Hearing this, Luo Mingyue also hurried over. She looked down and found that the shape of the shadow was a bit like a hedgehog with its hair standing on end. It had no substance, just a void of shadow.
Luo Mingyue reached down his hand, trying to stop the shadow from moving forward.
Qing Rui hurriedly said, "Don't move, quickly pull your hand back, what if I hurt you?"
Luo Mingyue looked calm and said, "It's okay. You just said that this shadow controls the power of time, and I have a long life span, so I will be fine in the short term."
Luo Mingyue had seen the corpse of the puppy on the ground. The corpse was very old... If she remembered correctly, all the people in Mojia Village were puppies, which meant that this shadow could make living creatures age quickly, but the characteristic of the immortal cultivation world where Luo Mingyue was located was long lifespan.
The lifespan of a Qi Refining Stage inhabitant is five hundred years.
The lifespan during the foundation-building period is one thousand years.
The Jindan stage is even longer, with a lifespan of three thousand years.
In the Nascent Soul stage, one can live for five thousand years.
The higher the realm, the longer the lifespan.
Now, Luo Mingyue's lifespan is three thousand years, and her physical appearance is frozen at around twenty years old. Even if her lifespan passes by more than two thousand years, her appearance will remain the same and will not change.
Soon, the shadow spread to Luo Mingyue's fingers.
The hedgehog-shaped shadow suddenly trembled. If it had facial features, its face would definitely be full of excitement at this moment, because it suddenly found a very delicious "food", which was Luo Mingyue's finger.
However, just as it was about to devour the food, it suddenly discovered that the "food" was poisonous. After taking just a small bite, it felt as if it was about to ascend to heaven. It became dizzy and its consciousness gradually faded...
From Luo Mingyue's perspective, the hedgehog shadow trembled violently as soon as it touched her fingertips, and then turned into a blurry light and shadow and slowly disappeared.
"Eh? So fragile?"
Qingrui blinked his eyes, feeling that he had been making a big deal out of nothing. If he had known earlier, he would have put his hand down.
Qingrui asked curiously, "How did it die?"
Luo Mingyue shook her head, "I don't know either."
When she felt the shadow first spread over her body, she felt a slight chill, and then she felt nothing because the shadow had dissipated.
Luo Mingyue looked around the entire village, but didn't see Lu Yunting. The Mo brothers happened to be near the farmland, so she called out, "Ajin."
Mo Jin came out of the pit and asked, "What do you want, Immortal?"
Luo Mingyue said: "Go ask Zhuge Chengnian... Have they ever seen a kind of shadow? The shape of a shadow is similar to that of a hedgehog, without substance. Wherever it passes, crops wither and living things age and die."
Hearing this, Mo Jin noticed the dead body of the puppy not far away. He walked over, but did not rashly reach out to touch the body of the puppy. He just observed it for a while and then stood up.
Luo Mingyue pointed him in a direction and said, "Zhuge Chengnian is over there."
Mo Jin followed the instructions and found Zhuge Chengnian practicing sword.
Seeing Mo Jin, Zhuge Chengnian put the sword back into his body, a smile appeared on his face, and he asked politely: "Brother Jin, why are you here?"
Mo Jin said: "Have you ever seen a hedgehog-shaped shadow that causes animals to age and die quickly wherever it passes?"
"Shadow?" Zhuge Chengnian thought for a moment and said, "I seem to have heard of a similar case before. All the people in a village died of old age. There were no dark clouds in the sky, but the whole village was shrouded in a huge shadow. The emperor took this matter very seriously and sent a royal messenger to deal with it... Later, I didn't pay attention to it, so I don't know how it was resolved in the end."
After Zhuge Chengnian finished speaking, he went to ask the rest of the team for news, but everyone shook their heads, indicating that they had not noticed.
Zhuge Chengnian said: "Brother Jin, you asked this question because you found a shadow monster in our village?"
Mo Jin nodded, but didn't say that it was Luo Mingyue who discovered it, because he felt that Luo Mingyue was an immortal, so it was better to keep him mysterious.
To the people in the village, Luo Mingyue is their lifesaver. As long as he provides food and drink, he is the most benevolent and kind deity in the world. But to outsiders like Zhuge Chengnian, the deities are high above, mysterious and powerful. If they knew that there are things in this world that the deities don't know, they might feel disappointed.
Zhuge Chengnian asked: "Where is the scene? Can you take me to see it?"
"Can."
Mo Jin led the way in front, Zhuge Chengnian followed beside him, and the rest of the team members walked behind, and soon they arrived at the "crime scene".
There was a large area of crops that were wilting. The fresh tender leaves that had just grown had experienced growth and decay in a short period of time, turning into rotten leaves that lay crookedly on the ground.
