Extinction Forest

  A silence between the trees, no insect chirping, no bird calling, tall trees standing upright to block out the sky, even the wind can't get through. The afternoon sun shines in from the dense gaps, casting mottled tree shadows on people's bodies, as if also reflected in their hearts.

  It's quiet, really too quiet. Just now everyone was talking and it didn't seem like anything was wrong, but at this moment all the people stopped, the sound of voices and footsteps all disappeared, it's just too quiet, so quiet that you can even hear your own heartbeat.

  "What's going on?!" Fang Zhi exclaimed in surprise, the crowd automatically shrinking back, some people even having their hands already placed on the hilt of their swords, as if facing a great enemy.

  Yan Sanbai looked up and said, "Have you all heard of the Silent Forest?"

  Jiemi Woods is the name of a forest in Yingwu Ridge. Everyone had asked about it when they came, so they naturally knew, but...

  "Isn't the Lin's place located inside the Eagle's Beak Ridge? It would take at least half a time unit to get there, and we've only been here for the time it takes to burn an incense stick!" someone immediately retorted.

  "What's going on? Hasn't it already been an hour?"

  "No, it's clearly two incense sticks!"

  "What a wonderful fragrance!"

  Everyone has their own say, and each person thinks what they say is correct. If one or two people remembered the time wrong, that's okay, but now everyone has their own reason, and it's impossible to tell who is right!

  But once the sense of time is disrupted, they can no longer infer how far in they are or judge their location, and with this thought, many people start to feel uneasy.

  Fang Zhi hurriedly calmed the crowd, while Xiao He seemed to be deep in thought. Tang Qianjun of Xi Ling Mountain Villa was visibly more composed, still with a cold face and not saying a word. Xu Changjin furrowed his brow, looked around, and had a disciple come over to ask him what to do. Xu Changjin pursed his lips without speaking, walked to Yan Sanbai's side, and asked: "Brother Yan, what do you think?"

  "Wait a minute," said Yan Sanbai, taking out the small bamboo tube from his waist and pouring out Pango. Pango was still asleep, its golden wings wrapped around its chubby body, rolling out with a few green particles that were slightly larger than sesame seeds. Round, plump, lying in Yan Sanbai's palm.

  Swallow Three White lowered his head and seriously counted: one, two, three, four.

  "What's this?" Zero Ding curiously came over to take a look. Nan Zhu also opened his eyes wide, looking very curious.

  "Fat feces." Yan Sanbai replied.

  "What? Shit?!". Ling Ding's voice rose involuntarily. The others heard it and couldn't help but look over, each with a face full of weirdness.

  What's going on?

  When they saw Yan Sanbai doing that, everyone was speechless. What kind of situation is this? How can he still have the leisure to help count the number of feces over there?!

  "How often does it discharge?" Li Yan suddenly asked.

  Yan Sanbai rubbed his nose, and Li Yan understood him without needing to ask. "One incense stick, two pellets. There are four pellets here, which means about half a time unit has passed."

  "Is this... believable?" Xu Changjin was skeptical. Using the amount of feces to determine time was also too... strange.

  "It's all right." Yan Sanbai cleaned up for Pangzi every day, and the rules were already familiar to him. Unless Pangzi was ill, there would be no mistakes.

  Others couldn't help but think in their hearts - This Yan Daxia is indeed different from us.

  "I trust you, rather than listening to those out-of-tune judgments, it's better to believe in this chubby little cutie." Xiaohua, who had been watching from the side, smiled and said: "Yan Daxia, what do you think we should do now?"

  As soon as the words fell, everyone couldn't help but focus their attention on Yan Sanbai. Let's see if Yan Sanbai's reputation is just a facade.

  Tang Qianjun, who had been silent all along, said: "The quiet forest has a bewildering fog that can confuse people's minds, so birds and beasts do not exist, and it also makes us feel the passage of time differently. This can be explained. But here, the sunlight is very good, there is no fog at all, where does the ability to confuse people's minds come from?"

  Upon hearing this, everyone thought it made sense and looked at each other with puzzled expressions.

  Yan Sanbai shook his head, "The mist has always been there, it's just very weak and we can hardly see it. Because we've been walking in it for a long time, we unknowingly fell into its trap. As for this place, originally it wasn't the Silent Forest, but now it seems that the range of the Silent Forest is expanding, and the mist has drifted out. The deeper we go, the thicker the mist becomes. We won't just gradually lose control over time, we might even never be able to leave this forest."

