The opened river bed, the crushed streets, the broken buildings.
On the "scars" plowed out by flesh and blood in the city, Li Changan and Yu Mei kept racing.
The scenes on both sides kept flying backwards.
Gradually it changed its appearance.
Bricks and tiles, beams and columns, trees and even the sky... everything has lost its original color, like a corpse drained of blood, reduced to an empty and colorless picture.
And in this blank space, those black spots formed by resentment are particularly dazzling. Instead of dissipating, they even gradually condensed into lines, crawling and winding between the faded sky and earth, like spreading roots, and like buried roots.
Blood vessels under pale skin.
The fading of heaven and earth, Li Changan knew clearly, was that the illusion was collapsing, and the falseness was returning to nothingness.
But those dazzling black "blood vessels"...
Both Yu Mei and Dionysian said "I don't know" and could only make guesses.
"It's probably the hands and feet of Huandie."
"Those bug bastards must have been trying to delay time."
"The most dangerous beast is a desperate animal."
"You two must be careful."
The Dionysian's warning was still in his ears, but Li Changan had to stop.
in front.
Thick fog continued to form a high wall.
Suddenly cut off the way forward.
…………
The fog wall is as thick as white wax, and the eyes cannot penetrate even half of it.
Li Changan and Yu Mei exchanged a look.
no doubt.
This fog wall looks weird, and it is most likely a trap set by the phantom butterfly.
But in other words.
This means that the Phantom Butterfly is behind the fog wall, and what it plans is also behind the fog wall. Moreover, judging from the flesh and blood plow marks on the ground, the "meat balls" kneaded by tens of thousands of monsters are also behind the wall.
No need to say more.
If you don't enter the tiger's den, how can you catch the tiger's cubs?
Yu Mei picked up the talisman, and Li Changan drew his sword and carefully explored the fog wall.
Didn't think about it.
The tip of the sword was about to touch the mist, as if it had pierced something.
This rung collapsed and shattered in an instant like a huge thing between heaven and earth, collapsing into billowing clouds of smoke and pressing down on it.
There was no time to dodge, and there was nowhere to hide.
The two of them were immediately submerged in the mist and fell into the pure white turbidity, becoming blind with their eyes open.
Yu Mei has already opened his Dharma Realm, and the Taoist priests are also on guard with their swords.
The expected attack never came.
instead……
"Candied haws on a stick! Sweet and sour candied haws on a stick!"
"Grind your scissors and sharpen your kitchen knife~~"
"Drink Wisteria seeds and all diseases will disappear."
In the hazy mist, I heard a few shouts, and then there were sounds of laughter, yelling, bargaining, footsteps, bells, wind, and water all at once.
When the Taoist priest rolled up his sleeves and brushed away the last trace of fog in front of his eyes, he was surprised to find that the two of them were actually in a busy street.
There are rows of shops on both sides, and there are boats on the central waterway and tourists on the shore. Farther away, a majestic temple stands tall.
It is the most prosperous and lively Long Street in front of the temple in Xiaoshui.
The Taoist priest stepped on the green bricks on the ground, feeling a solid touch under his feet, and a moist breeze blew in his face, carrying the scent of flowers and wine.
The illusion is on the verge of collapse.
Of course everything in front of you is just an illusion created by the phantom butterfly.
The two looked at each other and communicated silently.
Yu Mei nodded slightly, kneaded the magic formula with his hands, lowered his eyes and murmured something.
The Taoist priest moved forward, scanned the area in front of him, and then shouted loudly:
"Now that things have come to a head, it is time for you to see the consequences. Your Excellency is still playing such a little trick. How cowardly and ridiculous is it? Could it be that some monster has given you the courage?!"
The eyebrows are always open to the Dharma Realm, which has the effect of warding off evil spirits and repelling demons. It forms a translucent arc and covers a three-step radius. Although there are many people walking on the street, they consciously avoid the Dharma Realm and turn a blind eye to the two people in the Dharma Realm.
