Qingwu Exploration Continued: Light Spot Games and Underground Movements in the Miao Village Ruins
Under the moonlight, the ruins of the Miao village resembled a frozen tragedy. Most of the wooden pillars of the stilt houses had rotted and collapsed, and the ground still bore the charred marks of the Black Evil's incineration twenty years prior. Stepping on it made a subtle "crunching" sound, like the whispers of the dead. Su Xiao walked in front, the Red Sun Gu box pressed against his palm. The faint red light within would occasionally flicker. Whenever the red light brightened, a faint vibration would be heard from the ground below, as if something was surging beneath the soil.
"Master Azhu said that before Senior Lin Shen died, he buried a key item for dispelling evil spirits under the altar in the Miao village." Su Xiao squatted down, his fingertips brushing against a broken stele inscribed with Miao characters. The words "Zhen Sha" on the stele were already blurred. "But the location of the altar..."
Before he finished speaking, the bronze compass in Chen Mo's hand suddenly spun wildly, its needle pointing directly to a half-collapsed drum tower deep in the ruins. They had just taken two steps toward the tower when Lin Xi exclaimed from behind—the bronze bell she was holding suddenly floated in mid-air, its tongue swirling automatically but making no sound. Instead, a child's laughter drifted from the bell, "Looking for things is so boring! Why don't we play 'Find the Bell'?"
It's Xiaowan! Su Xiao turned around and saw a small figure sitting on a broken wall not far away. It was Xiaowan in a white dress. She was swinging her legs, playing with Lin Xi's copper bell in her hand. Lin Xi's free hand was still holding the bell. It was obvious that Xiaowan had used some means to quietly take the bell away.
"Give me back the bell!" Lin Xi was about to step forward when the ground beneath her feet suddenly cracked open. Black mist poured out of the crack, and several pale hands stretched out from the mist and grabbed her ankles tightly. These were the remains of the evil spirit controlled by Xiaowan! Chen Mo immediately raised the compass. Golden light overflowed from the compass, forcing back the black mist, but Xiaowan smiled and jumped off the broken wall. His figure instantly appeared behind Zhao Yu and reached out to grab the dagger at his waist: "Your knife looks interesting!"
Zhao Yu reacted quickly, backhanding the hilt. But as his fingertips touched the handle, the dagger, as if pulled by an invisible force, flew straight out of its scabbard, landing safely in Xiaowan's hands. Xiaowan weighed the dagger and suddenly hurled it at a nearby rotten log. The moment the dagger sank into the wood, the entire log instantly turned to black ash, without even a spark. This power and control of the evil spirit far exceeded everyone's understanding of "little ghosts." Meng Meng couldn't help but clench the anti-gu patterned fabric in her hands. The silver threads on the fabric glowed slightly, clearly sensing Xiaowan's evil spirit.
"Stop messing around, Xiaowan!" Su Xiao took a deep breath and opened the Red Sun Gu box. The red light of the Red Sun Gu instantly enveloped Xiaowan. "We need to find clues to exorcise the evil spirit. This is not a joke!" The smile on Xiaowan's face faded a little in the red light, but he did not compromise immediately. Instead, he threw the dagger and copper bell into the air. The two items turned into countless light points in the air and scattered throughout the ruins. "Find all the light points, and I will tell you a 'secret' - I know where the thing under the altar is!"
The moment the light touched the ground, faint green lights suddenly lit up across the ruins. Each dot of green light was surrounded by a faint black mist. It was obvious that Xiaowan had deliberately used the evil mist to mark the location of the light spots, but this also attracted more of the evil spirits hidden in the soil. Zhao Yu had just bent down to pick up the nearest light spot when the ground beneath his feet suddenly bulged. A hand covered in black lines stretched out from the soil and grabbed his wrist. This time, the fingernails of the hand were stained with black evil spirits. If he was caught, he would probably be like Meng Yao, and the remaining evil spirit would invade his body.
"Be careful!" Meng Meng immediately threw the Gu-repelling cloth in her hand. As it landed on the hand, the silver thread instantly glowed blue. With a sizzling sound, the hand quickly withered and turned into black ash. But before anyone could breathe a sigh of relief, Xiaowan's laughter echoed overhead: "Oh, we almost caught it! The next light spot is..." Before she could finish her words, Su Xiao suddenly realized that the red light of the Red Sun Gu seemed to be being absorbed by something. From beneath the ground in the direction of the Drum Tower, a growing vibration was coming, as if a more powerful evil creature had been disturbed by Xiaowan's playful behavior.
Xiaowan also noticed something was wrong, and the smile on her face completely disappeared. She flashed and instantly appeared beside Su Xiao, holding the corner of Su Xiao's clothes tightly with her small hands. There was no more playfulness in her voice, but a hint of nervousness: "Down there... there's a 'big thing' coming out..."
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