The next day, Zhao Zhao was still in her dream when Song Yao, looking annoyed, dragged her up, saying they were setting off for Po Suo Village.
This time, Song Yao didn't take her on that uncomfortable "vehicle". Instead, she drew a formation in a backyard of the Song Mansion.
Zhao Zhao had seen a lot of demons' magic on Wutong Mountain before, but not much of human magic. So she squatted beside excitedly to watch Song Yao draw.
Seeing her like this, Song Yao said with five parts disdain, three parts pride, and two parts pity, "This is a Thousand - Mile Formation that can shrink the distance of a thousand miles. It can teleport in an instant."
Zhao Zhao flattered, "How amazing!"
Flattered by the praise, Song Yao got a bit carried away. Holding her head high, she said, "You should learn well. Don't even fail to master such a simple formation. Otherwise, you'll disgrace our Song Family when you enter the Mysterious Sect."
Then she sized up Zhao Zhao and said, "Someone as stupid as you probably needs a year or half a year to learn how to use it."
Zhao Zhao was completely confused. "Cousin, what is the Mysterious Sect?"
"The Mysterious Sect is a place jointly established by major demon - hunting families. It's specifically for dealing with those demons that bring disasters to the human world."
Zhao Zhao took a small step back and felt a bit nervous. "I have to go too?"
Song Yao replied, "Otherwise? You're a daughter of the Song Family. Of course, you have to go."
Zhao Zhao: "..." She thought it would be better for a demon like her to stay away from that place called the Mysterious Sect.
"Alright, enter the formation. Let's go to Po Suo Village." After finishing the formation, Song Yao pushed Zhao Zhao into it.
A strong wind whistled by. In an instant, the two of them arrived at a village.
The village looked very backward, giving a sense of being isolated from the world.
The whole village was surrounded by mountains, and there was no visible road for vehicles. Even the houses were in the style of sixty years ago.
Zhao Zhao looked around and vaguely felt a strange contradiction in the village.
The small houses in the village seemed to be shrouded in a haze, but there was also a reassuring aura floating in the air, which was very much like... spiritual energy.
When they walked into the village, the villagers stopped what they were doing and stared directly at them.
Zhao Zhao felt creeped out. She trotted a few steps to catch up with Song Yao and whispered, "Cousin, why are there so few girls here?"
Hearing this, Song Yao frowned. Indeed, on the way here, most of the villagers were men, and they could only see a few women occasionally.
An old man with a hunched back walked towards them. He introduced himself as the village head of Po Suo Village.
"What brings the two young ladies here?" The old village head's cloudy eyes shifted between Zhao Zhao and Song Yao.
"We've heard about the strange things happening in your village. We're sent by our superiors to investigate." Song Yao took out a work permit from her bag and waved it in front of the village head.
The village head's eyes flashed. He nodded repeatedly and said, "So you're important people! Please follow me to the accommodation first."
The two followed the village head. On the way, the village head told them in detail about the strange things that had happened in the village.
"A few years ago, whenever a baby girl was born in the village, she would always disappear mysteriously when she turned one year old. No matter how carefully the villagers took care of the children, they would always disappear strangely. As time went by, there were fewer and fewer girls in the village. The men couldn't find wives, and the population in the village was dwindling. People would be extremely panicked whenever a girl was born in a family." At this point, the old village head choked with emotion.
Song Yao felt something was wrong. She asked the village head, "Have you reported this to the police before?"
The village head paused for a moment, then sighed and said, "We did, but we didn't find out anything."
Song Yao thought for a moment and realized that since the case had been handed over to the Mysterious Sect, which claimed it was a demon's doing, what could ordinary people find out?
Zhao Zhao covered her head beside them. She couldn't understand most of what her cousin and the old man were saying.
What was a wife? Why were they sad because they didn't have wives? Why did the village head want to hug? Hug what? Her head was buzzing. Zhao Zhao sighed silently: Ah... it's so hard to pretend to be human. She was about to worry herself out of leaves.
Soon they arrived at the accommodation arranged by the village head, a fairly clean and tidy tile - roofed house.
Song Yao's princess syndrome flared up. She looked around disdainfully with a gloomy face.
Zhao Zhao didn't have any problems adapting. After all, tree demons like her originally emerged from the soil...
She looked around carefully and noticed a faint outline of a pagoda opposite their house. She couldn't help asking the village head curiously, "Village head, what's that pagoda over there for?"
