Hua Cheng's breath was warm,
But his words made people feel a chill in their hearts.
Hiding in the main hall?
A thought flashed past in a flash,
Xie Lian immediately hugged Hua Cheng.
Of course, he didn't hug him because he was afraid. Instead, if someone was really hiding here and they hadn't discovered him, then he must be a powerful character. If he sensed that they had already discovered some clues, he might fall into a passive position. If only Hua Cheng hugged him,
Being so close to him,
It would be easy to arouse suspicion,
The two of them hugged each other, looking more normal.
Xie Lian scanned his surroundings without leaving a trace,
He whispered, "Where do you think it is?"
There was only one door in the entire hall,
It was the one they came in through. The hall was empty and could be seen at a glance,
There was not a single table or box that could hide a person,
Other than them, there were only the shrine attendants who had turned into stone men.
The two of them whispered at the same time, "Shell."
The insides of these petrified men were hollow.
In other words, they could hide things inside.
They couldn't hide people,
But they could hide ghosts!
After confirming this point, they thought of the same thing,
Xie Lian was about to speak,
He inadvertently raised his eyes and saw a stone man twenty feet behind Hua Cheng. His pupils suddenly shrank.
It seemed to be a young man with a high status. Because the stone man recorded the death of the Wu Yong people,
Therefore, most of their postures were holding their heads and crying, or curling up into a ball. This one was one of the few standing statues. However, what caught Xie Lian's attention was not his figure, but his face.
Although the face was blurry, he could still see clearly that this stone man's face. The left side was half a smiling face, while the right side was half a crying face!
Xie Lian blurted out, "It's this!"
He raised his hand and slashed out with his sword. Hua Cheng said, "Brother?"
The stone man was smashed into pieces by him, leaving only an empty shell on the ground. However, there was nothing inside at all. Xie Lian didn't dare to let it go and rummaged through the fragments on the ground. Hua Cheng grabbed his hand and said, "Brother! What did you see just now? "
Xie Lian raised a few fragments and said, "This stone man, his face … is Bai WuXiang's mask."
Hua Cheng's expression changed slightly, but he still said, "Wait."
He pieced the fragments together and formed a complete face. When the two of them saw this, they fell silent.
Just now, Xie Lian clearly saw a ghost face that was half crying and half laughing. But now, the face that Hua Cheng put together was incomparably blurry, no different from the other petrified people.
Was it an illusion? Or was he under an illusion?
They wouldn't get an answer even if they just sat there. The two of them searched the hall and smashed all the petrified men to check, but they didn't find any more clues. They pondered for a moment and felt that someone might have gone up the mountain before them. They decided not to wait for Pei Ming and went straight to the top of the mountain.
The body of the copper furnace seemed to have a strange attraction force. The two of them tried to climb it, but the Silver Butterfly could not carry a person here. Perhaps it would not work even on a sword. Thus, they could only climb on foot. As they climbed higher and higher, the mountain path became steeper and colder. First, he stepped on a thin layer of snow. The higher he went, the thicker the snow became. It could even cover half of his boots. Four hours later, the snow was knee-deep, making climbing more and more difficult.
Because of the large amount of walking, Xie Lian didn't feel cold at all. On the contrary, a thin layer of sweat had formed on his body. His face was pinkish white with a slight blush. He raised the back of his hand to wipe his sweat. Just as he was about to turn around and speak to Hua Cheng, he suddenly felt the soles of his feet hit nothing. His entire body was shorter by two feet!
Fortunately, Hua Cheng had been following behind him the whole time. As if he had been prepared, he pulled him up and said, "Brother, be careful."
Xie Lian stood at his side and turned around to look at the place where he had fallen. Unexpectedly, there was a large depression there, revealing a pitch-black hole. He didn't know where it led to. If Xie Lian hadn't grabbed the edge in time, or if Hua Cheng's movements had been slightly slower, he would have definitely fallen down. Hua Cheng then said, "This mountain is full of holes. Just follow me slowly and you'll be fine. Brother walked too fast just now. "
It turned out that the mountain under the snow was actually very fragile. There were holes of all sizes everywhere, and no one knew how many there were or how deep they were. Yet, Hua Cheng actually remembered the distribution of these holes. Xie Lian exhaled and suggested, "Okay. Then let's get closer. We can't shout or shout on the snowy mountain. If we're not careful and encounter something, it won't be good to call for help … … "
Unexpectedly, before he could finish speaking, he heard an angry roar from above. "Are you done — —!"
"… …"
Which dear friend dared to shout and shout on this kind of steep and dangerous snowy mountain?!
Xie Lian looked up with a dumbfounded expression, only to see that in the snow that covered the mountains and plains, there were two small black dots that were engaged in a chaotic battle. One of them held a longbow and shot out a string of arrows. The other person held a horse-slaying long sword and brandished it vigorously, blocking all of the arrows. The wind generated by the sword and the arrows were all wrapped in a layer of spiritual light. The two people were shouting and cursing at each other. The person holding the sword cursed, "I told you that brat was killed by someone else! I'm also looking for them! "
It was actually Nan Feng and Fu Yao!
Before he could think about why they were here, Xie Lian blurted out, "Shut up!" However, his reaction was very timely and he swallowed his words before he could shout them out. If he roared as boldly and unrestrainedly as the two of them, with the three of them shouting at each other, would this snowy mountain still be able to hold on???
Hua Cheng crossed his arms and raised one of his eyebrows. "Do they not know that roaring on a snowy mountain might cause an avalanche?"
Xie Lian replied, "This … … they shouldn't be that stupid! They should know, but that's just how they are. When their anger reaches their heads, they don't care about anything else! "
Nan Feng and Fu Yao were extremely angry. They cursed and fought at the same time. Because they were too far away, they couldn't clearly hear what they were arguing about. They also didn't notice that new people had arrived below them. Xie Lian wanted to rush up and pull the two away, but the accumulated snow had sealed off the mountain. The snow was also full of deep pits, so there was no way for him to rush over immediately. After running two steps, he almost fell into a pit. He could only stop and say, "We can't let them continue fighting like this. We have to stop them!"
Just as he finished speaking, a silver butterfly leapt out from behind him and flew up like a sharp arrow. Xie Lian stared blankly for a moment before his heart relaxed. He inwardly thought that this was a good idea! They couldn't go up immediately by themselves, so wouldn't it be fine if they let the Dead Spirit Butterfly fly up and send a message first?
Sure enough, that silver butterfly was extremely fast. In just three sounds, it had already rushed over. However, before Xie Lian could send a message, he saw Hua Cheng's expression turn cold. He sensed that something was wrong and asked, "What's wrong?"
The smile on Hua Cheng's lips completely disappeared. His expression was as cold as the snowy mountain. Xie Lian continued to ask, "San Lang, what's wrong?"
Hua Cheng's lips slightly moved, but before he could answer, Xie Lian suddenly felt his heart palpitate for no reason. He abruptly raised his head and looked up, his eyes widening.
On the towering snowy wall, a large piece of the white mountain trembled and collapsed.
On the other side, Nan Feng and Fu Yao, who were fiercely fighting, also felt this silent pressure. Both of them raised their heads and finally realized what was about to happen.
In the next moment, that mountain was like a thousand-kilometer-long dike collapsing. Carrying with it a monstrous wave of snow and a whistling sound, it tumbled down towards them!
It really was an avalanche!!!
Xie Lian grabbed Hua Cheng's hand, turned around, and ran. After running two steps, he remembered that the two people above were closer to the peak of the avalanche. He suddenly stopped and turned around to look. Sure enough! Both of them stopped fighting and ran away together. Fu Yao hadn't run two steps when he stepped into a pit. Half of his body sunk in, and the white snow buried his chest. Nan Feng ran faster than him, so he also turned around. He hesitated for a moment, as if he wanted to go back and save Fu Yao. However, during this moment of hesitation, the huge wave of snow had already arrived!
