Banmei Valley is located south of Jiugu Mountain, about half a month's journey by boat. Outside the valley, autumn chrysanthemums bloom all over the mountains and fields, while inside the valley, plum blossoms bloom undefeated for ten miles in a row.
It is in this place where two seasons are separated by a valley, there are always flowers and branches that give birth to wisdom, and so are the mountain birds and animals that live here.
If someone mistakenly enters it to enjoy the flowers, he may hear the mountain bird singing the song "Qingshan Ballad":
The spring breeze warms the peach blossoms, and the mountain grass also blooms early. The grass is distant, and the green hills are waiting for the returning birds. My sister at the foot of the mountain, it’s too early to return from herding the sheep, and she breaks the branches and asks if the flowers are cute? The wind howls in front of my house, and the fragrance of pity is planted on the top of the green hill. Don't let the peach blossoms wither on the green hill.
And the plum blossoms filling the valley will leave their branches and fly towards the mountain birds that keep chirping in their mouths, vowing to drive those mountain birds out of the valley that can't even distinguish between peach blossoms and plum blossoms.
The birds and flowers in the sky and the melodious tunes in the valley often attract monks to stop and linger.
Some people even entered the golden elixir overnight after staying in the valley for a night.
Later, every monk who entered the valley would take out a hundred-year-old wine, take out a flute, stretch out his hand to play the piano, and dance with the wind with his long sleeves, but he would never pull out his sword.
Even the mountain birds hovering above their heads and humming a tune, the flowers that linger on their noses with their fragrance, and the animals that occasionally pass by begging for food are all monsters that can be demonized at any time and lose their minds to fight back against them.
They regard Banmei Valley as a pure land, a pure land that has never been contaminated by evil spirits. What does the endless fighting in the Forest of No Return have to do with this place?
In those years, even Su Shang Ying, who always advocated eradicating all evil, would not draw his sword in the valley.
Everyone feels that maybe the world will be like this everywhere in the near future. There will be no killing or entanglement between humans and demons.
"It happened three hundred years ago. Suddenly one day, the monsters in Banmei Valley began to attack everyone indiscriminately. It seemed to be a precursor to the demise of everything."
"Immediately afterwards, the evil spirit suddenly spread, and black mist enveloped the entire Banmei Valley. All the monsters in the valley were demonized, and were killed by the swords one by one by the passing monks who had been lucky enough to watch the blooming flowers in the valley. No one will be spared."
Ying Changming's words were quite regretful. I don't know whether he yearned for the blooming flowers or felt sorry for the monsters.
However, the Su Shang Ying family has always advocated eradicating all evil. He has killed more monsters than he has eaten, so he will not regret it when he thinks about it.
Hua Ruxue grew up in Qingyang Mountain and knew very little about the outside world. She had never heard of Banmei Valley, so when she suddenly heard someone mention it, she couldn't help but become curious. What's more, Banmei Valley was suddenly shrouded in black fog, which was roughly the same as the current situation in Jiugu Mountain.
She asked: "Banmei Valley is far away from the Forest of No Return, so why did the evil energy suddenly appear?"
Ying Changming lowered his head and sighed softly, and then slowly said: "Banmei Valley was the only place that was not invaded by demonic energy when Shi Mo fell. Shortly after the incident, everyone discovered that the source of Banmei Valley's demonic aura was a The wooden box is made of the vines of the top tree demons in the Forest of No Return, and can be used to seal the evil energy with the help of runes."
Top tree demon? Is it the one Su Zhi said was suddenly cut off ten years ago? No wonder few monsters came to Wuyou Town when the Dryad was around. It turned out that her vines could seal away the evil energy.
Why was such a good tree demon cut off? The people of the Su family in Qingyang don't know yet, and Ying Changming probably doesn't know either.
"Did the people from the Chang Ying Yun clan bring the wooden box?" Hua Ruxue continued to ask.
According to Ying Changming, this box has something to do with the Changying Yun clan.
"Well, Chang Yingyun's runes are very accomplished. They made this wooden box early in the morning in order to demonize and kill those low-level monsters in order to gain more merit."
Even if you kill a monster below the second level, there will be no merit, but if it turns into a monster, it will have at least fifty merit.
As soon as these words came out, there was a trace of anger in Ying Changming's eyes, and so did Junior Sister Ying. She said:
"The Chang Ying Yun Sect is extremely shameless. He looks compassionate, but in private he will do anything to gain more merit! They have been targeting Banmei Valley for a long time, and this is not the first time they have beaten low-level monsters in Banmei Valley. He was half dead and then transformed into a demon and killed, but that time there was an accident, the wooden box was broken, and the demonic energy leaked out."
Half-dead, then demonized and killed, it only takes a swing of the sword to achieve the merit. On the contrary, he agrees with what Chang Yingyun said: "The demons are used to their full potential."
The Qingyang Su family has always been unaccustomed to outsiders killing monsters on sight, so of course they would hate the Chang Ying Yun family.
But what Hua Ruxue didn't expect was that these two members of the Ying family, who advocated eradicating all evil and slaying countless demons, would actually be angry at the actions of the Chang Ying Yun family.
As if aware of the probing look in her eyes, Ying Changming laughed awkwardly and said: "Although our Sushang Ying clan has always cut off the grass and roots, we really can't do such an unethical thing. Monks slay demons. The devil is here to protect the safety of one party, and it is not because of those meritorious deeds."
"Senior Brother Chang Ming is right. A monk like Chang Ying Yun who puts merit first and can use any means will sooner or later lead to disaster! If you hadn't discovered the Banmei Valley incident in time, the evil spirit would have spread. , will definitely recreate the tragic situation tens of thousands of years ago."
