The alarm bell in his heart suddenly sounded, and Mu Wan instinctively took a step back. She can't blame her for this. When a person is threatened with death in a short period of time, no one except his parents will subconsciously protect him. Even lovers who are deeply in love sometimes find it difficult to defeat the consciousness of survival.
Shanhai's reaction was a bit slow, and he couldn't guess what Lord Seoyue was going to do. But he quickly told them the answer with his actions - he suddenly tightened his grip on Kapok's neck and lifted her up easily.
Everyone was surprised. Although Kapok probably no longer relies on his trachea to breathe, this action still symbolizes a threat to his life. They wanted to stop him, especially Mu Wan, who took out the umbrella resolutely even though he knew that the umbrella might no longer work. But Kutsutsuki-kun dodged back and hugged Kapok horizontally, as if she was as light as a ball of cotton. This time he turned around and appeared behind the mountains and sea. As soon as he turned around, Lord Xueyue was even further away.
"I advise you not to come." Lord Xueyue said with a smile, "If you don't come, she can still live."
Mu Wan turned towards him in the opposite direction, but he had already disappeared into the hazy miasma. The situation became anxious. Dai Luan stamped her feet eagerly, pointed in the direction they left and said:
"We have to save her!"
"How to save him?" Lord Ruyue asked calmly, "That child should have nothing to do with you."
"No, it does matter. It does matter!" Mu Wan clenched her fist on her left side and an umbrella on her right side. "That child saved my life back then. We can't let anything happen to her."
Surprisingly, Shanhai was unusually calm. His face did show concern, but he just said so.
"Why did he hold Miss Kapok hostage... instead of any one of us? If he didn't take action against me and Aluan, maybe he was concerned about the existence of Lord Ruyue, but Liangqiu was very close to him. Looking at the strength, he could even take her The umbrella breaks easily. But why didn’t you do this? Kisaragi-kun, what do you think?”
"I... don't know this person very well. But I bet, if he says he won't let you go, it's best not to go. That's the palace. Although it's also Zhongpingmen, the Jingmen prisoner died in autumn and winter, so you can't go back. Go to this world.”
Dai Luan glanced in the direction he came from, and the melancholy appeared on his face again, the melancholy of an adult.
"We can't leave yet... Shi Wuqi hasn't caught up yet, and Aqi's whereabouts are unknown."
Lord Ruyue looked a little helpless: "This is really...that's all. I can't weigh the pros and cons for you. But let me make it clear first. After leaving the Xun Palace, the time in this world will be extended a little longer, and I don't know about the Kan Palace. So what should Miss Jiang do? Going southwest from the palace is the Kun Palace, and the Kun Palace is the door to death."
"We will not go any further. We will only chase her to the palace and do our best to save her. If we go deeper into dangerous places, we will...there is nothing we can do."
The purpose of Shanhai's words was, on the one hand, to give an explanation to Lord Ruyue, and on the other hand, to appease Mu Wan's emotions. But Ruyue-kun didn't change much, but the latter became even more anxious. Mu Wan said:
"There's no time to waste, I'll take the first step."
She ran over in a hurry. Dai Luan wanted to chase her, but looked back at Ru Yuejun. Seeing that she had no intention of following her, he sighed with regret and chased after Mu Wan. Shanhai followed up, but Lord Ruyue suddenly called out to him.
"Wait a minute, Dao Lin. Let me tell you one last thing. I am here to appease the order that the Hundred Skeleton Lord disrupted previously. The Desolate Skull has indeed returned to the seal of the Central Palace, but three of the eight gates have been disturbed. If he comes out again, What will happen will cause chaos again. When the time comes, although he will not make things difficult for us, the Six Paths of Impermanence, he will inevitably have murderous intentions towards you."
"...Thank you for your reminder. I will keep it in mind. We will try not to make any noise. I'm sorry for what happened before."
"No wonder you. Go quickly."
With that said, Lord Ruyue turned around and left. Lin Shanhai watched her take a few steps, then turned around to chase the two girls. The three of them ran to the palace. Jingmen is easy to talk, and there are often bloody disasters. Lin Shanhai, who is well versed in the principles of the Nine Palaces and Eight Gates, hopes to a certain extent that these things will not really happen.
Although the three people did not act separately, they looked in three directions and listened in all directions. Shan Hai walked in the middle, Dai Luan and Mu Wan looked to the left and right respectively, paying attention to their feet and being alert to everything around them. Occasionally they shouted, but no one responded, only the permeating miasma followed them. Dai Luan felt chest tightness and shortness of breath, and almost fell into the mud. Shanhai reminded them to drink the medicine, and then the symptoms of several people were relieved. On the way, they noticed that compared to before, there was no driftwood here at all. Perhaps it was because it was facing Ximen when they came from, which was the farthest away from the "Peach Garden" back then.
After walking for a while, Mu Wan saw the vague outline of something deep in the swamp.
"Who's there!"
She shouted, and both of them looked over. The miasma seems to be thinner, or maybe the shadow is getting closer and its appearance is gradually becoming clearer.
There was a raised stone in the middle of the swamp, and Lord Kutsutsuki was standing there upright. He pinched Kapok's arm with one hand, and she stepped on the edge of the stone in a very dangerous posture. As long as Lord Kuchue let go, she would definitely fall.
She probably wanted to shout something - but it was no use. Her face has obvious lines of trees, and her mouth is like a ravine carved on the tree trunk. But the ditch seemed to have begun to heal, leaving traces of dryness and cracking. She couldn't make a sound, and she was so stiff that she couldn't move.
