Chapter Thirty-Four: Nirvana Leaves the Formation

  "Maybe it's what the captain used to record his navigation log." I guessed.

  "Take it out and have a look. From the navigation log, we can't be sure what this ship was doing or where it sank." Karamay said to Yang Cangcang.

  Yang Cangcang carefully opened the box, inside was a brown leather-bound ordinary notebook. Because of the protection of this box, the book was well preserved. As soon as Yang Cangcang took it out, Lao San snatched it away. Yang Cangcang put her hands on her hips and said: "Hey, looks like you're completely fine now? I really miss when you were sick, humph!"

  Lao San looked at us with a wronged expression and said: "Look at this ruthless woman, she's murdering her own husband."

  Yang Cangcang suddenly became anxious: "Whose husband are you?"

  Lao San flipped open the notebook with a smile, except for the first page which had writing on it, the rest were blank. Lao San looked at the words on the first page for half a day and still couldn't recognize them: "What language is this? You said something about the captain, just two words and he locked it in a box." He handed the notebook to Xiao Lao, and as he did, a photo suddenly fell out from inside. Lao San picked it up and took a look, then let out a loud shout: "Oh my god——"

  Yang Cangcang hastily replied: "What are you calling me for?" Lao San ignored her, handing the photo to Xiao Lao and saying: "Is this a monster?"

  I walked over to take a look, it was a baby's photo, the photo was very old and had some discoloration, the edges were also worn out, the child was white and chubby, very cute. "This kid is so cute, how can you say he's a monster?" I asked in confusion.

  Lao San said seriously: "Take a closer look at that child's eyes."

  I shone my flashlight on it and took a closer look, and suddenly I gasped in cold air. The baby's eyes were blood red, looking very eerie. Those eyes seemed so out of sync with the baby's tender and innocent face.

  Xiao Lao said lightly, "Maybe this child has some eye problems, you guys shouldn't scare yourselves like this." He looked at the words in the diary and said, "This seems to be ancient Wu State script, Ceng Ceng, do you recognize what this writing is?"

  Yang Cangcang poked her head out and took a look, saying: "It's written 'Gui Yun'."

  "Guī Xū?" I muttered to myself, "It seems that this sunken ship is still related to the ancient country of Dài Yú, but I don't know who was on board or where it sank."

  Fu Ma seemed to have discovered something, snatching the photo from Xiao Lao's hand, flipping it over to the back, where two Chinese characters were written: Hong Tian.

  "Isn't this the child's name?" Lao San guessed.

  We've been discussing for half a day, and Karamay finally lost his patience and said: "Hurry up and let's go, are you guys planning to spend the night in this cave?"

  Xiao Lao suddenly remembered something and got up to head towards the stone hall from before. Karamay hastily called out to him: "Xiao Lao, you're going the wrong way, it's this side."

  Xiao Lao sighed and said, "I didn't go wrong, I want to go bring back Old Zheng's body, we were colleagues after all, can't just leave him abandoned here." Everyone also nodded in agreement, although they didn't know if it was true or false, I had met him twice too, so I guess there was some fate.

  We returned to the stone hall, but were shocked to find that the stone bed was empty and there were no signs of anything around it. Everyone sighed in amazement, and I suddenly broke out in a cold sweat again. Director Zheng, are you dead or alive?

  Karamay searched around but didn't find any clues and said to us: "This place is too eerie, let's leave quickly."

  Xiao Lao bowed three times towards the stone bed, his voice heavy with emotion as he said: "Old friend, take care of yourself, we're leaving." His eyes seemed to be welling up with tears, and he turned to follow us. I had rarely seen Xiao Lao like this before. What exactly had happened back then? Why did the two directors have to disappear, one pretending to be mad? It was as if I had entered a world that never belonged to me, and my doubts grew more and more.

  After tidying up our things, we walked through the gate in the mountain cave and returned to the desert. Lao San looked around and said, "Have we come out again?"

  Yang Cangcang pointed at the stone tablet in front and said: "Isn't that the stone tablet from the array? How did it get back here?"

  Xiao Lao took a glance at the stone tablet and said, "This is Li Zhen, Li naturally corresponds to fire, everyone be careful." Yang Cangcang struggled for half a day with the ancient five-country text below, but was ridiculed by Old Three as being half-baked. She said uncertainly, "This passage of text is very strange, I've never seen it before. If I had to translate it, my understanding is just two words - Nirvana."

