"We're lost." A young woman dressed as an adventurer carrying a lantern with her back to her companions tells a terrible truth in a tone of almost despair.

She was standing under a tall tree, a notch clearly visible on the trunk, and it was clear that it was a mark they had left the last time they had passed by.

One of her companions, a middle-aged man in a knitted hat, stroked the thick beard on his chin, frowned, and muttered to himself in a low voice:

"It is said that the dark forest is a natural labyrinth, and the redundant spiritual power inside will disturb people's spiritual power perception, so that they cannot use spiritual power to determine the direction......"

Getting lost in the dark forest is not an uncommon thing for adventurers.

People are embarrassed to claim to have been adventurers and contributed to their country's exploration of the planet after getting lost a few times.

It wasn't the first time that their group had stepped into the Dark Forest, and even in the depths of the Xuancai Mountain Range, they had the courage to step into it...... However, the current situation does not allow them to be optimistic.

The woman on the verge of despair squatted with her head in her hands and shouted hysterically:

"I've never been in a situation where the pattern of the forest has changed so dramatically that all the hand-drawn maps we brought with us have lost their effect."

"This forest has finally come to life!" Tears spilled uncontrollably from her eye sockets and rolled down her cheeks, wetting the ground in front of her, "It awakens to its self-consciousness and wants to trap us all here!" ”

"Captain, do you remember what the strange soothsayer said before you set out? We will have a turning point in our fate, and most likely, we will never return......"

Gone are the smoothness of the previous adventures, replaced by a chance to stumble into danger again and again, and life-and-death decisions.

"Fortune tellers are the least reliable, they are good at listening to the voice of the world, but how they interpret it is up to them." The middle-aged man in a warm hat let go of his messy beard and comforted his companions, saying, "And how to understand their divination or prophecy is up to us." ”

As he spoke, he drew a dagger from his waist and slashed it at the trunk in front of him:

"Let's go, we won't be stuck here forever."

The rest of the companions nodded their heads.

Seeing this, the woman, who had lost hope, was embarrassed to persist in decadence, and she was also afraid that her companions would abandon her under this tree, so she could only force herself to cheer up:

"May our faith bless you and me."

They are all adventurers from different countries and different cultural circles, and many of them have the talent to perform miracles, of course, they are not very good, otherwise they would have mixed into the top of their own country.

Although there are also some members who do not have the ability to control the atmospheric spiritual power, their physical fitness, reasoning ability, and basic knowledge reserves are not bad, so they can join this adventurer team and cooperate with the capable people.

And everyone here actually has secrets in their hearts and does not want to be known by their companions, some are about the instructions issued by the forces to which they belong, some are about the pursuit and dream of a lifetime, and some are for their families, for the salvation of themselves, and for the legendary "treasures" hidden in the Xuancai Mountains......

They both know that they have evil intentions for each other, but as long as they can go on an adventure together, they are all partners.

The past, the family, the ideal, the mission...... These complex concepts can be forgotten as something outside of the body, and it is enough for people to have the "faith to live" and to live to the end.

"If we come back here later, we'll have to think about splitting up our plans." The middle-aged man, who seemed to be the oldest in the group, made an arrangement, he was the leader of this adventure team, and everyone had to listen to him.

The eyes of the most active women in the group dimmed again:

"Are you crazy? Before, they were acting separately, and those people would ......"

They had already lost several of their companions before they realized they were lost.

There are also people who have a particularly good relationship with this woman, and the other party is also the most powerful person in the adventure team.

But unfortunately lost its sights in this natural labyrinth, and it is likely that it has become a meal in the belly of the hungry beasts of winter.

The captain snorted:

"Silver, if there is any other option, you can make arrangements for me."

"It's better to find hope separately than to fall into despair together on the same road." He had a pair of haggard gray eyes, and a hint of fatigue appeared on his weather-beaten face.

"Okay." The woman known as "Silver" covered her mouth with her empty hand, her eyes drooping slightly, "It's all up to you." ”

She tries not to appear so negative as much as possible:

"I'll see which team wants me."

"By the way," she looked beyond the captain to the companions scattered in the surrounding woods, "try to contact Mr. Shirahashi, and hopefully the chaotic spiritual power of the dark forest won't affect the communication signal too deeply." ”

The "White Bridge" in her mouth is not a member of this adventure team, but the existence of the equivalent of the funder behind the adventure team.

Everyone in the team knew that this gentleman existed, and it was because he provided funds, contacted various forces and individual adventurers who acted alone, that they were able to come together, go through thrilling journeys again and again, and finally become "excellent partners" who are inseparable from each other.

Mr. Shirabashi once described the relationship between each member of their team in one sentence:

"Only death can separate you."

As a result, he said that there was nothing to grieve, and that the companions who lost contact with them in this adventure were most likely dead, but the memory of them would live on in the hearts of the remaining companions.

