Chapter 26: The Crimson Sand Array of Ten Thousand Miles

  The stele, I don't even know what kind of feeling I should have when seeing this thing, the only thing I can be sure of is that the text on it will probably be unreadable again. Wu Feng has already taken out his camera and started taking pictures, and I also found that these guys are getting more and more shameless, actually striking poses in front of the stele, taking cute photos, and being rowdy. What's with this rhythm?

  Wen Long then saw me and said: "Here, come quickly, let's take a photo together."

  "I'm going," I said. "What's with all of you? I'm really having a bit of trouble keeping up."

  Wen Long said: "Actually, I just thought of it too. You think, last time we went to that place, we didn't even take a good photo together. You say, for a place like this, there are only a few of us who can come in now, let's take some photos now, so when we go out to pick up girls later, we'll have something to brag about."

  I walked over helplessly, casually struck a pose, and said: "You little brat shouldn't be so smug. If you're bragging to the point of being ridiculous, what if that chick asks you to bring her along for fun? You won't take her? That's definitely a breakup. You'll take her? Think about how we got in here ourselves."

  Wen Long obviously hadn't thought of this issue before, and was now a bit stuck, saying: "Damn, I really didn't think of that kind of problem, you're a master, looks like you've had plenty of experience with girls."

  I sighed and said, "Forget it, I'm just stating the facts. In the past, we didn't have money, a career, or good looks, and we lacked power, influence, and charm. Which girl would have looked up to me?"

  "Oh~" Wen Long drew out a long tone, then patted my shoulder and said: "Actually, you don't have to be so... how should I put it, ah yes, humble. Actually, you also have places where others can't keep up with you. Think about it, this building, ordinary people can't figure it out, but you can."

  I pushed his hand away and said, "Cut it out. Before I met you guys, I never had the chance to touch this broken thing. Now that I can, which girl would dare come here with you on a date? Is she even a woman?"

  As soon as I finished speaking, I regretted it, because my butt once again experienced the power of Su Yu's hundred percent accurate kick. She was standing with her hands on her hips, glaring at me and saying: "What? Am I not a woman? You little brat, watch me settle old and new accounts together."

  I crouched down and hid behind Wen Long's back, saying: "This isn't the time to mess around, we still have a mission, haha."

  The old man interrupted our quarrel and said, "You're right, we've completed the task normally for now. Once we get out, I'll ask Wen Long to help you hold him down, and you can kick him as much as you want."

  I'm so angry inside. I protested, "Old master, this is clearly favoritism! You're not helping your own family, what's the point of being a captain if you can't even take care of your own people?"

  Wu Feng whispered on one side: "Old man, this is helping reason and helping relatives."

  I didn't quite catch it, so I asked loudly: "Wu Feng, what are you muttering about over there?"

  "Wu Feng said loudly: 'Get to work! Comrades, let's move!'".

  With the experience of last time, this time saved a lot of exploration work. The blood stained on that plant, and it really changed color, and the divine monument slowly rose up, revealing the entrance as I expected. This time everyone was well-trained, Wen Long took the lead, Wu Feng followed closely behind him into the cave. In the darkness, I pondered what surprises this Tian Di Tower would bring to me.

  The dark time was really not long, this tower obviously didn't have the kind of slide that the Hundred Eyes Heavenly Array had, I felt my body falling down. Fortunately, we all had training in high-altitude falls, now from four or five meters high, it wasn't a problem at all. I quickly relaxed my body and fell another two meters or so, my feet touched the ground, and as soon as they did, I immediately adjusted my center of gravity and rolled out to one side. Then with a thud, I stood up. Not a hair was harmed.

  Right after that, I saw the power of the so-called Tian Di formation, and my own insignificance. Because I found out that we are now standing in a desert, an endless desert. Then, I felt myself sweating, not because of shock, but because of the scorching heat, the desert was actually in broad daylight. Wan Li Hong Sha Zhen, one of the ten most notorious formations flashed through my mind. My dear mother, does this count as being completely outmatched?

