Jiang Nuo took off her mask, patted her chest, and hugged her knees, which she couldn't use to move, looking aggrieved.
"You've already built the secret passage, why didn't you build it higher up?"
"It's quite tall inside! Come with me!"
After entering the secret passage, Su Shan visibly relaxed a lot. He threw a few diamond-like objects at the entrance, and the secret door quickly disappeared, turning into the shape of a brick. After doing this, he skipped and hopped forward, clearly very excited.
Jiang Nuo walked at the back, a stream of light flying out from her sleeve and attaching itself to the disguised stone.
Just as Su Shan had said, as they walked into the secret passage, the stone walls grew higher and higher until the three adults could walk upright, and then they came to another corner.
Suddenly, a commotion arose within the quiet stone wall, and around the corner appeared many small monsters that resembled Tang Mu.
"What are you things?" Sano Kurotsuki asked, looking at this group of monsters that looked like humans but weren't, feeling even more terrified than ghosts.
Su Shan skipped and hopped ahead, shouting, "We're little elves!"
"The fairies can prevent this town from being shrouded in darkness forever; the fairies aren't bad guys."
Jiang Nuo tilted her head in confusion, "Everyone is an elf, so why can Tang Mu be a librarian?"
Su Shan remained clueless, seemingly unsurprised by the question, and simply replied vaguely, "Because the library is the last sanctuary."
They refused to utter a single extra word.
"Almost there, almost there!"
Su Shan changed the subject and ran quickly toward a door.
Stepping through the door, the sight before them surprised all three. Jiang Nuo looked behind the door again, then stood up straight and exclaimed in surprise.
"So, it turns out that the area beneath the town... isn't entirely under the rule of demons."
The scene before me was a complete replica of the street square above, except that the stone statues were no longer blindfolded and had some other colors.
Each little monster would help one person.
[A hidden gem!! But why is the boss here too!]
Are these people or ghosts? They don't seem to have any physical form!
"Hi, boss."
Jiang Nuo stretched out her arm and waved to the boss in the crowd.
The boss was startled, clearly very surprised that they had come down, and hurried over.
The others also looked over in confusion, their figures either transparent or semi-transparent.
They are all souls.
Jiang Nuo whispered in Si Yan's ear, "Stay away from them. Souls can sense Spiritual Power."
This is like a highly sought-after prize being taken to a den of hungry wolves!
"Um."
Si Yan hid behind Jiang Nuo, forcefully and domineeringly putting his arm around her waist, ignoring the wolf-like gaze in her eyes.
What are you doing here!
The owner came over, looking travel-worn, but in much better spirits than he had been in the hotel.
Jiang Nuo blinked, not answering the boss's question, but instead peering behind him.
"This is your mother."
He drawled out an "oh," and said, "No wonder you're not sad; your mother wasn't taken away to be eaten."
The boss glanced back, looking flustered. Just as he was about to explain, Jiang Nuo flicked his finger, and something inexplicably appeared in his mouth, sliding down his throat.
Jiang Nuo: "Hehe."
"Tell the truth."
The boss clutched his throat, coughing for a long time without vomiting anything, and when he tried to speak again, he couldn't come up with any excuse he could think of.
"These are the souls that have been saved."
" Jiang Nuo!" Sano Kurotsuki suddenly roared, "You still say it wasn't you who cast the spell on me on the first day! Forcing me to tell the truth."
Jiang Nuo was bewildered by his yelling and kicked him.
"What are you yelling about! Here's a megaphone, okay?"
Si Yan continued to ask the shopkeeper, "Where is this place? Why are you here?"
The boss bit his lip hard, not wanting to tell the truth, but he had no choice but to speak.
"This is a place of redemption, I have come... to atone for my sins!"
"Take us to the important places below," Si Yan said, pinching a talisman between her fingers and sticking it to the boss's chest.
The boss trembled, unable to refuse the order, and stiffened as he led them down into the "street".
Su Shan was being dragged along by Jiang Nuo, and no matter how much he jumped, he couldn't escape.
Along the way, Sano Kurotsuki, taking advantage of the fact that his boss could only tell the truth, kept gathering information while pretending to be nonchalant.
Si Yan didn't want to talk to him about it.
This is so blatant; it's almost letting everyone know he's an undercover agent.
Si Yan's disdainful look was too obvious, so Jiang Nuo scratched the palm of his hand, trying to get him to tone it down.
[Hahahaha, does Sano Kurotsuki think he's got it all figured out?]
[What a terrible plan. This is like Mikazuki Shunsuke bringing two bronze-level players into a high-level game.]
"What do you know! This is definitely part of our Warriors Project!"
"Do you Warriors yourselves know about this?"
As they descended deeper underground, the environment grew increasingly cold and gloomy, but fortunately, they received good news.
Si Yan could already sense the aura of the Dragon Vein —a powerful, suppressed Dragon Vein.
Si Yan asked her boss, who was practically suffocating, "What's underground? Why do so many people need to guard it?"
The boss almost bit his lips raw, but he still couldn't stop himself from talking.
"It's... something that can fight demons! And the town's most important treasure..."
He kept biting his lip as he spoke, until it was bloody and raw.
Jiang Nuo looked at him suspiciously, hissed, "You asked us to solve this, why did you have to keep it so secret?"
The boss roared, "I did it to show her!"
"Him? Who is he?" Jiang Nuo wanted to know the answer, and was practically shoving her face right in front of her boss.
But before the boss could answer, Jiang Nuo was suddenly grabbed by Si Yan, who had stopped, and almost stumbled.
"Ouch."
Jiang Nuo bumped into Si Yan's chest from behind, and turned to look at him in confusion, "What's wrong?"
Si Yan stopped in her tracks, as if she had stumbled upon something filthy, and stared intently at the void beside her.
Jiang Nuo followed the gaze but saw nothing. " Si Yan, Si Yan!"
He patted Si Yan's face, his brows furrowing, and forced his face to meet Si Yan's gaze. "What did you see?"
Si Yan slowly regained his senses, his unfocused pupils gradually focused, and he subconsciously tightened his arms around Jiang Nuo's waist, looking ahead.
"A tree."
He spoke in a low voice, his brows furrowed, his handsome face revealing a look of vigilance and confusion.
"A very large tree... covered with human heads."
Jiang Nuo looked back again to make sure she hadn't seen anything.
"You can see trees!!" The boss and Su Shan exclaimed in surprise, their voices cracking with shock.
Startled by their shouts, Si Yan huddled behind Jiang Nuo, feeling wronged.
What kind of tree is it, and what's it used for?
Jiang Nuo protected him, twisting her wrist so that a red string appeared between her fingers, like a warning.
Sano Kurotsuki was inexplicably pushed out of the line, and silently moved aside to look at Jiang Nuo.
Although I dislike the Hua Country Team, I have even less desire to be on the same side as their boss, whose true nature is unknown.
The boss hesitated, unsure how to explain.
Su Shan, on the contrary, remained excited and jumped to Si Yan's side, exclaiming, "You can see the Divine Tree! You are a god who can save our town!"
Si Yan: "...?"