"So what do you think we should do next?"
Shi Li asked Ah Qing again.
"Go to the village entrance and wait for a mission to be delivered to you."
Ah Qing holds up a sign.
"..., are you still thinking about Mr. Grasshopper?"
Shi Li couldn't help but complain.
"Then according to the rules of RPG, go sit in the tavern and ask for information."
Ah Qing wrote and demonstrated: "Then there will be sudden fights."
"What era of RPG are you talking about..."
Shi Li looked around and said, "Besides, there is no such thing as a tavern in such a shabby place."
"Then find a villager, do him some small favors to improve his favorability, and then use the opportunity to obtain information."
Ah Qing raised the sign again, only to find that Shi Li had already walked up to a villager.
"Hello fellow, I'll get straight to the point."
"ah?"
"What happened in this village recently?"
"ah?"
Shi Li asked the question right away, leaving the villager confused.
"Can't you be more roundabout?"
Ah Qing held up a sign to complain.
"You are... a young man who is out traveling, right?"
However, when the villagers saw Shi Li, who was accompanied by maids, demon pets and servants, they were surprised.
Ah Qing:?
"I advise you to take a detour and not stay in this village."
Then the villagers sighed with bitter expressions.
"Please tell me in detail."
Shi Li directly put his arm around the other person's shoulders.
It's just a waste of time and effort.
"This is the village controlled by Lord Qiu. If you stay here for too long, your spirit will be sucked away."
The villager looked at Ah Qing and pointed at him and said, "Before Lord Qiu appeared, I was even fatter than you."
"?"
Ah Qing was unhappy when he heard this and raised his fist to make a "I'm going to hit you" gesture.
"You can scold me, but you can't insult me."
It held up the sign.
" ..., scolding you is an insult to you."
Shi Li was somewhat speechless, and then looked at the villagers: "Who is Lord Qiu?"
Next, they got general information about the situation from the villagers.
In fact, each demon tribe’s residential gathering place has been carefully selected.
Such places have accumulated a lot of evil spirits over time.
Demonic energy is essential for the survival of the demon race, and it is also what they need to practice and become stronger.
Therefore, for monsters, demonic energy has the same attraction.
In the past, from time to time, some monsters would be attracted by the demonic energy and come to the demon gathering place.
Among them, those that are relatively intelligent will live in harmony with the demon clan and even stay.
Those without intelligence will pose a threat to the lives of the demon clan and will be expelled or dealt with.
Lord Qiu is a monster that was attracted in this way.
However, its origin and species are unknown, and it has never appeared in person until now.
There is no doubt that this mysterious monster that can seriously affect the survival of the monster race must be extremely powerful.
In addition, he makes the environment look like autumn, so he is called the Lord of Autumn.
Moreover, unlike ordinary monsters, Lord Qiu seems to have intelligence, but also seems not to have it.
It does not communicate with any demon tribes, but it also does not pose any direct threat to the gathering place.
It will just keep absorbing the demonic energy from the surrounding demonic energy gathering places.
The current appearance of the village and its villagers is the result of Lord Qiu's long-term plundering of demonic energy.
"Then why don't you leave here?"
When Ah Qing heard this, he raised the sign.
"It's easier said than done. All the surrounding demonic lands are occupied by Lord Qiu."
"Far away, the road is steep and there are monsters lurking."
"We can barely survive if we stay here and rely on the remaining residual demonic energy absorbed by Master Qiu. If we go out and try to find our way, we might be gone in the blink of an eye."
"Only a powerful demon clan team like yours can come here smoothly."
The villager explained.
It’s not that they don’t want to leave, but that they can’t.
Before their strength reaches a certain level, the monsters who are equivalent to ordinary people will not be able to survive in an ordinary environment for too long.
Because if they lose the nourishment and supply of demonic energy, ordinary demons may die within a month.
Ordinary demons like those living in human cities and counties need to purchase demon energy regularly in order to survive.
For them, demonic energy is like water, air and food, it is a necessity.
This is also why in this world, the population of the demon race is much smaller than that of the human race.
