The fire fold in Ye Boyu's hand is a windproof fire fold specially developed by the third uncle, which is not only windproof, but also has a large illuminated range, but in this cave, there seems to be a layer of invisible thick fog, and the fire fold can only shine less than a few meters away, barely able to illuminate a little range around him.

With the light of the fire fold, Ye Boyu first carefully looked at the surrounding environment, the ground under his feet was overgrown with weeds, and he couldn't see the land below, but he felt that the road soil layer was solid, it should be a lot of people walking, the walls on both sides were black and pressed, and the fire light went to see that it was all stone stalactite rock layers, which may be a water vein fracture, and there were no water droplets dripping on the stone stalactites, and the top of the cave could be touched with his hand, and it was also covered with stone stalactites, but some places were very smooth, as if they had been cut by someone with a heavy instrument such as a knife and axe.

After walking along the secret passage for about fifty or sixty meters, the road under his feet began to go down diagonally, and the moisture in front of him became heavier and heavier, as if it was about to condense into a solid, and it was very difficult to breathe, and the light of the fire fold could not even shine out the five steps in front of him.

I don't know how far I have walked diagonally, and suddenly there is a light in front of him, Ye Boyu found that he was already in a big house more than ten zhang square, the house was paved with one-meter square terrazzo bricks, and the four corners of the walls were lit with candles the thickness of arms, but it was strange to say that this candle was not just made of something, the candlelight was actually oily, and the entire dark room was a miserable green. Ye Boyu couldn't help but think of the story that the third uncle told him before, Miao people are good at using Gu poison, thinking that this kind of candle is not known what poison is used to make it, so that it can emit such a dark green light, thinking of this, he was busy looking at his body, and secretly breathed a few times, feeling that there was no abnormality before he was a little relieved.

Ye Boyu extinguished the fire, and was about to move forward, when he saw his figure reflected on the wall, with the flickering of the candlelight, like a ghost, he was too busy to look at it anymore, turned his head to look at the road in front of him, and suddenly his heart moved, and he felt that his figure seemed to have an indescribable wrongness, but he couldn't think of what was going on, so he mustered up his courage and walked slowly to the wall on his left.

Wait until less than one meter away from the wall, only to see that the original wall is densely carved with many figures, may be a long time, plus the light is weak, can only vaguely see the largest figure seems to be a middle-aged man wearing a robe, wearing a Taoist temple sitting on the ground, surrounded by more than a dozen people dressed in silver, Miao people dressed, there are men and women, all holding weapons, dignified faces, next to the image is also engraved with a few big characters of the ruler Xu Fang, next to the big characters densely engraved with countless small characters, Ye Boyu looked closer, and I don't know what the text is. Looking at the figure next to it, it seems that under a big tree, a person is holding a staff, and the staff is wrapped around not only a dragon or a snake, as if he is shouting at someone, but there is nothing around, just a few mushroom-like figures, which should be decorative patterns and the like. The more Ye Boyu looked at it, the more strange he became, he had long forgotten that he was in danger, and he was trembling with fear just now, and he moved forward step by step, ready to take a look.

At this time, I don't know where a breeze blew, the four candles "poofed" at the same time, the fire skyrocketed, a miserable white face disappeared in an instant, and the ear seemed to hear a "huh", listening to the sound as if a woman was surprised to see Ye Boyu arrive.

"Who?" Ye Boyu exclaimed, the fire fold in his hand almost fell out, only to see that in front of the dark room, more than ten zhang away, in front of it, were two dark and heavy doors, the doors were hidden, leaving a thin slit in the middle, and the two door knockers were swinging up and down, as if someone had just touched them.

Ye Boyu didn't dare to stay any longer, hurriedly rushed to the door, pushed open the door vigorously, the door didn't seem to look so heavy, out of the door was a long series of stone steps, and on the steps was a false door, Ye Boyu stepped up the steps in a few steps, pushed open the door, and jumped out.

As soon as he came out, Ye Boyu couldn't help but stay in the local area, only to see the moon and stars, the surrounding buildings and pavilions, carved beams and paintings, as if he walked into a merchant mansion along the secret road.

I never thought that it would be such a place from the deep mountain hinterland, and it must be the residence of local celebrities and aristocrats or local officials in the past. Although Ye Boyu was frightened, he finally escaped from the gloomy secret passage, took a few deep breaths of fresh air, and smelled the air mixed with bursts of rhododendron fragrance, I don't know if he was in a good mood, or if there were really azaleas planted in the courtyard, Ye Boyu couldn't help but feel a little relieved and breathed a sigh of relief.

Leaning over to look around at his body, except for the mud and sewage stains all over his body, and the unknown grass juice on his shoes, there was no discomfort, and then he looked up and looked around.

Although the ancient city of Xiangxi has been mostly Miao and Tujia people since ancient times, it has been ruled by the Han people since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and the folk customs have been influenced by the Han people. And because there are many mountains and few rivers in Xiangxi, the flat land is even less pitiful, and the rain and insect pests are pested, so the local people take local materials, and build a two-story or three-story attic with untreated wood or bamboo poles, and the bottom layer of this attic is completely suspended or half suspended, so it is also called "stilted building".

