White Bone Monkey King

The team rested briefly in the shade.

Continue on the journey.

Jin'an had already asked Pasha, a tall and thin old man, that if he wanted to reach the Wu'er clan ruins, he would not be able to walk in a day or two, and it would take about four days to walk.

"Four days?"

Jin An raised his head and glanced at the sun, which was as red as a naan pancake above his head. It seemed that this journey still had a long way to go.

After resting twice more on the way, the sun appeared in the sky with brilliant cross rays and was about to set. The team was ready to find a place to rest for the night.

By observing the celestial phenomena and observing the positions of the moon and the Chang Geng star, Jin'an roughly estimated that the sunset time here would be around a quarter of Hai hour, which is around 9:30 pm.

"The environment in the desert is complex. No one can tell where a seemingly peaceful place may hide quicksand pits, weathered and unstable rocks, or other dangers. Although the sun has set now and it will be dark soon, there is still hope. If everyone continues to persevere, if we continue walking for a while, we will reach the safe shelter area opened by our ancestors over the generations. There are food and water stored there. Once there, we can rest assured and replenish food and water for the team. ."

The person speaking this time was not the old man Pasha, nor the old man Xikelti, but Abboud whose face was disfigured.

But he always wore a sand-proof face mask in front of outsiders. Except for a few people including Jin An and Mr. Yiyun, outsiders did not know that the old man had been disfigured.

Although they felt that it was unsafe to drive in the dark night in the desert, everyone present was a brave and talented person. They felt that what Mr. Abboud said was reasonable, and finally agreed to continue on the road after dark.

Seeing that the team agreed to his proposal, Abboud and the other veterans of Laughing Corpse Village looked at each other and continued on their way.

But just before turning around and heading off, Abboud glanced at Mr. Yiyun with a cold look on his face covered by a turban, with evil intentions hidden in his eyes.

It's not lustful and greedy.

But disdain and coldness.

"Young Master, you have to be careful. I found out that many of these veterans are malicious and murderous towards you, Young Master." After continuing on his way, Qi Bo quietly reminded Young Master Yiyun when no one was paying attention.

"Strange, why do these veterans not hate the old slave, nor do they hate Taoist Jin'an, but they only hate you, the young master? It seems that they hate you even more than Yan Kuan, who is with the old man Jiufeng, what's wrong with the old slave? I don’t know what you have done, sir, to make you more hated than digging up people’s ancestral graves?”

"But if you think about it carefully, it's wrong. Ever since you entered Laughing Corpse Manor, this old slave has been following the young master. If the young master does something, this old slave should also know about it." Qi Bo thought hard and couldn't figure out why.

Haha, Jin An couldn't help laughing anymore.

It’s not good to have murderous intent!

Jin An secretly glanced at Mr. Yiyun behind him, and happened to meet his slightly narrowed gaze. He suddenly felt that his back was wrapped in murderous aura and the hairs on his neck stood up.

He chose to look at his nose with his eyes, and his heart with his nose, and concentrated on his way without daring to laugh again.

Of course, Jin An knew why Aboud and the old men were so hostile to Mr. Yiyun. Last night, he and Mr. Yiyun were out of body and heard the conversation of several old men. Aboud felt that a woman had appeared in Mr. Yiyun. , destroyed the relationship between their brothers for many years, so they were very hostile to Mr. Yiyun.

Moreover, Aboud is the veteran who has the most persistent suspicion that the ordinary Mr. Yiyun is not like a woman. A newly appeared "man" smelling of rouge and powder ruined the decades-long relationship between their brothers on the first day. The young master's hostility will only deepen.

Mr. Yiyun glanced sideways at Jin An and said, "Uncle Qi, you are drunk again and are talking drunkenly."

Qi Bo also noticed that his young master was not in the right mood. Seeing that even Jin An was so scared that he shrank his neck and did not dare to refute his young master, he also smiled awkwardly and said, "He is indeed drunk."

