Chapter 642: Buried Secrets (5.7k)
"October 10th. Today, the group I'm with finally left the capital and sailed south by speedboat. I'm not sure where we're going. I asked my superiors privately, but they rebuked me and forbade me to inquire..."
"On October 11th, the team temporarily docked at a pier. I finally saw His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, who was traveling with the team.
As far as I know, as the last remaining guard protecting the Imperial City, we are each led by a team of princes, moving along different routes. The Crown Prince's presence also means that our team is the most important."
"...However, the reason His Royal Highness showed up was because someone in the team secretly tipped off the group, suspected of colluding with the bandits and revealing their whereabouts.
His Highness was furious and publicly hanged the suspect at the dock. His flesh was slashed off with blades, but he was kept alive with elixirs. When he died, only a skeleton filled with internal organs remained... That night, I was awakened by a nightmare.
"On October 13th, due to the discovery of our whereabouts, the Crown Prince temporarily changed his route. We abandoned our boats and began traveling through the mountains. The vehicles transporting the palace treasures followed the winding and treacherous roads, successfully avoiding the bandits...
During lunch break, I heard that all the troops would converge at the same place, but the generals in the army stayed up all night, seemingly arguing about which route to take to break out...
The road to the south is no longer the land of Qi State, but has been torn to pieces by the bandits led by the Xu family.
"November 15th. There are no records for this date. To prevent the whereabouts from being revealed, His Royal Highness ordered the massacre of all the villages and towns where they stopped for training along the way... I don't know if this is (this part was erased)."
"December 1st, heavy snow. We've crossed the Jiangnan border, and the bandits ahead have dwindled... It's said that most of the bandits have fled north, and the capital has fallen.
During lunch break, I overheard some bad news. It was said that a transport team had been intercepted by bandits and was in danger... The prince did not choose to rescue them.
"On December 16th, because that team attracted the attention of most of the bandits, we successfully entered Yunfu. I noticed that the expressions of His Highness and other high-ranking officials began to relax. Could it be that His Highness planned to seize Yunfu and establish a new capital?"
"On the 17th! We heard the tragic news that His Majesty the Emperor had passed away in the capital. We received the news over a month late. The Crown Prince ordered the entire team to halt for a day to pay their respects on the spot, with everyone wrapped in white silk."
…
In the La Garden.
Pei Niannu calmly read out page after page of the diary.
Zhao Duan and his companions held their breath and concentrated, as if they were following the owner of the diary, the noble guard from six hundred years ago, and witnessed the "escape" across the Central Plains.
Zhao Duan was pressing the diary, and suddenly turned his head to look at Yuxiu and said:
"I remember you said that there were historical records that an army from the Qi Kingdom, escorting many imperial treasures, fled to the southwest and hid there, and then disappeared?"
Yuxiu pursed her lips and explained with a serious expression:
"Yes. So one of my goals in exploring Dajiang a few years ago was to search for the legendary treasure. At the time, I suspected from some clues that the group of guards had died in the harsh environment of Dajiang, and the treasures they carried were hidden by the Liao people."
Jin Jian beside him suddenly understood, his eyes sparkling:
"So, Second Senior Sister, you took the risk of sneaking into La Garden?"
I don’t know if it’s because it’s “dark” or because of the treasure involved... Anyway, the young priestess seems unusually excited.
The fear on his face was replaced by excitement.
Yuxiu nodded, and the light in her eyes dimmed:
"Unfortunately, I couldn't find it that day. Although I hid in the La Garden and tried to explore, I didn't dare to get too close to the temple because of the presence of the Laba God. Recently, I also stopped at the altar."
Zhao Duan sighed softly and said:
"It seems that the truth is very likely this. The last of the Qi Kingdom's guards was killed by the Liao people or the Laba God."
However, he still had doubts in his mind.
As far as he knew, six hundred years ago, the Liao people had lived in Xinjiang for many years, and this place had long been the territory of the evil god.
