Chapter 26: Die in the Day and Wake Up at Night

  Keke Xi saw the crowd's eager appearance and proudly said: "It is said that when the Sun Mother was first refining the holy water that could make people live forever, she had something to do outside and ordered a pair of golden boys and jade girls by her side to guard. Unexpectedly, these two not only stole the unfinished holy water but also did that phoenix and dragon joy in the Longevity Pool water. Just as they were caught by the returning Queen Mother, they saw that they dared to desecrate the 'Longevity Pool' and were furious. Under the spell, the two were transformed into eight-legged spider-like monsters. The one we saw in the stone room is one of them. Legend has it that its name is called "Hei Hui Zhu", which means a spider that repents in the dark night, possibly meaning that the Queen Mother let it reflect on itself. It is said that every time daylight comes, it will suffer immense pain under the sunlight until death, and then resurrect in the dark night. This creature cannot be exposed to light, so the illuminating bomb can destroy it!

  "Whoever has a flare shot into their belly will probably die!" Ma Liucao muttered to himself.

  Liu Yi furrowed his brow and said, "If the legend is true, this is too unbelievable! Moreover, spiders are dioecious, we killed that spider without a mate, how can it produce so many small spiders? This is too contrary to the laws of nature!"

  K'oxi said in a low voice: "You outsiders, how much of the world's affairs do you know? It's normal to feel strange!"

  This is also a concern for many people, and they are urging Kexi to stop being mysterious and speak quickly.

  "Legend has it that before the Western Queen Mother ascended to enlightenment, she placed the key to open the "Gate of the Sacred Land" inside a sinner's body. She punished two penitents to guard the road to the "Pool of Longevity" day and night, repenting and granting them heavenly eyes that could discern good and evil. That's why its eyes are as big as a tea bowl! Those eyes can see through people's hearts! According to legend, it can send wicked people to hell and guide kind people to the path of longevity!"

  Korvus's low and distant notes seemed to pierce into Liu Yi's bones, giving him an eerie feeling as if the dead spider's big eyes were watching them from somewhere nearby.

  "Many years have passed, and they stood guard on their respective roads, enduring the pain of nostalgia, and were dying. The Queen Mother of the West was afraid that they would die, so she transformed them into a single entity with both male and female bodies, allowing them to reproduce on their own and continue their mission of guarding."

  Professor Zhou nodded thoughtfully and said, "If we strip away the mythical outer layer of the legend, this giant spider must have had a connection with the ancient Qiang people long ago. It's also possible that it was some kind of prehistoric creature."

  "Malacca said: 'How is it possible? This creature has never been heard of in the whole world!'"

  Professor Zhou smiled and said, "Just because something doesn't exist now, it doesn't mean it didn't exist in the past. If it didn't exist in the past, it will definitely not exist in the future. The future is born from the past! All scientific phenomena can be explained by natural principles. The emergence of new things is just a complexification of simple natural principles in the past. So-called inventions and creations should be called "discoveries" in a strict sense. This is consistent with the Taoist idea that 'one gives birth to two, two gives birth to three, and three gives birth to all things.' Maybe this is what is meant by 'inheritance'!"

  Korksi clasped his hands together under his nose and bowed his head, saying: "You are a wise man!"

  Professor Zhou Tao learned his appearance and returned a courtesy: "I don't dare, I'm laughing!"

  Liu Yi thought to himself: "This Queen Mother of the West is really a matchmaker for love, it turns out that before Cowherd and Weaving Maiden, there was another pair of Golden Boy and Jade Girl who were separated by her!"

  Whether people believe it or not, the giant spider died in the stone room and will eventually decompose into various elements, returning to nature. Perhaps this is its best destination, no longer having to endure the legendary torment of dying during the day and the heartache of longing.

  According to Keke Xi, there should be another "Black Widow" spider existing somewhere, but it's unknown where it is. Liu Yi had doubts in his heart, but now wasn't the time to worry about that. He took out the "凸"-shaped stone key from Malacca and examined it carefully in his hand.

  That "stone key" was a kind of hard, shiny black stone, like a hammer, with the handle part having serrations on both sides, indeed somewhat resembling the keys we use today. Suddenly, the corners of his mouth curled up, revealing a smile, and he thought to himself: "Could it be that Father's route wasn't the same as the one I'm taking? Never mind that for now, but it really hasn't disappointed Father's expectations - I'll go explore places he never got to!"

  Korksi seemed to see through his mind and struck back: "Even if you get the key, it's useless. It's uncertain whether we can cross this Death Valley to reach the Sacrifice Land, even if we reach the Sacrifice Land, that last layer of Holy Land is just a legendary existence, whether there is such a place or not, no one knows!"

  Everyone ignored his words, and the team that went through the underground dark river cooperated with each other, they had the confidence to move forward bravely, as long as there was a glimmer of possibility, they would never give up lightly.

  "My father told me that Death Valley has not only ferocious beasts, but also invisible natural phenomena that can kill people. If you're not careful, you'll lose your life and won't even know how you died!"

