Chapter 479 Shadow
Fang Yue became even more vigilant. He knew that this small pool must be an extremely dangerous place.
He walked slowly around the edge of the pool, his eyes fixed on the pool, for fear that something would suddenly jump out of it.
Just as he was about to round the pool, the water suddenly rolled violently, as if something huge was stirring underneath.
Fang Yue tightened his grip on the hilt of the sword, took a few steps back, and assumed a defensive posture.
I saw a crocodile-like monster with black scales all over its body jumping out of the pool. It opened its mouth full of sharp fangs and bit at Fang Yue.
Fang Yue dodged, moved a few feet to the left, and at the same time swung his sword towards the side of the monster.
The monster reacted very quickly, sweeping its huge tail and bringing up a burst of black water mist.
"Hmph, how dare you, you evil beast!"
Fang Yue snorted coldly and shot out a blast of vitality.
The vitality turned into a white light blade and slashed towards the black mist.
The light blade collided with the water mist, making a hissing sound. The black mist was cut open, instantly cutting the monster in half!
After killing the monster with one blow, Fang Yue did not relax his vigilance, because he knew that there were many dangers in the woods and new threats might appear at any time.
After the monster was cut in half, black blood spurted out from the wound, and the blood splashed on the ground, making a sizzling sound, as if it was corrosive.
Fang Yue hurriedly took a few steps back to avoid the corrosive blood.
He continued to move deeper into the woods. As he went deeper, the trees became denser and the light became dimmer.
After walking for an unknown amount of time, Fang Yue heard a melodious folk song.
He wondered, how could there be folk songs in this evil forest?
Following the direction of the singing, he soon discovered a tribe of mountain people.
This tribe is not big. The houses are made of wood and stone, and the tribe is surrounded by simple fences.
The mountain people in the tribe wear simple clothes, and the men, women, old and young are all busy in their own way.
Some women were drying herbs, a few children were chasing and playing, and the men were repairing farm tools or organizing hunting tools.
Fang Yue's appearance aroused the vigilance of the mountain people. Several young mountain people quickly picked up their farm tools and surrounded Fang Yue.
A middle-aged man who looked like a leader came forward and asked with wariness in his eyes: "Who are you? Where did you come from? Why do you appear near our tribe?"
Fang Yue cupped his fists and saluted, and said gently: "Fellow folks, don't be afraid. My name is Fang Yue, and I am a man from Jianghu who is passing through here. I was investigating something and came here by accident."
The leader looked at Fang Yue and saw that his face was kind and did not look like a bad person, but he still remained vigilant:
"We don't welcome outsiders here. You'd better leave as soon as possible. This forest is very dangerous. It's not easy for our tribe to survive here. We don't want to be disturbed by outsiders."
Fang Yue hurriedly said: "Chief, I don't mean any harm. I encountered many dangers in the woods, such as demonized wild wolves, monsters covered with black scales, and pools of evil spirits. I see that your tribe is safe and sound here. , must have a unique way of survival, can you tell me something?”
Hearing Fang Yue mention the danger in the woods, the leader's expression became a little complicated.
He was silent for a while, then waved his hand, asking the young mountain people to put down their weapons, and said: "Come in, since you can walk here in the woods, I can tell you."
Fang Yue followed the leader into the tribe and came to a simple house.
The leader asked Fang Yue to sit down, then sighed and said: "This forest is full of evil spirits, and there were many monsters in the past. Our tribe can survive here because we have an ancestral treasure."
Fang Yue's heart moved and he quickly asked: "I wonder what kind of treasure it is?"
The leader glanced at Fang Yue and said slowly: "That is a stone that emits white light. As long as it is placed in the center of the tribe, some of the evil spirits around it will be dissipated. But the power of this stone is also gradually weakening. We don’t know how long we can rely on it.”
Fang Yue pondered for a moment and asked, "Have you ever seen some strange people coming in and out of this forest? For example, people who practice evil arts?"
The leader frowned, thought for a moment and said, "I have seen a few strange people. They were wearing black robes and exuding an uncomfortable aura. They seemed to be looking for something and were running around in the woods. . But we didn’t dare to get close to them, we just watched from a distance.”
