Traveling back to ancient times to determine the zodiac

At the bottom of the trench, Xiaoxing and Chen found the bodies of Huo and He smashed into a heap. The two sighed, and Chen held Xiaoxing's hand with gratitude: "Xing, thank you for your help, otherwise, I'm afraid I would have ended up like Huo and the others!"

"Chen, you saved my life when I fell off the cliff, so I will never abandon you no matter what. We are good brothers who have been through thick and thin together. How can I just sit back and do nothing if something happens to you?" Xiao Xing waved his hand and said, "Come, let's bury Huo and He."

After that, the two dug a big pit and buried the fire and river grass with tears. Then, they slowly climbed up the cliff with the eagle. It took them two days to reach this position.

"So that's how it is." Qiu stroked the injured eagle and said, "Thank you, eagle. You saved our hero."

"Coo, coo..." The eagle seemed very happy to be praised.

"Cave Master, it's getting late. Since Brother Xing and Brother Chen are fine, let's hurry back to the top of the cliff." Feng said.

"Well, let's all help and get the injured eagle up." Qiu stroked his white beard and nodded.

Everyone followed the order and climbed up hand in hand. After two days of hard climbing, Qiu led everyone and the eagle back to the cliff.

"Cave Master, you guys are here!" Dong saw everyone and hurried over to ask, "How was the rescue? Are Huo, He, Xing, Chen, and the others all okay?"

"Xing and Chen are lucky enough to be safe, but Huo and He died unfortunately. Alas--" Qiu sighed again, looking very sad.

"Ah? Xing and Chen are both okay?" Dong was shocked when he heard that. He couldn't help but flashed a trace of disappointment, but then he pretended to be happy and congratulated Xiao Xing and Chen: "Xing, Chen, you are both okay? That's great! We were really worried about you these past few days."

"Brother Dong, brothers, we are safe because of the rescue of the big eagle. Thank you all for your concern." Xiaoxing answered loudly.

"Xing, Chen, with my hunting experience of over fifty years, you would definitely die if you fell from such a height. I didn't expect you to be safe and sound. It's a miracle! Miracle!" Zhi Chao and the other man gave them a thumbs up and praised them.

"Uncle Zhi is right. Xing Hechen is a lucky person, so we are so lucky." Bei followed.

"Yes, yes. This is not only the credit of the eagle, but also the blessing of God." For a moment, everyone followed the voice of celebration.

After everyone calmed down, Qiu looked at the opposite cliff and asked Dong, "Dong, have the Nian Beast and the Sheep King on the other side of Upside Down Mountain made any moves in the past few days?"

"Cave Master, the flock of sheep has been guarding the bridge these days, and there has been no movement from the Nian Beast and the Sheep King!" Dong replied.

"Well. Since the Nian Beast hasn't escaped yet, let's continue to think of ways to attack, defeat the Sheep King, destroy the Nian Beast, and avenge Fire and River!" Qiu stroked his white beard and glanced at everyone.

"Cave Master, we lost two warriors in the last attack. Do we want to attack again?" Xi asked with his eyes wide open upon hearing this.

"Of course we have to attack." Qiu nodded without hesitation and replied: "Xi, the old people always say: victory and defeat are common in the military. Failure is not terrible, what is terrible is losing confidence."

"Cave Master, the Sheep King is walking on the overpass as if it were flat ground, and his fighting power is very strong. Therefore, a head-on attack won't work, and we must find another way." Dong Tiaowang suggested while looking at the overpass.

"Brother Dong is right. If we attack like this, I'm afraid someone will be knocked off the bridge by the Sheep King." Xi followed.

"Dong, fellow warriors, everyone, please use your brains and think of a solution. Can you think of any good ideas?" Qiu asked everyone.

Everyone looked at the narrow overpass, scratching their heads and ears, thinking hard for a long time, but still could not come up with a solution.

"Cave Master, since we have no other plan, let's just attack with force." Lei was extremely impatient.

"No!" Qiu waved his hand in protest, "We will never attack again unless it is absolutely necessary."

"Cave Master, since we don't have any choice but to attack by force and we don't have any good ideas, what should we do now?" Dong asked again.

"Dong, as the old saying goes: You can't eat hot soup in a hurry. If it doesn't work today, we can try again tomorrow." Qiu stroked his white beard and answered slowly.

