Chapter 1 Festival

"Mirror Twin Cities"

1. Words in the Snow

The hurricane blew up the snow, and it raged for a long time, covering the midday sun.

The sky beyond the snowstorm was still blue, and the goshawk hovered.

Looking down from mid-air, Muztag Snow Mountain gleams like the brightest one in a series of pearls on a series of huge ice peaks. And those lights are the snowstorms that fill the mountains at this moment.

However, no matter how good the goshawk's eyesight was, he couldn't see the black spots that wriggle like ants on the mountainside under the snow storm. Halfway through the snow-capped mountain where even the goshawk was hovering and could not fall to inhabit, there was actually a group of people in rags wading up slowly.

When the storm came together, the surroundings were white, and even the north, south, east and west were indistinguishable. Halfway around, a group of trapped pedestrians had to stand on their heels, drag their feet to gather together, and form a circle to resist the hurricane together. The air on the high mountains is already thin, and when the wind blows, it makes people unable to breathe. The biting cold makes the originally thinly dressed travelers shiver.

The people who had traveled a long distance were exhausted to the apex. Their faces were all horrible purple. They were obviously impoverished refugees. The clothes were ragged, and the skin on the elbows and knees showed white skin that had been frozen. The place scratched by the ice and snow did not bleed at all, but it was frozen into a dark purple color and rolled up like a small open mouth of a child, terribly abnormal.The exhausted traveler has not yet found a shelter from the wind, and the storm has swept in, fascinating everyone's eyes. There was a terrifying white all around. In the gap between the howling of the wind, only a few screams were heard, and the people in the team who were not physically strong could not stand.

"Be careful, everyone! Be careful, everyone!" a hoarse voice in the team yelled, full of breath, and penetrated the storm to everyone's ears, "Pull the people around each other and stand firm! The gale will soon It will be over!"

He stood in the line, stunned slightly, and turned his face in the direction of the sound—however, he couldn't see anything.

"Hurry up! Be careful of..." I heard someone talking in my ear, and then a rough hand stretched out and grabbed his hand involuntarily. The wind whistled and erased the words under that fellow traveler, but that hand held his hand firmly, as cold as ice and snow.

He didn't even bother to turn his head to see who was next to him, a trace of impatience flashed across his face, and he subconsciously withdrew his hand.

At that instant, the most violent wave of wind whistled and came from the top! Everyone around was exclaiming, everyone was unstable, and even backed up and caught in the line. He had to follow everyone back a few steps, but at the same time he broke away from that companion's hand.

"Oh!" The wind whistled and passed by, and there was an exclamation sound from close at hand. It was the voice of the man. Before he could turn his head, he felt that the hand that had been released accelerates away from his hand in an instant, and followed the fierce gust of wind.

"Ah! Help! Help—" the man exclaimed with all his strength, but his voice quickly went away with the wind.

He just stood in the wind and snow, did not move. Hearing the sound, the hairspring generally broke in the wind and snow, and then raised his hand in disgust, patted it, wiped his right hand with the snow, patted it clean, and put it back in his sleeve. In his arms, stood unmoved in the crowd.

The wind finally left after a violent roar, and the snow that had been raging for a long time gradually fell, and the line of sight became clear again. However, most of the group was gone in a flash."That's the case when you get to the mountainside, I'm afraid there will be few more who can reach the Tianque alive?" He suddenly sneered in his heart, but he continued to wriggle forward with everyone's footsteps and found a shelter from the wind. Where, stop and rest.

The dead branches drew on the snow, first drew a circle, then stopped, and clicked on the center of the circle.

Fengxue rolled in and rushed to his face. He closed his eyes, and his hand trembled slightly the moment he tapped it down.

It's there... it's there, right? Finally going back to that place.

The moment he closed his eyes, he saw the white robe, like a shooting star, falling straight from the front of his eyes, farther and farther and farther... However, the strange thing was that the face of the person who fell became clearer and clearer. Appeared, getting closer and closer to him. The pale face was raised, eyes looked at him lifelessly, fingers stretched out almost to touch his face—

"Suma." The lips that looked like withered petals closed slightly, calling him.

"Hey!" The dead branches under his hand snapped suddenly, and he opened his eyes, but there was also a blank and hollow look in his dark pupils.

"Da-Da-Da", the wind was whistling, but the sound of hitting the flint continued to pass into my ears, faster and faster, accompanied by murmured curses. Braving the heavy snow, and unable to light it for a long time, the iron pan Li who was responsible for making the fire became extremely impatient, and shouted: "Hey, who will come and help? Hell!"

