Aijia Kefu: Your Majesty, please avoid

Chapter 160
The former site of Shenque Kingdom is located in the southwest mountains, which is more remote than the mountains of the Wu people.

Many years ago, there used to be a prosperous and peaceful country. The two secret arts of divination and charm made them naturally mysterious and flourished for a while.

Now, there is only wilderness left.

Because of the difficult mountain road, Su Qingyuan and his party spent a whole month, almost going through all the twists and turns, and finally found that desolate land at the end of May.

According to legend, at certain times, the spectacle of "the sun and the moon shining together" can be seen in the Huoque Temple in the Shenque Kingdom.

Of course Su Qingyuan is not interested in those damn "spectacles".

Since the day she entered the mountain, she has become very restless, and soon after, she has no taste for food and restless sleep.

Although Shenque Nation has become history, there are still some people who have not moved away.Walking along the former official road, with fewer ruins and more villages along the way, Su Qingyuan knew that the former Shenque Kingdom was coming soon.

Because the locals were very unfriendly to outsiders, that night, as usual, a group of people found an empty hillside far away from the village and set up camp.

Su Qingyuan still couldn't sleep well, she closed her eyes at the first watch, and woke up before the third watch.

There are many trees in the mountains, so there are naturally many birds, beasts, insects and snakes.

Su Qingyuan lay in the tent and listened to the chirping insects outside, feeling more and more irritable, as if the blanket under her was not a blanket but a prickly cactus.

Lu Li had already fallen asleep, and Su Qingyuan couldn't bear to disturb him.

She knew very well that according to her current state, being able to persist for another three days was the limit.If she couldn't adjust from this state as soon as possible, she might fall down before seeing her son.

Therefore, at this time, Lu Li's role as the backbone was manifested. ——In a team, there must be someone who is responsible for eating and sleeping, and who has no heart and no lungs to stabilize the morale of the army.

Some strange thoughts kept floating in Su Qingyuan's mind: for a while, she firmly believed that she would find the temple tomorrow, and for a while, she felt that the hope of finding her son was really slim; I also feel that there is really no need to insist on such absurd things...

Messed up and confused, his forehead seemed to be hot again.

At some point, the sound of insects outside the tent had stopped.

When Su Qingyuan realized this, her hair stood on end, and she sat up with a "huh".

He listened again, but there was still no movement outside.

Su Qingyuan couldn't sit still anymore, she quietly opened a corner of the tent, intending to get out.

The wrist was grabbed.

"Woke you up?" Su Qingyuan frowned.

Lu Li sighed deeply, "You haven't slept well for several days, how can I sleep?"

"Go to sleep, I'll go out for a walk, and I'll be right back." Su Qingyuan tried to push his hand away.

Lu Li sat up and shook his head, "Don't go out. Something is wrong outside."

Su Qingyuan frowned: "You also feel something is wrong?"

Lu Li nodded: "The bugs suddenly quiet down, it usually means that they sensed danger."

"What should we do?" Su Qingyuan was terrified.

Lu Li held her hand and said in a low voice, "Wait and see."

Su Qingyuan didn't dare to say much, but she heard her heart beating violently "Boom, boom, boom".

In places with a lot of insects and ants, generally there will not be too overbearing poisonous snakes and beasts to appear, which is one of the reasons why the guards choose to camp here.

So at this moment, what is the danger that the insects and ants are aware of?

The two held their breath and waited quietly for a long time.

There was still no movement outside.The Golden Armored Guards guarding outside did not make a sound, either because they were asleep or they did not notice anything unusual.

Lu Li couldn't bear it impatiently, finally opened the tent, and walked out together with Su Qingyuan.

When I got outside, I found that more than a dozen soldiers in golden armor were guarding the outside of the tent, staring vigilantly at a certain direction in the darkness.

Seeing Lu Li and the two coming out, Gu Lingxiao was taken aback.

Lu Li frowned and asked him, "What did you find? Why didn't you sound a reminder?"

Gu Lingxiao hesitated: "I just felt something was wrong before, but I couldn't figure out where the problem was. I just heard some movement in the distance, but I don't know if we were overthinking..."

While speaking, there was indeed a "rustling" sound coming from a distance.

It seems to be getting closer.

Su Qingyuan's hair stood on end: "This kind of place won't be haunted, right?"

Lu Li grabbed her hand and said in a deep voice, "It would be easy if it was really haunted."

Su Qingyuan was puzzled.

Lu Li listened carefully for a long time, finally gritted his teeth and said, "I'm afraid it's a snake."

Su Qingyuan shivered, and subconsciously shrank into his arms.

She has always prided herself on being bold, and one or two snakes usually can't scare her.

But what about the many snakes?
"Sand! Sand! Sand!..." The voice was getting closer.

Lu Li hurriedly said, "Light up the fire!"

