Weißer Morgenmantel

Kapitel 7

The mercenaries cursed "Shit!" and immediately opened fire. The monster was like a beast of steel; bullets bounced off its body. Despair filled everyone's eyes.

The Classic of Mountains and Seas, Northern Mountains Classic, states: "Mount Gouwu is rich in jade on its upper part and copper at its lower part. There is a beast there, which looks like a sheep with a human face, its eyes are under its armpits, it has tiger teeth and human claws, and its cry is like that of an infant. It is called Paoxiao, and it eats people."

It's the Taotie! This monster is the Taotie cast on the bronze cauldron!

Chapter Eight: The Man-Eating Glutton

The Taotie rushed in, snatched the tall, thin mercenary in its jaws, and a scream followed as blood flowed from the corner of its mouth. It suddenly raised its head and swallowed him whole, its scarlet tongue sweeping around its mouth, licking away every last drop of blood.

"Thomson!" Miller roared, his face ashen, turning to his remaining two men, "Where's the explosives?"

"In the car..."

"Damn it!" Miller threw down his AK47, drew his Swiss Army knife, and glared at the gigantic monster charging towards him. Just as he was preparing to fight to the death, he heard Caesar shout, "It's my prey!"

In a flash, Caesar had already leaped onto the Taotie's back, gripping its long horns tightly. A Tibetan scimitar had appeared in his hand, and he stabbed it fiercely towards its eyes.

Min Enjun stood beside Qin Wen, his face still bearing that unchanging cold smile, and said in a low voice, "Then let me see what you're really capable of."

A bloody, viscous sound came from the air, and foul-smelling, snow-white blood gushed from the Taotie's eyes. It roared and stood upright. Caesar immediately used the momentum to leap down, but the moment his feet touched the ground, the Taotie suddenly turned its head, and its huge horns pierced towards his chest.

The moment it landed was when the old force had just dissipated and the new force had not yet been replenished. No matter how high his martial arts skills were, Caesar could not jump up before it arrived. Manra's expression changed drastically. Facing this ancient behemoth with its body made of steel, his sorcery was completely useless.

Caesar jerked to the side, the sharp horn slicing across his arm, spurting out crimson blood. He collapsed to the ground, his face deathly pale. The Taotie, seemingly determined to kill him, turned and opened its blood-red maw, its sharp fangs appearing terrifying in the red light.

In a moment of impulsiveness, Qin Wen rushed to the bronze cauldron, picked up the Ruomu wood, and threw it forcefully into the Taotie's gaping maw. The monster seemed to sense the heat rushing towards it and, unaware of the impending doom, opened its mouth, bit it, and swallowed it whole.

A raging fire instantly engulfed its body. The Taotie raised its head, roared, and breathed fire from its mouth, the roar shaking the entire cave. It rolled over and fell to the ground, writhing in pain. Caesar grabbed the fallen Tibetan knife, rushed forward, and stabbed it viciously into its other eye.

The Taotie howled again, then leaped up with the agility of a dog, bursting out of the cave and disappearing into the depths of the long alley. Caesar pressed his bleeding wound and finally let out a long sigh of relief.

Qin Wen watched his wounded figure, then suddenly felt a jolt. The scene before her shifted as if a camera had switched, transforming into a gladiatorial arena from "Gladiator." A young man in armor held a spear, one foot resting on the body of a dead Taotie. The armor was remarkably similar to that unearthed from the tomb of Fu Hao in Yin Ruins. A cheering crowd surrounded them. The man turned around, his face resolute.

He raised the halberd in his hand to her and exclaimed excitedly, "Kui Ji, look! This is the ferocious beast Taotie that I hunted for you! Now I bestow it upon you, and I will make you the Queen of Saka!"

Qin Wen opened her lips, and an icy voice involuntarily escaped her throat: "I will not marry you until you wipe out the Volgili tribe."

The scene flashed, and she opened her eyes abruptly, finding herself still standing in the same spot. Miller lit a torch and had a blond young man throw a first-aid kit to Caesar, saying, "You saved us."

“I don’t want to save you.” Caesar gave them an unfriendly glance, opened the first aid kit, and started to stop his bleeding. Miller smiled but didn’t say anything. When he turned to look at Qin Wen, his face turned cold. “You just picked up Ruomu.”

