Chapter 153: The Secret of Tuoshe Ancient Temple

Teilde enjoyed the momentary perk of cooperating with a beauty, then looked at Sakuragi Mie and asked, "Miss Mie, are you certain that the ruins of the Tuoshe Ancient Temple are truly connected to Lop Nur?"

Sakuragi Mie glanced at him and answered with a question: "Could it be that Teilde-kun does not trust me?"

Teilde laughed heartily and said, "I trust you, I trust you completely. I have always had faith in the words of a beauty. I hope that for our very first collaboration, both the process and the outcome will be thoroughly pleasant."

"Of course. I have admired Teilde-kun for a long time, and I truly wished to witness your might firsthand."

"Good, good. You shall witness it."

Just as they were speaking, a helicopter hovered in the midair not far behind them, rotors roaring. Upon seeing this, Teilde flashed a meaningful smile and immediately looked at Sakuragi Mie. "Miss Mie, it seems we must wait for those friends of ours in the back."

"Ah, let us wait for them then." Sakuragi Mie smiled and nodded.

The helicopter hovered in the air, still a vertical distance of at least a dozen meters above the desert floor.

However, Wu Qitian, Su Xiaoli, Jiang Kun, and Chen Yufeng all jumped directly down from it. Given their strength, this was naturally of no consequence.

"You god-forsaken people, you've finally arrived!" Upon seeing his teammates catch up, Meng Tao felt a surge of excitement and quickly began to air his grievances. "My brothers, you've finally come! If you had arrived any later, I would have been buried alive by the yellow sands!"

"Mm." Wu Qitian maintained his usual aloof demeanor, merely nodding at him slightly. "You've worked hard."

"Come, Taotao, such a good boy. Here's a lollipop for you." Su Xiaoli immediately offered him a lollipop with a charming smile as a reward, which utterly delighted Meng Tao.

"I was waiting precisely for this perk! Hehe, all that hard work wasn't for nothing after all."

Jiang Kun simply hoisted him up and placed him on his shoulder. "Come on, little Tao, big brother will carry you."

Calling it carrying was actually hoisting him directly onto his wide, muscular shoulders.

Meng Tao was not even quite one meter seven in height, so being carried on the shoulders of a massive hulk like Jiang Kun was little different from an adult carrying a child. With Jiang Kun's immense size and extraordinary strength, bearing such a small weight gave him absolutely no sense of burden.

Meng Tao was more than happy to sit on his shoulder without even needing to walk—how much stamina that saved! As for that camel, they simply bade it farewell, returning it to freedom and letting it frolic freely in the desert.

Feeling the camaraderie of his teammates, Meng Tao had initially harbored a minor grievance, but now he was nothing but joyous.

Seeing the fresh face of Chen Yufeng, Meng Tao immediately extended a hand with a warm smile to greet him: "Comrade, you must be the new addition. I'm Meng Tao. How do you do?"

"Hello, I am Chen Yufeng." Chen Yufeng smiled and shook his hand, establishing their acquaintance.

The group then walked and chatted along the way.

After taking a few steps, Wu Qitian looked at Meng Tao and asked, "You mentioned that the ruins of the Tuoshe relics are heavily related to Lop Nur. What is the story behind that?"

"Well, it's like this. I happened to overhear Sakuragi Mie's deduction, and it actually sounded quite reasonable."

"Then hurry up and tell us about it."

"Right, okay." Meng Tao nodded, swept his gaze over them, and began: "This actually ties into a rather poignant legend..."

Legend has it that a long, long time ago, there was a young man of royal birth named Lopnur. He was handsome, dashing, and possessed a majestic bearing.

Lopnur was originally slated to inherit the throne, but he was unwilling. He wanted to cross the desert to study song and dance in Kucha.

When he reached the Tarim Basin, he lost his way. Hunger and exhaustion caused him to collapse onto the ground, and on the brink of death, he was rescued by Milan, the daughter of the God of Wind.

