Xie Zhe and the others came to a place.
This is a village - it once was, and now it's been razed to the ground. As for what kind of power it is, it is not difficult to see, because there is already a piece of scorched earth left here, and no ashes are left. Everything seemed to evaporate suddenly, disappearing into a place where no one could see, leaving only darkness in this vast and empty land.
As for why they knew this was a village, of course they heard what others said. And in such a remote place, where do the "other people" come from? This can also be explained: since some kind of change occurred here, there has been an endless stream of people who came here specially, and they are nothing more than a group of monks and Taoists Onmyoji. They all wanted to know what kind of person or monster it was, and what kind of power it used to cause this village to be so completely and mercilessly destroyed.
"Ah, speaking of which...this village was half dead before."
This was a female Onmyoji. Xie Zhe looked familiar to her, but couldn't remember it for a long time. He then asked:
"how you said that?"
"I also heard from people in nearby places - ah, of course the nearest town is also far away. But after all, they have some contact, otherwise it would be difficult for this small place to be self-sufficient. A long time ago, the people there said that this village Few people came to exchange things. Even those who came were not in good condition, and they didn’t say much when asked. After a while, no one came anymore. Some knowledgeable people said that their village was possessed by an evil spirit. The magic is caused by a big demon. Some confident insiders went to check the situation, but they never came back. They must have been bewitched by the magic together, or died from it. Anyway, they all became the nourishment of the monster."
Han Chang looked at Xie Zhe on the left, and then at Wenying on the right. The three of them looked at each other and unanimously pointed their suspicions at the evil angel. At this moment, Han Chang suddenly clapped his hands.
"Ah! I remember, we have met before, right?"
The female Onmyoji was slightly startled and looked at them again on the edge of the scorched earth. Wenying had no impression of her at all and looked back curiously. The onmyoji's eyes stayed on her for an extra long time, as if checking his memory.
"I seem to have seen it before." She nodded uncertainly, "Were you... in Wanlong City at that time?"
"Oh, right..."
Xie Zhe also remembered, but now only Wenying was confused. Both he and Han Zhang still remembered that when they met the Gui Hai family, in addition to them, there were many strange people visiting. This female Onmyoji is one of them with some real talent. She also has an ancestral medicine that can make people incapacitated and is even effective on some living corpses. At that time, the Guihai clan still kept her, and I don’t know why she doesn’t stay and work in Wanlong City now.
"Hey, I remember there were...four of you at that time, right?" Her eyes swept over the faces of the three people again, and finally stopped at Wenying. "This girl, by the looks of her face, was one of you at that time?"
Ask Yingying to understand that this happened before she followed her brother down the mountain. She turned to look at the two people and found that their expressions had changed subtly at the same time. Before the two of them could say anything, the female onmyoji who was good at observing words and emotions spoke:
"If it's inconvenient, just don't tell me. I don't mean to get to the bottom of it."
"Well, I would like to ask you, didn't you stay there? The Guihai clan is acquainted with the city lord, and they are recruiting talents for him. I thought you were selected."
The female onmyoji scratched her head and said, "That's true. But I stayed for a while and found it boring, so I left. The person in charge of me wanted to ask me directly for the family secret recipe. Isn't this a dream? I didn't give it to him. He was afraid that he wanted to use it directly to please the city lord, and he never wanted to encounter me as a quarrel. If he didn't succeed, he kept stumbling on me and wearing small shoes for two months. There was no need to disgust me so much. , I’ll just go away myself, lest we get tired of looking at each other.”
Xie Zhe frowned slightly. Although this girl is also a person of temperament, it reminds him of the heroic woman who took her daughter into the world. However, he personally disagreed with this way of doing things. Solving problems, resolving suffering, and saving people from fire and water are the most important things. Of course, this does not mean that when faced with evildoers, one should swallow one's anger for the sake of the so-called overall situation, but it does mean that it is best for Xie Zhe to calm down and find a solution to the problem first. Of course, he wouldn't ask others for it.
Han Chang said: "You have also worked hard during this period..."
"It's okay. I traveled around a lot, saw a lot of the world, got to know a lot of people, and overall I benefited a lot." After that, she glanced at the endless black land, and then continued, "Let's talk about it. Let’s talk about the things in front of us, the past is in the past. There are different opinions on why this land became what it is today.”
Xie Zhe couldn't help but ask: "Where are the people living here? Could they--"
"Most of them died, but not from the fire, but from monsters. In the end, some people seemed to have survived, but they were all in a daze. If they hadn't been saved by the nearest town people, they would have died soon. . But their health is already very poor, and they can’t do heavy work. Who will support the idle people? Now they are wandering around, each one more miserable than the other. It will probably not be long before the residents of this village are truly dead. "
She said this without much emotion, and it was hard to know whether she was over the sentiment or just used to it. At least she wasn't born a cold-blooded person, Xie Zhe believed she wasn't. Although today, driven by profit, the group of onmyojis known as demon hunters in the past is still very large, but his intuition told him that this girl was not one of them.
