You said you would practice martial arts. Have you mastered the Tiangang Dharma?

Chapter 490: Bamboo Valley

After such changes over the years, Jiang Qiu has grown into middle-aged. Although he still has some characteristics of the dragon clan, his personal appearance has become more human and mature.

He doesn't look old, and the years seem to have left only a hint of charm on his face. His eyes are the kind of deep that can make people intoxicated, as if they hide the sea of ​​stars, gentle and firm, as if they can see through the noise and tranquility deep in people's hearts. His eyebrows are like swords, and a slight raise can change the situation, but it is still tender, just like the willow leaves fluttering in autumn.

His nose was straight and delicate, like a masterpiece by a sculptor, and the slight movement of his nose revealed a majestic demeanor. His thin lips were tightly closed, outlining a bold outline, and when he smiled, it was enough to warm the air around him.

The middle-aged Jiang Qiu's hair is as black as ink, not stained by dust, tied behind his crown, swaying gently in the wind, revealing a sense of calmness. His skin is as delicate as jade, yet masculine, and exudes a calm glow, as if it is a gift from time to his graceful demeanor.

His temperament is extraordinary, which cannot be simply summarized by his appearance. It is the product of years of precipitation and cultural influence. He doesn't say much, but every word is precious, showing his extraordinary wisdom and profound thoughts. When you are around him, you will feel an indescribable attraction, which is a unique charm that has been precipitated by years. He is mature but sharp, gentle but full of power.

Yes, after all, he was a man who had been trekking in the Third Heaven for more than ten years. He had also experienced many years in the First Heaven before, and he had no idea how many years he had survived in the Second Heaven.

It seemed that I only saw a few more shadows of great monsters in the second heaven, but in fact, time had already passed for an unknown amount of time. Later, I entered the road to heaven and came to the quiet and peaceful third heaven.

After so many years, Ah Xiong has gradually matured. She is less childish than before and her appearance has become more beautiful.

In this inn in Yunmeng Lake, the morning mist still shrouds the rice fields. A girl named Axiong sits quietly by the stream. Her eyes are like deep lakes, shining with wisdom. Under her slender eyebrows, there is a pair of bright eyes without a trace of worldly dust, as if they can see into the deepest part of people's hearts. Her eyes are the kind of beauty that can speak. A slight glance can make the surrounding scenery more vivid.

The girl was wearing a light green silk dress, the hem of which gently brushed the water surface. Her casual movements were indescribably elegant. Her long black hair was casually draped over her shoulders, and a few playful strands of hair danced lightly in the wind, highlighting the exquisiteness of her oval face. Her thin red lips were slightly upturned, revealing her innocence and playfulness.

When she looked up at the sky, the smile in the corners of her eyes was like a blooming flower, making people unable to help but indulge in it. It was a kind of peace and joy that came from the heart, as if she could maintain this calmness even if the whole world opened up in front of her.

Beside Ah Xiong, there is a small bunch of wild flowers growing with her. They sway in the breeze, emitting a faint fragrance. In this world dyed red by the morning glow, the girl is like an elf walking out of a painting, coexisting harmoniously with nature.

She gently scooped up the stream water with both hands, and the water droplets sparkled like diamonds in the sun. She smiled and gently sprinkled the water, splashing circles of ripples. She seemed to be having a silent conversation with everything in the world, telling her own story in her unique language.

Ah Xiong is unaware of the prosperity and noise of the outside world. She simply enjoys her own tranquility and every inch of scenery on this land, and always follows her master Jiang Qiu. For example, Jiang Qiu is now meeting a young man from Yunmeng Lake in the inn, and they are talking about how to go to the fourth heaven, while she is waiting outside. Her soul is as clear as this stream, not polluted by the world, but full of curiosity and desire for this world.

By the stream, Ah Xiong sat quietly, her eyes holding stories that could not be told in a thousand words.

As time goes by, the nine-tailed fox itself becomes more and more charming.

Her eyes are the witness of years, dark and deep, as if they can see into the abyss of people's hearts. The corners of her eyes are slightly raised, revealing her unintentional charm. When she looks at someone, her eyes contain stories, gentle and firm, like the sunshine in spring, warm and bright. Her eyebrows are slender but powerful, slightly raised, showing the tenacity and determination in her character.

