Chapter 2: The River God
Holding the edges and corners of the bluestone road with both hands, cold sweat falling down his back, is the woman in the coffin really dead? Who built this huge group of tombs, and who buried them here.
If you are not dead...... An Ze didn't dare to think about it, it was bizarre and terrifying, he had to leave this tomb quickly, there were too many things tonight that could not be explained by science.
"Ticking" is like the sound of raindrops.
Blood dripped down his fingertips onto the bluestone pavement.
Anzer searched for the source of the sound until he noticed the wound on his fingertips, caused by him clenching his fingers against the ground, so tense that he didn't feel the pain.
He was restless for a while, he always felt that this place was ominous, he didn't want to get into any trouble, and wanted to wipe the blood on the ground with his feet, but the blood seemed to be absorbed, and disappeared out of thin air.
The stone path was also strange, and he didn't pay attention to it at first, but now he looked at the ornaments on the stone road by the moonlight, not like the decorations of craftsmen, but more like a record of a certain period of history.
Anze was intrigued, he forgot his fear, set foot again, wandering on the bluestone road, when he came to the end, he changed to the nearby bluestone road, and studied it over and over again.
He stopped, his eyes full of confusion and shock.
The text on the bluestone road is very ancient, like a seal script, he can't read it all, and he can guess a corner only by combining the patterns on the stone road.
A noun that has been mentioned many times is epiphany!
And the records on the stone road are very vague, there are breaks, and some places are not recorded at all, as if a piece of history has been stolen.
Anze can only piece together in his mind and speculate. He returned to the stone platform and pondered it.
Finally, An Ze determined that the strange flower in the hands of the old woman depicted on the bluestone road was the one in the hands of the coffin woman.
The beauty is bewitching, exuding demonic nature, and the people of Loulan are intoxicated and obsessed with it, kneeling on the ground and worshipping sincerely
An Ze's scalp was numb, and the huge group of tombs under his feet was actually feeding on blood to feed a flower! The bottom of the coffin should be connected, and the rhizome of the epiphany flower stretched into their coffin, sucking the blood of each of them, and producing an inexplicable substance to feed the people in the coffin.
He couldn't be sure whether the person in the coffin was a dead body, the record on the bluestone road was too terrifying, he didn't want to stay in that tomb group anymore, and he had to leave quickly.
He took some of the wine from the jar with him, the pottery was too heavy for him to carry, and he didn't want to get into trouble.
The desert was very cold in the middle of the night, and Anze climbed over one sand dune after another, and finally, he could see the end of the desert in the distance, and he was about to leave!
But his heart could never be calm, and he couldn't forget the magic flower and the female corpse in the coffin.
That ugly old woman came from nowhere, but the methods were cruel and terrible, turning the whole Loulan into nourishment, which was not something he could understand.
It was just dawning, and there was a slight coolness and humidity in the air.
In the distance, sporadic lights could be seen at the foot of the mountain, and the herdsmen got up early and drove the livestock to a certain place with torches, and Anze could hear the bell on the neck of the livestock coming from a distance.
The whole tribe is empty!
"Something seems to be something," Anze muttered to himself, and he followed the group without making a sound.
The herdsmen noticed it and didn't even ask, but just drove it away on their own.
At the front of the line was an elderly woman, dressed in local costume, muttering something.
Anze did not say anything, and followed the herd silently, not knowing why the cattle were connected by ropes, and seemed to be manic.
The line was slow and began to get noisy.
The herdsmen had driven their cattle to the river, and then they shouted loudly, and at the same time tried to drive them into the river with whips, and the leading old woman danced by the river, not understanding what was being said.
However, the closer the cattle got to the surface of the river, the more frenzied they became, and they were terrified, trying to break free from the ropes, desperately resisting, rushing into the reins, and screaming and howling.
The herdsmen showed no mercy, and waved their whips to greet them with all their might, and shouted angrily, forcing them into the river little by little.
Then the calm surface of the river changed, and the waves stirred and churned, and a great whirlpool formed in the center of the river, and some terrible creature seemed to hide at the bottom of the river, which was dragged into the bottom of the river in the terrified wails of the livestock.
"It's the river god, I see it, the river god has appeared!" someone exclaimed.
"God... What a miracle!" the man was visibly stunned, and his speech trembled, and he could not even speak.
The herdsmen, even the children, fell to their knees, and they were so devout that they burned incense and made tables on the banks of the river, and kept prostrating, and the old priest chanted with a prayer wheel, and the voice grew louder and louder.
The smoke and water vapor from the incense table mixed together filled the water surface, and the smoke was boiling.
Then, the surface of the river returned to calm, meandering without end, reflected by the blue of the sky, catering to the morning glow, full of colorful light, full of fairy energy.
"The god of the river has manifested his spirit, bless us with good weather and prosperity. The old priest began to chant and pray, and she knelt on the ground and bowed to the river, as if the river god was on her head at this moment.
This scene made Anze's hair stand on end, and he saw that something was dragging the livestock into the bottom of the river.
"Am I crazy, or is the world crazy. An Ze muttered, supernatural phenomena are happening one after another, and the rumored cows, ghosts, snakes, and gods seem to be coming true!
After a few moments, the herdsmen got up, and an older herdsman came to his side.
"Today is our day to worship the river god," he smiled, his skin a little dark in the long sunlight.
"Is there something in the river?" asked Anze.
"It's the river god!" the herdsman was serious, with worry in his eyes.
Then, he added: "I have lived most of my life, and I have never seen the manifestation of the river god, and today is really unforgettable." ”
Anze couldn't believe it, he looked at everything in his eyes, and the things in the river were by no means good.
The older herders were very hospitable and kindly invited Anze to visit their tribe.
Anze didn't refuse, he had too many doubts that needed to be answered.
