Chapter Ninety-Four: The Mysterious Guide

About a dozen minutes later, people from the police bureau and the Enforcement Division of the Huaxia Cultivators Association arrived. The police came by helicopter, while the Huaxia people were even more outrageous—they flew in on swords.

When Huafeng and Yunmeng saw that, they could not help blurting out, "Holy crap!" Did they have to be so high-profile?

Neither side said much. They simply hauled away the people and the car by helicopter. The moment they left, a prompt chimed: "Congratulations to both of you for completing an A-rank mission. You each received 50 points, and your current level is now 5. We hope you will keep up the good work. Wishing you a pleasant life. Goodbye!"

The system prompt was unexpectedly human-sounding, and Huafeng was rather surprised.

"It sounds like it was manually judged, with a real person operating it," Yunmeng said, having noticed that it was not just an ordinary computer voice.

"Now that you mention it, it does feel pretty human. All right, it's freezing, so let's stop wasting time on this mountain. Let's go check out the night market!" Huafeng said.

"Sure. At last we can relax for a while," Yunmeng said happily.

Soon after, a Great Wall SUV, wrapped in a faint halo of light, flew across the sky above Mount Qingcheng toward the Chengdu night market.

Sichuan cuisine is diverse in style, with a balanced emphasis on fresh clarity and rich depth of flavor. It is famous for its masterful use of numbing spice and heat, and, with its distinctive cooking methods and浓郁 local character, it is one of China's four great culinary traditions.

UNESCO has awarded Chengdu the title of "City of Gastronomy." Pixian broad bean paste, produced in Chengdu, is hailed as the soul of Sichuan cuisine and an indispensable part of it.

Sitting in front of a small roadside stall, a Chengdu tour guide was introducing the city to a group of travelers. Huafeng and Yunmeng each ordered a small hotpot, and were eating until sweat drenched their foreheads. Neither of them spoke; they simply listened quietly to the guide.

"Chengdu snacks include: Shuangliu old mother rabbit head, couple's lung slices, dan dan noodles, Long Chao Shou wontons, Zhong dumplings, Han steamed buns, three cannon blasts, Lai tangyuan, sweet water noodles, heartbreak vermicelli, Juntun sesame flatbread, and fat-intestine noodles.

"Chengdu dishes include: Mapo tofu, twice-cooked pork, fish-fragrant shredded pork, Kung Pao chicken, saliva chicken, Qingcheng Mountain old-cured bacon, salted roasted pork belly, fish in fragrant broth, smoked tea duck, Jiuzhi pressed duck, Jianyang mutton soup, and mixed vegetable hotpot.

"Chengdu hotpot includes: Emperor City Old Mother, Western Sichuan Plains, Hotpot Hero, Shu Jiuxiang, and Big Fiery Dragon.

"In the next few days, we will visit many famous Chengdu landmarks. For example, Dujiangyan, located in Guankou Town, Dujiangyan City, Chengdu, is a major ancient irrigation project built in China and still in use today. It is acclaimed as the 'ancestor of world water conservancy culture' and is a renowned national tourist destination. The Dujiangyan irrigation system was constructed around 256 BC by Li Bing, the prefect of Shu Commandery in the state of Qin, together with his son and their labor force. It is the oldest surviving large-scale hydraulic project in the world, the only one of its kind still extant, and is characterized by water diversion without a dam. It is also a World Heritage Site.

"Wuhou Shrine Museum is a sacred site of Three Kingdoms culture known both in China and abroad. Wuhou Shrine is the nation's most famous memorial to Zhuge Liang and Liu Bei, and the only temple in which ruler and minister are enshrined together. It is the most influential museum of Three Kingdoms relics in the country. The shrine was founded in 223 and is chiefly composed of three parts: Huiling Mausoleum, the Temple to the First King of Han, and Wuhou Shrine itself. Ancient cypresses stand densely within the grounds, the setting is elegant, and the halls are majestic. It is one of the first nationally protected cultural relic sites.

