The 21st pavilion is not far away.
Ah Mei vomited a lot of blood on the road, along with a lot of internal organs.
Lu Yingjiu went to help her.
She showed a pale face and said: "Every time I tried to leave the village, the result was the same. Before I could even walk out, I started coughing up blood until I completely passed out."
She coughed a few times and covered her mouth with her hands, but failed to stop the blood from flowing out.
She wiped it with a tissue, which was instantly stained red.
She said, "Maybe this is my fate. I will never be able to leave this village. If I really faint...if conditions permit, can you carry me out?" She laughed at herself, "If I turn into a spider, you may just carry me out."
Lu Yingjiu said: "If I forcefully take you out, you will probably die right away."
"It's okay." Ah Mei said, "It's okay."
So Lu Yingjiu nodded and agreed to her request.
Facing the wind and rain, everyone's faces were covered with cold rain, and when they were so tired that their legs were almost trembling, they saw it on the dark mountain top.
It was badly dilapidated. One of the pillars had completely collapsed, and the two corners of the pavilion had rolled away to who knows where and sprouted.
From the map, it only takes two to three kilometers to reach the main road. It is the closest place to the main road on the entire mountain worship route, and the road down the mountain is relatively flat and easy to walk, which is their only choice.
Everyone just breathed a sigh of relief when they suddenly heard Aaron exclaim.
When they looked over, they saw Aaron jumping up and down as if he had a stroke, clapping his hands on his face.
A few seconds later, a black object fell from his trouser leg and was stepped on by him to death.
When they looked closely, they found it was actually a small spider!
It is impossible to tell what species the spider is, and judging from its appearance, it seems to be relatively harmless.
But on the way to the mountain, they didn't see any living creatures except big mosquitoes and a few birds, let alone spiders - this was certainly a good sign.
Now the spider has made a comeback, even though there is only one of them, everyone is on edge.
"You weren't bitten, were you?" Lu Yingjiu walked up quickly.
Aaron also hurriedly tried to take off his pants.
His pants were tight to begin with, and after being soaked by the rain, they stuck to his skin. He took great effort to pull them up a bit. Everyone came over and checked them carefully, and when they confirmed that he had not been bitten, they all breathed a sigh of relief.
"Let's go down the mountain quickly." Lu Yingjiu said.
He looked down the mountain road, and when the flashlight shone there, he saw only endless darkness.
As long as you can hold on for these two or three kilometers, you will win.
No one dared to waste even a second and took a step forward.
We hadn't walked down the road for five minutes when someone suddenly said, "Hey, why do I seem to hear a strange sound?"
When he said this, everyone was terrified and shone their flashlights around, seeing enemies everywhere.
In fact, Lu Yingjiu also noticed something unusual.
As soon as you leave the route of worshipping the mountain, the negative energy slowly begins to gather.
The range of this negative energy was very large, almost covering the entire mountain, like a heavy dark cloud swirling above their heads.
If the Spider Mother had already merged with Wanming Mountain, then what awaited them would surely be a violent attack.
Thanks to Zhang Nianyun's notes, they learned the method of "setting fire to the mountain".
Lu Yingjiu looked towards the middle of the team.
Ye Feng still insisted on walking forward, without saying a word and without falling behind.
It's just that his eyes were very dazed and he was completely absent-minded.
Lu Yingjiu knew what Ye Feng was thinking.
He was thinking that the entire village that turned into spiders and all the missing and dead people in the sanatorium were the price paid for him alone.
They were still analyzing how deep Ye Deyong's feelings for Zhang Nianyun were, and whether it was worth him betraying the principles of an exorcist and the morals of a human being to do such a thing.
Ye Feng said at the time that if he were Zhang Nianyun, he would not want to be resurrected at all.
In the end, in a sense, his words came true.
Looking back, Lu Yingjiu had actually discovered the clues very early on.
First, Ye Feng's memory of things before he was six years old was very vague.
At the sanatorium, they found a group photo of the 99-year-olds worshipping the mountain. Ye Feng had obviously participated in it, but he had no recollection of it.
