Chapter 165: The Maze on Fengwu Mountain
It is April now, and the trees on the mountain have all sprouted new buds. I heard from the villagers that this mountain has the same name as the village, called Fengwu Mountain.
Perhaps because of the rain that fell nearby, the mountain was a bit slippery to walk on. Even the stones on the mountain seemed to be soaked with water.
The trees in the mountains were lush and tall. It was still daytime when we first climbed the mountain, but not long after we entered the mountains, the trees blocked out the sun.
Long Qi and his three companions moved forward, carefully searching the surroundings for any traces of Pinellia ternata. However, there were dense bushes all around, so even though the villagers said that Pinellia ternata came from this road, it was difficult to find anything.
Moreover, they encountered many long snakes along the way, some of which were poisonous. It was getting dark, and if they didn't hurry up, the moonlight would not come in at night, and it would be even more dangerous.
Just as the four of them were walking and discussing whether or not to act separately, the surroundings suddenly became dark and they could not see anything. It was pitch dark even when they stretched out their hands.
This is strange. Normally, even if the sun sets, there should be a process for it to set, but now it seems as if it has suddenly turned into night.
In this situation, Long Qi immediately thought of the ancient bamboo forest. This was exactly the same situation as when he was in the bamboo stick old man formation.
He immediately became alert and hurriedly spoke out to remind everyone, but when he turned around, he could only see darkness and received no response from Xinyi and the other two.
It seemed that he was really trapped in a magic circle, but what made him wonder was who would set up a magic circle here?
I still remember Lingxiang once said that most magic arrays would confuse people. If one accidentally falls into an array, the first thing to do is to keep calm and not panic, otherwise the magic in the array will confuse the mind.
Thinking of this, Long Qi hurriedly recited the Qingxin Jue silently, and then pinched the formula to open his spiritual vision and hearing, hoping to find out the surrounding situation. However, just as he opened his spiritual vision and hearing, the surroundings suddenly became bright.
The surrounding area was no longer a forest, but a house. This house was full of ancient charm, and it looked familiar, but I couldn't remember it for a while.
Seeing this, Long Qi was suddenly shocked and thought to himself that it was not good. He was trapped in an illusion in the formation.
Since you can't use magic in this formation...
……
"But what if you accidentally get hit by the magic in the formation? Will you be trapped to death in the formation?" Long Qi asked.
Lingxiang heard this and thought to herself: Although Long Qi is clever, he still doesn't know much about unconventional ways. He might get trapped in the formation someday. If I don't teach him a way to escape, he might be trapped to death.
Thinking of this, she drew a circle on the ground: "Generally speaking, every magic array has a center. Even if you are trapped in an illusion, the center still exists. If you can find the center in the environment and destroy it, the magic array will naturally be broken."
"But since it's an illusion, how do we know which one is the center of the formation?" Upon hearing this, Honeysuckle at the side immediately asked.
Ling Xiang smiled and said, "Of course it's not easy to find out. The reason why magic arrays are set up is to conceal it in every possible way, but illusion arrays are different. If a magic array makes you hallucinate, then the eye of the array must be the thing in front of you. However, the most powerful thing about illusion arrays is that they often peek into the most unbearable side of your heart and use it to defeat you. At this time, what you need to do is not just as simple as finding the eye of the array, you also have to keep your original heart."
……
Thinking of what Lingxiang had taught him before, Long Qi immediately calmed down. Since he was already deeply trapped in the formation, the only thing he could do now was to find a way out in this illusion.
Thinking of this, Long Qi began to walk along the corridor. However, after walking for a long time, he still could not reach the end, and the steps he came from could no longer be seen.
Just as he was thinking about climbing over the railing, he heard a voice calling from behind:
"Xiao Qi...Xiao Qi..."
The voice sounded very familiar, but he couldn't remember whose it was.
"Xiao Qi...Xiao Qi..."
The voice kept calling him, but he never looked back.
Lingxiang once said that if you are trapped in a maze, you must never look back. Once you look back, you will be trapped deeper into it.
Long Qi kept walking forward, and the voice kept calling him.
"Xiao Qi...Xiao Qi..."
"Xiao Qi...it's me...it's Brother Wu!"
Upon hearing this, Long Qi paused, but still did not look back.
Just at this moment, a hand was placed on his shoulder and he turned his head subconsciously. At that moment, he felt something was wrong, but after turning around, he couldn't remember what was wrong.
