no soul

The moonlight was pale, and the night in the forest was deep and shallow. The blood river was still running endlessly beside him, but there was no sound of water, and the surrounding was terribly dead silent.

Lin Hong was worried that he would run into that red-clothed female ghost again.

Fortunately, after walking for a while, I didn't bump into her.

It was too quiet, Lin Hong felt a little guilty, and started chatting with the only living person around him to ease the atmosphere.

He touched Wan Guchuan with his elbow: "Brother Sufeng, you were in the capital before you came here, right?"

Wan Guchuan glanced at him, "Yes."

"In other words, this place is fixed here, we need to go to the river to enter this place." Lin Hong thought with his alcohol-numbed head, "But I have never been to the river, this is This is the first time this kind of strange thing happened..."

Wan Guchuan didn't answer.

"Oh!" Lin Hong justified himself, "This female ghost is guarding the river today. Unfortunately, we met her and brought her in."

"Tell me, when the cock crows or the sun rises, more people pass by the river, will she pull more people in?" Lin Hong looked at Wan Guchuan.

Wan Guchuan still didn't answer.

There is silence all around...

Lin Hong felt that his goal of easing the atmosphere had not been achieved, "Speak up...I'm afraid..."

"..." Wan Guchuan cherishes words like gold, "Maybe..."

He doesn't know much more than Lin Hong now, and everything can only be hypothetical.

Lin Hong continued to break the silence, "Then did we come in as a whole, or just three souls and seven souls? Maybe the female ghost used some kind of sorcery to make us hallucinate, but in fact we all just stood still."

Wan Guchuan stopped suddenly and stared in one direction.

Lin Hong noticed his change, and immediately didn't dare to move, and didn't dare to look in the direction he was looking, "What? Don't scare me, what did you see?"

Wan Guchuan raised his chin in that direction, "There is someone there."

"The woman in red??"

"No."

Lin Hong looked in the direction he indicated——

Sitting on the stone in the other side was a boy in a long blue dress, about 17 years old, looking dully at the sky with a few stars hanging on it.

Lin Hong could see the despair on his face...

Wan Guchuan walked over.

"Hello!" Lin Hong called him in a low voice from behind.

Wan Guchuan had already walked in front of that person, "Excuse me, do you know what's going on?"

The man's face turned slowly, his dull eyes fell on his face, "Are you dead too?"

Wan Guchuan was silent for a while, "Not yet."

"Isn't this the underworld?" the man continued.

Well, another person who doesn't understand the situation.

"The underworld? I won't die by stepping on the water by the river, right?" Lin Hong came from behind.

"I'm not dead!" the boy said in surprise, "I was shocked, I thought I was dead."

"My surname is Duan and my name is Yu, and my name is Ruili." The young man stood up and introduced himself.

The three exchanged names and what happened to them.

Duan Yu said that at night, he was reading ghost books with candles under the covers, and when he got out of bed to go to the toilet, he saw a woman in red standing not far away, staring at him and waving at him. He was so scared that he ran away. Then came here out of nowhere.

Duan Yu was not in the capital before he came here, he was in the ancient flag city far away from the capital.

Lin Hong's conjecture was overturned, "It's not that you will meet the female ghost when you walk to the moat. The female ghost chose the three of us premeditatedly and brought us here. But why?"

Duan Yu's legs were shaking when he heard that the female ghost was planning to find him, "I have a clear conscience and will never do anything wrong!"

Lin Hong asked himself that he had never done anything wrong, "Don't worry about how we got in, let's figure out our current situation and how we can go back."

"So you are now guessing that we were trapped in a strange place by... female ghosts? - here." Duan Ruili pointed to the ground.

Lin Hong said: "Basically, it doesn't matter whether it's the whole person or the soul, it's considered trapped—otherwise, what else can I say? I don't know whether this place is real or a female ghost's fiction—I hope It's a dream."

"It's not a dream. Look, my hands have been bitten off." Duan Yu pitifully raised his bloody hand to show Lin Hong.

