The smell on the paw prints was somewhat mixed with the smell of dust, but more of it was the stench caused by some kind of corpse that had rotted for a long time.
Wei He stood up and looked out at the cliff beside the paw prints.
There was a vast expanse of white mist.
"Has the true energy been completely replaced by the virtual mist?" Wei He squinted his eyes, trying to see something in the mist, but unfortunately he couldn't see anything clearly.
Considering that he was in the crowd now, it was not advisable to jump off the cliff directly. Otherwise, he would have wanted to jump off the cliff to see what was going on on the other side.
After all, if you fully enter the true world, your body will disappear in reality.
With a tremor in his eyes, Wei He exited the real world again.
The bustling scene of people coming and going once again resumed around me, and on the entire Dengxian Platform, as time went by, more and more tourists came and went.
Wei He's tall body clearly stood out among the crowd.
He looked around and saw someone setting up a stall in a corner on the Immortal Platform.
On the other side, there are vendors selling snacks and sweet water. There are also people carrying small wooden carvings of Buddha statues, Taoist gods, etc., and they start selling their goods to everyone they meet.
Wei He glanced at the performers and martial arts performers from a distance. The performer was a middle-aged man with gray hair. He was leading a young girl and was talking to the people around him with his hands raised.
Looking from the direction of Wei He, everyone in sight can be seen, whether they are spectators or performers.
They are all as skinny as wood, with sunken cheeks and malnourished postures.
"Huh? This gentleman, are you coming to Yuewu Mountain to look for someone?" Suddenly a young male voice came from the side.
Wei He looked calmly and saw a noble young man with short hair and black eyes standing behind him with a gentle smile on his face.
"How did you know I was looking for someone?" Wei He asked slowly.
In just a moment, he realized that the person in front of him was just an ordinary person.
However, this person is not very old, but his energy and blood are stronger among the people around him.
"Looking at your body shape and height, I think you are not from here, so I take the liberty to ask." The young man was none other than Zhong Ling, who was delighted to see him.
He had heard what He Xiaoguang said before about seeing a strong man, so he paid more attention along the way.
Unexpectedly, when he came up the mountain, he actually found the person He Xiaoguang mentioned.
Looking from a distance, he could tell just by looking at the figure that the other person was definitely not a look-alike.
So he deliberately stepped forward to make friends.
"Do you know what the legend of the Crow King here is about?" Wei Heshun asked.
"Crow King? I know this. It's an old story here in Ningcheng. There used to be foreigners who disappeared in Yuewu Mountain every once in a while.
But because he was a passer-by from other places, no one knew his origins, so he often ignored it. The Crow King was a legend spread at that time."
Zhong Ling introduced briefly.
"But speaking of which, there has been news recently that people from out of town have begun to disappear here again. I don't know what happened. People from the city police station have also come out to investigate."
"What are the characteristics of the Crow King?" Wei He asked with a frown.
"Well, isn't this just a legend? To be specific, I guess I have to stabilize the old man." Zhong Ling said hesitantly.
He suddenly thought of the murder case that had happened in the past few days. He seemed to be not so sure again.
"Okay, thank you." Wei He nodded his thanks and turned around to go down the mountain.
Zhong Ling was stunned for a moment, he didn't expect the other party to be so resolute.
He quickly turned around and looked, only to find that the man had disappeared into the crowd.
He looked around, but found no trace of the man.
When I asked other people around me, they didn't even see how Wei He left.
In desperation, Zhong Ling could only give up.
With He Xiaoguang and others, he quickly walked towards the direction of the busker on the Immortal Platform.
He Xiaoguang and another follower pushed aside the spectators and went inside.
"Excuse me, is Master Hong Changqun here?" Zhong Ling came to the side and said loudly, cupping his fists.
At this time, the performers happened to be in the middle of a break. There was only a half-grown girl on the field, holding an iron basin and walking around in a circle, asking for rewards.
Zhong Ling casually put a silver dollar in. One silver dollar can be exchanged for one hundred pence, which can be said to be a bit heavy at this time.
"This girl." A gentle smile appeared on Zhong Ling's face, "May I ask if Master Hong Changqun is here?"
The girl looked up at him, pointed at her mouth, and then shook her hand.
It means she can't speak.
"This" Zhong Ling also didn't expect that the other party was actually mute. He was about to change his approach and look for Hong Changqun who was resting inside.
call
Suddenly a cold breeze blew from the front.
The cold wind was biting and biting. Even though this was the top of the mountain, the mountain wind was already strong, and Zhong Ling suddenly had goosebumps all over his body.
ah!
At this moment, a scream came from the temporary rest tent where the performers were resting.
The mute girl was startled, then the iron basin in her hand suddenly slipped, she turned around and ran towards the tent.
Wow!
The tent curtain was opened, and standing inside was a middle-aged man with a haggard and pale face.
He was standing in the middle of the tent, looked up at the mute woman, and suddenly fell to the ground lightly.
The mute girl's eyes suddenly opened wide, and she saw what was behind the man.
Only the front half of this man's body was left, and the back half had disappeared.
Just like a knife, cutting him into two pieces from top to bottom.
The blood had already turned the ground in the tent red.
The mute girl stood there in a daze, then suddenly opened her mouth.
ah!!
A shrill scream came from her mouth.
When Zhong Ling and others heard the sound, they quickly opened the curtain and rushed in. When they saw the body on the ground, everyone was stunned.
At this moment, a faint white smoke floated invisibly from the corpse.
The white smoke is mixed with the fog on the mountain, making it difficult to distinguish.
"Someone is coming, someone is dead!!"
Screams and shouts came one after another, spreading at the top of the mountain at the same time.
Zhong Ling's stomach was churning, and he almost vomited when he looked at the half-piece of corpses on the ground.
