26 The Valley of No Return (Part 2)
◎You can't leave me again◎
"What...what do you mean?" Li Jintang didn't react for a moment. As soon as he asked this question, his belt suddenly fluttered gently.
Is it windy?
She turned her head and suddenly got goose bumps all over her body, and a surge of blood seemed to rush to her head.
I saw that among dozens of trees in the forest, the dense crowns were densely packed with the red dots I had just seen. The moonlight suddenly dimmed, but it was not blocked by dark clouds.
It was this group of bats circling in the sky, and the wind that blew for no reason just now was also caused by their constantly flapping wings.
She suddenly remembered the bat demon that day.
Could it be that these bat spirits are not strong enough to transform into human form, so they hide here to absorb human essence?
"Don't just stand there like an idiot, kid. Think about how to run!"
The roar of the fortune book made her ears hurt.
"Not just one person, there's also Xie..."
Li Jintang turned around and stopped halfway with his finger extended - in front of him, there were only dead trees and vines all over the ground, so how could there be any sign of life?
She felt as if her heart was yanked and then dropped back down hard, her voice trembling, "Xie An?"
However, she only managed to utter that one cry, her mind still in a turmoil, but her feet had already taken a step forward unconsciously. She clutched the book of fate tightly and ran forward desperately, her ears stinging from the wind that blew like knives.
Regardless of the direction or purpose, she had only one thought in her mind - to get rid of the group of things behind her.
But the bat demon had wings after all, so catching up to him was a piece of cake. Suddenly, the back of his hand itched, and a bat flew over to him, baring its white teeth and about to bite him.
"Go away..."
Li Jintang pulled out the dagger from her waist with one hand and stabbed it quickly. The blade was stuck in the bat monster's mouth. She swung it hard and blood splattered all over her hands.
After running a few steps, she quickly turned a corner, switched the dagger from her left hand to her right hand, and stabbed it backwards with her backhand. With a "puff", she hit a bat demon in the abdomen.
The girl stopped and stared at the bats flying towards her in rows. When they were only a few feet away from her, she swung the dagger fiercely, and the bat corpses that had just been skewered on it shot out rapidly, crushing a row of companions behind her.
I heard the incredible praise from the fortune book: "The child usually looks weak and frail, but I didn't expect him to be so good at fighting."
Li Jintang didn't dare stop for a moment. Her life was hanging by a thread. Even after running so far, she didn't feel tired. Instead, she took the time to reply, "I really don't know martial arts. If you don't want to die here together, you'd better conjure up something useful for me."
When he heard that he might die in this damn place, the fortune-teller immediately panicked, "What does the child want? I will try my best to make it happen."
"I don't know what they're afraid of, just change into whatever you can..."
Her vision suddenly went dark, and the last few words were cut off in her throat. She only felt a strong force pulling her over.
"Let me go..."
Li Jintang grabbed the hand that was pressing on her lips with both hands and whimpered.
"Don't move."
This voice...
The light returned to her eyes. After removing the hand covering her lips, she folded her hands again and pressed them tightly against her lips.
This was a very small cave, and because of this, it was difficult for the bat demon to find them. The two of them were very close now, and the smell of blood... seemed even stronger than before.
The bat spirit circled back and forth in the sky, and after each "patrol", it would fly lower to avoid missing the prey on the ground.
When they circled for the third time, the boy withdrew his gaze from the outside of the cave. He took off his outer robe, spread it out and covered the cave entrance.
These bat spirits abhor the smell of blood and feed solely on the spiritual energy of humans. Therefore, before long, the crescent moon overhead reappeared, and the noise of the bats' flapping wings vanished, replaced by the rustling of the wind through the forest.
Xie Changyan took back his robe, swung it in front of him, and put it back on. Suddenly, he met the girl's gaze.
"Xie An, you are injured." This time she used an affirmative tone.
He straightened his clothes, his face pale, "It's none of your business."
Li Jintang didn't want to ask any more questions. She lowered her eyes and took out a tourniquet from her purse, then handed it to him.
The boy paused, looked at her silently for a long time, and finally took her hand when she was about to withdraw it.
He lowered his eyes and tied the tourniquet on the wound. The dark red blood quickly soaked into the white bandage. It took him only a short time to do all this. He raised his eyelids and saw the girl looking at him eagerly.
"What's wrong?"
"Are we going to look for them?" Li Jintang blinked and suddenly moved closer to him. "You can't leave me this time. There are so many monsters here. I will die."
Xie Changyan frowned and shook his hand, but not only did he fail to shake her hand off, his sleeves were pulled long.
"let go."
He suddenly felt annoyed and put his hand on her shoulder to push her away. "Who are you?"
The girl giggled, holding her chin with her hands and looking at him, "You found me so quickly? How boring."
