The Sage Ruins

A lone plume of smoke rises straight from the great desert; the long river reflects the round, setting sun. The boundless desert, empty and vast, was a place of magnificent, raw power. As the red sun sank in the west, the horizon burned crimson, a majestic scene tinged with a sense of desolation. The smoke of ancient battles had long since faded into the annals of time. Though the old course of the Yellow River had shifted over the centuries, it still remained. Chu Feng was traveling alone. Exhausted, he lay back on the yellow sand and watched the blood-red sunset, wondering how much longer it would take to leave this desert behind. He had graduated a few days ago. At the same time, he had said goodbye to the campus goddess. He supposed he would never see her again. After all, he had been gently told that they would now be worlds apart and that it was time to break up. After leaving the academy, he had set out on his travels. The setting sun was a deep red, hanging at the edge of the desert, its tranquility a stark beauty in the vast emptiness. Chu Feng sat up and drank some water, feeling his energy return. He had a lean, powerful build and excellent stamina, and his fatigue began to fade. Standing up to survey his surroundings, he felt he was close to leaving the desert. A little further and he might see the tents of herdsmen. He decided to press on. He headed west, leaving a long trail of footprints in the sand. Silently, a fog began to roll in, a rare occurrence in the desert. Chu Feng was surprised. The fog was blue, and in the late autumn air, it carried a distinct chill. Before he knew it, the mist grew thicker. A hazy blue shrouded the landscape, enveloping the entire desert. At the edge of the desert, even the setting sun took on an eerie cast, gradually transforming into a blue sun. It possessed a demonic beauty, and the fiery clouds were stained the same shade of blue. Chu Feng frowned. He knew desert weather was notoriously fickle, but this was far from normal. An utter silence fell. He stopped. Before entering the desert, he had heard local herdsmen tell stories. They said that a person walking alone in the desert might sometimes hear strange sounds or see bizarre things and should be exceptionally cautious. He hadn't paid it much mind at the time. It was still quiet. Aside from the hazy blue fog, nothing else had changed. Chu Feng quickened his pace, wanting to get out of this place as soon as possible. At the desert's edge, the sun was a demonic blue, dyeing the western sky. But it was, after all, about to disappear below the horizon. Chu Feng moved faster and faster, breaking into a run. He didn't want to linger in such a strange and unpredictable place. In the desert, mirages usually occurred under the blazing midday sun. The current conditions didn't fit. This didn't seem like a mirage. Suddenly, a soft sound came from up ahead, like something breaking through the sand. The sound was dense, rising and falling in waves. Chu Feng stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes fixed on the desert floor. The ground ahead was dotted with points of blue light, like scattered blue diamonds, crystalline and translucent, glittering in the afterglow of the sunset. They were tender shoots, less than an inch high, breaking through the desert soil. They glowed with a beautiful, translucent, and bewitching light, and they were everywhere. After a brief pause, a rustling sound spread across the area. Amid a brilliant blue light, all the shoots grew rapidly, springing up in an instant. On the horizon, the blue sun sank, about to vanish. The mist swirled, and the vast desert seemed to be draped in an eerie, blue gauze. *Pop!* The sound of flowers blooming echoed through the air. In the desert, a sea of azure appeared. In the final moment before the sun vanished, these plants burst into bloom. Countless blue flowers, sparkling like crystals, created a dreamlike, intoxicating, and utterly surreal scene as they blossomed across the desert. The plants stood just over a foot tall, their entire bodies as translucent as blue coral. Their petals were long and thin, bewitching and alluring, as if they belonged to another realm. They had a demonic charm that captivated the soul. Chu Feng took a step back, only to find that the ground behind him was also covered with these plants, their blue light flowing like a tide with no end in sight. He was stunned. He looked closer, trying to identify them. They looked remarkably like spider lilies, their petals unfurling and curling backward in an exceptionally beautiful display. However, spider lilies were a vibrant red. These were blue. He had never heard of a blue spider lily. Spider lilies were real, though steeped in religious meaning and surrounded by countless legends. But Chu Feng didn't believe in such things. He was simply astonished by the sight before him. Deserts were arid and lacked water; only a few extremely drought-resistant plants could be found scattered here and there. Spider lilies, on the other hand, preferred dark, humid environments. They had no business appearing here, much less looking so bewitching. They were everywhere, stretching as far as the eye could see. The desert was vast, the thin mist had dyed the sunset blue and soaked the horizon, and the entire empty expanse was now covered in blue spider lilies. It was an indescribably strange and mysterious sight! A faint, enchanting fragrance drifted through the air. Chu Feng shook his head hard and stepped carefully, avoiding the flowers. He noticed only one area was clear of the plants—the ancient, dry bed of the Yellow River. Its course had changed many times over the centuries, meandering through this great desert. Now, it was nearly dry. The blue spider lilies bloomed all along its banks, flanking it on both sides. Flowers blooming on opposite banks, forever gazing at each other. Finally, the sun sank below the horizon. At that very moment, the plants reached their peak bloom, transforming the landscape into an ocean of flowing, iridescent blue light. Though twilight had fallen, the area was bathed in a dazzling blue glow, its brilliance almost blindingly beautiful. Chu Feng stood in the dry riverbed, his heart in turmoil. He didn't linger, instead moving quickly along the channel. The sky grew darker, and the last vestiges of twilight vanished. The blue desert glittered, and then suddenly, with a soft *pop*, all the blue spider lilies, having reached their full glory, withered in the same instant. The bewitching petals shriveled, and then the entire plant began to dry out. They lost their color and vitality, rapidly turning yellow before crumbling, as if decades had passed in a single moment. *Bang!* In the final second, the withered blue spider lilies shattered into dust. It was a bizarre phenomenon, difficult to explain. Like fireworks, they had offered a brief, dazzling spectacle of ultimate beauty before fading to ash. The yellowed dust settled on the sand, barely visible in the dim light. The blue fog had also vanished, and the desert returned to its original state, as if nothing had ever happened. It was quiet once more. Chu Feng didn't stop. He strode forward, and in the twilight, he crossed many dunes until he finally saw the silhouette of mountains on the horizon. He was about to leave the desert. As darkness fell, he finally emerged. He could clearly see the mountain terrain and, faintly, the herdsmen's tents at the foot of the mountains. When he looked back, the great desert behind him was vast and silent, no different from any other day. Flickering lights appeared in the mountains ahead. Even from a distance, he could hear a commotion. Something was happening. There were also the panicked cries of cattle and sheep, mixed with the low, guttural growls of Tibetan Mastiffs. Was something unusual going on? Chu Feng quickened his pace, hurrying toward the herdsmen's settlement at the foot of the mountain.