Wow! Wow!
Crows were screaming in the gloomy sky, blue-white lightning flashed, and a streak of electric snake fell to the nearby hilltop.
A bluish-white light flashed by, illuminating a skeleton lying on its side on the ground under a tree in the woods below, with its hands and feet curled up. Its clothes were torn and open. After being exposed to the wind and rain, and pecked by birds and insects for who knows how long, the outline of petals could be vaguely seen on the tattered cloth. The soles of the skeleton were covered with pointed shoes, indicating that it was a girl before birth.
With a crisp sound, a figure in a red dress approached, slowly squatted down, and her fingertips lovingly stroked the skeleton's skin, bones, and messy hair.
"A woman died here, either from starvation or from being killed by someone. Even if she turned into a ghost, she would not be able to find her enemy in the wilderness..."
As the gentle words floated out from the red lips, a crack appeared behind the squatting woman, extending slowly from the back of her head to the coccyx. Then, with a click, it split to the left and right, and a ball of black and sticky stuff was thrown to the ground, emitting green smoke.
The thing was still alive, and it struggled to get up from the ground, pulling out sticky liquid. It was obviously a fox.
In front, the figure with a cracked back turned his face slightly, and stared at the trembling fox from the corner of his eyes.
“Look, we’re out now, aren’t we? Even if we haven’t made any contributions, we’ve worked hard. Don’t worry, I won’t kill you. Follow me from now on. You’ll have a better life than your sister who died and whose body is nowhere to be found. I can eat whoever I want... hehe... haha... hahaha!”
The sharp and piercing laughter rose, and the slimy red fox subconsciously shrank when his eyes met hers, trembling constantly, moaning "squeak...", lowering his head, and crawling to the ground.
"That's good."
'Hong Lian' raised her sleeve to cover her red lips and smiled softly. The next moment, her standing body suddenly spread out to the left and right, like a thin piece of leather paper. She turned to face the red fox and lay down towards the corpse on the ground. The spread painted skin was like a liquid that had seeped out of the dry and fleshless bones, and the beautiful face was also imprinted with the empty eye sockets of the skull and two rows of lipless teeth.
With a face as thin as bones, Hong Lian opened her mouth as if to inhale. Several crows that were flying randomly in the forest suddenly fell down, and blood mist from their bodies flew into her dry lips. Her dry face squirmed, gradually gaining color and becoming plump.
But his body and limbs were still skinny and looked extremely uncoordinated.
'Hong Lian' looked at her skinny palm, then glanced at the red fox on the ground, but finally looked away.
"The blood essence is not enough... Little fox, follow me."
With the support of human bones, the painted skin becomes more solid and the magic power can be used more easily.
Walking out of the woods, it started to drizzle outside. In the lead-blue rain curtain, the rugged mountains were hidden in the darkness, revealing a gloomy scene. There were cliffs and hillsides all around, with strange rocks standing in rows, and there was a faint mist curling around.
"The wild mountains and ridges are filled with evil spirits."
As if sensing the presence of a monster here, 'Hong Lian' did not leave the mountainside, but walked into the mountain with the red fox. The sound of monkeys was heard in the distance, and there were few insects or birds in the woods they passed by. Soon, they suddenly stopped, as if they sensed something, and glanced at the woods against the mountain.
Whoosh—
The drooping branches swayed in the sudden wind, and a few human figures were looming in the mist. Occasionally, they would stretch out their furry claws and climb behind a tree, sticking out half of their face to look at the beautiful woman over there.
"Hmph, a bunch of demons, goblins and wild monsters."
"Hong Lian" took a look and ignored it. She went straight to the place where the evil spirit was the heaviest. She walked along the wild grass and rocks under her feet to the top of the mountain for more than ten feet. Behind the mountain wall covered by several dead vines and old trees, there was a cave. Several stalactites were hanging upside down at the entrance of the cave, like the fangs of an animal, and evil energy was gushing out from it.
Earlier, several little demons ran quickly into the cave through the fog. After passing through the dark cave passage, the inside became wider and there was a faint glow of fire. There were several wooden racks and copper basins, and the flickering flames illuminated the stone tables and benches, the carved stone steps, and a stone chair on top.
The monster ran into the cave vaguely and bowed down in front of the stone steps.
"My lord, there is a gorgeous woman outside, she is full of demonic aura."
Just as he finished speaking, a puff of black smoke rose from the stone chair, revealing a monster with a spotted leopard head and a red cloak. It looked at the bat monster with pointed ears, fangs and an upturned nose and threw a piece of raw meat to it.
"A beautiful woman... isn't she a demon..."
The thunderous voice stopped before it had finished speaking. The bat demon who reported the news felt a hand gently touching his head. He looked up and saw the beautiful woman he had seen outside the cave before was standing next to him.
The spotted leopard-headed monster on the first stone chair grinned and touched his chin.
"You come to my cave alone as a demon, aren't you afraid that I will capture you and make you my wife?"
Over there, Hong Lian swept her eyes across the cave, touched the top of the bat monster's head, turned around on the blanket on the ground, looked back at the leopard-headed monster, and chuckled.
"It was yours before, but now... it's mine."
“Arrogant!”
The leopard-headed monster slapped the armrest and shouted, but before he could stand up, the firelight suddenly flickered and the woman opposite him suddenly disappeared. He instinctively turned his head and felt a biting chill on his cheek. A pair of dry hands with only skin attached clamped his head, and the originally beautiful and charming face of the woman was close at hand.
"What are you going to do..."
Before he could finish, Hong Lian, with a ferocious face on the opposite side, opened her red lips and sucked at the leopard-headed monster. Several streams of blood flew out of the monster's mouth, nose, and eye sockets. Her whole body, limbs, and feet were twitching and shaking. All the demon pills were sucked out of the frightened and open mouth of the monster.
The blood-colored mist swirled around, covering the stone steps, scaring the bat demon below and several small demons in the cave so much that they fell to the ground.
After a while, the blood-colored mist dissipated and returned to the woman's body. The shriveled leopard-headed monster on the stone chair fell down with a bang and rolled down the stone steps.
Wow!
Hong Lian, dressed in red, shook out her cloak with one hand, and it spread out behind her like a wave. Her figure became slender and graceful. A bead emitting magical power was suspended in her palm in front of her, but she crushed it to pieces with a bang, and looked at the terrified little demons below.
"From now on, when you see someone named Lu Liangsheng, you should call him Master! And I... will be Madam."
Hong Lian sat down on the stone chair, rested her hands on the armrests, and slightly closed her eyes.
"…Mrs. Hongyi."
…
The sky was gloomy, and rain lines connected the sky and the earth. In the far south, Qixia Mountain was covered with a layer of rosy clouds, and smoke rose from the villages bathed in the sunset.
In the fenced courtyard, Li Jinhua announced that it was time for dinner. The small door of the compartment was pushed open, and Toad Taoist ran out holding his porcelain bowl.
The small kitchen was packed with people. The dim oil lamp illuminated the five people and a toad's shadow as they sat around a round table eating their long-awaited dinner and talking about what they had seen and heard on the way. It was warm and lively, and their laughter squeezed out of the crack in the door and floated into the yard.