Boîte corporelle

Chapitre 58

“Look.” Shuiying nudged me.

“I see them, those are the men in black robes,” I said calmly.

"What exactly are they trying to do?" Shuiying asked me curiously.

"I'm not entirely sure either, but it feels like they want to protect this ancient city buried deep underground. But why would they do that? I can't figure it out. If they are descendants of the people of this ancient city, then when we went in, we saw that the ancient city was destroyed by some sudden disaster, and it seems that no one had time to escape." I analyzed, but then I felt that my analysis wasn't quite correct.

“I’ve been wondering, what exactly is your relationship with this ancient city? Why did this curse befall you, and what is this curse? Why does everyone who has seen the cursed city die?” Shui Ying muttered to herself. She wasn’t discussing these things with me; she was just asking herself.

"I don't know either, but I feel like I'll find out soon." I patted Shuiying on the shoulder.

Do you think these men in black robes will attack us again tonight?

"That's possible, so we'll have to remind Kurada to be careful later."

"No need to remind me, I've already assigned people to take turns watching the night," Kurada said, coming up from behind.

"My God, you're like a ghost! Every time we talk about you, you appear out of nowhere!" Shui Ying exclaimed dramatically.

"So, you mustn't say anything bad about me." Kurada chuckled. "You guys should get some rest early tonight. Who knows what might happen tomorrow? You need to stay alert."

"I'm really curious to see how the ancient city will emerge from under the sand tonight." I thought about the scene and found it incredibly eerie.

"Ha, you'll be sleeping like a pig in a minute, and you still want to see the ancient city appear?" Shuiying teased me.

"Have you seen 'The Ghost Ship'?" Ignoring Shuiying's mockery, I continued, "That three-masted ship covered in seaweed slowly floated up from the sea. The planks of the ship were covered in stains and overgrown with moss-like sea creatures, ancient and dilapidated. The waves slowly rolled in, and the ship rose little by little..."

I think my voice was a bit too deep; Shuiying and Kurada were both startled by my voice and expression, staring straight at me. "Then, with a 'whoosh,' the ship suddenly appeared on the sea..." I continued to embellish the scene with that expression and voice, then suddenly shouted and jumped up, "That was awesome! So cool!"

I saw Shuiying and Kurada close their eyes abruptly in fright, and Shuiying even instinctively reached out to cover her ears.

"Hahaha! Scared you, huh?" I burst out laughing.

“My God, this guy is insane,” Kurada said, staring at me.

"You're only finding out now? She's been crazy all along! If she were a normal person, who would travel all this way to find an ancient city buried under the sand just for a dream?" Shui Ying sniffed.

"Hehe, I'm going to rest now." With that, I ran into the tent. In the night, I heard a sound like the wind was blowing.

I opened my eyes. Moonlight shone outside the tent. I quietly got up and carefully went outside. The guy keeping watch outside the tent was already asleep. I could only stare at him helplessly as I passed by.

The desert under the moonlight could be seen very far, and I carefully searched for the source of the sound of the wind.

Far away, there were two black dots in the desert. I guessed they might be those people in black robes, but since they didn't attack, I didn't think there was any need to make a fuss. I think they were actually observing what we were doing.

A whirlwind rose in the west, roughly in the center of the ancient city.

I was a little nervous. The whirlwind appeared suddenly; would it blow this way? But after watching for a while, the whirlwind didn't seem to move at all. Okay, then I'll just sit down and watch it slowly.

I sat on the sand; the desert was cold at night, but it helped me stay awake.

The whirlwind didn't move this way, but to my surprise, it grew larger and larger. It expanded outward in a rotating manner at an extremely rapid speed.

"Oh my god." I got up from the ground and looked at the whirlwind, which looked like a giant balloon being inflated and swirling.

"Oh no, there's a whirlwind!" I yelled and ran into the tent. As I passed the night watchman, I kicked him hard, but he didn't move. "Sleeping soundly." I kicked him again, but he still didn't move. So I ran straight into the tent. I'll leave this guy for Kurada to wake up.

"Get up! A whirlwind is blowing! Get up..." I shouted many times, but no one paid any attention to me. I ran from one tent to another, and my shouts, punches, and stinky feet didn't wake a single person.

"Oh no!" I was so anxious I was jumping up and down. Okay, I'll go out and check again. Maybe the whirlwind has stopped.

I lifted the curtain of the last tent I went into, but bumped into someone. "Ouch."

Standing at the door was Shi Kong. "Great, you're finally awake! There's a whirlwind coming over there, but I can't wake them up no matter what I do. Go and wake them up quickly." I spoke like beans pouring from a bamboo tube.

