From his excited expression, Ye Shaoyang seemed to have seen the vigor and vigor of himself when he just came down the mountain, and repeatedly told them that since they stayed, they must obey his own arrangements and must not act on their own will. The two brothers only agreed.
On the night when Wu Jiawei's brothers arrived, Ye Shaoyang was sleeping soundly in his sleeping bag when he was suddenly woken up by Guagua who told him Taoist Zikun was coming.
"Where!" Ye Shaoyang hurriedly crawled out of the sleeping bag and asked.
"Just outside, let you go see him."
Guagua has always been in charge of the night watch. Of course, he was the first to notice someone approaching the camp.
Wu Jiawei also woke up and asked about the situation. Ye Shaoyang told him to stay there first, and went out to see Taoist Zikun by himself.
"Master Ye, we meet again."
Behind a sand dune not far from the camp, Ye Shaoyang saw Taoist Zikun and saluted him with a flattering smile.
Ye Shaoyang simply returned the salute, not wanting to talk to him, and asked directly: "How is it?"
"My master wants to see you, so he specially asked me to pick you up."
"Okay, wait a minute, I'll call some friends."
Regardless of whether he likes it or not, Ye Shaoyang went back to wake up Sibao and the others. After explaining the situation, he decided to take Wu Jiawei and his brothers there.
When Zikun Taoist saw Wu Jiawei and his brothers, he couldn't help being a little puzzled. Ye Shaoyang briefly introduced that Wu Jiawei was not very good at acting, and he was too lazy to talk to him with a sullen face, but Wu Jiadao approached him with a smile on his face.
Under the leadership of Zikun Taoist, a group of people left the camp, first walked towards the north of the camp, and after turning over several large sand dunes, the direction turned to the northwest.
The cold wind howled at night, and the three of Ye Shaoyang were all wrapped in thick military coats, and they still felt a little difficult to move.
"How far is it?" Ye Shaoyang asked panting.
"It's coming soon." Taoist Zikun repeated this sentence for the third time, and walked into a depression in the desert. In the middle of the depression is a tall tree trunk, as thick as two people hugging each other.
Ye Shaoyang remembered hearing from Fang Mengna that this was a Populus euphratica tree, which had long since died, but the trunk still stood tall in the desert.
Taoist Zikun pointed to a tree hole at the root of the tree and said, "This is it."
here? Ye Shaoyang was a little confused on the spot. He thought of many possibilities before, but he really didn't expect that they would open the entrance on a tree. After thinking about it carefully, this place is indeed secluded enough. No one lives in the desert, even if it happens occasionally. Those who have passed by for inspection or exploration will not even notice the existence of this tree hole.
The bottom of the tree hole was empty, Taoist Zikun jumped down immediately after getting in, and after a while, his voice came from below, beckoning Ye Shaoyang and others to go down.
Ye Shaoyang glanced at Brother Wu Jiawei, telling them to be careful, and they nodded. Ye Shaoyang took the lead to get in, and saw Taoist Zikun holding a candle below, which was about three or four meters deep, so he jumped down.
Brother Wu Jiawei followed closely behind, and the three of them looked by the light of the candle, and saw a cave in front of them slanting downwards. It should be a natural cave, but there were traces of excavation and processing around it, and there were simple stone stairs on the ground.
A guy was standing at the entrance with a torch in his hand, with a grinning mask on his face, only two eyeballs were exposed, rolling around the three of Ye Shaoyang, full of vigilance and hostility.
Ye Shaoyang noticed that this guy was wearing thick clothes, dirty and torn, as if he picked them up from nowhere.
Taoist Zikun walked over, took out a sign from his pocket, and showed it to him, and the believer immediately backed away to make way.
"Mr. Ye, everyone, please."
The three of them followed Taoist Zikun and went down the cave. They could feel a weak wind blowing in their faces, but the temperature in the cave was not too low, at least it was much warmer than the ground where the wind was howling.
After walking for tens of meters, I met another guarding believer. Taoist Zikun showed the sign again before he was allowed to pass.
Ye Shaoyang curiously asked for the sign, and saw that it was a domino, probably obtained from some animal's bone, with some strange symbols engraved on it.
"This is the token issued by the high priest. Only with this token can you enter and exit the cave." Taoist Zikun explained, "They are very guarded. If a stranger enters by mistake, he will only die."
Along the way, I saw a few believers wearing all kinds of clothes, all of which were dirty and messy. Taoist Zikun explained that these clothes were discarded by explorers they picked up in the desert. Wear it to keep out the cold at night, and take it off when you go out for action during the day. Good clothes are also available here, and they are all bought in the towns around Lop Nur. Because the road is far away, you can’t go often, so only people with some religious status have them. Qualified to wear.
"How many of these believers are there?"
"There are only dozens of them, and they are the last members of their tribe." Taoist Zikun said.
Ye Shaoyang hurriedly asked: "How to say?"
"Let's not talk about that, I'll take you to see my master first."
After walking for two to three hundred meters, the cave was divided into three parts, and there was a stench coming from the front. The three of Ye Shaoyang were so fumigated that they hurriedly followed Taoist Zikun to the leftmost cave. After walking for a while, the stench disappeared, Ye Shaoyang immediately asked what happened. Taoist Zikun said with a smile: "The cave in the middle is where they excrete..."
"Excretion?" Ye Shaoyang was stunned, and asked casually, "Why did you excrete in the cave?"
"Master Ye, you're asking, they eat and drink in the cave, so why not let them go to the ground to pee and shit?"
Ye Shaoyang was speechless.
Going forward, the ground is flat, and the caves begin to bend, and there are countless forks. With the light in the hands of Taoist Zikun, you can see that some of the forks are deep and can't see the end, and some are very short, like It is a wall hole dug out of the rock, most of which are people lying there, they are all those religious believers, there is no bed in the wall hole, these believers are sleeping on some dead branches and weeds, some are wrapped in tattered quilts, some are Torn clothes.
Next to it is a jar that is probably used to hold water.
When passing by, the people in these caves immediately got up, put on their masks, and looked at them one by one full of hostility, and some even chased out of the caves, staring at them.
"These people are not very friendly." Ye Shaoyang murmured.
"Of course, they are very xenophobic. If it weren't for their high priest to take care of us, we would have become ghosts under their guns. Master Ye, have you seen the guns in their hands?"
After being reminded by Taoist Zikun, Ye Shaoyang noticed that there was a long spear placed in every living wall hole, which should be made of wood with a sharp end.