My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 310 Strange Tales of Miasma, Leopard Tracks

Miasma is something that modern people are not familiar with.

But in ancient times, this thing could be deadly, and people were terrified of it.

Moreover, this miasma is unique to the humid and hot southern regions.

From the well-known stories of famous figures in ancient times, it is said that many of those who were exiled to the south, or even further to Yunnan and Lingnan, would contract diseases.

Those who were lucky escaped unscathed, but suffered severe damage.

Those who are unlucky will die on the way.

Why was there so much miasma in the south in ancient times?
It is said that the ancient economic and political center was in the north, while the south, especially Lingnan, was undeveloped. In addition, there were primeval forests everywhere, which were dense, humid, and hot, and the harmful gases from the decay of dead plants and animals could not dissipate.

This harmful gas, brewing continuously in the hot and humid environment, enveloped the primeval forest, forming miasma.

"Yes, that's a common saying, but it's not entirely accurate."

After listening to Chen Ling's explanation, Han Ninggui nodded slightly: "Besides the putrefactive gases from dead plants and animals, some special minerals can also emit miasma, such as sulfur-containing volcanoes. Special terrains can also create miasma, such as some valleys on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau... In short, there are many reasons, and it's not exclusive to the south."

"Huh? So there's still a lot of miasma around?" Chen Lingqi asked.

"Not many? Where are there many? There are only a handful of places in China where miasma has been discovered, so the fact that miasma has appeared here is worth studying."

Han Ninggui said.

Then, seeing that Chen Ling and his fellow villagers were quite curious about this thing, he gave them a detailed explanation.

As for why it's no longer available?
It was only through gradual development in various parts of the south, coupled with large-scale projects such as logging, that it naturally disappeared.

……

After lunch and a short rest, Chen Ling and the others couldn't contain their curiosity and insisted that Han Ninggui take them to see what miasma was.

They first went north against the direction of the wetlands, crossed a hill, and passed through a forest full of wild chestnuts. Many of the wild chestnut trees there were over two hundred years old, and the trees were full of chestnuts, which looked very tempting.

The south-facing slope is a sunny slope, where wild fruit trees grow vigorously.

The path Han Ninggui led them through wasn't steep, but because few people frequented the mountains and the area was unprepared, it wasn't easy to traverse until the path turned and a small stream reappeared at the edge of the forest.

Walking along the stream was much better than before.

However, the shady side of the stream is often slippery with moss, so you naturally have to walk on the sunny side.

"I can't see anything special about this place. There's flowing water, and the location is open. It's not as isolated as people say. How could there be miasma here?"

Chen Ling, with his dog and the hawk flying in the sky, didn't sense anything amiss.

Han Ninggui nodded: "Yes, there must be another reason for this situation. If it has nothing to do with the terrain, it is very likely that there are special minerals in the valley over there. Doesn't your Gucheng County to the north have mines?"

"Yes, we call that Gucheng County 'Turtle City' because it has many mines. Mining started a long time ago, and I've heard that many strange things happened during the mining process. It's quite scary."

"But Uncle Han, you said there might be special mines here that produce miasma. Could it be the kind of radiation that the textbooks talk about?"

"Oh my, so you know about radiation, huh? Not bad..."

As for radiation, it doesn't affect people or living things that quickly. For example, the dog that went around the valley went back and started foaming at the mouth.

"It only took about ten minutes; radiation couldn't have spread that quickly!"

"Oh, that's true."

Following the stream upstream, winding and turning, we finally reached the vicinity of the valley.

The valley is not very large, and its location is quite ordinary and flat.

The wild trees, vines, and grasses were no different from those elsewhere.

But as soon as they entered the vicinity, about twenty meters away, Chen Ling's two dogs suddenly stopped and began barking at the valley.

As soon as they made a sound, all the hunting dogs joined in barking.

Not only were the dogs barking, but hawks in the sky were also circling down, refusing to enter the valley.

The dog and the eagle reacted so strangely.

It gave people a jolt, and even those who came to see something unusual became more cautious.

Han Ninggui stopped and looked at everyone, saying, "It was Fugui's dog and eagle that sensed the difference in this place. When we came here, the dog didn't react this way."

"As I said on the way here, when you go into the valley, cover your mouth and nose with your clothes and try not to breathe too hard."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Professor Han and Feng Yi have already tested it; if you stay at the edge of the valley for a while, you will vomit and have diarrhea when you go back.

