Traveling back to ancient times to determine the zodiac

"Xing, I think we should not stop attacking a beast like this, and we should not let it have a chance to catch its breath." Zhong suggested to Xiaoxing: "We should light torches and attack at night."

"Brother Zhong is right. There are so many of us. Even if we are tired, we will tire the Nian beast to death." Feng said from the side.

"Yes, let's continue fighting. Brother Dong is still waiting for our good news! As long as we can't kill him, we will fight him to the death." The roots, leaves and others also shouted not to stop.

Seeing that everyone insisted on attacking despite being tired, Xiaoxing had no choice but to agree to continue the night battle. The mountain was full of bamboo, so everyone cut some bamboo and built a big fire at the bottom of the cliff for lighting.

Everyone kept throwing broken bamboos into the fire, and the fire burned fiercely, illuminating the surroundings. Xiaoxing held a long bamboo pole as a torch and led everyone to launch a new round of fierce attack.

The Nian beast fought for a whole day and was still extremely brave. Hundreds of people took turns to attack, but they were still knocked off the cliff one by one. When the battle was fierce, suddenly, there was a loud "bang", and the bamboo pole in Xiaoxing's hand was burned and exploded, and the flaming bamboo pieces were blown away.

It turns out that when bamboo burns, the air inside each section of the bamboo pole becomes heated, causing an explosion.

The Nian Emperor was startled by the sudden explosion and took a few steps back. When the tree roots and leaves were about to climb up, the Nian Emperor moved forward to resist.

In just a few minutes, another bamboo pole exploded. This time the sound was louder than before, and the flames flew farther. The Nian Emperor was frightened and took a few steps back. Seeing the Nian Emperor like this, Xiao Xing shouted in joy: "Brother Zhong, Chen, brothers, I have a way to deal with the Nian Beast - the Nian Beast is afraid of firecrackers, let's go cut bamboo and light it."

"Yes, sir! Xing." Upon hearing this, Chen and the others paused their attack, went down the mountain to cut bamboo and set it on fire, then held up the burning bamboo poles and returned to Emperor Nian's feet.

Soon, a bamboo pole was burned and exploded, and with a "pop" sound, pieces of fire flew everywhere. Then, hundreds of bamboos began to burn and explode, and huge firecrackers sounded one after another, continuously. Flames flew upwards, some fell on the top of the mountain, and some fell on Emperor Nian. Although Emperor Nian was resistant to beating, he was still a flesh and blood body after all. When he was burned by the fire, he screamed and jumped in pain, and hurriedly shook off the pieces of fire.

"Brothers, Xing is right. The Nian beast is afraid of firecrackers, let's use bamboo to attack the top." Seeing this, Zhong waved to everyone and led the way to climb up the mountain. Shugen Yezi, Heizi and others followed suit and climbed up the mountain.

Nian Di wanted to move forward to resist the human attack, but a large piece of fire flew directly onto his head, burning off a large piece of his fur. Nian Di was in so much pain that he kept backing away, shaking his head desperately, and finally shook off the fire.

Zhonghe Shugen and others took the opportunity to climb to the top of the mountain. Then, Xiaoxing, Chen, Feng, Yun and others also climbed to the top of the mountain with bamboo poles and torches. They held torches and confronted Emperor Nian. Xiaoxing pointed at Emperor Nian and said sternly: "Damn Nian beast, now we have finally reached the top of the mountain, where can you escape to?"

"Nian Beast, your doomsday has come, prepare to die!" Chen shouted.

"Nian beast, we are going to skin you and roast your meat to avenge Brother Dong, Brother Xi, Brother Qian and Brother Lu." Chuuya cursed angrily.

The blazing flames and constant explosions frightened the Nian Emperor to death, destroying any remaining fantasy he had. He was afraid of fire and being roasted by humans, so he had to give up resistance. The Nian Emperor lamented to the sky, "Long live this emperor who rules the world, but I never thought that today I would be defeated by monkey-like humans."

After sighing, Emperor Nian turned to the humans and said, "Monkey-like humans, even if I die, I will not let you succeed in eating barbecue." After saying that, he turned around and ran towards the underground throat cave in the middle of the mountain top, and then escaped to the spiral path in the cave.

