Xie Lian said softly, “…No matter what, it’s impossible for him to sneak up behind us without making any noise and do something so serious.”

Even if Xie Lian didn’t trust his own insight, he still trusted Hua Cheng’s. Besides, to be honest, he trusted himself very much when it came to his intuition about danger. Hua Cheng said, “Go back and take a look.”

The two walked side by side and returned the same way. After walking through the twists and turns in the cave for a while, they stopped.

It wasn't that they wanted to stop, but they were forced to stop because there was no other way to go. The tunnel they came from was winding, but there was only one way. However, before they got back to the beginning, a cold stone wall suddenly appeared out of nowhere!

Both of them remained calm. Xie Lian asked, “Is this an illusion or is it real?”

A silver butterfly flew forward and touched the uneven stone wall. It bounced back without any abnormality. Hua Cheng said, "It's true."

Xie Lian nodded and said, “That’s going to be tricky.”

Ghost wall, common, there are two ways: the first one is to make you see an illusion. That is, you think there is a stone wall, but in fact there is no, it is just an illusion. This kind of illusion is also easy to break, just go up and touch it, or slap yourself in the face, pour a basin of cold water on yourself, sober up and then go up and touch it;

The second type is to confuse your memory of the road, sense of direction and other senses. This type is a little more serious. For example, at a fork in the road, you thought you chose the left, but in fact, you were distracted and walked on the right. There is also the so-called "ghost circle", which is just a trick: the stride length of a person's left foot and right foot is slightly different, and the non-human object will confuse your mind and expand this deviation. Unknowingly, you think you are walking in a straight line, but in fact you have walked in a big circle. When you come back, you will be surprised: Hey, how did I get back here? !

But for the two of them, these two ways were just trifles. This cold stone wall was actually the third kind: it was real.

Xie Lian was just thinking about whether or not to violently break through the stone wall to see what was behind it, when he heard Hua Cheng say, "Brother, give me your hand."

Xie Lian: “?”

Although he was confused, he still obediently handed his hand to Hua Cheng. Hua Cheng gently held his hand, placed it in his palm, and covered it with his other hand, as if putting something on him.

Xie Lian also held his breath for a moment, then raised his hand and asked curiously, “What is this?”

On the third finger of his left hand, there was a thin red string, which was tied by Hua Cheng himself. Moreover, this red string stretched out and connected with the red string between Hua Cheng's fingers.

Hua Cheng raised his hand and showed him the identical small red butterfly knots on both of their hands, and smiled, "Tied together."

After hearing this, Xie Lian felt his face getting a little hot. He didn’t know if he was too sensitive, so he rubbed his face vigorously twice, as if he was afraid that Hua Cheng would notice that his heartbeat was much faster than usual. He smiled and said, “Is this some kind of magic?”

"Yeah." Hua Cheng straightened his face a little, put down his hand, and said, "Although we will not separate on our own initiative, we will keep it just in case. This line will not break or get short. If the line is not broken, we know that the person on the other end is fine. Unless the person is dead, otherwise, we can definitely follow this line to find the person on the other end of the red line."

Xie Lian asked, “What do you mean, gone?”

Hua Cheng said: "Dead, or vanished into thin air."

Just as Xie Lian was about to speak, he suddenly heard a faint vibration coming from afar. He concentrated and listened carefully for a moment, then asked, "Who is boxing?"

This force and frequency was as if someone was punching the mountain hard. Xie Lian said, "This kind of strength is definitely not from an ordinary person, it must be a martial god. Could it be General Pei?"

Hua Cheng said: "It came from the front."

This "front" naturally refers to the front they originally intended to go to, but had to turn back because Pei Ming and others disappeared halfway. But Pei Ming and others disappeared behind them, how could they suddenly run to the front? And if it wasn't Pei Ming, who could it be?

The two looked at each other and walked side by side to see exactly what was going on. But halfway through, the sound of the punch hitting the mountain suddenly disappeared, and it was unknown whether it was intentional or due to exhaustion.

But since they were already here, why would they give up halfway? So Xie Lian and Hua Cheng continued to walk towards the place where the sound came from. A few silver butterflies were flying in front of the dark blue cave, lighting the way for them. Suddenly, Xie Lian caught a glimpse of something strange on the stone wall beside him and asked, "What is that? A red line?"

