Chapter 8 Paper Talismans

  The boys took off running, still unable to distinguish the direction, but instinctively ran downhill, which could save some physical strength. Xia Qiu, Da Liang and Er Liang had been herding in the forest since childhood, so they knew more about the terrain and ran at the front.

  It's been a long time since even Xia Qiu, whose body was the most agile, couldn't run anymore. He fell to the ground with his head down, and even if a big snake appeared on his head, opened its mouth ready to eat him, he didn't want to move at all.

  Daliang and Erlang fell down, panting with their mouths open.

  Fang Fang surprisingly didn't fall, she was supported by a force, and never left Xia Qiu's side within five steps, her face pale as a ghost, yet she didn't collapse, but slowly sat down.

  Next to arrive was the young officer, his hands bound but unencumbered by armor, with a strong will to survive, running faster than most of the boys.

  It wasn't long before others caught up, and those heavy "spoils of war" were mostly discarded halfway. The last one was Er Bao, who still held onto that long sword, refusing to let go.

  They had entered deep into the dense forest, where the ground was almost devoid of wild grass, with only a thick layer of dead leaves. Lifting their heads, they couldn't see the sky, and outside it was already dusk.

  This place is more like a haunt of goblins and monsters, but no one has suggested moving.

  "After a long time, Erliang spoke up first, 'I'm about to starve to death.'"

  He reminded everyone that there is more real pain in this world than the snake demon, and several stomachs seemed to understand his words, making gurgling sounds one after another.

  Even Xiao Qiu, who was used to wandering in the forest, couldn't find any edible wild fruits in this desolate and dense forest. He struggled to get up, looked around, "We have to find that small river first."

  Two men sat on the ground shaking their heads, "How can we find it?"

  "Everyone will head in different directions, leave marks along the way, and come back after a while. Who knows what we might discover." Little Qiu had an idea.

  The silly boy shook his head even faster, "I'm not going alone, that snake... we're not enough to fill its teeth."

  The mention of the giant snake demon made the young men vigilant, no one dared to walk alone in one direction, and even two or three people were not enough, they just wanted to stay together.

  The young officer now had no dignity at all, his smooth clothes were more damaged than others, his face was full of sweat and mud, but his eyes still showed disdain. "Now you know the horror of the snake demon, I have a way to safely leave the forest."

  "?" Xia Qiu stood in front of him with her hands on her hips, "You had a way out and could have escaped by yourself long ago."

  The officer stood up, about the same height as Xiao Qiu, and didn't look particularly sturdy. "That's because my things were taken away by you."

  "That's not robbery, you're the culprit, and things should belong to us. Just like when you caught us, didn't you take away all our things?" Xia Qiu immediately retorted, his words were unanimously agreed upon by the young men, even if they had already abandoned their "spoils of war", they still insisted on their simple rights.

  The officer had a lot to say, but in the end it all boiled down to a short grunt. He always considered himself an adult and didn't deign to argue with children. "Alright, the things are yours, but can you use them?" His gaze swept over them and landed on Dalang, "Are those paper tokens still around?"

  "What's a paper charm?" Da Liang patted his body and pulled out the stack of papers, "Is this what you call a paper charm? How much is it worth?"

  The officer didn't answer Dalang's question, his eyes darting back and forth between Xia Qiu and Er Kuang, trying to determine who was the leader of this group of kids. Finally, he said to Xia Qiu: "Return the paper charm to me, I'll lead you all to avoid the snake demon and leave the forest. That snake demon seems a bit strange, it's possible that it has been invaded by the demonic kind, the farther away from it the better."

  "Why didn't you use paper symbols from the beginning?" Xia Qiu was deeply wary of this young man and remembered his ferocious attitude towards her and Fang Fang.

  The officer's expression didn't change on his dirty face, "Hmmm... the paper charms can only be used to evade demons, not kill them. Return them to me, the snake demon will catch up sooner or later, this isn't a place to stay for long."

  Xiao Qiu stretched out her hand to Da Liang, "Give it to me."

  Daliang hesitated for a moment, "Several of them, are you giving them all to him?"

  "Leave it with me for now, it's still yours later."

  Dah Ryong finally felt at ease and handed it over to Xiao Qiu.

  Xiao Qiu counted them, twelve paper talismans, the paper was white with a hint of yellow, and the talismans on top were jet black, as if they had just been written. He couldn't recognize more than a few normal characters, let alone mysterious talismans. "Tell me which one to use and how to use it?"

  The officer laughed, "You're joking. Even if it's the most ordinary talisman, people like you can't use it. Moreover, these are all high-quality paper talismans..."

  "What's wrong with people like us? Are we missing an arm or a leg compared to you? Weren't you also caught by us as a prisoner?"

  The officer slowly shook his head, but seeing the unfriendly gaze around him, he changed his words. "The third one is a stealth symbol, and the seventh one is a directional symbol. Hold it with your index finger and middle finger, flip it up and down, don't use too much force. If the paper symbol can be burned, it will release magic. If it can't be burned... then you're not capable."

  Xiao Qiu first picked out the seventh one and swung it a few times according to the method the officer said, but the paper talisman only made a rustling sound, without even producing any sparks.

  "I'll give it a try," said Er Lang, but the result was the same. The young men took turns trying, and the paper talisman proved to be quite sturdy, without suffering any damage at all, just not burning as the officer had said.

  Fang Fang poked her head out from behind Autumn's back and whispered, "The paper charm doesn't seem to be used like this?"

  "Do you know the method?" Er Biao handed over the paper symbol to Fang Fang with a look of impatience.

  Fang Fang didn't answer. "I don't know either, but I read a book that said the paper charm should be burned with sacred fire, no need to swing it back and forth."

  The two soldiers turned into military officers and said viciously: "It's fun to deceive people? Hand over the sacrificial fire."

