"We're here to find Zuo Fengshou." I said slowly.

"Yes, we're here to find someone, but what's the point of looking for someone? What if you find him? What if you bring him back to Compass Village? Is that what we're all about living? Bao Toad asked.

I was stopped by her, this kind of "heavenly question" will never have an answer, it belongs to the highest philosophical questions that cannot be solved through the ages, even Plato and Kant, etc., can not say an answer that convinces everyone.

"Bao Chan, it is meaningless to blindly think about those things, we must be down-to-earth, complete one thing after another, and do it ourselves, this is the meaning of life." I replied.

That's my answer, but it's not the best answer.

Just like I have been in Dunhuang for three years, I am indeed doing things, but I can't even tell myself what the ultimate purpose of doing this is, it is just that it works at sunrise and rests at sunset.

"Once you enter the valley, your mind will only get more confused. Every painting there is a complicated life, whether it belongs to a man or a woman, and it will bring people into a certain historical story, and they cannot extricate themselves. Bao Toad said.

I understand what she meant, and I did have the same confusion when I watched the Lancang River petroglyphs before.

In other words, not only rock paintings, but any other painting genres, including Chinese painting, flowers and birds, freehand, landscape, gongbi, color painting, sketching, etc., will appear to be unstoppable and irreversible "sub-illusions".

Ordinary people would call it "the charm of art", but in the eyes of metaphysical masters, this is a manifestation of being hypnotized by paintings.

"If we find Zuo Feng, we will return. Before we found him, we stopped thinking too much about other changes. I said.

Only by simplifying complex problems can we get started.

If you learn without thinking, you will be reckless, and if you think without learning, you will die. Confucius left us not only the truth of studying and administering science, but also the universal standard that can be used for reference on all issues.

The road to simplicity, only to achieve "simplicity", can we have the courage to open the next page.

"Okay, okay." Bao Toad nodded.

She led the way through the stone gap, and I leaned sideways to follow.

The wind howled, blowing her hair up and hitting me in the face.

At first I didn't care, but there was a unique dark fragrance on the ends of her hair that reached my nose and made me feel slightly dizzy.

We woke up and held our breath.

Before she set off from Luopan Village, she was Mrs. Zuo who rescued her husband in danger, but now she is Bao Chan, a Gu Miao who is slightly in a trance. So, I can no longer easily see her as one of my own, and I have to keep my distance.

I stopped silently, and only when she came out of the nearly ten-meter-long gap did I quicken my pace, move sideways, and pass quickly.

Any place in the world where petroglyphs can be preserved is similar, it is the mountain that protrudes horizontally to form a semi-enclosed cave, which does not affect air circulation, sunlight penetrates, and is not washed by rain and snow, so as to completely retain the original drawings carved and painted on the walls in any material.

The petroglyph valley in front of you is huge, and looking ahead, there are at least 300 meters of natural caves in a straight line. According to Bao Chan, there is a passage at the end of the straight line, with a total length of nearly one kilometer.

The opening of the cave is on the left side, and the petroglyphs are concentrated on the four-meter-high rock wall and the top of the cave on the right.

Different from the Lancang River petroglyphs, the Dunhuang petroglyphs are very dense, many places are covered in multiple places, and the figures painted on the back are interspersed with the blank spaces of other figures, the lines are intricate, and the colors are different.

I understand that the reason for this unique effect is that Dunhuang has been an important frontier town since ancient times, and its population is highly mobile, far more than the barren land in the lofty mountains of the Lancang River. The traces of 10,000 people painting on the rock wall are absolutely different from those of 10 people, the former is densely packed, and the latter is sparse.

In the same way, when archaeologists studied the Dunhuang murals, they found that many places were multi-layered and painted in several layers. In other words, in order to continue to paint in a limited space, later generations had to re-cover the walls of each cave with mixed clay and paint on the new walls. Generally speaking, the total amount of Dunhuang murals can be multiplied by three times the area of a single layer, but modern people are reluctant to remove the surface layer in order to protect this civilization monument.

As we all know, a certain international painting master in modern times has done the exploration method of killing chickens and eggs, drying up and fishing, and peeled off the surface and second layers of the murals of several caves in Dunhuang, revealing the most primitive paintings below, from which he absorbed the essence of Buddhist painting art.

This incident became the uncleanness of the master's life, which can never be washed away.

The petroglyphs are different from the murals of the Mogao Grottoes, when the brushstrokes of the descendants and later generations fall on the rock wall, they will inevitably destroy the previous works, forming mixed works, and even completely confusing the characteristics of different things in various dynasties.

"Zuo Fengshou is not here, will it be in front?" I asked.

Bao Toad hesitated a little: "I originally thought he was here, and the wishworm told me so." ”

I listened intently, and there was only the sound of the wind in the cave, and there was no third human voice except for our breathing.

"Ruyi insect said that someone is chanting Buddhist scriptures and overtaking the left harvest, right?" I asked again.

Bao Toad nodded: "That's true." ”

I pointed forward, "Let's go, let's go around there and see if there's anybody?" ”

In fact, as long as you step into the cave, you will know that there is no one in the cave, let alone someone chanting and burning incense to surpass the dead. The wind in the cave was blowing from the front and out through the cracks in the rocks behind us. Then, if someone around the corner is doing something, their voices and the smell of incense and candles will surely waft over and send them into our noses. Besides, who would choose this kind of place to exceed? Outside the mountain, there is a flat and open place, which is large enough to accommodate thousands of people.

