31 Sophora japonica cinnabar

Amid the noisy sound of rain, there was a mixture of high and low human voices.

"Ah, what is this!"

"Go away, don't come over here!"

Hua Lang didn't know what was going on. She put away the drawings and walked towards the door with the lamp. Heavy rain was pouring into the house. She lowered her head and protected the candle flame with her other hand.

"Huh?"

On the ground, dense wet marks crisscrossed like a group of snakes crawling.

The noise outside grew louder. Hua Lang held his breath and followed the trail, step by step, until he reached the corner of the house.

She withdrew her hands from the lamp, and her vision suddenly brightened - dense swarms of spiders, centipedes, frogs, and even poisonous snakes were huddled and entangled in the corner. Stimulated by the light, they suddenly gathered and moved, their dark insect bodies wriggling and rolling like a pool of boiling black sticky mud!

Hua Lang had never seen such a scene before. She couldn't help but take a step back. The intense visual impact made her skin tense up immediately.

The rustling sound was drowned out by the thunderstorm. The originally quiet thatched hut had apparently turned into a den of snakes and insects. Countless limbs, scales, and eyeballs were overlapping and crawling silently in the house!

…

Everyone stood under the eaves. If it hadn't been raining outside, they would have rushed out in one breath.

Every room was crawling with snakes and insects hiding from the rain.

If there were only a few of them, they could be driven out of the house with a flick of the finger, but there were so many of them that they couldn't be counted, and a single move would affect the entire body. Everyone shuddered at the thought of the frightened insects and snakes escaping in all directions.

This is a purely spiritual attack.

"It's disgusting! If it weren't for the heavy rain, I would have given them the whole yard to live in."

"Yeah, my back still tingles. I woke up in the middle of the night and saw a black mass on the wall. I thought it was lightning that struck the house, but when I got closer, I saw it was actually covered in black spiders!"

"This is so annoying! Where do these bugs come from? Are we going to stand here all night?"

As he spoke, resentment unconsciously came into his words, but everyone looked at each other and couldn't come up with a solution.

"It sounds like someone is knocking on the door." Someone suddenly interrupted them.

The cursing crowd listened carefully, and sure enough, there was a dull knock on the door, like a downpour of rain.

"Who is it?"

The male voice outside the door was familiar, "It's me, Yu Song."

"My fellow immortals, your thatched cottages are old and can't withstand such heavy rain. There are many empty houses in the village, so the village chief asked me to invite you over."

This is true. This house is more than ten years old, and there are leaks under the eaves. If the rain does not stop in the second half of the night, I am afraid they will lose even this little shelter.

Everyone looked at Hua Lang and the other two who were still busy in the room full of snakes and insects, and couldn't make up their minds.

"It's just a one-night stay. They are mortals, and we are cultivators. What could go wrong?"

"Yes, yes, they have been sending us food these days, and it's not poisonous, is it?"

"We went down the mountain to set up a barrier for them. These mortals should be grateful to us. Staying here for one night is nothing."

"Knock knock knock!" Yu Song knocked on the door again.

Someone finally couldn't bear it anymore and ran to open the door for Yu Song. The others pretended not to see anything and turned their heads away.

Hua Lang and the other two were also attracted by the noise and came out.

She observed and found that these snakes and insects should have crawled over from the forest behind the thatched hut. The village was not far away. Many of these snakes and insects were poisonous. If they were driven away, they might hurt mortals.

Although she was in the house just now, she heard a few words. Looking at the disciples surrounding her and Yu Song who had walked into the yard wearing a straw raincoat, Hua Lang began to hesitate.

These outer disciples' cultivation is still shallow, and no one knows when the rain will stop.

Wang Shuiyi whispered, "Peak Master, why don't we go to the village and rest for one night? This is all we have."

Facing everyone's expectant gazes, Hua Lang finally nodded. She took out a hundred coins and said to Song, "Thank you for your help. Please keep this money for your rest."

Yu Song waved his hands repeatedly, "No need, no need, how can I accept your money..."

Hua Lang suddenly moved closer to Yu Song.

She stuffed the money into his hand without giving him any room to refuse, and then distanced herself from him again.

"Please keep it. I'm sorry to bother you tonight."

Hua Lang's face remained calm, but he was confused in his heart.

Yu Song's aura was undoubtedly that of a mortal, but the people of Luoshui Village had been farming for generations, yet there were no calluses on his knuckles, and he didn't look like someone who did rough labor.

But this doesn't mean anything, and he hasn't shown anything wrong in the past few days. Could it be that she is overthinking it?

