txolops Chapter 88 Burying the Dragon's Bones, Leading the Way Without a Head
Chapter 88 Burying the Dragon's Bones, Leading the Way Without a Head
Chapter 88 Burying the Dragon's Bones, Leading the Way Without a Head
Heading west from Changning County, the terrain gradually rises, and the vegetation becomes sparser.
The Burial Dragon Mountain Range, though called a mountain range, is more like a huge scar across the land.
Legend has it that in ancient times, a wicked black dragon perished here, its body transforming into a mountain range stretching for hundreds of miles, while its resentment turned into a perpetual miasma that shrouds this desolate land.
"Sir, this place—something's not right."
Xiao Chen reined in his horse, his brows furrowed.
It was noon, a time when yang energy should be at its peak, but the area of the Burial Dragon Mountain Range was not radiant with light; instead, it was shrouded in a pale, bleak white.
The smell in the air was not the stench of corpses, nor the smell of rotting grass and trees, but a kind of fishy and astringent smell, almost like old, moldy paper mixed with rust.
"Something definitely isn't right."
Gu Yan dismounted and squatted down, grabbing a handful of dirt.
The soil had an eerie purplish-black color, and it was icy cold to the touch. When you squeezed it gently, a dark red liquid seeped out, like a congealed blood clot.
"The earth's energy here has been cut off."
Gu Yan patted the dirt off his hands, his expression grave. "Something forcibly cut off the earth's energy and then reversed its flow, creating a vicious cycle."
Since achieving the Divine Path Foundation Establishment, Gu Yan's sensitivity to the Qi of Heaven and Earth has become several times more acute.
In his view, the Burial Dragon Mountain Range looked like a funnel.
The vitality of Changning County and even the surrounding area is flowing continuously into the deepest part of this mountain range through underground rivers, nourishing some indescribable entity.
"It seems that the poverty in Changning County is not only due to man-made disasters, but also to natural disasters."
Gu Yan stood up, glanced at the main peak in the distance that resembled a dragon's head, and said, "Let's go. Since we're here, we should at least go in and take a look."
The two abandoned their horses and walked slowly into the mountains along an ancient, long-abandoned path.
The deeper you go, the quieter it becomes.
There were no birdsong, no insect chirping, not even the rustling of leaves in the wind.
The trees were strangely shaped, their trunks twisted and coiled like countless painful, struggling human bodies entangled together, their bark covered with burls resembling human faces. From a distance, it looked as if countless eyes were watching the intruders.
"Hey, gentlemen, you're here in the mountains looking for treasure, aren't you?"
Just then, a hoarse voice suddenly rang out from the side in front of the two.
Xiao Chen reacted extremely quickly, drawing his longsword half an inch from its sheath and instantly blocking Gu Yan's path.
From behind a large blue stone by the roadside, a little old man slowly emerged.
The old man looked to be in his sixties or seventies. He was wearing a coarse cloth jacket covered in patches, carrying a broken bamboo basket on his back, and leaning on a dark wooden stick.
His face was covered in wrinkles, one eye was intact, and the other eye was sunken and had no pupil.
"Don't be nervous, don't be nervous."
Seeing Xiao Chen's murderous aura, the old man quickly waved his hand, revealing a mouthful of uneven, yellow teeth. "I'm just a herb gatherer from these mountains, everyone calls me Old Huang. Since you two gentlemen don't look familiar, I'd like to kindly remind you that this area ahead is a maze of ghosts. Without someone familiar with the place to guide you, you might not be able to get out once you go in."
Gu Yan patted Xiao Chen on the shoulder, signaling him to sheathe his sword.
He looked the old man, Lao Huang, up and down.
The old man looked ordinary, with no spiritual energy fluctuations, but under Gu Yan's divine sense probing, the old man's aura was very strange.
Like a piece of dead wood buried in the soil for many years, showing no signs of life.
"So it's you, old man."
Gu Yan cupped his hands in greeting, revealing his signature honest smile. "We are two traveling merchants passing through. We heard there are treasures in these mountains, so we've come to try our luck. Since you're a local, sir, would you be so kind as to give us a ride? The fee for guiding us is no problem."
As he spoke, he took out a piece of silver from his pocket and tossed it over gently.
Old Huang reached out and caught it, his movements so fast they didn't seem like those of an old man.
He weighed the silver in his hand, his one eye narrowing into a slit with a smile: "Easy, easy! As long as the money's right, I can even take you two on a tour of the King of Hell's palace. These days, making money isn't easy, especially making money off the dead."
