September 14 of the first year of Yonghui of the Tang Dynasty.

Although autumn has just begun, the temperature at the eastern foot of the Green Ridge has dropped sharply. At night, the cold wind blows the sand, the cold moon shines obliquely, and the beards rise in all directions.

Chai Zhewei, the protector of Anxi and the prince of the state of the Tang Dynasty, stood on a high sand dune outside the city, looking at Huqianggu City, the capital of the Western Night Kingdom, which had been surrounded by 10,000 soldiers below the dunes.

Beneath the dunes, bonfires raged around the camps that had been set up, and unlike the tense atmosphere before the previous wars, the soldiers drank and sang there. It's no wonder, because the West Night Kingdom, which will be captured tomorrow, is just a small country in the big quicksand, and the total number of women, children, and children in the whole country is only 3,000, and as for the soldiers who can fight, it is even more rare.

This is a completely asymmetrical war.

But Chai Zhewei looked at the figure of the giant towering in the city, and still had an indescribable sense of fear in his heart.

Yes, the giant was not a living man, it was just a statue. However, at the time of this large army, the people of the West Night Kingdom did not seem to care about their own safety—they were still in the city, busy on the statues.

The statue had been built to the shoulder, and the head was just an empty scaffolding, so it was impossible to imagine what it would look like.

But Chai Zhewei has never seen such a tall statue in his life, he only remembers that in the early years in the Daci'en Temple when he listened to Master Xuanzang talk about his westward journey, he said that there is a Brahmana, there is a Brahmana country across the Green Mountains, where there is a stone carving Buddha 145 feet high on the mountain wall.

But after all, the Buddha is a Buddha statue carved from the mountain. And this statue was built up out of thin air by the West Night Kingdom with all the manpower and material resources of a country. Although the statue has not yet been built, it is already more than ten feet high.

What's more, the people of the entire Western Regions can't figure out which statue of a god or demon this is.

Is it a Buddha statue?

No. According to Yu Chi Yikang, the captain of the Khotanese caravan who had escaped from the Khangar Valley, the Western Night Kingdom had already begun to destroy the Buddha. All the temples in the city have been demolished, bricks and timber have been removed, and Buddha statues have been destroyed.

"We have turned away from the Buddha and converted to other gods." Wei Chi Yikang relayed the original words of the people of the West Night.

"And what god have you converted?" Wei Chi Yikang tried to listen at that time.

The West Night Citizen sat on the donkey cart pulling wood and glanced meaningfully at Wei Chi Yikang.

"When this statue is erected, the people of the entire Western Regions will bow down at his feet." The man said.

Since it is not a Buddha statue, is it the god of light of Zoroastrianism?

Or the Manichaean god of the sun and the moon?

Or is it the main god of Nestorianism or Tianfang?

Neither. Chai Zhewei had already questioned the soldiers of these religions in the army, and after looking at the statues during the day, they shook their heads vigorously and denied that they were not our gods.

And the appearance of this statue is also very strange. From a distance, its legs were covered with white stripes like maggots, and its belly was decorated with a strange beast's head, and its left hand dragged a crown of things, and its right hand curled its four fingers to hook a gallows rope, which was shockingly covered with white skulls. From a distance, more than a dozen craftsmen from the Western Night Kingdom continued to tie their dry skulls to the ropes.

The guard next to him seemed to understand Chai Zhewei's thoughts, and stood next to him to make up a sentence.

"Guogong, those dry bones on the rope are the heads of the merchants who came and went by the people of the Western Night Kingdom."

Chai Zhewei didn't say anything. As the son of a family of Rongma, he has also experienced a lot of battles over the years. Soldiers often cut off the heads of the enemies they killed and tied them around their waists as a capital to ask for merit after the battle, which is called "sacrifice". Therefore, Chai Zhewen saw that there were many heads that were cut off.

What he really cared about was not the statue's left hand carrying the skewers, but the right hand with the arm stretched forward, the index finger of the right hand pointing in the direction of the dunes.

It's like saying that the next person is you.