But not long after Li Changan finished speaking, the salesman passing by suddenly stopped, turned around and smiled at him: "Tao..."
The Taoist priest raised his hand and saw a small sword decorated with talismans.
However, he just let go.
From the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of an arc of light behind the Dharma Realm that seemed to be disturbing, so he turned around and stabbed him without thinking.
But there was nothing where the sword edge landed.
I had no choice but to look back, only to find that the little sword had disappeared without a trace after leaving the Dharma Realm, and the vendor had picked up the burden and continued selling as if nothing had happened.
"Well done, Mr. Li."
A sweet laugh.
Li Changan followed the sound and saw a woman in an attic on the street leaning on the railing, pointing at him, laughing and cursing.
"He is cunning in his words and deeds, and has a murderous intention. I expect that he will soon enter the devil's path and become one of my generation."
As he spoke, the arc of the Dharma Realm was disturbed again. The Taoist priest still swung his sword, but it still came to nothing.
A flash of divine skill.
The woman yawned and returned to the attic, while another honest-looking man downstairs continued talking.
"Sooner or later we will all be one family."
As he spoke, the voice suddenly changed to a child's shrill voice.
"Why do we need to be aggressive and kill everyone today?"
Li Changan remained calm.
"How can a little Taoist compare to Your Excellency?"
The Taoist priest did not look at the boy. He already knew that in this illusion, no one was an illusory butterfly, or in other words, everyone was an illusory butterfly.
Just keep your mind calm and focus on the Dharma Realm with your sword.
"Besides, the Patriarch has something to say..."
He has a kind smile.
"The duty of eradicating evil is done."
The crowd on the street seemed to pause for a second or two.
Then.
"evil?"
Among the crowd, a girl looked surprised, as if she had heard something incredible.
Then he covered his mouth and laughed, sounding like an oriole.
Then, another old man laughed, his voice hoarse, like the roar of a bellows.
At the same time, there were also big men laughing wildly with their feet down and their chests down, their laughter sounding like jackals howling.
Just like that, one after another.
The laughter spread from all directions, and the whole street surrounded the two people laughing together.
The noise is disturbing.
"Be careful."
Dionysian reminder.
"It's meant to mess with your mind."
The Taoist priest nodded, calmed down and waited indifferently.
At this time, among the roar of laughter, an indistinguishable voice of male, female, old and young shouted:
"It's ridiculous! It's ridiculous!"
"Who is the worst person in the world?"
"Taoist! Only Taoist is the worst in the world!"
The voice was hidden in the crowd, erratic.
"Taoists are the most hypocritical."
"I taught people to have no father, no mother, no children, and deceived others into giving up their fame, fame, and wealth. However, I became a guest at the prince's throne, built a palace, and had concubines, and could not enjoy all the wealth, power, wine, and beauty in the world."
The door of an attic on the street suddenly opened, and the jewels inside caught your eye. A Taoist priest with a vague face was lying high inside, with countless delicacies in front of him and surrounded by beauties.
Looking closer, the Taoist clearly looks like Li Changan, but his cheeks are swollen, his eye sockets are blue and black, and he looks like he has been drinking too much.
"Taoists are the most greedy."
"If you refine a magic weapon, you will drain out the elites of the five mountains. If you cultivate a golden elixir, you will swallow up the spiritual energy of the rivers. If you remove the ghost fox, you will bankrupt your family. If you cast a talisman, you will wipe out all the wealth of the poor."
The door is closed and the smoke disappears on the street.
A fat Taoist priest appeared riding in a chariot with a boy selling talisman water. People donated their money one after another. The rich had to give land deeds if they had used up all their gold and silver; the poor had to sell their sons and daughters if they didn't have enough copper coins.
.
And with every piece of talisman water sold, the Taoist priest became fatter and gradually lost his human shape, and finally fell into the chariot like a pile of mud.
"Taoists are the most vicious."
