In the twilight, the two horsemen headed north-west.

In the first few days, there were many tribes on the road, and the further northwest you went, the less people lived, and gradually it took two or three days to meet the tribes, and the scale became smaller and smaller.

"Past the tribe in front is Baoketu." Nangong Jin pointed to the unseen place ahead.

Yao Fangyu nodded and asked, "What the tribal hunter said the day before yesterday was the tribe in front?" ”

The small departments that passed by during this time have recently had some strange stories. The day before yesterday, a hunter from the tribe where they were staying told them that there were ghosts from the tribe to the west and wanted to eat blood. At that time, it was laughed at by other people in the tribe, and there must have been someone who ate blood, and it was the steppe wolf.

But in the previous few small departments, it was said that the people of the Western Face Clan were cursed and became walking dead, and it was also said that all of them were taken away by the Immortal Heaven. There was even an old wizard in the tribe who told them not to go any further, for he saw that there were dark clouds in the west, and that the sun was not visible.

"It may also be a rumor, we haven't seen what they said for so long, not even the wolf." Nangong Jin turned his head to look at Yao Fangyu, "It's going to be camping again at night, and it is estimated that it will take three or five days to get to the front department." It's faster if it doesn't snow. ”

Yao Fangyu smiled and nodded, she had already changed into a Mongolian outfit, and wearing such a dress on the grassland was not only warm, but also saved a lot of trouble.

However, Nangong Jin's estimate was wrong. In the evening, more than a dozen tents were seen on the horizon, and cooking smoke was rising.

"Are you mistaken?" Yao Fangyu asked with a smile.

"Huh? Do they change pastures on snowy days? Nangong Jin was also very puzzled, "However, I've been here twice, am I really mistaken?" "He's always been confident in his ability to remember his way, and that rarely happens.

When I got closer, I found that this tribe was not like the previous ones, there would be tents scattered within a radius of ten miles, but more than ten tents were all gathered together, and they were surrounded by sheep's heads and cow bones. Under the sunset, it is strange.

Nangong Jin was strange, and the tribe in front also found the two people who came from afar, and the clansmen all walked out and stood in the bone fence and watched them quietly.

Nangong Jin dismounted, stepped forward with a smile, and saluted them: "We are going to Baoketu, I wonder if we can let our brothers and sisters stay here for one night?" ”

This sentence made those clansmen whisper, and finally someone asked, "Are you going to Baoketu?" ”

"Yes." Nangong Jin answered through the bone fence.

"At this time, there's nothing over there, what are you going to do?" Another questioned with suspicion.

"We have a friend who is missing, and we heard that we are going to look for her in Uliasu." Nangong Jin said this all the way, and he could also inquire about the news of the Ming Army by the way.

"Uliyasu?!" The people of the tribe moved even more, but they didn't mean to let them in.

Yao Fangyu didn't understand Mongolian and stood aside silently, but several place names were understandable. Seeing the actions of these people, doubts also rose in my heart.

An old man slowly walked out of the crowd, dressed as a wizard, and asked in stiff Chinese, "Are you not Mongolian?" ”

Nangong Jin was stunned for a moment, although he knew that he had an accent, but no one paid special attention to it in Bansheng, Tuo, and even the first few small parts, so he smiled, changed to Han Rite and saluted again, and said: "I am a Proper Han person below, and I have seen my predecessors." ”

The old wizard nodded, and changed back to Mongolian: "If you want to stay for one night, you can do it." But tomorrow, please go back the way you came. After speaking, he told everyone to get out of the way and asked Nangong Jin and the others to go in.

There are many people in the whole tribe, but there is no lively appearance of other tribes. After settling in, it was getting dark, and the Mongolian people who were helping to tidy up in the tent withdrew, Yao Fangyu finally asked, "What's the matter?" ”

"That white-bearded old man just now is a wizard, not the head of the clan." Nangong Jin replied. "He wants us to leave tomorrow and go back."

Along the way, Yao Fangyu had already discovered that only the larger tribes would have wizards, of course, the role of wizards is not only to practice, but also to see a doctor. But this tribe obviously does not belong to the big tribe.

"There's something strange about this department. Have you noticed that there are no children here, not even teenagers? Otherwise, I can't tell the age, and I feel that it should be not too small. Yao Fangyu expressed the doubts in her heart.

When Yao Fangyu said this, Nangong Jin frowned, no wonder this tribe was not lively at all. "You're here, I'll go find the wizard and ask about it."

**********

In the old wizard's felt tent, there were three or five old men sitting around the stove, as if they were discussing something, and when they saw Nangong Jin coming in, they all stopped discussing and turned their heads to look at him.

"I'm sorry, I'm here for ......, thank you for taking in our brother and sister." Nangong Jin felt the serious atmosphere in the tent.

