radicalducati Page 254
Page 254
[Thus, some cruel lords would secretly hunt down bards, and it was in this environment that Drizzt learned to dig tunnels to escape. Over time, his digging skills became quite sophisticated.]
You shook your head helplessly, climbed up to his dwelling, and glanced inside. The rough cave walls were densely covered with writings reminiscent of his memories, and the dwelling was filled with various odds and ends, all seemingly etched with stories of his encounters in the Bone Spirit Realm.
Seeing this, Bluebell immediately emerged from your body. She looked around, a nostalgic expression on her face, and murmured, "I remember this scene..."
[Without lingering in the cave for long, you took Bluebell and followed Drizzt out. He said that the plains outside were the ones you'd seen from the cliff earlier.]
[As he walked, he glanced curiously at Bluebell floating beside you and asked, "Respected Mage, is this your wife? I've seen combinations of spirits and skeletons before, but you two seem much closer."]
"Close? You shook your head helplessly. Blue Bell, as a soul form you created with your talent, is naturally bound to your own soul. Besides, you've gone through so much together, covering dozens of Journey to the West's journeys. Even if she were Tang Sanzang, it wouldn't be strange for her to feel close to you, her white dragon horse."
"He is, and is now... my captain," Bluebell suddenly said. She glanced at Trist, put away her soul-powered longbow, and bent down to sit on your shoulder.
You scratched your head, not surprised that she was sitting on your shoulders, but the passageway wasn't very high, and you were worried that Bluebell might bump her head... Wait, spirits shouldn't bump their heads, right?
"I see, my apologies," Drizzt said, his finger bone continuing to carve words into a rock slab. The slab had a round hole in the center, perfectly fitting his severed arm bone, which seemed perfectly convenient.
"However, I'm still a little curious..." He paused on the rock slab with his finger bones, coughed somewhat awkwardly, and said:
“This… Miss Soul Spirit, as you know, as a bard, I love hearing adventure stories between men and women. Even if they aren't lovers, it's romantic enough for people like us. But since coming to the Bone Spirit Realm, I've rarely seen such scenes. The people here have extraordinary willpower, but they lack the bittersweet emotions that belong to humans…”
[You suddenly couldn't hold back anymore. No wonder he's a bard; even in different worlds and eras, he still seems to love love stories... True to stereotypes!]
You raised your hand, helplessly trying to stop him from asking questions, telling him that Lanling's memories might not be clear enough to answer them. After all, although you and Lanling had occasionally interacted along the way, she was usually quiet and indifferent, seemingly uncaring towards others, only revealing a fierce killing intent on her face when shooting arrows and killing enemies.
[As soon as you raised your hand, Lanling hummed in response and opened her mouth to say in a low voice, "...When I awoke from my chaotic slumber, the captain was standing in front of me. My consciousness was still very hazy at the time, but I remember the smile on his face, which was exceptionally bright..."]
You lowered your hand in a daze, the slow narration of Bluebell and the rapid descriptions of Tristana reaching your ears. Her memories of you seemed completely unexpected; her voice was steady and firm, as if she wanted to record all her feelings for you.
You turn your head to look at Bluebell, who is pressed against you, her head bowed in quiet demeanor. Her voice is deep and calm, yet carries a subtle gentleness, like a bluebell hidden among fallen leaves, destined one day to carpet the earth with a velvety blue-purple blanket.
"Alright, let me hear your thoughts on this long journey..." you murmured to yourself, walking at a steady pace towards the light at the distant cave entrance. Bluebell, who hadn't yet erased the image of Tang Keke from your mind, suddenly realized as you listened that Bluebell wasn't actually Tang Keke.
She once carried the memories of her departed teammates, wandering through a deserted town for over a dozen nights in the white moonlight. She was patient and quiet, but this didn't mean she wasn't sensitive. On the contrary, she was perhaps the most sensitive of her former teammates, which is why she persisted so persistently.
As you listen to Bluebell recount the stories she's shared watching you from horseback, you seem to sense her feelings—a tender affection filled with gratitude and honor for the present. She watches over you, Seren, and Haiyue'er with a secret and fervent devotion, vowing to protect you all with the life she received from you.
The passageway was short. Drizzt put away the rock slab, forcefully pushed aside the half-closed boulder at the cave entrance, and looked at you as you stepped back into the light. After a moment's thought, he said, "I will cherish this story. If I meet others again, I will sing your story in poetry. I believe it will leave a lasting impression."
