8. Forest (I)
◎Puppet◎
Qu Lingfei said helplessly, "Let's go up and see if there are any monsters or demons."
When they got closer, they found that the house was surprisingly new. From the eaves to the walls, even the gaps in the window panes had been cleaned spotlessly, as if someone had lived there permanently.
It would have been fine if there was just a house under the swamp, but they didn't expect that there was actually someone living in the house. The three people were very surprised - who on earth would live here?
Qiuyan rushed to the door, raised her hand and knocked on it, and asked tentatively: "Excuse me, is anyone here? We accidentally passed by here and wanted to..."
Before he could finish his words, the door creaked open from the inside, and a skinny hand poked out from the crack in the door, followed by an old face.
The old man's eyelids drooped, as if he hadn't even looked up at them. Then he slowly turned sideways and motioned for them to come in.
Qiuyan swallowed nervously and was about to raise her foot when she felt someone pulling her wrist. Qu Lingfei had already reached her.
The three followed closely behind and entered the house one after another.
However, as soon as they took a step forward, they all froze at the door, not knowing whether they should go forward or not.
There were no rooms in the house, only a large hall in the middle with a round table in the middle - they had never seen such a large round table, which almost took up half of the area of the house. A group of people who looked very similar gathered around the table, each holding a bowl in their hands, and there was a huge round plate on the table.
Only then did they notice that the old man who opened the door to greet them was also holding a bowl in his hand.
It stands to reason that food should be filled with fragrance, but why can't they smell anything?
An evil wind swept over the lawn, blowing the fallen leaves and dust on the ground into a mess. The door opened and closed, making a banging sound, but it seemed like it was knocking on people's hearts.
Qu Lingfei bravely took a few steps forward, looked out, and was immediately shocked.
There were no delicacies on the round plate, but green leaves and grass roots neatly arranged. Looking into everyone's bowls, in addition to these things, there was also a shining stone in each of them.
Qu Lingfei asked in surprise, "Who are you..."
Before he could utter the word "person", something suddenly touched his shoulder. The person's fingers dug into his flesh, causing him to look pale with pain.
In just a moment, the old man's body swayed, and he was thrown out by a force and fell on the grass outside the door.
A wave of cold air hit his back, and Qu Lingfei put his hands behind his back and pinched the arms of the two men accurately.
He was shocked - how could an ordinary person's skin feel so hard?
Without thinking too much, he exerted force with his wrist, and the two men fell down, crushing the grass and trees in the disc into a mess.
"Brother, come back soon!"
Hearing Qiu Yan calling him, Qu Lingfei turned around, avoided the attacks of those people, and jumped back to the three people.
"What on earth are these?" After he stood firmly, he asked the question that had just been interrupted.
Qiuyan grabbed his hand and said, "Don't forget, Master has instructed us not to kill any living beings on this trip."
The people at the round table put down their bowls and chopsticks, and when they stood up, they looked at them with empty eyes. Their movements were so unified that they didn't even look like living people.
Xie Changyan glanced at it calmly and said, "It feeds on plants and trees, so it's a puppet."
As soon as these words were spoken, the puppets rushed towards them like crazy as if they had received some kind of instruction.
"Thank you, be careful!"
Xie Changyan instinctively raised his hand, but after hearing this, he seemed to remember something and retracted his strength. To outsiders, it seemed as if he had to use a lot of effort to barely shake off the puppet that was rushing towards him.
Qu Lingfei immediately drew his sword and stepped forward, trying to block the puppet that was charging forward. The moment his arm touched the puppet's, he was shocked by the other party's great strength. He was caught off guard and was forced to retreat to the door. He heard another "swish" sound, and his clothes on the right shoulder had been scratched by a nail protruding from the door.
Suddenly, a sharp blade pierced the puppet's abdomen from behind. Then, the force in his hand loosened. Qiu Yan stood opposite him and called out, "Brother, are you okay?"
Qu Lingfei lowered his head to look at the exposed shoulder and shook his head at her. He thought that it was a real man, so why should he be so pretentious just because his clothes were a little torn?
The four people were surrounded, but the puppets kept increasing in number. As soon as one fell, another one would appear from some unknown corner. Even the puppet lying on the ground could stand up on its own in a short time and attack them with its hands raised.
"These puppets are slow, yet their numbers are endless," Qu Lingfei panted, "They're determined to tire us out!"
Li Jintang waved the dagger in his hand and struggled to knock down several puppets, but his arms felt numb. In the blink of an eye, another puppet attacked him.
She lowered her head to look at the table and saw that all the grass leaves in the bowl had been gnawed into pieces, but the stone was intact. When she became suspicious, another puppet attacked. She picked up one of them and threw it at its head. There was a crisp sound, and the stone fell heavily to the ground and broke into two pieces in an instant.
Li Jintang took the opportunity to jump two steps away, trying to avoid the puppet's attack, but saw that it was frozen in place, with its hands raised in the air, motionless.
"Everyone, hurry up and throw stones."
She didn't have time to explain and threw the disc out, which was caught by Xie Changyan. He was tired of fighting, so he picked up a piece and smashed it at the puppet.
