I have to say that the name "Group Statue Monument" is very appropriate for these creatures that look like stones, especially when you first enter the cave, the statues on both sides of the cave wall are sitting or standing with different expressions, which really seem to be in the world.

Chen Qi's inferences about the group portrait monument are mostly correct, this creature does survive by imitating memory or appearance, and because of their high degree of intelligence, they can completely blend into the crowd without being discovered, and can only find the truth through reasoning and discrimination. ”

That's true, before they couldn't even distinguish the truth from the contract beast, thinking about it carefully, fortunately, such creatures live in the deep mountains and old forests, if it is in a civilized society, I don't know how much trouble it will cause.

"Although this creature has no ability to attack, its characteristics are very dangerous, not only can it completely imitate and replace the cultivator, but even if it is robbed of its memory, it can even imitate the cultivation ability. Therefore, after consulting with the association, the academy agreed that the range of activities of this creature should be limited to snow-capped mountains. ”

"If it's dangerous, why should we encounter it?" Guan Yang was puzzled, and seemed to be a little haunted by the scene just now.

"This danger is also relative, under the premise of knowing enough about the habits of this creature, it can be used as a training method for students, and it is of great help to students' survival ability and sense of teamwork in the wild. Zhu Yuanning explained: "As you can see, even if the memory is taken away like Sun Qian's classmate, there is still no harm to the body, so I say that as long as they are controlled within a reasonable range, it can almost be said that there is no danger." ”

Xia Mai seemed to think of something: "Senior, there is one more thing I don't understand. Zhu Yuanning looked at her.

"Just now, even the contract beast couldn't tell the truth from the fake, why did Sun Gan's contract beast follow the main body?"

Zhu Yuanning seemed to be thinking about the girl's question, but Jiang Chen spoke again: "I probably guessed this." Because the fake Sun Qian has never met the real Sun Gan. ”

"Is this possible?"

"Possibly. If these creatures really share memories, I think...... Here's how it happened. ”

Jiang Chen narrated the reasoning in his heart: "We walked together as a group, these creatures only took the risk of robbing the fat man, there must be their reasons." And the fat man's contract beast has been following him, but the guardian spirit has disappeared, which makes me have a guess. ”

He turned his head to Zhu Yuanning and asked, "Senior, does the group portrait monument rely on 'thoughts' to survive?"

"It can be said that there is a conjecture in the world of spiritual practice, that is, the 'group image tablet' itself does not exist, but only lives in the minds of human beings. They have the ability to have an impact on the human brain so that people can see what they want to become. And these large number of group portraits are not independent individuals, but a whole. There is ample evidence that they are a community of shared memories and thoughts. ”

Tang Mengyao's hand was still touching a stone sculpture beside her, and Zhu Yuanning's explanation was a little complicated, which made her feel incomprehensible: "It doesn't exist?" ”

"Isn't the sense of touch also a reaction of brain activity?" Zhu Yuanning asked rhetorically, "So, how do you prove that the touch in your hand is not felt by the other party?"

Their words became more and more entwined, and Jiang Chen hurriedly interrupted them to continue to delve into the question: "I think I can understand that they can share devouring memories, and once other humans don't believe in their imitations, the impact on their brains will be greatly reduced, and they who exist by human minds will also change from lifelike human appearances to lifeless statues. ”

Zhu Yuanning nodded: "To put it simply, if we don't believe it, they don't exist." ”

"Therefore, my conjecture is that one of the individuals in the group portrait tablet was captured by the Thousand Spinning Fire Spiders during the activity, because this creature was restricted by Boyang Academy, and its ability was very limited, in order to save its companions, they risked devouring the memories of the fat man, so that the captured companions became fat people, attracting us to rescue. Jiang Chen said.

Xia Mai's eyes lit up: "Indeed, once this is the case, it makes sense, Sun Gan, who was captured by them, has not met with the imposter at all, and his contract beast will not confuse the master." ”

"What about the fat guardian spirit?" Tang Mengyao seized the loophole.

