Between mountains and seas

Chapter 158 Star Valley

"Su Zheng!" Bai Xin was shocked and anxious, but when she rushed forward again, there was already an open space, and even the original trees disappeared. The emptiness looked very abrupt, as if forced from somewhere The cut out picture is pasted here again.

Ji Yan looked around: "All gather together! The space here is starting to distort. If you spread too far, you may be locked up somewhere!"

"It's useless." Gu Rong said in a deep voice, "The longer the time drags on, the more dangerous this place will be. Even if you don't get locked into the debris space, after a while, this place will start to be cleaned."

"What cleaning?" Shao Jingxing asked quickly.

But Bai Xin grabbed Ji Yan: "Where did Su Zheng and the others go?"

There was another line of blood hanging from the corner of Ji Yan's mouth, he wiped it casually, looked at the compass in his hand and smiled wryly: "No wonder the light is not far away, this forest is all made up of different fragments, like a Rubik's cube. Now the Rubik's Cube is spinning, and Su Zheng's piece has turned far away, and I don't know where it turned. Maybe it's just outside the woods, maybe..." It's so far away that I can't even find it.

"Our task is to enter Zhongshan." Huo Qing stepped back from the front.Qiongqi had already fallen asleep lying on his front paws, and Zhu Wu was still shaking his head to resist the sleepiness, but his footsteps swayed like he was drunk, and he couldn't attack for a while.

"But Su Zheng and Brother Du are gone!" Bai Xin raised her voice with red eyes.

"They know what they should do." Huo Qing said in a deep voice, "We came in to complete the mission!"

Bai Xin stopped talking, and Ji Yan smiled wryly: "But I can't get in..." He has tried his best, but the situation here is different from what he expected.

"What if it is forced to open?" Huo Qing looked towards the dark woods, where a frosty road appeared just now, proving that the door to Zhongshan is there.

Ji Yan pointed at Chaos who was still shaking his head and tail following the singing—if it had a head and tail—“That’s the result of my trying to open the door forcibly. Here, I need a key.”

"Where is the key!" Zhang Sheng said angrily.Wuwu was already approaching with S-shaped steps, but they didn't dare to make a move, for fear of touching something again.But even if they didn't do anything, the speed of the surrounding fog was also accelerating. It was obvious that the formation here had been disturbed, and they were afraid that if it dragged on, what would happen.

"There is a key." Gu Rong suddenly said.

"Where?" Zhang Sheng asked quickly.

"I am the key."

"What?" Several people said in unison, and Zhang Sheng suddenly realized: "Did Section Chief Qi follow you just now? What happened to him?" No wonder Qi Tongmin left Gu Rong alone. Could it be that he gave him the key?

"That's my secret." Gu Rong said coldly, turning his eyes to the darkness that seemed to have flowed ahead, "But this key of mine can only enter, not exit."

They can only enter but not exit, which means that if they can't find a way out in Zhongshan, even if they complete the task, they may be left there forever.Or it's not just "possible", but when Nuwa left this door, she just had no way out, because she herself didn't plan to go out...

"Choose yourselves." Gu Rong's eyes were still staring at the darkness ahead, but a ball of white light slowly lit up on his chest.

Of course he also wears a maze flower, but this ball of light is obviously not what the maze flower can emit, but it seems to be shining from his chest.

Everyone else was shocked by his words "you can only enter but not exit", but Huo Qing glanced at his chest: "What is this?"

Gu Rong didn't answer, but just pointed forward: "The door is open."

Sure enough, looking in the direction of his finger, the darkness in front of him was receding, and the swaying trees in the darkness disappeared, replaced by a barren road, which was exactly what Ji Yan had just opened the door with all his heart and blood. Show that way!

"Go!" The muscles on Zhang Sheng's cheeks were tense, but he lifted his feet and walked on the road, "Go in first!"

"Go in, maybe you won't be able to get out." Under the white light, Gu Rong's face was as white as a piece of paper, but no one noticed.

Zhang Sheng turned his head sharply, gnashing his teeth: "You don't need so much, you think I'm afraid of death! Besides, if you really can't complete the task, the barrier collapses, and these messy things go out, you're going to die!"

Gu Rong laughed: "Isn't that Gonggong's dream?" When Gonggong knocked down Buzhou Mountain, didn't it just want to open the door between the two worlds?

