Wei WuXian said, "Oh, there are man-eating demons haunting there, aren't they?"
He has heard similar legends at least a thousand times, and he has eliminated them hundreds of times by himself. Na Langzhong's tone was ups and downs: "Yes! It is said that there is a 'man-eating fort' in the forest ridge, and there are man-eating monsters living in it. Anyone who intrudes by mistake will be gnawed to the bone and scum by them. To the corpse, without exception! Terrible, right?"
No wonder Jin Ling appeared here. He didn't take down the soul-eating goddess of Dafan Mountain last time, and this time he must have come to the monsters on Xinglu Ridge. Wei WuXian said, "It's terrifying! But since there are no bones left and no corpses to be found, how do you know that they were eaten?"
Lang Zhong was dumbfounded for a moment and said, "Of course someone saw it."
Wei WuXian said with admiration, "But didn't you say just now that anyone who intrudes by mistake will be gnawed to the bone, no exceptions? Then who spread this rumor? It's so powerful that you can still live after seeing this kind of picture. Come out to spread the news?"
"..." Lang Zhong said, "That's how the rumors spread, how do I know."
Wei WuXian: "Then do you know how many people were eaten on Xingluling? When were they eaten? Years? Men and women? Who's last name? Where do they live?"
Lang Zhong: "I don't know."
Wei Wuxian: "Qinghe Bai Xiaosheng? Huh?"
Lang Zhong was angry and carried the basket: "The rumors have never been passed on!"
Wei Wuxian giggled, "Don't, don't, don't go. Let me ask you one more thing, Xingluling is still in the territory of Qinghe, isn't Qinghe the boundary of the Nie family? If there are really man-eating monsters haunting Xingluling. , they just sit back and ignore it?"
Unexpectedly, this time, Lang Zhong didn't answer "I don't know", but showed a contemptuous look: "Nie family? Heaven can quickly and resolutely copy the place where the evil spirits haunt. But now the head of the Nie family, hehe, isn't that the 'one question and three unknown'?"
The original head of the Nie Clan in Qinghe was Chifengzun Nie Mingjue. After his father's previous head was killed by Wen Ruohan, the head of the Qishan Wen Clan, he took over the Nie Clan before he could reach the weak crown, and his style was upright and tough. He and Zewu Jun Lan Xichen and Lianfangzun Jin Guangyao are sworn brothers. After the Battle of Shooting the Sun, the Nie family was under his command, and for a period of time, the scenery and power were even close to the Lanling Jin family. And after he went crazy in practice and died in public, the one who took over as the head of the family must be his younger brother Nie Huaisang. Wei WuXian asked, "How dare you call him 'one question, three ignorance'?"
Lang Zhongdao: "You don't know this allusion? This Nie family master, people ask him what he doesn't know, and he won't say anything if he doesn't know, and he doesn't dare to say it if he knows. He asked urgently and forced him hard, and he shook his head repeatedly and cried. Say 'I don't know, I don't know, I really don't know!' Beg someone to let him go. Isn't this one question and three ignorance?"
Back then, Wei Wuxian and Nie Huaisang were classmates, so he could say a few words to this person. Nie Huaisang is not bad-hearted. Years just barely formed Dan. During his lifetime, Nie Mingjue often hated that iron could not become steel, and disciplined him very strictly, but he was still unable to support the wall. Now that there is no big brother to protect him from the wind and rain, to supervise and remind him, Qinghe Nie's leadership is going a thousand miles—the river is going down. After becoming an adult, especially after he became the head of the family, Nie Huaisang was often very busy with various unfamiliar affairs, asking for help everywhere, especially the two righteous younger brothers of the eldest brother. Today, he went to Jinlintai to cry to Jin Guangyao, and he will come to Yunshen tomorrow. I don't know how to Ai Ai, relying on the support of the two big masters of the Jinlan family, he reluctantly took the position of the head of the family. Nowadays, when everyone mentions Nie Huaisang, it's hard to say it clearly, but there are four-character comments on their faces: pustule waste.
