Because of the injuries on my body, I knew that the next three levels might become more and more difficult to break, and if Qin Bukong and Songzi went alone, it was estimated that it would be very dangerous, so we had to rest for a few days, but fortunately, I received some external injuries, and I did not hurt my muscles and bones, and after four days, I recovered almost completely. In the past few days, Songzi has been collecting some information and materials that we may use everywhere, and Qin Bukong also completely trusts Songzi because of the previous four levels, unless it is ridiculously wrong, he no longer questions Songzi's speculation and judgment.

On the night of the fourth day, we decided to set off the next day to explore Boyatai, the night before departure, Songzi took the clues and his own judgment found these days with all of us, because Boyatai is only a very small place, so the scope we need to find is actually not large, and there is now only a pavilion and a stone tablet, which are also things left by the Qing Dynasty, except for some people who are full of feelings will come here to find the wind of the ancients, basically no one else will come here, There are no dedicated people to manage and remediate this place, and it is relatively desolate. But it gives us a better chance, at least we won't be disturbed by others in the process of searching.

According to the passage left by Lu Zu, if we want to break through the "Xiao", we need to be good at using the way of the five elements. "Xiao" falling in Jingmen is a hexagram, and the hexagram is fire, and what is opposed to it is water. The only one of the eight gates that belongs to the water is in the Hugh Gate, and the hexagram is the Kan hexagram, so we brought the vajra that we found when we were in Hugh Gate. Although Qin Bukong has high skills, in the face of these ghosts that are still unfamiliar to him, his tricks may not be effective, so we have been groping for a long time before, taking one step at a time.

And I have the Hexagonal Seal, the Master Order, the Iron Scissors, and the Miao Wu Scimitar, all of which have been proven to be lethal to ghosts in previous battles, the difference is only in size, but they must be useful. Not to mention that I still have enough tricks to protect myself, so I asked Qin Bukong to carry the vajra as a weapon for self-defense. Matsuko, on the other hand, is much simpler, and his main role in the team is to advise us and check for dangers. Now that we have Lu Zu's guidance, although the later levels will be more difficult, we can be regarded as finding a shortcut, maybe we won't notice much, and we will even feel easier.

Matsuko said that the record of this "Xiao" in ancient books is that it is a ghost that only appears in the mountains and woods, and the road is inconvenient in ancient times, and many times it is necessary to walk the mountain road. But there are many trees on the mountain, and if you are not a frequent walker of this path, you are likely to get lost in the mountain. And "Xiao" is a ghost who specially selects these lost people to attack. They make a variety of noises to entice lost people to come and find out, and then catch them and kill them. In this way, the "Xiao" achieves detachment, and the person who is killed becomes the next "Xiao" until it kills others.

Some people say that it is a one-legged child more than two feet long, with only one big eye, no nose and ears, and a very large mouth, and when he laughs, his lips will turn up and down, covering his entire face, and he is especially good at imitating the curious sound of the lost to confuse the living. Although it has only one foot, it runs extremely fast, walking on the ground in the mountains and forests, and once it is targeted, you should never expect to escape.

But some people say that Xiao is raised by wolves, tigers and leopards in the mountains, the temperament is extremely fierce, the body is black and long, the strength is infinite, it can be transformed into various appearances, everyone sees the first look is different, after it has direct contact with the living, it will treat people as playthings, play alive and dead. There are even stories of "Xiao" eating human flesh in some places.

Although there are different theories, and none of us have ever seen such a ghost in person, we can't tell which one is the most true and appropriate, and it seems that we have to take the initiative to face it before we can know. However, no matter what version of the legend is, they all mention a common denominator, that is, "Xiao" is good at imitation, using sound or form to attract others to be fooled, and then harm others.

That means that we may encounter some illusions in front of us as we did when we broke through the Eight Gate Formations, and these illusions come from the magic obstacles that we can't get over from the depths of our hearts.

