The flames danced. The shadows of the grass swayed, stretched, and stretched like algae threads in the sea. The old man still poked the bonfire with wooden sticks to keep it burning vigorously.
"Unfortunate," he said, "but you deserve it. If you find that the gods care nothing about you, there is no point in tormenting your kind. On whom do you vent your anger? Young man, even the Zhuoyi family has shame, you But he allowed himself to get to this point.”
The man with the gold ring took a step back. His right shoulder was bleeding profusely, his face was gray, but his expression remained calm. He said to the old man: "Are you a priest or a ghost?"
"A stranger," said the old man.
The wind in the willow forest let out a sharp laugh. The campfire crackled. There is no other sound. Everyone stood up silently. They all held weapons, the fire burning on the edge of the steel, but no one came close. Those twinkling eyes flickered back and forth on the three people beside the campfire.
"Dangers have always been wandering in this land." The old man said, "Washer ghosts, forest spirits, resentful spirits, human calves... I have heard that these monsters haunt Mulunen. And you, my good gentlemen, are nothing but I'm really confused about how these fleshly mortals holding iron pieces dare to run rampant here. But when I think about it again - ah, isn't the reason right in front of me? These monsters only love corpses and raw meat, They never eat food from living people, so you know that the grandfather and grandson sitting here are harmless to humans and animals."
The man wearing the gold ring chuckled. The sweat on his forehead glistened in the firelight, but he could still stand still and did not look back at his accomplices.
The old man looked at him and said slowly: "You can no longer return to them. Look, the way they look at you is like a wolf pack abandoning its defeated leader. But your hearts are far crueler than wild beasts. Even if I let you go Leave and they will kill you too.”
The man wearing the gold ring squeezed his lips and laughed and said: "Everyone is the same, sooner or later."
"You think so." The old man said flatly.
He turned to look at the bandits in the distance and asked politely: "Masters, would you like to leave?"
There was silence. The old man added: "Ah, please keep those three young girls. I have treated each of you to eat something, but they have not touched anything. I should serve you a little later."
Someone took a step back first. Then everyone turned and ran away. The peasant girl saw that they already had experience in dealing with monsters, because not many people were in a group. They each picked an open direction in the hope of stalling the others.
The wind outside the forest calmed down.
A black lotus bloomed from the shadow of the campfire. The lotus petals are long and thin, spreading out layer by layer, filling the entire willow forest in the blink of an eye. When the shadow-like petals passed through her body, the peasant girl only felt a bit of mist-like coldness. She blinked slightly, and the blooming shadow flower disappeared on the ground, and the sound of the wind returned to normal.
The man wearing the gold ring made a strange sound from his throat. It was neither a scream nor a roar, just some kind of instinctive attack. His face was a mixture of pain and confusion, and he was looking around wildly in the empty forest. He could only find the three girls tied by chains, sitting there with dull faces. Then came the endless noise.
The old man and the peasant girl sat on the other side of the campfire. They watched him run around in the willow forest, barking, falling, and finally staggering back to the campfire. He became unprecedentedly calm and pressed his left hand against his wound.
"It seems my time has come," he said.
"You can run away," the old man said. "I see that there is anger in your heart, not just animal desire. It may be unfair to treat you with the same punishment as them - if you want, I will let you leave here. , go try your luck in the wilderness.”
The man thought about it and said, "No, I won't do that. Running away would take away my last honor, so I would rather die."
"The choice is yours."
"But I still have my doubts." The man said, "You, old man, now I know that you are no ordinary person. I have never seen anything evil that looks like you. If I am going to die here today, I want to know who it is." Kill me. Are you the guardian of the gods?"
"It was never intended."
"Are you the vanguard of Hellfire?"
"I think that's further ahead than the last guess."
The man was quiet for a while, and finally said: "I swear on the name of my father, now I do not believe in the words of any gods. If anyone dares to praise the name of gods in front of me, I will chop off his head. But you have surpassed me. Everything I know, so I can only guess this: Have you ever accepted offerings in the temple?"
"You still don't believe what I said before." The old man said, "Everything I know is different from what you know, because I come from a place farther away than the outer world."