Second, the ashes in the little crocodile toy.
He was a little confused at the time. If it was really Zhang Nianyun's ashes, why were they placed in Ye Feng's toys
Ye Deyong must know that Ye Feng loved the little crocodile the most, and he knew how sad Ye Feng would be if it disappeared.
Even if Ye Deyong wanted Ye Feng to return to the village after a while and find out the truth, it was not reasonable for him to hide the toys to hold the ashes.
If that was Ye Feng's ashes...
Ye Deyong probably wanted Ye Feng to hug his favorite toy for the last time.
Ye Feng was right.
Ye Deyong had a strange temper, but he really treated him as his own grandson.
The past, separated by nearly twenty years, slowly unfolded in front of them with a stale taste. The old man couldn't say the words to express his deep love, but his feelings were finally conveyed to Ye Feng in this twisted and crazy way.
It's like an old wound.
They tested it cautiously, and finally at this moment, they tore off the entire blood scab.
Revealing the truth that it was extremely painful underneath.
If it were anyone else, I'm afraid they wouldn't be able to remain calm in the current situation.
It was incredible that Ye Feng did not collapse on the spot and was able to insist on going with them.
But the situation is urgent now. Time does not allow Ye Feng to collapse, nor does it allow Lu Yingjiu to comfort him.
Lu Yingjiu walked to the middle of the team, patted Ye Feng on the shoulder, and said, "Get the talisman paper ready. If anything happens, just start burning the mountain."
Ye Feng nodded lightly.
A drop of rain rolled down from his eyelashes and shattered on the stone steps.
I walked like this for five minutes.
After going down a steep slope, Lu Yingjiu turned back suddenly and squinted his eyes slightly—
It was too dark, and the light from the flashlight and the talisman paper was almost swallowed by the rain, so visibility was very low. But when the light shone across the hillside, you could vaguely see living things moving among the leaves and long grass.
He suddenly became distracted at this moment, and his vision became extremely clear in the darkness.
He saw clearly that those living creatures were clearly countless spiders!
After a whole day, they finally caught up with us, surging and rushing towards us like a terrible tsunami.
Lu Yingjiu shouted: "Ye Feng!"
Ye Feng turned his head and said thank you!
A brilliant light burst out from the rain, and a long snake with blazing flames appeared out of thin air above the trees.
It was sturdy and powerful, more than ten meters long, yet surprisingly flexible and light, able to cruise more than twenty meters among the trees in an instant!
Normally, it was difficult to start a fire even in the mountains on a rainy day. However, the power of the ghost should not be underestimated. Wherever it passed, a raging fire was set ablaze.
The wave of spiders was stopped in an instant.
Lu Yingjiu saw that countless spiders had no time to dodge the flames and were roasted so hard that their bodies curled up into a ball and quickly turned into charcoal. However, more spiders rushed over.
He slapped a man who was standing there in a daze: "Run!"
When everyone reacted at this time, they didn't even have time to scream, they just ran down the mountain!
The mountain road was pitch black, and Lu Yingjiu threw out more than a dozen pieces of talisman paper. The talisman paper glowed brightly, burning into small fireballs, floating above the crowd to guide the way - all thanks to the talisman paper, they did not panic and lost their way.
The Li snake roams freely in the mountains.
Due to the threat of fire, the Ye family rarely let it wreak havoc like this even if they asked for permission. This forest became its best place, not to mention that it was furious with the spiders.
In the blink of an eye, flames shot up into the sky.
Lu Yingjiu followed the crowd and felt that his shadow was being stretched longer and longer by the light behind him, and a strong wind with a scorching heat rushed towards them.
The flames burned through the night and burned a large hole in the sky.
Half the sky turned red, and raindrops fell, blending with the flames.
After a few seconds, they heard an eerie buzzing sound.
The sound resonated with the earth, and the whole mountain was shaking, just like an earthquake.
At first, everyone didn't know what the sound was, they just felt fear instinctively.
As the fire spread and the noise grew louder, they could hear clearly:
It turned out to be a low roar.
