Yin Shou Shu

Chapter 256 Ants
The azalea bushes were enormous, covering the entire courtyard, with their sprawling branches and flowers even extending to the corridor under the eaves.

If you can't touch the flowers, then obviously you can't move forward.

The road ahead seemed to have come to an abrupt end.

Ran Qing thought for a moment and said, "Zong Shu, fire."

As soon as the voice fell, three flames suddenly ignited on Long Zongshu's shoulders.

He exhaled sharply, and a torrent of flames shot forward.

The rhododendron branches in front seemed to have a life of their own, all avoiding being burned by the Dragon Tree's unknown fire.

Seeing this, Mo Li breathed a sigh of relief: "We can go now."

The worst thing about exorcising ghosts and evil spirits is being unable to harm the target.

As long as the opponent can be injured, the terror of the evil spirit will be greatly reduced.

But Ran Qing glanced inside and shook her head: "No, let's go back."

Even though she had already burned a path through the flames, Ran Qing didn't go any further; instead, she turned back.

He shook the bell for transporting corpses, turned around with the paper figure, quickly crossed the threshold, and returned to the small courtyard he had been in before.

The courtyard, filled with a deathly green aura, was empty and desolate.

Mo Li, who followed closely behind, widened his eyes: "Huh? Where are those hydrangeas?"

When I passed by this yard just now, it was clearly full of dark hydrangeas.

Ran Qing was not surprised.

He coldly surveyed his surroundings and said, "It's not a ghost wall, it's these flowers that are moving, they've been chasing us."

The entire courtyard of this fox den was built exactly the same, with the exact same specifications.

Once a similar sea of ​​flowers appears, it's as if you've returned to a courtyard you once passed by.

"So we've been walking in the whole time? Without stopping?" Long Zongshu was even more confused: "Is this house really that big?"

That fox den doesn't have that many foxes, so how come their house is so big...?

Just as Ran Qing was about to speak, a familiar voice suddenly rang out from the neighboring courtyard, calling out to Ran Qing and the other two.

"...The fox dens are all connected, there are only six in total, but the four gates are linked, so no matter which direction you go, you will enter another den."

"So you can't get out at all!"

The voice suddenly rang out in the courtyard, startling everyone.

Mo Li asked in surprise, "That corpse-driving Taoist?"

That voice with the Xiangxi accent was so distinctive; it was clearly the same corpse-driving Taoist priest we had encountered before.

Ran Qing looked at the neighboring courtyard and asked, "Taoist Master, are you here too? Weren't you going to find the ancient tomb of the Miao King?"

It can't be such a coincidence that this place is a cat temple, a fox den, a ghost in the tree, and was once the tomb of the ancient Miao king, right?
After Ran Qing finished speaking, the old Taoist priest's smirk rang out from the next courtyard: "I'm sorry to have made you three laugh... I was captured by that den of foxes. If you had come any later, I might have already been skinned and cooked by them."

"Could you three young masters please help me untie this rope? I have a general idea of ​​what's going on in this yard and I'd be able to help you."

The old Taoist priest's voice was humble and ingratiating, a far cry from the arrogance he had displayed during their previous encounter.

Ran Qing listened for a while, then shook her head: "Daoist, don't lie to me. Is your place actually a trap? You want to lure us there to be killed by ghosts?"

As soon as Ran Qing finished speaking, the old Taoist priest in the next courtyard became furious: "You brat, how could you slander me out of nowhere... Waaaaaah! It hurts!"

"I didn't say it, he guessed it himself, don't gouge my eyes out!"

Before the old Taoist priest could finish his denial, a shrill scream rang out.

The piercing screams were mixed with the sound of blood splattering and the sound of something spherical being crushed.

And there was the old Taoist priest's shrill scream.

"My eyeballs! Ahhhhh! Kids! Run!"

"This ghost is waaaaah..." The old Taoist's screams were quickly interrupted by an awkward, muffled whimper.

His mouth was clearly gagged.

This act of covering one's mouth is definitely not very friendly.

Even through the courtyard wall, Ran Qing and the others could hear the chilling, painful gasps coming from inside.

The old Taoist priest from western Hunan seemed to be in extreme pain, but he couldn't let out a scream; he could only sob in agony.

Hearing the commotion, Long Zongshu became extremely anxious and rushed over to save the person.

But as soon as he lifted his foot, Ran Qing grabbed him with all her might.

"Zongshu, don't go! It's a trap!"

Ran Qing knew very well how kind-hearted her companion was.

But the more critical the situation, the less you should act impulsively.

The old Taoist priest was cruelly tortured for risking his life to deliver a message to them.

But Ran Qing forced herself to stay calm, wondering if this was also a trap.

There is another stratagem among the Thirty-Six Stratagems called the "Self-Inflicted Inju

Mo Li looked at the neighboring house in confusion and asked, "Since the courtyards here are connected end to end, why does the ghost need to lead us there? Couldn't it just wait in the courtyard we're going to?"

This trap is a bit strange.

Ran Qing stared at the neighboring courtyard and said, "Ignore it, let's keep retreating."

If this courtyard is indeed as the old Taoist priest described, with its six courtyards connected end to end, it's easy to prove.

The four returned the way they came, only to find that the courtyard in front of them was also deserted, no longer the courtyard they had seen before.

In the center of the desolate courtyard stood a stone pillar.

A dirty, filthy old Taoist priest, his face covered in blood, was tied to a stone pillar. His face was filled with terror and covered in blood.

His mouth was sewn shut with thick, black stitches, leaving his lips in a horrifyingly miserable state.

Fresh blood kept oozing from the stitches in his mouth, making people's scalp tingle and unable to imagine the excruciating pain he must be in.

His eyeball was now just a blood-red hole, constantly bleeding, clearly indicating that it had been gouged out while he was still alive.

The bloody and gruesome scene caused Ran Qing and the other two to change their expressions and subconsciously look around.

But they found that there was only an old Taoist priest tied to a stone pillar in the courtyard, and they did not see any ghosts.

The ghost seems to have left.

Upon seeing the three men appear, the old Taoist priest's eyes widened suddenly, and he frantically nodded and struggled to signal them to come and save him.

Mo Li hesitated: "Ran Qing, what should we do..."

The old Taoist priest looked terrible, but he had just been with the ghost. Who would dare to go and save him now?

The sight of someone tied to a stone pillar is clearly a trap, so obvious it couldn't be more obvious.

Ran Qing thought for a moment, then shook the corpse-driving bell, and one of the paper figures floated over stiffly.

After the old Taoist priest was rescued from the stone pillar, the courtyard was deathly silent, and there was no sign of any traps or unusual activity.

The old Taoist priest hurriedly pointed to the top of his head and let out a wailing sound.

The three people in the corner of the courtyard subconsciously looked up at the sky above the courtyard.

The next second, the expressions of all three of them changed.

In the night sky above the courtyard, a terrifyingly large, pale, dead face coldly stared at the courtyard.

The three people standing in the courtyard looked as small as ants in a sand table model at that moment...

(End of this chapter)