No taboos

Chapter 346 Ancient Thread Girl

Xu Yuan's pupils dilated suddenly, then quickly returned to normal.

Lord Xu has made considerable progress in his composure over the past few months.

He immediately realized that the "ancient thread maiden" that Gao Guanzi mentioned was probably some kind of evil spirit.

"Is it unsafe here at night?" Xu Yuan frowned. "If it's unsafe, why did you bring me here?"
Xu Yuan had one last option when he spent the night in the mountains: take a mud mask with him and find a place to hide and get by.

Gao Guanzi quickly replied, "It's very safe. Gu Xianniang doesn't come every night."

He scratched his head and said with a wry smile, "This all started with Qidou Village back then. That village... was fierce and warlike, and only they dared to live so close to Guanghuo Street."

The mountain runners in their village don't have any 'hats' for skill—in our mountain dialect, it means that as long as you work hard, your skills will keep improving. Unlike the two of us, according to the outside world's standards, we'd probably be stuck at the sixth or fifth tier and unable to rise any higher.

It is said that the mountain runners in their village carved these stone niches into the cliff face in order to hone their skills.

He spends half the year living in these stone niches. Each niche is a form of training.

This is the safest place.

The other sword-shaped niches, star-peeling niches, and so on, are all extremely dangerous.

Old Man Bai continued, "The Ancient Thread Maiden is a kind of mountain snake spirit. They can transform into beautiful women and enter dreams, creating all sorts of joyful scenes in those dreams."

If you lure someone into becoming addicted, they will remain asleep and their perception of various dangers in reality will decrease.

Then, the snake-like body of the ancient thread maiden would appear and swallow the person whole.

However, the ancient thread girls are actually very timid. They are always afraid that the things they eat are too big and will burst their bodies.

Therefore, before swallowing a person, it would straighten its body and compare its length with the person it wanted to eat.

If their bodies are longer, it means they can swallow them without any problems, and they will start eating people.

Xu Yuan nodded, so that's how you measure length.

I thought...

Alas, that is my opinion, and there is no other misunderstanding.

Gao Guanzi added, "As long as the huge stone at the entrance of this goddess shrine is blocked, other evil spirits will not be able to get in."

Just be wary of that ancient thread-making girl.

The three of us can take turns on duty tonight... or I can take the first half of the night, and Old Bai can take the second half.

"Please get some rest, sir."

Xu Yuan waved his hand: "Let's all take turns resting."

Old Bai nodded: "The Ancient Thread Mother is blind. There is a way for her to measure a person's length: if a person is sleeping but suddenly their body is straightened, it means that the Ancient Thread Mother is measuring their length. When adults are on duty, if they see the two of us suddenly lying straight, they should wake us up immediately."

As soon as someone wakes up, Gu Xianniang will automatically leave.

Xu Yuan nodded: "Okay."

The stone niche was so cramped that there was no way to prepare dinner, so everyone just ate some dry food.

Xu Yuan didn't even want to look at the mountain runners' rations; he just focused on eating his own.

While eating, Xu Yuan thought of those people from earlier.

"What exactly do those people want to do at Pig Cry Rock?"

Both mountain runners shook their heads, unable to guess.

Xu Yuan couldn't help but think of Qidou Village again, where the claw mark eventually turned into a lake!
This indicates that the claw marks were large and deep.

I really don't know what kind of evil spirit destroyed this village back then!
Perhaps he is no less powerful than Lord Ruan Tian or the Dragon King of the Grand Canal?

How did they offend such a being?
After finishing his rations, Gao Guanzi said, "Sir, please rest first. Old Man Bai will go first, and I'll go second."

"Okay." Xu Yuan agreed and lay down with Dafu in his arms.

This "shrine to the goddess" was carved out of the cliff face, and the stone cave for entering and exiting is only half a person high.

There was a small room inside.

It was only seven feet square.

Gao Guanzi piled up the three square stones at the entrance of the cave to block it.

Dafu started arguing with Xu Yuan, saying she didn't like being held.

Last night, I barely managed to squeeze in with the food trough because the wolf-skin rug was comfortable.

Now it's all hard stone slabs, who wants to sleep with you?
Dafu wriggled out of Xu Yuan's arms, staggered to the stone cave outside, lay down, and quickly fell asleep.

Xu Yuan first took out the folded document from his robes and glanced at it. Jiao replied:

Tomorrow morning, seven li west of Pig Cry Rock, after passing Wind Ridge, meet me.

Xu Yuan then put away the memorial and went to sleep peacefully.

Gao Guanzi also went to sleep, and Bai Laoyan took the first round.

When everyone sleeps, they all curl up.

Old Bai waited until everyone was asleep before taking off his glasses and wiping them.

His eyes gleamed with a wolf-like, eerie green light in the darkness.

After wiping his glasses, he took off the machete and carefully cleaned the blade.

Old Bai has a lot of energy.

Spending the night in the mountains is a common occurrence for them.

If they need to stay up all night, they can go for several days and nights without sleeping.

Strange noises from the mountains outside drifted in through the cracks in the rocks.

When Bai Laoyan was bored, he listened carefully to try and identify which evil spirits were among the sounds.

This is how he passed the time when he spent the night in the mountains.

As he listened, Old Man Bai lowered his head, sat there wrapped in his feather cloak, and fell asleep!
The two experienced mountain runners made a mistake: they had never spent the night in the goddess's shrine before.

Their knowledge of places like Qidou Village and Shenniang Shrine came from what their ancestors told them.

The elders heard it from even earlier ancestors.

No one has ever spent the night here.

It's too close to Guanghuo Street, so I rarely come here, let alone stay overnight.

The test that the mountain runners of Qidou Village face at the Goddess Shrine lies primarily in their dreams.

So Gu Xianniang has another skill: she can breathe out a breath of "sleeping air" through the cracks in the rocks.

Inside the stone niche, all three were fast asleep.

Gao Guanzi, who was a light sleeper to begin with, also fell into a deep sleep under the influence of the "sleeping qi".

A moment later, it seemed as if something had slipped in, and the air rippled slightly.

Dafu was sleeping in the stone cave.

The thing passed by Dafu first—and for some reason, it seemed to be startled, causing a sudden and violent fluctuation in the air.

Then everything calmed down.

After waiting for a while and finding that Dafu didn't react, the thing carefully bypassed Dafu.

There are three people in the stone niche.

Gu Xianniang easily selected Xu Yuan.

The day is not yet over, and Xu Yuan's tortoise shell divination is still effective; today is very auspicious.

In his sleep, a happy smile appeared on Lord Xu's face.

Then he moved his body slightly and then lay down smoothly.

But then, a rope silently emerged.

Beneath Lord Xu, it began to lengthen.

The rope seemed to be one with Lord Xu.

The unseen ancient thread maiden stretched herself to her maximum length.

But the rope was longer than it.

Unwilling to give up, Gu Xianniang stretched it out even further.

The rope then lengthened slightly, but it was still longer than the object.

Gu Xianniang stretched her body straight with all her might, pulling hard with both her head and tail.

But the rope easily exceeded its length.

Gu Xianniang tried again—and compared it to the rope again, only to be devastated to find that it was still a bit too short!
(End of this chapter)