It sounded like a human voice, but also like the roar of a wild beast, mixed with the rustling sound of a spider crawling.
This mountain range, or rather the incarnation of the Spider Mother, fell into rage.
When the spiders heard the sound, they sped up a bit.
They rushed towards the flames without fear of life or death. When one group died, another group quickly took their place. The layers of corpses piled higher and higher, and they killed the Li Snake with a strong negative energy.
After a certain moment, Ye Feng groaned.
Lu Yingjiu looked back.
There were two big spiders hanging on the snake's tongue.
The flames burned them with a sizzling sound, and they soon died, but before they died, their fangs had already pierced the bodies of the snakes.
The power of the invited ghost is closely related to the inviter.
Ye Feng was already in a bad state, and even if he tried hard to suppress his emotions, it would definitely affect Li She.
The situation is not good. If it continues like this, there will always be spiders that break through the wildfire's defenses.
Lu Yingjiu looked forward and could see the main road in the distance.
A car had just passed by on that road, and perhaps because it saw the wildfire, it was driving very fast.
And in the distance was a small town. Thanks to the power behind him, he could see the people in the town clearly - they had all come out, many of them were still in pajamas, facing the raging wildfire, they were either talking with concern, or taking out their mobile phones to take pictures and record videos, and some were constantly calling the police.
Some people have already boarded the car and prepared to seek refuge far away.
No matter what, hope is right around the corner.
The Spider Mother's control range is limited to this mountain range. As long as you get out, you will be almost safe, if not absolutely.
At this moment, the mountain roared again!!
This time the whole mountain was shaking, and everyone was unsteady on their feet, and several of them fell down at once.
Lu Yingjiu helped them up, and Jing Xian also came to help him. He lifted the people up gently and put them back on the ground safely.
After this roar, the spiders went crazy.
They were stacked together to form a wave that was five or six meters high!
This time they broke through the fire line and rushed straight towards the crowd.
Someone let out a desperate whimper, his legs went limp, and he almost fell to the ground.
The road is turning to welcome the wine.
The colors all around were rich, like the texture of an oil painting. Every stroke was thick and colorful, deep and powerful, outlining the panicked faces of the people, the deep shadows and the twisted tree trunks.
The flames rising into the sky made his skin look even whiter, and the flames fell into his brown pupils.
He took a deep breath.
Then he walked against the crowd towards the sea of fire and the swarm of spiders.
The scene before him was like a picture of hell, enough to make anyone retreat. He had no fear in his heart. In fact, this was not the first time he had faced such a situation alone.
He is always the one who takes risks and stays behind.
The reason he has survived to this day is not because of luck, but because of sufficient strength and experience.
The furry ball whined, then ran around his feet in circles, wagging its tail wildly.
Lu Yingjiu drew out his short knife, and the blade light was as bright as the moonlight—
Then he felt a weight on his waist and a chill on his face.
Road to welcome wine:
Jing Xian stayed with him, and while he was concentrating, he actually hugged him and gave him a big kiss on the cheek.
This was really too respectful. Lu Ying was drunk and wanted to reprimand him, but he heard the man whisper in his ear: "This is the entrance fee."
"What's the admission fee?" Lu Yingjiu looked at him.
"I don't know what to call it either." Jing Xian said, "Maybe it's a fire show?"
He put one arm around Lu Yingjiu's waist and snapped his fingers lightly at the spider that was about to pounce on him.
The spiders stagnated.
The rain poured down in a rush, falling into the fire and onto the spider's web.
A gust of cold wind blew straight up, and Lu Yingjiu half-closed his eyes subconsciously.
Then, like a slow motion, he saw every fine raindrop in the wind, every leaf swaying on the tree, the rustling of the scales on the snake's body, and the flames gushing out from under the scales, burning the spider biting its body...
The next second, the countless raindrops falling to the ground rose into a sea of flames!
A high fever came over him. This heat was much more frightening than the one from the snake, as if a small sun was exploding below him. Lu Yingjiu stretched out his hand to block it, but Jing Xian pushed him into his arms—and he also considerately picked up Mao Tuanzi with him.
