Then he woke up again in this room, and the rest is unknown. After Chaozi finished speaking, Zhuo Xiong continued: "When you pulled the rope, I was pulling it up. At first, it was very heavy, and I couldnt pull it alone. It was Wenbin brother who came to help, and with two peoples strength, we barely managed to keep you from sinking down. Suddenly, it loosened, and then water started coming out, and you came up right after that. Wenbin brother, dont you think Chaozi met the Dragon King in the well?"

  Chaozi glared at Zhuo Xiong: "Where did this Dragon King of the Well come from? I think its just a clump of water algae."

  "Wen Bin, Chaozi, you guys dont believe me, when I was a kid, I would often sneak into the river to swim in the summer. Sometimes my dad would catch me and beat me up, saying that theres a River Dragon King in the river and a Well Dragon King in the well, if we offend them, theyll drag us down and drown us. Often people would go missing in our river, and old folks would say it was because the Water Ghosts took them away to play chess with the Dragon King!" He glanced at Cha Wenbin, hoping his words would get the Taoists approval.

  Chaozi glanced at Zhuo Xiong with disdain and shouted, "Dont spout nonsense, thats your dad being afraid of you..." "Alright, stop talking! Chaozi, rest well, Zhuo Xiong and I will take turns keeping watch. When the sky brightens up, well go take a look again." After finishing speaking, Cha Wenbin picked up a few pieces of dry firewood and walked towards the door, sat down by the eaves, and lit a small fire.

  The two of them looked at each other, thinking to themselves what was wrong with this Taoist priest. To avoid losing face, they both lay down and closed their eyes to meditate, leaving only Cha Wenbin standing outside, lost in thought as he stared at the flames. Suddenly, a sentence about drowning came to mind, making him think of someone - could it be that poor daughter who had drowned at a young age? Probably no one knew, since he hadnt mentioned anything about his family since leaving home. Cha Wenbin looked at the two people inside who were already asleep, then turned his head and gazed out at the ancient well in the distance, remaining like this until dawn.

  When Cha Wenbin woke up from a pleasant bird call, he was surprised to find that not only had the rain stopped outside, but also the thick fog had dispersed. More importantly, there were birds in the village, chirping non-stop. He looked up and saw the azure sky with no clouds, and the surrounding mountains were exceptionally green. It seemed as if this place had come alive overnight. Cha Wenbin rubbed his eyes and found that everything was real. He hastily went to wake up the other two, without even eating anything. The three of them rushed towards the ancient well from last night. Possibly due to the long absence of human habitation or maybe because of the heavy rain last night, many small streams had gathered in the village, seemingly left behind by the surrounding mountains. However, at this moment, they didnt have time to appreciate the beauty after the rain.

  Chaozi turned on the tactical flashlight and shone it into the ancient well: except for a patch of darkness, there was still a patch of darkness. The moss that remained in the well wall was uniformly attached to the upper part of the well wall, indicating how intense the water flow had been last night. Every well has an obvious water level line, but this wells water level line is only five meters deep. At this moment, there is no more well water above the water level line, and it is unclear where the light shines down to. Chaozi had already tried going down into the well last night without success, so naturally he didnt dare try again today. Just as everyone was standing around the ancient well at a loss for what to do, Zhuo Xiong saw a small stone by his foot and picked it up casually.

  "Weve got a way, lets throw a stone down and listen to the echo, we should know how deep this well is!" After finishing speaking, he was about to throw it, but was stopped by Cha Wenbin: "What if those two are just below the well? Wont they be smashed to death by your stone?"

  Zhuo Xiong looked at the stone in his hand, which was about the size of a tennis ball, and weighed it, then put it down. Cha Wenbin looked at Zhuo Xiongs stone and asked He Yichao: "Yichao, how long is that rope of yours?"

  Chao Zi didnt know what kind of tricks Wen Bin was up to, but he usually spoke plainly and didnt think much. He untied the nylon military climbing rope that was tangled around his body: "This one is a hundred meters long, dont look at how thin it is, it can withstand five or six hundred pounds of weight."

  "Chá Wénbīn seems to have come up with a plan, Superior son, you untie the rope on that end, tie the flashlight to it, and then bind a stone to it. Slowly lower it into the well..."

  "Wen Bin Ge, youre really clever! Come on!"

  The rope, stretched taut, was tied to a stone and a flashlight in Chaozis hand, slowly carrying everyones hopes down into the ancient well. Within sight, there were only some water plants on either side of the well, nothing else. After 20 meters, no splashing sound could be heard, this depth was already at a distance where human eyes could hardly distinguish anything. Chaozi could only continue to let out rope, Zha Wenbins sharp eyes seemed to have seen something, he shouted: "Chaozi, dont move, slowly turn the rope, it seems that the wall and the top are different from yesterdays position."

