"There is no way." Luo Youer whistled.
She didn't need to tell everyone that the wooden track ended abruptly at the edge of the cliff, and the width of the valley at both ends didn't look like it could build a bridge.
"Can we go back?"
She turned her head and saw Luo Qingqing was silent, and the other senior brothers and sisters also looked thoughtful.
"The people who built the track didn't want to go to the other side, they wanted to go here."
"To throw something away?"
"This is the only explanation that makes sense."
"I agree. And they need to build a special wooden track to do this, which means it's a lot of work."
"So... maybe the answer can be found at the bottom of the cliff?"
Everyone said something to me.
"Uh, what are you discussing?" Luo Youer touched his head.
Luo glanced at her lightly and sighed helplessly, "Wooden rails are not easy to process, and it takes a lot of time to lay. If it's not important, you won't branch out randomly. Since someone once built the rails here, then Explaining what was discarded below may help us solve some of our current doubts.”
"So that's it." The latter said suddenly, and soon tilted his head and asked, "Then what is our doubt... exactly?"
"...No, it's nothing." Luo gently held his forehead and decided to ignore junior sister's questioning. She looked down the cliff. This valley seemed to continue from the direction of the suspension bridge, dividing the entire green mountain into a semi-isolated peak. However, the width of the cliff in front of the town was only five feet, and it was ten times wider here. , and the height difference is also much larger. After more than fifty meters down, there are clouds and fog surrounding it, making it difficult to see clearly what is going on at the bottom.
"It seems that we can only use alchemy to solve it." Luo nodded gently towards his fellow disciple behind him, "Luo Tang, Luo Changtian."
"learn."
"Leave it to us."
The two took out materials from their pockets at the same time. The former was a crane folded from red paper, and the latter was two feathers.
Luo Tang attached the talisman to the paper crane, then stretched out his hand and said, "Qian Shu Gui You, bring life to life!"
Luo Changtian followed closely, pointing the feather at the origami that seemed to come alive, "Xun Shu returns to Chen, Chang Feng!"
In the blink of an eye, the feathers turned into a rotating ball of wind and clung to the paper crane. The paper crane flapped its wings twice and flew straight towards the bottom of the cliff!
The moment he penetrated the clouds and mist, Luo Changtian clenched his right fist and shouted "Break!"
The paper crane exploded suddenly, and a strong wind suddenly appeared, twisting the mist into pieces. This wind force had nowhere to go, and followed the rock wall upstream, uprooting some weeds and vines on the rocks, and rushed out of the valley with it.
When the wind dissipated, a huge "gap" appeared in the clouds and mist.
"Is this... delaying the use of skills?" Luo Youer said in surprise, "Senior brother is so powerful."
Attaching the alchemy technique to an object to trigger it without triggering it, and then activating it again when it is in the right position, is an advanced control technique of the technique, requiring higher proficiency and understanding of the technique. For these newbies who have not yet passed the military examination, it is already rare.
"Compared to your senior sister, I'm still far behind." Luo Changtian smiled, but his eyes turned to Luo Qingqing.
"Yes, the power has improved compared to before." Luo Qingqing simply commented and then focused on the bottom of the cliff.
Luo Changtian showed a hint of disappointment.
"How's it going? Did you find anything?" Others also gathered around.
"It's a little far away, so I can't see clearly."
"Who has the best eyesight here?"
"Don't worry, you should be able to see clearly when the fog blowing up clears."
"That... looks like a lot of white stones?"
Everyone was a little noisy at first, but after a while, everyone held their breath involuntarily.
A chill that made the blood coagulate rose from the soles of Luo Qingqing's feet and spread all over his body along his back.
It was clear that the summer sun had not yet set, but she felt cold.
"I... read that right." Luo Youer swallowed.
"I should be looking at the same things as you."
"Sister, what's down here is..."
"Bones." Luo said slowly and gently.
Not one or two, but thousands of them - they were stacked together to form a raised mountain, so much so that people immediately thought it was a mountain rock made of white stone. These skeletons have been left here for who knows how many years, and many of them are no longer in human form, but even these incomplete bones are enough to explain everything that happened on Qingshan.
"What the hell is this place?" Luo Youer murmured.
No one answered her question.
Luo Qingqing knew in her heart that she might not pass the exam peacefully.
…
Early morning on the fifth day.
Xia Fan was awakened by a rapid knock on the door.
He got up from the ground, glanced at the still sleeping fox demon, and walked to the door warily, "Who?"
"It's me, Brother Xia!" Wei Wushuang's urgent voice came from the other side, "Get up, something serious is going to happen!"
"Just wait for me."
He turned around and put away the straw mats on the ground, restoring the room to its original state, then opened the door and stepped out, "What happened?"
"Everyone in the town is gone!" Wei Wushuang said extremely uneasily.
"...Who is missing?" Xia Fan glanced at him doubtfully, "Aren't you still there?"
"I'm not a candidate, I'm a resident of Qingshan Town!" He waved his hand quickly, "This morning I went to the lobby to have breakfast as usual, but the waiter didn't come no matter how I called him. Later, when there were too many people, I felt something was wrong, so I went to the kitchen to find it. I found no one in the house!"
