"No, someone has lived here for a long time." Mu Qingyan checked the dilapidation of the house and the thickness of the ice. "It has been at least five or six years - has the family moved away?"
Jin Baohui's face became increasingly pale, and he seemed to have run out of strength. Lan Tianyu beside him lowered his head to support him.
Chen Fuguang's face was flushed, his eyes were distracted, and his breath was heavy.
Qinong touched his forehead and said softly: "Young Master seems to have a fever. He needs to rest and take some medicine."
Zhou Zhiqin looked at the courtyard and said, "It is probably the mountain people who lived here before. The family moved away five or six years ago, and this house was abandoned. Now that it is getting dark, it is not easy to find a hunting house, so we can only stay here." Just one night.”
After three more of Jin Baohui's bodyguards were gone, there were not many left at this moment. Everyone found a corner in the big house, set up cowhide tents, and cooked snow-water, barbecued meat, and dried meat for dinner.
Mu Qingyan once again pitched the two tents in a remote corner away from everyone. Zhou Zhiqin and Dongfang Xiao still chose to stand in the middle of the big house openly.
Cai Zhao walked around the courtyard with great interest, looking at the stove, the bed, tables and chairs with missing arms and legs, broken earthenware dishes, even a hanging basket for rocking a baby, and two rotten small wooden swords—— The hilt of one sword is carved with a mountain top, and the other is carved with a small tree.
Cai Zhao came back with a solemn expression, and Qian Xueshen had already started devouring it.
Mu Qingyan handed her the roasted meat and noticed something strange in her expression, "What's wrong?"
"There are...well, about ten people in this family." Cai Zhao looked at the beams of the room, "Judging from the ice and snow, this place has been abandoned for five or six years, but judging from the decay of the utensils, it has been more than ten years old." It’s been uninhabited for years.”
Qianxue took a mouthful of dry food, raised her head and said, "What's so hard to guess? This family moved away more than ten years ago, but the hole in the roof was five or six years ago."
Cai Zhao had a confused look on his face, "Although I grew up in the south, I have seen a lot along the way. It doesn't have to be a hole in the roof and snowflakes falling in for the house to freeze. For example, the last one I stayed in The doors and walls of the hunting house are all in good condition, but there’s also ice inside.”
"Zhaozhao is so smart." Mu Qingyan smiled, with a deep light shining in his eyes.
After getting along for a long time, Cai Zhao knew that something was on his mind, but he said nothing and only advised Cai Zhao to eat more.
At night, Qian Xueshen came back from relieving herself and secretly told Mu and Cai: "Hey, I saw Miss Qinong getting into Chen Fuguang's tent! It seems that Chen Fuguang was ill. The man named Hu asked Miss Qinong to take care of him, and he and the mute old man A tent for a servant.”
Cai Zhao was startled: "...Hu Tianwei is so generous."
Qian Xueshen was very curious: "After going through this journey, I can see that not only Fatty Gold and Thief Blue must have known each other for a long time, but they also don't know what they are doing up the mountain."
"If the thief doesn't escape, there must be some treasure on the snow mountain." Cai Zhao joked, "Otherwise, there is nothing else. He will not be like me, who went up the mountain to see the snow scene to test my fiancé."
Qian Xueshen sighed in despair, "I never want to get a wife in this life."
Seeing Mu Qingyan's silence, Cai Zhao asked what was wrong.
Mu Qingyan said slowly: "My thoughts are a little confused. I can't tell, but I always feel that something is wrong."
"I know." Cai Zhao said.
Mu Qingyan was slightly surprised.
Cai Zhaodao: "Those people who seem to have nothing to do with each other at first glance are actually related when you think about it carefully - Chen Shu died in the hands of Uncle Zhou, but now Chen Shu's brother and Uncle Zhou's cousin Uncle Zhou are in the same mountain."
