????

  The wind rose and the cloud was alone on that mountain ridge, not long after, he smiled and bent down to pull out a strange-looking grass from the rocky thicket, with roots as big as potatoes attached below. He put the grass on the ground and crushed it with stones, along with the juice, and brought it over saying: "Where the venomous snake appears, there must be an antidote within seven steps, apply it to him, and look for a place to decoct the root and stem together and bring it to him to drink."

  Cha Wenbin hesitated for a moment, looking at Feng Qiyun's delicate face, and still silently accepted the herbal medicine. Pressing it onto Ye Qiu's tiger mouth, his body convulsed slightly, this was pain, he rarely felt such pain.

  Fatso's eyes were red as he said, "What kind of medicine did you give him?"

  "This thing is called Guī Dū Tóu. In 'Ben Cao Gang Mu', it's recorded that even if a normal person gets splashed with its juice, they'll get poisoned and have heart problems. If eaten, their liver and intestines will be cut off inch by inch. This extremely toxic snake actually grows this extremely toxic grass next to it. As the saying goes, yin and yang cannot exist alone, all things are born and overcome each other. This grass can use poison to counteract poison, which can cure Ye Xiong's snake venom."

  "Alright," Zhang Wenbin let out a long sigh, the blood that had been squeezed out was now red, he said with great gratitude to Feng Qiyun: "Brother Feng is not only elegant and refined, but also has such high attainments in medicine, I thank you on behalf of Ye Qiu."

  Next, Ye Qiu was carried on the back of Pangzi. All the way, he was in a daze. Fengyun said that they should arrive at the campsite early to let him rest. Some of the toxic blood had seeped into his body and needed to be treated with medicine.

  The sky was gradually darkening, and the destination was still a distance away. Gasa suggested that they spend the night on the mountain ridge. He found a very flat hilltop, like a natural inkstone, with enough space and a broad view. The journey had been delayed, and Pangzi was carrying Ye Qiu again. In the end, it was decided that Cha Wenzhen and Gasa would be in charge of setting up the open-top tent, while Pangzi and Feng Qiyun went down the mountain to fetch water and gather firewood.

  To prevent mosquitoes, snakes and rats, a circle of sulfur was sprinkled around the campsite. After fetching water and picking up firewood to head up the mountain, the sky had already darkened. Looking at what should have been their destination for today, Pangzi couldn't help but sigh, and this was just the beginning of their losses. Suddenly, he vaguely saw a group of people at the campsite, and to make sure he wasn't seeing things, he even rubbed his eyes. No mistake! There were people, and more than one!

  "Hey, look over there, isn't that a group of people?" The fat guy secretly called him Xiao Bailian, but when facing him directly, he simply used "hey" as a substitute.

  "I have a name, walk your own path, and don't look at things you shouldn't."

  The fatty muttered to himself for a while, then ran back quickly and said to Cha Wenbin: "Old Cha, there's someone inside."

  "Person?" Gasa and Zhaowen Bin both turned their heads, following the direction of Pangzi's pointing finger. Now it was a foggy area over there. The mountain fog came down suddenly, and in the blink of an eye, it was almost in front of them. Perhaps it was due to the rain this morning that made the humidity here surge.

  "This..." The fatty hastily pointed at Feng Qi Yun: "He saw it too!"

  Cha Wenbin gazed at the wind and clouds, seemingly unperturbed. Instead, he squatted down to start a fire and boil water: "After taking this medicine, I reckon he'll be awake by tonight. His body is strong, so he'll recover quickly."

  "Brother Feng, Shi Tou said he..."

  "Hush..." The wind rose and pointed with his finger: "There are many more people who died in this desolate mountain, seeing some messy things will make you want to sew your eyes shut. I advise Brother Pangzi to do less rather than more, lest someone fight with him for the quilt tonight."

  "What do you mean!"

  "He smiled slightly and said: 'I've already told you, don't look at things you shouldn't be looking at. So, what did you see? How would I know?'"

  Seeing the two of them about to clash, Cha Wenbin hastily came out to mediate: "Shitou, you and Gasa take a look around and gather some stones to surround us in a circle. That way, if any snakes or insects come by at night, we'll be able to hear the sound."

  Zhi Kai had left, and Cha Wenbin only then stood up and asked Feng Qiyun: "Brother Feng, is there something inconvenient to say?"

  Feng Qi Yun gave him a nod of approval and said, "One less thing is better than one more thing. Tonight when we switch shifts, would you mind keeping an eye on things for me?"

  "Feng Xiong's meaning is to go alone to explore the camp?" This person also acted extremely unreasonably, just like that day when he clearly knew there was a snowman but deliberately drove away Cha Wenbin, it's unknown whether he was intentionally protecting them or had another unspeakable secret.

  "In the long and sleepless night, I'd like to take a walk around this beautiful place by myself, calm down for a bit. Brother Zhang won't even give me this little bit of freedom?"

  Zha Wenbin also smiled and said: "Please go ahead."

  Ye Qiu, who had been given the medicinal soup, coughed up a few mouthfuls of black blood and fell asleep again. As he said, his body temperature had gradually dropped, and he even opened his eyes a few times to signal to Cha Wenbin that he was okay. His pulse was also stabilizing, and it seemed like there was no major problem.

