This person was none other than Liang Shuhong who had not seen him for many days.
When Wen Chan saw him, he was sitting in the gazebo, talking to Liang Yanbei, dressed in white and black, looking like a scholar.
He walked over with some surprise, "Brother Shuhong? Why are you here?"
Who knows that Liang Shuhong was more surprised than him when he saw him. He stood up and said in surprise, "His Royal Highness?! Why are you here? Shouldn't you be in the capital?!"
Looks like no one has told him yet.
Wen Chan was silent for a moment, not knowing how to explain, "It's a long story."
Liang Shuhong first looked at the person carefully, opened his mouth and piled up a lot of words, and finally became, "You shouldn't come here."
Wen Chan: "..."
Liang Yanbei said, "Everyone is here, it's useless for you to talk about it."
As soon as he heard this annoying cousin speak, Liang Shuhong put the blame on him, "Since you knew that His Highness Ninth Prince was here, why didn't you send a letter to His Majesty as soon as possible so that someone could take His Highness Ninth back? It's too dangerous for him to stay here! "
Liang Yanbei shrugged, "He said he had to deal with business."
Wen Chan nodded, "Yes, I do have business to do."
While talking, Wen Chan suddenly remembered that Liang Shuhong should have come to May Island with Zhong Wenting, but now he is alone, so he pretended to be stupid and asked, "Did you come alone? Why did you come now?"
"No, I came with the eldest son of the Zhong family." As soon as Liang Shuhong mentioned Zhong Wenting, his expression changed immediately, his brows frowned, and his tone was very solemn, "But he left suddenly two days ago, and I didn't find him. When I arrived, I happened to hear that there was a son of the Liang family in the mansion, so I looked for it."
"Didn't he tell you when he left?" Wen Chan noticed something wrong with Liang Shuhong's tone.
"It's a long story." Liang Shuhong borrowed his words, and said in a deep voice, "After we landed on May Island, we began to investigate the matter of God's return to religion. We learned that everyone on this island believes in this religion. Every year in mid-July, a worship ceremony and a god-off will be held in the city.”
"Originally, I discussed with Mr. Zhong to find my cousin first, and then we went to visit the god Guijiao together, but I found out a few days ago that he always goes out at night. After I got suspicious, I decided to follow him to see, but who knows , he actually left the City of Bliss and headed straight for the woods to the east." When he said this, he paused for a moment, his eyebrows furrowed even tighter.
"It is rumored that there are monsters and beasts eating people in that forest. No one would go there. Even a woodcutter would only go to the forest to the west to cut wood. After I followed that night, I saw..."
"See what?" Wen Chan asked nervously.
"I saw a corpse nailed to every tree in the forest." Liang Shuhong looked solemn, and gestured with his right hand, "A wooden stick about as thick as an arm was nailed through the heart, but no blood flowed out."
"It's on every tree," he said.
After Wen Chan heard it, he didn't know whether it was shock or fright, his whole heart beat wildly, "Are you sure it's a corpse?"
"There will be no mistakes." Liang Shuhong said firmly.
He is not a timid person, but he was quite frightened when he saw that scene that night. Seeing Zhong Wenting walk into the depths of the forest, he stopped at the entrance of the forest and did not dare to follow, but the corpse on the tree trunk could be seen clearly. Clearly.
Thinking about it now, cold sweat still oozes down my spine.
"Zhong Wenting hasn't come out since he went in?" Liang Yanbei asked to break the terrifying atmosphere.
Liang Shuhong nodded, obviously he couldn't make up his mind, so he rushed to find his cousin.
The three were silent at the same time.
Liang Yanbei glanced at Wen Chan, saw that his face was heavy and thoughtful, so he said, "Let's go to that forest together tomorrow."
"I can't go in the daytime." Liang Shuhong said, "I have been there in the daytime, and there is nothing in the forest, it is clean, only at night."
"Then go at night." He made a final decision.
Liang Shuhong cast a disapproving look.
"What are you afraid of, Zhong Wenting can go in, how can we not get in? If we don't go in, how will we know what is hidden in the forest?" Liang Yanbei said.
"Liang Yanbei is right." Wen Chan nodded heavily, saying that if you don't enter the tiger's den, you won't catch a tiger's cub.
"Your Highness, you can't go!" Liang Shuhong refused seriously.
Wen Chan would not listen to him, he nodded casually in response, turned around and left, intending to buy a sharp sword on the street.
Self-defense weapons still need to be prepared.
In the early morning of the next day, the grand send-off party and the action of worshiping the gods and converting to religion began. Thousands of people gathered in the place where the bonfire was lit a few days ago.
Liang Shuhong tried a lot to dissuade Wen Chan from following, but in the end his voice became hoarse, but he couldn't persuade him. After nightfall, Wen Chan still went with his piano, chess, calligraphy and paintings.
Ah Fu stayed in the mansion, together with Qiao Yanci and Situ Zhoulan who didn't know.
Shan Ke didn't see him for several days, and he didn't know what he was busy with.
Five people, one person and one horse, avoided the crowds in the city, and went to the woods to the east from a relatively secluded path.
The forest was remote, and there was no road after leaving the city. Only Liang Shuhong memorized the general direction, and he arrived at the place in less than half an hour.
After dismounting from the horse, Wen Chan looked up at the night sky, and saw an extremely bright full moon hanging in the thick darkness.
Today is fifteen.
Feeling uneasy in his heart, Wen Chan tightly held the long sword in his arms.
