One more and one less
A cold wind blew behind her, and when she turned around, she saw that there was no one behind her, only the shadows of trees swaying like ghosts.
Amidst the vibrant orange-red flames, a girl in white, lantern in hand, wore a calm expression. Her dark eyes, the firelight reflected in their center, scanned the layers of vegetation ahead, finding nothing. She withdrew her gaze, turning slowly and thoughtfully. Suddenly, her peripheral vision caught sight of four eyes, faintly emitting a faint orange glow, gradually opening from the depths of the vegetation to the side.
“?!!”
Jiang Jingyuan's heart tightened, and her movement to turn around froze instantly. She turned her gaze abruptly back to look at the four orange-yellow eyes in the dim grass.
However, when she looked over, the four orange-yellow eyes closed one by one, blending into the dim grass and trees and could no longer be found.
At this moment, it seemed as if a hand pushed away the clouds in the sky, and a hazy light fell into the woods. The gradually brighter full moon vaguely silhouetted a corner of a tall building in the distance.
Jiang Jingyuan looked at the silhouette of the pavilion in the full moon, paused, lowered his head, and walked towards that direction holding the orange lantern.
The forest was filled with cold air at night, condensing into a thin mist that lingered among the tall trees, and tiny dewdrops condensed on the white branches and leaves.
The grass and trees here were all pure white. Under the faint moonlight, it was not as dark as ordinary forests, but it was definitely not so dark that lights could be abandoned.
Along the way, the terrain was rugged and there were many plants and trees, but there were no more strange corpses and orange-yellow eyes. The girl, like a firefly, stumbled with the lantern, but generally moved smoothly towards the direction of the pavilion.
——Everything here seemed to want to push her in that direction. Logically speaking, that place meant danger and meant she shouldn't get close.
But this is a fairy mountain, even within the mysterious barrier of the fairy mountain...
If she wants to leave, she has to go deep into the core to find a way out.
Standing at the bottom of the jade steps, looking up at the corner of the pavilion exposed high up and the full moon behind the pavilion, the orange-red light ball flew up lightly and nimbly.
The orange-red flames flickered and swayed rapidly, and "creak--" the heavy white jade carved door was pushed open by a hand, and waves of cold air, even colder than in the forest, rushed towards him.
A ball of light flashed into the door, and the heavy door carved with white jade was closed again by the hand.
Rubbing his fingertips to try to dispel the remaining cold, Jiang Jingyuan slowly walked around the floor with the lantern in hand, then walked up the stairs that looked like white jade and were so transparent that they seemed made of ice.
“Da…da, da…”
Jiang Jingyuan searched the second floor slowly and cautiously for a while in the darkness. She stopped by the stairs, holding up the light, and thought to herself: "Why does this floor seem to be exactly the same as the previous one..."
Although she was thinking, there was not much ripple in her heart.
Thinking about this, she raised her foot and continued walking upstairs.
“Da…da…”
"clatter……"
On the white jade staircase, the girl in the orange-red light suddenly stopped. She looked ahead, her face calm and composed, but a sudden surge of anxiety surged within her heart: "Is there... a golden human-faced bird statue missing from the second floor?"
As soon as this thought came to her mind, a chill suddenly ran up her back. Jiang Jingyuan couldn't explain why the missing human-faced bird statue on the second floor made her so uneasy. She just felt it was weird and indescribable.
She turned her head and looked behind her. The white jade stairs under her feet extended downwards and disappeared into the darkness that was not illuminated by the light. She waited for a moment. Her ears were still quiet, with only the faint sound of the flame in the center of the lantern flickering.
Suppressing the uneasiness in his heart, Jiang Jingyuan turned around and continued to walk up the stairs.
When she reached the stairs to the third floor, she paused for a moment, then went straight around the stairs and continued to go up without looking at the layout and contents of the third floor - she wanted to go directly to the top floor to take a look.
Go up one floor, up one floor, up one floor... At first she could still remember the floors, but at some point, she gradually forgot how many floors she had walked, and her mind became hazy.
When her thoughts returned, Jiang Jingyuan stood alone on the white jade staircase, looking into the darkness ahead, where no light had reached. A sudden surge of strangeness and uneasiness surged in her heart: "What kind of building has so many floors?"
Could it be that she has been wandering around the corridor?
Thinking of this, Jiang Jingyuan walked to the stairs and did not rush to go up. Instead, he carefully and slowly explored this floor.
She carefully counted the golden human-faced bird statues in various poses on this floor. "One, two, three, four... sixteen, yes, sixteen." Jiang Jingyuan thought to herself, "The same number as on the first floor."
She turned and walked up the stairs to a new floor. The layout of this floor was not surprisingly the same as the previous floors. Sixteen golden human-faced birds were placed steadily against the wall.
Jiang Jingyuan went up one level, and then another... He explored three levels in a row, and all of them were filled with sixteen golden human-faced birds in different postures.
She slowly stopped, her brows knitted slightly, wondering, "Then why are there only fifteen golden human-faced bird statues on the second floor?"
If the layout of each floor is exactly the same, with only the number of human-faced bird statues being different, it would be hard for Jiang Jingyuan to believe that there is nothing wrong or strange about it.
