1.

It was past noon when Lin Xiao and Ye Xin left Ruofeng Village, and they were looking for clues in this forest and dealing with the attacks of those strange vines, and before they knew it, a few hours had passed, and the sky in the forest had gradually become darker, but the fog was getting thicker and thicker.

"It's no ordinary fog at all. Ye Xin said in a deep voice, she and Lin Xiao had already used the "Turtle Breath Method" to hold their breath at this time, preventing these mist from being inhaled into their bodies. "This is a miasma formed by the aggregation of poisons, and if too much is ingested, it will cause a person to lose consciousness until he loses consciousness, and finally dies of madness. ”

Lin Xiao slammed the Hongchen Sword to the ground, and the sword qi bloomed slightly, sweeping away the miasma within more than ten steps around him, but not long after the mist dispersed, it swept and gathered again, wrapping the two of them in it again. "It's close to the demon here, so you should be more careful. ”

Ye Xin stretched out his hand and grabbed the white mist in front of him, which was clearly just gas, but after starting it, he felt soft and substantial. Rao is always cold and unfazed on weekdays, and at this moment she couldn't help but feel a little panicked, and said: "There is a lot of miasma here, and the difficult vines don't know when they will come out and attack us again." The 'Turtle Breath Method' won't last long, and we'll have to find a way to get out of here. ”

"The fog here only started to get thicker when we were attacked by vines. Lin Xiao looked around cautiously, holding the sword in his right hand, his true qi lingering on his wrist, and his left hand gently drew a few strokes behind his back, and the seal twisted out a spell, and the "Heaven and Earth Net" was quietly released, and for a while, the aura fluctuations within a certain range in the woods began to flow into his spiritual consciousness sea.

"If I'm right, there's a vine corpse growing in this forest. ”

"Vine Corpse Demon?" Ye Xin couldn't help frowning.

The vine corpse demon that Lin Xiao said in his mouth, she also knows. This kind of monster is different from those dryads and wood monsters that absorb the aura of heaven and earth in nature and cultivate into essence, and its formation comes from the synthesis of corpses and vine trees. The vast majority of this formation process is due to coincidence - when the corpse is involved in the process of decay and decomposition, it is used as nourishment by the growing vines and leaves, and under the aggregation of aura, the corpse is combined with the vines to form the first generation of vine corpse demons.

After the formation of the vine corpse, some of its sources of nutrients deviated from the growth requirements of normal plants. This monster can still rely on sunlight, water, and soil to absorb the nutrients it needs like normal plants, but more often than not, it needs something else to fill its hunger - flesh and blood.

The Vine Demon's weapon is its vines, which can approach its prey from any angle without knowing it, and can be resisted by the immense power attached to it. When the vine corpse catches its prey, it eats it.

The so-called "eating" is just a more colloquial term, but more precisely, it is integrated into one's own body and becomes a part of one's own body. And the flesh and blood of those devoured corpses are melted under the outer skin of the vines, like internal organs, which is what Ye Xin said before - "The vine is the skin, and the corpse is the viscera".

"However, the conditions for the formation of vine corpse demons are extremely harsh, and although this kind of monster can satisfy its hunger by devouring the flesh and blood of corpses, the water required by plants is also essential, otherwise even if they do not starve to death, they will wither and die due to dehydration. Ye Xin said, "There is such a lack of water in this area, even if a vine corpse demon is generated, I am afraid that it will already die." ”

Lin Xiao carefully felt the aura fluctuations coming from the "Heaven and Earth Net", motioned for Ye Xin to follow behind him, and said as he walked: "Then what if we consider the problem from a different angle? Have you ever thought about this possibility—it is precisely because of the growth of a vine corpse demon here that it has caused the water source of Ruofeng Village to dry up. ”

Ye Xin was about to wave his hand to light an open flame talisman, when he heard this, his hand slammed suddenly, and he exclaimed: "You mean, there is a causal relationship between the vine corpse demon and the depletion of the water source? It is precisely because of the existence of the former that this has led to the occurrence of the latter. ”

"I'm just guessing, but it's supposed to be eight or nine. Lin Xiao took a burning flame talisman handed over by Ye Xin, and the dancing blue flame suddenly dispelled a lot of mist and chill around him. "And I've thought back to the doubts we discussed earlier, and found that if there was a 'vine corpse' as a premise, then many things would be much easier to explain. ”

"For example...... Ye Xin's eyes shone in the light of the flames of the open flame talisman, "...... Corpses that may have existed before, and river water polluted by corpse poison?!"

