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Chen Zhaoning and Li Wei's expressions also changed drastically.

"Sticky rice……"

They gasped in surprise, completely at a loss.

"Snap!"

Suddenly, a series of cracking sounds came from Nuomi's tiny body.

Immediately afterwards, the fingers that were originally gripping Chen Yuan's arms suddenly grew sharp nails, more than twenty centimeters long, piercing Chen Yuan's flesh, and bright red blood slowly seeped out.

"Nuomi! Little Nuomi! What's wrong with you?"

Chen Yuan was terrified. Ignoring the excruciating pain from Nuomi's fingernails piercing his arms, he anxiously called out Nuomi's name.

At the same time, he placed his left palm on the top of her head, trying to absorb the sudden surge of evil energy within her body.

"what……"

The glutinous rice emitted a piercing hiss, causing Chen Yuan and the other two to feel a sharp pain in their eardrums.

"Snap... snap!"

Immediately afterwards, her body twisted violently, she suddenly broke free from Chen Yuan's embrace, and leaped out, landing on a tree trunk in a bizarre and astonishing pose.

Her limbs were bent backwards at the joints, and her belly was up, like the legs of a spider.

Her head twisted around her neck and extended forward at a 90-degree angle, staring intently at Chen Yuan and the other two.

"Hehehe..."

She let out a sinister laugh, which was extremely chilling and made Chen Yuan and the others' scalps tingle.

In addition, her eyes gleamed with a scarlet light, her hair stood on end, and she had fangs nearly ten centimeters long growing out of her mouth!

This scene left Chen Yuan and his two companions dumbfounded, completely frozen in place.

"Ah...A-Yuan!"

"What... what's going on?"

"How did the glutinous rice turn out like this?"

Li Wei's voice trembled, his heart clenched, and his face was filled with anxiety.

Chen Yuan's eyes were bloodshot as he rushed anxiously to the tree, reaching out to Nuomi on the trunk and calling out urgently, "Little Nuomi, come down quickly! It's your brother Yuan! Look..."

Before he could finish speaking, Nuomi hissed and spat a clump of sticky spider web at Chen Yuan's face. Then she turned and leaped onto another tree trunk, climbing up rapidly like a spider.

Before long, she leaped several times from the treetop and disappeared into the vast forest.

"Glutinous rice! Little glutinous rice!"

Chen Yuan was extremely anxious, his expression changed drastically, and ignoring the sticky spider webs on his face, he immediately took off after them.

Chen Zhaoning and Li Wei quickly followed, not daring to delay for even a moment.

The three searched the mountains and forests for most of the day, but still couldn't find Nuomi.

"Damn it!"

"Fuck you, what the hell is going on?"

Standing atop a mountain, Chen Yuan roared at the vast, boundless forest, his anger almost bursting from his chest, his heart filled with resentment and self-reproach.

Lu Chengfeng is dead... He promised Lu Chengfeng that he would take good care of Nuomi!

But now, the glutinous rice is gone too.

Damn it, what kind of mess is this?!

Chen Yuan roared with grief and indignation in his heart.

"Ah Yuan, why don't we bury Uncle Lu first? Otherwise, his body will start to rot. It would be good for him to rest in peace."

At Chen Zhaoning's prompting, Li Wei timidly spoke to Chen Yuan.

At this moment, Chen Yuan was like a furious lion. He was even a little afraid that Chen Yuan might also completely lose control.

"call--"

Upon hearing this, Chen Yuan could only take a deep breath, suppress his anger and impatience, and nod heavily.

He glanced around and thought it would be perfect to bury Lu Chengfeng on this mountaintop, with a pine tree nearby for company.

Li Wei moved the stone tablet over, and Chen Yuan, holding the iron spike in his hand, carefully carved five characters onto the tablet, stroke by stroke.

[The Tomb of Lu Chengfeng]!

These five simple words carry an immense weight.

Afterwards, the three sat down beside the tombstone, quietly guarding the grave mound.

Without paper money, candles, or incense, they could only sit in silence to express their grief.

Finally, as the black sun in the sky slowly slanted westward, and the last ray of gray light fell upon the three of them, Chen Yuan stood up again and solemnly bowed to the tombstone.

Upon seeing this, Chen Zhaoning and Li Wei immediately stood up and followed suit in bowing.

"Uncle Lu, please rest in peace here. I'm going to find Nuomi. I'm worried about her being alone. Don't worry, I will find her."

Then you will be here looking down upon this world, and witnessing how my words will be fulfilled.

After Chen Yuan finished speaking, he turned around and walked down the mountain.

"Add one, Uncle Lu, whatever A-Yuan promised you, I, Li Wei, will do the same!"

Li Wei said something and immediately chased after Chen Yuan.

Chen Zhaoning glanced at Lu Chengfeng's tombstone and the newly protruding grave mound, and sighed deeply.

Finally, she glanced one last time at the departing figures of the two.

In the hazy, slanting sunlight, Chen Yuan and Li Wei cast very long shadows... like menacing demons, as if, once they descended the mountain, they would turn the world upside down.

