"Pumbaa—"
"Boom!"
Violent, the sound of something hitting something.
Mao Qing slowly opened her eyes.
The dim light penetrated into her eyes, and the vertical and horizontal iron rods framed all her sight. Her body was very stiff. She stretched her body, and the sound of clattering chains sounded. After a closer look, she realized that she was only afterward. His limbs were locked with pitch-black chains, which were attached to the wall and looked indestructible.
The banging sound is still ringing.
However, she couldn't care less for the time being.
His head was a little groggy, but he could barely remember something.
Farewell to Huo Bai, Mint, the woman in red who is going to kill her, and...
She... is not dead
Just as he was in a trance, the banging sound became more intense, and a low roar could be heard faintly. In the dark cage, it looked a little eerie and terrifying.
what
She stood up reluctantly, the chains rattled and she was weak, staggered to the iron fence and looked outside.
Just looking at it, her hands suddenly trembled, and the incomparable fear wrapped her heart, and her whole body fell to the ground softly.
This is a dungeon-like place, the whole is dim, the walls are lit with dim candlelight, the cages are separated by mud walls, and the iron railings look very solid.
But these are not the reasons for Mao Qing to be afraid.
Instead, in those prisons, all the locks are puppets! !
Not yet enchanted, but about to... enchanted puppet!
Although Mao Qing didn't practice swordsmanship, her parents were both outer disciples of Lingxi Peak, and she occasionally followed him out. She was a bit knowledgeable and could tell the difference between demonization and non-demonization of a puppet.
But... she had never seen such a puppet!
In this way... between demonized and unmagical... puppets!
"Roar… "
"Pumbaa—"
"Bang!"
Some semi-demonized puppets still maintain some sanity, but endure it with difficulty, while some smash the iron railings frantically, then roar heavily, panting, half of their eyes are black and white, looking straight ahead, half of their eyes are red, grunting Turning around, looking very scary.
It was these puppets who had heard the violent sound at the beginning.
Mao Qing sat on the ground, took a step back, took another step back, and finally let herself stick to the wall, locked in the corner, trembling all over.
… why is she in this place? !
Just when she was frightened, she suddenly heard a slight, thin sound like metal knocking on the railing.
Unlike the frenzied recklessness of those irrational semi-demonized puppets hitting the railings, the sound was regular and gentle.
Mao Qing shrunk in the corner. At first, she didn't want to pay attention to the voice. She just wanted to hide a little further and shrink a little more—
Why is she here? !
a long time later.
The half-demonized puppet next door that hit the railing seemed to have finally used up all its physical strength, and some were still roaring in a low voice, but it was much quieter than the previous noise.
And that regular sound is still ringing.
It should have been a harsh metal percussion sound, but because of the performer, it gradually felt soothing.
Very quiet and soft.
The excited and fearful mood calmed down, and the trembling body slowly stretched along with the quiet metallic tone. Mao Qing buried her head for a long time before slowly raising her head, and cautiously glanced at the source of the sound.
It was a prison across from her.
Thick shadows were buried deep, and the faint candlelight in the passage could not illuminate the whole picture of the cage on the opposite side. Under the graceful lights, a corner of the dark chain was exposed, and the perpetrator hid in the gloomy darkness and could not see it. half shadow.
Here, except for her... they are all half puppets.
Mao Qing shuddered suddenly, as if remembering something, and subconsciously touched herself, from beginning to end, to make sure that there was no other metal on her body except the chains that bound her, and she was suddenly relieved.
She didn't become a puppet... she was still normal.
The knocking sound stopped abruptly.
Because someone is coming.
A faint voice of conversation.
"... I've been seeing you here lately."
"… "
Seems to be two people.
The dim candles flickered in the corridor, slowly reflecting a dark shadow, and Mao Qing subconsciously shrank inside.
"go out."
The hoarse youth's voice was slightly familiar, but more unfamiliar.
"...Sir?" The man didn't react, "But here..."
"I asked you to go out—" The young man's voice was wanton, vaguely arrogant, "You just get out of my way! Do you hear me?!"
Another man stepped back hurriedly.
The man was getting closer.
Mao Qing retracted her outstretched head between her arms and sat in the corner as if she didn't exist.
The footsteps got closer and closer and finally stopped.
"Raise your head."
The young voice said lazily, "Do you hear me?"
Mao Qing: "..."
Mao Qing raised her head obediently, her dark eyes were in the thick shadows, and no light could be seen.
Outside the railing, the boy's lips were bright red, his jet-black hair was tied up by a white headband, and a string of slender pieces of paper was casually hanging around his waist. Like the white impermanence in the underworld.
In the dark eyes of the young man, there was a layer of deep hostility, as if everyone in this world had offended him.
Mao Qing raised her head, but Bai Luo didn't speak any more.
The two were speechless.
after awhile.
"...You'd better be good." Bai Luo opened his eyes slightly, his voice hoarse, "Don't think about running away."
Mao Qing looked at him, looking at him carefully.
Finally, the voice was soft, "Yeah."
"... What's your name?" After a while, she seemed to feel that something was wrong, and she added.
"grown ups."
Behind the humility and prudence, there is deep fear.
- She is afraid of him.
But in addition to fear, there is also a little bit of unwillingness.
No, it is very unwilling.
Even if you are unwilling to be afraid, you have to ask who he is.
It seems that she can't believe that the friend she really treats will be the culprit who makes her here now, shackled.
Bai Luo froze slightly.
after awhile.
Bai Luo's voice was light: "My name is Bai Luo."
But I don't know why, losing the arrogance and domineering before, seems to have a bit of compromise.
