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

Chapter 502 Occasionally recalling the past in despair
The girl naturally knew her name. Others called her Ah Ying. Many creatures in the holy land knew her, even the elder who guarded the pavilion. However, the elder who guarded the pavilion was very old. In the third heaven where life span was finite, no one knew how long the elder who guarded the pavilion had lived. Or maybe he actually looked the same for generation after generation. They looked the same, but were actually different people.

Ah Ying had not met the other elders guarding the pavilion, but she always wanted to go to the library to find a way to the fourth heaven. She was really curious, but unfortunately, she never found the answer. There were only some peaceful pictures about the holy land.
For example, at dawn, a glazed tile market will emerge on the surface of Mirror Lake. These temporary shops built by mayflies will evaporate all the goods at noon. They use dewdrops to cast currency, and the shelves are filled with time-sensitive treasures such as Epiphyllum honey jelly and morning glow rouge. Ah Ying often buys the "Chenguang hourglass" here, which contains six hours of condensed time. Turning on the mechanism can accelerate the flowering and fruiting of a local area. The lost "Instantaneous Ukiyo-e" appeared at the last market. The waves in the painting actually wet her skirt, but unfortunately before she could take a closer look, the entire market had dissipated with the fog.

In the deepest part of the ancient sycamore root system, fluorescent hyphae weave into a huge heart-shaped nest. This is the center of the holy land's spiritual veins, and each hyphae connects to different creatures. When the mother nest beats, Ah Ying saw with her own eyes the joys and sorrows of the foxes turn into pink spots of light, the singing of the mermaids condense into blue strings, and even the annual rings of the black tortoise shells appear synchronously on the fungal carpet. On the night of the Lantern Festival, the mother nest unexpectedly rioted, and all the connected people shared the tortoise shell's memory tortoise shells for tens of thousands of years. As a result, the black bird girl understood the tortoise shell divination, and the flower demon mastered the dragon clan's cloud and rain technique.

The demonic characters carved on the stone tablets are not dead things, they will shed their skin and be reborn every rainy night. The strokes turn into green snakes and swim into the soil, growing into new plants of characters before dawn. Mr. Bai Ze has a "historical banyan" in his study, and its branches are full of oracle bone fruits that can tell stories. Last time, Ah Ying accidentally touched the "war" fruit and was instantly pulled into the illusion of an ancient battle. When she broke free, she still held half of a bloody bronze halberd in her hand, and the character had disappeared from the branch forever.

Whenever a comet passes by, the reflection of the starry sky will appear in the Mirror Lake. Mermaids weave star tracks with their hair, black turtles calculate the celestial cycle on their carapaces, and finally the black bird burns the star map on the glazed tiles. Three years ago, Mars was guarding the heart, and all the creatures in the Holy Land dreamed of a burning ship at the same time. The next day, the ancient sycamore tree grew red air roots. Now these air roots have formed into the shape of a star raft. Mr. Bai Ze predicted that when the nine stars are in line, the Holy Land will be more prosperous, but Ah Ying can't imagine that the Holy Land of the Third Heaven is already so prosperous and peaceful, how can it be better.

When the sun is at its hottest at noon, the gaps between the leaves of the ancient sycamore trees project flowing words on the ground. The young demons gather at the "Golden Book Terrace" and use the tips of their tails to dip into the light spots and copy the ancient demon texts. These light marks are fleeting, forcing learners to engrave knowledge into their instincts. Ah Ying has seen a naughty raccoon demon hide the "shadow cocoon" - a light spot covered with spider silk that can reproduce the shape of the characters at night. When he was discovered by his teacher, he was punished to rewrite the "Heavenly Demon Law" three thousand times with moonlight. The words that were not yet dry turned into silver fish and swam into the mirror lake.

