Those hanging upside down said: "A general."
"General Nian."
"It is said that he died under the sacred tree."
"But why jade carving?"
"Is it because of the two swords just now?"
"It should be..."
The people who were hanging upside down turned their heads to look at Xiao Fuxuan who had drawn out the sword, with puzzled faces.
Only Wu Xingxue tapped his finger hanging by his side when he heard the phrase "death under the sacred tree". It's strange, at that moment, he actually felt a sense of discomfort from his heart, as if he had seen how that person "died under the sacred tree".
He was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously stretched out his hand to the jade carving.
Those who hung upside down were shocked and shouted in a hurry.
"That statue can't be touched!"
"It was carved by the sacred tree itself, and it cannot be desecrated..."
"Other than itself, whoever touches it will make—"
Before the word "thing" fell, they all stopped in unison, falling into dazed doubts.
Because they saw Wu Xingxue holding the jade carving, but nothing happened. Only a gust of wind swept across the temple, as if something in the jade statue woke up for a moment.
Xiao Fuxuan grabbed Wu Xingxue's wrist, saw Fang's eyelashes tremble slightly, and asked, "What?"
After a long time, Wu Xingxue opened his mouth and said, "No."
Nothing.
The moment he held the jade statue, he felt a sense of spirituality wrap around his fingertips and melt into his body.
Just like a fragment he left in the jade statue, it has finally been found now.
The moment his spiritual consciousness melted into his fingertips, he remembered something.
About Shenmu, about Baijiang.
A long time ago, when there was no Lingtai, there was a towering giant tree in Luohuatai. The reincarnation of life and death in the world is on this giant tree—
Whenever a baby falls to the ground, it will take out a new branch and produce a flower bud. Whenever someone dies physically and leaves the world, another flower will fall from the tree.
Ordinary people can't see it, and those who are born or dying can see it once by chance.
There used to be some people who escaped from death and saved their lives by chance. After recovering, they always said that they saw a sacred tree on the Luohuatai. Over time, there have been various rumors about Shenmu.
It is rumored that the Shenmu has a half-dead and half-glorious appearance-the top of the tree crown is in full bloom, and it looks like boundless clouds in the sunset when viewed from a distance. But the bottom of the canopy and the depths of the branches are constantly falling flowers, no matter the spring or autumn, it never stops.
Those fallen petals can cover twelve mountains, floating in the mountain streams, reflecting the flowing water with a cherry red color. Therefore, there is a grand scene in Luohuatai, which is famous all over the world but some people can see it. It is called "white water flows into the mountains, and red flows into the wild".
That grand scene is the life and death of mortals, representing the whole world.
The rumors spread more and more, so people built a temple on the Falling Flower Terrace to enshrine the giant tree that ordinary people can't see.
Things related to life and death are always very attractive. That temple was once one of the most lively places in the world. Many people stepped on the threshold and promised various visions there.
At first, those visions were mostly about life and death—prayers for new life, for recovery from a serious illness, for peace or longevity.
Later, it became more and more complicated. So for a long time, people think that there is something wrong with the tree.
It is rumored that Shenmu listened to the joys and sorrows and prayers of many mortals, and slowly gave birth to a human side. Gradually, there are more words and sentences in the rumors about Shenmu
—People who have the chance to see Shenmu said that they once saw a phantom on the lush branches of Shenmu, as if someone was holding the branches, sitting among the flowers, looking down at the increasingly bustling Luohuatai.
Because of the Shenmu, more and more houses are built on the Luohua Terrace near the mountain. Many people from the south and the north will come here in March when all things are born, and gradually the rudiment of the market will take shape.
But there is a truth in the world that everyone doesn't like, but it always becomes a prophecy, which is called "good times don't last long".
Even Shenmu can't escape this sentence.
At first, people who heard about Shenmu still prayed. Later, some people began to be greedy and have evil thoughts.
Since the Shenmu represents the reincarnation of life and death and the rolling forward years, then... what if you can find a way to borrow a little bit of the power of the Shenmu
Can it bring people back to life, can it bring back the years that were spent in vain
This statement made many people shake their hearts and salivate. As a result, the existence of Shenmu is no longer the same as before, with protection and stability.
Those omnipotent methods caused a lot of trouble—some people died because of the god tree, and some people died because of the god tree...
These troubles have become obstacles of cause and effect, entangled on the sacred tree.
