Wei Xun saw that the snow leopard seemed to be stunned for a moment. Then, it did not hesitate to throw the blue sheep in its mouth to the shore before it ran to Wei Xunâs side.
The situation grew increasingly tense. Wei Xun was undressing with one hand while his other hand was trying to use the knife to pierce the strange fishâs mouth. However, even the skin of its lips was too thick and tough like a wild boarâs skin, and it seemed that the strange fish couldnât feel pain as it used all its might to retreat.
Wei Xunâs body staggered and fell a few steps backwards. The lake water was already up to his calf. Just when he thought he would either have to give up the mountain knife or be completely dragged into the lake by the strange fish, the snow leopard arrived!
In the midst of the chaos, Wei Xun only had time to convey the thoughts of âhelpingâ and âcooperatingâ to the snow leopard. But in fact, the snow leopard had already jumped directly onto the back of the giant fish even before he had communicated with it.
It probably thought that Wei Xun wanted to hunt this giant fish, but unfortunately, his âclawâ had gotten stuck in his prey and he couldnât remove it. The snow leopardâs iron nail-like claws penetrated the thick hide. Wei Xun had never seen a beast hunting its prey at such a close distance. No matter how the giant fish rolled and struggled, the snow leopard continued to bite it. The snow leopardâs sharp claws tore through the fishâs thick skin, leaving gashes and blood dripping all around its body.
The two creatures were obviously different in size, but the deep and fierce roar rumbling from the throat of the snow leopard was like thunder. The snow leopard also had a fit and powerful streamlined body, all of which vividly showcased the raw and wild charm of wild animals. Wei Xun didnât miss the opportunity to act, and he took the chance to draw his knife and open up a slit on the right side of the strange fishâs mouth. Accompanied by the miserable cries of the monster fish, half of the wet black corpse had slipped out of its mouth. The long, rusty, and brittle chain that was as thick as a finger lay hidden in the fishâs stomach. It was unknown how many years the chain had been there.
Wei Xun was quick-witted and with a flip of his hand, he used two of his knives to stab it on both sides of the chain. He heard a clanging sound, and the chains snapped. The entire black corpse wrapped in mucus and a grayish-red film of flesh finally slipped out of the fishâs mouth. The fish spit out a lot of foul-smelling black water like it had been clogged, accompanied by many dirty bones and debris.
This time, the strange fish seemed to have vomited everything out. It was exhausted, and it no longer had its previous vitality from when it was struggling, half-dead and floating in the water. Its lizard-like scales and four claws were deeply immersed in the mud because it had flipped around and struggled near the shore. Even if Wei Xun shone a beam of light on it with a flashlight, it would not move.
Wei Xunâs clothes were soaking wet. Since he was wet, he simply went down to the lake and carefully observed the black marks on the giant fish. He also went to see the wounds the snow leopard had dealt to the giant fish. The giant fish had a strange appearance, with no visible scales. It only had a thick and hard skin like a catfish or lizard. The fishâs skin was dark black on the outside, but white on the inside. Taking a closer look, Wei Xun could see its flesh and blood.
The skin of the strange fish was divided into different colors, which corresponded to the demonic convex shape on the black areas of its body and the Buddha concave shape on the white areas on its body.
Wei Xun also found traces of chains running through the giant fish, and rusted chains that were as thick as an average personâs wrist on the scales and claws of its hind limbs. That was to say, this fish lizard, or ichthyosaur, had once been raised by humans. Some people had carved religious, mural-like patterns on it, and fed it with live sacrifices.
The fish had grown to such a large size. Wei Xun didnât know how many years it had lived. Wei Xun couldnât estimate its age based on its appearance, and even when the young fox looked at it, it could only tell that the fishâs flesh was old and stiff, and definitely not tasty.
If the young foxâs stomach had been able to store living creatures, Wei Xun would have wanted to stuff this aquatic reptile into it. One must know that this aquatic reptile had been raised in Tangra Yumco, and there were many artificial traces on its body, which were likely to be related to the Bon religion or even the Xiangxiong Kingdom. It might be useful in the future.
Wei Xun scribbled down all the patterns on the strange fish, then left the lake and went ashore to check what the strange fish had spat out.
Seeing that he was not interested in the strange fish, the snow leopard loosened its claws and swam to the shore, shaking the water off its body. It wanted to get close to Wei Xun again, but it also disliked the pile of dirty bones and mud that Wei Xun was near. Therefore, it went to the blue sheep that it had thrown ashore, licked its paws and brushed its hair, and purred at Wei Xun. It sounded several decibels deeper than an ordinary catâs meow.
The snow leopard probably didnât understand why Wei Xun didnât want to eat the blue sheep and was instead digging up the mud pile. Obviously, this was not what the snow leopard liked to eat.
