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

  My eyes were stung by the strong light and couldn't open for a while. After a slight pause, I saw the surrounding scenery clearly. There were clusters of white mist floating around me like clouds, with soft light sprinkled all over. When I lowered my head to look down, it was just a vast expanse of white light.

  I lay on this cloud, with two people staring at me all the time. One of them is Wu Zihan, and the other is a kind-hearted old man who looks very familiar to me, as if I had seen him somewhere before, but I just can't remember.

  As I woke up, the old man smiled at me and said: "Child, you're awake?" Wu Zihan still maintained his usual icy face, expressionless.

  I looked at them in confusion and asked: "Shouldn't I be in the desert? Am I dead? Is this heaven? It's not quite what I imagined!"

  The old man patted my head, and his eyes seemed to be filled with tears: "I didn't expect you to grow up so big, the last time I saw you was just an infant, this is not heaven, it's your dream."

  "What's my dream?" I was shocked, "Old man, who are you? Are you acting out Inception or something?"

  "This is a void realm I created, to make a long story short, this void originally existed against nature and won't last for too long. In order to see you, I had no choice but to resort to this." The old man's expression turned serious.

  I returned to my senses and asked: "Do you want to see me? What's the matter? Why do I feel like I've seen you before?" I thought to myself.

  The old man said with a serious expression: "I am the former director of the Yintiao Bureau, my surname is Zheng, and I have been close friends with your grandfather for many years."

  "Are you the former Director? Oh, right, I remember Yang Cangcang asked about Director Zheng of the Hidden Bureau as soon as she saw us, probably referring to you." I chimed in.

  Director Zheng nodded slightly and said, "That's right, it was me. I secretly sent a few people from the Hidden Bureau to investigate the ancient country of Dài Yuán back then. As a result, no one came back, and probably only she survived, thanks to the bloodline of the Xuan tribe."

  "Do you know where my grandfather and parents are?" I asked hastily.

  Director Zheng waved his hand and said, "I've made many secret visits and can confirm that your grandfather should be in the underworld. As for your parents, I'm not too clear about them either, they seem to have evaporated into thin air."

  I furrowed my brow and asked: "I've always been puzzled, who is that person who looks exactly like me? Is my grandfather really pretending to be crazy? Why did he come back here again?"

  "Didn't the residual soul of the Phoenix tell you?"

  "Wu Zihan said calmly: 'His spirit has been sealed.'"

  "Ah, I see," said Director Zheng. "You're aware of your family's connection to the ancient country of Dàiyú, aren't you? You're a descendant of Shàng Huáng and Queen Luó Chā, and if I'm not mistaken, you're also the reincarnation of Shàng Huáng - otherwise, he wouldn't have attached himself to you. Your grandfather pretended to be crazy because someone didn't want him to wake up; he used the Luó Chā ghost curse to seal your divine power, also to prevent others from taking advantage of you."

  "Take advantage of me? Director Zheng, you're really good at joking. I'm just a senior student who only knows how to play games all day, what can I do?" I sighed and laughed helplessly.

  "Never mind all that, Zihan has something to show you."

  Wu Zihan pulled out a small, dark brown bottle from his clothes. He opened the stopper and a wisp of white smoke emerged, turning into a blue-green glow in mid-air. The glow grew larger and took on a human shape, becoming transparent. I stared in shock and shouted loudly: "A Quan?"

  That transparent Ah Yuan smiled slightly at me: "Jun Yang brother, do you still recognize me?"

  "You... you didn't die?" I stuttered and almost couldn't get the words out.

  Wu Zihan looked at me and said: "It's her lingering soul, when I was at the grave of the scorpion, I could have arrived a little earlier, but I was late because I was looking for this soul."

  "Brother Jun Yang, after being bitten by Father, I've been wanting to tell you something, but I've been circling around you guys without anyone noticing me." A Quan sounded a bit wronged, and I perked up my ears to continue listening to her say, "Actually, I already knew that Father was doomed from the start. I clearly saw that the person who gave me the diagram of Father's tomb mechanism was a blue-faced man, and he also knew we would meet you guys."

  "What's with this blue-faced man again? What's his story?" I asked.

  Director Zheng said thoughtfully: "As far as I know, the people of Dàiyú ancient country are all blue-faced people, including Shàng Huáng. Whether they are another ethnic group is currently unknown. It can be confirmed that you will come to the Scorpion Tomb, and it's likely that someone has planned to lead you in. Your awakening of the Luò Chā bloodline is also likely part of this plan."

  "Brother Junyang, take care! See you again someday." A Qing's transparent face seemed to show a hint of tears. She waved at me and turned into a wisp of smoke, flying back into the bottle. I looked at A Qing, thinking of her beautiful face and the reluctant eyes she had when she died, my heart felt like it was being cut by a knife. Too many people have been dragged into this matter already.

  Wu Zihan looked at me and said: "Don't worry, she has passed away. That day I pretended to be dead, a black shadow came to our camp, it was Director Zheng."

