30. Fragrant Grave Soil · 3 · Guardian Vermilion Bird
Gui Fang suddenly retreated, and Fu Guan Hong's vision cleared, causing his pupils to shrink.
As he dodged, waves of silver-white wind blades from behind Gui Fang attacked Fu Guanhong's face directly.
Fu Guanhong suddenly flipped to his feet, dodging several wind blade attacks. The voice of the woman in green echoed from afar, angrily shouting, "You are not allowed to set foot in the Fragrant Tomb again!"
The wind blades howled in, covering the sky and earth. In the forest, they seemed to be able to penetrate tree trunks and went straight for the evil spirit master. A burning sensation came from the wound, and the pain grew stronger and stronger.
Fu Guanhong looked down and noticed something strange about his wounds. They weren't bleeding. Upon closer inspection, he was horrified to discover that the wounds had actually scabbed over – scabs burned by the intense wind.
While dodging, they rolled around covered in mud and dust. Lang Yuehua wasn't much better off, and the two of them were crushed out of the forest by the strange wind blades.
After stepping out of the forest, the two looked back, panting, only to find the forest shrouded in white mist once again.
"There can't be any monsters here; she's most likely connected to the flute music!"
Lang Yuehua clutched her worn-out claws and said bitterly, "Sorry, I misjudged the situation. I failed to catch either Evil Crow or the three of them."
"It's nothing."
Fu Guanhong shook his head, grimacing as he counted the burns all over his body. He gently touched the burns on his cheek with his finger, a cold glint in his eyes.
"But when did such a powerful creature appear in the Fragrant Gravesite? It disappeared without a trace!"
·
"call--"
The woman in green elegantly held a cup of hot tea, gently blew on it to cool it, and then offered it to Pipi with a slightly solicitous smile, saying, "Your Highness, please have some."
The three people and one bird, who had been swept into the cabin by a gust of wind, were looking around when they heard this and all looked at Pipi.
"Your Highness? Me?"
Pipi stretched its neck to sniff, its golden-orange eyes lighting up. It lowered its head and sipped, quickly emptying the strangely thick liquid in the teacup. Pipi smacked its lips, still wanting more, "What is this? Not bad! Not bad! I've never eaten this before!"
"Only the spiritual energy of a blessed land can nurture this Flame Palm, which bears fruit only once every ten years. Its juice is excellent for replenishing physical strength."
The woman in green turned to look at the three men beside her, their faces pale and green. "People, oh no, immortals, don't you like it?"
"Where is this 'hot'? It's all green."
Gui Fang mustered his courage, picked up the teacup, and gently shook it. The sticky green liquid shimmered with a pale red sheen, shimmering with golden light, clearly containing fire-attribute spiritual plants.
Finally, he sheepishly put it down, "Never mind, I'm not thirsty, thank you beautiful... Ugh!"
Gui Fang and Bei Chen watched helplessly as Tang Xihe picked up the teacup, her face gradually turning ferocious. Tang Xihe drank it all in one gulp, wiped her mouth, and said, "Thank you for saving my life. Don't waste it. It only happens once every ten years."
"..." The two pinched their noses and drank the foul-smelling Flaming Palm juice in one gulp. Gui Fang exclaimed dramatically, "Holy crap, it's burning hot all the way from my mouth to my stomach!"
Bei Chen's gaze fell on the flute hanging by the window. "Was it you who played the flute just now?"
“It’s me.” The woman nodded. “I can’t leave for long, so I can only play the flute every now and then.”
Bei Chen assumed she was just bored in the forest and didn't press the matter. Suddenly, Tang Xi asked, "Are you Zhu Qianqian?"
Zhu Qianqian's gaze was intense, and the corners of her mouth couldn't help but turn up slightly, as if she was very happy. Bei Chen and Gui Fang looked over in surprise, "You two know each other?"
"No, I saw Zhu Qianqian's name when I checked the 'Encyclopedia of Demons'," Tang Xi asked. "I remember you were the incarnation of the Vermilion Bird?"
Zhu Qianqian slumped her shoulders in disappointment. "I am Zhuque, the protector of the Crow Clan."
Gui Fang and Bei Chen were both startled, sensing that something was wrong.
Vermilion Bird?
The Vermilion Bird is one of the Four Symbols of Heaven, how could it be a guardian?
The two looked at Tang Xihe one after the other, but before they could think it through, Zhu Qianqian interrupted their thoughts, "I met Immortal Master Tang two years ago, don't you remember?"
