Song You was holding a piece of baked naan in one hand and a stone in the other hand, which he was banging hard.
The baked naan is very dry, as hard as iron, and difficult to knock.
No wonder it can be carried across the desert.
"Bang bang..."
The calico cat was lying next to him, hiding in the shadow cast by him, staring at it for a while.
Every time there was a sound, her whole cat would tremble.
After a while, she seemed to finally be able to stand it no longer, so she silently climbed out of the shadows, stretched out a small hand wearing white gloves, with the toes blooming, stretched out a paw, and gently touched Song You's grilled naan.
One stroke——
The small hooked claws, which were as beautiful as ice jade, were obviously not as long as the thickness of the baked naan. They only scratched the surface of the grilled naan, but they easily cut off a piece of the grilled naan.
The calico cat retreated silently, looking up at the Taoist.
"..."
The Taoist also lowered his head and looked at him, and couldn't help but sigh: "Miss Sanhua, you are very boring like this."
The calico cat said nothing and still stared at him.
It seems that I want to see how he eats this food.
"well……"
The Taoist sighed.
The hardest part of the baked naan is the outermost ring, which is as hard as a stone. The inside is slightly softer, but also like dry clay. Song You broke off a piece and put it into his mouth, using the temperature and saliva in his mouth to
Slowly soften it, and at the same time cover your eyes with your hands and look up at the sky.
The sun seemed to be baking the earth.
The desert seems to have no boundaries.
The roasted naan finally slowly softened, releasing the aroma of wheat, with some sesame aroma, which was slightly sweet and slightly salty. It actually felt good to be in this desert.
Song You finished a small piece and broke another small piece.
But soon my mouth felt dry and I had to drink a sip of water, but I didn't dare to drink too much.
The calico cat still stared at him.
After a moment, she finally looked away and turned her head to look elsewhere, but suddenly she rushed out like lightning and rushed to a shady pile of sand, and started digging fiercely at the sand pile.
All I could see was sand flying up and the sky rising.
In just a few breaths, the calico cat came back with an earth-yellow lizard in its mouth, swaying like a victorious general, and placed the lizard in front of Song You, then raised its head and stared at it without blinking.
He is eating naan.
"Eat this!"
Empress Sanhua said.
"No, thank you."
Song You answered while breaking the naan.
"eat!"
The calico cat touched the lizard with its paw again.
"Miss Sanhua, please eat it yourself."
"Everyone here eats this! Eat the roasted version!" the calico cat persuaded, "it tastes similar to the chicken you like to eat!"
"I have naan."
“Not delicious!”
"good."
“No meat!”
"Definitely next time."
"!"
The calico cat raised its head, its expression became more serious, and stared at him for a while. Then it looked away, shook its head, picked up the lizard in its mouth, and ate it hiding in the shadows.
After lunch, continue moving forward.
The road ahead alternated between yellow sand and white sand, and Gobi and desert intersected several times. Song You followed the direction pointed by Zhang Zhizhou and headed all the way to the Land of Earth and Fire.
The further you go, the higher the temperature becomes.
The temperature far exceeded the body temperature, and the temperature on the surface of the sand could burn an ordinary person's skin in an instant. The calico cat had to change back to its human form and wear shoes when walking. Thick clothes have become better able to block the heat than thin clothes.
The sky was all blue, the earth was all yellow, not a single plant or animal was seen.
At first, Sanhua Empress occasionally stopped and turned her head to look at a certain place. It seemed that there was a lizard, or a snake, or a scorpion hidden under the sand there, indicating that this place was not completely silent. It was possible to walk.
After two days, there were very few of these little animals left.
Walking there, the direction becomes difficult to discern, and time seems to become mysterious.
Grab a handful of sand, maybe it came from tens of thousands of years ago, look around, everything you see, maybe it was like this tens of thousands of years ago, and until you leave, until you reach the end of your life,
It's still the same, as if it hasn't changed at all.
Time seems to pass very slowly here.
It seemed to go by extremely fast.
Where Song You walked at this time, I don’t know how many predecessors have walked there, and I don’t know how many future generations will come. It is very likely that the scenery seen by the Taoist and Maoer at this time is different from the scenery seen hundreds of thousands of years ago.
What people in the past saw when they passed by here was no different, and hundreds of thousands of years later, if future generations come here again, the scenery they cheer for will be almost the same as what Song You saw at this time.
