A few people walked over to investigate and dragged it out of the bushes. It was a charred corpse. The burns were too obvious. One could tell that it had struggled in the sea of fire before its death. Its face was completely viscous and no facial features could be seen. They could only tell that it was a woman from its body shape and the snow-white clothes that didn't melt in the fire.
Chu Wanning put his hand in the air and closed his eyes. He said, "There are no traces of the exquisite chess pieces."
Someone murmured, "That's strange. Xu Shuanglin made an entire mountain of exquisite chess pieces. Could it be that he left this one out?"
Someone immediately retorted, "Have you ever seen a corpse left alone on the mountain top?"
Mo Ran also walked over and looked at the female corpse carefully. As the person who was the most skilled at exquisite chess pieces in his previous life, he obviously knew about the restrictions of this spell. Therefore, he had a fairly solid guess about the identity of this female corpse, but he needed some evidence.
He soon found evidence.
Mo Ran took a chain from her hand and wiped away the ash on it, revealing some light red spiritual stones.
He handed the chain to Jiang Xi and said, "Song Qiutong."
"… How did you …" Jiang Xi was halfway through her question when she looked at the chain and realized, "You recognize this chain?"
"I gave it to her as a wedding gift." Mo Ran said concisely, "Song Qiutong is the descendant of Xingyi. She is a butterfly beauty who subdued the evil phoenix spirit. She is the key to opening the forbidden area of Mount Huang."
Someone asked, "Did Xu Shuanglin kill Song Qiutong and use her as a key to open the gate of Mount Huang?"
Mo Ran shook his head and stared at Song Qiutong's face for a long time. He didn't feel pity for her, but his feelings were complicated. Mo Ran said, "No, I'm afraid that when he brought her up the mountain, she was still alive."
"Why do you say that?"
This time, before Mo Ran could speak, Jiang Xi spoke first. Jiang Xi did not intend to let the younger generation be in the limelight again. Perhaps it was because he wanted to save his face. Instead, he said calmly, "To give Huangshan an order."
Mo Ran glanced at him and thought that this was for the best. If he said everything, it would be harder for him to defend himself if he was suspected in the future. Therefore, he walked to the side and gave his seat to Jiang Xi so that Jiang Xi could speak.
Someone asked, "Order? Song Qiutong is a weak woman, what kind of orders can she give? "
"She may be weak, but her ancestors may not be all weaklings. The evil phoenix spirit of Mount Huang will only obey the order of the bloodline that subdued it, "Jiang Xi was not a foolish person and said," Song Qiutong is the last descendant of this bloodline. "
That person sucked in a breath of cold air. "Ah, the one who subdued the evil phoenix spirit was the Butterfly Bone Beauty Xi?"
"Not bad."
"That's unheard of …"
Jiang Xi said, "It's normal that you haven't heard of it. The Four Great Evil Mountains have no other purpose other than guarding. Therefore, no one cares too much about whether they can be opened or who opens them. Song Qiutong lost her home and was auctioned. She probably didn't know that she could hide on Mount Huang … She probably hasn't heard of her ancestor subduing the evil phoenix spirit. "
"So … so it was Xu Shuanglin who brought her here?"
"That should be the case." Jiang Xi continued, "At that time, the Confucian Wind Sect's calamity fire broke out. Everyone fled. No one would return to the main hall to care about that weak woman. The only one who could care about her was Xu Shuanglin, or the colleague behind Xu Shuanglin. "
Xue Zhengyong pondered on the side and nodded. "Since the person behind the scenes can tear open a space crack and take Xu Shuanglin to another place, it should be easy for him to take Song Qiutong. Why don't we think about it — he takes her to Mount Huang. Song Qiutong is a person who tries to curry favor with those in power. She will only obey if she grasps this life-saving straw. At this time, that person only needs to take her to Mount Huang and let her give orders to Mount Huang. She won't refuse. "
Someone asked, "But why doesn't he use the precious chess piece to control Song Qiutong?"
"Because the evil phoenix spirit can distinguish whether the person giving orders is being controlled or not," Jiang Xi said, "It must be alive and willing. Only then will this mountain listen to its orders."