"If you don't respect him, you will make your dogs restless. If you don't obey him, your body and soul will be destroyed. As for peeling skin and cramping muscles to make magic weapons, gouging out flesh to extract elixirs to make elixirs, there are too many bamboos to write down, and all spirits are cursing them."
The fat Taoist priest turned into mud and sank to the ground. The crowd made a noise, and another Taoist priest came from the opposite side. He smiled kindly and held a bunch of collars in his hands. He put them on people's necks. People were afraid of him and treated him respectfully.
Don't dare to resist.
Suddenly, a man showed resistance, and the Taoist priest suddenly changed his face and turned into a green-faced man with fangs. He grabbed the man, carried him to the street butcher stall, hung him upside down on an iron hook, skinned him, cramped his muscles, and disembowelled him.
"Taoists are the most arrogant."
"Rebuke the immortals and treat the Buddha like a slave, call the gods and summon ghosts like dogs, despise ordinary people as ants, and regard demons as livestock."
The slaughtering stall disappeared like a ghost in a dream, the street shook, and a high platform rose.
Sitting on the stage with his back to the two people was an old Taoist priest, surrounded by many strange monsters, all of them begging and wagging their tails, looking like pigs and dogs.
The old Taoist priest brought the monsters to him one by one, played with them a few times, then threw them down from the high platform, rolled on the spot, and transformed into human figures one by one.
Li Changan's eyes flashed like a lake.
Probably because the faces of those people are very familiar, Bo Ziyu, Feng Chong, Zheng Tong, the Zhang brothers, Xing Baotou and his wife... their voices, faces, and smiles are all the same.
The old Taoist priest on the stage turned around again. He was gray-haired and weather-beaten. Yu Mei... no, it was Yu Mei.
The eyebrow next to her started to breathe quickly, and Li Changan held her shoulders to calm her down.
And the voice gradually became high-pitched and sharp, and continued to sound with madness.
"For one's own selfish desires, he confuses all the spirits to gather into cities, turns demons into humans, and goes against the laws of nature..."
Following the voice.
"Yu Mei" on the stage suddenly burst into laughter, tore off her belt and robe, and turned into a huge demon with billowing black smoke.
The whole street suddenly turned into a sea of fire, and people fled in panic.
Those familiar faces, Bo Ziyu, Xing Baotou, Feng Chong... and even little Amei, all rushed to the Dharma Realm, with fear and hope, reaching out to Li Changan for help.
"Daozhang Li, help me."
Li Changan raised his gaze, scanning these familiar faces one by one, and finally landed on little Amei's tearful eyes.
a long time.
Step forward.
A sword pierced Amei's chest, making her little body hang on the sword like a tattered rag doll.
Li Changan suddenly reached out his hand again, grabbed "Amei"'s neck, and pulled her in.
"Zizzi."
As soon as "Amei's" face touched the light curtain of the Dharma Realm, it was as if the skin and flesh were thrown into a red-hot iron pot, frying in blood, grease and scorched smell.
When he fully entered the Dharma Realm, he had transformed into an ape-like monster with long bird claws, and no trace of skin on his body.
Outside the law.
The sea of fire is still boiling, and the crowd is still noisy.
But the "Bo Ziyus" had put away their fearful expressions and stood around the Dharma Realm with expressionless faces.
Within the realm of law.
Li Changan threw the body away casually.
Wiping the blood on his hands on his chest, his eyes were as calm as ever.
"What does it have to do with the fact that you are talking nonsense and I am going to kill you today?"
The words just fell.
Yu Mei suddenly pressed her hands on the ground.
Suddenly an invisible wave spread out.
Streets, fires, demons, crowds...the scene in front of me was like a flat lake wrinkled, then like a lens cracking, and finally like thin ice completely melting under the scorching sun, revealing the reality under the illusion.
Corpse.
Half-human and half-demon, completely transformed into their original form, roughly complete, whose shape cannot be discerned.