At this moment, I only suspect that something is wrong with the wishful worm released by Bao Toad, and I don't think of any other explanation.

We kept moving forward until we reached the end of the line and turned right.

The front is also a straight rock cave of nearly 300 meters, and its structure is similar to the first section.

Of course, standing around the corner at a glance, there is no one in the cave.

"There's a third cavern, just ahead." Bao Toad pointed forward.

"Maybe Zuo Fengshou is not here, maybe...... Is there something wrong with your judgment, or is there something wrong with the judgment of the wishful worm? "I raised all my doubts.

We picked up our pace, and soon we reached the end of the second section of the cavern and turned into the third section.

The facts are very clear, Zuo Fengshou is not here, there are only me and Bao Toad in the cave.

"How so? How so? Bao Toad muttered to herself.

"Let the wishworm come out, and confirm it again?" I propose.

I don't believe in Miao Jiang Gu Technique, but I also don't deny its magic. In this case, modern communication tools are not useful at all, so you can only turn to wishful worms.

"Ruyi worms never make mistakes." Bao Toad replied.

She leaned her back against the rock wall, put the index finger of her left hand in her mouth, and when she bit it gently, a bead of blood the size of a soybean immediately gushed out from her fingertips.

"Ruyi worm, don't bear me, swim with food, be free in the world, go, go......" Bao Toad called in a low voice.

The four-winged monster crawled out from under her chest, down her left arm, and rested on the tip of her index finger.

"Ruyi worm, ask for the answer of the day, ask for the spirit of the earth, feed you with blood, don't bear me, go, go." Bao Toad whispered again.

The strange insect resembles a combination of a dragonfly and a cicada, and has a two-minute gray straw under its head. It paused on the tip of the toad's finger and did not actively suck blood.

It wasn't until the toad summoned for the third time that the monster worm wriggled forward again and inserted the straw into the bead of blood.

The methods of raising Gu worms by Miao Jiang Gu refiners are very different, but in order to maintain the deep spiritual flow between Gu worms and themselves, the owners will always end up feeding Gu worms with their own blood, flesh, and bones, which is equivalent to a high degree of physical and mental self-harm.

It has been mentioned in many Gu cultivation secrets that whether or not a Gu refiner can break through the level of "raising insects with flesh and bones" is the key to jumping from a low-level Gu refiner to a high-level Gu refiner.

Only by breaking the taboo of human nature can you become a first-class Gu refiner.

Of course, once the taboo is broken, then the Gu Alchemist will inevitably go to the point of no return of "half-human and half-worm", and will never be able to return to a normal person. That is to say, after reaching the realm of "the unity of man and worm", people are worms, and worms are people, once the Gu refiner moves the idea of "returning to the world", it will immediately cause the Gu worm to rebel against its master, either dead or disabled, and it is miserable.

Since Bao Chan has reached the realm of "feeding insects with blood", of course, it is impossible to become someone else's wife and live a normal life of raising children and raising eyebrows, which is why she said "There is no Mrs. Zuo in the world".

After the strange insect sucked the blood beads, from head to tail, a half-inch-long line of bright red blood appeared on its back. Later, the blood smeared, and all four of its wings turned crimson.

"Find it, go for it." Bao Toad raised his left hand high.

The strange insect flapped its wings and flew, but only circled in the air for half a circle, and then fell down and returned to the treasure toad's hand.

"What's going on?" Bao Toad was stunned.

I looked around, and the cave was empty, and there was really no sign of anyone except for the petroglyphs.

"He's not here...... What the hell are you going to tell me? Bao Toad raised his left hand to his eyes and stared at the strange insect.

Anyone encountering this situation, their first reaction is that the Gu worm has lost its spirituality and is unable to find a target.

"Has the same situation happened before?" I asked.

"Never." Bao Toad replied in a low voice.

An idea suddenly popped up in my mind: "Zuo Fengshou is here, or has been here, and its traces and smells have suddenly disappeared, so what the Ruyi insect has found is Zuo Fengshou's last foothold." The Gu worm's mindset is very simple, and its tracking technique is similar to that of a police dog, and what it thinks is the end point is 'the place where it can't be tracked', rather than the result we want. ”

"Okay, we can't use the power of Gu worms anymore." I say.

Bao Toad hissed and retorted: "You are wrong, the wishful worm told me that he is here." We've tested it before, and it doesn't go wrong every time. There won't be a problem this time, he must be here, it's just us...... We can't see him. ”

Speaking of this, Bao Toad shuddered violently.

In a normal sense, if we feel that a person "can't see him", then it can only be explained by supernatural science, which is what the common people call "ghosts".

"There are no ghosts in the world." I responded indifferently.

Whether starting from the theoretical system of materialism or the theoretical system of idealism, I deny the existence of "ghosts".

To know is to know, and not to know is not to know. If a person is invisible, then he does not exist within the knowable sphere of man, i.e., the "unknown land".

He is "unknown, unknown", so how can we refer to him as a "ghost"?

"The wishworm can see him, it must be so, he is here...... We can't see it, but the wishworm can see ......" Bao Toad was a little flustered.

I corrected her: "Gu worms can only feel Gu worms, not humans. Ruyi worms work on the principle of biological connection between insects, and there is no other communication channel. ”