On the north side of the Heno Plain, mountains are piled up. From a distance, there are layers upon layers of cliffs, neatly built by nature. The wide river bends slightly at the junction of the plain and the mountains, flows between the vertical sections of the two mountains, then makes a sharp bend and turns eastward into the depths of the mountains.
From a distance, it seems as if a high gate has opened between the mountains, and the river is a magnificent carpet that leads guests straight into the mysterious valley.
The boat turned into the valley, and the sunlight above vanished in an instant. Looking up, one could see the mountain walls stretching vertically upwards on both sides. Further up is the sky cut by the cliff, which is only slightly wider than the river, spreading forward with the mountain.
Only at noon in summer can the sun reach the river.
In the valley, the temperature was suddenly much lower than outside, and the strange long chirping from the mountains made Rongyue shiver involuntarily.
Lian Wu took out a long robe of his own from his bundle, stood up, draped it over Rong Yue, and then sat back down. He looked up and saw that the gap between the mountains on either side was getting narrower and narrower. He asked, "Rongyue, are you afraid?"
Rong Yue wrapped her clothes tightly and shook her head. She insisted on coming along with Lian Wu. How could she have the nerve to hold him back?
"Don't be afraid, I'm right beside you." "Lian Wu said.
Rong Yue forced a smile and nodded.
Lian Wu took out a cake from his bundle and handed it to Rong Yue, then took out a map he had bought in Wangshen City from his bosom and spread it out on his legs.
Rongyue divided the pancake into two halves, moved closer, and tilted her head to look at the map.
Lianwu pointed to a blue curve on the map and said, "The name of the river we are in has been changed to the River without Prohibition by them. It's really incomprehensible."
Rong Yue handed half of the cake to Lian Wu and said, "They?" Who?"
"It should be someone from the church. This map is said to have been mapped and made by the church organization. They don't follow the custom of the past and change the names on this land at will. And, the alterations are of a very poor quality." With his left hand catching the pie and his right finger gliding a short distance across the thick parchment, "we should be here now. Downstream of the Unforbidden River, in the Dragon Burial Valley."
"Burial Dragon Valley?" Rong Yue took a bite of the cake and repeated it. She thought the name was terrifying to hear, and indeed, as Lianwu said, the person who gave it was very unskilled.
"Soon we'll reach the Lake of Death... Lake of Death? It's terrible!" "Lian Wu said. However, it is quite understandable that theism and the worship of harmony with nature are sworn enemies in terms of faith. Nature worshippers believe that the human spirit can return to the Lake of Return, while theism deliberately changed the name of the lake to the Lake of Death. For Theism, only the cathedrals built in various cities are the places where souls return.
"Are we here? The terrain here... How strange." Rong Yue pointed to the Burial Dragon Valley and said.
On the map, many mountains are drawn around the valley, but they are not connected to each other. Layer by layer, they encircle the valley and spread out neatly, layer by layer. The entire area looks like a strange religious symbol.
"Yes, it is very strange. The natural reward is just so wonderful." With a smile, Lian Wu closed the map and put the pie in his mouth.
As the water flowed down, the river became narrower and faster.
Looking ahead, the white mist was diffused in the air, blocking the view. Faintly, large patches of green could be seen in the white mist, rendering and diffusing in the dreamlike world.
"Here it is." "Lian Wu said with a smile.
"Are you here? But I can't see anything." Rong Yue said.
"Look, what's in the water?" Lianwu pointed at the water surface.
On the water surface, some beautiful green plants gradually appeared. The green leaves, like petals, were oval-shaped, five of them gathered together, lazily spreading out in all directions. Among the leaves, pale pink flowers bloomed. The shape of the flowers is also strange, like a very small bird, gathering its wings 谝 crouching and walking the curtain ㄖ sparse?
The further you go, the more such plants there are on the water surface.
Rongyue was very fond of those unadorned little flowers and reached out her hand, wanting to pick one. Lianwu quickly pulled her hand back and said, "Let me help you."
She hooked a plant with her oar, then fixed her eyes on the little flower, stretched out her hand quickly, and pulled it back quickly.
After the flower broke away from the green leaves, the flower-like leaf bundles swayed a few times on the water surface and then sank into the water and disappeared.
Lianwu put the little flower to Rongyue's ear, and Rongyue blushed with laughter. She lowered her head and saw bright bloodstains on Lianwu's fingers. She asked nervously, "What's wrong with your hand? How could it suddenly bleed?"