  "Not bad, I wanted to stop you from entering the tomb of the scorpion, but was blocked by an inexplicable force outside. Fortunately, I met Brother Zihan, otherwise you might not have seen me today." Director Zheng seemed to still be shaken.

  I suddenly slapped my thigh and said, "Ah, I remember where I've seen you before! Last time, when I was in school, an old man pretending to be a delivery guy gave me a letter from my grandfather. Wasn't it you? You also told me not to let anyone else know, and until now, I haven't shown it to anyone, it's still in my bag. And you said someone would come looking for me soon, and then the principal sent people to find me! You're really prescient!"

  Director Zheng listened to me finish and was stunned at first, then said in a daze: "When did I ever send you a message? If we don't count the time when you were little and I carried you, today is our first meeting!"

  Every single hair on my body stood up as I replied, "Don't scare me!" Now, the people and things around me are so confusing that I can no longer tell what's real and what's fake. Even who to trust has become a puzzle for me.

  Director Zheng also asked dazedly: "What did the letter say?"

  I hesitated for a moment whether to tell Director Zheng, my eyes scanned Wu Zihan, unexpectedly he was not in a cold expression, but nodded at me, I immediately said: "A purple box, inside there is a sheepskin paper, the sheepskin paper seems to be a map, the marked words I don't recognize,"

  Director Zheng savored the moment for a while, then let out a cold laugh: "This box was tampered with by your grandfather back in the day. Except for you, no one else can open it. This sheepskin map he once mentioned is a map of the ancient country of Dài Yuán. With this map, you might have an easier time entering the Ghost Mound. As for the text, you don't recognize it, and there's also Zi Han."

  "What is it in this ancient country that's worth all of you doing this?" I asked, puzzled.

  Director Zheng sighed, and after a long silence, he slowly said: "You should still remember the murals you saw in the Scorpion Tomb, right? The Rakshasa Ghost and the Queen emerged from a deep abyss on the ground. That abyss is called the Gate of Hell by some people, but it's actually the Eye of Guiyun. The Rakshasa Ghost is a deep-sea creature from Guiyun. Guiyun is a bottomless pit, and no one knows what's below it. Besides the Rakshasa Ghost, what other creatures are there? When Guiyun opens, it can suck in everything: oceans, humans, even the entire world."

  "Do I still remember if this thing really exists?"

  "No one has ever seen it, but I believe it really exists. The King of Taiyuan used a six-sided stone to defeat the Queen of Luo, and that six-sided stone is what we call the Guiyun Heart. The Guiyun Heart is a mysterious stone with unparalleled divine power, capable of controlling the opening and closing of Guiyun, granting people spiritual powers, and even immortality. Perhaps there are many other uses that we don't know about. Legend has it that the Guiyun Stone is hidden in that ghost tomb, and outside the ancient country of Taiyuan, there is a powerful Bagua formation guarding it. It's said that only those with the bloodline of the Supreme Emperor can break through the formation and enter to retrieve the Guiyun Heart." Director Zheng continued.

  "How did my grandfather end up in the ghost tomb? Didn't they say it was guarded by the Bagua formation?"

  "This is probably something you'll have to ask him yourself." Director Zheng's voice seemed to change, and Wu Ziheng furrowed his brow as he looked at him.

  "Alright, Junyang, you must be careful..." Director Zheng said with his back to me.

  "What are you being careful about? Director Zheng, you didn't enter the tomb with us, how do you know so much?" I asked, and instantly felt that this question was quite stupid. It must have been Wu Ziheng who told him.

  Director Zheng turned his face to me: "Because I am you——" His face suddenly changed into another Zhou Junyang, and the vicious and sarcastic look in his eyes made my own hair stand on end.

  Suddenly, a gray big hand stretched out from below to grab me. Wu Ziheng quickly pulled me over and hid on the side. The other me transformed into Director Zheng's appearance again, shouting "Be careful!" Before he could finish speaking, he was grabbed away by that gray big hand. The surrounding clouds began to tremble non-stop.

  Wu Zihan narrowed his eyes and said: "Someone is destroying the virtual dream space, we have to hurry back, follow me and jump down from here."

  I stood with him on the rainbow, facing the light below and jumped down together. I suddenly had a feeling of dying for love, unfortunately Wu Zihuan was a man, if it were a beauty... I thought about it all night, shouting loudly and sweating profusely before waking up.

  Lao San, Kelamayi, Xiao Lao, Yang Cancan, Fu Ma quickly gathered around me, warmly asking about my well-being.

  Lao San didn't know whether to cry or laugh and said: "Is that you, Second Brother?" I patted him on the shoulder and nodded.

  Karamay and Xiao Lao seemed to be secretly wiping away tears, while Fu Ma smiled at me from the side.

  Yang Cangcang happily shouted: "Jun Yang is finally awake, you've made my Zihuan sleep from exhaustion."

  Lao San snorted: "When did you become a member of our family?"

  I saw Wu Zihan lying in the tent and had just woken up, he glanced at me as if nothing had happened earlier, it was all just a dream.