"It wouldn't be wrong to check it carefully..." Jiang Jingyuan muttered to himself, holding up the orange light and approaching the golden human-faced bird statues lined up against the wall on this floor.
Those adult-sized bird-faced statues stood either upright or twisted and hunched, baring their teeth and claws ferociously, or scratching their hideous faces in fear and pain with their feathered hands that looked like bird wings.
The roars and screams seemed to explode in the ears of everyone who witnessed this scene.
Jiang Jingyuan froze in place instantly, feeling as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.
After lying motionless for a long time, she seemed to have finally regained control of her body. She took a step back, and the roars and screams that were like thunder in her ears disappeared in an instant.
His heart was beating panickedly in his ears. Jiang Jingyuan exhaled silently, holding the lantern and continued to walk along the statues, carefully examining each one.
"...fifteen...sixteen."
After silently counting to sixteen human-faced bird statues, Jiang Jingyuan breathed a sigh of relief, picked up the lantern, turned around and walked towards the stairs.
However, as she turned around, a golden light slid across the surface of her eyes in the darkness.
What…? Jiang Jingyuan was stunned for a moment, blinked, and slowly took two steps forward towards the light, lantern in hand.
The darkness gradually faded into dimness, and the slightly swaying orange-red flames illuminated a thin piece of golden feathers with clear stripes. As the lantern moved closer, the flames climbed up the feathers one by one, as if they were finely carved from gold, and finally revealed a golden human face.
This golden human-faced bird statue presents an eerie and frightened look, as if its prey has been interrupted.
There are two figures in one sculpture. A golden human-faced bird is ferociously pinching a man's neck. The man and the bird turn their heads to face Jiang Jingyuan. In the light of the fire, the two faces are ferocious and panic-stricken.
There is a new golden human-faced bird statue on this floor... The girl in white in the orange-red light ball lowered her head slightly, staring at the two thick and powerful bird claws in front of her that seemed to be carved out of gold, and fell into deep thought unconsciously.
Above her head, the eyes of the golden human face, which were also shrouded in an orange-red light, moved. It was as if the gold foil on the surface of the eyes had gradually faded away over the endless years... Then it stared silently at the girl in white below.
“Tick…tick. Tick…tick.”
“Tick…tick…”
As if she heard the clear and ethereal sound of falling water, Jiang Jingyuan's eyes unconsciously fell on the golden bird claws on the ground in front of her. She blinked, her thoughts returned for a moment, and she fell into deep thought again.
"Why……"
"Will there be blood dripping?"
Watching the drops of black and red blood dripping onto the golden bird claws in front of her, the girl in white seemed to be lost in deep thought. Holding the orange lantern, she slowly turned and walked towards the stairs.
The orange-red firelight withdrew from the darkness, and the back returned to deep darkness like thick ink.
“Tick…tick. Tick…tick.”
“Tick…tick…”
The sound of dripping water slowly rang out from behind. In this attic built with white jade as transparent as ice, it was ethereal and clear.
The girl in white walked slowly to the stairs. She raised her head and looked into the darkness above.
"Clang clang clang—clang clang clang—"
The lantern in his hand shook and flipped violently, the flame was stretched to the extreme, and the orange-red flame in the white jade corridor swayed unsteadily.
"Da da da, da da da—"
The girl in white rushed up the stairs, one floor after another, not daring to stop for a moment, as if there was some extremely terrifying ghost chasing her.
She gritted her teeth, frowned, and her face unconsciously revealed tension, worry and uneasiness.
"Clang clang clang—clang clang clang—"
“Da da da, da da da—”
"Da da da, da da da..."
His heart was beating wildly in his ears, and Jiang Jingyuan could hardly hear the surrounding sounds. His mind was filled with only one thought -
"That golden bird statue... is alive..."
It is alive, it is alive, it is alive, it is alive, it is alive, it is alive, it is alive—
How could it be alive?
I thought about formations and traps, but I never imagined that the golden statue would actually be alive... a human-faced bird...
A bird with a human face, a winged human? Another winged human... Could it be a god? Could it be that becoming an immortal really means becoming a winged human?
Why...why is it a feathered person...?
Is the misty, mysterious and sacred fairy mountain the residence of immortals, or a place where evil spirits run rampant?
Jiang Jingyuan kept running and running.
She was filled with trepidation, and strands of despair emanated from her beating heart. She couldn't tell whether it stemmed from her fear of the golden bird statue behind her, or from her uncontrollable speculation about the method of immortality...
Longevity, longevity, run, run...
Run faster and farther.
Of course it is possible. There must be a way to achieve immortality, right?
The orange-red flames illuminated most of the corridor. The girl in white looked up at the high staircase in front of her, gritted her teeth and ran up.
She turned around and was about to run towards the other staircase leading up on this floor.
"roar--!!"
In front of her, illuminated by the orange-red lights, a tall figure with a golden surface suddenly turned around and let out a deafening roar at her with its mouth wide open.
The golden wings are lifelike, and the feathers tremble slightly in the strong wind.
Almost instantly, the shimmering golden figure bent its waist and charged towards Jiang Jingyuan!
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