"Elder Tianji Duan Jiuxiu massacred the entire Qingfeng Guan family, but his only remaining disciple Hu Tianwei and Dongfang Senior, one of the only two survivors of the Qingfeng Guan, are both here. Also, it was my aunt who killed Duan Jiuxiu, and I am also here here."
"On the contrary, it's Fatty Gold and Big Thief Blue. They have nothing to do with anyone."
Qianxue was shocked: "...I didn't even expect it."
Mu Qingyan looked at the girl with a smile: "It turns out you took it all into consideration. I thought you were heartless along the way."
Cai Zhao pulled out the fleece blanket and covered himself, "My aunt said that there are some things that you can't figure out just because the opportunity has not yet come, and it is useless to think about it. When the opportunity comes, everything will suddenly become clear."
At dawn the next day, everyone set off again.
Chen Fuguang's fever became even worse. He sat on a mountain donkey and was looked after by Qinong. When he was dazed, he took Qinong's hand and said, "Don't worry, even if I die, I will protect you. I won't let you be a slave or a maid and be bullied by others."
Cai Zhao looked at Hu Tianwei who was "bullying his maids and concubines" in front of him, as if he hadn't heard anything.
After walking for half a day, everyone stepped into ice pits countless times, and suddenly saw a half-tall human figure squatting in the open space in front of them.
Someone tried calling a few times, but nothing happened.
Cai Zhao felt very upset.
Lan Tianyu went over first and used his stick to gently push aside the thick snow on the human figure. After observing it again and again, he exclaimed: "Oh my god, it's a jade statue!"
Everyone quickly followed and saw a dark green jasper goddess statue standing in the middle of the snow.
The statue of the god is sitting on a base in the shape of a flower-leaf bush, with eyes closed and fingers curled up, and a soft whip rolled around the waist.
Cai Zhaoqing exclaimed: "The flowers on this base look like my unique mountain peach blossom."
Luoying Valley is like spring all year round, and there are naturally many flowers, plants and trees. However, few people know that there is a strange mountain peach flower in the valley. The flower is only the size of a child's fist. The petals are divided into three layers, upper and lower, and they all gather upward and inward, making them round and cute like buds.
Unlike the interesting flowers and leaves on the base, the statue is very solemn.
Folk goddess statues often have kind eyebrows and kind eyes, and are plump and kind. However, this goddess statue has thin and solemn lines and majestic eyebrows. Although the carving is simple, it can still be seen that her expression is impatient.
"Such a large piece of jasper is worth more than ten thousand gold." Lan Tianyu murmured.
Hu Tianwei smiled and said, "I'll lift it up and take a look. If it's not heavy, just move it back." Then he went to move the jade statue.
Lan Tianyu's expression changed drastically: "No! The gods are connected to the ice, be careful to break the ice..."
Hu Tianwei had already moved the statue away, and there was nothing happening around him. He laughed loudly: "Lantian Yu, you are too timid and afraid of getting into trouble."
Lan Tianyu saw the bottom of the statue that had been moved away, and said in surprise: "That's not right. If this statue had been here for a long time, it should have been firmly condensed with the ice. How could it be moved away so easily?"
Fatty Jin flattered him: "Brother Hu is very skilled in martial arts and has magical arms." As a weakling, the more dangerous the situation, the more he needs to rely on the strong. At this moment, he no longer cares about the dignity of a famous family.
Zhou Zhiqin snorted coldly.
At this moment, everyone heard a deep click coming from the soles of their feet, as if something had cracked, and then there were several more sounds.
Lan Tianyu shouted: "No, the ice is about to crack, run quickly..."
Before he could finish his roar, everyone's feet were in the air. In the loud roar, the ground within a radius of seven to eight feet was shattered into pieces, and everyone including people and donkeys fell straight down.
The cold wind howled fiercely, and the force of the fall was very fierce, which showed that the ice cave below was very deep.
If they fell straight down like this, they would either die or be disabled. The first few people who fell down immediately showed their abilities; Qianxue Shen, Qinong, and Chen Fuguang were all outside the statue, so they fell one step later.