You sensed a strange smirk in Drizzt's tone, as if he had seen through something. You scratched your head, glanced at him, and asked, "Lord Drizzt, why don't you come with us to climb Mount Sankturee?"
"No need," he said decisively, refusing your invitation and pointing to the rock slab he carried with him.
"I have so many stories to tell. This land is so vast; it cannot be without bards. This is my birthright."
"Alright... then best of luck." You thought for a moment, then took out a small gray flag and let him write his name. He was quite happy to write his name, but regretted that there wasn't much space left to write any blessing poem.
You put away the little gray flag, paused, gave him a chivalrous salute, and said with a smile, "Then we're off."
"Farewell, my chance encounter with the mage." Drizzt returned your salute with a chivalrous bow, then laughed and began patting the stone slabs on his body, humming a song in varying pitches and rhythms.
You transformed into your horse form and bone wings, took one last look at him, and galloped away with Bluebell towards the distant mountain shadows.
Behind you, the bard's song drifts indistinctly:
"Flowing along the long river of life and death,
A gray journey of bones and spirit.
The cries of strange birds, the howls of demonic wolves,
The Soul Maiden's sharp arrows, the centaur's galloping speed.
The dead die to save the living, and the living are resurrected from the dead.
Life and death are predestined and intertwined; love and resentment need not be clearly explained…
Chapter 259 Obstacles on the Smooth Road
After bidding farewell to the bard Drizzt, you begin your journey once more across the final plain on your way to Mount Sankturee.
Although your conversation with Drizzt lasted only a short time while traversing the tunnel, his experiences and words left a deep impression on you. You were initially skeptical of the judgment of a half-skeleton, but now you're beginning to take this final stretch of the journey more seriously.
You control your body, no longer leaping and landing with exaggerated movements. With the assistance of Saileng, you almost resemble a marathon runner; your center of gravity no longer shifts violently vertically, and you run straight forward, leaving only a series of soft footsteps.
[Bluebell remained calm and alert, her eyes scanning every detail of the path. This time, you finally noticed; it seemed your image was constantly lurking in her gaze.]
Each time you glance back, you see your reflection in the corner of her eye as she surveys all directions, which brings you a sense of peace. Meanwhile, the cliffs you came from temporarily obscure the outline of Xinghai Ri, preventing you from seeing the rising planet, and your spirit gains a brief respite.
Before long, you arrived at the first rift valley.
As you can see from the cliff, several ravines, arranged diagonally like claw marks, appear one after another on the path ahead. Each ravine is ten or twenty meters wide. Although crossing them wouldn't be difficult for you, the sudden appearance of so many ravines gives you an inexplicable sense of dread.
You walked along the rift valley for a while, observing the overall shape of the first rift valley.
The rift valley has a structure that is wider at the top and narrower at the bottom. You estimated its depth by dropping stones, and it's about a hundred meters deep. Roughly speaking, one rift valley is about three or four hundred meters long, and other rift valleys of similar length, width, and depth are scattered across this plain, making it look scarred and battered.
You stroked your chin, deciding to leap across the ravines one after another with the aid of your bone wings. This would save time compared to taking a detour, and wouldn't consume as much of your stamina.
You activated your bone wings, pushed off with your feet, and lightly leaped across the first ravine.
You heard the sound of falling rocks. You glanced back but saw nothing unusual. After a moment's thought, you ran straight to the second rift.
The second rift was quite similar to the first. Without much observation, you moved and leaped across it.
The sound of falling gravel rang out again, this time much louder, and Bluebell's movement of raising her bow on horseback proved it wasn't your imagination. You frowned slightly, a hint of doubt in your mind. You crouched down and waited a moment, but still found nothing amiss.
With a hint of wariness, you straightened up, about to continue running towards the third rift, when suddenly you heard a hurried, breathy call behind you.
……
"Pfft! Look over here, be quiet!"
A strange sound came from behind him, and Latis quickly turned around to look at the head that had emerged from the edge of the second rift.
"Are you trying to kill yourself by running around like this?"
The head didn't look human; it had bird-like features and resembled the bird-man skeleton Latis encountered in the talent bet.
Latis scratched his head, approached the rift, and found that it indeed had a pair of bone wings, making it a bird-man variant.