Xie Changyan's eyes flashed, and he didn't give her a chance to speak. His sword drew an arc in the air, and the figure just now immediately dissipated like foam.
"Xie An, what are you doing?"
The fog suddenly broke, and he stood dozens of steps away, looking at the girl who was stunned in the cave, with murderous intent in his eyes.
Was he just... talking to himself in the air?
Li Jintang pinched his right palm with his left hand and walked forward slowly, "Xie An, you..."
Before she could finish, the other person spoke in a calm voice, "Why are you running around? Do you think you can get out of a place like this without me?"
"I didn't run around," Li Jintang said, stunned for a moment before explaining, "Just now you walked out for no apparent reason, suddenly said something to the air, and... you even swung your sword twice."
She studied his expression, pondered for a moment, and then hesitantly called out, "Xie An."
"Um."
"Were you... frightened out of your mind by the bat monster just now?"
She wanted to say "scared to death", but she felt that this word might make his face look even uglier, so she took the initiative to change it to a word that she thought was more acceptable.
“…”
The young man raised his hand and rubbed his brow. When the headache caused by the fog had eased a lot, he raised his eyes and said coldly: "Do you still want to see them alive?"
Li Jintang's eyes lit up. "You know how to find them, right?"
He didn't answer, but turned and walked towards a direction with dense trees. Seeing this, the girl hurriedly followed him and walked quietly beside him.
After walking for a while, something suddenly fell softly on her shoulder. Li Jintang tilted her head and saw that the fortune book on it was shaking, as if she could shake it off if she walked faster.
She was startled and quickly took it down with both hands, "What's wrong with you?"
"Oh, where did this fog come from? It's giving me a headache," Mingshu grumbled. "It's so good to be alive, so good..."
So, Xie An was not frightened by the bat spirit just now, but was hallucinating due to the influence of the fog?
Then why is she okay this time?
Thinking of the last time she met 'Ajie' and the old man in white in the forest, she shuddered immediately. If she experienced it again, she might not be able to get out alive.
The person in front of her suddenly stopped. She was lost in thought and didn't brake for a moment, almost bumping into him. "What, what happened?"
Xie Changyan raised his hand and touched the tree trunk beside him. Under his palm was a line carved with a knife. "I'm back again."
"You're back?" Li Jintang was surprised. He walked over to a cluster of flowers and pointed, "I remember they were yellow just now, but now they've turned blue."
She paused, and under the other person's gaze, she came to a conclusion: "So, we're not taking the same route as before."
The young man glared at her for a moment, then curled his lips in a half-smile: "Now?"
"What do you mean..." She turned her head, her fingers trembling with fear - this... this... why did these flowers suddenly turn yellow again?
"That's different," Li Jintang pointed upwards and said, "Just now this tree was full of fruit, but now it's all gone. Even if they all fell, where did they go?"
But the mark Xie An carved on the tree trunk couldn't be fake. Could it be that she had fallen into an illusion again?
She took two steps back, leaning her back against the tree trunk, her voice trembling uncontrollably: "You... don't come over here. Are you the real Xie An or a demon in disguise?"
"Guess," he suddenly smiled, and stepped forward, finally stopping at an arm's length away from her, looking at her leisurely, "Do you think I look real?"
“…”
This must be true.
Li Jintang turned his face away and kicked a stone on the ground. The stone rolled straight down and gurgled into the bushes.
In just a few seconds, the stone seemed to be driven by some force and rolled back to her feet in circles.
It's clearly an uphill road, and there's no wind. How can the stone go uphill by itself?
She bent down to pick up the stone to see if there was anything strange on it. The moment her fingers touched it, there was a sudden bang, and the stone suddenly expanded, almost trapping her fingers.
Li Jintang's body froze instantly, and it seemed as if all the blood in his body was flowing backwards.
That wasn't a stone at all. What lay before him was clearly an extremely eerie skull.
There seemed to be a sharp laugh in my ear, and also like someone was singing softly.
Really, why would you play with rocks for no reason?! She regretted it so much that her intestines almost turned green.
Li Jintang staggered back a few steps, and suddenly something supported his back. Looking back, he saw it was the hilt of the sword held out by Xie An.
"Xie...Xie An, I understand." She suppressed her fear and tightly grasped the corner of his clothes with one hand, her knuckles turning white. "I heard from my father that those flowers that changed color just now were evil-suppressing flowers, planted next to the graves of those who died unjustly to suppress resentment."
"Then what?"
"But fortunately," Li Jintang finally found her voice after saying so much. She released her hand and turned her gaze towards the cluster of flowers. "The yellow color means these flowers haven't regained consciousness yet. We just need to run away quickly before they turn red."
After she finished speaking, her gaze fixed on the evil-suppressing flowers, and her pupils suddenly shrank.
Large clusters of blood-red petals came into view, piercing her eyes like sharp blades.
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