There are no people in the desolate mountains and wilderness, and the occasional wailing of night foxes can be heard in the distant darkness.
There was a fire burning in the dilapidated, half-collapsed hut, with sparks occasionally popping up into the air. Inside the hut, there was a loud rise and fall of snoring. A few steps away from the eight people who were resting, a young man was quietly flipping through the book "Qing Huai Bu Meng" in his hand by the light of the fire.
There was a slight sound of splashing.
The pages of the book turned between his fingers, and the dim firelight shone on Lu Liangsheng's face, and he frowned slightly.
"The techniques in this book are completely different from those recorded in Nanshui Shiyi. Most of them are about driving away insects and beasts, and making dead trees grow roots. Master, if we can use this technique in our village, it will be a blessing, right?"
He turned his head and looked at the package leaning against the wall. Seeing no response, he called out again.
"Master?"
The wind blew through the woods outside, making a rustling sound. The eight people sleeping soundly on the ground moved slightly, and someone stood up from the fire. He was the leader of this trip, a hunter in the village, who was very sensitive to any movement in the mountains.
"Uncle Pan, what's wrong?" Lu Liangsheng followed him, holding the scroll.
Lu Pan walked to the window, where a dusty spider web was hanging and swaying. His eyes were fixed. Looking out from here, it was pitch black outside. He didn't know when, but the stars and the moon above his head were covered by dark clouds.
Then, he frowned and said, "I feel like there is something outside, it seems to be coming down from the mountain..."
There was a slight rustling sound in the forest. The wind blew in from outside, causing the flames to sway left and right. The other seven people also woke up, feeling that the atmosphere was a little stagnant. They took out their hunting knives or hatchets and held them in their hands.
One of the tall and thin villagers whispered, "Could it be a giant insect?"
"We have more people, so we can still handle the big insects, but it will be troublesome if we encounter a group of wolves."
Lu Pan's words always make people nervous. We are all from the mountains, and we know that whether we encounter a big beast or a wolf, it is not a good thing.
The night forest was quiet, with the occasional rustling of unknown wild animals passing by outside. The thick fallen leaves made the atmosphere even more mysterious and tense.
Lu Pan gripped the knife handle tightly, turned around and walked towards the crooked door, pushing it open with a slight creaking sound.
"Let's go out and take a look. Liangsheng, stay in the house. Don't leave the house casually if you hear anything."
The other seven people looked at each other and gave Lu Liangsheng some instructions.
"Liangsheng, there are many poisonous insects and wild beasts at night, don't go out..." "Wait until we come back, uncle will peel a wolf skin for you." "Take good care of the bag, don't lose our food."
"Go, go, you can sleep more when you come back."
Amid the noise of various people talking, the seven people followed Lu Pan and disappeared into the night. Lu Liangsheng closed the door, walked back and opened the package against the wall, but there was no sign of the toad inside.
He sat back by the fire, picked up the scroll on the ground, and looked at the flickering flames.
"Where's Master? Could it be that he was worried about Uncle Pan and the others and followed them out?"
As he frowned, a draft squeezed out of the window and drifted towards the mountains and forests. In the black outline, trees could be vaguely heard swaying one after another. A short toad figure crossed the stream and ran madly into the woods with its short legs.
"I am so angry that a little demon can bully me."
The dense bumps on his back turned light purple. When he passed a big tree, he suddenly turned around and blew a puff of light purple smoke at the huge black shadow chasing him. The light purple smoke shot forward like an arrow. The next moment, a sharp and long hissing sound was heard, and several trees were knocked over, falling down with their dense branches and leaves.
Taoist Zixing was also rolled on the ground by the sudden gust of wind. When he got up, a black shadow was climbing up towards him, and the hard shell in the middle of his head had rotted away to form a scar.
Amid the chirping of insects, the toad swept its long beard furiously and turned and ran. Just as it stopped, a tree was broken and wood chips flew everywhere.
The Toad Taoist had already run a long distance.
"When my power recovers, I will come back to settle the score with you—"
…
At the foot of the mountain, in the dark woods, a group of people who went out to check were moving towards the direction where there was movement.
They were talking in low voices among the shadows.
"… So there's no movement?"
"A wild animal must have passed by here just now..."
"It's better to be careful."
At this moment, a black shadow swooshed past the eight people. The tall and thin man subconsciously dodged and leaned on his companion.
"Something just passed by."
Lu Pan turned around: "Maybe it's a fox..."
The next moment after he spoke, there was a loud rustling sound in the forest above, and the trees tilted to the left and right. In the forest, countless birds flew out in panic and circled above the forest in a dark mass.
"What is that?!" someone shouted in panic.
"Coming this way!"
In two breaths, Lu Pan was holding the hunting knife, his hands covered in cold sweat. He stared in the direction where the grass and trees were shaking wildly, dense insect legs were trampling on them, and dark red hard shells were twisting and winding, rushing into the group's sight.
"Centipede—"
"A monster!"
The moment the panicked shouting sounded, someone rushed out to avoid it. Lu Pan almost instinctively swung out his hunting knife. He didn't know where he cut, but there was a crisp bang sound, and sparks flew like hammering iron. His wrist was numb from the shock, and he almost couldn't hold the handle of the knife. He stumbled back two steps, and a series of long feet passed by in front of his eyes, almost at the distance of his nose.
"Oh my god..."
Only then did Lu Pan see how big the thing was. He screamed in fear and fell to the ground. However, the huge body ignored them. With a whistling sound, it disappeared into the woods in the blink of an eye, leaving only the surrounding branches still shaking.
A few leaves fluttered down.
The frightened Lu Pan stood up from the ground shakily and spoke with a trembling voice: "How are you? Are you hurt?!"
All around, the voices of companions answered one after another. Most of them were not seriously injured, but a little limp and somewhat frightened, and they were stammering and unable to speak.
"I'm glad you're okay..."
Lu Pan calmed his breathing and suddenly turned his head.
"It's bad! Ryosei is still in the hut."
The rest of the people all reacted and looked at Lu Pan and then towards the thatched cottage.
"Lu Tou'er, what should we do... Should we... go back?"
Lu Pan's cheeks were puffed up, and his eyes flickered with complicated expressions. He hesitated for a moment: "We are Liangsheng's elders after all. If we run away, people will stab us in the back. Let's go! Go back—"
At the foot of the mountain, on a gentle slope, a thatched hut with half of it collapsed.
In the window frame cast with firelight, a young man sat holding a book, his shadow cut against the wall. The sound of him reading softly could be heard. Occasionally he closed his eyes and memorized what he had read in his mind.
Sparks flew out of the burnt dead wood, and when he opened his eyes, there was a hint of worry in them.
"Why haven't you come back yet..."
After a while, there was a clattering sound in the wind outside, and a short, pitch-black figure came out from the hole in the broken corner of the wall.
"Master?"
Taoist Zixing said nothing. He kicked his legs and quickly got into the package placed against the wall, then stretched out a frog web to cover the opening.
Over there, Lu Liangsheng blinked his eyes and just stood up, the spider web on the window frame was blown sideways, and dust flew onto his face.
"Ahem..."
The boy fanned the dust with a book and smelled a fishy smell. Then a series of dense, hair-raising knocking sounds rang out, as if something was crawling over.
Lu Liangsheng took his eyes off the package and looked outside.
Outside the window frame, a pair of red lanterns descended from the sky, looking in and meeting the boy's gaze.
At this moment, the chirping of insects in the corner of the wall suddenly stopped.