You can read Manchu? What does it say?”

“‘The debt is cleared, the mountain will awaken!’” After saying this, Master Lao Chen gritted his teeth and cursed, “Damn it! Who the hell didn’t wipe out this group of yellow martens? Now this situation, it’s like the old immortal eating arsenic, wanting to live longer!”

For some reason, after hearing this, I instinctively thought of Qiyang.

Yes, I always found the Qiyang exploration team strange.

As an exploration team, they must have local guides. If they did, how did they end up at Wild Boar Ridge? That was very odd.

“Let’s go back immediately!”

Master Lao Chen suddenly seemed to remember something and ran back the way we came. Without hesitation, I followed him.

...

More than an hour later, after the surrounding silence deepened, we finally returned to Duizifang, where a faint light shone from the room.

Master Lao Chen no longer hesitated; he kicked the door open with a loud bang.

Qiyang was lying on the bed, looking bewildered at the scene.

We were gasping for breath, having run all the way back.

Qiyang frowned. “What’s wrong with you two? Why are you so late? I thought you’d been wolf food!”

Noticing the wound on Master Lao Chen’s arm, Qiyang was shocked. “Wait... Lao Chen, you’re hurt?”

Master Lao Chen took several deep breaths but didn’t reply immediately. Instead, he looked around the room before stepping in front of Qiyang, staring at him intently.

I said nothing, standing silently behind Master Lao Chen.

After a while, Qiyang couldn’t bear the gaze and muttered, “Damn, Lao Chen, are you okay?”

“Qiyang! I have two questions for you! You must answer carefully,” Master Lao Chen said calmly.

“Ah? Sure! What serious questions? Go ahead!”

“First, is there a girl named Bai Qi in your exploration team? Second, has your team ever hunted yellow martens? Or, if you have, did you fail to exterminate them completely?”

Hearing these questions, Qiyang was puzzled. “Yellow martens? Lao Chen, are you crazy? Why would we hunt those? Everyone knows in the Northeast, the Yellow God is a deity people believe in. Who dares to hunt them? Even if I wanted to, do you think the person who led us into the Greater Khingan Mountains would allow it?”

At that, Master Lao Chen and I exchanged a glance.

If not him...

Then maybe it was that couple who returned from overseas.

Just as we breathed a sigh of relief, Qiyang continued, “Bai Qi is indeed part of our team, and she’s the only woman in our group. But...”

Master Lao Chen caught the last three words and hurriedly asked, “But what?”

“But Bai Qi was the first to die in our team... She was crushed to death by a wild boar. I saw it with my own eyes... So, Lao Chen, how do you know there’s a Bai Qi in our team?”

His words left both Master Lao Chen and me stunned.