Chapter 55: Item 2: Molar Candy
Chen Li’s dream was dark and he could not see anything.
At first, only a faint sound could be heard.
"This is your bedroom. I also lived in this room when I was a child. Can you feel it? There are some scratches on the door frame."
A hand covered his.
He was guided to touch the marks on the door frame, from bottom to top.
“This mark is my height when I was five years old.”
"Here, it's seven."
"Here, ten years old."
Chen Li's hand continued to grope upwards along the door frame, and the mark disappeared when he went further up.
"After I turned ten, my grandfather was very strict and arranged a lot of endless courses for me to study every day. I didn't have many opportunities to measure my height afterwards."
Shen Li stayed in the darkness, listening quietly to what the man said.
"Go out through the scored door frame, turn left for ten steps, which is where you wash, and turn right for thirty steps to go out."
"The cane is hung on the wall behind the gate. If you want to go out when I'm not around, you can take the cane with you, which will make walking more convenient."
The door opened and hot air rushed in.
"You live very close to the library and the ancestral hall."
"There are three paths out of the gate. Going left is the ancestral hall, and going right is the library. When you are alone, try not to go forward. There are many steps ahead. If you take a wrong step, you will get hurt."
"Now I'll take you to the washroom."
The man took his hand and slowed his pace.
Shen Li reached forward and touched the air tentatively.
"Where's the towel?"
As soon as he asked, a warm towel was covered on his face.
“You don’t need to know this.”
The towel covering his eyes was removed, and Shen Li's tightly closed eyes slowly opened.
A ray of light poured in.
The boy in the mirror who was talking to him looked half a head taller than him.
When he said this, his expression was lonely and sad.
"Where the towel is, whether to turn left or right, how many steps to take forward, you don't need to know these, because I am by your side."
He stood behind him, holding his shoulders firmly:
"Compared to these, you have your responsibilities and missions, so leave these trivial matters to me."
It was not until the moment Chen Li regained his sight that Ye Minglang saw the man's appearance in the mirror.
It was clearly him.
He couldn't think too much, some scenes flashed by.
Because of the magic, there would be several rains every year in the originally dry purgatory.
When it rains, it's a good time to store water.
Water sources here are becoming less scarce.
The ancestor attended the family meeting and pushed Shen Li from behind the scenes to the front.
From then on, the people of the four major families stopped fighting among themselves, united as one, and respected him as their leader.
The cost of using talismans is huge. Chen Li is blind for at least half a year in a year.
That's the only person who stays with him all the time.
In the huge library, the blind Chen Li and Ye Minglang supported and accompanied each other.
He had already read through the volumes recording the art of talismans thoroughly.
He is everyone's hope.
The pages filled with runes were turned over.
Shen Li led everyone to climb from the eighteenth level of hell to the seventeenth level.
The world transitioned from eternal day to eternal night.
There is no light in the seventeenth level of hell, and the cold seeps into the bones.
Under the endless ice field, there were frozen corpses with hideous faces floating on the ground.
The ancient and magnificent building was half frozen under the ice and half exposed above the ice field.
The flames that everyone tried so hard to protect were extinguished one by one in the cold wind of the dark night.
"We need light, a light that never goes out."
They began to miss the scorching sun in the eighteenth level of hell.
Hunger is secondary, at least there needs to be light so they can go out to look for more food.
Shen Li, who had lost all his five senses, coughed in the darkness and sat up weakly.
They built makeshift shelters amid the rubble.
Everyone was freezing.
When the fire went out, the only pot of hot soup that was boiling was brought to Chen Li.
"What's the situation outside?"
Shen Li asked him.
Ye Minglang was a little surprised to hear him speak.
"You are not..."
"Lose all five senses for a month? That's how it should be, but I can't hear you guys talking, and I can't feel everyone's presence. It's too hard to bear, so I used a spell to replace it."
"What's the price?" Although Chen Li said it lightly, he always got to the point.
"Blind for a year."
In the darkness, he carefully touched Ye Minglang's hand.
"Anyway, it's eternal night here. There's not much difference between being able to see and not being able to see."
In fact, he is also afraid of the dark.
But with Ye Minglang around, everything is different.
Ye Minglang held his hand in return, trying to give him some warmth.
"Just now, we lost the last spark of fire."
Despair looms over me again and again.
Escaped from one hell and came to another hell.
Suddenly, a scream was heard from the ruins.
Someone shouted in the chaos, "There's something under the ice."
It was so dark around that everyone could only vaguely get a message.
There is something under the ice, but there is no way of knowing what it is.
Without light, nothing can be seen.
Chen Li led everyone from the eighteenth level to the seventeenth level, and he himself was already extremely weak.