It is rumored that it is precisely because Shenmu has turned into a human side and is entangled with these karmic obstacles, so it cannot escape the laws of the world—it is doomed.
In the year when the Shenmu was robbed, the world was not very good, and the sky was full of wars.
At that time, there was no such thing as Langzhou and Meng, and there were scattered borders everywhere.
A small country in the southwest is gathered together, and it is the place where the flames of war are the most intense. There are often hundreds of bare fields and corpses everywhere. Later, Lian, who was in his teens, entered the battlefield with cold swords and swords.
On the autumn evening of that year, when the moon was supposed to be full, a sad scene appeared in the southwest——
On one side was the unnamed Jiaming Field. The battle had just ended, and the remaining flames were burning in the vast wilderness. The smell of scorched flesh and the hissing and whining of horses were dispersed by the night wind for more than a hundred.
On the other side, thunder rumbled on the Luohuatai, and lightning fell from the nine heavens, like an impenetrable net, splitting one by one at the place where the Shenmu was.
That bloody year came from the end of the mountains towards Shenmu...
He looked seventeen or eighteen years old, and there was a vague age between his eyebrows and eyes, but he was covered by the stern aura around him. He had a long waist and legs, so he should be tall, but because of exhaustion of blood and injuries all over his body, he couldn't stand very straight.
At first glance, it was killed from the flames of war.
He had a long sword in one hand and a bloody cloth on his back.
When crossing the mountains, he staggered with the sword in his hand, two thin arms hung down from the mass of blood, and the arms were full of wounds and scars. Experienced people can tell from a distance - it is a thin child, already dead.
In those two years, on the edge of the battlefield, I could always meet such children. Their families were broken, and they were left unattended. They were either stroked or starved to death.
Even if one dies of starvation, one will not be able to die, and will be divided and eaten by wild animals, evil things, or other extremely hungry people, and will end up with no bones left. There are only a handful of people who die like this.
When Nian arrived under the sacred tree, it happened to be a gap between thunderstorms, and the entire Luohuatai fell into a brief moment of peace.
It was rumored that ordinary people couldn't see the sacred tree, so people who came to Luohuatai often went straight to the temple, and would not really look up to find the invisible giant tree.
But that year, he didn't go in the direction of the temple. He stood under the tree holding his sword, swallowed the blood between his lips, and raised his head.
He has extremely handsome eyebrows and eyes, if he washes away his blood color and evil spirit, he should be a young man as cold and white as jade, with high spirits. Unfortunately, he no longer had that day.
Because after swallowing the blood, he whispered in a hoarse voice: "I saw you..."
Legend has it that only those who are born or dying can see the sacred tree.
When he saw it, it meant that he was about to die.
His eyes reflected the blue-black sky light, and he looked for a moment, as if he wanted to see the appearance of the whole sacred tree clearly, into the depths of the canopy. After a while, he swallowed hard, lowered his eyes, and said in a low voice: "It's different from the legend..."
The Shenmu that night was indeed different from the legends. It had withstood dozens of thunderstorms and was covered in long ravines. There are not many flowers left on its branches, but the ground is covered with withered petals. It is not as cloudy as the clouds and clouds like the legend, nor does it reflect the rouge color of the moon.
It's not easy to make it to the Luohuatai as the year's blood is about to run out.
After lowering his eyes, he half knelt down along the sword. With the last of his strength, he dug some soil at the bottom of the tree, and buried the bones of the child on his back into the soil.
It is often said among the people that if a person can be blessed by a sacred tree after death, the next life will be safe, joyful and long-lived.
He leveled the soil, and finally couldn't hold on any longer, turned over and sat down. He still held the sword in one hand, lowered his head, his thin eyelids slowly drooped, and narrowed into narrow lines.
Blood flowed down from his forehead, into the deep eye sockets, and then into the eyes.
At that time, his consciousness had already begun to become chaotic, and there was blood in his eyes, and he could not see or hear clearly. So, when he vaguely heard a vague voice asking him: "Who is the buried person?", he blinked slowly, without speaking.
He chuckled lightly at himself, feeling that he had seen the hallucinations before he died. But he still bit his lips, and said in an almost inaudible breath: "I picked it up..."
A child who had nothing to do with him instinctively grabbed him with his last bit of strength when he was passing.
It should be the fear of dying, or the pain of being shared and eaten after death.