Although it wasn't like a hunting dog foaming at the mouth, it was still quite serious.

No one dared to be careless, and they cautiously followed behind into the valley.

Some were actually afraid and didn't want to go in, but they couldn't suppress their curiosity and went in with trepidation.

Chen Ling followed at the back, teasing his two big dogs, "Since there's nothing to cover your noses, you two can stay outside and guard us. Come in and rescue us if anything happens, okay?"

The two dogs obediently lay down outside the valley, guarding the area with a pack of hunting dogs.

This amused everyone, and at the same time, it eased their tension considerably.

However, everyone tried to speak less and breathe softly.

He covered his mouth and nose with his sleeve and walked into the valley, observing everything around him.

The valley is not large, but it is covered with a variety of wild trees, vines, and grasses. Walking into the valley, you feel a sense of coolness and are surrounded by greenery. You can also hear the sound of flowing water outside the valley from the outer edge, so you don't feel stuffy.

But soon everyone discovered that the valley was extremely lush with vegetation, but there were no birds or small animals, no snakes or rodents, only various kinds of insects, some crawling on the ground and some flying in the air, and there were quite a lot of insects.

There are many insects and lush plants, but no animals.

No, not exactly. After walking nearly a hundred meters further, there was a deer lying in the grass.

It was just dead and decayed.

The stench was so strong that you could smell it even if you covered your mouth and nose with your sleeve.

As the group continued forward, they discovered more scattered remains of wild animals and birds, some of which had been there for a long time and were now just skeletons.

They must have come here to graze or wandered in by mistake, but this place wasn't safe for them, so they got poisoned, couldn't get out, and died here.

Apart from insects, there were no other traces of birds or wild animals of any kind, which alarmed some hunters.

This valley is indeed a bit eerie.

After walking around, some people covered their mouths and noses and felt slightly dizzy, so they all left.

Only after retreating to the outside of the valley and breathing in the fresh air did I feel completely refreshed.

"Isn't there supposed to be miasma? Why can't we see it in the valley?" Liu Guangli, the old hunter, had never seen miasma before. He thought it was similar to fog, but he didn't see anything.

"There's really nothing like it during the day, it's just like outside, but you can see it at dusk, it's pretty much like fog."

After looking around at everyone, Han Ninggui said, "Old Feng and I didn't go any deeper before. We only dared to go in because there were so many of us to look out for each other."

However, it seems that with proper protection, there shouldn't be any major problems once inside.

"In that case, we'll handle the rest ourselves; you don't need to risk yourselves with us."

Others followed into the valley, but it was no use; they didn't understand this thing and couldn't help them at all.

However, they are not entirely unnecessary. They still need to capture birds and animals from time to time to bring them into the valley for experiments.

The others also need to stay in the mountains to protect and escort them, acting as guides and bodyguards.

That doesn't mean they went back.

For most people, money is no object, and they can even go hunting on the side.

Chen Ling didn't care at all; he wasn't interested in the miasma or anything like that.

He came to the mountains with them because of the leopards and wild boars.

The leopard is especially placed first.

His mind was now focused on finding the leopard. As he hurried toward the valley, Wang Lixian found another leopard footprint not far from the water's edge. However, due to the passage of time, the scent was no longer noticeable, indicating that the footprints had been left undetected, which would pose a significant challenge for the dog.

My two dogs have no problem running hot or cold.

But a leopard doesn't stay still in one place.

Like wild boars, it also has its own main animal trail and secondary animal trails.

These are the so-called main diameter and branch diameter.

Once you find these, you can get close to the leopard's territory, and then it's easy.

……

I took a trip through the miasma valley.

After the others had no adverse reactions, they helped Han Ninggui and the others catch small prey, while Chen Ling, carrying a knife and a gun, led two dogs to search for leopard tracks in the mountains.

The two dogs kept sniffing around on the ground.

The two bald men circled in the sky.

After traversing mountains and valleys, crossing three ridges, I finally found a clue, but the place was too far away. I still had to go around the deep gorges and ravines to get to Eagle Claw Ridge, which I visited last year.

Eagle Claw Ridge is the claw-shaped mountain ridge we visited last year when we were scavenging for meat with the jackals.

At that time, Chen Ling found a male sika deer and a musk deer, while Liu Guangli found five jackals that had been killed by his companions.

"That place is far away, damn it, catching a leopard is really not easy."

Standing atop the hill, Chen Ling looked down at the deep ravine below and scratched his head.

