In the middle of the night, Su Ziyi and Ye Linglong were sitting under a big tree resting. The tree is located in the middle of a rocky rock, and there are no dense weeds and vines around it, so the view is better.

Su Ziyi leaned against the trunk of the tree and closed her eyes in concentration, while Ye Linglong sat by the campfire with her knees crossed, gently turning the ashes in the fire with a stick, as if thinking about something.

The night in the Yaoming Forest was eerie and terrifying, and one person had to be on high alert to watch out for sneak attacks that might come from the Demon Clan or other cultivators.

This is the seventh night after being separated from Xiao Tianhe, and the two still haven't found his whereabouts, nor have they found Fan Lingyun. Ye Linglong was upset, not only because of the separation of her companions, but also because of the relationship between the Demon Spirit Orbs, it was too difficult for her and Su Ziyi to make up the number of Demon Spirit Orbs required by the competition. "Maybe, it really won't work this time...... Will I still have a chance to participate in the next evaluation competition?" Ye Linglong said softly to herself. Then she sighed and bit her lower lip tightly, as if full of confusion about her future.

"It's okay, there's no time limit for the competition, so don't worry. Look at me, I've been an 'old fritter' for a few years, can't I continue to participate?" Su Ziyi comforted. Presumably Ye Linglong's whisper was heard by her just now.

Ye Linglong squeezed out a smile: "Indeed...... There's always a chance to ......"

Su Ziyi saw that Ye Linglong was smiling very reluctantly, and was about to say something more, but Ye Linglong's face changed suddenly, and she turned her head to look behind her. Su Ziyi also stared at the darkness in the distance vigilantly, and an extremely faint sound of footsteps came from a distance.

Su Ziyi and Ye Linglong's reactions were surprisingly similar, and they immediately put their ears against the ground. Because there is a campfire burning, and the other party is obviously coming towards the firelight, there is no point in hiding, the most important thing is to find out the number of people who are coming.

Judging by the footsteps coming from the ground, there should have been only one person. Su Ziyi and Ye Linglong glanced at each other, stood up, held their blades, and waited for battle.

The bushes in the darkness shook a few times, and a figure flashed out of them. The man took a few more steps, and the light of the fire finally shone on his face.

"Xiao Tianhe!" Su Ziyi and Ye Linglong exclaimed in unison, each put away the Flower Demon Sword and the Nine Heavens Immortal Sword, and quickly greeted them.

Xiao Tianhe was in rags at the moment, his hair was fluffy, he looked listless, and there were still a few blood marks on his body, it seemed that he had experienced a lot of fights. Su and Ye respectively grabbed Xiao Tianhe's arm and helped him sit by the bonfire.

Xiao Tianhe breathed a sigh of relief and said, "I can be regarded as finding you!"

"Where have you been, what happened to that demon clan?" Su Ziyi asked with concern.

"I was chased by the demon clan and fled for my life, but he never let me go. At a critical moment, several masters with hats suddenly appeared and intercepted the demon clan, and I was able to escape. Since then, I have been looking for your whereabouts, and I have encountered several demon beasts during this period, but fortunately, there is no danger. In order to conceal the true experience, Xiao Tianhe deliberately made up an experience.

"What will be the way of the master with the hat?" Su Ziyi was puzzled.

Xiao Tianhe spread his hands: "I don't know, but they shouldn't be bad people, because they obviously made a move to save me." ”

"Could it be that the masters arranged by the Immortal and Demon Clans will protect the people who participate in the evaluation competition at a critical juncture?" Su Ziyi guessed.

Ye Linglong didn't believe it: "How could it be? If that was the case, we should have shown up as early as when we were besieged by the black flying squirrels." Let's not talk about this for now, Xiao Gongzi, are you okay?, does the wound still hurt?" Her tone was very gentle, although Xiao Tianhe's injuries were all fake, and her exhaustion was also pretended, but when she heard her words of concern, a warm current still welled up in her heart.

He smiled at Ye Linglong and replied, "It's not a big deal, as long as you take a good rest, you can recover." ”

Ye Linglong breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good." Our 'Three Flowers Gathering Peak' team finally gathered three people, and there was still one last little flower missing, Miss Fan. ”

As soon as the words fell, I heard a voice from the big tree next to the bonfire: "Don't look for it, I'm here!"

