How strong Mr. Skull’s combat power is, Chen Xian never knows this, because he has never seen Mr. Skull really fighting for his life. When he was fighting with the worm-body giant on Lingxi Mountain, Mr. Skull didn’t try his best, because Chen Xian analyzed it afterwards, and he felt that...Mr. Skull should have kept his hand at that time.

How strong is he?

Chen Xian didn't dare to go too far.

But at least he is weaker than himself, stronger than Lu Yisheng, and possibly stronger than Xu Yanan...As for the comparison with Li Daosheng, the proud man of heaven, this is not clear for the time being.

Under the leadership of the old man, Chen Xian and his party began to climb the mountains in Meishan again. It took four or five hours to reach the "sacred place" that the old man called, which is the place where other villagers came to worship the gods.

This is an extremely large pine forest...you can barely call these plants pine trees.

They have a similar appearance to ordinary pine trees, except that the trunk is much thicker, and the wrinkled surface is like a ravine on the face of an old man. The dark brown bark shines with a kind of oil in the sun, and you can vaguely smell the air. The smell of turpentine that permeates...

These towering giant trees seem to have reached their flowering period, and the branches and leaves of each tree are covered with colorful and different-shaped flowers, as if they have included all kinds of flowers from all over the world.

Among these thousands of flowers, Chen Xian and the others saw many flowers that they knew or did not know, but none of them belonged to a pine tree that should bloom... just Chen Xian and them. At present, there are magnificent red peonies, elegant and dignified grass violets, and colorful hibiscus flowers, and even rare water lilies that grow in the water.

As soon as you enter the pine forest, the sky is full of flowers. If you don’t look at the weird white sun in the sky, maybe it looks like a fairyland. Maybe it’s because the woods are too dense. The temperature here seems to have dropped a lot. Very comfortable temperature.

Ever since they came out of the mud-tile house, the old man and the child have been walking in the forefront, intentionally or unintentionally keeping a distance of about ten meters from the crowd. In the middle, they just yelled "follow up" a few times without looking back. Outside of this, he didn't speak again, and the two of them, who seemed to be grandsons, didn't have any exchanges.

This silent atmosphere was extremely depressing, and even affected Chen Xian and his party.

The pine forest, which originally looked like a fairyland, is now rendered weird by this repressive atmosphere. The twisted leaves and branches are like living creatures. They are windless from beginning to end, as if they are performing some kind of weird movement. The sound of Li Xi Xi Suo Suo was also deliberately amplified by the quiet atmosphere, making people always feel uneasy when listening.

"Bad taste."

Suddenly, Mr. Skeleton spoke without warning, as if he had sensed something, his eyes became extremely tense, and he firmly held the umbrella knife in his hand as if he was facing an enemy.

"What bad smell?" Chen Xian frowned. After a few careful sniffing, there was no other smell. Only the slightly pungent rosin smell filled the nasal cavity. "What do you smell? "

"The born life..... The lost life..."

Mr. Skull's tone was a little nervous, and he was muttering like talking to himself.

"Life and death seem to converge here...like a circle..."

Mr. Skull’s words are a little unclear, but what everyone doesn’t know is that Mr. Skull himself doesn’t know what he means. It is difficult for him to describe everything he perceives...In short, he lives After so many years, I have never seen such a weird place.

It's like there are countless people born and countless people die here, as if a reincarnation that is invisible to the naked eye is going on.

In the woods, everyone followed the elderly and children in silence. The rugged and long mountain road made them a little breathless. Except for Mr. Skull, everyone else looked breathless. .

"Chen Xian... I'm so tired..." Mu He took Chen Xian and walked aside. At first, she thought about putting on Chen Xian or asking Chen Xian to carry her, but Looking at Chen Xian's exhausted look, Xiao Muhe could only give up in the end, and pitifully followed Chen Xian with a few complaints from time to time.

Hearing Xiao Muhe's words, Chen Xian glanced forward, and saw that the old man and the child did not intend to stop and rest. They maintained a steady speed throughout the mountain, as if planning to just walk to the goal in one breath. land......

