Ning Que ran in the night and on the street. From time to time, he raised his right arm to wipe off the blood on his chin. The big black umbrella hit his back from time to time, making a cracking sound. As time went by, the luster in his eyes became dimmer and dimmer. His eyebrows that were exposed outside the mask became tighter and tighter, looking like he was in great pain.
His vision became more and more blurred. In his eyes, the posts for tying horses and the archway at the entrance of the market place gradually became distorted and turned into monsters baring their fangs and brandishing their claws. His breathing became more and more rapid. The air that was squeezed out of his lungs was as hot as lava, but the air that he desperately inhaled was as cold as a glacier. His footsteps became more and more sluggish, and he often stumbled on the protruding bluestone slabs on the ground. His thoughts became more and more chaotic, and he gradually forgot his current situation.
He only remembered that he should run, as far as possible.
Some deep instinct urged him to run in the direction of the Old Brush Pen Shop on Lin 47th Street. Perhaps only after seeing that dark and swarthy little girl would he feel safe and proper. This obsession to run home was so strong … It was so strong that it supported his seriously injured and weak body to run from South City to here. It was so strong that he didn't even notice that he was running on the Vermilion Bird Avenue, which usually made him the most vigilant and uneasy.
The blood that dripped from the edge of the mask could be wiped off by his sleeves. The blood that oozed from the numerous sword wounds on his body slowly flowed to the big black umbrella. It was slowly absorbed by the sticky and greasy surface of the umbrella and then slowly released. It slowly dripped to the ground, and then a tiny blood flower bloomed on the ground and seeped into the cracks of the stones.
Before dawn, there was a morning breeze, blowing the clothes that were drying under someone's eaves and making the Dragon Cloud Flag that towered into the clouds in the distance on the Vermilion Bird Avenue flutter. The footsteps in the morning breeze and the faint smell of blood blended together, gradually awakening some life that had been hiding in the cracks of the stones for thousands of years.
The spacious and straight Vermilion Bird Avenue in Chang 'an of the Tang Empire suddenly became a long and endless hell fire path. Ning Que felt as if his feet were stepping on extremely hot red pebbles. Every step he took would burn through the soles of his shoes. Those bursting flames instantly spread and burned his flesh and bones. It was extremely painful.
He was still running, taking one step after another. Every step he took was excruciating. With every step he took, he felt like his feet were being chopped into meat paste by countless knives.
Suddenly, his body froze on the spot and he clutched his chest in pain!
He felt as if an invisible spear had fallen from the night sky, piercing through his flesh, bones, and internal organs, penetrating his body and pinning him to the ground!
The burning pain from the ground of Vermilion Bird Avenue instantly disappeared, because compared to the pain that came from his chest — that pain that seemed to want to tear everything apart and destroy everything, no pain in the world was worth mentioning.
Ning Que furrowed his brows painfully. He looked at his empty chest, the street that had been transformed into some kind of curved corridor, and Chang 'an City that had nothing to do with reality. He found that everything in his eyes had countless shadows, real and illusory, fake and deconstructed shadows, and he was standing between the real and illusory shadows of these things.
Suddenly, he heard someone gasping softly beside his ear.
Using the last of his strength, he turned his head and tightly grasped the hilt of the knife at his waist with his bloody hand. However, he did not see any trace of anyone, and he was still surrounded by those strange, deformed worlds.
His face was as pale as a snow mountain. He looked around in confusion and subconsciously tried to find the source of the gasp.
The stone posts that seemed to be about to fall to the ground were gasping, telling of the pain and annoyance of being tied by the neck every day. The yellow cloth of the wine shop in the market was gasping in the morning wind, telling of the unhappiness and uneasiness of being molested by drunkards every night. The locust tree that stretched out its waist in a house was gasping, telling of the fact that it had seen too many family secrets and was about to dry up. The green leaf that fell under the stone lion's seat was gasping, telling of the reason why it did not fall at the right time.
The stone lion was gasping, the wooden building was gasping, the road under their feet was gasping, the morning wind was gasping, the distant imperial palace was gasping, the nearby gray wall was gasping, Chang 'an was gasping, and the whole world was gasping.
The delicate and charming gasps were like the moans of women, the long and continuous gasps were like the solemn gasps of the court, the anxious gasps were like the desperate gasps of a fugitive, and the indifferent gasps were like the ruthless gasps of history.
Ning Que listened to the gasps coming from all directions in the narrow streets, alleys, back gardens, and distant halls. He stood alone and helpless in the middle of the street.
He loosened the hilt of the knife and covered his ears with both hands, but he still could not stop the various gasps from penetrating the back of his palms and clearly and powerfully entering his mind.
He slowly knelt down in the middle of the dark Vermilion Bird Avenue and then fell down.
The big black umbrella covered his back.
The blood passed through the black umbrella, dripped on the bluestone, and flowed into the cracks of the stones.
On the Vermilion Bird Avenue, which was paved with bluestone, there were countless tiny flowers made of tiny blood drops. From the South City all the way to the North, the blood flowers connected into a line, faintly connecting with the blood at the front of the black umbrella.
The place where the blood line was pointing was the stone sculpture of the Vermilion Bird at the far end of the avenue.