Recalling all kinds of past years, it is inevitable that people will sigh.
After Wei Wuxian finished inquiring about Xingluling, he still took care of Langzhong's business, bought two boxes of rouge, and walked back to Lan Wangji in his arms. Walk in the direction pointed by Lang Zhong.
There is a large cedar forest on the Xinglu Ridge, the forest road is wide, and the green shade is sassy. However, the two of them did not have any expectations at first, and took this trip just in case. If the terrible rumors of a place are true, there is always something with nose and eyes to say. Dafanshan's soul-eating goddess is a haunt, where the victim lives and who is his surname. It is clear when he inquires, and even the nickname of Ah Rou's fiancé cannot be concealed. And if the details of the victim's name are hesitant, most of them are chasing the wind and sensationalizing.
After half an hour, they finally encountered a little setback after all the hard work. On the opposite side, there were seven or eight figures swaying, rolling their eyes and ragged clothes, as if the wind was blowing, and it was extremely slow. It turned out to be a line of low-level walking corpses.
This kind of walking corpse is not only bullied among the same kind, but when encountering a slightly stronger living person, one can kick over a row of them; when encountering a child who runs faster, he can be thrown out of the street in an instant. Even if they are unlucky enough to be unlucky, and they are caught and sucked in two breaths of yang, they will not be able to suck dead people. In addition to their ugly appearance and smell, they are not a threat at all. Therefore, when they encounter them during night hunting, most of the high-level monks directly ignore them and leave them to the juniors. This is the same as hunting tigers and leopards but not mice.
Wei Wuxian knew it was going to be bad when he saw them approaching, so he bowed his head and retreated behind Lan Wangji. Sure enough, this column of corpses staggered to five or six feet away from them, and when they saw Wei Wuxian, they were so frightened that they immediately turned around and retreated, their legs and feet were more than two or three times faster than when they came around. Wei WuXian rubbed his temples, turned around and said in horror, "My God, Hanguang-Jun, you are amazing! As soon as they saw you, they turned around and ran away in fright! Haha."
Lan Wangji was speechless.
Wei WuXian pushed him hahaha: "Let's go, let's go down to Lingzi. I don't see any other monsters. People in this place are really capable of passing on, and a few useless walking corpses can be passed on into cannibalism. The monster that spit out bones, the 'man-eating castle' must have been made up, just go for nothing!"
Lan WangJi was pushed several times by him before he took a step forward. Before Wei Wuxian could keep up, there was a sudden sound of crazy dogs barking in the distance from the cedar forest.
Wei Wuxian's expression changed suddenly, he flashed behind Lan Wangji in an instant, hugged his waist and crouched down into a ball.
Lan Wangji: “… It’s still far away, what are you hiding from?”
Wei WuXian: "First, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first hiding. Where is it? Where is it?!"
Lan Wangji listened for a moment, then said, "It's Jin Ling's black-maned spirit dog."
Wei Wuxian stood up when he heard Jin Ling's name, and was immediately forced to squat down by the bark. Lan Wangji said, "The spirit dog barks wildly, something must have happened."
Wei WuXian screamed bitterly, and stood up reluctantly with his legs trembling, "Then, then, that, that, that, that, then, let's take a look!"
Lan Wangji didn't move a step, Wei WuXian said, "HanGuang-Jun, move, move! If you don't move, what should I do!"
After a moment of silence, Lan Wangji said, "You... let go first."
The two tugged and stumbled, following the barking of the dog all the way, but made two laps in the cedar forest. The barking of the black-maned spirit dog also came near and far. Hearing the dog barking for a while, Wei Wuxian reluctantly got used to it, and at least he stopped stammering: "Is there a maze here?"
This maze was clearly man-made, and just now he said that the Xingluling rumors were all chasing shadows, but now it's a bit interesting.
