Everyone put up awnings to avoid the scorching sun. After the sun turned west, they hid on the backside of the sand dunes and patiently spent the day.
Not long after the sun set, a waning moon rose in the sky, and stars began to appear in the sky. The moon that night was much dimmer than the day of departure, but the stars were as numerous as dust.
Luo Luoshan took out his compass and stargazer to determine the direction, and then set off with everyone. Every two or three miles he walked, Luo Luoshan stopped to take a rest. After walking like this for three hours, the group of nine people finally returned to the place where their ship was buried.
Just one day later, the tallest sand dune seemed to have become much shorter. The wooden stick inserted by Luoluo Mountain was blown over by the wind and sand, but it was not completely buried yet. The sand boat in the yellow sand was naturally still there.
Climbing up the small sand dune, the stone forest two hundred feet away was clearly visible under the starlight, and even the two stone pillars that collapsed yesterday were vaguely distinguishable.
"Great!" Bai Sha smiled, "We are finally back here again."
"That's right," Luo Luoshan said, "Let's set up camp in the lee of the sand dunes and wait for dawn!"
At dawn, the strong wind struck again. This time the strong wind was much stronger than yesterday, and it lasted for two full hours before it slowly subsided.
Everyone came out of the tent that was half buried in the yellow sand and looked up at the sky. Luo Luoshan said: "The sun has risen two poles high. Let's hurry in and go in."
A group of people climbed up the sand dune in front of them and looked towards the stone forest, but everyone looked at each other in shock and dumbfounded.
It turned out that the stone forest two hundred feet away had disappeared, and there was now only a vast stretch of yellow sand in that direction.
"Your mother!" Luo Luoshan rubbed his eyes in disbelief and cursed in frustration, "Isn't this too damn unlucky? In just one night, this stone forest passage was filled up by this sandstorm?"
Naturally, everyone was as disappointed as Luo Luoshan. Duan Wutian and Anan Adong cursed at the sky at the same time. Luo Luoshan, Chen Tianye, Bai Sha Heisha and others seemed to be unable to believe their eyes, and couldn't help but turn around to look around, fearing that they were in the wrong direction.
However, it is the same in every direction. As far as the eye can see, there is only vast yellow sand.
"Alas!" Bai Sha looked around for a long time, and finally sighed and said: "It seems that the window period has disappeared, and we have to wait until next time. Boss Luo, what do you think?"
"What else can I say?" Luo Luoshan smiled bitterly, "Go back! I don't know what year or month it will take to wait! It's only one day away, I really can't bear to do it..."
Everyone was about to go back with their heads down.
"Slow down!" Qingshi said suddenly, "Don't rush to conclusions, please be more patient and careful."
"Um?"
Only then did everyone realize that Qingshi had been observing from all sides, but had never spoken.
"Brother Haiya!" Luo Luoshan said, "Did you find anything wrong?"
"Not yet," Qingshi said, "but don't forget that it's daytime now, and we have to be careful not to be fooled by the illusion of light and shadow again."
"Well!"
Everyone was stunned for a moment, and then suddenly realized.
"Yes!" Bai Sha shouted, "What we see now is not necessarily the truth. Maybe the stone forest is still there and has not been buried, but we can't see it."
"That's right!" Luo Luoshan also came to his senses, "It makes sense. The more I think about it, the more it makes sense! Let me just say, how can it be so unlucky that the stone forest passage just happened to be buried in the sandstorm today? What the fuck? It's probably an illusion, or Brother Haiya is smart."
"I still say the same thing," Qingshi said calmly, "Don't rush to conclusions. We were deceived by the illusion of light and shadow, or the stone forest passage was really buried by yellow sand. Both possibilities are possible."
"In this case, it's easy to handle!" Chen Tianye said, "You'll know after you try it!"
"How to try?" Bai Sha asked.
"Simple," Chen Tianye said, "We are divided into four teams. Each team chooses a direction to advance two hundred feet. There will always be one team that enters the stone forest. I mean, if the stone forest is still there."
"It makes some sense," Luo Luoshan said thoughtfully, "If the stone forest is still there, it is possible to break through the illusion and find the stone forest, but this is a blind collision, and the more likely situation is that no team can hit it. "
"Yes!" Bai Sha said, "Since the direction is chaotic, it is impossible for us to figure out whether the four teams are all walking in the correct direction. Secondly, the entrance to this stone forest is only a few dozen feet wide, even if The stone forest is still there and the direction is correct, but if there is a slight mistake, you will miss it."
"Then try a few more times!" Chen Tianye said, "Anyway, I believe 100% that the stone forest is still there. We are definitely blinded by the illusion."
"How about..." Luo Luoshan said thoughtfully, "How about we give it a try, what do you think, Brother Haiya?"
"Can't try!" Qingshi was still observing the surroundings carefully and said while observing, "The chance of finding the stone forest is too low in this way, but the possibility of crashing into the Liusha River is very high."
"Well!"
Everyone woke up again and knew that this method was unworkable.
"What should we do?" Luo Luoshan asked. At this point, he had subconsciously given up his backbone position to Qingshi.
"Observe carefully!" Qingshi said, "Look for abnormalities!"
"What's abnormal?" Bai Sha asked.
