Early the next morning, just after dawn, Chen Jieqi stood at the door of the chapel.
Dugu Yan has prepared two horses at the mouth of the valley, one brown and one black.
She changed into a smart outfit, and her dark orange short hair was tied back.
Dugu Bo was leaning on the stone steps. He didn't carry the wine bottle in his hand, but replaced it with a dry cigarette bag and started smoking.
"Thousand-Thread Poison Grass grows deep in the Cangmang Mountain Range, close to the crack in the ground you explored last time."
Dugu Bo puffed out a puff of smoke,
"Evil Soul Master are gathering in that place now. Stop when you get to the outside and don't rush in.
If you don't come back for two days, I'll dig the ground."
Chen Jieqi tightened the girdle and nodded.
The sound of rolling wheels came from the valley mouth.
Yang Wudi walked in the front, followed by three large carts filled with medicinal materials and wood.
There are also several young Breaking Clan tribesmen, carrying medicine baskets and tools.
Yang Wudi didn't wear a bundt today. He changed into a dark gray robe, with a medicine bag tied around his waist, walking with wind.
"Earl, has the location for Yaolu been selected?"
Dugu Yan spread out the map and pointed to the open space outside Li Valley.
"Here, it's close to the water source, has good ventilation, and is also close to the main hall."
Yang Wudi walked over and looked at the terrain, squatted down, grabbed a handful of soil, put it under his nose and smelled it.
"The soil quality is good and the foundation is stable. Breaking Clan is packaged and can be used in half a month."
He turned around and waved to the young tribesmen,
"Unloading, piling."
Chen Jieqi looked at Yang Wudi's busy back, the mark between his eyebrows shone slightly, just for a moment,
It was as if someone had lit a small light in his head, it was faint, but it was really bright.
The voice of Sheng Hui sounded in Soul Ring.
"He's here again. It's not a deal, it's a promise to be fulfilled."
Chen Jieqi said nothing.
Ye Lingling's medicine truck followed Yang Wudi's convoy into the valley.
She sat in the first carriage. Ye Tianming did not come, but Ye Family sent two elders and four medicine boys.
I also brought three carts of medicinal materials, those for stopping bleeding, detoxifying, and nourishing qi and nourishing blood. They were divided into categories and sealed in wooden boxes with labels on the lids.
Ye Lingling jumped out of the car and walked to Chen Jieqi.
"My father said that when Ashen Territory was first built, medical care was indispensable.
Ye Family has a permanent pharmacy here and rotates doctors on a monthly basis.
Lingling is staying temporarily to train the villagers in basic treatment."
Chen Jieqi nodded. "Thank you Uncle Ye for me."
Ye Lingling turned around to see where the medicine house was. The petals of Nine-Heart Begonia were gently rotating in the wind.
Dugu Yan followed and helped her arrange a place to stay.
Yang Wudi's medicine shop is next to Ye Lingling's medicine shop, separated by a stone road.
Yang Wudi glanced at the Ye Family's medicine box, snorted and said nothing.
Keep your head down and continue piling.
Ye Lingling didn't look at him, squatting on the ground and counting the medicinal materials.
The two people were not in conflict with each other, but they both unanimously expanded their territory by one foot towards the other side.
Dugu Yan stood in the middle, holding the booklet and drawing lines.
"Clan Chief Yang, the foundation of Yaolu is set back one foot to the west.
Ye Family, your drug store should also move back one foot to the east, leaving a three-foot aisle in the middle."
Yang Wudi raised his head and glanced at Dugu Yan, then at Ye Lingling. Without saying anything, he waved his hand and asked the tribesmen to move.
Ye Lingling also nodded and asked the medicine boy to move the medicine box eastward.
Dugu Yan closed the booklet and walked to Chen Jieqi.
"These two will have to fight sooner or later."
"No." Chen Jieqi looked at the busy construction site, "They know better than you."
Huangdou's teammates' supplies were delivered one after another before noon.
Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's convoy arrived first, delivering a cart of lightning-strike wood and two boxes of healing medicine.
Yu Tianheng's letter was tucked into the medicinal materials. The handwriting was neater than before. There was only one sentence. "The leg bones have been exchanged and fused. I will come after I leave the customs."
Yu Feng asked someone to bring two pairs of Wind Bell Bird's feathers, which were packed in wooden boxes with a note attached:
"Hang it at the door of the chapel and the wind will drive away evil spirits."
Osler sent a shadow stone wrapped in cloth without a note.
Shi Mo and Shi Mo each carried a fragment of Black Tortoise's back armor, delivered it to them in person, put it down and left.
Shi Mo said, "Team Chen, call us if you need anything." Shi Mo nodded.
Dugu Yan Register these things and put them in the storage room.
The booklet is a few pages thicker.
Chen Jieqi stood at the door of the chapel, watching the busy work on the construction site.
Yang Wudi's medicine house has laid the foundation and the wooden piles have been erected in rows.
Ye Lingling's medicine shop is building a wall, and the medicine boys are moving boxes of medicinal materials into the temporary shed.
In the square, Niu Gao directed the craftsmen to lay bluestones, and the sound of hammers jingled non-stop from morning to night.
The mark between the eyebrows lit up again.
Sheng Hui's voice is very low.
"There is more faith today than yesterday.
