usatvline Chapter 127 The Age of the Worm
Chapter 127 The Age of the Worm
The actual entrances connecting the three murals should be different. When Meng Danqing first entered, she landed in an open space and walked around for a while before encountering people. This time, she landed directly in front of a group of monks listening to a lecture. Meng Danqing recognized this scene; it was a scene from the mural.
Besides the monks, there were also golden-armored warriors. They recognized Meng Danqing and knew that he came from outside the murals and should have left long ago. Why did he come here again?
Meng Danqing told them about the damage to the murals and saw that the sky was covered with dark clouds and had some cracks. He said that before he arrived, there had been continuous thunder in the sky, but it had stopped now.
It seems that the erosion of spiritual energy has indeed affected the world within the mural. The thunder stopped, and I happened to arrive just in time. It seems the array is gone, and the mural has begun to repair itself.
To date, Meng Danqing has come into contact with all three murals. Although they are connected to the same world on the other side and should be the work of the same painter in terms of imagery and technique, they are now in three different states. The murals in the capital are not only full of spiritual energy, but can also be easily mobilized, and communication between the inside and outside is very simple.
The murals in Changqing County have faded into obscurity. If it weren't for Meng Danqing, the monks in the temple would have no idea that the murals on the walls had a function beyond mere aesthetics. Moreover, because of the sealed snake cave behind the temple, the amount of spiritual energy that the murals can store is extremely small. Unless the problem with the snake cave is resolved, the murals will remain unusable in the future.
The situation in Jinling was even worse. The temple where he originally stayed had been abandoned and even broken down, leaving only ruins. Even now, Meng Danqing did not know what the current situation was in Jinling.
Compared to the murals in the other two locations, the ones in the capital are on a completely different timeline. The murals are almost undamaged, full of spiritual energy, and have a certain degree of self-repairing ability. They are also directly connected to the celestial palace in the world depicted in the painting, making it seem like they were at their peak.
Such a difference must not be solely due to the form of preservation, right? As he followed the envoy, Meng Danqing pondered this in his mind. He recalled the old monk who seemed to know a great deal. The monk appeared to be knowledgeable about everything. Could a mortal really have the opportunity to know so much?
"jingle--"
A gentle breeze rustles the wind chimes under the eaves. All the buildings in the mural world are in the Buddhist style, and the monks preaching are naturally surrounded by temples. In temple buildings like these, wind chimes are usually hung under the eaves. These bells hanging at the corners of the house are also called wind chimes or flower-protecting bells. The meaning is that when the wind blows, the sound of the bells will frighten the birds, which can not only prevent them from nesting under the eaves, but also protect the flowers and plants in the corridor.
Looking at the wind chimes that were making a sound, Meng Danqing felt that they looked somewhat familiar, as if she had seen something similar before. Where was it?
By the way, the wind chimes hanging on the corners of the temple outside the murals are exactly the same as those in this world.
Outside the murals lies the real world.
Jian Feidao picked up the wind chime from the broken tiles on the ground. This was the spot where he had cut off the eaves to attract Lan Ying's attention. At that time, a wind chime was hanging under the eaves. When he cut off a corner of the house, the bell hanging on it fell down with him.
However, the sound of the falling and shattering tiles was much louder than the wind chimes, and everyone's attention was focused on the broken tiles, with no one paying attention to the wind chimes on the ground.
Until the two illegal transmigrators left, the battle between Jian Feidao and Shou Wanjie ended, the Yan family members and several White Lotus Sect monks in the temple all ran away, and no one paid any attention to the wind chimes on the ground.
Their battle was quite loud, and someone should be coming to investigate soon. Regarding the matter of the Yan family's collusion with the White Lotus Sect, perhaps we can go to see Imperial Censor Wang again.
Thanks to the previous dream, Imperial Censor Wang is now a favorite of the emperor. Not only has he regained his official position, but he has also revitalized his career. His suspension from duty allowed him to see many people for who they truly are, and upon returning to the court, he is now handling things with ease.
The Yan family is not clean to begin with and has made many enemies. I believe that Imperial Censor Wang and his men will not miss such a good opportunity.
The original place where the wind chimes were hung was damaged, so Jian Feidao could only take the wind chimes to the main hall and wait for Meng Danqing to come out of the mural.
I wonder what strange stories will circulate in the capital after today. This time, I've put pressure on Wan Jie, and I should be able to extract more information from him.
