Cheng Yan carried Yingzi's stiff body down from the sharp wooden stake.
She was a lively, enthusiastic, and bright-eyed girl last night. How could she become such a cold corpse in the blink of an eye
Even after death, Yingzi's beautiful eyes still looked up at the sky with reluctance, as if she was missing the battlefield where she once galloped and flew.
If such a girl was born in the Immortal World or Guiyuan Sect, she would be loved and cared for by everyone, and she would be a junior sister that no one would have the heart to hurt even in the arena.
Cheng Yan looked at the battlefield littered with corpses. The girls who had sat next to him and covered their mouths to laugh at him practicing virgin kung fu last night were now dead and miserable, and it was unbearable to look at them.
He just couldn't understand how such a precious and beautiful life could be destroyed so easily and casually here.
Cheng Yan felt uncomfortable in his heart, turned his head away, reached out and closed Yingzi's eyes.
There were some rustling sounds on the messy battlefield.
Under a cedar tree in front, a woman was vaguely squatting.
The woman had her black hair loose, and her back was facing this place. Her pale and thin arms were exposed through her tattered short robe. Her slender bare feet were stepping on the snow, and no one knew what she was doing.
"Eh?" Cheng Yan was about to ask when the thin "long-haired woman" turned around.
Under the long black hair, there is a white dog's face.
It's a demon!
The white dog with long hair had black eyes and a protruding mouth bone. The blood oozing from between the lips and teeth dyed the hair on the chin red. His hands were bloody and it was unknown what he was holding.
Compared to what he had seen along the way, this demon looked small. It was neither too large to give a sense of oppression nor too ferocious, but for some reason it gave Cheng Yan an indescribable sense of fear.
He took a half step back and was about to shout a warning. The white dog that was far away just now suddenly appeared in front of him.
The face covered with white hair was close at hand, and the bloody mouth with sticky saliva came towards him and bit him, and the fishy smell of blood sprayed all over Cheng Yan's face.
If you were bitten by such a big mouth with sharp teeth, half of your head would be cut off.
A metallic glow appeared on Cheng Yan's neck. The demon's speed was so fast that he didn't even have time to fully display his Vajra Indestructible Power to protect his entire body.
At this critical moment, a red rope came up from behind and quickly strangled the white dog's sharp mouth, dragging him away from Cheng Yan and forward.
Mu Xue stepped on Yingtian Cloud and rushed all the way as fast as thunder, dragging behind her the dog demon who was caught off guard and tied up by her.
This is a Tengu, who has the ability to teleport and change space within a short distance. He is an extremely troublesome and difficult monster, and taking the initiative is probably the only way to defeat him.
The celestial dog reacted and his figure flashed. Seeing his body begin to fade, as if he would disappear from the Immortal Binding Rope in the next moment, Mu Xue shouted, "Heavenly Array!"
On the road ahead of her, as if they had rehearsed it beforehand, Cen Qianshan was waiting there early. With the gestures in his hands changing, a crimson magic circle lit up on the ground, and four stone tablets with demons perched on them rose up on all four sides of the magic circle.
Just as the magic circle lit up, Mu Xue just stepped through and threw the white dog, which had no time to escape, into the formation.
Inside the Tianluo Formation, red runes appeared one after another, and four demons appeared on the stone tablet together, restricting the spatial movement ability of the demons in the formation and imprisoning the entire Tengu within the four-sided stone tablet.
Mu Xue turned around and looked back at Yingtianyun. Nine Plum Blossom Swords fell from the clouds, like a silver blizzard trailing behind the white clouds, and crushed over the blood-stained demon.
The sword energy was like the wind, and the blade was like a rain of knives. The sharp sword energy of the Wangchuan Sword pressed the monsters in the magic circle back and forth.
In a flash, all that was left in the magic circle was a pool of blood and a pale corpse floating in the blood.
All of this happened in a flash.
When Gao Yan, Ding Lanlan and others came to their senses, the battle here seemed to be coming to an end.
Along the way, Cen Qianshan rarely attacked any monsters, big or small. But once he took action, it would be an extremely dangerous and difficult battle, and most of the disciples of Guiyuan Sect could not keep up with his pace.
Except Mu Xue.
Lin Yin looked at the battlefield that was full of shock, and said, "Xiaoxue really only spent a few days with Mr. Cen? When she was six years old?"
Ding Lanlan: "Yes, right? She grew up with us in Jiulian Peak and only left the mountain gate once."
"But they don't look like they've only known each other for a few days. It's as if they've been fighting side by side for a lifetime. How did they develop such tacit understanding?"
The blood pool in the formation gradually subsided, and the monster stopped moving. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Mu Xue stood on the cloud, looking at the red magic circle under her feet, "It's not over yet."
Cen Qianshan was suspended in mid-air and spoke almost at the same time, "It's not over yet."
Bubbles gradually appeared in the blood-stained magic circle, and from the red pool of blood, a huge skull first emerged, with empty eye sockets, sharp fangs, and a big mouth made of white bones.