For a moment, Lu Yingjiu was buried in his arms, and all she could hear was the endless sound of flames exploding, and the bright red light reaching the sky.
Jing Xian actually set the rain on fire.
He thought.
No wonder he said something like a fire show… He would have believed it if it was a volcanic eruption. With every raindrop that fell, the flames shot up a little higher, just like hell had really descended, the fire of hell burned forever, full of weird beauty.
The spiders were all killed in an instant.
Not even any ashes were left.
The snake was hissing in the fire, and Lu Yingjiu could see the confusion on its expressionless face.
There were more spiders swarming in the distance.
But anyway, it was enough time for them to reach the main road safely.
Lu Yingjiu held Mao Tuanzi in one hand and Jing Xian in the other, and hurried towards the main road with his family.
Sure enough, the man in red clothes had reached the main road first, followed by A-Long, Ye-Feng, Xiao-Li and A-Mei…
When Lu Yingjiu hurried over and stepped onto the road, the solid touch under his feet made him feel at ease.
He looked back and saw that one or two spiders had managed to break through the flames and were trying to follow him, but when they got close to the road, they suddenly stopped.
They dare not leave the range of Wanming Mountain.
They were finally safe.
The rain gradually subsided and people were sitting or lying on the road with blank expressions on their faces.
After an unknown amount of time, the sound of horns from a motorcade was heard, and the bright lights of the cars pierced through the darkness.
Then someone suddenly stood up: "We, we escaped!!"
He raised his head and shouted loudly, and his voice echoed in the empty mountains and fields until it was swallowed up by the sea of fire.
…
Five days later.
Yueshan Airport.
Lu Yingjiu sat at the table, eating the lunch box that Jingxian gave him with love.
The bento is as rich as ever, the fried pork cutlet is very crispy, and with the fragrant curry, anyone can eat three bowls of rice in one go.
He ate while checking messages on his phone.
That was the message sent by Amei.
Since the day she escaped from Wanming Mountain, she was admitted to a hospital cooperating with the Shijia for treatment.
After the Spider Mother was burned by the flames, her strength was greatly reduced. Perhaps it was for this reason that she managed to escape safely this time.
Ah Mei said: "The doctor told me today that my condition is not bad and I can be discharged after another half a month of observation. As for what happens next, the Ye family will help me find a solution."
Lu Yingjiu replied to her: Very good, please take a rest
OK, thank you. When I am discharged from the hospital, I will come to thank you.
While Lu Yingjiu was replying to the message, Jing Xian picked up two large pieces of pork chops from his rice and gave them to Lu Yingjiu.
As soon as Lu Yingjiu put down her phone, she saw the two brand new pork chops and said helplessly, "Why did you pick up some food for me? I can't finish it."
"You just need to eat more." Jing Xian said, "I always feel that you have lost weight recently. It must be because you are too tired from climbing mountains. If you want to go to the mountains to play next time, I will charter a private plane for you."
Lu Yingjiu has never been able to win an argument with him. Even if he took out his weight records for Jing Xian to analyze, Jing Xian would probably lie with his eyes open and talk nonsense. In short, the core idea is to eat more food he cooks.
Lu Yingjiu said perfunctorily, "Okay, okay." Then he returned one piece.
Jing Xian was very dissatisfied and said that we should be careful about malnutrition and hypoglycemia.
Lu Yingjiu thought to himself, I'm almost overfed.
But thanks to Jingxian, his problem of irregular meals was fundamentally solved.
When he was almost done with his meal, a staff member in a white uniform came over, bent down and said to him, "Mr. Lu, the plane is almost ready."
"I'll be there right away." Lu Yingjiu said.
There were several messages on the phone, sent by other exorcists.
They caused such a big fuss in Yueshan Sanatorium this time, and even burned the mountain down. Basically everyone in the ghost-exorcising world knew about it.
Then, his friends sent messages one after another to greet him and to hear about his situation.
Lu Yingjiu replied briefly and when he looked up again, the iron lunch box in front of him had disappeared.
He looked at Jing Xian.