But he still managed to stand up.
In the ruins, the ice beneath everyone's feet kept cracking.
Ye Minglang subconsciously stood in front of Shen Li.
Something jumped out from under the ice.
Everyone responded based on instinct.
"later!"
The two have been together for many years and have developed enough tacit understanding.
Ye Minglang drew out two long swords and quickly exchanged positions with Shen Li.
The two men stood back to back, one wielding a knife and the other drawing talismans.
Chen Li put one hand behind his back and drew a talisman in the air with the other hand, then grabbed something out of thin air.
He held a piece of talisman paper between two fingers and waved it.
The talisman spontaneously ignited for no reason, and tiny dots of flame left flickering embers in the air as it was waved.
Like orange-yellow snowflakes, they will suddenly light up when there is wind, and then quickly go out.
With such a faint light, Ye Minglang saw a huge object sliding past their feet.
He drew his sword with all his might and hit it twice in succession. It was like he was chopping on a block of iron, and the vibration of the long sword made his hands numb.
The thing seemed to have a layer of fine scales as hard as armor, which made a slight sound when scraping against the ice.
"left!"
The two exchanged positions again, a talisman fell, and a ray of light disappeared.
This time Ye Minglang finally saw it clearly.
It was a giant snake.
At their feet was the snake's tail, and its head was hidden in the darkness on the other side. With a scream, it swallowed another person.
"We need light!"
Some people cried helplessly.
The faint light of Shen Li ignited at his fingertips.
A gust of wind blew, and the light suddenly went out again.
In this bitterly cold land, snow is falling everywhere.
They were outnumbered and could not even keep a light on.
He was forced to fight the giant snake under the ice.
Chen Li knew that this was not a solution.
Although he is gifted, his talismans are obscure and difficult to understand.
He has been stuck here for too long. In the past one or two years, he has been unable to find an opportunity to break through.
He sacrificed his vision, hearing, and smell...
Still can't save everyone.
He was like a flame in winter.
When someone needs it, just take some firewood to keep warm.
Little by little.
By the time I came to my senses, only a small flame was left alive.
what to do?
Do you really want to sacrifice your life?
Amid screams, a skinny arm grabbed his calf.
The old ancestor who had lost his legs followed the faint light and crawled to his feet at some point.
"You can't sacrifice yourself anymore, sacrifice me instead."
The old ancestor was very old and had many illnesses, so he was not going to live long.
He has managed to hold on to his last breath and survive until now, hoping that his life can help Shen Li at the critical moment.
Shen Li blurted out subconsciously: "No."
"Even if you don't sacrifice me, I'm going to die soon. I think it's worth it to use my life in exchange for the lives of others."
"Child, I know that your magic stops here because you never want to hurt others. It's not that you can't comprehend it, but that you can't get over this hurdle in your heart."
The old ancestor spoke earnestly, his voice loud in the cold wind, without any sign of retreating or fear.
"The more you hesitate, the more people will die. Those who died were younger than me. I have lived enough, but they haven't. I beg you to save them!"
Ye Minglang realized that the ancestor was using his own life to force Chen Li to make a decision.
The giant snake heard the ancestor's voice, followed the sound, and pounced towards them with its mouth wide open.
Ye Minglang held up his long sword, blocked the sharp snake fangs, and protected Chen Li's safety.
But no one expected that this snake had two heads.
While Ye Minglang was fighting with the first snake head, another snake head suddenly pounced towards him.
Ye Minglang's long sword fell to the ground.
The old man pinched Shen Li tightly, "If you don't make a decision, everyone will die!"
Chen Li stood alone on the ice, hot tears streaming down his face.
He also knew that the reason why he couldn't improve his talisman skills was because he couldn't get over this hurdle.
But right now everyone is in crisis, forcing him to make a choice.
The moment Ye Minglang entered Shekou, Chen Li finally compromised.
He began to draw talismans.
It was a symbol he had never drawn before.
Use others as fuel to fuel your own flame.
The ancestor put his life into the talisman, and Shen Li felt the endless power pouring into his body in despair.
He bit his finger, and on the verge of collapse, he sent the talisman into the night sky.
A full moon rises in the east.
Firewood enters life and stirs up a thousand-foot-high radiance.
The originally dark world suddenly lit up.
Although it was not daytime, the full moon was high in the sky, casting its bright light all over the ground.
“There is light.”
“I can see now!”
The survivors were extremely excited.
Young people are no longer unarmed.
Everyone took up arms to defend each other.
The moonlight tears through the darkness, leaving faint shadows under everyone's feet.
The ancestor looked at the moon with a smile on his face and passed away without any regrets.
He used his life to bring an everlasting light to everyone.
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