Traveling back to ancient times to determine the zodiac

"Well, Uncle Zhi is right. Let's come again tomorrow." Xiaoxing nodded and retracted the torch.

Everyone retreated to the riverside and lit a bonfire. At this time, the unconscious Heizi woke up a little and stammered that he wanted to drink water. Dong hurriedly scooped a bucket of water from the river and fed it to him. After Heizi drank the water, he woke up very quickly and said, "Brother Dong, after drinking this water, the burning pain in my body disappeared immediately. It's amazing."

"Heizi, I get it. This is because the river water in Realgar Mountain is different from the river water elsewhere, so it has the effect of detoxification." Zhi said happily.

"If that's the case, that's great. We don't have to worry about being poisoned by ants." Xiaoxing also seemed very excited.

"Brothers, as soon as the sun rises tomorrow, we will go straight to the ant nest and set fire to the mountain." Dong shouted.

After the discussion, everyone rested around the campfire and had a peaceful night.

At dawn the next day, Zhi ordered everyone to act according to the plan and lead the ant king out of the nest. They crossed the stream and climbed to the top of the mountain again. While using stone knives to dig the ant nest, they shouted, "Damn ant king, come out and die today."

As expected, the ant king in the nest heard the noise and came out, shouting to everyone: "You humans, if you hadn't run fast yesterday, I would have eaten you until only your bones were left. I didn't expect you to come and die again today, humph! This time, I will never let you escape."

"You damned ants, let me tell you, we won't return home until we dig up realgar. Just stop interfering us. If you still want to attack me, I will destroy you all today." Zhi pointed at the ant king and said fearlessly.

"Xianghuang Mountain is our nest. If you dig up our nest, we will eat you." said the ant king angrily.

After saying that, he immediately ordered the ants to attack in full force. Immediately, all the ants quickly crawled out of their nests and rushed towards the crowd all over the mountain.

Seeing that the ant king was furious, Zhi realized that his plan had succeeded, and hurriedly ordered everyone to retreat down the mountain, all the way to under the firewood that had been laid out.

"Dong, Xing, the ant king and the ant army have all left the nest, everyone hurry up and start a fire." Zhi gave the order.

Xiaoxing, Chen and others had already lit torches and were ready there. When they received the order, they used the torches to ignite the firewood on all sides. At this time, the weather was hot and the firewood was dry. Suddenly, the flames soared into the sky. At this time, another strong wind blew, and the fire took advantage of the wind and quickly burned to the top of the mountain.

"The wind is blowing. God is helping me!" Zhi laughed proudly.

The ants that were chasing the ants were immediately engulfed in flames. The ant king saw the fire and ran back in fear. But before he could get into his nest, the fierce fire engulfed the ant king. The other ants on the top of the mountain were running around in a hurry. Some got into their nests, some hid in the cracks of the rocks, and most of them were burned to death by the fire. To this day, there is no such thing.

The fire lasted for more than an hour before it slowly died out. When everyone looked up at the top of the mountain, the ants had long disappeared, leaving only a piece of burnt ashes. When they reached the top of the mountain, Zhi was still worried that the ant king was not dead, so he asked people to dig the ant hole while shouting: "Evil ant king, is he burned to death? If he is not dead, come out quickly!"

After everyone had been fiddling with it for a long time, except for a few small ants that crawled out in panic, the ant king and his numerous ant soldiers were gone.

"Uncle Zhi, the ant king must have been reduced to ashes in the fire. Let's start digging realgar!" Xiaoxing said.

"Okay." Zhi nodded and agreed with a smile, then praised him: "Xing, you have done a great job this time. You burned all the man-eating ants with a fire. Now we can dig realgar with peace of mind."

So, everyone took up their stone knives and started digging again. After a while, Xiaoxing shouted happily: "Uncle Zhi, I dug up a yellow stone, is it realgar?"

When Zhi and the others heard this, they all gathered around to take a look. They saw that this stone was indeed different from ordinary stones, it was yellow in color and emitted a pungent smell.

"I think this must be the so-called realgar." Zhi scratched his head and guessed.

"Uncle Zhi, what are we waiting for? Let's dig quickly!" Dong waved the stone knife and started digging hard.

So everyone started digging, and in just half a day, they dug out several hundred kilograms of realgar stones.