Zhou Zhiqin and Dongfang Xiao both drew their swords and plunged into the ice wall with all their strength. With one hand free, they could grab a handful of Jin Baohui and Lantian Jade to ease their fall.
Hu Tianwei and the mute old servant extended their palms into claws, stretched out their five fingers, and clawed into the ice wall sharply. They quickly landed and caught Qinong and Chen Fuguang.
Mu Qingyan made a small hole in the ice wall and climbed on the ice wall to catch Cai Zhao.
Cai Zhao wanted to pull out the Yanyang Knife, but was caught by Mu Qingyan and released the silver chain on her left wrist. The other end of the chain was nailed into the ice wall. She raised her head and shouted: "Catch Wan Daqiang!" At this time, she actually still remembered Qian Xueshen's words. Kana, I’m really proud of myself.
Everyone fell to the ground, and several guards and mountain donkeys fell heavily on the ice without anyone to help them. Either one of them fell to death, or their leg bones were broken, and they screamed in agony.
Cai Zhao's silver chain didn't penetrate deeply, so he felt a little embarrassed when he landed along the ice wall.
She stood up from the prostrate position and just sat up when she suddenly saw a figure behind the ice wall. She wiped away the snowflakes and saw that it was a purple zombie with a hideous and twisted face and a long tongue, like a ghost.
Cai Zhao screamed for the first time since going to the snow mountain.
Chapter 53
When Mu Qingyan heard the girl's exclamation, he threw Qian Xueshen away when she was still two or three feet away from the ground. His left foot was a little on the ice wall, his long sleeves spread out like a bat in the clouds, and he quickly jumped to Cai Zhao's side and pulled her into his arms. Cai Zhao's teeth chattered softly as he forced himself to calm down.
At this moment, everyone had landed and began to look at the surrounding situation.
This is a huge ice cave, with an irregular circular bottom and a radius of fifty or sixty feet. There are holes eroded by glaciers everywhere. The top is the ice layer they fell. It is seventy or eighty feet above the ground. It is huge. The crack opened from below and was only as big as the mouth of a well - the entire ice cave was like a huge hollow ice urn, and they were just inside the big urn.
The most terrifying thing is that there are many corpses with tragic shapes sealed inside the four ice walls.
Through the translucent ice, everyone could clearly see these stiff purple corpses - their faces were distorted when they starved to death, they were unwilling to die from exhaustion, they were suffering from the pain of cold poison entering their bodies after being injured, and there were a few who were lost and desperate. Those who committed suicide were kept alive by the ice for thousands of years, which made people feel numb.
Cai Zhao chattered her teeth: "Are these all Jianghu people who died on the mountain?" She pointed to the weapons beside the ice corpse.
Mu Qingyan's eyes were deep and his voice was calm: "This snow-capped mountain is clearly divided. Some places are suitable for people to hunt and gather and support their families, but some places are forbidden areas that cannot be entered - these dead bodies walked into places they should not enter."
Cai Zhao became panicked: "Are we entering a forbidden area now?"
Mu Qingyan said nothing.
Cai Zhao was about to say more, but suddenly his eyes went over his shoulder and looked straight into the distance, frightened and confused, "...this man was still alive when he died."
This sounded strange. Mu Qingyan turned around and saw a dead body sitting in the ice wall above the southeast corner. He was holding a wooden fork with grilled sausages in his hands. One cheek was bulging, apparently eating. .
However, the look on his face was very shocked, and his eyes were wide open, as if he had seen something extremely terrifying - and then, everything was frozen in this moment.
Mu Qingyan's expression became more solemn, and he held the girl's little hand until it hurt.
Everyone was in shock. Zhou Zhiqin pushed Jin Baohui to the ground and cursed angrily: "Hu Tianwei, you are a greedy villain. Lantian Jade has said not to move the statues but you still persist in it. Now you have caused us all to fall into this trap." This hundred-foot-deep cave is all your fault!"
Hu Tianwei said coldly: "I can move the statues as long as I like, no one can care about me!"
