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Chapter 39: The Line Under the Well

  This is the pattern of Bagua, what Cha Wenbin said is really mysterious. Those two brothers are now at a loss, its a matter of gods and ghosts, those who believe will naturally believe, those who dont can just not believe. Now the facts are in front of us, who would build several large ancestral halls as charity houses, set up bronze coffins and giant magnets? Who needs to dig an 81-meter-deep well for water at home, that era probably didnt need oil extraction yet? Who would build a village where you cant see stars all year round, living there for thousands of years, but now its empty with no one in sight? Whose family gate would choose ancient ferocious beasts as doorkeepers? In short, when everything has gone beyond our thinking, we can only use some non-materialistic and super-temporal concepts to understand. In Cha Wenbins world, there have always been things that need explanation and those that dont, obviously they are now facing something that doesnt need explanation and cannot be explained. All he can do is take it one step at a time. Is it a fight against humans or against heaven? Is it fate or coincidence? In those unknown worlds, we who understand limited knowledge are always so small.

  The well was full last night, but its dry today, and all the clues seem to have been cut off. Time cant wait any longer, if no one is seen after today, they may never be seen again. Looking at the rope by the well, he even had the idea of going down, but could he go down a 200-meter-deep ancient well? Even if the rope was long enough, there might not be enough air below!

  Things change so quickly, just as Zhang Wenbin was pondering back and forth, a very slight movement was discovered by him.

  At that time, the three of them were at a loss for what to do. Zhuo Xiong handed a cigarette to Chao Zi. For men, there are two things that can relieve boredom: cigarettes and alcohol. At this moment, Chao Zi was also feeling anxious, leaning against the edge of the well and sitting down. He took a few fierce puffs, and casually placed his hand holding the cigarette on the edge of the ancient well.

  Every man smokes in a different way, so every mans gesture of flicking cigarette ash is also inconsistent. Super-son is the type who will constantly shake off ashes with his hand holding the cigarette. As he did this time, the ash naturally fell into the ancient well. When the cigarette was almost finished, Cha Wenbin suddenly discovered that the cigarette ash stuck to the edge of the ancient well mouth was shaking back and forth, as if it was about to fly up. He leaned over, lightly sticking his cheek against the well, vaguely feeling the fine hairs on his cheek trembling: "Theres wind! Theres wind in this well!"

  He shouted, scaring Chaozi so much that he jumped up from the well rim and rushed into Zhuo Xiongs arms: "Is there a ghost? Where is the ghost?! Ah? Is there a ghost in the well?" Making Zhuo Xiong laugh loudly: "There is a ghost in the well, just now it was going to scratch your butt, with its black and shiny long claws..."

  "Look, Xiaochi, theres wind in this well, which means the air inside is circulating. Doesnt that mean it must be connected to somewhere below? Light a cigarette and gently flick some ash into the well."

  Zhuo Xiongs mouth was holding a cigarette, pulled out the bitten and wrinkled cigarette butt, stretched out his hand above the old well, gently shook it, and the ash floated down lightly. The three people stared intently at the usually inconspicuous cigarette ash, and in an instant, it felt like an eternity had passed.

  The greyish-white ash carried their hopes downward, but before they reached the well, they scattered to the sides and fell onto the well rope. With another bounce, it became even more pronounced, with several clusters of ash hovering at the mouth of the well, making a few circles, and then actually started floating upwards...

  Zhuo Xiong couldnt hide his joy and strummed a few more times, still saying: "Indeed there is wind, Wen Bin Ge, how did you discover it?"

  He pointed at the cigarette in his mouth and laughed, saying: "It was thanks to you giving Chao a cigarette that I discovered this. I was still hesitating just now, but now Im basically certain that theres air here. Chao, didnt you say your rope could hold several hundred kilograms? Can these two strands of rope hang one person?"

  Chaozi picked up the rope on the ground, pulled it a few times with force, "Dont underestimate this rope, although one strand is split into two strands, but the pulling force can still reach around 400 kg, not to mention one person, even two people can hold it!"

  There was an ancient pine tree on the edge of the old well, about as thick as two people hugging each other. Cha Wenbin walked over and kicked it with his foot, but it didnt budge. "Chaozi, tie the rope to this tree for now, Ill go down first and take a look. If everything is fine, Ill let you two know. But if I go down and dont respond, you two quickly leave the mountain and never come back to this village again. Did you hear me?" After finishing speaking, he picked up the rope, walked to the tree edge, tied a dead knot, and pulled it tightly to make sure it was secure before walking to the well edge.

  Zhuo Xiong and Chao Zi walked up together, blocking his way: "Wen Bin brother, both of us are from reconnaissance backgrounds. If were going down, its only natural that we take the lead." "Yes, Wen Bin brother, Super and I were in the army, and mountain training was our specialty. The situation underground is unclear to begin with, and you dont have any experience. I think I should go first."

