"Hey, I'm awake now." Qi Huan sighed, swinging the small bronze mirror, "You always sleep too hard. If you didn't get up by yourself, it would be really difficult to wake you up. Hurry up, or else. It’s too late to rush. Hey, what, I said something wrong? Why did you hit me! Hey, why are you still kicking someone!”
The general has sent people to prepare troops and horses. Although in order to climb the mountain ahead, he might have to sell the village at the foot of the mountain, but he was still willing to spend his money. He also had their weapons repaired and stuffed them with a lot of currency and food.
"When Lao Bai finds his father, I will come back to pick you up, and we will go together." Before leaving, Aoyan held her father's hand.
Jun Luanjiu said nothing, just nodded heavily. Like all fathers, he was always very talkative. But he has done enough to explain many things that need not be said.
They said goodbye reluctantly.
Qi Huan always felt that he had forgotten something. Until he was about to walk out of the city gate, Bai Ya slowed down. He frowned and looked around subconsciously:
"Why... I haven't seen Mr. Shuangyue come yet. Didn't he leave with us?"
"Didn't he say that he wanted to take a look here and let us go on our own?" Liu Shenghan replied calmly, "Don't worry about him - if you say so, he won't be traveling with us again for a while. "
Only then did they react. With Mr. Shuangyue's temperament, if he was only away for a moment, how could he go out of his way to say hello.
"I knew this was the case. We should have said goodbye yesterday. Anyway, he helped us a lot, and he helped us a lot." Qi Huan scratched his head and sounded a little regretful.
However, this was not the only thing they never thought of.
They didn't realize the problem until they reached the foot of Shiyue Mountain. This time there was no enthusiastic harpy, and Lord Shuangyue was not by their side—forget it, it was of no use if he was there—not only could they not fly over the mountains, but if they descended to the bottom of the valley, they would not be able to cross the unfrozen underground river. .
For the time being, we can only climb to the top of the mountain and think of a solution.
The mountain road is deserted and steep, with sparse vegetation occasionally seen, shivering in the mountain wind. From the moment he entered the mountain, the sound of whistling music continued to float in Bai Ya's ears. He thought it was the call of the wind, but he misheard it as music. Just as he was withdrawing his thoughts and focusing on the journey, Jun Aoyan suddenly spoke:
"Did you hear the sound of any instrumental music?"
She asked hesitantly, obviously not sure herself. However, Qi Huan immediately responded to her:
"Did you hear it too? I thought it was because my ears were blocked and I heard strange noises for no reason."
"I thought it was the sound of the wind, and combined with people's reverie, it is similar to the rhythm." Liu Shenghan said with an eyebrow.
Bai Ya agreed. Logically speaking, there are no homes around Shiyue Mountain, and as far as the eye can see, there are no other travelers on the mountain road. There shouldn't be any music playing here.
"Was this the sound last time we came here?"
"……Can not remember."
Even so, the melody still lingers. When the sun set and they reached the high mountains, they could clearly hear the deep sound that was completely different from the hollow wind whistle. Liu Shenghan speculated that maybe the wind direction at this time happened to blow at some special place in the valley, creating the music.
Ethereal and distant.
This little bit of vision probably had no impact on their itinerary. The shadow on Liu Shenghan's brow probably came from worries about the future. They searched along the rift valley, trying to find a smooth road across the chasm.
The sun hung precariously in the western sky. The sky gradually dimmed, and the four of them still found nothing.
There were birds flying in the sky, and Qi Huan saw that they were also glowing red, perhaps because of the setting sun. Could it be the same one he saw earlier on the road? How wonderful it would be if people had the ability to fly thousands of miles with just a flutter of their wings.
He was a little tired, his eyes were wandering, chasing the bird away. It soon disappeared into the horizon. Qi Huan twisted his sore neck and turned his head. Suddenly, his eyes focused on the top of a dead tree a few steps away.
"Look at the branches of the tree over there. Is there anything on it?"
Bai Ya looked in the direction of his finger. The tree was not too far from the broken edge of the mountain range, nor was it dangerously close. They trotted over after Qi Huan. They couldn't see the path across the valley anyway, so they might as well explore the area nearby, there might be some unexpected gains.
Regardless of whether it is considered a gain or not, that thing is indeed quite surprising. Qi Huan squinted his eyes, stood on tiptoes, jumped twice, and finally asked in disbelief:
"Old Bai, look at that thing, does it look like... No, isn't this the wood carving of the little prince?"
"How is that possible?" Bai Ya stretched his neck and tried to look up, his tone full of doubt, "But that thing clearly fell into the underground river between the canyons."
"We'll find out if we shoot it down and see. It's getting dark soon, and if it gets darker it will be hard to find it accurately. It's hard to find even if it falls on the ground."
Qi Huan was speechless and searched all over the ground for small rocks that he could find. The small black shadow was not high enough, and it was not firmly stuck in the branches. He threw stones four or five times before knocking it off. Bai Ya's eyes quickly stretched out his hand to fish it out, and he brought it up to his eyes for a closer look, feeling a little surprised.
"It's really this."
"Show me." Qi Huan took the wooden sculpture from Bai Ya, looked at it for a while, and scratched his head, "It's really it. Could it be that a bird brought it up..."
