After applying the rhinoceros horn to his eyelids, Qu Ruilin looked at the spirit banner in front of him, his brows furrowed: "If these things are just illusions, does that mean that the attacks we encountered before were all just our imaginations?"
"No, these tricks are just minor tactics within the formation. They only occupy the light part of the 'important and insignificant' aspect and the 'illusion and reality' aspect. They are placed on the inevitable path to mislead those entering the formation and make them take other routes."
I paused for a moment: "The so-called formation, with its changes in latitude and longitude, is based on the foundation, with unexpected factors advancing suddenly, and multiple factors interacting. The illusion is just one part of it, just like the nine-linked rings toy we played with when we were kids, where each link is connected to the next. Eliminating the illusion in the formation is just a basic trick, but the illusion won't hurt anyone. The fact that you were chased by the paper figures before shows that there really are those things in this forest."
"No wonder I couldn't get out before. It wasn't because I didn't know the route well, but because this forest is full of these kinds of tricks!"
Qu Ruilin was somewhat angry: "These people from Ping'an Village only know how to rely on strange skills and clever tricks. What kind of ability is that!"
Upon hearing Qu Ruilin's words, the monkey immediately retorted, "Pretty boy, what do you mean by that? You invited us into this forest to rescue people, so why are you making veiled accusations? Tell me what you mean by 'tricks and gimmicks'? So, in your eyes, everything Young Master Duan did was just insignificant little tricks?"
Qu Ruilin was taken aback by the monkey's insult: "You misunderstood, that's not what I meant! Duan Shenxing, I was just angry about Ping'an Village's actions, I didn't mean anything by it."
"Alright, we're all here for the same purpose, saving lives is the priority!"
I interrupted their argument and asked Qu Ruilin, "When you entered the woods earlier, did you see these spirit banners... no, I should say you saw these paper figures here?"
"No!"
Qu Ruilin shook his head: "After we found out where Uncle Seven's body was, we kept watch over there. According to Wei Shengnan, we were going to send someone to notify you, but before we could send anyone, we found that Uncle Seven's body had been taken away."
The people who transported his body were four strong young men. They carried Uncle Qi's body away in a sedan chair. Since we didn't know where they were going, Wei Shengnan said to follow them first, and then send someone to call us over to gather after we found out their location!
Immediately afterwards, we followed those people to this location, but I clearly remember that when we came here, there was a path in this forest, and there was a broken locust tree by the path. After we followed those four people into the forest, we quickly got lost, and then we were attacked by those paper figures… Now that I think about it, the reason I couldn't find the path was because there was no path in this forest at all; I had been tricked by an illusion.”
Why would you make such a childish mistake?
After listening to Qu Ruilin's explanation, Jiang Man asked him, "Yesterday at the corpse pit, we already dealt with those paper figures and knew that their bodies were controlled by some kind of Gu. Why did you choose to run away when faced with their attack?"
“If it were just paper figures, we wouldn’t have been afraid. But those paper figures were holding things. Some threw poisonous snakes, and others threw out something that looked like a honeycomb. Song Laosan’s arm was only stung by a poisonous bee, and in just three minutes, the skin became severely ulcerated, exposing the bone underneath!”
Qu Ruilin added with a solemn expression, "Besides that, there are also a lot of poisonous snakes and all kinds of traps in this forest. While being chased by those paper figures, we could only run away in a panic. In the end, everyone was so exhausted that they could no longer care about their companions!"
After hearing Qu Ruilin's account, I said to the others, "Everyone heard what he said. We must learn from this experience. No matter what happens in the future, we must keep a close eye on our partners. Having someone by your side will greatly increase the chances of success, whether it's defense or escape!"
Jiang Man nodded and took out a few signal flares from her travel bag: "Everyone, please distribute your equipment so we can support each other if we encounter danger!"
"it's useless."
Qu Ruilin shook his head: "When we separated before, everyone had flares on them, but I never saw the flares take off, and after I fired the flares, I didn't see any response!"
The monkey instinctively retorted, "How is that possible? We're not in some other world, how could we not have seen the signal flare in the sky? And that thing could be eaten?"
"Qu Ruilin's words make sense. The formation relies on magnetic field disorder and visual errors to mislead people. Perhaps what we see is not the true appearance of this place."
I said to everyone, "If we get separated, we'll use the same method we used when we got lost outside Ping'an Village to make sure we're walking in a straight line, then leave this forest and regroup back in the village."
After speaking, everyone prepared their weapons, passed through a cluster of spirit banners, and entered the woods.
During the process, Jiang Man walked beside me and asked in a low voice, "Among our team, you and Qu Ruilin are the most skilled in feng shui. Why don't we split the team into two groups of three?"
"Because I don't particularly trust him."
I said bluntly, "Although Qu Ruilin asked us to come and rescue people, I'm afraid that when it really comes down to it, he might choose to sacrifice our people to save himself."
Jiang Man was somewhat skeptical: "Although Qu Ruilin seems a bit arrogant, judging from his behavior, he should be fairly upright, right? Would he really do such a thing?"
“When we went to the tomb of the evil monk, the tomb passage collapsed and we were all buried underneath. The mechanism at the time could only be passed through by one person. He once pointed a gun at me and demanded that I give him the chance.”
I recalled the past and paused for a moment before saying, "Human nature is something that cannot withstand the test, and we don't know anything about Qu Ruilin. It's better to be cautious when dealing with him. Otherwise, if something unexpected happens, I'm not sure if he will protect himself by betraying us. In comparison, our own people are more trustworthy."
Similarly, once the team falls apart and no one has the energy to take care of too many people, pairing up and looking out for each other is the most suitable option in the current situation. I have faith in Manjing's fighting ability; with him by your side, your risk level will be much lower.
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