As evening approached, the sun was red and the light was no longer scorching and dazzling.

Xuan Ming walked in front with heavy steps, carrying his "Qingfeng" sword and a heavy bag on his back, which contained flints, torches and other necessary things for night walking, as well as dry food, water bladders and other long-distance belly wrapping goods; The two walked for an afternoon, except for some birds, pheasants, squirrels, hares and other small animals flying and jumping, and did not find any accidents, and the mood gradually relaxed, while walking leisurely, while admiring the green and colorful exotic flowers and plants dotted in the green forest, listening to the boundless natural insect song, and the melodious birdsong mixed with the insect song.

"The scenery is a feast for your eyes. Xuan Zhu said, and hurried to catch up with Xuan Ming, "I'm going to go ahead." ”

Xuan Ming smiled slightly, let her take a few steps first, and followed behind.

"It's better to follow behind, and you can see her slender shadow. He thought about it, and a slight smile bloomed at the corner of his mouth, and his heart was sweet. "It's a good feeling to go on like this! It's better to just keep going, never to end. ”

The sun was getting shorter and shorter, and the brightness in the mountains and forests was getting dimmer and dimmer, and in less than half an hour it set behind the peaks, and dusk quietly fell.

"Are you thirsty, do you want to drink water, hey!"

After walking for a long time, no one spoke, and Xuan Ming was also bored, so he shouted in the back.

"Hey, who's hey, who's hey?" she didn't even look back.

"Sister Xuanzhu, Sister Yingzhu, do you want to drink water?" he shouted deliberately.

"Who's your sister! I've got goosebumps. ”

"Miss Yingzhu, Lady Ying, Fairy Yingzhu, Do you want to drink water?" he changed his words again. She still hasn't looked back.

"Beautiful Miss Yingzhu! Slender Yingzhu Princess! Peerless Yingzhu Fairy! After walking so far, aren't you thirsty?"

She was finally amused by him, so she stopped and turned around, and held out her hand to him, and he hurried a few steps to pass the water bladder, and she took a few sips and gave it back to him.

"It's so sweet! She said, "How did you become so poor today?"

"It's not stinky poverty, it's boring. He said after a few sips.

"Walking with a beautiful junior sister, are you still bored?"

"I don't know if I'm pretty or not, but what's the fun of being dumb? Besides, I can't even hold my hand. ”

As he spoke, he suddenly stretched out his arms and hugged her from behind.

"Look for death!

She shouted, struggled twice, and stomped on the surface of his feet, and he let go of his arms with an "ouch" and squatted down.

"You know how powerful this girl is, right? ”

"Stomping, you're murdering your husband!hey—yo—" He limped forward with a deliberate pretense of pain.

"There are so many flying insects! they keep hitting me in the face. ”

She digressed from the subject and didn't answer him at all. He stopped pretending to be in pain, and strode after him, hurrying forward.

The sky was getting darker and darker, and the night was creeping in behind dusk, and before you knew it, the stars had dotted the sky, and the path down the mountain was gradually blurred.

"What time is it?" Hyunjoo asked.

"It's time to go. ”

"Light the torch, I can't see the Tao clearly. ”

"Respect!

He took out the torch for her to hold, took out the flint and struck it three times, and finally lit it.

"Just order one. He said.

"There's a street sign here!" she called out to him, holding a torch and shining a wooden sign, only to see two lines of black words on it: "Pedestrian stop!"

"You're just about to officially enter the valley, are you still in front?" asked her with a smile, looking ill-willed.

"What is there to be afraid of?"

As she spoke, she took the initiative to raise the torch and walked forward, and he followed closely behind her.

Walking in this valley, it is really nothing, although there are many pits and rocks, but it is not as steep as originally thought. Unlike Taniguchi, the trees are taller, the forest is denser, and the sky is darker, and everything is dark.

I don't know when it began, the sky was quietly overcast, the stars were gone, except for the trees beside them and the mountain road under their feet, they could hardly see anything, and it became pitch black a dozen steps away, and they could only hear the endless chirping of insects, the sound of undulating frogs, and one or two strange cries of inexplicable mountain beasts.

"W-wh

Suddenly, a terrible scream, piercing the peaceful night, came from far ahead.

"Listen, what's the sound?" Hyun-joo asked alertly.

"Howling like a wolf!" Xuan Ming said.

After a pause, the screams ceased, and the two continued on their way.

After about a quarter of an hour, suddenly there was a louder shout.

"Whoa-roar!

"How can I hear the cry of a wild ape?" asked Xuanzhu.

