Chapter 69 - Sumerian Illusion Realm
"Ou--Yang--Zhong--! Ou--Yang--Zhong--! Ou--Yang--Zhong--!"
"Who is it? Who's calling me? Is that you, Xian?"
The voice continued to call Ouyang Zhong from far and near, but Ouyang Zhong kept asking. There wasn't the slightest echo; it just continued to call him on its own.
He felt as light as a feather floating in the wind. He found this very novel. He didn't expect to be so free and light after being detached from his flesh. Still puzzled as to who was calling him, he inquired once again, but he realized that his voice was not coming from his mouth either but was asking directly through his heart.
"Who are you? Why are you summoning me?" Ouyang Zhong's soul was asking. Unfortunately, there was still no reply; the voice was going over and over again as if it didn't know how to get tired; the voice made Ouyang Zhong feel confused and annoyed.
"Don't call me anymore. If you don't tell me who you are, I'll go back."
"Ouyang Zhong, it's me. I'm your Xian! Come quickly, ah! Come to me, ah! I'll be right here waiting for you."
"Xian?!" Ouyang Zhong was very excited, but he suddenly remembered what Master Xuan Mo had told him, "Remember, keep your heart in mind; don't fall into anyone's way." Ouyang Zhong was more careful and asked, "What is your full name?"
The voice went into a trance, paused momentarily, and then said, "Ouyang Zhong, I am Linghu Xian ah ~ do you even recognize me? You are so heartless, so cool, I am so heartbroken~"
Ouyang Zhong sensed that something was wrong, but he seemed to be captured by some power. He wanted to break free but always had the feeling of being yanked. Just as he repeatedly struggled with this power, the tugging got tighter and tighter, a gust of wind blew his body lying on the ground, and the peach kernel whistle he wore around his neck blew with the wind. The sound was something that outsiders couldn't hear at all. Only he and Fox Xiao Xian could listen to it. The sound was like a refreshing spring that snatched him back from the nightmare he was struggling with, and his soul finally returned to his body. Ouyang Zhong suddenly coughed violently, finally awakening and regaining his clarity.
Ouyang Zhong used the sword as a crutch to support himself as he slowly climbed up. He knelt, rubbed himself against Shan Xiaohu's side, and measured his breathing and pulse; luckily, they were both relatively stable and nothing serious. He leaned against Shan Xiaohu's side and sat down on his butt, looking at Shan Xiaohu in deep sleep, Ouyang Zhong had to observe his surroundings. The place where he and Shan Xiaohu were was only two or three steps away from the battlefield where they had just fought. He could see the world outside the barrier. He could see that Xuan Mo was injured and was resting with his eyes closed to regulate his internal energy. There were scattered corpses of injured and dead prairie wolves around the area, and there were also the remains of giant crows that had burned to ashes. He then tried waving and shouting to Xuan Mo outside the Immortal Shield, but he couldn't be heard from the outside, nor could he be seen from the inside. It seemed that this protective shield was working, neither visible nor audible outside, and for those outside, this was an invisible secret world.
Ouyang Zhong had to turn to observe the interior of the Populus Euphratica Forest; he suddenly remembered, just now, his soul out-of-body experience, some shocked fear. Suppose this is not yet how to hang himself, not to mention whether or not he is afraid of death, more importantly, he can not die now. In that case, he is still shouldering the future of Zongcheng City and even the whole of Zhongming, fighting with the enemy to protect the family and the country, and finding his parents and parents back. He also has to fulfill his duty to fulfill his filial piety, and he promises Xiao Feifei that he will take care of her for the rest of her life. In a nutshell, he has to do. There are still too many things to do, and the burden on the body is a thousand pounds. Do not allow yourself to die so casually.
He moved Shan Xiaohu to settle under a poplar tree and used his traveling bag as a pillow for Shan Xiaohu to pad behind his head. He found that the few scratches on his back were no longer bleeding much, and the crow feathers from before had fallen somewhere, and Ouyang Zhong didn't care about them very much. He only felt that Shan Xiaohu was too tired, carrying him on his back for a long distance. Just now, there had been a fierce fight, using spells to open the Immortal Shield and also, at the end of the day, to stop the bleeding and treat his injuries. Now, let him rest! The latter matter, leave it to himself.
Ouyang Zhong slowly wandered alone in the Populus Euphratica Forest. It was his first time here, or rather, he had been here before. Now, it had significantly changed and had become completely unrecognizable. He recalled the tree that glowed with a golden light red fiery red; on the tree bloomed red flowers in the shape of fox ears; perhaps that was the immortal tree that contained the Fox Xiao Xian's Yuan Shen Spiritual Consciousness. Shan Xiaohu said that he had seen that tree when he was seriously injured, but after waking up, he and Fox Xiaxia searched for a long time in this forest and didn't see it again. Just now, when Ouyang Zhong's soul went out of his body, he also saw it from afar in the air. He walked in a direction based on his memories, and the first one or two times, the person walked to the edge of the forest and did not see the tree. He also tried to mark each tree, and as long as he walked through the mark, he counted this Populus Euphratica Forest, which has 640 trees. Ouyang Zhong was puzzled. Could it be that he could only see it in a dream-like state and could not find it in reality? The voice that called out to him now seems to have disappeared; as for the source of the voice, he needs to be more knowledgeable.
In this not-so-big Populus Euphratica Forest, Ouyang Zhong was like a ghost hitting the wall, never able to find the direction or route. It was as if there was an invisible labyrinth within this protective boundary. It so happened that a piece of poplar leaf drifted down with the wind, hitting Ouyang Zhong's head, swaying left and right, and landing in his palm. Ouyang Zhong suddenly realized this place was an innate eight trigram formation. As long as he broke this formation and found the life door, he might be able to break the maze and see what he wanted to find.
Thinking of this, his memory quickly flashed back to the gossip algorithm knowledge that he had learned from Xuan Mo in his previous life. Then he sat on the ground and used the poplar branches that had fallen on the ground to make deductions. Then he came up with a trigram of Wind Mountain Gradient. The upper hexagram is Xun, and Xun is wood. The lower hexagram is Gen, and Gen is the mountain. Gradually, the woman returned to Ji, Lizhen.
On the sixth day of the first month, Hong is gradually dry, the boy is strong, there is a word, and there is no blame.
Sixty-two: Hong gradually in the chime, food and drink, auspicious.
Ninety-three: Hong gradually became on the land, the husband did not recover, and the pregnant woman was infertile.
June Fourth: Hong gradually goes into the woods or gets its tree, no blame.
Ninety-five: Hong gradually enters the tomb; the woman is infertile at the age of three, and Mo's victory is auspicious.
Upper nine: Hong gradually in Kui, its feather can be used as an instrument. Lucky.
Ouyang Zhong openly shows epiphany of the subtle organs here. The Populus Euphratica Forest exterior by fox Xiaxia and Shan Xiaohu with spells set a boundary for immortal cover protection; this is the first lock. Just walking through the entire Populus Euphratica Forest, Ouyang Zhong found that the shape of the whole forest is half a yin and yang fish; the forest next to that piece of water is the other half of the yin and yang fish. The Populus Euphratica Forest was yang, and the water and swamp were yin, interacting; this was the second organ lock. Every tree inside the Populus Euphratica Forest is a line in the gossip formation; as long as it is clear what precisely a trigram is, you can open the third lock.
Intelligent and wise as Ouyang Zhong, he quickly concluded. Finally, in the northeast of the Burgundy position, not the direction in the feeling or the memory of the soul out of body, he walked to a very ordinary-looking poplar tree, drew out the sword of the Heavenly Clan in his hand, and gently made a stroke from top to bottom, and the scenery in front of his eyes flew round. The space-time followed with a violent distortion, and Ouyang Zhong was sucked by a powerful force into another world.