  Su Wei immediately followed me down and looked up at me saying: "What kind of place is this? Desert? How can there be a desert in this place?"

  Wu Feng also jumped down at this time and said: "No way, is it an illusion? This is too exaggerated."

  I nodded and said: "Whether it's an illusion or reality, we've fallen for it. This is the Ten Extremes Formation, the Wanli Red Sand Formation."

  Wen Long obviously hadn't heard of this before, and asked: "The Wanli Red Sand Array, what is it? Geez, it's really hot in here." I saw that he had already started taking off his clothes. What was even more unimaginable was that Su Yi actually pulled out a parasol from her backpack and opened it up.

  "I'm going," I said: "Are you here on vacation? Why bring an umbrella?"

  She glanced at me and said: "You have your own too, this is standard equipment."

  It wasn't until now that I remembered, before we came, our backpacks were reorganized by the comrades of the second team. As a result, I found that those guys all took out umbrellas from their backpacks and opened them up. Without direct sunlight, it felt a bit better, but the heat remained unchanged. We men simply took off some equipment, but we all wore long-sleeved clothes, mainly because the old man said that if our skin was exposed to this sunlight, it would likely become sunburned quickly, so it's better to wear something.

  The old man was also sweating profusely and asked me in a deep breath: "Xiao Bai, what's going on? Is there any clue?"

  I sighed and said, "The Wanli Red Sand Formation is a type of Tian Di formation, one of the Ten Extremes formations. The only thing I feel lucky about right now is that there's no master here to activate it; if there was, we'd be dead for sure as soon as he made his move."

  The old man said: "Ten Extinction Formation, seems like I've heard of it somewhere."

  I replied, "The Investiture of the Gods has written about this. This is exactly the Wanli Red Sand Formation of Fang Tianjun. In The Investiture of the Gods, this formation trapped King Wu, Nezha and Lei Zhenzi for over a hundred days. Later, it was Nanji Xianweng who broke the formation and rescued them."

  "It can't be," said Wu Feng. "A hundred days? We're lucky if we can hold out for three days now."

  Su Yu interrupted: "Big brother, Bo Big Brother, you are now my big brother. This broken array, can you calculate it? You try to calculate it."

  I looked at her, shaking my head and saying: "Sister Su, what I want to tell you is that if I were looking at this formation from the outside, maybe there would still be a way out. Now we're directly inside the formation, it's hopeless, really hopeless."

  "Ah!" Su Yi started to pester, "No way, you're an expert in this area, aren't you? I don't care, you have to break through this formation. It's going to be a heat stroke here."

  The old man said at this time: "Don't panic, Xiaobo. We look at this space from the outside and it shouldn't be too big, just a few hundred square meters of space. Can't we walk out by walking in one direction?"

  I shook my head and said, "Old man, you're right about some things and wrong about others. We can't afford to panic because that way we can still think of a solution. But if we keep walking in one direction, I guarantee that even if we walk for the rest of our lives, we may not necessarily be able to get out."

  "Why?" Su Yi asked from the side.

  I said, "Because we can't head in one direction and go, this formation is called the Heaven and Earth Formation. Once a person enters this formation, they will be affected by it, influencing all of their senses, including their sense of direction."

  Wen Long let out a sly "heh heh" and seemed to have thought of something mischievous. He said, "Xiao Bai, you're still too young for some things. We're in the 21st century now, we've got compasses." As he spoke, he pulled out a military-grade compass from his pocket.

  I thought this guy would come up with something good, but it's just this. It's so hot today, I'm too lazy to waste my breath on him. Just watch him make a fool of himself like that. As expected, Wen Long took out his compass, looked at it for a moment, and then slapped it forcefully with his hand.

  I saw his face was full of awkwardness, and he chuckled twice, then said: "Bai Ge, we can't just wait to die in this place, what else can we do?"

  I beckoned to him, he pretended not to understand and looked at me foolishly. I was too lazy to speak, so I beckoned again, and only then did he take out the compass from his pocket and hand it to me. I took a look, and that thing was spinning rapidly at sixty miles per second. I handed the compass back to the old man and said: "It's all over now, even 21st-century compasses can't find north anymore. We're done for."

