Chapter 1174 Mirages!
Fang Qiu remained where he was.
Feeling the strange movements of the intangible traces of the Qi of Heaven and Earth, Fang Qiu turned his head and looked around, only to find that he was surrounded by the boundless plains of the Gobi Desert.
It was as if he had arrived at the deepest part of the desert. Other than the mountains weathered beyond recognition, there were only sand, stones, and scattered blades of grass.
“Before coming in, it was a world of glaciers, but the surroundings became like the Gobi Desert after I entered?”
Fang Qiu’s frown deepened.
Apparently, this odd place had aroused many doubts in his heart.
If the light curtain was just a formation preventing outsiders from moving forward, what they saw after passing through it should also be glaciers. How could this place turn into the Gobi Desert?
Was this some kind of a bad joke?
The more he thought about it, the more he felt that something was off.
Immediately, he took out his mobile phone to locate his position.
To his great surprise, he found his position was in the same location before he crossed the light curtain. In other words, according to his position indicated by satellites, Fang Qiu was still in the same place.
“What’s going on?
“Why didn’t my position change?
“If the location did not change, then what the hell is this relic?
“Is it illusory?”
A series of questions welled up in his mind.
But Fang Qiu still kept a clear head and wasn’t bogged down by these questions.
“Since my position can be fixed, there must be a satellite signal — I can make a phone call.”
Fang Qiu thought of something and immediately clicked on the phone book, found Li Ji’s number, and called him.
He waited for a little while.
“Hello?”
He got through and heard Li Ji’s voice.
“Help me check the current location of my phone. The sooner, the better,” Fang Qiu said.
“Okay, don’t hang up.”
Li Ji answered, and then there came the sound of scurrying footsteps from the phone.
When the sound ceased, Li Ji’s voice sounded, “I’m searching for your location.”
Fang Qiu was stunned upon hearing that.
He had thought that after he received the satellite phone, the higher-ups would have someone to keep an eye on him at all times. But from Li Ji’s words, Fang Qiu learned that there was no one monitoring him at all on Li Ji’s side. It was because Li Ji had to spend some time searching before getting his positioning signal.
This situation surprised Fang Qiu.
“It’s in Zangjiang.”
Li Ji’s voice came from the other end of the phone. “Have you arrived?”
Hearing this, Fang Qiu’s frown deepened.
“Yes.”
After giving a brief response, Fang Qiu asked, his face growing grave, “Has there been any movement from those foreign forces?”
“Yes.”
Li Ji nodded and said, “Since you rushed to Zangjiang, those foreign forces also followed suit, one after another. Our secret seems to be out in the open. We are now looking seriously into this matter. I planned to inform you about this change in advance, but I was afraid of disturbing your quest for the ancient ruin, so I haven’t contacted you.”
“Has the news been leaked?”
Fang Qiu’s face fell, and he looked even more puzzled.
“Right.”
Li Ji said with a nod, “The higher-ups attach great importance to this issue. We’ve already spent a lot of effort and energy looking into it. If possible, try your best to accomplish the task quickly!”
“I’ll do my best.”
Fang Qiu gave a favorable reply and hung up the phone.
He was no longer in the mood to chat. Everything he saw at the moment seemed chaotic to him.
“What exactly is going on?
“My position didn’t change at all!
“Then, what is going on in this place hidden behind the light curtain?
“What’s this place?”
Fang Qiu took a good look at his surroundings. Slowly, he squatted down, reached out, and grabbed a stone at his feet to take a closer look. The rock looked and felt super real, which means it really existed in his hand.
“How could this be?”
“Virtuality? Reality? What the hell is this space?”
Fang Qiu was utterly confounded.
He knew next to nothing about the principle of how this space existed.
According to science, this space should not exist. His position stayed the same, whether he was outside or inside the light curtain, which meant that he had not moved at all, and he was still in the same position.
However, this space seemed to stretch endlessly.
It was dozens or even hundreds of times more expansive than the two ice-covered mountains outside.
How could such a vast space be hidden from view?
However, according to ancient mythology…
This place might be a Space in Poppyseed that only top talents in ancient times could create. Usually, they would make an opening in the normal space in order to enter this special space.
But that was a story from myths and legends!
But most of the immortals couldn’t perform such a fantastic feat. If any of them could even create one, the space would be very narrow and could never be so expansive.
Fang Qiu viewed the weird object from all angles. However, the longer he pondered over the matter, the dizzier he felt.
This place was way too abnormal.
It gave Fang Qiu a real headache.
“Buzz, buzz…”
Suddenly, the air quivered as a buzzing sound resounded.
Fang Qiu looked over.
In the distant sky, a mirage suddenly appeared.
It loomed into view in the sky above a layer of white clouds and was made up of pavilions, terraces and towers. It gave off a majestic air that awed anyone who caught a glimpse of it.
Fang Qiu had never seen a real mirage in the desert, but he had heard of its existence.