Jing Xian was still sitting there, without any bag containing a lunch box in his hand.
Lu Yingjiu asked, "Where's the lunch box?"
"Lost." Jing Xian didn't even blink.
"… lost?" Lu Yingjiu said, "How can it be so wasteful? Besides, I haven't seen it since."
Jingxian stopped talking.
Lu Yingjiu felt something was wrong, so he looked down and saw Mao Tuanzi licking his lips contentedly under the table.
He also burped.
Lu Yingjiu: “…”
He finally knew where the lunch box went.
Five minutes later, the two of them were standing on the helicopter.
The two exorcists who were traveling with them, as well as the helicopter pilot, were all from the Ye family.
They planned to fly a helicopter to Wanming Mountain to take another look at the situation, and this time they invited Lu Yingjiu to go with them.
Lu Yingjiu got on the helicopter and put on the huge noise-proof earmuffs.
The rotor turned, a buzzing sound was heard, and then the plane trembled slightly and landed in the blue sky.
As he walked past, Jingxian looked out the window.
Lu Yingjiu rarely saw him behave like this.
After thinking about it, he understood that Jing Xian must have never seen the human world from such a high altitude.
Lu Yingjiu also looked toward the window.
The city passed by under my feet and gradually reached the suburbs.
When we got near Wanming Mountain, there was a mess of fire under our feet.
The flames of the snake stopped burning when the Yin Qi was completely dissipated. There is still a large part of the bare forest, but this is inevitable.
They flew over the charcoal-black land and circled several mountain peaks. Lu Yingjiu finally saw Yueshan Village and Yueshan Sanatorium.
The fire did not spread here.
But there was no one left in the village, only a dozen or so exorcists walking around in groups, investigating the situation and confirming that all the spiders were dead.
When the Spider Mother was burned to death, all the villagers died in the form of spiders. Or rather, they were not really alive in the first place.
Fortunately, Amei and Ye Feng are fine.
It's a blessing in disguise.
The helicopter circled over the village several times. The walls of the sanatorium were still so white that they glowed in the sun, and the buildings in the village were still harmoniously crowded together. Lu Yingjiu could still see the mountains and lakes, the grassy slopes, and the farmhouse restaurant where they had eaten.
However, all of this is built on a false illusion.
The rotors turned, raising the aircraft's altitude, and it flew towards other mountains into the sunshine.
In the distance, the mountains are green and the trees are sprouting new branches.
The young leaves stretch out in the blowing mountain breeze.
Come spring, they will guard the souls and secrets beneath the soil and flourish again.
The next day, Lu Yingjiu and Jing Xian returned to Lujiang City.
They were actually only away for a little over a week, but there were so many thrilling experiences along the way that seeing the familiar city again seemed like a lifetime ago.
Lu Yingjiu did not rush home to rest, but went to Ye Feng's house first.
Neither Ye Feng nor Lu Yingjiu mentioned the matter of resurrection to anyone else.
In fact, if the two of them didn't say it, no one would ever know about it.
Ye Feng returned to Lujiang before them, saying that he wanted to be alone.
The Ye family could see that he was not in good condition, but they didn't know the real reason, so they just let his cousin live in their house to take care of him first. This made Lu Yingjiu feel a little relieved.
However, he still needed to have a good talk with Ye Feng.
Jing Xian sent him downstairs to Ye Feng's house.
When Lu Yingjiu got off the car, he said, "Don't get on."
Jingxian nodded.
Furry Ball: "Awoo! Awoo!"
Lu Yingjiu was about to open the door when he turned around and warned, "Don't feed it anything careless."
Jing Xian: “Hmmmm.”
Lu Yingjiu was deeply skeptical.
He entered the community and rang the doorbell.
After a long while, there was a sound of slightly dragging footsteps, and Ye Feng opened the door for him.
After not seeing each other for a few days, Ye Feng looked much more haggard, his hair was messy, and he had dark circles under his eyes. It was obvious that he had not slept well.
Lu Yingjiu came into the room and sat on the sofa.