Seven hundred feet above the treetops, there is a jellyfish-shaped cloud crystal post floating. These transparent dome buildings are condensed from mirages and are specially used to receive the traveling monsters who control the monsoon. Whenever the southeast trade wind passes through, the post will extend a siphon to collect the cloud marrow, and the brewed "Wind Dew Burning" can make the drinker temporarily transparent. Last month, I witnessed the Blue Bird Messenger and the Thunder Falcon Escort handing over a secret letter here. The glass bottle containing the tears of the South China Sea mermaid burst as soon as it was released from the hand, and the tears actually grew into a coral-like ice crystal tree in mid-air.

There are no traditional medical clinics in the holy land, and the pain is shared by "empathetic butterflies". These creatures with double-sided butterfly wings absorb the pain from the front and then flip their wings to transform negative energy into spiritual rain that nourishes the ancient sycamore. I have seen antelope monsters with broken horns release a group of butterflies, and where thousands of scales and powder fell, amber-colored regenerated keratin grew on the wounds. The most mysterious is the childbirth ceremony, where the labor pains of the mother are guided into a glowing umbilical cord, and the other end is tied to the spirit core. The first cry of the newborn will awaken the guardian spirit seed corresponding to the true form.

The glazed corridor connecting the Stardust Flower Sea and the Moonlight Spring is inlaid with 72 kinds of taste stones. When you step barefoot on the "Liquan Stone", the soles of your feet will smell the mellow fragrance of peach blossom wine; when you lightly touch the "Kunlun Snow", the root of your tongue will explode with the chill of a thousand-year-old ice spirit. During the Mid-Autumn Banquet, the elders of the fox tribe danced the "Taste Dance" here. The taste ripples stimulated by the dance steps turned the entire corridor into a three-dimensional menu. There was once a gluttonous monster who was addicted to eating the light and shadow, and was drunk in the virtual aroma of dragon liver and phoenix marrow for three months.

The "Mirror Abyss" where the roots of the ancient sycamore pierce the tip is a secret place that is upside down. Those who enter need to tie anti-gravity dodder on their ankles, otherwise they will fall into the sky. Ah Ying has collected upside-down ground-springing golden lotus here, and the stamens are not filled with dew, but solidified afterimages of starbursts. The most thrilling thing was that last month we encountered the "Sky Whale" at the bottom of the abyss (actually the sky of the secret place). This transparent giant beast feeds on sound. Ah Ying and her friends held their breath for three days and nights, relying on the vibrations of rubbing the vines with their fingertips to draw a way out.

The "Rebirth Spring" guarded by the Black Turtle Clan is actually a circular waterfall, with water flowing from bottom to top over the emerald rock. When an old man bathes, the vicissitudes of life will flake off in scales, and will be snatched by the time-eating fish downstream. However, excessive washing will cause memories to fade, so bathers need to hold the "Time Sundial Sand" in their hands to anchor important memories. Last year, I saw a white dragon shedding thousands of years of vicissitudes here, and the peeling dragon scales turned into flying jade chips, but were caught by its lover before they touched the ground and forged into an hourglass necklace that reversed the flow of time.

Memories are the most precious things, but unfortunately they are also the easiest to lose. Ah Ying always mutters: "I always feel like I've forgotten something. Should I go meet someone?"

In the depths of the cave northeast of the holy land, the Dream Tapir tribe blew out colorful spider webs with their breath. These "dream cocoons" can materialize the subconscious of the sleeper. The anxious cocoon that Ah Ying hung last night has grown into a roaring gargoyle this morning. After being watered with "calming nectar" by the administrator, it has turned into a docile gatekeeper. During the Lantern Festival, the Dream Tapirs will hold a "Dream Market". The fear bubbles sold can sharpen one's mind, and the dewdrops of desire can temporarily realize delusions. The "Flying Dream" that Ah Ying exchanged for temporarily gave her arms the wings of a black bird.

