Daming's Bizarre Story: Painted Skin

Overnight, weeds covered the back of the feet on the originally bare mine. Jiu Ru picked up a stick and beat the weeds in front of him to prevent other things from being mixed in the grass.

The smog was lingering, and there were many figures in the surroundings. They lay on Jiu Ru's back and glanced back. In the green smoke, the heads of the people on the treetops swayed slightly in the wind, which was strange and permeating.

"Are you lost?" Fu Heng asked Meng Chengtian.

A Jin Yiwei said dissatisfiedly: "When we came, these heads didn't do anything to us? You burned too much smoke, and you couldn't see the road clearly."

Meng Chengtian smiled freely: "I'm doing this for everyone's benefit. If the adults are not satisfied with the measures below, we can divide into two ways. You go your way, and I go mine."

"You!" Jin Yiwei glared angrily.

Fu Heng raised his hand and said, "Okay. Let's find a way first."

Yang Wan also raised his horned beard: "Don't be noisy, don't be noisy, wait until I take out the cinnabar plate and have a look."

As he spoke, he picked up the compass and fiddled with it, pointing to the direction where the smoke drifted: "There!"

"Let's go!" Fu Heng waved his hand, and he headed in that direction, and the Jinyi guards followed immediately.

Sure enough, they walked for about one stick of incense, and the outline of Bailu Book City appeared in front of them.

The refugees at the gate of the city were rushing out with big bags and small bags, but the guards in Jinyi breathed a sigh of relief, and said to Fu Heng, "My lord, it seems that the city has not completely fallen yet."

Meng Chengtian stopped one of them and asked, "How is the situation in the city?"

"The academy has collapsed! The city is about to collapse!" the man panicked.

Zhaoran's eyelids twitched, and he quickly asked, "When did the academy collapse?"

"Just yesterday, suddenly the sky fell and the earth fell apart. A big hole appeared under the academy, and the whole academy sank! If this place is over, the city will collapse too." After finishing speaking, the man picked up his bags and walked away without looking back. up.

A Jin Yiwei turned to Fu Heng and said, "My lord, the front is collapsing, why don't we find someone to go in and check first, and then make a decision."

Fu Heng pondered for a while: "Okay, the others rest outside first, Ding Liu, please go to the city immediately."

Zhaoran recruited a toucan and passed a note to Lu Tian. Seeing the toucan fly away, he hoped that Lu Tian was safe and sound.

As soon as Ding Liu and Ma Xing came back, Zhao Ran also received a letter from Lu Tian. He unfolded the note, and saw that it read: Dad, I'm trapped under the academy.

"My lord, the whole academy has sunk!" Ding Liu replied.

Fu Heng turned his head and asked Meng Chengtian, "What do you think?"

"The taproot of this head tree must be under the academy. Now that it's out of the city, the root supporting the academy is loose, so the entire academy is sinking." Meng Chengtian said.

Fu Heng looked at Yang Wan, Yang Wan nodded and said, "That makes sense."

"In that case, maybe we can go to the academy to find out, maybe we can find out the origin of this demon tree." Fu Heng turned his head to look at Jiuru and Zhaoran, "What do you think?"

Zhao Ran wanted to save Lu Tian, ​​nodded and said, "I agree."

Jiu Ru didn't speak, just nodded slightly.

Unexpectedly, Hengsheng said: "I'll go too!" He pursed his lips tightly and said, "Now that the army is in chaos, the outside is safer than the inside."

Fu Heng glanced at him, nodded and said, "Alright, you follow Young Master Meng, I believe he will protect you well."

Meng Chengtian said indifferently: "If he doesn't believe it, he can stay outside the city."

Hengsheng's face was pale: "What kind of person is Young Master Meng, how could he care about me."

They were divided into three teams, Fu Heng and Jin Yiwei Yang Wan were in the front, Zhao Ran and Jiu Ru were in the middle, Meng Chengtian led Heng Sheng and the guards were behind, and then they walked into the book city against the flow of people.

----

The streets of the book city were originally smooth and watery small green bricks, but now they are like torn ribbons coiling in the streets and alleys.

After such a big change, the city is now empty, under the bright sunlight, the entire street is almost deserted, and occasionally there are a few hurried figures fleeing out of the city with their bags on their backs.

