After all that trouble, it was almost nightfall.
The dome is like the blushing face of a girl, silently covered with a layer of ambiguous orange-red. There are still few clouds in the sky, and looking out, the sunset glow is surging like a tide, covering the endless clear mirror.
Ningning was wrapped in Pei Ji's outer shirt, and her hands and feet were covered in a large cotton cloth. She seemed to find it interesting and swung her sleeves enthusiastically like she was performing Peking Opera, bringing in gusts of cool breeze infused with fragrance.
She only entered the pool from the waist down, and although she was splashed by the waterfall, she did not become a drowned chicken;
Pei Ji was soaked all over because of the squatting action. His long black hair was scattered behind him, dripping with water, like a water snake climbing on his neck, its tail sweeping across the boy's sunken neck.
Whether it was due to the cool water or some other reason, the evil energy that had been running rampant in his body slowly receded without him noticing, leaving only very faint embers.
The light pink cloak on her body was shrouded in a faint scent of gardenia, which reminded him of the same scent on Ningning. He tugged at the corner of her clothes with some discomfort.
"Pei Ji, do you feel that something is strange?"
Ningning walked briskly, turned her head to look at him while speaking, and chuckled for no apparent reason, handing him a handkerchief: "Wipe the water off your face, it's all wet."
Pei Ji took it as he was told, and said in a calm tone: "I'd like to hear more about it."
"First of all, the whereabouts of the Burning Sun Bow. Everyone knows this."
Ning Ning took a deep breath and played with the cuffs of her coat. "Whether it's the demons or the fox spirits, once they get it, they will have the power to turn the tide of the battle. If one of them really got it, how could there be no news until now?"
Pei Ji listened to her patiently and hummed softly, "According to the timeline, Qiao Yan saw with her own eyes that her father was ambushed by the demons on his way to get the Burning Sun Bow, and the jade pendant was robbed by the Fire Phoenix. For a long time afterwards, it should have been hidden in the West Mountain."
He paused, and continued, "Then we seized it, Neon Island was deceived, and the jade pendant returned to us. There was no opportunity for others to take advantage of it."
In other words, whether judging from the result or the time of the crime, the probability of someone secretly taking the jade pendant and stealing the magic bow is very small.
"Then there's Qiao Yan's childhood sweetheart."
Ning Ning nodded and raised the corners of her mouth slightly: "Qiao Yan said that he lost the Thousand Silk Spikes she gave him in that war, and he became more and more indifferent to her after that, as distant as a stranger. Although it can also be explained that he knew that he didn't have much time left and didn't want to have any more entanglements with Qiao Yan, but if we abandon this old-fashioned sadomasochism routine and think about it from another most intuitive perspective——"
She thought for a moment and emphasized her tone: "With no token and an incredibly unfamiliar appearance, isn't this someone I've never seen before?"
Thinking about it this way, without the shell of self-sacrifice and so-called love, this story would be a little too weird.
Ning Ning thought about it carefully and felt her scalp tingling. She was silent for a while before continuing, "The reason why he deliberately distanced himself from her and rarely spoke to her was because he didn't want Qiao Yan to find out that he was just a fake imposter - but what was his purpose? Apart from Qiao Yan, among so many Linghu villagers, didn't anyone notice that he was different? Where is Qiao Yan's real childhood sweetheart?"
Pei Ji followed her thoughts and frowned slightly: "Could it be for the Sun-Scorching Bow? As long as he enters the Fox Tribe and is close to Qiao Yan, once she obtains the jade pendant, there is a great chance that he can take it away."
"But according to Lady Qin, the water mirror formation will never be broken by the demons. How could he get in without anyone noticing?"
Ning Ning was having a headache thinking about it, and frowned in annoyance: "And if I really want to transform myself into someone close to Qiao Yan, wouldn't it contradict his later deliberate alienation from him?"
While she was talking, her hands were busy and she kept playing with her sleeves. Her long gown was draped over her body but not buttoned. As long as Pei Ji turned his head, he would see the thin fabric of the girl gently sticking to her chest and the fair skin on her neck.
He pursed his lips and looked away, then raised his arm without saying a word and buttoned Ningning's coat, causing her to let out a soft laugh.
This laughter came without any warning, and because the two were very close, it almost fell clear into Pei Ji's ears.
He felt his heart pause for some reason, and soon resumed walking side by side with her. His voice was a little hoarse for some reason: "...Not only him, but others have problems too."
Ning Ning answered very obediently: "You mean, Qin Niang?"
Pei Ji nodded.
"She has an unreasonable desire to control Qiao Yan and the Burning Sun Bow. In the past, perhaps it could be explained as her love for her daughter and her unwillingness to let her take risks."
He restrained his expression and deliberately avoided looking at her. "But later we found the jade pendant and discovered that the divine bow was stolen. When Qiao Yan told her about it -"
Pei Ji paused for a moment, and Ning Ning took over the conversation with a serious expression: "She didn't show any surprise at all, and quickly changed the subject, as if she had known that we wouldn't find the divine bow. And as the wife of the clan leader, it's unreasonable for her to have such a treasure that has been passed down in the Spirit Fox lineage for many years stolen."
"good."
Pei Ji nodded, and finally looked at her intently for a moment: "And don't you think so? Her obsession with 'not allowing Qiao Yan to go to the other side of the formation to exterminate the demons' is far greater than her obsession with the Sunburning Bow and even everything else. Even when she advised her to leave the secret realm quickly, it seemed that all she wanted in her heart was to never let Qiao Yan come into contact with the demons."
——What does she want to hide? Why can’t Qiao Yan be allowed to go to the other side of the formation?
At this point in the conversation, the fog seemed to be gradually dissipating.