As soon as Emperor Nian stepped into the path of the Underground Throat, he fell to the ground with a plop because the ground was covered with fine sand and gravel, and slowly slid deeper into the underground cave. Emperor Nian still wanted to struggle to get up. But no matter how hard he tried, there was always an invisible force pulling him down, trying to swallow him up. In this way, Emperor Nian slid further and further into the Underground Throat Cave, and deeper and deeper. Because the Underground Throat Cave is a bottomless pit, Emperor Nian is still sliding down.

When Xiaoxing and the others saw Emperor Nian running away, they immediately followed closely behind him. Because it was night and there was no moonlight, they could not see the top of the mountain clearly, and they followed Emperor Nian into the edge of the throat.

However, just as Xiao Xing stepped into the throat of the earth, he suddenly became alert and immediately stepped back and said, "Brother Zhong, Chen, and all the brothers, please stop chasing us. Below is the legendary throat of the earth that can be entered but not exited."

"What? This is the throat hole?" Everyone was shocked when they heard it.

"Brothers, this is Tree Stump Mountain. The cave on the top of the mountain is, of course, the so-called Earth Throat Cave." Although Xiaoxing was here for the first time, he was very sure.

Chen Hezhong and the others were still a little hesitant. Xiaoxing held up the torch and shone it forward, saying, "Brothers, if you still don't believe it, shine your torches forward."

Everyone followed the instructions and shone their torches forward. The flames were blazing, and they saw a huge, dark, bottomless hole a little further ahead.

"Xing, there is indeed a big and deep cave ahead. It's a pity that it's night and we can't see clearly how big it is." Chen nodded.

"Xing, it's a good thing you reminded us, otherwise we would have followed the Nian beast." Zhong stuck out his tongue and said with lingering fear.

"Xing, this throat doesn't look any different from ordinary holes. Is it really that magical?" Feng felt very confused.

"Feng, I don't know about that either. But the beast kings are certain: the earth's throat is deep and bottomless, even birds cannot get out if they go in." Xiaoxing replied.

"Xing, we have spent so much time and effort to hunt down the Nian beast, but in the end we just give up. Isn't it too easy for it?" Zhong felt very unhappy because he didn't kill the Nian beast.

"What you said is right. It's a pity that the Nian beast did not die under our knife, otherwise, we would definitely taste its meat." The tree roots felt regretful.

"Brother Tree Root, this old monster is tens of thousands of years old, and its skin is harder than stone. I'm afraid it won't be cooked even if you boil it for three days and three nights." Leaf followed.

"That's right, it doesn't matter if the old monster doesn't eat it." Feng said with a smile.

"Brothers, even though we didn't kill the Nian beast with our own hands, it has entered the throat of the earth and can never come out. It has disappeared from the world forever. Isn't that the same as being dead?" Xiaoxing comforted everyone.

Upon hearing this, everyone nodded in agreement.

"Xing, now that the Nian beast has been destroyed, let's go down the mountain to report to Uncle Zhi, and then prepare to return to Hongmeng." Chen said.

"Yes, Brother Xing, now we can finally return home victoriously." Dian cheered.

Before Xiaoxing could answer, Zhong said worriedly, "Xing, Feng, brothers, this throat can be entered but not exited, it is just a legend after all. What if the beast suddenly comes up, wouldn't all our efforts be wasted?"

"Brother Zhong, Di Throat Di Throat, as the name suggests, is the throat of the earth. That means the Nian beast was eaten by the earth, how could it come out?" Feng retorted.

"Feng, what Brother Zhong said makes sense. Anything is possible. We must not take it lightly." Xiaoxing nodded in agreement with Zhong's suggestion, and then said, "Brothers, prepare more firewood tonight. It's better for us to guard the entrance of this cave."

"Yes, Brother Xing." Upon hearing the order, everyone immediately went down the mountain to get a lot of bamboo, and then built a big fire on the top of the mountain. In order to prevent the Nian beast from escaping, everyone gathered around the bonfire and guarded the cave entrance, staying up all night.

The custom of setting off firecrackers and lighting fires to celebrate the New Year today originated from this.