Just like the sky full of stars above our heads.
This feeling is really mysterious.
It seems that time here presents two completely contradictory states of blur and clarity.
Walking there is like walking at the end of the world and time. It is a kind of great loneliness, and it is also a rare test and practice.
"Has Sanhua Empress ever seen the Salt Tower?"
"what is that?"
"It is a very tall tower. When it is in operation, the top of the tower will be like white jade, emitting strong light. If it is a sunny day, you can see the light it emits even from dozens of miles away.
The dazzling light is like the sun on the ground, hard to look directly at." Song You said as he walked, "That is a miracle of man."
"Miss Sanhua has never seen a salt tower."
"I hope Empress Sanhua can take a look at it in the future."
"Where is the salt tower?"
"In the future." Song You said, pursed his lips, and added, "Maybe."
"How long will it take?"
"How long? I don't know." Song You was helpless, "I can only try my best to make it faster."
"You're not smart."
"Yes." Song You said in a low voice to save more saliva, "If I were as smart as Empress Sanhua, I would let it come tomorrow."
"Well……"
The girl turned her head and stared at him, her eyes like amber.
After a while, her eyebrows seemed to soften a lot, and she asked doubtfully: "Why did you say that thing suddenly?"
"I just miss it a little bit."
"Miss you?"
"yes."
"Can't understand……"
"..."
The Taoist walked slowly with a stick, pursed his lips, and did not dwell on this topic. Instead, he turned his head and continued to ask: "Have you ever heard of a saying, Lady Sanhua?"
"Ms. Sanhua has heard many theories!"
"Every star in the sky corresponds to a grain of sand on the ground." Song You said calmly, "Empress Sanhua has stepped on many stars now."
"Well……"
The girl immediately lowered her head and looked at her feet.
"Isn't it interesting?"
"Well……"
But the girl turned her head and looked at the road ahead, her little face expressionless: "It's too hot, talk less."
"..."
Song You couldn't help but remain silent.
It's rare for this little thing to realize this.
Thinking like this, he seemed to be comforted, so he withdrew his gaze and moved forward in silence.
As the sun sets in the west, it is another scene of sunset in the desert.
The Taoist group was still walking in the desert.
But the temperature slowly dropped, turning from scorching hot to comfortable, the sand on the ground also turned from hot to warm, and Sanhua Empress turned into a cat again.
"brush……"
A swallow flew over and landed on the horse's head. He turned his head and combed his feathers before saying: "Sir, the Fire Kingdom should be ahead of us. There are fires all over the ground within ten miles. We are not going in the wrong direction. But we are far away from there.
There are still dozens of miles to go, and we may not arrive until tomorrow."
"Then let's do it tomorrow."
"Are we resting here today?"
"Don't be in a hurry. Let's take another step while the sun shines."
"good!"
A shadow was cast on the desert, and the shadows of the group of people were stretched too long.
However, the calico cat turned her head and looked at the swallow doubtfully as she walked. The temperature that dropped at dusk made her regain a lot of desire to speak: "Every time you speak, why do you only call me sir and not the empress of three flowers?"
The swallow above the horse was stunned for a moment.
Because Empress Sanhua cannot make the decision.
"Because...because Sanhua Empress has other things to worry about. She is already very busy all day long. There is no need for such a trivial matter, and I don't dare to disturb Sanhua Empress anymore."
It can be seen that although Yanzi often listens to the conversation between Taoist and Sanhua Cat and has been immersed in it for several years, due to his own talent limitations, he is not proficient in the "communication skills between Mr. and Sanhua Empress", and his speech is not natural, and he also
Stuck.
"?"
The cat stared at the swallow doubtfully.
Humans can't read any expression from a cat's face, so how can a cat read any expression from the face of a bird covered with feathers?
"So that's it."
Mao'er nodded. Once he accepted it, he became happy and quickly asked: "Then why do you stand on the horse's head every time you come down to rest? Sometimes you also stand on the Taoist priest's shoulders."
But you never stand on Sanhua Empress’s back? You are such a small one, even Sanhua Empress can carry you.”
"Because... because Sanhua Empress is busy taking care of me and my husband every day, and she is already very tired. How can you dare to make Sanhua Empress even more tired?"
"But you are so small and don't weigh much at all. Empress Sanhua can carry you away in her mouth."
"..."
Yan Zi was startled.
