The woods were filled with white mist, Qin Qi couldn't stop shivering, he touched the suit on his body, his clothes were still wet, and there was no sign of dryness. The old man Bethlito took off the cloak on his body very enthusiastically and handed it to Qin Qi, but Qin Qi shook his hand and refused the old man's kindness, he felt that this cold was nothing, and it was still within the range of his own endurance, and the cloak was better left for the old man of Bethlito. The old man looked at Qin Qi with admiration and put his cloak back on.

At this time, there was another sound like a human scream from the depths of the woods, which was extremely harsh.

Qin Qi stopped his pace and looked around vigilantly, listening very carefully with his ears sideways, and after a while, the voice floated past his ears again.

"Don't be afraid of this cry," said Old Man Burlito, turning back to Qin Qi, "that's the lion-faced beast's trick, and it's very good at making people fearful. ”

"What is a Lion-Face?" Qin Qi asked.

"It's a creature that grows in the dark." Old man Baillito continued to walk, while Qin Qi moved to his side, "The lion-faced beast has human-like limbs, can walk upright, and has a face like a lion, but it has no eyes, and its hearing is very sensitive. The long claws on its hands are the deadliest of weapons. It mimics human voices, especially screams, to create a sense of fear, and it can smell the fear in people's hearts, which is how it hunts, as it does now. ”

"You mean, it senses the fear in us?" Qin Qi asked, "Then if we are not afraid of it, will it not be discovered?" ”

"You may say so, but," said Burlito, "there are few people in such woods who are not afraid at night, so that few people pass by here at night." ”

"Then you're brave, Burlito." Qin Qi couldn't help but admire.

"It can't hurt me, I can deal with it alone, after all, it's also afraid of the power of my staff." Bethleto said.

"You just said that you are a mage, so do you know how to spell and can conjure what you want out of thin air?" Qin Qi asked curiously.

"You know too little about the mage, and you've been in that place too long." Old man Bethlito said with a smile, showing a kind gaze. "The priests are not gods. I can only control some things with my staff, and I can use it as a torch like I do now. ”

"It's already very good, in the place where I came from, this kind of skill can be performed on stage and become a star."

"What is a star?" Baillito was a little puzzled, "I've lived for so long, why do I feel a little lonely today?" ”

"No, no, I don't know much about you, we just don't communicate too much." Qin Qi hurriedly comforted Bethleto.

The two exchanged their respective cultures and living customs in this way, Qin Qi felt that chatting with the old man was very pleasant, he hadn't felt this way for a long time, and there was a kind of comfort in chatting with Mr. Qin, which was indescribable. As they walked down a small man-made dirt path, they met two middle-aged men with torches in their hands, and Qin Qi noticed that they were wearing uniform uniforms in the form of the clothes worn by medieval Europeans that he had seen in American museums, with symbols on their chests and a long sword erected in a circle.

"This is the defense force of Long Lake Town." The old man explained to Qin Qi, "They are captain Ulantu and vice-captain Tuke. ”

The captain named Ulantu greeted Burlito, and the other vice-captain named Tuke also waved. Tuke looked much older than Ulantu, but his sturdy body made him look very burly, his eyes were piercing, and he had two small mustaches on his face, similar to the king in the playing cards.

"Hey, Bethleto, where did you come from?" Ulantu said with a smile.

"Just now I came back from the beach," said Bethto, putting his head into Ulantu's ear, and whispering, "there should be no danger tonight, right?" ”

"Everything is fine, but there are fewer and fewer people in the border guards, and I lost three helpers last time I resisted the bandits, and this defense work is getting worse and harder." Ulantu complained to Bethlito, and at the same time, he also noticed Qin Qi standing behind Bethlito dressed strangely, and couldn't help asking, "This is..."

"Oh~ This is my invited guest, he is from out of town, we are walking back, dinner is ready." Bethleto said.

At this time, in order not to make the other party feel strange, Qin Qi naturally walked up to Ulantu, politely stretched out his right hand, and introduced himself: "My name is Qin Qi, I just came to this place, and I am very happy to meet you." ”

Ulantu didn't know what to say, he saw Qin Qi's hand, and he didn't know what etiquette it was, so he also stretched out his hand and shook hands with Qin Qi.

"Since you are a guest of Bethlito, it should also be a guest of our Long Lake Town, you can come to my house, and I will entertain you with the best food."

Qin Qi nodded to Ulantu to express his gratitude. Then, he consciously retreated to Bethlito's side and elbowed Bethlito, hoping that he would continue the atmosphere.

Bethlito patted them on the shoulder again enthusiastically and said, "So it's a good thing that you two are already friends." He looked at the path behind Ulantu, "I think it's better for us to go back quickly, after all, my granddaughter is still waiting for me to go back at home, so I won't be verbose here, two, goodbye." ”

As he spoke, Burlito waved his hand to the two of them.

"Your granddaughter shouldn't be at home." Tuke, who had been standing behind Ulantu and had not spoken, suddenly burst into words.

