The giant tree root looked down. Shi Jingzhi had a strange illusion - at this moment they were like crickets in a jar, being observed from outside.
Fortunately, no matter which statue it was, it showed no sign of moving. Shi Jingzhi shivered for a while, then slowly accepted his fate.
He took a few steps and grabbed the lantern.
The scene in front of her was horrifying, and the little girl's legs went limp with fear. Finally she met a living person, and she immediately hugged Shi Jingzhi's thighs tightly, crying so hard that she almost died.
Yin Ci had been stunned since he saw the tree root statue. He barely came back to his senses when he heard the girl's frightened cry.
"Goddess, you are lying." Yindeng cried until his voice was hoarse, "My sister is here, and my brother is here too. They didn't ascend to heaven at all."
Shi Jingzhi and Yin Ci looked at each other.
Shi Jingzhi: "Don't cry... Yindeng, do you remember how you got down here?"
"I dreamed that my sister was crying, and I wanted to comfort her. But she seemed unable to see me, so I wanted to get closer, closer."
He summoned up his courage, raised his head slightly, and pointed to the stone platform closest to the statue.
"When I fell, I woke up. It was my brother who saved me. He is here..."
Having previously been distracted by the giant tree root statue, the two men now noticed the stone platforms around them.
Under each small stone platform, there is still a statue of the flesh god.
They all face the large flesh statue on the central stone platform, like hundreds of birds paying homage to the phoenix. Compared to the one in the middle, they are much smaller and far less refined. The small statue is also made of human bones, and the production is a bit crude, with many details distorted and deformed, just like...
"It's a prototype." Yin Ci said softly, "It's a rough draft of a clay statue."
Now the situation is much clearer - someone is building a meat statue at the bottom of the forbidden area, and it is built with great care. The statue is based on the tree root colossus, and countless small drafts of meat paste were tried during the manufacturing process to ensure that the finished product is flawless.
There was a thick layer of white cloth and several chains at the feet of the prototype statue. No wonder Su Si said the white monsters had their "internal organs exposed", they were originally made of living flesh. The deformed flesh statues were not suitable for showing to others, so they were wrapped with white cloth and tied tightly with ropes.
It can be used as a clay draft to practice before it is finished, and then it can be used as a puppet after practice. The "god" here really has a good plan.
Since the residents of Yuanxian Village were completely unaware of everything, there was only one person who could do such a thing—
This situation and this scene were undoubtedly caused by the goddess.
But why did she create such a demonic statue? What is the purpose of the flesh statue? Where did the giant tree root statue, covered with vines and hundreds of years old, come from
Yin Ci has been wandering alone in the world for more than 300 years, and instead of becoming clear, everything has become darker. Apart from the superficial knowledge of monsters and demon materials, he seems to know nothing about the "other side" of the world.
The scenes before him were even more absurd than his nightmares.
Thinking of the nightmare, Yin Ci couldn't help but touch his face again. This time his facial features were still there, and there were no strange roots on his face. The familiar touch of the ghost leather jacket came back from his fingers.
Shi Jingzhi was silent for a long time. Finally, he squeezed out some calmness from his bones, half squatted down, and put his hands on the shoulders of the lantern guide.
"Yindeng, you just said 'my sister is here, my brother is here too'... Can you communicate with them?"
Yindeng shook his head vigorously and wiped the tears from his face: "They can't, can't speak, but I just know it."
She pointed to the flesh statue on the central stone platform, and then to a clay statue not far away: "That's my sister, that's my brother. I can feel them, they are here."
People say that young children have spirits and their eyes are open, so perhaps this is what they are referring to. No matter which statue it is, it is all a bloody mess. I don't know how this child recognized it.
Yin Ci calculated quickly in his mind.
As long as they bring the guiding light with them and strip the white-clothed monster in public, the villagers will surely discover the problem - and by then stirring up trouble, at least someone will volunteer to send them out.
This is also a way.
…But this is not the problem they are worried about right now.
The goddess knew the secret of the forbidden underground, but she still let them in. If they want to leave, it may not be that easy.
Shi Jingzhi was obviously thinking about something similar. He paced around and around, trying hard to ignore the flesh statues around him.
“Aci, I’ll carry you on my back, and you hold on to the guide lamp, and we’ll crawl back and try… see…” He caught sight of something out of the corner of his eye, and his whole body froze in place. The second half of the sentence became more and more trembling, and finally ended with a groan.
