The heavy golden sand city gate slowly closed behind them, completely shutting out the outside's clear moonlight and the desert's deathly stillness. However, inside the door wasn't the expected darkness or ruin, but presented a mind-disorienting, strange scene.
The walls, ground, and ceiling—all the substance forming this city, those crystal-clear golden sand particles, were self-emitting soft and constant light. Not blinding, yet sufficient to illuminate the path ahead. Only this light carried a warm golden tone, making everything in view seem covered with an ancient and warm filter.
They now stood on an extremely wide street that went straight toward the city's depths. On both sides of the street were buildings with extremely ancient styles, completely different from any current schools. There were round-topped temples carved with huge mandala patterns; square-tipped stone monuments covered with dense Sanskrit; and multi-layered pagoda-like pavilions with upturned eaves and corners, hanging wind chimes that had long stopped swaying. All the buildings, without exception, were constructed from that golden sand particle material, seamlessly unified as if growing out of the sand sea.
However, what was most eerie, even hair-raising, wasn't these peculiar buildings, but the "pedestrians" on the street!
Not far ahead of them, the street was faintly dotted with quite a few moving figures! These people were dressed in various ways—some wore simple rough monk robes, holding prayer beads, their expressions devout and ancient, like ancient ascetic monks; some wore magnificent brocade kasayas, crowns on their heads, holding golden staffs, their manner dignified like accomplished high monks; others didn't wear monk robes but some kind of ancient warrior armor, curved swords at their waists, eyes sharp, seemingly this city's guards...
They either walked alone, or talked in twos and threes, or stopped to look up at the carvings on buildings. Their movements were natural, like living people.
But when Xiao Qi concentrated his gaze, he discovered these "pedestrians'" bodies all carried a strange semi-transparent quality, not solid entities! Their facial features were also somewhat blurred, as if through a layer of water mist. He couldn't hear the specific content of their conversations—only some vague, distant-time-space Buddhist chants and whispers, and footsteps faintly reverberating in the air.
These figures were like imprints frozen in the river of time—remnant shadows left by countless people who had entered this city across different eras!
"Bro... Brother Qi... these people... are they human or ghost?" Zhao Tiezhu's throat was somewhat dry. He subconsciously moved closer to Xiao Qi, clenching his fists. He feared neither heaven nor earth, but this kind of time-space-involving, remnant-soul strange scene still gave him chills. The rabbit spirit also nervously shrank at Xiao Qi's neck, only revealing a pair of eyes to warily survey those transparent figures.
Xiao Qi frowned tightly. His divine consciousness cautiously extended, sweeping over those figures. As expected, the divine consciousness passed through without sensing any soul fluctuation or life breath—only an extremely faint yet spanning ages of attachment and imprint. These indeed weren't living things, nor ghosts, but time fragments recorded by this strange ancient city in its special way, of those who had once visited.
"They're phantoms, or rather... imprints of time." Xiao Qi said in a low voice, "This city seems able to record the figures of those who enter and project them. Be careful—don't touch them, and don't let them affect your mind."
He tried walking forward. Those transparent figures seemed completely unaware of the three's arrival, continuing their own activities. When an ascetic monk-looking phantom walked head-on, Xiao Qi sidestepped to avoid it. The phantom passed through where he had just stood as if he didn't exist, continuing forward, seemingly still silently reciting blurred scriptures.
This feeling was extremely strange, as if they had intruded into a flowing historical scroll spanning countless eras. One second a monk from antiquity walked by, the next second a warrior from the middle ages might be seen patrolling. Turning around again, perhaps an explorer in relatively modern attire could be seen, painfully pondering the Sanskrit on the wall.
Time-space here became chaotic and blurred, the boundary between past and present broken. The air was permeated with an indescribable vicissitude and sorrow, as if silently recounting the countless rises and falls, comings and goings this ancient city had witnessed.
They walked carefully inward along the main street, their feet on the golden sand ground soft yet solid. Most of the buildings on both sides were empty. Through doorways without door panels, one could see inside also had some frozen phantoms—meditating, chanting scriptures, or wiping ritual implements.
"Brother Qi, look over there!" Zhao Tiezhu suddenly pointed at a particularly magnificent round-topped building on the street's right side. That building's door was open, the internal space enormous. In the center seemed to be a huge altar. And now, around the altar, dozens of much more solid monk phantoms were gathered! They sat cross-legged, palms pressed together. The scripture sounds from their mouths were also much clearer than outside. A solemn yet somewhat tragic and resolute aura emanated from there.
And at that altar's center, one could vaguely see a blurred, faintly golden-glowing object outline. Looking at the shape, it seemed to be a book, or... a jade slip?
Xiao Qi's gaze concentrated. The object at the altar center, and the direction those solid monk phantoms were worshipping toward, was very likely this ancient city's true core—or rather, the most probable place where that "Indestructible Diamond Body" transmission was stored!
"Let's go take a look." Xiao Qi said quietly, changing direction toward that round-topped building.
The closer to that building, the stronger the time-disordered feeling became. They even saw some cultivator phantoms wearing clearly non-Buddhist, various styles also trying to approach that building. But often after approaching a certain range, their figures would shatter and dissipate like foam, as if repelled or purified by some power. Only those phantoms left by people possessing Buddhist aura, or pure nature, or those who had passed trials (like pushing open the city gate), could exist relatively stably in that area.
This Golden Sand City wasn't only screening power, but also seemed to be screening "destiny" and "nature."
Xiao Qi's group of three step by step approached that open magnificent door. Inside, the chanting sounds grew clearer, and that tragic and resolute will also surged like a tide, impacting their minds. As if behind that door lay not only supreme transmission, but also sealed a great secret concerning Buddhist rise and fall that had been buried for ages.
Could they pass through this fog of time to reach the transmission's core? And on that altar, what scene would be awaiting them?