Just as they were about to be swallowed up, Xie Lian threw Ruo Xie out. That long white silk flew out and in an instant, it accurately wrapped around Fu Yao and Nan Feng, dragging them out of the sea of snow. Hua Cheng glanced at them, his eyes filled with anger. He said, "Gege! Leave them behind! Don't worry about them! "
Xie Lian tightly grabbed onto Ruo Xie and dragged the two of them. As he ran, he said, "We can't! If we don't handle it well, we'll be buried for a hundred years! "
Hua Cheng said in a low voice, "It's too late!"
Xie Lian was shocked. "What?!"
When he turned around, he saw an overwhelming snow-white shadow falling down from above.
In the end, Xie Lian was still held back by Nan Feng and Fu Yao. That ice-cold and heavy wave of snow surged endlessly, separating him and Hua Cheng.
Xie Lian was swayed left and right by the wave. Mixed with the white wave, he tumbled a few times, but he was still able to tenaciously struggle. However, the amount of accumulated snow was too great, and the impact was too fierce. From time to time, it would pass over Xie Lian's head, causing him to suddenly feel suffocated. Xie Lian shouted one last time, "San Lang!" In the end, he couldn't hold on any longer and was swallowed by the huge wave of snow.
… …
After an unknown amount of time, the snow-capped mountain finally calmed down once again.
After a long time, on a flat snowy ground, the accumulated snow moved twice. Suddenly, a hand rushed out.
This hand randomly searched the snowy ground for a while. Then, an arm drilled out, then a shoulder, and finally a head. With a face full of snow, the person took a deep breath and coughed repeatedly.
Not long after, this person finally crawled out with great difficulty. Shaking his head, he sat down on the snowy ground to the side.
It was Xie Lian. The feeling of digging himself out from a thick layer of snow was similar to digging himself out from a grave. Xie Lian's face and hands were frozen red. They were practically numb and numb. He casually rubbed his hands a few times and took a few breaths of hot air. Then, he raised his head and looked around in a daze.
In the boundless white snow, he couldn't find that dazzling red.
However, if he couldn't find Xie Lian, he couldn't just randomly shout where he was. If another avalanche happened, then he would be done for.
He could only stand up and walk alone in the world of ice and snow. As he walked, he quietly shouted, "San Lang? San Lang? Nan Feng? Fu Yao? "
Speaking of which, it was strange. They were clearly on the same mountain, but now that he was walking alone, it seemed much colder than when he was walking with Hua Cheng. He didn't know when Ruo Xie had let go of him. Xie Lian was very puzzled. Ruo Xie shouldn't have let go. Even if he let go, Ruo Xie would still entangle him. How could this be?
In his heart, he felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't figure out what it was. He continued to walk in a daze. After walking for an unknown amount of time, in the wind and snow ahead, a person suddenly walked towards him. White clothes and black hair fluttered in the wind. He lowered his head and slowly walked over.
Seeing this person, Xie Lian's heart was slightly happy. He went up to him and said, "Friend! You … "
As soon as he said these words, that person raised his head. On his face, there was shockingly a white mask. Half of it was smiling, the other half was crying.
Xie Lian felt as if he had been stabbed in the face. He loudly shouted!
As soon as he shouted, he opened his eyes and suddenly sat up. After gasping for breath, he discovered in shock that at this moment, he wasn't walking alone in the snowy mountains. Instead, he was lying in a pitch-black space.
So it was a dream.
No wonder he always felt that something was wrong in his dream. Xie Lian let out a long sigh of relief and wiped the cold sweat off his forehead.