Leading the light to follow Shi Jingzhi's gaze, she let out a cry that was not human and fainted on the ground—
The tree root giant slowly moved. No, it wasn't the giant that moved, but a giant insect monster that had emerged from the tree root. The giant insect entangled and slid on the giant, bringing with it a crackling rain of dirt and rocks. After a while, it settled down and lowered its head toward where everyone was. At first glance, it looked as if the tree root giant was coiled with rotten intestines.
God knows which rule they broke to alarm this thing.
As they got closer, the master and disciple had to see more clearly.
The giant insect's body was brown-red, and its skin was hard and rough, with a texture similar to that of old tree bark. There were three dark holes on its head, and no eyeballs were visible. There was a "human"-shaped gap between the holes, dividing its entire head into three parts. In the gaps, burnt yellow sharp teeth grew unevenly and densely, and their shape was very similar to human teeth. Turbid yellow saliva mixed with mud and dripped down.
The giant worms circled in the pit, blocking the rock wall tightly. The slender hand-like objects were scraped off, and they could see their true forms clearly.
It's insect eggs.
The eggs were half the size of a person, with a hard, spindle-shaped shell. One end could easily penetrate the soil and rock, and the other end was connected to a slender arm-like structure that could crawl freely. There were thousands of them, quietly buried behind the tree root statue. Now, they were swept away by the giant insect, and the eggs fell into the water one after another.
The eggs seemed to have little interest in the human flesh in the pool. They swarmed in groups, piercing into the giant insect's rough hide, and their deformed hands grabbed at nothing.
Unfortunately, this touching scene of parent-child reunion did not move Shi Jingzhi - Shi Fox's eyes wandered, and he looked as if he wanted to commit suicide on the spot.
In comparison, the monster in white is simply refreshing and lovely.
Unfortunately, things have come to this point and they have no way out.
Shi Jingzhi tried to cover the flag with Yang Fire, but he was like a wet tinderbox, unable to produce a single spark. The giant insect opened its toothy mouth, and Shi Jingzhi felt like vomiting again.
Yin Ci was helpless: "Master!"
Hearing his disciple's cry, Shi Jingzhi sobered up a little. He gritted his teeth, packed up the unconscious Yindeng and Diaoying Sword, and threw them to Yin Ci: "Master, you have to deal with this thing. You don't have the internal strength. Take her and hide well!"
This is indeed true.
Facing a monster that was too big, it was fatal to have no internal strength. Shi Jingzhi was still able to defeat it with brute force, but before he found the giant insect's weakness, Yin Ci could only carve patterns on it.
Yin Ci held the lantern in one hand and the sword in the other and quickly jumped off the stone platform.
Shi Jingzhi jumped up undignifiedly, barely clinging to the giant insect's body. The next moment, countless insect eggs reached out to him, and Shi Jingzhi exploded visibly.
The golden fire was blazing, instantly igniting the long arms of the insect eggs. The eggs crackled and emitted an indescribable stench. The giant insect was burned by the yang fire and struggled against the cave wall.
Shi Jingyi inserted his flag into its thick skin and managed to stabilize his body. Yin Ci took advantage of the geographical location and hid under a dry lotus leaf in the corner to ensure that the guiding lantern would not be affected by the giant insect.
The eggs suffered heavy casualties, but the giant insect only had a few skin injuries. Shi Jingzhi poked at the insect's body pitifully, just like an ant trying to bite an elephant to death. The giant insect was annoyed by the bites of this powerful ant. Seeing that rubbing against the rock wall was ineffective, it began to curl up its body and beat the rock wall hard, trying to beat the annoying ant to death.
The entire forbidden area was shaken slightly by it, rumbling. More intact insect eggs fell, almost pushing Yin Ci into the water.
Pity.
If Shi Jing's external skills were up to par, or if he could control his aura, this giant insect would not be his opponent. However, Shi Jing had very little actual combat experience, and was at the stage of having a golden bowl in his hand and eating a meal, so he had no idea how to control his strength.
Yin Ci pondered for a long time, but could not find the weakness of the insect monster. One of them was willing but not able to do so, and the other was able but not willing to do so, so they would only be exhausted by this thing.
Yindeng's injuries were strange and he was a serious witness, so he must not die down there.
In order to keep everyone alive, there is only one way left - he has to provoke the fox.
According to Yin Ci's observation, Shi Jingzhi was most afraid of two things. First, not being able to survive; second, losing his apprentice. Currently, the "fear of death" had a counter-effect, making Shi Jingzhi hesitate and unable to act.
He had to add a strong dose of medicine to explode the madness again.
At this moment, Shi Jingzhi could no longer hold on and fell on the stone platform. He fell hard and immediately spat out a large mouthful of blood. The giant insect had no intention of letting him linger and was about to crush him.