"Then... is there no one from the Wood Demon Clan to take care of it?"
Shi Li remembered that in addition to what Thirteen had introduced, it seemed that the five major demon tribes of gold, wood, water, fire and earth all had so-called great demon leaders.
Except for the great monster Xinghe Wuque of the Golden Clan who is missing, the other great monsters of the Monster Clan are still alive.
Since there is a leader, there is naturally an organization.
Such things that endanger people's livelihood should not be allowed to happen.
"Now that you mention it, I'm not sleepy anymore."
The villager's originally listless temperament suddenly changed, and his eyes became bright and sharp.
He is the village's political expert who loves to give orders.
To say how powerful it is.
It's probably the kind that pulls someone into a group and then disbands the group within 3 days.
"This matter has to start from the catastrophe that happened nearly a hundred years ago..."
"..." x2
Finally, when he finished speaking, Shi Li refined the information.
Generally speaking, the big demons cannot control what happens in such remote areas.
Therefore, the villagers in the surrounding area could only cross mountains and rivers to seek help from the lord of the nearest city.
But the city lord is from the Golden Demon Clan, and the Golden Demons, Fire Demons and Wood Demons have always had a bad relationship.
The villages that were harmed by the Lord of Autumn were all wood monster villages.
In addition, the Golden Demon Clan has been in a bit of chaos recently, so the city lord seemed to be unwilling to respond to their requests for help.
Speaking of the chaos within the Golden Demon Clan, it originated from a recent wave of rumors within the Golden Demon Clan that they wanted to re-elect the leader of the Great Demon Clan.
After all, the great demon Xinghe Wuque has been missing for a long time.
In fact, 90% of the villagers' speeches were spent on the chaos within the Golden Demon Clan.
Overall, this information is of little help to Shi Li and his team.
"Then do you know where Lord Qiu is?"
This is Shi Li’s final question.
Their mission is to solve the village’s problems, so wouldn’t it be enough to just kill Lord Qiu?
"That's not something I know."
The villager shook his head and then said, "But you can find Lord Qiu's messenger at the east entrance of the village."
[Ding Dong! ]
[Mission Phase 2, Find the Messenger of Lord Autumn]
As these words fell, new subtitles popped up in front of Shi Li's eyes.
It turns out that the key information of the mission is right here. It was such a waste of time listening to all the other party’s long speeches before.
"Come on, let's go meet that messenger."
Shi Li waved his hand, signaling everyone to set off.
The village was not big, and the entrance they came in was from the west.
So just go straight through and soon you'll reach the east exit.
Without looking too much, they saw something particularly conspicuous outside the village entrance.
It was a bamboo shoot-like root that broke through the ground and pointed toward the sky.
It is about 2 or 3 meters high and its diameter is not inferior to that of an ordinary old tree.
Moreover, all the other trees are dry and withered, only this thing has golden bark and looks full of vitality.
"Is this the messenger of Lord Qiu?"
At first he still had doubts as to why there were messengers under the monster.
Now I understand it at a glance. It seems to be some kind of little brother of the vine monster.
"hello."
Ah Qing walked up to the golden root and held up the sign.
But Jin Gen stood there motionless, with no response at all.
After thinking for a while, it took out the portraits of the God of Wealth and the God of Match and stuck them towards the golden root.
Still the same, Jin Gen just stood there quietly.
"...Okay, put away those two things of yours."
Shi Li couldn't bear to watch it anymore, so he walked forward and said, "This guy obviously has no eyes, how could he see your stuff?"
He patted Goldenroot.
The skin feels very hard and still unresponsive.
If you look closely, you will find some small holes as thin as pinholes on the roots.
Unlike Ah Qing who was wearing a doll costume, when he put his palm on it, he could feel an obvious but not very strong suction.
Tried to talk to the other person, but got no response at all.
This thing doesn't look like a monster, it looks like a plant or something.
Just at this moment, an old wood demon farmer carrying a shoulder pole passed by the village entrance and saw them.
"Are you guys trying to get rid of this big thing?"
