The old man smiled bitterly, respectfully bowed to the portrait, and then fell into a memory, and said slowly: "This matter dates back to more than 30 years ago, when the business road was still very prosperous, every day was full of traffic, and there was an endless stream of merchants in the past. ”

Duan Feng and the others sat on the stools next to them, ready to listen to the story told by the old man.

"That all changed one night more than 30 years ago. Shortly after nightfall, while the people in the village were still resting, a seriously wounded man suddenly collapsed at the entrance of the village, and the village chief hurriedly led someone to rescue the man home. According to the man, the caravan met a ghost in the valley, and there were several caravans walking in the valley at that time, because the trade roads were flourishing, and the local security was very good, and there were no accidents, so walking at night was also common for those merchants. When the caravan reached the depths of the valley, a sudden gust of wind blew, and then a white cloud-like object appeared in the valley, and the man happened to stop at the back of the group to pee, and when he caught up, the whole caravan was left with only a pile of bones. In a panic, the man accidentally fell into a deep pit, broke his right leg, and then struggled to run back to the village. ”

Duan Feng instinctively looked at the old man's right leg, and knew in his heart that the person was this old man, but he didn't expose him immediately.

The old man thought for a moment, and then said: "In the next few years, the passing merchants often disappeared in the valley, and gradually people said that the valley was haunted, and then the whole trade road was abandoned, and the people of the village lost their source of income, and gradually declined, and those young and vigorous young people fled outside to make a living. ”

"What happened to the injured man?" Duan Feng asked as he looked at the old man suspiciously.

"He?" the old man shrank his legs back and said, "You think, the whole caravan has disappeared, but he is the only one alive, how can he explain to the boss when he goes back?" Maybe it's guilt, maybe it's out of fear, that man wants to die a few times. ”

Saying that, the old man smiled bitterly, "It's so naïve." ”

"What do you mean?"

Later, he realized that no matter what method he tried, he would not die. ”

"Can't die!" Duan Feng said in surprise.

The old man said, "Yes, you can't die." No matter what method he used, he tried to jump off the cliff, but the next day he woke up at the bottom of the cliff, hanged himself, and hung himself on the tree for a day and a night, and did not die, and took poison, but the poison entered his abdomen like cold water, cutting his veins, and as a result, not even a drop of blood could come out, and in despair, the old man had to live in seclusion in the village. ”

"Can't die? Isn't that what a lot of people are after? This should be a good thing?"

"Really?" the old man sneered, "It would be nice if this was the case, although he had no way to commit suicide, but his body would age like an ordinary person, and his body functions would gradually decay." ”

"Why is that?"

"Because of them!" the old man pointed to the portrait of the god.

"They? You mean, are they people or something else?"

The old man pulled back the eyes fixed on the statue and continued to answer Duan Feng's question, "One night, a man dressed in white and his head was tightly wrapped in a white cloth came to the young man's house. The young man handed the young man a piece of paper and a picture and told him to memorize the contents of the paper, and although the young man had doubts, it was an unquestionable order from the tone of the visitor, and in his fright, he had no choice but to do as he was told, and finally reached an agreement with him. ”

"What agreement?"

The agreement stipulates that if a merchant enters the valley, the young man must burn three incense sticks in front of the portrait and recite the incantation on the paper, while the visitor guarantees that the young man will have no worries. If he didn't, he killed the young man right away. ”

Duan Feng said: "Hasn't that young man been looking for death, isn't this just the right thing to fulfill him?"

The old man smiled bitterly and said: "There are many ways to die, that person wants the young man to die according to his method, you must know that sometimes, death is not terrible, what is terrible is the way of death." ”

Duan Feng nodded in agreement and motioned for the old man to continue.

The old man continued: "No merchant entered the valley that night, but the young man, out of curiosity, lit three incense sticks in front of the portrait and recited a mantra. And then what happened to you, but there were no merchants in the valley at that time, so ······"

"So what's wrong?" Duan Feng asked.

The old man continued: "So the next morning, when the young man got up and looked, the whole village was left alone. ”

Duan Feng exclaimed, "Those villagers!"

The old man nodded guiltily.

Han Qing asked, "What happened later?"

