Chapter 18 The Phantom of the Swamp

"Baby, you are cruel enough! How dare you ruin my good deeds? I can't forgive you!" The voice was full of resentment.

"Huh", a cloud of black fog rushed towards him. The smell made Locke's stomach roll and he couldn't help vomiting. In a hurry, he swaned the wand in his hand and split it head-on. The black fog suddenly dispersed.

"Doll, are you so arrogant? Why don't you know how to respect the old man?"

The scattered black fog condensed again, getting thicker and thicker, and finally condensed into a human figure.

Locke shouted, "What kind of monster are you?"

"Am I a monster? Hey hey!" The shadow smiled strangely again, "The smelly doll, why don't you kneel down and beg for mercy? Grandpa, I'm the patron saint of the dark abyss - Tartas!"

"What tower? What? I haven't heard of it. How can a god like you live in this stinky ditch? What would it be if you were not a monster? He also said that he was a god. Who would believe it? You can fight it!" With that, Locke swun up the wand in his hand and shouted again.

The shadow was scattered, but soon recondensed into a human shape.

"Woo-woo, am I really forgotten by the world? Whoo-hoo..." The shadow actually cried like a child, and cried very sadly.

At this moment, a miracle appeared, and the color of the shadow began to lighten, and gradually a human face appeared. It was an old man with beard, black curly hair and black robe.

Locke was stunned. He stood there and watched in a daze, because the old man was kind-looking and did not look like a monster.

"Hahaha... The seal has been lifted, and I'm finally free!" The old man danced like a child and cheered. He grabbed Locke's hand and shouted excitedly, "Doll, you saved me! You saved me!" The old man's eyes were full of tears, and he didn't know whether he was happy or excited.

Locke's hand was caught in pain. He quickly pulled out his hand, saluted and said, "Old man, can you tell me what's going on?"

"Look..."

The old man pointed to the swamp, and Locke was surprised to find that the original stinky swamp had turned into a clear river.

"What...what's going on?" Locke glanced around, and he was even more surprised. There was a green grass around him, and the bodies of the human beings who had just been killed by him angrily were also gone.

Is it an illusion? Am I dreaming? Locke rubbed his eyes and pinched himself hard, which showed that he was not dreaming, and everything was true.

"Baby, listen to me in detail."

It turns out that this river is called Huangquan, which is a channel connecting the underworld and the sun. It is reserved for those psychics who travel between the sun and the underworld to fulfill their wishes for the dead. It grows endlessly, passing through the underworld from the sun and flowing directly into the dark abyss.

20,000 years ago, God created man. Since human beings came, they have not only drunk the water of Huangquan, but also spoiled it arbitrarily. At first, they washed clothes, vegetables and bathed in Huangquan. Gradually, they began to discard some garbage into the river, and then threw away the bodies of dead animals and plants... Finally, the water quality of Huangquan was completely polluted and rapidly deteriorated.

Tartas, the god of the underworld living in the dark abyss, was also eroded. First, he lost all his hair, and then his whole body had abscesses, which was painful and itchy. Tartas couldn't stand it anymore, so he ran to heaven and Zeus theory. In front of the gods, Tartus accused Zeus of creating evil human beings. Zeus felt ashamed, so he exiled Tartus to Huangquan and cursed him: unless the water of Huangquan returned to its original state, Tartas could never return to the underworld as a god.

In this way, Tartas was exiled to Huangquan. Human beings not only do not know how to repent, but also become more and more serious, and even defecate in the Yellow Spring. Tartas couldn't stand it anymore and finally poured out, flooding the village and countryside. People were afraid of Tartas, so they made these unreasonable and obscene tricks in the hope of God's understanding.

It turned out to be like this. Locke increasingly despises human beings. Now, the word "human" in his heart makes him as disgusting as a maggot. However, human blood is also flowing in my body, because the noble, gentle and beautiful mother is human.

Rock roared in pain: "Why? Why is it like this?"

Taltas smiled and said, "Doll, human beings are hateful, but most of them are kind, and some human beings have a golden heart."

"Gold-like heart?" Locke looked at the old man doubtfully.

"Yes, human beings are the most selfless. When you need it, they will always lend a helping hand and do their best to help you. Even if they give their lives, they will not hesitate to do so. This is the most essential difference between human beings and other creatures.

Locke still didn't understand. He felt that these truths were very profound, and they seemed to be far away from him.

"You can only approach them, understand them, and feel them with your heart, then one day you will understand." Tartas took a meaningful look at Locke and said, "Thank you for helping me get out of trouble. As long as you reduce killing, you will also have a golden heart. I should also go. I'm going back to the dark abyss to have a good sleep.

Taltas was about to get up and leave when he suddenly caught a glimpse of the wand in Locke's hand. He grabbed the wand in his hand and said, "Baby, you are lucky. How can you get it?"

Ah? Ah! It's like this..." Locke came to his senses. He briefly described what happened when he got the magic wand.

"Oh, it seems that you are really predestined to it." Tartas twisted his beard, thought for a moment, and said, "It's a pity that you used such a rare treasure as a stick!"

Thinking that he had just swayed his wand like a stick, Locke blushed. He saluted again and said, "I hope the old man can give me some advice."

"This snake and dragon stick is the most precious treasure in heaven and earth. Pressing the faucet can become bigger, holding down the snake's head can become smaller, the sky can attract hurricanes as generals, and the ground can drive tens of thousands of trees as pawns. Well, I'll teach you a set of spells. You have to remember it in your heart. When you need it, you just need to recite the spells and it will be as you wish.

"That's great!" Locke couldn't help but be overjoyed.

"When you invite a hurricane, you have to lift it to the air, head and tail, and meditate in your mouth, 'the vast sky wind, listen to my orders, the sky dragon will appear', and it will call the hurricane to be at your mercy; when driving thousands of trees, you have to turn it upside down, insert it into the soil, and meditting 'rooted in the fertile soil, only I am, the earth snake appears' It will attract tens of thousands of trees, and you can drive them.

Soon, Locke memorizes the spell. After thanking him, he saw Tartas leave until he disappeared into the Yellow Spring.

At this moment, Locke's tense nerves suddenly loosened down. He was wondering if he was too obsessed with hatred to distinguish between right and wrong and good and evil. It turned out that the gods were not as bad as he thought. So what about human beings, is it just like what Tartus said?

Locke lay down on the shore of Huangquan and enjoyed the harmony and beauty of nature. The mountain wind at the end of Qingping blew leisurely, like a gentle hand, brushing his bright face, and even the river was touched with a smile. Locke fell asleep in the arms of the wind.

When Locke woke up, another night fell. He rubbed his sleepy eyes, stretched out a long lazy waist, then got up and walked to Huangquan, bent down, picked up a handful of cool and sweet spring water, moistened his throat, and washed his face. Locke straightened up and looked into the distance for a while. It seems that there is still a long way to go.

Spread your wings and fly far away. Locke embarked on another unknown journey.