These words were rather unlucky, causing Xiao Chen to frown.
"Then I'll have to trouble you, sir."
The three of them set off again.
With Lao Huang leading the way, the journey was indeed much smoother.
Although Lao Huang was just an ordinary person, he knew every plant and tree in the mountains like the back of his hand.
"See that crooked tree? Don't go past it on the left. There's a snake den underneath, inhabited by a spotted python that's become quite powerful. It may not be very strong, but its venom is terrifying."
"Isn't this sea of red flowers beautiful? Those are ghost smile flowers, things that suck away a person's yang energy. If you smell them for too long, you'll keep laughing until you die."
As Old Huang walked, he chattered on and on about the taboos in the mountains, just like a dutiful tour guide.
Gu Yan followed behind him, seemingly listening, but secretly observing the surrounding terrain.
He discovered that the path Old Huang led was not a straight line, but rather a winding and circuitous one, and sometimes he would even deliberately bypass some seemingly flat main roads to go through those thorny animal trails.
"Old man, isn't this a roundabout way?" Xiao Chen couldn't help but ask.
"Taking a longer route?"
Old Huang turned around, chuckled, and said, "Sir, in this Burial Dragon Mountain, the straight path is for the dead. If the living want to get out, they have to learn to take the winding road. If you think it's too slow, you can just go straight ahead, but if you step into the Yin Soldier Path and get possessed by those shameless creatures, don't blame me for not warning you."
The Path of the Ghost Soldiers?
Gu Yan's heart stirred.
In folk legends, the sight of ghostly soldiers passing through is considered a very bad omen, often signifying that a large-scale massacre had occurred in the area, and that lingering resentment remained.
"Old man, were there battles fought in these mountains before?" Gu Yan asked tentatively.
"battle?"
Old Huang stopped and looked up at the highest peak in the distance, his eyes becoming somewhat unfocused. "That was a long, long time ago—so long ago that even the stones in this mountain have been replaced. Back then, what fell from the sky wasn't rain, but blood; what flowed on the ground wasn't water, but pus."
"Some wanted to kill the dragon, some wanted to protect it. In the end, the dragon died, those who wanted to kill it also died, and those who wanted to protect it became the ghosts guarding the tomb."
Old Huang suddenly shivered as he spoke, as if he had come to his senses. He quickly waved his hand and said, "Hey, those are all old stories, not worth mentioning, not worth mentioning."
Gu Yan and Xiao Chen exchanged a glance.
This old man really does know something.
Kill the dragon?
Could the legends of the Burial Dragon Mountains be more than just legends?
After walking for about an hour, it gradually got dark.
Night falls especially quickly in the mountains, and the pale gray tones turn into a thick black.
"arrive."
Old Huang stopped in front of a mountain hollow and pointed to a dark cave entrance ahead. "Gentlemen, this is the place you're looking for. But I can only lead you this far. Going any further would be taboo."
Gu Yan glanced at the hole.
The cave entrance is semi-circular, like the open mouth of some kind of giant beast. There is no vegetation around it, only a few severely weathered stone tablets lying by the roadside.
The inscription on the stone tablet was long since blurred and illegible, but upon closer inspection, a few ancient seal characters could still be vaguely discerned: "God—fall—"
Do not enter.
"Thank you, sir."
Gu Yan didn't insist, and took out another piece of silver and handed it to Old Huang, saying, "You must be tired from your journey."
Old Huang took the silver, but did not leave immediately.
He gave Gu Yan a deep look with his one eye, then suddenly lowered his voice and said, "Young master, I think you are a blessed man. Take my advice, you mustn't touch what's in this cave. It's a great blessing that no living person can bear; if you're not careful, it might shorten your lifespan."
After saying that, he didn't wait for Gu Yan's reply, turned around and disappeared into the dense forest next to him. He was so agile that he didn't look like an old man at all.
"There's something wrong with this old man," Xiao Chen said in a deep voice, looking in the direction where Old Huang had disappeared.
"It's not just problematic, it's riddled with problems."
Gu Yan smiled, and with a gentle flick of his fingers, a tiny paper figure flew out from his fingertips and silently followed Old Huang.
"But now is not the time to worry about him, let's go in and take a look."
The two lit the tinderbox and stepped into the dark cave.
The cave wasn't damp as I'd imagined; on the contrary, it was unusually dry. Taking a deep breath, a strong smell of sulfur filled my nostrils.
The road underfoot is paved with bluestone slabs. Although it is old and somewhat damaged, you can still see its magnificent scale in the past.