Everyone slowly realized what was going on. Someone said in astonishment, "Then what are we doing here? Didn't we fall for his trick and run to his' behind the scenes'? Because of this damn mantle of Mount Huang, we can't get rid of these Soul-Eating Insects … What should we do now? "
Jiang Xi frowned. He seemed to dislike Mo Ran's analogy of "in front of the stage" and "behind the scenes". However, he still said, "Find the 'in front of the stage' and directly destroy Xu Shuanglin's puppets."
"Grandmaster Mo."
After Jiang Xi finished speaking, he suddenly called out to Mo Ran. Mo Ran was originally listening attentively with his arms crossed. When he heard him mention himself, he couldn't help but be startled.
"Hmm? What's wrong? "
Jiang Xi said faintly, "Grandmaster Mo's analysis just now was very clear and logical. Then, I would like to ask Grandmaster Mo one more question. Where is the 'in front of the stage' and how do we find it?"
Mo Ran, "… Try seeing ghosts?"
"Try … what?"
Mo Ran coughed softly. A flame lit up in his palm and a willow vine suddenly sprang out. He said, "It's this. It's called seeing ghosts."
Jiang Xi, "…"
Seeing ghosts was the same as Heaven's Inquisition. They both had the ability to interrogate living people, evil spirits, and corpses whose souls had left their bodies. The difference was that interrogating people and corpses required them to speak. Interrogating ghosts, on the other hand, required them to communicate directly with their souls.
Song Qiutong had been dead for more than a month. Her soul was long gone. Fortunately, Mount Huang was full of Yin energy and her body had not yet decomposed. Mo Ran said in a low voice, "Seeing ghosts, go and interrogate them."
Seeing ghosts immediately obeyed the order. They stretched out their branches and wrapped around Song Qiutong's body three times. Her body began to emit a dazzling red light.
The red light flowed in Mo Ran's eyes. He opened his mouth and asked in a low voice, "Is the person who brought you here Xu Shuanglin?"
Song Qiutong's charred face was hard to distinguish. For a moment, there was no movement.
"… Is it not working?" Someone muttered softly.
Mo Ran narrowed his eyes and asked again, "Is the person who brought you here Xu Shuanglin?"
Still, there was no movement.
Jiang Xi said, "It seems that Master Mo is still too young. Why don't you let your Master do it?"
However, at this moment, Song Qiutong's neck suddenly moved! Her movements were stiff and extremely slow. However, there was no doubt that she was shaking her head very obviously.
Xue Zhengyong said in shock, "It's not Xu Shuanglin?"
Mo Ran gripped the ghost tightly. The meridians on the back of his hand bulged slightly. He asked again, "Then, have you seen the person who brought you here clearly?"
After a few moments of silence, Song Qiutong suddenly opened her mouth. However, she did not answer. Instead, what came out of her mouth was a large slimy snake. It fell to the ground and slithered away with a hiss.
One of Lonemoon's disciples immediately recognized it. "She has a Swallowing Snake in her stomach!"
The Swallowing Snake was a demonic beast. It was not poisonous and was covered in spirit armor. It could survive in a human's stomach for more than 20 years.
This kind of venomous snake was also used by many sects in the Upper Cultivation World. It was specially made for the Shadow Guards to swallow it. From then on, the Shadow Guard could only answer the truth to the owner of the Speech Swallowing Snake. No matter what others asked them, they could only answer lies or half-truths. Otherwise, this kind of venomous snake would wake up from its hibernation and instantly tear apart the host's internal organs, throat, and tongue.
The red light of the ghost was suddenly extinguished. Song Qiutong's entire body was trembling. She kept shaking her head. A large lump of scarlet blood flowed out of her mouth. It looked like her internal organs had been torn apart. There was also her tongue, throat …
She could not tell the truth anymore.
Everyone was shocked. Suddenly, someone suggested, "Since she can't tell, why don't we let her write?"
The moment Mo Ran saw the Swallowing Snake, he already knew that the mastermind was very meticulous. It was already beyond the reach of ordinary people. However, he still stepped forward and lifted Song Qiutong's hands to take a closer look.
Xue Zhengyong asked, "How is it?"
Mo Ran shook his head. "Her muscles and bones have all been cut off. She can't write anything at all."
The surroundings were getting closer and closer. Suddenly, a chilly wind blew past. Ten thousand leaves laughed sinisterly within the mountain forest. The howls of the zombies could be heard from both near and far. For a moment, the atmosphere on the mountain peak was frozen to the extreme. Ma Yun, the owner of Peach Bud Manor, broke this deathly silence and said, "Then, then the clues are gone?"