Without his order, the soldiers in golden armor had already rushed to light the fire.

When camping in the evening, they gathered a lot of dry firewood with foresight and piled it not far outside the tent.

At this moment, the dry firewood was arranged and lit, and a small fire circle was formed outside the tent, which still had a deterrent effect on the wolves, tigers and leopards in the mountains.

Not long after the flames started to ignite, the previous voice had already come close.

Su Qingyuan only saw some slightly bright things moving slowly in the dark, so Lu Li covered her eyes with his hands.

"What is that?" Su Qingyuan asked anxiously.

Lu Li said in a deep voice, "Don't worry about it."

Su Qingyuan pushed his hand away forcefully, and said anxiously: "I'm even more afraid if you don't let me see it!"

Lu Li had no choice but to let her watch.

Sure enough, it was a snake.

Outside the fire circle, tens of thousands of snakes tilted their heads, spit out letters, made a "hissing" sound, and swayed, as if they were dancing a mysterious dance.

The ring of fire blocked their way, so they aimed at the same goal, all facing the direction of the ring of fire.In the eyes of people like Su Qingyuan, they are staring at the people in the circle of fire.

Just like this, he became the prey of the snake for no apparent reason?

Su Qingyuan frowned, and said in a low voice: "This is not right! If there is not enough food in the mountains, there won't be so many snakes; if there is enough food, these snakes can't come towards us in such a uniform way..."

Lu Li sneered: "Someone is playing tricks. It seems that the owner here doesn't welcome us."

Su Qingyuan tried her best to pretend nothing had happened, but her fingertips still trembled a little.

Gu Lingxiao retreated to Lu Li's side, and said in a low voice, "I'm afraid our firewood won't last until dawn, should we... take the risk and try to drive them away?"

Lu Li shook his head: "There's no rush, their master should appear soon."

As soon as the words fell, a slender white figure slowly approached in the darkness.

It was a woman.

Gu Lingxiao asked sharply, "Who is playing tricks?"

The man let out a chuckle and didn't answer.

Su Qingyuan followed with a laugh, and took two steps forward: "Hey, is the sister outside a local? We came from afar, but we didn't know that the descendants of Shenque are so hospitable, knowing that we haven't eaten delicious food for a long time. Bring us delicious food!"

"Delicious?" The woman repeated these three words with a gloomy tone.

Su Qingyuan smiled and said: "Yes! Water snake porridge, snake meat skewers, fragrant dragon and phoenix wings, Shouwu red heart soup, three fresh snake shreds, braised snake tail...these are all rare delicacies in the world! I have been thinking about it all the way , It’s just that the brothers’ ability to catch snakes is really bad. After entering the mountain for more than ten days, I only ate two meals of snake soup, which aroused my greed! My sister sent us so many ingredients tonight, we four NO.50 People are afraid that they will have to eat in different ways for a month—we are really flattered by such kindness!"

Lu Li followed and held her hand, shaking his head and smiling wryly.

The woman outside was silent for a long time, and still said in a cold voice: "We might as well wait and see, and see if you eat them in the end, or they eat you?"

Su Qingyuan smiled and said: "Even if they eat us, it's just adding a little fertilizer to the forest. What's the big deal? When we're alive, we just live to our heart's content, and when we die, we quietly turn into dust and dirt." , it’s no big deal, right?”

There was another long silence, and the woman finally said hoarsely: "Who are you guys? Why did you come to me?"

Lu Li let out a long sigh, and said slowly, "Shenque... I haven't heard this name from a stranger in almost 20 years."

The woman was taken aback, and hurriedly asked: "Are you...are people related to Shenque?"

Su Qingyuan suppressed her smile and sighed softly: "Outside, we don't dare to mention the word 'Shenque'. Strictly speaking, we are not related to Shenque; but besides us, there will be no other people It has something to do with the sparrow."

"Where did you come from? How are you related to the sparrow?" The woman's attitude became much more serious.

Su Qingyuan thought for a while, and said cautiously: "There is a bit of blood relationship on the mother's side. I have always heard my mother talk about the sparrow, and I yearn for it, so I want to come and see it. I really didn't expect to welcome us. She is such an enthusiastic sister, and there is a whole snake banquet! If my mother knows our situation, she must be very pleased."

The woman shouted sharply: "If you miss my snakes again, I don't mind feeding you to them for snacks first!"

Su Qingyuan exclaimed exaggeratedly, and slipped into Lu Li's arms.

Lu Li patted her on the back, raised his head and smiled at the woman, "Don't blame the girl, Wife Jing has always been as timid as a mouse. When she saw something she was afraid of, she kept saying that she would eat it, but it was just to give her courage. Since snakes are girls' pets, we naturally have no reason to covet them."

"Hmph," the woman sneered, "you two are glib, you don't look like a good thing at first sight!"

