Chapter 161: Buzhou Mountain (Part 3)
Under Lu Ren's insistence, Lingbao finally did not follow Lu Ren.
However, in order to thank Lingbao, Lu Ren chose a red stone from the amulet pile on his chest and made a nose for Lingbao's snowman. The stone emitted a faint red fluorescence, which contrasted with the white ice and snow.
Before leaving, Lu Ren told Ling Bao: "The wind and snow are getting stronger and stronger, you should go home early."
The Qilin cub also waved to Lingbao reluctantly. Although they had known each other for a very short time, the Qilin cub still liked this new friend very much.
Lingbao stood beside his little snowman, silently watching Lu Ren and the Qilin cub walking farther and farther away hand in hand.
The wind and snow turned everything between heaven and earth into a blurred shadow. Lingbao and his little snowman stood shoulder to shoulder, and they no longer looked alone.
The unicorn cub kept looking back as he walked.
"Hen, is it really okay for us to leave him there alone?"
"It's okay. He was there when you got there, right?"
The Qilin cub thought about it and nodded.
Lu Ren then said, "That's it, he will be fine."
The red stone left by Lu Ren is actually a magical tool that can form a barrier that allows entry but not exit. Lu Ren does not want to hurt the child, but he cannot risk the child telling on him. Even if there is only a one in ten thousand chance, Lu Ren must prevent it. After all, if he makes a mistake, the entire Foreign Household Registration Bureau, or even the entire human world, may be buried with him.
Since Lingbao has been a young celestial being who can build a snowman by himself in the snow from the beginning, then being trapped in the snow should not be a big problem.
But Lu Ren didn't want to tell the Qilin cub about all these. He hoped that in the eyes of the Qilin cub, he had come to a new place and met a new friend, instead of becoming a conspirator for some so-called illusory things in the four realms and the human world.
Children should not be involved in disputes, nor should they be deprived of their childhood. Don’t pre-set a position for a child who knows nothing too early, because that is the life he needs to confirm. So make good use of white lies, even if it is to build an illusory paradise. No one knows how a child’s growth will promote the development of the world in the future. But perhaps the meaning of the world itself is something that needs to be found by children from generation to generation, and the disputes among adults will only become the ghosts of the old times in the end.
Lu Ren hopes that both the Qilin cub and the Lingbao will no longer confront each other over the so-called disputes and conflicts between the four realms when they grow up. He hopes that they will look for more things, things that Lu Ren may never touch or even imagine in his life.
Perhaps this encounter today cannot change anything. But for history, this is an insignificant seed planted by an insignificant human being in the long river of time. Although the seed is fragile, it will one day grow into a towering tree. At that time, no matter whether it is a strong wind or a heavy rain, it will no longer be able to stop the lush tree from stretching out its branches.
While Lu Ren was thinking about all these things, he came to the legendary Wutong Forest.
As soon as Lu Ren arrived at the entrance of the sycamore forest, he was sure that Si Yuan must be here, because the sycamore trees here looked so familiar, and there were two identical ones on the balcony of Lu Ren's own house.
Those were the two half-dead potted plants that Lu Ren picked up from the office of the Immigrant Household Registration Bureau a long time ago. Lu Ren also got to know Si Yuan because of these two trees.
The only difference is that the sycamore trees here are different from the two potted plants growing well on Lu Ren’s balcony. Each one has lost its original appearance and has become a stone that grows like a big tree.
Although it can be seen at first glance that it is stone, the lines on the trunk and the veins of the branches and leaves are too clear to be artificially carved.
So Lu Ren almost instantly determined that this place should have been a dense forest before, but he didn't know what had happened that all the trees turned into stone.
"Could these be fossils? They should be very valuable." Lu Ren couldn't help but think so.
There were no birds singing or cicadas chirping, and the huge stone branches blocked the sunlight, making it dark and quiet. Of course, the branches could not block the light so perfectly, and there would still be spots of sunlight shining through the layers of leaves, forming large and small spots of light on the ground.
It was as if someone covered the sky with a huge black cloth, and then used an awl to poke holes of different sizes and shapes in the cloth.
The interweaving of light and darkness makes this place look like a forest graveyard, burying the once thriving sycamore forest.
The wind and snow were blocked, and this place was much warmer than outside.
The fallen leaves on the ground had also turned into stones. These stones were very brittle and broke when Lu Ren stepped on them, making a crisp sound. Thinking of the question he had previously thought about whether these trees were fossils, this sound made Lu Ren feel a little painful for no reason.
But Lu Ren, immersed in the useless association of money, did not realize that the sound of the stone breaking was actually more like stepping on broken bones. Deep in the darkness, Lu Ren looked like an innocent sacrifice, unconsciously entering the nest of some reptile.
This sycamore forest was so large that Lu Ren became confused after taking only a few steps. He really had no idea which direction he should go, and if he moved forward rashly he would risk getting lost.
Fortunately, at this time, the little Qilin's nostrils moved. He seemed to smell something, and then pointed in a direction and said to Lu Ren: "Aren, there seems to be something over there."
The Qilin cub has a very developed sense of smell, so it must have discovered something. After hearing this, Lu Ren immediately took a step and rushed in the direction pointed by the Qilin cub.
The place that Qilin Cub pointed to was deep in the sycamore forest. The deeper they went, the denser the trees became, and the darker the light became, and gradually the visibility became very low. Lu Ren's heart began to beat, but Qilin Cub continued to walk in .
Finally, when Lu Ren pushed aside a bunch of sycamore branches that were blocking his way, he saw a bright light not far away.