They waited until the next day when the sky was bright, but Emperor Nian did not come out. Xiaoxing and the others looked at the Throat Cave carefully again, and were shocked by the huge and deep cave. They all admired the creation of the world. Looking inside the cave, the Nian beast had already disappeared. Although the Nian beast was not seen, Xiaoxing did not dare to relax his vigilance and said to the others: "Brothers, let's leave some people here to guard as usual, and I will take some people down the mountain to report to Uncle Zhi."

Everyone nodded in agreement, and after discussion, they left Shugen, Yezi, Heizi, Bo... and half of the brothers to continue guarding the top of the mountain, while the others went down the mountain with Xiaoxing.

Xiaoxing, Chen, Yue, Feng and others came down the mountain to the camp and saw Zhi, Hong'er, Lan'er and others surrounding Dong. Xiaoxing was shocked and thought Dong was dead. He ran towards Dong quickly and asked loudly, "Uncle Zhi, Hong'er, what happened to Dong?"

"Xing, you're back. Dong's situation is not optimistic." Uncle Zhi replied with a gloomy expression.

Xiao Xing's heart sank when he heard this. He came closer to look at Dong, and saw that his face looked very bad. He had lost the vigor and energy of yesterday and had become weak. Xiao Xing felt sorry for him and encouraged him, "Brother Dong, you must hold on. You will get better!"

"Xing, I, I can't do it anymore. You, have you destroyed the Nian beast?" Dong asked Xiaoxing, Zhong, Chen, Feng and others.

"Brother Dong, yesterday we went up the mountain and continued to attack the Nian Beast, but we still couldn't move. Later, when it got dark, everyone lit a bonfire to prepare for a night battle. At this time, a bamboo exploded due to burning, and fire flew everywhere. The Nian Beast was very scared when it saw it. So I ordered everyone to hold bamboo poles and torches to attack the Nian Beast. The bamboo poles kept exploding, and the Nian Beast was so scared that it turned around and ran, and ended up escaping into a throat hole in the ground that it could only enter but not exit. Because we were worried that the Nian Beast would come out again, we guarded the top of the mountain all night until dawn, and then we came down the mountain to report to Uncle Zhi and Brother Dong." Xiaoxing told Zhi, Dong and others in detail the whole process of defeating the Nian Beast.

"Oh, yeah!" As the news came out, everyone became excited like a boiling pot.

"The Nian beast has finally been destroyed! That's great! Xing, Chen, Zhong, Feng, and all the warriors, thank you for your hard work." When Zhi heard this, he was so excited that he burst into tears.

"Brother Xing, the Nian beast has been defeated. You guys are so awesome." Hong'er excitedly threw herself into Xiaoxing's arms, and the two hugged each other tightly.

Lan'er also threw herself into Chen's arms excitedly: "Brother Chen, that's great, the Nian beast has been destroyed, and we can finally go home."

The others were also cheering, crying, laughing, running, shouting, and celebrating wildly.

"Xing, the Nian beast has finally been destroyed. Congratulations on another great achievement. Now you can succeed the position of cave master..." Dong was happy but also full of regret after hearing Xiaoxing's words. He spoke to Xiaoxing intermittently, and suddenly his neck tilted and he died.

"Brother Dong, Brother Dong!" Xiaoxing and everyone else shouted at once.

Although Dong was ruthless, he always rushed to the front in every action or battle and made many contributions. Therefore, Dong's departure made everyone feel sad.

Xiaoxing went to visit Xi, Qian and Lu again and found that except Xi who was awake, Qian and Lu had died last night.

Xiao Xing was overwhelmed with sadness and asked Zhi, "Uncle Zhi, Dong Ge, Qian Ge, and Lu Ge are all gone. What should we do with their bodies?"

"Xing." Zhi looked at Xiaoxing and did not answer his question. Instead, he took out a jade ring from his pocket, presented it to Xiaoxing with both hands, and said solemnly: "The last words of Cave Master Qiu are: whoever defeats the Nian Beast will succeed as the next Cave Master. Dong's last words are right. You defeated the Nian Beast, and now you will become the successor Cave Master. This is the Cave Master's Ring. Please wear it now and officially succeed the position of Cave Master. I, the Acting Cave Master, will step down today. So, this issue should be decided by you."

"Uncle Zhi, I want to be the cave master? No, no." Xiaoxing waved his hands hurriedly when he heard that.