The old man said, "Then the man never appeared again, and the young man was left alone in the whole valley. Later, whenever a merchant passed by, the young man would repeat the task, and sometimes the young man would persuade the merchant not to go through the valley, but most of the time, the merchant would not listen to him. Later, the young people gave up on saving the merchants. ”

"What kind of thing is that? a monster, or is it some other demon?"

"I don't know, maybe it's some undead who haven't dispersed, maybe it's a group of elves who have cultivated to perfection, and all the people who have seen their true faces are dead. Later, the young man gave the thing a name—Lust. ”

"Desire, why is it called such a name?" Han Qing asked.

The old man said, "Because whoever has a heart will have desire, and as long as there is desire, they will suck up their soul, and no one can escape." ”

"Where did they come from?"

"No one knows, but I have told you all that I know. ”

Duan Feng asked coldly, "That young man is you, right?"

The old man sighed, glanced at Duan Feng, his eyes showed a trace of sadness, and he did not speak.

Duan Feng said again: "Just now you said that they will make you worry about food and clothing? How did they do it? Could it be that they have other connections with the outside world?"

The old man looked out the window, pondered for a long time, and said: "As I said earlier, these desires suck the souls of the human race, but do not eat the corpses of people. Until one day, when the young man grew old and became an old man, and his physical strength was no longer enough to support the work, the old man made the promise they had made to the Lust Spirit. Later, there were no more human corpses left in the valley, only a few broken limbs, which were quickly consumed by the surrounding beasts. And as for most of the bodies, they ended up ······"

Speaking of this, the old man looked at the bowl on the table and closed his eyes slightly.

"You mean—" Liu Yuwei pointed to a wooden basin next to her.

The old man nodded slightly.

Liu Yuwei suddenly rushed out of the door and ran to the yard and vomited.

Duan Feng felt a surge in his chest, but he tried his best to hold back and asked, "In that case, why don't you run away?" It's been so long, your boss has probably forgotten about this matter a long time ago, and your appearance has already changed, you don't have to worry about being recognized if you escape." ”

The old man smiled bitterly: "Escape? Do you think I haven't tried? I can't escape, since the night the villager died, I was doomed to never escape, my soul no longer belonged to me, every time I fled to the valley, I would instinctively return." ”

Duan Feng looked at the old man, he didn't know if this person was hateful or pitiful, and his mistake made a big mistake, but when he thought about it, for him, the original choice was really a mistake code?

Han Qing asked, "What will happen if you don't summon the Desire Spirit to come out?"

The old man said, "I have already said that since that night my soul has ceased to belong to me, and whenever someone walks into the valley, I instinctively light incense, as if driven by a magical force. ”

After saying that, the old man stood up and said, "You better go quickly, leave the valley as soon as possible, I can't guarantee whether I will summon the spirit of desire again, I said, this is not something I can control." ”

Han Qing said, "We're leaving, but what are you going to do? Do we still want to keep you here and continue to kill people?"

The old man looked at the sword in Han Qing's hand, smiled contemptuously, and said, "You want to kill me?"

Han Qing said, "At least you can let the souls of those who were killed by you rest in peace." ”

The old man pointed to the painting on the wall and said, "Rest in peace, those people's souls are in this painting, they have become part of the desires, how do you let them rest in peace?"

Han Qing said: "Then I will burn this painting." ”

Saying that, Han Qing ripped the painting from the wall and was about to burn it, but no matter what he did, the painting would appear on the wall intact.

The old man sneered and shook his head, and said, "Don't waste your efforts, do you think I didn't think of doing this? Also, if I die and the spirits lose their access to the outside world, they will immediately appear and look for another medium, and then you will probably not be able to leave. ”

In desperation, Duan Feng and the others had to leave the valley, and along the way, everyone always paid attention to the movements behind them, fortunately, the road was calm. After a short time, everyone came to an intersection, which was not far from the old man's house, but the trees here were so dense that the existence of the intersection was not visible from a distance.

Duan Feng thought to himself: "If I could speed up at that time, I wouldn't have suffered this disaster for the old man's family again." But this old man may come in handy in the future. ”

Follow the old man's instructions, and the road to Phoenix is headed south from the junction. Everyone quickly left the valley and ran towards Phoenix.