No one said anything.
Mo Ran withdrew the ghost. Song Qiutong's body had already softly fallen to the ground.
Soon, the vines of Mount Huang crept over and carefully coiled around their master's body. They wrapped her up and dragged her into the bushes, as if they wanted to use this small bush to preserve her.
He actually didn't understand why Xu Shuanglin and the others didn't directly kill Song Qiutong and burn her to the ground. Instead, they went through so much trouble to cut off the meridians in her hands and feed them to the Swallowing Snake. However, when he saw this scene, he suddenly understood — —
Mount Huang obeyed the Butterfly Bone Beauty Xi Clan from birth to death. As long as her body was in Mount Huang, the Phoenix Evil Spirit would not allow anyone to burn its master to ashes.
Mo Ran didn't know how to feel for a moment. He suddenly thought of himself in his previous life. When he died, no one would collect his body. Before he breathed his last, he had to lie in a pre-dug coffin. In fact, that was meaningless. It would be strange if the rebel army that attacked the mountain didn't dismember his body.
In his previous life, he probably died in an even more miserable way than Song Qiutong. At the end of his life, there wasn't even a single vine that was willing to protect him.
Many people around were muttering and talking to each other. They frowned and discussed what to do next. Some people closed their eyes and pondered, such as Jiang Xi and Chu Wanning.
Mo Ran also closed his eyes and sorted out everything that was happening in front of him. Such a bloody method was very similar to his previous life. Perhaps because of this, Mo Ran felt that it wasn't that difficult to guess what Xu Shuanglin was thinking and doing.
He seemed to see Xu Shuanglin in his Sansheng Courtyard, walking back and forth barefoot. Xu Shuanglin was thinking, asking himself: What should I do if I don't have enough spiritual power to control a group of cultivator corpses?
Then he thought of an idea — —
Using the Formation of Unity, killing the same number of ordinary people. One cultivator's corpse corresponded to an ordinary corpse, like a marionette, for him to control.
Where was the safest place to do this?
The Four Great Evil Mountains.
What should I do if I can't open the enchantment of Mount Huang?
With Song Qiutong's corpse.
Mo Ran's eyes darkened as he pondered over the little clues that had been connected to each other.
Where did the corpses of the people come from?
— — The Linyi Calamity Fire was burned to the ground.
Although they were all guesses, they all matched up. The light in his eyes gathered and dispersed. He could even feel that he was Xu Shuanglin and Xu Shuanglin was him. Standing at the top of Mount Huang, his eyes were almost crazy as he looked at the surging corpse tide at the foot of the mountain.
It became clearer and clearer until suddenly, he was stuck at a point.
If he was Xu Shuanglin, after doing all this, should he set up a "stage" and perform the puppet show that he had painstakingly arranged?
Where should he choose the "stage"?
Where could he find the corpses of powerful and considerable cultivators?
If he was discovered, he could be protected …
The gradually flourishing light in the sky suddenly dimmed.
"Jiao Mountain …" he muttered.
Jiang Xi looked at him sideways. "What?"
Mo Ran's expression changed. He looked to the east and suddenly became a little angry. "Jiao Mountain! Hero's Mound! — — The stage he chose is at Jiao Mountain's Hero's Mound! In the Linyi Calamity, most of the victims were ordinary people. Xu Shuanglin could get so many corpses of ordinary people, but he couldn't get the corpses of powerful cultivators! — — Hero's Mound! "
Jiang Xi also reacted. "You're saying that Xu Shuanglin summoned the corpses of the Confucian Wind Sect buried in Hero's Mound in the past several hundred years?"
Mo Ran didn't feel like talking nonsense with him. He cursed inwardly and rushed down the mountain.
Xu Shuanglin was really a madman! Hero's Mound buried generations of Confucian Wind Sect's sect masters, even the first sect master who became immortals. Using the Unity Formation to control ordinary cultivators was fine, but to control these people?
Once Xu Shuanglin's magic power couldn't support it, these powerful corpses would break free. At that time, Xu Shuanglin would suffer a backlash and die suddenly. The most powerful corpses of the Confucian Wind Sect in the past several hundred years would go berserk and lose control.
That would be a great calamity no less terrible than the Endless Heaven Splitting Hell!