Therefore, he didn’t pay much attention to it initially.
After all, a mirage was nothing but an illusion!
But…
Just as he turned around to examine the surroundings again, Fang Qiu’s eyebrows suddenly shot up in astonishment.
He seemed to have seen the mirage moving.
It moved along with the clouds!
To be exact, it dropped downward toward the earth.
“Huh?”
Once again, he focused on the mirage, paying more attention to it this time. The strange feeling, he had grown even stronger as he looked at it for a period of time. Now, he was certain that the mirage was moving!
Not only was the whole mirage moving down slowly, but those flowers, plants, and bells hanging from the bamboo plants on the pavilions were swaying.
“A mirage is a natural phenomenon formed by the refraction and total reflection of light. The apparent divergence of light rays from objects on the earth would be refracted by the atmosphere and form a virtual image. Its appearance is closely related to the geographical location, the geophysical conditions, and the meteorological features of these places at certain times. It is characterized by its numerous reappearances at the same time and place!”
“That is to say, each mirage must have a corresponding object of reference!”
“So, where is the reference object of this mirage?”
Fang Qiu discovered this somewhat creepy occurrence.
This area was an open and empty tract in the Gobi Desert. Even if there was a mirage, it should also be that of the Gobi Desert. How could there be any pavilions, terraces, and towers?
“Divine Consciousness!”
Feeling something was amiss, Fang Qiu immediately released his Divine Consciousness.
Since the last time he achieved the Great Hand of Formlessness, the range of his Divine Consciousness could now extend up to 50 kilometers.
But the mirage was much more than 50 kilometers away.
Right after releasing his Divine Consciousness, Fang Qiu approached the mirage.
However…
As the distance between Fang Qiu and the mirage narrowed, he was utterly astonished to find that all the incomparably rich Qi of Heaven and Earth was surging toward the distant mirage in midair.
While the Qi of Heaven and Earth continuously poured into the mirage, it kept going down.
Gradually, those pavilions, terraces and towers above the clouds actually landed on the ground in the distance. The moment it touched the ground, the layer of pure white clouds dispersed.
“It’s not a mirage! It’s real!”
Having witnessed this scene, Fang Qiu literally jumped out of his skin.
It was a large stretch of pavilions, terraces, and towers.
Out of the blue, they appeared in the sky, floating down gradually to the ground. Now, these buildings seemed to have been originally there from the beginning.
Amazing!
“Could that be the real ancient relic?”
Fang Qiu didn’t dare to waste any more time thinking.
His figure flashed past the original spot, and he dashed toward those buildings like a bolting wild horse.
Although he was anxious, he chose not to fly as he was aware of all the other people nearby.
What…
Fang Qiu had just dashed away.
Several people who were scattered in the distance spotted Fang Qiu’s fast-moving figure. Then, when they saw the building complex that Fang Qiu was heading for, they rushed over without hesitation.
Just like Fang Qiu, a few more people also caught sight of these pavilions that seemed to be a mirage. After confirming that these magnificent ancient buildings were real, they hurried over.
For a moment, the majority of the group moved swiftly to the same place.
A small number of people who were a bit slow to perceive the change also followed up when they saw everyone else hurrying to the particular spot.
Fang Qiu was the first one to arrive.
While stepping up to the front of these pavilions, Fang Qiu noticed a layer of white smoke.
It seemed to be the layer of white clouds that disappeared on the ground when the pavilions landed.
Obviously, the clouds did not disappear but faded and formed a layer of fog, which engulfed the entire pavilions like a new fence.
Fang Qiu did not pause at all.
By using his Divine Consciousness to investigate, Fang Qiu was assured that the fog held no danger, so he rushed straight in.
As soon as he broke through the fog, Fang Qiu stopped.
A large oasis came into his view, which looked completely different from the Gobi Desert outside the fog. There were lakes, luxuriant trees and grass, and a vast pavilion.
To his astonishment, he found that there were lots of wooden puppets scattered about the broad field in front of these pavilions.
“Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…”
Just as Fang Qiu was observing them carefully, the sound of wind whistling by came into his ears.
All the others came in.
“What’s this place?”
“How can there be an oasis in the Gobi Desert?”
“I didn’t see it just now. How did this place just pop up?”
“It fell from the sky!”
Everyone was particularly curious about this place that appeared out of thin air.
They all stepped forward cautiously, getting closer to these beautiful old buildings.
“What is the purpose of the wooden puppets?”
Moving forward a little, one of them scrutinized the lifelike wooden puppet in front of him and stretched out his hand to feel it.
To everyone’s surprise, as soon as his finger touched it, the motionless wooden puppet suddenly waved his arm with a creaking sound and threw a good punch at the man’s head.
Not only that, when the first wooden puppet sprang into action, a sea of wooden puppets in the vast oasis seemed to suddenly gain consciousness and come to life. Each one of them launched a furious and wild attack against those humans around them!