Qin Wen was shocked. He looked at his hands and saw that there was no burn mark at all. His mind went blank. In his panic, he hadn't thought about whether he would also perish in the fire. Now, thinking about it, he felt extremely scared.

But why is she alright?

Caesar focused on treating his own wounds, seemingly knowing all along that she wouldn't be burned by Ruomu. Manla took out some straw boxes from her bosom, carefully applied some brightly colored ointment to the wounds, and then carefully wrapped them with gauze. Occasionally, she would raise her head and look at Qin Wen with unusually cold eyes, even carrying a trace of hatred.

Qin Wen frowned as her wrist tightened, and asked Min Enjun, "What are you doing?"

“How interesting.” Min Eun-joon pulled her in front of him with a teasing smile. “Not only can you see things that we can’t, but you can also pick up the Divine Tree Ruomu without getting hurt. It seems that you really have some unknown connection with this Devil City. Maybe…” He paused, “maybe you lived here in your past life.”

Although Qin Wen liked his appearance very much, she hated his tone: "I don't know what you're talking about. Sorry, I don't believe in Buddhism or reincarnation."

"Really?" Min Eun-joon leaned closer to her and smiled. "What you sow in your past life will become what you reap in this life. Legend has it that people you meet in this life have a connection from your past life. Maybe we met in a past life."

A blood-stained white cloth flew over, and the two of them stepped back at the same time. The white cloth passed between them. Min Eun-joon turned around and met Caesar's cold and piercing gaze, and his face couldn't help but freeze.

“Stay away from my woman, Mr. Min.”

Min Eun-joon laughed and said, "I was so angry for the sake of a beautiful woman, Mr. Caesar. Please don't be angry. I just want your girlfriend to help me solve the mystery of these murals."

He took a torch from Miller and held it up to the wall depicting dancers: "These murals don't look like they were carved or painted; they look more like..."

“A person’s shadow,” the blond mercenary said. Qin Wen remembered his name was Hughes. “After a nuclear explosion, the human body leaves no remains. The only thing left in this world is the shadow.”

“This place doesn’t look like it’s been through a nuclear explosion at all.” Qin Wen immediately dismissed his wild idea. “There is a related story in Buddhist legend. It is said that Bodhidharma sat in front of a rock for seven years in order to understand the mysteries of the Buddhist scriptures. After seven years, he finally understood the Dharma, and he left behind a shadow of meditation in front of that rock forever.”

"You mean, this is the shadow left by a living person?" Caesar asked.

"I just had a hallucination." Qin Wen recalled the stunning beauty of the dancer. The dance steps she left in front of this wall were so beautiful that they seemed to come from the Western Paradise. "The dancer in red danced here, and her shadow was left on the wall."

A low voice, like the sound of bells, echoed in her mind. She felt somewhat dazed. She walked to the wall, reached out and slowly stroked the dark mural, as if caressing the skin of a dancer, and could even feel a touch of warmth and delicacy.

The sounds of string and wind instruments drifted from somewhere, a blend of the joyful and unrestrained music of the Western Regions and the steady and elegant music of the Central Plains. Qin Wen closed her eyes and seemed to see a cluster of bright red flowers, the blossoms like lotuses, swaying gracefully in the wind.

"Kui Ji." A white figure smiled at her from among the flowers, her voice gentle and captivating. The woman held a reclining harp in her arms and said, "Kui Ji, come and dance, your favorite 'Saha Dance'."

When Caesar saw her standing in front of the mural, eyes closed but a smile on her face, he frowned, placed his hand on her shoulder, and said, "Miss Qin, are you possessed by an evil spirit again?"

Qin Wen suddenly turned around, her arms drawing a graceful arc in the air. She was still wearing the short-sleeved blue T-shirt and white mini-skirt she wore at the bar. Because Caesar had forcibly taken her away, she didn't have time to change her clothes. She lightly touched the ground with her feet and began to spin, her steps reminiscent of the Tang Dynasty's Little Whirlwind Dance. Her slender limbs were soft and elegant, and her waist-length black hair also danced in the air. She easily jumped out of the first dance pose in the mural, and a red light flashed across her black shadow.

Caesar was dumbfounded. The information he had collected did not seem to mention that Qin Wen could dance, let alone such a difficult ancient dance.

With a leap, she landed in front of the second mural and performed the same dance. Another red light flashed, and when the music ended, nearly ten murals glowed red. The walls shook violently, and dust fell in abundance, as if some mechanism had been activated. The sound of gears turning echoed all around.