Fang Yue was secretly happy, thinking that these people might be related to the "Shadow Evil Sect".
He continued to ask: "Then do you know which direction they went?"
The leader shook his head: "We didn't dare to follow too closely, so we don't know where they went."
Fang Yue was slightly disappointed, but he also knew that this was an expected answer.
When he was about to ask the leader some other things, the leader suddenly smiled and said:
"Brother Fang Yue, it's not easy for you to wander in this dangerous forest. Since you have the chance to come to our tribe today, why not stay and have dinner."
Fang Yue was startled. He wanted to refuse. After all, he had important things to attend to.
But looking at the leader's sincere eyes, and thinking that he might be able to get more clues from the tribe, he nodded and agreed: "Then Fang Yue is more respectful than obeying orders. Thank you very much, leader."
In the evening, a bonfire was lit in the tribal open space, and the women brought prepared food.
There are golden roasted rabbits, fragrant wild vegetable soup, and some whole grain cakes.
Fang Yue felt a lot more relaxed when he looked at these simple but life-filled foods.
However, what Fang Yue didn't notice was that when he wasn't paying attention, the leader quietly winked at a tribesman.
The tribesman understood and quickly brought a few more clay pots.
"Brother Fang Yue, this is the wine brewed by our tribe. Although it is not as good as the fine wine outside, it has a unique flavor. Try it." The leader said enthusiastically.
Fang Yue looked at the pottery pots, smiled slightly in his heart, took the wine pot, raised his head and took a big sip.
As soon as the drink entered his throat, Fang Yue felt something was wrong, and a numb and itchy feeling spread quickly from his throat.
When the leader saw Fang Yue drink the wine, the original enthusiasm on his face disappeared instantly, replaced by a sinister smile. He stood up and laughed: "Fang Yue, Fang Yue, you are so stupid, you actually drank this wine."
Fang Yue suppressed the discomfort in his body, held the hilt of the sword in his hand, and looked at the leader coldly: "Why do you want to harm me? I have no enmity with your tribe."
The leader snorted coldly: "No injustice, no hatred? Do you know that your head is very valuable. As long as you give your head to the Lord, we can get countless treasures and magic weapons, so that our tribe can live a prosperous life from now on. , no longer need to be threatened by the evil spirit of this forest.”
Fang Yue was shocked. He knew that this so-called Lord must be the person behind the "Shadow Evil Sect". It seemed that this tribe had been completely blinded by interests.
"Do you think you can get benefits from this? How can the Lord keep his promise? You will only bring disaster to the tribe." Fang Yue said while enduring the discomfort in his body.
The leader curled his lips disdainfully: "You don't need to scare us here. We have heard of the Lord's reputation for a long time. He will not deceive small tribes like us."
Fang Yue knew that it was useless to talk more at this time, so he used the vitality in his body to force the poison into one place.
Although, this poison is extremely overbearing.
As his vitality circulated, the overbearing poison was instantly suppressed.
It turned into a poisonous mist and was expelled from his body.
Fang Yue's complexion gradually returned to normal. He looked at the leader coldly, his eyes full of coldness.
"You have done such despicable things for the sake of profit. I will not let you go easily today." Fang Yue said coldly.
The leader was shocked when he saw Fang Yue dissolving the poison so easily, and his face became very ugly.
"You...how could you detoxify so quickly? This is a poison specially designed to deal with practitioners like you." The leader said in horror.
Fang Yue did not answer his question, but held a sword and walked slowly towards the leader.
"What do you want to do? I am the leader of this tribe. If you dare to hurt me, the entire tribe will not let you go." The leader shouted with stern expression.
Fang Yue sneered: "When you just wanted to kill me, did you ever think about the consequences? Are you scared now?"
The other mountain people in the tribe saw Fang Yue walking towards the leader. Although they were a little scared, they still picked up their weapons and surrounded him.
"Brother Fang Yue, this is all the leader's idea, and we are forced to do nothing. Please let us go." An old mountain man said tremblingly.
Fang Yue looked at these mountain people and felt a little hesitant.
He knew that most of these mountain people were bewitched by their leaders and would do such things for the survival of the tribe.