"That's a good point. Lin Xiao smiled and affirmed, "It seems that you have been deeply influenced by me during the time you have been with me, and your intelligence has grown." Ye Xin couldn't help but roll his eyes when he said this.

The two of them talked as they walked, unaware that the surrounding environment had changed somewhat. It wasn't until Ye Xin stopped talking at this moment, raised his eyes and looked around, then he gently "pouted" and said, "This fog ...... It seems to have faded a lot. ”

"It's a lot lighter. Lin Xiao glanced up at the sky that was slightly revealed behind the mist, the night had already fallen, and a hazy mist moon dotted on it.

"So we've found a way out?"

"Uh...... ......Unexpectedly, Lin Xiao did not give a positive answer, but seemed a little distracted, "Maybe not ...... yet"

Ye Xin couldn't help but be shocked in his heart: "What?!"

"The situation is more complicated now......"

Ye Xin's face was slightly gloomy: "What do you mean by this?"

"To be honest, I didn't think about going out in the first place, so I followed the direction of the fog because I thought I would find the source of the fog...... Don't look at me with that kind of look!" Lin Xiao smacked his lips, deliberately ignoring Ye Xin's cold, almost murderous eyes beside him, "We can't find the direction in this foggy horizontal and vertical fog, it's better to find the source of that ghost thing as soon as possible and solve it, wouldn't it be once and for all." ”

"So," Ye Xin asked coldly, his tone calm: "What is the situation now?"

Lin Xiao continued to walk forward, and said as he walked: "I used the 'Heaven and Earth Net Technique' of this sect to probe the aura of this place, and the place where the spiritual power fluctuates strongly is where the source of the mist is. But...... Under normal circumstances, the closer we get to that place, the thicker the fog should be, right...... Wait a minute!"

Lin Xiao suddenly stopped his steps, if he wanted to be more surprised, he would be more surprised, Ye Xin didn't pay attention, and directly hit his back, and the killing intent was a little more powerful for a while.

Lin Xiao was unaware of this, he took a step to the side, revealing the scene in front of him, and said in a daze: "Look. ”

Ye Xin looked at it angrily, and stayed where he was for a while.

In front of them was a ruined village. The gates of the village were open, and a faint layer of mist could be seen in the village, and beyond that, it was a dark scene, like a lifeless ghost realm.

The tentacle vines that had struck the two men in the woods before were entwined all over the door frames, buildings, and fences, but instead of fluttering and swaying as they had seen in the afternoon, they lay there quietly and trembling slightly, like poisonous snakes ready to attack.

Ye Xin muttered in a low voice, "This is ...... The vine corpse's lair?"

"Looks like yes. Lin Xiao took a step forward and suddenly kicked a hard object. When he leaned down to look, he found a broken stone tablet lying on the ground.

Lin Xiao took the corner of his clothes and wiped the moss and dust on it, and under the light of the open flame charm, he could vaguely make out the two words on the tablet-

Creek clouds.

2.

"Xiyun?" Lin Xiao repeated softly, "It should be the name of this village." ”

"Xiyun?" Ye Xin also repeated, but for no reason he felt strange, and couldn't help frowning slightly: "This name ...... Why does it sound so familiar?"

"I feel that way too...... But I just can't remember where I've heard the name. Do you have any impressions?"

"Nope. Ye Xin shook his head, "Maybe it's just an illusion." ”

Lin Xiao stood up, clapped his hands and dusted off the filth, and said, "Let's go, let's go in and have a look." ”

The two of them clenched their blades tightly, raised the flame talisman to light the way ahead, and cautiously entered the dilapidated village gate entwined with vine tentacles.

The road between the villages is covered with fallen leaves and dust, and the houses on both sides are well preserved, but they are also hidden by layers of cobwebs and vines. Dusty lanterns hung by the eaves, and the papier-mâché lamp coat had long since disappeared into the passing years, leaving only a fragmented lamp shelf, gently swaying in the faint night breeze.

The village was as silent as death, not even the sound of the insects that came out of the day and night, only the footsteps of Lin Xiao and Ye Xin, the sound of the breeze, the sound of the lantern shelf shaking, and the sound of the tentacles of those vines squirming slightly.

Ye Xin looked around and frowned, "This place seems to have been abandoned for a long time. ”

Lin Xiao pointed to the vines that were entwined on the houses on both sides and those that were crawling on the ground and said, "Have you noticed, in fact, these vines have a certain direction." Generally speaking, the ends of the vines are the thinner ends, and the ones that grow thick and long we can't tell, but you can see the shorter ones, and the thin ends are all towards the entrance of the village - which means that all the vines are spreading from the inner part of the village. ”

Ye Xin nodded, and added: "Not only that, but the more you go inside, the denser the vines become." It seems that their source should be in front of you. ”

The two of them continued to walk forward, and suddenly they heard the sound of a piccolo of "Di Lili", which was extremely crisp and loud in this silent night. At the same time, a strange cry that bordered on a roar rang out, and the mist that had filled the village suddenly began to thicken again.