Lin Hong: "..." He is a ruthless person.

Wan Guchuan said: "We all saw that woman in red beckoning—find her first."

Duan Yu wanted to cry.Lin Hong wanted to cry.

With no choice, the three continued to walk upstream along the river.

Another living person came, Lin Hong was very happy, obviously this young man was more interesting than Wan Guchuan, "Hey, how old are you?"

"Seventeen." Duan Yu is not handsome, but he is thin-skinned and tender, looking clean and likable.

Lin Hong has been overwhelmed by his elder brother, and really wants to have a younger brother who can be bullied, "Call 'Brother' to listen."

"Brother!" Duan Yu was very obedient, shouting crisply.

Lin Hong was silly.

The woods were dark, and the footsteps of the three of them rustled, and even a slight sound could be amplified infinitely by the silent woods.

"Tsk..." Lin Hong stopped suddenly.

Wan Guchuan also stopped.

"Why? What happened?" Duan Yu asked him, just about to look in the direction of his gaze...

Lin Hong covered his eyes.

Duan Yu:?

But I saw a red figure standing among the shadows of trees in the distance, like a wisp of smoke in the darkness, watching them quietly.

Wan Guchuan pressed his sword to go up, but Lin Hong grabbed him, "Observe first."

However, as soon as he finished speaking, the red figure had disappeared, as if they were just dazzled.

The atmosphere suddenly became dignified.

Duan Yu pulled Lin Hong's hand from his eyes, a little dazed and a little scared, his heart pounding, "What's the matter?"

Lin Hong was sober. He said: "'Silence does not speak, it's strange and chaotic'. I used to believe it, but now I have to 'speak'."

Although Duan Yu didn't see it, he understood as soon as Lin Hong said it, and rubbed the goosebumps on his hands, "I'm most afraid of these..."

Lin Hong managed to force out a smile, "Don't be afraid, I will protect you."

"What should we do now? Do we really have to move forward?" Duan Yu was in a state of lingering fear. This kind of thing had never happened to him in the past 17 years.

Wan Guchuan said: "She recruited us but didn't kill us. There must be something wrong. Meeting her shows that the direction is right—or she is leading the way."

Lin Hong glanced at him, wondering why this man is so courageous...Knowing that the ghost is guiding the way, he still has to follow...

Duan Yu was terrified, pulled Lin Hong's sleeves, and walked close to him.

Lin Hong: "Hey, don't break it."

Duan Yu: "..."

After a few miles, they heard someone talking in the forest.Hazy in the deep forest like a ghostly riddle...

Duan Yu pulled Lin Hong's sleeve tighter.

Lin Hong's footsteps also stopped, and he listened with bated breath, his voice was indistinct, and he couldn't distinguish clearly.

Wan Guchuan looked at the source of the sound. Behind the bushes, he walked over with light steps, stopped halfway, and saw the person opposite.

"what!!!"

A woman screamed through the night.

Duan Yu was so startled that he squeezed towards Lin Hong.

"Who are you!" Behind the bushes was a pair of young men and women, they looked terrified, looked at the three of them, their whole bodies were tense, and the man was pointing at them with a wooden stick in his hand.

The clothes of the two are neither gorgeous nor shabby, and the materials used are not bad. They look like small merchants in the city. They are holding hands and they should be a couple.

Seeing that these two people were so scared, it must be because they were in a similar situation. Lin Hong relaxed a little and greeted them, "Don't panic, you two, we also entered here inexplicably."

The man and woman looked at each other, but they didn't relax their vigilance. The man still held his stick, "What's going on?"

"To be honest, we don't know." Lin Hong looked at the stick in the man's hand, "It's not necessary to be so tense, it's better to discuss how to go back together."

Only then did the man hang down the wooden stick, but he still kept a distance from them.

Lin Hong glanced at Wan Guchuan, who was standing a few steps in front of him.

Under the current circumstances, Lin Hong still trusts the person who helped him repel the female ghost. With him around, Lin Hong is not afraid of this couple, but he is not like seeing the young boy Duan Yu. As familiar as he is, he said seriously: "The three of us all met a woman in red and came here, I wonder if the two of you also met?"

