Divine Chess

"If you don't want to feed the boat, just keep your mouth shut."

The willow monster twisted countless willow branches to wrap around its body continuously. Countless withered and yellow willow leaves fell, and then new green branches sprouted out, repeating the previous action.

The willow leaves withered and turned yellow faster and faster, and even the outer edges of the newly filled willow branches began to wither. Countless dead leaves fell onto the water surface and touched the faces of the water people, who immediately let out screams of pain.

Taking advantage of the gap left after the water man dodged, the willow monster pushed another part of its branches into the water to absorb nutrients.

The water man opened his eyes in fear and glanced at the willow trees on the shore. His eyeballs were bloodshot and bulged high.

As the willow leaves withered and turned yellow at a slower pace, the water faces on the lake surface gradually disappeared. The corpses under each disappeared water face quickly rotted, leaving only a skeleton floating on the water.

The willow branches retracted into the trunk, and the willow demon's body appeared. The injured face had been healed by the willow demon. Its previously limp body was now fully visible, and a pool of greasy liquid under its feet overflowed the bow of the boat and flowed into the river.

The heads and faces that had been drooping like melted wax now looked brand new, as if they were carefully carved wax figures, and even their faces looked pleasing to the eye.

"That ghoul was raised by the willow monster. The decaying corpses of the townspeople in the town serve as its nourishment."

Chi Xun nodded in affirmation. Xiang Yao was puzzled and asked, "What is 聻?"

"When a person dies, he becomes a ghost. When a ghost dies, he becomes a demon. Ghosts fear demons just as humans fear ghosts."

As soon as Yuanli finished explaining, she accidentally noticed five overlapping shadows reflected on the ground in front of her. She counted them three times and there were still five shadows on the ground.

But there were only three of them.

He tilted his head and counted carefully, there were still four. He turned back to look at the shadows on the ground and saw an extra head swaying above Xiang Yao's head.

Yuanli concealed her movements and touched Chi Xun, and then signaled to the shadow on the ground with her eyes. Thanks to the tacit understanding between them since childhood, Chi Xun instantly understood and responded.

Just as Yuanli was trying to remind the fool beside her, Chi Xun coughed lightly. The three people's eyes instantly shifted to him. He shrugged and waved his hands, saying with a smile: "It's okay."

While speaking, Chi Xun's eyes always followed Yuanli, and she understood what he meant.

Looking down, the figure had indeed disappeared.

The wailing sounds beside my ears stopped, and the strange creatures on the river surface disappeared completely, leaving only the branches of the dead willow tree swaying in the wind by the river.

The sun was setting rapidly in the sky, and the rolling white clouds were swirling across the sky. The light began to dim, and in the blink of an eye, it was dusk.

The stars move and the constellations change, but in just one day, the night sky is filled with stars and it is already night.

Chi Xun's expression suddenly changed, and he said in horror, "Oh no! It's a divine chess piece. There's definitely more than just a great demon lurking here. It's very likely... In short, we must leave this town as soon as possible."

"What is Immortal Chess?"

"It is said that a woodcutter went up to Lankao Mountain to chop wood. Halfway along, he came to a stone ridge on the mountainside and saw two fairy children playing chess. The woodcutter stopped to watch. By the time he finished the game, he realized the handle of his axe had rotted away, a century old. When he brought it home, his family was gone, and a hundred years had passed as well."

The light is too dim at night, but the stars are moving at a speed visible to the naked eye. At this speed, seven days can pass in the time of one stick of incense.

Time passed faster and faster, the sun rose and set in the sky, the accumulated snow gradually began to melt, and the willow trees planted by the Qingshui River dropped their dead branches and began to sprout.

"Is it... spring?"