The wind suddenly stopped.
Mu Wan and the monster looked at Qingnv together. Her face was solemn, and her whole body carried an indescribable awe. The monster suddenly became motionless and lost all its strength, like a mouse seeing a cat.
"You. Do you remember me..." She said tremblingly, "We, we have met, I am Yue, I..."
"Where did you come from, a monster, and you dare to act recklessly here?"
Qingnu said coldly, making Yu'e freeze in place. She wanted to say something more, but was interrupted by Qingnv again.
"How did you get in here? Qinglian Town is surrounded by a natural barrier. Only humans and the Six Paths of Impermanence can come in. Unless...you break a barrier."
"I'm not, I didn't mean it!" Yue'e hurriedly defended, "I just followed the breath, and disappeared when I went to a certain place... I guess there is an enchantment, so..."
Mu Wan was speechless. The monster was so aggressive just now that she thought there would be a fierce battle. But for some reason, she was so flustered when she saw Qingnv. If we simply use the majesty of the goddess to explain it, it doesn't seem to make sense. And who is Yue chasing? It seemed that she could destroy even the tethered world, so she was indeed an amazingly powerful opponent. Fortunately, he did not fight her alone.
But is Qinglian Town really hidden? According to Qingnv, it is still a natural barrier, not a man-made one.
"Sir, please listen to me..."
Before Yao'e could finish speaking, Mu Wan saw Qingnu suddenly disappear from over there. Looking back, she had appeared in front of Yue'e, face to face, her movements were incredibly fast. Qingnv stretched out her hand to strangle her slender throat and looked down at her from a slightly elevated angle.
"Since you can come in, it proves that you are... very strong?"
Mu Wan saw that where Qingnv was pinching her, her palms glowed red. This halo wrapped around Yu'e's neck, like a seal, confining all her power. At least it seemed that she couldn't exert any effort, and she just held Qingnv's hand in vain, looking helpless and pitiful.
"No, I-ahem, um..."
Qingnv's hand was a little harder, and Mu Wan even began to worry that her head would really fall off. She just took a step forward, but Qingnv stretched out her other arm to stop her. Qingnu was getting closer to Yue'e's face, and a hot pressure came from above. Mu Wan vaguely heard her threatening something fiercely with a lowered volume.
"You'd better restrain yourself... What are the rules of the human world? The ones that include humans and monsters... Even if you are a subject of one country, you need permission to enter the boundaries of another country, right? Even animals have violated the other country's boundaries. You also have to pay a price for your territory. Since you are a monster, it doesn’t matter even if you are eaten, right?”
Yao'e struggled, unable to utter any words and could only hiss. The tentacles couldn't help but tremble, and the already large eyes became more prominent on the small face, revealing the outline of dense, compound eyes. She wanted to flap her wings, but the strange red light clung to them, making it difficult for her to even vibrate slightly.
The nails dug into her neck, and the red and green liquids mixed together and condensed into a disgusting brown-black color. Drops of them stained her clothes, fell to the ground, and melted through.
Mu Wan took two steps back.
For some reason, although the young girl in front of her didn't make her feel strange, it still gave her a kind of fear - a familiar fear.
Qingnv glanced sideways at the person behind her and let go of her hand.
"Go away. Go back to where you came from."
After regaining her freedom, Yu'e knelt on the ground and tried to breathe in the fresh air. She touched her neck with both hands, and there were a few wisps of black smoke coming out of the wound. But after a while, those long, thin lacerations began to slowly heal. She stood up staggeringly and opened her mouth slightly, as if she wanted to say something else, but was ruthlessly interrupted by Qingnv.
"roll!"
There was an irregular ball of frost and snow on her raised hand, floating and dancing, and hit the ground at Yu'e's feet with her hand. It was as if a snowball had been smashed on the ground, with broken white snow splattering out. But the ground there cracked, and the thick ice spread rapidly along the cracks, freezing all the grass and rocks in its path. Yue'e got up in panic, spread her huge and beautiful wings, and ran away along the sky beside the pool.
The frost spread to the edge of the lotus pond, but did not continue to freeze. As if it was submerged in magma, an inexplicable fire broke out and stopped spreading.
"this……"
Mu Wan was too surprised to react to all this. She had a lot to ask, but she didn't know what to say first.
"she……"
"Why doesn't she fly across the water? I told you, have you forgotten? This pool cannot be crossed in ordinary ways."
Qingnv picked up a stone and gently turned it twice with one hand, as if something had been injected into it. The stone was wrapped in a dull, black luster that Mu Wan had never seen before. Qingnu suddenly threw the pebbles into the pool.
Suddenly, a very high flame burst out from the water, like a mechanism rising from the ground, catching the flying stones. The flames quickly fell back, and the stone stayed in the air, shattering into white powder in front of them and dissipating.
But on the calm water, it was as if nothing had happened, and not a single ripple had been made. Where the flames appeared, a red lotus blossomed just right. Mu Wan didn't notice whether it appeared after burning the stones or whether it had always been floating there.
