Chapter 25: Tracing the Trace
The fog in the Nine Palaces Bagua Array is filled, the forks are intricate, and there are many mazes. The three of them stopped and went, and they didn't know how many forks they had bypassed and how many mazes they had walked through. I only felt that my feet were sore, my legs were numb, and I was exhausted.
Hu Yan had long been lost in that formation, but fortunately, he didn't mess up with the guidance in front of him. It's just that along the way, Hu Yan couldn't see anything else except stones and fog, which made him tired and tired, and his heart was bored. And this white misery fog is more desperate than the dark cave.
"Wuqiu, where are we going now?" Seeing that Wuqiu stopped at a fork in the road to calculate, Hu Yan hurriedly stepped forward to ask.
Wuqiu pinched his knuckles, sniffled and said, "If nothing else, you should be able to reach the Demon Town Platform after walking through this fork in the road." ”
Hearing Wuqiu say this, Hu Yan suddenly felt a little happy in his heart: "It's finally almost here, do you think Brother Zhuang and Jin Ning'er will wait for us on the demon platform?"
Wuqiu shrugged and said: "That's not certain, with the impulsive nature of the fierce girl, whether she can get out of this maze is a matter of words." ”
Hu Yan nodded slightly, this Jin Ning'er has a hot temper and an impulsive personality. Moreover, if you don't know the formation, you don't have to ask for guidance, and it is very likely that you will strayed into a fork in the road, and you will be trapped in a maze and unable to extricate yourself. Thinking of this, Jin Ning'er's nonsense, which has always hated Jin Ning'er, has a faint trace of worry in his heart at this moment.
Seeing the worry that flashed on Hu Yan's face, he couldn't help grinning: "What's the matter, you're still worried that this fierce girl is coming." ”
Hu Yan pouted and said: "Aren't you worried about him, anyway, she is also walking with us here, if she is trapped in this formation." We are also to blame. ”
Wuqiu shrugged his nose and said, "Come on, she just did it to herself." ”
Even so, Wuqiu is also worried about Jin Ning'er in his heart, although the two of them mostly quarrel over trivial matters on weekdays, but Hu Yan can see that the relationship between the two is getting deeper and deeper.
"Nonsense, we don't have much time, we need to speed up. If the array changes, I'm afraid we'll have to be trapped in it. With that, he walked quickly to the fork in the road on the right.
Hu Yan didn't linger, and hurriedly pulled Ziling to follow quickly.
Gradually, Hu Yan felt that the fog in front of him was getting thicker and thicker. Soon, even the back of Wuqiu, who was walking in front, became hazy.
Hu Yan didn't dare to go too far away from Wuqiu, so he hurriedly followed, but Hu Yan found that Wuqiu's figure became more and more hazy. He stretched out his hand to grab Wuqiu, but suddenly found that Wuqiu, who was close at hand, had disappeared out of thin air.
Hu Yan was horrified in his heart, and turned his head to look at Ziling. found that Ziling was also gone, and the small hand that was originally clenched turned into a dry branch at some point.
The sudden change made Hu Yan panic suddenly, obviously he was holding Ziling's white little hand, how could it turn into a branch. How could a good person suddenly disappear out of thin air.
Hu Yan looked at the branch in his hand that was slightly raised as if mocking, and his heart was in turmoil.
"What's going on? Ziling, Wuqiu, where are you?"
All that was answered was a distant echo.
"It must be an illusion...... Hu Yan kept warning himself that what was in front of him was just an illusion, as long as he closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, the illusion would disappear.
But wait until he closes his eyes, and then opens them at the next time. The fog was still hazy in front of him, and what he held in his hand was still the dry branch. Ziling did not appear, and Wuqiu did not appear.
"What's the situation......" Hu Yan was already confused at the moment, and the sudden change caught him a little off guard.
"Calm down...... Calm down......" Hu Yan kept reminding himself, but how could he calm down if he hadn't encountered such a strange thing again.
At this moment, a mantra suddenly flashed in his mind, which was the meditation mantra that the master had taught before.
He didn't care what this place was, he hurriedly sat down cross-legged, pinched the meridian in his hand, recited a mantra in his mouth, looked at his nose with his eyes, and looked at his heart with his nose. After a while, the original impetuous mood slowly calmed down.
The calm nonsense can finally calmly face everything in front of him. Judging from the current situation, he could be sure that he should be in the path of this formation. According to what Wuqiu said before, if he either strayed into the maze, this array has changed. It's just that he can't figure out why Wuqiu and Ziling suddenly disappeared around him like the world evaporated.
But since it has happened, it is useless to think about it, it is better to think about how you can get out of this predicament. It's just that the difficulty now is that he has nine out of ten tricks in the formation, and he doesn't know anything. It is obviously not so simple to get out of this Nine Palaces Bagua Array.