It's not just one person, it's the trust of a group of people gathering together."
Chen Jieqi touched the center of his eyebrows. "I can feel it."
"What do you feel?"
"Hope, cohesion."
Sheng Hui said no more.
In the afternoon, Chen Jieqi and Dugu Yan got on their horses and left the valley entrance.
Dugu Bo stood on the stone steps, and the sparks in the pipe pot were clearly extinguished. "Two days."
Chen Jieqi reined in the reins and looked back at him. "Two days."
The two rode their horses toward the northwest along the official road.
Beyond the boundary of Heaven Dou City, the road becomes narrower and narrower, and the trees on both sides become denser and denser.
The outline of the Cangmang Mountain Range is looming on the horizon, and the gray-black mist is entrenched on the ridge, like a lying beast.
Chen Jieqi got off the horse and tied the reins to the tree.
Ashbringer is looming in the palm of your hand, and white-gold flames are flowing on the sword.
He said nothing and walked up the path along the ridge. His steps were so light that there was almost no sound when he stepped on the fallen leaves.
Three men in gray robes squatted behind a fallen dead tree, their hoods pulled down so hard that their faces could not be seen clearly.
Their auras were cold and mixed, exactly the same as the Evil Soul Master they encountered in the mine tunnel before.
Peripheral spies.
Chen Jieqi didn't hesitate.
Holy Light Domain's platinum light curtain spread out under his feet, covering an area of thirty feet in an instant.
Ashbringer's sword light cut through the darkness in the forest, the first light blade slashed out, the dead trees exploded, and debris flew everywhere.
Three Evil Soul Master jumped up at the same time, and Soul Ring lit up in their hands - white, yellow, and purple, mixed together, like contaminated paint.
Dugu Yan did not take action.
She stood on the ridge, with earthy yellow Soul Power condensing in her palms, and ground thorns sprang out from the ground, blocking all escape routes for the three of them.
Chen Jieqi's holy light's restraint on the dark atmosphere was fully revealed at this moment.
The moment Ashbringer was slashed, white-gold flames burned the gray-black Soul Power, and the three Evil Soul Master's protective bodies Soul Power shattered like paper.
When the third sword fell, Evil Soul Master, the last one standing, collapsed to the ground, with green smoke rising from his skin under his black robe.
Chen Jieqi retracted his sword, squatted down, and opened the man's hood.
His face was pale, his eye sockets were sunken, his pupils were dilated, and there were black blood stains on the corners of his mouth.
He was not killed, but Soul Power collapsed after being burned by the holy light.
Dugu Yan came over. "Is there anyone left alive?"
"No." Chen Jieqi stood up,
"They are not here to fight. They are waiting for the big troops to come."
"Who are you waiting for?"
Chen Jieqi looked into the depths of the mountains. The gray-black mist was billowing in the valley, thicker than the last time. "Waiting for their master."
The two of them continued to go deeper.
The trees on the outskirts of the mountain range began to die, not naturally, but from rotting from the roots.
The tree trunks are covered with gray-black plaque, which is soft when stepped on, like stepping on carrion.
There was a sweet smell in the air. It wasn't blood, but something old that had been buried underground for too long and had been turned up.
"Pollution is spreading." The mark between Chen Jieqi's eyebrows glowed slightly, Holy Light Perception explored forward along the ridge,
"Evil Soul Master is accelerating its activities."
Ahead is a dry riverbed, and the stones at the bottom of the river are dyed gray-black.
At the end of the river bed, a gray-black mist was billowing, squirming like a living creature.
At the edge of the mist, a few grasses were glowing, not white, but dark green, like emeralds soaked in poison.
It is Thousand-Thread Poison Grass.
"Found it." Dugu Yan stretched out his hand to stop Chen Jieqi, "But someone is guarding it."
In the mist, a dozen gray-robed men were scattered on both sides of the river bed, their auras much stronger than the previous three.
The leader had a slender figure, with a pale chin exposed under his hood, and gray-black flames dancing on his fingertips.
Soul Saint.
Chen Jieqi withdrew his perception. "Not an opponent."
Dugu Yan looked at him. "Withdraw?"
"Withdraw." Chen Jieqi took a step back, "But next time I come, I won't withdraw."
The two of them returned along the original path.
Behind them, the gray-black mist surged, as if to confirm that they had left and calm was restored again.
When we returned to Ashen Territory, it was already dark.
Dugu Bo stood at the mouth of the valley, the sparks in the pipe pot flickering brightly and dimly in the night.
He glanced at Chen Jieqi, then at Dugu Yan, made sure both of them were not injured, and knocked his pipe on the stone steps.
"Two days, just right."
"Thousand-Thread Poison Grass found it." Chen Jieqi turned over and dismounted.
"But I can't get it. Soul Saint is guarding there, and Evil Soul Master is gathering."
Dugu Bo snorted. "Soul Saint? I'll go over and get a pot of it."
"No hurry." Chen Jieqi walked to him,
"They are also waiting. Waiting for the square to be completed and for us to show our trump card."
Dugu Bo said nothing. He turned around and walked towards the chapel, walked a few steps and stopped.
"When will you go?"
Chen Jieqi looked at the night in the distance, the moonlight shone on the edge of the crack, like a black wound.
"When the square is built and they all come, let's do the math together."