Mysterious Country 1: Mist-Shrouded Champa: Volume 3: Chapter 1 One: Disembowelment

Mysterious Country 1: Mist-Shrouded Champa: Volume 3: Chapter 1 One: Disembowelment

In the deep mountain jungles of Myanmar, Burmese pythons and venomous snakes are both extremely common creatures. But the python hidden in the dense canopy of this tree could actually suck the stout and plump “Mountain Borer” into midair with a single openmouthed breath. Sima Hui and Luo Dahai watched with their hearts turning cold and their legs trembling, their courage stolen from them. Unfortunately, they had no firearms in hand, and their hunting knives could not reach far enough. There was no way to rescue him.

They watched helplessly as the python opened its mouth and sucked in the Mountain Borer, then lowered its head and swallowed him whole. The python’s body immediately bulged with a small human shape.

Although the Mountain Borer carried a submachine gun, he had been caught completely off guard by the sudden attack. By the time he understood what was happening, he had already been caught by a gust of foul wind.

As the saying goes, “Strength comes from the ground.” With his feet off the ground, his body suspended in midair, head down and feet up, the Mountain Borer had no room to struggle or resist. He was immediately sucked alive into the python’s belly.

This Mountain Borer was a tomb robber who often engaged in desperate ventures, possessing astonishing skills and truly formidable methods. Swallowed by the giant python, he felt only a foul stench assaulting his brain, his entire body as if he had fallen into a boiling pot, burned by fire, unbearable. Fortunately, the Mountain Borer’s mind had not yet succumbed; his consciousness remained clear. Taking advantage of his relatively short arms, which could still maneuver in the cramped space, he desperately pulled out the “Duckbill Pike” he carried with him and thrust its razor-sharp blade downward with all his might. Where the Duckbill Pike’s blade passed, it was like cutting through rotten leather. Struggling to cut deeper, he actually managed to slit the Burmese python open from inside to outside.

That Burmese giant python had swallowed the man too greedily. At first it did not realize its own belly had been torn open and its intestines pierced. It was not until the Mountain Borer had cut a gash more than a dozen meters long from inside its belly that it knew the situation was dire. It coiled on the old tree, struggling and thrashing in its death throes.

All of this happened in an instant. Before Sima Hui and Luo Dahai could even react, the Mountain Borer, looking like a blood gourd from head to toe, covered in mucus, fell out of the belly of the python he had disemboweled.

When the two saw the stout and healthy Mountain Borer falling from midair, they both cried out simultaneously. They wanted to reach out to catch him, but how could they catch him? A living person weighing 170 or 180 pounds, plus the momentum of the fall, was like a bomb being dropped. The Mountain Borer crashed into them, immediately knocking them over and sending them tumbling into a heap on the ground.

As for the python coiled around the tree roots, it also died from its torn belly and blood loss. Its corpse slid down from the height. Sima Hui rolled aside to avoid the dead python. Looking again at the Mountain Borer, he found that his fall had been truly severe. Moreover, the digestive fluid secreted in the python’s belly was extremely concentrated. Although this man had a robust body and had escaped nimbly, much of his skin and flesh had already rotted and ulcerated. The features on his face were no longer complete.

Luo Dahai had greatly admired the Mountain Borer’s method of disemboweling the python from the inside just now. Seeing him in this state, he ignored his own pain and hurriedly helped him up, asking with concern: “Master Zuan, are you safe and sound?”

Sima Hui examined the Mountain Borer’s injuries. Gently touching his face with his hand, it was soft as a rotten melon. All his hair had fallen out, and his nose came off with the touch. He shook his head and said: “He’s in this state, how can he be safe and sound?”

He wanted to quickly call the people behind to catch up. If A Cui could administer emergency treatment immediately, perhaps she could still preserve the Mountain Borer’s life. So he immediately lit a signal flare and tossed it upward.

Who knew that when the dark red firelight flared up, it would instantly illuminate the nearby tree clusters brightly. They saw dust rising like fog from the tree holes and rock caves all around. Countless Burmese pythons, thick as rice-measuring buckets, their lengths unknown, were slithering out from the python dens, twisting and coiling, spiraling downward. All of them moved as swiftly as lightning, their mouths forked tongues flickering.

Sima Hui and Luo Dahai’s hearts sank in bitter despair. They had just witnessed with their own eyes what a miserable state the Mountain Borer had been in after being swallowed by the python. How could they dare to linger? Without the slightest hesitation in their minds, they let out a single shout and turned to flee. The dozens of Burmese pythons pursued them relentlessly from behind.

Although the dense vegetation and complex terrain of the deep valley jungle somewhat hindered the pythons’ momentum, humans running within it could not move quickly either. Sima Hui and Luo Dahai ran wildly for a hundred or so paces. In their panic they had no time to watch the path carefully. Wherever they saw a place they could fit, they fled for their lives. Their clothes were torn open in countless places, and their speed was forced to slow down. They heard the giant pythons behind them coming like the wind, crashing against tree trunks and earth with loud noises, the distance closing ever nearer.