"In front!"

Lin Xiao and Ye Xin glanced at each other, and together they jumped forward and rushed forward, running straight for dozens of steps, the road ahead suddenly opened up, and the miasma was everywhere, like a thick fog. A rancid smell came to my nose, rich and unbearable.

"Beware!" Lin Xiao suddenly stopped his steps, reached out and grabbed Ye Xin's waist, and with a flicker of his footsteps, he flashed to the side holding her. I only heard a loud "swish", and a vine as thick as a child's arm flew past from Ye Xin's position. If it weren't for Lin Xiao's quick eyes, with the speed and power of this vine rushing over, it would be enough to break people's bones and tendons.

Ye Xin was shocked in his heart, moved his body, and from the place where his slender hand started, the ruthless blade was instantly unsheathed, and a move "Hongfei Darkness" fell, and a knife slashed on the vine. Unexpectedly, this vine was much tougher than the ones in the forest in the afternoon, and this knife could not cut it off, but left a trace that was neither deep nor shallow. The vine seemed to be in pain, twisted a few times, and then retracted the way it came.

Lin Xiao waved his hand and struck the open flame talisman into the air, and the talisman was full of fire under the urging of the magic power, illuminating the scene not far ahead.

For a moment, the two of them were stunned.

Lin Xiao's face was shocked, his pupils shrank slightly due to shock, and Ye Xin's face was also slightly pale, looking almost disgusting.

In front of them was a relatively large mansion in the village, and the empty courtyard was covered with dense vine tentacles, wrapping up the fence of the courtyard. The original location of the house was now entrenched in a tree-like monster made of countless vines, like dozens of lodging and rotting ancient trees together, twisted and knotted.

The tree-like monster's body was made of tiny vines that formed a honeycomb-like moss-green sac, and the thing seemed to breathe, constantly spewing out turbid gases as it stretched and contracted, which was probably the source of the miasma in the fog in the forest and village.

Lin Xiao said in a deep voice: "Sure enough, it's a vine corpse demon!"

The vine corpse demon stood there, the poison sac spitting out poisonous mist and miasma like breathing, and countless thick and thin vine tentacles swung around it and stretched out in all directions, like nimble and ferocious poisonous snakes.

Ye Xin's brows furrowed, especially under the light of the open fire talisman, he could see that there was a layer of slightly wriggling flesh hidden under the bark of the vine corpse demon, and the stench of carrion juice flowed out of the cracks of the vines and dripped, and he felt indescribably disgusting.

"Hurry up!" Ye Xin said coldly - she didn't want to stay in this ghost place for long.

Lin Xiao took a deep breath to calm himself down, the true qi gushed out from the dantian and the sea of qi naturally, the red dust sword suddenly came out of its sheath, neatly pulled a sword flower, and then went straight to the middle palace. The long sword trembled under the urging of the attachment of true qi, bringing bursts of cold light, and the sword fell like rain for a while.

The vine corpse demon let out a dull strange cry that was not even a roar, and shook the vine tentacles around it, and the sound of breaking through the air slashed straight towards the door of the contact. Lin Xiao had the strength on his wrist, picked up the red dust sword and waved it in the air, and where he raised his hand was a "Falling Ying Colorful" starting hand, the blade flashed continuously, and turned into several red sword shadows, hitting those attacking vines like raindrops.

How do you know that those vine tentacles are changing one after another, moving back and forth, although most of the slashing were cut off by Lin Xiao with sword qi, but the vine corpse demon continued to resist the attack with the tentacles on its body, although Lin Xiao was able to turn several swords with one sword, and the flying sword shadows were also blocked by those vines that kept twitching back and forth, and they couldn't hurt the body of the vine corpse demon at all.

The most annoying thing is that the vine corpse demon can still keep growing new vine branches from the place where it was cut off, as if it can't be killed in a steady stream. Moreover, some of those vines were extremely tough, just like the one that attacked Ye Xin before, and sometimes a sword could only leave a mark on its skin when it fell, but it could not be cut open.

Lin Xiao awe-inspiring retracted his sword, raised his hand to "push the window to send the moon" and slashed out of the air, and confronted a giant python-like tentacle, slid back a few steps, waved his hand to unload the power of his palm, and retreated to Ye Xin's side to stop.