"There is nothing but hellfire in the sky."
"Just like the gods said."
The man laughed nervously. The sweat on his forehead wetted his cheeks and made them glistening. That hoarse, crazy laugh caused his wounds to twitch and his whole body to convulse. The old man glanced at him and said, "I pity you, child."
"You are talking nonsense," the man said breathlessly, "No, no, no, no, I know what I have done, and I don't need you to judge me. But if you are serious about being knowledgeable and knowledgeable, I only ask for one thing. .”
"I'm doing what you want."
The man coughed a few times, his expression was painful, and his eyes showed eagerness. He said: "I ask you to confirm to me who fabricated the god who promised to walk with my ancestors? How can this lie deceive the world for so long?"
The old man looked at him. When the man stopped coughing, he replied: "Because that's not a lie, child. The gods are right in front of you, and you see them as prey."
The man was stunned and confused. At this time the old man stood up from the campfire. He walked slowly, came to the man's side, and said to him: "Look at the child in front of the fire. She just returned from the north before dark, and spent seven days and seven nights visiting every sky whale nest. The god of war she believes in, Miladah who rides an eagle and holds a halberd, is her sister from the same father - she is the incarnation of wind and mist, the last daughter of Asa's blood, Veloo who was born from the ground."
The peasant girl stood up silently. She was filled with surprise, but she didn't expect that the old man knew her real name. This situation caught her off guard and she didn't know how to defend herself.
Before she could speak, the old man said to her: "My child, your identity has been known to me for a long time. There is no need to explain this matter. Now this man wants to know the authenticity of the gods. If you want to protect Asa's name, you must tell him Verify the true identity.”
So the peasant girl left the bonfire. She emerged from the sky, shining through the darkness. When she landed, the person with the broken arm was so frightened that he almost fainted and died. The old man woke him up and said, "What else do you pray for now?"
"I have nothing to say." The man replied, "If the gods do exist in this world, why did they abandon my father?"
"His guardian is gone now," the old man said. "While you were still conscious, the gods knew that hellfire was coming. The original creator had long since failed, and he ordered all his children to enter the hall of eternity. From then on, Close it."
"I've never heard of this hall."
"No one knows." The old man replied, "That is the secret of the creator. Now he is sleeping in the holy hall to save the remaining power and wait for his last daughter to take back the light of creation. You see the world The pillar collapsed because Viroo killed the pillar-guarding heavenly beast and took away the light of creation. If all that light is returned to the original owner, the creator will return to the earth and eliminate the disaster of hellfire."
The man lay on his back and remained silent for a long time. So the old man said to the peasant girl: "Now he has no confusion, but his sins have not been washed away. Since he once fought for your brothers and sisters, now it is your disposal. You can put him to death or banish him to the wild. If If you wish in your heart, you can bring him back to life.”
The peasant girl was hesitant because in the past she had only fought against heavenly beasts and evil beings. At this time the man said: "Please take back my life. Now that I have seen the appearance of the gods, I have no doubt about it. However, all my relatives are gone, which makes me heartbroken. Even if I remain in this world, I am as good as death."
"You are not afraid of death like Zhuoyi," the old man said. "I wanted to make you see more, but since you are tired of it, death is not a problem."
Their exchange ended, and there were no more words. The peasant girl lingered for a long time and finally revealed her true identity. She treated the man with the courtesy of a warrior, first piercing the chest with the tip of the spear, burning him to ashes, and taking him high into the sky. Then he called for the strong wind to carry the remaining ashes in all directions. When it was all over, the sky had turned ocher red.
She fell back to the ground in her mortal form and looked at the old man in the forest. Seeing her doubts, the old man said: "Tonight's story can no longer continue. My child, you should go back as soon as possible to avoid making your father suspicious. I can place these three girls in my care."
"Will you come again?" asked the peasant girl.
"As long as you wish. I can reveal more to you next time."
The old man's words are natural and unconvincing. So the peasant girl put aside her worries, said goodbye to the old man, and flew high into the wind. She summoned the wandering dragon and flew together into the abyss, returning to the underground temple.
