Somewhere in Dongzhou Continent, there is a dense forest that stretches as far as the eye can see.
On an official road about ten feet wide in the forest, a group of more than ten riders were walking slowly from south to north.
Everyone was dressed in black. Except for the four people at the front, all of them had simple knives tied around their waists and crossbows on their backs.
The first person was in his forties, with an elegant face, holding a black wooden staff, and he seemed to be the leader of the crowd.
Behind him, three young men rode side by side.
The person on the far left is holding a blue spear, the person in the middle has blue eyes and a sword and a shield behind her, and the far right is a girl with red hair and a long sword on her back.
"Why is there no one in Cangyu Town? As a result, we all missed our place to stay, and the sun was about to set." The young man holding a spear said.
"I heard that more than ten years ago, after a spiritual vein near the town was hollowed out, the surrounding land began to become barren. The departure of the townspeople may be related to this." The blue-eyed young man in the middle said.
"Senior Brother, are you going to reach Jiahe Pass after climbing over the Camelback Ridge in front of you?" the red-haired girl pointed to a peak in the distance that looked like a camel's hump in front of her and asked.
"Yes, we set off early this time, and we can also ask for some experience from our uncles and uncles." The blue-eyed young man nodded.
…
While the three of them were chatting, the middle-aged man in front suddenly frowned and glanced to both sides from time to time.
"Master Nephew Li, please be careful. I'll go check around." The middle-aged man suddenly said.
"Yes, uncle!" The blue-eyed young man nodded, with a hint of caution in his eyes.
The surface of the wooden stick in the middle-aged man's hand shone with black light, and black smoke immediately began to appear around him. It soon turned into a dark cloud, wrapping his body and flying towards the left.
As a result, before flying very far, a gray shadow sprang out from the forest on the left like a ghost, and was near the dark clouds in an instant.
In the dark clouds, the middle-aged man reacted very quickly. With a wave of his wooden stick, billowing waves of fire surged out and turned into a fire shield to block the dark clouds.
At the same time, he pinched with his other hand, and a ball of flame surged out from his hand, turning into a dozen flaming swords, all red and hot, and shot towards the gray shadow.
However, the gray shadow was just blurred for a moment and avoided all the flaming swords.
The next moment, a muffled sound of "bang" was heard from the fire shield in front of the dark clouds, and then sparks burst into pieces.
The gray shadow flashed and disappeared into the dark clouds.
"Ah!" A shrill scream came from the cloud.
A large amount of blood and human organs were suddenly sprinkled from the dark clouds. Immediately afterwards, the middle-aged man's body, torn in half, fell from the clouds.
From the time when the gray shadow appeared to when the middle-aged man was killed, it only took two or three breaths. Until now, the people below could barely react.
Immediately afterwards, a blue crescent moon-like shadow of a gun blade, a silver sword light about ten feet in size, and several red sword shadows struck into the dark clouds at the same time.
The sound of "chichi" followed closely, and another dozen crossbow arrows were shot into the dark clouds!
There was a loud "rumbling" sound.
The dark clouds dispersed in all directions, but the gray shadows were nowhere to be found.
"Everyone, be careful, set up your formation quickly!" The blue-eyed young man's expression changed, he got off his horse and shouted.
The red-haired girl and the boy with the gun also dismounted and gathered around the blue-eyed young man.
The remaining dozen black-shirted knights also dismounted and approached the blue-eyed young man.
"Whoosh!" A gray shadow flashed through the slightly chaotic crowd.
"Ah! Ah!" Two screams sounded almost at the same time.
The two black-shirted knights walking at the end each had a bloody hole in their necks, and they were bleeding profusely. They fell to the ground and twitched for a while, then stopped breathing.
At this time, the three blue-eyed young men had just raised the magic weapons in their hands. They couldn't help but look at each other for a while, and they could see the fear in each other's eyes.
This ghostly gray shadow was so fast that they had no time to take action.
"Ah!" Another scream came out.
Everyone had just formed a battle formation with the three blue-eyed young men as the core, when a gray shadow once again passed by an unexpected edge.
Another knight in black fell in a pool of blood. There was a blood hole as big as the mouth of a bowl in his heart, and his heart was no longer there.
Only then did the cyan gun shadow, silver sword light and a dozen arrows fly over the deceased.
Everyone's faces turned pale and bloodless!
Suddenly, three knights in black emerged from the circular formation, each climbed onto a horse, and ran wildly towards the road they came from.
The three of them had not run very far when a gray shadow shot out from the forest, passed in front of the three of them, and disappeared again in the forest on the other side.
The simple sword that one of them had just pulled out was broken into several pieces, and then the heads of the three people rolled down, and there was a fountain of blood in their necks. However, the mounts of the three people dragged the three headless corpses and continued to move forward.
Run forward.
…
After a stick of incense.
Except for the three blue-eyed young men, the knights in black around them all fell in a pool of blood. Most of the corpses were in pieces and died in a miserable state, with the frightened expression of the moment before death remaining on their faces.
Among the three, the blue-eyed young man could barely keep his composure, while the other two were as pale as paper, and the red-haired girl's arm holding the sword was even trembling.
"Whoosh!"
The gray shadow sprang out from the forest again, and instantly appeared in front of the gun-wielding young man like a ghost.