"Hey! Wake up, wake up!"
Ouyang Zhong struggled to open his eyes and looked around in confusion. He waited for his eyes to focus before he could see that a small fox was licking his cheeks before looking at him with a curious expression.
"Who are you?" The still-dazed Ouyang Zhong asked.
The little fox innocently looked at the human in front of him. She came closer and sniffed again, saying, "Is there something on you? And you're not lightly injured. Let me help you!"
Ouyang Zhong grunted muffledly and turned around with difficulty. The scratches on his back cracked open somehow and oozed a lot of blood to the outside. The little fox saw a crow feather that glowed in black and purple. She finally understood why it always smelled strange; it turned out this thing was doing the trick.
The little fox gripped the crow feather in one mouthful and pulled it hard. Ouyang Zhong's clothes also listed a mouth with it, only to see black and purple venom swimming on his back. The purple venom gathered the most near the wound that was scratched by the crow, and even the skin began to fester. The fox frowned after seeing the hideous wound but still went up and licked it. The blood finally stopped, and the wound was rapidly healing.
After an unknown amount of time, Ouyang Zhong stumbled up with a dizzy spell in front of his eyes. He looked around and realized that this place was déjà vu. This was a place that had been dreamed of many times before. The golden-colored grassland had a blue-blue sky; the sky was filled with white clouds that changed into various forms. Sometimes, it was a small rabbit; sometimes, it was a running stallion, and after a while, it turned into a flock of flying birds. The clouds were pressed very low, so low that they brushed gently across the grassland, wrapping Ouyang Zhong, who was standing there. After the clouds swept over the hillock, Ouyang Zhong saw a lone kite with broken strings in the distance swaying with the wind, up and down. Ouyang Zhong remembered this kite, and the person who flew the kite was the Fox Xiaoxian in a white dress in his dream.
Ouyang Zhong excitedly ran towards the kite; the kite finally fell and was picked up by someone. This person had her back to Ouyang Zhong, with the same white clothes, the same long black hair, and the same longing back.
When Ouyang Zhong finally saw clearly who she was, tears filled his eyes; he choked so much that he could not say anything; he looked deeply at the girl, the love of his heart.
The young girl turned back to him, looking at her appearance, which was a few years younger than the memory of when Linghu Xian left the world, probably just seven or eight years old. She looked at Ouyang Zhong with a puzzled expression, "Who are you? Why are you crying?"
Ouyang Zhong did not expect that the other party would not recognize him. He wiped the tears on his face with his cuffs and said gently, "My name is Ouyang Zhong. May I ask the name of the young lady?"
"My name is Fox Xiao Xian."
When Ouyang Zhong heard this reply, his heartbeat accelerated once again. He was a little excited and wanted to go forward and hug the other party tightly, but seeing that the girl was leaning back a little alertly, he still held back and then asked, "May I ask where is this place?"
Fox Xiaoxian said, "This is the Sumeru Mirage Realm, where the great fire burns out. Everything in this place changes because of the state of mind of the person who falls into it, and you can only get out if you find the origin. Otherwise, you can only stay here forever."
"What?" Ouyang Zhong was a bit surprised. How could he not get out? And what is the Sumeru Illusion Realm? His mind spun fast, and he continued to inquire, "How did you get in? Or, are you my illusion?" Ouyang Zhong unconsciously took a few steps forward and gently took Fox Xiaoxian's hand. He could very truly feel the temperature coming from Fox Xiaoxian's hand, and he could also think that it was a natural human touch on his hand. How could this be illusory?
Fox Xiao Xian is also very strange. This person, why sees their tears, and then without consent, how also pulls up their hands? What was even stranger was why he could manifest himself in front of him.
Fox Xiaoxian was a bit embarrassed to pull her hand out from Ouyang Zhong's hand and said, "The Sumeru Illusion Realm is a boundary set up by my master. Ever since I woke up, I've been staying here. Normally, I'm not in this appearance now; it was after you suddenly appeared that I became this appearance." Then, she turned around and walked straight in any of her directions; she walked aimlessly while Ouyang Zhong didn't continue to pursue and just followed behind her at a certain distance.