Lu Li spread his hands helplessly, expressing his grievances: "The girl didn't even see our faces clearly, and after talking to us through a group of snakes, she decided that we were 'not a good thing', isn't it a bit too arbitrary?"

The woman didn't answer any more, turned around and left.

But her snake did not move.

Seeing that she was going far away, Su Qingyuan couldn't help jumping and shouting: "Why don't you take the snake away? Are you really going to leave it for us to roast and eat?"

"Try it!" The woman replied loudly, and quickly disappeared into the night.

Su Qingyuan felt worried when she looked at the snakes that were staring at them.

Lu Li smiled and said, "It's all right. Leave the two of them to watch the night, and the rest go back to sleep."

"Can you sleep?" Su Qingyuan glared at him.

Lu Li hugged her back to the tent, and said with a smile, "Why can't I sleep? The owner has already appeared here, and he left thousands of soldiers to keep watch for us - if we don't sleep well, we will not let the host down. Kindness?"

Su Qingyuan lay down with him, but refused to close her eyes: "You don't really want to sleep, do you? Aren't you afraid of becoming the supper for those snakes in your sleep?"

Lu Li smiled but said nothing.

Su Qingyuan asked several times, but Lu Li simply closed his eyes and ignored her.

Su Qingyuan opened a corner of the tent and looked out for a while, only to see the flames kept jumping, sometimes making soft crackling sounds of firewood, which seemed a bit quiet and peaceful.Several soldiers in golden armor stared vigilantly at the group of snakes outside, and they didn't seem to be panicking.

So she is the only one who is worried?
Su Qingyuan was a little annoyed, so naturally she refused to worry about it anymore.

Thinking about it carefully, the woman's attitude changed after hearing the word "Shenque".Therefore, the identity of the other party has been clearly revealed.

Tomorrow, things may make progress, which is good news.

As for what happened tonight, it should be the other party's temptation and warning, right?
Tomorrow, she will most likely see her old friend, if she has dark circles under her eyes, she will definitely be laughed to death by the other party!

Thinking of this, Su Qingyuan became competitive, overwhelmed the previous anxiety and uneasiness, and fell asleep in a daze.

***
What woke up and slept soundly was the exclamation outside the tent.

Su Qingyuan rubbed her eyes and sat up with a "huh".

Lu Li has already rushed out of the account.Su Qingyuan gathered herself together, and then followed her out.

I saw that the accompanying soldiers had all left the tent, and were scurrying beside the fire circle to pick up the uninvited guests with the tip of their knives.

——It turned out that the firewood had been used up, and there was a big gap in the fire circle. The group of snakes who had been guarding outside all night finally found the opportunity and got in.

The gold-armored soldiers had sharp eyesight and quick hands, and they had killed hundreds of snakes in a short time, but the ones behind were still crawling towards this side continuously.

What's even more frightening is that as time goes by, the gaps in the ring of fire will become larger and more numerous.

There were so many snakes out there that it seemed like they would never be able to kill them all.

What's more, those guys are slender and agile, and they are obviously used to attacking.If you are slow for a while, they break in...

Su Qingyuan shivered, and subconsciously took two steps back.

"You go back to the tent first!" Lu Li pushed her.

Su Qingyuan frowned and didn't move.

Lu Li was busy instructing the soldiers to dismantle the tent and reinforce the ring of fire, so he couldn't take care of her for a while.

Su Qingyuan sat down on a rock and stared at the group of snakes for a long time. The more she looked, the more she felt something was wrong.

The art of repelling snakes usually relies on two things: medicine, or sound.

But these snakes came without any sound, and there seemed to be no special smell around here. ——How could these things have the patience to watch outside the ring of fire all night, and until now they are still persistently trying to get inside?

There must be something she had overlooked.

Su Qingyuan thought for a long time, and finally got up and walked to Lu Li's side, tugging at his sleeve.

At this time, the guards had almost repaired the fire ring, so they could breathe a sigh of relief for a while.

Of course, only "temporarily".

The wood will burn out quickly, and the tent will be dismantled in no time.

They will soon face the swarm of snakes again.At that time, the people who don't even have tents have no choice but to meet them (to die).

Lu Li grabbed Su Qingyuan's hand with a solemn expression.

"Lu Li, I'm thinking, these snakes don't seem to be driven here, but something on our own attracts them..." Su Qingyuan thought about it, and expressed her conjecture.

Lu Li was startled and lowered his head.

Su Qingyuan pulled him to sit down on the rock together, looked up at him.

Lu Li nodded, "It's possible. Last night——this group of things came here really strangely."

At night, these snakes and the woman in white appeared one after another, and everyone took it for granted that the woman drove the snake over.

If not?
Gu Lingxiao heard it from the side, and hurried over: "Your Majesty said this, and my subordinates remembered - when we were resting in the town at noon yesterday, a lame woman sneaked over to our carriage. After pawing around for a while, she almost opened the curtain and got in, and let me scold her away! At first I thought she was trying to steal something, but now that I think about it, she might have tampered with our car!"

