The sky gradually darkened, and they approached the village. After dusk comes, the sky always darkens very quickly, and within a quarter of an hour it will be completely dark. Especially the sun is on the side of Eclipse Mountain. But before they visited any village, several people felt something strange. But until now, the lights in the village have not been lit up one after another, but are very sporadic, with only a few households. Until it was completely dark, no more firelight came on.
"Something's not right..."
Han Chang said this as they walked towards the nearest village.
Xie Zhe said: "Yes. Why are there only so many lights on in the whole village? Do people in southern China go to bed early?"
"No," Han Chang shook his head and said, "It shouldn't be like this. I almost didn't smell anyone's breath... There are very few people in this village. Maybe it's the same in other villages."
"And these villages are too small." Wenying said, "With only a dozen houses, are they still considered villages? Together, these small villages look like the ones we commonly see. However, the distance between them is a bit far... …”
"Let's go take a look first."
They walked towards the few bright spots, and finally came to the nearest inhabited courtyard gate. There is an old, beige dog in the yard. It used to be white. It roared tiredly at them, each sound sounding like it was using up its last breath. After a long time, the sound finally attracted the owner of the yard. An old man with gray hair and a very similar age to the old dog walked out slowly. His legs and feet were not very agile, and just the short distance he walked from the room door to the courtyard door made several people feel sleepy. What's even more unfortunate is that the old man's ears are still not working well, so Han Chang almost yelled at him to explain the purpose of staying overnight. They were lucky. The old man agreed to let them stay here temporarily and slowly led them in.
"You four..." the old man glanced over roughly, "I'll give you two rooms. The seats for my two sons and their wives are just available for you..."
His voice was so hoarse. But, four people? Xie Zhe thought for a moment and guessed that he was not included. Forget it, looking at the old man's appearance, maybe he really can't even use his eyes. But not long after the old man finished speaking, a burst of white light suddenly flashed in the sky, followed by another thunder blast from his ears. Several people were startled, stopped one after another, and looked up at the sky. The sky, which had been bright just now, suddenly became overcast, no stars or moon could be seen, and the air became heavy.
"Oh," the old man stopped and said, "I'm afraid it's going to rain soon... Come here! Go inside to hide from the rain..."
The sound he made with all his strength was no more than an ordinary young man's voice. But when the beige dog heard it, he ran over, a little faster than his owner. But when it came to the owner's feet, it slowed down to cooperate with the owner. Wenying glanced at its kennel and saw that it was indeed too dilapidated to look at.
"Is the weather here always like this?" Xie Zhe asked loudly.
"No...just the past two days have been a mess."
In this way, they slowly moved to the house, followed by one person and one dog. After a lot of effort, several people finally got the old man to settle down and tidied up the two rooms.
The room was still very clean, with almost no dust. It seems that the old man's two sons have just left home not long ago.
"I won't rest." Shen Wujun said directly to Xie Zhe, "You guys go to sleep. I have to patrol the mountains first at night."
"What did you notice?"
"The disturbance of spiritual power...even the weather has been affected. And this village is not normal."
The two of them and Han Zhang were busy in the house first, while Jiao Mo and Wenying talked to the old man. After making some inquiries, they told their friends all the information they knew. The old man said that the young people left the village about four or five days ago. Most of the people who are still here are old people who have deep feelings for the place or have inconveniences. The transportation here is inconvenient and not prosperous enough. Young people don't like to stay here. Just a few days ago, there was a strange noise in Shiyue Mountain. The sound seemed like the roar of beasts and demons, or the sharp collision of sharp weapons, but the main body was an indescribable sound. There was no sound as strange as any material sound in the world. After that, the weather became strange. It's cloudless at one moment, and it's pouring rain the next moment; it's drizzling at this moment, and it's snowing in the summer the next moment. Moreover, some of the beasts on Shiyue Mountain have become more ferocious. These villages living at the foot of the mountain all rely on digging herbs from the mountain for a living. In the past two days, people have found nothing and even turned a few people away. Now, the young people were no longer happy to stay here. Within three days, they left the place where they were born one after another without any nostalgia. The young man took nothing with him—nothing valuable to take with him anyway.
"But no matter what, in such a short period of time, everyone in the village was completely evacuated. It's really..."
Xie Zhe was confused. Jiao Mo sighed softly and then said:
"The reason for this is self-evident. Obviously, although the old man did not say it, everyone is worried about the Tengu. The locals all know what is there in Shiyue Mountain..."
Kanna-kun continued: "Besides, the one from the Wuyong family came here not many years ago. They must all know what happened at that time, so they are very afraid of the power of the Tengu."
"I didn't expect the situation to be so serious..." Han Chang frowned.
"It doesn't matter, it comes sooner or later anyway." Shen Wujun shrugged, "I originally decided to conduct reconnaissance at night. You guys rest here first and then meet up tomorrow morning. If I don't come back, you can go up the mountain. Be careful."
