Nanlin Bamboo Demon

The imperial city is in the extreme north, separated by thousands of mountains from the Southern Forest. The climate there is much drier than that of the Southern Forest. There is occasional rain in summer, and the sky is mostly clear.It is said that the winter there is also extremely cold. Gu Nianran has never been to the north, and he only heard the rumors of the severe cold from a leisurely place.

Gu Nianran and Weifu traveled for three days and three nights to reach the imperial city.

They heard the elder talk about the changes in Tingyuan's tree body, and seeing the serious situation in the place Tingyuan said, they somewhat anticipated the situation in their hearts.

For example, corpses are scattered all over the field, blood flows into rivers, and all kinds of bloody scenes of fighting everywhere have been imagined by both of them.However, when I actually arrived at the outskirts of the imperial city, I found that the place is quiet and peaceful. Although it is located in the outskirts of the city, there are still many people coming and going—drivers, sellers of vegetables, people visiting relatives, farmers... It seems that everything is normal, Where are the scenes in the imagination.

"Young master Nianran... this..." Wei Fu was puzzled.

"Hmm..." Gu Nianran thought for a moment, "But, don't you think it's too peaceful here..."

After hearing this, Wei Fu looked at the surroundings, and it was indeed too peaceful... How should I put it, it is impossible for this kind of place where there are frequent people to come and go without loud and noisy voices, even if you just say a few words on the road, It's never going to be this quiet.

But at this time, even the vegetable seller didn't see him shouting, but there were two baskets of vegetables on the side of the road, and the vegetable grower was sitting cross-legged on the ground, with some tattered straw hats covering his face, lowered down, looking as if he was asleep .Not to mention those who walked in a hurry, there was no words, only shortness of breath...

"They're...like..."

"What does Mr. Weifu think he looks like?"

"It's like a dummy? It's not right, it's not like that, like those people whose souls were sucked away before? It's not like..."

"Hmm... It's really not like it. Although they lack some normal behaviors, they are still living people... Those pedestrians who come and go in a hurry have rosy faces and sweat profusely. If they are dummy or people without souls , it is absolutely impossible to have such a physical reaction of a living person."

Gu Nianran and Wei Fu stood by the side of the road and looked at the passers-by, wondering, "They...have never looked at us..."

"Ok?"

"If they are villagers who live here, they will definitely find that we are two strangers. We stand here and observe them, and they don't think it's strange..."

"Ah... I remembered, when you and your son first entered the stubborn city, many people stared at us! And they stared blatantly! You said that, it is true! I said there was something wrong, it turned out to be here! Not only did they not look at us, their eyes seemed to be only looking at the direction they were going, as if they were ignoring everything else except where they were going?"

"It seems that there is indeed something different here. Let's ask someone first to see if we can get any news." After finishing speaking, Gu Nianran walked towards the vegetable farmer sitting on the side of the road, followed closely by Wei Fu.

Seeing the dark and slightly wrinkled dry skin of the vegetable farmer, Gu Nianran guessed that he was an elderly person, so he called him "uncle".

"Uncle?" Gu Nianran squatted down, trying to meet the vegetable farmer's eyes.

Uncle vegetable farmer didn't raise his head, Gu Nianran lowered his body even lower, almost fell to the ground, supporting his body with his hands on the ground.

Wei Fu also took advantage of the situation and squatted down, "Uncle! We came here from the south to visit relatives and lost our way. Could you please show me the way?" Wei Fu deliberately made his voice clear, like a fledgling stunned head green.

But the uncle remained motionless.

After Gu Nianran leaned down, he caught a glimpse of Uncle Vegetable Farmer's face.The uncle seemed to be resting, his eyes were slightly closed, and his breathing was a little heavy.

Gu Nianran lowered her voice, turned her head to look at Weifu, "Uncle seems to be asleep..."

"Asleep?!" Wei Fu also lowered his body to look.

But the uncle didn't seem to be asleep as Gu Nianran said.Instead, he opened his eyes angrily, staring at the curious baby Wei Fu.

"Hey!" Wei Fu was so frightened that he wobbled and sat on the ground.

"What's wrong?" Gu Nianran asked while supporting Wei Fu.

"This... how does this look like she's asleep... I'm scared to death!"

Gu Nianran looked at Uncle Vegetable Farmer who was still motionless, then at Weifu who was terrified, and then at Uncle again.

"This uncle really didn't sleep..." Gu Nianran said leisurely, "Then he can hear us talking about him, but why does he ignore us?"

Except for the blinking of the eyes, the uncle's whole body seemed to be frozen.

"Buying vegetables!" Wei Fu said abruptly.

The old vegetable farmer suddenly made a movement, his hands began to shake and point to the vegetables in the basket in front of him, as if introducing, but he didn't say a word.

"Hiss~ Mr. Nianran, tell me, does this seem to be controlled by someone?"

"Well, it seems to be under control." Gu Youran said as he turned and looked at the passers-by who were still hurrying, "Everyone of them seems to be executing an order. During the process, they will not be disturbed by anything, nor will they They will pay attention to the changes around them, if there is a fire cave in front of them at this time, it is estimated that they will walk past without any reaction."

"So the uncle doesn't care what we say, but when he mentions 'buying vegetables', he makes a movement. Does this mean that the order he got is...'selling vegetables'? Wouldn't this order be too funny? It's too late!"

"No, look at the people who come and go, their orders may only be to go home, walk, grow vegetables, and so on... nothing..."

Gu Nianran, who was watching Weifu talking, suddenly stopped at a place behind Weifu.

Wei Fu followed Gu Nianran's gaze and looked back, a little girl as tall as half a person was standing not far from them, looking at them.

"This little girl..." Wei Fu said.

"En." Gu Nianran responded and walked towards the little girl.