"Yes." The man sighed, "There is a young child at home, crying in the middle of the night, our husband and wife slept late, and saw a woman standing outside the window staring at us and smiling. When I regained my senses, my son disappeared, and we The two are in the forest."

"I don't know if Xing'er is okay." The woman frowned, with a nervous and worried expression, and grabbed her husband's arm.

Lin Hong didn't quite know whether the female ghost would distract the couple and hurt the child. "Don't worry, you two. We plan to follow the direction directed by the female ghost to check. Do you want to go the same way?"

The husband and wife looked at each other, and the man nodded.

They introduced double.

The man's name is Guo Zigui, and the woman's name is Jiang Jiao. As Lin Hong guessed, their family is indeed a small business.

The five continued to trek through the forest.

The couple was very guarded, and kept lagging behind the three of them, unwilling to get too close.

They were so defensive, which made Lin Hong inexplicably nervous, and in turn felt that there was something wrong with the two of them.

The night was getting thinner, and Lin Hong's feet hurt after walking for some time.

Dawn slowly dawned in the sky, glowing with rays.

Duan Yu pointed at one place and exclaimed: "Look!"

Several people looked over, and saw that the blood river next to it was washed away in the golden sunlight, became clear, and was rushing continuously, with white water splashing.

"Huh? Is it back to normal and we went out?" Duan Yu's eyes lit up.

Lin Hong broke his fantasy, "No, the surrounding scenery is still the same as before, and it's not the midsummer outside."

Still a little cool, like spring.

At this time, a few clusters of cooking smoke rose from the woods ahead, and the faint smell of food wafted in the air.

There must be a village.

All five of them saw it.

Lin Hong smiled, "It's saved." Finally, I don't have to be a headless chicken.

This village is surrounded by mountains and rivers, and it is rich.

Houses and villages, with gray tiles and mud walls, are patchwork.

There is a wisp of white smoke coming out of the chimneys of every household, and the smell of food from hundreds of families is mixed together, which is the smell of rural people.

There are layers of terraced fields along the hillside. Men and women are wearing bamboo hats and trousers, planting seeds, and most of them have just had breakfast and are raising hoes.

"Has... people from outside already settled down here?" Duan Yu was about to cry, "We won't be unable to go back, should we live in this village like this?"

Lin Hong believed everything he said.

When the villagers saw five foreigners coming, they were very curious and looked at them with kind smiles on their faces.

The child also propped his head and looked straight here.

Wan Guchuan looked around, and Duan Yu squeezed behind Lin Hong.

The couple was even more nervous.

"Hey, where did the five come from? We rarely come here." An old woman asked them with a smile while holding a basket, with kind eyes.

Since this aunt asked them where they came from normally, she must have no knowledge. The situation is different from theirs, and they may be locals.

Thinking about it, Lin Hong smiled warmly, "Ma'am, we lost our way in the forest, I would like to ask you, where are we?"

He smiled cutely, and the aunt was very happy when she saw it, "We are a small border village in Yongyan Qishan Mountain. It is normal for you to get lost on the mountain road."

Yongyan?Isn't this the name of Chuanshan City in the Chen Dynasty?

But the Chen Dynasty is 300 years away from the current Dazheng Dynasty...

"Big... aunt, what dynasty is it now?" Lin Hong's expression became unnatural.

The aunt laughed at him, "Damn! Are you lost and confused? Of course it is the Great Chen Dynasty! The emperor is still sitting on the dragon chair in the capital, and the world is in prosperity."

Duan Yu was so frightened that he grabbed Lin Hong's sleeve tightly.

The couple were also surprised.

Everyone in Lin Hong was dumbfounded, and finally recovered his voice, "How dare I forget, I don't think this place looks like a peach blossom garden, and I suspect that you are the former people who avoided chaos?"

This made the aunt very happy, "This child can really talk, our small mountain village is self-sufficient and very harmonious, it really looks like a paradise!"

