Free Web NovelChapter 2119: Chapter 1980: Old Li_6
Chapter 1984: With No Obstacles Comes No Fear
Stepping into the sand, Song Xiaodong instinctively sensed danger.
Song Xiaodong extended his sensory ability outward, yet found nothing unusual.
To know something is amiss, yet be unable to detect it, is the most terrifying of all.
The three continued walking inward, discovering skeletons scattered everywhere, of all kinds of animals. Just those Song Xiaodong could identify included the bones of snakes, rats, sheep, cows, wolves, foxes, dogs, camels, and horses.
Only bones, no flesh, no skin, no hair, just bones scattered along the wind-buried roads of the ancient city.
It was three in the afternoon, the sun leaning westward. Where the light hit, the yellow sand reflected brightly, while the areas shielded by the city walls were dark and cold. The sandy ripples on the ground, shaped by the wind, were covered with animal skeletons, making Song Xiaodong, Sun Yiyi, and Chu Xianling shiver.
Song Xiaodong cautiously walked ahead, Sun Yiyi and Chu Xianling following behind in a flanking formation, advancing step by step into the ancient city.
The closer they got to the center, the more densely the animal skeletons were distributed. Initially, they could bypass them, but soon they became so numerous and tightly packed that the yellow sand was no longer visible, only a bed of white bones.
The three had no place to step; Song Xiaodong had no choice but to step on the animal skeletons. He thought they would crumble underfoot, but they didn’t. What seemed like the skeleton of a yellow weasel surprisingly supported Song Xiaodong’s weight without breaking, as two ants scurried away from beneath it. ƒrēewebnovel.com
This isn’t good.
Song Xiaodong thought, skeleton bones shouldn’t be this hard. An animal’s corpse takes time to decompose to just bones, and the bones should be brittle, crushed into powder with a step.
Only recently deceased animal corpses have bones hard enough to bear an adult’s weight.
Furthermore, in the desert, corpses don’t decay but lose moisture, become mummified, turning into specimens.
They don’t turn into skeletons.
The bodies and skeletons kept increasing, becoming thicker and thicker. Song Xiaodong, Sun Yiyi, and Chu Xianling followed along a section of city wall to its end, reaching the very center of the Ancient City of Loulan and suddenly discovered they were in front of a mountain of corpses.
An enormous pile of skeletons, a mountain high.
Song Xiaodong’s eyes sharpened, seeing within the towering mass of bones at least twenty or thirty human skeletons.
Song Xiaodong took out his phone, snapped a few pictures, and said to Chu Xianling and Sun Yiyi, "Let’s go."
Song Xiaodong, Chu Xianling, and Sun Yiyi then left the ancient city.
"How was it?" Zhao Ruonan asked as they approached.
Song Xiaodong said nothing and handed his phone to Zhao Ruonan.
Zhao Ruonan took the phone and began flipping through the images, his face growing more solemn with each one.
"There are at least twenty human skeletons," Zhao Ruonan said.
Song Xiaodong nodded.
"Amitabha Buddha," said Master Benwu upon hearing the news, reciting a Buddhist chant.
"We will come again tonight. Let the warriors return; do not camp here. Send someone to stand guard at the Cultural Relics Protection Station," Song Xiaodong said.
"You are coming again tonight?" Zhao Ruonan asked.
"It’s alright, I will accompany Sect Leader Song," Master Benwu said.
"Thank you, Master," Song Xiaodong replied to Master Benwu.
"No need."
Zhao Ruonan then ordered the warriors to pull back. At night, Zhao Ruonan led a team, escorting Song Xiaodong, Master Benwu, Sun Yiyi, and Chu Xianling back to the outskirts of the ancient city.
At night, the temperature in Lop Nur dropped below minus ten degrees, but Zhao Ruonan had prepared by distributing cold-weather clothing to everyone.
In the desert night, the cold wind howled down from the snowy mountains, with the sands moving back and forth through the ancient city’s alleyways. The full moon cast a cold pallor over areas illuminated, white bones visible everywhere, while unseen places remained pitch black, with the entire ancient city shrouded in silent moonlight.
Song Xiaodong, Sun Yiyi, and Chu Xianling wore the uniforms prepared by Zhao Ruonan, with military boots on their feet and backpacks on their backs. Master Benwu still donned a sea-blue robe, his smooth forehead gleaming under the moonlight.
"Amitabha Buddha," Master Benwu chanted softly, the sound quickly dissipating in the wind.
During the day, the ruins seemed mundane, yet under the nocturnal moonlight, they appeared eerie, especially the skeleton-filled ground, which sent chills down the spine.
Song Xiaodong once again sensed the dangerous aura, expanding his senses again, yet he still found nothing.
"We are in the light, and the enemy is in the dark. I hate this feeling. I prefer ambushing others, not being ambushed," Song Xiaodong said.
"With no obstacles comes no fear," Master Benwu quoted a scripture, lifting his Zen Staff as he proceeded forward.
Song Xiaodong, Sun Yiyi, and Chu Xianling followed Master Benwu.
"Long ago, Monk Xuanzang of the Great Tang passed through the Yardang landform of Lop Nur. The sands roiled, and ghosts wailed at night. Struck with terror, he immediately recited the Heart Sutra, and the winds calmed, the wailing ceased, allowing him to continue," Master Benwu recounted as he walked.
"I shall follow in Monk Xuanzang’s footsteps, and recite the Heart Sutra for Sect Leader Song and his two wives, as a diversion."
"When the Guanyin Bodhisattva was traveling deeply through the Prajna Paramita, he realized the five aggregates are all empty, thus overcoming all suffering."
"Shariputra, form does not differ from emptiness, emptiness does not differ from form."
"Shariputra, all phenomena are marked by emptiness; they neither arise nor cease, are neither defiled nor pure, do not increase nor decrease."
"Being without obstacles in the mind, there is no fear. Far from all inverted views, one ultimately attains Nirvana."
...
The Shariputra in the Heart Sutra is not a reference to the remains left after a monk’s cremation, but to the great disciple of Buddha, Shariputra; the entire scripture is a teaching given by Buddha to Shariputra.
The wind and sand did not lessen because of the Heart Sutra. Under the silvery moonlight, sand could be seen moving the dunes on the horizon, flowing like waves.
Nothing but the sound of wind, and the crisp sound of stepping on the animal skeletons underfoot.
In no time, the group reached the corpse mountain that Song Xiaodong had visited during the day. fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm
"Amitabha Buddha."
Under the moonlight, the mountain of animal bones formed a mound towering overhead, resembling a natural burial site.
Song Xiaodong heard footfalls on the sand approaching from afar, light and soft yet quick.
Song Xiaodong turned around, seeing a rat scurrying swiftly into the shadow under the city wall in the moonlight.
After a slight, hidden "squeak," the rat’s life was abruptly ended.
The rat had died in an instant.
Song Xiaodong furrowed his brow, turning to see Chu Xianling suddenly cry out, exclaiming, "The shadow! The shadow is moving!"
Song Xiaodong turned and saw the city wall’s shadow on the side Chu Xianling was pointing to, slowly lengthening, seemingly intent on engulfing Song Xiaodong and the others.
Song Xiaodong and the others cautiously retreated, stepping back to an open area bathed in moonlight, yet the shadows still rapidly crept toward them.
