Who was it when I opened the door? It turned out to be Old Wang from the archaeological team, holding a jar of braised meat in one hand and a bottle of wine in the other, smiling at the door. This old Wang had just returned from a pit outside, bringing wine and meat directly over, without saying much, three people started drinking small wine with braised meat. At the dinner table, Old Wang listened to He Laos account of Wang Zhuangs affairs, his eyes wide with wonder. He was even more admiring of Cha Wenbin, repeatedly going up to toast him, and the atmosphere had become much more relaxed than before.

  Here is the translation:

  When it came to Cha Wenbin going out to have his fortune told, Old Wang also stood up in opposition. This immortal going out to have his fortune told was too humiliating, and no matter what, he would not agree to let Cha Wenbin suffer this indignity. The two of them discussed it and came up with a plan: the Provincial Cultural Relics Team was short one technical advisor - in other words, they were lacking a feng shui master. According to Old Wangs way of speaking, in recent years, due to the craze for cultural relics, many large tombs and ancient sites had been looted empty by thieves. These "land mice" not only had keen senses of smell but also understood some feng shui, often causing Old Wang and his team to encounter nothing but empty tombs when they went on excavations. There was another reason: during excavations, they would inevitably run into strange occurrences - last time at the Generals Temple, they almost lost their lives. So he wanted Cha Wenbin to go to the Cultural Relics Team as a consultant. On one hand, everyone could be together and help each other out; on the other hand, Old Hes intention was that many ancient things that had been lost could only be found in those old ancestral graves - maybe they could find some clues there.

  Cha Wenbin was also afraid that he would not be able to give them two a hard time, after all, he had no culture and did not understand archaeology. But this job was a good one, so after hesitating for half a day, Old He said that he would accompany him personally to the archaeological team tomorrow, and it would definitely be fine. Cha Wenbin also nodded in agreement. The three of them saw that things were almost settled, and only then did they relax and start drinking. Wine is a good match for like-minded people, and the two bottles of red sorghum that Old Wang brought were soon finished. They opened another bottle at Old Hes place, and after making a fuss until midnight, the three of them finally fell asleep.

  In the pitch-black night, Cha Wenbin suddenly heard someone calling him: "Dad, Dad...", Cha Wenbin listened carefully, "Dad, Im so scared, come and save me, Dad..." He looked around and saw a large building in the distance that resembled a palace, with a small pond below. The moonlight was reflected in the center of the pond, and ripples would occasionally spread out, breaking up the moonlight and then gathering it again. It seemed that something was breaking up the moonlight - a small hand was waving back and forth in the water.

  Zha Wenbin hastily chased after her, the pond looked not far away, but he ran for more than half a time, no matter how hard he ran, the pond still seemed to be just as far away, as if it would take forever to reach the edge of the pond. The only thing that changed was the sound of the shouting, which grew louder and softer, but remained clear and audible. Zha Wenbin shouted at the top of his lungs: "Girl, girl, dont be afraid, father is here!" After finishing his shout, he continued to run towards the edge of the pond. Another half time passed, and he still hadnt reached the edge of the pond. Exhausted, Zha Wenbin was drenched in sweat, panting heavily, and leaned against his legs to catch his breath for a moment. Turning his head, he saw a white stone monument next to him, with one corner broken off. This monument... wasnt it the same one he had seen when he first opened his eyes? How could it still be here? Had he been running in place for an entire time?

  Zha Wenbin followed the moonlight, slowly walking towards the stone monument. The characters on the monument had already become blurred and unclear, with only the last character "yuan" still discernible. The several characters above it had been covered by moss. Zha Wenbin slowly peeled off the moss, revealing the characters one by one: Huo Tong Yuan!!!

  How did my daughter end up here? Why is she here, staring at the pond not far away, and then after another hour, when he stopped again, he found that the stone monument was still there, with the moss stripped off, leaving a fresh mark. Whats going on? How can my daughter be in the Copper Cauldron Abyss! The Copper Cauldron Abyss is the eighteenth level of hell! Its the Avīci Hell where one suffers endless karma fire! This is clearly a place recorded in books, why would my daughter be suffering here! Zha Wenbin didnt have time to think, nor did he have time to take another look at the stone monument, and continued running, endlessly running in that direction.

  "Dad, Dad......" The familiar voice still echoed in his ears, Zha Wenbin could no longer run and fell headfirst in front of the stone tablet. In the instant when his eyelids closed, he clearly saw a giant beast jumping into the pond and rushing towards the small hands waving in the water...

  "The Classic of Mountains and Seas, Northern Volume, Third Chapter: The Hooked Mountain... has a beast, its body is like a sheeps, with a human face, its eyes are under its armpits, it has tiger teeth and human claws, its cry is like an infants, it is called the Xiāo. It eats humans. Guo Pus annotation: It is greedy by nature, when eating people it doesnt finish them off, but instead harms itself, as depicted on the Xia Ding, this is what is referred to in the Zuo Zhuan as the Tāo Tiè."

  Not far away, a goblin grasped a little girl in his hand and jumped out of the pond. He looked back at Cha Wenbin who was lying on the ground, shook off that disgusting ugly face, seemed to smile slyly, and walked towards the grand hall.

  "No!!!!" A loud roar scared He Lao and Old Wang outside, Cha Wenbin usually wakes up at 5 oclock every day, why today its already 7 oclock and he hasnt woken up yet. He Lao thought he was still drunk from last night and was eating congee with Old Wang, planning to call him again later. This roar made their lips burn, they rushed in hastily and saw Cha Wenbin lying on the bed, his hands wildly grasping at the air, his eyebrows tightly locked, his teeth chattering loudly.