"This thing is extremely regenerative and normal offense doesn't do much for it. Lin Xiao said, "If we drag it out any longer, when the miasma invades our body, we really can't beat it." ”

Ye Xin's face was cold, and he looked at the monster that was frantically shaking the tentacles of the vines and said, "There must be weaknesses in everything, just like there must be a 'cover door' on the body of a person who cultivates horizontal kung fu." As long as you find the weakness in this thing, it will not be difficult to defeat it. ”

After finishing speaking, the ruthless blade flickered in her hand, and the cold light flickered; Ye Xin rose up with the knife in one hand, grabbed an attacking vine with one hand, and swept away his body with the momentum, and swept through the air with the body of "fine wind and skillful clouds", and the cold sword light flashed several big crosses, avoiding those vines, and slashing towards the trunk of the vine corpse demon.

In an instant, the vine corpse demon let out a terrible scream, and more than a dozen rattan branches suddenly stretched out from its body, facing those cross-shaped sword qi, and it was instantly cut into powder;

Ye Xin waved his knife downwards and made a move "Sunset West Mountain" to knock away the three rolled vines, and at the same time jumped upwards again with his strength. Unexpectedly, the vine corpse demon suddenly let out a sinister scream, Ye Xin only felt a strong wind behind her, and suddenly felt that her heartbeat missed a beat, and the fourth vine was only a few feet away from her back heart, but she was leaping into the air through the second attack, and at this time there was no way to avoid this blow with her strength.

Ye Xin clenched his teeth and condensed all the true qi of his body on his back, intending to directly meet this blow. The vine struck only a momentary thing, and in an instant it came, and it collided with a long sword, making a loud sound of gold and stone.

Where did the sword come from?!

Ye Xin suddenly opened the eyes that had been closed.

The fourth vine had already swung open, and the Red Dust Sword gently held her back, and the momentum of its fall slowed down. The next moment, Lin Xiao walked up quickly and gently took Ye Xin down.

The thick vine tentacles pierced through the poisonous mist and attacked the two who had already landed. Ye Xin's figure at the moment happened to be blocked by Lin Xiao, and he couldn't make a direct move, so he hurriedly said vigilantly: "Be careful!"

Lin Xiao naturally also sensed the strong wind coming, and the true qi had already been transported to his palm, as long as the strongest internal force of the Ziyang Divine Skill burst out, it would definitely be able to blast away those vines that were coming. How do you know that as soon as the true qi was mentioned, a chill suddenly burst out from the meridians in the body, and for a while, the whole body was cold, and the true qi of the whole body disappeared like a stone sinking into the sea.

Lin Xiao was shocked, knowing that it was Fang Cai's true qi that was frequently used, and the suppression of the unpurified cold poison in his body was weakened, and he was in chaos. But the speed of the vine was so fast, Lin Xiao didn't have time to flash to the side again, so he could only take the blow hard, and at the same time subconsciously protected Ye Xin in his arms.

The vines slammed into Lin Xiao's back, and their strength directly swept the two of them out. Rao is Lin Xiao was strong and healthy, and after taking this blow, he also felt as if his back was about to crack, and his face became pale in an instant, and a mouthful of blood spit out.

"Lin Xiao!" Ye Xin hurriedly helped him sit up, connected several acupoints on his body, reached out to touch his palm, and crossed his true qi into his body, helping him calm the chaotic aura.

The vine corpse demon took the opportunity to attack, and dozens of vines swept in. The Red Dust Sword moved spontaneously, revealing a red light from the sword, transforming into the body of the sword spirit. Hongchen's hands were sealed, and the spirit sword body rose in the air, turning into dozens of sword shadows, staggered and woven into a sword prison, protecting Lin Xiao and Ye Xin in it.

Ye Xin's true qi was biased towards factions such as yin and softness, and after it was transmitted into his body, the chill caused by the residual poison was a little stronger. However, because of this, the Ziyang True Qi also urged the power of the backlash, and began to flow between the meridians and bloodlines according to the Zhou Tian, forcibly suppressing the cold poison that was backing again.

After Lin Xiao was sure that the cold poison in his body had been effectively controlled, he would not cause any more chaos, and then he slowly opened his eyes. As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw Ye Xin's strange look, and couldn't help but be stunned, then he felt a tightness at his wrist, and looked down, but saw that Ye Xin's hand that had just stretched out to cross his qi was buckled on his pulse at this time.

Lin Xiao was stunned for a moment, and then reacted, and his stunned expression turned into a wry smile.

"When did you get the cold poison?!" Ye Xin's cold voice sounded.