The statue was very tall, and Chai Zhewei stood on the sand dune, looking at the fingertips pointing at him, and couldn't help but feel terrified. He wrapped himself tightly and walked down the dune, and the general Ashina Sheer happened to meet him and saluted him.

"General Ashina, this statue looks very weird, don't take it lightly when you attack the city tomorrow." Chai Zhewei said with palpitations.

"Don't worry about the princess, it's nothing more than the evil spirit of the clay sculpture. He has ordered the soldiers to surround the city, and it is estimated that the city will be broken before noon tomorrow. The divine soldier is here, whether he is a demon or a ghost, and tomorrow he will be wiped out. ”

"But I just looked out from the sand dunes, and the people of the Western Night Kingdom seem to be still sculpting the Golem, and there is no sign of preparation for war in the city, aren't they afraid that the soldiers will enter the city and be crushed?"

Ashina Sheer sneered.

"The people of the West Night Kingdom are bewildered by evil spirits, killing people like hemp, and it is not a pity to die."

Chai Zhewei nodded. He looked at the besieging soldiers. The Tang army was strong and strong, with drums and flutes, bonfires, flags fluttering, and morale.

But for some reason, he still had a faint worry in his heart.

Chai Zhewei received an urgent report of cannibalism in the West Night Country in the summer.

The West Night Country was originally a branch of the Shule people, a small country on the southern edge of the Great Quicksand, and because it was deep in the hinterland of the quicksand, it was far away from its neighbors and had little contact. It is often when the caravan encounters wind and sand that they turn to the west of the night to take shelter temporarily.

At that time, people from all countries in the Western Regions were devout in Buddhism, and there were occasional people who believed in Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism, but in general there were not many people. It is said that the Western Night Kingdom also continued to worship the Buddha until a caravan from Khotan discovered the vision of the Western Night Kingdom.

The leader of the caravan was named Yu Chi Yikang, a prince of Khotan. The caravan set out from Khotan and headed west, intending to sell the goods brought from Chang'an to places as far afield as Broken Leaves.

They originally planned to stop at Shache, but they encountered strong winds and quicksand on the road, so they had to travel north halfway, hoping to temporarily avoid the city of Hugganda Valley in the capital of the Western Night Kingdom.

It has been seven or eight years since Wei Chi Yikang arrived in the West Night Country in the hinterland of quicksand. This time, he turned his head to the north with the caravan, and about halfway there, he was surprised to see a huge statue being built in the city of Hujian Valley.

The statue had just reached its waist, and it was not clear which god or Buddha it was, but it was already three or four feet tall by eyesight. Beneath the statue's demon-like legs, the already small Western Night Capital looked like a chessboard at the feet of a giant.

All the people in the caravan entered the city of Huggalla with the posture of looking up at the statue. Unexpectedly, there were no soldiers guarding the city at the gate of the city, and they were even more surprised when they entered the city of Huggallg.

The streets at the gates of the city were so empty and silent that not even a single figure could be seen.

What kind of celebration can't be achieved in the center of the city?

With this in mind, Yu Chi Yikang simply led the brothers of the caravan directly to the inn. When they walked to the inn, they found that only the wine flag was waving, and no shopkeeper came out to greet them, nor did they see anyone drinking and eating.

"Shopkeeper, Xiao Er-what about people?" Wei Chi Yikang shouted and asked in the inn.

There was still no one in the store to answer, not even the shopkeeper who stayed in the store forever to greet customers.

The guide in the caravan was named Xian Yucang, an old fritter who traveled from east to west, and he saw that no one greeted him, and walked straight to the wine bar. He opened the wood door and saw that there was a jar of fine wine, stacks of Hu cakes, and more importantly, pots of fragrant stewed meat were boiling in several stoves.

The Western Regions is a place where water and grass are scarce, and few people are willing to slaughter livestock, so meat is extremely rare.

"Come and see, brothers! There's meat here! ”

When the caravan heard that there was meat, they immediately gathered around them like ants.

