There were obvious bloodstains in the grass, and a black bug called "Qizi" gently landed on the bloodstains.
Luoqiong carefully observed and said, "It's recent, the bloodstain is still fresh."
"Is it from the ancient wind demon?" the fat man asked eagerly.
"It should be, the nearby bushes and trees show signs of being blown by a strong wind, indicating that it escaped from here."
Listening on the side, I couldn't help but think obviously, not only was its magnetic armor broken, but the creature itself was also injured. From the bloodstains, the injuries seemed quite severe. This added a lot of confidence to catching this little guy for me.
"Let's continue tracking..."
"Qizi" continued to fly in the air, occasionally discovering some scattered bloodstains on the ground. These bloodstains gradually connected into a tracking route. At the same time, we were getting further and further away from the cave where we had dealt with the ancient wind demon before.
"It seems like we're heading back..."
Luoqiong muttered in a strange tone, but neither I nor the fat man heard clearly. After calculating the time, the tracking had taken almost over two hours. It was getting dark, and if we waited until nightfall, tracking would become even more difficult.
"What should we do? It's going to be dark soon."
The fat man asked impatiently.
"Let's continue for now, if we really can't find it, we'll have to find a place to stay overnight..."
With no other choice, the three of us continued to follow "Qizi". After about half an hour of tracking in the dark, we finally got lucky!
"Qizi" landed on a leaf not far away, without making any noise. Luoqiong signaled us to tread lightly, then we slowly walked over.
"Normally, 'Qizi' stops at any movement, but if it doesn't return to my little wooden jar, it means it has found what it's tracking. Let's get closer first..."
Moving slowly, we approached the thicket and looked outside. With one glance, my whole body shivered in shock!
"Damn, how could it be here?"
After wandering in the woods for nearly 5 hours, I suddenly realized, as I followed Luoqiong without thinking about the direction, that what appeared before my eyes was actually the old temple of the Master and disciple of Hui Zhi!
"What's wrong?" The fat guy, seeing me looking nervous, asked me.
But my eyes were completely focused on this dark old temple, I couldn't say a word. Without the bright old temple, it looked cold and dark. I could clearly feel that the Buddha light that used to bless this ancient temple had disappeared. Instead, there was a cold and eerie feeling spreading out.
If the last time I came to this ancient temple, I felt warmth and comfort, now this ancient temple has turned into a hell, giving people the chills.
"Fatso..." I patted the fat guy's shoulder and said, "This place is the old temple I told you about before, the place where I encountered snakes and monsters!"
Upon hearing my words, the fat guy's face immediately changed, but before he could ask further, there was a low growl in front of the temple. As I focused my gaze, I saw a small creature crawling on the ground in front of the temple. Vaguely, it seemed like there was a lot of blood scattered in front of the temple.
"It's an ancient wind demon!" Luoqiong pointed to the creature.
It seemed to have deliberately come here. It was injured and couldn't fly fast, and it had almost reached its limit by the time it arrived here. Previously, Hui Zhi had told me that they had a habit of feeding earth creatures in their temple. I boldly speculated that this ancient wind demon may have been fed here in the past, and now, injured, instinctively returned to what it thought was the safest place, not realizing that this place had become a terrible hell.
The ancient wind demon had reached the entrance of the temple. Luoqiong took out a sharpened iron rod from his pocket, which was his weapon for self-defense, and was about to charge out, but I pulled him back.
"Don't go out!" I pulled him next to me. Luoqiong was still unaware of the situation in the temple, so he looked at me suspiciously.
"This temple has evil nature, don't act rashly. Don't lose sight of the bigger picture!"
Some words couldn't be spoken in that situation. Luoqiong was still somewhat perplexed. In fact, as I watched the ancient wind demon in front of me but couldn't reach it, I was also anxious. It was like the cooked duck was about the fly, but I was afraid. If rushing out caused the monsters in the temple to appear, our lives would be in danger.
