52 Silk Road 12
◎Kumarajiva◎
Unlike Liangzhou in the Tang Dynasty, this time Zhu Heng and Helan Dao entered the city without any hindrance.
There were no soldiers guarding the gate, and everything around them was eerily quiet. Suddenly, there was a creaking sound, and the city gate slowly opened to them.
Zhu Heng narrowed his eyes slightly, paused, and moved his ears.
The ground beneath his feet began to tremble slightly—a very slight movement that would not have been easily noticed if Zhu Heng had not had extraordinary senses.
Zhu Heng subconsciously reached out his arm, stopping Helan who was continuing to walk inside and said, "Don't go in! There's something strange going on."
However, Helan Dao had already stepped into the city. He looked down at Zhu Heng's hand across his chest, his gaze sliding down to his toes. He raised an eyebrow and said, "Oh—too late."
The ending tone is full of twists and turns, and it even sounds like it has a bit of gloating effect.
Zhu Heng curled his lips expressionlessly, withdrew his hand, and looked towards the city.
The shaking of the earth became increasingly obvious, as if it was out of control.
The ground beneath their feet undulated like waves. The yellow sand danced and rippled across the surface, radiating excitement as if welcoming someone's arrival.
They soon found out the answer.
A dragon's roar tore through the silence in the city. A huge green water dragon broke through the blockade of the earth and rose into the sky from the ground. Yellow sand and rocks exploded, and Zhu Heng and Helan Dao were caught off guard and hit in the face.
Zhu Heng frowned, touched his fingertips with some mud and sand, and sniffed it.
The mud and sand were soaked with the smell of the water dragon, and a foul odor rushed straight to the top of his head, making Zhu Heng hold his breath and hide for a while.
What a smelly water dragon.
He looked up at the water dragon circling in the sky, shuttling back and forth in the clouds, its trajectory gradually drawing a pattern.
"Is that... a horizontal number '8'?" Wang Kunshu, who had been squatting in front of the surveillance screen, stared at the pattern intently and guessed, "What does it mean?"
No one answered her question. Xie Shen was trying to comfort the member of the Song Dynasty team who seemed quiet on the surface but was actually extremely panicked about Helan Dao, the famous waste from Central City. And Xu Wenjun... Xu Wenjun didn't even look at Helan Dao, as if she wasn't worried at all that he couldn't get out. Instead, she checked on Tao Ran's situation from time to time.
Things were still the same over there with Tao Ran. Xu Wenjun couldn't see what murals were painted in the cave through the surveillance. He could only judge from Tao Ran's condition that there should be no progress on his side.
He looked like a tourist visiting the cave murals, with his hands behind his back, glancing here and there. Occasionally, when he couldn't see clearly, he would take out his bead, polish it and use it as a light source.
Tao Ran took the beads and moved closer to the portrait of Helan Dao. He looked up and saw a dark mass behind Helan Dao, which looked like a door. A monster whose appearance could not be seen was squatting at the door.
He looked at the monster and exclaimed "Huh!", his face almost touching the inner wall of the cave. His movements were as funny as a giant monkey. He was completely unaware that his every move was seen by Xu Wenjun.
Xu Wenjun's expression was as solemn as ever, with a frown on his face, forming a thin wrinkle in the shape of a "川" (Chuan character) over the years.
She put her hands on her chest, held her face with her right hand, and tapped her cheek lightly with her fingertips.
She suddenly realized that she had overlooked a question before - why was there such a cave in the Silk Road copy that was not on the main quest line?
Why was Tao Ran the one dragged to the grottoes?
What is the origin of the bead on his body?
…
Wang Kunshu glanced at the people around him, curled his lips, and refocused his gaze back on the screen.
The huge water dragon was still flying tirelessly in the air. Wang Kunshu tilted his head and was suddenly stunned.
It doesn’t seem to be the number “8”…it’s the infinity symbol “”?
"It's a symbol." Zhu Heng said.
Helan Dao became interested: "Infinite, or infinite? Is it trying to tell us something?"
"Who knows?"
As soon as Zhu Heng finished speaking, the water dragon in the air let out a long roar, emerged from the clouds, and rushed towards them with its bloody mouth wide open.
A foul smell came from the dragon's mouth, like dirty water that had been blocked and turned sour, and it was also mixed with the stench of a rotting corpse.
The dragon head rushed towards Zhu Heng first, and was about to swallow him whole.
Zhu Heng stood there, motionless.
The moment the huge dragon head approached, it suddenly turned into water mist, and the entire water dragon dissipated in the air.
Helan Dao got an umbrella from somewhere and held it over Zhu Heng's head to block the stinking mist.
He chuckled softly, "Even though it's an illusion, at least try to hide from it, right? After all, the stinking water is real."
Zhu Heng glanced at Helan Dao indifferently.
He Landao was right. The water dragon was an illusion, and Zhu Heng had seen through it long ago. That was why he was so calm and not worried that the water dragon would hurt them.