Lin Hong asked, "Are there other people besides you?"

The aunt said: "We are already at the border, where are others."

Wan Guchuan, who was silent on the side, spoke, "Has anything happened to you here?"

"What can happen here, my son is going to get married tomorrow!" The aunt said happily, "Don't say such bad things, since you guys have caught up, don't hurry, just stay at my house , come tomorrow to make a fuss at the wedding banquet! Be happy!"

Lin Hong thought, there is nothing he can do now, let's take a look, "Then I will trouble my aunt."

"Hey! Come with me." The aunt smiled and motioned for them to lead them the way.

Lin Hong was about to follow, but Wan Guchuan pinned his shoulders.

"What?" Lin Hong asked him.

"Their heels didn't even touch the ground." Wan Guchuan said in a low voice.

Lin Hong was shocked when he heard the words, and looked over with his neck stiffened.

I saw pedestrians coming and going in the village, people talking and laughing, and children playing and laughing-everyone's heels were hanging in the air, tiptoeing.

It's like a person is being lifted up by a rope...

Duan Yu gasped.

Lin Hong collected himself, "Maybe it's...their unique way of walking?"

Wan Guchuan looked at him and let go of his shoulders, "Which book records Chen Chaoren walking on tiptoe?"

The aunt urged them in front, "What's the matter? Aren't you coming?"

Lin Hong raised his forehead, "How about... let's run."

"Go to the meeting and find out what's going on." Wan Guchuan has already followed the aunt.

"..." Lin Hong kept staring at Wan Guchuan's heels from behind, suspecting that he was with the villagers for being so bold.

"That... the three of you." Guo Zigui called them from behind.

Lin Hong looked back at him.

"My husband and I will not go, we are going to continue walking into the woods." Guo Zigui said

Just now Jiang Jiao also noticed that these people were stepping on their feet, she would not live in it no matter what, she would rather walk in the woods!And she was very worried about her Xing'er, the woman in red was in the woods, maybe she took her Xing'er away?

Lin Hong opened his mouth, wanting to say that it is safer for everyone to be together, but he is really not sure about the current situation. He can tell where is the way to life and where is the way to die, "Okay... be careful, both of you. .”

The aunt's house is not spacious, but it is very tidy.

Only the aunt and one child are at home.

The children had just woken up, their hair was a mess, and a pair of dark eyes were staring at them.

Lin Hong blinked at him, "Little brother, how old are you?"

The child stretched out his hand and gestured, "Eight years old."

Lin Hong was quite surprised, "Auntie, your son is going to get married at the age of eight?"

"No way! This is my youngest son. My eldest son has gone hunting for tomorrow's banquet. It's early in the morning and he just went out." The aunt said while putting down the basket in her hand.

"It's still early today, so go for a stroll in the village." The aunt picked up her youngest son, "I'll entrust him to my neighbor so that I can go to work in the fields. Farming is busy, so I won't accompany you."

Lin Hong hurriedly stopped her, "Hey! Auntie, if you arrange a place for me, we won't be able to go to the fields. We can't repay you. If you trust us, let us take care of him for you."

The aunt suddenly burst into a smile, "Okay! Of course I can trust it!"

She put her younger son on the ground and let him go, "Listen to your brothers!"

"Then I'm leaving, you have fun!" The aunt picked up the hoe and went out.

Peach Blossom Spring is Peach Blossom Spring, and he has no defense against others, so he handed over his son to them.

Both Wan Guchuan and Duan Yu looked at Lin Hong.

Lin Hong said: "Do you want to force the emperor to make the princes understand?"

Wan Guchuan suddenly found it funny, "Don't bring a kid to kill you."

Duan Yu also took a step back to draw a clear line with him.

Lin Hong: "..."

The younger son didn't know why, so he took Lin Hong's hand.

The little hands were warm and soft, Lin Hong rubbed his head with a smile, "What's your name?"

Youngest son: "Ghost."

Lin Hong: "........."