Olina lowered her height and landed outside Loess Town.
"If you get any closer, someone might see you, so I can only send you here."
Li patted her wings, "Thank you, this is enough."
"Then call me when you need to go back. I'll take the first step." After saying that, Olina raised her wings again and headed east along the top of the forest, quickly disappearing from sight.
"Then let's go too."
Li glanced at everyone in turn and took the lead to walk towards the small town not far away. This time she was accompanied by Shanhui, Nagi Qing and Kong Xuanzi, and the four of them were the limit of Olina's long-distance transport - any more, and she would have to fly and stop for a while. Even so, it took her a full day to bring the group from Jinxia City to Huangtu Town in southern Ganzhou.
Mu Youhong and other Penglai practitioners will come via land transportation as backup for this operation.
Since this is not Jinxia City, Li and others returned to their previous attire, using bamboo hats and cloaks to cover up their demonic features. When they needed to deal with people, Kong Xuanzi came forward to talk to them as much as possible.
Although a small place has its inconveniences, the restrictions are relatively small. For example, this county town near the official road has almost no city defenses, and the guards will not come up to check the identities of people entering and leaving the city. From the door, those dressed in rags Looking at the guards in leather clothes and holding wooden spears, you can tell how barren this place is.
With the token provided by Mu Youhong, Li quickly connected with the merchants here.
The latter immediately took the four people to the scholar's residence.
But something unexpected happened.
No one answered in the room.
"Strange... He does live here, and he said he would wait for my reply." The businessman scratched his head and said.
The other four people looked at each other and suddenly thought of something.
Xue Qing stepped forward to hold the door, and secretly pushed forward - with a soft click, the lock shattered.
"The door doesn't seem to be closed tightly. Let's go in and take a look."
"Is this... okay?" the businessman wiped his sweat and said, "Isn't this considered breaking into a private house?"
"If no one files a complaint, it doesn't count as trespassing. If you don't want to come in, you can wait outside." Li replied decisively.
Entering the house, the fox demon immediately smelled a complex and pungent smell.
It's so obvious that it can even be traced by taste.
"Shanhui, you smell it, right?"
"Yes." Tengu nodded, "It's fishy, rancid... with a hint of blood, it smells like wild monsters."
The so-called wild monsters are the kind of monsters that stay away from human life and live like wild beasts. Many demons themselves have unique smells, such as tails, ears, scales, fur... If they are not cleaned for a long time, the smell will become particularly offensive.
Having said that, if ordinary people don’t shower for several days, their hair and armpits will also stink.
"As expected of a dog-shaped demon," Kong Xuanzi said with emotion, "I can't smell anything except the smell of moisture."
"It's a dog demon and a fox demon, do you understand?" Li glanced over with sharp eyes.
The latter suddenly seemed to see the shadow of the owner of Penglai Island.
He quickly changed his words and said, "I understand, I made a mistake."
"The smell came from the window," Shan Hui said while sniffing, "and then passed through the side room and came to the bedroom. There was not much smell left, which proved that the captive was not asleep at that time, which is also consistent with the scholar An account of finding his wife missing during the day.”
"Then it can be confirmed that the person who took away the scholar's wife was indeed a demon." Li made a judgment. "As for where the scholar went, we can probably trace it based on the smell. Shanhui, I leave it to you."
"Wrap it around me." He directly transformed into Shiba Inu form and wandered around the room.
As a scholar's address, there must be a lot of scent clues in the house. What Shan Hui has to do is write them down, and then look for the most special one or two to use as traces. As long as it doesn't rain, the smell can last from a few hours to a few days.
Everyone followed Shanhui all the way out of Huangtu Town, and discovered that the smell was heading straight towards the mountains to the south.
The answer is self-evident.
The scholar could not wait until the end and went to the mountain to find his wife's whereabouts.
And judging from the intensity of the smell, he left almost exactly one day ago, which was the moment Mu Youhong informed Li of the news.
"We can only catch up." Li said solemnly.
…
After climbing over two mountains and passing through a forest in the valley, Fu Zhuzhi finally saw the huge ancient tree that Xue'er had mentioned.
They rise from the mountain walls on both sides, and the top cannot be seen at a glance. There are thousands of open branches, branches and leaves, covering the valley like a huge umbrella. Because of the ancient trees, the temperature here is much lower, and the lighting is similar to sunset.
And in this valley, he was surprised to see a village!
There are fences, courtyard walls, thatched houses, and people.
There are actually some isolated people living here!
Fu Zhuzhi couldn't help but look back at the two hunters - since the woman appeared, the two men seemed to have lost their minds. Although they were following behind them, they remained silent, like the rumored living dead.
"Sir, we are here." The fox girl made an inviting gesture.
"here it is… "
"Yuetai Villa. Your wife lived here before."
Xue'er didn't lie to him, there really were people and monsters living in the mountains! Why are the villagers at the foot of the mountain unaware of this
Fu Zhuzhi pointed at the hunter behind him, "What about these two people? Do we also want them to enter the village?"
"Of course, we can't leave them in the wild." The woman smiled, "Young master is really a kind-hearted person, he actually cares about their life and death."
"No... I just-"
"I understand." She waved her hand and interrupted, "You don't need to worry, I just used magic to scare them, and I won't cause any murder."
These words made Fu Zhuzhi slightly relieved. He just wanted to find his wife and bring her back safe and sound, and didn't want to get into any other trouble.
The fox girl clapped her hands and asked Orion Zhang and Orion Zhao to walk to the villa on their own, while she took Fu Zhuzhi to an ancient tree. The latter noticed that many houses in Zhuangzi were built on ancient trees, and some even had holes dug out of tree trunks. Walking into such a room, a strange fragrance hits your face. Judging from the furnishings and decoration style of the room, this should be a woman's boudoir.
"Is this... where my wife lived?"
"No, this is my residence." The fox girl picked up the kettle from the stove and poured him a cup of warm tea. "You must be tired after walking for such a long time, right? Rest here for a while, and I'll go see him. Owner."
"Master?" Fu Zhuzhi repeated.
"Yes, the owner of Yuetai Villa. All matters in the village must be approved by him, including letting you see Xue'er again."
Sure enough, she knew Xue'er's name!
"My wife...is she okay?"
"You will know when you see her later." The fox girl smiled slightly and said, "She should also really want to see you."
Fu Zhuzhi's heart finally dropped to the ground, "Then... I'm here to help you, girl."