Matsuko told us that in the past four days, he has been running around to explore, and once went to Naboya Terrace to explore the way, and found that on the way up the mountain to the pavilion and the stone monument, there was indeed a small forest, and the peasants at the foot of the mountain said that those woods were as dense as they are now when they were young, and they were not artificially planted, but a completely wild forest. In the summer, people often go inside to catch snakes and rabbits, and most of the trees are mainly camphor trees, because it is a sunny slope, so when the temperature changes in the morning and evening every day, the forest will fog up. Songzi also said that in order to learn more about this place, he also inquired whether there were any beasts or anything like that in the forest, but the farmer said that there were no big beasts, hares, snakes, and weasels that he had ever seen. Matsuko asked if there had ever been a case of someone dying or missing in the woods, but the old farmer said that it was, and that a hunter had gone into the mountains to hunt hares a few decades ago, and when he encountered a thick fog, he disappeared. And when everyone finally found him, they found that he had been dead for many days, and there were no more external injuries on his body except for some scars from stumbling, so everyone thought that he might have stepped on loose soil, causing him to fall down the slope and hit his head.

As for whether the dead person was because he met the "Xiao", we don't know, because that incident happened decades ago, and no one had touched the seal of the witch king's soul at that time, that is, no one had activated the "Xiao" in the woods, and as we all know, if there is a mandrill on a mountain, the number of mandrills must only be one.

However, the old farmer's words gave us a new signal, that few people would go to that forest, and even those who went were people who were familiar with the terrain nearby, and tourists did not have the courage to get into it. Then there is a danger that the soil will loosen, and people may fall down the hill because they have fallen.

Matsuko said that there is only one path up the mountain, but there are several paths halfway up the mountain, and one of the paths will be down a few hundred meters to see the woods, but the road will be broken when it reaches there, and this road is also a path that has been stepped on all year round. Songzi said, I used the compass to calculate the direction, according to the rule of the north and south meridians, the area where this forest is located happens to fall on the divide, and the edge of the cliff directly above the forest is the location of the boya platform.

Matsuko said as he drew a picture for us on a piece of paper. After looking at the sketch he drew, although Qin Bukong and I had never been to that place, we also had a general sense of orientation in our hearts. In other words, Boya Terrace is just a location, but the real encounter with "Xiao" must be in that only forest, the pavilion and the stele are not a thousand years ago, which means that the stone box we are looking for is very likely to be buried somewhere deep in the woods, and this forest has existed for thousands of years.

Because the current season has entered the summer, the location of Boyatai is on the mountain, and it is adjacent to the Yangtze River, the temperature difference between morning and evening is actually very large, according to the old farmer who inquired about the pine nuts before, there will be dense fog here sooner or later, so everyone discussed and unanimously decided to get into the forest when the temperature is the highest at noon. There will be danger as well, but it's better than getting lost in the fog and dying stupid.

Matsuko said that he had only looked at the forest from a distance, and did not dare to go into it, and from his perspective from a distance, the woods were not very dense, which seemed to be a bit different from what the old farmer said. After some discussion, we prepared all the tools that could come in handy, and Qin Bukong even said that he would bring Ganmu with him, after all, in the mountains and forests, that is the paradise of snakes. Ganmu is psychic and will only help and will not cause trouble.

We all rested early that night, but I couldn't sleep in bed, thinking back and forth about the mandrill I had seen in the past, since the establishment of New China, many theists no longer believe in the existence of things such as ghosts in the world, and under the drive of this group of people, many people across the country began to participate in the ranks of refuting rumors, some are too absurd such as the solar eclipse and the lunar eclipse are rumored to be Tengu eating the sun or eating the moon, this rumor is naturally self-defeating, but for the mysterious Chinese ghosts, but it seems that it is difficult to find a reasonable explanation.

Perhaps in order to appease everyone, this group of people even directly regarded the mandrill as an animal, a primate like a baboon or a monkey, it is indeed ferocious and short-tempered, and there are many similarities with the "Xiao" in the ancient books, so that the content of the cultural legend is not denied, and a conclusion is given that everyone can agree, and everyone is happy.

In my thoughts, it was already two o'clock in the morning when I fell asleep that night, but fortunately, we didn't have to rush over very early the next day, so after Qin Bukong and Songzi got up in the morning, they deliberately let me sleep a little longer. It was about ten o'clock in the morning, and the sun was already a little fierce, and we went out.