No one among the people sitting next to him said anything. This is already half the waist of the Muztag Snow Mountain. The long journey has just ended, and everyone is so tired that they are falling apart. After stopping to rest, according to the internal division of labor, picking up dead branches and picking up dry food, each completed their work. A group of ragged, hungry and cold refugees immediately found a place to lie down and rest, waiting for the meal, where there is more energy. Take care of other people's affairs?

"A group of inexhaustible poor ghosts. Starve you to death!" Li Pooh, cursing, continued to tap the flint.He didn't make a sound either, but sat in a slightly sunken snow cave in Shanyin, folded his hands, and hugged Suno's small body in his arms. However, he turned his head to Tie Guo Li silently-when everyone was exhausted, only this old man was physically strong enough to swear... This Tie Guo Li was also leading everyone over the snow-capped mountains this time. To Yunhuangzhou. It seems that this man in his fifties is not simple.

He thought, but his face was calm, he just touched Arnold in his arms. Along the way, Arnold was already as cold as ice. He carefully guarded him on his chest, and tried his best to lean back against the snow cave, avoiding the wind and snow that cut his face like a knife. I closed my eyes and listened to the whistling of the wind and snow beside my ears. I felt like a knife was cutting on my feet because of the long journey.

—It's been two months, so it should be close to the sky, right? How many years... I didn't expect that there would be another day to come back-and it was with this group of refugees who fled.

There was a tingling sensation on his face, and the howling wind and snow seemed to cut his face with a knife.

"Uncle, can you see if the tinder is wet? I have a fire sickle here, do you think it will work?" In the wind and snow, a girl's crisp words suddenly sounded, and there were rustling footsteps on the snow.

"Hey!" There was a crisp sound, and suddenly there was a flow of heat in the wind and snow, and the tongue of fire slightly licked the dead branches.

"Hey, it's better to use the fire sickle! Little girl, thank you!" Li Ru from the iron pan was relieved, breathing heavily, and laughter came in the wind. Since the break of the city in Jingzhou, on the way to the west, this group of mobs gathered to flee more and more, but due to the complexity of the composition, although they are traveling together, they always take care of themselves. Since-only this girl is enthusiastic and lively, and has gained a lot of favor from the refugees.

"No thanks, cooking is not for everyone to eat together-after crossing this snow-capped mountain, it should be about to reach the sky? Everyone should work hard for a few days." The girl laughed, her voice was tired, but still full of vigor. The stray refugees were shocked. Xiyan stepped on the snow, moving one step at a time, and the girl walked back here again.

Do these people also want to go to Yunhuang?

"The land contained, between Liuhe, and within the four seas, there is a fairyland called cloud and desolate. According to the sun and the moon, with the stars in the meridian, and with the four o'clock in the record, it should be the age of the elder, born of the gods, and the things are alien, Either heaven or longevity, only saints can pass it through."-The passage in the "Liuheshu·The Great Wilderness Western Classic" outlines a paradise outside the world in just a few dozen words. Just like the abbot of Penglai, Yunhuang has become a fairyland dreamed of by people in Zhongzhou for many years. Compared with the three blue mountains, where the smoke is elusive and difficult to find, the legend of Yunhuang is passed down from old age. There are evidences and even some jewelers claim to have visited that place and brought back treasures that dazzled the people of Zhongzhou. , The pearl of shark 绡, the topaz, the brilliance of the pure colors of fineness, is by no means what the world has.

—So, Yunhuang's existence like a peach blossom garden has been believed by countless people. However, the "Great Wild West Jing" only slightly mentions its location in the west of the Middle-Earth Continent, and it can be reached from the snow-capped mountains of the Western Region through a narrow strip. Legend has it that the trail originated in Yunmeng’s Zee and ended somewhere in the Muztag Snow Mountain.

Based on such vague rumors, people have never stopped traveling long distances to search every trail in the Muztag Snow Mountain. The people of Zhongzhou had a legend that "you can find Taoyuan so as to avoid Qin" in ancient times. When the war in Zhongzhou was raging and the heroes fought against each other, there would be more refugees who had no way to find Taoyuan to avoid disasters.

And these hungry people who are disheveled, how can they not think about how they can reach Tianque even if they can't survive in Zhongzhou?

Just thinking about it, the rustling footsteps suddenly stopped in front of him, and the girl should have been standing in front of him, but she didn't speak. The puppet master grasped Suno tightly with his fingers, but did not raise his eyes to look at her, nor did he speak, but just bowed his head in a daze.

"Can you sit here?" Outside the snow cave, the girl's voice finally asked, but before he could answer, she walked over.

A slightly impatient expression flashed across the corners of his mouth, and he finally spoke with a jerky voice: "Can you give me a kiss?"

"Not afraid, I am not