Feng Ling and Huangfu Miaomiao showed no reaction.
Pei Xianjue grew anxious and stood up. "Didn't you hear that? It was Haohan's voice!"
Feng Ling froze for a moment. "What I heard was a fox laughing."
Huangfu Miaomiao immediately added, "What I heard was the sound of ordinary wild animals. It didn't sound like laughter."
The three exchanged glances, then all looked at Li Qing.
Li Qing: "..."
He suddenly felt under pressure.
"Daoist, did you hear anything?" Feng Ling asked him.
"I didn't hear anything..." Li Qing answered helplessly. "You may have been affected by an illusion. You hear whatever is on your mind. I wasn't thinking of anything just now, so naturally, I heard nothing."
Pei Xianjue's heart sank, and she vaguely sensed that something was wrong. "You mean the sound I heard was fake?"
She could not help looking around. "...An illusion? But ever since entering the village, everything I've eaten and drunk has been food I brought myself. How did those foxes cast an illusion on us?"
"Is the reason we can't get out also because of an illusion?" Huangfu Miaomiao frowned gravely.
"There are many ways to make people hallucinate," Li Qing said. "For example, patterns containing psychological suggestions, music with hypnotic effects, smoke or strange odors that affect nerve cells, and so on... I'm not sure which one it is right now."
"The smell," Feng Ling suddenly said.
The moment Pei Xianjue heard that, she immediately tried sniffing.
"I can't smell anything..." she murmured. Seeing the biscuit in her hand, she brought it close and sniffed it. "I can smell the biscuit."
Feng Ling tilted her head in thought. "The first time I saw the Fox Demon was on the mountain path. I smelled a foul, fishy stench while it was still far away.