How strong Mr. Skeleton's combat power is, Chen Xian has never counted this in his heart, because he has never seen Mr. Skeleton fighting for his life, when he fought with the insect giant on Lingxi Mountain, Mr. Skeleton did not do his best, because Chen Xian had analyzed it afterwards, and it was based on his feelings..... Mr. Skeleton should have kept his hand at the time.

How strong is he?

Chen Xian didn't dare to say anything.

But at least he is weaker than himself, stronger than Lu Yisheng, and probably stronger than Xu Yanan...... As for the comparison with Li Daosheng, the pride of the sky, the leader of his peers, this is not clear for the time being.

Under the leadership of the old man, Chen Xian and his party began to continue to climb the mountains and mountains in Meishan, and walked for four or five hours before they reached the "holy land" that the old man said, that is, the place where other villagers came to worship the gods.

This is an extremely large pine forest..... I can't help but call these plants pines.

They have a similar appearance to ordinary pine trees, except that the trunk is much thicker, the wrinkled surface is like a furrow on the old man's face, and the dark brown bark shimmers in the sun, and the smell of pine resin in the air can be faintly smelled......

These towering trees seem to have reached their flowering stage, and the branches and leaves of each tree are covered with colorful and varied flowers, as if they have encompassed all the world's flower species for themselves.

Among the thousands of flowers, Chen Xian and the others saw many flowers that they knew or didn't know, but none of them belonged to the flowers that the pine tree should produce....... As far as Chen Xian can recognize at present, there are magnificent red peonies, elegant and dignified grass violets, and large and colorful hibiscus flowers, etc., and even the rare water lilies that grow in water.

If you don't look at the weird white sun in the sky, maybe it looks like a fairyland, maybe it's because the woods are too dense, and the temperature here seems to have dropped a lot, back to a very comfortable temperature.

Since he walked out of the mud house, the old man and the child have been walking in the front, intentionally or unintentionally keeping a distance of about ten meters from everyone, and only shouted a few times "keep up" without looking back halfway, and they never spoke again, and the two of them, who seemed to be grandchildren, did not have any communication.

This silent atmosphere was extremely depressing, and even affected Chen Xian and his party.

The pine forest, which used to look like a fairyland, is now also made strange by this oppressive atmosphere, the twisted leaves and branches are like living creatures, and they are windless and automatic from beginning to end, as if they are carrying out some kind of strange movement, and the sound of the rope in the forest is also deliberately amplified by the silent atmosphere, which makes people always feel uneasy when they listen to it.

"Bad taste."

Suddenly, Mr. Skeleton spoke without warning, as if sensing something, his eyes became extremely nervous, and he held the umbrella knife in his hand as if he were facing a great enemy.

"What's the bad smell?" Chen Xian frowned, sniffed carefully a few times and didn't smell anything else, only the slightly pungent smell of pine resin filled his nasal cavity, "What did you smell?" ”

"Born of life..... The ...... of vanished life"

Mr. Skeleton spoke in a somewhat neurotic tone, muttering as if he were talking to himself.

"Life and death seem to come together here...... It's like a round ......."

Mr. Skeleton's words are a little confusing, but what everyone doesn't know is that Mr. Bones himself doesn't know what he means by saying this, and it is difficult for him to describe everything he perceives...... All in all, he had lived for so many years, and he had never seen such a strange place.

It's like there are countless people born and countless people dying here, as if there is a cycle of reincarnation that cannot be observed by the naked eye.

In the woods, everyone silently followed the old man and the child, and the rough and long mountain road made them all a little breathless, except for Mr. Skeleton, everyone else looked out of breath.

Chen Xian..... I'm so tired......" Mu He took Chen Xian and walked aside, at first she still wanted to put it on Chen Xian, or let Chen Xian carry her, but when she saw Chen Xian's tired appearance, Xiao Mu He could only give up in the end, and followed Chen Xian pitifully from time to time to complain.

Hearing Xiao Muhe's words, Chen Xian glanced forward, and saw that the old man and the child had no intention of stopping to rest, and maintained a steady speed in the mountains from beginning to end, as if they were planning to reach their destination in one go......

