Chapter 6: Gu Village (Part ) Thick fog gradually rose in the mountains at night. Gu Changnian and a group of disciples from Tianxuan Mountain followed the mountain road to this village hidden in the mountains. In the moonlight, you can see the village houses built in an orderly manner against the mountain. The doors and windows of every household are closed, there is no light, and it is dead silent. Only on the dead branches of the crooked tree at the entrance of the village, there were a few owls perched there, calling abruptly, their voices piercing through the night sky and reaching far away, giving people a chill. Xu Gaizhi listened to the rustling sound of fallen leaves under foot and asked his fellow disciple who had explored the way earlier, "Didn't they say we could stay in this village? Why does it look like there's no one there?" The disciple rubbed the goose bumps on his arms and said, "I saw lights from a distance earlier." Hua Chiyu involuntarily moved closer to Gu Changnian and whispered, "This place seems... a little weird." Gu Changnian looked around. In the moonlight, he could vaguely see that the walls of the houses were covered with moss-like, but dark red fungi, which gave off a sense of foreboding. He nodded and said, "Something is indeed not right. Let's withdraw first." Then he turned around and was about to leave. But the disciple who had just encouraged Gu Changnian to ask He Qing for instructions said, "Why do we need to retreat? It's midnight, late at night, and it's normal for the villagers to rest. Even if something is wrong, we are all disciples of the immortal sect. Can we be afraid of these monsters and demons?" Gu Changnian looked at his ignorant face and was about to persuade him again, but other disciples echoed him, "Yes, we are here for training, so why should we hide? Besides, the Immortal Master is right behind us, what can go wrong?"
Some people took the lead, and some people followed suit, talking about this and that, and no one paid any attention to Gu Changnian's suggestion to withdraw. A female disciple noticed Gu Changnian's seriousness and said jokingly with a smile: "Don't panic, Changnian. Even if the devil appeared today, the immortal master would risk his life to save you." "..." Seeing Gu Changnian's face darken, Hua Chiyu quickly interrupted, "Senior Sister Qiao Nan, what are you talking about? Not to mention Changnian, if any of us were in danger, Immortal Master would risk his life." Qiao Nan shrugged and said, "That's not necessarily true. Hasn't the Immortal Master taken action in the past few days? I think the Immortal Master will only take action if Chang Nian is in danger." "Senior Sister!" Even though Hua Chiyu was almost getting angry, she couldn't stop others from laughing. Some people even urged, "Changnian, if you are really so scared, you might as well go find the immortal master yourself." It was as if they were teasing Gu Changnian like a child. Gu Changnian understood that they were resentful. The disciples of Tianxuan Mountain had been dissatisfied all the way. Now that He Qing was finally away, shouldn’t they vent their emotions quickly? But he was fed up with being involved with people like He Qing over and over again. Gu Changnian tightly grasped the Quexie Sword in one hand and pulled Hua Chiyu behind him with the other hand. He said in a deep voice: "Okay, then you guys go and try to knock on the door to see if there is anyone here." Not only was Gu Changnian's cultivation better than these disciples, but due to the characteristics of the cultivation method he practiced, his actual damage was also much higher than theirs. He said this in order to make them retreat in the face of difficulty. Qiao Nan smiled indifferently and walked directly to the nearest room. Just as he was about to knock on the door, it suddenly creaked open from the inside. The room was dark and there seemed to be one or two figures moving around. Qiao Nan breathed a sigh of relief: Sure enough, someone is living there. She stepped back, holding her sword in her hands, and raised her voice, "Excuse me, we are disciples of Tianxuan Mountain. We passed by the village and saw that it was getting late. We would like to stay overnight. I wonder if you can help us?" However, there was no response from inside the house. Qiao Nan frowned in confusion and confirmed: "Is anyone there?" As soon as he finished speaking, a gust of cold wind blew past, and a foul smell instantly spread. Almost at the same time, two figures in the room suddenly rushed out and dragged Qiao Nan, who was closest to the door, directly into the room. "Junior Sister Qiao!" "Senior Sister!" Amid the urgent calls of the disciples of Tianxuan Mountain, more and more figures walked out of the houses everywhere. Under the moonlight, only the whites of those people's eyes were left, drooling, and their facial features were distorted and stiff, as if they had come back to life. Hua Chiyu tightly grasped Gu Changnian's arm and trembled as she asked, "Are they, are they human?"
Gu Changnian protected Hua Chiyu and gathered with the disciples of Tianxuan Mountain, then looked down at the Quexie Sword—— The sword of Quexie did not make any humming sound, which meant that those who were gradually surrounding them were just ordinary people. Then, no more killing... Xu Gaizhi and Gu Changnian thought of the same thing and quickly shouted, "Set up the Sky Covering Formation!" ■ He Qing stayed on the tree for nearly an hour, keeping his eyes on the direction of the village. It was not until she saw the thick fog that had suddenly arisen for unknown reasons and completely obscured the village that she stretched and jumped down. Lu Li was sitting huddled up under the tree, hugging his knees. When he saw He Qing coming down, he stood up slowly and asked, "Shall we go over now?" He was still holding He Qing's magic weapon Yeying in his arms, his posture was upright and he was calm and composed, just like a responsible guardian of the weapon. He Qing found it very interesting. Even though she didn't say anything, Lu Li was always able to grasp her thoughts. She touched the top of Lu Li's head and said, "Well, it will be too late if you don't go now." He Qing's words were vague, and Lu Li did not ask any further questions. He just took the initiative to hold He Qing's hand and said with a smile: "It's dark in the mountains. Holding Master's hand, I won't fall." The feeling of being shown kindness is always pleasant. Even though He Qing could see that Lu Li was being pretentious, he still let him lead the way to the village. On the way, Lu Li noticed that He Qing was deliberately slowing down his pace, and he couldn't help but feel a little suspicious—— As soon as you enter the foot of the mountain where the village is located, you will be filled with a foul stench. The young disciples may not be able to sense it, but He Qing, with her level of cultivation, there is no way she can't smell it. But she still dragged her feet leisurely. Not to mention that as the head of a sect, He Qing has the responsibility for the safety of those immortal disciples. Even her own disciple Gu Changnian is among them. How can she be so at ease and dawdle? It was as if he was deliberately waiting for something to happen to those people. The two entered the village entrance. The whole village was as silent as a dead town. There was no sign of human activity. Only the messy footprints and fallen leaves on the ground could vaguely show what had happened here. He Qing held Lu Li's hand tightly and said, "Follow me closely." Lu Li looked at the two people's clasped hands, and then his eyes turned to look at He Qing's profile, his dark eyes flashing with a strange light. Under the moonlight, He Qing looked around, roughly identified the general direction, and then walked straight towards a forked road with a clear direction. After only a few steps, there were rustling sounds coming from the houses on both sides of the road. The doors opened one by one, and countless black shadows walked out stiffly and gradually approached. (End of this chapter)
