Liu Han and I decided to temporarily join Xue Da's expedition and go into the Ghost Eating Forest together to hunt for treasure.

When I was on the boat before, Xue Da asked me directly about my origin, after all, it is really rare for a noodle restaurant owner and a proprietress to know martial arts.

I played a side game, only to say that Liu Han and I had worked as dart masters in Zuoqiu City before, and then after Zechao broke out, we fled all the way to the eighteenth hole. The outbreak of Zechao in Zuoqiu City a few years ago can be regarded as big news in Yin City everywhere, and we know the situation in Zuoqiu City very well, so Xue Da did not have any doubts.

In addition to Xue Da, there were originally five members of this expedition, two veterans, and three of them were also newcomers to the forest for the first time, like Liu Han and me, and they were still very young. That's why Xue Da was willing to let us join, so that we could add some experience.

One of them, Ah Bang, said that he was only nineteen years old this year, and he had only been practicing Yin Gong for three years, so he was too young. Abang's family was not good, and his parents raised him until he was fifteen years old, but he couldn't support him, so he let him go out to support himself. But what can a thin young man who is only fifteen years old do when he goes out?

Fortunately, Abang met a master of the Yin Cultivation Sect, and saw that he had a good foundation in practicing martial arts and had the talent to practice Yin Gong, so he took him in as an apprentice. After three years of cultivation, Ah Bang went down to the underworld with his master and became a dart master in a trading house in Giant Waterfall City.

Later, because his master injured an arm while walking a dart, he could no longer do this kind of physical work, so he had to return to the yang world to help people catch ghosts and ward off evil spirits to make a living. Abang stayed behind and became an expedition member under Xue Da.

Abang is a young man with a very lively personality, who listens to Xue Da's words very much, and works very diligently before and after running. He also likes to talk to me and Liu Han, and likes to hear stories about our travels around the underworld. However, one thing that makes me unhappy is that Abang always likes to sneak a peek at Liu Han.

Hey, it must be that young people have also reached the age of admiration, especially when they meet a mature and cold royal sister like Liu Han, I'm afraid they will completely lose their resistance!

In any case, the expedition, which had just expanded to eight men, arrived at the entrance of a steep canyon after half a day's absence. Xue Da immediately arranged for everyone to rest in situ outside the valley mouth first, and then enter the valley to explore an hour later.

I put down my luggage and walked alone to the mouth of the canyon to check the terrain, a habit I developed after joining the Yin Army. After all, when you first arrive in a strange and dangerous place, observing the nearby terrain in advance is an officer's first duty and necessary skill. Otherwise, if the troops are suddenly attacked by surprise, they will not even be able to decide which direction to retreat in a hurry.

The cliffs on both sides of the canyon are very high, and they are all hard stones, as smooth as a mirror, as if they were cut with a knife and axe. The mouth of the valley is only ten zhang wide and relatively narrow, but it is obvious that it will gradually expand when it reaches the inside, otherwise it will not become a huge forest. But just standing at the mouth of the valley and looking in, the valley was only pitch black, and there was no trace of yin qi to be detected.

At this time, I seemed to see the rock walls on both sides of the canyon mouth emitting flashes of yellow fluorescence, which was quite strange. I walked over and saw that it was a yellow mineral.

"That's brimstone." Seeing that I was interested in the minerals, Xue Da came from a distance and explained.

"Oh, it's Brimstone!" It dawned on me.

Sulfur is an extremely yang thing, and it restrains each other with yin energy, so it is no wonder that there is no trace of yin energy here.

Xue Dadao: "The whole valley mouth is a small sulfur mine, the mining value is not large, but it has other functions. Ghost cultivators hate this thing very much, so whether it is a ghost or a creature in the ghost forest, they generally use this valley mouth as the boundary and do not cross it easily. Otherwise, Wang Touer's small fishing village would not dare to be so close to this dangerous place! ”

"Understood." I nodded.

The sulphur mine at the mouth of the canyon isolates the ghost eating forest from the outside world, which is not only a protection for the small fishing village, but also a protection for the creatures in the forest. It is precisely because of this restriction that the Ghost Eater Forest has grown its own rare creatures that are different from other places.

At this point, Xue Da called Abang again and asked him to scrape some sulfur powder from the stone wall with a knife to store it for later use.

I asked Xue Da what he was going to do with it.

Xue Da smiled mysteriously: "Keep it secret for the time being." You'll understand when you're in the woods! ”

After resting for an hour, the expedition team was finally about to enter the Ghost Eater Forest.

The first part of the journey was very peaceful, and the trees, flowers, and some small animals that grew were all positive. It's just that as we move further in, the heavier the yin qi becomes, and the more the local creatures tend to be negative. After three days, the plants and animals in the forest we met were basically extremely cloudy. Also from here, the level of danger begins to gradually increase.