Dongfang Xiao was also angry: "Your Majesty, Elder Tianji is also a great hero. He was so powerful back then that he had hundreds of minions under his command. How can you be so obsessed with a mere jade statue?"
Mu Qingyan sneered: "Seniors, don't look at Mr. Hu's luxurious clothes. I'm afraid he is pretending to be fat and his life is not easy. When Duan Jiuxiu died, they became wild dogs with broken spines, right? They died under Cai Nuxia's execution order and hid in the mountains in the cold, living in panic all day long. Later, when they saw Nie Hengcheng dead, they wanted to sneak back to the Demon Cult to stir up trouble."
"Unexpectedly, although Nie Zhe was unable to fight externally, he was very good at fighting internally. In addition, Duan Jiuxiu had made too many enemies at that time. He quickly exterminated the entire Yuan Tianji lineage from the demon sect. He was neither tolerated by the heroes of the righteous path, nor was he accepted by others. The Demonic Sect has been ostracizing him, and Mr. Hu has probably been hiding in Tibet over the past few years, so how can he still enjoy his former glory?"
These words were so harsh that Hu Tianwei's face turned green and red, showing both embarrassment and resentment.
Dongfang Xiao suddenly realized: "I'm telling you. I heard before that Nie Zhe wanted to promote a demon sect witch to the position of elder. There were so many vacancies for deceased elders, but he chose to let the witch take over as the elder of Tianji. That's it. Sure enough. When people leave, the building becomes empty, and when people leave, the tea cools down..."
Hu Tianwei roared angrily, and a figure rushed towards Dongfang Xiao. Zhou Zhiqin stepped forward with his horizontal sword to protect his close friend. There was only a sound of "buckling" and the metal weapons struck each other, and the two of them were knocked away several steps.
Only then did everyone see clearly that Hu Tianwei had at some point held a pair of iron-colored ghost-head judge pens in his hands.
Zhou Zhiqin swung his long sword in front of him, and the blade made a faint sound. He said proudly: "The monsters of the Demon Cult have no shame, and sneak attacks are commonplace. If you want to fight, you can fight, and I will definitely accompany you!"
Seeing that a fight was about to start, Lan Tianyu quickly stood up: "Okay, okay, this is not a martial arts field, but an ice cave in the heart of the mountain. There is thousands of years of snow hanging above our heads! If there is too much movement, it might be shaken. If the ice cave collapses, none of us will be able to get out!"
Jin Baohui sat on the ground and gasped: "Lao Lan is right, everyone, please calm down and wait until we get out of this hellish place. I don't want to be buried alive in this ice cave."
"After struggling for a long time, I almost fell to death. Where is the jade statue?" Qian Xueshen limped back and forth looking for it.
Jin Baohui got angry when he mentioned this. He pointed to an ice hole that was more than a foot wide on the ground and said: "You rolled in here. You have lost both your life and property!... What are you doing here? Why don't you come and help me quickly?" !" The second half of the sentence was directed at the two remaining guards.
He had four guards left before he fell into the ice cave. When he fell, one of them hit the ground on his head. His brain exploded and he died on the spot. The second person hit the ground first, his arm and leg bones were immediately broken, and several broken ribs were stabbed. His lungs were pierced and he died soon after.
The two guards who fell behind were lucky. One happened to fall on the corpses of the first two, and the other was pulled by Zhou Zhiqin who had his hand free, and both suffered only minor injuries.
Two guards helped Jin Baohui aside, Lan Tianyu lit a fire stick and looked around.
Qinong huddled aside with Chen Fuguang, who was suffering from high fever, and tears fell on his flushed face.
"There are many caves around, but I don't know where they lead, so it's best not to take risks." Lan Tianyu put away the fire certificate, "There is no other way, we'd better return the way we came."
Jin Baohui looked ugly, pointed to the dented ice wall on all sides, and said loudly: "It's already slippery, and the wall is still dented. How can I climb out?"