The old farmer saw that they looked unfamiliar and thought they were young knights passing by who wanted to do some justice.
During this period, there would occasionally be a few such people appearing, but they all returned empty-handed.
So he advised: "It's useless, this is the messenger of Lord Qiu, he can't be killed."
"Someone in the village tried it before. Even with the sharpest knife, it would only leave a tiny, shallow mark, and the damaged skin would heal automatically in a blink of an eye."
“Is it so magical?”
When Shi Li heard this, he raised his eyebrows.
"If you don't believe me, you can give it a try."
The old farmer put down his carrying pole and decided to go and see what was going on.
“Hmm…”
But when Shi Li looked, he found that they didn't have any knives in their hands.
So he borrowed a hatchet from the old farmer and gave it to Yangtu.
If you have to do all this yourself, then what is the point of having follower cards?
So Sheep Rabbit took the hatchet and walked up to the golden root.
【Ah, dodo, dodo! 】
I saw her swinging the hatchet so hard that it almost became an afterimage, and she chopped the surface of the golden root again and again.
People who know martial arts are indeed different. Each of her strikes was precise and hit the same place, causing continuous attacks on Jingen.
Bang bang bang bang bang!
There were metallic collision sounds and even sparks flew.
"Whoa whoa!"
This posture shocked the old farmer: "This little girl is good at chopping wood."
But the next second, he reacted: "Wait! My hatchet!"
I stopped Yangtu and took back the hatchet, only to find that the blade was bent.
Everyone looked at the surface of the golden root again, and just as the old farmer said, there were no major scars at all.
Even with Yangtu's skills, after so many hits, only a cut about 2 cm deep was made, barely breaking the skin.
This golden root is indeed not an ordinary thing. The skin was broken, and the exposed stem inside was actually golden. Even the liquid flowing out was golden.
And even with all the noise going on, it still didn't react at all, just like an ordinary plant.
"See, I told you, you can't do anything about it."
The old farmer put away the hatchet with a sad look on his face.
Seeing that Shi Li and the others still seemed unwilling to give up, he did not try to dissuade them.
He picked up the carrying pole again and left.
"It seems that ordinary things can't cure it."
After the old farmer walked away, Shi Li stroked his chin and spoke.
In his opinion, this thing must be a monster.
It’s just that the type is something I haven’t seen before.
"What should we do now?"
Ah Qing held up the sign.
According to the task chain, they found Lord Qiu's messenger.
However, the mission did not update to the next stage and seemed to have lost direction.
“Hehehe…”
However, Shi Li smiled like a villain at this time: "Actually, I have an identity that you don't know."
Ah Qing: "A card hall borer?"
Shi Li: “?”
Ah Qing: "A supervisor who eats up the salary without working?"
Shi Li: "Aren't these two talking about the same thing?"
Ah Qing: "Hell Rider?"
Shi Li: "Who told you all this? Just give me the name, and I will never embarrass the dead."
Ah Qing: "You said we don't know, so how can I guess? Please reveal the answer."
"Okay, hehehe..."
Finally, under Ah Qing's urging, he shrugged his shoulders and smiled, "Actually, I'm a real demon hunter on the list."
"I'm the best at exorcising demons."
As he spoke, he pulled out an iron rod from his waist.
Then it was handed over to Sheep Rabbit.
Well, it's not him who's exorcising demons, it's his stick.
As an equipment card, it can of course be given to others to use as long as he gives permission.
What's more, Sheep and Rabbit are his follower cards, so he doesn't even need permission to use the Iron Rod.
【Mee-zha~! 】
Yangtu took the iron stick with dexterity and strength. He made Shi Li's iron stick spin in his hand and then grasped it tightly.
Bang!
Then, the iron rod hit the golden root.
The first moment the iron rod touched the golden root, a wisp of fairy energy poured into its body.
Boom boom boom...!
Shi Li and Ah Qing felt the ground beneath their feet suddenly shake, and the soil on the ground bulged up noticeably.
It was as if Jin Gen was in pain and struggling.
Bang!
