Chapter 9: The Iron Tree

I waited in the pit for the members of the search and rescue team to arrive, but when I finally fell asleep, the rest of the search and rescue team did not descend into the pit. So, I had to start searching and inspecting the foggy pit alone. As a result, the roof leak happened to rain overnight, and I encountered a thousand stairs on crutches. was already alone and helpless, but in this treacherous and foggy deep pit, it was good to get lost.

I remember that I was moving in a straight line, but when I estimated that I had walked back, I took two big steps to the left with confidence. As a result, I didn't see the earthen wall when I came down. I thought to myself: maybe it's a slight error in my straight line. So, I took two big steps in the direction to the left, that is, in the direction where the earth wall was located. As a result, I still didn't see the earthen wall that came down before.

At this moment, I couldn't help but be a little flustered, thinking that the direction I was traveling was correct, and the distance traveled in a straight line could not deviate too much, and I didn't turn, why the dirt wall on the left hand side was gone. So, I hurriedly turned to the side and walked straight in the direction of the dirt wall where I had come down.

As a result, after walking for a long time, there was still only a thick fog ahead, and there was no trace of the earth wall at all. Only then did I realize that I had lost my way, and it seemed that in this fog, the sense of direction was gone.

Now, I'm in a dilemma. Once again, the problem of selectivity is disturbing, like a demon, always looking for a gap to take advantage of, taking the opportunity to taunt you and play with you. I am now lost, faced with two choices, one is to sit quietly here and wait for dawn slowly, it is estimated that after the early morning, the dense fog in the pit will gradually begin to dissipate, and at that time, you can find the way forward, and you can find a way to go up from the pit; The second option is to get a rough idea of where you are now, and then find a direction to continue on, so that you can reach any end of the earth wall in the pit. However, even if you find a nearby earth wall, you can't leave the pit and go up to the ground. However, perhaps in the process of traveling, you may walk to the mausoleum in the middle of the pit, and maybe the blind cat will run into a dead mouse and bump into the master and the search and rescue team who have been separated from him.

I carefully evaluated the two methods, the key to the problem is to find the large army first, I am not confident that I can find Yue'er alone and successfully rescue her safely. Thinking about it, the chances of staying where you are and encountering a team are slim, or that there is a better chance of meeting them in action. Thinking of this, I have decided to continue my journey in the pit, and even if I don't meet the lost master in the end, I can still find a way to get out of this misty pit and go up to the ground with a relatively high safety index.

I made up my mind, I remembered that there was a compass in my bag, so I turned it out of my backpack, and as a result, when I shone it with the light of a flashlight, I saw the needle of the compass, swaying around and around, but I couldn't stop. I looked at the shaking pointer in amazement, and said to myself: Is there something in this pit that interferes with the magnetic field? It was impossible to determine the exact direction, so I had to stuff the compass into my backpack anew, then pick it up and look up at the sky.

There was not a single star in sight in the black night sky, as if all of them were obscured by inexplicable dark clouds, and the lonely moon was exceptionally bright. Looking at the night sky, I said to myself: it doesn't matter if you don't have the stars to discern the position, you can use the moon to discern the direction. In winter and summer, the moon moves differently in the sky, and its position in the sky is different every night due to the rotation of the earth. However, the moon rises in the east and sets in the west like the sun, and I am now in the northeast of the earth, and the sun rises and the moon rises earlier. During the day, the moon is fuller in the middle of the day, and the crescent moon appears in the west, then disappears, and the sun rises in place of the moon.

Looking at the appearance of the moon in the night sky now, it should be the right time, and the heart said: I have slept for a lot of time in my previous sleep, and it is very likely that the master and they have found the mausoleum in the deep pit, and they have to hurry up.

Once I had a clear direction, I continued to walk through the pit with a flashlight. After walking for a long time in a deep pit with very low visibility, the speed of movement was not fast because he could not see the road ahead, and he could even be described as slow, and the flashlight in his hand had begun to heat up and become hot. Although I had spare batteries in my backpack, I was worried that the flashlight bulb would burn out if it was exposed to constant exposure for a long time. So, I turned off the flashlight and let it rest for a while to cool down.

And I didn't worry about the lighting, because when I went into the mountain this time, I prepared a complete set of equipment, and almost all the things that I thought could be used and lightweight, almost all of them. The backpack was stuffed by me, like a rice dumpling filled with various fillings, and it was heavy. Looking at the heavy backpack, my heart said: No wonder I am abnormally tired, most likely because of this heavy backpack.

I flipped through the backpack on the ground and thought to myself: Anyway, the pit is limited by the influence of the dense fog, and the range of light is limited, as long as a little light can illuminate the road under my feet in front of me, so as not to let myself fall. So, I pulled out a few candles and gloves from my backpack and put the cotton gloves on my hands first, this to avoid being burned by the hot wax tears. After putting on the gloves, I lit a candle and held it slightly at an angle in my hand, the light of the candle spreading out in the thick fog, almost indistinguishable from a flashlight.

