Everyone immediately slowed down their breathing and buried their heads in the tall weeds.
The terrain on both sides of this mountain road is on an upward trend. It is difficult for people in the road to find lurkers hiding in high places unless they search carefully.
Through the grass, Xia Fan could vaguely see the figures of two men holding oil lamps and walking in one behind the other. There was neither a bow nor a hunting dog behind his back, but he had a sword and an ax at his waist. From this posture, we can know that the visitor is definitely not going up the mountain to hunt or collect medicine.
Judging from their skills, the two of them may have some skills, but their level is probably a little higher than ordinary people. I was alert, and I kept looking around all the way, but the night was not only a cover for the prey, but also for the hunters. It was too difficult to see through the vast darkness in the mountains with just two pairs of eyes.
In this way, they quickly passed by the hiding place of Xia Fan and others and walked deep into the mountain.
"Aren't we going to follow?" Wang Renzhi couldn't help but ask as the light of the oil lamp went farther and farther until it disappeared.
"No, we won't follow, just follow the person who leads the way." Xia Fan shook his head decisively, "Professional work must be done by professionals. Now that the other party has finally exposed its tail, if it alarms them, I'm afraid There will never be a second chance. We have to make sure we get it right the first time.”
"Professional work should be done by professional people?" Wang Renzhi smacked his lips and tasted it, "That's a good thing. I don't see that you are quite experienced in tailing things."
"He's just not a gentleman." Shangguan Cai added.
"Well... I think Brother Xia is quite upright." Only Wei Wushuang always stood by Xia Fan.
A good brother, he is indeed the one who accompanied me through the examination.
Xia Fan estimated the time in his mind and stood up about a quarter of an hour later, "That's almost it. Do you still remember the gestures I taught you?"
Everyone nodded.
"Okay, let's go."
He took out the prepared oil lamp, lit it, and walked in front.
Others followed.
Although it will be more concealed without lights, the speed will be slowed down a lot, not to mention that walking on mountain roads in an environment where you can't see your fingers is inherently dangerous - the uneven ground is easy to get sprained, and so are the snakes and insects entrenched in the shadows. A big threat.
This is why he decided to let Li take on the tracking task.
With the middleman, they can extend the distance even if they have lights and constant noise all the way, they will not attract the target's attention.
For the fox demon, the woods after dark have just returned to their home turf.
Not to mention ordinary people, even experienced alchemists may not be able to realize that they are being targeted by a fox.
After a while, Xia Fan found a mark left by Li: she tied a white cloth strip between the low branches to indicate the target's direction of travel.
"This way."
Not long after, they found that they had deviated from the usual path up the mountain and were stuck deep in the dense forest. Without the mark's guidance, it only takes a matter of minutes to get lost.
At this time, there was no visible ground under their feet, and it was all thick fallen leaves and bushes. In order to facilitate movement, the group had to shorten the corners of their robes and use wooden swords to push aside the branches in front of them.
Xia Fan suddenly felt that it would be better to equip himself with an extra gold and iron sword.
"There is indeed something wrong with these two guys." Wang Renzhi cursed, "They chose some crazy roads! I'm afraid no one has ever been to this place."
"Not necessarily." Shangguan Cai picked off a broken short branch and looked around carefully. "Judging from the fracture, someone came here a week ago, and there were quite a few people..."
"What do you say there are a lot of people?"
"Don't you think of yourself as one of the top ten scholars?"
"Then... the test is about alchemy, it has nothing to do with magic."
"Okay." Shangguan Cai threw down the short branch, "It doesn't hurt to tell you. This is a common judgment method for military scouts. If there is a small group of people advancing in the forest, the more people there are, the more times the branches will be broken. The more frequent it is. Because people cannot always keep a straight line moving forward, you will inevitably encounter more things on your left and right."
"So there is such a truth." Wang Renzhi marveled, "Then... have you ever killed anyone?"
Shangguan Cai glanced at him, "Of course."
Wang Renzhi couldn't help but be stunned, "Have you really killed him?"
"Isn't it normal for you to fight to the death on the battlefield? What's all the fuss about? You don't think that the border of Daqi is as stable as a mountain, do you?"
He couldn't help but take two slow steps to put some distance between himself and the other party.
Shangguan Cai couldn't help but frown, "What do you mean? Have you never killed anyone?"
"Of course not!" Wang Renzhi retorted loudly, and then suddenly covered his mouth, "Why do you think so?"
"Of course you are the second son of the Wang family." She sneered, "There is nothing to hide. A powerful place like the Wang family has hands full of blood. Of course, I have no interest in blaming you. This is the way the world is. "
"I admit that I have bullied others and provoked many girls, but when you talk about killing people -"
"Shh!" Xia Fan suddenly made a quiet gesture and extinguished the oil lamp in his hand.
The three people immediately shut up and crouched down.
"what's the situation?"
"They stopped."
The mark on a tree became two white lines crossing.
This means the target stops moving forward and hides in place.
"Oh, counter-reconnaissance?" Shangguan Cai raised his eyebrows, "These two people have some experience - but that's it."
If you rush forward because you have lost the tracking target at this time, you will be noticed by the opponent.
"You think they didn't do enough?"
"Of course, if it were me, I would arrange for one person to go forward and one person to stay behind. If there are more people, we can also conduct a reverse search. It is inevitable for an unprofessional team like ours to be discovered."
Xia Fan was stunned, who just said that he was not a gentleman.
It's obvious that she is much more professional than me in terms of starting and ending.
Another quarter of an hour later, the flash appeared again.
"Okay, let's move on. They're starting to move again."
After walking around like this for about an hour, an old stone gate half hidden in the mountain wall appeared in front of the four of them.
The stone door is pitch black, like the mouth of a giant beast. Standing at the door, you can feel the cold wind blowing from inside. Judging from the stone walls covered with cracks and moss, this building must have existed for a long time.
"Are there... anything like this around Gaoshan County?" Wei Wushuang swallowed.
Xia Fan looked solemn, and the "grotto" mentioned by Hu Huairen should be here. The answer he was looking for was why the frequency of evil spirits showed periodic changes, and nine out of ten of them were among them.
"There are only two consequences, either you don't get the answer, or you get an answer that you find difficult to accept. Either way, it's worse than not knowing."
Li's words echoed in his ears.
But in fact, he wanted to say that Li was wrong.
For him, not knowing was the worst outcome.
That means that he will be deceived by this world forever.
"Next, let's see what the magistrate wants to hide." Xia Fan raised the oil lamp and was the first to walk into the stone gate.