Then there was a crisp sound like a balloon being popped, and the entire golden root shrank rapidly.
After a while, it shrank into a dark, leather-like thing and collapsed to the ground.
Compared with the golden appearance just now, it is completely different.
"So easy to kill?"
Ah Qing held up the sign in surprise.
"Haha, of course, demon slayer."
Shi Li pointed at himself with his thumb, then thought something was wrong and pointed at the iron rod: "Demon-killing rod."
At this time, he had completely concluded that this messenger of Lord Qiu was not some strange thing.
It is just a pure plant monster. Its shriveled appearance after being invaded by the immortal energy is exactly the same as when it dealt with other plant monsters before.
"But you killed it, so what should we do next?"
Ah Qing asked.
“That’s a good question.”
Shi Li snapped his fingers.
Then, Ah Qing found that the atmosphere became silent.
"?"
It drew a question mark.
"I don't know either."
Shi Li spread his hands and said, "According to the RPG law you mentioned, if you beat the younger one, the older one will come, and if you beat the older one, the one in the coffin will come..."
Boom boom boom boom!
As soon as he finished speaking, the ground shook again.
A bulge that was even more protruding than before rose up under their feet.
“Run!”
Ah Qing felt something was wrong and raised the sign.
"You still have the time to write!"
Shi Li had already dragged it out.
【Geese, geese, geese! 】
Ah Qing's big goose flapped its wings and shook its butt, following behind them with a chirping sound.
Yangtu walked lightly and protected Shi Li throughout the whole process.
Crash!
After they ran away from the mound, a brand new golden root emerged from the ground.
The golden root was almost the same as the previous one, except for a slightly different shape.
In terms of size, there is no difference.
After it came out, it stopped moving, just like the golden root before, it just stood there and continued to absorb the evil spirit quietly.
"this……"
Shi Li didn't expect that after he hit the younger one, another younger one would come.
"Are you still going?"
Ah Qing raised a sign and asked a question.
Maybe if we kill a few more of Lord Qiu's messengers, we can alert Lord Qiu and lure him out.
"Forget it, this is a bit troublesome now."
Shi Li thought about it and shook his head.
He also knew what Ah Qing was thinking.
It's impossible that the messengers of Lord Qiu can never be killed endlessly, right?
If you really keep going on, I believe things will eventually turn around.
But the appearance of just one golden root caused such a big commotion.
If this happened a few more times, or if something bigger came, he was afraid that it would affect the villagers here.
It would be bad if we ruined someone else's village.
"What we lack now is... information."
Shi Li recalled what Jie Shisan had taught him: "Some monsters have a so-called parasitic relationship with each other."
"It means that weak monsters will attach themselves to powerful monsters."
"Powerful monsters will attach themselves to more powerful monsters."
"Because of their habits, the species of monsters that depend on each other and are depended on are often designated by each other."
"So if we can find out what kind of monster this golden root is, maybe we can follow the clues to figure out the species of Master Qiu, and then find it through its living habits, preferred living environment, etc."
As he was speaking, he suddenly hammered his palm.
"Yes, if that's the case, why should we bother?"
Shi Li's expression lit up: "I'll just get the person out and ask him and we'll know!"
"?"
Then Ah Qing saw him take out a card.
Place the open cards on the ground and control them with panel one.
Buzz!
A 1:1 scale projection of a real person appears .
Then the card gradually dissipated and the projection gradually became solid.
【Bang! 】
After a few seconds, a man in a Taoist robe and holding a sword stood in front of them.
…
…
【Mission 1, Survive】(1)
Under a cliff.
Straw Man: "Wow wow wow! I've been stabbed! I've been stabbed! I'm going to die! Damn!"
Mushroom: "Stop yelling, it's just a few stabs, you're not hurt!"
Straw Man: "How scary, grass!"
Mushroom: "I've never seen anything like this before. A weapon can actually grow legs and walk. Is this what they call a demon beast?"
Mushroom: "But our most urgent task is to quickly collect the fragments of the slime. I think it can still be salvaged."
Strawman: "That's right, save the boss, straw!"