…
…
The Vermilion Bird engraved in the middle of the imperial road was deeply carved into the stone. It carried the history of the Tang Empire for more than a thousand years. No one knew how many high-spirited new kings it had welcomed, and no one knew how many old heroes who ultimately failed to defeat time had been sent away. Its majestic eyes were always so calm and never moved for a moment.
At this time, the eyes of the Vermilion Bird were still majestic as usual. However, the right wing of the three indescribably gorgeous top wings on top of its head slowly rose, as if it was going to break through the stone surface and enter the real world!
Ning Que fell unconscious under the big black umbrella. He had no idea that the Vermilion Bird in the distance had undergone such a strange change, nor did he know that a majestic and irresistible sense of destruction that seemed to come from ancient times had enveloped him.
His blood flowed between the cracks of the stones, extremely shallow and flat, even shallower and flatter than what humans could imagine. It flowed from the middle of the avenue to the distance, flowing into the complicated and solemn feather stone crevices of the Vermilion Bird in the distance.
Silently, the blood that flowed into the beautiful feather stone crevices of the Vermilion Bird Avenue quickly evaporated into a light red mist, and then was quickly purified by an invisible high-temperature power into an invisible void.
The blood drops scattered on the bluestone slabs of the Vermilion Bird Avenue also began to evaporate and be purified, disappearing into nothingness one by one. The extremely shallow and flat blood between the stone crevices continued to evaporate and disappear at a speed visible to the naked eye, until finally it came under the big black umbrella and directly invaded Ning Que's body along with the blood!
The invisible scorching aura seemed to be able to incinerate everything in the world. The blood on Ning Que's body quickly evaporated and disappeared without a trace, but his clothes did not change at all.
His arms that were exposed outside his clothes and his cheeks that were exposed outside the mask began to quickly turn red, and the hair on his forehead quickly turned yellow and withered. His fingernails that rested on the bluestone began to become dry and crisp due to the rapid loss of water.
A green leaf was blown up by the morning wind and fell on the back of his hand. Then it was brushed off again, still green and pleasing. An ant was disturbed by the fallen leaves and climbed up the back of his hand, and then climbed down from the other side, still alive. But if nothing unexpected happened, Ning Que would be burned alive by the mysterious invisible flame released by the Vermilion Bird in the next moment.
At this moment, a shadow descended and crushed the pitiful ant to death with a light smack.
The big black umbrella, blown by the morning wind, gently covered Ning Que's body, gently swaying like a black lotus. With the swaying of the black umbrella, the green leaf was instantly frozen into ice and scattered into countless tiny pieces of ice when the morning wind gently brushed it.
An absolutely cold aura was gradually released from the black umbrella, slowly and unstoppably seeping into Ning Que's hot body. After a moment, the redness on his cheeks and arms gradually faded and became snow-white after a serious injury. The hair on his forehead quickly became black and glossy, and the fingernails on his hands that rested on the bluestone regained their luster.
The Vermilion Bird on the stone street in the distance seemed to sense something. Its majestic and solemn eyes were obviously calm as usual, but it gave people a feeling that it was looking in the direction where Ning Que was lying down.
After a moment, the three indescribably gorgeous top wings on its head all rose up!
Almost at the same time, the big black umbrella covering Ning Que's body swayed even faster!
…
…
The black wind was blowing in the black Wilderness. The strong wind rolled up the black gravel and scattered it everywhere in the sky, so that it seemed that the light of the scorching sun in the sky had turned black.
There was a black snow mountain in the distance of the Wilderness, which was constantly melting and collapsing under the illumination of the black scorching sun. The melted snow water mixed with the black soil and gravel, reflecting the black sunlight and rushing around violently.
The black snow mountain was about to collapse, and the flood it formed was about to destroy the whole world. But at this moment, the bright night suddenly came to the world, releasing an incomparably warm and cold aura.
Ning Que stood at a certain point in this space, looking at the magnificent scene of destruction in front of him with confusion and incomparable calmness. He did not know where this place was, but he knew that this was not a dream. This feeling was clear and firm, just as he clearly saw the light occupying most of the sky, but he was sure that it was night.
The bright night covered most of the sky, blocking the blazing black sunlight and gradually slowing down the melting of the snow mountain. And the cold aura emitted from the bright night sky began to condense the raging flood in the black Wilderness, turning it into dancing black ice and unwilling black snow.
The whole world was reshaping, and the black snow mountain slowly and unstoppably stood up again.
The world returned to peace, and the night returned to the color that night should have. The glaciers and snow rivers in the Wilderness disappeared, as if nothing had changed, but also as if everything had changed.
The sun in the sky warmly shone on the world, and the spring light melted the snow on the other side of the snow mountain. The gurgling water seeped into the depths of the snow, fell into the blue and dark underground ice cave, and then disappeared.
After an unknown number of years, in a place far away from the snowy mountains in the wilderness, a pebble gently trembled and was pushed to the side. Then, a trickle of water gushed out and gradually spread out, flowing towards the horizon.
On the bank of the river, there was a weak but strong blade of grass.
…
…
(Damn, this chapter seems to take six hours. I can only vomit blood and accept it.) (To be continued. If you like this work, please come to Qidian.Com to vote for it. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
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