Late afternoon, more than two hundred miles east of Qingshan County, a desolate low mountain forest.
"Woof, woof"
"Woof, woof"
In the mountainside, a previously silent pine forest with needles turned white, several dog barks abruptly rose.
Before long,
"Creak"
"Creak"
The sound of stepping deep and shallow in the snow followed, getting closer and clearer.
Soon, a figure appeared, clad in a deerskin coat, wearing a felt hat, carrying a bow and arrows on his shoulder, and a wood chopping knife at his waist.
The figure was a scruffy-bearded Han man with dark weather-beaten skin, marked with some frost-ridden cracks and signs of hardship.
Breathing out white mist, he spotted his six hounds barking around the base of a tree from afar, and immediately became alert. He hurriedly lowered his large bow from his arm, and with his other hand, took an arrow from the basket on his back, bending the bow and aiming towards that direction.
But as he looked carefully, he saw a hand hanging down on the other side of the tree.
"Human?"
The Han man’s brow twitched, but he did not approach immediately.
As a hunter from the nearby mountains, he knew the mountains were full of odd occurrences, and had occasionally heard tales of Mountain Spirits and Wild Demons disguised as people to harm others.
In this frozen world of snow and wilderness, seeing such a scene would strike anyone as odd.
He shot the open bow towards that large tree.
"Swoosh"
"Thump"
The arrow shot out vigorously, striking the tree trunk about ten yards away, the shaft quivering with a buzzing sound.
It also shook off some of the accumulated snow from that tree.
The "person" did not react!
Out of caution, the hunter bent his bow and shot another arrow, this time directly into the snow a few feet away from the hand.
Still no movement!
This time the hunter started slowly moving his feet, making his way around the side, and finally saw an old man slumped under the big tree.
The old man’s clothes were ragged, his body stained with blood, his other hand gripping tightly a sharpened wooden stick, blood upon it.
The old man’s eyes were closed, his body covered with a layer of white frost.
The hunter, startled, hurried to the base of the tree and kneeled on one knee to inspect the old man’s condition.
The old man’s body was already stiff, with several wounds that were clearly caused by wild beasts, the blood from the wounds had frozen into icicles, he checked for breathing.
"He’s still alive!"
Feeling the faint warmth, the hunter didn’t hesitate for a moment. He quickly took off his deerskin coat, wrapped the frail and stiff old man in it, then placed the quiver of arrows in his mouth, hoisted the old man onto his back, and hastened down the mountain.
Having walked about a hundred meters or so, a small sledge appeared ahead. It was not big, just about five or six feet in size, piled up with some firewood and hunting tools, as well as five or six caught hares and roe deer.
These were the hunter’s harvest from going up the mountain this time.
But the hunter first put the old man down, then threw all the chopped firewood from the sledge away, before lying the old man flat onto it.
Afterward, the hunter called over his hunting dogs, attached the sledge’s front rope to the dogs, then sat on one side of the sledge and blew a whistle from his mouth.
The next second, the hounds let out a bark and all pulled together, dragging the wooden sledge down the mountain.
The sky gradually darkened, and the snowstorm blew once more.
At the foot of Songqiao Mountain, under the snowstorm, stood a long-neglected Mountain God Temple.
Built by the local hunters many years ago, it had become dilapidated over the years, standing in the deep mountain forest.
Living off the mountain, everyone sought peace.
One hundred meters outside the Mountain God Temple, the Nu River rushed past.
The sky was darkening. Inside the Mountain God Temple, flames flickered and voices echoed.
"Crackling"
"What time is it already, why hasn’t Second Elder Zhuang returned?"
"It’s snowing again, he might have lost his way, that would be bad."
"Yes, the snow has been falling for almost half a month now, it’s unprecedented. The landscape has changed, and many places in the mountains are unrecognizable now, making it much more dangerous. It’s not impossible that something has happened."
"Should we all go out and search for him? We’re all from the same village after all."
"If you want to go, then go. The wind is blowing and snow is falling outside, and it’s getting dark. A few steps out and your footprints will disappear, don’t end up getting lost yourself."
"Let’s wait a bit more. Second Elder Zhuang learned some skills when he was younger, and he’s stronger than any of us; he should be safe and sound."
The temple was lit by a campfire. A group of people sat around it, clad in heavy clothing. A big, black pot bubbled over the fire, emanating steam and boiling a white broth.
The group consisted of eleven hunters from Zhuangjia Aozi, across the river. Half a month ago, heavy snow sealed off the mountains, catching these hunters, who lived off the land, by surprise.
After struggling for half a month, with their households nearly running out of provisions, they finally saw the snow stop. The hunters from the village teamed up and set out to hunt on Songqiao Mountain.
For safety, everyone agreed to meet up at the Mountain God Temple in the late afternoon, regardless of their hunting results, to cross the river together and return to the village.
However, the snow which had just stopped, started falling again. Outside, the blinding snowstorm obscured one’s vision, and someone was late; everyone speculated about what might have happened, expressing their thoughts one after another.
Just then, amidst the howling wind and snow, a faint sound of a dog barking approached from afar.
Coming nearer and clearer, it reached outside the Mountain God Temple.
"It must be Second Elder Zhuang."
The villagers stirred upon hearing the noise.
Someone stood up, ran to the wooden door braced with planks, moved the planks aside, and immediately a cold wind laden with snowflakes burst into the crude temple, bending the several-feet-high fire while also causing everyone else to tighten their collars.
Amidst the white expanse outside, a figure accompanied by several large dogs, strode quickly into the temple.
"Second Elder Zhuang, how come you..."
A fellow villager hunter, discontented, tried to rebuke him.
But the man who rushed in interrupted, "Quick, save him!"
The hunter who had just descended from the mountain hurried to the fire, helped an old man wrapped in a deer skin coat off his back.
The hunter himself was scantily dressed, his eyebrows and face frosted over.
"Second Elder Zhuang, what is this? What happened?"
"Who is this person?"
The other hunters from the village were startled at the sight of the old man, gasping for breath.
But the hunter known as Second Elder Zhuang didn’t answer; instead, he quickly scooped a bowl of hot soup from the big pot over the fire, shook it to cool it down a bit, then helped the unconscious old man sip the warm soup from the bowl to his cracked lips.
Afterward, he moved the old man closer to the fire, cut some strips of cloth from his own clothes with a small knife, poured some green powder from a gourd on his waist onto several wounds on the old man, and then wrapped and tied the strips of cloth around them.
He did this all in one go!
The villagers watched intently.
After finishing all this, Second Elder Zhuang took a long breath, removed his damp felt hat, and said:
"I found this old man on the mountain."
"He has wounds all over his body from wild beasts, seemingly from a struggle."
"But he’s not from any village nearby."
At these words, the village hunters immediately became alert.
"Second Elder Zhuang, in these deep mountains and forests, and with the heavy snow sealing off the mountain, a person suddenly appears, and you dare to pick him up, don’t you harm us all."
When something abnormal happens, it’s probably the work of Mountain Spirits and Wild Demons.
It’s not that they were heartless, but as hunters living in the mountains, they knew that something out of the ordinary was not likely a good sign.
Just as the villagers were watching the old man with wary eyes, inside the temple, the clay-crafted Mountain God statue, the stone eyes suddenly started to move, noticing the old man, and a gleam emerged in its eyes amidst the dark night.

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