Lianwu smiled and said casually, "It's okay. This kind of flower bites when it's with leaves."
"Bite? How fierce! How could there be such a flower?"
This kind of flower is called "Tianzhu" and there are many of them here. It is said that the god of natural harmony created this beautiful but fierce plant to recycle human bodies covered in dust. The sky plant has a strong life ability, but it dies once its flowers wither or are artificially peeled off. And, even more strangely, the plant only grows in lakes deep in valleys and never moves. This kind of temperament is much better than some people."
Rong Yue pouted her lips in a coquettish way and smiled.
"The main source of the Heavenly Plant is not living creatures, but animal carcasses. So God chose them to recycle human bodies. They will slowly devour the body..." Seeing that Rongyue's expression was rather ugly, Lianwu had no choice but to give up elaborating on how Tianzhu ate corpses. He said, "The richer the flesh, the brighter the color of their leaves and flowers will be. The sky plant does not eat the corpses of other plants, but it does not spare its own kind. The flowers of the sky plant die after leaving the leaves and sink to the bottom of the water. And the plant grows long roots at the bottom of its leaves, reaching into the water."
As Lianwu spoke to Rongyue about the Tenshu plant, the water suddenly opened up a lot. The outline of the lake spread out from both sides, and in the thick mist, it was impossible to see exactly how wide the lake was.
The boat came to a halt, blocked by a jumble of tenshu.
Rong Yue suddenly remembered a question. Her face turned pale and she asked, "Lian Wu, if you put it that way, then Gu You hasn't been swallowed by the celestial plant... Has he been devoured?"
Lienwu stood up, his eyes searching through the mist. "Perhaps... But wouldn't that be better? It shows that our friend has gone back to the holy world."
The boat moved slowly on the outer edge of the continuous celestial plant.
"Lian Wu... I have a feeling, a very strange feeling..." Rong Yue said.
"What does it feel like?" Lianwu searched carefully.
Rong Yue looked around and said, "I seem to feel that there is a pair of eyes staring at us."
Lian Wu's back tingled by Rong Yue's words. He also looked around, but there was nothing. He said, "You're too nervous. Take a break. Don't be afraid. I'm right beside you."
Rong Yue had no choice but to nod, but that strange feeling did not fade away.
At last, Lianwu saw the coffin he had made with his own hands. He rowed the boat over there with some excitement. At that moment, an illusion suddenly occurred in his mind. He felt that if he rowed the boat over, he would see his friend Gu You. Gu You would still speak to him as calmly as before and ask questions that would make Lian Wu laugh his head off. And he could still pat Gu You on the shoulder and persuade him to go to school with Gu Ming for extra lessons.
"Gu You, can you sense me? I feel you, I feel close to you."
The boat pulled into the coffin, only to find it had flipped upside down. The coffin was surrounded by several layers of sky plants, while the sky flower that had been placed in the coffin was floating on the water, intact but yellowish in color.
Lian Wu's hands drooped weakly, and the oar almost slipped from his palm into the water.
"Gu You, I'm here. I'm here to see you. I'm going to help you fulfill your wish. But where are you? Why, why don't you come and see me? Perhaps you have reached the world of the legendary beauty and flawlessness."
"Gu You..." Rongyue's tears couldn't help sliding down.
Lian Wu sighed, "Gu You must be happy now. Maybe he has played so much that he almost forgets us..." He clenched his fist and held back his tears.
"Well, what are we looking for?" Rong Yue asked.
"Things should have sunk into the water, right?" "Lian Wu looked at the water surface and said. The two black hidden characters stones, the stones that carried Gu You's background and fate, are now nowhere to be found. Lian Wu almost tried to retrieve them from the bottom of the water, but he knew that if he jumped into the water, he wouldn't be able to do anything for Gu You anymore.
He said to Rongyue, "Let's go back. Even without the stone, perhaps we can still help Gu You. Besides, I still remember what the stone looks like and can find someone to make one. I just don't know if there's something hidden inside the stone."
The boat struggled upstream and gradually disappeared into the white mist.
The fiery red eyes, which had been buried in the fog, blinked a few times and vanished. The tall man, who had been standing by the lake, had his eyes restored to the normal look of an ordinary person, looking worried. When he saw the boat had gone away, he hung the wand he had held tightly behind his back.
He stood for a while longer, and after confirming that the boat would not return, he turned around, walked along the shore for a while, and then entered a gap of less than fifty meters between the two cliffs.