"It smells so good! Lao Tzu hasn't eaten meat for more than half a year! ”

"Since no one is greeting, let's not care if the fucking store is not doing, Lao Tzu's legs are about to break, brothers, let's eat first!"

Wei Chi Yikang was a person who had read the books of the sages, and he felt that this was inappropriate, but he looked at the caravan brothers who were tired and hungry, swarming like flies, and even if he wanted to, it was too late to stop it.

Forget it, let's settle the bill with the shopkeeper later. Yu Chi Yikang thought so.

But Yi Kang himself did not plan to join the gluttonous team, after all, he had the identity of a prince and had been influenced by the etiquette of the Tang Dynasty. He looked at the group of people who were grabbing meat and wine, and couldn't help but shake his head, took out a piece of Hu Biscuit from his bag, took out the pouch and poured a glass of water, and walked around the inn while drinking.

Outside the inn is a tavern, and further inside, the backyard is the accommodation room. Etokang walked into the backyard with water, and the backyard was empty. Not only is there no host, but there is not a single guest. But if there are no guests, why bother to stew so much meat?

Could it be that the city was met with bandits, or was it sacked by a small group of Turkic cavalry?

Not like. Because there is no trace of a fight at all.

Originally, he thought that there might be a celebration in the center of the city, but now he doesn't think about it, and if it is, then the sound of drums can definitely be heard here.

Acetoanti became even more confused. At this time, he saw from a distance that a small opening was open in the courtyard. He had stayed at this inn before, and remembered that it was the inn's house.

Are the people still busy inside? Yi Kang thought about it, and walked over to that side, shouting "Is anyone there?" as he walked.

There was still no response from the house. Yi Kang walked to the door of the house, and through the crack in the door, he caught a glimpse of the darkness inside, and a smell of blood came to his face.

Wei Chiyi's heart was beating hard, he was a little scared, and hesitated, but curiosity made him finally pull the door open.

He screamed.

The tables in the room were densely packed with black things, none other than piles of human heads. The heads of the people were all gouged out of their eyes, and the two black holes widened, staring directly at Wei Chi Yikang, who was uninvited.

Frightened, one of the upside-down onions fell to the door, and he lost his soul and ran towards the tavern screaming loudly.

"Dead! Dead! ”

He stumbled open the back door of the tavern, but then his jaw almost hit the ground in fright. For he saw that all the people of the caravan were lying on their backs and falling to the ground. What is even more terrifying is that two eagle-nosed fellows from nowhere are holding scimitars and slashing the heads of the unconscious brothers, who are still lying on the ground, and the blood is gurgling out from the severed neck.

Yi Kang tried to escape, but his legs were too weak to obey the call, and as soon as he turned around, he tripped over a stool. Yi Kang was startled, but the two knife wielders seemed to be deaf to the commotion, and they just silently slashed the heads of those people with a single knife like a reaper who had been cast. Yi Kang let out a long breath and tiptoed out the back door. At this time, he saw two officials of the Western Night Kingdom entering the inn through the main entrance, and one of them stretched out his finger and counted them one by one.

"Twenty-seven." He said.

Another person took a bald brush and wrote a few strokes in the book. Probably because the ink had dried, he squatted down with the pen, inserted it into his broken neck and dipped it in the blood, then picked it up and licked the tip of the pen, and continued to write down something in the book.

"The national teacher said that if you have enough 1,000 skeletons, the statue of the god will be built."

"When the statue is built, the gods are here?"

"Yes." The man with the pen pointed to the two men who were cutting off their heads and said, "Tell them to collect the heads and shave the bones out and throw the meat into the pot to stew." ”

The counter nodded vigorously. He patted the chopping people and gestured to them.

Only then did Yi Kang realize that the two people were deaf, and the meat in the wine pot turned out to be not the meat of livestock, but human flesh.

He was glad he hadn't eaten — but even so, he felt sick to his stomach.