But what he didn't notice was that a trace of white smoke floated in the air, seeming to be selecting candidates.
Soon, Bai Yan chose Zhong Ling, who was the most energetic among the people present.
Whoosh.
There was a thin sound, and white smoke suddenly flew to Zhong Ling's body and penetrated into his skin.
"Hurry! Get out of here!!" Zhong Ling thought of the gust of wind that had just blown onto him, and became increasingly uneasy.
He grabbed He Xiaoguang and the other two people beside him, turned around and ran away.
The two of them also knew how powerful it was and had been following Zhong Ling for a long time, but this was the first time they had seen such a weird thing.
Who can cut a person into two pieces from the middle?
How much strength and speed is required to cut open a person so neatly.
After all, people will struggle, and the strength of bones and flesh is different everywhere.
The blade slides open easily.
A murderer who can do this, whether human or not, is definitely not someone they can mess with.
The three of them were so frightened that they moved very fast, ran down from the top of the mountain, and soon disappeared.
*
*
*
Dozens of miles away from Yuewu Mountain, in an oval valley basin.
Dense vegetation of all kinds covers the entire basin, and there is also a small and exquisite lake embedded in the corner of the valley.
At this time, on the shore of the lake, on the fine pebbles, a tall, thin woman with a dull face, wearing ordinary gray linen clothes, was squatting by the lake, cleaning her right hand.
Her entire right arm was covered with thick dark red blood plasma. During the cleaning process, it was gradually turning a small area of the lake water on the shore red.
"Sister, you went hunting again." Suddenly, a woman's voice came from the valley out of thin air.
The female voice is faintly visible, sometimes far away and sometimes close, and its specific location cannot be distinguished.
You can only tell from the timbre that the other person is very young.
"It's not easy to meet a man with strong blood. It's just a tooth ceremony. Why, you won't let me eat locals, but you also want to stop me from outsiders?" The dull woman made a move, stood up and shook off the water in her hand.
"I'm not trying to stop you, but sister, you are targeting my sister. I have been preparing good meat for a long time. This is a bit too much." The voice said softly.
"It's a joke, Ningcheng is so big. Anyone you meet is your meat? Minshan's mother is not as domineering as you!" The dull woman sneered disdainfully.
Nowadays, the world is in turmoil and warlords are separatist in various places. These warlord leaders do not rely solely on the soldiers under their command. They also have various collaborators behind them.
On this side of Ning City, there is a demon named Yun Si occupying the land.
"Little sister, I don't dare to compare myself with Old Mother Minshan, but if sister doesn't listen to her advice, if something happens in the future, don't blame me for not warning her in advance." The tone of the voice changed slightly.
The dull woman sneered and said nothing more.
Something will happen? If you eat a few humans who are like livestock, what else can happen?
It has been more than twenty years since they migrated to this land. No matter how they commit chaos and massacre, it is still nothing.
If she hadn't been worried about depleting the lake and eating too many people at once, causing the population to be reduced and relocated, she would have eaten her fill long ago.
"You don't have to worry about my affairs. Why weren't you so cautious in the early years? Is it possible that after changing into a physical body, you became less and less courageous?" the dull woman mocked.
"Sister, this land is extremely vast, and there have always been many unexplainable exaggerated records in the records left behind. Especially those who practice martial arts, there are actually terrifying Qi-blood warriors who can exert tens of thousands of kilograms of force with one palm.
When you hunt for prey, you should try to be more careful.”
Before the voice could finish speaking, the dull woman's body jumped up, and in a few strokes she transformed into a biting wind and disappeared from the spot.
After a long time, a long sigh slowly echoed in the valley.
Beside the small lake, a beautiful girl in a goose-yellow dress slowly emerged. Looking at the direction the dull woman left, she frowned slightly.
She knew very well that even if demons like them had some magic power, their strongest state was still their true form.
But even with their original bodies, it is difficult for them to hit tens of thousands of kilograms of force with one blow.
Only a few races of demons with extraordinary talents can do that.
"After so many years, are those records really just myths and legends?"
The girl gently held her braid on her chest and looked at the clear lake water in a trance.
She recalled the two paw prints she saw earlier when she climbed to the Immortal Platform.
The breath left in the paw prints
I couldn't help but be confused for a moment.
*
*
*
A few days later.
At the gate of Ningcheng.
The bustling flow of people in the early morning poured into the streets as the city gate opened.
In the crowd, two men, an old man and a young man, wearing dirty robes, were carrying two baskets of mushrooms and bamboo shoots, preparing to go to the city to sell them in exchange for travel expenses.
"Old man, you are always bragging about how you were really strong from 30 years ago. You can practice Qi and strengthen your body, and you can kill an elephant with one punch. The question is, with your old body and bones, you can't even lift a hundred kilograms of mountain goods. Can we do it?
Live a more realistic life, how about taking care of food and clothing first?"
The young man was carrying a large load of mountain goods, walking with difficulty and covered with sweat, following the old Taoist in front.
As he walked, he was still muttering in his mouth.
"You know what you're talking about. In recent years, the average life span has been too short. People will die if they don't exceed thirty-five years. In thirty years, a whole generation will be almost dead. There are too few people who can remember that time, otherwise now"
The old man wanted to say something more, but thinking of the current situation, his words stopped abruptly, he sighed, and said no more.
The young Taoist on the side shook his head.
"Speaking of which, I don't know if there is any case in Ningzhou city that can subsidize the family income."
As for Taoist priests, through the so-called magic techniques mastered by experienced Taoists, they can occasionally make a living by exorcising ghosts and catching monsters.
It is in these troubled times, where human life is like a piece of grass and demons and ghosts all appear to cause trouble, that people like them have a piece of food to eat.