Su Qingyuan got up and went to the side of the carriage to check carefully, but found nothing unusual.

Not found, but this possibility cannot be ruled out.After all, some medicines are colorless and tasteless, and it is more likely that there are more mysterious spells than medicines in the mountains, and it is common for outsiders to be confused.

"Why don't we throw this carriage out to have a look?" Gu Lingxiao suggested cautiously.

Neither Lu Li nor Su Qingyuan objected.

So the soldiers all started to work together, quickly removed the things on the carriage, and threw them out one by one.

Every time one was thrown, there would be a small commotion among the snakes, but after the commotion, the situation did not ease in any way.

Finally, seven or eight soldiers lifted the carriage, chanted and threw it out of the circle together.

About a hundred snakes were killed.

The group of snakes became anxious, swaying their bodies and "hissing" and spitting out letters, looking very fierce.

After the commotion, some of the snakes climbed onto the carriage, still looking in the direction of the fire circle.

Hope and dash.

Lu Li said in a deep voice, "The other party's methods won't be so clumsy, so don't waste your efforts."

"You don't talk until you've finished throwing away!" Su Qingyuan complained to him with staring eyes.

At this time, the situation seemed to be worse than before. ——Those snakes that climbed onto the carriage were condescending, taking advantage of the terrain, and their aura was obviously much stronger.

You should know that some snakes that often live in trees can complete the action of "flying over" by swinging their bodies skillfully.

In other words, at least some of the snakes were able to break through the ring of fire at this moment.

Su Qingyuan was restless.

Lu Li held her hand tightly, trying to comfort her, but he found that he had no idea in his heart.

Su Qingyuan rubbed her temples vigorously, and suddenly jumped up: "Lu Li, did you bring that purse?"

Lu Li immediately took out the purse from his arms.

Well, it was the ugly one that Su Qingyuan made many years ago.

When Su Qingyuan was learning witchcraft for the first time, she saw some rare medicinal herbs recorded in a book, so she ordered the imperial hospital to collect some for her, fiddled with it in her spare time, and fiddled with some medicines that were not very useful for her Kill time.

Once when Lu Li saw it, she randomly picked a few flowers and stuffed them into his hands, jokingly saying that they were for him to ward off evil spirits.

Who knew that Lu Li took it seriously, and put it away in his purse, which made Su Qingyuan feel embarrassed, so she didn't tell him that it was just a joke.

Thinking about it now, those few medicinal herbs are indeed useful.

The Wu tribe and the sparrow have a similar climate, and they are both in the deep mountains. Of course, there are many similarities in the vegetation, insects and snakes.

Dispelling dampness and preventing insects and snakes are the daily routines of the people of Shenque, so why not belong to the Wu people?

Su Qingyuan opened the pouch, poured out the contents, and casually threw the "useless" back to Lu Li, and put the remaining bunch of herbs on the stone, and then took it from her sachet. Take out some vanilla in it and mix it together.

Lu Li watched quietly, and asked carefully after a long time, "Is this thing useful?"

Su Qingyuan raised her head and smiled brightly at him: "Of course it's useful, because I'm a 'monster'!"

Lu Li was overjoyed.

Su Qingyuan went back to the only tent that hadn't been dismantled and rummaged for a long time, finally found a crumpled straw paper in the corner, and grinningly got out: "Throw away everything that can be used. , I suddenly remembered that I wiped a wild fruit with paper last night and ate it, and the waste paper was thrown on the ground without throwing it out—this is really a road that never ends!"

As she spoke, she flattened the piece of paper, bit her finger, and drew a crooked symbol on the paper.

Lu Li didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "You just use this straw paper to draw symbols?"

Su Qingyuan rolled his eyes at him: "Use it! If there is no good one, you can't use human skin, right?"

After that, she grabbed the medicinal herbs from before, carefully selected a few, wrapped them in that piece of straw paper, lit them, and placed them on the pile of snake corpses.

"Is it useful?" Lu Li couldn't help asking again.

Su Qingyuan closed her eyes and muttered something.

Seeing her serious face, Lu Li finally believed in her.

The secret arts of the witch clan have their own mysteries. I think this little witch is somewhat skilled, otherwise she would not be willing to waste this effort.

This can be regarded as a bright future.

Lu Li was thinking like this, and just about to feel relieved, he suddenly heard Su Qingyuan chanting: "Damn sparrow, tortoise, bastard, you stole my son, and you still want my wife's life, you're just utterly devoid of conscience , you at least let me eat a whole snake feast before I die..."

Lu Li rolled his eyes, straightened up and told Gu Lingxiao and the others: "I probably won't survive today, prepare to work hard!"

(End of this chapter)