Who gave Prince Qi the courage to venture into Xinjiang?
Could it be that the Liao people who have the support of the evil god are much weaker than Old Xu back then?
As if it was a prophecy from the unknown, Zhao Duan always felt that this trip might uncover some extraordinary past events.
"Swish." He flipped through the diary again.
Pei Niannu's calm voice sounded again:
"January 3rd. We actually left the territory of Qi Kingdom and entered Dajiang!
Is Your Highness relying on the existence of Da Laba to avoid the bandits? I don't understand! The evil spirit is more terrifying than the bandits!
It is clear that with the terrain of Yunfu, there is a chance to establish a separatist regime, so why would one enter a dangerous situation?
Besides, the Qi people are simply not suitable for living in the Great Xinjiang! The entire army was agitated and uneasy, but all doubts were suppressed!
"...Oh my God! What did I see? The leader of those barbaric, uncivilized Liao people is actually a Qi people!
How is this possible? He personally welcomed His Highness and led our entire team into the place where Da Laba was resting! "
Next, there was a long blank, and then the last entry in the entire notebook:
"January 30th. My comrades and I have been living in this valley for a long time. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is becoming increasingly unwell...
I'm very scared. Some of my comrades are colluding and trying to escape..."
The diary ends here.
Pei Niannu's eyes were indifferent: "That's all I have."
The three audience members took a deep breath at the same time and looked at each other, with surprise and astonishment in their eyes.
This diary reveals too much information.
"It seems that the secrets hidden within the Liao people are beyond our expectations." Zhao Duan rubbed his eyebrows and exhaled forcefully:
"I suddenly understand why Emperor Taizu led us here."
Yuxiu also swallowed her saliva, and used a smile to hide her heaviness:
"Is it to let future generations know some secrets?"
Zhao Duan said nothing.
He is thinking.
Because of the existence of Laba, the masters of heaven and earth cannot approach La Garden and will be driven away.
And it is very difficult to break into a worldly treasure like Yuxiu.
This indeed blocks the possibility of secret expansion here to a large extent.
"I was thinking about what you said before: Layuan is a place that no Liaoren tribe member can enter except the tribe leader. It is only open during ceremonies... Well, at that time, these divine servants will definitely not show up."
Zhao Duan rubbed his chin, looked at Yuxiu and said in a deep voice:
"I'm afraid that the secret here is something that even the Liao people are hiding."
Jin Jian held the staff, rubbing his hands, and could not help but remind:
"If you continue chatting, I'm afraid Master won't be able to hold on for much longer."
Zhao Duan smiled bitterly and said:
"Yes, we don't have time to waste. We have to move forward as quickly as possible. I hope the road ahead will be smoother."
The three people and one soul put away the diary and immediately continued to go deeper along the long sacred road.
However, few people noticed that in the distance behind them, there was a top of a towering fence wall, at a height where it was "prohibited from taking off".
A girl with dark skin, a calm and profound temperament, wearing a sacrificial robe and waist-length black hair quietly looked down at their backs.
a long time.
"rustle……"
A gust of wind blew through the La Garden, and pieces of paper appeared from the fence wall, quickly pulling the dismembered body parts and armor of the guards on the ground back to the fence. The sacred road was clean again, as if there had never been a battle.
The female priest rose up on the wind and followed Zhao Duan and his party from a distance.
Self-talk:
"There are outsiders coming again. I don't know if there are the ones I'm waiting for. If not, I will kill you."
…
…
“Woo!”
In the vast forest, the wind was blowing wildly and all the beasts were wailing.
The sky was replaced by a crimson color, and the surrounding light quickly dimmed.
Zhang Yan sat cross-legged in the air and looked up, only to see two huge holes collapsed in the rolling clouds in the sky.
It was like a huge human face, with eyes staring at him intently.
The heavenly book in the shape of a jade slip on Zhang Yanyi's waist flickered like breathing, and characters emitting green light circled around the old Taoist priest and danced slowly.