It's strange to say, Ye Boyu raised his eyes and looked around, only to see layers of layers under the moonlight, and there seemed to be countless pavilions and pavilions all around, which seemed to be the architectural style of the Ming and Qing dynasties, but he didn't see a stilted building.

"It may be that the Han people who were officials here in the past built such a compound and couldn't get used to the stilted buildings of the locals. Ye Boyu muttered in his heart, while stepping out of the house into the courtyard, looking back, the plaque in the room he was in just now really had the words "West Wing" written on the plaque. "Thankfully, it's a Han house, if it's a Miao family, wouldn't you not be able to read a word. ”

Ye Boyu was secretly lucky, knowing that the gate must be due south, so he walked towards the south at the moment.

Coming out of the west wing, there is a patio, in the middle of the patio is a pool, the moonlight is from the top of the patio less than a zhang square, shining into the pool, reflecting the surrounding sparkling. The courtyard is paved with blue bricks, surrounded by half-foot-high artemisia grass, and the door frames on both sides are covered with cobwebs, which looks very ruined, and it feels like no one has lived in it for many years. Directly south of the patio is indeed a vermilion gate more than three meters high, which seems to be the main gate of this courtyard.

Ye Boyu identified the direction and was about to walk towards the gate, when he suddenly heard a few dull footsteps not far behind him, boom, very loud in the empty courtyard. "Sure enough, there are people. Ye Boyu was shocked, and as soon as he was short, he burrowed into the grass on the side of the road, staring out.

I heard the footsteps getting closer and closer, and after a while, a pair of big shoes full of mud and no color stopped in front of Ye Boyu's eyes, not moving for a long time, as if they were looking around, looking for clues.

Ye Boyu didn't dare to come out, his eyes were staring at the big feet in front of him, and he didn't dare to move. After a while, he only felt that his neck was itching, but it was the insects and ants in the grass that crawled into his collar, Ye Boyu held his breath and endured himself.

After another half of the tea hour, the big feet in front of him finally began to move again, turned around, turned back and walked away in the direction they had just come.

Ye Boyu's body was painful and itchy, he couldn't bear it anymore, he straightened up slightly, looked out, and saw a big man with a foot of more than one meter and nine, burly, walking out slowly. Ye Boyu was frightened and frightened in his heart, and when the strong man walked away a few more steps, gently brushed aside the grass, came out with a cat's waist, and ran straight to the gate while looking at the figure of the strong man.

Seeing that he was about to walk to the gate, who knew that at this moment, a small black shadow flew out of nowhere, impartially, and hit the strong man's back with a "pop".

The strong man was startled, turned his head suddenly, and happened to be opposite to Ye Boyu.

Under the moonlight, Ye Boyu only felt that his knees were weak, and he saw the most terrifying face in his life. I saw that the strong man had messy hair, his facial features were distorted, half of his nose and face seemed to have been bitten off by some fierce beast, revealing Bai Sensen's bones and red flesh turned out, half of his gums were also exposed, and his black eyes could not see the bottom, like two hollow holes, and there were still some flesh and blood residues left on the corners of his mouth, and a trace of blood flowed down from the corners of his mouths on both sides. As soon as he saw Ye Boyu, the strong man made a muffled sound of "whoosh", and rushed towards Ye Boyu with a step.

Ye Boyu only screamed bitterly, and felt that his legs were weak, and his eyes were black, "Oh my God, is this a human or a ghost!" Could it be a ......" All kinds of legends of Xiangxi chasing corpses suddenly appeared in his mind, and he didn't dare to look at it anymore, so he hurriedly turned around and fled to the gate without his life.

Despite his weak legs, he still ran to the gate in a few steps, and hurriedly pushed it with all his strength. Who knew that the door in front of him was like cast iron, Ye Boyu pushed and pulled it with all his strength more than a dozen times, but it didn't move at all, and even a few pieces of dust didn't fall.

Seeing that the strong man "zombie" behind him was getting closer and closer, Ye Boyu had no choice but to turn around and run from the side of the pool to the back door behind the "zombie", fortunately, although the "zombie" was burly, his legs were staggering. Ye Boyu walked quickly around the "zombie", had no time to think about it, and went straight to the back door.

The "zombie" saw Ye Boyu running farther and farther, and there was a roar of "whoop", and he heard the sound of the wings on both sides of the east and west, and at the same time there was a sound of footsteps, Ye Boyu peeked in his busy schedule, and saw that the doors and windows on both sides were broken one after another, and the ghosts were struggling, and the black pressure did not know how many tall "zombies" came out.

Ye Boyu only hated his father and mother for having two legs, and fled to the back door without his life, and heard the roar behind him, and countless "zombies" chased after him. With a "whew", a "zombie" jumped out of the window and rushed towards Ye Boyu, Ye Boyu hurriedly flashed, his feet slipped, and he almost fell into the pool next to him. The "zombie" that pounced on it stood unsteadily and plunged headlong into the water. I saw a few blisters gurgling out of the pool, and the huge figure of the "zombie" disappeared without a trace, and not even a bone floated up.

Readers are encouraged to watch the next chapter, "The Woman in Purple".