Chapter 121
Ni Hua used brute force to push open the wooden door that had been corroded by time, and an old musty smell hit her nostrils.
The sun shines through the sparse clouds and dapples the bluestone road, but it fails to dispel the coldness hidden in the air. Nihua feels strange. This coldness and humidity seem to have been absent for a long time. As if you have lived there.
Nihua stood there, looked up, and stopped involuntarily. The scene in front of her was like a picture forgotten by time. In the courtyard, figures in twos and threes stood silently, and their eyes seemed to travel through time. Time and space were fixed on her.
After her slight movement, the corners of those people's mouths invariably showed a strange smile, as if it was a silent warning to the intruder.
Nihua looked at the curved smiles on their faces like puppets. Her voice swirled in her throat, and finally turned into an inaudible whisper. She dryly came up with her usual rhetoric of going down the mountain to slay demons. .
"Excuse me, here..."
Among the puppets, only one person stood alive among the crowd. Under his robe, an exquisite mandarin loomed, with soft texture and bright color. It is elegant and creates a distinct and harmonious sense of layering with the outer robe. Wearing a pair of cloud-embroidered shoes under his feet, the uppers are embroidered with vivid patterns of auspicious clouds. He is dressed luxuriously and seems to be the master of the house.
Against the light, Ni Hua saw that the other party's face looked unusually strange under the sunlight. He smiled at her, "There are no monsters here, girl, you must be looking in the wrong place. ”
Just as Nihua was hesitant, senior brother Director Yun suddenly held her hand tightly, and a warm current spread from Director Yun’s palm to her body, making her sober in an instant. At the same time, the bracelet on her wrist became inexplicably hot, as if to remind her of the approaching danger.
Director Chang Yun whispered: "I heard that there are monsters here that cause harm to people, and we are also entrusted by others to come to help."
Hearing this, the figure's smile became more and more weird, and he slowly As they walked forward, the others began to move in an orderly manner, like puppets controlled by invisible threads, performing a silent drama. "Who said there are monsters here?"
His red lips parted slightly, as if he had just tasted something delicious, which made her shudder.
At this moment, a beam of sunlight penetrated the clouds and illuminated a corner of the courtyard. Nihua vaguely saw several figures hiding in the shadows. There seemed to be no shadows under their feet. This was an ominous premonition. It made the hairs all over her body stand on end. The cold air spread quickly, as if an invisible hand was strangling her throat, making her unable to move.
Seeing this, the senior brother called her name eagerly, trying to break the sudden shackles, but everything seemed to be too late. In this space shrouded in fear, Nihua realized what had happened. A character not to be messed with.
Nihua closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and tried to gather her inner strength. Suddenly, a warm power surged out, and she felt her body gradually regaining its freedom.
Opening her eyes, Ni Hua looked directly into the man's eyes, and suddenly took out her scroll. The people in the painting were the two demons she had memorized in the village that day. Ni Hua Hua returned to her usual good talk. In a few words, she inadvertently revealed that these two people were preaching that there was a monster in the house.
Ni Hua continued to say that in addition to them, people from various sects were also rushing over. As she spoke, she took out the mission order of the sect.
"Come, why don't you welcome your distinguished guests?" The owner of the house nodded thoughtfully, his eyes swept over the chain on Nihua's wrist, and fell on the painting. He turned his head They looked friendly again.
At that moment, the still scene in the courtyard seemed to be broken. The sunlight penetrated the haze, and the figures hidden in the dark gradually became clear. Nihua could clearly feel the shadows on those who were close to her. With a hint of fear, they didn't look like living people, but they didn't look like those dead ghosts, more like one of the puppets in this house.
Director Yun glanced at their pupils. It seemed that some people had thoughts while others had lost them...but they all obeyed the master of the house.
Ni Hua announced his family name, but the owner of the mansion hesitated for a long time. Then, the man smiled slowly and said that his surname was Chen.
Chen?
Ni Hua didn’t have time to find out more information, so he was led into the mansion by the servants of the mansion. There was an imperceptible strangeness in the carved beams and painted buildings in the mansion, as if every brick and tile was hiding something. Keeping secrets.