  Feng Qiyun said that the snake was called the Himalayan White-headed Snake, which belonged to the highly toxic category and was extremely rare. Most people who were bitten by this snake would die, but Ye Qiu's physical constitution was extraordinary, and he recovered very quickly. However, Feng Qiyun also said that according to ancient books, this snake only appeared in the Himalayan mountain range.

  He also mentioned that although the snake was venomous, its meat was extremely delicious. Paozi immediately said it was a pity, and if they had known earlier, they would have stewed it for soup tonight. Feng Qiyun teased him, saying he wasn't afraid of snakes, but Paozi replied that being afraid didn't mean he wouldn't dare to eat it.

  In the relatively cheerful atmosphere, they ended their journey for the day.

  By the time it was nine o'clock, the fog on the mountain had thinned out a lot. The first half of tonight belonged to Baozi, and the segment before dawn belonged to Gasa. Cha Wenbin specially arranged his own time with Feng Qiyun together. After 10 o'clock, Baozi was also called in to sleep, and after another half hour, snoring sounds gradually rose from inside. Feng Qiyun turned to Cha Wenbin and said, "Brother Cha, I'm going out for a stroll, you'd better not follow me."

  "How did you know I'd follow?" asked Cha Wenbin.

  The wind rose and the cloud suddenly lowered its head mysteriously, saying: "As far as I know, there is no volcanic activity here. Think carefully about why the rocks on both sides would melt like this. It's as if the mountain was burned into a canyon."

  Zha Wenbin's unbelievable inquiry: "Are you saying this was arson?"

  Feng Qi laughed and said, "Otherwise, how would both ends of this mountain valley be barren? I, Feng Shi, am a descendant of the ancient people who learned to drill wood for fire ten thousand years ago. As for using fire to such an extent, there is only one person under the heavens!"

  Cha Wenbin shouted out the name: "Huǒ Shén Zhù Róng!"

  In the "Classic of Mountains and Seas" (Shan Hai Jing), it is said: "In the south, there is Zhu Rong, with a beast's body and human face, riding on two dragons." In legend, the most famous battle of this great god, revered as the "Red Emperor", was against the water god Gong Gong at Mount Buzhou.

  It is said that in the distant era of great chaos, people ate birds and beasts with their fur and blood. At that time, there was a Bright Palace on Mount Kunlun, where a fire god named Zhurong lived. Zhurong took fire from the divine lamp in the Bright Palace, and from then on, people began to learn how to cook from the flames. To thank Zhurong for passing on the fire, people offered many sacrifices to that benevolent deity, which greatly increased the power of the fire god and suppressed other gods. However, this aroused the jealousy of another great god: Gonggong. Gonggong thought that water and fire were both essential conditions for survival, so why did people only respect Zhurong but not him?

  The contradictions between the two began to intensify and finally one day, the two ancient gods had a big fight near Mount Buzhou.

  Gonggong led the water tribe to attack the Bright Palace where Zhurong lived, and extinguished the divine fire that had been burning around the palace for years, plunging the earth into darkness. This enraged Zhurong, who rode a fire dragon to battle, its body glowing with flames that split the earth in two. Gonggong summoned all the water from the five lakes and four seas to the foot of Mount Buzhou near the Bright Palace, causing the entire earth to become a vast ocean. A massive flood poured down from the Kunlun Mountains, instantly submerging the Bright Palace, its halls crumbling and collapsing in an instant.

  However, water flows to low-lying areas, and when the floodwaters recede, the divine fire burns again. Zhurong occupies the geographical advantage, riding a fire dragon to defeat Gonggong, who is defeated and decides to perish together with Zhurong by crashing into Mount Buzhou, the pillar of heaven. The pillar collapses, leaving behind a huge hole, and the earth splits into countless pieces. A great fire spreads through the forest, and floodwaters ravage the land. To save the world, Nüwa sacrifices herself to repair the sky, and later comes the story of Yu's control of the Great Flood.

  The legend of the barbaric gods opened up Chinese civilization, but Wen Bin never thought that these things would be true. Looking at the dark rocks under his feet, they were obviously formed by cooling lava after boiling, but this place really didn't seem to have had volcanic activity. The wind rose and the clouds followed, saying: "Brother Cha, where do myths come from? They rely on the fabrications of the people behind the mountains, but what are those fabrications based on? Existence is reasonable, legends are the same, without prototypes, how did the ancients depict them so vividly? Why are those gods who shouldn't exist still sleeping in our nation's temples?"

  This remark actually left Zhang Wenbin speechless, but he said: "Yesterday in the underground river under the glacier, I also saw those huge pillars and that statue. Maybe they didn't see clearly, but I did."

  "Are you saying that's the remains of Guangming Palace being washed up there?"

  "I don't know if the Palace of Light really exists in this world, but I recognize that statue, it's definitely Zhurong, the Fire God. Cha brother, we've already entered the ruins left behind by our ancestors. Whether you believe it or not, perhaps those gods with divine powers like in myths don't exist, but there must be a prototype for them in this world. The Feng clan and the Zhurong clan have a close relationship, and the Suiren clan learned how to drill wood to make fire from the Zhurong clan. This nation that takes pride in fire is worthy of my respect for our ancestors."