Ancient Country Returns to the Western Regions of Strange Hearsay

  Karamay's face was twisted, unable to tell whether he was crying or laughing. Wu Zihan was still unconscious beside him. I was like an ant on a hot pot, turning around anxiously. In front of me was the thousand-year-old tree spirit, and behind me was the man-eating Rakshasa ghost. But I could only stand there stupidly, at a loss for what to do.

  Fu Ma's face was half crying and half laughing as he rushed towards me, shouting: "Jun Yang, hurry up and run! The Rakshasa is about to eat us, you're no match for them!"

  I ignored the horse's warning, looked up at the sky, and there were probably two or three hundred Rakshas flying around the Bodhi tree. They were a dense black mass, with several Rakshas circling around them in a few laps, but they didn't attack. Near me, I saw the appearance of the Rakshas clearly. Their ears were similar to those of elves, and there was a distinction between male and female Rakshas. The males were all black, with red hair and green eyes. The females looked very much like humans, and they were all stunning beauties. If not for their ferocious appearance, even I would have been tempted. They used the branches and leaves of the trees to cover their lower bodies, and although they had no wings, they could fly rapidly through the sky.

  Suddenly, a male Rakshasa ghost swooped down from the sky towards Lao San at high speed, opening his bloody mouth wide in front of him. His mouth was filled with dense and messy teeth. Lao San was frightened to the point of sweating profusely, his whole body trembling non-stop. The male Rakshasa ghost seemed to be enjoying himself, revealing a hint of contemptuous smile on the corner of his mouth. Then, he savagely bit down on Lao San's arm, tearing off a piece of flesh from it. Instantly, Lao San's arm was bleeding profusely, and the pain made him cry out loudly before fainting away. The other Rakshasa ghosts in the sky burst into eerie laughter upon witnessing this scene, their cackles echoing back and forth above the oasis, sending chills down one's spine.

  "What are these evil spirits going to do?" Xiao Lao asked, trembling with fear.

  Fu Ma's face turned pale, and he said in despair: "They are enjoying the fearful expressions on our faces, preparing to devour us mouthful by mouthful, so they can savor our painful expressions."

  A stunning female Rakshasa stuck to Xiao Lao's body, seductively licking his face with her forked tongue. Xiao Lao half cried and half laughed, shouting: "This old man's flesh is not good to eat!" The female Rakshasa smiled charmingly, but suddenly revealed a ferocious expression, opening her bloody mouth wide and about to bite down on Xiao Lao's neck. At that moment, I didn't know where the strength came from, and even forgot my fear, shouting loudly: "Don't harm him!" The female Rakshasa seemed to be scared by me, falling directly from the sky to the ground, looking at me with tears in her eyes. At this moment, I couldn't care about being gentle or courteous anymore; these were just pretenses, and eating humans was their true nature.

  I reckon it was my sudden loud shout that caught the female Rakshasa off guard, causing her to lose her grip and fall from the sky. The next target of attack would likely be me. Seeing Lao San's appearance earlier, thinking that I might be swallowed by this evil spirit one mouthful at a time, I couldn't help but feel a chill in my heart. I swallowed a mouthful of saliva, closed my eyes, and prepared to become their snack. However, there was no movement for half the day, and I was somewhat puzzled. Suddenly, Fu Ma shouted loudly: "We're saved! We're saved! Brother Junyang, you're truly a lucky star! The female Rakshasa is very afraid of you, quickly order them to retreat!"

  "Am I commanding them?" I couldn't believe it, anyway, life and death are at stake, so let's just die like a dead horse being treated as a live one. I took a deep breath and shouted loudly towards the dark shadows in the sky: "All of you get out! Get out!"

  In an instant, the group of Rakshasas were no longer flying wildly, but instead hovered in mid-air. Several turned their heads and flew off in the opposite direction, while many others looked at the prey on the tree that was about to fall into their mouths with some reluctance. They all made grotesque faces at me, expressing their discontent. At that moment, I had already forgotten my fear and was very angry. I shouted loudly again: "Scram!" As soon as this sound came out, most of the Rakshasas trembled all over and flew back obediently, while a few fell directly from the sky and ran into the darkness with their tails between their legs.

  Several people on the tree stared at me blankly, everything came too suddenly, they seemed to have not reacted yet. I shouted at the old tree spirit: "Old monster, you still don't let me go, Luo Chaogui has run away, who do you expect to help you?"

  After listening, the old tree spirit obediently opened the rattan lock, and several people fell to the ground. I quickly took out bandages from my backpack to prepare for wrapping Old Three's arm, which had already started to turn black and was spreading to other parts of his body.

  "The Rakshasa itself is highly toxic, but the old tree spirit's blood can save Old Three." Xiao Lao had just gone through a life-and-death moment and was now lying weakly on the ground, gasping for air. I pulled out the dagger that Wu Zihuan had given me earlier from my waist and stabbed it into the old tree spirit's trunk, using a piece of cloth to absorb the green liquid that flowed out to clean Old Three's wound. After several repetitions, the color of Old Three's arm faded significantly. Fu Ma and I helped Wu Zihuan and Old Three onto the camel, and we were all eager to leave this place as soon as possible.