Everyone immediately stepped back. Qin Wen swayed and collapsed. Caesar quickly caught her and let her fall into his arms. Looking at her flushed cheeks, he suddenly felt as if a vine had grown in his heart, instantly enveloping it tightly, from which he could no longer break free.

"Young Master!" Manra stepped in front of Caesar, urgently calling out to the wall that was shaking more and more violently, "You must step back! This wall is about to collapse! It's not worth it for a woman!"

Before he finished speaking, a long crack appeared in the wall and slowly moved into the walls on both sides.

Boom, boom, boom—

As the door opened, bursts of flame burst into flame, and the sudden brightness caused everyone's eyes to glaze over. When they finally saw what lay behind the door, their mouths dropped open, and expressions of extreme astonishment appeared on their faces.

It turned out to be a grand hall, already showing the characteristics of Han Chinese palaces, but the construction was somewhat rough and could not compare with the palaces of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods of the same era, but it was still grand nonetheless.

The firelight came from six bronze wall lamps hanging on the wall, shaped like lotus flowers with layers of petals and flames burning brightly at the stamens, resembling a red lotus.

The lotus lanterns were clearly influenced by Buddhism. It seems that the small kingdom of Saka, established by the descendants of the Shang Dynasty, had blended Eastern and Western cultures. I wonder what kind of fuel was used in those lanterns to be able to be lit again after a thousand years.

Could it be Ruomu again?

Qin Wen's eyelashes fluttered, and she opened her eyes. She immediately saw Caesar's face, jumped up, and blushed, "What...what are you going to do?"

Caesar was both amused and exasperated: "You've fainted."

Fainted? Qin Wen rubbed her temples, recalling the hallucination filled with red flowers. Looking up, she saw the vast hall before her, sweat pouring down her face. Her current state was exactly the same as Xiao Li's half a month ago. Could it be...?

Was that Kui Ji really her past life?

My head started hurting again. Could it be that their Silk Road journey was really a "journey to find their past lives"?

"There are man-made structures in this Devil City!" Hughes exclaimed. "The ancestors of the Chinese were truly great."

Qin Wen was very pleased with these words and nodded quickly, "Of course."

"Gold!" another mercenary named Marcie suddenly shouted, rushing to the throne and hugging and kissing it. "Gold, it's gold! I'm rich!"

At this moment, Qin Wen realized that the throne was actually made of pure gold and inlaid with jade kui dragon patterns, which was indeed in line with the Chinese people's tradition of valuing jade and gold.

"Marcel! Come back!" Miller roared. "We'd better be careful, there are no traps in this place!"

Caesar's gaze slowly swept across the hall. There were two doors on either side of the walls, but no doors. Behind the doors were long, spiraling staircases leading upwards, their destination unknown. He frowned. If this was truly a relic left by the descendants of the Shang Dynasty, why would they build such a project in the heart of the desert? And why build it within weathered rock? Did they really possess such architectural skills during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, more than two thousand years ago?

“Young Master,” Manra suddenly said, “doesn’t that golden throne look a lot like the mahogany chair that Master used to sit on?”

Caesar was startled. Memories he had long forgotten suddenly flooded back. It was when he was very young, about five or six years old. There was always a strangely shaped mahogany chair in his father's study. His father loved to sit in that chair to look at information about the history and culture of the Western Regions, and... study that treasure map!

Could it be that... that treasure map depicting the Blood-Winged Pagoda has some connection with this strange Shang Dynasty building?

He walked towards the throne, ignoring Masha who was excitedly whistling and breakdancing, and slowly stroked the dragon patterns on it. At that moment, as if summoned by some force, or perhaps by some memory hidden deep in his heart, he sat down on it as if possessed.

Qin Wen gasped as the scene before her shifted to another bustling one. The grand hall was resplendent in gold, with numerous ministers drinking and making merry, while palace maids came and went, serving fine wine and delicacies.

The king sitting on the throne was the same man who had hunted down the Taotie in the illusion and claimed he would make her his queen.

Ziyin!

The camera pans back to the desolate, dusty landscape. Ziyin has been replaced by Caesar, who sits upright, giving her the illusion that the person sitting there is indeed the former emperor.

