"Ah," upon hearing this, Fat Dun's mouth fell open in disbelief, "Are you saying that Long Lanxiang is... a practitioner of the Dao? Are you sure?"
At this moment, I myself had doubts, finding it utterly unbelievable. However, Long Lanxiang's skull was right here, and there was no other explanation.
The bone-eating insect is indeed a type of Gu insect, and a very vicious one at that. But it is a type of Gu used as a personal protector, enhancing the practitioner's physical abilities, making them stronger than ordinary people.
However, at the same time, the Gu insect would devour its host. On special days, the Gu insect would go berserk. When the bone-eating insect devours its host, it would gnaw on the person's bones, causing unbearable pain.
Judging from the grooves on Long Lanxiang's skull, they undoubtedly bore the marks of the bone-eating insect. Thus, Long Lanxiang was a practitioner of the Dao.
Upon hearing Fat Dun's words, I said in a deep voice, "It's not wrong, but I'm also puzzled about what exactly is going on. Come, let's go to the river and find Long Lanxiang."
"Oh," Fat Dun responded and quickly picked up the remaining bones and put them back into the bag, then ran with me to the river.
Once at the riverside, I directly took out a corpse-sealing talisman and began to recite the incantation: Seal the corpse, seal the door, no way for the ghost, the evil spirit cries for justice.
However, after finishing the incantation, there was no response from the river.
Frowning, I directly took out four or five more corpse-sealing talismans and recited the incantation once again, but still, there was no movement in the river.
Feeling puzzled, I looked at the bag in Fat Dun's hand holding Long Lanxiang's bones. I tore it open and was speechless. When Fat Dun picked up the bones, he didn't pick up the corpse-sealing talisman along with them.
I glared at Fat Dun furiously, "When can you do something decent?"
With a puzzled expression, Fat Dun was about to speak, but I had already turned around and pulled out a piece of yellow paper from my body. Then, I quickly wrote a line of small characters on the paper, followed by a big decree. Then I folded the yellow paper into a paper boat and threw it into the river, reciting the incantation:
Boat, drift; people, sway; come aboard, cross the rainbow bridge.
The boat was a soul-ferry boat, the characters were Long Lanxiang's birth data. The soul-ferry boat's purpose was to ferry souls, and with Long Lanxiang's birth data, this was to ferry Long Lanxiang.
However, after the boat was thrown into the water, there was still no response. Next to me, Fat Dun stared at me dumbfounded, "I say, Duan Mu, what are you doing?"
I ignored Pang Dun, and let out a long sigh, saying, "Long Lanxiang's soul has already departed."
"What?" Pang Dun was stunned. "Where did she go?"
I said, "In any case, she is no longer in this river. Her body has been rescued, you just lost the sealing corpse charm, the river soul claw has also been removed. Perhaps she has gone to the underworld to report."
"Really?" Pang Dun looked a bit guilty as he lowered his head. "Doesn't that mean we won't be able to find out about Long Lanxiang?"
I shook my head. "It doesn't matter, if we can't find out, we won't ask. In any case, Long Lanxiang is dead. It doesn't matter who she was in life. Let's just bury her body by the river."
"Okay," Pang Dun agreed and started digging a hole in the ground. Before long, we buried Long Lanxiang's bones, then bowed and left the riverbank.
Perhaps it was due to the matter of Long Lanxiang's skull, but after leaving the riverbank, Pang Dun and I surprisingly lost focus and unconsciously took the wrong path, ending up in front of a dilapidated house in the town that had been abandoned for many years.
When I came to my senses, Pang Dun and I were standing in front of the house. A moment of speechlessness passed through my heart, and I asked Pang Dun in confusion, "Where are you taking me? Are you planning to stay in this house?"
Pang Dun looked at me in silence. "You're blaming me, but you've also taken the wrong road. This is really unfortunate. Why did we end up here?"
I raised my foot to kick Pang Dun, but ultimately refrained and, after giving him a fierce look, I walked back the way we came.
But at that moment, three large dogs suddenly came charging down the road. These were not ordinary dogs; all three were a meter tall and stood menacingly in the middle of the road, staring at Pang Dun and me.
"Oh damn." Pang Dun froze in place and looked at me with a pained expression. "Duan Mu, what are we going to do? There were no dogs when we came, so why are these dogs appearing now?"
I also felt helpless. Whenever I'm with Pang Dun, things never seem to turn out well. Without hesitation, I reached into my pocket and took out a dream-inducing talisman. I threw it in the air and uttered, "Sleep, close your eyes, and have sweet dreams."
The talisman burst into flames and the three dogs began to feel drowsy, their eyelids drooping before they collapsed and fell asleep.
The dream-inducing talisman had little effect on humans, but it worked well on animals. Because human thoughts are more complex and not easily influenced by a dream-inducing spell, but animals are different. Their thoughts are simple, making them easier to control.
After seeing the dogs fall asleep, I gave Pang Dun a fierce look and said, "It's late, I want to sleep. Stop distracting me."
Pang Dun pointed at himself. "Duan Mu, can you stop being so shameless? You're actually blaming me?"
Ignoring Pang Dun, I walked forward quickly. But after just a few steps, I suddenly stopped. In that instant, I caught a very faint, strange smell.
"Lost Soul Incense?" I furrowed my brow. "Not good."
"What?" Pang Dun asked, puzzled.
Suddenly, I turned and looked around. At that moment, I felt the heavy and oppressive atmosphere around us, as if there was a faint sense of impending danger. I chuckled and said, "We didn't take the wrong road to get here, we were led here by someone."
"No way." Pang Dun shivered all over.
Lost Soul Incense is something that can bewitch the mind. When lit, the fragrance is not strong, but it can easily bewitch people without them realizing it. It leads to people losing their rationality.
And just as Pang Dun spoke, something seemed to flash in my line of sight.
I quickly put my index finger to my lips. "Don't make a sound."
"Hmm?" Pangdun became doubtful and quickly looked around cautiously.
I felt a tightening in my heart, and at this moment, I dared not relax in the slightest. When I turned to look behind me, I suddenly saw a person standing there. And upon seeing this person, both Pangdun and I were dumbfounded.
The person standing behind us was actually Nie Wei?
"Hmm?" I was greatly surprised and gritted my teeth: "This guy's luck is really extraordinary, he actually survived."