This mature woman stood in the woods. The sunlight between the branches cast mottled shadows on her body, but it seemed that it could not cover up her inner radiance. She was wearing a long skirt with smooth lines, showing her capable image. Every movement revealed confidence and calmness. The hem of her skirt swayed gently while she walked, showing her elegant temperament.

Her smile is the kind of warmth that has been precipitated by time, not ostentatious but hard to ignore. In the crowd, she always becomes the focus, not because of her external radiance, but because of the mature charm she exudes, which is a kind of confidence and elegance from the inside out.

Whether she is traveling or chatting with her host Jiang Qiu, she is always able to express her opinions appropriately, with a steady and powerful voice. There is an indescribable resilience in her behavior, as if no difficulties can knock her down.

This woman is like a fine wine, the older it gets, the better it becomes. Her life experiences have shaped her unique temperament, which is unforgettable.

Now quietly waiting beside Jiang Qiu, he asked a young man from Yunmeng Lake for directions. After a while of communication, Jiang Qiu also confessed his doubts: "Excuse me, how can we go to the fourth heaven?"

The young man named Ah Shuo politely replied, "Youhuang Valley is closer to the so-called Fourth Heaven than Yunmeng Lake. But I don't know if they know how to get to the Fourth Heaven, because no one from the Third Heaven has been to the Fourth Heaven for a long time. It is almost a legend."

Jiang Qiu stayed in Yunmeng Lake for several days. On the one hand, he wanted to find out more information, and on the other hand, he wanted to prepare more resources to avoid being unable to reach Youhuang Valley on the way.

The first rays of morning light penetrated the dome of condensed mirage, casting an emerald halo over the bamboo valley. Yayoi stepped barefoot on the dew-soaked tundra, and pale golden dust rose from every depression where her arch sank. These fragments of last night's stars were awakening, winding into spiral bands of light along her ankles.

The mycelium network pulsates beneath the surface, and fluorescent blue spores seep out from the cracks in the rocks, flickering with the rhythm of the earth's breathing. Yayoi squats down and touches a primrose with her fingertips as it stretches its tendrils. The silvery white leaves immediately ripple, and the stellar fluid flowing in the veins projects the galactic whispers recorded last night into the air - it is an ancient ballad woven with photons, recording the birth pains of the stars at the time of creation.

The stream meanders among the suspended rocks, and the weightless water drops condense into crystal necklaces, reflecting the mirage of the thirty-six heavens. Yayoi untied the fluorite bottle hanging from her waist, and as soon as the bottle mouth touched the water surface, the liquid light automatically rolled into a vortex and poured into the container. This is the key ingredient for making morning dew wine. When the midday sun shines through the crystal prism, the liquid will ferment into singing honey wine.

The fog wall in front of her suddenly began to flow, transforming into a group of translucent crystal butterflies. The prismatic cells on their wings decomposed the sunlight into colorful gauze, which gently covered Yayoi's shoulders. This was the morning dress of the bamboo valley, and each fold contained a spell of photosynthesis, which allowed her to maintain her body temperature in the shadow of the dense forest. She took off the evening mist flower from her temples and pinned it on her collar. The lavender petals immediately stretched out into a receiving antenna and began to collect cosmic microwaves from the high-altitude ionosphere.

A long vibration came from deep in the tree rings, and the sleeping amber began to melt. The resin that sealed the ancient memory turned into golden drizzle, and when it fell on the fungal blanket, walking mushrooms grew. Yayoi took out the meteorite dagger from his backpack and carefully scraped the star glue secreted by the bark - this substance that shimmered with the spiral arms of the Milky Way was the necessary material to repair the gravity distortion field.

When her palm touched the tree trunk, the annual rings suddenly accelerated and projected a circular holographic image. The first generation priest was demonstrating how to weave a protective barrier with the aurora, and those icy blue arcs condensed into glowing scriptures in the air. Yayoi followed the image and made gestures, and tiny lightning immediately burst out from her hair, resonating with the electric charge in the thundercloud three hundred miles away.

Suddenly, the forest was filled with the sound of glass wind chimes, and groups of light-scaled beasts leaped down from the treetops. These translucent little creatures constantly refracted light in the morning light, leaving rainbow afterimages wherever they passed. Yayoi spread out her palms, and a young beast jumped up and curled up into a ball of light, with a beating star core visible inside its body. She blew lightly at the ball of light, and the creature immediately decomposed into countless light particles, which reassembled into a compass indicating geomagnetic anomalies.