When the little girl saw these two strangers of the opposite sex who were much taller than her walking towards her, she turned her head and ran away.

"Hey!" Wei Fu shouted from behind, and the little girl ran even faster.

"Are we... scary?" Wei Fu looked down at his clothes, the normal clothes, but compared with the clothes of the surrounding villagers, it was a bit too regular.

"She might be like us."

"Ok?"

"I found someone who would stare at her." After Gu Nianran finished speaking, she walked towards the place where the little girl disappeared.

Wei Fu pondered on the spot for a while, and suddenly realized, "Oh!" Looking at Gu Nianran's back that was rushing forward, he exclaimed and followed, "Mr. Nianran, I...found that you have changed."

"Huh? What changed."

"Well... how should I put it, I thought you didn't have much emotional ups and downs about anything before, but after the young master disappeared, I know you were very sad, but you didn't show it in front of us... No, how should I put it , We came all the way from Wei's house, you don't have much to say. But after you get here, you can quickly notice the strangeness around you... um... no... what I want to say is..."

"Are you trying to say, do I look too calm? Even worse than before?" Gu Nianran stopped and asked with her head down.

Wei Fu paused, and uttered a word, "Yes."

"Only in this way can I handle things here faster. Then..."

"Then?"

"Go to Wei Lin."

After Gu Nianran finished speaking, she continued to chase the little girl.

Wei Fu sighed, feeling that such young master Nian Ran made him feel a little cruel.

It's not that Gu Nianran is cruel, but what happened to him is too cruel...

The two followed the little girl to an abandoned village. The village seemed to have been abandoned for a long time. The field outside the village was overgrown with weeds, and there was not a single live animal or person.

"It's... so evil..." Gu Nianran said.

"Master Nianran can sense the evil spirit?"

"Well, I can smell it after I came out of the Jade Palace. Xiao Yi has a faint smell."

"Oh..." Wei Fu looked at the ruined village road in front of him, "Then there should be a lot of demons in here..."

"Go in and have a look."

Before the two of them entered the village, they saw a little girl hiding behind a big stone tablet at the entrance of the village, with a head popping out and staring at them timidly.

"Little sister, we are not bad people." Gu Nianran said softly, "We just came to visit relatives, but we got lost and didn't know the way, but people here ignored us, can you tell me why?"

The little girl kept digging at the stele with her dirty little hands, her eyes were full of vigilance.

"Is she afraid?" Wei Fu asked.

"Ah."

"Then are we still going in?"

"Go in. If we have been deadlocked here, there is no point."

"Yeah!" Wei Fu nodded fiercely, raised his head and chest, and walked towards the village to bear the brunt.

Seeing Wei Fuli getting closer, the little girl backed away slowly, her shoulders trembling slightly, her mouth opened and closed, whispering something.

"Don't be afraid, brother is not a bad person, brother is just here to ask for directions, don't be afraid." Wei Fu said with the most cordial smile with all his strength.

The little girl doesn't care where you are, she only recognizes you as a stranger, "Wow!" and cried, "Don't come here! Don't come here! Mother! Mother!"

Surprised, Wei Fu stopped, and looked back at Gu Nianran in embarrassment, asking for help.

Before Gu Nianran could speak, a flaming red arrow suddenly flew out from the village. Fortunately, the two of them reacted quickly and avoided the arrow of unknown origin.

The eyes of the two became alert at the same time.

"Be careful, the evil spirit is getting stronger and stronger." Gu Nianran stood next to Wei Fu and said in a low voice.

The little girl suddenly cried louder and louder, and ran to the village while crying, "Mother! Mother! Mother!"

"Her...mother is here?" Wei Fu said.

"That's right! Where are you bastards from, bullying my daughter?"

... bastard?

Wei Fu and Gu Nianran exchanged glances at the same time, asking inwardly, are we bastards?

"My Grassroots Village is not something that you can enter if you want!" As soon as the words fell, a woman in a red and white dress with fiery red fluff on the cuffs held a longbow in her right hand and a little girl in her left hand, with a fierce aura. , came towards the two of them.

"Who are you? What are you doing chasing after my daughter? What are you doing in this dilapidated village of mine!" The woman took the little girl into her arms.

"I, Gu Nianran, came here with my friends to visit relatives, but lost my way and searched hard, but no one answered." Gu Nianran said and looked at the little girl, "She only cares about us, so I want to ask a few more questions, but I have no choice We ran when we saw her, and she ran, so we had no choice but to chase. Sorry for the offense." Gu Nianran pulled Wei Fu and bowed slightly to express his apology.

"Oh? Where is Mr. Gu going to visit relatives? What kind of relatives are you visiting?" the woman doubted.

"Visiting distant relatives, my cousin lives in the imperial city, and he said that he entered the city and walked north to the end. But we couldn't even find the imperial city, yes, it makes people laugh."

Wei Fu listened to Gu Nianran making up nonsense without blushing and panting, and couldn't express his surprise, so he raised his mouth and tried his best to make a fake smile, and he had already shouted in his heart, "What's wrong with Mr. Nianran!!"

But the woman was moved. Seeing that Gu Nianran was sincere, well-dressed, she didn't look like a dude, and she was accompanied by a silly-looking dog and a horse, standing beside her. An idiot with a smirk, maybe he is not a villain after thinking about it.

She patted the little girl's head, "The imperial city is not far from here, but there are many small roads in the village, some detours, I'll take you there."

Gu Nianran and Wei Fu clasped their fists together and bowed, "Madam, thank you."

The woman didn't say much, she walked straight towards Gu Nianran, but stopped a step away from Gu Nianran.

"Why didn't you leave?" Gu Nianran asked.

The woman turned around suddenly, her eyes became sharp again, "Are you a demon?"