Sima Hui saw that escape was impossible. He had no choice but to stop with Luo Dahai. Each gripped their hunting knife tightly, backs pressed against an old tree, preparing to fight for their lives. Just at this moment when their lives hung by a thread, suddenly two tongues of flame roared out from behind the tree. Wave after wave of blazing fire, like an invincible demon god, wantonly displayed its ferocity and savagery. Where the flames reached, even the air and soil were ignited. The scorching airflow made it difficult to breathe.

Sima Hui looked carefully and saw that it was Yu Feiyan and the others who had followed behind. After seeing the light from the signal flare, they had hurried to provide support. When they discovered pythons ahead, they used the flamethrowers they carried to attack. Although Burmese pythons have thick and tough skin, how could they withstand being burned by fierce flames? They were either charred into carbon on the spot or fled without a trace.

Yu Feiyan noticed that one of the three people scouting ahead was missing, and knew they must have encountered an accident. She had no time to ask more questions. Immediately she whistled to signal her armed subordinates, using flamethrowers to clear the way, spreading out in a fan formation to advance through the deep valley. Before long they found the Mountain Borer lying dead on the ground.

When everyone saw the horrific state of the Mountain Borer’s death, and heard Sima Hui and Luo Dahao explain the circumstances, they all felt a chill run through them. Yu Feiyan thought: “This time it was Master Jiang who overestimated himself, losing a brother for nothing.”

She led her subordinates to bow once before the Mountain Borer’s corpse: “Master Quan, rest assured and journey on. Your family, young and old, will all be taken care of by us. When we return, we shall set up a longevity tablet at the Golden Bodhi Temple. If you have any knowledge in the afterlife, you may send a wisp of your heroic spirit there to receive the incense offerings.”

Then she ordered someone to cut off the Mountain Borer’s hair to take back for burial, and cremated the corpse on the spot, burying the ashes in a pit.

Yu Feiyan called the Mountain Borer “Master Quan,” but in fact the Mountain Borer’s surname was not Quan. It was just that tomb robbers’ shadowy trade had many taboos, basically similar to the ways of the greenwood (outlaw) path. According to the rules of the Guandong path, among all the guilds and societies, the most taboo thing was to mention the numbers “two, four, six, eight, nine” in people’s names. One could call someone Third Brother or Fifth Brother, but could not say Second Brother or Fourth Brother. The Mountain Borer ranked fourth, so the character “Quan” (全) was used as a substitute.

If one were to examine these matters in detail, it would be too deep. To put it simply and plainly, it was roughly because all the three teachings and nine schools, the thousand gates and ten thousand paths, all revered the Martial Emperor Guan, and Lord Guan ranked second. Naturally no one dared to compare themselves with Lord Guan the Second. And during the Northern Song dynasty, Yang Silang defected and surrendered to Liao; during the Sui and Tang dynasties, Luo Cheng the Sixth broke his oath and betrayed his pledge. These were all negative examples, so their positions were left vacant to warn future generations.

For example, in the jianghu one must follow the “Three Speakables and Three Unspeakables, Three Revealables and Three Unrevealables.” The Three Speakables refer to the business of greenwood bandits: one may speak with fellow comrades, one may speak in the incense hall, and one may speak when selling stolen goods. The Three Unspeakables are: do not speak before the public eye, do not speak while drinking and enjoying oneself, and do not speak in temples, meaning do not speak casually before government officials. The Three Revealables are: reveal when encountering disaster, reveal when encountering urgent matters, and reveal when encountering bandits. The Three Unrevealables are: do not reveal to strangers on the road, do not reveal to family members, and do not reveal when encountering enemies. “Do not reveal to family members” means “do not tell parents above, do not tell descendants below,” with the exception of those passed down through generations in the family. After all, the authorities prohibit theft. These rules and taboos were nothing more than means to preserve the secrets of the trade to the greatest extent; they also had the intention of seeking good fortune and avoiding calamity.

Tomb robbery gangs like the Mountain Forest Team, Old and Young Group, revered these old trade rules as if they were divine. After finishing with the Mountain Borer’s corpse, they saw the weather growing even more gloomy. Under the threat of the tropical storm “Pagoda” gradually approaching, the group dared not delay too long and continued their journey deeper into the valley.

Because time was pressing, if they wanted to turn back they would only be engulfed by the mountain floods and mudslides brought by the wind and rain. So Yu Feiyan did not send anyone else to scout ahead, but instead had the entire group march through the dense forest in formation.

At this point, the branching paths in the deep valley and ravines gradually multiplied. The undulating mountain ranges were all covered by primeval jungle. Because various large plants grew almost invasively, the deep fissures in the mountain strata were extremely numerous. The formed gullies crisscrossed each other, distributed as intricately as a spider’s web. Inside were also abundant climbing and epiphytic plants, plus caves of varying sizes, forming a multilayered green labyrinth. The fragile mountain body frequently collapsed. Even with detailed maps in hand, it was easy to get lost when going deep inside.