Looking from a distance, I really didn’t know what it was, but it was very strange, like a red line, but much thicker than a red line, and it was still twisting, more like a long red worm. Xie Lian slowly walked to the edge of the stone wall, took a closer look, and said, “Isn’t this a half-moon scorpion-tailed snake?”

Sure enough, it was the lower body of a purple-red scorpion-tailed snake, sticking out of the wall, swaying and twisting. Its upper body seemed to be buried in the stone wall. Xie Lian asked, “Did it get into a hole and can’t get out?”

Hua Cheng said: "I'm afraid not."

The scorpion snake's entire body was suspended in the air, and snakes can't climb walls, so how could it swim to such a high place to dig a hole? Moreover, there are many holes on the stone wall, so even if it had to dig, why did it have to dig such a small hole? This "hole" is also strange, almost completely fitting the shape of the snake's body, which is why it was stuck alive.

Xie Lian wanted to catch the snake and pull it out to have a look, but the snake was very alert, swishing its scorpion tail wildly and stabbing wildly, almost stabbing Xie Lian. So Hua Cheng flicked it, and although it seemed casual, the snake seemed to be frightened by this and dared not move. Xie Lian didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and was about to speak, but suddenly shut up and said, "Did you hear that?"

Hua Cheng also said: "I heard it."

The two looked forward together.

In the darkness, there was a low breathing sound that came slowly, very steady and very gentle.

Two dead butterflies played with each other and flew towards the place where the breathing sound came from. The higher they flew, the higher the silver light rose. Gradually, it illuminated a pair of hands.

These are a pair of human hands. A man's hands. The backs of the hands are covered in blood and scars, and they hang down like death. Further up, a messy human head is reflected, and the head also hangs down like death.

However, there is no lower body.

Yes, the man "hanging" high on the stone wall had no lower body. He only showed his upper body, as if he had grown out of the stone wall out of thin air!

In the past, Xie Lian had seen some princes and nobles who, when hunting, chopped off the heads of rare prey, treated them with medicine to prevent them from rotting, and hung them on the walls of their mansions for people to see. This scene reminded him of the tiger, deer, wolf and other animal heads lined up on the wall. But this man was clearly still breathing, he was still alive!

Xie Lian took a step closer and asked, “What is this? Is it the true form of the mountain monster?”

However, there was no response from his side. Xie Lian felt a chill on his scalp and turned around abruptly. Sure enough, Hua Cheng was gone!

Xie Lian asked, “San Lang?!”

Naturally, no one answered, but the man hanging on the wall mumbled a few words, as if he was about to wake up and was talking in his sleep. Xie Lian was not interested in paying attention to him at the moment. He turned around twice and suddenly remembered the red string that Hua Cheng had tied on his hand. He raised it with great joy. Sure enough, the red string was still there, not broken. So, Xie Lian was a little relieved, holding the red string, pulling it all the way, and as he walked, the string reached the end.

The other end of the red line actually connected to a stone wall!

Xie Lian couldn’t believe it. He pulled twice more, and longer red lines continued to be pulled out from the stone wall. He almost doubted whether Hua Cheng was inside this stone wall at this moment?

When Xie Lian thought of this possibility, he raised his sword without hesitation and was ready to break the wall. However, before the tip of his sword even touched the stone wall, his vision suddenly went dark. The stone wall in front of him seemed to suddenly open its huge mouth and swallowed him alive!

The blackness before his eyes did not pass quickly, but turned into a continuous darkness as Xie Lian was swallowed up. Sand, gravel and soil were pressing down on him from all directions, making him feel suffocated. Moreover, the sand, gravel and soil were constantly moving. It felt like being swallowed into the stomach of a giant monster. This monster had eaten a lot of messy things besides him, and its stomach was churning in order to digest them. It was also like being trapped in quicksand, with no place to exert strength, and the harder he tried, the deeper he sank. Xie Lian was about to break through the wall and retreat, but then he remembered that Hua Cheng might be in there too, so he moved forward instead, waving his arms to break the sand and cut the soil, while pulling the red line and barely moving forward. At this moment, a hand suddenly reached out from the front and accurately grabbed his wrist. Xie Lian said, "Who?!"