  Lao San burst out laughing: "I'm telling you, wife, if she can't do it, then she just can't. Why are you being so stubborn?"

  Yang Cangcang hummed: "Who's your wife? Be careful or I'll blow all the poisonous insects around to you."

  "Since the two of them disappeared together, their feelings have been heating up rapidly? Old Three, how did you manage to save Cangcang, tell me about it, I'll learn from it and become a hero who saves the beauty too." I chimed in, adding fuel to the fire.

  "Second brother didn't mention it, I had already forgotten." Old Three said thoughtfully, "I feel like someone was helping us. At that time, after I ate the Bi Shui Dan and went underwater, that Kappa pulled Ceng Ceng towards a group of man-eating fish. I entangled with him for half a day without being able to gain the upper hand, and I even got injured myself. Just as the man-eating fish were about to surround us, I saw a black shadow come out from the sunken ship. He seemed to have chanted some incantations and threw out a talisman, and those fish all retreated."

  "Cast out a talisman? That doesn't seem like Wu Zihuan, he wouldn't use talismans." Xiao Lao emphasized and repeated.

  Lao San nodded: "At that time, the water was quite dark and I couldn't see very clearly, but it shouldn't be Wu Zihan. Later, I fainted and when I woke up, I saw you all, and I don't know who brought us into the cave."

  "Did you see that?" Karamay asked.

  Yang Cangcang recalled for a moment and said: "I didn't see it either, just when I woke up in a daze, I saw an intestine with eyes next to me, nothing else is remembered."

  "Could it really be Old Zheng's soul?"

  "If I had to say someone helped us, I suddenly remembered something. I furrowed my brow and said, 'When we entered the Xun formation and encountered the sickle weasel, Lao San ran forward, no one was behind me, at that time I almost fell down, I felt like someone supported me for a moment, then when I turned back around, there was no one.'"

  "Never mind, let's not talk about it. It's good that someone is helping us anyway. Let's focus on breaking this formation."

  "First, find the Ling array is urgent." Lao San said while walking forward, his feet suddenly sprouted a ball of fire, scorching him to hastily retreat, "I'm going, this is Huoyan Mountain? Almost burned my shoe soles off."

  Suddenly, a huge dog appeared in the desert ahead. The dog was about the size of an elephant, with shiny black fur all over its body. It lay on the sand, staring at us with two black eyes, and its mouth was full of sharp teeth. My heart was racing with fear. Then the big dog yawned, and to my surprise, flames shot out of its mouth.

  Xiao Lao looked at it for a long time and said: "Could this be a whirlpool?"

  "Snail, his brother?" said Lao San.

  Xiao Lao ignored him and continued to say to us, "This is the legendary hellhound, guarding the gates of the underworld, eating fire, pulling fire, spitting fire, with a violent temper."

  Yang Cangcang let out a sigh of relief: "As long as it doesn't eat people, that's all that matters."

  "It's not that we don't want to eat, but the key is how do we get close to it if it's a ghost? As soon as we take a step forward, flames will erupt from the ground. We'll be burned to death before we even get near." Karamay said with a troubled expression.

  Yang Cangcang smiled mysteriously and said: "What's difficult about this? My Jiao Wei Di can get it done."

  "Auntie, your flute isn't a banana fan that can make rain when blown, is it?" asked Lao San skeptically.

  "Let's take a look!" Yang Cangcang took out his flute and played a tune, Guodou heard the sound of the flute and immediately lifted his head to listen carefully. After finishing playing, Guodou barked loudly several times, his voice no different from an ordinary dog's bark. Yang Cangcang played another tune.

  Lao San asked in confusion: "Auntie, are you chatting with him?"

  Yang Cangcang nodded: "Oh, oak head opened, you can hold on tight."

  Only to see that big dog standing up, facing us and taking a deep breath, the fire on the ground all went into his belly. Yang Cangcang walked in the front and said: "How's that? The fire on the ground has been sucked away by Tuo Dou, we can walk safely now."

  Lao San exclaimed: "Great, you've got some skills!"

  We were walking forward, in the middle of the desert, when that big dog suddenly blocked our way, opening its bloody huge mouth. Old Three shouted: "This beast has led us here to eat us!"