"To put it bluntly, the guardian spirit is also a body of thought without substance. In some of the research theories of the spiritless, some even claim that it is only derived from brain waves.

Zhu Yuanning laughed again when he heard this: "I also met the group statue monument last time, but no one has ever asked the bottom like you." Waving his hand: "The world is full of wonders, many magical animals and plants, their principles and survival mimics only exist in conjecture, in fact, there is no conclusive." ”

Jing Yu next to him didn't seem to be interested in their conversation, just kept staring at the stone carving, his fingers rubbing back and forth on the Qiankun ring on his wrist, his eyes were hot.

Zhu Yuanning saw this scene and hurriedly said: "This group portrait monument is strictly forbidden to be taken out of the valley, and a senior in the last session secretly took out a group portrait monument, and domesticated it in the dormitory, and usually sent him to take classes for himself in his own appearance, and was directly expelled after being discovered by the school." ”

Jing Yu reluctantly withdrew his eyes.

Xia Mai laughed: "Which senior, stealing the group statue monument is just to not go to class." ”

When everyone here was almost resting, the fat man lying on the ground finally reacted.

He snorted softly, and the black eyeballs that had been turned up returned to their original positions, and finally had a natural expression on his face, but the whole person was still stunned, and he didn't agree to call his name.

Zhu Yuanning is very experienced: "Don't worry, his memory has returned, but it hasn't been fused for a while, find some white-whiskered mulberry leaves to soak in water and take it, just consolidate it." ”

"Are there white-bearded mulberry leaves growing around here?" Jiang Chen asked. This is a common spirit plant, but it is not common to run all over the ground. Because the main function is to strengthen the relationship between the 'spirit' and the practitioner, it is usually used when injured, such as soaking in water for minor injuries and boiling medicine for serious injuries, which is also recorded in their textbooks.

"As the saying goes, there is often an antidote growing next to the poison. Zhu Yuanning frowned slightly and thought for a while: "I remember walking north from here." ”

There was no danger in picking white-bearded mulberry leaves, so Zhu Yuanning stayed, took a group of girls to take care of the fat man, and sent three boys to find the white-bearded mulberry tree.

Jiang Chen was wary of Guan Yang in his heart, and he didn't want to have the opportunity to be alone with the other party when there were few people, so he persuaded him to stay with everyone to "suppress the shock", so only he and Jingyu were left to go north with a compass.

The two of them didn't talk much on the road, Jiang Chen had something on his mind, and Jingyu was originally a stuffy gourd.

Zhu Yuanning's memory was really very reliable, the two of them walked north for about ten minutes, and the journey was very smooth, and they did not encounter aggressive demon beasts, and they saw a few white-bearded mulberry trees growing in clusters of pomegranate red scarves.

Jiang Chen wanted to come forward to pick, but was stopped by Jingyu beside him.

Puzzled, he looked at the other party, but the other person motioned for him to look at the ground in front of him.

So he lowered his head and followed Jingyu's gaze, only to find that about ten meters in front of them, there was a thin line with a light blue light on the ground between the two of them and the white-whiskered mulberry trees.

If you look closely, there seems to be a transparent barrier extending into the sky from the thin line upwards.

"Protective Circle. "Via the Fishing Road.

Only then did he remember what Zhang Baihui had said to them before leaving: "The range within a radius of ten kilometers from here is protected by Boyang Academy, please pay attention not to exceed the range when looking for it!"

He always felt that Jingyu was too cautious, and it was only about twenty meters from them to the white-whiskered mulberry tree, and it didn't take five minutes to pick some mulberry leaves and come back quickly. Even if you encounter any fierce demon beasts during this period, it is too late to escape, not to mention the fishing Xiaobai.

He tried to persuade the other party, after all, it was the most convenient way to find the fat man after picking it here, and if he gave up and went to another place to find the white-bearded mulberry tree, he didn't know when he would find it.

Although Jing Yu was still cautious in his heart, there was really no better way, and he also felt that Jiang Chen's words had some truth, and after weighing them, the two decided to fight quickly.