"Du Fu Thatched Cottage is the former residence of the Tang poet Du Fu in Chengdu, located in the city proper and renowned for its poetic charm and bamboo scenery. The poet Du Fu moved to Chengdu in 759 and lived here for three years and nine months, during which he wrote more than 240 poems. His famous work 'Song of the Thatched Cottage Broken by the Autumn Wind' was composed here. The main structures include the Great Hall, the Hall of Poetic History, the Reed Gate, the Ministry of Works Shrine, and the Shaoling Thatched Cottage. The cottage museum houses more than thirty thousand volumes of historical materials and over two thousand cultural relics, making it invaluable for the study of the 'Saint of Poetry,' Du Fu. Du Fu Thatched Cottage is also among the first nationally protected cultural relic sites.

"Xiling Snow Mountain lies within Dayi County in Chengdu, only 95 kilometers from the city, with a total area of 375 square kilometers. It is a World Natural Heritage site, a giant panda habitat, an AAAA-rated scenic area, and a national key scenic destination. It was named after Du Fu's timeless verse: 'The window frames the thousand-year snow of Xiling, the moorings at the door are ships from the distant eastern sea.' Within the scenic area stands the Great Snow Mountain, snow-covered year-round. Its main peak, Miaoji Ridge, rises to an altitude of 5,353 meters and is known as Chengdu's highest peak.

"The Jinsha Site, located on Qingyang Avenue in Chengdu, is acclaimed as China's first major archaeological discovery of the twenty-first century and was selected as one of the Top Ten Archaeological Discoveries of 2001. The site represents the brilliant ancient Shu civilization of more than 3,000 years ago. Among the more than 3,000 unearthed relics, most are finely crafted gold and jade ornaments, as well as many burial objects. Its culture is closely connected to that of the Sanxingdui site in Guanghan, forming a continuous thread from beginning to end, and it marks another major achievement in Chinese archaeology after Sanxingdui. It is a nationally protected cultural relic site.

"Qingyang Palace is one of the country's most famous Taoist temples. Located in Chengdu, it was first built in the Tang dynasty, and the surviving halls date from the Qing dynasty. Its main Chinese-style buildings include the Hall of the Spirit Ancestor, the Hall of Primordial Unity, the Eight Trigrams Pavilion, the Hall of the Supreme Void, also known as the Hall of the Three Pure Ones, the Hall of Doumu, the Hall of the Tang King, and the Reed and Thorn Platform. Qingyang Palace is an important place for studying ancient Chinese culture and Taoist civilization.

"Zhaojue Temple was designated by the State Council in 1983 as one of the nation's key Buddhist monasteries in Han-populated regions. It is also a key Buddhist temple in Sichuan and an important venue for Buddhist activities in our country, long known as the 'number one meditation grove of western Sichuan.' Since its founding in the Tang dynasty, the temple has produced many eminent monks. In 1989, the abbot of Zhaojue Temple, Master Qingding, oversaw the reconstruction of the Mahavira Hall, the Hall of Universal Gateway, the Middle Drum Tower, and the Hall of Buddhist Recitation, making it one of the grandest and most magnificent temples in the southwest.

"Kuanzhai Alley is a large surviving Qing-dynasty street complex in Chengdu. Together with Daci Temple and Wenshu Monastery, it is counted as one of Chengdu's three major historic and cultural conservation districts. Based on the preservation of old Chengdu's authentic architecture, the area has developed into a mixed cultural and commercial street centered on tourism and leisure, with distinctive regional features and a strong atmosphere of Bashu culture. It was ultimately built into Tianfu Small City, carrying the meaning of 'the old Chengdu negative' and the new 'urban living room.'"

After listening to the guide's long and relentless speech, Huafeng suddenly realized that the guide did not seem to be an ordinary human being. That familiar aura made him think of a possibility: a member of the demon clan.

"Xiaomeng, we may have run into a monster," Huafeng sent Yunmeng through voice transmission.

Yunmeng had been eating with such abandon that she only now snapped back to awareness at his words, and finally noticed that this verbose, slightly self-important guide was not human at all.

"Should we notify the people from the One Breath Dao Alliance?"

"Let's observe a little first and see what he's trying to do," Huafeng thought it better not to startle the snake by striking the grass.