Chapter 5772: Sacred Beast
Suddenly, large swaths of white medicinal powder were scattered towards everyone. Qiao Lin quickly shoved a pill into Mo Yu's hand, covering her nose and mouth with the thick scarf, and said in a muffled voice, "The ill-intentioned come uninvited, the good-natured don't."
Suddenly, she felt a hook-claw seize her shoulder, and her body involuntarily flew backward. Mo Yu's eyes were quick, and he firmly grasped Qiao Lin's arm. A tremendous force came from the depths of the dense fog, pulling him along with her.
"Your Royal Highness!" Baozi the guard was startled and quickly flew out. He saw his Royal Highness dragging Miss Qiao, both of them pulled by the grappling hook deep into the forest.
Qiao Lin suddenly felt her body lighten, then realized she was already embraced by Mo Yu. She subconsciously reached out and wrapped her arms around his neck, looking around. They stood in a place where the mist was even denser than before. A small building vaguely stood in the depths of the mist, too unclear for either of them to see distinctly. Qiao Lin wasn't very nervous and looked curiously into the distance. She saw a cluster of black shadows whoosh past them.
Mo Yu put her down, holding her small hand tightly, and said in a deep voice, "Be careful."
"Playing tricks," Qiao Lin pouted, suddenly pulling out a fire spirit talisman and throwing it at the spot where the black shadow had abruptly appeared. A "boom" sounded, and a bright flash of fire erupted. A fierce flame suddenly dispersed the mist, illuminating the black shadow in front of them. The creature roared and turned its face. The two saw that half of its face was scorched black, with only one eyeball remaining, its features grotesque as it stared at them.
"Corpse puppet?" Qiao Lin, without a word, threw out four or five more talismans with a "pat-pat-pat," encircling the half-blackened person. This half-human, half-ghost creature roared several times, darting left and right within the four or five confining talismans that spun around it, baring its fangs and claws and roaring at the two.
Mo Yu advanced, his sword flashing, picking up a few glowing red branches, and swiftly threw them at the strange person. Although the person's movements were not very agile, they actually knew how to dodge the fire. However, their movements were uncoordinated while dodging, tripping over their own feet and falling to the ground. Mo Yu raised his hand and threw a flying sword, which "whooshed" and firmly pinned the person's palm to the ground.
Qiao Lin was about to rush forward but was pulled back by Mo Yu. "Don't be so impetuous."
Qiao Lin turned and glared at him several times, intending to argue a bit, when she saw the strange person, originally pinned to the ground by the flying sword, pull their hand free and jump up. Disregarding the pain of having half a palm severed, the strange person clutched their broken hand and hurriedly fled.
Qiao Lin couldn't help but be stunned, murmuring softly, "I don't know if it's human or a corpse puppet, but it sure fled fast."
"It won't get far; its lair should be straight ahead," Mo Yu turned and nodded to Little Lin. "Let's go take a look."
Qiao Lin looked down and saw that her hand had been held by him the entire time and hadn't been released yet. The young girl felt a little embarrassed and annoyed, and a strange emotion welled up inside her. She tried to shake his hand off several times but couldn't. Looking up, she saw his calm and solemn expression, as if he hadn't noticed at all that he was holding another girl's hand as they walked. Qiao Lin was about to shout when Mo Yu "shushed" her, tightening his grip on her hand. He pulled her forward a few steps, then crouched behind a low bush, signaling her to look ahead.
They saw the strange person who had escaped earlier, now in an open space ahead, turning three times left, two times right, jumping up and down a few times, and then heading towards the small house in the center.
Ancient Array
"Oh?" Qiao Lin whispered. "I didn't expect there to be a mist maze array in this desolate, dilapidated little village."
Mo Yu raised an eyebrow.
Qiao Lin continued, "However, this array is no longer complete. It seems to be due to its ancient age; it doesn't have much power left."
Mo Yu nodded, leaning close to her ear and whispering, "Then let's approach it carefully."
Qiao Lin felt a flush of heat in her ear, and her small face involuntarily turned red. She turned to glare at him, annoyed, wanting to shake his hand off, but he held it tightly, and she couldn't break free.
"Don't be rash," he said, nodding at her solemnly. "When we get to the small building, remember to stay behind me. Don't make any rash moves until I say so."
Pfft! This guy actually dares to give her orders! The young girl glared at him several times, annoyed, but Mo Yu simply acted as if he didn't see it.
The two emerged from behind the low bushes where they had been hiding and silently approached the dilapidated array. Both were clever, having watched the strange person's movements once before and memorizing them. By following the strange person's path—three turns to the left, two to the right—it was naturally impossible to trigger the broken array.
After successfully passing through, the small building was before them. Just then, the wind rustled through the grass, and a rustling sound involuntarily made Second Miss Qiao's fur stand on end.
This sound...
Second Miss Qiao's eyes widened, and she turned to look. She saw a giant python over a zhang (about 3.3 meters) long, with its ferocious snake head, emerge from behind the small building. It was now flicking its crimson tongue, its triangular eyes fixed on them.
Oh my goodness, it's a disgusting, huge snake. Second Miss Qiao forced herself to remain calm, but her body instinctively squeezed closer and closer to Mo Yu.
Mo Yu, who was carefully examining the python's head, suddenly felt something and looked down. He saw the young girl almost half-buried in his arms, her tense expression amusing him somewhat. "You played so happily with the little white snake next to sister-in-law, didn't you?"
"That's not the same." The little white snake had big, cute eyes, while this one was covered in black python scales and was completely incomparable. The most important point was that this python didn't look friendly and seemed likely to attack them.
"You go," Little Lin pushed Mo Yu, poking her small head out from behind him, and looked at the python's head with disdain. Its appearance is completely not on the same level as the little white snake!
Mo Yu chuckled, his eyes suddenly turning cold. He reached out and released a giant beast.
"Roar." The fire dragon's hard claws touched the stones, crushing them like tofu.
"Ah, when did you contract a sacred beast??" Little Lin exclaimed in belated realization. Damn, this guy can really hide things! He didn't summon a single beast the whole way, and now she just finds out he had this trick up his sleeve!
Mo Yu blinked innocently. "You didn't ask."
"Wasn't that four-tailed eagle that's always with you your contracted beast?"
"No. That was summoned for fun using sister-in-law's summoning talisman."
Little Lin raised her hand and smacked his head. "This sacred beast was caught for you by brother-in-law!"
If the giant python could speak right now, it would probably be cursing Mo Yu's ancestors back eighteen generations...