  The old man took a look at the compass, then handed it to Wu Feng, and said to me: "Xiao Bai, don't say discouraging words for now. Do you know what principle this formation is based on? Maybe we can think of a way out."

  I nodded and pointed to a small sand dune in the distance, asking, "Look that way, what's over there?"

  Everyone looked in the direction I pointed, and the old man said puzzled: "There's nothing, just a piece of sand."

  Su Wei said: "No, it seems like a cactus over there."

  Wu Feng and Wen Long exchanged a glance, and Wen Long said: "I didn't see anything, just sand."

  "It looks like a sand dune."

  I nodded and said, "Don't doubt that there's something wrong with your eyes. This is the principle of this formation. The illusions we see are all deserts, but they differ in details because our subconscious minds have different concepts of what a desert is."

  "Ah!" Su Yi exclaimed: "Are you saying that this formation is an illusion of our subconscious?"

  I said: "Yes, it's our own illusion."

  Su Yi clapped her hands, attracting everyone's attention and said: "That's even simpler, we just need to control ourselves not to think that this is a desert, and the desert will naturally disappear."

  I let out a wry smile and said, "It's not that simple. As I've said before, this is the subconscious mind at work. Humans can't control their own subconscious minds. Have you guys heard of a story like this?"

  Su Yi sat down again, looking disappointed and said: "I thought I had found a way again, Bo Ge, my dear Bo Ge, don't beat around the bush, what's the method, tell me and let me hear it."

  "There was an electrician who feared being electrocuted every time he worked. One day, while working, he accidentally touched a high-voltage wire and died."

  Wu Feng said on one side: "What kind of story is this, it has neither content nor meaning."

  I said: "I haven't finished yet. Actually, that day there was a power outage, so there was no electricity on that high-voltage line at all, but after the electrician died, when the doctor examined the body, he found that it showed signs of being electrocuted, and his body also had physiological reactions that only occur in people who have been electrocuted."

  Su Yi nodded and said, "You mean to say that this formation is also the same case. What we are seeing now may be an illusion, but what our bodies feel is real. This feeling comes from ourselves."

  I nodded and said: "Yes, this is also the most troublesome thing about this heavenly formation. It affects all our senses, including intuition."

  Wu Feng said: "It sounds like it's still quite mysterious, how can you achieve that?"

  I said: "Ah, you're right, actually I've read about the principle of this formation and the method to break it in a book, it's just that now the situation is a bit complicated."

  "Wen Long said: "Ah, just say it out loud, we can study the complicated things later. With many people and great strength, three cobblers are better than one Zhuge Liang, I don't believe that the ancient people's creations can still stump us cultural people of the 21st century." After he finished speaking, he found that everyone was looking at him, so he hastily changed his words: "You, you are all cultured people, I am an uncouth person, a very rough and unrefined person.""

  I really want to laugh, but at this time I couldn't laugh. Actually, one of the books I brought back has a book that specializes in this kind of heavenly formation method. The principle is very simple, but it's not easy to do.

  First of all, the things that make up the array are basically stones, but it's not just a matter of picking up any brick and building this kind of array. Instead, you need those radiating stones that emit a wave shape, which overlaps with human brain waves and strongly influences them. Under its influence, people will naturally produce certain illusions, and different frequency bands of stones bring different illusions, thus forming different arrays to create different scenes.

  Moreover, according to some psychologists' findings, when the conditions for illusion are allowed, illusions will definitely occur. This means that this kind of hallucination is bound to happen because humans themselves cannot control their own brain waves and cannot change the frequency band of brain waves.

  Secondly, the arrangement of these stones has a certain regularity, which makes these stones not only produce hallucinations on people individually but also have a strengthening effect when combined. Moreover, sometimes the effects produced are fatal. Take this red sand array as an example. If we accidentally walk into the strongest effect area, it is very likely that we will experience being attacked by a sandstorm, at which time we will feel suffocated and even die.