"At this critical moment," suddenly the sound of applause came from behind. Ling Xuan and the others actually appeared behind us.
"You've been following us!" The fat guy exploded and rebuked them.
"You've done quite well. Thinking that we were busy tracking the ancient wind demon and ignoring you? This little guide has some abilities, to accurately track the ancient wind demon in such a large forest, I'll give you fifty bucks as a reward after this is over." Ling Xuan walked up to me, waved his hand, and Ling Qian led a few followers to rush out. I was about to speak, but Ling Xuan leaned in and said, "I admire ambitious people, but the ambitious often fail. To succeed, you must have the corresponding skills. You are ambitious, but unfortunately, you are still too inexperienced."
Ling Qian had already surrounded the injured ancient wind demon with her people, the dying earth creature was surrounded by everyone, emitting a desperate howl under the moonlight, reflecting a blood-red light in the pale moonlight.
"Strip the ancient wind demon's skin, this time we've made a profit."
After Ling Xuan finished speaking, he gave me a cold smile and walked out of the woods.
"What do we do?" The fat guy asked me anxiously, and I thought about it before replying, "Let's see how the situation unfolds. If the monsters in the temple are gone, then we're unlucky to be taken advantage of by them. If the monsters in the temple are still there, then we can watch a good show today. Ling Xuan's words were not wrong. The three of us may not have much skill, but there's a saying in the world, there's always someone better than you. Those who boast often have the worst fate."
A gust of cold wind blew over our heads, and the fat guy nudged me with his elbow and cursed, "Damn it, could you talk normally? You scared the hell out of me. Can you speak like a normal person?"
I was taken aback, but then I chuckled and said, "Oh, let me speak normally. When those guys are half dead from the monsters, we'll go up and find the antidote."
"Exactly, haha!"
When I was young, my teacher often talked about the need for a revolutionary optimism, and now I think, the bond between me and the fat guy was truly revolutionary camaraderie.
While we were teasing each other, one of Lingxuan's men, carrying a hunting rifle, walked up. The ancient wind demon on the ground was not completely dead yet. After observing for a few minutes, he said, "It's not dead, but it has lost its ability to fight and escape."
After Lingxuan nodded, the man put away his rifle and drew a short knife from his waist. It was obviously not a cheap one.
"It's the US Army's machete from the Korean War. It's valuable, and now it's hard to come by. The sheath is a leather case that can be hung on the waist. The blade is very thin, the upper part is relatively wide, and the blood groove is on the blade. In one stroke and pull, it can take a person's life. I like this thing too, but unfortunately, it's hard to get."
The fat guy said enviously, making the bone knives that we held in our hands pale in comparison, even though they were polished.
The man skillfully used the machete, one hand pressing on the dying ancient wind demon, while the other hand began to skin it very quickly. It was actually a very cruel scene, as the ancient wind demon was still alive, like a prisoner being tortured to death. The skinning took quite a while, and the ancient wind demon kept screaming, the sound tearing through the heart.
"I saw people butcher pigs when I was young, and the sound was also terrible. But usually, they just make a single cut on the pig's belly, bleed it, then kill it and cut the meat. Doing this kind of live skinning is too bloody."
I couldn't bear it, so I frowned and lowered my head.
A few minutes later, a complete skin of the ancient wind demon was raised high by the man, with blood stains still visible under the moonlight. The ancient wind demon on the ground was like a rat without fur, shaking on the ground, and finally quieted down and died...
Lingqian walked up and pasted a yellow talisman on the body of the ancient wind demon, closing her eyes and reciting something in her mouth, apparently helping its lost soul to pass on.
"When we killed the ghost tiger earlier, why didn't she act so kindly? Women are just pretentious."
The fat guy cursed, and I didn't reply, because at that moment, a man closer to the old temple suddenly screamed and flung his hand, pulling off a black snake from his leg!