anyway.
Let us say that Zheng Xiu led Ruchen and walked out of Jingtang Town under the guidance of "Miansi".
Further to the southwest, there is a small hill.
Twisted strange trees grow on the hills, and there are groups of vultures circling in the sky, as if they are looking for food.
When Zheng Xiu saw the one with wings, he almost took out his treasure and wiped out the flock of birds in the sky.
However, vultures and ravens are from the same class and different orders in terms of biological classification. Their appearance is so different that they can be distinguished at a glance.
At the foot of the hill, there are ancient low stone pillars, connected by ropes as thick as bowls, and strings of weathered bone ornaments hung below. It looks like a fence,
"What is this place?"
Ruchen rubbed his head and asked curiously.
Firstly, he had amnesia, and secondly, he had never been out of Shuzhou. Such a place with local customs and customs made Ruchen curious.
Zheng Xiu's eyes were bright and his light was dim.
He looked at the vultures circling in the sky, and after a moment of silence he replied:
"I heard that there is an ancient custom in some remote areas called 'sky burial'. The locals believe that the body is just a skin. After death, if the skin is not removed, the human soul cannot find a home and cannot be reincarnated. So they will choose A fixed place where vultures and other carnivorous creatures can peck at corpses in order to liberate human souls and enable them to reach... what they consider to be the bliss of the afterlife."
The reason why Zheng Xiu paused while talking was because he remembered the theory of the human soul being divided into four parts. The "direction" part of the human soul, once the physical body disappears, will guide them to the "eternal darkness".
If this vulture forest is the "sky burial pit" for people in Jingtang Town, it stands to reason... that the probability of ghosts appearing here is extremely high.
Ruchen was silent for a moment after hearing this, but he did not agree with Zheng Xiu's statement, but shook his head in denial: "Brother Zheng's words are somewhat wrong."
Zheng Xiu looked at Ruchen.
"Although Buddhism in the Western Regions was driven out of China by the emperors many years ago, they still have many customs that are spread quietly. Sky burial is one of them. What Brother Zheng said above is correct, but the last sentence is the only one that the young monk disagrees with. They They believe that the human body is just clothing, used to bear suffering. When a person dies, this clothing can be discarded at any time. The reason why they choose sky burial is to make a final 'donation', and to donate with the body, not to enter the afterlife. , In fact, Buddhism in the Western Regions never believes that a person can achieve bliss after death, they want to use this act of great mercy to become a Buddha immediately."
Zheng Xiu looked at Ruchen with strange eyes: "Didn't you lose your memory? How did you know?"
"Ah?" Ruchen was stunned when he heard this, and scratched his bald head in confusion: "That's right! How did the young monk know?"
Zheng Xiu looked into Ruchen's eyes.
Ruchen's eyes are clear and don't seem to be fake.
Zheng Xiu could only give up, step over the fence, and directly enter the mountain forest.
Ruchen pointed to the sign next to him that said "No Entry" and was about to ask Brother Zheng if he didn't see it, but when he watched the macho man pull up the sign and throw it aside, he closed it suddenly He closed his mouth and nodded secretly.
Makes sense, it won't be visible this way.
Ruchen shook his head and admired Brother Zheng's courage and wit in his heart.
In the blink of an eye, Zheng Xiu stepped into the gloomy sky burial forest, and Ruchen quickly followed.
"There is no secret tent."
In other words, no ghosts were formed.
Zheng Xiu was secretly disappointed but also breathed a sigh of relief.
The cotton slough was hidden in the woods, making Zheng Xiu worried that it would become a ghost again.
There are two copies on hand now, one is the scroll that trapped Feng Bei, and the second is Ruchen's head.
He didn't have time to attack these two ghosts. When another one appeared, Zheng Xiu felt that he was too busy.
Guixi is really painful and happy.
In fact, in a place with many dead people and adjacent to constant darkness, it is indeed easy for ghosts to be born.
The forest is littered with decaying bones.
It can be seen from the color of the bones that some are hundreds of years ago and have long been weathered, while some are recent and still have white maggots crawling on them, crawling on the bones.
