I plant love Gu for Xianjun

In the middle of the vast desert, on the barren land where birds and beasts are extinct, stands a mysterious and magnificent city of megaliths.

Is it a natural craftsmanship, or is it the remains of an ancient city?Practicing Zhu Xian is still unknown.But he can be sure that in the depths of this forest of stone formations, there stands a bright and strange golden tree.

Lian Zhu Xian, who is proficient in poison art and pharmacology, has studied various plants since he was a child.In the Nanzhao area, from the hot and humid valleys to the dry and cold snow-capped mountains, there are also thousands of kinds of exotic flowers and plants—but Lian Zhuxian has never seen such strange trees. Each leaf seems to be made of pure gold, reflecting the faint but bright moonlight in the dark night.

So what exactly is it?And why does it grow in such a barren land?

Lian Zhuxian desperately recalled in his mind, but unfortunately, among the various ancient books he read before leaving, there was no mention of this wonderful plant that existed in the depths of the desert.

He became more and more curious, considering whether he should take a closer look.

And just at this time, he suddenly heard his camel honking a few short times.

After being together for two days and one night, Lian Zhu Xian has basically figured out the temper of his traveling companion—basically, it is a very quiet and calm camel, always chewing the cud slowly , Take small steps.Even if Lian Zhuxian would kick it in the stomach when going downhill, it would not be moved.But occasionally, it will get agitated and deviate from the best course Lian Zhuxian has chosen for it on its own initiative.

And the reason for the camel's anxiety is danger.

Lian Zhuxian looked in the direction of the camel's gazing—at some point, the sky above the sand dunes in the south was covered by a large black cloud.The crescent moon approaching the mid-heaven also began to change from bright blue to dim yellow, and then completely turned into a strange scarlet red.

And this is precisely the terrible omen that Xuan Tong specially told before leaving, "be careful and vigilant".

"Sandstorm!!"

Lian Zhuxian gave a loud shout, and raised his hand to slap the camel's butt.However, he missed the shot—the experienced camel had already spread its hooves and ran towards the labyrinth-like giant stone city wall in front of him.

Lian Zhuxian didn't have time to hold the camel, and when he looked up again, the sandstorm in the south had engulfed dozens of sand dunes, and it was roaring towards this side with a thunderous force.Just a small gust of wind from the outpost had already blown sand and rocks around him, making him unable to open his eyes.

There is still half a cup of tea at most, and the surrounding terrain will be changed by the strong wind.The sand and dust all over the sky can grind the living into bones, turn the hills into flat land, and the valleys are raised high, and there are quicksand traps everywhere.

There was no other safer choice, Lian Zhu Xian immediately performed the technique of lightness kungfu and verticality, and also rushed towards Shicheng.

Time is running out, and there is no room to turn back to confirm the situation; but he can always hear a loud bang like thunder, chasing closely behind him, constantly approaching.

The whistling wind slowly pressed down from the top of the head, and the sand and dust surrounded him from behind and from the left and right sides, messing up the already dim vision.

Lian Zhuxian could clearly feel that the grains of sand hitting his back and head changed from thin to thick, and then turned into pebbles that can be seen everywhere on the Gobi Desert, and the pain became more and more painful.

He gritted his teeth, accelerated the speed of his feet, and finally ran into the lee of the nearest stone wall before his sight was completely engulfed by flying sand.

And almost at the moment when he hid himself, there was a bang, the strong wind hit the tall stone wall, and the stones rolled up by the wind hit the wall with a muffled crackling sound!

The shock had just settled, but Lian Zhu Xian did not let down his vigilance because of this - the storm continued to intensify, and quicksand soon gurgled from the feet and the top of the head like a flood.But after a while, his instep was covered.

Knowing that this place is not suitable to stay for a long time, Lian Zhu Xian pulled out his feet from the quicksand with all his strength, and began to flee to the depths of the huge stone wall with difficulty.

The moonlight above his head had long been covered by sand and dust, and he couldn't see his fingers around him.Fortunately, Qiankun still had the Zhaoye Pearl prepared in advance.He hunched over and took a lot of effort to take out the treasure.However, just as he was about to activate the talisman, his mouth was filled with fine sand.

But at any rate, the Zhao Yezhu still emitted light, and quickly illuminated the incredible scene in front of me at this moment.

Lian Zhuxian found that he was walking in a narrow corridor between two stone walls, and to his left, right, up and down, all the space seemed to be flowing—there were hundreds of millions of gravel, blown by the wind. The fine quartz particles in the merged sand flow are shining even under the light of the night beads.

He even felt as if he was traveling through a corridor of time, leading to an unknown place.

However, the scene beyond reality did not make Lian Zhuxian forget the danger of real existence.He quickened his pace even more, desperately running along the wind and running deep into the stone city.

Towering stone walls twisted and twisted before his eyes like a veritable man-made labyrinth.It's just that there is no end, as if it will extend infinitely into the distance.

Lian Zhu Xian didn't know how long he ran.In short, when he came back to his senses again, he found that the sound of the wind was no longer thunderous, and the sand and dust floating in the air also slowly fell down, only spreading a thin layer on the unique gravel ground of the Gobi Desert.

It seems that the sandstorm has been blocked by high walls.

The exhaustion of physical strength forced Lian Zhu Xian to slow down his pace.Panting for breath, he slowly moved forward while supporting the tall stone wall.

After walking about ten or twenty steps, he suddenly stopped and turned to look at his right hand.