  Cha Wenbin patted the shoulders of two people, these two young men had always been very respectful to him as a Taoist priest, but Chaozi had gone down once and almost lost his life. Hei Lao had already lost his wife, how could he let Chaozi be in danger? Zhuo Xiong was the only son of Zhuo Lao Han, to put it bluntly, his responsibility was just a guide, as long as he could bring them into the village, he would have completed his task. No matter what, he couldnt let them take this risk, even if below was truly a hell from which there was no return, he could only go down himself.

  "Look at the sky, in another hour it will be daylight. Im afraid something unexpected might happen again," said Cha Wenbin. "Dont say anything else, Ill go down first. You all stay up here and keep watch. If theres any situation, fire a warning shot. After I go down, if its not dangerous, Chaozi you come down next. Zhuo Xiong, you stay up here and keep watch for us. After I go down, three pulls on the rope will be the signal that Ive reached the bottom."

  "No way, Wenbin brother, Ill go down first, this thing I have more experience than you!" Chaozi snatched the rope and tied it around himself, but was taken back by Cha Wenbin: "Chaozi, listen to me, if its really a flat road below, I can also get down! But what if we encounter something strange? Do you think the skills you learned in the army can handle it? Not to mention this village is full of weird things that have never been seen before, let alone the ancient well in the middle!" After finishing, Cha Wenbin added another sentence, fearing Chaozi would still be impulsive: "I calculated, today your two eight characters are not strong enough, only I can go down first!" Of course, this last sentence was purely to scare him...

  Chaozi slammed the cigarette butt in his hand: "Ah! Blind man, you pull the rope tight, Ill give him a safety buckle!" Chaozi said and started to tie a professional climbing knot for Cha Wenbin, and also put a tactical flashlight on him. Cha Wenbin was afraid of encountering any situation, so he stuffed all the gadgets into his bag and hung it around his neck, holding the big seal in his right hand, and agreed with the two on a signal, letting them pull him down the well!

  Before setting off, Cha Wenbin hugged two people, if placed on flat ground, the 270-meter road would take only one minute to walk. However, in this vertically downward, pitch-black ancient well, where you cant see your fingers when stretching out and know nothing about it, how long will it take? He himself didnt know either. Chao Zi was responsible for operating the manual pulley at the wellhead, and to be safe, Zhuo Xiong added another manual pulley behind him. Cha Wenbin took a deep breath, with his feet facing downwards, slowly descending into the ancient well, instantly enveloped in an icy unknown world.

  At a position less than four meters down, Zha Wenbin pulled the rope hard twice, which was their agreed signal to pause. He saw the lines that he had vaguely seen above, and wiped away the moss on top with his hand. On the ancient well wall, which had been severely eroded by the well water, several patterns that seemed to be man-made carvings appeared. As more and more moss fell off, some messy lines gradually emerged. Although they were seriously damaged by water, they were still visible because of their depth. The lines were carved with varying lengths and thicknesses, and upon closer inspection, some places even had small eyes deliberately poked into them, looking dense and intricate. Zha Wenbin felt that these familiar lines flashed through his mind one by one, and he couldnt help but feel that he had seen them somewhere before, very familiar!

  Zha Wenbin wiped his hand over the lines of unknown age, closed his eyes, and mapped them out in his mind, forming a pattern for clothes. He then rotated the rope and continued to feel around. When he turned a corner and his fingers touched a relatively large hole, he suddenly opened his eyes and stared at the point where his thumb was pressed down. After that one rotation, he had found four holes of equal size, which were also the largest in the entire pattern. A huge picture quickly formed in his mind.

  Cha Wenbin came to a conclusion: this was indeed the layout of the village above! It was located on one of the fish in the whole picture, and the four large dots represented the four righteous villages guarded by fierce beasts. So the well he was in was naturally the center, and the horizontal lines on the ground were the winding roads in the village. The small dots represented houses, and what surprised him even more was that when he combined them together, he found that the village he was in was actually a naturally formed Bagua diagram!

  The Eight Trigrams diagram consists of two fish, one black and one white, representing yin and yang. The deep well where I am is just a fish eye on the yin-yang fish, while the village location appears to be in the yang realm from the pattern. So isnt this point also representing the yin-yang boundary within the yang?

  The eight trigrams have a white dot in the black fish and a black dot in the white fish. These two colors, black and white, represent the yin-yang duality of heaven and earth. The boundary between black and white is the dividing line that separates yin and yang. The white dot in the black represents yang within yin, while the black dot in the white represents yin within yang. Dao gives birth to one, which is the emergence of taiji from wuji; one gives birth to two, which is the emergence of the two principles from taiji; two gives birth to three, which is the harmonious union of yin and yang; three gives birth to all things, which means that taiji contains the three aspects as one. Since all things are born from the transformation of yin and yang, each thing possesses a taiji, meaning that taiji not only encompasses the two aspects of yin and yang but also includes the boundary and standard that separates them.

  Zha Wenbin found that what he knew was really too little, after all, what kind of place is this, who has such great magical powers, and how many formations are waiting for him here. Zha Wenbin, suspended in mid-air, didnt react for half a day, which also made the few people above anxious. Chaozi shouted loudly into the well: "Wenbin brother, whats going on?" This shout also pulled him back from one world to this world. He rubbed his hands hard and prepared to continue descending!

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