"Why don't I carry you for a while?" Chen Xian asked.

Mu He shook his head, and then hugged Chen Xian's arm tightly, like a child who went shopping with his parents until he collapsed, and his face was full of the words I am very unhappy.

At the same time, Li Daosheng, who was walking on the side of the team, seemed to have suddenly discovered something, his eyes widened for a moment, he looked left and right, and finally decided to report the situation to Chen Xian, the "captain".

"There's something in the tree." Li Daosheng quietly came to Chen Xian's side and said in a low voice, "It's a pattern, and it's on every tree." ”

Seeing Li Daosheng's dignified appearance, Chen Xian didn't dare to slack off, after all, Li Daosheng was not an ordinary stranger, and he could make him nervous to such a point...... Definitely not something ordinary.

Under his guidance, Chen Xian quietly walked to a pine tree, looked up at the bark, about five meters from the ground, there was a very inconspicuous pattern on the trunk, like the Arabic numeral 8, only the size of an adult's palm, it didn't look like the kind of painting, the whole pattern was concave in the bark......

From the initial observations, it does not look like it was artificially made, but rather like a fold formed by the natural growth of a tree, but it is not only on this tree, but it is also found on every tree that can be seen around it in the same position.

Is this pattern a coincidence of nature's appearance?

Chen thought about it silently, but felt that it was unlikely, because these patterns have certain details, such as the lines of the Arabic numeral 8 have undulations, and the overall line is also thick at one end and thin at the end, like a ......

"Ouroboros?" Xu Yanan looked at the pattern on the trunk of the tree, and there was a trace of doubt on his face, as if he was wondering why this pattern appeared in these places.

Hearing Xu Yanan's voice, Chen Xian reacted.

These patterns resembling the Arabic numeral 8 are indeed a mysterious totem, or symbol, that have been handed down since ancient times.

Ouroboros.

In any ancient record, the pattern of the Ouroboros is roughly the same, the image is almost always a snake or a dragon devouring its own tail, and the whole body sometimes forms a ring, sometimes forming a pattern similar to the number "8", so the ancients often called it "self-devourer".

According to the analysis of later generations, especially in recent years, the decipherment of the secret bureau, the meaning of this pattern is not only to symbolize "infinity" or "cycle", its spiritual embodiment is more in line with the domestic religious theory about "reincarnation" view, in the process of self-reference infinite circulation, the head and tail of death are connected, just like the close connection between life and death......

"Were these patterns carved by someone?" Xu Yanan asked in a low voice.

"Not really." Chen Xian shook his head, frowned, and said, "Even if it was carved up, it should have been when these trees were very small..... Their current surface structure is very stable and natural, and has not been damaged by external forces at least in recent years. ”

At this time, everyone had followed the old man and child to the depths of the pine forest.

The light here is dimmer than the outside, and the scorching sunlight seems to be completely blocked by these dense pine trees, and the sky as far as you can see is turned into a series of gaps of different shapes.

After continuing to walk forward for nearly half a kilometer, everyone came to a vast green meadow.

With no pine forests to shield the land, the sun is finally pouring into the land, full of vibrant dark green weeds and unknown wildflowers, and in the distance there are some small landscapes that resemble man-made gardens, some of which are deliberately trimmed to look like humans.

"It's a nice place." Lu Yisheng looked at the "humans" pruned by flowers and trees, and couldn't help but sigh loudly, "The craftsmanship is quite good, better than the gardeners of our branch!" ”

Everyone couldn't help but marvel at the small landscapes made of flowers and trees, because although those landscapes were made of plants, they contained a trace of indescribable spirituality, as if they were all real people, and even the trimmed body movements were so vivid.

"Chen Xian."

Suddenly, Mr. Skeleton secretly dragged Chen Xian, and his pale face was unsettling.

"What's wrong?" Chen Xian asked.

"That feeling of life being gone...... It seems to come out of those things......"

Mr. Skeleton suppressed his voice, every word with disbelief in it, as if he couldn't figure out why he had this feeling, and at the same time he suddenly felt a panic in his heart that made him uneasy.

"They seem to be alive!"