Stone Fairy!

The two came down from the mountainside and quietly entered the village along the dirt road at the entrance.

The dirt roads in the village were full of potholes, and the earthen walls on both sides gleamed grayish-white in the night. Occasionally, a dog would bark from one of the courtyards, a few muffled barks, and then silence.

Xie Ning walked ahead, his steps extremely light, holding his spear in his hand with the tip pointing downwards, without making a sound.

Daozhen followed behind her, his steps equally silent, his robes fluttering gently in the night breeze without making a sound.

The two walked through the alleys, avoiding a few houses with their lights still on, and soon arrived at the center of the village.

The big elm tree was right in front of us.

The moonlight finally peeked out from behind the clouds, casting its clear glow and outlining the tree's silhouette.

It's even more breathtaking up close than from afar.

The trunk is thick, requiring several people to encircle it; the bark is cracked and crisscrossed with grooves, as if it has been etched with the marks of time.

The branches stretched out in all directions, blocking out the sky and the sun, with only a few moonlights leaking through the gaps in the leaves.

Elm seeds fell silently in the night breeze, shimmering with a faint glow under the moonlight.

The whole tree looked serene and solemn under the moonlight.

Xie Ning stopped in front of the tree, his gaze sweeping from the canopy to the roots, and then back from the roots to the canopy.

"You wait here," Xie Ning whispered to Dao Zhen, then stepped forward with his spear and slowly walked around the tree trunk.

Daozhen stood still, looking up at the large elm tree.

He could sense that a spirit was quietly dormant within the tree.

That spiritual energy was immense, like a bottomless pool of water, calm on the surface but concealing something unknown beneath.

At the same time, Daozhen also sensed many other things.

Numerous emotions, layer upon layer, enveloped that spirit, like countless layers of gauze, one covering the other.

There was joy, piety, anticipation, and fear... but more than anything, there was an overwhelming, malevolent aura.

The malevolent aura seemed to permeate the elm tree, even the fallen elm seeds carried a faint, almost imperceptible, bloody scent.

This tree has indeed consumed a lot of blood and gore.

Xie Ning noticed it too.

She stopped, her brow furrowed, and her grip on the spear tightened slightly.

Xie Ning was about to say something.

"Shhh..."

A series of light footsteps came from the other end of the alley, quick and soft, like something small running.

Daozhen turned his head and looked in the direction of the sound, somewhat surprised.

Under the moonlight, a small shadow was running quickly along the wall, its steps hurried and fragmented, glancing back every now and then, as if it were hiding from something.

As the shadow drew closer, Daozhen could see clearly that it was a seven or eight-year-old child with a dirty face, but with bright, dark eyes that shone in the moonlight.

The child ran over and spoke urgently to the two of them in a clear, melodious voice.

"You...you run!"

Xie Ning was taken aback, and instinctively held his spear horizontally in front of him.

"Grandpa Village Chief... has brought people to arrest you!" The child's eyes widened, filled with anxiety and fear. After saying this, he seemed to be frightened by something, turned around abruptly, and ran into the shadows across the alley, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

Before Xie Ning could ask any further questions, a commotion arose in the distance.

"This way! This way!"

"Quick! Don't let him get away!"

"Torch! Bring the torch here!"

The cacophony of voices, the cacophony of footsteps, and the clanging of metal blended together, sounding particularly jarring in the quiet night.

Firelight flared up from the other end of the alley, one cluster, two clusters, then a whole patch, the orange glow dancing on the earthen walls.

Xie Ning's expression changed, and he grabbed Dao Zhen's wrist: "Let's go!"

The two turned and ran, quickly retreating along the path they had come from, the noise behind them growing ever closer.

Xie Ning had already thoroughly familiarized himself with the terrain, and led Dao Zhen through several twists and turns, into a grove of trees at the west end of the village.

The two walked through the woods for a while, and the firelight and sounds behind them gradually faded into the distance, until only deep darkness remained.

The two went around in circles and finally returned to the mountainside where they had been hiding.

Xie Ning stopped behind a large rock and peered into the village.

The torches in the village were still burning, and a dozen or so people stood at the village entrance holding torches. The torchlight illuminated their faces, making them appear to be talking about something.

The person standing in the middle of the crowd was the middle-aged man who directed the people to set up the tent during the day.

He was facing the village entrance, his face grim, the firelight making his expression even more somber.

An old man stood beside the middle-aged man, his back hunched, leaning on a cane.

The old man had a scar on his brow bone that extended to his cheek, and the wrinkles on his face only made him look more fierce.

"The sacrificial ceremony cannot go wrong," the old man said urgently and in a low voice.

"Otherwise, none of us will survive."

The middle-aged man listened quietly to the sound, nodding occasionally.

After a while, the crowd dispersed, and most of the torches went out, but two or three clusters were still lit, clearly belonging to the people on night watch.

The large elm tree stood in the center of the village, its canopy bathed in moonlight, casting a huge shadow.

Xie Ning leaned against a large rock and let out a long breath.

"That elm tree definitely had a very strong demonic aura and a bloody smell," Xie Ning said in a low voice, as if reviewing the events.

"But it seems to have fallen asleep, otherwise it would have attacked us long ago when we were so close."

Xie Ning paused, her brows furrowing even more deeply.

"But since that demonic tree has been infected with human blood, we must deal with it as soon as possible."

"The longer it drags on, the more blood it consumes, the stronger its demonic nature becomes, and the harder it will be to deal with."

"I need to call for reinforcements." Xie Ning took something out of his pocket.

It was a paper crane about the size of a palm, folded exquisitely, with fine lines drawn on its wings, like some kind of talisman.

Xie Ning held the paper crane in his palm, and with his other hand he made a hand seal, injecting a spiritual energy into the paper crane.

The paper crane's wings trembled slightly, and then, surprisingly, it began to move on its own.

It first shook its wings, then stood up in Xie Ning's palm, fluttered into the air, and hovered in mid-air, turning its body slightly as if trying to find its way.

Xie Ning briefly recounted what had happened there.

After saying that, she waved her hand gently.

The paper crane circled once in the night sky, then flew southeast, getting farther and farther away, smaller and smaller, until it became an indistinct white dot and disappeared into the night.

Xie Ning withdrew his gaze and turned to look at Dao Zhen.

"This is a paper crane, specifically used for sending messages."

"This big elm tree is quite powerful; I don't think I can handle it alone." Xie Ning's tone was much more serious than before.

"Reinforcements should arrive tomorrow morning. Until then, let's keep an eye on things."

Daozhen nodded.

Indeed, that elm tree had lived for at least three hundred years, and it had developed sentience nearly a hundred years ago.

With a foundation spanning three hundred years, an accumulation of nearly a hundred years, and the nourishment from those blood-based foods... Xie Ning would indeed find it extremely difficult to face them alone.

Daozhen turned his gaze toward the village in the distance.

Under the moonlight, the big elm tree stood quietly, its branches outstretched, elm seeds falling, everything just as it had been during the day.

The night breeze stopped.

The woods suddenly fell silent, even the chirping of insects subsided.