  Chaozi slowly turned the rope in his hand, pulling the spotlight to illuminate the edge of the ancient well. From this distance, Chaozis sharp eyes didnt notice anything unusual, but Cha Wenbin saw it - indeed, there were carvings on the wall of the well, which had become blurry due to being underwater for too long and the erosion of aquatic plants. Cha Wenbin felt that these lines looked familiar, as if he had seen them somewhere before, but couldnt quite put his finger on what they were.

  After taking a closer look, he asked Chaozi to continue lowering the rope. Several meters down, Cha Wenbin saw different lines again, until his line of sight began to disappear. When Chaozis rope was almost completely let out, with only a knot left in his hand, it seemed that the ancient well still hadnt reached its bottom. Was it possible that the ancient people had dug this well over 100 meters deep?

  Chaozi muttered to himself, "Is it necessary to dig a well so deep just for water? Your ancestors were really something else, Zhuo Xiong!" Zhuo Xiong heard Chaozi complaining about his ancestors again and stiffened his neck, wanting to retort. But then he realized he was at a loss for words - what kind of person was he descended from, anyway? This place was full of strange and bizarre things; no wonder Chaozi said so, and even he himself was starting to doubt it. All he could do was nod a few times and lower his head, letting Chaozi mock him.

  Since it didnt reach the bottom, they could only pull up the rope and check. To their surprise, one end of the rope was dry! "Dry! Wenbin brother, look at that end, its dry! Is there no water in this well?! Last night the water was so deep, but today its dry? This is...".

  Chaozi stared at the still dry rope lamp and suddenly sat down on the ground. Cha Wenbin picked up the rope from the ground and examined it, indeed it was dry, and there was no water in the well. Had all the water sprayed out last night? Why was this happening? Chaozis climbing rope was made of nylon, four strands tied together. When they came out, he and Zhuo Xiong each bought one. Cha Wenbin looked at the knot on the rope and had an idea: "Chaozi, untie these two ropes into two strands, connect them together, and lets try again." He did as he said, and soon a 400-meter long rope was disassembled and re-tied with the lamp and stone. They lowered it into the ancient well again. Fifty meters, one hundred meters, one hundred fifty meters... The markings on the rope had already reached one hundred fifty meters, but still no bottom in sight! He glanced at the two people beside him, they could only continue to let out more rope. Two hundred meters! Looking at the length of over two hundred meters, he could only pray that this damned ancient well would soon reach its bottom. Two hundred fifty meters... and it was still not ending! Suddenly, the rope in Chaozis hand loosened, and there was no longer a feeling of sinking. They had finally reached the bottom!

  "Finally, finally, its finally over!" Xing exclaimed excitedly as he shouted towards the two. Wen Bin and Zhuo Xiong quickly gathered around: "How many meters?" Chaozi slowly pulled the rope up again, pulling until they could feel the height of the stone from the ground, looked at the scale: "Not too much or too little, exactly 270 meters! Damn it, we finally reached the bottom! 270 meters, how deep is that!"

  Cha Wenbin took over the rope, looked at the scale and let out a sigh: "If Im not mistaken, this well was deliberately dug to this depth."

  Zhuo Xiong held up his rifle and asked: "Wen Bin, are you saying that someone deliberately dug a well to exactly 270 meters?"

  Looking at the blue sky, Cha Wenbin glanced at the mansion and said: "270 meters is equal to 81 zhang. In ancient times, people used zhang as a unit of length. When the number nine appears, it naturally returns to one when two nines appear, which represents a cycle of repetition. When building things, the ancients always took nine as the largest digit. Nine is the largest and ultimate, meaning extreme. To achieve nine-nine return to one, ultimately achieving success, we need one-four-seven, three-six-nine, step by step moving forward. Nine-nine return to one means coming from the origin, going out, and returning to the original state. This kind of return is not simply a comeback, but an sublimation, a rebirth, a nirvana, and a new beginning! I finally understand those ancestral halls. Its possible that weve entered a huge trap set by our predecessors. I dont know what this means, but its likely that were already pawns in their game!"

  "Pawn? You mean weve all been manipulated?"

  "Its not being calculated by people, its probably being calculated by heaven. We came out with a total of five people. To become the ultimate goal, relying on one nine is not enough, and similarly, we need a five. Only when we have both nine and five can we become the supreme!"

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