However, when Jiang Tian heard the news and came outside the cave, he saw where the waiting sergeants were pointing and shouting; just above the Huayang Zhongguan, which was higher in the distance, a piece of pink mist was moving along the mountain. The force quickly spread, submerging most buildings in an instant.
As the saying goes, there is a poem by Li Bai that says: "The sun shines on the incense burner and produces purple smoke.", but the scene in front of me has become "The sun shines on Maoshan and produces red mist." Then Jiang Tian asked the dumbfounded Xuan Mingzi: "What is this? Can you often see it when you are practicing on the mountain?"
"No... no..." Xuan Mingzi responded: "This mountain has always been full of scenery, especially at the turn of spring, summer, autumn and winter, there is mist and mist in the morning and evening, which is said to be similar to the temporary grand scene of the fairy cave; but Taoists have never seen such strange mist in the mountains."
"It seems that my arrival has unintentionally disturbed some beings in the mountains." Jiang Tian suddenly pointed out: "I am planning to come out to greet one or two." Then he turned around and faced the gathered sergeants. Shouting: "Gather up and prepare for war to face any abnormal situation"
Following an order from Jiang Tian's side, hundreds of sergeants who were on guard nearby moved quickly like gears. In the blink of an eye, relying on the Taiping Temple's own architecture, local transporters used local materials to seal the doors and roads, building a basic line of defense.
Then, a group of warriors wearing large armors and holding shields and hook guns/rifles blocked the closed doors everywhere; and occupied several passable lanes in Taipingguan. The amateur sergeants holding various firearms occupy the roof tiles and walls inside the Taiping Temple.
At the same time, many medical equipment transported from the mountain pass were also placed horizontally under the walls of the vestibule square along with the loaded carriages and horses; all coverings were opened for ready access. During this period, several gun carriages with large wheels were slowly pushed to the top of the slope.
At this time, the pink mist spreading down from the mountains in the distance had also spread to the rocks and trees outside the Patriarch's Cave, not far from Taiping Temple. As for the peripheral warning and reference observation objects, a dozen chickens and ducks tied and fixed in place suddenly lost their noise.
But as if something was triggered, a wall of fire suddenly burst into flames in a shallow ditch on the ground behind Taipingguan. It was a special line of defense hurriedly set up by the sergeants who went up the mountain in a short period of time; it was filled with firewood obtained locally and poured with heavy fire oil.
With the oil-impregnated firewood and other combustion aids, the blazing flames shot into the sky and black smoke billowed, burning and driving the air with obvious distortions; not to mention the pink mist that spread over. The moment you get closer, the radiated high temperature and heat evaporate and disappear.
The fire wall burning in place even formed an obvious thermal vortex and an upwelling wind wall dozens of steps wide at the lower end of the U-shape on both sides of the mountain valley. Naturally, more powdery mist from far away is attracted, and then burned and evaporated in the high-temperature convection of the fire scene.
After a while, the large pink mist that filled the mountains and valleys became thinner and thinner; even a large irregular hollow appeared. However, the next moment, the mountain wind gradually became more rapid and turbulent, causing the wall of fire to continuously move backwards and scatter large tracts of ashes.
While the charcoal dust and embers flying in the sky affected and blocked the field of vision, many shambling figures suddenly appeared in the powdery mist that was getting thinner and almost blown away in the distance. At this time, the amateur sergeants who were posted on the top of the wall and on the tile roof did not hesitate to launch an attack.
With a dense radiating spark, puffs of smoke and the sound of crackling fried beans rolled; the roaring hot projectiles immediately knocked down, penetrated and overturned these staggering figures one after another. land. Only then did someone see clearly that those who fell to the ground were some people in Taoist costumes.
It's just that these people who were killed on the spot appeared to be as thin as firewood or abnormally withered; they were wearing shredded clothes, and their wounds were exposed and their bones were visible. And when they were knocked to the ground, some of them were still struggling and squirming, as if they wanted to continue crawling forward.
"Stop...please stop...please stop." Xuan Mingzi, who saw this scene on the door wall later, was even more red-eyed and dumbfounded, staring at the humanoids who walked to the wall of fire between reloads and hissed. He shouted: "Could this be Kaitoku Gao Gong and Senior Brother Naoya!"
However, no matter how loudly he yelled and called, the other party never responded or became aware; he just walked straight towards the wall of fire. The beard, hair, and clothes on the dyed front were ignited by the high temperature, and the moment they burst into flames, they started dancing fiercely as if they were shocked.
However, this struggle in the flames is obviously meaningless. In the blink of an eye, these Taoist priests who approached the wall of fire one after another like zombies were burned into haggard charcoal by the fierce flames igniting all over their bodies; they were brittle, broken, and fell to the ground one after another.
"It seems that they are no longer the fellow sects in the mountains that you are familiar with." Jiang Tian said lightly: "But they were secretly mutilated by something, and then drove them into minions, precursors, and the likes of the walking dead."
"Shouldn't they stay on the mountain to guard the Inner Sutra Academy and the Dharma Transmission Hall? How could they become like this?" Xuan Mingzi murmured to himself with a face full of shock and despair: "Is it possible that those who stayed in the Upper Palace and the Middle Palace Are all the seniors, senior brothers and disciples spared?"
