Chapter 85.1

Editor: Kat

Proofreader: Junyans

The bluish-black man’s face didn’t move. He was still looking up at a strange angle, and his whole face was under Wei Xun’s feet. Wei Xun saw that his facial features were present, and except for the dark blue skin, the face was no different from that of an ordinary person. However, his eyes were shrivelled, and the two eye sockets were like deep black holes.

Upon closer inspection, Wei Xun found that the face was actually separated from Wei Xun’s shoes by a layer of transparent crystal slate, but at first glance, Wei Xun had thought that this face was sticking to Wei Xun’s soles.

The other party did not respond, and it really looked like a normal mummified corpse. Wei Xun thought for a while, followed the line of sight of the bluish-black face, and saw that it was trained on the top of the crystal mountain, which was blocked by layers of blue prayer flags. This story wasn’t that long, and Wei Xun had to squat while standing inside. He tore off the pile of prayer flags casually and saw a round crystal stone the size of a tabletop behind the prayer flags.

It should not be part of the crystal stone mountain, because the crystals at the top were pure and transparent, but this round crystal stone was light blue, clear, and beautiful, with white natural patterns on it, appearing like a blue sky with white clouds.

This human face was looking at the “sky.” Indeed, deep underground, this round crystal stone seemed like the blue sky. It turned out that the top floor of the crystal tower didn’t contain anything at all, but it contained the “tallest point,” the blue sky that Bon devotees yearned for.

Wei Xun remembered the underground ruins that Xu Yang had found that were similar to a tomb. The mummified corpses had also been in a strange posture of looking up at the sky. Now, it seemed that this might be some kind of religious sacrificial ceremony in the ancient Xiangxiong period. They raised their faces not to look at the people standing on the ground, but to the sky as they yearned for higher places.

However, the people buried there were definitely not as high-ranking as the bluish-black face at Wei Xun’s feet. The face could really see the “blue sky and white clouds” deep in the ground through the transparent crystal. This corpse could be buried here, so therefore it was definitely an important figure in the Bon religion at that time.

No, this corpse wasn’t buried here. He was a “guard.”

Wei Xun noticed that there was a circle of black slate around the blue sky round crystal stone, the black ore filled with radiation. It looked like a larger black circle surrounding the blue sky crystal.

Did the black that surrounded the blue sky represent the night, or did it represent the devil?

Wei Xun guessed it was the latter, because this circle of black ore crystal slates was actually made of nine black ore slates with exquisite craftsmanship that formed a ring, and each black slate slate was engraved with carvings.

Wei Xun squinted his eyes and found that the nine carvings that were engraved depicted “the devil descending and devouring human beings,” “the devil causing war,” and “the Buddha descending from the lower realm to slay the devil” from top to bottom, in order.

The fourth carving was “the Buddha entrusting a gusin warlock with a mission in his dream, and together with King Xiangxiong, he used the power of the whole dynasty to build Little Tagzig Olmo Lung Ring under Xikang Temple.” The fifth and sixth carvings were respectively, “Buddha defeating the devil” and “Buddha tearing the demon into two, the big one being crushed in the lake, and the smaller shadow being sealed in the human skin.”

On the seventh carving, there was a nine-story 卍 tower, which was very similar to the nine-story crystal 卍 tower that the young fox saw in the mural in the side hall, except that the carving had the interior of the crystal tower drawn out.

The top layer of the crystal tower in the carving had 卍 characters engraved on it, the second layer had a gusin warlock wearing a sacrificial robe and a feather crown, and in the third layer stood a half-human and half-dragon figure with seven snakes at the back of its head, holding four symbols in its hands. This was the dragon god, holding the black skull that contained four hundred types of plagues in their hand. The fourth layer was the god, Tagla Membar, who controlled the Insects of Evil, holding a golden wheel in one hand and nine crossed swords in the other.

Further down were the Bon priests under the Gusin, the warriors of Xiangxiong holding weapons, the servants kneeling on the ground, and so forth, from high to low. Except for the slaves, everyone tilted their faces strangely and was positioned in a way that they looked above.