  As we were leaving the oasis, Karamay turned back and said, "Let's blow it up, or it will bring disaster to more people." He took out a sufficient amount of explosives from his bag, lit them, and threw them into the oasis. After a loud explosion, the oasis sank into the sand like a sunken ship. We returned to the place where we saw a withered poplar tree yesterday at noon. Looking down from the dunes, there was only a sea of sand, without any trace of the oasis.

  On the distant horizon, the sun slowly rose, that oasis-like land seemed like a twisted space, we actually only stayed for an afternoon, but it felt like a day and night had passed, Karamay suggested we find a flat place to set up camp, let everyone get some rest, after just experiencing a life-and-death ordeal, everyone was exhausted.

  He chose a place to set up the tent, and I changed the medicine for Lao San's arm several times. Fortunately, it didn't hurt his bones or tendons. Karamay was busy while praising me: "Junyang, you are indeed a young hero who has defeated hundreds of Russian devils alone. Director Mu really has an eye for talent. If it weren't for you, we wouldn't have made it out alive."

  I'm smiling on the surface, but actually I'm muttering to myself in my heart. Not long ago, I was just a junior student who didn't know much about the world and only knew how to play games. A letter from my grandfather brought me here, but on the first day of departure, I almost died nine times. There are still many difficulties and dangers waiting for me ahead, why can one sentence drive away a group of Rakshas? Too many things make me puzzled.

  I sat in front of the tent, silently eating compressed biscuits. Fu Ma walked over and patted my shoulder, saying, "What's wrong? Are you wondering why a single sentence from you can shock back the Rakshasa?"

  I nodded and forced a stiff smile: "Can't you see through my thoughts?"

  He smiled: "You've already guessed, it's all written on your face." Then his tone became very serious: "But when you ordered them to retreat, I clearly heard all the Rakshas calling you 'King'!"

  The horse patted me and went to sleep in the tent, Karamay had already started snoring. I volunteered to keep watch over everyone, as I was the least injured. In the desert, even during the day, one must never be careless.

  I don't know how long it took, but I fell asleep in a daze. It seemed like I was wandering aimlessly in the desert, and at some point, I walked into a room. The room was very dark, and I vaguely saw the back of a woman. She let out a shrill laugh and said coldly, "I will never forgive you." I suddenly woke up, and it was already evening. I turned my head to see that everyone was there, and I immediately felt relieved. Since coming to this desert, I've been having strange dreams all the time, and I'm used to it by now.

  I woke everyone up, Lao San was already awake but very weak, Wu Zihan was still in a daze, Karamay lit a fire and we all gathered around the bonfire to eat dinner.

  Xiao Lao stared at me from the moment he woke up, making me feel very uncomfortable: "Xiao Lao, do you have something to say to me?"

  Xiao Lao paused for a moment, then suddenly burst out laughing: "We can be considered as having gone through life and death together. In my younger years, I was once a rural teacher, and I had also stolen several large Dou (a unit of measurement). As the years went by, I accumulated some stories, piecing them together to form the history of the ancient country of Dai Yu. Would you all like to listen?"

  Fu Ma clapped his hands and said "good" repeatedly. I looked at him with disdain: "Xiao Lao, what do you want to say? You've known all along, haven't you?" Fu Ma scratched his head in embarrassment.

  Xiao Lao smiled and continued: "It's said that the ancient country of Daiyuan existed over 10,000 years ago. At that time, our ancestors were probably still living in trees. The new king of Daiyuan is young and promising, so he must be very handsome too. People from ancient times all had divine powers, and those who could become kings were exceptionally talented. This Raksha demon was originally living in hell, the first evil spirit of hell. One day, the gates of hell suddenly opened, and a group of Raksha demons ran out to wreak havoc on the human world. The king of Daiyuan built a tower to seal all the Raksha demons inside, leaving only one female Raksha behind. Later, the king fell in love with the female Raksha and married her, having children together. The king thought this female Raksha was different from the others, believing she was kind-hearted. However, when he wasn't paying attention, she lifted the seal on the tower and released her companions."

  Xiao Lao took a sip of water, and I was so absorbed in the story that I urged him to continue. Xiao Lao ate a cookie and said: "The king was very disappointed, and many people died in Daiyu. Later, the king killed his own wife and used her bones and his lifelong spiritual power to make a ghost king chain, sealing the remaining Rakshasa ghosts. From then on, the ancient country of Daiyu also mysteriously disappeared."

  "I reckon the people of Daishan Country are probably all eaten by Rakshasa ghosts." Fu Ma echoed.

  Later, in the blink of an eye, a thousand years had passed and it was the Han Dynasty. The place had become the Great Yuezhi Kingdom of the Western Regions. One day, the king of the Great Yuezhi Kingdom was curious about what was inside the tower and accidentally opened the seal, releasing the Rakshasa demon. The once powerful Great Yuezhi Kingdom suddenly disappeared from history. The king of the Great Yuezhi Kingdom fled to Loulan and handed over the chain and a scroll of sheepskin paper to the king of Loulan before dying. And in an archaeological excavation, the Chinese Academy of Sciences really found the legendary sheepskin scroll on the body of a king of Loulan... only that chain... Old Xiao looked at me thoughtfully.

  I was about to make excuses when I heard Karamay shouting loudly in the convertible, "Something's wrong, Wu Zihuan has no pulse!"