Chapter 60 The Sleeping Curse (24) The two were separated by a sky full of firelight...
The entire hill was set on fire.
Flames, like lava, crawled across the earth's veins, illuminating the silent remains and conspiracies hidden in the filthy crevices of the rocks, which surged forth in a torrent of firelight.
The old bloodstains blended into the fog, which slowly turned red and was blown about by the gale, like a vengeful ghost returning.
As soon as the coffin fell, Xie Tan knew he had overestimated himself.
He was emotionally detached; love and hate were both too heavy for him.
Firstly, his emotions were too intense, and his pheromones were prone to going out of control. He didn't want to be a monster on one hand, and an uncivilized beast on the other.
Furthermore, all those dramatic emotional ups and downs stem from relationships. He has isolated himself from the world, accustomed to emptiness, and has no idea how heavy these emotions truly are.
Xie Tan was about to sigh; how dare he accept such resentment?
His long hair buried him, and flames seeped into the coffin—Xie Tan guessed it was the incantation sealing the coffin that ignited the fire—the talismans tied between his long hair lit up completely, actually swallowing the incantation, chewing on the fire, and surging back out.
In an instant, he, as the "core" of the long hair, felt connected to the fire that covered the entire hill. Resentment could reach so far, almost filling his emptiness, as if that was his hatred.
Only a cataclysmic earthquake, dragging everything here down to hell, could quell the fire in his heart. He doesn't need to act; at this moment, someone's grudge has borrowed his body to crawl back to the human world... This is far more terrifying than any soul cleansing!
The heat was astonishing everywhere, and it also ravaged the mind, seemingly capable of burning out neural networks. The overwhelming sense of annihilation of individual consciousness triggered a strong resistance from the will to survive, a desire to prove one's existence.
Fortunately, Xie Tan was an "non-existentist," and his spirit, like Xie Tan's, was in a state of stagnation, so he wasn't too affected. He was just too hot-headed and his head was throbbing.
This was because his long hair was still covering him, so the fire hadn't reached him yet.
The fire outside must be even bigger; he heard the landslide and the howling wind, all the proud creations of the flames.
Going out would be even more dangerous, but Xie Tan couldn't hold it in any longer. Being locked in the steamer, he couldn't even breathe properly.
Most importantly, the intense emotions did indeed trigger his pheromone secretion, filling the coffin with the smell of death.
He couldn't push the coffin lid open; it was sealed shut. Just as he was thinking that he had been the chief sacrifice and could wait to reach the true other shore, the long hair sensed his intention. The bundle binding him calmed down a bit, ignored the sealing restrictions, and pushed the coffin open directly.
Xie Tan held onto the side of the coffin and slowly sat up.
The fire was so intense that he squinted. His vision was blurred by tears, and he could only see the color of the fire covering the mountain, turning from bright to dark. It wasn't that the fire was getting smaller, but rather that the flames were getting darker, yet even more ferocious.
The smell in the mountains was indeed more pungent, as if everything was being burned to the point of decay and death, steaming in the heat.
He couldn't tell for a moment which smelled worse, the inside or the outside of the coffin.
The fire was right around the coffin, but Xie Tan didn't pay any attention. His long hair fell loose, and the tears in his eyes dried up. After a moment, he finally looked at the mountain crematorium-like scene.
After looking around for a while, he came to his senses. The blurry scene in front of him became clear, and his heart skipped a beat.
But my body was still numb and I couldn't keep up with the movements; it was like I wasn't reacting at all.
In fact, his thinking ability was already outside the server.
He was staring into the eyes of a giant eye.
The cave was so large, growing on soft, rotting flesh, that once something was magnified, the details became clearly visible: blood vessels cracked on the whites of the eyes, dense filaments entangled on the irises resembled the internal texture of a plant under a microscope, and there was a pupil as black as a cave.
The eyeballs move within their sockets, and the instantaneous sense of movement makes it clear that this is alive, yet has a non-human quality.
However, when they met each other's gaze, it was their eyes that were terrified. They stared wide open, as if they were about to burst out of their sockets, their eyeballs trembling back and forth, trying to look away but unable to, and could only blink frantically.
