Suddenly, a black shadow burst into the wall of fire.
I saw those flames flying in the sky curling up strangely, shaking violently like the stimulated tentacles of insects. The fire was controlled by unknown external forces and collapsed. Before Mu Wan noticed anything, he was picked up and rushed out of the encirclement. Tengu also took the opportunity to break through the confinement of high temperature.
Mu Wan was put down and she exclaimed.
"Master Shi?"
Although Shi Wuqi passed through those flames, there were no traces of burns on his body. Looking closely, the tongues of fire could not touch him at all, and could not burn through only a few millimeters of his clothes and skin. He probably wrapped his spiritual power around his body to prevent direct contact with the fire body. He shook the fan open with one hand - the fan was also made of ordinary paper and was lightly illuminated by his aura.
He raised his arm and patted the fan down with his backhand. The fire was directed by the wind and headed straight towards the owner who was on fire. But after the flames rushed towards him, they dispersed and the monster disappeared.
"……Um?"
Neither of them paid attention to his movements.
At this time, Shi Wuqi felt someone looking over from behind him. The monster appeared behind him without knowing when, and suddenly buried its head deeply on his shoulder. Startled, he struck back with his elbow, but missed.
"You... smell like a monster."
"The thief shouts, catch the thief!" Mu Wan yelled.
"What a compliment."
He turned into fire dust and dissipated in an instant, then reappeared in front of them, only a foot away.
Miss Qi rushed to their side and made a clear gesture of fighting. The monster glanced at her thoughtfully.
"Ah, I remembered. Shi Wuqi, Master of Hundred Bones...isn't that right?"
"Oh? You know me?"
"Who hasn't heard of Mr. Shi... Why does a guy who likes to deal with monsters hang out with mere humans? I'm really embarrassed for you."
"What nonsense are you talking about? Believe it or not, I will tear your mouth apart!"
Mu Wan's anger never subsided, and the tengu looked fierce, revealing its sharp fangs.
Shi Wuqi stared into his eyes, faintly seeing some clues.
"Could it be that you..."
"……snort."
The surrounding fire suddenly became much smaller. The fire-bending monster looked at them several times, took out the white cigarette rod from his collar, and pondered to himself for a long time.
"It's really troublesome. Forget it, it's a waste of time..."
After that, he shook his cigarette rod, waved his sleeves and left.
Mu Wan wanted to catch up, but was stopped by Shi Wuqi.
"Isn't the lesson enough? You are no match for him - at least not now."
Shi Wuqi taught her such a lesson, which made her feel angry, but it was hard for her to get angry. At this time, there is no point in saying "Even if you don't come, I can still find a way", she knows it. And Mr. Shi really saved her life, there's nothing to say about it.
The ice and snow created by the Tengu poured down from the sky in this area, extinguishing the remaining flames. The vegetation was emitting curls of black smoke, looking ghostly and terrifying in the dim moonlight.
The two of them returned to the hostess's home in silence. Shanhai and Aluan have been waiting for a long time. Seeing them coming back in disgrace, the master and apprentice asked anxiously. Mu Wan stated the cause and effect, mixed with complaints about Shi Wuqi, and defended the nominee as if he was unconvinced. It took a long time for the two of them to finally figure things out.
Shanhai didn't know that before she walked with them, besides Yingyue Jun, she actually encountered such a terrifying monster. He wanted to ask about the monsters, but Shi Wuqi interrupted him and asked him while pouring tea:
"Stop talking about this. You went door to door during the day and asked. What did you find out?"
Shan Hai frowned slightly and didn't ask any more questions. He talked about what happened during the day in detail, and Aluan added more. How many people have gone missing in this mountain village, when did they disappear, their age and occupation, where the bones are buried, recent abnormalities, and the difficulties of each family...
"However, I was a little strange at first. Although this mountain is fertile, I saw that the village was well built, so I guessed that they had some kind of money-making business. Although I visited every house today and found nothing, I basically concluded... Every boss is afraid of being associated with bandits. Many things come from far away places - I even saw the fabrics from Dailuan City."
"Maybe it's for business," Mu Wan guessed, "This mountain is very long, and there must be many caravans passing through here."
Shi Wuqi sneered: "Huh, what's there to exchange for in this remote country? It's better to get money quickly by robbing. Besides, the girl also told me in the morning that the people in the village did do some shady things to make a living. Many people were killed. The bodies were all thrown into the ravine."
When he said this, everyone in this room felt embarrassed. After a while of fussing, they all fell silent in unison. Coupled with the annoying things during the day, no one felt happy. The night is already deep, but no one is resting. Shanhai urged Aluan several times, but she remained indifferent. Not long after, Shi Wuqi suddenly stood up and walked out the door.
"Where are you going?" Mu Wan asked.
"you guess."
This made her very angry. It was obviously a kind question, but who would have thought that his answer would be no better than the monster's two "What does it have to do with you?"
"Don't go to that girl's house during the day, right?"
"Smart. No prizes for guessing correctly."