Wei Xun guessed that the nine-story 卍 crystal tower itself was designed to suppress demons, and it was not a symbol of the prosperity of the Xiangxiong Kingdom at all. The so-called first layer was filled with agate, the second layer was filled with pearls, and the third layer was filled with ivory. In fact, they just represented the guardians in the tower. Ivory was used to represent a powerful elephant warrior, while gold and carnelian were used to represent the honorable Bon warlock.

One was afraid that as history was passed down over the years, the truth became that the crystal tower was “the treasure trove of the King of Xiangxiong” and “the most precious treasure was the crystal tower.”

On the contrary, the myth that “the Garuda crown was placed on the top of the tower” might be true. Wei Xun thought of the empty golden box in the golden miniature temple on the top of the tower.

From high to low, the carvings of the nine-story 卍 tower depicted the noblest to the lowliest, and at the bottom were slaves who had no human rights and knelt like animals. Their corpses were split apart, and the bottom layer was covered with blood. Their skins were peeled off, and they were used to seal the passage to the underground.

Below the bottom layer, there was another layer, where the demon skin was sealed, and there was a shadow of green-faced fangs on the carving.

If the first seven carvings were records of history, the carving on the eighth black slate was different.

At first glance, the eighth carving was almost the same as the seventh carving, both of which were painted with a nine-story 卍 crystal tower, but the things inside had undergone strange changes. The black shadow was now running through the entire crystal tower. All the gods, warriors, and priests in the tower had all changed from looking up at the sky to looking down at the ground.

And their figures became blurred as if they were eroded by a black phantom. Outside the crystal tower, the mountain collapsed and the lake surged. It was an apocalyptic scene.

Did this depict what would happen after the devil was released, the changes in the crystal tower and the disasters outside?

Wei Xun looked at the last black slate with great interest, but found that there was no carving on it. It was blank.

This blankness…was everything destroyed after the devil was resuscitated? Or was there some special meaning behind it?

Wei Xun raised his hand and touched the black slate as if he was thinking and pondering. But in fact, he was talking to the young fox, “Can you eat this black slate?”

The young fox whined numbly, always feeling that it was being used in some strange ways by Wei Xun.

‘I, I can eat it, but I need Yang energy to expand my capacity!’

‘Don’t worry, you won’t be lacking in Yang energy,’ Wei Xun comforted.

He touched each black slate in turn, and let the young fox devour them all. He actually wanted to take the “blue sky and white clouds” crystal, but the capacity of the young fox’s stomach was large enough.

‘I’ve got to find a way to get more Yang energy.’

Wei Xun put this matter on his agenda. It was a bit unreasonable to catch the leopard just to suck its blood. He considered that he should find some channels to obtain Yang energy once he got back to the Travel Services.

‘Reporting to Master, the swarm has infiltrated the fifth floor.’

Xiaocui reported in real-time. She took Wei Xun’s action of storing the black slates into account as her gaze darted about. No one knew what she was thinking. ‘The insects of my swarm can’t go further, and more than half of the insect swarm that was sent to move ahead first already has been injured or killed.’

‘Oh?’

After Wei Xun entered the crystal tower, he had ordered Xiaocui to use the insect swarm to explore the entire crystal tower and find all the hidden doors. As soon as he heard that something existed that could kill the swarm, Wei Xun thought of the gold-plated silver skull in his hand. Could it be something similar to it?

‘What is it?’

‘It’s a stone half the height of Master.’

Xiao Cui swallowed her saliva as she spoke, and her eyes were green like a wolf as she said to Wei Xun again, ‘It has a very powerful energy, Master. It, it is really important to me.’

That kind of thing would kill the swarm, because the energy contained in it was too strong, but it was a great supplement to the female insect,

‘Let the swarm bypass the fifth floor. If they can’t bypass it, then don’t go down any further,’ Wei Xun said, ‘Let’s go down and take a look.’

There were too many good things in this crystal tower. He would definitely bring the young fox down story by story so that it could gobble them all. He would not waste any of these goodies.

Ordinary archaeologists wouldn’t discover that the cracks on the crystal stone tower were densely packed, and it might be completely destroyed in a major earthquake at some time. Therefore, Wei Xun had to “rescue” everything good from it soon.

After confirming that there was nothing else of note on this floor, Wei Xun went down to the second floor.

