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Chapter 345 Mysterious Man

Several small animals ran out of the bamboo basket.

His body was covered in pustules and he suffered from various ailments.

The illness made them very irritable, and once released, they ran around wildly.

There was also a small snake whose scales had fallen off its head, leaving cracks and bloody gashes.

It suddenly darted and disappeared into a hole in Pig Call Rock.

The four people quickly retreated.

The three people in the tree looked on in confusion: Where did these people come from?

The villages in the mountains all have their own ways of communicating with each other in secret.

Even a few old mountain runners who had grudges against each other were united when facing "outsiders".

If an outsider lives in the village and acts suspiciously, the mountain runners will definitely try to inform each other.

So these four people seemed to appear out of nowhere.

The sick little animals they released have all disappeared without a trace.

Xu Yuan couldn't help but think of "thrush crow".

Gao Guanzi and Bai Laoyan really wanted to follow and see, but everything had to be decided by Master Xu, so the two of them looked at Xu Yuan with longing eyes.

Xu Yuan considered for a moment, then said in a low voice, "Follow them."

The two immediately slid down from the tree and followed the four at a distance, close to Gao Guanzi's ears.

Even without Gao Guanzi, Xu Yuan could see the fates of the four people.

These four are all eighth-rate.

Moreover, they are all martial arts practitioners.

They are quite capable, but judging from their attire and behavior, they are just a group of odd jobs.

This inevitably leads people to speculate about the kind of person behind them.

After walking for seven or eight miles and crossing a mountain, the four people in front stopped.

Xu Yuan and his two companions stealthily approached, slowly drawing closer.

On a slope, Xu Yuan saw two tents.

The four men crawled into a tent.

Gao Guanzi pricked up his ears and whispered, "They are reporting to someone that things are done."

Then the four of them came out and went into another tent.

Gao Guanzi then said, "There are seven people in total."

Two people emerged from the previous tent, and a hunted wild deer was hanging outside the tent.

They started a fire, cut off pieces of venison, and began to roast it.

It's getting late, time for dinner.

The wild animals in these mountains, influenced by the yin energy, are all somewhat strange.

Suddenly, several insects crawled out of the deer's body.

It quickly grew wings and a long, thin mouthpart, and pounced on the two people.

The person tending the fire was a cultivator who calmly lit the flames, divided them into several balls, each engulfing a strange insect, and burned it to ashes in the blink of an eye.

Xu Yuan's eyes lit up.

This alchemist is a seventh-rate novice.

However, his control over fire is extremely exquisite.

Moreover, it follows a different approach from his own "Five Tripods Cooking".

Most alchemists, including Xu Yuan himself, control the "fire" within their abdomen.

The cultivator below first used the fire in his abdomen to ignite the firewood on the ground.

The fires that extinguished the strange insects were drawn from a bonfire.

In other words, this guy can control ordinary fire.

It is very likely that the "heat in the abdomen" is needed as a trigger.

But this is also a different approach.

Xu Yuan was thrilled by the prospect and even hoped to have the opportunity to exchange ideas with the other party on this topic.

The other person clearly trusted his companion very much.

He was completely unaffected by the strange insects flying out and continued to concentrate on marinating the venison.

Old Bai frowned and said in a low voice, "I know I may have seen wrong, but there are two great evil spirits lying down there. How can these people keep company with evil spirits?"

Gao Guanzi was taken aback: "Evil spirits? Where are there evil spirits?" Xu Yuan quickly understood and smiled: "It's those two tents."

He then further explained, "These people ventured deep into Ghost Mountain and didn't need to seek lodging in villages at night because they relied on these two tents."

"In the eyes of evil spirits, these two tents are two evil spirits of considerable strength."

The principle is the same as Xu Yuan's mud mask; both can be disguised as evil spirits.

Gao Guanzi immediately fell silent.

If I continue, I'll expose some of Old Man Bai's secrets.

Xu Yuan didn't care at all.

When I first saw Old Man Bai, I felt that something was wrong with his eyes.

The tent is one of the same kind in the eyes of evil spirits—why did Old Man Bai also see it as an evil spirit?

Furthermore, Gao Guanzi's ears are something no normal person would have.

To broaden the scope further, which of the villagers in Wangxiang Village doesn't exude a bit of eeriness?

The villagers and hikers in the mountains have lived in this Ghost Mountain for generations, and their bodies have inevitably been affected.

They were like the wild beasts in these mountains.

Xu Yuan watched for a while longer, mainly focusing on the alchemist.

While roasting the venison, Dan Xiu manipulated the flames, brushing them across the surface of the meat repeatedly.

Xu Yuan nodded repeatedly, showing great approval of this "fire control" technique.

Once the meat was cooked, they called the others out to eat.

Their leader also appeared.

This is a sixth-rate practitioner; Xu Yuan couldn't tell what kind of practice he was practicing.

This person appears to have an extraordinary demeanor, clearly someone who has long held a high position.

Xu Yuan waved to the two old mountain runners, and they quietly left together.

"We need to find a place to spend the night."

Old Man Bai and Gao Guanzi exchanged a glance, and finally Old Man Bai said, "We can only go to the Shrine of the Goddess."

This place is near Guanghuo Street.

Even people who run in the mountains don't come here often, so no one has built shelters around here.

It was just a makeshift structure... The evil spirits here are powerful, and the shack is not safe.

Two old mountain runners led Xu Yuan to a high cliff.

Old Bai took a bundle of rope from his waist, found the location, lowered the rope, and said to Gao Guanzi while holding the rope, "Go down and take a look first."

"it is good."

Gao Guanzi slid down the rope.

Xu Yuan stood on the edge of the cliff, craning his neck to look down at Gao Guanzi.

Gao Guanzi descended to a position several dozen feet below, where there was a small stone niche.

It's unknown when or when it was carved out.

There is no passageway either up or down.

Gao Guanzi crawled inside, and after a moment he poked his head out and tugged at the rope, saying to the cliff above, "It's safe to stay here, come down."

Old Bai tied the rope to a large rock nearby and went down first.

Xu Yuan controlled the fire wheel and flew down after it.

This stone niche is extremely narrow; it was originally only large enough for one person to live in.

It was a bit crowded when three people came in.

Old Bai said, "Sir, please make do for one night."

He told Xu Yuan about the origin of this place: "Decades ago, there was a village near Pig Calling Rock called Qidou Village..."

The old mountain runner in the village is the most skilled of all the mountain runners.

He carved out several of these stone niches.

But in the end, the village still suffered a disaster; overnight, everyone, including the old mountain runner, disappeared.

Where the village once stood, only a huge claw mark remained!

...It was as if the entire village had been snatched away from the world by some unknown monster!
Old Bai pointed in a certain direction: "It's over there, about twenty miles away. Now, the paw prints have accumulated a lot of rainwater and spring water, turning into a small lake."

Gao Guanzi then said to Xu Yuan, "You can stay here overnight, but there's a problem. 'Gu Xianniang' might come to measure your length tonight."

(End of this chapter)