The descendants of the God of Wind run a "cloud carving workshop" on the floating island. They use lightning-struck wooden chisels to carve cumulonimbus clouds, and the finished products can be used to predict local weather within seven days. Ah Ying has customized a hydrangea-shaped morning glow, which will drop fragrant light powder when it blooms. Last year, during the rainy season, the workshop made a mistake and the hail cloud fell into the holy land, smashing a pit full of jumping ice toads. The craftsmen rushed to make cloud-absorbing bottles overnight for recycling, but unexpectedly, the ice toads vaporized when they were heated, forming a neon haze in the barrier that lasted for half a month.

Adult demons plant "Lingxi Orchid" on their chests, and when the flower blooms, they can communicate with their blood relatives across time and space. However, this kind of communication consumes memory as nutrients. There was once a mermaid princess who tried to contact her brother who was traveling far away, causing the harbor in her childhood memories to be permanently fogged. Last month, I watched the communication between the black tortoise father and son. The patterns on their shells formed a three-dimensional star map in the air, and the encryption method was actually the claw marks left by their ancestors on the beach ten thousand years ago.

Unfortunately, they are connected, but Ah Ying doesn't know how to wait for the person destined for her. Sometimes she foolishly wanders around the northern land outside the holy land. She doesn't know why, but she just wants to see if there are any familiar people among the travelers or monsters from each other.
Unfortunately, there has never been one.

Ancient sycamore mycelium weaves into a teleportation network underground, with fluorescent mushroom platforms growing at the nodes. Feeding specific spiritual objects can trigger teleportation: feeding red fruit leads to the lava core, and offering scales leads directly to the Mirror Lake Dragon Palace. Ah Ying once mistakenly took the black bird feather as the fare and was teleported to the fire cocoon in nirvana. Fortunately, the guardian spirit gave her the "Scorched Earth Amulet". On the way back, each spore exploded and engraved the fireproof spell on her skin.

There are seven "Time Hole Palaces" hidden in the holy land, and the annual rings of the stone gate vines point to different time multipliers. One day of cultivation in the "Chaojun Cave" is equivalent to a moment in the outside world, but the lifespan consumed is real; a hundred years in the "Mingling Cave" is just one spring and autumn in the real world, and the price is that the memory will crystallize and fall off. Ah Ying once retreated in the "Ephemeral Pavilion" for three quarters, and the tea she brought with her when she came out was still warm. I didn't feel anything, but my curiosity about the fourth heaven became stronger. The third heaven was too peaceful and there was nothing interesting.

Unfortunately, there is no way to reach the fourth heaven in the library.
The old demons will manifest their inner landscape in the "Heaven of Love and Sea of ​​Sin". The White Dragon's domain is a lava lake in a blizzard, while the Black Fox elder's is a childhood courtyard full of poisonous flowers. When you accidentally enter the "Abyss of Regret" of the Black Turtle leader, you will find that the entire space is stalactites growing downwards, and each drop of water reflects the parallel ending of a certain decision. The most shocking is the mental image of the guardian of the spirit core - a nebula that is constantly collapsing and reorganizing, with a miniature model of the holy land rotating in the center.

Above the dome of the holy land, there floats a "Star Raft Cloud Field" woven with spider silk and rainbow light. The demon farmers ride on phoenixes to sow seeds regularly, and the roots of the crops penetrate directly into the ionosphere to absorb stardust. Whenever the ecliptic plane shifts, the cloud field automatically reorganizes into the current constellation form - the spiritual wheat in the Gemini period will produce conjoined ears, and the rice will have its own arrow-like edge under the Sagittarius monsoon. On the day of the autumnal equinox, Ah Ying witnessed the entire cloud field collapse into a star cluster, and the spiritual charm of the world bursting out between the wheat ears was captured by the aerial roots of the ancient sycamore, projecting a flowing irrigation map on the ground.

