After working around for more than ten hours, even the Qin brothers and sisters, who had a good foundation in kung fu, felt tired and fell asleep.
Li Er is also tired, but his tiredness is different from that of other people. It is more like a motor that cannot reach the corresponding power due to insufficient voltage and power.
Qinxuan set up a gathering formation on the balcony on the second floor. Li Er sat in the formation to concentrate on his luck, and he could absorb the earth's energy to replenish his energy. On the other hand, you can sit high and look far away, keeping vigil for them.
Gradually the moon disappeared behind the mountains, and it was the darkest period before dawn.
The cool breeze was blowing, and there were bursts of sounds in the bamboo forest, which sounded very sizzling.
Li Er felt something strange, as if there was a slight sound mixed with the wind.
He stood up and looked around. Although it was pitch dark, the vision of ghost eyes was different from that of humans. There was light in his eyes. Through the faint light emitted by the grass and bamboo trees, he could see the surrounding situation half clearly.
"Knock knock knock!"
Suddenly there were three sounds, like knocking on the door, which sounded like they were at the front door.
Li Er was shocked. He didn't hear, see, or feel anything approaching the main entrance. He immediately turned over and jumped down, but he didn't even see a ghost.
The door was still closed, and Li Er thought to himself, "Did I hear wrongly?"
Opening the door quietly and entering the house, he saw them sleeping peacefully on the table, breathing evenly, thinking that nothing had happened.
He quietly exited the bamboo house and climbed onto the balcony to continue meditating. But he did not relax his vigilance, and his eyes scanned the location where something might appear.
"Knock knock knock!"
But only a minute later, the knock on the door rang again.
Li Er flew up and started looking for the target in mid-air. But until we landed, we still didn’t see even a ghost!
"Impossible!" he thought to himself, "Even if it is a ghost or monster, I am a ghost, how can I not see even the slightest trace of it?"
For safety reasons, Li Er quietly entered the house, and what he saw was still the scene of them sleeping peacefully, which made him feel uneasy.
Listening to their breathing, Jiang Jin's heavy drinking meant that he was already asleep. Gongsun Zhi and Qin Zhaoyun's breathing was soft and long, and they obviously still had a trace of vigilance.
If they thought the first knock on the door was caused by him, forget it. But there should be a reaction the second time, so no one wakes up.
Are they really too tired?
Simply, Li Er decided to stand guard at the door to see which ghost was causing the evil.
He stood at the door with his eyes wide open and his arms folded, not even letting go of the slightest sound of wind.
However, not long after, "knock, knock, knock!" there was a knock on the door on the second floor!
Li Er turned over in anger and jumped up to the second floor in the blink of an eye, but still didn't see even a ghost.
"Mother Xipi! You're evil!" Li Er was convinced. He quietly opened the door and entered the corridor. He saw that both doors were closed tightly and there was no unusual sound. He thought that the thing had not entered the house. But to be cautious, he still secretly took a look at the room where Qin Xuan was located. There was nothing unusual inside.
There is a saying that there are no more than three things. If there are more than three things, they will be different.
Li Er still felt something was wrong and should at least wake Qin Xuan up to discuss it. However, after calling three times in a row, Qin Xuan didn't wake up.
Suddenly there was a noise downstairs, like something falling to the ground.
Li Er secretly said something bad and flew out of the room. He saw a group of luminous things moving quickly. It turned out to be Jiang Jinjiu flying flat on the ground!
Li Er felt incredible and looked closely. It turned out that there was a green mass under Jiang Jinjiu's body, which was about the same size as a human body. It was leading him on an unknown road.
Li Er wanted to inform everyone, but Jiang Jinjiu was about to disappear from his sight and it was already too late. I had no choice but to kick off the guardrail of the balcony, mark it with the broken pole, and then chase after him as fast as he could.
But he didn't expect that thing to run faster than the car, and it made more and more turns, and almost lost it.
Li Er thought that it was not an option to continue like this, and being dumped was an immediate matter. When he realized that the lid of the bone china bottle was open, he suddenly jumped up and turned into a ball of light and flew back into the porcelain bottle, and was taken away with Jiang Jinjiu.
It was almost eight o'clock in the morning when the sun passed over the mountains and poured sunlight into the bamboo house.
Gongsun Zhi was the first to wake up. As soon as he put on his shoes, he noticed something was wrong. He had slept too well, and then he found that Jiang Jinjiu was missing.
Gongsun Zhi's first reaction was that something happened to Jiang Jinjiu, otherwise he would not have noticed it if he had left normally. I touched the spot where Jiang Jinjiu had slept. There was no warmth at all, indicating that he had disappeared for a while.
Gongsun Zhi quickly woke up Qin Zhaoyun and asked him to wake up Qin Xuan, and then search for clues in the house.
But Qin Zhaoyun was too lazy to go out and climb the stairs. He knocked on the roof with his sword shell and shouted Qin Xuan's name. He didn't stop until Qin Xuan answered.
At this moment, Gongsun Zhi found something under the window, which was a dozen dry petals. He remembered clearly that when he checked the window at night, there was nothing around him.
That can only mean that the petals were brought in by outsiders. However, it is impossible to come in silently through the window. How on earth is it done? Is it human or demon?
At this time, Qin Zhaoyun came to his side and poked his head to see what he was looking at.
