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

  Found out I was staring at her, Ah Quan quickly closed her eyes and pretended to faint, I knew that even if I told Fu Ma, he wouldn't abandon Ah Quan, could only keep a close eye on her.

  Through the hole in the wall, we came to a pitch-black room. Xiao Lao took out a flashlight from his bag and lit it up. There was only one coffin in the room. This room was no longer sealed off, with a door leading to another room. We all breathed a sigh of relief.

  "This coffin won't have zongzi in it again, will it? We're all almost hurt to death by this one big BOOS." Lao San's tone was somewhat helpless.

  I suddenly remembered that after paying the horse's hindquarters, the eyes of the green-eyed female corpse were closed in a daze. I asked: "Brother Ma, are your big eyes okay?"

  Fu Ma nodded: "En, Qing Yan's corpse is gone, I can control it now." I pointed to the Ah Quan on his back and mouthed to Fu Ma: "Be careful of her." Fu Ma waved his hand and smiled without speaking.

  "Not far away, Xiao Lao's sighs came: "Good coffin, good coffin, made of gold, it's been many years since I've seen such a good coffin." I felt that Xiao Lao's saliva was about to drip onto the golden coffin."

  "Everyone be careful, don't let it be another dumpling. I think we should just go out the door and not look at this coffin." Fu Ma said with some worry.

  Karamay said with a sarcastic tone: "When did your courage become so small, we are people from the underground bureau, what big winds and waves haven't we seen, do you think a few small dumplings are anything?" Fu Manu nodded his mouth and didn't say anything else.

  Xiao Lao held the flashlight and carefully shone it all over the coffin, which was made of gold. Under the light, it reflected dazzling rays. The four sides of the coffin were carved with pictures of flowers, birds, fish, and insects, as well as scenes of ascending to heaven. The lid of the coffin was densely covered with inscriptions, but I looked at them for a long time without recognizing a single one.

  "Is this the legendary tadpole script, Old Xiao?"

  Xiao Lao put on a learned air and said, "Jun Yang, my young friend, your spirit of asking questions when you don't understand is still worth learning from everyone. This is Xiao Zhuan, which was deeply influenced by the Han Dynasty culture in the Western Regions back then."

  "What's written on this?"

  "Second brother, even a toe can think of it, it's naturally an epitaph." Old Three said impatiently.

  Xiao Lao immediately smiled slyly: "That's right, it is the epitaph. The one sleeping in this coffin is indeed the king of Dayuan Kingdom. We all know that the King of Dayuan built his tomb here using this ancient ritual site. And now we are exactly here."

  "Didn't you say that the king of Dayuan had been killed, Old Xiao?" I asked.

  "It seems that there isn't, otherwise there would have been some movement by now." Xiao Lao glanced at the coffin lid, but there was no reaction inside.

  "He might be sticking his ear on the lid and eavesdropping on our conversation." Lao San said with a mischievous grin.

  I started to imagine, a big fluffy dumpling in the coffin, sticking its ears on the lid to eavesdrop on our conversation, listening to us discussing whether it had turned into a dumpling, and then it gave a sinister smile, suddenly feeling cute.

  "It's a zongzi, it's a zombie, just pull it out and take a look, open the coffin and you'll know." Karamay seemed somewhat impatient.

  "Better be cautious, Old Xiao. What does the epitaph say? Is there anything suspicious?" Fu Ma asked.

  Xiao Lao paused for a moment before responding, "There's nothing special on the epitaph, it's all nonsense. But I have one thing that I don't understand, the epitaph doesn't mention anything about the chain and sheepskin scroll. You see this." Xiao Lao pointed to a spot on the coffin lid, "It looks like there are signs of damage here, I think someone has tampered with this epitaph, trying to deliberately hide something."

  Karamay and Xiao Lao removed all the nails from the coffin, Karamay placed a stick at the lid's opening, pried it open with a "crack" sound, and the coffin opened slightly. We were startled and retreated several steps back, after about a minute, seeing no reaction inside, several people approached cautiously.

  Lao San held up his cleaver in front of his body: "Always be prepared for a big battle over zongzi."

  Xiao Lao and Karamay took a deep breath, counted to three together, and lifted the lid. After waiting for half a day without any unusual movement, everyone let out a sigh of relief.