Fortunately, it is Yanzi's true form. If he were transformed into a human form, I'm afraid his face would have completed the transformation from normal skin color to red and then to white.
"This...this is not necessary."
"Why meow?"
"Horse...the horse's head is wider, so it can stand more stable! Sanhua Empress's back is narrow and uneven, and she has very long hair. It's not that suitable for her to stand up!"
Yanzi is really brainstorming.
While he was trying to think of how to answer, he also had to use the "sir's advanced skills in talking to Sanhua Empress", which really put him in a bit of a quandary.
"That's true."
The calico cat nodded, and then extended an invitation: "Then the calico cat will take you hunting tonight. There are snakes, lizards, and scorpions hidden in the sand. There are fewer and fewer of them here. They hide in the sand during the day.
They hide deeper than there, and they will come out at night. Lady Sanhua will take you to catch them, and if you catch them, go over there and roast them tomorrow."
"Three, Miss Sanhua, I'm just a bird."
"Forget it."
"call……"
"Then you come and roll in the sand! The sand is hot, rolling around is like taking a hot bath!"
"No, no..."
"and you……"
The Taoist does not squint his eyes and walks forward with his stick.
Suddenly he untied the cloth that wrapped his face, and the smile kept on his lips.
The sun has set in the distance, but it is at its most beautiful moment.
…
There will be no bonfire tonight because there is no wood to burn.
However, with the beautiful glow on the horizon and the stars appearing one after another above our heads, it seems that this world will not be completely dark until dawn.
But it was windy at night and a bit cool.
The calico cat was a little unhappy, because tonight she spent a lot of energy, ran a long way, caught two small snakes and a few scorpions, and wanted to feed them to her Taoist priest, but the Taoist priest first said that there was no firewood here.
She didn’t eat raw food. She said she breathed fire to cook it. He also said he didn’t eat food cooked by spiritual fire. She thought for a long time before she came up with the method of baking it with sand. He also said that there were still honeydew melons he brought.
If one of them is not finished, it will be bad if they don’t finish it today.
Honeydew melons will go bad if you don't eat them, but won't scorpions and little snakes do the same?
So she lay aside and ignored the Taoist.
However, as the night went on and the temperature dropped, the stars became more and more brilliant. When she looked at the stars, she seemed to have forgotten her previous displeasure. She crawled over to the Taoist again and spoke to him in a low voice.
"If there is a grain of sand on the ground, is there a star in the sky?"
"That's what others said."
"There are not as many stars in the sky as there are sand on the ground."
"Miss Sanhua doesn't know something. There may be more stars in the sky than sand on the ground."
"Really meow?"
"Guess."
"Guess!"
"Maybe."
"Maybe……"
The cat imitated his posture, lying down with his legs and hands flat, with only one tail sticking straight up to cover his body, like a small quilt, and the stars in the sky were all like amber.
Her eyes were shining, and she looked at it for a long time before suddenly saying: "Then will you take Sanhua Empress to see the Salt Tower in the future?"
"..."
The Taoist was silent for a long time before he said:
"Maybe."
"Maybe!"
"Maybe."
"Maybe!!"
"Who knows what will happen in the future."
"you guess!"
"Can't guess."
"Then you're not smart."
The cat shook his head and continued to look at the stars.
The tail swung unconsciously, and she also grabbed it unconsciously.
I don't know when I fell asleep.
In a daze, she seemed to have had a dream.
In this vast desert in the dream, tall towers were built one after another. They were all exquisite pagodas with many layers. Only the top of the tower was made of white jade, glowing like the sun.
Then I dreamed of the seaside again.
Although it is very sunny there, there is boundless water. You only need to climb a tree and pick a coconut to quench your thirst. There is no need to save water. You only need to walk around the beach and you can pick up a lot of fish and shrimps.
It's used to satisfy your hunger, so you don't have to worry about running out of food. What's more important is that the fish and shrimp are so delicious that Taoist priests also eat them. It's like a different world from here.
The Taoist next to him still had his eyes open and was thinking silently. It was a rare cat that slept through the night without him.
The night is getting deeper and deeper, and the starry sky is getting brighter. Lying in the boundless desert, a sense of loneliness arises spontaneously. The vast stars are reflected in my eyes, and I also see my own insignificance, but I don’t know whether this desert or the stars are there.
How many years have passed, and in contrast, life is short, as if the source of civilization was only in the last moment.