I have Taoism and can understand other worlds

Chapter 636 The Living Dead of the Holy Land

The group sheathed their weapons, and the tall, thin man extended an invitation to Jiang Wen. Their actions revealed that they were not unfamiliar with the outsider.

The term "abandoned immortals" is quite interesting, as it has some connection to the land of fallen immortals.

Jiang Wen wasn't afraid of the group; he could sense that they weren't in good condition. Or rather, the blue-faced men's bodies and souls were somewhat depleted.

To survive in such a strange place for so long must require some sacrifice.

The village of the blue-faced people was small, hidden among rocks and dead trees. It was difficult to find without careful observation.

After leaving the abandoned village, we soon entered a place full of life.

The entire village has only a few dozen households, and there are no children in the village. The houses are all built of rubble and covered with scarlet plants.

As the group entered, several blue-faced men living in the house came out. They all looked at Jiang Wen with curiosity, their eyes revealing jealousy, mockery, and schadenfreude.

The blue-faced man at the head of the group invited Jiang Wen into the house, where the simple environment was a surprise. Apart from a stone table, the best thing they had was a bed made of withered grass.

"Sit down," the man said. He took some murky water from the stone vat, poured it into a stone cup, and handed it to Jiang Wen. "There's nothing good here, but this water is a very precious item."

"I know you have a lot of questions for me, but we have plenty of time to talk about them."

The blue-faced man picked up the stone cup, drank from it, and sat down opposite Jiang Wen, sighing.

"It's been several years since we've seen any new faces. You must have come in with the tribe's candidate for saintess."

"You also know about the candidates for Holy Maiden? It seems you really are all from the tribe." Jiang Wen didn't react to the other party's words, or rather, he knew the background of these blue-faced men the moment he saw them.

Those who could survive in the Hundred Streams Holy Land and even called themselves forsaken immortals showed no sign of unfamiliarity or surprise upon seeing him. All signs pointed to one thing: this group were people from the Hundred Streams tribe who had come to the Holy Land for trials. It was just that for some unknown reason, they had been trapped within the Holy Land. Then, after a long period of time, their skin gradually turned blue, resulting in their current appearance.

When the man heard Jiang Wen's question, a bitter smile appeared on his face. He took out a stone tablet from his pocket, which was exactly the same as the stone tablet in Jiang Wen's hand.

"Yes, the people here were once the pride of their tribes, and so was I."

"You are all the pride of your respective races? Why have you become like this?" Jiang Wen looked them up and down. The faint surge of blood energy indicated that they had indeed cultivated bloodline techniques. But if they were the pride of their races, how could they be trapped here? Could there be another secret about this place?
Seeing Jiang Wen's thoughtful expression, the man didn't try to hide anything. He told him about his own origins and those of the blue-faced men in the village, hoping to make him understand the predicament they were facing.

“My name is Rui, from the Tianqi Clan,” the person, or rather, Rui of the Tianqi Clan, said. “Let me think how long I’ve been here. If I remember correctly, it’s been about four hundred years.”

"Four hundred years? You've lived for four hundred years in this holy land?!" Jiang Wen was only now showing some surprise; he hadn't expected the other party to be so long-lived. To live for four hundred years was already extraordinary. And to survive for four hundred years in this strange holy land intrigued him. "Here, living for four hundred years is a simple matter," Rui sighed. "If I could, I'd rather not live that long, because that's not living anymore, it's torture."

"Could there be something strange about this holy land?" Jiang Wen thought of a possibility and asked Rui.

“You’re smarter than many people.” Rui couldn’t help but admire Jiang Wen’s words, and was surprised by the young man’s keen intuition.

“I’ve lived this long because of the curse of this holy land. You must have crossed the Bridge of Confusion to be here. On that bridge, you must have seen many corpses and bones. Those are people who came to the holy land for trials over thousands of years and died on the Bridge of Confusion,” Rui said.

"Many people did indeed die on the Bridge of Confusion, most of them tribal saintesses. Since you came to the Holy Land for trials, why didn't you follow the saintesses who later passed the trials back?" Hearing that Rui was four hundred years old, Jiang Wen was somewhat puzzled. After all, in these four hundred years, there must have been quite a few saintesses who passed the trials, otherwise the tribal saintesses would have long since disappeared.

Since those holy maidens were able to return, why didn't the tribal prodigies who remained follow them back?
Rui smiled wryly upon hearing Jiang Wen's words. He shook his head and pointed to the stone tablet on the stone table: "It's not that we don't want to go back, but it's because of the stone tablet."

"When the elders of the Tower of Babel opened the sacred ground, they should have all told you about the stone tablet."

"Said."

"Do you know why this stone tablet is needed after arriving at the Holy Land? And why you must leave the Holy Land before the inscription on it disappears?"

"Is there some secret behind this?" Jiang Wen asked again.

“You guessed right, this stone tablet is not as simple as it seems,” Rui sighed. “I don’t know the origin of the Holy Land either, but if we cross the Bridge of Confusion, we will be watched by the Holy Land. Or rather, after crossing the River of Wandering, this Holy Land is more like a living thing, and we are its prey.”

"That stone tablet not only protected our actions in the Holy Land, but also temporarily shielded us from the Holy Land's attention. As long as we can leave this place before the inscription on the stone tablet disappears, we will not be left behind by the Holy Land."

Hearing this, Jiang Wen roughly understood the characteristics of the Holy Land. However, he was also very interested in the other party's claim that the Holy Land was inhabited by living beings. He had already used his divine sense to scan the surroundings before arriving and had not found anything unusual about the Holy Land. If what Rui said was true, then this Holy Land was extremely dangerous.

"So you are all people who lost the protection of the stone tablet and were left here?"

“Yes,” Rui shook his head and smiled. “We are all people abandoned on this sacred land, also known as the forsaken by the immortals. Here, we have no other choice but to live a life of ignominy or die by accident.”

"Before you arrived, there were three or four newcomers in the village. None of them believed they were going to be left here forever; they believed they could return alive. But unfortunately, without exception, those people disappeared without a trace."

“If you can’t get out before the words on the stone tablet disappear, you’ll have to stay here. You’ll never be able to get close to the river, let alone cross the Bridge of Confusion. Your appearance will gradually become exactly like ours, and you’ll never die from injuries again.”

"Even if your head is cut off, you will gradually revive during the long recovery process. There are no dead people here, only living dead. If we were to use a name to refer to us, we would probably be called living dead."

(End of this chapter)