"Huh?" Bethlito wondered, "What's going on?" ”

Tuke took a few steps forward, helped the saber on his waist, and said, "My son told me that he was going to accompany your granddaughter Lingyue to pick the moon grass by the Long Lake today, and March has only moved to the center now, and they should still be next to the Long Lake."

"I see." Liberto suddenly realized, and then he said to Tuke very politely: "I am sorry that my granddaughter has taken your son to such a dangerous place again, she is not obedient, she has always been like this. ”

"It's okay, as a young man, if he can't even protect a woman, then he is not worthy of being my son." Tuke said earnestly.

Ulantu on the side walked up to Tuke and proudly said to Qin Qi and Berlito: "Tuke is the bravest warrior in our Changhu Town, he has participated in the Battle of Blackstone for twenty years, and has won the commendation of the Spirit King. How could his son not even be able to protect a woman. Bethlito, you can rest assured. ”

As soon as Ulantu's words fell, Qin Qi's ears suddenly felt as if they had been stung by something, and he heard a slight sound, the contact between metal and trees, as if someone was cutting down trees with an axe.

"Bethlito, do you hear me?" Qin Qi couldn't help but ask, "There was a sound on the other side of the woods, as if someone was cutting down trees." ”

"Really?" Bethlito turned and looked at the woods beside the path, and Ulantu and Tuke followed suit, listening intently. However, they didn't seem to hear anything, and they made eye contact with each other for a moment, and none of them noticed what was happening in the woods. ”

"This young man named Qin Qi," Captain Ulantu said to Qin Qi, "maybe it's because we're old, but we haven't heard anything, and it's so late, it stands to reason that no one will cut down trees here." ”

"No, listen carefully, someone is really cutting down trees," Qin Qi insisted, "The pace is getting faster and faster." ”

The remaining three people looked at each other, they didn't know what Qin Qi was hearing, there was only the empty woods in front of them, so they decided to listen carefully, and as a result, they finally heard it clearly this time.

"Help~" It turned out to be a human voice, and it was a cry for help.

"Someone is in danger." After Ulantu and Tuke reacted, they pulled their legs and ran into the woods, Qin Qi and Berlito followed, they followed the cries for help, although Ulantu and Tuke were not young, but their movements were agile, Qin Qi ran behind them, and they could only capture the figures they left between the trees in their field of vision. After a while, they ran to a large lake.

"Isn't this the Long Lake?" Bethleto said. He looked into the distance along the slender lake, and found that there was a tree shaking violently in the distance, and it was too far away to see clearly, so he raised his staff, closed his eyes, and silently recited a few words, and the light on the staff automatically lit up, and it became stronger and stronger, and the appearance of the tree became clearer and clearer, until the light illuminated the entire long lake.

"Look!" Tuke pointed to the shaking tree, Qin Qi squinted his eyes, and a naked ** man with long hair stood under the tree, with his back to them, holding a few sharp knives in his hands, and kept cutting at the trunk. And there were two people standing in the tree, both of whom were obviously desperate, and each held a branch to prevent himself from falling.

"Isn't this Lingyue and Tans? Tuke, your son is on it. Ulantu shouted at Tuke.

"This useless guy." Tuke drew his longsword and made a charging stance, but was quickly stopped by Bethlito.

"Wait, Tuke, that's no ordinary man," said Bethlito, "it's a lion-faced beast, and you see he's not holding a knife, but his own claws." Unlike normal beasts, the Lion cannot attack like this. And it can't go up the tree, and it will take a long time for such a thick trunk to break. ”

"Bethlito, you overestimate this beast, it just has two claws, it's nothing in front of us swordsmen in Falling Moon City." Tuke pushed Berlito's hand away and lunged forward.

Qin Qi looked at Tuke's distant back, and hurriedly followed, he habitually stretched his hand to his waist, and found that there was no gun behind his back, so he panicked, but he didn't retreat, but picked up a stone on the ground and continued to walk forward.

Beside the long lake were open spaces, fortunately there was waist-length grass growing on them, and Bethlito and Ulantu quietly moved forward at the end, while Tuke raised his sword high and rushed towards the lion-faced beast like a wild horse, while Qin Qi followed. When approaching the edge of the grass, Qin Qi immediately slowed down his pace, but Tuke didn't mean to stop at all, and rushed out with all his strength, unable to pull it, so that Qin Qi had to rush out with him.

The lion-faced beast immediately sensed the arrival of the two, and it turned around and confronted Qin Qi and Tuke face to face. Qin Qi has never seen any very ferocious animals, at most he has seen crocodiles in the United States. It is undeniable that the lion-faced beast is ugly, with a yellow face, an inverted U-shaped mouth, two fangs spitting out, and some saliva sticking on it. Above, there is a flat nose and only eye sockets without eyeballs. It is covered in **, no different from the body of an ordinary person, except for the pair of huge claws, which stick out of the body with a metallic luster and sharp bone claws. At this moment, the lion-faced beast was sniffing forward, spreading its hands, its claws clashing against each other.

Qin Qi didn't feel anything other than feeling disgusted, and of course he also thought about the question of how the lion-faced beast ate with its all-metal claws. Knowing enough to have no fear of the monster in front of him, Tuke lowered the height of his sword slightly, figuring out the best angle to attack. Seeing that he frowned, put his sword flat, and stabbed quickly towards the lion-faced beast's chest, Qin Qi clearly felt a gust of wind blowing beside him.