Fox Xiao Xian, slightly uncomfortable, turned around to look at Ouyang Zhong and said: ''Can you not follow me? I'm not familiar with you. If you follow again, be careful of me hitting you!" After saying that, she also waved her tiny fist.
Ouyang Zhong's heart is a little bit not tasting, and it is not easy to see again in the center of the dream the recurring people who once had so many pasts and memories, now even meet, do not know each other. He had to put on a tricky and shrewish look and said, "It's not like I know how to get out, and I'm hungry. I want you to cook for me."
"Where are you a young master from? And you want to make orders? I don't have any food here and don't usually need to eat." Fox Xiaoxian bristled, a little impatient, and continued, "There's a stream and woods not far away, so why don't you go and see for yourself what there is to eat? I'll bring you here, don't follow me!" After saying this, he transformed into a small fiery red fox, burrowed into the grass, and disappeared.
Ouyang Zhong was surprised and tried to retain Fox Xiaoxian in his arms but ended up with empty hands. He thought, could he be dreaming? There is a better time to dream! What about Shan Xiaohu and Xuanmo, huh? No matter what, he still had to think of a way to hurry up and find an exit to get out. He followed the direction that Fox Xiaoxian had just pointed out, and sure enough, he saw a small forest and a small stream. He thought that if he was really in the Sumeru Illusion Realm, and everything in front of him was a fantasy that his mind had conjured up, could it be that this stream was also a fantasy that he had conjured up? He tried a different idea, and the brook quickly turned into a vast lake, and the woods that were just there were submerged in the lake.
Such a change surprised Ouyang Zhong, who stared at the scene in front of him half-speechless. If I can change everything here according to my heart, then Fox Xiaoxian will be able to return to my side, and I will be able to quickly find the exit, right?
He tried several times and finally figured out that he could only change the environmental scenery and climate here, but he couldn't change the Fox Xiaoxian.
He started to get curious and changed many things in his mind. He changed out the familiar Ouyang mansion, the courtyard, and the begonia tree in the courtyard. He thought that with such a familiar scene, he could lure Fox Xiaoxian out; however, it did not accomplish what he wished. He suddenly remembered that his father had left, and as his tears blurred, the Ouyang mansion in front of him turned into a cloud of smoke.
Suddenly, Ouyang Zhong was in a room decorated with joyful lights and colors. He recognized that this was the wedding room of his elected extra horse harnessed by the side of a team and Xiao Feifei's marriage. He remembered that day a piece of paper ordered him, and before he went in, he went directly to Beiwang City to guard the border to prepare for the war with the Dingling Department. How now, even standing in the cave, he looked at his body's wedding clothes. Above, it had fine embroidery; there was a needle and thread mixed with a bright golden red, picking a closer look at a few drops of blood. "Could it be that this is Fox Xiao Xian's blood?"
Ouyang Zhong turned around and saw a beautiful person sitting upright on the bed, dressed in a big red wedding dress, completely different from the pure white dress Xiao Feifei had in her memory. It can be? Ouyang Zhong was overjoyed and eagerly ran towards his wife in front of him, wanting to see her. But when he removed the fan from his wife's hand and saw the other party's face, he still could not hide his disappointment. This was not the woman he had longed for, Linghu Xian, but he was the real wife, County Princess of Jiaoyang Xiao Feifei, who had drunk the cross-cupped wine. Xiao Feifei is beautiful, neither with a lofty and domineering posture nor crazy and out of sorts sickly, only as the dignified and noble of the Zhongming royal family nobility.
Xiao Feifei's face was scarlet, but smilingly looked at Ouyang Zhong asked: "Extra horse harnessed by the side of a team, it's not early, a moment of spring night is worth a thousand pieces of gold, let's rest, right?"