Lin Xiao was speechless, and he didn't know how to talk for a while.

Ye Xin was so smart that he had already judged the approximate result from his hiding, "I asked you how to remove the cold poison from my body, and you told me that you used Ziyang True Qi to help me dissolve it...... But in fact, it is impossible to dissolve the cold power on that talisman in a short period of time just by crossing the qi, and the reason why I will be fine so quickly is because you transferred the cold poison in my body to your own body!"

"Clever!" Lin Xiao smiled as if he were poor, reaching out to wipe the blood that overflowed from the corner of his mouth, and gave Ye Xin a thumbs up. Ye Xin's gaze moved, clasped his wrist, and said coldly: "Why did you do this?"

"First of all, this is the consistent style of our decent people, and you Demon Cultists will not understand. Secondly......" Lin Xiao pointed to the vine corpse demon outside the sword prison that was still showing its teeth and claws, "...... I don't think now is the time to dwell on this, let's get that guy out of the way quickly!"

Hongchen stepped forward to help Lin Xiao stand up, and said, "Don't panic, you can see that poison sac on my body, which is probably its weakness." If you break it, you should be able to destroy it. ”

Ye Xin nodded and said, "Then I'll go." When he turned around, he was pulled by Lin Xiao: "Wait a minute, don't act rashly." I don't know how many corpses this vine corpse demon has eaten to become like this, and the poisonous gas around his body is enough to make us jealous. If you are a little careless when you puncture the poison sac, the poison gas overflows and it fights back on the verge of death, where will there be life at that time?!"

"And what do you say?"

"You put a spell to trap it first, and leave the rest to Hongchen. Lin Xiao said, took out something from his body and handed it to Hongchen.

Hongchen's eyes lit up: "This is ...... Flame Seeds?"

Lin Xiao blinked: "It's up to you." ”

Hongchen smiled, waved his hand to remove the sword prison, held the spirit sword body in his hand, and swung the sword to break the attacking vine tentacles, and suddenly turned into a red light and jumped up.

The vine corpse demon seemed to feel a threat, and roared strangely, shaking several huge vines like crazy. Ye Xin danced the ruthless blade below, and the sword wind swept away the vines. Hongchen took the opportunity to leap into the close ground of the vine corpse demon, stepped on the thicker vines, flew and jumped, and approached the location of the poison sac.

When I looked closely, I realized that the poison sac was covered with large and small pores, and in a single stretch, a large amount of poisonous gas was exhaled—but it was not miasma, but corpse poison. Hongchen settled and stabilized his body, looking for an opportunity to move. The vine corpse demon seemed to have discovered her intentions, and two extremely thick tentacles rushed up from below.

Ye Xin quickly moved to the bottom of the red dust like a ghost, raised his sword and picked it up, and it was worthy of standing on those two tentacles. But the tentacle was extremely powerful, and Ye Xin's strength was limited, so he couldn't stop the vine's upward attack, but was provoked. Lin Xiao hurriedly stepped forward and cast a spell with one hand, and two clusters of true qi struck out with the power of his palm, blocking the attack of the two vines attacking upward, and at the same time making the barrier around the vine corpse demon reveal a void.

Ye Xinteng jumped over the void, stood firm on a thicker vine, and with a flick of the ruthless blade in his hand, a "flying snow drifting" directly hit the vine corpse demon.

The chilling sword wind condensed into frost and began to freeze on the vines. Ye Xin jumped high, and the Ruthless Blade drew a circle in mid-air, releasing a full moon-shaped ice ring, which was firmly encased on the body of the vine corpse demon, gradually generating ice and freezing it.

Although the sword qi of "Flying Snow Drifting" had a freezing effect, the vine corpse demon was huge, and the frost condensed on it was only a thin layer. The vine corpse demon roared, and in less than a moment it seemed to break through the ice.

At this moment, a fire-based magic circle suddenly appeared above. Hongchen stood in the center of the circle, and his whole person had completely turned red. At this moment, the vine corpse demon had already broken through the ice barrier. Hongchen raised his hand slightly, and the long sword in his hand shot out, like a flying fire meteor, inserted into the poison sac impartially.

The vine corpse let out a terrifying roar similar to pain, and its entire body quickly collapsed, and the vines that were shaking around it also fell in a languid manner. At the same time, Hongchen twisted the magic trick with his left hand, and a purple-red flame rose from his right hand, instantly turning into a wall of fire.

Just as Hongchen was about to make a move, a figure suddenly rushed out from the side, blocking the injured vine corpse demon, and shouted with all his might: "Stop!

【To be continued】