Ning Ning heard the sound of her heart pounding and took a deep breath: "And the most important thing."
She said, "According to Qin Niang, the other side of the water mirror is full of demons in the Golden Core Yuanying stage. Their strength should not be underestimated. That's why Qiao Yan is so wary of Shuibo. But what we saw before was clearly just a small monster that posed no threat. Judging from the familiar posture of Qiao Yan when she shot it with a bow and arrow, she must have killed the 'Mirror Ghost' many times. If there really is such a powerful Yuanying, why has she never seen it?"
For a moment, both of them were speechless.
Ningning was silent for a while, then suddenly looked up at him again.
This time, there was no smile in her eyes, and her voice was crisp: "I have an idea... How about we go to the nearby lake and take a look?"
=====
There were not many bodies of water around the waterfall. Ningning followed Pei Ji through the lush woods. It took about an incense stick of time before they finally found the nearest lake.
The lake was not very big, reflecting the dim sky. The surrounding mushrooms were already emitting light, casting a layer of faint green fluorescence on the evening breeze.
Ningning stood by the lake and was about to take a step forward to get closer to the lake, but Pei Ji gently pulled her sleeve.
The two of them hurriedly changed their clothes before coming. Pei Ji probably bought countless sets of black clothes of similar styles, and his figure was swallowed up in the dark night.
When Ningning turned her head, she saw him shaking his head indifferently: "I'll do it."
Even without much talk, he could always understand her thoughts quickly.
After Pei Ji said this, he pulled her back a step and walked straight to the lake.
The moon peeked out from the twilight, casting an ambiguous dim glow. In the moonlight and the water, the lake reflected the young man's handsome and upright shadow.
——Then the water surface shook violently, and a bony bloody hand suddenly stretched out from the lake and attacked Pei Ji's throat.
He had expected this, so he did not show any surprise. Instead, he took a step back without changing his expression and led the monster under the water to the shore.
This time the mirror ghost was not much different from the previous one. It still had a bald head, a short and thin body, and was grinning and howling from its throat, which reminded Ningning of the sound of fingernails scratching on a blackboard.
She resisted the urge to cover her ears and said to Pei Ji, "Don't kill it."
Pei Ji had already drawn his sword, but upon hearing this, he put it back into the sheath, quickly dodged the mirror ghost's sharp claws, and silently recited the sword formula in his mind.
He did not kill the monster, but instead saw sword energy surging around him. Then, with a flash of white light, he attacked the back of the monster's neck with lightning speed.
Before the Mirror Ghost could even utter a whine, he lost consciousness and fell to the ground.
Ning Ning's eyes dimmed slightly, and she subconsciously clenched her fists: "Go on."
So Pei Ji walked towards the lake again.
They conducted the experiment six times in total. Each time Pei Ji used himself as bait, he attracted mirror ghosts with strange appearance and weak strength. However, he did not see any of the "large number of Jindan Yuanying demon cultivators" that Qin Niang mentioned.
The trick is obvious.
Qin Niang is lying.
"It was clearly just a small monster that was not worth mentioning, but she made up a lie and told Qiao Yan not to go near the lake no matter what."
Ning Ning squatted on the ground, carefully observing the appearance of the mirror ghost: "In this case, Qin Niang must not be worried about her safety, and the reason why she doesn't want Qiao Yan to contact the mirror ghost--"
A thought suddenly flashed through her mind, and a piercing chill spread straight from her spine to her mind, making her feel cold all over.
If you think about it carefully, all their knowledge about Shui Jing comes from Qiao Yan.
The information that Qiao Yan possessed came from her mother.
A great war broke out between the fox clan and the demon clan overnight. In order to resist the demon, the entire clan had to set up a water mirror formation and imprisoned the demon on the other side of the mirror.
At that time, Qiao Yan was seriously ill and in a coma and knew nothing about this. This was what Qin Niang told them.
The spiritual power of the fox tribe has declined, and they are willing to sacrifice the dying lives of their entire tribe to protect Qiao Yan from the invasion of monsters.
Qiao Yan had been kept in the dark for many years and was looking forward to leaving this place with everyone, so this is what Qin Niang told them.
But what if none of this is true, from the beginning to the end...what if everything they know about that past and this secret place is based on complete lies?
Why doesn’t Qiao Yan’s childhood sweetheart have a thousand-thread tassel on his wrist?
Because he is not the original person at all, even if he wants to imitate, he will never notice such insignificant little decoration.
Why the whereabouts of the Burning Sun Bow is unknown.
Because this is not a real secret realm at all, but a mirror space created by a formation. The water mirror can replicate all the mountains, rivers, birds and beasts, except for the ancient divine bow of great power, which cannot be faked no matter what.
Why did Qin Niang try every means to stop Qiao Yan from obtaining the Burning Sun Bow, forcing her to leave the secret realm as soon as possible at all costs?
Because once Qiao Yan gets the Burning Sun Bow and goes to the other side of the water to destroy the "Mirror Ghost", there is a high probability that she will notice some clues and understand all the buried truths -
Under the pond, those strange-looking creatures that Qiao Yan shot without mercy as monsters were the real foxes.
However, the "compatriots" she lives with day and night are the masked demons who slaughtered all the foxes.
Ningning should have thought of it earlier.
When she first met Qiao Yan, the fox girl told her that "mirror ghosts are all mutated demons."
But if you think about it carefully, the monster has been infected by evil spirit. Even if it has gone possessed, it will definitely not become so weak and weird.
The only ones who can be affected by the evil energy and undergo mutations are extremely weak humans and monsters with very little spiritual energy left.
Above the water mirror and below the secret realm, it is not only spiritual power that is used to maintain the formation.
There is also a lie that runs throughout.
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