By the sixth day, we had found and killed five poisonous snakes, three hairless wolves, and a panther in time. These beasts are not high-ranking Yin beasts, and apart from providing us with some worthless fur, it is difficult to swallow even the flesh.

On the ninth day, we walked out of a willow bush with its own fluorescent color. The willow forest here is very spectacular at a glance, and the wicker of those strange willows can fluoresce, shimmering and bright, romantic and dreamy.

However, such a beautiful place is just as secret!

"It's hanging willow." Xue Da pointed to a strange willow in the forest and asked me to take a closer look, "Is there something still hanging from the wicker of that tree?" ”

My eyesight is not bad, and after looking at it for a while, I said, "It looks like a deer!" ”

It turned out that it was a wild deer that had strayed into the willow forest, and its head was entangled in several willows and hung high, as if it had been hanged. The wild deer had been drained of the yin qi in its body, and it hung on the tree and swayed like a hollow lantern.

Hey, no wonder it's called hanging willow!

"So weird? We'll just have to get around it, right? I asked Xueda.

Xue Da shook his head and said, "It's too far to go around, let's go straight through!" ”

"How can you pass through such a large hanging willow forest?" I asked.

Xue Da smiled: "It's very simple, hanging willow only grasps yin things, but he is very afraid of yang energy." All we have to do is light an open torch and sprinkle some sulfur powder on the torch and we're done! ”

Oh, so I used to collect sulfur powder at Taniguchi to use it here!

So the expedition team lined up in a long line, each carrying a torch with sulfur powder, and passed directly through the hanging willow forest. Those glowing willow seemed to be really afraid of pure yang qi, and they automatically avoided wherever the torches went, and it looked like a curtain of beads opened for us on their own.

In addition to the hanging willow, I have seen another tree in the forest that can prey on yin things. The tree looks ordinary on the surface, but in fact, it hides murderous intentions.

A spotted snake also thought it was just an ordinary tree, and saw a bird's nest in the treetops, and was ready to climb up and devour the eggs or young birds in the nest. As a result, it had barely climbed halfway through the tree, and the seemingly hard and rough bark flipped inward without warning, cracking a swarthy opening and swallowing the snake inside!

Immediately, the bark was closed again, and the trunk returned to its original shape. I took a closer look at the bird's nest in the treetops, and hey, it was also a clump of leaves gathered together and pretended to be, and there were no eggs or young birds in it!

The plants in this ghost eating forest are indeed different from other places, and their vitality is extremely strong, and they like to prey on yin things by arranging various baits and traps. If a ghost breaks in rashly, can it be "eaten" by them every minute?

The expedition walked until the twelfth day before finally reaching the Blackwater Swamp.

At first glance, the Blackwater Swamp is no different from other swamps, the water level is not very deep, the ink-like muddy water is only knee-deep at its deepest, and the ground is full of mud. From time to time, there are also a few small islands in the middle of the river, which grow densely packed with shrubs and wild grasses.

Fortunately, when Xue Da came, he prepared very properly, and gave everyone a set of water support, and after putting it on, he would not step into the mud and not get covered in muddy water and smelly.

This water wrapper is a coverall, made of a material similar to shark skin, which wraps the entire body, leaving only the head and neck on the outside. In fact, this is the ancient wetsuit, although it is a little simpler, but it is more than enough to prevent muddy water from seeping into this kind of swamp.

Since there are no ghost cultivators in this expedition, they are all yin cultivators, so everyone can only explore one foot deep and one foot shallow in the muddy water, and from time to time there are various unknown and invisible underwater creatures swimming past their feet, which makes people feel itchy and can't help but feel a little hairy in their hearts.

I asked Xue Da, "What are we looking for when we come here?" ”

Xue Dadao: "It is mainly a variety of mushrooms, such as mushrooms, fungus, sesame grass, etc. Especially those that can shine, must be good things! ”

So, all the members of the team dispersed a little, bent forward to search, and kept their eyes fixed on the plants under the muddy water, as long as they were slightly colored, they always had to take them out and look at them.

However, after a long day of fumbling in the Blackwater Swamp, we also picked a few clusters of fiery red fungus on top of a rotten log. Fire fungus is just a relatively common ingredient, and it doesn't even have the value of bothering to bring it out of here. At dinner, I simply used the shield woks I brought with me to cook a pot of fungus soup for everyone to drink, and by the way, I dispelled the cold.

On the thirteenth day, we continued to search for rare edible herbs in the Blackwater Swamp. It's been so many days since I entered the Ghost Eating Forest, but there is still no harvest, which makes everyone a little slack and disappointed. I also began to get a little discouraged, and instead of slowing down and looking for it as I had done before, I strode through the mud very casually.

All of a sudden, I walked and walked as if I had kicked something. A small white stone jumped out of the water and then fell into the muddy water and disappeared. I was stunned for a moment and asked, "What's that?" ”