Chapter 2263 The Miao Youth Loves Me 25
Everyone crossed the monument at the edge of Broken Dragon Cliff and entered the forbidden area.
The three ancient seal characters "Lingdie Valley" on the stele were shining due to the dew, and the edges were covered with spider-web-like dark red lines, as if dried blood had seeped into the cracks in the stone.
"Follow closely."
The elder's copper staff poked into the crevice of the stone, startling a few blue-eyed tits.
The crowd walked around the stone tablet, and suddenly a scattered stone formation opened up before their eyes.
Seven mottled stone pillars are arranged in the shape of a Big Dipper, and the pillars are engraved with strange totems.
There are snakes and insects coiled around, as well as the outlines of kneeling human figures. The strangest thing is that the top of each stone pillar is sunken into a bowl shape, filled with rainwater that has accumulated for who knows how many years, and a layer of colorful oil film floats on the water surface.
Asan was carrying a basket of offerings when he bumped into the nearest stone pillar, and a few dried insect shells fell off.
"Be careful!" The elder suddenly pulled him away, and saw a three-inch long centipede jump out from the shadow at the bottom of the pillar, its legs shining with a metallic blue-green luster.
"The creatures in this valley are ten times more dangerous than the poisonous insects in the back mountain." The elder used his copper staff to pick apart a bunch of ordinary ferns, and the back of the leaves were covered with barbs. "One leaf can paralyze everyone in the village for three days."
Jinchen looked over with great interest, eager to try it out.
Nan Yixing stroked the carvings on the stone pillar and felt a slight vibration through his fingertips, as if something was moving deep within the core of the stone.
As the fog thickened, a circular altar became vaguely visible in front.
Nine bronze lamps beside the altar burned spontaneously without wind, and the flames were a strange indigo blue.
Jinchen's purple gauze robe swept across the lamps, and the flames suddenly turned towards him in unison, as if they were saluting.
"arrive."
The elder's silver beard was covered with dewdrops. He pointed his copper staff at the altar covered by vines and said, "Holy Son, please follow me."
Jinchen looked back at Nan Yixing and winked at him, "Don't walk around, wait for me."
Nan Yixing responded softly, and when he saw Jinchen following the elders and their group toward the altar to prepare, he turned his gaze to the stone pillar again.
His fingertips stroked the uneven lines. On the cold rock surface, snake-shaped totems and star patterns intertwined and coiled, looming in the mist.
"Asan, what is engraved on the wall?" Nan Yixing asked, measuring with his fingers a dent that looked like a poisonous insect.
Ah San put down the offering basket, leaned over and squinted his eyes to take a closer look: "The elder said before that these are all old things left by our ancestors."
His rough fingertips traced a few simple symbols. "I don't quite understand them either. They're probably records of harvest sacrifices."
Nan Yixing's gaze lingered on a complex pattern on the wall. The pattern was surprisingly 70% similar to the life-replacing Gu pattern on Jinchen's chest.
I always feel like I have seen a similar recording method somewhere before.
He calmly took out a small camera from his medicine bag and recorded the pattern.
"Doctor Nan is interested in these old stones?" Ah San scratched his head. "If you ask me, you'd better look over there."
He pointed in the direction of the altar, "Young Master, it's time to start today's prayers."
Nan Yixing put the thumb-sized camera back into his arms and looked over, only to see Jinque standing on the other side of the stone pillar, also thoughtfully brushing past the patterns and text-like symbols.
Within a few breaths, their eyes met.
There was no emotion in Nan Yixing's eyes, but they were filled with cold inquiry, which made people feel uneasy at a glance.
The two of them were separated by the mottled stone wall, and neither of them spoke first.
Ah San noticed something was going on, covered his ears and silently moved back, not daring to listen at all.
"Doctor Nan has a very refined taste." Jin Que stroked the Gu pattern on his wrist with his fingertips, and his voice was as cool as the morning dew. "The stone carvings in Lingdie Valley are more interesting than medical books."