After finishing speaking, he lay down on the camel's back and "drunk to death."

The three old Sadiqs, who had been sneaking at the end of the camel team, looked at the backs of Jin An and Mr. Yiyun, and began to murmur.

They felt that they were hiding so far away, and they deliberately lowered their voices and muttered, thinking that Mr. Yiyun would not be able to hear their conversation this time.

"Fourth uncle, I suddenly don't want to find a wife." Little Sahafu suddenly said in frustration.

"What nonsense are you talking about? If my sister hears this, she will break off all the poplar branches at the entrance of the village and beat you to death!" Old Sadiq glared at his nephew who had done the most shit along the way.

Little Sahafu lowered his head in depression: "Fourth uncle, I just think women are so scary... People are afraid of devils, and devils are afraid of Taoist Jin'an. I have always thought that a person as powerful as Taoist Jin'an is not afraid of heaven and earth. This There is nothing in the world that can scare Taoist Jin An. Only now do I know what Taoist Jin An is most afraid of... Taoist Jin An is afraid of Yiyun Apa. With Yiyun Apa's look just now, Taoist Jin An no longer has the freedom to speak. ."

Old Sadiq was silent.

"Don't think too much."

But his explanation seemed so feeble at this moment.

"At home, my Apa is also the head of the family. My Ata and I are both afraid of my Apa at home. Fourth uncle, you said you are not afraid of my aunt. How did you do it?" Little Sahab looked up curiously. To my fourth uncle.

At this time, even Ilham looked at old Sadiq in surprise, with admiration and admiration in his eyes: "You are indeed an old brother."

"Ahem, man, what does it mean to be afraid of your wife at home..." Before Old Sadiq could finish speaking, he felt a chill on his scalp, and a huge shadow came over him. When he looked up, he almost bit his tongue in horror. , it was Jin An riding a goat as big as an ox and a horse from the front of the team to the back of the team.

Jin An was quite speechless as he looked at this pair of uncles and nephews who kept talking all the way. How could they have such energetic uncles and nephews? Then he said with a serious face: "Old Sadiq, little Sahab, you look like you are in good spirits." I see that the other camels in the team are seriously exhausted, why don’t you help those camels share the pressure?”

Old Sadiq and young Sahav immediately complained and were tired.

"It's getting darker. Follow the team and don't get lost just talking. These stone forests are as complex as mazes. Once you get lost in these mazes, it will be difficult to find you." Jin An is not really in trouble. After giving a warning, he walked back to the front of the team to protect the safety of the camel team.

"Fourth uncle, we deliberately stayed so far away and talked quietly, but Taoist Master Jin'an could still hear us. Was our conversation along the way just now also heard by Yiyun Appa and Qi Bo?"

"Say less, you are the one who talks the most along the way!"

Both of them are aware of their own suffering.

They spoke camel language, Western language, and spoke from a distance, but they could not escape Master Yiyun once.

Thinking of the two people just saying that Young Master Yiyun was too scary, they suddenly felt that the road ahead was long and heavy. Will Young Master Yiyun keep it in mind?

…

…

The deeper you go into the desert basin, the later it gets dark.

Dusk here is a quarter after Hai hour, but it gets completely dark, probably at a quarter after Hai hour, that is, after ten o'clock in the evening.

And driving at night in the desert winter is not a good choice.

After it was completely dark, they walked in the Yadan Stone Forest for about half an hour. It was estimated that it was already midnight, and the camel team finally arrived at the resting place mentioned by the disfigured old man Abboud.

It was a rocky mountain cave. There was a dead poplar tree growing in the rocky mountain cave like a wonder. The bare and dead crown of the poplar tree was like a beam, supporting the cave and preventing it from weathering and collapsing.

Because in the depths of the desert basin, no outsiders have come in for a long time. There is no grass growing here, and there are no wild animals. There are many daily necessities openly placed in the cave, such as fresh water, camel meat jerky, hay feed, and daily necessities. Firewood, fur blankets for keeping warm... you can find all the necessities for desert survival that you can think of here.