White trapezoidal symbols were drawn along with simple horizontal and vertical lines on the rock walls in many parts of Tibet. This was the “stairway to heaven” drawn by the locals. Its origin could be traced back to the first generation of Tubo kings. According to legend, he was a god who descended to the world from heaven through the stairway to heaven. And after his death, his soul returned to the heavens following the stairway.

However, Bon believers did not paint such a stairway. They believed that through their own power and subjects in nature, they could get closer to the blue sky and the vault of heaven, and only then could they achieve the Great Perfection in cultivation. Only the souls of sinners would fall into the depths of the earth along the black ladder, and go through trials and tribulations.

The downward passageway in the tower was very well-concealed, and it was made of black stone slats to form a downward staircase. This implication was actually not good, because the black ladder could only mean falling to the ground, and meant that one couldn’t climb back to the world through it.

But Wei Xun didn’t care about this, and he went down very straightforwardly. His toes landed lightly, and Wei Xun reached the second floor.

“Wow.”

The second floor was slightly higher and wider than the first, and Wei Xun was able to stand up. And in the middle of the second floor was the tall, bluish-black male ancient corpse looking upwards. He was dressed strangely, very similar to the gusin of the Bon religion on the mural. The middle of the corpse’s neck was broken, and only a layer of tough skin was attached. This was why it could make such an “unhuman” move, with its face completely looking upwards.

Wei Xun circled around it and found that the reason why this mummy was standing still and its head had not fallen off was that there was a tree-like bluish-black object behind it, which, when touched, was not like wood. Instead, it felt a little cool, as if it was metallic.

But it had “branches” extending in all directions, and it looked like a peculiar sapling. This “sapling” had grown and fused with the ancient corpse and couldn’t be separated from it.

It was said that there were giant iron trees growing on the nine crystal mountains of Tagzig Olmo Lung Ring. Every 99999 years, the giant iron trees would bear jewels, and each jewel was a golden-winged garuda bird.

Wei Xun compared the length with his hand, and he questioned, “Is this…little iron tree alive?”

No matter how you thought about it, the thought of this iron tree growing on the crystal mountain seemed outrageous. This was not something that could be explained by science. Wei Xun doubted that this “iron tree” had grown naturally on the white crystal mountain. Could it be that a Bon warlock had created Little Tagzig Olmo Lung Ring based on the legends, cast iron into the shape of an iron tree, and inserted it here?

Anyway——

Wei Xun said, ‘This little iron tree, can you—’

‘I-I can eat it.’

The young fox was resigned and gave up all hope. ‘It’s not alive.’

It was not alive.

Wei Xun’s interest waned a little. He also thought that if the legend was true and the iron tree was alive, then he would find a way to bring it back to the Travel Services and maybe he would be able to grow a garuda. He would look extremely cool in the Travel Services if he could bring the garuda out.

But since it was a real metal “iron tree,” this should be an imitation by the ancient people of Xiangxiong. But even so, judging from the people who were qualified to be supported by the “iron tree” and could look up to the “blue sky” from the depths of the ground, this bluish-black ancient corpse should be the Gusin of the Bon religion.

And it had to be a Gusin whose status was extremely noble and mighty.

“Is the skin on your back still there?”

Wei Xun lowered his voice, showing his curiosity as if he was whispering to the corpse.

“Let me take a look.”

Could this corpse be the most special one in the history and legend of Bon religion, the person to whom Buddha had descended into their dream?

Wei Xun didn’t want to pick up the clothes of the ancient corpse himself, so he let the two demonic insects Tangliang No. 1 and No. 2, fly up with the robes of the ancient corpse in their mouths. There were layers and layers of robes on the gusin. Finally, the naked back of the ancient corpse was revealed. Wei Xun was holding the gusin thangka in his hand and was about to make a gesture.

But he only glanced at it, and immediately took a few steps back.

“Excuse my rudeness.”

The back of this ancient corpse was actually covered with dense black hair-like bristles!

There were even more bristles than the black human skin Wei Xun had shredded by the underground lake. These black hairs had grown on the back of the ancient corpse and penetrated deep into its flesh, giving people a disgusting and creepy feeling. Under the dense coverage of black hair, Wei Xun was completely unable to see whether there was skin behind it and whether it was the “master” of the Gusin thangka in his hand.

“Bang!”