Countless dense threads hung down from the phoenix tree, gathering from all directions to form a giant oval ball, which was as tall as a person, hanging in the air, emitting a bright light.
It was a glowing cocoon, the light of which flickered and looked like it was breathing.
There stood a tall man under the cocoon, his back to Lu Ren, looking up at the cocoon. The figure looked somewhat familiar.
The light was too dim, and Lu Ren couldn't tell whether the person in front of him was a friend or an enemy. He hid behind a thick sycamore tree to block his body and wanted to observe the situation in front of him. He raised his hand and clenched the pile of amulets on his chest, looking a little nervous.
However, the man standing under the cocoon spoke first: "You don't have to hide. The smell of humans is very conspicuous on Mount Buzhou. Are you looking for Si Yuan? He is here ."
He turned his head, revealing a face that Lu Ren had seen before - it was Xi He.
Xihe is Siyuan's younger brother. When Lu Rengang returned to the Foreign Household Survey Bureau from the Mountain and Sea Realm, he heard Donghuang Taiyi say that it was Xihe who invited Siyuan to the Heaven Realm.
He was also the culprit that caused Lu Ren to go to Mount Buzhou alone.
Since he had been discovered, Lu Ren did not hide anymore. He walked out from behind the sycamore tree with the Qilin cub and faced Xi He directly.
"Where is Si Yuan?"
Xi He still didn't look at him. He just looked up at the glowing cocoon in front of him and said, "In there."
"In a cocoon?"
After hearing Xi He's words, Lu Ren felt a little shocked. It turned out that this cocoon was not the remains of some strange creature.
Just now, Lu Ren thought that a huge monster would hatch out of it, and he would have to face a fierce battle. He was really nervous for a while.
Lu Ren was relieved to know that there were no strange creatures in the cocoon. However, he was unsure of the current situation, so he could only tentatively ask Xi He: "Is Si Yuan...sleeping?"
Hearing this, Xi He looked back at Lu Ren expressionlessly. Just like the last time they met, he had a expressionless look on his face and cold eyes, as if Lu Ren owed him two thousand and five hundred thousand.
Lu Ren felt that Xi He must be laughing at him in his heart for being naive.
Xi He just glanced at Lu Ren, then silently withdrew his gaze and said, "Although I knew that someone would come to find him sooner or later, I didn't expect that Kunlun Jie Division would actually send you."
There are quite a few monsters in the Foreign Household Survey Bureau who have the ability to move mountains and fill the sea. Any one of them is not an easy task. Unexpectedly, they sent Lu Ren, who would be easily scared by the blackmail.
In fact, Xihe had already prepared for armed interception, but since the one who came was the weak human at the scene, it seemed... there was no need for this.
This made Lu Ren alert: "Are you going to stop me?"
Lu Ren was unsure about Xi He's stance. Although Xi He was Si Yuan's younger brother, the last time they met, they had a big fight over whether the elixir of immortality should belong to Kunlun Realm Division or Buzhou Mountain Realm Division. Moreover, Si Yuan was placed under house arrest by Buzhou Mountain Realm Division this time, and Xi He seemed to have played an indispensable role in it.
But if we say that Xihe and Si Yuan are completely opposites, judging from Xihe's current performance, it doesn't seem to be very accurate.
Lu Ren looked at Qilin cub and A Bing behind him, signaling them to be ready to take action at any time.
Unexpectedly, Xi He said: "I won't stop you, but whether you can take him away depends on your ability."
"What's the meaning?"
"This is a cocoon woven by a dream spider. It weaves dreams based on the memories of the person in the cocoon. The person in the dream cannot realize that he is not in reality. Over time, he will become addicted and unable to extricate himself."
Lu Ren frowned after hearing this. Si Yuan was the most determined person among all the people he knew, but even he couldn't easily distinguish between reality and dreams?
Xi He continued, "If you want to bring him out, you must enter the cocoon, go through your own dream, then enter his dream, and then wake him up."
Entering this cocoon that even Si Yuan can’t escape?
Lu Ren looked at the cocoon, swallowed, and asked, "What is the probability that I won't be able to get out?"
Xi He answered almost immediately: "Ninety-nine percent."
Lu Ren shrugged and said in a relaxed tone, "It's not bad. There is at least a 1% chance."
So Lu Ren turned to the Qilin cub holding A Bing and said, "Wait here for me. I'll go find Si Yuan and be back soon."
This is the task entrusted to Lu Ren by the people from the Foreign Household Registration Investigation Bureau. No matter what, as long as there is a glimmer of hope, he should give it a try.
Xi He still had that expressionless look on his face, and he didn't seem surprised at all about Lu Ren's choice.
After Lu Ren finished taking care of the Qilin cub, he stood up and approached the cocoon. After taking just two steps, he seemed to think of something, hesitated for a moment, turned his head and looked at Xi He and said, "You are not going to secretly report to the Buzhou Mountain Boundary Bureau while I am in there, are you?"
Xi He said, "That's not necessary, because there's no way you can make it out successfully."
Lu Ren, who was already unsure, became even more unsure after Xi He's words. Just when he was thinking about whether to find some other way, he heard Xi He snapping his fingers, and then he felt a silk spider web hanging from the branches of the sycamore tree beside Lu Ren and entangled with Lu Ren.
Lu Ren had no time to let out a cry of surprise before he was tightly entangled by layers of spider silk.
The light in front of his eyes was instantly blocked, and then he smelled the unique sweet scent of spider silk. His thoughts seemed to fall into a sweet ocean, slowly falling in the water, and falling into a dark ocean of thoughts.
