My girlfriend is a Miao demon.

Castle, castle, castle...

Xiang Nanfeng silently repeated the goal he was searching for. But as he surveyed everything below the mountain, from front to back, from left to right, from near to far…

The jagged rocks, the ever-changing mountain terrain, the flowing mist—he surveyed the world below. Where was the castle? Not to mention the castle, even the open space where it once stood had vanished!

Wait a minute, even if there's no two-story building at No. 93 Loubei, there's still the whole Loujia Village. If we can't see the castle, how come there's no open space either?

Looking southwards into the distance, where is there any flat land at the foot of this mountain?

Is it really just an ordinary little hill, slope, valley, or ditch?

Climbing up any high mountain inside the heart of Shounan Mountain and looking down, you'll see the same view:

In the desolate mountains, vegetation was sparse, but amidst the peaks, a patch of land shone with a silvery-white light. It was a small pool covered with a thin layer of ice, its surface reflecting the silvery moonlight.

Pools, springs, streams, and creeks are common in Shounan Mountain, which is located in a monsoon zone with abundant water resources. Although there are no major rivers in the deep mountains, clear water sources are readily available.

Is that strange?

The scenery down the mountain wasn't anything special, but the fact that the open space in the dream world was actually gone was truly astonishing!

Xiang Nanfeng shook his head, then stretched out his hands and rubbed his face vigorously, then rubbed his eyes hard. The accumulated pressure caused temporary deformation of the cornea, but as the cornea regained its elasticity, the light refocused accurately on the retina.

Just then, his gaze fell upon the frozen pool at the foot of the mountain.

Strange, why does this pool look so awkward?

Xiang Nanfeng noticed the pool by chance, and a vague but increasingly strong question became clear in his mind:

There were plenty of water sources in Shounan Mountain—small pools, streams, even springs—he'd long since grown accustomed to them. But this particular small pool at the foot of the mountain was strange. Xiang Nanfeng took out his telescope, a pair with 5-30x continuous zoom and 1-500 meter infrared assist, capable of providing a clear panoramic view of the entire area below the mountain at night.

The dark valley was filled with tall trees. From a distance, these trees looked like poplars or chestnuts. It was a temperate deciduous broad-leaved forest, with a few pine and cypress trees scattered among them.

In deciduous forests, apart from evergreen trees like pines and cypresses, most of the leaves on other trees have fallen to the ground in the depths of winter, where they decay and decompose in the soil after the autumn rains.

Xiang Nanfeng lowered his binoculars, turned off his headlamp, and then raised his 12000-lumen flashlight, shining it down the mountain. The blinding white beam of the flashlight pierced the thin mist in the valley like a sharp arrow.

The valley floor was pitch black.

The woods and the fallen leaves-covered ground beneath them were a deep black, except for the pool at the bottom of the valley, its surface covered with a thin layer of ice, which reflected a large, shimmering white light from the beam of the powerful flashlight. The pool was hidden deep within the valley, nestled among the mountains. The moment the flashlight beam touched the pool, it was instantly dispersed. A few rays were reflected, while most were absorbed directly by the water, becoming part of the pool and forming a small, bright, yet rather eerie patch of light.

No! No, no, it's a pond!

How come there's a pool of water at the foot of this mountain?

impossible!impossible!

This is a small pool, three or four hundred meters in diameter, hidden among the mountains. It's clear that the water inside must be very deep. When the beam of a powerful flashlight shines on the surface of the pool, it's clearly visible to the south that the shallow water beneath the extremely thin ice is remarkably clear.

This pool is so bright! The water is so clear!

This pool of water is like another bright moon that has fallen into the deep mountains.

If he didn't look up, if he only saw the pool at his feet, he might even mistakenly think the world was spinning and that the pool was the real moon. Moreover, the moon was merely bright, but the pool wasn't just bright; it was incredibly clear. The beam of a flashlight shone in from afar, like illuminating a single crystal in a pitch-black room with a white beam.

One can imagine that when the ice melts in spring, the water in the pool must be crystal clear, even transparent. However, a problem arises: if such a clear pool freezes into a crystal-clear, glass-like surface, why does the beam of a strong flashlight seem to be swallowed up by the pool when it shines into it?

A southerly wind can see the beam of light shining beneath the ice in the pool, but still cannot see the water beneath the ice at all.

What happened?

What happened?

Could it be that a 12000-lumen flashlight couldn't penetrate this small pool of water?

Xiang Nanfeng found it hard to believe, and a vague unease began to grow in his heart. He probably knew exactly what was wrong with this pool and what was strange about it.