Underfoot, on the roof, on the river...
What you see.
Densely packed corpses littered every corner of the city.
And in this mountain of corpses and sea of blood, a few pale demon puppets were blocking the way in front of them. A hundred steps behind them, on a hill made of corpses, the Phantom Butterfly showed a look of surprise.
The Taoist priest already pointed his halberd forward.
"go!"
A bright red light burst out.
Shooting stars chase the moon, heading towards the phantom butterfly.
It's coming too quickly.
As soon as Huan Die made a dodge gesture, he was hit by the red light and nailed into the corpse mound.
A little bit of blood spattered, and a few clumps of residual limbs rolled down.
The demon puppets belatedly discovered that they had many criss-crossing cuts on their bodies, and then they collapsed into balls of flesh and blood and merged into this mountain of corpses and sea of blood.
They had already been cut into pieces by the passing sword light.
…………
There were corpses all over the ground, with different forms of death.
But they have one common characteristic - madness.
While biting others, they were also bitten by others. In this way, tens of thousands of demons perished together, leaving corpses all over the city.
But the strange thing is that no one can be found alive.
According to the expectations of Taoist priests and others.
No matter how powerful the poison wine is, no matter how hungry and crazy the monsters are, and no matter how cruel the fighting is, there will always be winners, and the purpose of Li Changan and Yu Mei's trip is to eliminate these winners.
That's why the two of them pursued the bloody path.
On the other hand, what also makes Li Changan feel uneasy is those "spots of resentment".
Here, the black spots turned into resentment also condense into lines, not only growing on the streets and wall pillars, but also rooted among the corpses of monsters.
At first glance.
It was as if someone had sewn the corpse and the city together with threads of resentment.
And all questions may only be answered by one "person".
…
Phantom Butterfly is still alive.
Or.
Still alive for now.
It was lying on a hill made of monster corpses, and its appearance still remained the same as when we first saw it, an ordinary-looking man.
The flying sword was nailed to its chest, the bronze sword body swallowed up its flesh and blood essence, and the spreading red sword energy cut its body.
Fortunately, there were "black threads" crawling all over its skin, barely patching up its body so that it wouldn't fall apart into pieces on the spot.
no doubt.
It's dying.
Only the last glimmer of light remained in his eyes.
When Li Changan came to it.
Its eyes moved, its lips slowly opened and closed, and its voice was very weak.
But everything in this world has died, and it has been so silent that you can hear a pin drop.
So Li Changan still heard its words clearly.
"You shouldn't use flying swords."
"What?"
Huandie didn't answer.
But Li Changan noticed that its abdomen was abnormally bulging, and it looked like a pregnant woman who was ten months pregnant.
The Taoist priest ripped off the cloth strips from its body.
I found that its belly was as swollen as a vat, and it was almost transparent. You could see that there were no internal organs in the abdominal cavity. There was only a small human curled up in the pale blood. Its skin was gray, but it was so clean that there were no black spots. The face with its eyes closed was no longer visible. Too familiar.
Amei?
As if disturbed by Li Changan's gaze, Amei moved her body in Huandie's belly and turned her face to the side.
Only then did the Taoist priest discover that what Amei was sucking in her mouth was not Huandie's esophagus, but a bunch of "black threads"?
Connected to the body of the phantom butterfly, connected to tens of thousands of monster corpses, and connected to the remaining illusion, is the "black line" formed by the centuries-old resentment of the monsters!
"Hahahaha~"
Huan Die suddenly laughed out loud, with indescribable joy.
"You should use divine thunder."
Without thinking, Li Changan's sword was covered with green light, and he stabbed with the sword.
However.
Before the sword edge fell.
Amei suddenly opened her eyes and looked directly at Li Changan. Her eyes were dark, as if she was filled with resentment.
at the same time.
The muffled sound spread in all directions, causing the corpse mound at the Taoist priest's feet, or the entire illusion to tremble.