"What do birds do with this? Why do they put it on a tree? It won't make a nest."
"You two, let's not talk about this for now." Liu Shenghan interrupted them in a rare moment, speaking quickly, "Have you noticed that the music earlier has stopped now?" Temple Street
They stopped talking.
The sound did disappear without a trace. Bai Ya realized that it was not the movement of the wind, because at such a quiet moment, the night wind was still flapping his clothes, carrying the unique coldness of Shiyue Mountain. Compared with before, the excessive silence at this time made people have goosebumps.
The world in Qi Huan's ears was even stranger than pure silence.
When Bai Ya's voice stopped, he vaguely caught the extremely erratic human voice. He listened intently, and the more he concentrated, the clearer his voice became. It was a childish voice, not very old, and seemed to be that of a boy. The children's voices were intermittent, and most of them could not be identified. After a while, Qi Huan finally heard one of them clearly:
"...my wood carving..."
He felt the cold hairs all over his body pricked up like ice thorns, and he leaned back suddenly, as if to avoid the object in his hand.
"What's wrong with you! Epilepsy?"
Bai Ya almost bumped into him. Qi Huan was not having a good time either. He bit his tongue and grinned, dragging Bai Ya:
"You, you, listen! Little prince, he is talking! Is he the one who fished out this wooden sculpture by himself..."
Bai Ya listened carefully for a while and shook his head: "Nothing. I'm afraid you are hallucinating."
"It's true." At this moment, Qi Huan actually calmed down, "Listen, it's getting clearer and clearer. He said... let me... see - where to go...?"
The friends turned around after listening to his instructions, only to see a large black shadow, which was nothing more than a huge rock.
"Is he buried under a stone?"
"Compared to this, no - don't you feel... the mountain is shaking?"
Jun Aoyan's face was tense, and Mo Dao was stuck straight on the ground. She stared down at the tiny bits of gravel at her feet, which were bouncing more and more.
"Let's go over there." Liu Shenghan suddenly understood something, "That rock over there, run over and hide first!"
"What are you hiding from?"
Jun Aoyan quickened his pace, but he was a little confused. But Bai Ya remembered, he glanced at the unfathomable rift valley, his face turned ugly, and he whispered through his teeth:
"It is rumored that the Tengu was sealed under Shiyue Mountain..."
The tremors intensified faster and faster. Within a few steps, they went from not being very noticeable to extremely severe. This kind of shaking is not swaying from side to side, but shaking and sliding, making their steps skew. It seemed as if a towering tree was about to burst out of the ground beneath their feet, or as if a huge monster was about to rise from the ground. Like a waking dog, it stretches its body and shakes its hair, trying to shake off the dust, dead leaves and fleas that fell on its body while sleeping.
Unfortunately, judging from the intensity of the current shaking, they, and almost all the rocks, vegetation and trees on the entire mountain, were nothing more than lice on a dog.
Running was almost impossible as they rolled and scrambled across the turbulent mountain surface. Qi Huan, like his companions, kept moving, but from time to time he fell into a trance. He clearly felt that he was running with his friends, but the uneasiness and panic that he should have seemed to be isolated, and the rumbling and shaking sounds of the earth and rocks became distant. Instead, there are countless noisy voices, some of which are people, and some of which are indescribable and intuitive perceptions. They constantly directed him and, at times, literally manipulated him.
Amidst these sounds, Qi Huan suddenly became excited and pushed Bai Ya hard.
"Jump!"
Bai Ya subconsciously complied, and Qi Huan followed closely behind. As soon as his body was in the air, he heard the sound of the ground cracking under his feet. When they stepped back on the ground, they both turned around and saw a deep crack appearing on the spot.
Qi Huan understood. Those sounds, whatever they were, were helping him avoid danger at the moment. He waved vigorously to the two girls:
"Follow me closely and I will take you up!"
On the road leading to the goal, a large tree fell down and slid towards the valley; a huge boulder rolled down, ran over the broken ground, and was swallowed by a crack. Before these dangers touched them, Qi Huan had already led his friends to avoid their routes. He seemed to suddenly have the ability to predict the future, and he was always one step ahead of danger, pulling them to escape to safety.
Some weak rocks have fallen off the cliff and been buried at the bottom of the valley. Fortunately, the rock where Qi Huan led them to hide was much stronger than others.
They were in shock, leaning against it and panting. At this time, long and short howls came from the valley, getting stronger and closer, giving people a splitting headache, as if their skulls were resonating with the sound.
With a bang, the mountain beneath their feet sank.
The heavy snoring of the beast and the scratching of its claws on the ground continued for a while. It sounded like the tengu was trying to drag itself out from under the deep ravine. Before it came out, Bai Ya lowered his voice and asked:
"I'm afraid it's difficult to fight head-on. Is there anything you can do?"
"Me?" Qi Huan pointed at his nose, smiling uglier than crying, "Do you think I am Lord Shuangyue, who can even fight dragons?"
How could Bai Ya not know that asking him about this half-baked Onmyoji was just a matter of luck. He looked at Jun Aoyan, who said nothing, shook his head slightly, and looked extremely worried.
Although they haven't seen this Tengu yet, they have only heard its sound, but since it can create such a formation of landslides and earth-shattering, it is obviously not something that ordinary people can contend with.
What kind of monster is this?