"You all stand down, I will only settle this matter with your leader." Fang Yue said to the mountain people.
After hearing Fang Yue's words, the mountain people breathed a sigh of relief, put down their weapons one after another, and stepped aside.
Fang Yue walked up to the leader and put his sword to his throat. The cold blade made the leader's body tremble slightly.
"You are a greedy person who will do whatever it takes for the sake of profit. I really can't let you go."
Fang Yue's eyes turned cold, and he made a slight stroke with the sword in his hand. The leader's eyes widened, and he fell to the ground dead before he could make a sound.
The mountain people in the tribe screamed in surprise, but when they saw Fang Yue's cold eyes, they didn't dare to say a word.
Fang Yue put away his sword, glanced at the crowd and said, "Your leader deserves it. Now, who else knows about those black-robed men or the Lord? If you can tell the truth, I can let go of the blame."
Everyone looked at each other, and after a while, a young mountain man stood up and said timidly:
"My hero, I once heard from the leader that the place where the Lord is located is called the Shadow Cave. That place is deep in the woods. There is a valley entangled with black vines. There is a huge cave in the valley. The Lord is in that cave, but it is surrounded by various traps and evil guardian beasts."
Fang Yue felt happy, finally getting the exact location. He looked at the young mountain man and said, "You are very smart. I hope your tribe will not have anything to do with these evil people in the future."
After saying that, Fang Yue stopped staying and ran quickly in the direction pointed by the young mountain man.
He galloped through the woods. The closer he got to the so-called "Shadow Cave", the stronger the evil energy around him became. The originally dense woods became sparse and were replaced by some strange-shaped plants that exuded a ghostly light.
Suddenly, a piece of black vines appeared in front of them. These vines were entangled with each other like giant pythons, forming a natural barrier.
As Fang got closer, the vines seemed to sense his breath and began to slowly squirm.
Fang Yue drew out his sword and approached the vines cautiously.
Just as he was about to swing his sword to cut the vines, the vines suddenly shot towards him like a sharp arrow.
Fang Yue dodged easily and swung his sword to cut the approaching vines.
The sword chopped on the vines, splashing a burst of black juice, which exuded a pungent smell.
Fang Yue did not dare to be careless. With the blessing of the surging vitality, the sword shadows flew and vines were constantly cut off.
Soon, a path was opened up in the vines.
Continuing to move forward, Fang Yue heard a noisy sound, mixed with painful groans and the scolding of the supervisor.
He was puzzled, slowed down his steps, and quietly approached the source of the sound.
Pushing aside a clump of shrubs emitting dim light, Fang Yue was stunned by the scene in front of him.
In an open space, thousands of ragged people were busy building a huge hall built on the mountain.
These people looked haggard, their eyes were full of fatigue and despair, and there were many scars on their bodies from being whipped.
Around the open space, some black-robed people were patrolling back and forth. They had cold eyes and long whips in their hands. As long as they saw someone moving a little slowly, they would whip them mercilessly.
The whip whipped people, making a crisp sound, accompanied by the painful screams of the workers, which made Fang Yue's anger burn even more vigorously.
Fang Yue carefully observed the surrounding environment. He found that the evil spirit in this place was extremely strong, and these workers seemed to be bound by an invisible force and moved very slowly.
He guessed that this might be a ban set by the "Shadow Evil Sect" to prevent the workers from escaping.
Fang Yue knew that he could not act impulsively. He must first find a way to lift the ban in order to better rescue these workers.
He began to quietly look for clues around, not letting go of any corner.
Suddenly, he found a black stone pillar not far away, which was engraved with complex runes, and those runes exuded a faint evil spirit.
Fang Yue's heart moved. He felt that this stone pillar might be the key to controlling the ban.
He approached the stone pillar carefully, while being alert to the patrolling black-robed men around.
Just as he was about to approach the stone pillar, a black-robed man suddenly turned and walked towards him.
Fang Yue quickly hid behind a boulder and held his breath.
The black-robed man walked past him without noticing his presence.
After the black-robed man walked away, Fang Yue approached the stone pillar again.
When he stood in front of the stone pillar, he could feel a strong evil force emanating from it. (End of this chapter)