After feeling around for a while, he discovered that there seemed to be grass and stones under his body. Her maiden heart was hanging by his waist, and Ruo Xie was also clearly wrapped around his hand. Xie Lian calmed his mind and raised a palm flame to illuminate his location. Immediately, he said, "San Lang? Are you there? "
Unexpectedly, when the flame lit up, he immediately discovered that in the darkness next to him, there was unexpectedly a person standing there without a sound.
This shock wasn't small. Xie Lian immediately broke out in a cold sweat and instantly grasped his maiden heart. There was a person standing right in front of him. No matter what, it was impossible for him to not notice!
However, when he looked carefully, the cold sweat on his body disappeared. It turned out that this wasn't a living person, but rather a stone statue.
Moreover, this wasn't a petrified human statue formed from the corpses of the victims of the volcanic eruption. It was clearly a statue made by a human hand.
Holding up the palm flame to illuminate his surroundings, Xie Lian became more and more convinced.
The place he was lying in was a grotto used for cultivation. He had once secluded himself from the world and cultivated in peace in this kind of place, so he wasn't unfamiliar with it. Then, the statue inside the grotto wasn't an ordinary statue, but a statue of a God.
The statue of a God stood in an arched doorway. It had a slender figure, graceful bearing, and graceful posture. Its right hand was placed on the hilt of the long sword at its waist. Even the flowing lines of its clothes were carved very exquisitely. However, there was one very strange thing.
The face of this statue of a God was covered by a layer of fine gauze.
That gauze flowed like mist. Although it covered the statue's face, making it look very strange, it didn't make it look ugly. Instead, it added a mysterious sense of beauty. However, Xie Lian had never seen a statue of a God with its face covered. Subconsciously, he reached out his hand to remove the gauze. Suddenly, a voice came from behind him, "Brother."
Xie Lian quickly turned his head and saw that at some point, a figure dressed in red had appeared at the grotto entrance. It was Hua Cheng.
He immediately threw the statue's face to the back of his head and went to greet him, "San Lang! That's great, I was just wondering where you were. Are you alright? Are you hurt? That avalanche just now was too sudden. "
Hua Cheng walked in and said, "I'm fine. Where's Brother? "
Xie Lian replied, "I've always been fine. What is this place? "
Only after he went out did he discover that this place wasn't just as big as a small grotto. There was also a long corridor outside. It didn't look short, but he didn't know where it led to. Xie Lian had long since gotten used to Hua Cheng being able to answer all of his questions. However, this time, Hua Cheng said, "I don't know. It's most likely under a snowy mountain. "
Xie Lian was surprised, "I thought this was a refuge San Lang found. Unexpectedly, even you don't know what this place is?"
This was truly the first time he had encountered such a place. Hua Cheng even clearly remembered how many holes there were on the mountain road and how to get there. However, he didn't know where this place was. This grotto wasn't small either. Could it be that he had never discovered it before?
Xie Lian couldn't help but feel that it was strange, but he didn't ask much. He raised the flames in his palm a little higher and asked, "How did we get here?"
Hua Cheng also summoned a few silver butterflies. They glowed faintly as they fluttered in the air. In a calm voice, he said, "The avalanche missed its mark and we probably fell into a hole."
He could only think of it this way. Otherwise, it could only be that someone had specially brought them here. At this point, Xie Lian couldn't help but think of the dream he had just had. A chill ran down his spine. Then, he thought of something else and asked, "We're here, but what about Nan Feng and Fu Yao?"
Hearing him mention those two people, a ruthless expression flashed across Hua Cheng's face. Then, he said indifferently, "They were probably buried by the snow. Don't worry about it. In any case, they're Heavenly Officials. They won't die. "
Xie Lian didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He said, "Although they won't die, if no one dug them out, being buried for dozens of years wouldn't feel good. Maybe they also fell in? Let's first look around here. That's right, San Lang, when your silver butterflies went up, did they hear what they said? "
Hua Cheng sneered, "It's nothing more than a quarrel. What good words could they have heard?"
