Chapter 23

  That night, there was no cabin or cave for them to stay in. The two of them put in some effort to dig out a snow cave, at least providing a pce to shield them from the wind. In their area, the temperature could drop to -40 or -50 degrees Celsius at night, with strong winds blowing.

  Early the next morning, Zheng Sen crawled out of the snow cave and noticed that it was snowing again. The area in front of their cave entrance had been cleared, undoubtedly by Da Niu. If left uncleared, they could risk oxygen deprivation over time, and they might not wake up from their sleep.

  Though the sky wasn't fully bright yet, the snow had stopped, and the white ground reflected enough light to see clearly. Da Niu was nowhere to be found, but the spot where they had made a fire the previous night had been cleared again. A metal lunchbox was pced there, boiling soup, while the leftover rabbit meat from yesterday hung nearby, already warmed up.

  Zheng Sen rubbed his face with snow to wake himself up and soon saw Daniu approaching from the direction of the mountain.

  "There's a bit of trouble. The gully is completely covered in snow. We need to be very careful when walking. The ground is full of rocks, and it's unstable underfoot," Daniu said.

  Zheng Sen frowned. "My grandfather did tell me to come here in the summer. I didn't expect it to be like this."

  "Let's give it a try. I think we can still make it," Da Niu replied. To be honest, she was also curious about the Immortal Gully. Her grandfather had never allowed her to go there before.

  "If it doesn't work out, we can come back in the summer. When I was searching for this pce earlier, I found a ginseng pnt growing halfway up a cliff. I couldn't climb up alone, but with the two of us working together, we should be able to harvest it. The st time I saw it, it had seeds and a rge canopy of leaves. It's at least a hundred-year-old ginseng," Zheng Sen expined confidently. He knew this because Li Hongda's mother was a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner. When they were kids, he had read books on medicinal herbs at Li Hongda's house and learned how to identify them.

  "Let's go take a look. I want to see it too. If it doesn't work out, we'll figure something else out," Daniu said.

  Zheng Sen nodded. He was worried about the danger, especially since Daniu had come with him. If something happened, it would be hard to expin. But now that they were so close, he couldn't bear to give up.

  After breakfast, the two of them headed deeper into the gully. "My grandfather didn't mark it on the map, but he told me about the situation," Zheng Sen said.

  The Immortal Gully was a unique terrain, with high mountains on both sides and a narrow entrance that was easy to miss if you weren't familiar with the area. Once inside, the path was only wide enough for two or three people, with a sliver of sky visible above.

  As they walked further in, the path gradually widened. "Is this a downhill slope?" Zheng Sen asked, noticing the change in terrain.

  Da Niu nodded. "Yes, the slope isn't steep, but it gets deeper the further we go."

  After walking about a hundred meters, the gully opened up significantly. The two sides were less than fifty meters apart, with towering peaks on either side, forming a long, narrow fissure.

  "The path ahead is going to be tricky," Daniu said, pulling out a coil of rope. She handed one end to Zheng Sen and tied the other around her waist. "I've heard there are sinkholes here. It just snowed, and I don't know the terrain since I have never been here before."

  Zheng Sen nodded. "I'll go first."

  Daniu shook her head. "No, I'll go first. If something happens, you can pull me back. If it were you, I might not be able to pull you up." If they encountered a sinkhole, the force of the fall might be too much for her to handle.

  Zheng Sen didn't argue and nodded. "Be careful. If it's too dangerous, turn back."

  After securing the rope, Daniu took a long stick and used it to test the ground as she walked.

  The ground was covered in rocks, hidden beneath the snow, so they had to tread carefully.

  After walking a short distance, Daniu looked back and noticed that the entrance was now shrouded in a yer of mist. She frowned. "There's mist here." She looked up and saw that the cliffs on either side were bare, with no mist covering them.

  "My grandfather said he hid the items in a side cave, about 150 meters from the entrance. There's a standing stone in front of the cave, about three meters tall. It's very noticeable," Zheng Sen expined.

  Daniu nodded and looked ahead. Suddenly, her eyes focused. "Is that it?" About twenty meters ahead, there was a rge upright stone that looked like a vertical sword.

  Seeing this, Zheng Sen perked up immediately. "Let's go check it out."

  Daniu nodded and started walking forward. Suddenly, the ground beneath her gave way, and she began to fall. She quickly pulled out a dagger and stabbed it into the side, stopping her fall. At the same time, Zheng Sen reacted and pulled on the rope.

  After a moment, the ground calmed down, revealing a deep pit around Daniu. Zheng Sen pulled her up, and soon she was back on solid ground. The two of them looked down into the pit, which was so deep they couldn't see the bottom.

  Zheng Sen frowned. "My grandfather never mentioned any sinkholes here."