But he didn't use any force this time, so the stone fell intact. The puppet still swung its hand and chopped at him. He dodged to the side and saw that the puppet's hand stopped in mid-air when it was only a few inches away from the door panel.
Li Jintang drew her dagger, and the stones on the ground shattered instantly. She looked at him, wanting to ask a question of concern, but seeing his relaxed demeanor, she changed her words and said, "The stones must be smashed to be effective."
Several people then threw the stone randomly, but each hit was accurate. Not long after, the puppets stopped moving and almost filled the entire room.
"If I want to leave, I'm afraid I'll have to burn this place down," Qu Lingfei pondered for a moment and said, "It's a haunted house that's harmful to people, so burning it down won't hurt. Brother Xie, do you have a way to start a fire?"
Xie Changyan glanced at him, moved his fingertips, and with a snap of his fingers, flames shot out from one of the puppets.
The four of them retreated outside the door and watched the flames rise higher and higher, finally jumping onto another puppet.
Suddenly, a basin of water was poured from the roof, directly extinguishing the fire on the puppet. Then, with a thud, a figure fell to the ground.
The four of them were on guard. Qu Lingfei rushed to the front and said, "I wonder if you are the master here? I have no intention of coming here. I hope you will be kind enough to let us go."
The man was dressed in black and had a shallow scar on the left side of his face. He turned around and glared at them with a fierce look in his eyes.
"Anyone who trespasses will be killed!" After shouting these four words, he suddenly raised his sword and stabbed it straight at Qu Lingfei. When the two swords were about to collide, he suddenly shifted the sword tip and stabbed Qiu Yan beside him.
She screamed, but before she could draw her sword, she was forced to retreat repeatedly.
Seeing this, Li Jintang raised her hand and threw the last stone towards his eyes. The other party waved his sword to block it, so she hurriedly reached out and grabbed Qiuyan to prevent her from falling down the stairs.
After Qiuyan regained her composure, she was still terrified and cursed, "How shameless of you to sneak attack a little girl!"
"You are a bunch of thieves, and you killed many of my brothers." The man in black looked even more angry. "Do you want to save your face?"
"They're just puppets," Qiuyan shouted. "If we don't take action, they'll come and kill us. What can we do?"
The man in black snorted and drew his sword with a swish: "You went through so much trouble to come here, what else could it be if not to steal?"
"Trying to do anything?" Xie Changyan sensed that he had used spiritual power in this strike, so he secretly used 70% of his strength, pushing the opponent back a few steps. He then laughed and said, "You've probably lived here so long that even your ears aren't working well. He just said we had no intention of coming here, yet you're calling us thieves. What a slander!"
This 'he' refers to Qu Lingfei.
The man in black obviously didn't believe it and sneered, "What's the point of you four against me? Come at me one at a time!"
"You're wrong," Qu Lingfei casually put his hand on Brother Xie's shoulder and said with a nonchalant smile, "Just now, Brother Xie knocked you down by himself. The three of us didn't do anything."
Xie Changyan glanced at his hand, frowned slightly, and resisted the urge to turn away from him.
Upon hearing this, the man in black became furious. He pointed at Xie Changyan and angrily said, "I underestimated you just now. Let's fight again."
Xie Changyan looked at him calmly, mentally assessing how much strength he would need to exert to win, and simply asked, "What happens to the loser?"
"If I lose, I'll let you go," the other man said angrily. "If you lose, hmph, let me think about it."
"How can that be?" Xie Changyan said with a smile, "You won't lose much anyway. I, Xie, do not want to participate in an unfair competition."
"Whoever loses will be at the mercy of the other party." The man in black was sure that he had not used his full strength just now and there was no way he could defeat this kid, so he drew his sword and went straight for his vital points.
The three of them were worried about hindering his performance, so they all stepped aside. Qu Lingfei shouted, "Brother Xie, be careful!"
Xie Changyan dodged to the side, and the sword passed in front of him. From the perspective of others, this sword was extremely dangerous.
The man in black swung his sword and stabbed again, but the green light flashed again and again, and every time it was about to fall, he easily avoided it.
"Why don't you draw your sword?" the man in black shouted, "Do you look down on me?"
Xie Changyan caught a glimpse of the three men's worried faces, then drew his sword and replied with a smile, "Your sword was too powerful just now. I was too late, wasn't it?"
Sparks flew when the two swords collided, and the two men fought back and forth for several rounds. The three people watching were dazzled and were secretly worried when they heard a whoosh and the man in black raised his hands, and a long sword was hung at his neck.
"Good!" Qu Lingfei led the cheers, then slowly walked over to the man in black and said, "Are you convinced now?"
His face darkened as he spoke in a deep voice, "I will keep my word. Do you want to kill me or leave? It's your choice."
Xie Changyan raised his eyebrows: "If I kill you, will I be unable to leave?"
The man in black was furious at the provocative tone of his words, but since the outcome was already decided, he suppressed his anger and said, "This barrier was created by the commander's spiritual power. Aside from those related by blood, only I can break it. Even if you can get in, you will never be able to get out."
Seeing the sword blade penetrate a few inches into his neck, Li Jintang hurriedly said, "Wait a minute!"
She walked up to the man and said in a low voice, "Who is the commander you just mentioned?"
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