Before long, the mural began to glow, and Meng Danqing's figure appeared in the light. He was carrying a wicker basket filled with flowers.
It contains four kinds of flowers: datura, lotus, magnolia, and udumbara, which are the four auspicious flowers in Buddhism.
"This is?"
"It was given to him by that child's companion."
Unable to ascertain the girl's attitude towards leaving the mural, Meng Danqing didn't mention it. She only briefly explained that the mural had been attacked from the outside. Before leaving, the girl's companions, the other flower-scattering celestial maidens, gave Meng Danqing a flower basket, hoping she could pass it on.
The girl left without taking anything with her, and now her companions guess she won't come back and they probably won't see her again, so they're sending these flowers as a blessing.
"By the way, there's also this."
Meng Danqing took out another wind chime, which looked very similar to the one Jian Feidao had picked up from the ground, the one hanging in the temple. The difference was that the wind chime in the temple had been exposed to the elements for countless years and its surface was already worn, while this wind chime was brand new, with exquisite patterns on the outside and scriptures engraved on the inside.
This time, before Jian Feidao could ask, he explained the origin of the wind chimes.
“The bodhisattva inside gave me this item and said that if I gave the wind chime to the monks here, they would tell us something.”
In this temple, there is only one known monk, the old monk who, despite being a mortal, knows the information of the Heavenly Dao.
The connection between the other party and the murals in the temple was not as simple as knowing that the murals connected to a small world. Meng Danqing realized this when he discovered that the wind chimes hanging in the temples inside and outside the murals were the same type.
Just then, Jian Feidao had a wind chime that had fallen into his hand. Comparing the two wind chimes, apart from the patterns and colors, their basic shapes were exactly the same, making them look like they were from the same manufacturer.
At this point, it couldn't possibly be a coincidence. The old monk must have entered the mural before, or he must have come out of the mural. The bodhisattva in the mural world was practically asking him by name to come find him.
"...You people don't categorize people as friend or foe based on their colors, do you?"
The moment Yi Yang saw Qing Yangzi, this thought immediately came to mind, and he honestly voiced it. There was no way around it; the other's red and white color scheme was strangely familiar, especially since Shou Wanjie, who was known for his keen sense of color, was standing right next to him.
With two innate abilities, it was incredibly easy for Lan Ying and the others to leave the capital. Moreover, when they re-established contact with the Yan family, they even set up a new teleportation array. However, due to limited materials and the longer distance than before, it could only be used a few times.
Unexpectedly, they had to flee in a sorry state again. The magic array they had thrown away actually made their retreat easier, at least they didn't have to worry about the enemy finding them by following the magic array they left behind.
"This topic is over."
Lan Ying rolled her eyes. The two had discussed whether these people's factions were related to the colors they wore before they returned, but because the two people involved didn't care, they ultimately didn't get an answer.
Qingyangzi and Shouwanjie have completely different appearances and temperaments. It is surprising that two people with such a big difference would be companions. Apart from both being dressed in red, there seems to be no other connection between them.
However, judging someone's stance by their color is utterly ridiculous. They are transmigrators who have signed a contract with an unscrupulous system to carry out sabotage missions. They are not TV characters from some unknown source, and there is no such thing as good guys wearing white and bad guys wearing black.
What's more, they're now mixed up with the White Lotus Sect, and the fanatical followers within the White Lotus Sect even wear white clothes.
"Okay, looks like I'm out of touch."
Yi Yang naturally moved on from the matter and turned to look at Shou Wanjie.
"King Asura, you say your companions are beneficial to our plans, so what...powers does this Taoist priest possess?"
After much deliberation, Yi Yang still addressed him as Daoist Master. At the beginning, Shou Wanjie had said that the person he was looking for had a close relationship with the Daoist sect, and Qingyangzi's appearance from head to toe suggested that he came from the Daoist sect. Even if he was unwilling, he still had to address him as Daoist Master.
You ask him why he's unwilling? In the world of Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, the most valuable talents are Taoists and foxes. Their enemies are clearly Taoist figures. Currently, the illegal time travelers don't really want to see the image of "Taoists" and don't really want to deal with them.
However, Qingyangzi was clearly a member of the Taoist sect, and his appearance exuded righteousness. It was just incongruous to see someone like him mixed in with these people who were doing bad things.
“What you need to do cannot be accomplished through crooked and unorthodox methods alone.”