"They... they... are all top-notch masters in the mountain sect. They have practiced specialized body-building and qi-training methods and various martial arts for many years. They are the choice to protect the Tao even when dozens of people can't get close to them!"
But more corpses of Taoist priests, as well as more and more mutilated mountain beasts and livestock, rushed behind the wall of fire one after another. The fire wall of the shallow ditch that was originally burning was still filled up and squeezed out several gaps; more and more fish that slipped through the net due to the rain of bullets swarmed under the wall.
But that's all. They can only linger under the wall like zombies, hitting and scratching the wall with every part of their body; and then breaking their limbs in vain on the gray wall base filled with stone mortar. , torn, scraped skin and flesh hanging down from the body.
Then, the rifle and hook gun were poked out from the wall one after another; they were stabbed in the head or cervical spine, completely losing the ability to move. There were also several relatively intact corpses that were hooked up along the wall, and their struggling limbs were hooped on the spot for on-site dissection and analysis.
As a result, it was found that the brain had been extremely atrophied, and most of the hollow parts had appeared; except for the spine below which was relatively intact, most of the organs were also severely liquefied, dissolving into a thick colloid in the chest and abdomen; It's like a water bladder wrapped in a skeleton and flesh.
Gently touch the diaphragm, and a large stream of water will be sprayed out like a high-pressure water gun. From a certain exercise physiology known to later Jiang Tian, this is like being forced to maintain high-intensity exercise under extreme hunger and thirst, which leads to the melting of body tissues and the autodigestion of internal organs.
Immediately afterwards, after continuing to dissect the chest cavity and removing the abnormally differentiated and deformed heart, a group of extremely active abnormal growths clinging to the spine were again discovered. As the dagger tip cut and opened up each network of veins, the foreign object suddenly bounced up.
It pounced on the insect shell mask of the nearest sergeant in charge of the dissection, and like a deformed octopus, it struggled to stretch out its incomplete and slender tentacles, as if trying to find a gap to get into; but He was torn off by his companion's iron gauntlet and stuffed into a bottle.
Xuan Mingzi, who unfortunately witnessed all this, fell to the ground in shock and couldn't help vomiting. From the other corpses that followed, almost all of the neoplasms of different sizes clinging to the spine were removed, inactivated and collected.
At the same time, the sergeants who were fighting against the wall also received new orders: "Pay attention to the last hit!" "Behead the head!" "Pierce the spine!" "Split the back!" "Be careful if foreign objects escape from the body. …”
The next moment, Jiang Tian suddenly raised his head and shouted in the direction of the red mist: "Something is coming from inside." However, in the sight of the guard hiding on the mountain, a group of people of different sizes had been observed. The biological reaction accelerated towards the location of Taiping Temple.
Before he finished speaking, he saw that most of the red mist had dissipated; with the rustling sound of joints and limbs, many long-legged centipedes the size of cats and dogs suddenly rushed out; at an extraordinary speed, they crossed over the embers of the wall of fire that was paved with charred zombies. , climbing up the wall facing the rain of lead pellets.
Then, they bumped into the suddenly raised hand cards and shields, were pierced and provoked by the stabbing hook spears and rifles; were chopped into pieces by the slashing swords and long-handled axes, and in an instant, colorful body fluids and organs were scattered up and down the wall, and a strange smell filled the air.
At this time, the sound of vomiting was heard again among the sergeants on the wall, but due to the stimulation and influence of this smell, various symptoms of discomfort began to appear. Immediately, gaps and flaws appeared in the attacking lineup, and some people were thrown against the wall or fell inside.
Although they were all killed quickly and did not cause much damage, the front line on the wall had been broken through by the insect swarm and poured into many places. And new orders were issued at the right time: "For the Xiaowei, retreat and regroup!" "Get out of the way of the wall and clear the field of vision." "The third team of laymen, take over the attack."
The next moment, as groups of retreating soldiers and swords and guns lined up, several thick and long pillars of fire suddenly erupted from the wall; in an instant, it covered most of the large and small centipedes that had rushed to the wall and the pile of corpses. Then more bombs were thrown like raindrops into the incoming swarm of insects.
As the viscous glue burst out, a large fire cloud burst into flames among the contaminated groups of centipedes; it burned until it hissed, rolled and struggled, and curled up into a charred ball; Many irregular fire fields were formed, dividing and isolating them.
At this time, these huge centipedes that came towards the sword seemed to finally feel their instinct of fear of light and fire; and in the area divided by the flames under the wall, they quickly gathered and piled up like a tower of insects, and were surrounded by The bombs hit one after another exploded into pieces.
The originally overwhelming insect swarm offensive naturally collapsed and fled in all directions. At this time, Jiang Tian raised his head and looked at the mountains in the distance that were still shrouded in red mist; as the wall of fire extinguished and the mountain wind blew, the red mist had already approached dozens of steps away.
Immediately afterwards, one after another, the jointed limbs as thick as bamboo poles suddenly pierced the cover of the red mist, burning and driving away the flames. The huge centipedes scurrying around in disorder were penetrated and nailed to death with a roar. on the ground.
(End of chapter)
