Chapter 41: The past of Silly Tiger

After walking a few steps, we caught up with Ruoxue and the others. No one suspected anything about the fact that I and Chengxin were lagging behind. They were just admiring the murals. In this corridor, everyone was depressed and wanted to get out as soon as possible.

As we walked along, we kept lighting the “eternal lamps.” The more lamps we lit, the more scared I and Chengxin were. There were 16 lamps in total, and they were no longer just a generous gesture. What kind of story and connection lay behind them?

Although we were walking quickly, I still paid attention to the murals. The more I looked, the less they attracted me, because these murals were like a vain emperor, using this method to record his life’s “great achievements.”

Except for the sacrifices in the front passage, which have some value, the records in the back passage are almost all about the details of the existence of the blue-eyed fox, including how majestic it is in the mountains and forests, how elegant its sleeping posture is, and some “battles” interspersed in the middle, with the objects of the battles being pythons and large “animals.” I kept telling myself that the scenes of flying sand and rocks were exaggerated.

After all, so many years have passed, and I’m not sure that those scenes are necessarily a true restoration.

The passage is not too long, and it will be almost at the end in 20 minutes. Although these “murals” are already like chicken ribs, I still watch them with a dull feeling. There are too many mysteries in my heart, and I always hope to find a clue. Maybe it’s my psychology, but can I still say that I’m interested in what a fox did? Although it’s very likely that it was a fox demon.

Once again, a deep darkness spread out in front of me. When I shone my flashlight, I saw a magnificent carved door. I would never willingly step through that door, because the outline of the door was a seductive, smiling fox face, and at the entrance was its big mouth.

I don’t know if it’s for realism, but the door frame is sharply protruding above and below, and on top of the protrusion are four more sharply protruding small columns. At a glance, you can tell that they are the fox’s sharp beak and teeth. Walking in, you feel like you’re being eaten.

Who would want to walk through this door?

However, this is the only way, there is no choice. I tried not to pay attention to the shape of the door, and focused more on the mural. Since it was boring anyway, I just enjoyed it. While admiring it, I naturally walked into the door. But the next moment, I finally lost control. I almost screamed uncontrollably, and then stood in front of a mural.

My exclamation attracted the attention of everyone, and they all gathered around, their eyes also lingering on the mural that made me so ‘disgraced’.

Yes, there are many exaggerated murals along the way, such as the battle scenes of the gods, but compared to these murals, this one is nothing to write home about. There is really nothing to attract my attention. It’s just two animals lying down in a seemingly polite manner.

Yes, to put it simply, this mural is about this. On a high, prominent mountain peak, there is a mighty tiger lying lazily. Below is a vast forest. The tiger is really overlooking this forest, with a calm, peaceful expression, but full of the majesty of a king.

The blue-eyed fox is lying slightly behind the tiger, and its eyes are also calm, but I don’t know if it’s too realistic in its expression, I always feel that I can see satisfaction in the fox’s eyes.

The content of the mural is so simple. If you ask an ordinary person to interpret it, since it is about the “great achievements” of the blue-eyed fox, it naturally also has to show its social life. For example, the emperor’s mural is usually about drinking wine, playing chess, and discussing the Dao with immortals.

In short, it just shows that the fox’s friends are also very famous. What’s so strange about that?

However, the moment I saw this mural, my heart began to vibrate strongly, and I even fell into a certain kind of illusion for a short time. In the illusion, I was the lazy tiger lying on top of the peak. I knew that the peak was my territory, and the vast forest below was my kingdom. After years of fighting, this peak was my proof. Without my permission, no one in my kingdom dared to climb this peak easily.

This illusion is so real, but the memory of this illusion is so vague. I only remember that the vast forest was much larger than it is now, and there were always mists in the most mysterious places.

In this illusion, I seemed to have been there for a long time, but it was only a matter of a short one or two seconds. When I came to my senses, I couldn’t help but exclaim! This is an influence from the depths of my soul鈥擲aihu!