Now even Zhuang Juan coughed: "One moment and another, maybe all the opinions of your Nuwa faction are right. If there are more supernatural beings now, maybe you don't have to be so afraid of these monsters."

On the one hand, he followed Zhang Sheng and walked on the road.Ji Yan coughed and followed him: "It's time to save yourself the effort, it's better to save it and go in to deal with Zhulong."

Bai Xin glanced at the place where Su Zheng and the others disappeared just now, walked to Ji Yan's side silently, and reached out to support him.A faint green light extended from her hand to Ji Yan's body, and Ji Yan's cough stopped immediately.

Huo Qing had been holding his saber tightly and staring at Wuwu. At this time, most of the people had already walked on the road, so he signaled to Shao Jingxing to pull Tang Jia back.

Tang Jia was already trembling.Although she was singing just now, she also heard Gu Rong's words. After entering Zhongshan, she didn't know if she could come out.

However, if you don't go in, there are still monsters in front of you!what to do?Tang Jia's voice trembled even when she sang, and she couldn't make a high note, so she ran away.

As soon as the sound broke, the chaotic and comfortable swing suddenly stopped, and then the four wings flapped violently, and the huge body almost brought out a phantom, and suddenly bumped towards Tang Jia.

This happened too fast, and everyone else had already entered that road. When Huo Qing was about to block the way, he suddenly realized that although it was only a few steps away, he seemed to have entered another space. Too late!

The loud bang covered Tang Jia's screams, the flames rose wildly with black smoke, and the splashing fireballs flew in all directions, and then disappeared suddenly - Chaos, Qiongqi, Wuwu, Tang Jia, and Shao Jingxing, even their The open space where he was just now disappeared, replaced by a strange slope full of low trees.

Such a sloping land embedded in the dense woods is of course very incongruous, but soon, wisps of mist gathered, covering it in darkness.

"Where is the person?" Zhang Sheng was taken aback, and turned his head and wanted to go back.

"Go forward." Gu Rong stretched out his hand to stop him, "The door is closed, I don't have the strength to open it again."

"What——" Zhang Sheng was about to refute, when he saw that Gu Rong's face was as pale as a dead man's, and his voice was lacking in breath—in just a few minutes, he seemed to be seriously ill, and it was terminally ill look like.

"Why do you—" Zhang Sheng looked at Gu Rong, and then at the re-gathered darkness a few steps away, "But what should they do?" To be honest, Tang Jia can still count when there are many people , but don't rest when there are fewer people—the situation just now is very clear, she is timid, and she can't play at all when she panics.

It was precisely because of Tang Jia's abnormal performance that Shao Jingxing had to fight against the chaos, which caused the space to distort again.Now that the door is closed and only Tang Jia and Shao Jingxing are left outside, wouldn't Tang Jia be more panicked and useless?

Then, Shao Jingxing will be left alone to face Chaos, Qiongqi and Wuwu?

No matter what Zhang Sheng thought, he felt that he was going to die!Although Tang Jia is untrained, Shao Jingxing is also a half bottle of jealousy - in Zhang Sheng's mind, he is a cook, a logistics worker, how can anyone really ask the cooking team to tackle tough problems!

"Stop saying a few words!" Zhuang Juan tugged at him, and at the same time glanced at Huo Qing.

If Shao Jingxing were locked out like this, who would be most worried?Of course it was Huo Qing.Zhuang Juan is not blind, can't he see the trickiness between the two of them?

Huo Qing's face is really ashen now.However, he glanced at the darkness outside, then turned around suddenly, and said in a deep voice, "Go forward! Don't waste time!"

"You—" Even Ji Yan couldn't help it now, isn't he worried?

Bai Xin tugged him with just one word - how could he not be worried, didn't he see the bulging veins on the back of Huo Qing's hand, was he about to deform the handle of the knife?

Bai Xin felt that she was the person who could best understand Huo Qing's mood. Su Zheng's whereabouts were unknown now, but she still had to enter Zhongshan as planned, even if—even if she might not be able to go back.If that's the case, maybe it's okay, at least Su Zheng didn't come in, as long as he and Du Weiping can clean up Taotie, they can go back...

Maybe Huo Qing thought so too?However, Su disappeared with Du Weiping, and the two of them may only need to face one glutton; while Shao Jingxing dragged Tang Jia, who would lose his chain at a critical moment, he had to deal with at least three fierce beasts, even if he was poor. Already seriously injured, the situation is also...