  Is the Silent Forest expanding?! Everyone couldn't help but take a cold breath, the Silent Forest was already terrifying enough, if it continued to expand, wouldn't it be able to occupy the entire Eagle's Beak Ridge? And even... drift outside?!

  "How can you be sure?" Tang Qianjun asked in a low voice.

  Yan Sanbai didn't explain much, casually broke off a branch, parted the grass, and searched for a withered broad-leaved grass, saying: "The Winter Ling Grass has started to wither."

  When the winter grass begins to wither, it proves that there is a miasma here. Although it can't be seen, it really exists!

  "What's going on? Can't we go around?" someone panicked.

  "That quiet and elegant sister Mo Kun from the Hundred Flowers Gate coldly snorted, 'The Silent Forest has expanded, how do you know which direction to take a detour to be safe?'"

  Indeed, the original Silent Forest was smaller in scope, and finding the right direction might have allowed one to skirt around it, but now...

  Xu Changjin couldn't help but look at Yan Sanbai again, his eyes filled with inquiry and trust.

  Yan Sanbai said: "Brother Xu, please send someone back immediately to inform Chen Jia that the Lin family is expanding their territory. Tell them to guard outside Eagle's Beak Ridge as a precaution." After a pause, he asked seriously, "Are you sure you must go in?"

  Upon hearing this, Xu Changjin's face turned serious and he nodded solemnly, "This matter is of great importance to the Qing Shan Sword Sect. Even if I am destined to die inside, I must still enter."

  Looking at Xu Changjin's face, Yan Sanbai secretly thought that he indeed still had something hidden, but he also didn't have the heart to pry into others' private matters. He only reminded him: "If Brother Xu trusts me, then later no matter what I say, please definitely do as I say."

  Xu Changjin nodded without hesitation, and after a few words of greeting, the Qing Shan Jian Zong side decided to continue moving forward. The Bai Hua Men naturally followed suit, with the Xi Ling Mountain Villa and Shaolin following closely behind. Fang Zhi of the Tian Hua Sect hesitated for a moment before gritting his teeth and following along as well.

  The whole way, everyone was much more tense than at the beginning, their hands placed on the hilt of their swords, their entire bodies in a state of high alert. Yan Sanbai walked at the very front, the branch in his hand occasionally stirring through the grass, using the withered winter grass to gauge their position.

  Finally, a faint mist appeared in the distance, and that mist grew thicker and thicker, gradually blocking out the sunlight and cooling down the temperature in the forest.

  Yan Sanbai also made a new discovery in the bushes - bones. There were many bones hidden in the bushes, some from animals and some from humans, some looked very new while others had already been half buried in the soil.

  The people behind also discovered it, and cold sweat seeped out on their backs - the real Silent Forest has arrived.

  The arrow has been shot and cannot be retrieved, although I am afraid in my heart, I can only grit my teeth and move forward.

  Suddenly, a gust of strange wind blew by, and the mist in mid-air churned. A small black dot quickly passed through the fog, and in just one blink, it was gone.

  "What is it?!" someone exclaimed.

  That black spot flashed by in an instant, making it hard to see clearly. However, it was the only living thing that appeared in this place, and everyone looked up to find it.

  At this time, Yan San's calm voice came, "Don't panic, don't make any rash moves, keep walking."

  Everyone looked on, and saw that Yan Sanbai and Li Ya were walking forward without stopping. Li Ya shook the folding fan to wave away the mist in front of him, strolling leisurely as if he was still walking in his own courtyard. Behind them followed Ling Ding and Nan Zhu.

  Ling Dian looked at Nan Zhu in surprise, this little guy seemed to be quite timid, and couldn't help but ask: "Aren't you afraid?"

  Nan bamboo nodded sincerely, "Afraid. But Master said that this trip has a noble person and won't die."

  Upon hearing this, Li Yan couldn't help but glance at Yan Sanbai, who remained vigilant of the surroundings, his expression focused.

  Suddenly, another black dot flew over the fog on my head, and then the forest returned to calmness. But after a while, two black dots appeared alternately, and then quickly returned to calmness. This quiet and dynamic situation made people's nerves tight, and the originally gloomy forest became even more eerie.