He opened his mouth and ate a mouthful of mud, spitting it out bitterly. The hand grabbed him and pulled him into an embrace. A familiar voice sounded from above: "Brother, it's me!"

Upon hearing this voice, Xie Lian relaxed completely. He hugged the other person tightly and blurted out, “…Great, the red thread is not broken, I really found you!”

Hua Cheng also hugged him tightly and said affirmatively: "It's not broken! I found you too."

It turned out that the strange things they had just encountered were exactly the same. Xie Lian was observing the half-man hanging high on the wall, while Hua Cheng was observing his surroundings carefully, on guard against something lurking in the dark. Unexpectedly, in the blink of an eye, Xie Lian, who was standing next to him, disappeared. There was also a stone wall that appeared inexplicably. Hua Cheng pulled the red string and walked along the way, and found that the end of the red string was connected to the wall, so he went in to look for Xie Lian.

In fact, at first, there should have been just an extra wall between them, but both of them thought the other was in the wall, so they went in at the same time. Xie Lian repeated in his mind for the umpteenth time that Hua Cheng really had thought of everything in advance, and said: "Fortunately you connected a red line! Otherwise, it is hard to say whether you can find it. No wonder General Pei and his men disappeared so suddenly, it turned out that there was no sneak attack, but... they were swallowed by a mountain monster."

Hua Cheng said: "Yes, the location was not right. The shovel just happened to dig into the belly of the mountain monster."

Xie Lian couldn’t help but cough lightly.

Yes. They must be in the belly of one of the three mountain monsters, "Old, Sick, and Dead". At that time, Yinyu asked Xie Lian if he wanted to dig upwards. The place he chose happened to be the habitat of the mountain monster, and Xie Lian agreed happily. His extraordinary luck did not deceive him. The sand and soil on all sides made the living space of the two people narrower and narrower, and more and more stuffy. Xie Lian felt that it was not suitable to stay here for a long time, and said: "How do we get out now?"

Hua Cheng said, "It's not very happy because its bottom has been dug through. It's digesting us now, which is a bit troublesome. But don't worry, brother, we can get out eventually." He joked, "This is probably what it feels like to die in the same grave."

Xie Lian was slightly startled when he heard this, and the corners of his mouth actually slightly raised, but he quickly suppressed them and said, "The halfling outside was probably also swallowed by the mountain monster. The sound of punching the mountain that we heard before should be the sound of him trying to escape and smashing the stone wall. He was just like the scorpion-tailed snake, not swallowed completely, only half swallowed." So the effect was extremely creepy. Hua Cheng said, "But he is not the one who came with us this time."

Xie Lian suddenly remembered the messy hair and said, "Wait, I know who that is. It must be Qi Ying!"

Hua Cheng seemed to think about it before remembering, and said, "Oh, the one with curly hair. It must be him."

Xie Lian asked, “I wonder if he’s okay. Did he faint? I saw he had no reaction just now.”

Hua Cheng said: "It's okay, I fell asleep."

“…”

Xie Lian asked, “How did you know that?”

Hua Cheng said: "I left a few silver butterflies outside and sent it over just now. My right eye can see the situation outside now."

As soon as he finished speaking, he said "Hmm?" softly, as if he saw something strange. Xie Lian asked, "What's going on outside?"

Hua Cheng said nothing, but lowered his head slightly, gently lifted his chin, and put their foreheads together. Xie Lian opened his eyes, closed them, and opened them again, saying, "This is really... miraculous."

His right eye actually saw a different picture from the one in front of him. Although it was dark, he could still make out the general outline.

The silver butterfly that was monitoring the outside world seemed to be hiding in a pile of weeds, and at the bottom of the screen, a dark shadow was slowly approaching. Xie Lian whispered, "Someone is coming, I don't know who it is. Where is your silver butterfly hiding? Will it be discovered?"

Hua Cheng said: "It's in his hair. The light is hidden, so it won't be discovered."

The shadow finally got close enough and raised his face, looking pale.

Xie Lian asked, “Yin Yu?”