As the morning mist gradually dissipated, she came to the edge of Mirror Lake. The lake water was liquid crystal, with solidified twilight fragments floating on the surface. When Yayoi poured the morning dew from the fluorite bottle into the center of the lake, the entire water area began to boil, and countless micro-ecological balls wrapped in bubbles rose up - each bubble was performing sketches of different seasons, some were midsummer thunderstorms roaring in a small space, and some were midwinter snowflakes blooming and withering at a hundred times the speed.

The mycelium network suddenly rippled rapidly, and Yayoi pressed her ear to the warm surface. A rhythmic tremor came from deep in the core of the earth, and it was the sleeping rock beast turning over. She quickly formed a seal, and the fungal carpet under her feet immediately bulged to form a protective dome. The next second, the entire tundra undulated like waves, and the suspended rock formations in the distance began to dance an elegant waltz, casting ever-changing geometric shadows in the morning light.

When the earth returned to peace, a crystal orchid broke out of the ground. Its petals were forged with solidified moonlight, and a black hole the size of a rice grain was suspended in the stamen. Yayoi carefully picked it with silver tweezers. This would be an important sacrifice for tonight's festival. Just as she turned around, what gushed out from the broken stem of the flower was not juice, but flowing stardust. These silver-blue fluids automatically gathered into an arrow pointing to the path, pointing to the spiritual spring in the deepest part of the bamboo valley.

The light and shadows in the forest began to distort, and the boundary between morning and day blurred at this moment. Yayoi knew that when the projection of the suspended rock group completely covered the mirror lake, the real day would come. She untied her braids and let her long hair full of static electricity float in the magnetic field. The morning dew absorbed by the hair tip drew a three-dimensional star map in the air. This is a clock unique to the demon clan, and each water drop corresponds to the energy node of the zodiac.

The sound of a bone flute trembled in the distance. It was the forest ranger calibrating the fluctuations of the spiritual rhythm of heaven and earth. Yayoi stepped onto the light steps that suddenly appeared. These stairs, which were materialized by magnetic lines, were carrying her to the tree house clusters where the smoke from cooking rose. The smoke itself was also a living thing - those indigo smoke spirits would transform into the faces of ancestors and teach forgotten secrets to every tribe member who passed by.

When the shadow of the first floating rock completely covered her figure, Yayoi heard the heartbeat of the entire Bamboo Valley suddenly become clear. The mycelium network bloomed with rainbow light, and the energy of the earth veins rose along her spine and condensed into a third eye on her forehead. In this moment of clarity, she saw the silver symbiotic thread between all things, saw the star child sleeping in the morning dew, and saw that her breathing and the photosynthesis of the ancient tree formed a perfect energy cycle.

The crystal orchid in her palm was slightly hot, and the black hole began to swallow the surrounding light. Yayoi knew that when the sun reached the zenith at noon, this micro black hole would open a passage to the Star Marrow Sea. On behalf of the tribe, she would offer the time fragments she had collected this year in exchange for the antimatter seeds that maintained the ecological balance of Youhuang Valley.

The morning breeze suddenly swept by, carrying scale powder. Countless newly born light-scaled beasts were learning to fly. Their clumsy trajectories drew glowing graffiti in the air, which were quickly absorbed by the fungal blanket and converted into nutrient pulses to promote the growth of ferns. Yayoi caught a small beast that hit her chest, and stroked its trembling transparent body with her fingertips, feeling the unstable nuclear fusion beating gently in her palm.

The tree house community was within reach, and the vine-woven bridge automatically stretched out to welcome them. The dewdrops on the bridge suddenly stood up, turning into miniature lighthouses to guide the direction. The moment Yayoi stepped on it, the entire bridge began to shrink, carrying her to the thickest place of cooking smoke. The smoke spirits transformed into the appearance of her grandmother, demonstrating how to use the aurora to pickle rime that can store memories.

When her feet stepped onto the land covered with glowing moss again, the morning bell rang at this moment. It was not the roar of metal, but the simultaneous release of stored night dew by thousands of bluebells. The sound waves refracted into complex chords between the suspended rocks, awakening the ancient pollen sleeping in the amber. Golden dust rose into the sky, outlining a long-lost star map above the bamboo valley.

Yayoi raised her head and drank the last sip of morning dew wine. The sweet liquid turned into dancing photons in her throat. She saw the lines on her palms glowing. In those winding gullies, the lifeblood of the bamboo valley was slowly merging with the pulse of the stars.
(End of this chapter)