  Liu Yi shifted his body and patted Korksi's shoulder, saying: "Young man, we have a mission, and we will not retreat!"

  Kexi whispered: "Others are just reminding you to be more careful!"

  Everyone looked at his embarrassed appearance and burst out laughing. As they chatted, the sun slowly set, and the moon rose with a displeased face.

  At this time, the little Tibetan antelope that was dozing off in the corner of the wall seemed to have sensed something and lifted its head, listened for a while, looked out towards the dark cave entrance, then lowered its head again, buried it between its two front hooves, narrowed its eyes, as if wanting to take a nice nap. Outside the cave, the wind started to pick up, although not very strong, but still carried a lot of dust and debris from the rocky cliffs.

  Lu Zonghan knew that animals in nature were sensitive to abnormal changes in the weather, so he stood up and walked out of the stone cave, looking up at the sky.

  "This sudden movement startled him so much that he cried out in surprise: 'Purple Black Moon Halo!'"

  Lu Zonghan's face changed greatly when he saw this strange celestial phenomenon, because before they crossed the Death Valley, they encountered such a phenomenon and narrowly escaped the "Thunderstorm Zone" after nine deaths!

  That's right, he didn't tell Professor Zhou Tao the truth. In fact, after hearing about the legend of the twelve tribes of ancient Qiang from Professor Zhou Tao for the first time, he went back and consulted a large amount of data. Many documents indicate that the Queen Mother of the West is not as evil as in Daoist mythology, but rather an existing person, who was likely the leader of the twelve tribes of ancient Qiang, and later gradually evolved into a Daoist deity.

  Since the Western Queen Mother exists, then the legendary holy water must also exist. He believes that this holy water is not a legendary elixir of immortality, but rather a sacred medicine that can extend human life. Moreover, he listened to Professor Zhou Tao's account of what he saw and heard in Kekou Village, because through the murals on the walls inside the Kekou Village altar mound, it can be seen that the Western Queen Mother holds a holy bottle to save people suffering from plague, which shows that the Western Queen Mother is well-versed in medical skills. This further solidified his faith in the sacred medicine.

  Because he needs the holy medicine to save the most important person in his life, that is, his brother who shares a life-and-death bond with him. This holy medicine is something he must obtain at all costs. As for Liu Yi's team, he only trusts Professor Zhou Tao because of his scientific spirit and quest to find the lost ancient Qiang nationality, but as for the others' purposes, he can't quite grasp them, so he hasn't revealed too much.

  ……

  Everyone listened to Lu Zonghan's voice with a slight tremble and curiously walked out, looking up at the sky.

  Only a hazy, unmatched moon hangs in the sky, surrounded by a huge purple halo that's slightly blackish. The entire night sky is cloudless, like a black curtain, a bit eerie.

  Everyone knows that the halo is formed by refraction of moonlight through ice crystals in high-altitude clouds, producing a ring of light. It's an extremely common natural phenomenon and the appearance of a halo indicates that there will be some change in the weather.

  Malacca said nonchalantly, "It's just a change of weather, what's the big deal?"

  "You only know one but not the other, if we were in a city instead of Death Valley, this phenomenon wouldn't be a big deal. But in Death Valley, the weather is unpredictable and you can't forecast what kind of weather will appear. It's possible to have hail as big as goose eggs or heavy rain that lasts for a long time, and it's also possible to have thunderstorms. If that's the case, our journey ahead might be even more treacherous!" Lu Zonghan paused for a moment, pointing at the sky and said: "This lunar halo phenomenon was called 'Mao Yue Liang' in ancient times, which is an omen of bad luck as soon as it appears. Normally, the lunar halo is light red or pale purple, but the one we're seeing now is dark purple, this is a sign of great calamity!"

  "Don't worry about others' troubles, even strong winds and rain won't stop our progress!" Ma Liuji clenched his fist and shouted: "It's delightful to fight against the heavens!"

  Lu Zonghan said coldly: "Man can conquer nature is a lie to deceive children, in the face of nature, human beings are just a piece of trash!"

  What he said is right, intelligent human beings can induce artificial rain and block the Yellow River's flooding, but after all, these are temporary measures to borrow external forces to resist. Human beings are destined to be unable to withstand the changes in heaven and earth, and cannot withstand the anger of the earth mother.

  Every major earthquake brings immense suffering to humans, causing separation of families and loss of loved ones.

  What can humans who cannot even predict an earthquake accomplish?

  "What's meant to come will come, let's just go with the flow!" Liu Yi said calmly with his hands clasped in front of his chest: "We should have already entered the Death Valley by now, it's inevitable that wild beasts will appear. We'll take turns keeping watch at night and rest to recharge our energy for tomorrow's trek."

  Everyone nodded in agreement, except for Professor Zhou Tao who had a slight cold. They divided into two groups to keep watch: Lu Zonghan and Ke Kemu took the first half of the night, while Liu Yi and Ma Liujia took the second half.

  The beast they feared did not appear, but a heavenly change more terrifying than the beast arrived.