"Everyone, stop it! This much realgar should be enough." Zhi looked at the pile of realgar and said, "Let's transport it back quickly now. The cave master and the others can't wait any longer!"

"Yes, Uncle Zhi." Everyone took out the animal skin bags they brought with them, put all the realgars into the bags, and headed back home. They didn't dare to stop along the way, and two days later in the afternoon, they finally returned to Tianju Cave.

The fire had been burning for six and a half days, and finally the last piece of firewood in Tianju Cave was burned out. Qiu looked at the dying fire and kept muttering, "It's been more than six days, Zhi, Dong, Xing, why haven't you come back yet? Why haven't you come back yet?"

"Cave Master, there is no firewood left in the cave, and the fire belt that blocks the snake army is about to go out. Should we throw these sticks out to burn?" He asked hesitantly, stroking his wrist-thick, two-meter-long hunting stick - a nanmu stick that had been with him for more than ten years.

"Ping, this wooden stick is your weapon, how can you burn it?" Yang, who was standing next to him, immediately expressed his objection when he heard it.

"Yang is right. We must not burn our hunting sticks. Without weapons, we will be dead if the snake army attacks." Liu followed.

"Yes, yes, weapons must not be used as firewood." Lao Zhu, Lao Zhang and others also shouted.

"Cave Master, what if it doesn't burn?" Ping asked again in despair.

"Ping, Yang, Liu, fellow warriors," Qiu stroked his white beard, looked around at everyone, and said slowly, "Even if we throw these sticks that serve as weapons out to burn now, we may not be able to wait until Zhi, Dong, Xing and the others return. By then, without weapons, we won't be able to fight even if we want to. Therefore, everyone's sticks and weapons must be kept for me, waiting for the final fight."

"Yes, Cave Master!" Everyone received the order and picked up sticks, ready to fight.

The snakes guarding outside the cave saw that the fire was getting smaller and smaller and would soon go out, so they excitedly swam to the snake king and reported: "My king, humans have burned all the firewood, and the fire will soon go out."

Hearing this, the snake king raised his head high and laughed loudly. After laughing, he said, "My people, you have been guarding for so many days, and finally the fire has been put out. Now, it is time for us to attack."

"My lord, once the fire is out, humans will have no way to escape and they will all be dead!" a python said excitedly, then twisted its body, eager to try.

"I have been waiting for so many days and I am almost starving. Python spirit, if you wipe out humans, remember to get a few people to fill my stomach." said the Snake King.

"Yes, my king!" the python agreed readily.

At this time, the rooster that was watching from Gusonggang flew to the Snake King, flapped its wings and said to the Snake King: "Brother Snake, congratulations!"

The snake king was puzzled and asked, "Brother Rooster, where does your happiness come from?"

"Brother Snake, humans set up fire belts and stayed indoors because they couldn't defeat you. Now the firewood is gone, the fire belts are extinguished, and naturally they can't stop the snake army's attack. Isn't this a sure victory?" explained the rooster.

"Brother Rooster is right. After we eliminate all humans today and rescue Brother Dragon King, we can return to Tianshan to report to Emperor Nian tomorrow. Hiss—" The Snake King couldn't help laughing again.

"Once Brother Snake has wiped out mankind, my mission will also be over. I won't have to fly around anymore. Alas." The rooster sighed and praised the Snake King, "Brother Snake, you have accomplished such an extraordinary feat today. Except for Emperor Nian, no one else dares to rival you."

The snake king was so flattered that he forgot everything else and said, "Brother Rooster, what you said is very good. If anyone wants to bully you in the future, just tell me and I will definitely protect you."

"Brother Snake, thank you in advance!" The rooster replied flattered.

Without mentioning the rooster and the snake king talking about the bright future after the extermination of humans, let's just say that the snake spirits and the snake army rushed to the cave entrance. Seeing that the fire belt had just been extinguished, a big black snake took the lead in attacking. It raised its body high, jumped up, and rushed to the cave entrance. Yang, Liu and others who were guarding the cave entrance beat the black snake into a pulp with sticks. But then, more small snakes and snake spirits rushed up and launched a fierce attack on the cave.