Before a few people came to their senses, Fan Lingyun jumped down from the canopy and stood firmly in front of the three of them.

After a short period of stunned, Xiao Tianhe smiled helplessly: "Hey, I said, can you not suddenly appear from the tree every time? Is it a human or a monkey!"

"As for myself, of course I have to be careful! Seeing that there was a fire here, I cautiously approached from the branch to take a look, but I didn't expect it to be you!" Fan Lingyun was very happy to reunite with his companions.

"Tut, you two are really ...... Miss Ye and I took the place of separation as a starting point, and searched for your whereabouts in circles and circles, but found nothing. Who would have thought that the two of you, who had disappeared a moment ago, would suddenly come out in the middle of the night after a while!" Su Ziyi smiled, "No matter what, it's good that we're all together!"

Fan Lingyun looked up and down at the "embarrassed" Xiao Tianhe in surprise: "What's the matter, Xiao Gongzi has just arrived? No wonder the situation is different from the two of them...... I must have suffered a lot to act alone, right? But I really admire you, you can escape from the death of that powerful demon clan, what a skill!"

"Oh, how can I have that ability? I was just saved by a mysterious master. Xiao Tianhe replied casually, but he couldn't help but wonder in his heart, Tang Yuanxing's information would definitely not be wrong, where did Fan Lingyun go in the previous days?

Fan Lingyun didn't wait for Xiao Tianhe to ask, and he had already begun to speak: "After separating with you, I estimate that Xiao Gongzi should not be the opponent of the demon clan, so he rushed out of the Yaoming Forest all the way and asked others for help. But who knows, none of those selfish fellows are willing to go with me to save people!

At that time, I accidentally found that Marshal Xin and a few others walked out of the Yaoming Forest together, and I thought about it, could they be to eradicate the demon clan? So I re-entered the forest and found it all the way here. ”

"Marshal Xin, isn't he the person in charge of the demon clan side of this Feiyun District Evaluation Competition?"

"Then Xiao Gongzi may have been saved by Marshal Xin?" Ye Linglong glanced at Xiao Tianhe.

Xiao Tianhe nodded and said, "I think so." "It turned out that, as Xiao Tianhe had speculated before, Fan Lingyun had gone out of the Yaoming Forest for help.

"Now that everyone is safe and sound, my heart is at ease. But what should we do next? Do we still want to continue searching for the Demon Spirit Orb?" Ye Linglong asked.

Su Ziyi said: "We experienced the danger of being besieged by black flying squirrels in the mountains, and finally got a demon spirit orb, and then we were almost robbed by the gangsters. Now I know that there are powerful demon clans in the forest, but I don't know if they have been wiped out by Marshal Xin and them. I think it's better to forget it this time, right?" Su Ziyi retreated.

"Don't worry. On my way to find you, I occasionally encountered a few demon beasts that were not very strong, and they were all killed by me, and the result was not bad!" Fan Lingyun spread out his palm, and there were two small demon spirit orbs in his palm.

"Isn't the strength strong?Even the demon beast of the level of the Black Flying Squirrel King has only one cultivated the Demon Spirit Orb, how did you do it by yourself?" Su Ziyi couldn't believe her eyes.

"Speed!" Fan Lingyun grinned, "Those demon beasts are slow, they can't hit me at all, and they can't escape, so they will be consumed by me one by one!

"No, it's still with me. ”

"That's good! With my two, at least one person can pass the tournament. Fan Lingyun said.

Listening to Fan Lingyun's words, Ye Linglong's eyes lit up and her face was happy, but she quickly regained her calm. She said: "None of the three of us can ask for these three demon spirit orbs, we have to give them to Xiao Gongzi." ”

Su Ziyi agreed: "That's right. Xiao Gongzi let us flee first, we must repay this kindness. ”

Xiao Tianhe waved his hand: "Hey, you don't have to give it to me, it's actually ......."

Fan Lingyun didn't wait for Xiao Tianhe to finish speaking, and then drank his words: "No! You have to ask for it! If it weren't for you bravely dragging the demon clan master, we don't know how miserable the end would be!"

"There are only three, and there are still nine to meet the needs of the four of us. Ye Linglong was a little sad, it was not easy to get nine demon spirit orbs.

"Alas, we don't want to snatch other people's demon spirit orbs, it's really difficult to get twelve!" Seeing this difficult situation, Su Ziyi was already planning to give up.