It took him a long time to answer the question before he suddenly remembered that the voice of the question came inexplicably.
Legend has it that the divine tree has turned into a human side, and someone once saw an ethereal shadow in the crown of the tree.
Nian's hand holding the sword clenched a little more, he gasped and swallowed the smell of blood surging in his throat, and his Adam's apple slipped several times. He wanted to open his eyes to see if there was really such a person in the canopy, but he couldn't blink the blood away, so he couldn't see anything clearly.
He felt that the fuzzy voice was also a little weak, and seemed to be in pain, not much different from him.
He remembered the mysterious thunder and lightning that he saw before, and it became a little pale.
If the Shenmu can really transform people, those long ravines falling on the body should also be very painful. No wonder... the voice is so soft.
He was thinking in his heart, but the sacred tree seemed to be able to hear it, rustling a few times.
It is also possible that the rustling sound is still just a phantom before death.
When he was thinking this way, the sky suddenly brightened, and the last few thunderbolts fell from the Nine Heavens, aiming at the roots of the Shenmu. Nian blinked in the lightning, blood drops fell to the ground along the eyelashes.
Does it hurt
Left and right are going to die...
he thought.
The moment the blood color soaked into the soil, that year suddenly stretched out his long sword, blocking the thunder on his body with his shoulders.
At the last moment of this life, what flashed in his mind was the dead bodies in the wilderness beyond the horizon, and the appearance of the withered petals of the sacred tree. He thought: Open your eyes in the next life, and you will be able to see your flowers...
Shenmu has heard prayers since its existence. Everyone wants something, and always hopes to be sheltered by it.
This is the first time, and the only time, that someone sheltered it with a mortal body.
And that year I closed my eyes for a long time, and never opened them again.
So I couldn't see that after his death, the phantom between the tall tree crowns slowly condensed into a real human body.
After a long time, people still couldn't see the Shenmu, but they found a pair of skeletons where the Shenmu was. There was a military plaque on the waist of the skeleton, which was marked with the word "General" and a surname "Bai" underneath.
It was rumored that it was a general who died under a tree. He was seventeen or eighteen years old, and he was not as weak as the crown.
After his death, the place where the blood flowed was full of jade essence, and that piece of bright cold white surrounded the whole sacred tree.
The temple dedicated to the sacred wood also suddenly had a jade carving on a certain day, which was a Leng Junnian leaning against a towering giant tree.
People were amazed and didn't know where the jade carving out of thin air came from. Later, someone said that the night before the jade carving was made, a figure in plain clothes seemed to enter the temple, and then disappeared like a cloud and mist without a sound.
So people said that the figure was the man transformed by the sacred tree, and the jade sculpture was carved by him himself, for the very young general who died under the tree.
Thinking about it, those legends are almost inseparable, but there is only one thing that even the legends have never known.
People who have hand-carved jade statues know best...
Wu Xingxue remembered that when he carved the jade statue back then, he injected a touch of his spirit into it, and also injected a drop of the man's blood—
In this way, if that person reincarnates and returns to the world, if he is destined to come to this temple again, if the spirit and blood of the jade statue smell a familiar soul... the towering jade tree leaning against it will recognize it.
He was born in Shenmu. Since his birth, the only words he heard that had nothing to do with prayers came from that person: "Does it hurt, the left and right are going to die. Wait until the next life when you open your eyes, you can see your flowers."
At that time, he did not expect that the sacred tree would be sealed later, and it would be detained in such a forbidden place together with the temple. He also did not expect that when the Nian General lived in the next life, he would be summoned to become a fairy at a young age because of his connection with the Shenmu back then, and he would be given the word "avoidance" by heaven.
When he saw Xiao Fuxuan coming up with a long sword for the first time when he was on the immortal high white jade steps back then, when he smelled the familiar spirit scent, he felt a little bit of regret in his heart.
It's not that he regrets that the reincarnated person will not have the memory of his previous life, but that he can't see the white jade statue, which hides a little thank you gift from him.
Xiao Fuxuan never knew about that thought, and he himself had forgotten it for more than twenty years. I didn't expect that at this moment, because of such a chance and a ray of spiritual knowledge, I would think of this fragment.
Unexpectedly, they actually stood in this temple again.
So... when Xiao Fuxuan swept across the temple with two sword intents of forgiveness, the jade tree that hid the gift of thanks recognized the soul and burst into buds.
It was a tree full of flowers for him alone.