On the rock walls on both sides, a luminous pearl is embedded every ten steps, but most of these pearls are already extremely dim and can only emit a faint glow.
The rock face is covered with murals.
The content of the murals is extremely bizarre.
The first painting depicts a group of people dressed in strange costumes, performing a ritual around a huge cauldron.
The furnace contained not flames, but a beating heart, which bore a striking resemblance to the Blood River Heart of the Blood Swordsman's clone.
The second painting depicts a crack in the sky, from which countless winged monsters pour out and fight against the people on the ground.
The third painting depicts a giant dragon falling from the clouds, its body pierced by countless chains, its blood spilling onto the earth and transforming into mountains and rivers.
The scales on the giant dragon's body were very similar to the Black Dragon's Reverse Scale that Gu Yan had obtained when he was in the Black Dragon Gang.
The fourth painting made Gu Yan linger for a long time, examining it closely.
In the painting, a tree actually grew from the corpse of the dead dragon.
The tree was entirely blood red, with lush foliage, and each leaf held a baby.
The babies had their eyes closed and strange smiles on their lips, as if they were fast asleep or waiting to wake up.
"Man-made gods?"
Gu Yan looked at the mural and muttered to himself, unable to help but think this way.
The content of this mural seems to be recording an evil god-making ritual.
Using the corpse of a giant dragon as nourishment, a new life form was conceived.
"Junior brother, look at this."
At this moment, Xiao Chen, who was walking in front, suddenly shouted.
Gu Yan walked over and saw a huge bronze door at the end of the passage.
There was no lock on the door; instead, a huge human face was carved on it.
The face wasn't protruding, but sunken, as if someone had imprinted their face on the door.
This face has no features, only a flat bronze surface.
"The Faceless Ones?"
Gu Yan felt a chill run down his spine.
The City God's seal in his arms suddenly twitched.
At the same time, the paper figure that he had been secretly sending out to track Lao Huang suddenly sent back a picture.
In the video, Old Huang is kneeling in front of a desolate grave, kowtowing to a blank tombstone.
Behind the blank stele stood a faceless person dressed in a black robe!
The man's figure was exactly the same as the outline of the human face that was recessed on the bronze door!
"not good!"
Gu Yan's expression changed, and he was about to pull Xiao Chen back.
"Crunch"
A screeching sound rang out.
The bronze door, which had been tightly closed for who knows how many years, slowly opened a crack.
An ancient and weathered voice drifted out from the crack in the door: "Since you're here, make the best of it."
"Guests, since we've brought the tea, why not come in and have a cup of tea?"
As the sound faded, a tremendous suction force came from inside the door.
Caught off guard, Xiao Chen was pulled forward and staggered a few steps.
Gu Yan reacted extremely quickly, throwing out several talismans that transformed into thick vines that wrapped around the stone pillar beside him, barely managing to steady himself.
"Senior brother! Hold your breath! This is a hypnotic voice!"
Gu Yan shouted loudly, and at the same time formed a hand seal, and the incense and divine power in his body instantly erupted.
"By imperial decree of the City God, suppress the rebellion!"
A beam of golden light shot out from his body and slammed hard into the bronze door.
"boom!"
The bronze door trembled violently, and the suction force was quickly broken.
In that very instant, Gu Yan saw the scene inside the door.
It was a huge underground palace.
In the center of the underground palace, there really was a tree growing.
A blood-red tree exactly like the one in the mural.
And under that tree, a person was sitting.
The man was wearing a tattered Taoist robe, his back to the door, and he was brewing tea.
Opposite him were two empty teacups.
It was as if they had anticipated that two guests would arrive.
That silhouette—
Gu Yan's pupils suddenly contracted.
Although the figure was old and hunched, he would never mistake it for someone else.
That was Old Huang, whom he had just met!
Gu Yan was greatly alarmed.
In the images transmitted by the paper effigy, Old Huang was clearly still burning paper money at a desolate grave several miles away.
Then who is this person sitting in the underground palace brewing tea?
Or is it that—
Are there two Lao Huangs in this world?
Or perhaps, from the very beginning, the old man who led them there wasn't even human?
Hehehe
Inside the underground palace, the figure slowly turned around.
That face still only had one eye.
However, this time, the single eye was no longer a cloudy yellow.
Instead, it was as red as blood.
He looked at the two still-shaken men at the door, raised his teacup, and grinned in an exaggerated smile: "Gentlemen, the fee for guiding you hasn't been paid yet."
"The old man said, straight roads are for the dead."
"Now that the road is straight, you two should get going."
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