Infinite Puzzle City

Chapter 678 The Golden Arrow Strikes
The human face in front of me, composed of countless vines, gradually came to life and become more vivid.

Its eyes are open, and its pupils are made up of many locust blossoms.

The face woven from vines suddenly glowed with a bluish-gray light, and the pupils formed from locust blossoms slowly rotated. The rustling sound of branches and leaves rubbing together gradually solidified into indistinct human words in Xiao Ran's ears: "Greetings... Envoy of the Underworld..."

The dry sound was like withered branches scraping against a stone slab. Xiao Ran's pupils contracted slightly. He hadn't expected that this ghostly locust tree could sense his identity. Although it wasn't quite right, it was very close.

"Do you know me?"

"No, it's...the smell."

Upon hearing Guihuai's words, Xiao Ran roughly understood, but did these trees also have a sense of smell?

However, Xiao Ran didn't dwell on the question and asked, "What did you ask me to come here for?"

"Chang'an... is not a place to go!"

A rustling sound came from deep within the tree canopy, and then countless vines wriggled and formed the outline of Chang'an City in front of Xiao Ran.

These vines constantly change, bringing to mind scenes of the city for Xiao Ran.

Within the city, towering white bone towers stood, and the streets were filled with all sorts of demons and monsters.

A vine is woven into the shape of a mischievous child, which looks very well-behaved and cute, but the next second it looks like a devil.

Not only the pedestrians on the street, but also the surrounding buildings are very strange.

What appeared to be an ordinary house was transformed in the blink of an eye into something resembling a meat grinder, turning everything inside into fragments.

There are many tombstones on the street, which occasionally appear out of nowhere behind people and pull them into the tombstones.

"Danger!!"

Ghost Locust reminded him again.

"You knew we were going to Chang'an?"

"I heard...it..."

The roots of the ghost locust tree are extremely long, and Xiao Ran had already noticed them on the way here.

From Xiao Ran's conversation, we learned that Xiao Ran and the others were heading to Chang'an, which is why they were waiting for them here.

"What if I really have to go?"

Ghost Locust remained silent for a moment, and then, one by one, the vines outlined the shape of the Chang'an Imperial City in front of Xiao Ran. Nine chains connected from all around the Imperial City, forming a dragon head.

Gui Huai seemed to want to express something, but at this moment, Xiao Ran suddenly felt the [Black Swan Brooch] on her chest emitting a blazing alarm.

A strong sense of crisis washed over Xiao Ran, making the hairs on her body stand on end.

This sense of crisis did not come from the ghostly locust tree, but from mid-air.

"squeak!!"

A sharp whooshing sound suddenly rang out at that moment.

The Ghost Locust Tree seemed to sense the danger as well, and countless vines rose from the ground, transforming into a mountain-sized hand that slammed into the air.

But the next second, a blinding golden light suddenly fell from the sky.

With a loud "bang!", countless vines exploded into fragments, which then flew down.

Seeing this, Xiao Ran took out the guillotine from his spatial storage. The blade stirred up a gust of yin wind, and countless invisible blade beams slashed towards the golden light.

Unexpectedly, Xiao Ran's sword light shattered in the face of this golden light.

It was as if anyone who got close to this golden light would be crushed by a force.

"Shhh!!"

At this moment, countless vines surged around, wrapping Xiao Ran up layer by layer.

Immediately afterwards, the tree canopy suddenly trembled violently, and a golden arrow pierced straight through the face in the tree canopy.

"boom!!!"

A terrifying golden light formed a visible golden storm within the tree canopy, its violent power shaving off the tree canopy completely.

The vines blocking Xiao Ran's way were torn apart layer by layer.

Xiao Ran peered through the gap and saw the gilded seal characters on the arrowhead, and her heart tightened instantly.

The words “By Mandate of Heaven” were clearly written on it.

Then on the other side of the arrowhead, there must be another four characters: 【既寿永昌】 (May you live long and prosper).

"It's the Imperial Seal of the State again!!"

Xiao Ran's face turned ashen, a thought flashing between his brows. The giant banner suddenly appeared behind him, its fluttering forcefully neutralizing the pressure of the arrows. Then, he slashed out with his broadsword.

The man's blade moved like lightning, slicing through the golden arrow.

With a loud "Bang!", the golden arrow exploded, turning into countless golden powders that scattered into the air.

But the Ghost Locust Tree was already broken into pieces, with huge gashes torn open from top to bottom in its massive trunk.

The dense canopy above has now been flattened.

On the other side of the canopy, there is an additional sloping hole that extends from the canopy all the way down to the base of the tree.

"Click click click click click~"

With a piercing tearing sound, vines emerged from under the tree roots, wrapping around the already torn trunk and preventing the injury from spreading further.

It seems that although Ghost Locust was seriously injured, it was fortunate that its life force was not completely extinguished.

At this moment, a crack appeared in front of Xiao Ran, revealing a secret chamber below.

It seems they're inviting me in.

Xiao Ran walked down the steps. The secret room was not large, only three to five square meters.

When Xiao Ran looked up, she was surprised to see that there was also a bright red stamp on the tree wall.