The man walked a long way to a shabby wooden house, pushed open the door and went in.
In the small outer room of the house, a young woman sat on a chair made of wooden strips, her black hair flowing like a waterfall at the back of her head, and her pale purple robe without any wrinkles, looking quiet and elegant. She was reading a thick book in her hand, so absorbed that she didn't even notice that the man had entered the room.
The man walked up behind the woman, who had just finished a page and was turning back.
The man said, "What are you looking at?" Isn't it all white paper?"
The woman turned to the place with the words and said, "Brother, how many times have I told you not to always stand behind in silence and then suddenly say something to scare me, okay?"
"I didn't scare you at all. It was you who were too focused. What book are you reading? Where did it pop up?" The man brushed the dew off his long, dark red hair.
"From that person, I found 'The Poems of Yazeer'." This book is really interesting. The person who wrote it must have been crazy." The woman turned the book to the very beginning and said, "Brother, let me read these poems to you. The first one, "Already on the Way."
The woman deliberately reads the poem with a cadence: "I wandered here, I died here, I say, I am God, saving people, I am on the way.
When I die from this beautiful land, I will surely open the door of glory and show the way to the church for the hereafter.
Remember, remember all that has passed, until all that is in the world is empty. "
The man said, "Those who read this book are probably crazy too."
The woman closed the book, snorted and said, "How could I be crazy? You say, where do I look?"
The man shook his head, and every time his lovely sister acted like a little girl, he had nothing to say. He just changed the topic and asked, "How is he?" Is he awake?"
"No." The woman shook her head. "It's already a great thing that he's not dead. I really don't understand that a man who has lost all his blood is not truly dead..." The woman did not go on because she felt as if she were wishing the person she was talking about would die.
"Let's go and see him." The man said, going to the side of the outer room, pushing open a small door and entering. The woman put down the book and followed.
In the small room, there was a small bed. On the bed lay a handsome man, with his long white hair neatly laid down. His hands were clasped in front of his chest, with the backs of his hands facing outward. There was not a trace of color on the face, and the lips seemed parched.
The woman went over and gave the man a little water in a water bag, but it slipped down from the corner of his lips.
Looking back at her brother, she said, "It's still the same. I can't give him any water."
The man went over and looked at the man on the bed and said, "Logically, he should be dead like this, but why can I feel the mental power in him? The blood has dried up, but the power of the spirit has not been lost. What on earth is holding him up?"
Two black stones were placed beside his white hair.
The man picked up the stone, looked at the name on it and said, "Is he Gu You or the Remnant Soul? Whatever it is, at least we can be sure that one of them has died."
Hearing the word "dead", the woman bit her lip.
The man put the stone back and took out a stone from his bosom, on which was engraved: "Eclipse Candle." The woman also took out her own black hidden word stone engraved with her name - Xuanling. The brother and sister closed their eyes gently and held the stones in their hands, looking pious. They murmured together, praying for the dead: "Monks from Earth, your soul has been stripped away. But in any case, please do go back. Return to our home with all the affection of our family on Earth."
"Open your eyes, take back the stone, and say to your sister, 'Yes, I just saw two people in the Lake of Death.'"
Hanging bell did not speak and listened patiently to his brother going down.
"I've been looking at them for a long time in the mist with the Eye of Fire and Darkness. They're not one of us. It seems they came here to look for him." The candle pointed at the man on the bed.
"Looking for him? Is he a friend or an enemy?"
"I don't know. But I think what they are looking for must not be the "corpse", but the two stones. I think it's more likely to be an enemy. Fortunately, we found out that he deliberately turned the coffin upside down. At least now those who are in pursuit of the black lettering stone can give up."
"Well, can we cure him then?" Xuanling was more concerned about whether he could save his companion's life.
Shi Zhu glanced at the man on the bed again and said, "Doctor?" How to do it? He's dead. Though the spirit keeps the soul alive in the body, yet, medically speaking, he is dead."
"Dead..." Hanging bell couldn't believe it.
"Of course, that's just a medical theory. We are not doctors; we are monks from a distant earth. He can survive by his mental power, and perhaps even come back to life by his mental power." Even the candle himself knew that he was saying this only to comfort his sister and himself. For a body without blood, it is no different from a statue.
"Really? Brother, is this true?"
"It is true, of course it is true. Though we are far from home, let us never forget that we are monks of the Earth. Mental power is always the pride of our monks."