Just don't know what to compromise.
Not Huo Bai.
It's Bai Luo.
Mao Qing said "Oh" and was silent again.
Bai Luo: "Don't you want to know where this place is?"
Mao Qing: "...will you tell me?"
Not "you", but "you".
This person is not Huo Bai, but a stranger who controls her life.
Mao Qing thought, be more obedient and wise.
Bai Luo: "..."
Bai Luo snorted, as if to hide something, "This is the magic prison set up by the sect leader."
Mao Qing: "These..."
"As you can see." Bai Luo said, "They are all half-demonized puppets."
"... Before they... were they human?" Mao Qing felt her heart beating slightly.
"Yeah." Bai Luo didn't deny it.
He didn't come here to make trouble for her. Just... want to see if she's okay.
At first he thought it didn't matter, just a stupid stupid woman.
But, don't know how.
The mint candy scattered all over the ground, and at that moment, her disappointed eyes.
It seems to have grown in his heart, lingering.
He once persuaded himself that you have already saved her life from the sect master, and it is enough not to owe each other.
But he still came.
Bai Luo always thought that it would be good if he had a brother.
Without a father or mother, he and his brother depended on each other for life.
He was irritable and irritable, and was very impulsive. The task of spying was not suitable for him, but his brother went, so he went too.
He has always followed in his brother's footsteps, imitating him to be calm, silent and alert.
he made it.
His brother taught him to include a mint when he is impulsive.
It's not that I like to eat it, but just with it, I can endure the impulse and anger in my patience, and try to be calm.
but…
Everything about Danfeng is vividly remembered.
He has always thought of himself as a very indifferent person.
But why is he here now
"...Why are they like this now?" Mao Qing wanted to endure, but she couldn't help but be curious, "As far as I know... Ren Puppet will be directly demonized after ten years, no... "
She glanced at the non-human and ghostly things outside the cage, and shivered subconsciously.
It won't become something like a demon.
"Ten years?" Bai Luo sneered as if he had heard a joke, his dark eyes filled with indifference, "Ten years, how can that be enough."
Mao Qing was startled by Bai Luo Senran's eyes.
Bai Luo paused, looked away, and said indifferently, "Humans are greedy animals."
In the bottom of Mao Qing's heart, there was a vague guess, and for a moment, goosebumps appeared, "You mean..."
"Everyone knows." Bai Luo didn't hide her intentions, his voice was casual, "Five hundred years ago, the ancestor of Lingxi was good at puppet art, and he used this art to save people's lives."
"The puppet technique has swept the Fengyue Continent."
"But the shortcomings were soon discovered. The puppet technique can only last ten years, and the human soul cannot exist in the body of the puppet. After ten years, the soul collapses and turns into a demon, and the puppet becomes demonized."
"But the people at the time didn't know that the demonization of puppets was due to the collapse of the soul to transform evil spirits. For a long time, they all believed that the demonization of puppets was the real end of life, so the puppet art was still popular." Bai Luo stated, "until the emergence of puppet demonization. The first time, the tide of evil spirits."
Mao Qing had never heard of this history.
No one said.
"The tide of evil spirits is caused by the aggregation of the spirits of evil spirits stored in the slaughtered demonized puppets."
"Because there is no reincarnation, resentment is full of resentment, full of evil thoughts, more and more evil ghosts gather, and finally it becomes a tide of evil ghosts."
The first wave of evil spirits killed many, many people.
The ground was full of blood, but there were no bones. No one knows how the tide of evil spirits came into being—the people who are comfortable are living and dying under the claws of evil spirits.
Mao Qing: "..."
Bai Luoluo paused, "...off topic."
However, when he came back to his senses, he saw Mao Qing's thirst for talent.
"No, no, keep talking!"
Bai Luo: "..."
"... In short, the demonization prison is where the sect master has put those outstanding people who have reached the ten-year period, but who are determined... to delay the time of demonization."
Mao Qing said bluntly: "Is it that you want to develop a method that can make people live for more years?"
Bai Luo didn't deny it, just said, "Maybe."
Mao Qing: "Isn't that so?"
Bai Luo: "How do I know what the Sect Master is thinking."
"But the leader seems to have always had a wish." Bai Luo said, "She seems to have always wanted to prove to someone..."
He still remembered that the red-clothed girl who had just woken up from a hundred-year slumber, the first sentence she woke up was—
"… are you back?"
Then, facing them around her coffin, they fell silent again, and the narrow eyes ranged from tenderness to indifference.
Before that sentence, it should be a person.
who is back
Who is the priest waiting for
"… who knows."
After a pause, he seemed to guess, and then seemed to be talking to himself, and repeated, "... Ten years, how can that be enough."
The cold wind is bleak.
Lingxi Peak, the back mountain.
The melodious flute sounded, and the girl in red sat quietly on a branch and played the bone flute. The breeze was blowing, the late autumn was here, and the leaves fell golden yellow.
The tombstone whose handwriting cannot be read by time has been sitting quietly in place. Occasionally, a golden leaf will fall on the tombstone, and then it will fall to the ground lightly.
One song.
"… "
Su Ran put down the flute, her long and narrow eyes were light, her voice was elegant and calm, but she seemed to be muttering to herself.
"If you can… "
Abandoned me, I want to walk the road that was abandoned by you.
"What is the tide of evil spirits?" Su Chuan chuckled, "Isn't the most terrifying thing in this world the human heart?"
For a long while, she looked at the tombstone that had been silent for a hundred years, wondering if it was self-deprecating or something else.
"...If you were a little more cruel, it would be fine."