Xiang Nanfeng found a quick way down and immediately went to the edge of the pool to investigate. He walked to the edge of the pool and stepped onto the ice with his right foot. The moment his center of gravity shifted slightly, a series of cracking sounds rang out from the silent valley beneath his feet.

Xiang Nanfeng immediately turned back to his original spot.

No, how can you just step on it like that?

Xiang Nanfeng calmed down immediately.

How could anyone stand on such thin ice?

That's incredibly reckless.

He instinctively stepped on his left foot, found a rock exposed above the gravel in the pool, and stood firmly on it. Then he turned on his headlamp, looked down, and shone it on the ice surface where his right foot had just stepped.

On the pristine yet transparent ice surface, a white patch, roughly the size of a forefoot, appeared. At first glance, this white patch didn't seem as transparent as the surrounding area, but upon closer inspection, it became clear that it was actually a layer of ice whose internal structure had changed under pressure.

The ice on the pool was very thin, perhaps only three to five centimeters thick, as Xiang Nanfeng guessed. The ice, sculpted by his right foot, had shattered into countless tiny crystals from its center. These fractures enhanced the refraction and reflection of light, creating a white patch of light within the transparent ice. As the diameter of the patch increased, its color lightened towards the outer edges, and the ice's transparency increased. Only around the perimeter of the patch did narrow, elongated fractures extend outwards.

At that moment, a series of "bang bang bang" popping sounds suddenly came from the ice surface. Then, with a crack, the ice surface split open, and the water under the ice surged up through the crack.

Oh my god, that was close!

Xiang Nanfeng was startled. He couldn't imagine whether he would have fallen into the pool, seven or eight meters from the shore, if he had reacted any slower. What was even more frightening was that when he shone his headlamp on the spot where he had stepped, even though it was only a step away from the rocks on the shore, the light from his headlamp could no longer reach the bottom of the pool.

Good heavens, the edge of this pool is so steep!

Mustering his courage, Xiang Nanfeng cautiously moved forward. He inserted the blade of his jungle knife into a crack in the ice. Then, he forcefully pried up the thin layer of ice in the pool.

Water is coming out! Water is coming out! Water is coming out of the ice!

He reached out his left hand, grabbed the bottom edge of the ice from below, then put away his jungle knife, and with both hands supporting the ice surface, flipped it up with all his might.

With a snap, the ice layer broke again under the pulling force.

Xiang Nanfeng used both hands to break off a piece of ice about 60 centimeters long at an angle. Below the ice was the icy water of a pool, the coldness of which seeped into the skin and muscles of his hands, rushing straight to his nerves.

Xiang Nanfeng instantly perked up. He turned around abruptly and forcefully flung the thin ice, about three centimeters thick, onto a grayish-white rock behind him. The thin ice shattered with a crackling sound, scattering fragments all over the ground.

Just then, a gust of cold wind howled across the icy surface of the pool. Xiang Nanfeng had barely heard the faint sound of the wind when it suddenly lashed against his back, like ten thousand icy, fine steel needles piercing his jacket. The wind was not only cold, but also damp. He couldn't help but shiver.

The scene he had witnessed 13 days earlier in the sinkhole castle, the eerie spectacle, played out once again like a giant screen movie across the entire valley before his eyes:

The wind rustled the shoulder-high grass, making a soft, rustling sound. The blades of grass seemed to be covered with dense barbs, and the friction between the blades produced an annoying, grating echo.

The double doors were covered with smooth, sticky moss, and hung with black, damp mud that seemed ready to drip at any moment.

The strange fish, exposed in the wet mud, seemed to have just been breathing, but had been dead for a long time, emitting a foul stench.

The rusty, old chandelier, like a Damocles' sword teetering on the verge of falling, could drop at any moment and pierce your skull and spinal cord...

In that instant, as the cold wind stirred up the dampness of the pool, Xiang Nanfeng switched on his powerful flashlight. The flashlight's strong beam, like life tearing through the deathly darkness, fiercely pierced the pool water where the ice had been lifted.

However, Xiang Nanfeng seemed to hear a whoosh; the beam of his powerful flashlight was instantly swallowed by the pool and vanished without a trace. Good heavens! He was only a step away from the shore, yet the water was already bottomless. He understood; he understood everything.

Wangshan City, especially the Shounan Mountain area, is located in the eastern part of the Eurasian continent. Throughout Earth's geological history, due to the influence of continental drift, the Indian Ocean Plate has continuously moved and subducted beneath the Eurasian Plate, resulting in particularly significant orogenic and geological movements in this region. Just as the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau was formed and the Himalayas continued to rise and grow, the Shounan Mountains have also been continuously rising throughout Earth's long geological history, transforming from plains into mountains.