He glanced at the two dogs, then at the eagle in the sky, and reluctantly entered the cave, arriving at the woods where the male leopard was.

The leopard was resting on a large rock, but when it saw Chen Ling, it immediately sprang up, leaping four or five meters away. It ran behind a large tree in the distance, poked its head out, and looked at him with fear in its eyes.

The leopard was still afraid of Chen Ling, and the psychological trauma left by Chen Ling's trickery in the cave was quite significant.

"Come on, come on, dinner's ready..." Chen Ling waved to him, then with a wave of his hand, a basin of wild boar meat flew over from the thatched hut in the distance.

He picked up a piece and threw it at the leopard.

The wild boar meat came from several sows that were originally kept in the cave.

It was caught by Chen Ling in the mountains when he was picking Ganoderma lucidum. He shot it and left it there without paying attention to it. He was keeping it to feed the dogs.

I've been using it to feed the leopards a lot lately.

Pieces of meat, bone and all, were thrown to the leopard.

Although the leopard was afraid of him, it knew there was no problem with food these days, so when he threw it over, it leaped out from behind the big tree, grabbed a piece of wild boar leg meat, and ran deep into the forest to enjoy it.

Chen Ling chuckled upon seeing this, "You've got a pretty thick skin, damn it."

Then they brought the two dogs and the eagle into the cave, and everyone watched as the shameless leopard carried away pieces of wild boar meat and ate them, leisurely enjoying the spectacle.

When the two dogs saw the leopard, they were initially eager to go up and fight it.

But soon he realized that the leopard was actually quite pitiful, having to hide to eat a piece of meat, so he relaxed and lay down next to Chen Ling, watching the spectacle with great interest.

"Alright, now that it's finished eating, let's stop looking at it and give it some face."

Chen Ling saw the leopard finish its meal and cautiously peek out from the trees. The hideous wounds on its face had healed, making the fierce leopard look somewhat simple-minded.

"Just wait. If things go smoothly, this time will be fine. If not, it will be next year at the latest. I will definitely catch a female leopard for you and let you live a sweet life."

Chen Ling waved to the leopard, ignoring its reaction, and wandered around the cave with the dog and the hawk.

Wandering around, looking at the bees and fish, and then taking the dog and eagle to the jade tree for a couple of sips of water, seeing that they were in high spirits and in increasingly good condition, he finally carried the beehive out.

Since we've come all the way to the mountains, we should naturally let the bees rest.

After releasing all the bumblebees, he continued to wander around the mountains with his dog and eagle. He didn't look for the leopard on the opposite mountain yet, but instead looked for wild boars nearby and stocked up some food for his dog and the leopard in the cave to prepare for the winter.

In addition, this is also a way to reduce the wild boar population, which is a good thing and is his duty as a forest ranger.

While searching for wild boars, they also picked up large stones and threw them into the cave.

There were large rocks weighing fifty pounds, one hundred pounds, and several hundred pounds, and as long as they were independent rocks, they were all collected into the cave.

He planned to wait until he caught another leopard, male or female, and then build a leopard mountain in the cave.

Thinking about the whole Leopard Mountain project, I spent the entire afternoon just picking up stones.

Finally, a small mountain was indeed piled up in the forest where the leopard was.

However, no wild boars were found.

It's not that we can't find them, but there are no pigs left in the surrounding mountains.

After they killed the two large boars, they made such a commotion that the remaining pigs were frightened.

They were all so frightened that they ran away to another place.

It gets dark quickly in the mountains; once it's past four in the afternoon, the sunlight disappears in a flash.

As it was getting dark, Chen Ling carried the beehive and brought all the bees back.

After a flurry of activity and waiting, he prepared to return to the camp when the Sun and Moon Cave suddenly reacted.

This reaction was tinged with joy.

It turned out that the leaf on the sapling had grown.

From tender buds in spring, they have finally grown into leaves.

These leaves can be shed and consumed; their effects are several levels stronger than those of the sacred water.

"Goodness, so not only are the seeds from the cave useful, but the bees I release to collect pollen are also useful. They can also promote the growth of these leaves."

This discovery delighted Chen Ling.

On the way back to camp, I was still thinking about how good these leaves were. They were many times more effective than the spiritual water and were good for both the body and mind.

He had already taken one tablet previously.

Therefore, this leaf should be given to my wife to help her improve her health.

That way it'll be easier to have a second child.

(End of this chapter)