Slowly, a pale skeleton as big as a mountain broke through the earth's crust, destroyed the Tianluo Formation, and climbed onto the ground.
A huge white bone demon dog barked silently, shook its head and wagged its tail, and its eerie, smooth and white skeleton formed a powerful skeleton demon.
The Great Black Demon, the incarnation of Qian Ji, emerged from underground. Mu Xue's Wangchuan Sword's sword energy became solid, and the more than ten-meter-long sword energy intertwined with the Great Black Demon's attack, breaking through the air and slashing at the monster.
"The fairy world is like a golden cage, but it can't hold a swan. After all, it can still produce one or two brilliant disciples." Uncle Nian looked at the battlefield and touched the gourd magic weapon in his hand. "It was like this back then, and it is still the same now."
On the battlefield in front of them, there were two men fighting against the demon, one in black and the other in red. They had such a tacit understanding, cooperated with each other, and trusted each other.
As he watched, Nian Zaitao narrowed his wrinkled eyes. A long time ago, he vaguely saw such a pair of people and the same battle scene.
It's strange. Zhang Xiaoxue's appearance and moves are very unfamiliar, but why do I always feel a sense of familiarity and nostalgia when she fights
Uncle Nian raised his big gourd, and dozens of small black iron puppets ran out of the gourd. Those small puppets each held a surgical scissor blade, pliers, and hacksaw... and rushed into the battlefield in a swarm.
They are agile, extremely flexible, and small in size. They climb up the demon dog's limbs and start cutting and decomposing the monster from the joints.
The huge demon was helpless against such a tiny enemy.
Cheng Yan's Fa Tian Xiang Di, Xiao Changge's rain-growing green plants, Ding Lanlan and Lin Yin also quickly joined the battle.
Not long ago, they were a team that was helpless when seeing monsters and didn't know how to deal with them. Now they have grown rapidly and become a qualified hunting team on the snowy plains.
We learned to cooperate with each other, to advance and retreat in moderation, to support our companions and to take care of the wounded.
In the boundless snowfield, the giant white-bone dog rolled up the snow. Its attack was powerful, its movement was fast, and its skeleton body felt no pain. It was the king of this ice field, and it had killed countless human monks who came to conquer it with its claws.
This was probably the first time he had fallen into such a powerless fear. No matter how madly he roared, he could not get rid of the human cultivators who were entangled with him in the battle, nor could he get rid of the small puppets that kept climbing up his body. He could only watch his body being worn away bit by bit, and the hard white bones being removed piece by piece.
He who kills others will be killed.
Feeling his impending ultimate fate, the powerful demon let out a low wail that spread far across the snowfield.
Zhuo Yu, who had not yet recovered from his serious injuries, was repeatedly arranged to be at the farthest end of the battlefield to prevent him from participating in the battle. There were always people blocking in front of him intentionally or unintentionally.
Once, the mad Tengu broke free from its shackles and rushed towards him.
Zhuo Yu stretched out his hands, and his arms just ignited fire dragons. Ding Lanlan's puppet drilled out from the ground, picked him up and ran back. Xiao Changge's vegetation instantly formed a thick shield wall in front of him. Mu Xue's figure fell from the sky, tied the demon dog's neck with a fairy rope, and pulled it back desperately.
Zhuo Yu, who was carried above the heads of two puppets and fled away, was a little confused.
It was clear that not long ago, he was a person who was hated and rejected by everyone wherever he went.
Of course, he didn't like these people either, but for the sake of his master's instructions, he forced himself to protect these team members he hated on the road.
He just didn't know when he had become a member of the team without realizing it. The feeling of being protected by others was very unfamiliar to him.
"Zhuo Yu, please step back. We don't need you yet."
"Brother Zhuo, take a rest first. Leave this to us."
"You step back, you don't have to do anything."
Various shouts rang out around me one after another.
Zhuo Yu suddenly remembered what the man had forced him to hear when he pinned him to the ground at the moment of his tragic defeat in the ring: "You should try hard to change other people's views of you."
When the master pulled him up, he said, "Zhuo'er, for us cultivators, winning or losing is not about the superficial victory or defeat, but whether we can break through the shackles in our hearts and understand our own nature in the battle of life and death."
It turned out that what the master said was not wrong at all. It was not until this moment that Zhuo Yu felt that he truly understood what the master said to him.
The bone demon dog finally fell to the ground after a long battle.
With the participation of Cen Qianshan and Uncle Nian, they still fought hard for a long time. No wonder the team of young warriors died silently and tragically at the hands of this monster.
There is also a small station near the battlefield.
Mu Xue and his team sent the remains of the dead soldiers here so that their families could come and find them, so that they would not be left exposed in the wilderness and eaten by monsters.
There are few people active around this area. There is only a blind woman and her puppet stationed in the station to manage the place and take charge of some cleaning chores.
"The inner station is really an interesting place. From the outside, you can't feel what's going on inside, but from the inside, you can see everything clearly." Ding Lanlan, an equipment refiner, looked at the hemispherical building on the ground and sighed, "Such a simple design can protect the warriors in the wilderness very well. I didn't expect that there would be so many inner stations in the Demon Spirit Realm."