"Speak with your head down!"
The birdman waved its hand; its bony wings were attached to its arm, so the bony wings would sway when it waved.
Seeing Latis crouch down, it cautiously looked down into the rift, gripped the edge of the rift with its claws, propped itself up, and whispered:
"There are many strange birds in the rift valley that will snatch people away. You just jumped over them like that?! Get out of the rift valley area and go around it!"
"What strange bird?" Latis recalled the strange bird and the demon wolf mentioned by the bard. He pondered for a moment and asked:
"Which rift valley harbors the strange bird?"
"Hey, just do as I say!" the birdman muttered, reaching his hand down and whispering.
"If it weren't for the fact that you're also a different species, I wouldn't bother with you at all..."
Having said that, it pried two stones off the mountainside, weighed them in its hands, and without any warning, instantly threw one stone into the distant sky. Then it raised its head, and after that stone began to fall, it threw out the second stone.
boom!
The two stones collided suddenly in mid-air and exploded with a loud bang.
"This is……"
Latis glanced hesitantly at the sky, when suddenly a series of faint, rustling noises arose, as if countless rats were crawling inside the wall, sending chills down one's spine.
Bluebell's deep blue hair suddenly stood on end. She abruptly unleashed her soul power, instantly condensing five arrows onto her soul power longbow. She turned to look at the sky and raised the longbow.
"Wait, wait, wait! No!" The birdman exclaimed in alarm. He suddenly flipped over and rolled to Latis's side, hooking his shoulder and pinning him down. His bone wings spread out behind him, covering Latis and Bluebell.
Whoosh!
Through the gaps in the birdman's skeletal wings, Latis saw seven or eight strange, dark gray birds suddenly rise from the distant rift, violently tearing the falling stones to pieces with their sharp claws, not even sparing the shattered fragments.
"hiss……"
Latis gasped and quickly hugged Bluebell to prevent her from unconsciously provoking the flock of strange birds.
"Quack quack..."
A strange, crow-like cry rang out like a death knell. The flock of gray-black birds circled above the rift for a long time before swooping back into the rift like a crashing plane.
Latis remained motionless for a moment before peering out into the rift with a tense expression and holding his breath.
On the dark cliff face, the gray-black stone surface trembled eerily, as if some unknown, strange insects were piled up and wriggling on it. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be strange birds that had almost blended into their surroundings, moving and adjusting their positions. This bizarre scene lasted for several minutes before they stopped moving and fell still.
As Latis stared at the seemingly unremarkable cliff face, a bead of cold sweat slowly rolled down his forehead.
"did you see it?"
The bird-man slowly retracted its bone wings, and it involuntarily softened its movements as well. After confirming that the strange birds had all calmed down, it breathed a sigh of relief and said:
"It's only because my bones are hollow and I move silently that I dared to stay in the rift. Dude, with your size, I thought that mammoth monster was starting to toss the pot again... Oh, the mammoth monster was a kind of creature from my previous world..."
Latis looked embarrassed, chuckled awkwardly twice, and asked in a low voice:
"No, was I that loud? I tried to be as quiet as possible..."
"Please, we make a living by listening."
The birdman shook his head and said:
"In other words, your running frequency is quite consistent. At first, I thought it was some kind of mountain vibration, until your footsteps got closer and I realized it was a person. But your footsteps are definitely unmistakable... Let's talk as we walk."
It flapped its bone wings and flew low into the air. Seeing Latis flapping its wings and flying close to the ground in such a convincing manner, it couldn't help but exclaim in amazement:
"Dude, how on earth did you fly? I'm so light and frail, and I can barely fly. You're the size of a mammoth, how can you even fly?"
"Uh..." Latis, feeling the soul power output from the girls within him, scratched his head and said, "Actually, it's using soul power..."
"what?"
The birdman turned to look at Latis, scrutinized his horse-like body and bone wings beneath his bone armor for a moment, gasped, and asked:
"Are you human?"
“Yes.” Latis nodded.
"..." The birdman was silent for a moment, then murmured, "Then you really might be able to climb Mount Sankturai."
"What do you mean by 'it's really possible'?" Latis asked, frowning slightly.
"What I mean by 'it's really possible' is that this is the first time I've met someone like you, and I feel there's some hope."
The birdman sighed and said: