Chapter 41: Soul-Bewitching Array

Death Valley, people often die.

Death Valley is located one hundred miles east of Nanhua Cheng, it is a canyon twenty or thirty miles long, covered by thick fog all year round.

Zhang Xingyu and the four had just arrived at the entrance of Death Valley when they were stopped by a team of soldiers guarding the valley entrance.

"The four of you, Death Valley is extremely dangerous, the imperial court has announced that this place is permanently closed. Go back where you came from." A person who looked like the head of the soldiers advised Zhang Xingyu and his group of four.

"Closed this place. Why close this place?" Zhang Xingyu asked.

The head of the soldiers glanced at him: "Do you know why this place is called Death Valley? Because living things that go in have never come out. The reason the imperial court closed this place is to prevent people from rushing in and losing their lives."

Zhang Xingyu saw this, stepped forward, and stuffed a handful of gold coins into his hand: "Brother soldier, we will only pick a Ghost Face Flower on the periphery and then go back."

The head of the soldiers weighed the bag in his hand and whispered: "Young man, it's not that I won't let you in, it's really that I'm afraid you'll lose your lives inside. I heard that Death Valley is very evil inside?"

Zhang Xingyu bowed and begged: "Brother soldier, my sister-in-law was injured in the soul by a demon and is waiting for the Ghost Face Flower to save her life. Human life is at stake, I hope you can be accommodating."

The head of the soldiers put the gold coins into his pocket, then lowered his head and whispered to Zhang Xingyu: "Young man, you can't go in from here. There is an image-recording stone at the valley entrance. If people know I let you in, my rice bowl will be broken."

"Ah, then how can we get in?" Zhu Dafu was anxious on the side.

The head of the soldiers reached out to the two, rubbed his fingers, and smiled without saying a word.

Zhang Xingyu saw this and took out another handful of gold coins.

The head of the soldiers took the gold coins, then pointed to the west: "Young man, if you must go in, I will point you a path. See, go west for another four or five miles, there is a small path, go in from there, there is no one guarding there."

"Thank you." The four said goodbye and left.

The head of the soldiers looked at their departing backs, shook his head, and sighed.

"Sigh, what good four young people. A pity! Rushing to their deaths."

Walking five miles west, between two mountains, in the grass, a small path one person wide indeed appeared.

"It should be here. Let's rest for a while, and then go in from here." Zhang Xingyu looked at the small path and said softly.

Jin Muyun nodded, took out talismans and pills from his bosom: "Each person carries ten talismans and a bottle of detoxifying spirit pills. After going in, I will explore the path in front, you follow me closely, don't get lost."

The four rested for a while, stood up, and walked along the small path into the valley.

The further in they went, the lower the temperature, and the thicker the fog.

After walking for about a quarter of an hour, the white fog was as thick as cotton, and people couldn't be seen two or three meters away.

The four had to hold hands and walk forward slowly and carefully.

After walking for another half an hour like this, the four walked out of the thick fog, and in front of them was a lush mountain forest.

"This is not right, why is the scenery here so familiar!" The little fatty shouted.

"It's not familiar. This is exactly where we just entered." Zhang Xingyu pointed to the small path under his feet and said.

Hu Siping also nodded: "We encountered a ghost wall and walked back."

Jin Muyun shook his head: "This is not a ghost wall. There should be a maze array here, walking along the road, we walked back again."

"Maze array?" The little fatty was puzzled.

"Exactly a maze array. The fog here is mostly formed by the maze array." Jin Muyun explained.

"Then what to do, break the array?" The little fatty asked.

"To break the array, you have to find the array eye. The fog is so thick, the array eye is hard to find." Jin Muyun frowned.

"Can't break the array, then how do we get in?" The little fatty was a bit anxious.

"Little fatty Zhu, don't worry. Let's go in and try again. This time, let's be careful, look while walking, and see if we can find it." Zhang Xingyu said.

The fog rolled, the small path wound.

The four walked while checking and marking.

Turned ninety-nine corners, made ninety-nine marks.

One hour later, the four returned to the original place.

"Brother Jin, we turned left forty-nine times in total, turned right fifty times, the distance of each turn is about three hundred steps." Zhang Xingyu told Jin Muyun the situation he remembered.

Jin Muyun took out his Dharma saber and drew on the ground according to the path Zhang Xingyu remembered.

After drawing, he inserted the saber into the scabbard: "It should be the Nine Nine Maze Array."

"Can it be broken?" Zhu Dafu asked.

"Yes." Jin Muyun nodded.

The four discussed for a while, then walked in again.

After walking three hundred steps, Jin Muyun stopped.

"You follow me closely, let's try walking one hundred steps to the left."

After walking one hundred steps to the left, a stone half a foot high appeared in front of the four.

The stone was covered with winding runes.

Jin Muyun pulled out his Dharma saber and slashed at the stone.

With a "pop", the stone broke into two halves.

The fog in front of the four slowly dissipated, and a sheep-gut path was revealed.

"It really is the Nine Nine Maze Array." Jin Muyun laughed.

The four stepped onto the sheep-gut path.

They didn't know that after they left for a while, the broken stone on the ground actually slowly merged together again.

The small path was covered by the maze fog again.

After turning seventy-seven forty-nine times, slashing seventy-seven forty-nine stones. One hour later, the four finally walked out of the maze array covered by fog.

Outside the array was a deep canyon. On both sides of the canyon, cliffs and precipices, the terrain was dangerous. In the center of the canyon, pebbles piled up, and streams flowed.

"Is this Death Valley?" The little fatty asked.

Jin Muyun nodded: "It should be."

Jin Muyun reached out and took out a bundle of rope, tying one end of the rope to the root of a big tree.

"I'll go down first."

Jin Muyun grabbed the rope and slowly slid down along the cliff. Before long, his figure disappeared from the sight of the three.

"Let's go."

Hu Siping didn't hesitate and grabbed the rope to slide down.

After Hu Siping's figure disappeared, it was the little fatty's turn.

Zhu Dafu's legs were trembling. Before going down, sweat had already started to bead on his forehead.

"Little fatty Zhu, can you do it, if not, don't go down!" Zhang Xingyu advised.

"I, I want to go down, I want to save my sister."

Although he was afraid in his heart, Zhu Dafu still held the rope and moved towards the cliff step by step.

His steps were very small, his movements very slow. Every step he moved, the fat on his body kept shaking up and down.

"I'm not afraid. I want to save my sister, I want to save my sister." Zhu Dafu muttered to himself.

Zhang Xingyu shook his head. He stepped forward to carefully check the lock of the sliding rope for Zhu Dafu, and after confirming it was correct, he urged: "Don't look down, don't look up, every step must be steady."

Zhu Dafu went down. After his figure disappeared, Zhang Xingyu was the last to set off.

His movements were very light, and his sliding speed was very fast. Not long after, a fat figure appeared below him.

"I'm not afraid, I want to save my sister, I want to save my sister."

Accompanied by low murmurs, Zhu Dafu's body descended slowly. Although very slow, it was very steady.

Zhang Xingyu breathed a sigh of relief.

One hour later, the four arrived at the bottom of the valley one after another.

"Tired to death, tired to death."

Once at the bottom of the valley, Zhu Dafu lay on the ground without any image.

"Not bad!"

Zhang Xingyu patted his shoulder, then sat down on a rock nearby.

He looked up and around. Above, blue sky and white clouds; beside him, streams flowing; on the cliff, wild flowers blooming.

"The scenery is not bad, it doesn't look like a dangerous place. Why would it be called Death Valley?" He grinned and said.

"The more harmless it looks, the more likely it is to be dangerous. Everyone should be careful!" Hu Siping reminded.

After resting for a quarter of an hour, the four stood up and walked slowly along the stream towards the depths of the canyon.

The further in they went, the darker the light, the lower the temperature.

After walking more than ten miles, the four were exhausted, so they stopped to rest.

The four squatted by the stream and washed their faces.

"So comfortable." Zhu Dafu sighed.

Just as his voice fell, the sky suddenly changed face, and deafening thunder sounded above the cliff.

Immediately after, raindrops the size of beans fell from above with a slap.

"Quickly go to the tree by the shore to hide." Jin Muyun shouted loudly.

The heavy rain came fast and went fast.

A quarter of an hour later, the thunder stopped and the rain ceased, the sky cleared, and a beautiful rainbow appeared over the canyon.

"Look quickly, what is that?" Zhu Dafu shouted loudly.

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound.

I saw under the rainbow, on the cliff, a black flower that looked like a human face was swaying constantly.

"Ghost Face Flower." Everyone shouted in unison.

Seeing the goal of this trip, excitement appeared on the faces of the four.

"You wait here, I'll go up and pick it." Jin Muyun said first.

"Brother Jin, be careful, watch out for demonic beasts." Zhang Xingyu urged.

In Xuantiandalu, places where natural treasures grow usually have demonic beasts guarding them.

Jin Muyun naturally knew this.

The crowd came to the bottom of the cliff. Jin Muyun bit the flying sword, used both hands and feet, like an agile ape, and climbed up the cliff.

Half an hour later, Jin Muyun slowly approached the place where the Ghost Face Flower grew.

His figure suddenly paused, and then his whole body stuck tightly to the cliff like a gecko.

Bottom of the cliff.

The hearts of the three were hanging in mid-air. Needless to say, Jin Muyun must have encountered trouble. Perhaps, there was some powerful demonic beast guarding the place where that Ghost Face Flower grew.

The three clenched their fists, but dared not make a sound.

Now they couldn't help with anything, the only thing they could do was pray and wait.

The crowd waited quietly like this.

Another half an hour passed. Jin Muyun, who had been lying down, suddenly moved. He saw his figure like lightning, and in two or three moves, he reached the side of the Ghost Face Flower.

He had a wooden saber in his left hand and a jade box in his right, his movements as fast as lightning.

Ghost Face Flower in hand.

"Phew." The three under the cliff breathed a sigh of relief together.

Just at this moment, a shrill ghost cry suddenly sounded above the cliff, and immediately after, a distorted ghost face appeared in the fog.

"Run!"

Jin Muyun shouted at the three under the cliff while in mid-air.

"Run!"

The three under the cliff turned and ran wildly.

At the same time, a roaring sound sounded over the canyon again.

Immediately after, the ground shook violently, streams of black fog gushed out from the ground, and huge mountain rocks kept falling from the cliffs on both sides.

"Bad!"

The four ran for their lives.

In the canyon, the fog became thicker and thicker.

The fog gathered into a black torrent, chasing the four along the riverbed.

"Go up to the cliff by the shore." Zhang Xingyu shouted loudly while running.

The four rushed to the shore and climbed up along the mountain cliff.

"Oh my."

A scream came.

Zhang Xingyu turned to look, only to see the little fatty fall to the bottom of the valley.

"Damn you!"

Zhang Xingyu didn't have time to think, and quickly slid to the bottom of the valley.

He grabbed the little fatty.

"Dafu, are you injured?" Zhang Xingyu asked anxiously.

"Twisted my foot." The little fatty answered with a grin.

"Step on me, hurry up." Zhang Xingyu said, squatting down.

"No, Brother Xingyu, you go quickly. I'm injured, I can't go up." The little fatty shook his head.

"Don't talk nonsense." Zhang Xingyu grabbed the little fatty and tried hard to carry him on his shoulder.

The fog torrent was getting closer and closer, and it was about to reach them.

"Grab me, Dafu."

At a critical moment, a palm reached down, it was Jin Muyun who found that the two didn't climb up, and hurriedly slid down from above.

"Don't come down, pull Dafu up first." Zhang Xingyu shouted at Jin Muyun while pushing the little fatty up with all his might.

"Come up!"

Jin Muyun grabbed Zhu Dafu's big hand hard.

At the same time, the fog torrent swept past.

The torrent came fast and went fast.

A quarter of an hour later, the canyon returned to its former clarity.

Blue sky and white clouds, streams flowing, wild flowers fragrant.

Only three heart-rending shouts echoed in the canyon.

"Xingyu!"

"Brother Xingyu!"

"Zhang Xingyu!" ===== CHAPTER 42 =====