"You just said, the fire..."
"Obviously there are traces of the fire," she pointed forward, seeing scorched earth everywhere she looked. "In fact, it was a fire. What's strange is that I heard that the fire burned for more than ten days. It never went out or spread. The fire started suddenly and disappeared suddenly. Every time it came and went, it was very disturbing. It’s unbelievable. When the fire finally burned out, nothing was left in the village, and even the traces of the evil spirit running rampant here were undetectable.”
fire……
Xie Zhe looked at Han Zhang and Wenying.
"Can your foxfire do it?"
"You're not doubting...who is that, are you?" Han Chang waved his hand, "I really don't think he can do this. Although he has burned all his power, it's not that he doesn't have it, but how can he not even have any dregs left? Although fox fire can have a temperature, it is unpredictable. I am afraid that this is not only not a mortal fire, but also a fox fire, otherwise it would not be able to burn so thoroughly."
Wenying seemed to have thought of something, and pulled her brother's sleeve and said, "Can Shiranui do it?"
Hanshang was in trouble. He frowned and looked at the dark, completely dehydrated surface. The ground was crisscrossed with ravines, but even the gaps were seeped with black.
"I've never tried it, but...but that's not it, right?"
"It has been burning for more than ten days. You can't say for sure. There may be someone controlling it nearby, or imposing a time limit." Xie Zhe thought seriously, "But Shiranui's power is unique to you in the world."
"This power can be plundered - could it be possible that it was in the Southern Kingdom?!"
"No, that's not the case, right?" Han Chang was a little afraid of what his sister would say, "It's not like I have gained my strength through lies..."
The female onmyoji listened for a long time and finally spoke again.
"So the people who fought against Mahulaka in the Southern Kingdom...are actually you?"
Xie Zhe waved his hands repeatedly: "That's just the phantom of the python god, not the real body. Moreover, Lord Shenwu, Lord Shuangyue and Master Baishu were all present. It was the concerted efforts of everyone to suppress it... There were also some evil envoys. The trouble is coming. But just a few of us are completely incapable of dealing with this kind of thing."
"Oh my God, it's really you." The woman seemed not to have heard. "When I saw you, I was thinking that you guys will definitely do something big."
"Uh-uh, thank you..."
Xie Zhe and Han Zhang were both a little embarrassed, but Wenying was very happy.
Xie Zhe cleared his throat and looked again at the place that used to be the village. Now that there was no danger, he took a few steps on it. The ground is very hard, there is no water at all, and it is slightly sunken compared to the terrain next to it. The only thing that can be considered dangerous is probably the ravine whose color is indistinguishable from the ground. But he didn't go too far.
"Who else would do such a thing?"
"Maybe it's a kind-hearted onmyoji," the woman said. "It's not impossible to evacuate the remaining villagers and use fire to purify the evil spirit. Maybe this village is really rotten to the core, and if we don't do this, it will not be saved."
"It's not impossible, but this fire is too extraordinary."
"It must be the demon fire." The female onmyoji said firmly, "Maybe it's the fire of the Tengu."
The three people suddenly became more energetic. They all looked at her, thinking of the same person. Yes, of course it's Lord Shuoyue, and... that person. Now they know that they are the only ones in the world who have the blood of Tengu. Maybe it exists in other places among the people, but it's just not famous or not shown.
"Why do you think it's a tengu?" Xie Zhe asked tentatively.
"I know people like this."
"What kind of person is he?"
"What I met during my adventure was a powerful demon warrior - ah, I don't mind saying that now. He was very strong and still had the energy to take care of his children. When I was in trouble , the Tengu he summoned fell from the sky and burned up the group of monsters that I couldn't resist. The Tengu had red hair, and its eyes were as golden as the sun. It looked like burning fire, and it was extremely majestic."
The three of them looked at each other and couldn't think of such a person. But having said that, the world is so big, of course it’s not surprising that there are all kinds of people. They don't know, and can only say that they have "never seen the world" - even though they have seen enough.
"Listening to what you said, it's not impossible for him to clean up this place. Maybe he's some powerful character that we don't know about."
"That's right..." The female onmyoji nodded, "I came from that town, so I only know so much. After looking here for a long time, there seems to be nothing worth stopping at. Alas, I thought I could gain something... ...Ah, by the way, if you want to know more information, you can go to the town and ask in person. It’s just a walk north, and it only takes two days. I didn’t ask in detail, and these trivial information are all hearsay. If you ask carefully , I should be able to get some clues to the truth.”
Xie Zhe bowed to her and said sincerely, "Thank you very much."
