On the bronze drum terrace, the fire for the blessing ceremony was ignited.
The moment the flames leaped up, Qi Lao's expression drastically changed, as if he had seen something terrifying, and he stumbled backward.
The dense wrinkles on his face squeezed together in layers, like the cracked bark of an old tree, crisscrossed with deep grooves and twisted out of shape.
Even though he was still some distance from the fire, he suddenly let out a shrill, agonizing howl.
It was so sharp and piercing that it felt as though it could rip open one's skull.
Chai Xiaomi subconsciously covered her ears.
Was this really a sound an old man could make?
Before anyone could react.
Qi Lao grabbed Song Yueyao, his movements revealing an almost frantic urgency.
The two figures swept across the night sky and vanished from sight in an instant.
Everything happened too fast.
"Yaoyao!" Jiang Zhiyu cried out softly, leaping up to give chase.
Almost at the exact moment Jiang Zhiyu moved, Wu Li instinctively wanted to follow.
But just as he took a step, his figure suddenly paused.
As if suddenly remembering something, he turned back, raised his hand to recall his Gu insect, and coldly threw down a sentence: "Go back to your room and stay there. No matter what happens outside, do not come out. If you dare to run around, I'll break your legs!"
With that said, his silhouette merged into the night.
Chai Xiaomi let out a long breath, finally able to speak again.
Looking in the direction Wu Li had disappeared, she raised her voice: "Don't worry, husband, I won't run away with the baby!"
No one understood Mandarin, except for Wu Li.
In the distant night sky, the dark figure that was about to disappear suddenly swayed and almost fell onto the roof of the stilted building. After a brief 0.1-second slip-up, he adjusted extremely quickly and completely vanished.
The gloating smile did not stay on Chai Xiaomi's face for long.
Her expression gradually grew serious.
Chai Xiaomi: "No, is this development right? Why did Patriarch Yuebai suddenly go crazy? I don't think this part was in the original novel!"
Youtiao: "The butterfly effect. It's normal for the plot to have minor fluctuations and changes. That is exactly why we need you, host, to change the final ending. The most urgent task right now is to steal the Phantom Color Stone as soon as possible."
Taking advantage of the chaos in the crowd, such a good opportunity was indeed suitable for taking action.
"But," Chai Xiaomi scratched her head in distress, "there seems to be a barrier over there."
She couldn't even see what the barrier looked like; she only felt an invisible force.
"It's not impossible to break the barrier," Youtiao said unpredictably.
Chai Xiaomi felt a surge of joy and probed, "Could it be that you have a cheat code!?"
That's it, that's it!
It's a system! Isn't it basic operation for a system to come with cheat codes!
A few moments later——
In a weed-overgrown corner of the wall, a few blades of grass rustled and swayed faintly.
Then, a small head poked out from a pitch-black dog hole.
A torn foxtail grass was still hanging on top of her head.
Chai Xiaomi arched her back and crawled out of the dog hole. A smell that was hard to tell whether it was mildew or urine rushed straight into her nasal cavity. She pinched her nose and gritted her teeth: "Is this the map loophole you were talking about?"
Youtiao couldn't feel the slightest gratitude from Chai Xiaomi and was extremely dissatisfied: "If it weren't for the fact that I am a system, who else besides a dog itself could detect that there is a dog hole in this map? You should be praising me."
Chai Xiaomi hissed: "Not bad, you're pretty great."
Youtiao: "You flatter me."
Chai Xiaomi: "Just slightly worse than soy milk."
Youtiao immediately shut down in silence.
The wind rushed fiercely past his ears.
Jiang Zhiyu chased after Patriarch Yuebai at full speed, but after just a moment, his stamina began to fail him.
He was usually skilled in the sword-riding technique taught by his master, which did not easily consume stamina, but his sword was currently left in his room, and it was too late to go back and get it.
His eyes locked onto the fluttering corner of Song Yueyao's clothes, holding his breath slightly, afraid that if he blinked, she would disappear into the vast night.