It is not an exaggeration to say that even though this place is small, it has all the internal organs.

Jin An once learned about the survival skills of some local people in the desert. They would habitually store some simple food and water at a distance on the road to and from town or on the road of grazing, just in case.

In fact, this is the same as those firewood hunters in Kangding Kingdom. They would hide some simple food and water in caves and deserted temples in the mountains for the occasional overnight stay.

He guessed that the ancestors of these veterans used ants to move around, storing some dried meat and fresh water at a distance, and slowly exploring the depths of the desert.

This method of exploration is slow.

But it's better to be safe.

I just don’t know how many years it took for the soldiers who were left behind by the leader of the Black Rain Kingdom to find the ruins of the Wuer clan.

A blazing bonfire was lit with dry wood. Everyone sat around the bonfire, wrapped in blankets to keep out the cold. Listening to the howling cold wind outside the cave, the small cave was kept warm by so many people.

As for the camel team, they formed a circle to eat hay and rest outside the cave, which also served as a warning.

The location of this cave is very good, it is on the leeward side. Although the temperature is low at night, the camels with rough skin and thick flesh can still bear it.

The bonfire was crackling and burning, and camel jerky was roasting on the fire. Everyone sat in a circle, and while eating the jerky they brought with them, Jin An noticed a small detail.

Anyone who has eaten questionable camel meat in Laughing Corpse Village will feel a little depressed after not eating camel meat for a day.

While everyone was eating the dried meat they had brought, Master Yan, who had not spoken much since what happened last night, looked at the tall and thin old man Pasha and asked him something. : "During the day, I heard the old man say that you suspected that the explosion that occurred in the deepest part of the desert more than half a year ago, as well as the subsequent abnormal weather in the desert, and all the strange things that happened in the desert, were all related to the so-called Black Sun sealed by the Kingdom of the Immortal God. Related... If someone really goes into the depths of the desert, pursues clues such as the Guchi Kingdom, the Wuer clan, Baizu, etc., and finally finds the legendary Kingdom of the Immortal God, it is impossible that the person who broke the seal has not passed through the Laughing Corpse Manor, right?"

Unexpectedly, the old man Pasha said: "Master Yan, I never said that the seal was broken because of people."

"Maybe someone really entered the desert and finally broke the seal."

"Or maybe because of the passage of time, the seal has become loose."

"Of course, we cannot rule out that the other party passed by the Laughing Corpse Village, but did not enter the Laughing Corpse Village. Instead, they went directly into the depths of the desert to search for the Kingdom of the Immortal God. We missed the opportunity to get to know that expert."

Old man Pasha seemed to have said a lot of things back, but in fact, all his answers were useless nonsense, and he was just talking nonsense.

"Our journey has been peaceful all the way. How come we haven't encountered the danger you mentioned that caused heavy casualties to the Black Rain Nation's army? That place is still far away from us, so we can prepare in advance." Ayimaimaiti, the leader of the Westerners who came to show off the human-faced phoenix, took a sip of warm water from the cowhide water bag to quench his thirst, and then curiously asked the other veterans present.

He didn't know why, but after eating the extremely fragrant camel meat from Laughing Corpse Village once, when he saw other dried meat, he couldn't bring up his appetite at all.

I can only drink a few sips of warm water to warm my stomach and relieve fatigue.

He didn't think much about it, he just thought that the camel meat was too fragrant, and eating other meat was like chewing wax.

It's not just him. Anyone who has eaten camel meat from Laughing Corpse Village has lost their appetite.

As soon as Ayimaimaiti finished speaking, the faces of the veterans changed drastically, and they hurriedly said nervously: "Shh, be careful, walls have ears. Trouble comes from the mouth!"

The fat old man Xikelti said solemnly: "We don't know what happened back then. Our ancestors never mentioned a word and never let us discuss what happened back then!"