During the spring ploughing ceremony, the black turtles' carapaces revealed a map of soil moisture, the mermaids controlled water mist for precise irrigation, and the black birds burned specific clouds in mid-air to implement artificial rainfall. The most amazing part was the insect removal: the white dragon summoned lightning to activate the insect repellent barrier, and the insects did not die, but were temporarily transformed into luminous particles, forming a warning pattern at night. The harvested crops have their own memory properties. Chewing millet can taste the morning dew when it was cultivated, and swallowing vegetables can hear the rhythm of plant growth.

However, Ah Ying still likes to go to the depths of the Holy Land's library, where a maze of time and space constructed from 720 volumes of "Demon History" is hidden. Every time you turn a page, you step into the corresponding historical fragment, but you must read in a specific order to return.

Many scenes she had never seen before seemed to describe the Holy Land, but not only that. She saw four people coming from the south in a dusty manner, encountering many demon tribes along the way and seeing many demon tribes.
Ah Ying whispered: "What a familiar feeling."

The residences of the Black Fox tribe are all constructed from solidified sound waves. When the elders play the bone flute, the sound waves curl up into a spiral staircase in the air, and the vowels in the chanting automatically stick together to form a dome. The newly completed "Overtone Tower" can store laughter of a specific frequency, and when it is released on the winter solstice, it can make the snow within a hundred miles dance in sync. Once, the Qin Yao made a mistake when debugging the new house, and the house melted into the melody of "Guangling San" in the heavy rain, which is still played on the west bank of Jinghu Lake.

Everything is quiet and peaceful, but the demons have a limited lifespan, and they will grow old and die. When they die, they will perform the "Dew Release Ceremony" at the Moonlight Spring, where their bodies will melt into the glowing water plants at the bottom of the spring, and their memories will condense into rime and hang on the branches of the ancient sycamore trees. These "spiritual hangings" will sing when the wind blows, and when the spring snow melts, they will carry the consciousness of the deceased and penetrate into the earth veins. During the Qingming Festival, all the spiritual hangings will play the requiem at the same time, and the sound waves will reflect the phantoms of the deceased in the barrier. Last year, a phantom suddenly materialized. It turned out to be the crane fairy who had traveled a hundred years ago and never returned. The foreign seeds he brought back have now taken root in the sea of ​​stardust flowers.

In the basalt cave on the north bank of Jinghu Lake, the demon tribe's weather control center is hidden - twelve pipe organs connected to the earth veins. On the day of Frost's Descent, the black tortoise musicians play three sets of stops at the same time, "Condensation", "Withering and Flourishing", and "Slaying". The sound waves spread along the quartz veins throughout the fields, and the grass and trees automatically stop breathing wherever they go. Ah Ying once sneaked into the wind tunnel where the "Grain Rain" movement was playing, and her lungs were instantly filled with the sweet smell of green rice seedlings breaking through the soil, and rice flowers bloomed at the ends of her hair for no reason.

On the damp rock wall on the east side of the holy land, there grows "Momentary Moss" that can absorb time. When activated by spiritual springs, the moss will reproduce the historical scenes it has witnessed. Young demons often come here to copy the heroic figures of their ancestors, but excessive collection will cause disorder in time and space - after a piece of moss was torn off last month, the rock wall continued to seep the moonlight from three years ago, and everyone who passed by was reflected with a double shadow. Now the area has been taken over by the Nightmare Tapir Clan, and the overflowing fragments of time have been woven into wearable historical phantoms.

Ah Ying once saw the figure of a young demon boy among them. He had horns similar to deer antlers. No one knew what creature he was, but his eyes looked very familiar.

Every time I see such a figure, it always evokes some illusory memories in my mind, as if I had met each other a long, long time ago and had spent a long time together.

There are many complex emotions towards that young man, probably equivalent to a redeemed creature's desire to follow the god who saved him.

Of course, Aying didn’t understand why she had such a feeling. She just thought she was overthinking. Her biggest goal was to find the way to the fourth heaven.

I don’t know when it started, but the third heaven became boring. Although it was peaceful, it was too dull. I wanted to go to the fourth heaven.

(End of this chapter)