The atmosphere suddenly turned tense. Song Yao stared intently at Zhaozhao while quietly pinching a talisman paper with her other hand.
Zhaozhao's eyes fell on the talisman paper in Song Yao's hand. She shifted slightly, trying to get away from Song Yao at the moment, but unfortunately, she was still firmly held down by Song Yao.
"Cousin... What's wrong with you?" Helpless, Zhaozhao could only force a smile and speak first.
Song Yao looked at Zhaozhao meaningfully and said expressionlessly, "You were so fast just now. Did your Taoist master teach you that?"
Zhaozhao followed Song Yao's words, "Yes..."
Song Yao smiled, "Really? What did your Taoist master teach you?"
Zhaozhao was stunned. What did he teach? He taught her how to transform and all kinds of demonic arts... How could she put it into words?!
If leaves could sprout from her head now, they would surely be wilted and yellow.
Zhaozhao took a small and cautious step back, trying to stay calm. "Just some minor spells."
Song Yao squinted at her. "Reluctant to talk?"
Zhaozhao remained silent. Her slender body inexplicably looked a bit frail in the cold wind.
Song Yao took a deep breath and changed the question. "Then how did you save me just now? You can surely tell me this, right?"
The situation was critical at that time. Song Yao only felt something wrap around her waist and pull her out from under the long knife. But she couldn't see clearly what it was exactly. She only felt that its shape was a bit strange.
Zhaozhao hesitated for a while and looked at Song Yao. "Cousin, do you really want to know?"
Song Yao frowned, not understanding why she was being so wordy. "Of course I want to know. Otherwise, why would I ask you?"
Hearing this, Zhaozhao started rummaging in her small cloth bag. After a while, she took out an ugly cloth snake and handed it to Song Yao. "Here, it's this."
Song Yao stared at the shabby thing with disgust for a long time and asked, "What is this?"
Zhaozhao stammered, "I made it after the example of how you made puppet dolls. I dripped my blood on it."
"..." Song Yao was at a loss for words for a moment. She couldn't believe it and asked again, "You made it?!"
"Yes, I made it." Afraid that Song Yao wouldn't believe her, Zhaozhao immediately recited the incantation she had learned from Song Yao. The shabby "snake" suddenly came to life and wrapped around her arm.
Song Yao didn't know what to say. She didn't know whether she should mock this extremely ugly snake or be amazed at Zhaozhao's astonishing talent. Just by watching once, Zhaozhao could master the puppet art that Song Yao had spent months learning.
Anyway, Song Yao felt a bit gloomy.
Seeing that Song Yao seemed to have dispelled her doubts, Zhaozhao let out a long, relieved breath.
It really scared the tree! She thought she was going to be done for on the second day after she descended the mountain!
Zhaozhao carefully put away her "little shabby snake" and patted her chest with lingering fear. Fortunately, everything was okay.
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of the fallen leaf on the ground. Her heart tightened suddenly. She peeked furtively at Song Yao. Only when she saw that the other was turning her back did she quickly pick up the leaf emitting spiritual energy and put it away.
After tidying up, she inched closer to Song Yao bit by bit.
Song Yao had already calmed down and was examining the traces left in the formation just now.
There was a feather left at the center of the formation where it had been struck by lightning. The feather was jet - black, but there was an unusual glimmer on its surface.
"A bird demon?" Song Yao murmured. It seemed that the one causing trouble in this village was a bird demon.
Zhaozhao looked over Song Yao's shoulder. She always felt that she had seen this feather somewhere before.
Song Yao looked at the pitch - black sky. She didn't know which direction the demon had fled from. It could escape from five thunderbolts. This demon must be quite capable.
Song Yao didn't recognize the feather, so she couldn't figure out what kind of demon it was. However, she could ask others.
Thinking like this, Song Yao got up and dragged Zhaozhao back to the room.
Zhaozhao was suddenly dragged by her sleeve by Song Yao. When passing by a small mound, she accidentally stumbled and fell hard, pulling Song Yao down with her.
Song Yao was furious from the fall. With her fiery temper, she turned around and was about to scold, but Zhaozhao pounced on her and covered her mouth.
"Shh! Cousin, look over there."
Zhaozhao covered Song Yao's mouth and motioned with her eyes for her to look ahead.
In front of the small mound, a figure, wrapped tightly all over and vaguely recognizable as a woman, was hurrying away with something in her hand.
And the direction she was going was the tower that Zhaozhao had asked the village head about during the day.
Song Yao's eyes darkened. She pulled Zhaozhao's hand away and watched the woman's figure gradually disappear.
"Cousin, she's so strange. Should we go and take a look?" Zhaozhao whispered to Song Yao in a hushed voice.
Song Yao thought for a while and immediately pulled Zhaozhao to follow.
"Let's go and see what she's up to."
The two silently followed the woman all the way to the tower. They saw the woman take out several children's clothes, put them on the ground and burned them. She cried in front of the tower for a long time before leaving.
Zhaozhao looked at the tower not far away. That contradictory feeling came again.
Song Yao's face grew darker and darker. She took Zhaozhao back to the tile - roofed house.
There was something strange about this village!
Song Yao stared at the feather for a long time. She took out her phone from her backpack, took a photo of the feather, and then logged into the internal forum of the Mystic Sect.
There were many people lurking in the forum. As soon as the photo of the feather was posted, it triggered a heated discussion. A group of people were chattering on the forum, arguing about what kind of demon's feather it was.
After a while, Song Yao clicked on the most highly - voted comment, which was a voice message.
"This should be the feather of a Ghu - Hu Bird. It's recorded in the Mystic Sect's Encyclopedia of Demons. But it looks a bit different from the feathers of ordinary Ghu - Hu Birds..."
Song Yao opened the internal network and searched the Mystic Sect's Encyclopedia of Demons for a careful comparison. It really looked similar. Only then did she put down her phone.
Turning around, she saw Zhaozhao's bright eyes still fixated on the phone on the table, full of eagerness. Song Yao twitched the corner of her mouth.
"You don't mean... you've never seen a phone before, do you?"
Zhaozhao nodded honestly.
The slight annoyance Song Yao had felt because of the puppet art suddenly vanished. She generously picked up the phone and showed Zhaozhao all its functions, especially emphasizing the drama - chasing and game functions.
Zhaozhao watched these amazing operations on the side, deeply shocked in her demon life.
Did humans have such amazing things?
This was much more powerful than the master's Mirror of All Phenomena! Humans were truly remarkable creatures!
Song Yao finally saw Zhaozhao's "ignorant" look. Out of some subtle feelings, she generously gave the phone to Zhaozhao to study on her own for the whole night, under the guise of "letting the country bumpkin from the countryside gain some knowledge".
As a result, the little tree demon Zhaozhao, who had just transformed not long ago, easily got lost in the prosperity of human networks.
So early the next morning, with two huge dark circles under her eyes, when she opened the door and saw a blood - stained robe hanging outside the door and a handsome man standing there, her mind was full of the human culture she had absorbed last night. In the comment section of a certain short - video platform, everyone would uniformly call out a certain title when they saw a handsome man.
So this innocent little tree demon, who was trying hard to act like a good person, said to the handsome man outside the door, "Hello, husband. May I ask what you need?"