The black-maned spirit dog roared for half a column of incense and was still full of air. The two of them identified the maze and followed the sound. After a while, in the cedar forest, the outlines of stone castles appeared.
The stone castles are all made of gray-white stones, and the surface is covered with vines and fallen leaves.
In Xingluling, there is actually such a stone castle. It seems that the rumors are not groundless. But it is difficult to say whether this is a "man-eating castle" and what is in it.
Jin Ling's black-maned spirit dog was on the periphery of the stone castle group, running around it, sometimes purring in a low voice, and sometimes barking loudly. Seeing Lan Wangji approaching, although Wei Lu timidly backed away, he didn't run away. Instead, he shouted at them even louder, and then looked at the stone castle, his front claws were digging a hole on the ground, and the mud flew up, anxious. Uneasy. Wei WuXian hid behind Lan WangJi and said bitterly, "Why hasn't it left... Where is its owner? Why is the owner gone?!"
From the moment I heard the barking of the dog, until now I haven't heard any sound from Jin Ling, not even a cry for help. He must have brought this black-maned spirit dog, and it must have broken the maze, and a living person seemed to have just disappeared.
Lan Wangji said, "Go in and have a look."
Wei WuXian said, "How do you get in? There's no door."
Really no way. The gray-white stones were tightly sealed, leaving no doors and windows. The black-maned spirit dog jumped up and seemed to want to bite Lan Wangji's clothes, but he didn't dare, so he went around and bit Wei Wuxian's clothes, dragging him out.
Wei Wuxian's soul was about to go out of his body, so he stretched out his hands to Lan Wangji: "Lan Zhan... Lan Zhan Lan Zhan... Lan Zhan Lan Zhan Lan Zhan!!!"
The black-maned spirit dog dragged Wei Wuxian, Wei Wuxian dragged Lan Wangji, and a dog dragged the two and spared them for half a circle, and went around behind the stone castle. There is a cave that is close to the height of a person. The shape is uneven, and the ground is full of large and small rubble, which is obviously just blasted by someone with a violent magic weapon. The inside of the cave was dark and could not be seen clearly, and there seemed to be a faint red light. The black-maned spirit dog let go of its mouth, screamed at the inside, and wagged its tail at the two.
Needless to say, it must have been Jin Ling who broke through this stone fort forcibly, but something unexpected happened after entering.
Bichen automatically unsheathed for half an inch, and the blade emitted a cold light blue halo, illuminating the dark road ahead. Lan Wangji bent over and entered first. Wei Wuxian was driven crazy by the dog, so he rushed in, almost colliding with him. Lan Wangji held his hand, not knowing whether to blame or helpless, shook his head.
The black-maned spirit dog clearly wanted to follow, and tried to rush in, but it seemed to be blocked by some kind of force, and it couldn't break through the barrier no matter what, so he had to sit down at the entrance of the hole, his tail wagging more and more crazy. Wei WuXian was so happy that he almost knelt down for it, withdrew his hand, and took a few steps in, the cold blue sword light was lined with cold white by the surrounding black.
The trees on Xinglu Ridge are tall and deep, and it is very shady, but the interior of this stone castle is even cooler than it is. Wei WuXian went into battle in light clothes, the cuffs and vest roaring through the yin wind, and the cold sweat that had just been frightened by the black-maned spirit dog was dry. The light at the entrance of the cave has long since disappeared like a candle extinguished. The further you go inside, the wider and darker it becomes.
The top of the stone fort was round, Wei Wuxian kicked the gravel beside his feet, and could hear a slight echo.
He finally couldn't help it, stopped, pressed his right hand on his temple, and frowned slightly.
Lan WangJi turned his head and said, "How?"
Wei WuXian said, "...It's so noisy."
Inside the stone castle, there was silence, as quiet as a tomb. It was also very much like a tomb.
But in Wei Wuxian's ears, at this moment, they were already surrounded by noise.