"Uncle Lu, thank you for taking me in and for spreading the teachings. I will watch over the wild boy you picked up, to see how he will turn the beasts and demons of this world upside down, and how he will make the so-called gods die..."

Chen Zhaoning murmured to himself, pulled over the big black horse that was snorting beside the tombstone, immediately mounted it, and chased after the two boys.

Soon, the three people and a large black horse were swallowed up by the thick darkness of the night.

······

Just a few breaths after Chen Yuan and the others left, a tall old man with white hair and beard, dressed in a plain robe, descended from the sky and landed steadily beside the tombstone.

He glanced in the direction the two boys and girls had ridden away on horseback, then turned his gaze to the new grave and tombstone beside him.

His gaze sharpened slightly, finally settling on the three characters "Lu Chengfeng" on the tombstone, where he remained motionless for a long time.

"It's truly lamentable that Lu Chengfeng, a genius of his generation, died in such a meager state..."

The old man in the plain robe sighed softly, raised his hand, and countless pieces of paper money fell from the sky, fluttering and covering the entire grave mound.

Immediately afterwards, he flipped his sleeves and placed incense, candles, liquor, and cooked meat in front of the tombstone.

"Come, let me offer you a toast."

The old man in the plain robe spoke, his eyes filled with melancholy, and murmured softly, "You can cultivate the 'Heavenly Light Demon-Slaying Technique,' so you must be that person's disciple. Speaking of which, I'm practically your senior uncle..."

The old man in the plain robe fell silent for a long time after saying this.

He seemed to be thinking about many things from his youth, and those times that could never be returned.

Finally, he sighed softly, looked down the mountain again, narrowed his old eyes, and whispered:

"As for what that kid said, I'll keep an eye on it for you, and at the same time, I'll help you keep an eye on him."

As soon as he finished speaking, a gust of wind blew gently, swirling up the scattered paper money on the ground and sending it floating into the air, as if silently responding to the old man's words.

"The sky was bright..."

The old man looked at the paper money fluttering in the sky, murmured a sentence, and then his figure rose into the air and quickly disappeared into the horizon.

------

Tianqing County.

The city here is extremely magnificent, with city walls reaching 30 to 40 meters high, towering and spectacular, like a giant black dragon coiled on the earth.

Chen Yuan and his two companions followed the large black horse to the foot of the county city, their faces solemn.

"Big Dark Horse, are you sure Little Nuomi's presence is here?"

Li Wei looked at the dark horse and asked with a puzzled expression.

The big black horse lowered its head, snorted, and nudged Chen Yuan, whose expression was cold and whose face was so dark it could drip water, giving an affirmative response.

"Holy crap, A-Yuan, that's a horse! Even a mutated horse isn't a dog! How can it find people?"

Li Wei's eyes widened, his face filled with disbelief.

The dark horse rolled its eyes at Li Wei, looking disdainful.

"It's better to believe it exists than to believe it doesn't."

Chen Yuan's voice was low and his tone was full of helplessness.

Now that things have come to this, they have no other choice.

The forest outside is boundless, and finding a glutinous rice grain that has turned into a spider is undoubtedly like finding a needle in a haystack.

Moreover, further west lies the ruins of gods and demons, a place fraught with boundless danger.

Even though they were led by Lu Chengfeng, they dared not approach the ruins of gods and demons.

They searched the forest for several days but found no trace of Nuomi, and almost went to look for the ruins of gods and demons.

Fortunately, this dark horse can understand human speech and is trying its best to express itself, saying that it can smell the aroma of glutinous rice.

So the group arrived at Tianqing County City.

"But if Nuomi really comes here, can she get into the city by herself?"

Li Wei still had some doubts.

Riding on his big black horse, Chen Zhaoning couldn't help but look up at the high city wall. "What if Nuomi, like a spider, crawls up the wall and gets inside?"

Chen Yuan and Li Wei felt heavy-hearted and strained to look at the tall city wall, as if trying to find traces of the spider's crawl.

At this moment, Chen Zhaoning's gaze fell on the open area outside the county town... There, there was a dilapidated camp built with cloaks.

The campsite was quite large, and it was bustling with people coming and going.

Chen Zhaoning narrowed his eyes, his expression growing increasingly grave: "Perhaps, Nuomi didn't enter the city."

Chen Yuan also noticed the camp outside the city, and an ominous premonition instantly rose in his heart: "What kind of place is that?"

"A place where displaced people gather, that is... a refugee camp."

Chen Zhaoning closed her eyes and sighed softly, "At the same time, it's also a place where human trafficking is carried out in secret."

Upon hearing this, Chen Yuan's face instantly turned ashen, and the chill emanating from him seemed to freeze the surrounding air: "Let's go, let's go take a look!"

As he spoke, he subconsciously touched the kitchen knife and iron spikes on his back, his knuckles turning white from the force.

Li Wei gasped, unable to help but mutter, "Human trafficking? They dare to do this in broad daylight outside the county town?"

"Is there any light in the sky anymore? It's already dark."

Chen Zhaoning's tone was helpless, and her eyes were full of sorrow.

……