At this time, Long Qi turned into a child, and in front of him stood a boy who was only a head taller than him.
"Xiao Qi, I called you for a long time, why didn't you answer me?"
Huh?
Long Qi was stunned, and couldn't remember what he was thinking just now? Not good? Why was it not good?
Seeing Long Qi like this, the boy tapped his head gently: "What's wrong? Are you stupid?"
Long Qi covered the place where he was hit and said quietly: "Just now I just felt something was wrong, but suddenly I forgot what was wrong..."
"Not good? It's broad daylight, what's wrong?" The boy smiled and took Long Qi's hand. "Let's go, Daddy is back, and I heard he brought some good stuff this time."
Long Qi was still wondering what was wrong, but was pulled by the boy and started running.
The two walked around the corridor for a long time before they found an exit.
"Hurry up, hurry up," the boy urged, "I heard it's a rare treasure!"
Upon hearing that, Long Qi quickened his pace, and the way his short legs ran was so pleasing to the eye.
"Brother Wu! Wait for me..." He called the boy in front of him while running.
Brother Wu? Who is Brother Wu? Why does he look so familiar?
"Hurry up, hurry up!" Brother Wu in front waited for him for a while, and seemed to be dissatisfied with his slow running, so he picked him up and ran. While running, he complained: "Xiao Qi, have you eaten too much these days? Why are you so heavy? I can't hold you anymore."
Long Qi felt a little uncomfortable from being shaken, and said in a trembling voice: "I just ate a few more mouthfuls of glutinous rice cakes, how can I get fat."
The words were spoken in a childish voice and actually made Brother Wu laugh.
Soon, the two of them ran to a yard, which was filled with laughter and joy.
Brother Wu quickly put Long Qi down, tidied his clothes for him, and then pulled him into the yard.
A burly man in the yard was surrounded by a group of teenagers, and next to him stood a woman who looked dignified and gentle.
"Your father just came back. He is very tired and acts like a naughty monkey." The woman said as she took the boy who was hanging on the man down.
At this time, everyone seemed to notice Long Qi at the door and greeted him with a smile: "Xiao Wu, Xiao Qi, come and see, Daddy brought back a treasure from outside, it smells so good!"
Only then did Long Qi understand why he could smell a fragrance from a long distance away. It turned out to be the treasure his father brought.
But... why does this scent seem so familiar? It seems like I've smelled it somewhere before.
Xiao Longqi frowned and followed Brother Wu forward, just in time to see the brocade box in his father's hand.
At this time, the brocade box opened, revealing a pill glowing with golden light.
Long Qi frowned even more tightly, feeling that this pill seemed familiar.
When the mother saw Long Qi like this, she quickly stepped forward and picked him up, teasingly asking, "What's wrong with you, Xiao Qi? Why do you look so unhappy? Are you hungry?"
But Brother Wu burst into laughter when he heard this: "Mom, please don't feed Xiao Qi anymore. He's so heavy. I ran all the way with him just now, and I was exhausted."
Mother smiled and glared at Brother Wu: "Look at what you said. You can't stop your seventh brother from growing up."
"So what if he can't grow up? With us brothers around, how can we let him suffer?" After hearing what his mother said, a young man said with a smile.
"That's right, we brothers will definitely be able to protect him well. He will be cute if he doesn't grow up!" Brother Wu also echoed.
Several teenagers gathered around the mother who was holding Long Qi, smiling, and stretched out their hands to tease the little Long Qi who had a frown on his brows.
However, Long Qi's eyes were always fixed on the pills in the brocade box in his father's hand. No matter how these boys teased him, his brows could not be relaxed.
The father naturally saw Long Qi like this, and hurriedly came up with the brocade box: "Little Qi, are you interested in the treasure in your father's hand? Do you want to have a taste?" He held out the brocade box and said, "I didn't expect that our little Qi is a connoisseur of goods. He can tell at a glance that this is a good thing."
Long Qi stared at the pill in front of him, feeling that he must have seen this thing somewhere before, but he couldn't remember where.
"Daddy, what is this?"
My father smiled when he heard this, and closed the brocade box. He seemed very proud and said, "This is a good thing that Daddy finally got on his trip this time!"
However, Long Qi seemed to give no face to his father. He just frowned, thinking that this thing was very important and he must figure it out.
"Dad, what is this?" Long Qi asked again.
Seeing Xiao Longqi like this, his father smiled and said, "Xiaoqi is still young, so I can't tell you about this thing yet. When you grow up, you will know what it is. In short, just remember that this is our Long family's treasure."