Tang Xi was surprised at this moment, "Me?"
Zhu Qianqian nodded affirmatively, "Two years ago, I was ordered to sneak out of the blessed land in a time of crisis and hide Your Highness in a secluded place in the human activity area."
Fearing that her description was not accurate enough, Zhu Qianqian gestured with her hands in the air.
"That place is said to be a human settlement, but it is extremely remote! When you look up, you can only vaguely feel the sunlight, but you can't see the sky! There are lush green ivy everywhere, and you can reach out and touch the wall of the building opposite. The ruins are gray and desolate! The barrier array on the ground is not working, but no one has repaired it. The whole area is lifeless and there is not a single human."
"It seems that the area is the most suitable place to hide in the human settlement."
Tangxi and Pipi both remembered the abandoned building.
It is said that the designer wanted to build a building exactly like the human world, and the original design even took into account the concept of "handshake buildings".
However, because this place is located at the border between the blessed land and the human settlement, the spiritual energy is unstable, and accidents occur frequently. Only one landmark building was built, and the entire area was abandoned, deserted, and overgrown with vegetation.
When Tangxi and others passed through that wasteland, they didn't find a single insect.
Zhu Qianqian continued, "...The Dharma Protector cannot leave the territory for a long time. If it weren't for Immortal Tang's Qi-replenishing pill saving my life and escorting me all the way to the grave, I might have already turned to ashes."
"I see."
Tang Xi wiped her face, looking somewhat troubled. "You're the Vermilion Bird, how can you be a protector? Everything in this blessed land is in chaos."
This has completely deviated from the original work. Not only have monster characters appeared that never appeared in the original work, but even Suzaku's identity has changed.
How could the Vermilion Bird be a protector of the demon race?
The current situation has nothing to do with Beichen accompanying him to collect the power of the Star Lords. It's more like the author's draft box, with a bunch of drafts here and a hypothesis there, all jumbled together.
Tangxi felt increasingly exhausted as she thought about it.
Well, it's a bit chaotic, but we're slowly making progress. Now that we're back in Fragrant Graveyard, Pipi's primordial spirit will definitely be able to handle it. Next up are Beichen's 'Giant Sword' and Guifang's Heart-Clearing Flute.
Then you can just sit around and wait to die, right?
After a moment of silence in the cabin, Gui Fang kicked Bei Chen under the table. "Why the sour face? Do you have a problem with the Protector's words?"
"I...no, I was thinking about something!" Bei Chen's face flushed red, and he immediately stood at attention and saluted. "Madam, don't listen to his nonsense, I have absolutely no objection!"
Zhu Qianqian chuckled softly, "Just call me by my name."
Tangxi and Shunshi said, "Those evil spirit masters will come to investigate Diyin again in the near future. If we're unlucky, a lot of them will come."
Bei Chen suddenly turned and glared at Tang Xi, "How dare you bring that up!"
Tangxi and: ?
Tang Xi couldn't help but sit up straight. "What's wrong with me?"
Bei Chen's thick eyebrows furrowed. "Do you think you have a good chance of winning in a two-on-one situation?"
"No," Tang Xi said, completely bewildered. "Are you angry? Angry at me?"
"Of course I'm angry!" Bei Chen roared. "How many lives do you have to fight like that? Lang Yuehua is stronger than us. She's a half-demon, an evil spirit master. Her wolf claws were already aimed at your throat, and you didn't dodge?"
Tang Xihe knew she was in the wrong, so she picked up her teacup to try and cover it up, but found it was empty. She put it down dejectedly, saying, "It's not that serious... I haven't condensed my Qi into a sword yet."
Bei Chen was even angrier upon hearing this: "Condensing Qi into a sword? Are you very powerful? We were forcibly teleported here without permission, and the journey has been fraught with danger. I have no weapon, and here's an unformed evil crow. How many times do you think you can use it?"
Tang Xi and Wen Yan were also a little unhappy, their faces tense. "Fine, fine, it's all my fault."
It's really baffling.
Already annoyed by the deviation from the original story, Tang Xi was even more annoyed now, so she moved her chair and turned to the side.
Gui Fang separated the two with his claws. "Stop, stop arguing. Tang Xi and you too, although I didn't have time to help you, I saw it. Several times you charged straight at Lang Yuehua's claws without dodging at all. It was like you were deliberately courting death. Bei Chen, aren't you usually quite cowardly? Why are you suddenly so angry?"
"..."
Beichen slowly sat down.
