ebookland Chapter 22 is finally out!
Chapter 22 is finally out!
Ding Yi never imagined that he would spend so much time touching a corpse.
But despite Qingyunzi's impressive appearance, nothing of value could be found on him.
Apart from the slender longsword in his hand, Ding Yi found nothing else, which made him frown.
"Could they have put the things in the house across the street?"
Ding Yi's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately felt that it was very likely.
With this thought in mind, Ding Yi hurriedly grabbed the lamp and went out the door, heading towards the house across the street.
It was the dead of night, and every household had their doors and windows tightly shut, with barriers placed behind them, clearly to prevent the intrusion of the eerie shadow claws.
Compared to these villagers, Ding Yi was not so afraid of the Shadow Claw at this moment. He even hoped that more of them would come. After all, even a small mosquito is still meat, and no one would complain about having a short lifespan.
Unfortunately, it seemed that these eerie claws had already recognized Ding Yi's terror, and not a single one appeared until Ding Yi reached the house opposite.
Since Qingyunzi didn't close the door when he came out, Ding Yi easily entered the house across the street.
He first closed the door, then bolted it shut, and then began searching the room with a lamp in hand.
The ground of this house was paved with several bluestone slabs, and it seemed to be in much better condition than Old Man Wei's house, which undoubtedly made Ding Yi feel somewhat hopeful.
If we could find a bottle of elixir here, it would truly be a windfall.
Ding Yi first looked in the front hall, but although the family seemed to be in better condition, he couldn't find anything useful there, which disappointed him.
However, when he entered the bedroom, he immediately saw the blue cloth bundle placed on the wooden table.
"This style doesn't look like something villagers would use; it should be Qingyunzi's."
Ding Yi raised an eyebrow, then slowly walked over with the oil lamp in hand. For safety, he used a knife to pry open the package from a distance.
The poisonous smoke or traps he had imagined did not appear. Ding Yi walked forward by the light and found that the package contained only some silver and a little dry food.
Still nothing...
Ding Yi frowned slightly, then looked around the rest of the room.
Soon, Ding Yi found another oil-paper umbrella missing its handle in the corner of the room. Looking at the empty handle, he immediately thought of the thin sword in Qingyunzi's hand.
"Oh, it's a set."
Ding Yi was somewhat surprised, but even recognizing the origin of the umbrella wouldn't be of much help to him at the moment.
"It shouldn't be."
At this moment, Ding Yi couldn't help but feel a little impatient. After searching the house for a while, he still found nothing.
"Do you really carry it with you?"
The thought from before suddenly popped into Ding Yi's mind again.
"Wait, why did the Shadow Claw seem to completely ignore Qingyunzi when it rushed in just now?"
Ding Yi, who was searching, suddenly thought of something and his expression froze.
Then, he hurriedly returned to Old Man Wei's hut and came back to Qingyunzi's body.
"These clothes..."
Ding Yi squatted down, touched the blue Taoist robe Qing Yunzi was wearing, and narrowed his eyes slightly. Suddenly, a line of words appeared in his field of vision.
[Currently, upgrading requires 1 year and 7 days of lifespan. Upgrade now?]
"As expected, this thing requires more than a year of lifespan to produce; it's definitely not ordinary clothing. I just don't know if it's as I suspected..."
Ding Yi looked at the prompt in front of him and hesitated. After all, strengthening this thing required a year of lifespan. Although his lifespan had increased significantly, it was not enough for him to experiment with it at will.
Just then, Ding Yi seemed to have thought of something. He quickly returned to the kitchen and got a charcoal pencil. He then stripped the Taoist robe off Qing Yunzi and wrote the words "Can enter and exit Xiaotan Village" on the robe.
After doing all this, Ding Yi stared intently at the Taoist robe again until the familiar text reappeared.
[Currently, upgrading requires 1 year and 7 days of lifespan. Upgrade now?]
"It's done!!"
Seeing that his lifespan value hadn't changed at all, Ding Yi excitedly threw a punch at the air, but this aggravated the injury on his shoulder, causing him to grimace in pain.
"Damn you sorcerer!"
Ding Yi cursed under his breath, then put away his Taoist robe and began packing up other things.
Now that he had found a way to leave Xiaotan Village, Ding Yi immediately decided to set off at dawn, otherwise it would be too late once Baiyunzi on the mountain realized what was happening.
And so, Ding Yi spent the whole night organizing things, and finally got everything ready before dawn.
The next day, as the first rays of sunlight streamed into the house through the door, Ding Yi picked up his bundle, put on his Taoist robe, and went out.
After Ding Yi left, a fire suddenly broke out in Old Man Wei's house, and the flames grew bigger and bigger, soon sweeping up the wooden beams and engulfing the entire small house.
At this moment, Ding Yi had already arrived at the fork in the road at the entrance of the village.
He turned around and looked into the village, where he saw a thick cloud of smoke rising from the direction of Old Man Wei's hut. He shook his head, then turned back around, thought for a moment, and chose the road on the right to walk down.
This time, after taking a few steps, Ding Yi, dressed in a Taoist robe, clearly felt the air around him suddenly tighten and loosen, as if he had passed through a thin membrane. Immediately, he had an idea and quickly took out the Flowing Sand Diagram to look at it.
On the quicksand map, the road outside the village entrance and various markers suddenly appeared, which immediately filled Ding Yi with joy.
"Finally out!!"
Ding Yi felt an urge to cry. Just a few days ago, he was facing the prospect of having his blood drained by the group of evil Taoists on the mountain. He never imagined that he would be able to temporarily escape danger and be reborn!
Ding Yi gripped the quicksand map tightly in his hands, and the veins on the back of his hands even showed due to excessive force, and his arms were trembling slightly.
This continued for several breaths before Ding Yi finally let out a long sigh, folded the quicksand diagram, put it in his chest, and strode forward.
...
This was Ding Yi's first time leaving Xiaotan Village, so he was very interested in everything around him.
He looked left and right along the way, and occasionally took out the quicksand map to check the markings. Before he knew it, he had traveled dozens of miles, and it was noon.
Ding Yi found a shady spot under a tree, sat down to rest, ate a little something, and then opened the Flowing Sand Map to look at it.
"How come we've walked for so long and still haven't seen any new villages or towns, or even a single pedestrian?"
Ding Yi had some doubts, but more than anything, he was worried.
If he couldn't find a place to stay before dark, he would have to spend the night alone in the wilderness, which was obviously very dangerous.
Who knows if there are things in the wild more terrifying than that eerie shadow claw? If even the lamp can't work, then he'll surely die.
After thinking it over, Ding Yi decided to continue on his way. After all, if he couldn't see any hope before dark, he would have to prepare to spend the night in the wild.