Chapter 42 42. Death Valley
Creatures that look like dragons and humans walk in the deep valley, with a big cauldron hanging on their heads.
When I looked up, I couldn't see the stars or the moon, only the dark mist.
The mist contains the aura of death, and the bones of creatures that strayed into this place can be seen everywhere along the road.
The rocks exposed in the wind and sand are an eerie purple-red color. They stand up in rows and extend deep into the valley, like pustules after swelling of human tissue. When he picked up one or two rocks and squeezed them hard, blood-like water droplets would appear in his palms, exuding a fishy smell.
He waited at the entrance of the valley until the stars came up.
The lotus he took led him here. The source of the call came from the depths of this valley, and interestingly, the signposts guided by the stars were also marked here.
Now he could confirm what he had been thinking about before.
The Kunlun Ancient Road opened up by later generations is a pilgrimage road walked by taking lotus flowers.
The black air of death is like hidden poisonous snakes, hiding in the cracks of stones or in the sand and gravel on the ground. They pounce up from unnoticed corners and bite, bringing death to trespassers.
This does not include him.
Before the black energy even got close to the creature, it was burned out by golden flames. The dragon-like and human-like creatures did not pay any attention to the black energy in the deep valley. The black coat was draped loosely, and there was a vivid red dragon on the sleeves. In a trance, the embroidered dragon seemed to be swimming around, facing the wisps of threads. The black energy roared silently. As the red dragon roared, several small golden lotuses bloomed around him, about the size of a palm, blooming and swaying out of thin air, with petals looming.
The golden flames that burn the black energy come from these lotuses.
No wonder you need to take lotus to find Kunlun Temple.
Li Xi'an pondered.
In front of you is the endless winding valley path.
If he didn't take the lotus to enter this place, he wouldn't be sure to reach the end of the deep valley.
"This kind of death zone shouldn't exist in Kunlun." Qingniao frowned. She was conveying a message to the red dragon in the Heaven-carrying Cauldron. The black energy would corrode her, especially now that her cultivation was cut off. The bronze cauldron was the safest place to live.
“Isn’t the role of lotus flowers used to dispel these strange smells?”
"No. The lotus is a token and a medium. When it needs to be used as a spear and shield for walking on the ancient path. Since the lotus can be obtained, it means that the person holding the lotus is qualified to enter the Kunlun Temple, and there will be no additional difficulties. ”
The blue bird looked at the golden lotus blooming next to Li Xi'an.
"Do you think a mortal who eats a lotus or a creature without this strange golden fire can reach the end of this valley?"
"You mean this golden lotus doesn't come from that white lotus?"
"Because this white lotus is not only a token in this world, but also what you call a medium, which contains the inheritance of laws between heaven and earth. I have seen many destined people who have successfully picked lotus flowers beside the empress, but they are not as cold as you. Burning with golden fire, burning with the black energy of death.”
"I felt a very clear call when I took the lotus."
Li Xi'an casually took a golden lotus blooming in the void. The gorgeous golden fire burned silently, the flames jumped, and the shadow on the young man's face also changed accordingly.
"Can you still feel it?" Qingniao sounded a little anxious.
"Very vague."
"Perhaps this is the 'place where the sun and moon disappear' that the old people said that day. The source of the filth comes from this deep valley. The black air carrying the breath of death is the filth that spreads." The blue bird looked around and found that the deathly silence was dim. The deep valley is indeed worthy of the title of "the sun and the moon disappear".
It is surrounded by towering rock walls, and above it is a broken valley that blocks out the sun and an unnaturally lush vegetation.
Not a single ray of bright moonlight from outside the valley can penetrate, and the same goes for the sunlight during the day. She was worried.
"Don't think about it, the answer you need is actually right in front of you." Li Xi'an withdrew his gaze from the golden flames and put the lotus back into the void.
The golden lotus surrounded the dragon-like creature walking in the deep valley, destroying all unclean atmosphere for it.
A few sparks fell on the strange purple-red rock formations, bringing the only light here.
…………
Li Xi'an stopped and saw a stone tablet under an ancient tree in the deep valley.
"Death Valley."
The stone tablet is heavily weathered, but the words carved back then can still be seen clearly.
Kunlun Mountains, Death Valley...
He remembered that when he was reading the ancient books enshrined by humans on the old camphor tree, there was a description in one of them.
"When the sun is warm, there are grains of sand beans, and when the frost is clear, it rushes to the fire ghost rock."
It is written in ancient books that this area is called the Valley of Death by local people. Some people even claimed to have seen the Gate of Hell in the deep valley, and Po Meng was sitting beside the Gate of Hell making soup. The local people graze cattle and sheep, and they are unwilling to drive the cattle and sheep into this valley even if the animals are about to die of thirst.
However, there was a later note that a family with extraordinary inheritance once sent people here to investigate. Because many of the information about the narrow spaces hiding ancient artifacts or ancient scriptures came from folklore, they reasonably suspected that there was a narrow space hidden in this deep valley. When I came here, I could only describe it as feeling weird, but in fact, no extraordinary events happened, and the black energy of death didn't even exist at all.
They had experts explore the valley and scientifically concluded that most of the dead creatures here were trapped in the valley and died of starvation or thirst because they could not tell their direction.
There are no clues to the hidden era.
But the fact is that this place is full of evil.
Since the group of people who initially investigated did not encounter extraordinary events, it means that this valley should have begun to change with the rise of heaven and earth. But there are still things that don't make sense. The rumors recorded in ancient books are from ancient times, an era with detailed records thousands of years ago. Rumors have existed since ancient times, and they did not gradually arise with the rise of people.
"You find an ancient book called Kunlun Qiu with detailed notes." With a thought, he asked the blue bird in the Heaven-Containing Cauldron to look for that ancient book. Maybe there was information in it that he had missed.
There was no response, and the golden candle in Li Xi'an's eyes was instantly ignited.
He looked around vigilantly, but no vision occurred, only to find that even his breathing was silent now.
It was so quiet, so quiet that I couldn't hear my own heartbeat.
The golden lotus blooming in the void is still swaying, and the flame is still burning.
The traces of wind and sand on the stone tablet are fading away, as if the uneven outer packaging has been torn away, revealing a brand-new and square stone tablet. The name of the outer packaging is "Years".
Death Valley’s carvings are distorted, the strokes are reconstructed, and the writing is “reincarnation”!
Valley of Samsara.
Li Xi'an suddenly trembled. He slowly looked up. There was a door standing in the sky. It was dark inside, but there were stars twinkling. He had seen similar stars before. During the Great Blessing Ceremony, he used the heaven and earth carvings to When the traces purify thousands of souls, the same is true for the pure souls that return to the earth.
There was a woman in green clothes sitting behind the door, with her back to the door and her head lowered, as if she was dozing off.
Countless stars formed a sea of light and flowed quietly past her.
It was so quiet, as if everything was worried about waking up the woman in green with her head lowered.
(End of chapter)