Shou Wanjie leaned against the wall behind him, a stark contrast to Qingyangzi, who stood upright with a Dao fan in his hand. Judging from his relaxed appearance, it was impossible to tell that he had just gone through a fierce battle with the enemy.
In reality, it only looks impressive to outsiders. Only those who actually fought, Shou Wanjie and Jian Feidao, knew how much effort was put in. If they were to fight seriously and fight to the death, there would be more sword energy and knife marks around them than just sword energy and knife marks.
“Please repeat what you’ve planned.”
With these words, Shou Wanjie, Qingyangzi, Lan Ying, and Yan all turned to look at Yi Yang.
"...Why am I the one who has to say it?"
The person being watched looked at his two companions. There were three people here, so why was he the one who had to explain?
"We just got back and we're exhausted."
"You got driven back from the mission halfway through, and you still have the nerve to complain about being tired?"
"It's better than someone who never comes back."
Ying never returned, and he even neglected the White Lotus Sect subordinates assigned to him. If it weren't for the fact that their connection through the system architecture was still intact, they would have almost thought that their comrade had been captured by the enemy.
"Okay, I'll do it."
Yi Yang resigned himself to his fate and began to explain to Qing Yangzi why the illegal transmigrators had caused so much trouble. Since they were people brought by the Asura King, they should be trustworthy. This guy always talked about "those who are both wise and brave will never be redeemed", so he shouldn't be the kind of person who "led the Japanese into the village".
Unfortunately, Yi Yang didn't know that, in terms of position and identity, this Asura King was himself a member of the "Japanese devils," and they had long been infiltrated by the enemy.
"What we need to do can be summed up in three words."
As he spoke, the man dressed as a sorcerer pointed to the ground beneath his feet.
"Sever the spiritual veins."
……
"It's a new bell."
The elderly monk accepted the exquisite wind chime, and when his hand touched it, the patterns on the chime seemed to shimmer with light.
What would you two like to hear?
Considering that this matter was related to the Heavenly Dao System, neither the two scholars nor the girl were present. After receiving the flower basket from Meng Danqing, the former Flower Scattering Fairy had no intention of following them and simply held the flower basket, shedding tears alone.
According to her, this is the flower basket she used when performing her duties as the Flower Scattering Goddess. Due to personal preference, her flower basket was basically filled only with datura and magnolia. The flowers in the hands of each Flower Scattering Goddess reflected their own preferences.
This is the first time I've seen all four auspicious flowers displayed like this; it must be because her companions put flowers from their own baskets in.
"Regarding Heaven's desire to 'create' life, and how you know those people are here to 'destroy' Heaven."
"That's a long story."
The old monk first sighed, then asked a question in return.
"Then do you two know how long those people have been here?"
"...I don't know."
That's a really good question. When the systems cooperate with worlds like the Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, which have relatively complete mythological systems and a certain degree of self-defense capabilities, it's always the other side that asks for help first. Once the system receives the message and confirms that it can send someone, it adds that world to the mission world.
If there is a need, add them to the list. The question is when they appeared. The system doesn't actually ask. The specific information is provided by the world consciousness, plus the subsystem's automatic scanning after entering the world.
This model is somewhat similar to instant pest control. Action is only taken after the insects are discovered. The pest control personnel don't care how long the insect eggs have been lurking inside. They just need to get rid of the insects and then collect some emotional energy as a reward, a win-win situation.
So, questions like how long the illegal transmigrators had been in this world were unknown to the system and Liu Qingyuan. If the old monk hadn't pointed it out, no one would have cared about it.
According to common thinking, people would assume that shortly after the illegal transmigrator arrived, the legitimate system brought the host, and they were essentially chasing after the enemy. However, according to the old monk, the actual situation is clearly not like that.
In fact, some clues can be found in the previous illegal transmigrators. When Liu Qingyuan first arrived, she met a transmigrator who disguised herself as a masked person. Judging from her behavior, she was obviously used to this hiding mode.
It's impossible that she was a masked woman before she came into this world; choosing this disguise was clearly a well-thought-out decision, and it's obvious she intended to stay for a long time.
And those two caught in the East China Sea market—given the quantity of bone products they produced, this couldn't have been accomplished in just one or two years. Moreover, some of the bones of monsters and mythical beasts have special properties, requiring a lot of time to produce. They are already habitual offenders, having been hiding in secret for who knows how many years.
"The story of all this begins a hundred years ago..."