However, Xie Lian still felt that it wasn't that simple. Otherwise, he couldn't explain why Hua Cheng's expression suddenly changed after the Dead Spirit Butterfly flew over. Even now, when Hua Cheng sneered at them, his gaze was still extremely unfriendly. However, since he didn't say anything, Xie Lian didn't ask. The two walked along the long corridor of the cave.
After walking for a while, they realized that the terrain of the Snow Grotto was far more complicated than they had imagined. It wasn't a single path that led to the end. Instead, there were many forks that led to different grottos of different sizes.
In every grotto, there was a statue of a god. These god statues were made by youths and young adults. Their postures were all different. Some were lazily reclining, some were drunkenly leaning, some were sitting upright and still, some were dancing with their swords … Their clothing was also ever-changing. There were luxurious clothes, plain clothes, ragged clothes, half-naked clothes … Furthermore, they were of different standards. Some were clumsy and extremely crude, while others were abnormally exquisite. They were so detailed that it made one's hair stand on end. They probably weren't made by the same craftsman. However, there were so many of them and the variety was spectacular. Along the way, Xie Lian couldn't help but exclaim, "This is a Myriad Gods Grotto! I wonder who chose to build a grotto here? It must be an extremely devout believer. "
However, all the god statues had a strange similarity. All of them had a layer of veil covering their faces. Some had veils covering their entire bodies, revealing only the hem of their skirts or feet. Xie Lian was really curious. He wanted to remove the veil from one of the god statues to see what was on its face. However, Hua Cheng said from behind him, "Big brother, I suggest we don't."
Xie Lian turned around and asked curiously, "Why? San Lang, don't you think these god statues are strange? "
Hua Cheng walked over with his hands behind his back and said, "It's precisely because they're strange that it's best not to. Since the face is covered, there must be a reason why it's covered. The head is where the spiritual energy of the human body gathers. If it's removed and these strange god statues gather spiritual energy, I wonder what will happen. "
After a pause, he said again, "Big brother, aren't you looking for your two servants? Since you haven't found them yet, it's best not to touch them for now to prevent more complications. "
Although these words sounded strange, they weren't without reason. If removing the veil awakened these god statues, it wouldn't be fun at all. Xie Lian wasn't an ungrateful person. After thinking about it, he put down his hand and said, "I'm just a little curious about what kind of god these are."
He also found it strange that with Hua Cheng's personality, he wouldn't be afraid of more complications. If he wanted to see, then let him see. He didn't expect that he would actually use this reason to persuade him.
Hua Cheng said lightly, "This is the Wuyong Country. Maybe it's the Wuyong Prince's god statue. It's not unusual."
However, Xie Lian said, "I'm afraid not."
Hua Cheng said, "Oh? Why do you think so? "
Xie Lian looked at him and said, "From the murals we followed along the way, the Wuyong Prince and the Wuyong people's clothing style is distinctive. After all, it's a country from two thousand years ago. It's ancient and rough, and also a little wild. It's different from the exquisite clothing style of these god statues. So, I think these god statues probably have nothing to do with the Wuyong Prince. It's even possible that they didn't come from the Wuyong people. "
Hua Cheng said with a smile, "Really? Big brother is really careful. "
Xie Lian also faintly smiled and said, "No, no. It's just that the style of these god statues, whether it's the carving, the clothing, or the way they handle the details, are more similar to the style of the later generations. Moreover, it's the style that I'm more familiar with … … the style of the Xian Le Country. "
Hua Cheng raised his eyebrows and said, "It seems that big brother's attainments in this area are also quite profound."
Xie Lian said, "Not at all, not at all. After seeing too many god statues, you'll inevitably have some experience. "
Although he didn't know why, his intuition told him that from just now, Hua Cheng seemed to be a little off. And speaking up to here, he finally realized what was wrong.