The puppy's body also looked withered and decayed, with burnt hair and loose skin.
Zhuge Chengnian squatted down, stroked the fur on the puppy's back, and said solemnly: "This is an ability related to time, but this power is not pure, because if it is pure, in just a short while, the puppy will grow up and then age, just like the vegetables in the farmland..."
"It's relatively easy for vegetable leaves to age, but it's more difficult for puppies to age because they're alive. That's why they look like puppies dying... If I'm not mistaken, that shadow monster should have the ability of [pseudo-time]. On the surface, it can age living things, but in fact, its main ability is [absorb vitality]."
A member of the team walked around the farmland, squatted down and pulled out a rotten vegetable leaf, carefully felt it for a moment, and said: "The monster is in the form of a shadow, and it has shadow-related characteristics..."
As he said that, he turned his head, looked at Mo Jin, and asked a crucial question: "Where did that shadow monster go?"
Mo Jin said calmly, "I don't know. It seemed to have run away on its own. It wanted to enter the village, but for some reason, it suddenly trembled and then turned around and ran away."
Zhuge Chengnian touched his chin and said, "Could it be that he was scared away?"
One of the team members said: "Mojia Village is protected by an immortal. Maybe the shadow monster sensed the immortal's aura and fled in a hurry."
Another member nodded and agreed, "I think so too. Or maybe there is a master hidden in Mojia Village who can deter the shadow monster."
Zhuge Chengnian said, "Don't talk nonsense. We all know the villagers of Mojia Village. There is no such thing as a master. It must be a fairy who scared away the shadow. Don't forget that there is a statue of a fairy in the village."
"Indeed, I think what Brother Zhuge said makes sense."
The rest of the team members nodded.
Just then, Song Lu shouted, "There is also a shadow outside Tianliu Village!"
He originally wanted to let Luo Mingyue take action, but there were many refugees living outside the gate of Tianliu Village. At this moment, the shadow monster was about to spread to one of the refugees. In desperation, Song Lu could only stretch out his hand to intercept the shadow.
Just like the situation just now, the shadow was extremely excited when it touched Song Lu's hand, thinking it had encountered a "delicious meal", but it soon dissipated into a messy dark shadow and disappeared into the air.
The refugees were completely unaware that a danger had disappeared into thin air. They were building houses at a rapid pace. Everyone had a bright smile on their face and felt that the days were full of hope.
The refugees were chatting, and someone said, "Hey, look, the grass on the roadside was fine just now, how come it has wilted in the blink of an eye?"
The people nearby said nonchalantly, "It's just weeds anyway, so let it wilt. It saves us the trouble of weeding."
"After we build the house, we will reclaim the wasteland and buy some seeds so that we can grow crops to support ourselves."
"Isn't this a bad idea? Tianliu Village is only taking us in temporarily. If we reclaim wasteland and grow crops, it will be like developing a new village... Most importantly, we are right next to the gate of Tianliu Village. It will be inconvenient for the villagers of Tianliu Village to go out in the future. They will have to pass through our village."
"But we can't just eat and drink for free every day, right? We have to do more work. We can elect a representative to negotiate with the people of Tianliu Village and try to get them to agree to let us reclaim the wasteland."
"Okay, the question is who should I choose?"
The refugees had enough to eat and drink every day during this period. They could eat not only meat, eggs, milk, vegetables, but also fruits. Everyone had gained some weight, and their behavior seemed no different from that of normal people. No one could imagine that they were actually the dead whose lives had been melted away.
At this time, Ye Renyi volunteered: "I will be the representative!"
During this period of time, he tried every possible way to sneak into Tianliu Village, but he failed every time. He could only start doing hard labor and building houses like other refugees. He was very tired every day, so he looked forward to finding his daughter every day.
"You...you want to be a representative?" The refugees' eyes were all focused on Ye Renyi.
Everyone turned their heads at exactly the same angle, their pupils were deep, their gazes were fixed, calm and silent.
This strange scene made Ye Renyi shiver uncontrollably, and he couldn't even speak clearly, "What...what happened? If you...if you have a suitable candidate, I don't need to be the representative..."
He took a few steps back, only to find that there were several refugees standing behind him.
Everyone had the exact same expression on their face.
"Husband..." Qu Xiaohua was also very scared and shouted timidly. Because when she looked around, she was the only one with a normal expression on her family of four. The rest of the refugees looked like... like they were collectively possessed.
Ye Zhuangshi and Ye Meili hugged Qu Xiaohua's thighs and dared not say a word.
Ye Renyi swallowed his saliva, unable to bear the psychological pressure, and shouted: "I won't be the boss anymore, which means you can choose whoever you want to be the boss!"
As soon as these words came out, the refugees' expressions became normal again. They seemed not to notice their abnormal behavior just now and continued chatting: "Ye Renyi, actually you can represent us if you want to. I have no objection."