Along the way, Yang Wan fiddled with the compass in his hand to point out the direction, and babbled: "When we were apprentices, we would have to look at the compass for three years. Don't look at this compass but turn left and right, but how to turn, how many turns? How to match the heavenly stems and earthly branches is all knowledge.”

The dozen or so Jinyis all came from the Jinyi Guards near Bailu Book City, but Jinyiwei didn't wink, and it could be seen that Fu Heng had some friendship with this cowhide Taoist priest, and there was nothing wrong with them along the way, so They all flattered: "The compass in Taoist Yang's hand looks like a treasure."

Yang Wan said solemnly: "My lord is a person who knows the goods. The compass is a treasure handed down from our ancestors. The better it is, the more it needs to be maintained. See if there is any cinnabar on it? It's fine cinnabar. Taken from thousands of years of bloodstone."

A Jin Yiwei joked: "It's so rare, and it's thousands of years old, why do you need a hundred taels of silver?"

Yang Wan shook his head and raised an index finger: "100 taels of gold."

Jin Yiwei gasped, and Yang Wan sighed: "According to the school rules of the Zhao School, Xie Yi without a hundred taels of gold is not allowed to use this compass."

Fu Heng coughed lightly: "Don't worry, Taoist priest, if you work for the court, the court will not treat you talented people and strangers badly."

Zhaoran gave a "puchi" in his heart, no wonder he had to recognize each other, it turned out that the master and apprentice were waiting to cheat money.

He leaned over, looked at the compass and said, "It really is a baby..."

Yang Wan laughed dryly, "That's right, that's right."

Zhaoran's neck felt cold, he stretched out his hand to touch it, his fingertips were slightly wet, Zhaoran raised his head and glanced at the sky, the sun was shining brightly.

He only took a few more glances when dark clouds rolled in from the sky, and suddenly the duck-blue sky seemed to be covered with a layer of leaden gray. There was no sun or moon in the sky, and the streets and alleys were locked in a deep fog. Suddenly, people screamed in the distance , Breaking the clouds and piercing the fog, the stagnant water mist seems to surge and roll towards the face.

"Be careful." Fu Heng said, and several people followed the voice.

There was a layer of mist, and only a few figures were seen running towards them. When they got closer, one of the students was pleasantly surprised and said: "Sir!"

It turned out that Jia Chen and the others hadn't waited for Jiuru to respond, they only heard the sound of flying sand and rocks, and saw the dead branches behind the students swimming towards them from mid-air like snakes, faster than birds, In an instant, Jia Chen was swept away, Jiu Ru set up the Falling Demon Bow, and shot four arrows in a row, and then shot through the dry branch, and Jia Chen fell from the midair.

Jin Yiwei's complexion changed drastically, and he shouted: "It's the demon tree, the demon tree is here!"

A few more dead branches protruded from the dense fog, and swept away a guard in Jinyi and a guard of Meng Chengtian respectively.

They watched helplessly as the Jinyiwei was pierced through the chest by a dead branch, and the bright red blood seemed to be sprayed on the white mist, like a painting with thick ink and colors, ferocious and gorgeous.

"This way!" Yang Wan shouted holding the compass.

Without thinking about it, all the people ran desperately towards the direction Yang Wan pointed out for them.

Dead branches twisted and chased after them with teeth and claws, and Jin Yiwei, who had been pierced through his chest, had turned into a solitary fruit with a human head on the tip of a branch.

A few branches flew towards them, and from time to time someone screamed and was strung up by dead branches. Although they didn't look back, they clearly felt that the dead branches had chased after him.

Jiuru turned around suddenly, and successfully pushed back the dead branches with several rounds of falling magic bows. He clearly took advantage of the dead branches to retreat, and summoned the toucan. In an instant, sparks exploded behind them, scorching hot The tongue of fire licked their faces slightly hot.

"Let's go!" Taking advantage of this gap, everyone ran forward desperately, their feet creaking on the splashing muddy water.

----

They ran all the way, and soon they saw the ruins of the academy. Sure enough, more than half of the entire academy had sunk, and the once tall and majestic stele building in front of the gate also shrank into a few broken pillars.

"My lord, shall we go in?" Jin Yiwei asked Fu Heng.

Their original purpose was to come to the academy to find out, but if this is really the lair of the demon tree, wouldn't they be dying if they go in now?