With the light of the night pearl half hanging in front of him, Lian Zhu Xian saw what his right hand was groping for on the stone wall—it was a small piece of metal in the shape of a leaf. It has a strong western style decoration.

This small golden flake seems to have been deliberately inserted into the soft weathered rock formation, and it is not known exactly when it has been preserved until now.

While seeing this small piece of metal clearly, Lian Zhu Xian's heart suddenly became at ease.

Sure enough, he wasn't the first human to arrive at this strange place, at least for this moment, he wasn't really alone.

Thinking about pulling out the piece of metal from the crevice of the rock and observing it carefully, Lian Zhu Xian took a closer look, and suddenly found that there seemed to be some pattern engraved on the stone wall under the metal piece.

He brought Zhao Yezhu closer, and quickly confirmed that it was indeed a few lines of text, and it was most likely that it was inserted with the small metal just now.But all the characters are in Hu Wen of the Western Regions, which he doesn't recognize.

Who exactly, and for what purpose, carved the words deep in the "maze" in the hinterland of this desert.

Is it a warning?A commemoration or a mark of adventure for future generations?

Lian Zhu Xian didn't know about this, but he seemed to know who wrote these lines.

The night light beads illuminated the small blind spot at the corner of the stone wall.There is about half a person's height of gravel piled up there.At this moment, two loess-colored mummies could be clearly seen cuddling each other.

Lian Zhuxian gasped silently, but quickly calmed down again, leaning over to check the information left on the corpse.

This was the first time he had examined the mummies in the desert, so he could not correctly judge the exact time of death of the deceased.But from the perspective of dressing, first of all, the two people should be Hu people from the Western Regions, and they are a man and a woman.The clothes on the body were relatively thick, so it was judged to be the vast sea and desert that entered during the cold season.Looking at the cause of death, both men and women had intact clothes, and there seemed to be no fatal wounds. They may have died of starvation or dust.

Other than that, there seemed to be no other clues.

... wait a minute.

Lian Zhu Xian suddenly denied himself again, because after simply brushing off the sand, he suddenly discovered that there were some finger-thin tree roots wrapped around the lower half of the two corpses.

He looked around and saw that there was no vegetation nearby.And such a thick rhizome obviously cannot belong to the grass crawling close to the ground.

...Could it be the big golden tree you saw just now? !

Lian Zhuxian suddenly recalled what he saw before he fled into Shicheng.Is there any connection between that big tree and the death of this couple?He couldn't help being both nervous and curious.

In the distance, the wind of the sandstorm is still howling, and it seems that there are signs of approaching again.Anyway, there was no way out for the time being, so Lian Zhu Xian simply put his heart on the sidelines and continued to move towards the direction where he saw the golden tree just now.

-

Facts have proved that this seemingly large-scale stone city wall may really be formed by natural weathering. Except for one towering stone wall after another, there are no traces of buildings that seem to be artificially repaired.

However, Lian Zhuxian found more and more human bones in more sheltered corners.Some have decomposed into bones, while others have been preserved intact in the state of mummies.Judging from their clothes, these people belonged to different countries and nationalities, and they also stepped into this vast sea in different seasons.And almost all the bones are entangled by rhizomes, as if they were fixed on the sand.

who are they?Are there any tacit understandings or commonalities between them?

After searching and searching, Lian Zhuxian finally found a skeleton that seemed to be wearing clothes from the Central Plains. He wanted to search for any evidence left on his body, so as to confirm his identity in the future.But unexpectedly, he found an urn in the arms of the corpse.In addition to the ashes, there was actually a small poem sealed in the jar.

"The sun and the moon look at each other for a long time, and they never turn away from each other. When you see the king walking and sitting, it is like burning your body." 1

This is an out-and-out love poem, so the corpse in front of him and the ashes in his arms should be a pair of lovers... Speaking of which, most of the corpses I saw during the journey just now looked relatively intact. In pairs.

Could it be that this is... a place of death for love?

Lian Zhuxian couldn't help but recall the lover's cliff far away in his hometown, which is also a famous holy place for martyrdom in Nanzhao.It's just that most of the people who dared to jump down from the cliff were cured by the Five Immortals at most, instead of such and such, the corpses were all over the ground.

So, these people who have come here from all directions and have gone through hardships, what kind of beliefs drive them, even to come here even if they are buried in the sea of ​​sand?

Lian Zhu Xian became more and more curious, but he was basically sure that it must have something to do with that golden tree.

He continued to walk forward, and there were more and more bones on the sand under his feet.The white light of the night pearl shone on the round skull, giving off a bleak white light.Occasionally, some weapons and armor can be seen on the ground, and it seems that they are not here to die for love.

The situation is getting more and more confusing.Fortunately, after walking more than ten steps forward, between the stone wall and the stone wall in front of him, a faint golden halo different from moonlight finally began to appear.

The golden tree is just ahead!

Lian Zhuxian couldn't help becoming nervous, while making plans in his mind in vain, while walking non-stop, continuing to walk forward following the light.

After bypassing a low stone wall again, the front of him suddenly opened up.

In the middle of the maze-like stone city, there is a large open space, and the huge golden tree stands quietly on the gravel in the middle of the open space, spreading out a tree of gorgeous and unparalleled golden branches and leaves, like a dream.

But what surprised Lian Zhu Xian even more was that there was someone under the tree.

"how is this possible……?!"

Lian Zhuxian froze suddenly, unable to believe his eyes.

Because he saw that the person standing under the tree at this moment was exactly Feng Zhangjun whom he had been thinking about day and night!

The author has something to say:

1: The verses are from Dunhuang posthumous writings