Ancient Country Returns to Ruins: Strange News from the Western Regions

  Lao San blinked his eyes and said: "What is Rong Jie Liu?"

  "A spirit tree that can penetrate the boundary, he even knows this move." Yang Cang said, her face turning crimson.

  Lao San curled his lip and said: "What's so great about it?"

  "Come on, what are you all waiting for? Let's go!"

  Yang Cangcang also learned from Wu Zihan's example, standing under the tree, its branches wrapped her into a cocoon shape, sending her to the front boundary. She also disappeared in it. We followed Yang Cangcang's example and entered this Bagua Ghost City hidden by the boundary.

  Karamay was the last to arrive, and we gathered together. I took a look around and saw that from inside, you could see the scenery outside, but from outside, you couldn't see what's inside. There wasn't much difference between inside and outside the boundary. Looking ahead, all I saw was endless yellow sand, with no end in sight.

  "Be careful now that we've entered the Bagua formation!" Xiao Lao looked around cautiously, afraid of any potential danger.

  Wu Zihan walked in the front, and we followed behind him, treading carefully with every step. Suddenly, a loud rumbling sound came from afar, and a strong gust of wind blew up from behind us, quickly covering the sky and blocking out the sun. The clear blue sky had instantly turned as dark as night, and the strong wind mixed with sand made it impossible for us to open our eyes. The sand hitting our skin was painfully stinging.

  Karamay shouted: "Everyone follow closely, don't get scattered, take care of the people in front and behind you." I forced my eyes open and looked back, only to see Lao San following closely behind me, with Fu Ma in front.

  "This damn storm!" Lao San cursed, spitting out the sand in his mouth. Yang Can Can was pulling Wu Zi Han's arm in front, and Lao San kept cursing non-stop.

  Before long, thunder and lightning struck, and the sky poured down a torrential rain. The big raindrops hit the body one after another, accompanied by a cool feeling. The wind was still strong, but with fewer sand particles. The eyes were still unable to open, and the sand underfoot mixed with rainwater, making every step a struggle. Yang Can-can stumbled and fell in front, Wu Ziheng hurriedly wanted to help her up, hesitated for a moment, and then walked on anyway.

  Lao San hastily took three steps and ran two steps to the front to help Yang Cangcang up. Yang Cangcang pouted her mouth, looking at Wu Zihan's back. I smiled wryly and almost fell down when my foot slipped, luckily someone behind me supported me. Just as I was about to thank Lao San, I suddenly realized he wasn't Mingming in the front? I immediately turned around, but there was no one behind me. I instantly felt a chill and quickly ran several steps to catch up with Fuma ahead.

  "It seems like there's something in front." Karamay shouted while looking back.

  Lao San ran forward a few steps and said: "It's a stone tablet."

  The stone monument was as tall as a person, with words and paintings on it. The words were in the ancient script of the five nations. Lao San asked Yang Cangcang: "What does it say?"

  "Anyone who trespasses here will die!" - Yang Cangcang said sternly.

  Xiao Lao carefully examined the painting on the stone tablet and said, "It seems that this is indeed the ancient country of Dàiyú. We are now in the Xun array within the Bagua formation."

  "What's that formation?" I asked in puzzlement.

  Xiao Lao said with a pleased expression, "As the saying goes, Taiji gives birth to two instruments, two instruments give birth to four phases, four phases give birth to eight trigrams..." Before he could finish speaking, Old Three chimed in: "Eight trigrams give birth to scandals!"

  Xiao Lao's eyes gleamed white as he continued to speak to Old Three: "In ancient times, nine was the ultimate number. Taking six lines and three numbers, the Book of Changes says: one gives birth to two, two gives birth to three, three gives birth to all things. The eight trigrams change into sixty-four lines, from this cycle repeats and changes infinitely. It represents the yin-yang system of an object's own transformation. This Xun array corresponds to natural phenomena as wind."

  "No wonder it's windy and rainy," Yang Cangcang said loudly, "How can we break this spell?"

  Xiao Lao pretended to carefully examine the stone tablet, no longer speaking. Yang Cangcang snickered on the side, "Each formation has a formation spirit, if you destroy the formation spirit, the formation will break." Wu Zihan suddenly said a sentence, startling us all.

  "Is Zhenling a monster?" I asked.

  Karamay said: "Not necessarily, it may be a kind of energy device, as long as it can start the formation."

  Just as they were talking, a strong gust of wind suddenly blew over, almost blowing them away. They grabbed onto the stone tablet with their hands to prevent themselves from being blown off. The third elder turned to Wu Zihuan and asked: "Zihuan, didn't the sheepskin paper say where the Array Spirit was?"

  Wu Zihan stared at the hurricane blowing away into the distance without saying a word. After a while, the wind circled around and blew back again. Karamay shouted loudly: "Everyone hold on tight, it's blowing back!"

  When the wind blew past us, it lingered around us for a long time, blowing several of us over. The wind continued for a while without any transition and suddenly became calm.

  Xiao Lao furrowed his brow and said: "Why do I feel like this wind is being controlled by someone?"

  "Ah——why is my face bleeding?"

  "It's probably because of the strong wind blowing sand earlier." Fu Ma analyzed.

  Yang Cangcang pouted and cried loudly: "Oh no! My face is ruined! I'm disfigured! I won't live anymore!"