Fan Lingyun smiled bitterly: "Even if you want to grab it, it's not so easy." According to my observation after leaving the Yaoming Forest, many of the contestants were already waiting outside, and there must not be many people in the forest anymore. ”

"Waiting, waiting for what?" Su Ziyi was puzzled.

"Wait for the people who haven't left the forest yet, and wait to buy the demon orb from them. ”

Ye Linglong pursed her lips disapplausively: "Buy? It's really a shame that they can figure it out! Who is willing to sell the demon spirit orb that they worked so hard to get?"

Fan Lingyun laughed "hehe": "It's not a matter of reluctance, but a situation where there is no market." If you think about it, all the cultivators who have a 'way', such as Bi Gongzi, or those who are a little more ruthless, such as the group that snatched our orbs, have basically completed the target early and left the sect to drift away. And most of the people who stayed in the forest were people who couldn't make up enough orbs. A large number of them gave up early and retreated outside the forest to wait for the seller. How many people are left in the forest? So there are many people who want to buy, but there are very few transactions, and the Demon Spirit Orb has been raised to a sky-high price. In short, it was a mess. ”

"If you feel that you must not be able to make up three demon spirit orbs, it is useless to take them back anyway, it is better to exchange them for some money. Su Ziyi said.

Ye Linglong retorted: "Then what if the rules are still the same for the evaluation competition, the orbs accumulated this time can be saved and used next time." ”

"Fortunately, we have already gathered three, which can allow Xiao Gongzi to pass the competition. Fan Lingyun said.

After a lot of discussions, I still couldn't decide what to do next.

Xiao Tianhe, who hadn't interjected since he was drunk by Fan Lingyun just now, said: "You're all finished, right? As I said, you don't have to give it all to me, because I still have the Demon Orb here!"

As soon as these words came out, the originally suppressed emotions of the three of them shook again, and Ye Linglong hurriedly asked, "Then how many demon spirit orbs do you have?"

"I've also encountered demon beasts a few times, and I got two demon orbs by luck. The two demon orbs that attacked our group were originally taken by the demon clan, but when he was rescued by a master, he left the orb and fled, so it was also obtained by me. Later, I found the corpses of several cultivators, presumably killed by the demon clan, right? I was lucky enough to find five demon spirit orbs from them. Xiao Tianhe said nonsense. These demon spirit orbs were actually given to him by Tang Yuanxing. For the demon clan, it is a very normal survival rule for the jungle, and with Tang Yuanxing's strength, it is easy to get a few demon spirit orbs.

"Wait, I'll do the math, two plus two, plus five, equals nine, counting the black flying squirrel and Miss Fan's two, a total of ...... Ten, twelve, I'm not mistaken, right?" The sudden surprise had already made the excited Ye Linglong feel a little overwhelmed.

"That's right! We've got enough!" Su Ziyi cheered happily.

Ling Yun walked up to Xiao Tianhe's side, slapped him, and exclaimed: "Young Master Xiao, it's really you! Forming a team with you, the three of us are really lucky! What are we waiting for, let's get out quickly? I hate this ghost place!"

It was nearly four watches, but the three girls could not wait until dawn, and each drew a burning branch from the campfire and began to march towards the edge of the Bright Forest. Along the way, the three of them talked and laughed in front of them, recounting interesting experiences in the past and talking about possible future situations. Xiao Tianhe followed a few steps, and was silent most of the time, except for the occasional joke.

The three girls may have been full of joy at passing the competition, and they didn't notice Xiao Tianhe's taciturnity. Xiao Tianhe looked at Fan Lingyun's back thoughtfully. I don't know why, he always vaguely felt that Fan Lingyun's previous explanation of his whereabouts was a bit strange, but he couldn't tell what was strange.

"Let's go in this direction, right? I think we should go out of the Bright Forest first, and then go around the outside to the main entrance. Ye Linglong said.

"Hey, don't mention it, I just ran straight east out of the forest, over a lot of hills. This is the north-central part of the Yaoming Forest, and if you go east, you still have to climb over mountains, and if you go west, you have to wade through large rivers and swamps, and it is easier to walk south. Although it is a little farther away, the terrain is flat, and you can go directly out of the forest from the main entrance. Fan Lingyun explained.

"I see. Ye Linglong had no objections.