Several people nodded and did not answer, and a trace of embarrassment wafted through the air. Nangong Jin smiled, and when he didn't find anything, he walked to the stove in a few steps, "I didn't expect it to be so cold here." "That's right, I haven't been to Uliasu, and I want to ask you about the situation over there." ”

The old wizard looked at him and said slowly, "At this time, there is nothing in that place. Who told you that your friend was in Uliasu? ”

Nangong Jin glanced at the several old men present and sighed, "I won't hide it from you, in fact, I didn't know if she was there." A few months ago, someone asked for a guide, hired a friend, and I never came back, and I didn't hear from him. ”

An old man frowned, "A few months ago? How many months was that? ”

The old man will ask this, estimating what has happened in the past few months. Nangong Jin smiled bitterly, "In May and June last year, I went to the Central Plains to run a business, and when I came back, I didn't see anyone. He deliberately blurred the time span to probe the wind.

"Listen to what you say, didn't you hire a guide to go to Uliasu?" Another old man spoke.

"It is said that it is from Tuo to Daqingshan."

Hearing Nangong Jin say this, the expressions of those present relaxed. An old man said with a smile: "From Proper to Daqingshan, you found here, it's not a direction at all." ”

"She left a letter to tell me that her employer had asked her to go where no one was. It was ...... and I kept asking who hired her. The news I heard from the Central Plains seems to be the Ming army. After Nangong Jin said the last two words, he observed the expressions of several old men.

Several of them seemed to be startled, and they all looked at the old wizard. The old wizard sat silently for a long time, and finally spoke: "Are you going to Uliyasu to find a Ming army that goes deep into the grassland?" After speaking, he looked up at Nangong Jin, "Who are you?" ”

"I am a southern goods merchant, specializing in business from the Central Plains to Proper and Bansheng, and I have also ordered southern goods from Han Wangsun here." Nangong Jin said, sighing: "I don't want to find any Ming Army, I want to find my friend." As soon as she left, only her young son was left in the family. Whether it is life or death, there must always be a saying. ”

The old wizard kept staring at Nangong Jin for a while, nodded meaninglessly, and said to an old man, "Tell me." ”

The old man pondered for a moment and slowly spoke, "My tribe usually spends the winter in Uliyasu, and there is a red willow forest nearby. This year, the river was diverted, flooding half of the red willow forest, but fortunately it did not affect the pasture. A few months ago, something strange happened. Sheep are often bitten to death, and the bites are scattered, and at first everyone thought it was a wolf. We made traps, and for days on end, the sheep were still dead, and the wolves did not even see a shadow. A few young people in the ministry were ruthless, squatting to kill the wolf ....... ”

The old man stopped, someone handed him a bowl of tea, and the old man took a few sips, "We didn't notice at that time, those sheep were not only bitten, but even more than half of the blood was missing." ”

Nangong Jin was stunned. Blood Food?!

"There were five of those young people, and two came back. Those three ....... The old man's face was bitter, "The blood is gone, and the body is bitten...... Not a wolf. Of the two who came back, one of them was cowardly, and he ...... at that time, and shouted in the ministry every day, 'It's the devil, the devil!' ’。 One day he didn't look, he ran out of the tribe and disappeared. ”

"There is another one, he said that he didn't see what it was, only that he knew that he was extremely fast and invulnerable, and he suggested that he move his department. Who will be in the Ice and Snow Migration Department? Some say it's a bear, and say that young people make too much fuss. Alas, in fact, how can bears come out in winter. I didn't refute it, I just didn't want to move at this time. In this way, everyone did not dare to go out, and the sheep were still dying. ”

"One night, a child died, and he just came out to relieve himself, the same way he died. After a few more days, the young man who came back said that he had moved a lot of people, and they were packing up to leave, but I didn't stop them. There were more than 20 people and several cars, driving cattle and sheep. ”

The old man stopped and drank the tea in his hand, "Three days later, we found their corpses more than ten miles to the north, all of them, as well as cattle and sheep. ”

Nangong Jin asked suspiciously: "What kind of death is it?" ”

"Not really. Some were seriously injured and died, and some froze to death, but ...... There were bite marks on everyone's body, and this time it was clear ....... The old man looked up at Nangong Jin, "It's human!" ”

"People?" Nangong Jin didn't understand what the old man meant.

"Nope." The old man shook his head, "It's definitely not a human, it's a devil!" So I moved my department, and I didn't want the cattle and sheep to go directly to the east, I knew that there was a big witch here. ”

"You've brought out more than half of them." Another old man on the side smiled bitterly and said to Nangong Jin: "My department is also near Wuliyasu, and a few months ago, it was said that a human bear was found. It is impossible to have bears in a regular winter, but there are bears that wake up halfway, and if that is the case, it is when they are at their weakest, so I took a few of my warriors to the place where they said there were bears. I searched for a few days but couldn't find it, so I went back. When I returned to the tribe, the whole tribe was gone, and the fire in the tent had not been extinguished. ”

"Gone?" Nangong Jin doesn't understand anymore, is this dead, or ......?

"It's gone, it's gone. Everything was there, the living creatures were gone, the cows, the sheep, and the horses were all gone. The old man opened his eyes wide and said, "A few of us searched around, but there was no clue at all, so we didn't dare to stay, so we rushed directly to find the great witch." ”