The mountains are long and undulating like a dragon's spine, and the towering trees above completely block the sun.
In the valley, day seems like night.
Ji Ning and his party, two small teams, walked on both sides of the valley, one on the left and one on the right, in strict formation.
"After passing the lightning tree in front, you will reach the entrance to the ruins on the ground. Be careful, everyone!"
Zhen Xixi said, a trace of solemnity appeared on her hot face.
They had explored this ruins a long time ago. The front section was as complex as a maze and the scale was quite large.
In the middle of the ruins, there are many dark rooms, but there are no treasures in them. Instead, there are many zombie-turned monsters.
"Be careful with the hammer. If you are afraid of death, just stand back a little."
The man with the goatee had a rough voice, and he strode forward with a big mountain ax in his hand. At the same time, he glanced disdainfully at Ji Ning, who was at the back of the team.
"Um?"
Ji Ning frowned slightly.
He always felt that the strong man with a goatee in front of him, whom he had never met before, always seemed to have some slight hostility towards him. Why was this?
Without any extra time to think, the two teams quickly entered the ruins on the ground from different directions.
The buildings here are very old, with moss growing on the dilapidated mud walls and spider webs growing in the corners. The terrain undulates with the mountains, and the buildings are sometimes empty and sometimes dense. It looks like the mountain site of a small sect somewhere in ancient times.
Ji Ning followed the team, always keeping vigilance.
After a while, everyone came to the end. In front of them was a low mountain. The entrance was half blocked by rocks, and the other half was broken and scattered on the ground.
Ji Ning also keenly noticed that in the surrounding woods, there was a fallen tree, a messy scene, and the faint smell of blood. It was obvious that a fierce battle had just occurred not long ago.
"Those four monsters ran out of this mountain."
Zhen Xixi pointed to the half-broken boulder in front of her and said solemnly.
Yesterday, their team came over at short notice. They wanted to dig quickly, so they didn't pay much attention to the dangers. Unexpectedly, after breaking a stone, four monsters were drawn out. Fortunately, Jiang Liuhai was strong enough and was able to hold him back for a long time. ’s time, and then the large troops arrived for reinforcements.
Goatee Wang Peng carried a big knife, surrounded by everyone, walked straight to the huge rock, split it open in twos and twos, and then the scene in the cave appeared in front of everyone's eyes.
This is indeed a hollow hill.
Starting from the entrance of the cave, a downward rock staircase was built. It was unknown how deep it was at the end. It was dark, and the sound of the river seemed to come from below.
On the other side, Jiang Liuhai's team also opened a road on the other side of the hill. Looking at the dark cave in front of them, they also looked solemn and did not dare to move forward easily.
"It's so full of demonic energy. There must be some demonic beasts in it."
Zhen Xixi said with a solemn expression.
"There must be important treasures in important places. The problem is now that we don't know the situation below, who will take the lead?"
Jiang Liuhai put away a bronze compass and asked in a calm voice. At the same time, he glanced at Wang Peng in the distance vaguely.
The strong man with the goatee immediately understood, cleared his throat and said:
"I suggest that you send one person down to explore the truth first, while I wait and stay above."
"If you encounter a monster, try to lure it out. We will block it at the exit. In this way, you will know what dangers there are in the ruins."
Hearing this, Zhen Xixi frowned and asked:
"Isn't this using human life as bait?"
"Is there a better way? You also said that it is very dangerous here."
The man stroked his goatee and said casually:
"It's taboo to leave things unfinished when exploring caves. If you encounter a monster, everyone will run out in a panic. The final result is that no one can escape."
"So at times like this, the person responsible for being the bait often has to be the weakest in the team, because the strong must first ensure their own safety, so that when danger comes, they can exert their due strength and buy time for the team. .”
Not far away, Jiang Liuhai immediately smiled and agreed after the goatee man finished speaking.
"So, who will be the bait?"
"In other words, among everyone present, who is the weakest person?"
Two teams of nine people unanimously set their sights on Ji Ning at the same time.
There is no doubt that this boy, who looks immature and whose strength is only at the Willow Bone Realm, is the weakest person in the team.
