There are dense thorns at the foot of the mountain and old trees with intertwined roots, making it difficult to move forward.
Fortunately, Taoist priests often carry wooden swords with them.
Just touch it on the sword and use Tao Fire to cast a spell, and the ordinary mahogany sword will become extremely sharp and extremely hard.
When Liu Hou swung his sword, all the branches and roots were cut off.
The six of them worked together and soon cut a path through the dense forest.
Climb up the hillside.
Not long after climbing, I heard the gurgling sound of the creek.
Further up.
Suddenly there was a sudden turn of events, and everyone was delighted.
I actually saw an ancient road.
This ancient road is probably a thousand years old and is paved with bluestone slabs.
It winds and twists all the way to the top of the mountain.
"There is a road. It seems we can find those villagers successfully."
Shipman Wei Heng was overjoyed.
"Be careful and be vigilant."
Liu Hou is not so optimistic.
Walking on the ancient road and climbing up the stairs, you can go much faster.
More than twenty minutes later, I finally saw a glimpse of the village from the drone's perspective.
"Finally here!"
The crewman Shao Cheng patted his thigh. He was the weakest among the group of people, but he carried the heaviest luggage.
The rush makes my back hurt.
Seeing that the destination was in front of them, everyone couldn't help but speed up again.
Just as the six people came to the entrance of the village, they all stopped immediately.
His face was stunned.
There is an archway at the entrance of the village, which is very high, six meters high.
Stone and wood structure.
However, the wooden structure above has been weathered and ruined, falling down and collapsing to the ground.
Only the words faintly carved on the stone structure below can be seen.
It's Xiaozhuan.
But it is not difficult for Liu Hou.
Because they often draw talismans, most Taoist priests also recognize Xiaozhuan.
Liu Hou walked under the archway and touched the words engraved on the archway with his hand.
Many of the words are no longer legible, and only some of the remaining information mentioned on the archway can be vaguely discerned.
——The emperor worships the famous mountains and rivers in the world, the five mountains regard the three princes, and the four mountains regard the princes.
The four stars to the east of the south wall of Dongjing are called Sidu, Jiang, He, Huai, and the essence of Ji.
The river is in the east, Ji is in the north, river is in the west, and Huai is in the south. The four rivers have been built, and all the people can live there.
This river is the first of the four rivers.
There is a demon in trouble here.
Dragon God Town...
There are still some words below, but someone deliberately crossed them out with a sharp instrument.
Liu Hou touched his chin and fell into deep thought.
Sidu is the collective name for the four rivers in the Tang Dynasty.
They are the Yangtze River, Yellow River, Huaihe River and Jishui River.
The first of the four rivers is naturally the Yangtze River.
As expected, this river channel does not leave the Yangtze River, and this small island in the river is indeed still above the Yangtze River.
But what happened to this archway that has been in disrepair for a long time?
It stands to reason that if there are people living there, there should also be people maintaining the archway.
What surprised him the most was who was it that crossed out the words on the archway?
Those words, why doesn’t that person want others to see them?
Also, what are the white lanterns hanging on both sides of the archway?
During the day, two white lanterns swayed in the mountain breeze.
This white lantern was obviously hung up not long ago.
There are unlit candles inside.
And the craft of making candles is also quite ancient.
Liu Hou always felt that this village was a bit strange, but he had no choice but to go in and take a look before thinking about the next step.
He led Ding Yun and others through the archway at the end of the ancient road and entered the village.
As soon as they entered, everyone was stunned again.
Shipman Tian Kai even murmured in disbelief: "Impossible, how is this possible?"
I saw that the village in front of me was still there, but it was just a dilapidated place.
Buildings in the village collapsed, and pots, pans and other daily necessities were scattered all over the place.
All you can see are broken eaves and broken walls.
This is not the same place as the village that Tian Kai flew over with his drone an hour ago.
"Did we go the wrong way?"
Sailor Shao Cheng wondered.
Liu Hou didn't say a word. He found a tall locust tree and climbed up it with a few jumps.