But Xiao Tianhe couldn't help but feel a shock in his heart, and a layer of goosebumps immediately appeared all over his body.

Fan Lingyun's words just now inadvertently reminded him, so that he finally discovered the strangeness of Fan Lingyun's previous explanation of his whereabouts, that is, time!

Because according to Tang Yuanxing's intelligence, just two days ago, there was no trace of Fan Lingyun in the Yaoming Forest, and it was impossible to rush from the edge of the Yaoming Forest to the reunion place in two days!

So, could it be that Fan Lingyun hid too much after returning to Yaoming Forest, so that the demon beasts sent by Tang Yuanxing didn't find her? How Xiao Tianhe hoped that this was the correct and reasonable explanation, he began to carefully calculate the date.

The place where the "Three Flowers Gather at the Top" team was roughly located in the southwest of Yaoming Forest, and then Xiao Tianhe followed Tang Yuanxing for six days, stayed for another day after arriving in the Guangyuan Basin, and spent another two days returning to the place of reunion, adding up to a total of nine days. During this time, Fan Lingyun not only went east out of Yaoming Forest, but also turned back. According to the distance speculation, Xiao Tianhe estimated that if it were himself, it would take about ten days to hike east out of Yaoming Forest, and even if it was a non-stop long-distance attack, it would take at least six days. Assuming that you enter the forest as soon as you leave the forest, it would take you five days to get to the place where you are reunited, so it would take eleven days in total.

Eleven days and nine days, where is the difference between these two days? And it is worth noting that the date of eleven days is not counting the time consumed by Fan Lingyun after leaving the Yaoming Forest to go around to the Zhengkou to ask others for help. If, as she herself described, she went around to the entrance of the forest after escaping from the Bright Forest, and then re-entered the forest after she could not ask for help, then whether she went straight through the entrance to the place of reunion, or returned to the place where she escaped from the forest and then rushed to the place of reunion, it took far more than eleven days.

All in all, she's lying.

Xiao Tianhe suddenly felt a mess in his heart, looking at Fan Lingyun's cheerful appearance of talking and laughing, it was really difficult to associate her with the scheming villain, not to mention that she also selflessly took out the demon spirit orb she obtained and gave it to Xiao Tianhe!

There was something on my mind, and my pace unconsciously slowed down a lot.

Fan Lingyun noticed Xiao Tianhe's strange appearance, turned around and asked with concern: "Xiao Gongzi, what's wrong with you? Seeing that you are listless, is it because of your injury? Why don't we stop and rest for half a day before leaving?"

Xiao Tianhe came back to his senses and hurriedly said, "It's okay, I'm just a little tired, and the injury is fine." Yaoming Forest is not a safe place, so if you can go out a moment earlier, go out a moment earlier!"

"Alright then, if you can't support it, just keep up, and we'll help you go. Fan Lingyun winked at Xiao Tianhe.

Xiao Tianhe forced out a smile and nodded.

After following the three girls, Xiao Tianhe fell into deep thought again.

According to the speculation just now, if what Fan Lingyun said was a lie, then during the period when the "Three Flowers Gathering Peak" team was separated, she should not have been out of Yaoming Forest. And the reason why the demon beast sent by Tang Yuanxing didn't find out her whereabouts was because she hid it too well.

Based on this inference, Xiao Tianhe has three points that he can't understand.

First, why did Fan Lingyun lie? If he didn't leave the forest, he didn't leave the forest, and he just said it generously, so why make up a lie with loopholes?

Second, Fan Lingyun said that there are many people waiting outside the forest to buy pearls, if she has been in the forest, how can she know the situation outside?

Thirdly, and most crucially, Fan Lingyun had seen Marshal Xin and others walk out of the Yaoming Forest. With the strength of the marshals, let alone five people walking together, even if they are single-handed, they must have swaggered out of the forest from the main entrance. In other words, Fan Lingyun really went to the front of the forest.

From this point of view, Fan Lingyun did not lie.

Everything is so weird that people can't laugh and cry, and the only plausible explanation actually deduces the contradictory results.

"There must be a most plausible explanation for strange things, but I don't even have the slightest clue about it. Well, as long as she doesn't have disgusting intentions, what's the point of being mysterious?" Xiao Tianhe thought to himself. So, he breathed a sigh of relief, shook his confused head slightly, and joined the three girls in the pleasant chat.

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