"Squeak", probably the sound of someone in the team stepping on a broken branch, at first, no one cared about the sound.

There are as many dead branches and leaves on the ground as there are in the forest, and one winter's work is not enough to make them all "return to the earth".

Even though the snow covers the surface, there is a scene of snow everywhere, and there are places covered with fallen branches, and when you step on it, it makes a very obvious sound, like some unknown trap.

Soon, however, the people in the ranks became confused.

"Hey, do you feel like it's suddenly getting a lot colder?"

"It's already cold, this ghost weather!"

"There are people in the woods! On the side approaching us...... 1，2，3…… 7. He's not on our team! ”

Someone confirmed the number of people in the queue in time, and then screamed.

"Is it someone who was lost earlier? Hey, Silver, you don't seem to be dead! Others had good hopes, believing that their gods were still protecting the team.

"No, he's not—don't go!" Silver held up the lantern and reminded her companion loudly.

"No one?" Another companion with a light source in his hand followed the sound, but saw only a few dead branches trampled on, and a giant tree that gave people a great sense of depression.

"No one ......," Silph stared at the place where she had seen a vague figure just now, her eyes slightly confused.

Are you hallucinating? No, this should be called a "collective hallucination", right?

It's hard not to suspect that there is an enemy hidden in the woods, and that they have performed hallucinogenic miracles, allowing them to hear movements that have never happened before and see people who don't exist.

However, he had just seen the whole picture of the figure, so he could be sure that the other party was a strange existence, not their missing companion.

Will the illusion created by the miracle make you see a completely unfamiliar image?

The boy who was made of ice and snow......

The skin is pale, the facial features are deep, the nose bridge is straight, and the face is thin but not so bone-like......

He wore a waist-length shawl with a snow-white fur collar and raw edges, a robe with the same fur-edged hem underneath, and a long, shaggy "tail" dragged behind him, as well as a myriad of curly, eerie tentacles that glowed faintly blue.

Who is he?

The forest is silent at night, and the only light source used to illuminate the surroundings is the horse lanterns in the hands of adventurers.

They weren't orcs who could survive under disordered spiritual conditions, and they didn't have the talent to perform miracles regardless of spiritual conditions, so they couldn't create other light sources in the dark forest for the time being.

Maybe when the day dawns and their minds calm down, they will be able to adapt to the terrible spiritual power conditions around them and perform their miracles?

Everything is unknown – including whether they will survive the night.

"After this forest, it is Huangxian Ridge."

A cold voice suddenly sounded from the forest, and it also had its own echo effect, sounding extremely ethereal and mysterious.

"Huang Xianling?" The adventurer at the head took the map that he thought was useless, spread it out, and displayed it in the field of vision of his companions.

Silver cooperatively raised the lantern and illuminated the leather map.

On the map of humans from outside the Xuancai Mountains, naturally there will be no place names that monsters are used to calling.

They didn't know that the vast mountains were the territory of the Yellow Immortals, so much so that they gave different names to each mountain, cliff, mountain plain, and mountain forest.

"Who are you?" The middle-aged man, who was the captain, pulled the knitted hat on his head, only to feel that his forehead was full of beads of sweat.

Is it here to help them? Or are they a terrifying enemy lurking in the mountains trying to take out their horde of adventurers?

"Can you take us there?" Anyway, he was already lost, and before the captain could speak again, Sylph asked like a broken jar, "Go to Huangxian Ridge, no, take us out of this forest." ”

The other party responded to her question with silence.

"Already gone?" The rest of the team wondered, "Did he run away?" ”

"It's terrifying......" someone trembled all over.

In such an already oppressive forest, there are creatures that can speak human words other than them, and it makes people panic to think about it.

Although they had passed several inhabited villages as they ventured into the forest, the villagers were also very unsettling.

Coming from big cities in different countries, they felt that they did not have a common language with the inhabitants of the mountains, and they were worried day and night that they would encounter the evil thoughts of wealth and murder themselves.

"Instead of going to Huangxian Ridge, it's better to go to the end of the stone wall." Just when everyone was nervous, the previous voice sounded again.

It was as if his previous silence was just thinking about how to answer their questions.

No, the guy threw out two options for them to make the right decision.

Whether it was Silver, the bearded captain, or the other team members, the moment they heard that question, they were sure that if they made the wrong choice, they would be ruthlessly abandoned.

"Huang Xian is the name of a certain type of demon beast." A member of the team whispered to the captain, "It is rumored that they are very dangerous, and they like to fight alone when they are creatures, but once they awaken their intelligence, they will hunt prey in groups, and the life forms they target will undoubtedly end up in a tragic end." ”

"So, your suggestion is ......"

As an adventurer, everyone understands people and is very clever, and the bearded captain quickly made a decision:

"If you can, please show up and show us the way to the 'End of the Stone Wall.'"