  "Gulp." It was unclear who had swallowed hard, but the tense atmosphere spread quickly, and only a few people were able to maintain their composure.

  After walking for a while, the black dots in the fog grew more and more numerous. Some even boldly brushed past people's ears, causing their ears to ache with a sharp pain, as if they had been pricked by a needle. The whole brain seemed about to explode.

  The person next to him finally saw the true face of the black spot, "It's a bat!"

  The forest is desolate and devoid of birds and beasts, so where did these bats come from?

  Just then, Yan Sanbai finally stopped and said with a serious face, "No need to go any further, we've been walking in circles all along!"

  One of the Tianhua Sect's disciples, unable to bear the oppressive atmosphere, glared with red eyes and loudly rebuked: "What right do you have to say that? From just now on, we've clearly been advancing, don't spout such ominous words!"

  "It's not an exaggeration when I say we're back to square one. I've marked the tree, and indeed, we've returned to the starting point." Yan Sanbai explained calmly.

  However, he didn't listen at all, "You were leading the way in front, you did it on purpose!"

  "Right! Why are you doing this!" Someone next to him was also infected by his excited emotions and questioned.

  Many of the other disciples couldn't help but follow suit, their hearts filled with inexplicable unease. However, just as the calm lake was about to boil over, two stones suddenly appeared out of nowhere and struck the two men in the back of the neck, causing them to instantly roll their eyes and fall to the ground.

  "Who?!" The Tianhua Sect members thought it was an enemy attack and tensely drew their swords in a defensive posture. After all, they were one of the four major sects, and their movements were swift and neat, without any signs of panic.

  However, looking in the direction from which the stones came, they were stunned.

  Fang Zhi's face couldn't hide his indignation, "Prince Wang, what do you mean by this!"

  Ling's face sank, his body shook with rage, "How dare you! You actually speak to the king like that!"

  Fang Zhi was rebuked by a small, long-following roar, and suddenly felt ashamed, the long sword humming as it was drawn out, its tip pointing directly at Ling Ding: "You dare to be presumptuous! It's not your turn to lecture me here!"

  The atmosphere in the field suddenly became tense, Xiao He and Tang Qianjun couldn't help but frown, but they didn't stop. Ku Wu joined his hands together and said a Buddhist prayer.

  Conflict, on the verge of breaking out.

  Suddenly, another pebble flew through the air, and Fang Zhi coldly laughed and swung his sword to shatter it. However, he did not expect that after one came another, which directly hit him right between the eyebrows.

  He suddenly went dark in front of his eyes and fell directly down, falling so unguardedly.

  The mouths of the people around him suddenly opened like duck eggs, King Luoyang's move was so ruthless! With a few swift and merciless swipes, he threw it away and clapped his hands, his posture still looking particularly cool.

  Ling Ding was also surprised, the usual Wang Ye was unreasonable, but today he seemed particularly unreasonable. He was puzzled when Li Yan suddenly slapped him on the head with a fan, "Wake up, don't be fooled by the White Bone Demon's mind control like those idiots, do you want to become an idiot too?!"

  Zero Ding was suddenly awakened by the knock, and he couldn't help but secretly scold himself - normally, he absolutely wouldn't say something like "How dare you speak to His Highness like that! You're so presumptuous!" in such a sycophantic tone.

  But after careful consideration, it's actually quite refreshing.

  Others were also awakened, feeling a lingering fear in their hearts, and didn't even mind being scolded as idiots. However, the people from Tianhua Sect were extremely embarrassed, with their leader, Shixiong, being knocked down, what to do now?

  "Are you not going to wake them up? Do I, the king, have to come myself?" Li Yan raised an eyebrow, his red clothes fluttering. A bat flew past him, but he didn't flinch at all. With a flick of his folding fan, he jumped up and slapped the bat to the ground with a loud "slap", its legs twitching.

  The people of Tianhua saw this and didn't dare to slack off anymore, they quickly woke up Fang Zhi and the others inside.

  Yan Sanbai crouched down to look at the bat, but didn't see anything unusual, it was just a bit bigger than an ordinary bat. But these bats appeared here, there must be a reason for that, perhaps related to the mystery of the ghost hitting the wall.

  Thinking of this, Yan Sanbai made a decisive decision, "Prince Wang, help me with one thing."

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