"Closed today?"
"Then you have to inform us. Everyone thought so at first, but there was a commotion at the teahouse. We went out and walked around, only to find that it was not just the hotel and the teahouse, but there was no one in the town. !”
"Are you sure there aren't any residents?" Xia Fan also felt that the problem was getting serious.
"Yes, someone even pried open the door of the resident's room and confirmed the situation inside the house. It was like..." Wei Wushuang bit his lip, "It was like they disappeared overnight."
"Where is everyone now?"
"They are all gathered in the center of the town."
"The atmosphere... must not be good, right?" Xia Fan couldn't help but frown when he thought of how the candidates had been wary of plotting against each other.
"Everyone is noisy. In addition to the residents who are not aware of this change, there are also disputes and retaliation that started in the past few days."
He thought for a while and said, "Let's go there too. No matter what, it's the place with the best information. If there are any new discoveries, we can know about it as soon as possible."
"Brother Xia is right." Wei Wushuang nodded.
"Wait a minute." Xia Fan took a step forward but then took it back, turned around and got into the house. When he came out again, he had a porcelain bottle in his hand.
Wei Wushuang was stunned when he saw the porcelain bottle, "Could it be that you have already..."
"That's right, I was lucky enough to collect a bottle of the source of spiritual fire."
He decided to run away with the bottle mainly to dispel the idea of the Luo family sneaking in. If someone took advantage of this incident and the other party broke into the house, it would be fine to retrieve the spirit fire, but it would be troublesome if a fox demon was found lying in the house. .
Letting Luo's family see the bottle on his body would at least prevent them from plotting against his residence.
"Brother Xia, you are really... unexpected!"
Wei Wushuang was so impressed that he fell to the ground.
"Let's not talk about this anymore. Let's go to the center of the town first." Xia Fan quickly walked out of the lobby.
After walking dozens of steps, the small square is in sight. As the fellow villagers said, the scene was a mess. Everyone is talking about themselves and there is no core voice at all. The aristocratic family and the San Sect are targeting each other, with clear boundaries - unlike the situation at the fork in the mountainside, at that time the San Sect always came and went in batches, and their strength was difficult to compete with the three families of Fei, Luo and Fang, but now Almost all the candidates from the unorganized sects gathered here, and the number far exceeded the children of the aristocratic families.
It can be seen that the expressions of Fei Nian and others are obviously much more solemn.
"This is a signal from the invigilator!" "Brother Yan", who had been taught a lesson by Fei Nian before, shouted loudly, "The purpose of the residents' evacuation is to give us a good time! Now the source of the spiritual fire is all in the hands of the family, if we don't take it If they defeat them, none of us will be able to pass!"
"That's right, this is the last chance! Don't be afraid, everyone. There are far more of us than them. As long as we go together, why should Fei Nian stand in the way of everyone? Grabbing the spiritual fire, living in the wing, and becoming a high official, it all depends on this one fight! "
The Fei family was not completely silent. Someone immediately refuted it, "That's ridiculous. You should go first. Don't you just want others to block the sword for you so you can take advantage of troubled waters?"
"I remember you. You were knocked over by Senior Brother Fei Nian before, but when the fight started, you got up and ran away faster than anyone else. You are so good at pretending to be dead, you must have practiced it regularly, right? Please see clearly. , the people he instigated have all been eliminated, but he is still standing here, I shouldn’t need to explain what it means!”
Booing suddenly broke out everywhere, and the two sides were in a stalemate for a while, with no one able to overpower the other side.
Of course, not everyone is preparing to "grab the spiritual fire, live in a wing, and become a high official." Some candidates are arguing about other issues.
Such as "food".
"You mean, there's nothing left to eat in the kitchen? Could it be that it was divided up by the first group of people who discovered it?"
"How can it be so fast? As far as I know, the hotel has suspended food supply since last night."
"It's not like the evacuees took the food with them, right?"
"Don't talk about hotels. I searched all the private houses in Qingshan Town. Guess what, all the rice jars are empty! If this continues, let alone compete with the aristocratic family for spiritual fire, it will be difficult to survive until the end of the military examination."
"how so… "
Similar topics could be heard everywhere. Just when everyone was in panic and uneasiness, a loud voice suddenly rolled over their heads.
"Everyone, be quiet and please listen to me!"
Xia Fan raised his eyebrows in surprise, and saw a woman jumping up to the long table next to the notice board, looking the same as when she first met her.
It was Luo Qingqing from the Luo family.
"Junior sister!" Another young man hurriedly tried to dissuade her.
But she was unmoved. Seeing that everyone's attention was focused on her, she said, "I suggest that everyone withdraw from the exam immediately and come back in three years!"
The crowd immediately exploded—
"What did you say!?"
"Why should I listen to you!"
"If you want to quit your Luo family, please demonstrate first!"
"That's right!"
Luo Qingqing took out a talisman again, covering up the voices of others, "Listen carefully, this is no longer a question of whether you can pass the military examination, but whether you can survive! Where we are - it's not at all Qingshan Town!”