  Just as I was saying that, I suddenly saw another whirlwind rising not far from us, and this time the wind seemed even stronger than before. I quickly shouted: "The wind is coming again, everyone hold on!" This time the wind mixed with sand rushed towards us, in an instant, flying sand and rocks filled the sky, we several people tightly hugged that stone tablet, this whirlwind was like a mad lion roaring, emitting bursts of deafening sounds.

  Suddenly, the strap of my backpack was blown off by the wind and it was about to be swept away. Inside, there was an ancient map of the five nations left to me by my grandfather, which I absolutely couldn't lose. I turned around and grabbed the bag with one hand, but unexpectedly, I couldn't hold onto the stone monument at all. I almost got blown away, but Pei Ma quickly caught me. The wind suddenly grew even stronger, and Pei Ma and I were both dizzy and disoriented as we were swept into the wind.

  Wu Zihan saw the situation and quickly jumped into the center of the whirlwind, pulled out a dagger and stabbed it into the ground with force. The wind dissipated rapidly, and I, along with Pei Ma, had been blown away by the wind for over a meter. Seeing that the wind had calmed down, I let out a long sigh of relief.

  "Old Xiao, how come your arm is all injured?" I shouted.

  Xiao Lao stared at his blood-soaked arm in a daze: "Ah? Really, how come I didn't feel any pain? You and Fu Ma are the same too."

  Karamay touched his neck and said: "My neck is also full of wounds, why doesn't it hurt at all? It doesn't seem like sand scratches?"

  Lao San looked at us with a big laugh: "Look at you guys one by one, except for me and Zi Han who are all injured, how can you still come to fight the gossip array like this?"

  Yang Cangcang walked around Lao San to inspect him, and suddenly sat on the ground laughing: "Big brother, your injuries are all on your butt, you can see it yourself by looking at your pants."

  Lao San lowered his head, and the pants behind his butt became tattered, as if someone had torn them apart. SpongeBob's underwear was exposed, and Lao San quickly covered his butt and cursed loudly: "Damn it, is this wind a mother? Must see my ass."

  We all burst out laughing, except for Wu Zihan who furrowed his brow and gazed into the distance.

  Xiao Lao's smile faded and his face turned serious. He asked Wu Zihuan, "Zihuan little friend, what did you discover just now?"

  Wu Zihan looked at Fu Ma and asked: "Did you hear the heartbeat?"

  Fu Ma nodded: "Muddled and unclear."

  "It should be a weasel," said Wu Zihan.

  "Scythe weasel?" Xiao Lao Da was shocked. He examined our wounds again and said, "It seems so, there are traces of medicine."

  "What's that? Is it a pervert?" Lao San quickly took out his pants from his bag and changed into them.

  "The Kamaitachi is a magical monster that moves at high speed, actually three small monsters connected together. They can stir up whirlwinds, with one responsible for the wind, one for the slope wounds and one for applying medicine." Xiao Lao explained.

  "This monster is quite human-like? It even applies medicine after scratching?" I asked in surprise.

  "He's the one who makes you feel no pain, and that medicine will also accelerate the deepening of the wound." Wu Zihan said with a frown.

  "I said how come the wound is still bleeding till now." Karamay touched his neck and said.

  Yang Cangcang burst into tears again: "I'm ruined!"

  Lao San hastily went forward and comforted Wu Zihan while asking: "Were you stabbed just now?"

  "Finally applied medicine on the wound."

  "This place is not suitable for a long stay, I'm afraid the sickle wolves will come again, don't know how many there are in total, we must find the array spirit quickly." Wu Zihan's expression was serious, every time he showed this expression it meant that the situation was very severe, almost no one dared to refute him.

  We several people let go of the stone tablet and continued to move forward. Not long after, the sound of wind started again from behind, this time much louder than before. I turned around and was shocked, oh my god, how many weasels were rushing towards us together!

  Behind us, whirlwinds were followed by whirlwinds, accompanied by lightning and thunder. From a distance, it was just a large cluster of black clouds rushing towards us. We were immediately stunned. Wu Zihan shouted: "What are you looking at? Hurry up and run!"

  Lao San quickly turned his head to the left and ran, shouting loudly: "If this blows over, these pants will also be scrapped." Suddenly, a faint yellow light came from the front, very much like the light emitted by an incandescent lamp at night. Lao San rushed towards that light and went away.

  Wu Zihan's face suddenly turned pale, and he shouted from behind: "That side must be a trap, don't go!" Lao San had already run far away and didn't hear it. We were hesitating, but Wu Zihan had already chased in the direction of the light. Xiao Lao ran after him, complaining: "This troublemaker Ah Long."

  All that could be seen was a very ordinary thatched cottage, with two lanterns hanging outside the door swaying in the wind. The door of the cottage was slightly ajar, and inside it was pitch black, giving off an eerie atmosphere everywhere.

  Lao San poked his head out of the doorway, eager to try, but Wu Zihan stopped him with a grab: "There must be something wrong with this house, don't go in no matter what."

  Lao San pushed him away: "Look back yourself, if you don't go in, are you waiting to be torn apart by the whirlwind? This house has been standing until now, it must be able to withstand this storm."

  Xiao Lao also echoed: "Zi Han's little friend is right, let's think of another way out."

  Karamay glanced at the dark cloud behind and said, "What way out is there? When soldiers come, we'll block them; when water comes, we'll dam it." He kicked open the door with one foot, and suddenly the inside lit up. Karamay walked straight in, followed closely by Old Three, Wu Zihan sighed and also went in. I looked at the dark cloud that was about to catch up with us, took a deep breath, and stepped into the grass hut.

  After I went in, I suddenly realized that there was only one person in the house... me.