Uncle Nian was sitting at the table, accepting the drinks brought by the service puppet.
"This station was developed by a master refiner in our Fuwang City more than a hundred years ago. It is simple, practical, and cheap. It was quickly promoted back then, and now it has formed a large scale."
He looked up and nodded at Cen Qianshan, "Here, that's this kid's master. Mu Xue, Master Mu. He lived over a hundred years ago. You Taoists probably haven't heard of him."
"Who said we haven't heard of it? We are very familiar with this name." Lin Yin and Ding Lanlan were both excited.
Ding Lanlan even took out her own flying magic weapon to show Uncle Nian, "I am also a weapon refiner. My master always mentions this senior, so I especially admire Master Mu."
Uncle Nian touched the small pattern carved on the aircraft with his old fingers, and showed a rare gentle look, "It is indeed Ah Xue's handicraft. I think you are thoughtful."
Cen Qianshan's gaze immediately fell on Mu Xue. Mu Xue turned her head away slightly embarrassedly, not daring to meet his gaze.
"It's the work of Master Mu." The puppet that brought the drinks to the table turned around and leaned close to Ding Lanlan's hand to take a look. "I like Master Mu too. Many of the things she made back then were practical and cheap. Unlike other weapon refiners, the weapons they carefully developed were all for the children of high-ranking noble families. Ordinary people can't afford them at all."
This is a puppet whose main function is to provide household services. It has human-like skin and appearance.
It was just that it had been used for too long and the owner was not able to repair it, causing the skin to peel off in many places. It looked a bit hideous and scary when it was barely pieced together with other colored materials.
"My prototype was also designed by Mr. Mu. My name is Jiubai." Jiubai smiled and showed everyone the model on his neck. Half of the skin on his head was intact, and he looked like a handsome little boy. The other half of the skin had peeled off, revealing a protruding eyeball.
When he laughed, he looked very strange, which made the young people from the fairy world feel a little creepy.
Mu Xue coughed embarrassedly. Back then, she lived alone and was financially independent. She no longer considered whether the magic tools she refined were valuable, and just developed what she liked according to her own temperament.
Jiubai was a puppet model she had made before Qianji.
It’s embarrassing to say, but because my house was too messy at the time, I thought of making a service puppet that could take care of the housework.
But in the end, because her work was too delicate and complicated, such a puppet that was good at cleaning became inconvenient for her. So she casually put this type of puppet on the market. Unexpectedly, it was very popular among ordinary people.
I can't believe that after so many years, the 900 mass-produced ones still consider themselves their creators.
"Shitou, stop talking nonsense. You're disturbing the guests." The blind lady boss of the station opened the curtain and brought out a large plate of steaming hot pancakes. She looked haggard, her eyes were unfocused, and she nodded in the direction of everyone with a little apology.
"My son is still young and doesn't understand much. If I said anything wrong, please don't mind it."
Son? Did he treat the puppet as his own child
When several people heard this name, they looked at each other inquiringly.
Jiubai bowed to everyone and made a hushing gesture.
It quickly ran over and caught the large plate of scones. "Mom just asked me to go in and get it. Why do I have to come out by myself? Be careful not to drop it."
The woman reached out to touch his head, but he cleverly avoided her and just stretched out his little hand to hold the woman's arm.
The only part of its body that had intact skin was its hands, which should feel just like humans'.
"My child, you've grown up now and you don't even like your mother to touch your head." The blind woman muttered to herself and slowly walked into the kitchen.
Jiubai came over with a plate of hot scones.
It placed the scones on the table, and bowed to everyone in gratitude because no one had revealed its secret. When it bent down, its eyeball, whose skin had fallen off, accidentally fell to the ground, and Qianji picked it up for it.
"What's the matter? Why do you call your master mother?" Qianji asked interestedly.
Jiubai put his eyes back on, and while he was swiftly placing dishes and chopsticks for everyone, he looked towards the kitchen and heard the clear sound of kneading dough. Then he whispered to Qianji,
"The master's husband died very early, and only a little boy named Shitou lives with the master." It placed dishes and greeted guests while imitating the tone of a human child. "Three months ago, I didn't keep an eye on the little master, and he slipped out to play... When he was brought back, he died miserably, without even a complete appearance. The master cried until he cried his eyes blind."
After setting the table, it went to fetch the wine jug and refilled each guest's glass while calmly telling its story, "Later, the owner's memory seemed to be blurred. She often hugged me and stubbornly thought I was her child."
"So, you pretend to be her son and let her continue to believe that her son is still alive?" Qianji's mouth turned into a vertical oval. "Will she believe it this way?"
"I don't know if the master really believes it," Jiubai sighed in a human-like voice and held his eyeballs that were about to fall out of their sockets. "I just hope she won't cry anymore. As long as she doesn't cry, I'm willing to pretend to be whoever she wants me to be."