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Hesingssongaftersong。Hesayshe’safun…lovingperson；Ibelievehim。Whenhefinishedupasvillagehead；hewentbacktobeingoneofthemountainpeople；anoldmountainmanwholikesgoodfun；unfortunatelyheispasttheageforromance。
Healsoknowsincantations；thekindhuntersusewhentheygointothemountains。Theyarecalledmountainblack…magicorhexesandhehasnoqualmsaboutusingthem。Hereallybelievestheycandrivewildanimalsintopitsorgetthemtostepintosnares。Theyaren’tusedonlyonanimals；they’realsousedagainstotherhumansbeingsforrevenge。Avictimofmountainblack…magicwon’tbeabletofindhiswayoutofthemountains。Theyarelikethe〃demonwalls〃Iheardaboutasachild：whensomeonehasbeentravellingforsometimeatnightinthemountains；awall；aclifforadeepriverappearsrightinfrontofhim；sothathecan’tgoanyfurther。Ifthespellisn’tbrokentheperson’sfeetdon’tmoveforwardandevenifhekeepswalking；hestaysexactlywherehestartedoff。Onlyatdaybreakdoeshediscoverthathehasbeengoingaroundincircles。That’snotsobad；theworstiswhenapersonisledintoablind…alley：thatmeansdeath。
Heintonesstringsofincantations。It’snotslowandrelaxedlikewhenheissinging；butjustnan…nan…na…natoaquickbeat。Ican’tunderstanditatallbutIcanfeelthemysticalpullofthewords；ademonicawesomeatmosphereinstantlypermeatestheroom；theinsideofwhichisblackfromsmoke。Theglowoftheflameslickingtheironpotofmuttonstewmakehiseyesglint。Thisisallstarklyreal。
WhileyousearchfortheroutetoLingshan；IwanderalongtheYangtzeRiverlookingforthissortofreality。Ihadjustgohroughacrisisandthen；ontopofthat；adoctorwronglydiagnosedmewithlungcancer。DeathwasplayingajokeonmebutnowthatI’veescapedthedemonwall；Iamsecretlyrejoicing。Lifeformeonceagainhasawonderfulfreshness。Ishouldhaveleftthosecontaminatedsurroundingslongagoandreturnedtonaturetolookforthisauthenticlife。
InthosecontaminatedsurroundingsIwastaughtthatlifewasthesourceofliterature；thatliteraturehadtobefaithfultolife；faithfultoreallife。MymistakewasthatIhadalienatedmyselffromlifeandendedupturningmybackonreallife。However；reallifeisnotthesameasmanifestationsoflife。Reallife；orinotherwordsthebasicsubstanceoflife；shouldbetheformerandnotthelatter。IhadgoneagainstreallifebecauseIwassimplystringingtogetherlife’smanifestations；soofcourseIwasn’tabletoaccuratelyportraylifeandintheendonlysucceededindistortingreality。
Idon’tknowwhetherI’mnowontherighttrackbutinanycaseI’veextricatedmyselffromthebustlingliteraryworldandalsoescapedfrommysmoke…filledroom。Thebookspiledeverywhereinthatroomwereoppressiveandstifling。Theyexpoundedallsortsoftruths；historicaltruthstotruthsonhowtobehuman。Icouldn’tseethepointofsomanytruthsbutstillgotenmeshedintheofthosetruthsandwasstrugglinghopelessly；likeaninsectcaughtinaspider’sweb。Fortunately；thedoctorwhogavethewrongdiagnosissavedmylife。HewasquitefrankandgotmetoparethetwochestX…raystakenontwoseparateoccasions：ablurryshadowontheleftlobeofthelunghadspreadalongthesecondribtothewallofthewindpipe。Itwouldn’thelpeventohavethewholeoftheleftloberemoved。Theoutewasobvious。Myfatherhaddiedoflungcancer。Hediedwithinthreemonthsofitbeingdiscoveredanditwasthisdoctorwhohadcorrectlydiagnosedit。Ihadfaithinhismedicalexpertiseandhehadfaithinscience。ThechestX…raystakenattwodifferenthospitalswereidentical；therewasnopossibilityofatechnicalmistake。HealsowroteanauthorizationforasectionalX…ray；theappointmentwasinhalfamonth’stime。Thiswasnothingtogetworriedabout；itwasjusttodetermiheextentofthetumour。Myfatherhadthisdonebeforehedied。TheoutewouldbethesamewhetherornotIhadtheX…ray；itwasnothingspecial。ThatIinfactwouldslipthroughthefingersofDeathcanonlybeputdowntogoodluck。IbelieveinsciencebutIalsobelieveinfate。