"The cave master is right. As long as we don't give up, there will always be a way." Xiaoxing said.

Because they had no good ideas, everyone was dejected. Dong anxiously picked up the wine gourd and drank it all in one gulp, cursing angrily: "These damn sheep, relying on the natural barriers to resist us, if we defeat them one day, we will never forgive them and will kill and roast them all."

"The whole roasted lamb doesn't taste good. It would be better to make it into lamb skewers!" When Shugen heard the word "eat", his mouth started watering.

"Tree Root is right. Roasting a whole lamb has no taste. It's better to cook lamb soup." Leaf followed.

"We haven't figured out how to deal with the Sheep King yet, but you're thinking about how to eat it." Qiu glared at the roots and leaves of the tree.

"Cave Master, it's getting late today. We should wait and think about the plan to capture the sky bridge. Why don't we have dinner first and go to bed early!" Zhi said.

Qiu looked at the sky and saw that the sun was setting in the west, the Jade Rabbit was rising in the east, and night was beginning to fall. So he nodded and ordered everyone to adjourn and light a fire to cook dinner.

After a while, the meal was over and the others lay down to rest. Qiu, worried about the Sheep King, slowly walked to the edge of the cliff to watch. The bright moon was hanging high in the sky, illuminating the surroundings as if it were daytime. A cool breeze blew on the top of the mountain. The stone bridge across the two cliffs looked even smaller under the moonlight, like a jade belt.

"Such a thin and long overpass is indeed a difficult barrier that is easy to defend but difficult to attack. I wonder when it can be broken through?" Qiu watched for a long time and sighed.

Suddenly, he thought of Nuwa again, so he took out the statue of Nuwa, placed it in front of the cliff, knelt down in front of it, and prayed respectfully: "Nuwa, Bai Ling Angel, the vicious and cruel Nian beast has now fled to the top of this Upside-down Mountain. The bridge to attack this mountain is guarded by the Sheep King, which is easy to defend but difficult to attack. Please help Nuwa, Bai Ling, and give me a good plan."

After repeated prayers, Bai Ling did not show up. Qiu had no choice but to put away the statue and sigh.

"Cave Master, don't worry, we will definitely find a way to defeat the Sheep King and pass this test."

Qiu turned around and saw that it was Dong, Xiaoxing, Xi, Chen and others who came over. But the sentence just now was said by Xiaoxing.

"Yes! Cave Master, just relax and don't worry about your health!" Dong and others consoled him again.

"Alas!" Qiu sighed again, stroked his white beard, and said to everyone: "At first, I thought that to destroy the Nian beast, we only needed to go to Tianshan for a battle, and we would surely return victorious. Therefore, when I set out, I thought I would be back in a month. Unexpectedly, the Nian beast was cunning and treacherous, and escaped everywhere. We chased it and captured the Horse King, and then chased it here. A month has already passed. Now it is mid-August, and the Nian beast has the help of the Beast King and occupies the natural barrier to resist. It may not be a matter of a day or a night to destroy it, so I sigh."

"Now that things have come to this, even if it takes several years, we must persist in destroying the Nian beast." Dong Dao said.

"The Sheep King is actually not difficult to defeat. The main reason is that this overpass is too dangerous." Chen said.

"I figured it out!" Xiaoxing, who had been looking at the overpass, suddenly slapped his head and shouted.

"Xing, have you come up with any ideas to defeat the enemy?" Qiu asked impatiently after hearing this.

"Master, I haven't figured out a plan to defeat the Sheep King yet, but I have thought of a way to prevent him from falling."

"That's very helpful too! Tell me about it!" Qiu's eyes lit up and he asked quickly.

"Cave Master, although the Sheep King is very powerful, it can only push us off the bridge, but it can't kill us. There are many vines on this mountain, so I have come up with a plan. We can make the vines into ropes, tie one end tightly to each person, and tie the other end to the bridge to use as a safety rope. In this way, even if we are pushed off the stone bridge by the Sheep King, we will be held by the vines ropes and will not fall down and lose our lives." Xiaoxing pointed at the stone bridge and demonstrated.

"Great! Your idea will definitely work. After tying a safety rope, there will be no worry of falling off the bridge and you can attack with all your strength. It's a great idea, really a great idea. Let's do it." Qiu was overjoyed when he heard this. He immediately clapped his hands to show his approval and asked everyone to go look for vines immediately.