Brother Wu, who was standing by, suddenly asked, "Is this pill the treasure of the Long family? What about the Seven-Star Dragon Abyss?"
“The Seven-Star Dragon Abyss is naturally also a treasure of our family. It’s just that originally we only had that one treasure, but now there are two.” My father smiled and was about to put the brocade box away.
Xiao Longqi felt that he had to figure this thing out now, so he kept asking, "Father, what on earth is that?"
Seeing Long Qi like this, his father seemed to have no other options. He smiled and said, "This is the elixir that my father got from the Yuanqing Sect. It's called the Life-Sustaining Pill. It was made by Fairy Tu Mi herself. There are only three of them in the world..."
Long Qi didn't hear a word of what his father said next. He just stared with his eyes wide open as if he was frightened, scaring his mother so much that she kept calling his name.
But no matter how his mother called him, he didn't respond at all, and just kept muttering:
"Life-extending pill...Yuanqing Sect..."
He seemed to have forgotten something...
"Life-extending pill...Yuanqing Sect..."
He wanted so badly to remember what he had forgotten, but he couldn't remember it. He could only repeat a few words over and over again:
"Life-extending pill...Yuanqing Sect..."
But what exactly did he forget?
His head ached and his vision went dark, but he kept repeating these words. He could not even hear his father, mother, and brothers calling out to him. Only these two names were on his mind.
"Life-extending pill...Yuanqing Sect..."
Suddenly, there was a flash of fluorescent light, and Long Qi felt as if there was something extra in his arms. He reached out and touched it, and actually took out a flute.
He stared at the flute in a trance, and suddenly he heard bursts of flute sounds, sometimes high, sometimes low, sometimes far, sometimes near, as if calling him.
It was at this moment that he suddenly remembered the name of the flute - Qingfeng Cuiyu Flute.
This is what Lingxiang gave him!
Yes! He forgot the incense! He shouldn't have forgotten the incense!
This is the token of love Lingxiang gave him!
Long Qi looked at the Qingfeng Jade Flute in his hand. The flute suddenly glowed with light, making the surrounding scene wrinkle like water waves, but the brocade box in his father's hand was still clear as ever.
Long Qi closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he had turned back to his original appearance. He raised the Qingfeng Jade Flute and leaped towards the brocade box.
The life-extending elixir in the brocade box must be the core of the formation!
There was a flash of green light, and his parents and brothers all stood behind him, and the illusion slowly dissipated.
He looked back at them gradually disappearing, his heart aching and tears streaming down his face.
Yes, these are the appearances of his family members, his father, mother, and brothers. They have always cared for and loved him. Even when he was robbed by the demons, they were the ones who protected him when he left the Long family.
So many years have passed, he could no longer remember what they looked like, but he didn't expect to see them in this maze. How could he not feel sad?
Tears were streaming down his face, and at this moment a voice suddenly rang out:
"Xiao Qi, don't be sad, don't look back, live on!"
This is……
Wu Ge's voice!
Looking at the faces gradually disappearing, Long Qi felt as if his heart was being cut by a knife. At this moment, the Qingfeng Jade Flute in his hand suddenly rang again. As the melodious flute sounded, another voice came to his ears.
"Long Qi, don't look back!"
It was Lingxiang! It was Lingxiang who was helping him!
He quickly gathered himself and turned around. A tear passed by, shining with light, and fell into the darkness.
As a ray of clear light fell, the surrounding darkness slowly dissipated.
……
Zhao Wuyang had been wondering why Long Qi, Xin Yi, and Liu Xia stood still while they were walking. No matter how he called them, or even when he slapped them in the face, they didn't react at all, as if...
Just like when we were in Dian Cang Palace!
Could it be that I encountered an illusion? But why was I fine?
This was also something that had always puzzled him, as if these illusions were of no use to him at all. Just like when he was competing with the Kunwu Sect a few days ago, Lian Qiao went on stage and twirled her fingers for a while, but no magic appeared. It was only later that he heard that she had used the art of mirror flowers and water moons on the stage.
It is said that it is an extremely powerful illusion, which is the ability of the magic weapon that Lian Qiao selected in Dian Cang Palace.
But he clearly only saw Lian Qiao run up to the stage, throw two talismans, and then run around...
Could it be that the illusion doesn't work on him?
Just when Zhao Wuyang was confused, he saw Long Qi fall to the ground...
(End of this chapter)