A supreme celestial being and an evil god from outer space faced each other, and neither of them took the initiative to attack.
"Master Zhang!"
In the distance, a wisp of purple smoke streaked across the sky. Song Zhi was standing barefoot in the air. The moment he saw Zhang Yanyi, he was startled at first. Then he swept his eyes across the jungle below and saw the barbarian bones lying dead in a large handprint.
I also saw the corpses of warriors scattered all over the ground.
Song Zhi was shocked, looked up and stared at Zhang Yanyi, and said in a deep voice:
"What does this mean, Tianshi?"
Zhang Yan seemed to have not noticed the intangible "Laba" that covered the sky. Instead, he looked over with a smile and said leisurely:
"My dear Song, after so many years of separation and living so far away from home, you have finally chosen to be loyal to Xu Jianwen."
Song Zhi's face was cold, and he suppressed his anger and said, "Master, you are not here today to reminisce about the past."
He said, "There must be a reason why Tianshi Zhang caused such a big commotion. Why is Tianshi Mansion going to break its long-standing rule of not getting involved in human conflicts?"
Zhang Yan's smile faded, and he said calmly:
"The Liao people's military action this time was excessive and against the harmony of nature."
Song Zhi said indifferently:
"Since the Heavenly Master knows that I am loyal to His Highness Jianwen, he should understand that the Liao people's uprising is an internal conflict within the royal family, and the Heavenly Master's Mansion should not interfere."
"Is it just a civil war?"
Zhang Yan glanced at him with a look of disappointment:
"Song Zhi, you are definitely not stupid, so why are you saying these things? The Western Regions have invaded Xiping, and the kings of Xuwen and others have already been defeated. Now the Liao people are invading the north, which is tantamount to aiding the Western Regions. You are a minister of the Yu Kingdom, and you have the heart to collude with outsiders and bring disaster to the people?"
Song Zhi's face was expressionless, his heart as hard as steel:
"The Heavenly Master has always been indifferent to the world, acting only in accordance with the Great Dao, and the Dao of Heaven is impartial. The Yu Kingdom has enjoyed peace for hundreds of years, so according to the Dao of Heaven, it should have experienced some chaos. In times of chaos, there will surely be casualties. Isn't the Heavenly Master's actions a violation of the Dao of Heaven?"
Zhang Yanyi sighed softly:
"After all these years, you're still so eloquent. That's all."
The old Taoist priest's narrow eyes also revealed disdain, and he cursed:
"I am only cultivating the Way of Heaven, but I am not a puppet of that damn Way of Heaven. I usually don't want to violate it for the sake of cultivation. Do you really think that I must abide by those rigid rules in my every word and action?"
At this moment, the old Taoist priest completely regained his true character and sneered:
"Now that Xuan Yin and the Dharma King have come in force to seek revenge on my Heavenly Master's Mansion, how can I just sit back and take a beating?
Tell Xu Jianwen that I don't expect him to join forces with the court to fight against Xuanyin, but if he insists on disrupting the situation at this time, I will personally capture him even if it means breaking the rules!"
Are you not pretending anymore... Song Zhi's heart sank, but he didn't give in at all:
"What the Heavenly Master said was simple, but breaking the rules really does little harm to the Heavenly Master's cultivation? If so, why bother talking about it? Or does the Heavenly Master think he can resist Da Laba?"
As he spoke, Song Zhi made hand gestures and communicated with the gods above his head. The entire scarlet sky began to sink, as if the sky was collapsing.
The pressure from the gods intensified.
The reason why he can serve as the "chief" despite being an outsider is that he is the spokesperson chosen by the gods.
Therefore, there is also the ability to drive Laba to a certain extent.
"Hmph!" Zhang Yanyi slowly stood up, put his hands behind his back, stared at him coldly, and the blue clouds under his feet spread out, as if forming a world of its own. He said disdainfully:
"Do you really think that by using secret techniques, you can control gods with your shallow cultivation? Foolish!