If you strayed into the maze, as long as you don't rush in and exit the way you came, it should be fine. But if you change the formation and trap yourself here, then the problem is more serious.
The change of the array disk means that the direction is displaced, and the way from which it came will no longer exist, and there is no way to retreat at all. If you rush forward, I am afraid that you will also enter another maze, or even enter the door of shock or death, then it will be difficult to save the immortals.
Hu Yan looked around, and found that although the place he was in was still foggy and there were many forks in the road, nothing special happened, except for the terrible silence around him, but there was no danger.
In such a quiet environment, Hu Yan became more and more calm because of the blessing of the meditation mantra. The originally complicated brain has become extraordinarily clear at this moment. Since you can't rely on Wuqiu now, you can only rely on yourself to find a way out.
Although he didn't understand the formation, he didn't want to say the points related to this formation before, and Hu Yan remembered it word for word at the moment.
Wu Qiu said that the Nine Palaces Bagua Array is arranged according to the direction of the Bagua, and this boulder is the hexagram of the Bagua. That is, Qian, Kan, Gen, Zhen, Xun, Li, Kun, and Dui correspond to the northwest, north, northeast, east, southeast, southwest, southwest, and west. That is to say, even if the array plate changes, although the hexagram is displaced, the direction will not change. The central Douwu Huang Town Demon Platform will not be moved.
So the current situation is that these hexagrams made of boulders have changed their positions without paying attention to them. So much so that I let myself go into this maze. If you want to get out of here, what you have to do is to distinguish the direction, and then find the right hexagram to have a chance to get out of this maze.
For Hu Yan, it is not easy to recognize the direction in this thick fog. And I don't have a compass or anything to determine the direction of the magic weapon. This made it a little difficult for him.
Just when Hu Yan was in trouble, suddenly a flash of inspiration flashed in his mind, and he picked up the dead branch that he had originally thrown on the ground.
"This branch...... Yes, since there will be branches, there will be trees, and as long as there are trees, I can discern the direction. Thinking like this, Hu Yan suddenly became enlightened. He has been chopping wood and digging medicine in the mountains all year round, but he also knows some ways to distinguish directions.
In the past, Hu Yan got lost in the mountains and forests, and often relied on the sun and stars to judge the direction, and he could always go home safely. It's just that there is no day in this cave, and you can't see the sun, nor the bright moon and stars, so it is naturally impossible to judge the direction by relying on the sun and stars. Now the only hope is to find the tree where the dead branch belongs. As long as you find this tree, you can judge the direction from the growth rings, the wide side of the annual rings is the south, and the narrow side is the north. Another way to do this is to look at the foliage of the tree, which is generally dense on the south side and sparse on the north side.
Therefore, as long as he finds this tree, Hu Yan can find the direction, and as long as he finds the direction, he can deduce the corresponding hexagram from the direction. As for the change of the array, it is not nonsense to consider now. After all, you have to find the big tree first to get down to business.
Thinking back, Ziling had spoken to Hu Yan at the previous intersection, that is to say, Ziling should have disappeared after entering the previous fork. Then the tree must also be between its own position and the previous intersection. As long as you exit the way you came, you should be able to spot this big tree.
Thinking of this, Hu Yan no longer hesitated, turned around and walked the way he came. But after not taking a few steps, he suddenly felt that this road was obviously a little different from the way he came. This also affirmed his thoughts, not only did he enter the maze, but the array also quietly changed. It's impossible to go back to the old way. If you can't find the way you came, you won't be able to find the tree.
"Damn it......" Hu Yan was a little depressed in his heart, cursing and slamming his fist on the boulder beside him.
The powerful fist slammed into the boulder with a dull sound that made the iron cables above the boulder clang.
"What now?" Hu Yan withdrew his fist and touched the smashed fist that was a little swollen. But I felt the moss in my hand.
Hu Yan pinched the moss in his hand in disgust, all of which were moss that could only grow in dark and damp places. Looking at these mosses, Hu Yan's heart moved, and he hurriedly checked the huge stone in front of him where the iron ropes were shaking and clanging.
The boulder was mossy and damp on one side, and bare on the other. Hu Yan raised his eyes and looked at the other boulders next to him, the other boulders were the same as this stone, one side was covered with moss, and the other side was not growing.
Hu Yan was immediately overjoyed, clapped his hands and said: "My nonsense really shouldn't be here today." With all these mosses, are you still worried that you can't find your way?"
Hu Yan, who runs in the mountains all the year round, not only knows more about medicinal materials and trees, but also is naturally no stranger to this moss, some mosses can not only be eaten, but also used in medicine. There is a folk proverb that says, "The moss dews green in March, and the moss fills the river with green in April", and Hu Yan at this moment is naturally not interested in eating these mosses.
The place where the moss grows is the key to cracking the formation.