"Why don't I carry you on your back for a while?" Chen Xian asked.

Mu He shook his head, then hugged Chen Xian's arms tightly, like a child who broke down while shopping with his parents, with the words I am very upset all over his face.

At the same time, Li Daosheng, who was walking on the side of the team, seemed to have noticed something suddenly. His eyes widened for an instant. He looked around, and finally decided to report to the "captain" Chen Xian.

"There is something on the tree." Li Daosheng came to Chen Xian quietly and whispered, "It's a pattern, and every tree has it."

Seeing Li Daosheng's dignified look, Chen Xian did not dare to neglect, after all, Li Daosheng was not an ordinary stranger, and it made him nervous to such a degree... definitely not ordinary things.

Under his guidance, Chen Xian calmly walked to a pine tree and looked up at the bark. It was about five meters above the ground. There was a very inconspicuous pattern on the trunk, like Arabia. The number 8 is only as big as the palm of an adult. It doesn't look like it was painted. The whole pattern is recessed in the bark...

According to the information obtained from preliminary observations, it does not appear to be artificially made, but rather like tree pattern folds formed by the natural growth of trees, but not only on this tree, but also on every tree visible around it. The position has this pattern.

Is this pattern a coincidence of nature?

Chen Xian thought about it silently, but found it impossible, because these patterns have certain specific details, such as the lines of the Arabic numeral 8 are concave and convex, and the overall lines are thick and thin, just like a strip. ......

"Ouroboros?" Xu Yanan looked at the pattern on the tree trunk, with a trace of doubt on his face, as if wondering why this pattern appeared in these places.

Hearing Xu Yanan's voice, Chen Xian reacted.

These patterns similar to the Arabic numeral 8 are indeed a mysterious totem, or symbol, that has been circulating since ancient times.

Ouroboros.

In any ancient record, the pattern of ouroboros is roughly the same. The image is almost always like a snake or a dragon eating its own tail. Sometimes the whole body forms a ring, sometimes it forms a similar pattern. The pattern of the number "8", so the ancients often referred to it as the "self-devourer".

According to the analysis by later generations, especially the deciphering of the Secret Bureau in recent years, the meaning of this pattern is not only a symbol of "infinity" or "circulation", its spiritual manifestation is more in line with the domestic religious theory about "reincarnation". In the process of self-referencing, the endless loop, the connected head and the tail are like the close connection between life and death...

"Are these patterns carved on?" Xu Yanan asked in a low voice.

"It's not like." Chen Xian shook his head and frowned. "Even if it was carved, it should have been when these trees were very small...their surface structure is very stable and natural, at least close to it. It has not been destroyed by external forces in a few years."

At this time, everyone has followed the elderly and children to the depths of the pine forest.

The light here is darker than the outside world, the hot sunlight seems to be completely blocked by these dense pine trees, and the sky visible when you look up has also become a strip of gaps of different shapes.

After continuing to walk for nearly half a kilometer, everyone came to a vast green grass field.

Since there is no pine forest as a shelter, the sun can finally be scattered on the ground, full of vibrant dark green weeds and unknown wild flowers, and there are some artificial gardens in the distance to watch small landscapes, some flower bushes. Thorns or small trees have been deliberately trimmed to look like humans.

"This place has a good style." Lu Yisheng looked at the "human beings" cut from flowers and trees, and couldn't help but sigh loudly, "The craftsmanship is quite good, and it is better than the gardening masters of our branch!"

Everyone looked at the small landscapes made of flowers, plants and trees, and they couldn’t help but admire, because although those landscapes were all made of plants, they contained a trace of indescribable spirituality, as if they were all real people, even with trimmed body movements. They all look so vivid.

"Chen Xian."

Suddenly, Mr. Skull grabbed Chen Xian secretly, his pale face disturbing.

"What's the matter?" Chen Xian asked.

"The feeling of life passing away... it seems to be coming from those things..."

Mr. Skull suppressed his voice, and every word contained an unbelievable meaning. It seemed that he didn't understand why he had such an induction. At the same time, he suddenly had a panic in his heart that made him uneasy.

"They seem to be alive!"