Tang Xi looked away guiltily, "He probably won't actually do it."
Gui Fang: "Lang Yuehua and Fu Guanhong are both evil spirit masters. He may have let us go once, but he might not do so next time. We can only guess that there is discord within the Bureau of Demon Management, which is why they did not follow orders to kill us. Or, Lang Yuehua may have his own plans."
"However, we and they are destined to be irreconcilable enemies."
"..."
Gui Fang carefully observed Tang Xihe's expression. Seeing that he seemed to have taken it to heart, he stopped there and turned to ask Zhu Qianqian, "We have many questions. Why did you call it Your Highness? And why did you go to such lengths to hide Pipi outside? What about the other demon beasts of the Evil Crow Clan?"
“Except for His Highness, none of them survived,” Zhu Qianqian pointed to a certain direction outside the window, “The place where you just fought, those graves, are all the burial sites of the Evil Crow Clan.”
"..."
The already tense atmosphere immediately became even more serious.
Everyone was immediately alarmed. Tang Xi chuckled dryly, "Only Pipi is left in the entire clan? How could that be?"
“The entire clan of crows was slaughtered.”
Zhu Qianqian picked up Pipi, her eyes serious yet filled with heartache. "Your Highness, your displacement was the only way the King could think of at the time. She loves you the most, but the situation was urgent, and the King had to use the excuse of dismissing us to fight the evil spirit master with all his might. It was I who escorted you away from the blessed land. Please do not blame the King."
Pipi blinked. It didn't really understand the meaning of life and death, but it knew that it must be very painful. It asked directly, "When will they come back to life?"
Zhu Qianqian shook her head. "The demon core has been removed; there's nothing we can do about it."
"Oh no? What should we do? Am I the only one left?"
Pipi looked at Tang Xihe somewhat helplessly, and Tang Xihe was also looking at Pipi.
A human and a demon become entangled because of that abandoned building. Tangxi and Zhang Jin believe it to be an "accident in the original story" and escort Pipi back to his hometown.
Unexpectedly, of Pipi's entire clan, only Pipi remains as a monster.
Gui Fang suddenly asked, "Wait a minute! If the demon core hadn't been taken, could the evil crow have been resurrected?"
"Yes." Zhu Qianqian nodded. "Among all the demon races, only the Raven Clan has the trait of 'resurrection'."
"When a crow is dying, it will spontaneously combust and turn to ashes. It will be reborn from the ashes, and a lingering scent will remain on its territory. Hence, this place is called Fragrant Graveyard."
Bei Chen suddenly realized, and took two deep breaths. No wonder this place was called Fragrant Tomb Soil.
Ghost looked at Pipi with a strange expression: "Why would you want to spontaneously combust? Do you want to spontaneously combust right now?"
"Uh... I don't know either," Pipi said honestly. "Is it like how humans need to eat, drink, and relieve themselves? Or do we crows have the instinct to spontaneously combust and turn to ash?"
"But...but I don't want to die yet!"
Gui Fang pressed further, "Was it because you encountered danger and had no way to escape, so you perished together with the enemy, or was it like an antelope jumping off a cliff, where the old and weak antelopes spontaneously offered themselves up?"
Pipi blushed, "How should I know!"
“It’s a crisis,” Zhu Qianqian said. “When someone is on the verge of death, it is usually a moment of extreme danger. The crow clan has the ability to come back to life and also the ability to sense danger. If they cannot escape, the crow will spontaneously combust and feign death.”
"Anyway, after being burned, you'll just be a handful of ashes. You'll be reborn from the ashes and have a good life again."
Tangxi and sudden realization.
When they first met Pipi, this guy arrogantly claimed that he could foresee danger.
Back then, Pipi was just a tortoiseshell-colored little dog demon. Tang Xihe thought it was just bragging. Later, Qin Xiuluo kindly helped Pipi restore its true form, and Tang Xihe had long forgotten all about Pipi's boasting.
However, the danger this guy can foresee is probably limited to the crow itself.
At this moment, Zhu Qianqian suddenly stood up and solemnly knelt before Tang Xi. "Immortal Master, I have done something I am ashamed of!"
Everyone: ? ? ?
Tang Xi was startled and stood up abruptly. "What? Don't do this, get up first!"
Zhu Qianqian lowered her head even further, and Tang Xi could only see the fiery red whorl of her hair. "Your Highness's soul leaving your body was my doing."
"..."
Tang Xi's voice cracked with surprise, "What did you say?"
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