"Where did you come across these dead branches?" Zhao Ran asked.

Jia Chen pointed to the distance and said, "When the academy collapsed, my fellow students and I ran out desperately. We passed the Guanjing Lane, and a tree branch suddenly jumped out, killing many of our students."

As soon as his words fell, Zhaoran heard a few sobs, probably from an old friend of the victimized student.

Fu Heng nodded: "If that's the case, there might be no roots of the demon tree in the academy. Otherwise, it wouldn't have to wait for you to run to Guanjing Lane, it would be able to hunt and kill you here in the academy."

Meng Chengtian said indifferently: "Since the demon tree has been under the academy for so long, there might be something in this academy that can check and balance it."

When he said this, something eager to try appeared on Jin Yiwei's face again. In fact, they have already penetrated into the range of the demon tree. Even if they leave now, they may not be able to escape the range of the head fruit tree. The things from the demon tree can save their lives and make great achievements.

Obviously he wanted to go in and save Lu Tian, ​​but he didn't quite trust Meng Chengtian. He absolutely didn't believe that Meng Chengtian encouraged Fu Heng and the others to go deep into the underground academy just to save the book city. He always felt that Meng Chengtian had some purpose.

Meng Chengtian seemed to have guessed the suspicion in Zhaoran's heart, and he turned his head and smiled: "I really don't care about the book city, but after all, I have to live on. Compared with the academy below, the risk outside the book city is not small. Besides, I also I don't want to be an enemy of Mr., so don't worry."

Zhaoran whistled suddenly, and a group of toucans circled above his head: "It's best if you can do this or that."

Although their appearances are completely different, their personalities are somewhat similar. They are all conceited and full of confidence in themselves, but compared to Zhao Ran, Meng Chengtian is more like a playboy.

Meng Chengtian's gaze flicked across Jiuru's face, and he said with a smile, "Mister's disciples are really better than each other."

Jiu Ru didn't answer his question, but pointed to his feet and said, "The academy is seeping water."

At this time, they realized that puddles had accumulated under their feet. It was raining heavily in the sky, and they hadn't paid attention to it. Now, after a closer look, they realized that the water under their feet was not the accumulated rain in the sky, but subsided from the academy. Water gushing out of the tunnel.

"If you want to go down, I'm afraid it will be soon, otherwise this place may become Bailushu Lake in a while." Meng Chengtian made a joke lightly.

Those students rescued by them looked at him angrily, Bailu Academy was destroyed, and the whereabouts of Meng Shanchang was unknown, this person not only didn't see sadness, but even had a mood for joking, he really is the son of a great Confucian.

Fu Heng said to those students: "If you want to leave first, you can leave, but for the sake of the people of the city, we must go down to the academy to find out, please forgive me for not being able to deploy manpower to protect everyone's safety Or you can wait for us to come out above the academy."

The sons looked at each other for a while, and someone said, "My lord, is there anything we can do?"

Fu Heng shook his head lightly: "Although manpower is needed below, you are all the pillars of the country. If something unexpected happens when you go down, wouldn't it be my dereliction of duty?!"

These students witnessed their classmates being killed by the demon tree, and experienced the hunt and kill of the demon tree, but the few words that Fu Heng said lightly made their blood boil again.

"Eliminating demons and defending Taoism was originally the long-cherished wish of my generation of scholars. We are also familiar with the terrain of the academy. Maybe we can help when we get down."

"That's right, demons are rampant now, how can we stand by and watch."

Jia Chen turned around and bowed to Jiuru again, saying: "Mr. often teaches us that reading should correct one's heart first, and then one's career. The matter of this demon tree is not only about the lives of thousands of people, but also about the righteousness of the world. , since students like us can be used now, we should do our part.”

Zhao Ran glanced at these classmates, thinking that what Fu Heng said was so righteous and awe-inspiring, but he just wanted to get some more cannon fodder to throw away these students.What can they go down to add fruit to the head tree?

He thought that Jiu Ru would refuse, but Jiu Ru seemed to be thinking for a while, then nodded and said: "Okay."

Fu Heng waved his hand: "All the students of the academy rely on the little sage to walk in the middle, and Mr. Meng will leave it to you later."

Meng Chengtian said with a smile: "Then I will trouble you to open the way ahead."