In the Nanling Mountains, deep within the Ten Thousand Mountains, there are many snakes, insects, rats, ants, and poisonous miasma.
An ancient village stands deep in the mountains, and no one cares about it.
Three figures appeared outside the village, they were Qing Wu, Xiao Chenyan and Gu Lingyue.
Under the guidance of Gu Lingyue, Qing Wu brought the two of them here using the technique of shrinking the distance into an inch.
If other people come here, even if they stand outside the village, they cannot see its true appearance. All they can see with the naked eye are towering mountains.
Qing Wu looked ahead and squinted her eyes and said, "The arrangement of the illusion is quite good."
Xiao Chenyan also looked at the woods ahead, his eyes narrowed slightly: "It's a butterfly."
In front of them was a bush forest with interlaced shadows of trees. Ordinary people would just think they were ordinary trees, but Xiao Chenyan could hear a rustling sound, like the hum of insects.
Qing Wu picked up a stone and threw it forward.
With a rustling sound, the lush green turned into an enchanting blue-purple color in an instant. Those green leaves turned out to be swallowtail butterflies. At this moment, the butterflies were awakened and removed their camouflage, turning back to their original color.
The three of them seemed to have fallen into a blue ocean.
Those swallowtail butterflies are extremely beautiful, like jungle banshees that can captivate people's souls.
"Be careful! These butterfly poisons will suck human blood, and their scale powder will cause hallucinations..."
As soon as Gu Lingyue finished speaking, an arrow shot into the flock of butterflies. The bowstring was still vibrating in the man's fingers. The tail end of the arrow seemed to be hanging with a yellow talisman. The arrow feathers collided with the flock of butterflies, like a lit fuse, and all the swallowtail butterflies were swallowed by the flames.
One by one, the burning butterflies fell into the sky, and the illusion was completely ineffective, revealing the ancient village hidden in the mountains and forests behind.
Gu Lingyue looked at the two of them in astonishment. Before coming here, she was worried about how King Yan and his wife could compete with the insects.
But after Qingwu displayed her magical powers several times, she was so shocked that she couldn't recover. Now that Xiao Chenyan broke the barrier with one arrow, Gu Lingyue was even more shocked.
Princess Yan must be someone extraordinary. Shouldn't King Yan be an ordinary person? Why could he see through the trick? And the arrow he just shot...
It is true that it was the talisman fire that burned the swallowtail butterfly to death, but Gu Lingyue herself is neither human nor ghost. It is not an exaggeration to say that she is a living dead. She has perception that ordinary people do not have.
The arrow shot by Xiao Chenyan just now made her tremble all over and felt cold all over. She even had a feeling that if that arrow hit her, it would definitely kill her.
Seeing the village exposed, Qing Wu raised her chin and said, "Let's go."
The three of them walked in quickly, Gu Lingyue walked in front, Qing Wu and Xiao Chenyan were a step slower. The ancient village looked close, but when they got really close they found that there was quite a distance.
Qing Wu looked around from time to time, as if thinking about something.
This ancient village even had a maze formation set up.
Judge's Pen: "The people who set up this village are quite resourceful, much more resourceful than those fake Taoist priests in Chuyun Temple."
Qing Wu nodded, they were indeed not on the same level.
"Something's not right." Xiao Chenyan suddenly said, "It's too quiet."
He looked at Qing Wu: "Those swallowtail butterflies should be more than just a distraction."
Qing Wu nodded: "So many butterflies, so many eyes, it should be able to give a warning."
Logically speaking, the Jiuli survivors in the village should have known of their arrival when they appeared outside the ancient village.
After all, Qing Wu did not deliberately hide her whereabouts.
Quickly, the three of them entered the village.
The whole village is shaped like a circular nest. When you walk inside, all sounds are isolated and it is extremely quiet.
This silence was obviously too strange, like the dead silence of one's ears sinking into water, cutting off all sounds.
But even if you sink into the water, you should be able to hear your own internal sounds, such as your heartbeat, but the silence here is like everything disappears.
Time and space seem to have become a little blurry.
Gu Lingyue looked flustered. She opened and closed her mouth, but no sound came out.
Not only Xiao Chenyan couldn't hear it, even Qing Wu couldn't hear what she said.
I can only judge from the lip movements: everyone is gone.
Qing Wu narrowed her eyes slightly, and the next moment, a Netherworld Lamp appeared in her hand. When the light of the Netherworld Lamp enveloped the three of them, it was as if a layer of membrane beside their ears was punctured with a pop sound, and normal sounds returned.
"Everyone is gone, as if they disappeared suddenly." Gu Lingyue said hurriedly. She saw the changes in Qing Wu and Xiao Chenyan's expressions and frowned: "Can't you hear my voice?"
"I can hear it now." Qing Wu scratched her ears, "Can you hear the sound now?"
Gu Lingyue nodded in astonishment. After she came in, she found nothing unusual except that everyone was gone.
"It seems that this place will exclude outsiders." Xiao Chenyan's tone was still calm: "Is it a domain?"
Qing Wu glanced at him and asked, "How do you know about 'domain'?"
Xiao Chenyan's eyes moved slightly. How did you know?
He frowned, not knowing how to explain it, as if this information had already been stored in his mind and suddenly popped up.
He couldn't remember nor knew when or where he had heard of the existence of the 'domain'.
There was no time to pursue this matter now. The three of them walked around the ancient village, but there was no one there.
When passing by the well, Xiao Chenyan stopped and picked up something from the ground.
The thing was wrinkled, a bit like dried tofu skin.
"What is this?" Gu Lingyue asked.
Qing Wu and Xiao Chenyan said in unison: "Human skin."
The two looked at each other and were not surprised by their tacit understanding with each other.
Gu Lingyue's face didn't look very good, as if she realized something. She scratched her arm subconsciously, her hand froze, and suddenly she didn't dare to use force, as if she was worried that something terrible would happen if she scratched the skin.
Normal humans do not shed their skin, only snakes and insects do.
The remnants of the Jiuli were not living people at all. They were walking corpses controlled by insects. The flesh and blood in their bodies had been eaten away. After they shed their skin, what would be left?
This is terrifying when you think about it.
"Is this a case of escaping from its shell?" Qing Wu touched her chin with interest.
This matter is getting more and more interesting. An insect village that can produce a domain, an insect village that can isolate the Book of Life and Death, and cut off the connection between the world and the world, what kind of thing is this?
"Maybe it's not an escape." Xiao Chenyan said suddenly. His mind was throbbing as if a crack had been opened in it. He felt that everything in front of him was familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before.
A cackling sound suddenly appeared.
He and Qing Wu looked in the direction of the sound and found that it came from Gu Lingyue. To be more precise, it was the sound of her teeth chattering.
At this moment, Gu Lingyue's face was as pale as a zombie who had been dead for decades, although she had indeed been dead for decades.
The fear in her eyes almost became real, and she trembled and said, "Yes... it's laying eggs..."
The Jiuli tribe associates with Gu, and the insect Ji is equivalent to the Gu King. The remaining Jiuli people become Gu people. The Gu people abandon their skins, which can only be because they are called back by the insect Ji.
Gu Lingyue remembered.
"The insect is about to lay eggs and give birth to an insect god. All the recalled insects will become its food..."
Almost at the moment when Gu Lingyue's voice fell, a crackling sound was heard.
The ground beneath their feet seemed to have turned into a thin, broken eggshell, crackling apart.
Invisible tentacles seemed to have grown out of the dark underground, tightly grasping their feet.
The moment he was dragged underground, Xiao Chenyan immediately hugged Qing Wu and wrapped her tightly in his arms.
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