Although the little apprentice sister is weak, she can fight

She tried to shake the fish's tail again, but she had to watch helplessly as the arm-long fish instantly fell apart and turned into powder that was blown away by the wind.

Shen Qiao couldn't help but twitch the corners of his mouth.

This fish is quite sensible and knows how to destroy the body.

Before she could retract her curiosity, she felt a burning pain on her wrist. She immediately shook her hand off, but it felt like the pain was sticking to her skin. She raised her hand and looked, only to see a thumb-sized burn on her wrist.

The wound was not big, but it was extremely painful and my entire left hand was numb.

Is it because of the red carp just now?

Zhang Zhi came out of the cabin to take a breath and saw Shen Qiao standing there in a daze. He went over and asked, "What are you looking at...huh? How did you do it?"

Shen Qiao came back to his senses and shook his head, "It's okay, it should be fine in a while."

Zhang Zhi frowned, "We still need Shang Mian to take a look. The river water is not clean. There must be some other infection."

Thinking it was better to be on the safe side, Shen Qiao followed Zhang Zhi's advice and went to Shang Mian to ask for some medicine and wrapped it with a bandage.

This little incident soon passed, the weather cleared up, and we encountered no other unexpected troubles while crossing the river.

Around noon, a group of people finally set foot on this desolate land that had experienced several wars.

The boatman dropped the people off and then sailed back. After all, according to the original plan, after settling the issues here, everyone would disperse on the spot and go home.

Gu Xu: "The final battle between Xiyuan and the human and immortal realms ended here. It is said that in order to completely destroy the poisonous insects, they used a fire attack, using the 'Heavenly Fire' that was developed specifically to target the immortal Xiyuan soldiers."

Feeling the soft touch under his feet, Zhang Zhi couldn't help but look down a few more times, "So... what we are standing on now..."

Zhang Qiyan looked at Zhang Zhi and gave him a slightly sinister smile. "It could be the ashes of someone from Xiyuan. Scary, right?"

The smile that was about to tear the corners of his lips to the roots of his ears made Zhang Zhi's back hair stand on end. "I think you are more scary, fellow Taoist."

"Although this is an exaggeration, it is not completely unbelievable." Shang Mian pointed to a patch of grass on the shore that was completely beyond the normal height.

"This is the first time I've seen a plantain taller than a person. Ordinary sandy soil can't grow something this outrageous."

Du Shuangjiang followed Su Tingyu, taking one deep step and one shallow step forward, observing the damp and dim environment around him. Seeing the wild and unrestrained plants, he felt a sense of strangeness. "Brother... I feel that they are all very unfriendly."

Shang Mian, who also had wood spiritual roots, miraculously understood what Du Shuangjiang meant. "Are you referring to these plants?"

Du Shuangjiang nodded.

Gu Xu squatted on the ground and wiped the dark, wet soil. "Indeed. No grass or trees should grow where the skyfire has burned."

"And there's a dead air in these things."

Shen Qiao lifted a large leaf that was blocking the way. The light around him was indeed very dim. The leaves above his head were stacked one on top of another. Occasionally, he could see some beams of light filtering through the gaps. But apart from these light-transmitting areas, the rest of the place was pitch black. The visibility was no more than five or six meters, and it seemed as if there was no guarantee that something would jump out in the next second.

"I've heard of a ritual." Zhang Zhi, who rarely spoke in such occasions, became serious.

"Some tribes living in the rainforest have the custom of burying the bodies of their deceased members beneath trees, allowing the trees to absorb the nutrients produced by the bodies and grow. This tree burial ritual is seen as another form of 'rebirth.' The Xiyuan people originally fled from various places. Could they... also have this custom?"

If that's the case...

Luo Dai couldn't help but turn her head to look at the thick tree trunk beside her, and subconsciously hid further away.

"If it's a common custom, it's nothing, but we're worried about it being exploited and modified by someone with ulterior motives." Mu Jiu, who was leading the group, said, "Let's move forward. These woods are just the outer perimeter. If we want to truly reach the original living area of ​​the Xiyuan people, we still have to walk quite a distance."

Everyone responded and unconsciously quickened their pace.

However, just as the group of people walked past, there was a sudden movement on the ground where they had just stopped, as if something was about to break out from the ground...

This place doesn't look big on the map, but it actually took us nearly two hours to walk there. By the time we finally got out, it was almost dark outside.

The view ahead widened considerably, and the vast expanse of flat land seemed to have been through a disaster. The dark ground still bore the obvious marks of fire. The damage caused by the heavenly fire was irreversible, so the barrenness of the land was rather normal.

"I smell a bad odor." Zhang Qiyan, who has always been the most perceptive, said.

"The stench of decay."

The group looked at her with complicated expressions. Gu Xu suggested, "We'll probably have to stay here all night. Why don't we spread out while there's still light and look for something useful? We can also check the surroundings and then meet back here in an hour?"

"Okay." Mu Jiu agreed, "Two or three people in a team, but we still need to leave two people to guard the waiter."

As he spoke, he looked at Shen Qiao and said, "Shen Qiao, you and Du Xiaoyou stay here and wait for us to come back."

Shen Qiao originally wanted to walk around, but Mu Jiu just left her where she was. However, there was no need to insist on this, so Shen Qiao nodded and agreed, "Okay."

After the others left, Shen Qiao took the silly-looking "waiter" and Du Shuangjiang to find a relatively flat open space. They picked up some relatively dry wood and started a fire.

The two of them, who had provoked a severe illness due to a few words from heaven, had now completely forgotten their conversation that night. They sat there staring at each other for a long time without exchanging a few words.

"Um...can I ask you a question?" Shen Qiao spoke first.

Du Shuangjiang was already drawing circles out of boredom. When he heard her initiate a conversation, he immediately looked up and said, "Sure. What do you want to ask?"

"You seem...very afraid of my senior brother?" Shen Qiao finally couldn't help but ask this question.

In fact, it wasn't just Du Shuangjiang. It seemed that after they separated from the restaurant, even Gu Xu had a different attitude towards Mu Jiu when they met again, like... awe?

In fact, Shen Qiao could understand that he was feeling guilty. After all, the people from their Shenxiao Sect had secretly brought a mechanical puppet to monitor them, and they felt a little embarrassed when Mu Jiu found out.

But although this matter was not very kind, it did not cause any major impact. Why did this group of people have to overreact?