The afternoon sunlight shines through the window lattice in variegated patterns on the ground, which is in sharp contrast with the atmosphere of the mansion and seems particularly incongruous. She followed her senior brother's steps and secretly wondered if she could really find traces of evil spirits here.
Unexpectedly, within half a day, an indescribable evil spirit quietly invaded Nihua's senses. It was both familiar and unfamiliar, leading her towards the depths of the mansion.
Ni Hua picked up the sword and walked to the next door. She knocked on her senior brother's door.
She knew there would be no such coincidence and it was probably a prank to lure the tiger away from the mountain, but she went anyway.
Just when Nihua was about to act based on the clues, what he saw was completely unexpected. In front of her, there were just a group of seemingly ordinary people. Their bodies were surrounded by evil spirits, their faces were full of horror and confusion, and they were incompatible with the evil spirits.
She was stunned, the tip of the sword in her hand dropped, and the doubts in her heart came like a tide. Could it be that their perception was wrong?
Just when Ni Hua was hesitating, there was a burst of leisurely footsteps behind him, followed by Mr. Chen, who had a gentle face, but also revealed a bit of cunning.
Mr. Chen looked at her with a half-smile on his lips and said, "Immortal, didn't you say there is a demon here? Why didn't you take action?"
She was momentarily stunned. She was speechless, knowing that the person in front of her was responsible.
However, just when Nihua was about to let these people go and wait and see what would happen, something unexpected happened.
Those innocent people fell down without warning in front of Nihua. Nihua looked at the sword in Mr. Chen’s hand. The blood stained the ground red, with a few drops on Nihua’s shoes. .
The seemingly gentle Mr. Chen also tore off the mask on his face to reveal his ruthless side. He wiped the blood stains on his hands carelessly, as if everything that had just happened was just a daily chore.
Ni Hua was stunned for a while, she bent down, and there was a drop of blood on her hand.
On the other side, when Director Yun walked alone into the strange and inexplicable room that attracted him, his eyelids suddenly jumped. Finally, he put down his hand that opened the door and turned around silently. Walk in the direction of the evil spirit.
Hearing the sound of footsteps, Mr. Chen saw that Director Yun was also coming. He raised his eyelids and said, "Okay, the demon has been eliminated. I wonder what else the two immortals have to do?"
< br>His words contained an obvious intention of expelling guests, and Ni Hua and his senior brother were invited to stay at the house.
Then he returned to his temporary residence and Ni Hua contacted the teacher.
But before that, the truth must be found out.
So, Ni Hua and Director Yun waited near the mansion, observing in secret, waiting for the opportunity.
As night falls, the moonlight shines like a wash, coating everything with a silvery glow. Under the dim candlelight, Ni Hua painted the face of the man in the mansion one stroke at a time. After she finished painting Mr. Chen, she frowned. When she saw Mr. Chen, she was confused for a moment, as if she had seen him somewhere before.
So Nihua turned around and found the living dead who was trapped in the corner by them. When she placed a portrait in front of the living dead, tears filled the man's eyes. It was a feeling that transcended words. of grief and struggle.
Ni Hua looked at the other party and began to cry inexplicably, like a low voice in the middle of the night, penetrating the silence.
The man could not make a sound. At this time, Nihua was so happy that she thought of the puppets trapped in the house. At this time, the forbidden technique about the puppets appeared in her mind, and she tried to unlock it with Puppet steps to this man.
Sure enough, the living dead could speak. His voice trembled, and his words were like fallen leaves in the cold wind, drifting and biting. "Impossible, they... they should have died long ago." Frightened and twisted, those empty eyes reflected the shadows of the past and the unbelievable reality.
Ni Hua and his senior brother looked at each other, their hearts filled with ups and downs.
The fragments of memory began to reorganize in Nihua's mind. She recalled the encounter with the resentful spirits. They disappeared without a trace in the sun. They were the mark of death and the curse that they could not get rid of. As for the owner of the mansion, his shadow is clearly visible in the sunlight, which is a kind of proof of living.
"Senior Brother, do you remember the resurrection of the Demon Lord?" Ni Hua asked in a low voice, with a hint of uncertainty and fear in his tone.
She remembered what Xi Yan once told her, that Chen Yuan was the child of the Demon Lord, and the people in the house claimed to be Mr. Chen.