When he said this, his attitude was calm, which made people sound very uneasy. But Kanna-kun has always been reliable, and there is no better way than to listen to his arrangements. In order not to cause trouble to the elderly, they still ate the dry food they brought with them, and the dinner was hastily dealt with, and Kanna-kun didn't eat even a drop of water. They decided to rest early, recharge their batteries, and hit the road at dawn tomorrow.
The heavy rain did not come down after all, but thunder continued until late at night.
For Kanna-kun, walking alone at night is a normal thing. Likewise, being followed is not an uncommon experience.
Heading in the direction of Shiyue Mountain, before he had traveled far, he noticed the aura of another person behind him. Or maybe, saying "people" is not accurate. The other party wasn't blatant, but he didn't have any malicious intentions or was deliberately covering up his whereabouts. Lord Kanna stopped, and after a while, he saw Han Chang appear in his field of vision.
"Aren't you allowed to stay at your residence?"
There was no warmth in Kanna-kun's voice, no joy or anger. Han Chang shook his head, stepped closer to him, and smiled bitterly:
"To be honest, I can't do it. It's too difficult to sleep peacefully so close to the crisis. And... there is a very important brother of mine next to Li Xi. I can't convince myself to stand still and not think about him. .”
"...I know. I also have a brother like this." Kanna-kun said after a brief silence, "Where is the one who is traveling with you? Are you just going to chase me here? Or is he unaware?"
"He knows, but he also knows why I came, and knows that he can't stop me." As he spoke, Han Sheng had already approached Kannaujun, and the two of them started walking again, "So, he simply asked me to follow him out. .”
Kanna-kun nodded slightly.
"A true brother will always support you fully when he understands your motives, even if what you do is not the best and right one."
"That's what it is. However, when he goes astray, a real brother should pull him back." Han Chang sighed.
"Even if we make efforts for this, it may not be the optimal solution at the moment."
Han Chang turned his head and glanced. He was not sure whether what Kanna Wujun meant was what he meant or what he felt. Naturally, all he saw was the gauze hanging down from the curtain, fluttering in the night wind, blocking his gaze and covering Kanna-kun's eyes.
There was another thunder in the sky.
Such a serious topic makes the atmosphere somewhat gloomy. Hanshang didn't like this feeling. They had important matters that needed to be dealt with urgently, and they couldn't be affected by bad emotions. He took the initiative to change the topic, telling some interesting things over the years. Hanshang is not the type who can talk freely, but he has never been strict with his audience. After getting along with each other these days, it was easy for him to find that Shen Wujun was not a talkative person, so Han Chang didn't pay attention to the other party's few responses mixed with a lot of silence. After a while, he felt his mouth was a little dry, so he had to stop and swallow, turned around and asked:
"You have been here many years ago. According to your memory, how long do we have to go... Kanna-kun? Kanna-kun!"
Han Chang suddenly stopped and froze on the spot. It's deserted everywhere. Is there anyone there?
He couldn't believe it, looked around, and after shouting a few more times, he felt that the scenery was strange and familiar. It was not like what he had seen when he came after him, but it seemed as if he had just seen it not long ago. Han Chang had a premonition and walked back for a while following his feeling. Sure enough, he saw the outline of the accommodation in the distance.
Obviously, Kanna-kun used a little magic to induce him. He himself must have gone a long way on the right path, and the person he was chatting with just now was just a photo of a magic spell from some time ago. Han Chang stood blankly for a while, and couldn't help but rub his forehead and laugh. He realized that he should have known about Kanna-kun's Onmyoji as early as on the ship, and he was also a master of it.
But...where is this? He looked around. There were black trees reaching into the sky everywhere, with no leaves. Are there really any herbs here? There is no green at all. I wonder if it was like this thousands of years ago. Shiyue Mountain is very steep, and from now on, he has to use his hands and feet to climb in certain places. He knew that as long as he followed his breath, he could return to the place where they stayed. Han Chang didn't know when he and Kanna-kun parted ways. Perhaps he could only find clues by looking back. But in that case, can he find the right path that Kanna-kun is taking? What's more, what kind of road, and the road leading to where, can be called the right one?
The spiritual power of Shiyue Mountain is very chaotic. It is indeed not the best choice for Han Zhang to investigate alone. Is Kanna-kun afraid that he will be held back? Or do you simply not want to risk your own death with unknown risks? He couldn't figure it out and didn't want to think about it anymore. Even if Kanna-kun tricked him, he wouldn't be able to harm him, so there wouldn't be any danger in this position.
Just go back obediently.
Although I feel extremely unwilling to do so, this seems to be the only way at the moment. Although he desperately wanted to know the truth, he was not yet blinded by impulse. But as he walked back, he was thinking to himself that when he got up tomorrow morning, he must tell others about Shen Wujun properly.