There was a lot of black mud-like debris on the shore, and black water was stuck in the muddy ditch. Wei Xun used the almost worn-down mountain knife as a wooden stick and simply picked up a few of the clumps that were spat out by the strange fish. A pile of bones, a pile of rusted metal, the skull with patterns on its scalp, and the pitch-black corpse were all piled up in a single row. After Wei Xun walked past these items, he felt as though his brain had been emptied and he had become detached from the world.
âLeopard, come.â
Wei Xun beckoned the snow leopard. He thought about it, and said to it, âPurr, purr.â
This was to convey his feelings of gratitude and joy. Fortunately, the snow leopard had come to help him, and the fight with the strange fish hadnât delayed Wei Xunâs plans. Wei Xun was in a really good mood.
The snow leopard looked at the blue sheep, and then at Wei Xun. It confirmed that Wei Xun did not have the intention to come over to its side. It hesitated for a while before it walked over cautiously. It walked around the pile of dirty mud, refusing to step on it. It occasionally shook its paws, twitching when it slightly touched the black water.
Wei Xun was taking off his clothes. His jacket was actually waterproof, so the clothes inside were not very wet, but they were covered with a fishy scent. Thus, he did not want to keep the pants on his lower half or his shoes.
Currently, Wei Xun had taken off his jacket and was only wearing a gray cashmere sweater, which outlined his narrow waist. His wet hair stuck to his neck and cheeks, and under the moonlight, he looked like a fairy of the holy lake. He was like a mystical creature of the waters and looked extremely beautiful. The snow leopard licked Wei Xunâs âfurâ and caused Wei Xunâs cashmere sweater to roll up, revealing an area of pale skin.
Wei Xun rubbed the snow leopardâs ears indulgently. After Wei Xun pushed the snow leopard away, he leaned downwards and hugged its head. Then, in an animalistic manner, he stuck his face close to the snow leopard, rubbing their faces together. He tugged on the cashmere sweater and gave the snow leopard a chance to sniff it. Afterwards, he consciously said to it, âtravel bag,â âmy fur,â and âsomething that is stained with my scent.â
Wei Xun planned to take a bath, but he had to change his clothes. It would be more convenient if there was a way to block the livestream, but unfortunately he didnât have one. Currently, he could only reveal that he had a âstorage spaceâ to the audience. (Little Fox: ?) Anyway, it seemed like now was a good opportunity to do so.
He didnât know if the snow leopard could understand his instructions, but it ran away quickly, and came back in a few minutes with Wei XunâsâŚsleeping bag in its mouth. In fact, Wei Xun had originally wanted it to bring the travel bag out, but it was really too difficult for the snow leopard to understand. What it brought was the object on which Wei Xunâs scent was the heaviest. The sleeping bag was actually pretty good too. Wei Xun pretended to fish something out from his sleeping bag, and âpulled outâ a jacket and new pair of pants.
Then he opened his hand, revealing a bracelet made of turquoise stones and beeswax. Wei Xun âwipedâ the bracelet on his sleeping bag, and the bag disappeared.
âItâs really a storage tool?â Wei Xun said happily.
He took and put in the items several times, then wore the bracelet on his wrist, muttering to himself, âI didnât expect that there would be such a magical item. The reward for the side task is really great.â
Then he went to the lake to wash his body briefly, before changing into new clothes. Before the tour had begun, Wei Xun had prepared a lot of things. He had also begun to think in advance about the things he would need that he couldnât expose to the audience but might be useful during the tour, and what excuse he should use for how he obtained them.
His extraordinary vision and sense of smell after the fox fairy possessed him could be explained by being familiar with ferrets and having a ferretâs sense of sight and smell. The young fox couldnât be exposed, but the storage space ability the young fox had was very useful. Wei Xun had watched several vlogs in the Tibetan area and prepared thangkas, small Buddha statues, turquoise stone bracelets, and other items in advance. Once he completed a certain task or passed through a certain scenic spot, he could pretend that he had obtained a storage prop as reward.
In this way, even if the fact that he had a storage space was discovered, it would be fine. Wei Xun had even altered these items. Whoever snatched his items would suffer from bad luck.
Of course, Wei Xun had completed the task of âBlack Tangra Yumco,â but he had not yet received the reward.
[At night, Tangra Yumco indeed hid a secret that no one knew about. Who had quietly fed the aquatic reptile in the lake with sacrifices for decades, and where had this aquatic reptile come from? Legend has it that when the Xiangxiong bar ba royal family offered sacrifices to the lake every year, the incarnation of the dragon god was in the lake. Is this aquatic reptile the dragon god of the underworld, as told by the legends of Bon religion, or the great devil Rakshas Talâs incarnation?]
[If you show the items you got from Tangra Yumco to the descendant of the eagle flutist, maybe he will be willing to explain your doubts to you, and you will get the reward you deserve.]
The progress of the side task remained at 10%. That meant that after meeting the descendant of the eagle flutist and giving him the things spit out by the aquatic reptile, he would then be able to trigger the next task, obtain the rewards, and find out some new clues?