  The most frightening thing about this formation is that it can be manipulated by human beings, just like how Fang Tianjun trapped Wu Wang back then. He was at the eye of the formation, overseeing everything, and whenever someone entered the formation, he could use his powers to make the calm formation produce an even stronger effect. That's why I said we were lucky that this formation didn't have a mastermind at its eye.

  After finishing the principle, I fell silent for a long time. I found that no one was speaking either. Looking at them, I discovered they were also staring blankly at me.

  "Hey." I shouted loudly, "I've finished speaking, we five stinky craftsmen, surpassing one and three-fifths of a Zhuge Liang, can't we think of some way?"

  Wu Feng sighed and said, "After hearing you out, I only have one feeling - this time it's really over. Who would have thought that my lifelong reputation would end in a desert, and what's more, the desert of my own mind."

  Su Yu asked: "After we die, won't we be dried into human jerky?"

  I smiled and said: "If we die, there will naturally be no brain waves. At that time, this formation will have no effect on us either, of course, it won't really dry us up like dried human jerky under the sun."

  Su Yi said: "Why don't we just die one of us and then appear in everyone's dream to tell them how to get out?"

  I said: "Sister, this method is indeed feasible, but who knows if there are a few more arrays like this behind, if there are five or more, the last person will have to rely on himself to give himself a dream."

  Su Yi said: "That's right, this is indeed the first layer."

  "Little Bai," asked the old man, "you just said that this formation can be calculated from the outside. How is it calculated?"

  "I said, 'Old master, this Heaven and Earth formation is indeed powerful, but after all, it's a static formation. Without someone to activate it, it's just some stones placed there. So, there are still ways to navigate through it. However, it requires very strong willpower and memory.'"

  The old man said with great interest: "How should it be done?"

  "I replied: 'Two advances into the center, three turns into two, four chooses a side, five retreats behind.'"

  Wen Long interrupted and said: "Bai Ge, can you stop using that classical Chinese stuff to talk? Can't we just speak in plain language?"

  I smiled and said: "Actually, it's very simple. Since these arrays are all composed of stones that can emit waves, we just need to find the middle position between two piles of stones. In this way, the wave patterns on both sides will be the same, and people under the balanced influence of the waves on both sides will not produce hallucinations, because these waves will cancel each other out. When walking to the middle of three stone piles, we should no longer walk towards one of the stone piles, but instead turn towards the middle of two stone piles and continue to move forward. Similarly, when encountering the middle of four stone pillars, we should choose one side to walk on. If it's five, it means we've really reached a relatively dangerous place. At this time, we need to retreat from the original route and think of another route to advance."

  Wen Long thought for a moment and said, "Sounds very simple, doesn't it?"

  "I said: 'That's right, it sounds very simple, but we are now in this formation. You look around and see where there is a stone pile. There aren't many sand piles.'"

  Wen Long said: "Indeed, this is an eternal truth. You say we touch it, can we touch those stone piles?"

  I shook my head and said, "It's impossible. If we get close to those stone piles, it will definitely create a very dangerous situation. I've told you before that your subconscious mind will put you in the midst of it, even to the point of losing your life. Unless..."

  "Unless something unexpected happens, as long as there's a glimmer of hope, speak up, who knows, we might just find a way."

  "Unless we knock a person unconscious and he has no awareness, then under this unawareness, he won't be affected by the formation. In that case, he should be able to walk out."

  I see Wen Long has already rolled up his sleeves, although I don't know who his target is, but it's clear that it's absolutely not Old Master and Su Yi. I think he used to be a soldier, bullying the elderly and women is something he can't do. However, if that's the case, then it means Wu Feng and I each account for 50%.

  I hastily said: "What I said was just a hypothesis. What if we beat him until he loses consciousness? That person won't be able to walk away, and it would all be for nothing."

  Wen Long said: "My god, you've been talking for half a day, isn't this just like not saying anything at all?"

  Wu Feng then chimed in and said: "We're saved because we have an unconscious guy with us."

  "Who?"