Fortunately, Qi Lao did not take her too far.
The other party stopped in front of the highest drum tower in the entire village, dragging Song Yueyao inside in a flash.
This drum tower was completely different from the stilted buildings elsewhere. It stood alone at the steepest part of the mountain, with flying eaves like wings and a desolate roof.
A bronze bell hung from each of its four corners, jingling when the wind passed by, revealing a hint of eeriness amidst the clear silence.
What a heavy demonic aura!
Jiang Zhiyu's heart sank; there was something wrong with this tower.
Seeing the wooden door shut heavily, he immediately dropped down lightly from the roof, stood in place to quickly adjust his breathing, and reached into his clothes, frantically searching for a stack of talismans he had swiped from his master.
In his heart, he increasingly regretted not bringing his sword with him.
A very light sneer drifted over with the wind.
Jiang Zhiyu suddenly looked up.
He saw a young man sitting idly on the corner of the eaves, looking at him with a faint smile, his lips curling into an undisguised mockery.
The wind grew stronger.
The bronze bells under the eaves swayed together with the silver ornaments in his hair, their clear sounds intertwining.
Amidst the jingling, he spoke in a light voice:
"The young master of Lingyu Province is this weak, huh."
The young man's back was against the moonlight, his silhouette blurred into a hazy outline.
Jiang Zhiyu's pupils trembled. He hurriedly reached out to touch the disguised beard on his face; it was all still there.
Just as he was wondering how the other party recognized him, Jiang Zhiyu was taken aback for a moment, and then it dawned on him: that young woman must have revealed his identity to her husband.
Thinking of this, Jiang Zhiyu hastily cupped his fists in response: "Although my lightness skill is a bit weak, my swordsmanship is quite strong. It's just that I have urgent matters at hand right now. I'll catch up with you another day."
Remembering that he was about to become a father, Jiang Zhiyu worriedly reminded him: "The demonic aura in this building is extremely heavy. There might be a thousand-year-old demon! Young brother, this place is dangerous and not suitable for staying long. You still have an unborn child..."
Before he could finish speaking.
Wu Li dug at his ear, leaped down nimbly, pushed open the carved wooden door, and walked straight in.
With an attitude of having no time to listen to his nonsense, he said, "A thousand-year-old demon is exactly what I'm catching. If it wasn't a thousand years old, I wouldn't even bother."
The main doors were wide open, revealing an empty main hall. In the center of the hall sat a staircase leading straight up.
"B-Brother!" Jiang Zhiyu was stunned.
Clutching a stack of talismans, he hurriedly stepped forward to follow.
Even his master held a bit of reverence when facing a great demon. When had anyone ever been this calm and composed?
It truly was the fearlessness of the ignorant.
"How could we possibly catch a thousand-year-old demon just by ourselves?" Jiang Zhiyu caught up and tried to persuade him kindly. "Don't be naive. Hurry up and leave before the demon notices."
"Shut up. Who is catching it with you? I am more than enough on my own. Roll far away and don't get in my way."
Wu Li frowned, turning his head to glare at him from the corner of his eye.
He was chattering endlessly like a Bodhisattva chanting sutras.
This mouth could rival Chai Xiaomi's. At first glance, the two of them even looked somewhat similar in their facial features.
When they spoke, the corners of their mouths naturally turned up, as if they always wore a faint smile. People loved to call this kind of appearance kind-faced.
However, in the depths of Wu Li's eyes as he looked at Jiang Zhiyu, there was only a fleeting look of disgust and hatred.
Wu Li had originally wanted to plant a muting Gu insect on him, but he suddenly remembered that the insect had just been in Chai Xiaomi's mouth not long ago. The thought of it entering Jiang Zhiyu's mouth now inexplicably made him uncomfortable.
It was as if the two of them had shared the same piece of food.
The Gu insects he raised were not that dirty. Since this Gu insect had already entered Chai Xiaomi's mouth, he might as well just use it exclusively to mute her from now on.
