Under the gaze of the other two people in the room, the Taoist picked up the bowl of water, hunched over, and drank it slowly. He didn't look like a long-awaited rain, but rather like hesitant and wary.

As he drank the drink, Xie Lian heard clear “gulp” and “gulp” sounds in his ears, as if it was the sound of pouring water into an empty can.

In an instant, he understood clearly, grabbed the other person's hand and said, "Don't drink."

The Taoist's hands trembled, and he looked at him in doubt. Xie Lian smiled and said, "It's useless to drink it, isn't it?"

The Taoist's face changed when he heard that, and he drew out the iron sword from his waist with his other hand and stabbed at him. Xie Lian stood still, raised his hand and flicked it, with a "clang" sound, the sword was lightly flicked away. Seeing that he was still holding his hand tightly, the Taoist gritted his teeth and pulled it violently. Xie Lian felt that the arm suddenly deflated, like a deflated ball, and it slipped out of his hand. As soon as the Taoist broke free, he fled to the door. Xie Lian was not in a hurry. In this place where there was no external obstruction, even if the Taoist escaped another ten feet, Ruo Xie could drag him back. Unexpectedly, he just raised his wrist, and a sharp sound of breaking wind passed by him.

The sound was like someone shooting a sharp arrow from behind him, piercing the Taoist's abdomen and nailing him to the door. Xie Lian looked closely and saw that it was actually a bamboo chopstick.

He looked back and saw Sanlang standing up from the table leisurely, brushing past him, pulling out the bamboo chopsticks, shaking them in front of him twice, and said, "It's dirty. Throw it away later."

The Taoist was hit so hard that he didn't even cry out in pain. He slid down slowly against the door without making any sound. What flowed out of his stomach was not blood, but clear water.

It was the bowl of water he had just drunk.

The two of them half-knelt down beside the Taoist priest. Xie Lian pressed on his wound and felt that it was like a hole punctured on a bulging balloon, leaking cool air. The Taoist priest's "corpse" was also gradually changing. Just now, he was clearly a big man, but now he seemed to have shrunk a lot, his face and limbs were a little shrunken, and they were still shrinking. He looked like a little old man.

Xie Lian said, “It’s just an empty shell.”

Some demons and monsters, unable to transform into perfect human forms, will think of another way: creating an empty shell.

They would use some very realistic materials to carefully make a fake human skin. Such skins are often made based on real people, and sometimes they are even made directly from human skins, with perfect palm prints, fingerprints, and hair. Moreover, as long as they don't wear this skin themselves, this empty shell will not be contaminated by ghosts, and will not be afraid of those evil-repelling spells. This is why the spell on the door did not keep the Taoist out.

However, such empty shells are often easily identified, because they are hollow dummies after all. If no one is wearing this layer of skin, they can only act according to the instructions of the operator. And the instructions cannot be too complicated, they can only be simple, repetitive, and pre-set things. Therefore, their expressions and behaviors are usually dull, not like living people. For example, they will repeat one or two sentences over and over again, do the same thing, or ask themselves questions and answer them, and answer irrelevant questions. If they talk to people for a few more words, they will be exposed. However, Xie Lian has a more practical way to identify empty shells: just let them drink a bowl of water or eat something. After all, the shells are hollow and have no internal organs. When they eat or drink water, it is like throwing something into an empty can or pouring water into it. You can hear a clear echo, which is completely different from the sound of living people eating and drinking.

The Taoist's body had completely deflated, almost like a pile of soft skin. Sanlang pressed the bamboo chopstick on his skin twice, threw away the chopstick, and said, "This shell is quite interesting."

Xie Lian knew what the young man was referring to. They had all seen the Taoist's expression and behavior. It was not only lifelike, but also like a living person. He communicated with him and answered questions fluently, which showed that the manipulator had amazing magical powers. Xie Lian glanced at him and said, "Sanlang, it seems that you have a lot of experience in this kind of magic."

Sanlang smiled and said, "Not much."

This empty shell had come to him specially to tell him about the Half Moon Pass. Whether it was true or false, the purpose was to lead him to the Half Moon Pass. To be safe, he had to go to the Spiritual Array to ask. Xie Lian counted with his fingers and figured out that the remaining mana was enough to support him for a few more times, so he made a spell and went to the Spiritual Array.

As soon as he entered the formation, he found it unusually lively, and it wasn't because of official duties that it was lively. It seemed that everyone was playing some kind of game, laughing and joking. Xie Lian was quite surprised when he heard Ling Wen say, "Your Highness is back? How have you been these days down there?"

Xie Lian said, “It’s okay. What are you doing? You look so happy.”

Ling Wen said: "Master Fengshi has returned and is distributing merits. Your Highness, don't you want to go grab some?"

As expected, Xie Lian heard several priests in the formation shouting at the top of their lungs: “One hundred merits! Got it!” “Why do I only have one merit…” “One thousand! One thousand! Ah! Thank you, Master Wind Master!!! Hahahahahahahaha…” He thought, could this be money falling from the sky and everyone is picking it up? Although his merit box was empty, he didn’t know how to grab it, and the other priests knew each other, so it didn’t matter if they just grabbed it for fun. It would be a bit strange if he suddenly got in, so he didn’t care and asked, “Everyone, do you know this place called Half Moon Pass?”

As soon as these words were spoken, the spiritual formation that was happily competing for merit fell silent.

Xie Lian felt slightly depressed again.