Yu Song was wearing a straw raincoat and holding an oil-paper lantern. He walked in front to lead the way, while Hua Lang and his group followed behind him, using their spiritual energy to resist the heavy rain.

A road that seems only a hundred steps during the day becomes extremely long at night.

There was a dark curtain of rain all around, as if one was at the bottom of a lightless sea, making it hard to breathe. Fortunately, there were many white locust trees planted near the village. Looking at it with a lantern, the clean new leaves were reflected in the light, and the crystal spots were flowing like pearls.

As he walked, Xie Hanjing suddenly bent down, as if he had picked up something.

Hua Lang turned his head to look and saw that he was stretching out his hand. There was a glaring blood-red mark on his fingertips. It was unknown when he was injured.

Hua Lang asked in a low voice, "What's wrong?"

Xie Han pinched the blood bead on his fingertip in shock and replied, "Master, this seems to be cinnabar."

Cinnabar?

Hua Lang looked down and saw a hint of red in the flickering light, in the trickle of water beside the tree roots.

"Where does the cinnabar come from?"

Xie Hanjing observed for a moment and said, "It seems to be flowing down from this tree."

Hua Lang turned his head to look, and saw that the tree had been washed clean by the rain, and there was no trace of it.

"Why is there cinnabar on the tree?"

Xie Hanjing stretched out his hand and washed off the cinnabar in the rain. "The locust tree is spiritual. The villagers must have carved cinnabar on the tree to pray for blessings."

Hua Lang didn't understand these customs, but the endless blood on the ground was creepy. She quickly looked away and caught up with the main force with Xie Hanjing.

After entering the main room and turning on the lights, the environment instantly became dry and bright.

Yu Song lowered his head and scratched it uncomfortably. "It's getting late. I'll leave first. The immortals should rest early."

After he left the room, Wang Shuiyi belatedly muttered, "How strange! I clearly remember Yu Hu also had two moles on his nose and chin. This father and son even have the same official moles?"

"Brother, what is official mole?" someone asked.

Wang Shuiyi lifted a bench and sat down. He said, "When we were drinking together, Yu Hu said those two moles on his body were 'official moles'. He had no interest in officialdom and wanted to be my junior apprentice in Qinglai. But I don't see what's so special about those two moles."

Everyone was tidying up the house when someone laughed and said, "Brother, it's been several years, and you still remember the two moles on my face?"

"When I came down the mountain, I almost didn't recognize my father. Senior Brother Wang must be bragging."

"Maybe he mistakenly transferred the mole of a good friend from the mortal world to someone else!"

"Okay, you dare to make up stories about your senior brother..."

Wang Shuiyi yelled and rushed forward pretending to raise his fist, and everyone ran away laughing.

Hua Lang was already suspicious of Yu Song. After hearing what Wang Shuiyi and the others said, she thought for a moment, then turned to Xie Hanjing and asked, "What do you think about this matter?"

She should have asked the male protagonist about this kind of thing a long time ago, because he is the only one with the aura of the protagonist.

Xie Hanjing was thinking about this. He said, "What Senior Brother Wang saw may not be false, but the coincidence of these two moles cannot be considered as solid evidence."

Hua Lang nodded, "Yes, that's true."

Xie Han asked in shock, "What does Master plan to do?"

Hua Lang watched the gate close like a giant beast's mouth. She said, "No rush. Now that we've settled into the village, if there's anything unusual, it won't be hidden for long."

Xie Han said in surprise, "It's raining heavily tonight. Disciple can sneak into the village and observe."

Hua Lang immediately stopped him and said, "No, wait until the rain stops and the formation is completed, then you can go with them to the Luoyin Secret Realm. I will investigate the strange phenomena here myself."

Xie Hanjing was reluctant to part with Hua Lang. He subconsciously said, "Master, there's no rush regarding the secret realm..."

Hua Lang interrupted him immediately, his expression brooking no room for argument. "Alright, the secret realm is about to open. Keep this in mind and make sure you arrive on the opening day. If there's really any problem with Luoshui Manor, Qinglai is just over a dozen miles away. Are you afraid no one will come?"

I was just discussing this with you, but why did you volunteer to do it? You almost got led astray by the male lead.

Seeing Xie Han lower his head in shock, Hua Lang breathed a sigh of relief and returned to the house with satisfaction.

By the time they had divided the rooms, it was already almost the hour of Yin.

I haven't even closed my eyes tonight, but most of the time has already passed.

Hua Lang sighed and was about to sit on the bed when the door, which had just been closed, was pushed open.

A black figure suddenly rushed towards Hua Lang.