So they stopped and stood there, and after two shouts there was no more, and they had to go on. After walking a little more than a quarter of an hour, I heard a more rapid cry.

"Whoa—roar!roar—roar!," the cry grew closer and more coherent.

"Senior brother, are you afraid?" she turned to look at him, her eyes flickering hesitantly in the red firelight.

"The dignified Xuanzhu Senior Sister of Ziyang Mountain is also afraid?" he smiled at her.

"I'm afraid?" she asked rhetorically, glancing back at him with her eyes open, "I'm asking if you're afraid?"

"What am I afraid of!"

The two of them continued to walk on silently.

After a while, the roar suddenly stopped inexplicably, and even the sound of insects and frogs suddenly stopped, and there was a suffocating silence all around, and nothing could be seen in the dark night, and the air seemed to be stagnant, and it seemed to smell terrifying.

"Senior brother, will it be okay?" she called him softly, her voice trembling a little, and she stepped back gently, her back rubbing against his chest, almost leaning against his arms.

"Don't worry, there's still a senior brother!"

He teased on his lips, and felt an inexplicable fear in his heart, but Xuanzhu's almost snuggled body made his heart excited, and a manly heroic spirit was angry, and he reached out and grabbed her hand tightly.

"Whew!"

A deafening roar suddenly burst out from front of them, and the thunder tore through the silent night, and at the same time, a huge monster with the body of a wolf-headed ape suddenly jumped out of the darkness in front of them, blocking them.

The monster was only two feet away from them, standing there with an upright body like an iron tower, about one foot and two feet tall, more than twice as tall as an ordinary adult. The monster had the head of a wild wolf, the body of a giant ape, and a thick body of brown and black hair, a pair of hideous eyes like two small lanterns shining blood-colored red, a blood-red mouth, a blood-red tongue, and sharp teeth the size of a garlic clove, but they were pointed, white and extremely sharp.

"Don't be afraid, draw your sword. Xuan Ming said calmly.

As soon as the monster saw them draw their swords, they swung their two giant palms and pounced on them, seeing that their right palm was about to slap Xuanzhu's head. Xuan Ming jumped in front of Xuan Zhu with an arrow step, raised the blade of the sword with his right hand and stabbed forward, just stabbing the monster's big palm. The monster screamed in pain and took a few steps back, and instead of attacking rashly, it slowly circled around them, trying to turn behind them. Xuan Ming and Xuan Zhu stood back to back, following the monster.

Xuan Ming took the torch from Xuan Zhu's hand with his left hand, and slowly approached the monster with the torch. When the monster saw that he didn't raise his sword, he was not so frightened, and grinned and did not dodge, revealing a mouth full of white teeth. Xuan Ming suddenly rushed forward a few steps, and touched the torch in his hand directly to the monster's abdomen, igniting the thick long hair on the monster's abdomen. The monster screamed and slapped its palms against the flames. Xuan Ming stabbed with a sword and stabbed the monster in the abdomen, but the sword didn't come out. The monster howled and waved his palm at Xuan Ming, and in an emergency, Xuan Zhu swung out the "innocent" long sword in his hand and stabbed it at the monster's throat, and the monster screamed, and suddenly fell to the ground with a "snap".

"Senior sister deserves to be a master of swordsmanship!

Xuan Ming muttered, and he was also frightened into a cold sweat just now.

"Don't laugh at me, it's just a blind cat that ran into a dead mouse. Xuanzhu said, "I'm scared when I think about it." ”

"Wasn't you afraid then?"

"When I saw the monster slapping at you, I forgot what it meant to be scared for a moment, and I felt that my whole body suddenly gave birth to infinite power. ”

"Because I gave birth to strength?" Hyun Ming said, winking at her and smiling weirdly.

"Don't think about it, I'm worried that I'll shoot you to death, and no one will accompany me out of this valley anymore. Don't be poor, let's see what this monster is?"

They turned around and walked towards the monster, and saw that the monster's corpse had become soft, the whole corpse had softened, the three-dimensional sense was weakening, the convex and concave degree of the body was flattening, and gradually became an empty sac skin of a beast with the body of a wolf-headed ape, a thin layer was spread on the ground, and finally the skin gradually became blurred, liquefied into a puddle of black liquid, seeping into the ground like water, and the effort was reduced in a while.

"How can this be? how can this be?" said Xuanzhu, as if asking him, as if talking to himself.

"Alright, don't get tangled, let's hurry up. Xuan Ming said.

The two hurriedly set out on the road again.

Xuan Ming learned the lesson of the monster's attack from the front just now, and he took the initiative to walk in front with a torch, letting Xuan Zhu carry his sword and follow behind him.