With a "poof", Tuke's stab was unsuccessful, and was broken open by one of the lion's claws. The Lion took the opportunity to raise his other claw and slash it towards Tuke's chest from the bottom up, Tuke leaned back with agility, but because the Lion-Faced Claw's claws were too long, the logo on Tuke's chest was cut through four cracks, and the blood quickly soaked the brown cloth, and a look of pain flashed on his face.

The lion smelled blood and became extremely excited. It screamed and waved its claws, so frightened that the two men in the tree did not dare to come down, but hid behind the branches. Tuke was a little sluggish because of a chest injury, and he continued to attack a few times, and he was already a little overwhelmed. Taking advantage of Tuk's sword's breath, the lion-faced beast struck out with both claws, knocking Tuk's sword away in one fell swoop, knocking Tuk to the ground and trying to pounce on it and bite it.

At this moment, Qin Qi, who was standing aside, used all his strength to smash the stone into the lion-faced beast's head, and the stone hit the lion-faced beast's forehead and shattered, and the lion-faced beast also fell halfway.

Qin Qi didn't want to entangle with the Lion-Faced Beast because he felt that he didn't have a suitable weapon. After the lion fell, he hurried to Tuke and tried to drag him into the grass, but the lion struggled on the ground for a short time before standing up. At this time, the distance between Qin Qi and the Lion-Faced Beast was only three or four meters, and this distance could be easily solved by a single jump for the Lion-faced Beast. Qin Qi immediately stopped the rescue and didn't dare to make a sound.

The lion has no eyes, it can't see, but its sense of smell is still very sensitive. It knew the smell of blood on the ground to search for Tuk, and approached Tuke step by step, seeing this, Tuke took out a small colored stone from his uniform and threw it into the air, the stone exploded in the air, producing colorful smoke, and all kinds of smells filled the air, and the lion-faced beast instantly lost its direction and waved its claws on the ground.

This will make Qin Qi nervous. The lion-faced beast was unconsciously getting closer and closer to Qin Qi, and he thought to himself that if he could escape this catastrophe, he would definitely escape into the empty gate and no longer pay attention to the mortal accident. Fortunately, the lion-faced beast stayed in front of Qin Qi for a while before turning its head and leaving, and Qin Qi breathed a sigh of relief.

As a result, the breath suddenly blew into the back of the lion's head, and the lionon froze in place.

"Oh my God!" Qin Qi secretly screamed in his heart, knowing that he had been discovered. He glanced at the ground, saw Tuke's sword, and immediately rolled on the ground, dodging the lion's claws, picked up the sword, and swung forward, cutting off a few yellow hairs in front of the lion.

The lion-faced beast was furious, and a leap was about to press Qin Qi to the ground, Qin Qi instantly bent down when he saw this, and kicked the lion-faced beast's stomach, the lion-faced beast screamed miserably, and hit the trunk of the tree, the tree broke from the trunk and slowly fell, and the two people on the tree also fell into the grass. Qin Qi looked down at his right foot, he couldn't help but be surprised and proud of the kick he had kicked, he didn't expect his strength to become so strong at all, not to mention kicking down the lion-faced beast, even the big tree was implicated, with such divine power, Qin Qi began to be complacent again.

As a result, when he came back to his senses, the lion-faced beast was gone!

Qin Qi immediately maintained the highest vigilance, turned around and looked at the waist-length grass everywhere, it was very quiet everywhere, only the faint sound of insects, and the three moons were hanging in the middle of the long lake at this time, and the grass flashed with a little green light. At this time, Burlito and Ulantu arrived at Tuke's side to treat his wounds.

A black shadow suddenly flew out from Qin Qi's right hand, and Qin Qi immediately reacted and placed the sword horizontally on his chest to block it, just blocking the lion-faced beast's claws. He swung his sword upwards with all his might, and with a "boom", the sword and claw broke at the same time, and the red liquid flowed out of the lion-faced beast's broken claws, and the lion-faced beast shook its head and painfully pushed Qin Qi towards the long lake and Qin Qi fell into the water at the same time.

After falling into the water again, Qin Qi was tightly pressed under the water by the lion-faced beast, unable to swim up, the lack of oxygen and the huge pressure from above made Qin Qi a little confused, his hands touched up along the lion-faced beast's arms, grabbed the lion-faced beast's head, and tore the yellow hair on its face. Burlito and Ulantu on the water couldn't see what was going on underwater, they only saw bubbles rising up, and after a while, the bubbles were gone.

After a while, when Bethlito and Ulantu thought that Qin Qi had met with an accident, a large number of bubbles bubbled out of the water, and finally, a young man in a gray suit with short hair climbed up from the lake, still holding something in his hand. Berlito illuminated the person in front of him with the light of his cane, and the two of them couldn't help but be surprised, standing in front of them was Qin Qi, and he was still holding the head of the lion-faced beast in his hand.

"It's a little cold." Qin Qi said this to them after he went ashore.