The gun-wielding Qing shouted loudly, and a large green shadow of the gun immediately appeared in his hand, forming countless green plum blossoms and heading towards the gray shadow.
At the same time, several fiery red sword shadows and a silver sword light also emerged, and attacked the gray shadow from the left and right.
The gray shadow flashed directly into the gun shadow, and the sword shadow and long knife all failed.
"Bang! Bah! Bah!" A series of muffled sounds came out.
The cyan gun shadow collapsed at the touch of the gray shadow.
"Ah!" An inhuman scream sounded immediately.
But I saw the gun-wielding young man's head split apart like a watermelon, red and white things flying everywhere, and the body fell limply to the ground.
Only then did the blue-eyed young man and the red-haired girl see clearly that the gray figure standing on the body of the gun-wielding young man turned out to be an ape monster with blood-red eyes, full of bloodthirsty murderous intent, and gray hair all over its body.
The hands and claws were dripping with blood.
"You evil beast, please accept your fate!"
The corner of the blue-eyed young man's eye twitched, and the shield in his left hand turned into a black light to protect him. At the same time, his body moved, and the shadow of a knife appeared in his right hand, and he rushed towards the gray ape.
Although the red-haired girl was a little timid, she became more courageous when the blue-eyed young man stepped forward. She swung out a fiery red half-moon-shaped sword energy with the long sword in her hand, and then a cold sword curtain appeared, shrouding the gray ape.
Down.
The gray ape's figure flashed, and he rushed towards the blue-eyed youth's heavy knife shadow with a wave of his claws.
As soon as the two touched, a terrifying inhuman force was transmitted from the ape's claws.
After a sound of gold and iron clashing, the black light on the shield and the shadow of the heavy knife collapsed almost at the same time. The gray ape pierced the blue-eyed young man's body with a flash of his claws, took out his heart, and swallowed it in one gulp.
For a moment, the gray ape's mouth was filled with blood, and his face looked extremely ferocious.
At this time, the sword curtain of the red-haired girl came over. The gray ape danced its claws, and a large dense shadow of gray claws appeared in an instant, facing the sword curtain.
"Rumble!" There was a chaotic sound!
The sword curtain of the red-haired girl suddenly collapsed, and the long sword in her hand flew out diagonally.
"ah!"
A shrill scream followed immediately.
…
One month later.
Shi Mu appeared outside Zhong Xiu's post house early in the morning.
Today is the day they agreed to attend the Shengxian auction together.
As a result, he waited for a long time, but Zhong Xiu didn't show up as promised.
Shi Mu pondered for a moment and walked toward the two guards wearing blue Bagua Tao uniforms at the door of the post house.
A moment later, when Shi Mu walked out of the post house, he couldn't help but shook his head.
Unexpectedly, Zhong Xiu and dozens of other disciples were summoned to the branch of the Tongtian Immortal Sect a few days ago, and they were said to have been provided with elixirs and other materials to allow them to retreat with peace of mind.
With this thought in mind, Shi Mu walked non-stop towards the north and east of the city in the direction of Shengfang City.
Dongshengfang City is the largest city in Tianyu City, and the Shengxian Auction has always been held there.
More than half an hour later.
Shi Mu's figure appeared beside a wide street, and the whole street was packed with people.
At this time, he was very close to Dongshengfang City, but the closer he got to Dongshengfang City, the denser the crowds on the street became.
Shi Mu passed through the crowded crowd, turned an intersection, and quickly entered the street where Dongshengfang City is located. The entire street was full of well-equipped warriors on horseback, and rich and powerful people riding luxurious carriages.
Shi Mu followed the flow of people and soon came to an open square. In the center of the square, a huge eight-story building with a square shape was extremely eye-catching.
This building covers an area of several acres. It is magnificent, with carved beams and painted pillars, and extremely exquisite decoration. The cornices and brackets on each floor are carved with many lifelike birds and animals, which is quite auspicious.
There is a door on each of the four sides of the ground floor of the building. On the lintel of the main entrance facing south, you can see a gilt plaque in the distance, with the three characters "Baoguang Pavilion" shining brightly in the sunlight.
At this time, the four doors of Baoguang Pavilion were wide open, and four long queues lined up. Dozens of city guards and Tongtian Sect disciples wearing blue Bagua Taoist uniforms were stationed at each entrance.
It was similar to Shi Mu's first time entering Tianyu City. Everyone who entered Baoguang Pavilion had to be interrogated by soldiers and illuminated by the golden light in the Bagua circular mirror, which was extremely harsh.
Just when Shi Mu was about to step forward, the sound of horse hooves suddenly stopped not far from him.
He turned around and saw a luxury carriage guarded by more than a hundred elite cavalry and drawn by four pure white horses.
Soon the car door opened, and a beautiful girl wearing a pink palace dress, with a very pure appearance and skin as smooth as ice and snow, walked out with two pretty little maids.
There was a faint wave of mana coming from this woman's body, and she was also a warlock.
Just then, a familiar voice sounded.
"Brother Shi, I guessed that you would not miss the Shengxian auction that day, but I didn't expect to meet you here by such a coincidence."
The voice came from the other side of the carriage, but it was a handsome red-haired man wearing a moon-white robe and a silver band on his head. It was Liu An
"It turns out to be Brother Liu. I came down to Tianyu City just to have a tour and gain experience. Naturally, I won't miss such a good thing." Shi Mu said.