In the past, he sent out some poems and secret recipes, and everyone was silent, because the other priests didn't send out these either, so if he did, it might really be out of place. However, in the spiritual communication array, priests often asked some official questions, such as which ghost do you know, is it easy to deal with? Whose territory is there, can you help? At this time, everyone also expressed their opinions, those who had suggestions gave suggestions, and those who didn't said that they would ask for them later when they had time. He asked about the half-moon pass, which was also an official matter, and there was no reason for the whole place to be silent when he opened his mouth.

After a while, someone suddenly shouted, "Master Feng has dispersed another 100,000 merits!!!"

The spiritual array instantly became active again, and the priests rushed to grab merits, so no one paid attention to the question he had just asked. Xie Lian knew that this matter was probably not simple, and he probably couldn't get anything out of it in the array. He thought that this master wind master was really generous, distributing 100,000 at a time, which was really amazing. Just as he was about to leave, Ling Wen suddenly sent him a private message.

Lingwen asked, "Your Highness, why do you suddenly want to ask about Banyueguan?"

Xie Lian then told him about the empty shell that came to his door, and said, “That shell pretended to be a survivor who escaped from Half Moon Pass, so he must have a purpose. I don’t know if what he said is true or not, so I came up to ask. What’s wrong with this place?”

Lingwen pondered for a moment and said, "Your Highness, I advise you not to get involved in this matter."

Xie Lian had expected this to happen. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have lasted for 150 years without anyone paying attention. And the whole court would have been silent when he asked. He said, “Every time we pass the checkpoint, more than half of the people disappear. Is this true?”

After a long while, Lingwen said, "It's true. But I can't say much about this matter."

Xie Lian could tell there was a lot of deliberation in her voice, and was afraid that she was in trouble, so he said, “Okay, I understand. Since it’s not convenient for you, then don’t say any more. We’ve never discussed this topic in private, I just stumbled upon it on my own.”

Although the two were talking in private, Lingwen still lowered his voice and said, "Your Highness, let me say one more thing. If you want to investigate this matter, don't let other priests know. Also, don't leave through the heavenly realm."

After collecting his spiritual consciousness and leaving the spiritual communication formation, Xie Lian stood up, pondered for a moment, and raised his head and said, "Sanlang, I'm afraid I'm going to go on a long journey."

Lingwen warned him not to be discovered by other priests, which shows that this matter involves a lot of things. And if he goes directly to the sky and then jumps to the Half Moon Pass, it is convenient, but such a trip will be recorded. Moreover, if someone does something in the passage, it is hard to say where he will land after jumping down. It seems that he can only walk to the Half Moon Pass. Since this empty shell came to the door by itself, it must be trying to trick him to go there. It must not be a good place. Sanlang said, "Okay, brother, do you mind taking me with you?"

Xie Lian was startled, and used a broom to sweep the fake leather bag to the side, saying, “The journey is long, the wind and sand are hard, why do you want to go with me?”

San Lang smiled and said, "Do you want to know what's going on with that Half Moon Demon Dao?"

Hearing this, Xie Lian paused and asked, “You even know this?”

Sanlang folded his hands and said leisurely, "Banyue Pass was the location of the Banyue Kingdom two hundred years ago. The Banyue people were extremely powerful and aggressive, and they often harassed the people in the Central Plains."

He sat up straighter, his eyes bright, and said, "Ban Yue Yao Dao is their national teacher."

Xie Lian leaned the broom against the wall and was about to sit down to listen carefully. At this time, there was a knock on the door.

It was already late at night, and the villagers were frightened by Xie Lian's words "possessed" and retreated into their houses, not daring to come out. Who could be knocking on the door? Xie Lian stood at the door, holding his breath for a moment, and did not feel any movement of the talisman on the door. Then there were two more "knock knocks". From this sound, it seemed that there were two people knocking on the door at the same time.

He thought for a moment and opened the door. As expected, two young men in black were standing at the door. One was handsome, the other was elegant. They were Nanfeng and Fuyao.

Xie Lian stared at them for a while and said, “You two…”

Fuyao rolled her eyes first. Nanfeng asked, "Are you going to Banyue Pass?"

Xie Lian asked, “Where did you hear that?”

He originally thought that Lingwen had gone to Zhongtian Court to ask for help, but then he thought about it again. She had warned him not to let others know, so she would not make it public. Nanfeng said, "I heard a few words from the priests on the way. I heard that you asked about the Half Moon Pass in the spiritual communication array today."

Xie Lian understood, and put his hands in his sleeves, saying, “I see. ‘I volunteer’, right?”

Both of them had faces distorted with toothache and said, "...Yes."

Xie Lian couldn’t help laughing, and said, “I understand, I understand. But let me make it clear in advance, if you encounter anything you can’t handle on the way to Half Moon Pass, you are welcome to escape at any time.”

Xie Lian’s life principle is: Don’t force others. Whether forcing others to do something or forcing others not to do something, it is all forcing. Whether something is good or not, you can only know it after you do it. If you force someone to do something, even if he does it, he will not approve of it in his heart; if you force someone not to do something, even if he doesn’t do it, he will always think about it in every possible way, and one day he will do it. So, let everything take its course. Come when you want to, leave when you want to. He immediately stepped aside and invited the two of them into the house to talk in detail. Unexpectedly, when the two saw the young man sitting crookedly behind him, their originally slightly dark faces instantly turned ashen.

Nan Feng flashed in, got in front of Xie Lian, and said, “Get out of the way!”