"Shh!" Shi Kong made a shushing gesture. I looked at him, somewhat confused.

"Look over there." I looked in the direction Shi Kong was pointing, and that was the center of the whirlwind. The whirlwind had expanded beyond my imagination, but in the center of the whirlwind, I saw the ancient city slowly emerging. First, the roof of the palace appeared, then the roof of the round tower, and finally the entire palace was revealed. Other houses also began to slowly appear.

"Oh my god!" I covered my mouth and exclaimed softly.

"This whirlwind is what brought the ancient city out. You can't wake them up because of the spell left behind by the ancient city. I suspect that there must be some kind of spell in the ancient city's spell that is specifically designed to protect it. Otherwise, the ancient city would have been discovered long ago and might have already been destroyed." Shi Kong put his hands together and faced the center of the ancient city. I could see his piety towards this ancient building.

"Aren't you affected by this spell?" I asked Shi Kong curiously.

“I don’t know. I think there are two possible reasons. One is that I am a monk and have no interest in exploring the ancient city. The other is that I may also be related to the ancient city.”

"I understand." I nodded.

As the whirlwind expanded, the ancient city became increasingly clear. Once the entire outline of the ancient city was revealed, the whirlwind gradually diminished and then slowly disappeared.

“You’re absolutely right. This whirlwind is what caused the ancient city to appear. When I came here last time, I also heard a similar wind at night, but I thought I was dreaming.”

"Let's go take a look," Shi Kong said, walking forward. "By the way, have you been having those dreams lately?"

"No, I haven't had those dreams since I came back last time. Strangely enough, I've had very few other dreams either."

"It seems the curse on you has been lifted for now. Whether you'll be alright in the future, we still need to explore the entire city and find out the reason for the curse before we can know," Shi Kong said with some concern.

"It's temporarily lifted? Will I still be in trouble?" I looked at Shikong.

"I don't know, it's hard to say. I have a vague unease in my heart. I always feel that although the curse has been temporarily lifted, your danger is not over yet. So, you should keep the talisman I gave you safe."

"Okay, I understand."

Shikong and I walked to a spot not far from the edge of the city. At that moment, I felt the sand beneath my feet wriggling. It was a strange sensation. I looked down at the sand but didn't find anything amiss.

Could it be quicksand? I thought nervously. I'd seen stories about quicksand on TV and in books; once you get stuck, you're doomed. Watching someone being slowly pulled into the desert by the sand is terrifying.

"Can you feel the sand moving beneath your feet?" I asked Shi Kong in a low voice, afraid that it was quicksand because my voice was too loud and would speed up the flow.

"I can feel it, it's really strange." Shi Kong frowned again, looking at his feet in confusion.

"Could it be quicksand?"

"Maybe, but I don't think so. It might be related to the appearance of the ancient city. It's best to be careful." Shi Kong carefully looked around, while I was still staring at my feet, afraid that my feet would suddenly be buried under the sand. But no, my feet were still on the sand, and the sand was still moving under my feet.

"Ziyue, look!" Shikong called my voice. When I looked up, I found that Shikong had already arrived on the sand at the edge of the city.

So I ignored the sand beneath my feet and walked over.

The closer I got to the edge of the city, the more violently the sand beneath my feet seemed to move.

Walking up to Shikong, he pointed down and showed me.

Good heavens, can you guess what I saw?

I saw it, yes, that's right, I really saw it, the sand was flowing upwards from the bottom!

The feeling was as if someone was trying to clear the sand from the edge of the city wall, slowly removing it bit by bit, but there was no one below, and the sand seemed to be transported by a conveyor belt, slowly flowing onto the desert.

“I understand,” Shi Kong said. “I felt the sand moving under my feet just now because the sand below flowed up. But this sand did not pile up on the edge of the desert. I think it is slowly sending the sand flowing up into the desert, so that this pile of sand on the edge of the city will not stand out in particular.”

“This…” I was stunned for a moment, “This is unbelievable.”

"Yes, by now, there are too many incredible things that are beyond our comprehension."

I don't know how much time passed, but the ancient city appeared before my eyes just as it did when I last visited.

“The Cursed City,” I murmured to myself. “This ancient city of Xilan, unknown to the world, is rumored to be a cursed city where anyone who sees it will die. In fact, I think there are countless other cursed cities like this in the world. There’s the legendary sinking of Aurantis, the Minos swallowed by a volcano, and the ancient city of Jingjue buried under the yellow sand… Although some ancient cities have been revealed by archaeologists, their true faces have never been known to later generations. Could it be that these legendary ancient cities all have their own protective spells?”