Nihua thought of the two demons who were looking for things in the village. Is there a possibility that they were not looking for things, but people.
Director Yun nodded, frowning, obviously thinking about the same problem. "If the Demon King has been reborn, then his soul should be attached to something or someone. But where is that soul now?"
Ni Hua missed his head and muttered to Director Yun.
Director Yun said nothing for a long time, "Junior sister, you...do you feel that this scene is familiar?"
Ni Hua turned to look at Director Yun, and suddenly there was a thump in her heart. got the answer. The familiar scene, prompted by Director Yun, also reminded her of the mountain temple and the puppets wrapped around the Buddha statue.
Si Changyun lowered his head and looked at his hands. The constant soreness and numbness in his hands had now turned into a tingling sensation.
He pressed his temples tiredly, watching the soul breath wrap around his fingertips silently, looked at the panicked Ni Hua lightly, and spoke word by word.
"This Mr. Chen is a puppet master."
The strange scene in the room is very similar to the puppets that Director Yun has practiced countless times in Hongying's secret realm. At that time, Director Yun His identity is an evil cultivator.
So the people in the mansion are most likely also evil cultivators.
......
In such a quiet and mysterious night, not far away, a tall and tall man leaned against an ancient tree and played with an ancient book in his hand. But his eyes passed through the page and landed on a pair of intertwined shadows not far away.
The moonlight was like water, and the silvery glow filled the forest. Wisps of light penetrated the gaps in the leaves and painted mottled patterns on the ground. His face looked particularly cold under the moonlight, and an imperceptible sneer appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"Young Master, do you want her to lead them away?" From the side, Qiqi's voice interrupted Xi Yan's thoughts. Qiqi seems to be out of tune, but he can always keenly capture Xi Yan's emotional fluctuations.
Xi Yan shook his head, without words, but his eyes became deeper.
Ni Hua didn’t know that her every move was under the surveillance of others, and all she could think about was the identity of the people in the mansion. The tracking charm she landed on Mr. Chen was broken, so she didn't dare to take any chances. She had no choice but to put a paper man in to explore the way.
This time, the paper man is no longer chasing the evil spirit, but the looming soul clues.
The moonlight is like water, pouring on the winding path, covering this ancient house with a mysterious silver veil. The shape of the paper man is distorted, and the way he pokes his head out is very much like the owner's cautious appearance, as if he is afraid of disturbing the lurking undercurrent.
Through the vision of the paper man, Nihua's heartbeat speeds up with his pace. Tension and expectation are intertwined, forming an indescribable emotion.
The layout of the mansion remains the same, but this time, Nihua looks at everything from a new perspective. At the end of the corridor, she sneaked into the weird room that she had talked about with her senior brother before. In the room, an ancient mural caught her attention.
In the painting, a man wearing a black robe stands proudly on the top of a mountain, with his eyes closed and surrounded by a faint blue light. The person in the painting coincides with the vague image in her memory. .
She came closer and gently touched the cold wall with her fingers, feeling an inexplicable chill in her heart.
"Here," she whispered, "there may be something hidden here." She immediately concentrated her spiritual power, and a soft light overflowed from her palm, illuminating the secret behind the mural - a hidden secret door appeared silently. .
The paper man followed Ni Hua's will and landed on the painting. For a moment, the painting seemed to come alive, and an ancient and powerful breath rushed towards him, as if it was the whisper of time.
For a moment, the paper man seemed to have arrived in a new world. In the center of the room, a stone altar stood quietly, with a bead emitting a faint light placed on it, as if to warm it. Whose soul is being nourished?
“So that’s it,” Ni Hua murmured to himself, “Maybe what those demons are looking for is not a living person, but this soul bead, which is the key to the demon’s survival.”
Just as Nihua was about to take action, a cold and familiar voice came from behind: "Have you finally found it?"
The palace master appeared like a ghost. He slowly moved forward and pinched the piece of paper figure with his hand.
Mr. Chen smiled, but he didn't play according to the routine. Before the law that villains die from talking too much took effect, the paper man was immediately wiped out.
Ten miles away, Ni Hua opened his eyes and spit out a mouthful of blood. Director Yun immediately reacted and took Ni Hua to escape.
Ni Hua turned around and saw a black energy behind her that was following her closely.