Thinking of this, Bai Xin couldn't help but looked at Huo Qing worriedly.

Huo Qing's side face was as cold and hard as a stone in the ice and snow. He didn't look at anyone, but only glanced at Gu Rong: "Let's go!"

Zhang Sheng really wanted to order something more, but at this moment, even he felt that something was wrong - there seemed to be a tacit understanding between Huo Qing and Gu Rong.

Is it because of the tacit understanding of wanting to complete the task?Zhang Sheng didn't think so.But if you want to let him, he won't come out.But now the way they came from has become dark again, even if they want to go back to find Shao Jingxing and Tang Jia, it is impossible.

The scene ahead became clearer and clearer. The road turned a corner, and the valley was already in sight, and a gust of cold air hit the face.The vegetation on both sides of the road has long been withered and yellow, and frost flowers and icicles are hanging on each root.If you look carefully, you will find that these blades of grass are sealed in by frost. Although even the jagged edges on the blades are well preserved, the whole plant has long since lost its vitality.

"I've been dead for many years..." Zhuang Juan murmured, turning his gaze to the valley ahead, "Take it as day, shut it up as night, blow it up as winter, call it summer..." Here is the real Zhong Shan. , I just don’t know what the candle dragon inside looks like...

This question was answered after entering the valley.

The valley is like an eternal night, dark and cold, with no stars or moon in the sky, only the glimmer of stars in the river water, illuminating the hazy outline of the scenery.

Yes, there is a river in this valley, and the cold white mist above the river is lingering, and the five-color stars are shining in the mist. From a distance, it seems that the Milky Way above has fallen into the mortal world, but it is more colorful than the Milky Way. gorgeous.

"Lengchuan..." Zhuang Juan even forgot about Zhulong, and all his mind was taken away by the river, "The one that glows underwater is..."

Of course, there are countless five-color stones.

Rather than being a river, Lengchuan is more like a network of water. The main stream meanders through the entire valley, while the tributaries stretch out like spider webs. Looking from the entrance of the valley, the water streams glowing with five-color stars impressively form a huge The talisman array almost covered the entire valley.

"Fuzhen..." Ji Yan's eyes were about to pop out.Although he passed down the "Book of Changes" from his family, he actually likes to draw talismans. Now that he suddenly saw such a complex and ingeniously arranged talisman array, he felt like a precious treasure, and he couldn't take his eyes out.

Other skirts are not as addicted as he is, Zhang Sheng was the first to wake up after being surprised: "Where is the candle dragon?"

"There..." Gu Rong raised his finger.There was still a white light on his chest, and I don't know if it was because the valley was too dark, the light cluster appeared brighter than before, and it reflected his face as if it was cut out of white paper, without a trace of blood.

In the darkness at the height of the valley, there is a huge body. The light refracted by countless five-color stones from the water waves can only vaguely reflect a sinuous outline, but the face that looks like a human face is outlined because of the shadow. Deeper, more humanlike.

Zhulong was sleeping deeply, his eyes were closed tightly, and he exhaled streams of cold air from his nostrils.I don't know how long it has been sleeping, anyway, the rocks around it and its own body are covered with a layer of ice shell, shining crystal light.

"What's wrong with the talisman array?" Huo Qing's words brought the stunned people back to their senses—yes, they came to repair the talisman array, not to visit Candle Dragon.

The compass in Ji Yan's hand spun wildly again.With the brainstorming and rehearsal of all the people in the logistics department before, and the compass inherited from the Ji family, his calculations progressed rapidly: "It should be that there is something missing in the talisman array, which led to the loss of balance..."

The larger the rune array, the more power it can use, but if it is out of balance, it will be easier to cause the loss of power or even impact the rune array in reverse.Nuwa has already considered the problem of long time, so she set up the talisman array in this place of ultimate arctic cold, and hypnotized the candle dragon, making the Zhongshan Valley almost a frozen dead place, so as to isolate the outside interference and make the talisman The array remains intact forever.

But even with such a careful arrangement, it was not enough to last for a long time. After all, a part of the waterway was blocked due to the accumulation of sand, and then gradually changed its route, breaking away from the overall talisman array. flow out of the valley.