Even if he defeated Jiang Hailiu, it doesn't mean anything, because everyone knows that Jiang Hailiu is weak. He has long been drained of his body by wine and sex. It would be great if he can exert half of the power of his bronze bones. .
No one answered this question.
Even Ji Ning, who was being stared at by everyone, did not volunteer to stand up.
When Wang Peng saw this, he snorted coldly, pointed at Ji Ning and said without explanation:
"Boy, just go down."
"Remember, light this torch and record the situation inside more clearly. If you hear any strange noise, run back immediately and we will give you the rear."
When Ji Ning heard this, he said nothing.
He just looked at the dark cave in silence, vaguely feeling that there seemed to be something inside that was attracting him.
"good."
Ji Ning narrowed his eyes, agreed, took the torch and walked straight down.
It has nothing to do with other people's moral kidnapping. He simply wants to understand the source of that unknown attraction.
Maybe there is some kind of opportunity below, and if he comes down first, he might be able to get it directly.
"hehe."
Wang Peng and Jiang Liuhai above saw this and looked at each other with a cold smile on their faces.
Even Xue Zhongjing didn't know that they were some friends.
All cooperation is in silence.
In the cave.
Ji Ning held a torch and stepped on the rocky steps, his back gradually being swallowed up by the darkness above.
The road down is very long and seems to have no end.
Along the way, Ji Ning discovered a group of bats hanging upside down on a rock wall that had been dead for an unknown number of years. They had not disappeared due to the erosion of time. Instead, their fur and bodies were well preserved, but slightly shriveled.
Ji Ning stared at one of the bats for a long time, and then a terrifying thought suddenly appeared in his mind.
If you feed these bats some blood, will they come back to life?
Everything is unknown.
But obviously, he wouldn't try that.
Went down dozens more steps.
In the surrounding space, in addition to rock stairs, there are rows of rock shelves, like bookcases, with thick ash piled on them, composed of water and some strange substances, as well as some old bottles and jars. Everything inside has long evaporated.
"This place is similar to the back mountain of a Taoist temple."
Ji Ning held up the torch, thoughtfully.
If the vast ruins above can be compared to a sect's school and martial arts arena, this place is more like a sect's scripture library and a place where various important artifacts are stored.
The mountain behind the Taoist temple is one such place, divided into eighteen levels according to height, spiraling upward.
The items stored on the upper level are more precious and mysterious. As a handyman disciple, he once went to the eleventh level, and there were many precious martial arts books inside.
"Looking at these things, they should be elixirs and Taoist rubbings, but they turned into ashes because they were too long ago."
Keep moving forward.
As he went deeper and deeper, Ji Ning also roughly understood this hollow hill and the underground world.
This place is like an egg shape, with a hole dug out of the mountain above and the rock formation underground.
And just like the back mountain of a Taoist temple, doorways have been dug out one after another according to different cave locations, and are used to store unknown artifacts, but whether they are weapons or elixir books, they have been Turned to dust over time.
"Um?"
Suddenly, Ji Ning stopped abruptly.
He raised the torch and looked at the ferocious mud marks on the side rock wall and the fallen clay debris, his pupils narrowed slightly.
The traces here are different from those encountered before.
It's obviously not like yesterday, or even from earlier.
Judging from the wet paw prints, even if they were left for more than half an hour, they would not have this effect.
There are monsters here.
And most likely very close to him.
But where?
Ji Ning looked around vigilantly. He was the only one in the vast underground world, filled with vast and profound darkness.
He suddenly realized that lighting the torch himself did not seem to be a wise choice.
A living target.
A silent wind blew.
The fire is out.
Ji Ning's pupils shrank to the extreme.
Looking at the darkness in front of him, he felt that something seemed to be approaching him rapidly. The body of that thing was very light, but its speed was extremely fast. The wind brought by its movements seemed to be shaking his bones. All frozen.
But the strange thing is that with such a terrifying speed, Ji Ning, who was standing on the same spot, could not hear even the slightest sound.
There was no sound like the flapping of wings in flight, the sound of claws hitting the ground, or even the sound of demonic energy surging.