"Yes, I agree."
Ye Renyi waved his hands repeatedly, "No, no need."
He thought to himself: "Why are people like this? Is there something wrong with the food? But we eat the same food every day, which means there must be nothing wrong with the food... So what's going on?"
Ye Renyi walked aside with his wife and children and began to whisper.
Qu Xiaohua whispered, "Husband, I don't think we can stay here any longer... You were right before, something is wrong in Tianliu Village."
Ye Renyi said irritably: "The problem is that we have enough food and clothing here, and there is plenty of water. If we leave, where should we go?"
Qu Xiaohua said: "We can go to the town. I have already asked around. There is a town nearby called Hulu Town. It rains every month in the town."
Ye Renyi's eyes lit up and he said, "Have you asked for the route?"
Qu Xiaohua nodded and said, "The journey may be a bit far."
Ye Renyi said: "I don't mind, but I'm afraid the two children can't handle it. Also... we are penniless now, how are we going to survive in the town?"
Hearing this, Qu Xiaohua's expression froze for a moment, and she said, "I can find a job doing embroidery. Zhuangshi and Meili are both eight years old, so they can both help with the housework."
Ye Renyi muttered, "I can't sleep on the street..."
Qu Xiaohua said: "Husband, didn't you want to leave here before? Why do I feel like you don't want to leave now?"
Ye Renyi sighed and said, "I want to leave, ma'am, turn around and look, there are many people staring at us, and they are surrounding us. Can we leave?"
Qu Xiaohua was surprised. She looked around secretly and found that many people were indeed staring at this place. She whispered, "How about... let's give it a try?"
Ye Renyi asked: "Try what?"
Qu Xiaohua said: "Let's pretend to leave and see if they will stop us."
Ye Renyi thought, if he really wanted to escape, he should sneak out in the middle of the night while everyone was asleep. If he tried now, he would definitely alert the enemy and be watched more closely. But then he thought again, he didn't want to leave for the time being, so he nodded, "Okay, let's try it."
As a man, Ye Renyi took the lead and walked away.
Sure enough, some refugees came over with a faint smile on their faces, just like neighbors greeting each other on the street, and asked naturally: "Where are you going?"
Ye Renyi said: "I'm taking my family out for a walk."
The refugee said: "It's such a dangerous world out there, it's better not to bring children with you."
As he spoke, he waved towards a place not far away, and soon several children came running over and enthusiastically took away the twins, a boy and a girl, from Ye Renyi's family.
"Ye Zhuangshi, come here, let's play together."
"Beautiful, I just saw two flowers, they are very beautiful, they are pure white. Come on, I will take you to pick flowers."
As the children talked, they forcefully pulled both children away.
The refugee who was blocking the road was still smiling, and he reminded, "Brother Ye, don't go too far. Remember to come back early so that you can catch up with lunch."
"Okay, okay." Ye Renyi and his wife walked a dozen steps and found that the refugees no longer paid attention to them or stopped them.
Qu Xiaohua gritted her teeth and said, "These people are really smart. They took my children away directly and then ignored us because we can't just abandon our children and leave... My children are my life."
At this point, Qu Xiaohua suddenly seemed to have made up her mind and said, "How about this, let's go back and make an escape plan. I'll take Zhuangshi and run first."
Ye Renyi asked: "Why bring him with you?"
Qu Xiaohua rolled her eyes at him, "Are you stupid? I'll take my son away, and then you find a chance to run away. As for Meili... let her stay. She's a girl, and her physical strength is not as good as ours. She's not suitable for long journeys. I can't bear to see her suffer. Anyway, there's food and drink here every day, and I will definitely not treat her badly..."
Ye Renyi didn't care much about his daughter, so he didn't care what happened to Ye Meili. He said, "The method you mentioned is indeed feasible... Let me think about it again."
Qu Xiaohua nodded.
Ye Renyi is essentially a lazy man. Now he has no worries about food and drink every day. Everything is perfect except that he has no house to live in. Therefore, he has developed the idea of settling down here. It would be even better if his eldest daughter could come back, because his eldest daughter is good at washing clothes, cleaning, chopping wood and cooking. Now without his eldest daughter as a free babysitter, Ye Renyi feels that his life is very uncomfortable. He chooses to build the simplest house, which has only one room with two large beds. One is for him and his wife, and the other is for his children. Although boys and girls of seven years old should sit on different seats, Ye Renyi feels that as long as there is a quilt in the middle or a bed board, there is no need to be so particular.
At this moment, Song Lu looked at the scene of the little people village below and asked, "Master, are these little people... all sick? I think their mental states are a little strange. They just tilted their heads and didn't speak. It was scary. Only Ye Renyi's family is relatively normal."