Zhu Heng looked towards the city. As the water dragon disappeared, more illusions appeared before them.
In the middle of the road, a sapling sprouted from the ground, growing rapidly at a visible rate, its branches spreading out to create a thick shade. Beneath the green shade, countless fruits and vegetables grew on the branches.
Helan Dao held an umbrella and walked side by side with Zhu Heng around the huge melon tree. Behind the melon tree, a mountain was hanging upside down in the sky, and the city under the mountain was like a puzzle, constantly changing.
This is actually a city of illusion.
There was no one in the city, and Zhu Heng and Helan Dao had no way to ask for directions. Fortunately, there was no need to ask for directions in this city, because right in front of them, a giant skeleton statue rose from the ground.
It was hidden behind the densely packed buildings of all sizes. No matter where Zhu Heng and his companions were in the city, they could clearly see the presence of the skeleton.
The two men didn't say a word and didn't make eye contact. They used the skull as a guide and rushed to its location in tacit understanding.
The closer they got to the giant skeleton, the more types of illusions they found along the way, and they always gave them the illusion that the place was very lively and bustling.
When they finally saw the giant skeleton with their own eyes, they also saw people, living people.
It was a group of monks, a mix of Han and Hu people, gathered in three layers around a giant skeleton. They sat on the ground, meditating and practicing, all facing the skeleton, but not to pay homage. Some had painful expressions, some were sweating, and some had flushed faces...
It looks like he is enduring some inhuman pain.
Zhu Heng's gaze fell on the giant skeleton with a strange shape.
Its upper body was a human skeleton, while its lower body consisted of only vertebrae coiled downwards, standing in the mud. It had an enchanting figure, its snow-white frame adorned with gold and red jewels, which only made the skull even more beautiful.
Zhu Heng stared at the skeleton, and inexplicably thought of snakes in his mind.
"Beauty Snake." Helan Dao said suddenly.
Zhu Heng looked at him.
"They are practicing, abstaining from sex and cutting off human desires." Helan Dao continued to explain.
Listening to Helan Dao's words, Zhu Heng took the opportunity to glance at the giant skeleton. Around the skeleton, all the monks were facing the skeleton with painful expressions, probably enduring the temptation from the beautiful snake.
The people around him were still explaining things to him, and pleasant voices came into his ears from time to time, but Zhu Heng had no energy to pay attention.
Because he saw a monk who seemed unable to resist the temptation of the beautiful snake. He wanted to break through the crowd's defenses, break the precepts, and touch the human desires that haunted them.
However, before the monk could get close, the skeleton sculpture immediately took half a step back, avoiding the monk's pounce.
Zhu Heng looked at the skeleton, frightened by the monk and forced to retreat half a step, and surprisingly found it more handsome. The skeleton's behavior reminded Zhu Heng of the cold and aloof Bodhisattva, who came to this world to test the world.
The monk who attempted to break his vows was successfully stopped by the other monks. His face flushed red as he struggled, muttering, "Why can Kumarajiva break his vows and still be respected, but I can't?"
Zhu Heng looked at him and laughed meaningfully.
Beauty snake beauty snake, one has no beautiful appearance, two does not actively cater to others. Yan Shan Hall
If a monk breaks his vows for her, whose fault will it be?
Just as Zhu Heng was lost in thought, a slightly aged voice rang out, "I have never met you two benefactors before. May I ask where you are from?"
Zhu Heng turned around and saw that the monk who was speaking was about fifty or sixty years old, with a thin figure, a flowing monk's robe, and his face was full of traces of time.
But from the direction of his facial features and bones, one can vaguely make out what a dashing and elegant man he was when he was young.
Zhu Heng didn't know how to respond. Normally, in their situation, there shouldn't be any place for them to come from, but the words that came out of his mouth turned into: "Chang'an."
When the thin old monk heard Chang'an's name, his eyes flashed slightly.
Zhu Heng looked at him and suddenly said, "You are not affected by the skeleton."
The words were stated, but the tone was tinged with doubt.
All the monks in the city were facing the skull, except for the old monk in front of him, who had his back to it and remained unmoved.
The old monk smiled and said calmly, "Because I have already broken the precepts."
The monk who broke his vows, wasn’t that Kumarajiva?
Zhu Heng was shocked and remembered the words of the monk who wanted to break the precepts just now.
He turned and stared at Kumarajiva, but the old monk still had a smile on his face.
Zhu Heng could vaguely see a hint of pain in his expression. He suddenly shook his head slowly: "No, it's not because of this."
Rather than saying that the skeleton is a womanizer, it is better to say that it is the inner demon of everyone.
Kumarajiva had no reaction to the skull, not because he had broken his vows and had tasted the sweetness of the marrow, but because...
"The skeleton is also an illusion, but no one knows it except you," said Zhu Heng.
Kumarajiva's eyes moved slightly and he looked over with some surprise.
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