In the tent, the herdsmen slaughtered cattle and sheep to prepare a banquet for An Ze, An Ze enjoyed the simple folk customs and the hearty laughter of the locals, he shared the ancient wine brought out of Loulan with the herdsmen, and asked the herdsmen a lot of questions.
During the banquet, An Ze fell asleep, his body was already very tired after a long journey, and he didn't know how long he slept before waking up, listening to the laughter of the children outside, and enjoying this comfort rarely.
He walked outside, stroked the children's hair, said a simple goodbye to the herders, and continued on his way.
Anze decided to continue his journey north, and no one in the tribe could solve his doubts, so he tried to find the old priest, but she always stopped talking, and was afraid of some taboos.
For some reason, An Ze felt that there was the answer he wanted in the Tianshan Mountains, and this feeling was very strong.
He thought of the possibility that the world was being changed by unknown forces, reviving, and those legendary things seemed to be about to appear.
An Ze walked all the way north, the ecology under his feet changed a few times, he leaned over to pick up a weed, put it between his nose and sniffed it carefully.
"Is it a delusion?" muttered Anze.
The closer you get to the Tianshan Mountains, the more you can feel the extraordinary nature of this grassland under your feet!
Each grass is green and shiny, and there are dew drops hanging on it, which is crystal clear, exuding a fragrance that makes people feel refreshed.
"The breath of life is very strong. Even the weeds are changing, they are not willing to be ordinary, they are transforming, they seem to break the shackles and continue to evolve.
An Ze didn't stop all the way, and he could even look at the Tianshan Mountains in the distance.
It was an endless stretch of snow white, half of the body was covered by clouds and mist, and the dragon was like a giant in the distance, everything seemed so small, although there was still some distance, but I could feel the sense of oppression from afar.
I have to say that the landscape of the territory is really unique, Anze first crossed the desert, then crossed the grassland, and now wants to go deep into the snow-capped mountains.
There are too many supernatural phenomena along the way, An Ze's heart is very complicated, he is a little in awe, and he is also looking forward to it, and he can't wait to uncover this mysterious corner.
He continued to go deeper, and then climbed.
Years of extreme sports have given him a sturdy body.
Finally, he managed to climb to the top, and the cold wind whistled around him.
He raised his eyes and looked into the distance, the majesty and majesty of the mountains in full view, and the sun cast clouds on the snowy peaks, and he was so insignificant at this moment.
"Huh?" Anze was surprised.
The scenery from the top of the mountain is also abnormal, and there is still green vegetation at such a high altitude?
"These plants grow in the crevices of the ice?" said Anzawa, peeling through the cracks in the greenery, and could see the glacier that had accumulated over 10,000 years below.
"It seems that as I suspected, the Earth's oxygen concentration seems to be increasing, the life force is recovering, and perhaps there are unknown forces changing the Earth. Anze muttered to himself.
He noticed that the leaves of these green plants were very large, and their vitality was very tenacious, and he did not know what kind of plant, and they were not afraid of the cold, which he had never seen.
He didn't linger too long, for he saw that somewhere in the mountains was hidden in a cloud of mist, and the charm of the Tao had risen, and he wanted to go deeper to find out.
I don't know how long it took, but he passed through the gap between the two snow and entered the place.
The scene in front of you is like a fairyland on earth.
It is a turquoise lake, surrounded by mountains, a faint mist rises on the surface of the lake, and melted snow water falls down the high mountain stream and finally falls into the lake, causing waves one after another.
There was a lonely elm tree standing on the edge of the lake, surprisingly large, and its branches and leaves spread wildly in all directions, casting a huge shadow on the surface of the lake.
A reddish-yellow fruit is on it, fragrant and fragrant, and you can feel the aroma from a long distance, and it looks like it is about to ripen, and the fragrance emitted is intoxicating.
An Ze has never seen such a big tree, not like a species that should exist in this world, I don't know how many years you have existed, the branches and leaves are very luxuriant, the sun's rays form a light rhyme around the ancient tree, colorful, very sacred, as if guarding this world, matching with the lake and snow peaks, more and more highlighting the extraordinary here.
The aroma of the old tree is getting stronger and stronger! The red fruit is transforming, shining, brighter and brighter, and the aroma permeates the whole valley.
"The ancient tree is nurturing that fruit with all its essence," Anze whispered.
The trunk of the ancient tree darkens with each light of the red fruit, and the turquoise leaves turn yellow at a rate visible to the naked eye, and then fall one by one.
"This fruit is amazing, it's a fairy fruit!" An Ze muttered, the trunk of the ancient tree reached straight to the sky, the branches were luxuriant, and the vitality was terrifying, but in order to give birth to this fruit, it was slowly withering.
The sky changed, and snowflakes swirled and fell from the sky, and they fell one after another, falling on the ancient trees, falling on the surface of the lake, and the whole world came alive.
An Ze stretched out his hand to take a snowflake, and felt it carefully, it was strange, it didn't melt, and there was no coolness at all.
Did the ripening of this fruit affect the weather?
An Ze was shocked, the leaves of the ancient tree were large and yellowed and then withered, and the majestic vitality was constantly compressed, turning into liquid and converging on the branches and fruits. The body of the fruit has become crystal clear, and the veins are looming, like a bottomless pit, greedily sucking the essence of the ancient tree.
When the main trunk of the ancient tree also withered and dimmed, the fruit seemed to be completely ripe, emitting seven-colored holy light, dazzling, and there was an immeasurable immortal light penetrating the clouds to shine here, and the chanting of the Taoist also came from the depths of the clouds, resounding throughout this valley.
It's so bizarre, the ripeness of the fruit is accompanied by visions and Taoist sounds, An Ze is slowly approaching, this fruit is not a mortal thing, he must take it away......