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

  I rushed into the house with a fart and urine flow, shouting loudly: "Save me! There's a ghost!"

  Several people in the house were woken up by me, and Lao San picked up his military knife and rushed to the door: "Where is the ghost? Second brother!"

  "In... in the cowshed." Lao San burst out, and Kelamayi quickly followed suit. I sat on the bed shivering, and the hostess brought me a cup of hot water. I took a sip, took a deep breath, calmed down, and Kelamayi and Lao San walked back with serious faces. I immediately stood up and asked: "How is it? Where's the ghost?"

  Lao San looked at me with a hint of disdain: "Second brother, you must have had a nightmare, there's no such thing as ghosts. We've searched around and didn't see anything." Kalamayi nodded in agreement.

  "What? How is it possible? The sheepfold still has that half-eaten little camel left."

  "There really isn't, don't believe me go take a look." Lao San shrugged his shoulders.

  "I'm not going, I was scared to death just now."

  Karamay yawned: "Really no, we'll go out and take a look with you."

  I tiptoed to the cattle shed, covering my eyes with my hands and peeking through the gaps between my fingers. Outside was pitch black, and the well was no longer emitting steam. There were no shadows on the ground, nor even the corpse of the small camel. But I had just seen it so clearly, "Could it be that only I saw a ghost?" I muttered to myself.

  "It's really not accurate." Karamay, who was standing behind me, said. "Our village is called Hutubi, which translates to 'having ghosts' in Chinese. People like us who live in the village are used to it, but as an outsider, you might be targeted. In the future, don't go out alone at night without our accompaniment."

  I shivered and quickly ran back into the house, still feeling a lingering fear. I noticed that when Karamay entered the room, Fuma kept staring at him with an unusual gaze, moving his mouth as if he was about to say something, but was fiercely glared at by Karamay, causing him to lower his head and remain silent. Xiao Lao continued to snore loudly, while Wu Zihan remained with his back to us, but I had a feeling that he was actually awake.

  "It's all right, false alarm. Everyone hurry up and sleep, we need to be in good spirits for tomorrow's departure." Karamay yawned and went into the inner room with sleepy eyes. We also lay down one after another. I tossed and turned for half a day, feeling that the ghost was very familiar, as if he wanted to tell me something. I don't know how long it took before I fell asleep.

  When I woke up in the morning, everyone had already gotten out of bed. I took a look at my watch and it was around 7 o'clock. The hostess had already set a sumptuous breakfast on the table. After washing up, we started eating breakfast while listening to Karamay arrange the itinerary: "Each of us will bring some dry rations and water in case anyone gets lost. Xiao Lao is experienced and knowledgeable, he's our consultant. Junyang's spiritual power has been sealed, so we need to focus on protecting him and Zihan."

  Wu Zihan nodded, not saying a word. I was quite surprised. Karamay plays a core role in our team, but he has to ask Wu Zihan, who is always silent, about everything. What's his real ability?

  "Second brother, you can't sense the Heaven's Moth people's eyes on us. Whatever happens, don't get separated from us." Old Three said anxiously.

  I grunted, and Karamay added, "This trip is perilous, and we don't know if we can return unscathed. Xiao Lao, Jun Yang, this is what Director Mu asked me to give you for self-defense. The bullets are already loaded, only 8 rounds, so be frugal with them. Don't use it when not necessary, and keep the safety on. I also brought some explosives with me, just in case." He placed two Type 54 pistols in front of us, Xiao Lao calmly holstered his at his waist, while I felt both excited and heavy-hearted. Every boy has a dream about being a legendary gunslinger when they're young, but I never thought it would be under these circumstances that I'd get one.

  "But I've never touched a gun before, I don't know how to use it."

  "You can open fire from here, but the range of this gun is generally around 100 meters at most. You need to aim accurately and use it when necessary." Karamay said seriously.

  I trembled with excitement, learning from Xiao Lao's demeanor, and also holstered my gun at my waist, occasionally touching it. After breakfast, we set out on our journey. Kalamayi and I each led a camel, while Wu Zihan led the way in front, holding the Tianying people's eyeball in his hand, pointing westward, and we headed deep into the desert.

  Today's weather isn't particularly good, the wind is very strong, every step I take my feet sink into the sand, making it hard to walk. We wore the goggles we had prepared beforehand to protect ourselves from the wind and sand, but with each breath, I felt like a lot of sand was being sucked into my throat, which was dry and itchy, feeling very uncomfortable. I coughed several times.

  In the distance, Taklamakan was piled into small golden pyramids by sand, with sparse red willow branches growing occasionally, leaving no signs of life at all. We were like little ants shuttling through the desert, and I couldn't help but sigh: how tiny humans are in front of nature.

  After walking for a while, there was a withered poplar tree trunk lying horizontally in front of them. Wu Zihan made a stopping gesture and closed his eyes to sense for half a day. He said, "There is the power of Mi Huan interfering with us, and we can't feel the direction of the ancient country of Dai Yu."

  Xiao Lao put the Celestial Silkworm's eyeball in his hand, closed his eyes, and after a while shook his head: "It's all chaotic, there's no connection. In my humble opinion, we can continue westward, that ancient country won't easily change direction along the way."

  I leaned over to Xiao Lao and asked, "What is this 'Ming Jue's power'?"