"I don't know either!" Qingshi shook his head and said, "However, I also believe that the stone forest passage is still there, and what we saw must be an illusion. Since it is an illusion, then it must be false. Since it is false, then it is It will definitely be different from the real thing, and this difference is what I call 'abnormal'."
"Well......"
Everyone nodded thoughtfully and looked around again.
"What's different is abnormal?" Anan said suddenly, "Then...then what's the same is abnormal?"
"What's the difference?" Luo Luoshan scolded, "What weird things are you saying!"
"Pretend I didn't say it..." Anan muttered aggrievedly and started to walk away.
"Wait!" Qingshi stopped Anan, "What did you mean just now? Did you mean you saw two identical things?"
"Yes," Anan said, "I found that there are two sand dunes with exactly the same shape. Is this an abnormality?"
"Grandma!" Duan Wutian shouted, "At first glance, there are thousands of sand dunes all around. I think they all look like fucking balls, but when I look at them again, they don't look like fucking balls at all. .”
"No!" Anan said, "There are only two that are exactly the same, and the others are not the same."
"Really?" Qingshi asked happily, "Great, it turns out you still have this talent. Tell me, which two sand dunes are exactly the same?"
"It's that one and that one!" Anan stretched out his index finger and poked it in both directions.
Of course, he just pointed twice, and no one knew what he was referring to, including Qingshi.
"What about this and that," Luo Luoshan frowned, "explain it clearly to me!"
Anan pointed, gestured and explained. After a long while, Qingshi and Luo Luoshan finally understood what Anan was referring to.
Indeed, there are two small sand dunes that look exactly the same in two different directions. Moreover, the background around the two sand dunes is also the same, but the sand dunes are more conspicuous.
It is said that it is conspicuous. In fact, in this vast desert sea, if you look around, almost all the sand dunes have similar shapes, colors and backgrounds. There is almost no difference between them. If you want to find two identical sand dunes in different directions in the distance, The difficulty can be imagined.
As Duan Wutian said, in the eyes of most people, these sand dunes almost all look the same, but in fact they all look different.
"It's a mirror image!" Qingshi nodded and said, "Now we can be sure that one of these two places must be real and one is fake. The one hidden behind the fake one is the stone forest passage."
"Very good!"
Everyone got excited and said that two teams should be organized immediately to go to these two places to check. However, after all, no one made their own decisions now. Everyone, including Luoluoshan, unconsciously looked at Xiang Qingshi, waiting for him to decide his next move.
"Brother Haiya!" Luo Luoshan said, "From now on, it is up to you to arrange and direct the actions."
Naturally everyone agreed.
"Okay!" Qingshi said without hesitation, "There is no need for two teams to go separately. Which one is true and which one is false will be known in one try."
After saying that, Qingshi waved his hand and took out his black tattoo bow and Xuanfeng arrow, then he opened the bow and arrow and shot out an arrow.
I saw the long black arrow drawing a wonderful arc, flying more than two hundred feet, and gently inserted into the top of a low, inconspicuous hill. This was naturally one of the two identical sand dunes. .
Although the black arrow was far away, everyone could still see it clearly against the brown background. Since it is inserted on the sand dune, then the sand dune must really exist.
So, everyone turned to look in the other direction, and sure enough, a small black spot now appeared on the other identical small sand dune. Obviously, this latter sand dune reflects the image of the previous one, and behind this image, there must be hidden the lowland stone forest, which is the entrance to Shenlong City.
After determining the location, everyone had no doubts, so after each preparation, they set off towards the goal. In order to prevent confusion after walking down the sand dune, Qingshi shot five black arrows in the right direction. The distance between each arrow was no more than fifty feet and would not escape the line of sight.
Everyone walked down the sand dunes and moved forward with the bluestone arrows as their targets. Sure enough, as they were walking, the position of the sun inadvertently shifted. Although everyone didn't know what was going on, they only used the arrows on the ground as a reference and ignored the sun's mischief.
The distance of more than two hundred feet was quickly covered. Qingshi retracted the arrows as he walked. When he reached the place where the last arrow was, everyone could see that there seemed to be something transparent in the air ten feet away. The energy field is twisting and shaking slightly.
Qingshi took the lead and walked forward. As he got closer, he could see that there was indeed an energy field here. It seemed like a huge mirror with ripples of water, and it also seemed like a large ball of steaming mirrored sphere. The figure of the bluestone was slightly distorted by its reflection.
Qingshi stretched out his arm and gently touched the boundary of the mirror force field. As his hand stretched forward, his arm seemed to be swallowed by the invisible mirror, but Qingshi didn't feel any strangeness at all.
This was the first time Qingshi had seen such a formation technique, and he couldn't help but be a little curious. He was carefully observing and experiencing its magic. Luoluoshan Duan Wutian and others could not wait to come over, and they stepped over without saying anything. The mirror interface appears and disappears into it.
The mirror image shook for a while, and the barrier became unstable. It no longer completely reflected the yellow sand and human figures. Instead, some large and small irregular holes appeared on the mirror surface. Through the holes, you can see the segments behind it. The figures of Wutian, Luo Luoshan and others.
Qingshi also took a step forward and crossed the mirror interface. His body felt nothing. The scene in front of him changed, and what appeared was the lowland stone forest.