This maiden, Milan, was innocent, lovely, beautiful, and kind. The two fell in love at first sight, deeply infatuated and inseparable.

When the God of Wind discovered that his daughter had fallen in love with a mortal, he flew into a rage. He blinded Lopnur's eyes, broke Milan's legs, and cast them onto the barren wastes of the east and west respectively, condemning them never to see each other again for the rest of their lives.

Separated by the ends of the earth and unable to meet, their longing was like a blade, every stroke driving them toward old age.

The beautiful maiden Milan yearned for her lover day and night. In a single night, her raven hair turned completely white, and her flowing tears gathered into a river, merging into a crystal-clear lake.

This was the legendary Lop Nur.

Lop Nur centuries and millennia ago boasted picturesque lakes and mountains, azure waters and blue skies, with numerous rivers flowing into it in an unbroken chain, resembling pearls scattered across the earth.

It was said that those were the affectionate teardrops of the maiden.

Later, the maiden Milan fell gravely ill from her relentless longing and her soul departed for the heavens. In that single night, the colors of heaven and earth shifted, the lake dried up, and the beautiful Lop Nur vanished forever, leaving behind only this vast expanse of silver sand.

Legend has it that this silver sand blanketing the world was transformed from the white hair of the maiden.

This allusion is known as "Tears Like Milan, White Hair and Silver Sand."

Having finished the legend, Meng Tao looked at them and asked, "You must have all heard of this poignant love story about Lop Nur, right?"

"Yes, we heard it long ago. So touching," Su Xiaoli sighed with a charming smile.

Everyone present had indeed heard of it, and anyone with ordinary knowledge of Lop Nur knew this poignant tale, which could be found with a simple online search.

Yet everyone had merely regarded it as a sorrowful and touching love story.

Who could possibly know whether it was true or false?

"Hehe, here comes the crucial part." Meng Tao, sitting on Jiang Kun's shoulder, wore a triumphant smile as he looked down at them and spoke with deliberate mystery: "Everyone knows this story, but no one knows that the Ancient Buddha Tuoshe also had another title. Do you know what title that was?"

"Stop keeping us in suspense and just tell us." Wu Qitian glanced at him, looking somewhat impatient.

Meng Tao pursed his lips, daring no longer to put on a mysterious facade, and spat out two words:

"The Blind Monk."

"The Blind Monk? Ancient Buddha Tuoshe was a blind monk?"

Hearing this, Wu Qitian and the others all wore expressions of profound shock. This piece of news was rather explosive, as it was genuinely a secret unknown to them.

At the same time, a realization seemed to dawn upon them:

"You mean to say that Ancient Buddha Tuoshe is none other than that Lopnur from the story?"

"Yes, yes, yes, precisely so." Meng Tao nodded repeatedly and explained earnestly:

I overheard this from the conversation between Sakuragi Mie and Teilde. The ancient secret map in her possession indicates that the ruins of the Tuoshe Ancient Temple are located right here in the Taklamakan Desert region.

It is mentioned upon it that Ancient Buddha Tuoshe was a blind monk.

And Lop Nur was transformed from the tears of Milan.

Therefore, they deduce that back then, Lopnur did not die after encountering some miraculous destiny; instead, he became a Buddhist monk, and after countless eons, he finally attained enlightenment and Buddhahood, founding the Tuoshe Ancient Temple.

Because of his yearning for Milan, the location is extremely likely to be in the vicinity of Lop Nur.

There is another point that supports their deduction: according to many explorers who have come here, the sounds of scripture chanting and wooden fish percussion have been heard during the night.

Viewed in this light, the ruins of the Tuoshe Ancient Temple indeed have a very high probability of being deeply connected to Lop Nur.

Wu Qitian and the others found this reasoning to be quite sound and well-supported upon hearing it.

However, since even the truth or falsehood of that legend was impossible to verify—perhaps it was merely a sorrowful love story fabricated by someone to elicit tears—they still dared not believe it completely.

Nevertheless, since they had already arrived, they naturally had to investigate for themselves...