  The old man with a Mediterranean-style haircut nodded at me with satisfaction: "I like young people who are curious and eager to learn. Since you asked sincerely, I'll tell you that the so-called 'Ming' is the natural energy of the universe. The power of Ming is the natural divine power that returns to its true nature. Legend has it that in the ancient times of humanity, even before the era of Fuxi and Nuwa, humans all possessed this power. However, as time passed and humans multiplied, they lost this ability. Nowadays, only a few people possess such abilities. Since the ancient country of Daiyuan existed over 10,000 years ago, its people must have had this power to protect their city from invasion by other tribes using the power of Ming."

  I heard it was vague and unclear, it's better not to ask. After saying a lot of things I didn't understand, we continued walking westward. Suddenly, Lao San exclaimed: "Have you guys heard? It sounds like music and dance! Dalian, can you feel anything?" Fuma shook his head.

  Karamay furrowed his brow: "It seems like someone is singing, and there's the sound of drums. As far as I know, there are no villages in this deep valley, everyone be on high alert and be careful."

  It's almost noon, and the desert is getting hotter by the minute. Everyone seems to be in high spirits, with no intention of resting. As I listen to the sound of singing and dancing growing louder, I start to fantasize about a simple village where everyone is celebrating this year's bountiful harvest. The elderly village chief with a big beard would warmly invite us to join in the festivities, and who knows, maybe even treat us to a sumptuous lunch. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water.

  Lao San seemed to have seen something and quickly ran two steps forward, turning his head back to shout: "There's an oasis ahead!"

  A few of us slowly climbed up a higher sand dune, and below the dune we saw a relatively flat area with an oasis, vaguely visible as a cluster of poplar trees and red willow branches, seemingly with a waterfall, in the middle of the oasis was a large patch of dark shadows moving around, as if there were many people.

  "How could I not remember that there's an oasis here? It's a bit strange." Karamay muttered to himself, then looked at Wu Zihan, "Is this a mirage, a hallucination or is it real?"

  Wu Zihan replied calmly: "The oasis is real."

  I was delighted to hear that, "Great, let's find a tree shade and have lunch, this desert is too hot." I led the camel down the hill at full speed. The rest of the people looked at each other and followed me downhill.

  As we approached the oasis, the sound of singing and dancing became clearer, very loud as if many people were singing together, but couldn't make out the tune, it seemed like everyone was singing their own song, also couldn't make out what language they were speaking, a chaotic mess. The few of us followed the sound into the depths of the oasis, with a small river flowing beside us, don't know where this water came from or flowed to, I hastily drank a few mouthfuls, so sweet! As we got closer to the heart of the oasis, a sweet and refreshing fragrance became thicker, never smelled it before, this scent was intoxicating, made one feel especially satisfied in their heart.

  Just now, the black shadow we saw on the sand dune was indeed a human figure. They were densely packed and it was impossible to tell how many people there were. They surrounded a huge tree and danced around it. When they saw us walking slowly towards them, they suddenly stopped singing and stared at us with wide eyes. I took a closer look at this group of people and found that there were old and young, men and women. The only strange thing was their clothes, which included the cross-collared garments from the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties, the curved-hemmed garments from the Spring and Autumn periods and the Qin and Han dynasties, the Hu clothing from the Sui and Tang dynasties, and the crane cloak from the Song dynasty. It seemed to cover all the styles of ancient Chinese clothing. There were also helmets and armor for military battles, as well as modern clothes. Was some director making a time-traveling movie in the desert?

  Just then, an old man who looked like a group leader walked up to us with a cane. His face was waxen yellow and his gait was also very strange. "What brings you all here?" he asked in a deep, solemn voice.

  "Hello, we are just passing by and borrowed your place to have lunch. Sorry for the trouble." Karamay said respectfully.

  "If you are destined to be here, then stay and join our Harvest Festival." The old man's tone was devoid of any welcoming intent. "Serve some refreshments to our guests, everyone continue singing, don't stop." The noisy commotion erupted once again. We were led to sit down not far from the tribal elder, the servant girls served us several dishes, which were quite exquisite. I was a bit hungry, so I quickly took a bite, it seemed to be some kind of meat, but the flavor was a bit strange. The tableware was all different styles, and it seemed like a few of them were antiques.

  "What is this place called?" Wu Zihan asked, he had been silent all along and didn't know what he was thinking.

  "This place is called Renmian Country, we are all recluses in the mountains and forests, rarely communicating with the outside world." The patriarch said.

  We five people kept eating, only Wu Zihan didn't move his chopsticks, constantly making eyes at us. I guessed he might be disgusted by our eating appearance. Karamay ate a few plates of dishes but it wasn't enough, and then asked the waitress for more. Lao San was a bit drowsy, while Fu Ma and Xiao Lao followed the villagers to start the harvest dance, laughing and chatting.

  The clan leader looked at Karamay and asked: "Since you all like it here so much, how about staying?"

  Karamay nodded repeatedly, without lifting his head, and continued eating the food on his plate. I felt a bit uneasy, lifted my head to decline, but saw the tribal chief's mouth twisted, squeezing out a sly smile. He picked up his chopsticks, ready to pick up a piece of meat, when suddenly his right eye fell into the plate. The eyeball rolled around in circles on the plate, and he picked it up with his chopsticks, sending it into his mouth and swallowing it down.

  "My goodness!" I exclaimed loudly, at the same time Wu Zihan was already standing behind the tribal chief.