Do you really think that the distinction between righteous and evil gods is simply a comparison of strength? Correcting gods is simply humans driving them.
Those who cultivate evil gods become servants and lackeys of evil gods. This is a truth that people like you will never understand!"
Song Zhi smiled and threw a punch, and a red cloud filled the sky and rushed towards the old Taoist priest:
"I was born in heaven and earth. Over the past few decades, I have read countless history books, but I can only see eight words: 'The winner is the king, the loser is the enemy'!"
"Please accept death, Master!"
…
…
In the La Garden.
"Huff, huff..."
After another battle, Zhao Duan leaned on his sword, panting, sweat dripping from his forehead, and glanced at the limbs on the ground:
"We can't go on like this!"
The process of the group's in-depth exploration was not smooth.
Every time they move forward a certain distance, they will be intercepted by a group of God's servants.
This greatly slowed down the progress.
"With our strength, it's not difficult to deal with these ghosts, but it's too time-consuming and energy-consuming, especially when our cultivation is weakened."
Zhao Duan felt the slow recovery of his Qi Sea and became anxious:
"We don't have time to waste, and we don't know how many of these servants of God there are."
If all the guards died in La Garden, the total number of divine servants would probably be at least thousands.
The human wave tactic can kill them even if they are piled up.
"We must change our method," Yuxiu touched the flying sword distressedly, feeling the damage caused by the continuous battles, and frowned.
"Can you get through by being invisible?"
Jin Jian was leaning on her staff, also bent over and breathing heavily. She wiped her forehead, and the glasses on her nose slipped down due to the sweat beads on the tip of her nose.
She pushed her glasses down and shook her head.
"I just turned invisible, but it was useless. These things have no eyes or ears, so they definitely can't 'see' us or hear our voices."
Yuxiu raised a burning talisman paper at her fingertips and said bitterly:
"I used a talisman to block out the aura, but it didn't work."
Zhao Duan frowned:
"I don't know what state these servants of the gods are in. Are they like puppets? But I'm sure they've already died. They're just a bunch of moving mummies wearing armor.
But when fighting with us, he still retained some of his fighting ability from his lifetime...
So, we either need to find out how La Yuan is controlling them, or we need to find a way to prevent them from discovering our presence."
After a battle, Yuxiu's whole body was wet and full of sweat. She wiped the hair on her forehead that was stuck to the sweat with the back of her hand, and tightened her belt to highlight the size of her chest.
Zhao Duan was stunned for a moment, surprised that the female Taoist nun was quite well-endowed...
"The former is probably very difficult. The entire La Garden is probably a large formation. If you want to break it, you must have enough time..."
Hot air came out of her slightly opened mouth, and her brows were furrowed.
Jin Jian was also exhausted, so he imitated his senior sister and tightened his belt to make himself look more capable, but the result was that his chest became even flatter...
She was completely unaware and frowned:
"But neither invisibility nor talismans are working. If that doesn't work, I'll take your messenger to teleport."
Teleport? This is the last resort.
But no one wanted to use it because there were too many ambushes in this damn place, and teleporting randomly would be too risky.
"They are dead." Suddenly, Pei Niannu, who had been floating behind the few people, spoke as if he was revisiting an old place.
Dead? What do you mean? Of course we know it's dead...
The two women were stunned, looking puzzled.
But a flash of light suddenly flashed through Zhao Duan's mind. He stared at the broken limbs on the ground and murmured:
"Yes, they are dead...dead...the same kind..."
"What are you mumbling about?" The two women looked at him in confusion.
Zhao Duan suddenly raised his head, smiled, and looked at Pei Niannu:
"Senior Pei reminded me that we've actually fallen into a misconception. It's not necessarily that complicated to avoid being discovered by these things. No matter what method the divine servant uses to discover us, it doesn't matter.