After marching like this for a while, seeing this was not the right place, Master Jiang had the group stop. He claimed that if they continued walking like this, they would likely go “Mada” (get lost). They should lay out the “Innate Speed Palm Eight Trigrams” to confirm whether the expedition team’s direction of advance was correct. Yu Feiyan and the others all knew he was experienced and seasoned, possessing a set of brilliant methods for observing terrain and measuring situations. Naturally they respected him.

Master Jiang immediately took out a set of bronze plates, laid them out face down on a folding fan, then flipped them over one by one. His eyes fixed on the plate surfaces, his mouth muttering incantations: “Chou does not go south, You does not go east; seeking wealth and robbing tombs brings emptiness. Yin and Chen going west brings great misfortune; encountering ghosts in coffins brings evil harm. Hai and Zi to the north brings great scattering; separated by mountains and waters, the journey fails. Si and Wei to the northeast must not pass; three mountains block the path with disaster stars. Wu and Shen should not enter the southwest road; dismounting before the grave brings emptiness. Meeting Xu, do not go into the ground; colliding with evil spirits loses your life. Mao to the northwest brings calamity; chickens and dogs causing trouble makes matters fail.”

After Master Jiang finished his calculations, he used a compass for reference, fixed his eyes on a deep ravine, and hurriedly walked inside. Yu Feiyan immediately had her people follow closely behind. But Sima Hui grew suspicious. He did not doubt the tomb robbers’ methods of deducing feng shui and geography, but for some reason, he vaguely felt that Master Jiang seemed like a completely different person, with an indescribable abnormal aura about him. He did not know where he would lead everyone.

The group followed Master Jiang, winding through the jungle for a long time. A Burmese man discovered a dead person’s arm exposed in a patch of black-green stagnant water. This Burmese man was perhaps an old hand on the battlefield. When he saw a dead body, he was bound to search it, wanting to see if there were any valuables like a watch on the corpse. So he stepped forward and pulled hard, dragging out a soaking wet corpse from the stagnant water. The corpse was face down. When turned over, it revealed a black face. In the beam of the searchlight, one could see that the flesh on that face had completely withered and collapsed, presenting a dark deep sauce color, shaped like a dried corpse that had died of dehydration in the desert. Moreover, the mouth was wide open, the eye sockets deeply sunken, still maintaining the painful expression from before death. The clothing on the body had completely rotted away. It was impossible to tell how many years it had been dead, nor could its identity or origin be determined.

At this time the others also gradually stopped following Master Jiang. Sima Hui saw many scorched black marks around them from where the flamethrowers had burned. His heart grew even more puzzled: “How did this old tomb robber Jiang, holding a broken fan not to fan his butt but to fan his face, lead everyone back to the vicinity of the python den?”

He secretly observed and saw that Master Jiang’s face was white as paper, his expression dazed, his eyes yellow and waxy, his face shape noticeably thinner than before. Looking at him coldly from the side, this person actually resembled that dried corpse in the water somewhat. Both looked like evil ghosts crawling out of the “City of the Wrongfully Dead.”

Hai Dongqing, the third master of the Mountain Forest Team, Old and Young Group, had keen eyesight. He also noticed that this path was circling back to the original point. Seeing that Master Jiang seemed not quite right, he stepped forward and asked: “Master Jiang, what’s wrong with you?”

But Master Jiang’s mouth was making gurgling sounds as if speaking. Hai Dongqing could not hear clearly what he was saying, and thought it might be confidential matters. So he put his ear close to listen carefully, and asked again: “What? Speak more clearly…”

Sima Hui had a premonition that something was about to happen. He wanted to stop Hai Dongqing, but it was still half a step too late. Before Hai Dongqing could finish his sentence, he saw Master Jiang’s mouth suddenly split open in all directions, up, down, left, and right. Sima Hui knew that in the Qing dynasty there was a concealed weapon called the “Blood Dropper.” It was a hollow metal ball attached to a long rope, approximately the size of a human head, containing hidden mechanisms with sharp blades and bone-dissolving water. The assassin using it would hide on a roof beam, and when someone passed below, would throw the Blood Dropper at that person’s head. When the Blood Dropper touched the human head, it would immediately split into several petals and spread downward, wrapping the head completely. The assassin would then jerk the rope upward, and the Blood Dropper would cut off the head. On the ground would remain only a headless torso standing upright. And the head inside the Blood Dropper would have already been dissolved by the bone-dissolving water, leaving only a drop of blood, hence the name.

Sima Hui felt that Master Jiang’s head at this moment was just like a Blood Dropper. It split open from the mouth, dividing into several petals, opening wider and wider, and lunged forward, immediately wrapping Hai Dongqing’s head inside, and tightening inward fiercely. Because the incident happened too suddenly, everyone else was frozen in shock. In the moment they were stunned, Hai Dongqing was suddenly caught off guard. He immediately felt ten thousand steel needles piercing into his brain. The pain made his limbs convulse. In his death throes, the gun in his hand also went off. A row of bullets swept out, immediately mowing down several companions beside him. One of the bullets passed through a Burmese man’s chest, then struck the fuel tank of the flamethrower fuel canister he carried on his back. An explosion immediately occurred. With a “boom,” fireballs flew everywhere. Those nearby who could not dodge in time were all engulfed by the raging flames.