"Cave Master, it's night time now and visibility is poor. Why don't we wait until tomorrow to take action!" Dong suggested.

"Well, tomorrow morning, we will make rattan ropes and attack Upside Down Mountain again." Qiu stroked his white beard and announced solemnly.

At dawn the next day, after everyone had a quick breakfast, Qiu ordered everyone to go pick vines. It didn't take long for them to pick a lot of vines, and then they made them into thick vine ropes. After the vine ropes were made, Qiu gathered the hundred warriors from last time and said to them, "Dear warriors, today we have decided to attack Upside Down Mountain again. In order to prevent being knocked off the bridge by the Sheep King like last time, each person will be given a vine rope as a safety rope. Let Xing show you how to use it."

Xiao Xing nodded, walked to the front of the crowd, demonstrated and explained: "First, we take a strong thick rope, cut it into a length of about ten feet, tie one end tightly around the waist, and the other end..." At this point, he stepped onto the overpass and continued: "Wrap the other end around the stone bridge and tie a knot. Note that it cannot be tied too tightly here, and some space must be left for movement. In this way, we can move the safety rope while moving forward."

After Xiaoxing tied the safety rope, Qiu was still afraid that it was not secure enough, so he went up to the bridge and pulled it hard himself. Only then did he feel relieved and ordered everyone to do the same.

They sat on the bridge, tied the safety ropes, and were ready. This time, Dong led the way. He held a stone knife in his hand, screamed, and shouted, "Brothers, this time we must capture the Sheep King alive, destroy the Nian Beast, and avenge Fire and River!"

"Destroy the Nian beast and avenge the fire!" Everyone shouted as they crawled forward.

Nian Di, who was on the opposite cliff, saw humans coming to attack again, and called to the Sheep King in panic, "Sheep King, humans are attacking again, hold them off!"

"Humph!" The Sheep King shook the two long horns on his head and said contemptuously: "Emperor Nian, don't worry. Last time they fell down, four of them died. Now I want to make them all fall down the chasm."

When the humans were halfway across the overpass, the Sheep King rushed towards them.

"King Sheep, try harder! Don't let me down!" Emperor Nian urged.

Dong saw the Sheep King rushing over and raised his stone knife and cursed: "You old sheep, I'm going to fight you today!"

"You incompetent human, you actually dare to attack us, are you really not afraid of death?" the Sheep King questioned.

"Afraid of death?" Dong Yangtian laughed. "If you were afraid of death, we wouldn't have come to quell the war. If you're smart, you old sheep, surrender quickly and offer up the Nian beast."

"You are a defeated general, yet you still dare to brag. Since you are so eager to die, I, the Sheep King, will grant your wish." After the Sheep King said this, he pushed forward with his horns, arched his back, and rushed towards the east.

Dong was already prepared, and swung his knife to chop at the sheep king's head. The sheep king pushed back and knocked Dong over, and then used his horn to knock him off the bridge. Dong was sitting on the stone bridge, and his movements were greatly restricted. He could not move freely. Therefore, no matter how strong his hunting skills were, he could not use them. In a few seconds, he was knocked off the bridge by the sheep king again. Fortunately, he was hung by the safety rope and did not fall, but he was also scared and sweated.

The Sheep King defeated Dong and continued to attack Xi, Xiaoxing, and others behind him. Like Dong, the others were completely defeated and were thrown off the bridge one by one by the Sheep King.

After a while, about half of the people were defeated. The Sheep King was a little tired after attacking so many people in one go. He stopped and laughed loudly, and said to everyone proudly: "Humans who are so vulnerable are not challenging at all. I will go back and rest first!"

The Sheep King triumphantly retreated back to Upside Down Mountain. The Nian Emperor, the Dog-Headed Pig-Headed, and the others all looked at him with admiration. They shook their heads and wagged their tails and praised him, saying, "The Sheep King is indeed mighty. He has defeated humans repeatedly. He can really be called an ever-victorious general."

When the Sheep King heard this, he became even more proud, waving his two long horns and saying, "Although I am a vegetarian, I am not that weak. Emperor Nian, as long as I am here, humans will never be able to cross this bridge."

Upon hearing this, Emperor Nian and his minions were all delighted, and went to sleep soundly without any worries.