With a flick of her eyelashes, a gust of wind came, bringing with it a string of sparks.
...So this is what the wind that's been blowing wildly in the mountains is all about.
This is not a small mountain at all.
This is a mountain of flesh made up of hundreds of eyes.
The hill and the coffin were just a disguise; those who were sacrificed were ultimately transformed into eyes like these!
Wherever the flames passed, they burned away the original forms: rocks and lumps of flesh, water and pus clinging to the walls, coffins in cliff caves and huge eyes, all mixed together, a mixture of truth and falsehood.
The terrifying eyes trembled in the foreign wind, seemingly on the verge of being blown away, yet fixed in place by something, thus facilitating the fire, ensuring that none of them could escape.
One eye saw Xie Tan sit up, and all eyes turned to the source of the fire, staring intently at him.
Xie Tan felt as if he were locked into this world.
In other words, they are not mouths. If eyes could curse, he would have been drowned in spittle like, "Are you crazy? Are you trying to take us all down with you? Are you insane?"
Unfortunately, the fire here can extinguish all water; in the face of absolute destructive power, there is no such thing as natural mutual restraint.
On both sides of Xie Tan, the small hills were burned through, and much of the fog was blown away by the wind.
He looked to his left, in the direction he had come from, and could vaguely see the small town along the riverbank.
Looking to the right... across the same vast sea, there's another small town, its lights much brighter, as if celebrating some kind of festival.
Just by looking at the shimmering light, you can imagine the laughter and joy.
Having experienced the clown's story, Xie Tan instantly realized that the town in his dream and the real town were mirror images, and this small mountain was the mirror.
He didn't know whether he was looking at those eyes or at the fire covering the mountain; he seemed mesmerized, his face flushed red, and his expression somewhat dazed.
Those fires seemed capable of burning everything, leaving nothing behind.
A thought suddenly popped into his head: This must be what hell is like...
The mountain is about to collapse.
Those who could run away did, and Su He decisively retreated, causing a huge fire.
The lit "leaves" had long since sunk into the sea, and the noisy sounds had disappeared.
All the coffins were exposed except for one that was rather tall. It wasn't that its location was particularly well hidden; it was right in a dangerous windy spot, but it managed to stay upright.
Because it needs to provide a place for someone to stay.
Lu Jinzhao still leaned against the edge of the coffin, looking down at the flames covering the mountain and the people fleeing in all directions.
The flames made his eyes appear even clearer, like amber, and the wind howled like a mournful wail, lifting the ends of his hair.
A condensed disaster, yet he smiled.
He thought, this is no less beautiful than fireworks.
I was initially disappointed that I might miss the town's festival celebrations, but now I've made it just in time for the opening.
It truly lives up to its reputation as an art haven; it's impressive. Festivals should be this lively.
The blood mist had been blackened and was carried around by the wind, but it would eventually drift toward him.
A gust of fog was swept up by the wind, forcing his eyes to close in fear. It dissipated before him, but something fell out.
Lu Jinzhao didn't give him a look. He was still wondering if his friends had seen it. He hoped they hadn't missed it, especially A-Tan... Would he like to watch fireworks?
He caught the thing casually, and was taken aback. It was a dirty flower wreath, and the four-leaf clover was gone.
His smile vanished, and for a moment, he was expressionless.
By the way... where is Atan? He must have something to do in town.
When Xie Tan wanted to go back to the hotel, Lu Jinzhao wanted to go back with her, but he keenly sensed that... A-Tan seemed to be avoiding him.
He didn't understand why, but he still felt that Ah Tan might be busy with something, and Ah Tan preferred to have his own space.
So he obediently didn't disturb them and went out to sea with Uncle Hong to find someone... even though he was actually a little unwilling.
He couldn't explain why he didn't want to, so he could only confide in others.
The white bones in the coffin, sacrificed by the Black Goat family, possessed the same power as him, so he inquired about it. However, the young man sharing the room with him, who had been tricked into becoming a sacrifice, lacked experience.
And the uncle who guarded the mountain gate... what he said seemed to make some sense.