Climb up to a height of more than ten meters and look far away, looking at the whole picture of this small village.
Although the village is dilapidated, the layout is exactly the same as what was seen by the drone just now.
In front of a building in the center of the village, there is a white object that stands out.
Taking a closer look, it was the wreckage of Tian Kai's downed drone.
Liu Hou jumped down from the tree and led everyone to the location of the drone wreckage.
"Why did my drone become like this ghost?"
Tian Kai howled miserably.
The surface of the drone that fell an hour ago was dirty.
It seemed as if it had experienced many years of wind and rain, and it was miserable.
Tian Kai grabbed the fuselage of the drone with his hands. As soon as his fingers touched the outer shell, the hard plastic outer shell shattered into pieces.
"How is that possible!"
Tian Kai was so surprised that he opened his mouth wide and couldn't close it.
Liu Hou and others felt even more eerie.
Without decades of exposure to sunlight, the plastic casing would not have become so fragile.
But the drone clearly landed in this village just an hour ago. How could it have happened decades ago?
This is completely unexplainable.
What is even more inexplicable is this village.
When the drone flew up, the buildings in the village were still intact. But when they actually entered the village, the buildings became so dilapidated.
It looks like it has been abandoned for hundreds of years.
And where did those villagers who came out of the buildings, pointed at the drones and watched curiously, and even shot down the drones, where did they go?
So weird!
"Search to see if there are any abnormalities."
Liu Hou ordered everyone to split up and investigate in the village.
The six of them went their separate ways.
He stepped into a villager's house not far away.
The houses in this abandoned small village are in the typical ancient architectural style of Western Sichuan. The walls are made of local stone and wood, and the roof tiles are arranged neatly, with the walls slightly raised at the end.
It can be used as an eave to protect from rain and sun, and can also increase the usable area to prevent the damp smell of river water from spreading into the house.
After Liu Hou glanced at it for a few times, he frowned slightly.
There are also decorations on the top of the roof.
The house is square, with four identical decorations in four directions.
They are all stone sculptures, carved with a strange thing that looks like a mythical beast.
It has a pair of large pincers, a fish tail, an abdomen as thin as a blade, thick and shiny scales, and a body as white as silver.
There was also a little bright red smeared on the forehead, which was very conspicuous.
Liu Hou has read a lot of ancient books on Taoism recently, but he didn't see which mythical beast this thing is.
The door of the residence has fallen down, and a white lantern hangs at the door.
They are exactly the same as the lanterns hanging on the archway.
Liu Hou crosses the entrance gate.
At a glance, he saw a large, dark coffin placed in the center of the main room.
The same weird totem of mythical beasts is also painted on the coffin.
It's an old coffin.
It's getting a bit old here.
Liu Hou walked to the coffin and knocked on the coffin lid with his fingers.
There was a thumping sound on the coffin.
Hollow.
There's nothing inside.
The room was not big, so Liu Hou quickly walked around it.
Nothing unusual was found.
Except for this big coffin, the house was empty. When the owner abandoned the house, he took away most of the valuables.
The only things that cannot be taken away are some heavy furniture.
Actually, there isn't much furniture.
Liu Hou visited several residential houses in succession, and they were all in similar condition.
The only strange thing is that in the center of the main room of the houses, without exception, there is a black coffin.
And outside the door, there is a brand new white lantern hanging that is seriously inconsistent with the age of the house.
Liu Hou, who found nothing, shook his head and was about to continue investigating in other houses.
At this moment, suddenly at the east end of the village, he heard a frightened scream.
That was the scream of the crewman Wei Heng.
Liu Hou quickly ran towards the direction of the shout.
On the way, the remaining people also heard Wei Heng's screams, so they ran out from everywhere and joined together.
Five people rushed into a temple-like building together.
I saw Wei Heng standing dumbly in the building, staring at the wall without blinking.
Liu Hou followed Wei Heng's blank gaze and looked upward.
For a moment, he was completely stunned.
Chapter completed!