Qin Zhaoyun couldn't help but say "Huh?" when he saw the petals.
Gongsunzhi asked, "What's wrong?"
Qin Zhaoyun wanted to pick up a petal, but the petals were very fragile and broke into three petals when touched by his fingers. He gently picked up a piece with his fingers and put it in front of his eyes to observe, and said, "These petals... look familiar. But, how did the petals become like this?"
"If not, what should happen?"
"According to the current temperature, the petals should be rotten, and even if they are dry, they will become wrinkled. But you see, the shape of these petals is like new, but there is no color, and it is so brittle that it looks like burnt ashes, just like..."
"It's like the life has been sucked out of me."
"Yes, that's it."
"Say? Why didn't you see the lees?"
Gongsun Zhi sighed, "Maybe he was kidnapped."
"What!?" Jiang Jinjiu said in shock, "It's impossible!"
"Senior brother - brother - come out quickly!" Qin Xuan shouted from the balcony.
The two of them quickly walked out of the house and saw the mark left by Li Er on the ground.
Qin Zhaoyun frowned and said, "It shouldn't be. Breaking the guardrail made such a big noise, why didn't we wake up!"
Gongsun Zhi said, "Fortunately, the second master left a mark. At least it lets us know that the second master and Xiao Jiang are together. We must not mess up the situation."
Qin Xuan came to the two of them and said, "But why did you kidnap Liquor Lee? There is nothing noteworthy about him."
Gongsun Zhi said, "I'm afraid we have to find someone to know the answer. Zhaoyun, I'm good at tracking you. Let's explore the path first. Qinxuan and I will look around and try to find more useful information."
Qin Zhaoyun made a good gesture, took his sword and walkie-talkie and left.
When Qinxuan and Gongsunzhi were picking up their backpacks, Qinxuan saw the petals under the window and said casually, "Why are they here too?"
Gongsun Zhi asked, "Is there one in your room too?"
Qin Xuan nodded.
Gongsun Zhi pondered, "Could it be that these petals are why we sleep so deeply?"
Qin Xuan said, "If it's true, then this place is too weird."
"Yes, don't be careless next time."
The two left the bamboo house and explored the surroundings.
At this time, the sun is facing the window of the bamboo house, that is, the bamboo house is in the west, the bamboo shed is in the north, and the stone road is in the east.
There is a path in the bamboo forest to the north of the bamboo shed. About 20 meters away, there is an open space with two artificial square pools.
The pool is made of milky white stone and is now covered with green algae.
The one on the left is at least one meter deep and about four meters long and wide. There are dozens of snakehead fish over half a meter tall and smaller crucian carp inside.
The one on the right is shallower, no more than the calf, seven meters long and four meters wide. There is nothing in the pool.
The water in the pool is crystal clear, and you can see a very thick bamboo buried in the north wall of the pool, which seems to be the water inlet. Ten thinner bamboos are buried in the southwest, which should be the water outlet.
The water outlet of the water pool on the right is large-diameter, presumably used for bathing and washing clothes. Although Qin Xuan really wanted to go down and take a bath, he could only give up now.
There is a wide road to the southeast of the bamboo house, which is sixty or seventy meters long.
The path out is wide, and there is a row of two-story bamboo houses with single courtyards to the west, 16 in total.
However, every yard is full of weeds and wild flowers, which grow taller than people. Some people have planted creeping plants in their homes, almost covering the entire bamboo house.
The entire open area is paved with mountain rocks, and there is a four-cornered tower with a rock base and trees as a structure on the south side. There are four floors in total, but it is as high as a six-story building.
In the open space opposite the tower, there are two rows of three-meter-long bamboo tables and shelves made of bamboo neatly placed.
There were several bamboo tubes, bamboo strips like rulers, and sharp knives of different lengths placed on most tabletops, but they were all rusty.
On the rest of the table are brushes and inkstones, awls and strings.
There are various signs that this is an open-air bamboo slip factory.
At this moment, both Gongsun Zhi and Qin Xuan had an idea in their hearts. People in the Eastern Han Dynasty lived and thrived here. Because they were isolated from the world, the folk customs and technology had not changed. But the two need evidence to calm their excited hearts.
The two of them checked all the bamboo houses. They found that there was no trace of human life inside, and they were eroded by time and dilapidated. However, there are clothes left in the lockers of all the houses, all of which are styles from the Han Dynasty. They are dark coats and skirts worn by people of a certain status, silk satin clothes with exquisite embroidery, and green scarves.
Daily utensils include different types of pottery pots, pottery stoves, copper wine bottles, bronze mirrors... Qinxuan's eyes lit up, and he said in his heart that he had made a fortune, and he must order a few of them when he went back.
The existence of these things means that the two guessed correctly. But why is there no one here? Judging from various signs, this place has been abandoned for at least sixty years. What is the reason?
The two decided to go to the tower to find the answer, because in ancient times, the tower was a place where important items and books were stored.
The door of the tower is locked with a copper three-pin lock, which is still solid except that the surface has turned green. But it couldn't stop the two of them. The wooden door had lacked maintenance for many years, and the rivets had become rotten. Qinxuan kicked the door open and walked in swaggeringly.
But what the two of them didn't expect was that the first floor of the tower was empty.