She was very lucky that there were no ships nearby, otherwise she would have tried the ferry. As for what would happen, she couldn't even think about it now.
"...Are all the people in this town trapped here?"
"Not really. They don't want to go out anymore."
Mu Wan suddenly remembered something and started looking around on the ground. She made a long circle and finally saw what she had dropped by the river: the cooking cakes bought from the street and the sweet potatoes given by the woman had rolled away during the fight. But as soon as she stretched out her hand, she felt as if she had touched a ball of mud, and the touch felt wrong. She picked up the cake, and when she pinched it, it looked like soaked wood, while the smashed sweet potatoes showed brown, like mud. It was probably too dirty and impossible to eat.
"You'd better throw it away." Qingnv frowned, "I forgot to tell you... outsiders shouldn't eat anything in the town. You didn't eat it, right? If you eat it, you won't be able to get out again."
Mu Wan was so frightened that he suddenly let go of his hand. They rolled to the ground again, and it was no longer clear what kind of food they were.
"I have another question." Mu Wan summoned up the courage to ask, "The pond is full of red lotuses. Why is it called Qinglian Town?"
Qingnu sighed softly, turned around and walked into the town, and Mu Wan quickly followed. After walking for a while, Qingnv was finally willing to tell her.
"In the past, it was true that green lotuses bloomed in these pools. Qinglian Town was the place where the green girls took shelter and was the place closest to heaven. The green lotus is pure, elegant, holy, unstained by mud, and is a symbol of water. symbol. But one day, everything changed... Qinglian Town, which now belongs to the human world, is closest to hell. The fire of karma boiled the Qinglian Pond, dyeing everything red."
Mu Wan never imagined that she would come to such a dangerous place.
Qingnv murmured: "I don't know where she broke the barrier... I just feel like something is wrong. I have to find a way to make up for it after she leaves - it's really troublesome."
Mu Wan didn't dare to say anything more. She had no doubt that if she hadn't been watching from the side, Yue'e would have been dead.
They returned to the inn. Although she hadn't eaten anything all day, she didn't feel hungry. Qingnv also told her that time passes slower here than outside. Firstly, with full spiritual power, it is not easy to feel hungry, and secondly, the outside world has passed for a long time.
"You can stay for one more day. I have to go out tomorrow, so I can take you with me."
"Okay...thank you."
When she reached the door, Qingnv suddenly stopped, folded her arms and leaned against the door, as if she still had something to say. Mu Wan tilted his head and looked at her, waiting for her next words.
"How about you stay here?"
"Are you kidding?" Mu Wan was a little surprised, "I still have so many things to do, how can I live here all day? My friends are still looking for me, I have to find a way to meet them and go to Yunwai Jing, I still have to settle accounts with senior brother."
Her answer was what Qingnv had expected. She smiled easily, shrugged unnecessarily, and said:
"Indeed, I was joking."
"You really scare me again. Don't say such things again in the future."
"Ha... If you don't like it, I won't say it anymore. If you are thirsty, you can drink some tea. There is no problem with the water here."
"okay."
Qingnv's smile slowly disappeared after she closed the door. She wanted to open the door again, but she didn't know what to say. So she turned around and left the house and the inn. It's still noon outside and the sun is slightly warm. She squinted her eyes and looked at the round sun, shaking her head slightly.
Yu'e, who had escaped from the place of right and wrong, sat dejectedly in the clearing in the forest.
She didn't know why things turned out like this. Although she has lived for hundreds of years, she has almost never had any contact with humans and is completely ignorant of the rules of human society. She always lives in her own place, watching all kinds of people, beasts, and monsters coming and going, tirelessly. She just kept waiting there, waiting for what she was looking for.
At that time, she actually didn't know who she was waiting for - she didn't even know that her behavior was called waiting. It would be better to say that before she saw the person she wanted to see, she lived in such an empty and confused way. She was unwilling to leave, not only because she knew that she knew nothing about the outside world, but also because there was a familiar smell that would appear nearby without any regularity.
Warm, sweet, friendly flavor.
"Are you coming from Qinglian Town?" A human voice suddenly appeared.
Yao'e reflexively beat the tree on the side. The thick tree split from the center and fell straight down. A human male appeared behind the broken tree, wearing a wolf mask with strange patterns.
"you……"
"It looks like he was kicked out, right?" The young man walked around the tree calmly and came to her, "That guy is always like this. After so long, he hasn't changed at all."
"I don't allow you to say that." Yue'e stared at him fiercely.
"Even if I don't say it, it's just a fact. If the girl doesn't like to hear it, there's nothing I can do about it. But don't be angry. I don't have any ways of revenge."
"Who are you? Where do you come from? I don't want revenge."
"I just came from Qinglize——"
The Laughing Wolf said this, and Yue'e took another look at him. He stretched his hand from behind to the front and gave her a packet of powder. Yao'e took it and looked at him with confusion.
"There are always people you want to take revenge on... Ah, in exchange, could you please tell me - how to get to Qinglian Town?"