I was so sure that the tiger on the mural was Shatu, and I had actually seen Shatu’s past here. How could I not exclaim? The joke that Shatu had gone back to his hometown had actually become true.

I had no time to answer the questions of the others. I had only one instinctive reaction, which was to contact Silly Tiger. But the response I got was still a silent sleep, even revealing a little impatience and warning, probably telling me to sleep and not disturb me.

How can this silly tiger face the past so calmly? Or, is it a remnant soul that has long forgotten the past? I was filled with emotion, and at this moment, Ru Xue said, “This tiger…?”

She always knows what I’m thinking. I turned to look at Ru Xue and smiled bitterly, “Can you believe it? Is it too coincidental? It’s the tiger, I’m sure.”

As I spoke, I turned to look at the tiger again. The mural had no color, except for the fox’s pair of green eyes, but I always seemed to see the silly tiger from that time. The fur was not yellow or white, but a majestic, mysterious silver. That silver figure was the king of the forest!

“Let’s go. No matter how excited you are, time always passes. What has passed can be recorded, but it cannot be retained. Its thoughts have influenced you, but your thoughts cannot influence it. Thinking too much about the past glory is not a kind of torture.” Ru Xue spoke softly.

The meaning of the words was more than clear. I and Silly Tiger lived together, and I saw my own “power and prestige,” so I was naturally excited. But this excitement was born of me. If the remaining soul of Silly Tiger remembered anything, it would be painful for its current situation. Its pain, in a way, was my pain. Ruoxue didn’t want me to be in pain.

I naturally obeyed Ruoxue’s concern, and my eyes moved away from the mural. I no longer felt any emotions, and I followed everyone into the strange door. Chengxin said with a smile behind me: “Sata? This is getting more and more interesting. Who would dare say it’s not fate?”

Stepping through the door was like stepping into another world. The darkness inside the door could no longer be described accurately by our senses. Although the darkness had accompanied us all the way, it had never been as substantial as it was in this space.

You can feel the cold touch of it, like fog, with moisture! But when you hold it, you can’t hold onto anything?

“Brother Chengxin, is it poisonous?” I sounded very relaxed, as if I were joking, but the heaviness inside could not be concealed.

Darkness always exists, just like every day, there will be a night, and darkness can always cover up a lot of things, so darkness itself is often overlooked by people. Along the way, I felt that something was wrong with the darkness several times, but I couldn’t find a reason for it to be wrong. After all, this is deep underground, and it’s normal to be a little darker.

If there really was something wrong with this darkness, then we would have been affected long ago. At this point, we could only turn to Brother Chengxin, who was a doctor. After all, my not-so-imaginative mind could only think of poisoning at first.

Cheng Xin Ge naturally understood what I was talking about. He shook his head and said, “No poison. At least, within the scope of my knowledge, there is no poison. But I…”

Before Cheng Xin could finish, Ru Xue suddenly interrupted him, saying, “Of course they’re not poisonous. Their breathing causes this. Breathing is also a kind of excretion, and excreting a negative energy forms this darkness. Staying in it for a long time will only affect your mood, for example, making you easily despair.”

Ru Xue? I looked at Ru Xue in surprise. How could it be that once again, she knew? It was as if she had a complete understanding of everything here!

The tone of her voice was like she was reciting, or thinking in pain, or listening carefully. In short, everything was indescribably strange, and my unease deepened.

I was so worried that I forgot to ask what it was like to breathe and excrete.

But at this moment, Ru Xue took my hand and said softly, “Chengyi, I’m a little scared. I’m scared that these sudden things will suddenly enter my mind, but I always get distracted. Just now, I kept thinking about what the worm could eat, and when I reacted, it was too late to stop you from catching the worm. Chengyi, I feel like I’m not myself anymore.”

I gently hugged Ru Xue. I was also very uneasy, but what I said was: “You also know that I am a very reckless and impulsive person. I am not going to catch the bug. That is not me. It means that nothing has changed, and you haven’t changed either. Have we ever encountered inexplicable things?

Ruxue’s body trembled slightly, but suddenly she hugged me even tighter.