The boundless desert stretched out, vast and towering, both magnificent and majestic. As the sun set in the west, the horizon glowed red, casting a feeling of solitude in the grandeur.
The battles of ancient times had long faded away, yet the ancient Yellow River Road remained, enduring countless changes over the years.
Chu Feng traveled alone, feeling exhausted. He lay on the yellow sand, staring at the blood-red sunset, wondering how much longer it would take to leave the desert.
Just a few days ago, he graduated and said farewell to the campus goddess. Perhaps he'd never see her again. After all, she'd gently hinted that they should go their separate ways and that it was time to move on.
After college, he set out to travel.
The setting sun glowed a deep red, hanging at the edge of the desert, bringing a sense of quiet beauty to the empty surroundings.
Chu Feng sat up and drank some water, feeling much better. He was slender and strong, with a well-built physique, and gradually his fatigue faded.
Standing and looking around, he felt he was nearing the end of the desert. If he walked a bit farther, he might see the tents of the herders, so he decided to keep going.
As he walked west, a long trail of footprints stretched out behind him in the sand.
Without any warning, a fog appeared—an unusual sight in the desert.
Chu Feng was surprised to see that the fog was blue, bringing a coolness that felt out of place in the late autumn.
Before he knew it, the fog grew thicker, filling the desert with a hazy blue mist.
At the edge of the desert, the sunset seemed strange, gradually turning blue with a kind of magical beauty, even the clouds were tinged blue.
Chu Feng frowned. Although he knew that desert weather could be unpredictable, this was not normal.
Everything was quiet, and he paused.
Before entering the desert, he'd heard the old herdsmen say that travelers sometimes saw or heard strange things while alone in the desert, so he needed to be extra careful.
The desert stayed silent. Apart from the thin blue mist, nothing else happened. Chu Feng picked up his pace, eager to leave this place.
He didn't think much of it at the time.
The blue sunset dyed the western sky, but it was about to disappear beyond the horizon.
Chu Feng started running. He didn't want to linger in such an odd and unsettling place.
In the desert, mirages often appear under the scorching sun, but this didn't feel like a mirage.
Suddenly, there was a slight sound ahead, like something moving through the sand, and the noise was steady and continuous.
Chu Feng stopped abruptly and looked around. There were dots of blue light on the ground in front of him, like scattered blue diamonds, shining clear and bright in the setting sun.
They were young sprouts, just under an inch tall, poking through the sand, with a beautiful glow, crystal-clear and enchanting, scattered all over the ground.
There was a brief pause, followed by a rustling sound and a bright blue glow. All the young plants quickly shot up, growing rapidly before his eyes.
On the horizon, the blue sun was sinking and nearly gone. The vast desert filled with mist, as though draped in a strange blue veil.
"Pop!"
The sound of flowers blooming echoed, and the desert turned a deep blue. As the sunset faded, clusters of flowers began blooming.
A sea of sparkling blue flowers blossomed across the desert, magical and dreamlike, almost too beautiful to be real.
These plants, now over a foot tall, looked like delicate blue coral, their petals alluring and vibrant, as if blooming from another world.
Chu Feng took a step back in surprise, but the desert behind him was also covered in these plants, with blue light stretching as far as he could see.
He stared, trying to identify them. They looked like red spider lilies, with curved petals spreading outward—stunningly beautiful. "But red spider lilies are red, not blue, and I've never heard of a blue variety."
The red spider lily has a strong cultural and religious significance, with many legends tied to it, but Chu Feng didn't believe in those stories. This scene, though, was astonishing.
The desert is dry and devoid of water, where only rare, hardy plants survive here and there. But the red spider lily prefers gloomy, moist places, so it shouldn't grow here, especially in such abundance.
The desert stretched endlessly, the mist dyeing the sunset blue, drenching the horizon. The entire desert was filled with blue spider lilies, creating a strange and mysterious scene.
A faint, intoxicating fragrance lingered in the air.
Chu Feng shook his head and carefully stepped around the flowers. He noticed only one area was free of them—the ancient Yellow River Road.
Over the years, this path had shifted multiple times, winding through the desert and now nearly dried up. Blue spider lilies bloomed on both sides of the road, bordering it from a distance.
Finally, the sun dipped below the horizon, and at that moment, the flowers reached full bloom, turning the desert into a brilliant blue sea.
Although it was dusk, the blue glow was dazzling. Chu Feng stood on the ancient Yellow River Road, feeling uneasy, but he didn't stop and continued moving quickly along the path.
The sky grew darker as the last light of sunset faded.
The desert glowed in blue light, and then suddenly, with a soft bang, every single blue flower bloomed fully and then withered at once.
The vibrant petals wilted, and then the entire plant began to shrivel. They lost their color, drained of life, quickly turning yellow, then brittle, as if they'd aged decades in seconds.
"Bang!"
In an instant, the dried blue flowers crumbled to pieces, turning to dust.
This strange sight was inexplicable.
The flowers were like fireworks, blazing beautifully for a brief moment, then withering and turning to ashes.
The yellow dust settled on the sand, blending into the twilight. By now, the blue mist had vanished, and the desert was back to its original quiet state, as if nothing had happened.
Chu Feng didn't stop; he kept walking. In the dusk, he crossed several dunes and finally saw the outline of mountains on the horizon. He was about to leave the desert.
Lights flickered near the mountains, and even from afar, he heard sounds. It was not calm there, as if something was happening.
As night fell, he reached the mountains and could clearly see the herdsmen's tents at the foot of the mountain.
He glanced back; the desert was vast and silent, as usual.
In the distance, he heard the frightened cries of cattle, sheep, and other livestock, along with the deep growls of Tibetan mastiffs.
Was something unusual happening? Chu Feng quickened his pace and rushed toward the herdsmen's camp at the mountain's foot.