  "It's a good thing we didn't have any zongzi, or I would have thought we'd entered a zongzi nest." Lao San said with a bitter smile.

  I was curious, so I walked up and took a look at the coffin of King Da Yan. Suddenly, I sucked in a breath of cold air. The king's body had already turned into a mummy, with an extremely ferocious expression on his face. He had a big mouth, staring eyes, and a twisted facial expression, as if he had suffered some kind of cruel punishment before death. What was most unbelievable was that there was a dagger stuck in his chest.

  "Was the King of Dayuan murdered?" I looked at Old Xiao.

  Xiao Lao seemed surprised too: "The epitaph says he died of natural causes, I don't know anything else."

  Fu Ma had been deep in thought with his head bowed, when he suddenly interjected: "I've always found it puzzling - the legend says that the King of Dayuan broke the seal and released the Rakshasa demon, then escaped to Loulan, where he died. But was it the King of Loulan who personally escorted him back to this tomb? I wonder what kind of relationship they had - knowing how treacherous this tomb is, why would he still escort him in?"

  "Unless he comes himself." I looked at Fu Ma.

  Xiao Lao nodded: "The two young friends' analysis is reasonable, when old man studied history books, it seemed that the Loulan King disappeared after this trip and was succeeded by his son, I wonder?"

  "He's also in this grave!" Old Three and I exclaimed in unison.

  Karamay stroked his big beard, nodded and said: "There must be something in this tomb that can attract the King of Loulan. It's possible that all the kings of Dayuan were killed by the King of Loulan." Everyone nodded, not ruling out this possibility.

  Xiao Lao found that there seemed to be something in the coffin as well. He shone his flashlight inside and looked for a long time without saying a word. When I called him, he didn't respond, which made me think that he had been possessed by the rice dumpling spirit. Xiao Lao looked at it for about ten minutes before throwing back his head and laughing loudly: "Finally, I've found it."

  I looked at everyone and said: "It's over, let's go crazy."

  Xiao Lao revealed a sly expression, stroking his Mediterranean-style hair and saying: "Do you all know what this thing is?"

  "Return to dust? Has it turned into ashes?" Old Three interjected.

  Xiao Lao shook his head and continued: "In the 'Liezi - Tang Wen', it is recorded that east of Bohai, tens of millions of miles away, there is a great abyss, actually an endless valley, with no bottom below. It's called Gui Xuan, which is actually the legendary sea-bottomless valley, where all waters converge."

  "Does this thing really exist in Bohai? I don't believe it." Lao San said in surprise.

  "I didn't believe it at first, thinking it was just an ignorant statement by the ancients that all seawater flows eastward. But now it seems this is actually true, and there are only two of these 'Returning Void Eyes', which also have a close relationship with the ancient country of Dài Yuán. And in this Western Territory, there is one such Returning Void Eye."

  "What's the use of this Ruins' Eye?" I asked.

  Xiao Lao said slowly: "The eyes of Gui Yun are divided into the extreme east and west, and the place in the Western Regions is exactly where the eye of the extreme east is located. In my understanding, this land of Gui Yun can be considered as the gate of hell. No one knows what's underneath, even the Rakshasa demons come from the land of Gui Yun. It can suck seawater into it without being full, and I don't know how many creatures similar to Rakshasa are inside. The land of Gui Yun opens itself once a year, on other days, only the king of Dai Yu Guo can control it."

  We listened with our mouths agape, as if we were hearing a myth being told again.

  "Xiao Lao, if you say so, then why did the powerful king of the ancient kingdom of Dai Yun still perish?"

  Xiao Lao shook his head: "I don't know about this either, these things are all said by the murals on the coffin of the great king of Da Yuan, they came here because it is said that there is a power here that can control Gui Yun."

  Fu Ma thoughtfully said: "If this return to the void is really as magical as Old Xiao said, wouldn't it be that whoever controls the return to the void can dominate this world?"

  Xiao Lao smiled slightly: "Not bad, just as Dà Yǎn said, so it can be explained why this place is so *sexual. The King of Loulan also came here at the risk of his life. He had power and status, but what he wanted was the power to dominate the world. I think even the King of Dayuan had this illusion in the beginning."

  Fu Ma suddenly looked at Karamay and moved his mouth as if he wanted to say something.