The thing in the dark was like a ghost.
Floating, it appeared in front of him.
In the dark space, a flash of white suddenly appeared.
Without thinking, Ji Ning subconsciously used all his strength and punched out.
"Bang!"
The spiritual energy in his veins spurted out, pouring all his strength onto the mysterious white streak in front of him.
Ji Ning didn't even see clearly what the thing was, but he just knew that the opponent was in front of him, so he punched.
There was no holding back with this punch.
Ji Ning could even feel that his punch seemed to have penetrated the opponent directly, as if there was no resistance.
That thing is as brittle as paper.
"Hiss la la..."
It was like the sound of wind blowing paper pages.
In the dark cave, the previously extinguished torches lit up again.
Then Ji Ning truly saw clearly what was in front of him.
The little white man, neither big nor small, had a red mole between his eyebrows, a smile that looked like a split mouth, and a hole in the middle of his chest.
Crisp as paper, it is indeed paper.
Because this thing is just a paper man.
Ji Ning stared at the paper man in front of him who was killed by his punch. Before he could understand the principle, the torch in his hand was extinguished again.
This time, he heard a sound.
In the vast darkness ahead, there was the sound of mountains and tsunami, like the wind blowing through the forest sea.
Ji Ning didn't hesitate at all, turned around and ran away.
"Out."
"What a strong evil spirit!"
At the entrance of the cave, Jiang Liuhai and others had been waiting for a long time. They also heard the movement below, but they didn't know what happened inside.
However, they could tell by hearing the increasingly rapid approaching footsteps inside that Ning must have encountered something dangerous and was rushing back with all his strength.
So, at Jiang Liuhai's signal, the man with the goatee smiled cruelly, raised his sword, and slashed down on the rock above.
"Come out quickly and I will wean you off!"
Boom!
Wang Peng directly chopped off a large piece of gravel with one strike, and rolled down the dark stairs. It was just big enough to almost fill the short section of the stairs in front.
"What are you doing!"
Above, Zhen Xixi was shocked when she saw this scene and immediately asked, while the others were also dumbfounded.
Wang Peng's move was tantamount to directly cutting off the vitality of Ji Ning below.
If there is really a dangerous monster below that is chasing Ji Ning, this piece of gravel will not only not help Ji Ning escape, but will actually smash him into the monster's mouth.
"You clearly want to kill him!"
Zhen Xixi said angrily.
"I am at the rear." Wang Peng stared at the entrance of the cave and smiled coldly.
"I left enough gaps for him to escape the rock,"
"The body of a monster is usually larger than that of a human being. The distance that it can pass cannot be passed by the monster, so I said that I was cutting off for him. There is no problem."
"As for if he is unlucky or fails to avoid the rockfall due to his own reasons, then I can only blame his bad luck. I have tried my best."
With that said, Wang Peng and Jiang Liuhai jumped back at the same time and retreated to the tree trunk a hundred meters away. The others quickly distanced themselves from the cave entrance.
In the deep cave entrance, it became more and more intense like waves, and there seemed to be bursts of weird laughter.
The terrifying evil spirit makes people's scalp numb.
After being stunned for two breaths, Zhen Xixi also reacted. She thought of yesterday's monster and ignored the safety of Ji Ning below. She gritted her teeth and retreated to a safe position, and then cast a concerned look at the entrance of the cave.
Can the boy who only has the Willow Bone Realm come back from under the cave entrance alive?
The answer is, of course.
There was a loud bang.
No one could see the scene in the cave, and could only hear the thunderous clicking sound, but even so everyone knew that the huge rock was broken.
And it was shattered by something.
The terrifying power seemed to shake the ground, and before everyone could be shocked, two pieces of white paper with strange shapes jumped out from the hollow cave.
No, those are two white paper figures whose bodies are burning with yin fire!
Ji Ning made fists with his left and right hands and stuffed them into their mouths as big as their heads, and jumped out of the hole like an arrow soaring into the sky.
Behind him, it was like the white locusts passing through the sky. One after another paper figures floated out, with red mouths cracked and laughing silently, like ghosts seeking life, with blood-red tears dripping from their eyes.