The piano, chess, calligraphy and painting guarded around him, watching the surroundings with extreme vigilance.
A few people walked into the woods, and just stepped in, a gust of wind blew in the face, it was obviously a scorching heat, but this gust of wind was cold and cold, making Wen Chan couldn't help shivering a little.
Walking to the tree, Wen Chan saw a hand protruding from behind the tree. Under the moonlight, the pale skin was covered with prickly red blood, which seemed to be still flowing.
Liang Shuhong and Liang Yanbei looked at each other, saying in their eyes, look, it appeared.
A few people walked two steps forward, and when they turned their heads, they saw the corpse nailed to the tree completely.
It was recognizable as a man, in a burlap shirt, with his head bowed. The branch in his heart was just as Liang Shuhong described, with a thick forearm, and he nailed the man to the tree straight. The blood was still flowing down, but the man had obviously Out of breath.
The piano, chess, calligraphers and painters didn't know this, they turned their heads and saw that there were dead bodies nailed to the trees around them, it was eerie and extremely frightening.
Liang Yanbei remained silent the entire time. Seeing this scene, his handsome eyebrows were raised and his complexion was heavy.
Just when several people were thinking about it, suddenly there was a strange movement. They all had sensitive ears and looked up at the same time, only to see a figure hiding in the forest, sneaking around.
"Who is it?" Liang Yanbei asked in a deep voice.
As soon as he heard his voice, the figure turned around and ran, still limping. Wen Chan saw him and said, "It seems to be the one named Wu."
Before the words fell, Liang Yanbei had already gone away, Wen Chan and others hurriedly caught up, and screams came from the front after a while, and when Wen Chan and the others arrived, Liang Yanbei was stepping on that person.
"My lord! Forgive me, I don't dare anymore! Please forgive me!" The man on the ground cried and begged for mercy. Hearing the voice, it turned out to be Wu Qi who ran away a few days ago.
"I still have an elderly mother and a young son, please let me live!" He shamelessly said.
Liang Yanbei sneered, "You still miss your old lady? She committed suicide by hitting the wall in the prison long ago. If you want to take care of her, you don't have that chance."
As he said that, he kicked him quite angrily.
"Ah... how could it be..." Hearing that his mother had died, Wu Qi was not sad, but instead said, "I still have a son, if I die, he will be left alone..."
Wen Chan was really angry when he heard that, he swung his sword and hit him on the head, "Shut up!"
The scabbard hit his head with a crisp sound. Wu Qi was in pain, and he held back forcibly, not daring to scream anymore. His body was trembling all the time, as if he was terribly frightened.
"Let me ask you, why are you here alone?" Liang Yanbei asked sharply.
"My lords, don't go in, you should leave quickly, many people have died!" Wu Qi began to cry again, "You can't enter inside!"
Calligraphy lit the torch that he was carrying, and when the light came out, he saw that Wu Qi had already cried tears and snot.
Liang Yanbei stepped heavily, "What do you mean by that?"
Wu Qi yelled twice, and quickly replied, "The villain has been guarding here. Earlier, many people who claimed to be cultivators went in and said they wanted to cast down demons, but after a while, the villain heard screams. Boldly looking, I found a lot of corpses lying on the ground, some with rotten stomachs, bleeding everywhere, the villain was scared to death, just wanted to escape quickly, but didn't want to bump into a few people just after escaping grown ups."
"What a misfortune they've come on the wrong day!" he cried.
"What is the wrong day?" Wen Chan grasped the words.
"Today is the 15th month, and the leader is offering sacrifices. Anyone who trespasses will have no way out! The villain only dares to guard the edge of the forest..."
Wen Chan heard that he looked up at the sky, and in the gap between the intertwined branches, the round moon hung quietly.
As Wu Qi talked, he still wanted to plead for himself.
Liang Yanbei was annoyed by what he heard, and gave him a good beating with his fists. Wu Qi was so beaten that he had no strength left to hum.
"Tie him to this tree, tie him to death, and catch him back when we come out!" Wen Chan also found Wu Qi quite displeased.
Qin Qi got the order to find out the rope, tied the squeaking Wu Qi to the tree, and stood next to the corpse on the tree, and finally found something to plug his mouth, and then he calmed down.
"This person said that it is not suitable to go in today. Why don't we go back first and come back another day." Liang Shuhong suggested.
"A group of disciples cultivating immortals have already entered, let's follow behind and see first. If they can really subdue the demon, they will happen to be hit by us. If they can't subdue the demon, we can also run away." Wen Chan After thinking about it, "Since you're here, there's no reason to go back."
Looking at the corpses on the surrounding tree trunks, he had a strong premonition in his heart. After hearing the sacrifice that Wu Qi said just now, he even had a guess hovering in his mind.
"Master Wen is right, and I don't agree to go back now." Liang Yanbei immediately agreed with Wen Chan's words, and said to Liang Shuhong, "Cousin, if you feel scared, stay here or go back first, you can deal with this kind of situation Not coming."
Liang Yanbei was actually thinking of him, because he knew that Liang Shuhong had read a lot of poetry and books, rarely wielded swords and guns, and was a gentleman. If something happened to him, he might have to rely on other people's protection.
But these words changed in Liang Shuhong's ears. He said stubbornly, "I just suggested casually. If you don't leave, how can I escape alone?"
Wen Chan nodded, "Since that's the case, let's not delay, let's go quickly."
A gust of dark wind rushed over, accompanied by the end of his voice, and at the same time, there was a shrill scream.
After hearing this, several people's faces changed slightly.