Qiu Heping led the warriors Yang, Liu, Tong, Sang, etc. to fight against the snakes. When the situation was critical, Zhihe and his men returned with a full load.

"Cave Master, we have retrieved the realgar! Quickly order everyone to use the realgar to deal with the snake army." Zhi hurried to the cave entrance and said to Qiu.

"Zhi, Dong, Xing, you are all back? God bless you, you came back just in time, that's great." Qiu felt like he had found a savior, and his worried look disappeared.

"You damn poisonous snakes, now let me let you taste the taste of realgar." Dong put down the leather bag, grabbed a handful of realgar and threw it at the group of snakes rushing in.

A strange thing happened. The snakes that had been attacking non-stop just now were more afraid of realgar than fire after seeing it, and they all hid away. Soon, all the snakes climbed over the wall and escaped. It turned out that snakes could not stand the pungent smell of realgar, so they could only stay away from it.

"That's great! Snakes are indeed afraid of realgar. Thank God, now we are saved." Seeing this, Pinghe Yang, Liu and others cheered and some even cried with excitement.

Before he could describe his feelings after the separation, Qiu immediately gave the order: "Zhi, the firewood has been burned out. To prevent the snakes from attacking again, you take Dong Hexing and replace the fire belt with realgar to decorate the cave entrance."

"Yes, sir!" Zhi agreed, and led Dong, Xiaoxing, Xi, Chen, Bei... and others to arrange the realgar.

Qiu then ordered Ping, Yang, Liu and others: "Ping, Yang, now that the snakes have retreated, quickly clean up the battlefield and treat the wounded."

"Yes, cave master." Pinghe Yang received the order and led Liu, Tong, Sang, Lao Zhu, Lao Zhang... and others to clean up the battlefield.

After a thorough check, they found that a total of five snakes had been killed, and more than 400 snakes in total. More than 50 snake-killing warriors were bitten. Qiu hurriedly ordered the "Hundred Poison Elimination" herb to be brought and ordered the injured to take it.

After a busy afternoon, the task was finally completed. Zhi asked Qiu, "Master, when did the snakes attack us?"

"Zhi, the firewood was completely burned out this afternoon, so the snakes attacked in large numbers. Fortunately, you returned in time, otherwise, the consequences would be disastrous." Qiu replied.

"Cave Master, now that the realgar has been obtained, we will use it as a weapon to defeat the snake group and eliminate the snake king." Dong waved his fist to Qiu and asked for orders.

"Brother Dong is right! Cave Master, let's go and kill the poisonous snakes now and avenge Xia Heri and the others!" Xiao Xing, Chen, Xi and other warriors gritted their teeth, responded loudly, and asked to fight.

Qiu looked outside the cave and saw that it was getting dark. He stroked his white beard and said to Dong and the others, "Dong, fellow warriors, it is getting dark now and it is inconvenient to move at night. It is better to wait until tomorrow to fight the snake king."

"Well, cave master." Dong nodded and replied, "Let the snake king live one more night."

"Zhi, Dong and Xing, you all have fulfilled your mission and returned here collecting realgar. You have worked hard along the way. I would like to thank you on behalf of all the people in the cave." After Qiu finished speaking, he bowed to Zhi, Dong, Xing and others.

"Cave Master, we are not working hard. It is you who are defending the cave and fighting the snake army, that is the real hard work." Zhi said as he hurriedly helped Qiu up.

"Zhi, Dong, Xing, you have made a great contribution to the people of the whole cave this time. Now, please let Zhi tell everyone about the process of finding realgar." Qiu said.

"In fact, there is nothing special about going to the Realgar Mountain to find realgar this time. We just encountered some difficulties when digging realgar." Zhi Lang said to Qiu Heping and others: "It turns out that there are ant nests all over the Realgar Mountain. With my hunting experience of more than 50 years, I have never encountered such giant ants. They are five or six times larger than ordinary ants. The ant king is even bigger, about the size of a mouse, and they are all spirits. These ant spirits have very strong attack power and can eat a person into a skeleton in an hour. When the giant ant king saw us digging the mountain to find minerals, he led the ant army to attack us, biting us and making us run away desperately. Later, it was Xing who came up with the ingenious plan of chopping firewood and setting fire to the mountain, which defeated the ant king and successfully retrieved the realgar."