This waterway is the "Lengchuan" discovered by He Maochuan's ancestors.

"Now we need to block that exit, unblock this side, and then—" Ji Yan suddenly closed his mouth before finishing, and slowly raised his head to look up.

Not only him, everyone heard the huge neighing sound like the exhaust of an old locomotive - in fact, there was a similar sound in the valley just now, it was the sound of the candle dragon breathing in a deep sleep, but Now the voice has changed, suddenly much louder than before, which means...

Candle Dragon is about to wake up!

All eyes fell on the huge winding body, Candle Dragon's tail swung, and immediately rolled down a pile of frosty gravel.Then the huge head moved again, and the eyes opened a thread.

With just this line, the valley immediately became much brighter, and the beautiful scene like a galaxy disappeared, but the frozen waterway reflected the dazzling white light, making it more clearly visible.

"Don't let it wake up!" Ji Yan swallowed the second half of the sentence about the Fuzhen, and murmured.

Zhang Sheng almost rolled his eyes: "Who doesn't know..." Zhulong woke up, what would his reaction be when he saw them?Could it be "friends come from afar"?It is estimated that "meat comes from afar".From this point of view, no matter what it is, Zhulong should be very happy to see them anyway.

"It's not mine..." Ji Yan lowered his voice, "As long as Zhulong wakes up, the temperature in this valley will immediately rise! When the temperature of the river rises, what will happen to the five-color stone?" Zhu The dragon blows for winter and calls for summer, which proves that it is a beast with dual elements of ice and fire. Now it emits low temperature when it is asleep, so what about waking up?

As for why the "Lengchuan" is a "cold" Sichuan, the Special Affairs Department has long researched and concluded that it uses low temperature to suppress the activity of the five-color stones, so that they can remain dormant for a long time and become a stable source of energy.But what if the temperature rises?Five-color stone, will it still be a five-color "stone"?

Everyone looked at each other, Zhang Sheng said in a low voice, "We woke up the candle dragon?" But they were already on tiptoe, what's the matter with this candle dragon, sleep well, why be so vigilant?

"Maybe it's this..." Huo Qing's expression was not very good, and he opened the backpack on his body with one hand, a ray of red light appeared from the mouth of the bag, it was the red gemstone they got from the underground palace.

"This thing is what Zhulong held in his mouth. The reason why Zhulong fell asleep may be because he didn't have this thing." In other words, once this thing appeared, Zhulong would naturally wake up.

"Why didn't Nuwa—" Why not just destroy this thing?Zhang Sheng couldn't help complaining.

"No way!" Ji Yan shook his head, "If you destroy this thing, what if the candle dragon dies?"

You must know that the reason why Zhongshan has become an extremely cold place is precisely because of the candle dragon. If the candle dragon dies, can this place still remain so extremely cold all year round?

"If Zhulong could die, why didn't Nuwa kill Zhulong directly?" Zhulong is certainly a very powerful beast, but Nuwa was able to "kill the black dragon to help Jizhou, and cut the dragon to stand in all directions", so why did Nuwa alone? Can't kill Candle Dragon?You know, this candle dragon can at least hatch hundreds of five-color stones!

Zhang Sheng resentfully said: "Then what should we do now? Zhulong is about to wake up." In fact, he really thought that it would be great if Huo Qing didn't bring this gem in, but bringing the gem in was pre-arranged by the Special Affairs Department. The decision cannot be blamed on Huo Qing.

But he didn't, Ji Yan could also guess what he meant: "Nuwa put the gems and the map together, it must be useful to bring them in..." The map is used to guide them into Zhongshan, and the gems can let them The candle dragon wakes up, what's the use of the candle dragon waking up?

"Water channel..." Huo Qing suddenly.

All eyes immediately turned to the cold river below.The flow of water that forms the talisman array is naturally not formed naturally, that is...

Ji Yan murmured: "Use gems as a lure to let Zhulong plow the river?" This, this is really a big deal!

Huo Qing couldn't help but think: If Shao Jingxing heard these words, he wouldn't open his eyes and exclaim loudly. By the way, let me describe the picture he imagined in his mind - Zhulong dragging the plow behind his back like a donkey pulling a cart, And Nuwa stood on the back of the candle dragon, stretched out a pole, and held a carrot in front of her...

Oh no, it's not carrots, it's rubies!