"Cracks in the sky and the ground?"

"Yes, it's the gap between the sky pit and the ground in Fengjie. There are many such pits in Badi. Legend has it that this was the place where the snake Yanwei ascended. Every time Yanwei ascended and became a pillar of heaven, there would be a pit here.

Therefore, there are sinkholes everywhere in Wushan.

The Tiankeng-ground fissure located in Tianjing Gorge is currently the largest in the world, and it is said that this is where the first Yanwei of Daba Mountain became the Tianzhu in the past."

"Then we are going there too?"

"right."

"But why is Wu Li there?" I was puzzled.

"You'll know when you go there."

We followed the map and took the route to Fengjie.

It took another day to cross Wushan and arrive at the tiankeng and ground fissures near Tianjing Gorge.

Sure enough, as Monk Luoque said, there are pits and cracks everywhere here.

And because I have the ivory eyes given to us by the ancient Shu clan leader, I can see that there are snake-skin-like rocks on the stone walls of every tiankeng that ordinary people cannot see.

Probably it was left behind by the said Ba Snake.

When they were about to arrive at Fengjie, Monk Leque suddenly proposed to walk on a small road.

So we plunged into the mountains again.

This time we saw a group of ancient Ba people who still maintained the ancient costumes of the Ba people deep in the dense forest of a small sinkhole very close to Tianjing Gorge.

The clothing of these people retains some characteristics of the Tujia people, and at the same time has some similarities with the clothing of the Shu and Miao people.

The houses they live in are mostly made of adobe bricks and look very retro.

When we came here, they seemed to be holding some kind of sacrificial ceremony.

A group of people wore strange makeup on their faces, held animal skin drums in their hands, and sang and danced.

The dance they danced cannot be called graceful, every movement was straightforward, and it was more like training soldiers and horses than dancing.

Whether it is music or dance, there is a sense of chilling.

Those of us who were peeping on the side also felt that this dance was quite ominous, and even gave us a sense of a primitive tribe that would eat people after dancing.

I still have some impressions of scenes similar to this kind of dance.

When I was a kid and watching old TV series with my dad, his favorite part was the Battle of Chibi in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

Among them, Zhou Yu performed a similar dance when he hosted a banquet for Liu Bei and wanted to kill Liu Bei.

The name of this dance is called "Bayu Dance". Legend has it that it was introduced by a certain Cong tribe in the Western Han Dynasty. In fact, for the Ba people, this dance has a longer history.

The monk asked me for the wooden plaque he found at Wu Li's former residence, and then walked directly out of the grass.

Those who danced the Bayu dance were startled by this sudden intruder, their dance was interrupted, and they surrounded the departing monk angrily.

Monk Luo Que chanted the Buddha's name: "Amitabha, don't be anxious, don't be anxious." Then he spread his palm and showed the wooden pendant.

An old man walked out of the crowd opposite. He saw the wooden sign in Monk Que's hand and muttered something. After a while, he knelt down and knelt down to worship Monk Que.

Others also put away their weapons, followed the example of the old man, and knelt before the monk.

But I knew very well that what they were praying for was not the settlement, but the wooden sign.

Monk Luo Que waved and let us go out.

When we emerged from the grass, the old man was startled.

Then he kowtowed to me with a fearful expression.

I couldn't bear it, so I quickly stepped forward and helped the old man up.

"You are the messengers of the goddess - we have been waiting for you for thousands of years, and we are finally here!"

After that, he welcomed us into the house.

And gave us the best wine circulated in Zhen Shang Ba people's territory - Baxiang Qing.

There are very few genuine Baxiangqings. Legend has it that this kind of wine has a clear and mellow aroma, and the best wines can even taste like vanilla.

Nowadays, the real Ba Xiangqing has been lost, and there are only fragments of records in "Shui Jing Zhu".

It is said that there was a village in Fengjie generation called Ba Village, and the people here were good at making wine. It seems that this is it.

These Ba people entertained us with good wine and good food without saying a word, which made me feel a bit sorry.

So I asked the old man, the village chief here, what he meant by the divine messenger just now.

"Young man, the black scar on your hand must be Yanwei Gu."

"You know?"

The old man nodded: "This is a legend passed down by our ancestors.

It is said that a long time ago, our ancestors of the Ba people were surrounded and suppressed by the emperor's army. It was a goddess who saved me.

Later, the followers of the goddess came here again and asked us to wait here. A person carrying Yanwei Gu will come here. He is the messenger of the goddess, the messenger who can go to the fairyland to retrieve the goddess."

I thought: "Is that god's follower called Wu Li?"

The old man shook his head: "We don't know the surname of that gentleman. But the ancestral teachings say that if there is a person with long black scars on his hands, he is the messenger of God.

Later I will take you to find the place where the goddess's entourage is."

"Where is the attendant of the goddess? Is he still alive?"

"I don't know." I saw that the old man really didn't know the details, so he had to fill his stomach first.

When we had almost eaten, the village chief of Ba Ren, accompanied by several villagers, took us to the tiankeng and ground cracks in Tianjing Gorge.

We avoided the tourists and took the undiscovered mountain paths.

Finally, we came to the largest tiankeng in the central area.

We found a waterfall in it.

The old man gave it to the villagers who didn't know what it was.

I saw the stronger Ba man jumping into the waterfall, and he walked out of the waterfall after a while.

Then the old man took us into the waterfall.

"Holy crap, what kind of place is this, Water Curtain Cave in Huaguo Mountain?"

After passing through the waterfall, there is a cave in front of us.

The village chief of the Ba people said that further ahead is a sacred place that they cannot enter.

We, God’s messengers, can only be allowed to enter.

After saying that, they turned back.

Let us continue to delve deeper.

This cave is very deep and we walked for a long time.

The further I go, the more unsure I feel.

Finally, we came to the end of the cave.

In the innermost part of the cave is a pool.

Next to the pool is a chair carved in stone.

Sitting on the chair was a man who had become a skeleton and white bones.

We got closer and saw the shaman's wooden pendant on his body.

It seems that this person is Wu Li.

Unexpectedly, he died here.

"Why would he stay in a place like this?"

Monk Luo Que stared at the water pool next to Wu Li and said: "Don't you think this gap between the sky and the ground is like a huge basin? Moreover, it is left over from the ascension of Yanwei. It is the best for refining Yanwei Gu.

choose."

What he said seemed to make sense.

Monk Luo Que took out the longevity water, Ganoderma lucidum and ten female poisons that we had collected so hard along the way.

He didn't know where to take out a pestle, poured all the ten female Gu and Ganoderma lucidum into the bowl, then used the pestle to mash them into juice, finally poured in the longevity water, and stirred it into a bowl of green, oily and yellow color.

A very disgusting tasting soup.

"Drink."

"ah?"

"Drink." Monk Luoque repeated.

I held the bowl and looked at the decapitated remains of the insects still floating inside, and I couldn't eat it.
To be continued...