The area where the south wind is standing is very obvious. The mountains here are formed by the rock strata tilting due to the continuous external forces from the center. Then, different parts of the rock strata are formed by different external forces, wind erosion, and water flow, which is what geology calls "anticlines form valleys and synclines form mountains".

Thus, with mountains and valleys, the distribution of water flow and water sources will naturally differ.

We often say, "People strive to go higher, water flows to lower places." Water naturally gathers in valleys to form streams and rivers, while in the ravines where the terrain is closed off and water cannot flow out, pools are formed. Of course, this is common sense. If viewed this way, it's like the feeling Xiang Nanfeng had when he first saw this pool—it's reasonable and unremarkable.

But in fact, the pool in front of us is not like that at all.

The mountains surrounding this pool are relatively gentle. The mountain with the stone tablet, which the south-facing climber is climbing, has a relatively steep side, but its slope towards the pool is quite gentle. Logically, synclines form mountains, and anticlines form valleys; the terrain of interconnected valleys should be roughly the same in slope, or at least not significantly different. This is because if one side of a mountain slope is half gentle and half steep, the rocks on the steeper side will collapse. After a collapse, the falling rocks will naturally fill the gentler areas, and over time, as the rocks move, the mountain's slope will gradually become more uniform.

However, the pool beneath our feet is entirely different: since a powerful flashlight cannot reach the bottom, indicating its depth, the mountains below the waterline should be extremely steep. Yet, the mountains above the waterline are clearly relatively flat; given this terrain, a powerful flashlight should have been able to illuminate the bottom. Instead, the mountains above the waterline are gentle, while below, the slope drops sharply and is exceptionally steep—clearly defying the basic principles of mountain formation. This is the strangeness of this pool.

Of course, there is another question that is even more inexplicable: its water source is a mystery!

Is a small pond this deep?

Clearly, its water storage capacity is quite considerable.

However, although the water source of Shounan Mountain is abundant, the water volume varies significantly between the two seasons.

During the high-water season, streams rush and there may be hundreds of small pools and lakes of all sizes in the mountains. However, because Shounan Mountain is significantly higher than the surrounding plains, although it is the source of many small bodies of water, it cannot receive water replenishment from the outside world other than rainwater.

Therefore, once winter arrives and the dry season begins, all water flows except for mountain springs become very small, and most small pools disappear naturally. But this small pool in front of us not only hasn't disappeared, but it still manages to maintain such a large volume of water. Where does this water come from?

Even more remarkably, the south wind swept all the way to the edge of the pool and still couldn't find a water level on the cliff face. This at least indicates that even during the dry season, the pool's water level is no less than during the wet season. So, the question remains: where does its water come from?

Through his binoculars, Xiang Nanfeng circled the pool three times, but found no trace of a stream or river. Still unconvinced, he personally circled the pool again, but found no trace of any historical water source.

So, if the water source isn't a river, the only possibility is that there's a spring at the bottom of the pool? Or is it connected to an underground water system? Of course, there's no shortage of springs in Shounan Mountain, and even in Wangshan City where Xiang Nanfeng lives. Therefore, Xiang Nanfeng once tried to convince himself of this. However, he quickly dismissed this reasoning.

Spring water? Underground water system?

At this moment, the temperature here is 5 degrees Celsius. For the past two weeks, the lowest temperature in Wangshan City has been around 10 degrees Celsius. At the same latitude, the temperature drops by 7 degrees Celsius for every 1000 meters increase in altitude, so the temperature in Shounan Mountain should be lower, but it is only around 0 degrees Celsius.

So, under these temperature conditions, if this pool is formed by a spring and can be replenished by groundwater during the dry season, what reason would it have to freeze?

When have we ever heard of spring water freezing at 0 degrees Celsius?

Spring water is living water!

Thinking of all this, Xiang Nanfeng couldn't help but tremble:

There's a ghost in this pool! There's a ghost in this pool!

There's only one plausible answer: there's a ghost in this pond!

His newly calmed emotions began to race again, and the fear of being alone in the dark mountains crept up on him from all directions like a ghost in the night.

Xiang Nanfeng gripped the jungle knife tightly, the tip pointing straight down. The cold sweat on his hands seemed like the blood of his enemy, the moisture condensing on the steel blade and flowing down from the blood grooves on both sides of the blade.

Tick ​​tock!

A bead of cold sweat fell onto the broken ice, and all the strange occurrences seemed to be revealed:

Fog, silt, moss, strange fish...

If all the strange things that seemed out of place 13 days ago, in this desolate and dry winter, were actually at the bottom of this pool, would that make perfect sense?

Open ground, ancient castle, vertical shaft, stone chamber...

Was the dream world that Xiang Nanfeng dreamt of ending beneath this frozen ground?

But Luyao, oh Luyao, where are you?