"Perhaps so. In the long river of human civilization, too many things have been lost."

"Yes, those ancient civilizations unknown to later generations, the myths we always consider myths and legends, and the spells, witchcraft, and poisons that we think are nonsense—these alternative and unknown knowledge may also be part of science. Just like unknown ancient cities, we can never understand them because we only glimpse a corner of them."

"Yes."

“Shikong, I never want to go back to the ancient city, not because I’m afraid, but because I feel that since the ancient city and the people who lived in it are already buried in the sand, why don’t we let them continue to sleep? Why disturb it?”

“Amitabha! Ziyue, I understand your feelings. However, every time this cursed city reappears, it causes great harm to the people in this area. Moreover, if the legendary curse is true, Shuiying, Kurada, and all those who have seen the cursed city reappear will die. Can you bear to watch them die?” Shikong put his hands together, and I had no answer to his question.

"If we can unravel the mystery of the Cursed City this time, I hope it will remain buried underground forever, undisturbed and never to be seen by the world again, so that people will not be misled by its curse."

"Alright, Shikong, you must keep your word. You must not tell anyone about what you and I saw tonight. Don't let the ancient city be disturbed by the utilitarian people of the world again."

"Okay!" When I woke up, I found myself sleeping outside the tent, covered with a blanket.

When I got up, I saw Kurada smiling at me, while the others stood on the desert gazing at the incredible ancient city that had appeared below.

“That’s incredible!” Kurada whispered as he walked up to me.

“Yes, we slept through the night and when we woke up, the ancient city appeared from under the sand.” I nodded, deliberately saying this to prevent Kurada from knowing what I had seen last night, so that he would mistakenly believe that I knew nothing at all.

"No, I meant the whirlwind last night, it swept all the sand off the ancient city." Kurada smiled and winked.

"What? You saw it too?" I was stunned.

"I only saw a little bit. When I woke up, I only saw the whirlwind almost dying down. You must have seen the whole thing, right?"

"Yes," I said, "but please don't tell anyone what you saw, okay?"

"Don't worry, I also hope that after this, the ancient city can sleep peacefully under the desert. My wish has been fulfilled, and I will probably leave the desert soon."

"Really?" I asked, puzzled. "Why?"

"I came here to see the legendary Cursed City, and now that I have, I'm going back to another place. There are too many mysterious things in the world, and I don't want to stay in one place forever."

"Ha!" I laughed. "A curious man."

XIV. The Cycle of Reincarnation Through Lifetimes

I walked through this ancient city once again.

This is my second time entering the ancient city, but the feeling is very familiar because I have been here countless times in my dreams.

This time, we didn't linger too long on the way, heading straight for the main street and then towards the palace. It was Shikong's first time here, but he seemed quite familiar with the place. We passed several large buildings along the way, and even went inside one of them.

It was clearly the residence of a wealthy person or a royal nobleman, and many of the mummies inside were wearing jewels and gold and silver ornaments.

Throughout the journey, Shikong kept chanting "Amitabha Buddha" and "Diamond Sutra".

They soon arrived at the palace, where the two stone doors were already open.

"My God!" Shuiying and Kurada exclaimed simultaneously as they entered the palace. The palace was built of huge stones, and in the middle of the palace sat a mummified corpse wearing a crown on a stone chair. Even though he had been dead for so many years, the kingly aura he exuded still made him stand out from the crowd.

The last time I came, I was alone and searching for Kurada's whereabouts, so I didn't really look at the palace properly.

The entire palace was circular, with a huge stone chair on a platform more than half a person's height in the very center, giving the now-mummified king a sense of looking down on everyone.

On either side of the palace stood a row of stone chairs, likely used by the king to receive his ministers. Between the chairs was a carved passageway leading to a stone platform. I could almost see them filing into the palace from outside, sitting down to discuss important matters with the king.

Inside the palace, there is a row of stone pillars arranged in concentric circles, just like the palace walls. The pillars are slender, about the height of a person, and each pillar has a top resembling a large stone basin containing some black objects. The nature of these objects is now unrecognizable, but it is estimated that they were used for lighting. The walls also feature identical stone basins on the pillar tops, clearly also used for illumination.

Suddenly, I had another hallucination.

The palace lights were all lit, spitting out red flames. A group of women in colorful long dresses danced lightly in the middle of the palace, and the wind stirred up by their skirts made the fire on the palace flicker.

"Red dress, red crown, red shoes and stockings, a beautiful girl is getting married today, because she has been fortunate enough to be chosen by a prince, and she will marry into the palace, just like all girls dream of..."