Ye Feng sat opposite him, rubbed his cheeks vigorously with his hands, and let out a long sigh.
He said: "My cousin is out on business."
"Yeah." Lu Yingjiu nodded.
The room fell into silence for a moment.
After waiting for a while, Ye Feng slowly said, "These past few days, I've started dreaming as soon as I fell asleep."
He thought bitterly for a moment and continued, "Every time I dream, I dream of rainstorms and mudslides. I think I am slowly remembering what happened."
Although the details were still very unclear, the sections in the dream were clear.
He dreamed of lightning and thunder, of strong winds destroying trees, and of those people's screams.
In the dream, he held his second grandfather tightly with his young hands.
Ye Deyong's hands are rough and strong.
Until a mudslide roared down from the top of the mountain.
Everything happened so suddenly that no one could react.
No matter how strong your hands are, they cannot resist the huge force of disaster. No matter how powerful the exorcist is, he is just an ordinary flesh and blood body. He is not a ghost, he will get sick, get injured and grow old.
At that moment, their clasped hands separated.
Xiao Yefeng and the other three disappeared in the mud and rocks in an instant.
After that, the painting is both real and fake.
Heavy rain was pouring down. Ye Feng saw Ye Deyong kneeling on the huge sand and gravel at the foot of the mountain, his hands and feet covered in blood, hugging him and crying loudly.
His eyes were closed tightly and he would never wake up again.
Ye Feng said: "I was thinking, if the real me has been burned into ashes, then what am I now? Am I a human or a ghost, or neither?"
No one could answer his question.
Even Lu Yingjiu didn't know what kind of person Ye Feng, who was brought back by the Spider Mother, was.
He can look very human and his disguise can be flawless.
But perhaps beneath this appearance, there is something deeper that is still different.
Ye Feng said bitterly: "I feel that being an exorcist for so many years is just a waste of time. I was created by ghosts, I am a monster."
Lu Yingjiu remained silent.
Ye Feng said: "I haven't told anyone in my family yet... I know the rules of the family. If I tell anyone, they will definitely not allow me to stay in the family, and I will not be able to continue to be a ghost exorcist. They might even think that I am a ghost who replaced the real 'Ye Feng'."
By then, he won’t know what is waiting for him.
Simply removing the name from the family tree may be the best outcome.
Lu Yingjiu asked: "Does that count as telling others?"
"I... I haven't thought about it yet." Ye Feng clenched his fingers lightly, "I'm not ready for everything yet." He said lightly, "If you report me now and tell the truth, I will thank you. After all, I don't dare to do that."
"No," Lu Yingjiu shook his head, "I won't do that."
Ye Feng looked at him: "This is the right choice. You don't even know what I am."
"I really don't know," Lu Yingjiu said, "but I don't care."
He continued, "I was 16 when I met you. No matter what you are, I knew you from the beginning." He admitted frankly, "If you really think that you are not the same person as the deceased 'Ye Feng', I can't deny it, but I don't care at all. The dead are dead, and the one who knows me better than me is the current you."
"If the real 'Ye Feng' and I were standing next to each other at the same time, I would probably lean towards me."
"Besides, it's not my fault."
"You are the beneficiary, but the decision-making power is not in your hands, and you are not responsible for the deaths and injuries."
Ye Feng was stunned for a while.
Then he revealed an extremely complicated expression: "Lu Yingjiu, Lu Yingjiu, I didn't expect that you would be so unsteady in your stance. If this gets out, your reputation will be ruined."
Lu Yingjiu shrugged: "There is no such thing as a lifetime of fame. The rule is that the dead are alive. I just want to have a clear conscience."
He took a sip of water, then looked at Ye Feng and said, "This matter is private. If we don't tell anyone, no one will know about it."
"I won't tell anyone on my own initiative. So, the choice is in your hands."
"Either you tell the truth openly and bear all the possible consequences, but at least you can have a clear conscience; otherwise you hide the truth, forget about it and live a good life. This is probably what Ye Deyong wants to see most after giving so much."
"So, Ye Feng, are you ready to tell the Ye family?"