"It's normal that we haven't encountered that place now, because we are taking the correct route now, so there must be a deviation from the route back then!"

…

A night of silence.

After a night's rest, it was just dawn the next day, and the camel team took advantage of the coolness from last night to continue their journey in the Gobi desert.

The next few days were uneventful and nothing happened.

And every half-day journey, we would find a place in the Gobi desert to replenish supplies.

this day!

The camel team finally arrived at the Wuershi ruins!

Although I was mentally prepared for the Desert God's Ear, the scene in front of me was still so shocking that it was hard to express. A black sinkhole that was exactly the same as the outline of a human ear appeared at the end of the field of vision below my feet.

After casual visual inspection, the scope of the human ear sinkhole is definitely more than a hundred miles, which shows how huge the human ear is.

This human ear sinkhole is no different from a living person in terms of the auricle, ear canal, and ear corridor lines. It looks lifelike, as if there is really a corpse of a god that is more majestic than the mountains buried under this desert. Here Just one of the gods' ears.

This reminded Jin An of the legend of the Earth's Ear.

"Although we have seen the Ear of the Gods countless times, we still can't help but feel excited every time we see it. This place is like a miracle!" Several veterans of Laughing Corpse Village looked at it with excitement.

With an excited mood, everyone followed the veterans down the high ground and started walking towards the Ear of God at the end of the horizon.

"Isn't it said that this is the site of the Wu'er clan? I always thought that the Wu'er clan regarded the God's Ear as a miracle. A country would build houses around the God's Ear, with the God's Ear as the center. But the picture here , It’s very different from the picture I imagined..." On the way to the Ear of the Gods, someone raised a question in their mind.

Soon, they got their answer.

As a camel was sucked by the quicksand, when everyone was trying to think of a way to rescue it, the veterans were calm and said that the quicksand here was all fake quicksand and would not kill anyone.

The answer was soon revealed.

As the veterans dug out the surface sand with ease, they found a hollow building under the sand, with wooden beams, rocks, tables, chairs, benches and other furniture.

The old man Pasha chuckled: "This is the truth about the Wuer clan. They believe that living in caves can more clearly hear the voices of the desert gods coming from the ears of the gods. Only untouchables and slaves will be left on the surface. above."

"The Wuer clan are all cavemen!"

"The higher the status, the closer the cave dwelling building is to the God's Ear at the center of the country!"

"Hey, people like us who live on the surface, in the eyes of the Wuer clan, are the lowest level of untouchables. Their status is lower than that of livestock. They are only qualified to graze cattle, dump dung, clean up garbage in caves, and any other dirty work. The backbreaking work is done by the untouchables and slaves on the surface.”

Unexpectedly, these Wuershi are actually cavemen.

This Wu'er clan's civilization is quite new.

According to old man Pasha, all the knowledge he knows comes from some murals in the Ear of Gods sinkhole.

The climate in the desert is dry and supplies are scarce. Even sheepskin rolls are luxuries that ordinary people cannot afford. The civilizations of various ethnic groups in the desert like to be passed down through murals.

After cleaning up the sand around the crypts, everyone was surprised to find that these crypts were modeled after the contours of human ears.

If the Wuer civilization had not died out, the area surrounding the God's Ear sinkhole would have been densely covered with human ear caves.

This reminded Jin An of those dense crab mud holes on the beach.

Of course, these human-ear cave dwellings dug out by humans are completely different from the huge ears of gods that span hundreds of miles.

After first seeing the interest in human ear cave dwellings, the team quickly lost interest after digging several human ear caves, and then began to rush towards the Ear of the God at full speed.

"Mr. Yiyun, do you think it's possible that the Ear of the Gods sinkhole was dug by man?" As he was on his way, Jin An asked Mr. Yiyun beside him with a thoughtful expression.

"Taoist Master Jin'an obviously knows everything, why are you still asking me?" Mr. Yiyun held the reins of the camel in his hand and steadily controlled the camel to run on the desert Gobi, with billows of smoke behind him.