Throughout his voyage, he constantly thought about him and pondered his thoughts, as if trying to solve a riddle.
But what does it mean to keep thinking about one person? He was thrown away by that old man, and he was still pondering this question.
But now, he doesn't want to think about these things anymore.
He only knew one thing: he wanted to see him right now.
Lu Jinzhao touched the cliff face, and the wildly dancing flames in the mountains quieted down for a moment.
The fire covering the mountain became his breath, and hundreds of eyes became his eyes.
He spotted the person surrounded by fire, head tilted back, staring blankly at the raging flames, as if he too wanted to melt into the fire and turn to ashes.
Lu Jinzhao's heart skipped a beat. The coffin was pulled out of the hill by the fire and smashed on the ground. He ran against the flow of everything fleeing towards the center of the flames.
Xie Tanhuan heard someone calling his name.
Only one person would call him so affectionately, and he felt a little doomed, thinking of that person again at a time like this... What are you going to do, Xie Tan?
"Ah Tan".
The sound was clearer, and a little deeper.
Xie Tan turned his head as if he had sensed something.
The two gazed at each other across the blazing firelight.
Su He boarded the boat he had prepared beforehand. After sailing a certain distance, he crushed the goat's mark to prevent the flames from following the trail. He didn't want to be implicated in this abandoned place.
As soon as the goat's mark shattered, the eyes, freed from their restraints, were instantly blown apart, like a handful of sand tumbling in the sea.
The view opens up, allowing you to see further into the distance, including another small town that appears like a mirage.
Su He clenched her fists, keenly sensing that in the instant before the goat's mark shattered, the solar power supporting the small mountain had been drawn away, which was why the small mountain collapsed.
Has the fire gotten this intense?
But before he could think, another change occurred. Those eyes, unable to escape, were pierced by something and held captive, swaying in the air like kites.
Su He frowned. Was that... hair? Where did the hair come from?
A jumble of thoughts swirled in his mind, and he couldn't quite sort them out for a while.
The flames were no longer content with burning these things; they spread along the sea level, burning all the way to the town on the other side, making it the most grand fire for the grand water-splashing festival.
Su He clicked her tongue in amazement; it was too strange…
The underwater debris has been almost completely digested over the years, with most of it now located in the mountains.
The sacrifice wasn't entirely unreasonable. As it turned out, the sea did become increasingly calm, even excessively so, because with that force suppressing it, the seawater dared not act recklessly, and instead made waves with their tails.
That was indeed the case on his first day. Even though it was raining, the sea was calm, and the hills only gathered in the middle of the night.
But for some reason, the next day, despite the bright sunshine, he became unusually restless.
To prevent the cult from using additional fragments to activate the talisman, he had specially prepared a spell beforehand. The spell remained untouched, so there were no other fragments yesterday.
The talisman only reacted when the singing opened up the small hill; it was that damned mouth that did it.
What caused the commotion yesterday? Was there some other solar energy at play? The fire is ridiculously large now, like it's been fueled by gasoline.
Another huge wave hit. Su He snapped out of her daze, first putting solar panels on the small boat to stabilize it in the wind and rain, and then quickly returning to the town.
Two other small boats were closer to the town than he was.
Chang Mingai woke up to laughter, only to be met with this earth-shattering scene. She was so shocked that she lost control of her expression.
A small piece of charred black skin was swept up and dropped by the waves, while the rest of the skin was torn apart by the waves. The remaining part was also soaked and rotten, and his mouth was full of blood.
She knew this was just a mouthpiece used by the cult leader; once the goal was achieved, it was best to discard it. What use was keeping a piece of trash? She struggled to flip it up.
Soon, she realized something was wrong: had she really achieved her goal?
Chang Mingai carefully observed the receding flames, her expression subtly changing.
The cult leader's casual attempt to steal... seems to have failed. Not only did he miss out on that small piece, he also lost the mirror shard they brought with them! It all burned to ashes and even spread into the dream world!
But the mouth was only facing the direction of the landslide, and it burst into laughter.
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Author's Note: Little Atan played the beacon fire trick on the feudal lords, just to make Lu Lu laugh [doge emoji]
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