Yin Ci placed the lantern on the withered lotus leaf and rushed to the stone platform. He hugged Shi Jingzhi and, with a tiptoe, the two of them hung on the outer petiole of the lotus leaf, barely able to stabilize their bodies.
The giant insect passed by the master and his apprentice, and it crashed into the stone platform where Shi Jingzhi was originally standing, smashing the stone pillar into pieces. The broken stones shot into the shallow pond, and blood mixed with dust floated up. There was originally a small clay statue standing on the stone platform, but it was directly crushed back into meat paste by the insect. It slid back into the pond miserably, and a string of blood rippled out, dyeing the shallow pond even more turbid.
"Aci?" Shi Jingzhi hadn't come back to his senses yet.
"Master, that thing only dares to hit the white monster, not the meat statue in the middle." Time was urgent, so Yin Ci went straight to the point. "Remember to land there."
Shi Jingzhi looked at him deeply, but without any hesitation, he rushed out again with the flag in his hand.
With a foothold, his attack gradually became organized. The giant insect failed to kill the ant for a long time, and became more and more irritated, and his movements became more and more violent. Yin Ci took the pilot light farther away and deliberately moved towards the center of the battlefield. He decided to be a lively fish in the pond, waiting to be affected by the city gate.
In the end, Yin Ci was really dragged into it, but it was not quite the same as he had planned.
Shi Jingzhi's fighting skills were getting better and better. With just one final push, he could kill the insect monster.
The insect was harassed by Shi Jingzhi, and the burns on its body increased. It could no longer bear it, and was about to use a heavy blow to overturn the world, but suddenly froze in mid-air. After a moment, it rolled into a ring and smashed down stiffly, just avoiding the stone lotus in the middle of the forbidden area.
"I was wondering why you were shaking so violently. It's a real skill that you can survive Shou Genzhe's hands for so long." A cold voice sounded.
Just before the insect demon went crazy, the goddess descended from the sky.
The eggs held each other together, forming a hand net, allowing her to stand in the air. She glanced at the bottom of the forbidden area, which was in a mess, and raised her hand to cast a spell. A piece of tree root shot out from the stone wall and poked a big hole in the giant insect's body.
"What a stupid fool without any spirituality. He almost ruined my good deeds."
The giant insect screamed in pain, not daring to move. The insect eggs seemed to have received some instructions. They swarmed over, linked their arms, and pulled the meat statue in the center of the stone platform into the air, hanging it in a safe place.
Shi Jingzhi had been fighting the giant insect for a long time and had reached the end of his strength. He stopped at the central stone platform, panting, and the yang fire under his flag was sometimes on and sometimes off, but he was unable to stop those arms.
Once the meat statue left, Shi Jingzhi was left with only a pool of living flesh. Without a weak spot, the goddess's murderous intent spread like a tide.
Fortunately, compared to the giant insect, the goddess looked very normal, and Shi Jingzhi regained some of his courage. He secretly glanced at Yin Ci's hiding place and deliberately provoked: "So you are willing to come down. Why? If you had come to rescue Yin Deng earlier, everything would have been fine."
The goddess smiled coldly: "You little brat is really sharp-tongued. You are about to die, and you still want to protect others?"
Another tree root came out insidiously and stabbed directly at Shi Jingzhi. Just as the latter took a defensive action, it suddenly changed its route and accelerated suddenly, knocking Yin Ci, who was hiding at the edge, into the bottom of the pool and pressing him into the pulp.
A stream of bubbles emerged from the bottom of the turbid pool, spreading a pool of blood, and then there was no movement. The water surface quickly returned to calm, and Yin Ci did not float up, and he was unable to even struggle.
Shi Jingzhi had not expected that she would use her apprentice's knife to cut him, and he froze like an ice sculpture.
The sound of water had long stopped, the giant insects no longer screamed, and there was complete silence all around. Shi Jingzhi was somewhat dazed, this moment was so fast that he had no time to react, and he did not dare to confirm it.
He held the flag tightly in his hand. The giant insect was burned all over by him. It was only a matter of seconds. If he could force out a little more strength, they would win. Then he would drag Yin Ci to the ground and scold him for a long time, or just beat him up. After dealing with this dishonest disciple, Kushan Sect would find a way out...
They were clearly just a little bit away from victory.
The goddess appeared and smashed Shi Jingzhi's newly risen joy into the ground. Just like climbing to the top of the mountain in the snow, he tried his best and was exhausted, but was pushed into the abyss at the slightest step.
At that time, Jingzhi felt cold all over.