  "Maybe they formed ter. The Immortal Gully wasn't so famous before. I remember when I was seven or eight; it started gaining a reputation. People said there was mist and sinkholes, and some even cimed it had become a den for weasels. We need to be extra careful," Da Niu said.

  This time, they proceeded even more cautiously. In just a short distance, they discovered four more sinkholes.

  When they finally reached the rge stone, both of them breathed a sigh of relief. Zheng Sen stood in front of the stone and followed his grandfather's instructions. Suddenly, his eyes lit up. "Look, is that a cave?"

  Da Niu looked up and saw a cave entrance about three meters above the ground. "This spot isn't very hidden."

  "It's not hidden, but even if someone found it, they might not discover what's inside. Have you read _The Count of Monte Cristo_?" Zheng Sen asked.

  Da Niu nodded. "Yes, I have. Are you saying the treasure here is hidden like in _The Count of Monte Cristo_?"

  Zheng Sen nodded. "Pretty much. My grandfather was inspired by that story and created a hidden chamber inside this cave." He walked to the base of the stone. "Let's go in and see."

  The two of them climbed up to the cave entrance, which was small and only allowed one person to enter at a time. "Why did your grandfather go through so much trouble to hide his things here? Couldn't he have just taken them with him?" Daniu asked. It seemed like too much effort.

  "My grandfather's family was well-known in the area. His name was Tong Jingyao, and he was once the wealthiest man around here," Zheng Sen expined.

  Da Niu was stunned and turned to Zheng Sen. "Your grandfather is Tong Jingyao?" She had indeed heard of him. Tong Jingyao was originally from this area, but he was actually a wealthy businessman in the city. His family controlled the mining industry in the surrounding regions, and the Tong family's shops were spread throughout the entire Northeast. However, according to her grandfather, Tong Jingyao's family home had been burned down in a fire overnight, their assets were divided, and the Tong family disappeared without a trace. No one knew whether they were alive or dead.

  Zheng Sen nodded. "My grandfather was a business genius in his youth. He multiplied the Tong family's wealth several times over. But because of this, he attracted the envy of others. At the time, the political situation was unstable. My grandfather noticed something was wrong—several families had joined forces to target the Tong family. On top of that, the mineral resources controlled by the Tong family had caught the attention of foreign powers. The Tong family was surrounded by enemies, and their lives were threatened. So, my grandfather decided to use a 'golden cicada shedding its shell' strategy and fled with the entire family."

  Zheng Sen paused for a moment before continuing, "My grandfather ter recalled that if it hadn't been for a friend who tipped them off, allowing them to leave half a day earlier, the entire family might have been wiped out."

  Da Niu thought about that era and realized that anything could have happened.

  "My grandfather knew it would be easy to escape, but he couldn't take the family's wealth with him. He didn't want to let those greedy vilins benefit from it, so he took two trusted aides and hid the family's assets. Later, when those people broke into the house and couldn't find anything valuable, they were so angry that they set the old mansion on fire."

  As they talked, the two of them entered the cave. It wasn't very deep but was retively spacious. Da Niu carefully examined the surroundings but didn't find any hidden entrances. It was just an ordinary cave, with some traces of fire from long ago, likely left by someone who had rested there in the past. However, there were no other signs of anything unusual.

  Zheng Sen, on the other hand, found the entrance and smiled. "You didn't notice it, did you?"

  Zheng Sen suddenly realized something interesting. Although Da Niu didn't show much expression, he found that he could understand her subtle expressions and slight movements, which gave him insight into what she was thinking. He had never experienced this with anyone else before.

  Even though her expression didn't change much, he could tell that she was puzzled about not finding the entrance. She was very confident in her observational skills.

  Da Niu looked at him and blinked. "I didn't find it." After saying this, she walked around the cave again. The space was only a few square meters, and there was no sign of any hidden mechanism.

  Zheng Sen smiled. "Look here." He walked to the back of the cave but didn't look at the ground or the walls. Instead, he pointed upward.

  Da Niu was startled and looked up carefully. The cave ceiling was less than three meters high, covered with broken rocks. Some of the rocks hung down, but there was nothing unusual about them. However, Da Niu noticed a circur mark on the ceiling. Upon closer inspection, she realized, "There's an entrance up there. That's so clever."

  Zheng Sen smiled. "My grandfather had two trusted aides who had been with him since childhood. One of them was skilled in making mechanisms, and he was the one who created this cave. The mechanism is actually quite simple." As he spoke, he picked up a stick and tapped a specific hanging rock. Da Niu heard a clicking sound, but nothing else happened. Then Zheng Sen tapped another spot with the stick, repeating the process three times. Suddenly, a lot of dirt fell from above, and a door snapped open, followed by a bck shadow dropping down.

  Da Niu was startled, but upon closer inspection, she saw that it was a rope dder.

  "Let's go up and take a look," Zheng Sen said.