"Well, what happened next?" The wooden box was discovered and almost caused a disaster. What kind of punishment was given to the Chang Yingyun family?
At first, Hua Ruxue was still wondering why the demonic energy escaped from the two monsters. They must have eaten the wooden box that sealed the demonic energy.
Ying Changming looked up at the black mist around him, as if he was recalling something, and then said: "Later, everyone agreed to list the wooden box as a forbidden object, and the Changying Yun family will be responsible for all losses in Banmei Valley."
"In order to prevent the flowers, trees, and animals contaminated by the demonic energy from regenerating their spiritual intelligence and being demonized, a fire was ignited in the valley, and the fire burned for half a month."
"In the following hundreds of years, there were no more flowers or trees in Banmei Valley, let alone any birds or animals. It became a truly pure land, clean and pure."
After listening to Ying Changming's statement, Hua Ruxue became even more confused, "Since the wooden box has been classified as a forbidden object, why does it still appear?"
In her mind, no one should use forbidden items, but the scene in Jiugu Mountain now is clearly the Banmei Valley back then. The only difference is that the Jiugu Mountain in front of her is an illusion, and every flower and grass is illusory. Don't burn the mountain in a big fire.
"Girl, you..." What she responded to was Ying Changming's look of shock and guilt. He seemed not to have expected that someone would ask, why would anyone use a forbidden item?
Junior sister Ying explained to her: "Girl, you are not deeply involved in the world and don't understand the complexity of this world. For some people, the more you tell them not to go, the more they go. The more forbidden it is to use this box, the more people steal it. On the contrary, there are more.”
"Especially after the tree demon was cut off ten years ago, they used to be careful when obtaining vines to avoid being discovered by the tree demon. Now the remaining tree stumps have long been chopped down, and not even a piece of skin is left. "
Hua Ruxue nodded as if understanding, this is called the tree falling and the hozens scattering, no, no, this is called falling into the waste, making the best use of everything.
Although the Qingyang Su clan and the Sushang Ying clan disdain the use of demonic energy, most of the other monks will secretly use the demonic energy to demonize low-level monsters in order to gain more merit.
"Then why do you still guess that Chang Ying Yun's family did what happened today?" Chang Ying Yun's family was not the only one who went to pick up tree stumps to make wooden boxes.
Junior sister Ying added: "To seal the demonic energy, a wooden box alone is not enough. You also need runes. The Chang Ying Yun clan didn't tell you how to make the runes back then. No one knows except them."
Fortunately, he didn't say it. Otherwise, if everyone knew, wouldn't all the monsters in the world have a way to survive?
No wonder Qingyang Su Clan never uses or talks about it even if she has a magic weapon that can improve the talent of monsters. If anyone knew about it, the monster would have no choice but to die.
As expected, the Qingyang Su family is the best, and they will protect the monsters. They must prevent Su Yue from discovering that Su He has a pill that can improve the monsters' talents!
The two of them walked forward for another three miles, only to hear the sound of swords clashing in front of them. Hua Ruxue smelled the faint fragrance of medicine in the air and subconsciously stopped.
The person in front of him who was fighting the monster was Su He. Suddenly a strange thought came to his mind. As long as Su He died, no one would know about the pill recipe in his hand.
But if Su He dies, the cat demon will die too.
While thinking, Ying Changming had already lit up the ephemera lamp, drew his sword and headed towards the monster, followed closely by Junior Sister Ying.
"Little Shitou, why do they want to save Su He?"
Hua Ruxue was a little confused. The Su Shang Ying clan and the Qingyang Su clan had been mortal enemies for thousands of years. Before coming, the elders told them to stay away from the Su Shang Ying clan.
As long as they stand here and do nothing, they can make the thorn in their side disappear without violating their inner demon oath of "never fighting among themselves."
A sentence popped out from the cracks in the rocks: "Because they are human beings."
"people?"
If it was Su Li standing there, she wouldn't even hesitate. She would just pretend she didn't see them, turn around and continue looking for the two second-level monsters.
As long as the two second-level monsters are killed, the demonic energy can be prevented from spreading and more monsters will be demonized.
What Ying Changming wanted to do was to prevent someone from getting hurt. Therefore, while he hates the Qingyang Su family, he also takes action to save Su He.
Humans are nothing like their honest demons.
Hua Ruxue slowly approached them, carefully standing outside the range of the ephemeral lamp. The first-level monster had its throat cut off by Ying Changming. Su He, who had always focused on alchemy, was lying on the ground breathing heavily.
He said: "I cannot thank you enough for your kindness. I am Su He, the Su Clan of Qingyang. If you need any help, just ask!"
The expression on Ying Changming's face froze in an instant, and he said with a cold face: "I'm the Sushang Ying family, Ying Changming, you can be the biggest help by protecting yourself."
The words were full of disdain, and Junior Sister Ying said angrily: "After all, he is still in the Golden Core stage, but he can't even defeat a first-level monster!"
"Junior sister, I don't know that the Qingyang Su family is good at controlling beasts, but his contracted beast is not around."
"Yes, with such a strong demonic energy, once the contracted beast comes out, it may turn into a demon and devour the master immediately, so be careful."
The two of them sang together, which made Su He so angry that he almost couldn't breathe.
Hua Ruxue secretly wrapped her cloak tightly, covering the blue bracelet on her wrist, and hid the mark on her left palm tightly, secretly praying that Su He would be blind and not see her.
The two of them changed their faces faster than turning the pages of a book. They were sarcastic and merciless. If her identity as a monster was discovered, it would really be the end of her. Why don't she sneak away now?
Just as she was thinking this, a familiar call came from not far away.
Su He shouted excitedly: "Little wolf cub!"