She probably wanted to shout, or maybe she didn't want to make a sound, and wanted to let them leave quickly, but no one could guess what she wanted to say. Shanhai couldn't see anything from her face, but he seemed to be able to feel that under the wooden shell, her trapped soul was screaming sharply, hoarse at the top of her lungs.
"Oh, I guess you will come."
"Let them go."
Ignoring the inappropriate sweetness in his tone, Shan Hai's face dropped.
"Why can't you understand what I mean? Is what I say so inhumane?"
As if he was amused by what he said, Kuchuzuki-kun let out a creepy chuckle. Shan Hai knew that his apprentice and friend must be furious and wanted to rush up and tear open those smiling mouths. But he was surprisingly calm, maybe out of anger. He calmly repeated it.
"I said let him go."
"Why? I made it very clear, as long as you don't chase her, she won't die. It was you who violated the rules first. Even if she dies, you can't blame me." He put his face close to Kapok, Kapok's eyes He turned around in panic, but couldn't escape control, "I don't like killing people... I like to borrow other people's hands and watch you kill people."
This rhetoric may imply more than just them, more than Tang He, and even more than Sakimenro. His style has been like this since the day he was born, so there is no need to guess. Mu Wan and others, and others who interacted with him, could easily guess his behavior, but never knew why. He was born to be the antonym of good, but that gentleman reused him to a considerable extent, just because of his real personal abilities and a certain part of his philosophy that was damn similar to that gentleman.
"No one should obey the bullshit rules you set!" Dai Luan scolded, "Give her back! Killing is killing, don't make those high-sounding excuses!"
Lord Xueyue raised his eyebrows provocatively.
"Return? Is this your thing?" He sneered, "Do I, Hongxuan, need to make excuses for killing people all night long? Since you think I need it, I will find one for you now - this is not murder, just , kills a piece of wood.”
Lord Xueyue let go of his hand.
Mu Wan almost rushed forward, but Shan Hai grabbed his shoulder. The force he exerted was very strong, causing a burst of pain in his shoulder, but he stopped the movement at least. The kapok fell into the swamp and was slowly swallowed by the mud. It was a long period of silence. There was no struggle or shouting, but it was extremely suffocating. It seemed that what was slowly sinking was not a person, a monster, or a tree, but just a piece of wood, just a piece of wood.
Before the kapok completely sank in, the "hand" similar to Xiumen's receiving the bodhi string stretched out again. But it didn't look like mud, it looked like fire - two tall, twisting red flames bursting out of the swamp, embracing her tightly. Just at the edge where her body came into contact with the mud, a small fire slowly ignited. This is simply a kind of torture, putting the body on a slow fire and suffering slowly. Does wood feel painful? they do not know. But there must be a soul.
More fire burst from the swamp. The heat wave lifted the hem of Kuchtsuki-kun's clothes and long hair. In front of the scorching red background, the monster once again reminded them that this is a monster and will always be a monster. The shadow cast on them made the three of them take a few steps back involuntarily, adding a layer of surprise to the grief and anger, as well as the instinctive fear of fire in living creatures.
Jingmen belongs to fire.
Wood makes fire.
Mu Wan suddenly recalled the two words that Lord Xueyue said before - sacrifice.
That was not a sacrifice to the Desolate Skull... it was for him. She felt an indescribable fear and powerlessness, because everything seemed to be expected by him, including but not limited to the fact that they would catch up with Kapok.
"Is this... your purpose?" Dai Luan's voice was trembling, whether it was fear or anger, or both, "How can you trick us all here?"
"Not really, well..."
The miasma was dispersed by the fire, and the air became much purer, but some of the swamp gas was ignited, and the entire swamp burned with red waves. The burning sensation made their cheeks feel hot, filled with more fiery emotions. But the instigator rolled his eyes innocently, pointed his index finger to his lips, and thought for a moment.
"So far, it's still within my control. Alas, I know you humans so well, it's really easy to guess. Although I didn't expect to kill those two people, I was prepared to a certain extent. ...Well, isn’t everything going smoothly?”
The feeling of the demonic power returning to the body was like dew coming after a long drought. Lord Xueyue was a little too happy. The flowers on the center of his eyebrows seemed to have never been so fresh. The spreading demonic lines made that beautiful face look quite broken. He spun in a circle, feeling the touch of fire brushing his arms like a beached fish being thrown back into the water. But now it looks more like three innocent humans struggling in the fishing net.
"What on earth do you want to do?!" Mu Wan almost roared.
In comparison, the mountains and seas seemed too peaceful.
"...but three of the eight gates have been disturbed." He muttered softly.
"What?" Mu Wan didn't seem to hear clearly.
"Don't act rashly."
"no way!"
When Mu Wan said this, she was not the one to strike first - she used her umbrella as a shield to block the fireball shot by Lord Xueyue. The workmanship of Ye Yinlu itself is different from that of ordinary umbrellas. Attacks can be blocked to a certain extent, but not for long.
"Only I have the weapons to deal with him. Don't let me drag you down and run to an open area."
Dai Luan knew that it was useless to rush. The scene of the fire element should be the same as before. Even if there are Yin soldiers here, there will not be any weapons. They are all metal, restrained by fire.
Mu Wan didn't use an umbrella to attack him actively, but just blocked him step by step. He attacked, bringing a trail of fierce fire behind him. Suddenly, strange flames ignited in the swamp like a closed lotus, covering a large area. Shan Hai grabbed Aluan's collar to avoid him and fell heavily to the ground. The two of them could only see strange shadows on the fire curtain, twisting and deforming, making it difficult to distinguish between ourselves and the enemy.
The fire was burning too fiercely.