  He Lao saw that something was wrong and immediately shouted: "Not good, its probably a nightmare! Old Wang, pinch the Renzhong!"

  "Ah!" Old Wang responded with a sound, just wanting to stretch out his hand to pinch, but before he reached his lips, his hand was pinched by Zha Wenbin: "Old Wang, what are you doing?" It turned out that Zha Wenbin had already woken up and saw Old Wangs big hand rushing towards his face, so he reflexively grabbed it.

  "You scared us to death, youre awake? Whats wrong, have a nightmare?"

  Zha Wenbin shook his head: "Nothing", and didnt say much, then got out of bed to wash up. Old Wang wanted to ask more questions, but was stopped by He Lao who shook his head at him. Watching Zha Wenbins back, Old Wang sighed and went in front of the mirror to touch up his scalded lips.

  He Laos home was not far from the museum, and after finishing breakfast, several people chatted and laughed as they arrived. With He Laos introduction, the formalities for Zha Wenbin were handled very smoothly, and he was first assigned to Old Wangs team. To outsiders, it would be said that he was hired as a technical consultant, and he could start work immediately. This way, Zha Wenbins livelihood was settled, and Old Wang was also very excited. At noon, he insisted on taking Zha Wenbin to a restaurant for a few drinks to celebrate, and they went together.

  At the dinner table, Old Wang, a chatterbox who had drunk several cups of wine, asked: "Wenbin, how come Ive never heard about your family situation?"

  He stopped the cup in his mouth and looked out of the window at West Lake, then turned around and muttered: "Family? Only one son is left, 17 years old this year, still studying."

  Everyone saw that Wenbins face didnt look right, and Old He continued to ask: "Wenbin, is something wrong at home?"

  He raised his cup and downed a mouthful of wine, narrowing his eyes as he let out a sigh. His eyes were already bloodshot, and he didnt know if it was because he hadnt slept well the night before or if he had something weighing on his mind. "My daughters mother left me with a son and a daughter, but I still couldnt take care of them properly," Cha Wenbin said, his voice filled with regret. "Im sorry to her spirit in heaven!" He downed another mouthful of wine, and Old Wang looked over, thinking he should try to stop him from drinking more. But He Lao stretched out a hand to block him, shaking his head at Old Wang to indicate that he should let Cha Wenbin continue speaking. Looking out the window at West Lake, which had already begun to show signs of autumn, Cha Wenbin said, "My wife died in childbirth when our daughter was born. Her last words were for me to take good care of the children, but I didnt think my daughter would drown just before New Years! The water was only knee-deep, and she still went under! It wants me to pay a price! It does!" With a loud "crack," Cha Wenbins wine cup shattered in his hand.

  He Lao got up and went over to support Cha Wenbin, wanting to take a look at his injured hand, but was pushed away by Cha Wenbin. Standing up, he roared: "I never thought that after my daughters death, I still couldnt get peace! Why do you have to treat me like this? What did I do wrong?! Youve already taken away my wife, and now youre tormenting my daughter, why?! The hoarse and piercing roar made the two people opposite him unsure of what had happened, and they stood there at a loss.

  "Whats going on? Who is he?" Old Wang shook his head; "I dont know either."

  That noon, Cha Wenbin got drunk for the first time, really drunk. He needed the numbness of alcohol. In the end, two people carried him to Old Wangs house to rest. Cha Wenbin was either really drunk or really tired and slept until the next day at noon before waking up.

  He claimed to be an advisor to the archaeological team, but Zha Wenbin was actually clueless about archaeology. Fortunately, with his smooth-talking identity, he spent every day with Old He studying the rubbing of that strange text. After flipping through a large amount of materials, Old He deciphered two words from the rubbing: Qingcheng!

  Qing Cheng? He Lao thought the two words referred to a place name, and asked Cha Wenbin if there were any records about this place in Daoist scriptures. Cha Wenbin nodded: "The two words Qing Cheng are, as I guessed, referring to Mount Qingcheng. In the past, Zhang Daoling, also known as Zhang Tianshi, chanced upon this mountain while traveling, and saw that it was deep and mysterious, with lush vegetation. He settled down here, built a hut, and began to preach. The spiritual energy was abundant, and he explored the mountain, searching for a cave. In the cave, he gained enlightenment and developed his teachings on the Heavenly Way. From then on, he established his sect, which later became famous throughout the world as the Tian Shi Dao (Heavenly Master Dao). Now it is also classified under the Zheng Yi (Orthodox Unity) school of Daoism. Mount Qingcheng is also known as the Fifth Grotto Heaven!"

  He Lao nodded, this Qingcheng Mountain is a famous Taoist mountain, he naturally also knew that since the text on the map has some directions, would it be a clue? Now Qingcheng Mountain is already a tourist destination, as long as you buy a ticket, you can naturally go up the mountain to visit. So I asked Wen Bin "Wen Bin, do you think we should go to Sichuan for a trip?"

  Wen Bin also thought so, since there were no leads anyway, might as well go take a look first. But now he was also part of the archaeological team and couldnt just leave on a whim. Just then, Old Wang rushed in from outside: "He Lao, Wen Bin, weve received a notice, the higher-ups have an interesting idea, they want us to conduct an archaeological survey on Chinese religion. Apparently, theres been a surge in religious artifacts on the market recently, and many ritual objects, statues, classics, and murals have become hot items. They want us to form a team to conduct a nationwide survey of religious culture. Haha, this time, Wen Bin, its really a coincidence! You just happen to be a Taoist priest. I think we should focus on researching Taoism. With you on board, if it doesnt work out, we can just pretend were sightseeing!"

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