After saying that, he really walked out of the door.
Shan Hai recalled it. He had heard of that beautiful girl in Mu Wan's retelling, but she only mentioned her in one word.
"The girl you mentioned is so beautiful, but she lives in the farthest and most shabby hut?" He turned to ask her.
"Well, she said she was married outside."
"...There must be something fishy."
"how do I say this?"
At this time, Dai Luan came up and interrupted.
"When we asked about the number of people in the village during the day, they did mention the farthest house. It seemed that they had almost forgotten about it. However, there was an old lady who lived there and had passed away long ago, and other villagers also talked about her. Don't care - some people don't even know she's dead."
Shanhai wanted to catch up with Shi Wuqi, but Miss Qi suddenly stood at the door, as if she sincerely wanted to stop them.
He seemed to understand something.
But Mu Wan didn't understand.
She sighed, looking unhappy, obviously not wanting to mention it again. She couldn't help but take Aluan's hand and force her to go back to the house to sleep. A Luan didn't know where such a big god was, and didn't want to sleep. She stretched out her hand to Shan Hai as if asking for help, but he just waved his hand expressionlessly.
"Go to bed early."
Not long after lying on the bed, Aluan fell asleep easily. It seemed that he was really sleepy, but he was just trying to hold on since no one was sleeping.
In comparison, Mu Wan was not so relaxed. The scenes during the day are vividly played out in my mind, over and over again, which makes people very irritated. Was he unwilling to accept that his life was saved by that guy from the Hundred Skeleton Master, or was he resentful because he couldn't easily deal with the red-clothed monster's demonic fire? She couldn't tell clearly, maybe they had both, so she became even more upset.
In the end, it's all due to my own lack of ability.
If he could be a little stronger, a little stronger, he wouldn't be fooled by that damned impermanence, and he wouldn't be reduced to the point of being helped by Shi Wuqi.
Master, maybe I won’t suffer so much.
A full hour later, Mu Wan was still thinking wildly, and she finally felt sleepy. At this time, a figure suddenly appeared outside the window - it turned out to be Lin Shanhai. He knocked on the window and immediately disappeared from the window. Mu Wan almost thought she had seen it wrong. She sat up from the bed alertly, a little confused.
Besides, Mr. Shi did arrive outside the small thatched hut during the day.
In the morning, she told him that he could just call her Miss Bai. At this time, in the middle of the night, Miss Bai was awake. She opened the door cheerfully, welcomed him in, and took his arm affectionately.
"Master Shi really didn't break his promise. He just came too late and made me feel sleepy. Oh, why are you covered with so much dirt? What did you do?"
Miss Bai said, suddenly letting go of him and going to wring out a clean rag. Shi Wuqi sat on an old chair, waved his hands, and said it didn't matter, he accidentally fell it when he came. But he went on to say:
"Before I came here, I took a look at the ravine you mentioned. I saw a lot of white bones in the moonlight. It was really scary. It seems that if you are honest with me, the people in this mountain village are not good people."
"No!" Miss Bai came up and diligently wiped the dust off his body with a wet rag, "You must make the decision for my little girl. And since my man has been missing, I've had enough of the bullying, and my family is already surrounded by walls. They also snatched away all the remaining dowry. It's pitiful for me to live such a hard life alone..."
Miss Bai complained softly. As he spoke, he began to sob. Shi Wuqi quickly stood up to coax her, but she suddenly grabbed his sleeves and said pleadingly:
"Otherwise, Mr. Shi, please stay. I, a girl, can't survive in this mountain..."
"Oh? Really."
Shi Wuqi's expression suddenly changed. He simply let go of Miss Bai's arm with both hands and shook out the fan.
"I see that your life as a child is quite satisfying. You can eat meat every now and then. It's very pleasant."
Miss Bai's eyes widened and tears were still rolling. She looked at him with some horror.
"What are you talking about? I have to dig wild vegetables all day long to satisfy my hunger. What are you saying..."
Before he finished speaking, Shi Wuqi's face turned faster than a book, and the previous tenderness and concern were gone. He pinched Miss Bai's face unceremoniously, causing red marks to appear on her fair skin.
"I see that the sickle and hoe on your wall doesn't have any dirt on it. Except for the fallen ash, it's very clean. It doesn't look like you dig the ground every day. Besides, how can you survive in this remote place with just this thing? You've been living for a year, and you're still so cool? I think the monster that the villagers talk about as eating people is you..."
Shi Wuqi didn't use much force when he fell. She struggled to push away and said pitifully: "What on earth are you talking about..."
"You're still pretending to be like me."
There was an extremely weak sound outside, and Miss Bai suddenly screamed as if frightened, and hid behind Shi Wuqi. He walked out of the door and looked around. Miss Bai followed him, carefully holding the corner of his clothes with one hand.
Then, he instantly pinched her other hand.
Miss Bai's hand that was pinched actually had extremely long nails, glowing with a terrifying cold light in the dim moonlight.