If the goddess had come earlier, he wouldn't have had such unrealistic fantasies. If she had come later, they would have escaped the giant insect and could have found another way. Why? Why did she come at this time
Why did she have to destroy his things so casually in front of him
The uncontrollable emotions surged up again. Reluctance, grievance, fear and hatred mixed together, but Shi Jingzhi was too tired and too sad. This time he let go of the reins and didn't try to control it.
Finally, his desire for life gave way to his madness, and the two merged together. From deep within his bones, which were on the verge of exhaustion, a strong murderous aura suddenly surged out.
The golden fire turned into spears and shot up into the sky.
They were set ablaze by one person, seemingly endless, and the entire forbidden area was illuminated in a white light. The flames erupted in the center, and the many stone platforms cast distorted shadows on the pit walls. The shadows were cast on the giant statue at the root of the tree, and the statue, which was neither sad nor happy, was half-cast in shadow, adding a bit of irony out of nowhere.
If there really is hell in this world, the fire of hell would be just like this.
The net turned to dust in an instant, and the goddess was caught off guard, nearly dying in the sea of fire. A thin root caught her in time, and she barely escaped the flames and was not burned.
Shi Jingzhi stood on the central stone platform, his long hair loose and his expression blank. The incomparable sense of oppression erupted again, like a young dragon out of the sea, a young tiger roaring at the mountain. The clay statues on the stone platform were pushed by the wind and fell into the water, splashing countless dazzling water splashes.
Fortunately, Shi Jingzhi still remembered to light the lantern, and the strong winds around him dispersed but did not harm Yuan Yi.
There was a time when Shi Jingzhi used his full strength to defeat the enemy. He did not use any magic or external skills. He just used this almost terrifying power to indiscriminately destroy everything above the forbidden area.
The flames grew stronger and stronger.
The forbidden area was narrow, and the golden fire was extremely strong. The goddess was hiding in a very awkward situation. The air was so hot that it was impossible to breathe normally. The ends of her hair were burnt, and the sleeves and skirts of her fairy-like clothes turned to ash. But the flesh statue was beside her, so she didn't dare to abandon the statue and escape. She had to erect layer after layer of barriers in vain, trying to gain a little breathing space.
Finally, the golden fire burned through half of the goddess' body. Just when she had no way to retreat, she opened her mouth and shouted loudly, as if asking for help from someone invisible. However, Shi Jingzhi's five senses were confused and he couldn't hear a word clearly.
He only saw more tree roots coming over, isolating the goddess from the flames. Miraculously, the golden fire also hit those tree roots, but the roots were not damaged at all.
The giant insect was not so lucky. It could not withstand the raging golden fire, its skin was burnt black and cracked, and it was half roasted alive.
Unfortunately, no matter how gifted Shi Jingzhi was, he was still a mortal. The Yang Fire burned without restraint for a long time, and eventually it gradually weakened.
But the goddess did not fall.
"I underestimated you."
After making sure that the flesh statue beside her was also protected by the roots and not burned, the goddess ignored her own body and breathed a sigh of relief. At this moment, half of her body was dark red and swollen. She no longer had any fairy spirit, but instead looked like an evil ghost that had sneaked into the human world.
“… Humans are not gods, and their strength is limited. You are still able to stand after using that move just now, which deserves praise.”
Shi Jingzhi held the medicine in his hand until the disease was cured and could not move an inch. His face turned pale, sweat poured down like rain, and his lips had lost all color.
She was right. This time he was almost exhausted and even breathing was extremely difficult.
Despite suffering such a huge loss, the goddess showed no resentment on her face, and even revealed a strange joy: "Although this place has been messed up by you, you have a strong affinity with the immortals, and you can replace the whole pool of materials by yourself."
Shi Jingzhi stared at her angrily, unable to muster the strength to breathe. He could only use his last bit of strength to straighten his back and force himself to stand.
The goddess didn't expect him to answer. She snorted coldly, raised her right hand, and several tree roots rushed over like living things. Shi Jingzhi was entangled by the tree roots.
Ding.
The tree roots hit the sword blade, making a not-so-crisp sound.
An arm hooked around Shi Jingzhi's waist and pulled him back. The dark sword blade flashed again, sweeping away another malicious tree root. Shi Jingzhi slowly turned his head and saw a strange yet familiar face.
As cold as frost and snow, and extremely graceful.
They had met once before under the ghost tomb.
Shi Jingzhi understood clearly that the man in white was not the "enemy" or "senior" he had seen at first glance. At this moment, the other party used the voice he was familiar with, but the warmth in his voice was gone, leaving only cruelty and arrogance.
"What a shame about my damn leather jacket."
The man whispered in his ear.
"Master, since I brought you in, I will definitely send you out... Don't be angry about this, okay?"