Wei Xun cleaned his body until he could no longer smell the fishy scent. Only then did he put on clean clothes and walk ashore barefoot. One might keep their change of clothes inside their sleeping bag to keep it warm, but it was impossible for someone to put their shoes in their sleeping bag. Therefore, Wei Xun cautiously did not take out a pair of shoes.
Wei Xun felt that the situation was unusual. The things that the aquatic reptile had spit out were divided into several piles. The most precious piles were the skull with the carved scriptures and the wet black corpse, but the task did not say what Wei Xun should pass to the descendant of the eagle flutist.
If he passed over the rotten bones spit out by the aquatic reptile, the descendant of the eagle flutist might accept them as well, but perhaps it would affect the progress of the next task?
After all, normally when a person completed the task, they would not obtain the corpse that was in the throat of the giant fish. At most, the Travel Services would just reward them with the bones.
Wei Xun took the skull and rinsed it in the lake. After looking closely, he found that the top of the skull had a fairly even circular hole the size of a ping-pong ball. Under the moonlight, the inside of the skull actually appeared bright yellow, as if it was plated with gold, and in the gold area in the middle of the skull, there seemed to be a very small golden Buddha.
On the top of its skull, if one looked closely at those black words, one would notice that they were not actually black, but more like oxidized silver. The scriptures had been engraved onto the top of the skull using extremely fine silver wire. This was exquisite craftsmanship. The inside of the skull was plated with gold, the top of the skull was inlaid with silver, along with the golden Buddha and scripturesâThis skull was simply a rare work of art!
How high had the skull ownerâs status been before their death that their skull would have such craftsmanship on it after they died? And how did it get into the belly of the strange fish?
It would be great if the Travel Services had an explanation function. Wei Xun felt somewhat regretful that he was not able to find out more. Therefore, if he wanted to get more clues, the skull and the wet corpse should be handed over to the descendant of the eagle flutist.
When Wei Xun went to check the wet corpse, the aquatic reptile who was pretending to be dead saw that no one cared about it anymore. It quietly and slowly retreated into the lake, and then dived straightaway into the water and disappeared. Tangra Yumco was the deepest lake in Tibet. It was said that the bottom of the lake was connected to Lake Manasarovar, but the existence of the aquatic reptile made Wei Xun suspect that there might be other passages at the bottom of Tangra Yumco that were linked to the ruins of the Xiangxiong Kingdom.
Wei Xun let the aquatic reptile leave. When he had stared at the big mouth of the aquatic reptile, he had felt a very subtle sense of crisis, and his hair had stood on end. Wei Xun thought about it carefully and felt that it was similar to when he had been in Intoxicating Xiangxi, when he had realized that the spiteful ghost Pingping was hidden in a puddle of water.
There was something else hidden in the belly of the aquatic reptile, and Wei Xun felt that it was extremely dangerous. If he had continued to pressure the aquatic reptile, Wei Xun felt that the fish would spit that thing out and fight Wei Xun to the death.
After thinking about it, Wei Xun let the aquatic reptile leave. It might still be useful in the future.
At first glance, one might think that the wet corpse was a buddha statue. After all, it was as black as metal, but when he touched it with the mountain knife, he felt that the wet corpse was tough on the outside and soft on the inside, like leather. Only the head was as hard as iron, and it made a metallic sound when the knife came into contact with it. The mountain knife was not meant to cut bones and kill. After repeated battles, it had become fragile, and the blade was full of cracks.
When the knife hit the wet corpseâs head, it actually broke. The sharp edge cut across the corpseâs head, removing a layer of the grayish-red flesh membrane. However, after cutting through the dark-colored dirt, a golden light was revealed inside!
Wei Xun immediately grew interested, but he did not continue to use the broken knife to excavate the skull. Instead, he carefully scraped off the grayish-red fleshy membrane on the corpseâs head and tapped it with the knifeâs hilt from the top of the head to the lower jaw. Then, he came to a few conclusions.
First, this corpseâs head might not be part of the wet corpse. During Wei Xunâs inspection, some of the black dirt on the corpseâs head had chipped off, revealing streaks of gold. It might have been a head carved from gold, which had then been sewn to the body.
Its facial features were lifelike, its eyes were black gemstones, and its face was covered by a grayish-red fleshy membrane. Wei Xun did not scrape the flesh membrane from its face. The thickest part of the membrane was on its forehead, where a bump the size of apricot was present. There was a gaping wound in the middle, like an eye that was about to close. When Wei Xun scraped the flesh membrane, he found that it was trembling, like it was alive.
Second, Yue Chenghua, who had fainted and fallen to the ground, coughed violently and woke up.
Just as he coughed for the first time, the snow leopard, who was ignored by Wei Xun and grew bored, walked over. When Yue Chenghua gasped violently and was finally somewhat able to open his eyes after surviving the disaster, he saw a large bloody mouth right in front of him.