I walked a short distance with a dim candle, and suddenly I noticed that in the depths of the fog in front of me, there seemed to be a shadow in the shape of a tree, and the branches were still swaying enchantingly. I was amazed and said, "I didn't expect there to be trees in this pit." However, from a distance, the shadow of the tree looked like a demon with teeth and claws, and it looked very cautious.

I walked towards some strange shadows, and I found that the closer I got to the shadows of the trees, the thinner the fog became, as if the trees in the distance had the effect of repelling the fog. I stepped forward step by step, looking at the taller trees that became clearer and clearer, and my heart became more and more amazed. I thought to myself: since I can already see the figure of the big tree, it should not be too far away. How can I have been moving towards the goal for most of the day, but I have not yet walked to the front of the big tree. It can be seen that this big tree is too tall and eye-catching, so it can be seen from a distance.

Although I haven't seen the exact appearance of this big tree, I can already tell from its shadow that it looks quite strange. The branches of the big tree were not shaking, and the trunk was straight in all directions, without any forks or branches, and there was no smell of the tree when it was close.

The candle in his hand had already burned to the bottom, and time passed silently in the footsteps, and he had not yet reached the front of the tree. And along the way, I didn't meet anyone from the search and rescue team. There was still a dead silence all around, and I couldn't help but get irritated in my heart, thinking: This damn pit is really not ordinary in scope. Now that I hope to meet the team, it is as difficult as looking for a needle in a haystack. It seems that he is going to be left alone to fight, and he has to raise his full spirit, be careful, and be ready to deal with the mysterious unknown dangers in this deep pit.

Thinking of this, I couldn't help but sigh in my heart, "I really don't understand if I am a lone star, and I often be alone in a ghost place for no reason, and become a lonely person." ”

As I continued to move forward, the tree was already close in front of me, and the candle in my hand had burned to the point that only the soft roots remained, and the flames shook a few times from time to time, as if to tell that my life was about to burn out. I pinched the candle head, which was about to burn out, on the new candle. The flames of the candle were flickering with blue light, and in this strange place, even the light emitted in the air had a terrifying smell.

The shadows of the trees in front of me have become clearer and clearer, and I saw the big trees in front of me clearly through the last thin mist, and I was stunned, and I couldn't help but exclaim in my heart: What kind of towering ancient tree is this, it is completely a big iron pillar full of iron pipes.

I saw that on the ground in front of me, there was a big iron pillar that only three people could embrace. From the top of his head, the top of the big iron pillar was filled with wrist-thick iron pipes all the way up, and the whole rusty iron pillar was like a wooden stake full of sugar gourds.

I looked up at the iron pillars filled with iron pipes, and said to myself: This deep pit is really weird and terrifying. In the deep pit, not only a strange mausoleum of considerable scale was built, but also a golden hoop rod with barbed roots was inserted in front of the cemetery, which was really creative. I couldn't help but curse in my heart: what kind of bastard bastard came up with such a creative idea, I really wanted to pull him out and beat him up. I extinguished the candle that was too dim, took out the flashlight from my backpack again, turned on the flashlight, and took a few steps forward, close to the front of the big iron pillar, and carefully looked at the iron pillar like the needle of the sea god.

The body of the iron pillar seems to be carved with ornamentation, but because the decay is too strict, it is no longer possible to distinguish the original appearance of the ornamentation, and only some simple lines can be seen, which is roughly the same as the ornamentation I saw on the stone slab of the underground palace. Most of the iron pipes inserted under the iron pillar near the ground have been destroyed by the years, some are twisted, some have fallen off, and some of the remaining iron pipes are rusty and inserted on the iron pillar, shivering pitifully in the cold wind.

I circled around the pillar, thinking to myself: let's see if I can climb it, so that I can see in the distance, and maybe I can find the Master's trace. After turning around, I found that it was impossible to climb up. Although there was a rope in the bag, the iron pipe was inserted a little higher above the iron pillar, and there was no way for people to climb it. Moreover, I was worried that the iron pipe was too rotten and might not be able to bear my weight, so it was useless to climb up.

Thinking of this, I decided to continue on my journey, although I was very interested in this iron pillar. However, there is no time to study it now. As I turned around to leave, I curiously tapped the iron pillar twice with my hand, and I heard a crisp and pleasant sound drifting away. Xin Qi said: It turns out that this iron pillar is hollow. But what is the use of erecting a large hollow iron pillar here, is it to catch rainwater?

I knew it was naïve for me to come up with this idea, but I was still stumped by curiosity. I put my backpack on the ground, intending to tie a string into a sleeve and pull a few of the iron pipes off the top of the iron pillar to see.

As a result, just as I lowered my head and rummaged for the rope, there was some noise above the iron pillar, and then the sound became louder and louder, as if something was rolling down from above, and I hurriedly stood up and shone the light of the flashlight towards the top of the iron pillar.

However, at this moment, a strong wind suddenly rushed from behind me, grabbed me directly by the back of the neck, and threw me backwards. I lay on the ground in astonishment and before I had time to come back to my senses, I saw that more than a dozen iron pipes were instantly inserted diagonally on the ground where I was standing just now, and the pipes were trembling uncontrollably.