  The officer's trick was exposed on the spot, and he didn't mind at all. With a tone of teaching others, he said: "Fireworks can't be taught, they can only be learned by themselves, like you... If you're smart, it'll probably take ten years to learn."

  Two punches knocked the officer to the ground, then rode on him, fists alternately beating fiercely, "Let you deceive people..."

  The boys were stunned, Fangfang was so scared that she shrank behind Xia Qiu again, and it wasn't until a while later that Daliang and the others rushed over to forcibly pull Er Shuang apart.

  He kicked him again and said "You dare to cheat people".

  The officer didn't move, Erliang bowed his head and looked for a while, then raised his head and said in a low voice: "It seems to be dead."

  As soon as the word "death" was mentioned, the atmosphere changed immediately, and even Er Biao felt a little scared, swallowing his saliva, muttering to himself, but no one could hear what he was saying.

  Daliang checked the officer's nose and mouth, "Still breathing, just fainted."

  Two men angrily wanted to go up and fight, but were firmly held back by their companions.

  "Let's rest first and talk about it when he wakes up," said Xia Qiu.

  The boys were divided into two groups, Xia Qiu, Fang Fang, Da Liang and Er Liang sat on one side, while Er Shuang, Leng Zi, Xiao Gou, Zhu Zi and Xiao Shun sat on the other. They didn't usually play together anyway, and now they seemed even more estranged.

  The sky grew darker and the real night fell, all around was quiet and soundless, the forest seemed more sinister. Xia Qiu suddenly stood up, "First, let's get the fire started."

  The young men were at a loss, waiting for someone to tell them what to do. Upon hearing this, they immediately got up and gathered some dry branches nearby, piling them up together. Erliang took out the new lighter he had just obtained, using the flint to strike the steel and ignite the tinder. With both hands shielding it, he carefully lit a small fire.

  The flames gradually grew stronger, and the heat and light dispelled many of the boys' fears, but still no one was willing to speak, nor did anyone know what to do next.

  "Are you looking for death?" The officer finally came to, his first words full of disdain, as if the beating had no effect on him.

  "What did you say?" Er Bao raised his fist and shook it twice.

  The officer sat up, his face bruised and swollen, "It was the firelight that exposed your tracks last night. I didn't expect you to have no memory at all, starting a fire in this forest, it can be seen from far away, are you inviting the snake demon over?"

  The two had nothing more to say. Xia Qiu jumped up again, kicked over the bonfire, and the burning branches came into contact with the damp ground, quickly extinguishing them.

  Just then, a strange noise came from afar, like the sound of river water bubbling up, or the low growl of a wild beast.

  The young men of the Ye Lin town no longer dispersed, but instead gathered together in a tight group, hiding behind a large tree trunk. The two of them tightly grasped the long swords in their hands, thinking that they must make everyone acknowledge themselves as the leader.

  The officer didn't think his guess would come true so quickly, jumped up and swayed back and forth to join the boys.

  In the forest, the night was thick and dark, only a few meters could be seen, but everyone felt it, something huge was slowly approaching from afar, getting closer and closer, then it stopped, and again made the same strange noise as before.

  Xiao Qiu ran out, under the uncomprehending gaze of the crowd, and charged towards the monster. Before long, she led a horse back, "It's a sorrel horse, I was really frightened, didn't even hear its voice."

  Jujube Red Horse affectionately rubbed against Xia Qiu's head, with two packages on his back that were given to Fang Fang by Grandma Wind.

  The boys all walked out and stood around the red horse, able to see familiar animals in the dense forest, bringing them great comfort. When Fangfang searched out a few pieces of leftover dry rations from her bundle, everyone almost cheered.

  The dry rations were divided up equally, although they were far from enough to fill their bellies, but their hearts were no longer so anxious.

  Xiao Qiu even gave a piece of dry rations to the officer and cut off the rope on his hand with a dagger, "Finish eating the dry rations, take us out of the forest."

  "It's too late." The officer sniffed the unfamiliar dry rations, revealing a look of disgust. Fortunately, it was dark and no one noticed. "The guide symbol can only indicate direction, it's too dark, we can't move forward, let's wait until tomorrow morning."

  Xiao Qiu had no objection, and others did not oppose either. They were all exhausted, leaning against the big tree and sitting down, with no mind to chat, slowly falling asleep.

  Xiao Qiu said to the officer before falling asleep: "Don't think about escaping."

  "I don't know the way and I don't have a map to help me, where can I run?" The officer tried to make his voice sound very sincere.

  The boys in the village of Ye Lin were very simple and didn't have much of a defensive heart, even in fear they slept very soundly. Xia Qiu and Fang Fang's bodies slowly tilted, finally resting their heads against each other.

  The officer couldn't sleep, he was particular about where he slept and he also had a plan hidden away.

  In the middle of the night, the officer quietly got up, stretched lightly, and tiptoed over to Xia Qiu, observing for a while before discovering it was too difficult to steal back the paper symbol, so he gave up and instead walked towards the red date horse.

  An old horse knows the way, with this horse, what's the use of a map? The officer secretly despised the foolishness of these young men.

  The jujube red horse has a gentle temperament and is not wary even when strangers approach.

  The officer grasped the reins, turned his head and took a glance at the sleeping young men, thinking that soon these country boys would realize how unforgivable their mistakes were, especially that second lieutenant who dared to hit him and that arrogant little Qiū.

  He sprang nimbly onto his horse's back and was about to urge it into a gallop when he suddenly saw something emerge from the left front, ten or more paces away.

  He was a young man who refused to come out of the woods during the day, and others called him "Baldy". At this moment, he was smiling at the officer as if they were good friends since childhood.

  The officer felt the blood in his body suddenly turn into ice blocks.