The two Western Night officials turned around and prepared to leave. But the man with the pen seemed to remember something, and he turned and said to the counters, "Let them clean up when they are done." The meat was also cleaned up, and the craftsmen of the statue were waiting to eat it at night. ”

Wei Chi Yikang waited until it was dark before sneaking out of the Huqian Valley, and he didn't dare to rest and ran seven or eight miles in the quicksand in one breath. On the road full of yellow sand, he bumped into a donkey cart pulling wood from the West Night Kingdom, and found that the person driving the car was the inn owner he knew.

He wanted to dodge, because after all, the shopkeeper was also from the West Night Country. But he hadn't eaten or drunk all night, and he had no strength, so he had to watch the innkeeper pick up a firewood knife and walk towards him.

To Wei Chiyi's surprise, the shopkeeper leaned over to take a look, and instead of killing him, he handed him an owl sac. Yi Kang was stunned for a moment, he suspected that the water in the sac also had the kind of drug in the tavern. But thirst didn't make him hesitate much, he took the sac and drank the water.

The shopkeeper didn't speak, just sat on the sand beside him. Both of them looked in the direction of Huqian Valley from afar, and they could see the unfinished half-colossus through the wind and sand.

"What's that?" Wei Chi Yikang saw that he didn't faint, and the store didn't mean to harm him, so he had the courage to ask.

"The god of our people of the Western Night." The shopkeeper said.

"What God? Buddha? ”

The shopkeeper glanced at Yikang, then touched the firewood knife in his hand, and said slowly: "The people of the West Night have abandoned the Buddha and have a new god." The people of the whole city of Huggall are now God's people, and they are all sculpting statues for the gods, so that he can reign over the world. ”

"The rule of the world is to save all beings. The national teacher said that the ugly and ferocious god Asura will trample on the world, kill all the men, take all the women, and turn all the oases into deserts. And our god is the nemesis of the asuras, and only when he comes to the world can he stop the plundering of the asuras. ”

"Asura, are you the Asura of the Six Realms?" Yi asked.

The shopkeeper nodded with a frightened expression.

"And what about your king?"

"King? There is no king in the west now, only a national teacher. The king died, and the heads of the king and queen were now trampled under the feet of the gods and became foundations. ”

"So...... You kill people for God......" B Kang asked tremblingly.

"They killed the wrong person." The shopkeeper said suddenly.

"What?" B said in surprise.

"I was in a hurry, so I killed the wrong person, and the person was meant to be killed, but not like this. Therefore, the Western Night Kingdom is about to suffer disaster. ”

Wei Chi Yikang wanted to ask again, but the shopkeeper had already stood up. He patted the grains of sand on his body, and threw the pouch and a bag of Hu cakes to Yu Chi Yikang's side.

"The people of the caravan don't damn, you go." After saying this, the shopkeeper strode towards the donkey cart.

Yu Chi Yikang watched as the shopkeeper drove the donkey cart away in the direction of Huqian Valley. He drank the water, ate half a piece of bread, and began to stumble again in the direction of Khotan. Six days later, he lost his way again in the desert, and just as he was dying, a passing caravan rescued him. When he woke up, he kept shouting three words—

"I am Chi Yikang, the prince of Khotan. I'm going to Qiuzi, and I'm going to meet Lord Duhu from Datang! The Western Night Kingdom began to believe in the Demon Cult, and they began to eat people! ”

Chai Zhewei thought back to that Wei Chi Yikang, and he came to Qiuzi in despair to tell himself about the changes in the Western Night Kingdom. As the protector of Anxi of the Tang Dynasty, he must summon the countries of the Western Regions to send troops to attack the Western Night Kingdom.

The Tang army made rice the next day, and after eating, they fought hard. When the time came, they finally sounded the trumpet of the siege. The team of tens of thousands of people squeezed towards the city of Huqian Valley in a dark and heavy manner.

It was already dawning, and Chai Zhewei rode his horse to the gate of Huqian Valley. He saw a black flag on the castle tower, and a red lotus flower was embroidered on it.

Ashina Sheer also rode over slowly, and he pointed to the city tower and said, "Guogong, there seems to be no movement in the city. ”

Chai Zhewei waved his hand.