When the village head heard the word "pagoda", his face showed a momentary uneasiness, but he quickly returned to normal and replied perfunctorily, "Oh, it's nothing. It's just a place where the unimportant things in the village are burned."
Burned? Zhao Zhao was a bit confused. This village seemed so small. What important things would need such a big pagoda to burn?
She wanted to ask more, but saw the village head walking away with his hunched back.
At this time, Song Yao's impatient voice came, "Hey? What are you thinking about? Come and help."
Zhao Zhao came back to her senses and saw Song Yao making some dolls with a pile of cloth she didn't know where she got from.
"Cousin, what are you doing?"
"Puppet dolls."
"Are you going to use these to catch demons? But we don't even know what kind of demon it is..." Zhao Zhao was worried and wanted to remind Song Yao.
"Tsk! What's there to worry about? That thing hides its head and shows its tail. How powerful a big demon can it be? Can you be a bit more brave?" Song Yao was dissatisfied with Zhao Zhao's hesitant look.
Zhao Zhao wanted to say something else, but seeing that Song Yao obviously wouldn't listen, she finally gave up and resignedly helped Song Yao make the dolls.
Since entering the village, she had been full of doubts. She stole glances at Song Yao from time to time, looking like she wanted to say something but held back.
The look in her eyes was really hard to ignore. Song Yao said irritably, "Just say what you want to say!"
Zhao Zhao asked eagerly, "Cousin, what's a wife? Is it a powerful magic treasure?"
Rip! Song Yao accidentally tore off an arm of the puppet doll.
Song Yao was really speechless. "What on earth did that Taoist priest teach you?"
Zhao Zhao blinked innocently.
Song Yao didn't want to pay attention to her at first, but couldn't stand Zhao Zhao's "staring technique". She casually replied perfunctorily, "It's someone who can share good things with you and have children with you."
Zhao Zhao suddenly understood. She got it.
"Cousin, I have another question."
Song Yao: "..." Was she never going to stop?
"Why don't we ask the village head if he's seen the demon?"
Song Yao couldn't help laughing. Now she understood why her father insisted on her bringing this fool along. It was probably to amuse her.
After laughing enough, Song Yao said calmly, "Do you think everyone knows about the existence of demons? If you let ordinary people know, it'll scare them to death!"
"What if they find out when we're hunting demons?" Zhao Zhao kept asking.
Song Yao was extremely annoyed. "Why do you worry so much? There will be people to clean up the mess! Alright, shut up now and don't say a word!"
As night fell, the villagers closed their doors and windows tightly. Only Song Yao insisted on setting up a formation at the door of the house with the puppet dolls she made to catch the demon. Zhao Zhao had no choice but to follow her.
Song Yao dropped two drops of blood from her finger on the puppet doll, and the doll let out a baby girl's crying sound.
Song Yao put the doll into the formation and waited beside it with Zhao Zhao.
The "baby's" crying was very loud. After a while, a black figure suddenly rushed into the formation and headed straight for the puppet doll.
Song Yao seized the opportunity, made a hand gesture, and shouted, "Heaven and earth are boundless. Borrow the power of the universe. Grant me divine power. Let the five thunders fall from the sky. Strike!"
Suddenly, dark clouds rolled in the sky, and several lightning bolts fell from the sky, striking directly at the black figure in the formation.
After dozens of seconds, the thunder stopped, and dust flew up in the formation.
Song Yao sneered. "I said this demon is nothing. I'm going to see what it is." Then she walked towards the formation.
Zhao Zhao had been staring at the black figure. When the dust dispersed, she suddenly noticed a faint green light under the black figure.
No, something was wrong!
"Cousin!" Zhao Zhao shouted anxiously at Song Yao, but it was too late. The black figure suddenly turned into a long knife and slashed straight at Song Yao.
In a moment of crisis, Zhao Zhao didn't care about anything else. Two vines grew from her wrist and wrapped around Song Yao's waist, pulling her away. The knife hit the ground, splitting a huge crack, and the black figure quickly disappeared.
Song Yao looked at the crack in shock, still in a state of panic. Zhao Zhao quickly stepped forward to check if she was injured.
"Cousin, are you okay? Are you hurt?"
Song Yao held Zhao Zhao's hand, her eyes sharp and vigilant.
Zhao Zhao was startled. Her heart skipped a beat. She subconsciously touched her wrist. Oh no! Had she discovered something?