The important thing is that their goal is to kill us, and as long as we die and become 'corpses' like them, theoretically, this La Garden will not attack us again! "
Use death to avoid attack?
Jin Jian looked bewildered and took two steps back nervously, saying:
"Are you out of your mind..."
Yuxiu seemed to have caught the inspiration, but couldn't figure it out for a moment.
Zhao Duan did not keep the secret and said with a smile:
"Don't forget, I have a wild god on me. The Dragon Girl. Because these god servants are all dead, the Dragon Girl can't deal with them at all, but the Dragon Girl can put us into a state of suspended animation."
At the beginning, when several people were being hunted by Xu Jingtang, they used this method to avoid the evil god's perception!
If even evil gods can be avoided, how much more so can God’s servants?
"But if we fake our own deaths, how can we move forward?"
Yuxiu raised a key problem. Last time they had a unicorn pulling the carriage, but now the conditions are not sufficient.
Zhao Duan looked at Pei Niannu with a smile:
"This requires Senior Pei to take action. Senior Pei's state is not 'living'. This is confirmed by the fact that these divine servants have never attacked Senior Pei during our journey. And Senior Pei can control my body."
In other words... the three of them were in suspended animation, and Pei Niannu was driving them forward like a "corpse chaser"...
"This..." The two women were a little uneasy. This method sounded feasible, but it also had risks. If they encountered danger in the middle of the process, they would find it difficult to respond quickly.
However, there are not many left in the world.
The two women looked at each other and made up their minds: "Let's give it a try!"
Pei Niannu said calmly:
"Don't worry, if there's any danger, I can control this kid's body and protect your bodies for a while."
With an idea in mind, Zhao Duan did not delay any longer and immediately mobilized the Dragon Girl to drag the two priests and his own soul into the dream.
In an instant, the eyelids of the three people snapped shut and they died on the spot, leaving only three warm "corpses".
Pei Niannu floated behind the three people, with red lines spreading from her body, controlling Zhao Duan's body like a puppet.
Let Zhao Duan open his arms, hold the jade sleeve in his arms with his left hand, and hold the golden tablet in his arms with his right hand.
Then, Zhao Duan, with women on both sides, showing his happiness, mechanically stepped forward.
Pei Niannu was really like a "corpse driver" driving from behind.
An amazing scene happened.
Along the way, the four people seemed to be ignored. When they walked along the sacred path, there were still servants of God coming out from the fences on both sides, but they seemed to "not see" them. They turned around in a daze and then went back.
keep going.
Roadside trees appeared on both sides of the shrine. The pale trees' branches swayed horribly, as if they were ready to attack at any time, but they did not launch an attack in the end.
keep going.
Suddenly, strange black shadows about ten feet tall appeared in the darkness and wandered around the four people, as if looking for prey.
But in the end, after wandering for a long time, he returned empty-handed.
Pei Niannu always kept a calm expression. Facing these strange and terrifying enemies, he was not nervous at all. Instead, his eyes were filled with nostalgia of revisiting his old place.
finally.
When the four of them passed through the numerous defense lines and reached the deepest point, they entered an empty square with no more plants around.
Pei Niannu pulled back the silk thread, and Zhao Duan, Yuxiu and Jin Jian opened their eyes at the same time.
Wake up from a dream.
Zhao Duan had just woken up and felt dizzy. He only felt the smoothness and warmth on both sides of his body, as if he was clinging to two delicate bodies, and two completely different body scents rushed into his nostrils.
One arm seemed to be resting on something bulgy, but the other hand was not.
He grabbed it with both hands almost subconsciously.
"ah!"
Two low cries were heard, and Zhao Duan's scalp tingled. Out of the corner of his eye, he met Yuxiu's murderous gaze and caught a glimpse of Jin Jian's cheek, which suddenly turned red as if blood was about to drip out.
"Hehehe..." Pei Niannu laughed out loud, not caring about the situation.
(End of this chapter)
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