Ioncesawafour…inchlengthofwoodwhichhadbeencollectedintheQiangregionbyananthropologistduringthe1930s。Itwasacarvedstatueofapersondoingahandstand。Theheadhadinkmarkingsfortheeyes；noseandmouth；andtheword〃longevity〃waswrittenonthebody。Itwascalled〃WuchangUpsideDown〃andtherewassomethingoddlymischievousaboutit。Iasktheretiredvillageheadwhethersuchtalismansarestillaround。Hetellsmethesearecalled〃oldroot〃。Thiswoodenidolhastoacpanythenewbornfrombirthtodeath。Atdeathitacpaniesthecorpsefromthehouseandaftertheburialitisplacedinthewildernesstoallowthespirittoreturntonature。IaskhimifhecangetmeonesothatIcancarryitonme。Helaughsandsaysthesearewhathunterstuckintotheirshirtstowardoffevilspirits；theywouldn’tbeofanyusetosomeonelikeme。
〃Isthereanoldhunterwhoknowsaboutthissortofmagicandcantakemehuntingwithhim？〃Iask。
〃GrandpaStonewouldbethebest；〃hesaysafterthinkingaboutit。
〃HowcanIfindhim？〃Iaskrightaway。
〃He’sinGrandpaStone’sHut。〃
〃Where’sthisGrandpaStone’sHut。〃
〃GoanothertwentyliontoSilverMineGullythenfollowthecreekrightuptotheend。Thereyou’llfindastonehut。〃
〃IsthatthenameoftheplaceordoyoumeanthehutofGrandpaStone？〃
Hesaysit’sthenameoftheplace；thatthere’sinfactastonehut；andthatGrandpaStonelivesthere。
〃Canyoutakemetohim？〃Igoontoask。
〃He’sdead。Helaydownonhisbedanddiedinhissleep。Hewastooold；helivedtowelloverniy；someevensaywelloverahundred。Inanycase；nobody’ssureabouthisage。〃
〃Areanyofhisdescendantsstillalive？〃Ican’thelpasking。
〃Inmygrandfather’sgenerationandforaslongasIcanremember；hewasalwaysonhisown。〃
〃Withoutawife？〃
〃HelivedonhisowninSilverMineGully。Helivedhighupthegully；inthesolitaryhut；alone。Oh；andthatrifleofhisisstillhangingonthewallofthehut。〃
Iaskhimwhathe’stryingtotellme。
HesaysGrandpaStonewasafantastichunter；ahunterwhowasanexpertinthemagicalarts。Therearenohunterslikethatnowadays。Everyoneknowsthathisrifleishanginginthehut；thatitnevermissesthetarget；butnobodydarestogoandtakeit。
〃Why？〃I’mevenmorepuzzled。
〃TherouteintoSilverMineGullyiscut。〃
〃There’snowaythrough？〃
〃Notanymore。Earlieronpeopleusedtominesilverthere；afirmfromChengduhiredateamofworkersandtheybeganmining。Lateron；aftertheminewaslooted；everyonejustleft。Theplankroadstheylaideitherbrokeuporrotted。〃
〃Whendidallthishappen。〃
〃Whenmygrandfatherwasstillalive；morethanfiftyyearsago。〃
Thatwouldbeaboutright；afterallhe’salreadyretiredandhasbeehistory；realhistory。
〃Sosincethennobody’severgohere？〃Ibeeevenmoreintrigued。
〃Hardtosay；anywayit’shardtogetthere。〃
〃Andthehuthasrotted？〃
〃Stonecollapses；howcanitrot？〃
〃Iwastalkingabouttheridgepole。〃
〃Oh；quiteright。〃
Hedoesn’twanttotakemethere；nordoeshewanttofindahunterforme；sohe’sleadingmeonlikethis；Ithink。
〃Thenhowdoyouknowtherifle’sstillhangingonthewall？〃Iask；regardless。
〃That’swhateveryonesays；someonemust’veseenit。TheyallsaythatGrandpaStoneisincredible；hiscorpsehasn’trottedandwildanimalsdon’tdaretogonear。Hejustliesthereallstiffandemaciated；andhisrifleishangingthereonthewall。〃
〃Impossible。Withthehighhumidityuphereinthemountain；thecorpsewouldhaverottedandtheriflewouldhaveturnedintoapileofrust；〃Iargue。
〃Idon’tknow。Anyway；peoplehavebeensayingthisforyears。〃Herefusestogiveinandstickstohisstory。ThelightofthefiredancesinhiseyesandIseemtodetectacunningnessinthem。
〃Andyou’veneverseenhim？〃Iwon’tlethimoff。
〃Peoplewhohaveseenhimsaythatheseemstobeasleep；thathe’semaciated；andthattherifleishangingthereonthewallabovehishead；〃hegoesonunruffled。〃Heknewblack…magic。It’snotjustthatpeopledon’tdaregotheretostealhisrifle；evenanimalsdon’tdaretogonear。〃
Thehunterisalreadymyth。Totalkaboutamixtureofhistoryandlegendishowfolkstoriesareborn。Realityexistsonlythroughexperien