Clearly, Gui Huai was also a product created using the Imperial Seal of the State. What's puzzling is why Gui Huai would help him.

Just then, vines wriggled and lifted a box from the corner, placing it in front of Xiao Ran.

The box was opened, and inside was a skeletonized corpse. Judging from the clothes, the corpse was dressed in the clothes of a eunuch.

At this moment, Ghost Locust no longer had the ability to speak, and could only use its vines to write three crooked characters on the tree wall.

"Save Consort Li."

"Consort Li? You mean, I should go to Chang'an to help you rescue Consort Li?"

Several vines nodded in unison, confirming Xiao Ran's meaning.

At the same time, a side quest notification appeared in Xiao Ran's mind.

"You have triggered side quest 3: Consort Li. The quest is extremely difficult. You can choose whether to accept it!"

Mission Description: Find Consort Li and help her as much as possible.

Task Difficulty: Level A

Task Reward: Rank A

Task penalty: 20 attribute points will be deducted from your own attributes.

Looking at the prompt in front of her, Xiao Ran neither refused immediately nor chose to accept it right away.

He asked, "I don't know what Consort Li looks like. Besides, since she's a consort, she should be in the capital. I'm not sure I can find her."

At that moment, a vine tore a piece of bark off the tree wall and handed it to Xiao Ran.

The book cover contained a map of the interior of the imperial city, which also included a secret passage leading in and out of the palace.

In addition, a vine reached into the box and rummaged around for a while, and from the eunuch's remains, a jade pendant was taken out and handed to Xiao Ran.

Xiao Ran took the jade pendant and discovered that it was a cursed object.

Special cursed item: [Chief Steward's Waist Token] can be used without activation.

Privilege 1: Grand Eunuch
Holding this waist token allows one to transform into the Grand Eunuch, freely entering and exiting the Forbidden City without being affected by any protective objects.

Privilege 2: Imperial Grant

With this waist token, one can disregard the rules of supernatural tales within Chang'an City.

(Note: Each time you ignore the rules of the ghost story, you will pay a price. You can choose to pay with ghost money, or with your lifespan, health, luck, etc. The stronger the rule you ignore, the greater the price you will pay.)
This waist tag was clearly something Xiao Ran desperately needed; in a critical moment, it might just save her life.

"Okay, I'll take this mission, but I can't guarantee I can rescue Consort Li. I can only do my best to help her."

Xiao Ran didn't dare to make any definitive statements, because she couldn't guarantee anything should anything happen unexpectedly.

As for the punishment for the mission... Xiao Ran can only say that he will do his best and leave the rest to fate. If he really fails, he can still bear the 20 attribute points.

The vine nodded to Xiao Ran, indicating its tacit approval of her statement.

"Also, can I take this clothing? It's not convenient to have only a waist tag without any clothes."

Shu Teng simply handed the box directly to Xiao Ran.

Xiao Ran didn't stand on ceremony this time and directly put the box into her spatial storage.

Gui Huai was about to see Xiao Ran off.

However, since this guy was already on the verge of collapse, Xiao Ran decided to trouble him.

"I can go by myself. Take care of yourself. If I successfully rescue Consort Li, I will come back to find you."

After saying this, Xiao Ran cupped her hands in greeting to the surroundings and then jumped off the Ghost Locust Tree.

"How are you? What was that thing just now? It was so powerful!"

Seeing Xiao Ran return safely, everyone breathed a sigh of relief and immediately stepped forward to inquire about what had just happened.

“A golden arrow, also stamped, but its target doesn’t seem to be me, but this ghostly locust tree.”

Xiao Ran pointed to the ghost locust tree behind him. If it hadn't absorbed most of the power, he wouldn't have been able to cut the arrow so easily.

However, if that arrow had been aimed at him, he would probably have been badly injured, if not killed.

"Rumble..."

At this moment, Guihuai dragged his swaying body forward.

The surrounding yin energy grew heavier and heavier, as if layers of white mist enveloped the Ghost Locust Tree, before it gradually disappeared from everyone's sight.

"I see!"

As Xiao Ran watched the Ghost Locust disappear, he understood that the Ghost Locust had the ability to travel between Yin and Yang, and dealing with it would not have been an easy task in the past.

Once it escapes into the underworld, even the golden arrows cannot harm it.

This time, it was entirely due to its own fault that it failed to immediately retreat to the underworld, which is why it suffered such a severe blow.

"It was willing to suffer severe damage to ask me for help, which means that Consort Li is more important to it than its own life."

Thinking of this, Xiao Ran took out the box and opened it. The corpse inside had already turned into bones.

"I don't know if it will still be effective."

Xiao Ran took out the [Suppressing Calamity Token]. It turned out that the reason he asked for the clothes was actually because he wanted the skeleton in the box.

Who knows if Gui Huai's words are true or false? Since there are bones, let's just see if we can find any information on them.

He wasn't sure if the [Suppressing Calamity Decree] would still be effective now that everything had turned into bones.

Activating the [Suppressing Calamity Order], Xiao Ran used his privilege on the skeleton in the box.

As a beam of blue light shone on the white bones, a memory book appeared before Xiao Ran.

(End of this chapter)