“Hey! I found this chair first!” Marshall glared at him unfriendly, as if defending a family heirloom. “You’d better get off this chair right now, or else…”

Before he could finish his threat, the entire palace began to shake violently, even more so than before, as if it were experiencing an earthquake. Qin Wen's face changed drastically. She rushed to Caesar, grabbed his arm, and cried out, "Are you crazy! Do you know you're going to get us killed!"

A strange smile crept across Caesar's lips. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her into his arms. Qin Wen was furious and was about to struggle when she heard him say in her ear, "Watch quietly. I won't kill anyone. This place is about to awaken."

Qin Wen was stunned, staring at him in surprise: "You...how did you know?"

He gave a helpless look and said, "I don't know either, it's just a gut feeling."

Intuition? Qin Wen was both amused and exasperated. What kind of answer was that? A man's intuition?

The shaking intensified. Miller said to Min Eun-joon, "Mr. Min, please come out with us quickly, this place is about to collapse."

"You may leave now." Min Eun-joon stood there with an air of self-satisfaction, looking at the two people on the throne with an inscrutable smile in his eyes. "I want to watch this historic moment from here."

"Captain, hurry!" Hughes shouted urgently as he saw boulders falling from the cave outside. "There's no time!"

Miller frowned and said, "Mr. Min, our mission is to protect you. We will never abandon you!" With that, he hoisted the handsome man, who looked like an immortal, and ran outside.

Min Eun-joon roared, "Miller, what are you doing? Put me down right now!"

“Excuse me, Mr. Min.” Miller’s tone left no room for negotiation.

Boulders kept falling all around. Min Eun-joon, on Miller's shoulder, was a little dizzy from the jolting. When he was put down again, they had already left the Devil City. The sandstorm had stopped at some point, and the world suddenly opened up. The sliver of morning sun on the horizon was also particularly charming.

Miller and his two companions, along with Min Eun-joon, drove to a high sand dune. Gazing at the distant Devil City, their faces were filled with utter astonishment, their mouths agape enough to fit an egg.

One after another, the dark yellow rocks rolled down, as if shedding a thousand-year-old dead skin, falling to the ground, and disintegrating little by little like sugar cubes in coffee, eventually turning into sand.

To the astonishment of the four people, the Devil City, which had been weathered, transformed into a real castle built of stone. It possessed both Eastern charm and architectural styles from the Western Regions and even India. From a distance, it looked as if a city had suddenly emerged from the ground, magnificent and imposing.

“What is that?” Marshall could barely utter a complete sentence; it was the most bizarre sight he had ever seen in his life.

“It’s Saka.” Min Eun-jun’s voice was tinged with excitement. “It was built by the descendants of the Shang Dynasty who migrated westward, but disappeared from history for no reason, without even leaving a single brick or tile. It’s a dream city that most historians don’t recognize!”

IX. The Ruins of the Yin-Shang Dynasty

Qin Wen's mouth dropped open, speechless with astonishment. The rocks in the cave had turned into gravel, a stark contrast to the weathered cave she had encountered before.

A strange feeling rose from the depths of her heart; she felt a sense of familiarity with this place, as if she had been here a thousand years ago, and danced the most beautiful dance here.

“The city has finally awakened.” Manra sighed softly, his excitement beyond words. Caesar looked at him, frowned, and said, “Uncle Manra, do you know this city?”

Manla was startled, a hint of unease flashing across her face. She smiled and said, "Young Master, this old servant once heard you mention that on the way to the Holy Buddha Kingdom Cemetery, there is a city of the dead that is contemporaneous with the cemetery. That city is inhabited by spirits from a thousand years ago. This must be the place you're referring to."

Caesar narrowed his eyes slightly; he knew Manra was lying.

"Uncle Manra, how long have you been following my father?"

“It was ten years when the master was still alive.” Manra paused, then said, “This old servant watched the young master grow up.”

“Very good.” Caesar nodded. “In that case, Uncle, I trust you won’t harm me.”

Manla's expression changed: "Young Master, how could this old servant harm you? This old servant would give up his life for you. Even if you ordered me to commit suicide now, this old servant would not utter a single complaint. But..." His eyes suddenly became extremely sharp as he glared at Qin Wen, "but this old servant still has a mission to complete, and I'm afraid I will die with my eyes open in disgrace."

Qin Wen frowned. Why did this man named Manla keep looking at her with such hatred? She didn't remember offending him.