"Don't worry about it." Nan Yixing said calmly.
Jin Que suddenly chuckled and pressed his pale fingers to his chest, "I know you are here to find a way to cure the poison, but have you ever thought about..."
He paused, the indigo poison pattern faintly visible under his clothes, "Will the pain that Ah Chen will suffer when the poison is removed be worse than having his heart cut out?"
Jinchen's laughter came from the direction of the altar. Nan Yixing looked at him with a gentle look, "I won't let him get into danger."
"He believed in grandpa back then, so he planted this life-replacing Gu." Jin Que knocked on the stone pillar, making a tiny sound, and it was hard to tell whether it was self-mockery or pain.
"If I believe you now, will I have to endure this pain of having my bones ripped out and my heart ripped out?"
Nan Yixing looked towards the altar and saw Jinchen leaning over to light incense and candles, muttering in Miao language that he could not understand.
"At least I'm doing this for his own good, and he's willing to do it." Nan Yixing said, with a smile on his lips.
Jinque: “…”
Jin Que's fingertips tightened, then slowly loosened: "Doctor Nan is indeed...very much in his heart."
The fog gradually dissipated, and the marks on the stone wall became clear in the morning light.
Nan Yixing took one last look at the strange patterns, then turned and walked towards the altar.
Jin Que looked at Nan Yixing's figure heading for the altar, and the blood foam in his throat mixed with a low sigh, "Foolish foreigner, without the Gu worm, how long can you, with your kind heart... protect Ah Chen?"
-
In the afternoon, Jinchen and Nan Yixing went to the deepest forest in Lingdie Valley to look for poisonous insects that could be used to detoxify.
According to the ancient records in the village, it is a kind of black beetle that grows in poisonous miasma areas. It hides very secretly and it is not easy to find it.
Ah San dragged the elders down the mountain to prevent them from becoming suspicious.
The scales of the red snake scraped across the dead branches, making a rustling sound.
Jinchen's fingertips were tightly clasped around Nan Yixing's wrist, and he did not let go even though his palms were sweating.
The light in the forest was getting dimmer and dimmer, and the rotten leaves made a tiny crackling sound underfoot.
"Walk slower."
Jinchen suddenly grabbed Nan Yixing and picked up the vines hanging in front of him, "There's something wrong with the spider web here."
The silver bell on Jinchen's wrist rang gently, and the red snakes immediately coiled up in a circle in a vigilant posture.
He leaned over to check, the hem of his purple gauze skirt brushing against the damp moss, and frowned, "Someone has been here."
The words stopped abruptly.
The red snake suddenly darted into the dense ferns, with half a piece of gray cloth rolled out from the tip of its tail.
Nan Yixing pushed aside the weeds, and a tattered corpse-driving robe suddenly appeared before his eyes.
"Is this... the corpse driver's shroud?" Nan Yixing squatted down and his eyes fell on the copper coin-shaped pattern on the cloth.
Those lines were already covered with mildew, and glowed with an eerie luster in the dim light.
Jinchen suddenly tightened his fingers, "It shouldn't be, it smells like snake powder."
"Only people who raise corpses would use this formula."
The difference of one word means more than just the difference in the business.
If they encounter a corpse-raiser here, it means they are not far from the corpse-eating maggots, and the black beetles feed on maggots.
It seems that the location provided by Lingdan is correct.
[That’s right!] Ling Gungun nodded.
The red snake suddenly let out a hissing warning and pointed its tail tip at a pit not far away.
Nan Yixing walked forward slowly, pushed aside the fallen leaves, and his pupils suddenly shrank.
Half of the corpse, wrapped in blood vines, lay there quietly, with spider-web-like patterns faintly visible under the rotten cloth.
"It's a zombie insect." Jinchen squatted down, found a branch and gently touched the chest of the corpse. There were a lot of insects crawling inside.
A cold wind suddenly blew through the woods, and the shroud was blown across the ground.
Jinchen immediately stood up, protecting Nan Yixing behind him, and looked at the figure appearing in the corner.