"Ordered the siege of the city. By the way, I must stay alive, I want to know what is going on in the West Nights. ”

Ashina Sheer nodded, he raised his arm high, and the herald waved the commanding flag, and in an instant, the drums beat loudly and the horns sounded in unison.

Tens of thousands of Tang troops shouted and rushed to the gates of the Western Night Kingdom, but they met no resistance.

The city gate was smashed open by the city breaker, and the Tang army poured into the Huqian Valley, just as Wei Chi Yikang saw, they were also faced with empty streets, and the houses on both sides had already been demolished, and it seemed that everything had been pulled to build the statue.

The Tang army entered the city from four directions, and almost every house was rummaged, but still no figure could be found.

"Go to the statue!" Ashina Sheer thought that he had seen thousands of people busy at the statue yesterday evening, and they must be there now, so he shouted loudly.

The Tang army roared again and rushed towards the center of the city, where the palace of the Western Night King and the Great Buddha Temple were located, but now the temple was destroyed, and the huge unfinished statue of the demon god stood on the original site.

There was chaos on the construction site. Many bricks and earth were piled under the statue, and there were piles of white bones and human heads next to them, and the whole site stinked in.

But no one. The thousands of people who were still busy on the statue last night seemed to have disappeared overnight. But the Tang army surrounded the entire Huqian Valley City like an iron bucket last night, and it was impossible for anyone to escape, let alone thousands of people fleeing together.

Chai Zhewei also rushed over. He rode a horse and stood at the foot of the statue and looked up, and was surprised to find that the stripes on the demon's legs were all human bones.

At this time, a sudden gust of demonic wind roared, Chai Zhewei looked up in fright, only to see that the big quicksand suddenly rose at some point, and the overwhelming yellow sand hit the city like a devil's cry with the strong wind.

The Tang troops who surrounded them were also frightened, they looked at this statue full of white bones and skeletons, looked at the yellow sand that covered the sky and the sun, and retreated in fear. Chai Zhewei began to worry, once the tens of thousands of troops were chaotic in the small city, the scene of trampling on each other was unimaginable.

At the critical moment, Ashina Sheer stepped forward, he rode a war horse, rushed to the material table in front of the statue, and shouted in a voice like a bell-

"Brothers, don't be afraid, destroy the golem, and everyone will be safe!"

Self-help is an innate ability for everyone. Ashina Sheer knew that when the morale of the army was weakened, it was necessary to set a common goal that could be achieved for the soldiers and soldiers, otherwise it would collapse for thousands of miles.

The panicked Tang Jun listened to the general's shout, gradually stabilized his position, and began to rush towards the white bone statue against the wind and sand.

Ashina Sheer rode down the high platform and led the guards to protect Chai Zhewei. He rode his horse again, shouting to the soldiers who were digging the legs of the statue in all directions:

"Don't move, dig in one direction, and the rest stay away!"

The wind and sand are even greater, and people have been blown so that they can't open their eyes and mouths. Chai Zhewei, who had already made up his mind, ordered all the honor guards and flags he was holding to be removed, and Ashina Sheer also ordered the soldiers to put down the flags, and the entire army hid in the city, relying on the remnants of the buildings in the city to form a moonless formation, and took turns digging the statue's feet along the direction of the wind.

Chai Zhewei had always been a little worried in his heart, he was worried that the thousands of Western Night Nationals who disappeared in the Iron Bucket Array would suddenly appear and attack the Tang Army, which was a bit like a frightened bird. But in the end, the people of the West Night did not come out, they really seemed to evaporate, and they did not know where they had disappeared.

Chai Zhewei shielded the wind and sand with his hands, he looked up at the unfinished huge statue, and a terrifying thought suddenly appeared in his heart-

Could it be that all the people of the Western Nights have taken refuge in this colossus?

Just as he had the idea, he heard the sound of the sky shaking—one of the legs of the bone-white, headless statue had been cut off by the Tang Army, and it fell down to the bottom of the tuyere in a daze.