The goats, which were as tall as cows and horses, ran slowly and unhurriedly. Finally, one goat and one goat fell behind Mr. Yiyun's buttocks to eat the dust.

"Ahem, cough, cough, silly sheep, you are just trying to eat your shit, and you run so slowly on purpose." Jin An reached out and waved the choking dust, couldn't help but hit the silly sheep, and could only stare and run away. The back of the stunned Master Yiyun.

"What!"

"How dare you talk back to you!"

One person and one sheep were quarreling as the large army gradually approached the God's Ear sinkhole.

This time, the veterans of Laughing Corpse Village took them on a safe route. They didn't encounter quicksand along the way, and everyone arrived at the God's Ear sinkhole smoothly.

When we get closer, we have to marvel again at the uncanny workmanship of nature, with such a huge sinkhole appearing on the surface.

The scope of the human ear sinkhole is very wide. Only when you look down from a high place can you see the outline of the human ear. When you look up close, it is just a huge sinkhole.

The human ear sinkhole is very large, so even the ear canal, that is, the bottomless sinkhole, is several miles wide, and the sun's rays cannot shine too far. When a person stands on the edge of the abyss and looks down, he always feels like this There was a voice below tempting them to jump, jump.

It made people weak in their legs.

However, there was also a fool who picked up a stone at his feet and threw it into the ear canal to test how deep the hole was. His reckless behavior directly aroused the collective angry resistance of the veterans.

This person is from that group of people from the Western Regions.

"What are you doing!"

"Do you want to kill us all!"

Although old Pasha and the others had very angry expressions on their faces, they still lowered their voices and shouted angrily, as if they were afraid that their offensive behavior would really anger the gods.

Ai Maimaiti, the leader of this group of people from the Western Regions, also knew that he was in the wrong. He scolded his subordinates with a straight face, and then took the initiative to apologize to the veterans, which gradually calmed down the anger of the veterans.

"Isn't it said that there are water sources, desert plants, and other veterans grazing camels here? Why haven't we seen other veterans? The old man introduced us and asked us to say hello to them." Ayimaimaiti After apologizing, he changed the subject.

Humph, the old man Pasha snorted coldly, still a little angry, and then led the people in another direction. According to his introduction, there is a deep ear gallery in the external auditory canal. It is a cool place where the sun does not shine all year round, and even the wind and sand are there. If you can't get in, the people who stay behind live there, and the camels are kept there.

There is indeed a shady place in a certain auditorium of the vast God's Ear, where the sun cannot shine in and the wind and sand cannot blow in. In this arid place where there is no rain all year round, it is rare to see a patch of green plants.

The scene in front of them was no less astonishing than when they stood on a high place and overlooked the Ren'er Tiankeng for the first time!

After driving in the desert for several months, the yellow sand was still yellow in my eyes. Finally, I saw a green plant for the first time in several months. Everyone was stunned.

Even the camels in the team happily lowered their heads to eat the plants, humming and screaming happily.

Not far away, several simple sheds were built, and old man Pasha and the others walked towards the sheds.

Everyone else followed.

However.

Before they reached the place, they saw a large amount of blood splattered on the ground. The blood stains had been left for several days, and the blood had dried hard and turned black. A few steps away, there was a camel carcass that had been brutally cut into pieces.

The veterans immediately panicked and hurried to the shed. As a result, except for bloodstains that had dried for several days on the ground and a few camel carcasses, no one was seen here. The few veterans who stayed here were all missing.

Even the dozens of other camels kept here have all disappeared.

The veterans in Pasha and Xikelti had gloomy expressions. They almost turned the place upside down, but they still couldn't find the missing people. No one was alive, no dead, no corpses.

"According to the amount of dust in this shed, no one has lived in this shed for at least four or five days." The wind and sand in the desert were strong, Jin An reached out and touched the thick dust on the table and thought.