Zheng Xiu even found several fresh charred corpses, dead only a few days ago.
Judging from the skeletal shape of the charred corpse, it should be that of a woman.
Zheng Xiu frowned, but his middle finger was still upright. The "cotton silk" was still stuck to Zheng Xiu's finger and had not been broken off.
Zheng Xiu didn't stop, but secretly sent out [Investigation] one by one.
The results of the [Investigation] made him well aware of the surrounding environment, as if he had returned to his own home.
The vultures hovering in the sky noticed a stranger intruding into their territory and were about to swoop down to attack.
Zheng Xiu raised his head, his eyes widened, his gaze sharpened, and murderous intent shot out.
【Shock】.
Several vultures screamed, foamed at the mouth, and crashed into the forest.
Seeing this scene, Ruchen secretly stuck out his tongue and wondered, Brother Zheng, whether your thaumaturgy is a bit exaggerated.
Ruchen was a little bored while walking, and suddenly he thought of something, and the topic returned to the previous topic.
"Speaking of which, the young monk is very curious whether sky burial is an established rule... The young monk means that he can see the rules of the door."
While Zheng Xiu was looking for Mianshe, he heard Ruchen muttering behind him. Zheng Xiu, who originally didn't want to pay attention, had no choice but to hear that Ruchen's words were too outrageous, so he laughed and said: "The prerequisite for setting and enforcing the rules must be a living person. Tell me, so many people died here in the sky burial, even if the rules are Same thing, who becomes the thaumaturge in the end? It can’t be a bunch of dead people, right?”
Ruchen was suddenly enlightened and thought to himself. Originally Ruchen just talked about it and didn't take it to heart.
At this time, Zheng Xiu, who was walking in front, paused: "Found it."
There is a clearing in the forest.
The clearing was filled with bones.
There are piles of bones, with vultures circling in the sky above.
Under the spiritual vision, Zheng Xiu opened his mouth wide, and there was a trace of confusion in his eyes.
I saw green light spots all over the sky, densely packed, like a vast sea of stars.
Magnificent green light spots floated up and down from time to time, and the twisted and strange trees around them were all dyed with a layer of gleaming green light under spiritual vision.
In the center of the clearing, there is a huge cocoon hanging in mid-air. Countless filaments stretched out from the texture of the void and wrapped around the cocoon.
"Boo~"
The cotton thread in Zheng Xiu's hand broke.
"What's ahead?"
Ruchen's skin was numb all over, and he vaguely felt that there was something "something" in the empty space in front of him, and there was a vague smell that made him uneasy. But he was not a psychic, and he could not see as clearly as Zheng Xiu. He could only stare wide-eyed at the distorted light and shadow in the forest. He didn't know why even the sunlight there was dimmed, which was extremely weird.
"Don't come here."
Zheng Xiu's chest swelled, and dark lines spread downwards.
The huge cocoon seemed to be filled with some kind of liquid, and an irregular shadow was pulsing in the cocoon.
Yes, pulsating.
Like a heartbeat, beating rhythmically.
One moment, one moment, one moment.
Suddenly, the shadow in the cocoon suddenly lay on the edge of the cocoon. As the "content" approached, an oval outline was suddenly pressed out of the cocoon.
The eyes, ears, mouth and nose can be vaguely distinguished on the oval outline.
This so-called "hundred-year-old insect" from Chang An, the insect called "cotton slough" by the ancients, is actually... humanoid!
What made Zheng Xiu even more surprised was that his eyes wandered and he discovered that behind each cotton thread extending out of the void, a small dot as smooth as a mirror could be vaguely seen.
"smaller".
The tiny dots can only accommodate cotton threads to be spit out, and nothing larger can be stretched out.
When Zheng Xiu saw this scene, his scalp was numb with shock.
Because in an instant he understood where these cotton threads protruded from.
It’s always dark!
Behind the cotton silk, there are only a few passages left!
——The entrance to Everlasting Darkness!
(End of chapter)
