"Master of the house, beware behind you!" Chiyo shouted loudly.

  Wang Yueyi heard the alarm, his body instinctively lowered, and with a swift turn, the magic knife Tongzi cut a horizontal sweep of a thousand armies. The golden mask didn't expect him to have this move, and before he could dodge, there was a "pu" sound, and the front of his robe opened up.

  Without any hesitation, Wang Yue jumped high into the air, Tongzi's hand passed over his head, and a powerful palm strike came crashing down onto the golden mask on his forehead. "Heh heh", a strange laugh sounded from behind the golden mask, as both hands simultaneously rose up, and the shadow on the ground moved with them, grasping Wang Yue's shadow in its grasp.

  Poor Mutsuki Ichimonji, just as he let out half of that "Ah!", his voice was lost, and he was lifted into the air like a small child, with the mask's hand less than ten centimeters away from his sword. No matter how hard he struggled, he couldn't shake it off, his throat seemed to be gripped tightly, unable to breathe.

  It's that shadow again! Chiyoda put down her sister, who had already fainted, picked up the ghostly blade Kurama, and charged at the golden mask with a loud shout. Without any fancy moves, she made a swift horizontal slash in an arc.

  The shadow moved! This time it wasn't a hand, but a leg. With a loud "bang", Chiyori flew backward and crashed into the Snowbird ship. Her throat felt sweet, and with a "plop" sound, she spat out a mouthful of fresh blood! She tried to struggle and get up several times, but her back hurt so much that she couldn't bear it. She wondered if her spine had been broken.

  Wang Yue was carried like that, just like before he carried Zhuo Lao Han, except there were no hands around his neck, only his shadow being pinched by another shadow, and yet the oppressive feeling made him truly feel as if someone had grabbed his neck, because his feet were dangling in mid-air!

  The scar on his face turned from red to white due to lack of oxygen, and then slowly turned purple. If this continues, he will lose his life in less than a minute!

  Senya looked at the ghostly ball in her hand that belonged to her sister, and suddenly remembered the appearance of the shadow being cut off earlier. Ah! The Shadow! It was all done by that shadow!

  With his last ounce of strength, Chiyoda crawled to his sister's side, turned off her headlamp, and shouted with all his might: "Master, turn off the light on your head!" After that, another mouthful of blood spurted out, and after twisting his own switch, everything went black, and he fainted.

  This time they came out with the same kind of searchlight, but each person had a headband on their head, and the light was just hanging above it, similar to a miner's lamp.

  Although the meaning of Sen no Chihiro was unclear, the message he received before his death was like a straw to grasp at when falling into water. Mutsuki Kazuyoshi struggled to raise one hand, and with great difficulty, reached up to his head. Just as he felt his life slipping away, he finally found the switch. "Click", his lamp also went out, plunging the entire riverbank into darkness.

  With a thud, Wang Yue heavily fell back to the ground, feeling his neck loosen, and he began to gasp for air in big mouthfuls. After a long while, he managed to prop himself up again. Thinking that the golden mask was right behind him, Tong Zi suddenly let out a "whooshing" sound as he chopped down, but didn't hit anything. He then wildly hacked around, and apart from the wind sounds, there was nothing else.

  Perhaps he was really scared, Wang Yue thought for a moment and didn't want to stay here for another half minute. He didn't know the meaning of Qian Dai's asking him to turn off the lights. With a "click", he reopened the switch, and the entire river channel was once again illuminated by the light. After a careful examination, the Toi sisters were still lying in the head of the inflatable boat, and they tried their breath, both of whom were still alive.

  As he looked up and forward, Zhuo Yugu was climbing onto the inflatable boat on the wooden boat. Wang Yue shouted loudly: "Don't come over, stand still for me!"

  "Mr. Wangyue, please don't kill me, I really didn't know it was a ghost!", the old man begged.

  Looking at the moon, he was surprised to see that it was still the valuable old man Zhuo, with a mournful expression on his face. His lantern pants, liberation shoes, and khaki jacket were all the same as before, except for the golden mask which was not present. What made him even more frightened was that the old man's jacket had a large cut on the chest, clearly from the knife slash earlier.

  This old man, just a moment ago almost took our lives, and now he's still trying to act pitiful? Wang Yue shouted: "Bastard, you're going to pay with your life!" He raised the Taizi sword and charged at Zhuo Lao Han. The old man saw that this Japanese person was determined to take his life this time, so how could he dare stay there? His body tilted to one side, and with a "splash" sound, he rolled into the river.

  This old man is still a bit slippery, he held his breath and dove to the bottom of the boat. Wang Yue chased after him and looked around, but there was no sign of him anywhere. In anger, she slashed her knife at a nearby rock, sparks flying everywhere.

  Kazuki returned to the inflatable boat in a state of disarray and found that both Toi sisters had woken up, but their bodies were still very weak.

  Looking back on the unbelievable things that just happened, Motsuki asked: "By the way, why did you tell me to turn off the lights earlier?"

  Seeing the lights still on at the top of the Moon Watching Pavilion, Chitose panted heavily and said: "Master, turn off the lights, don't open them here. We were all injured by that shadow. Shadows can only appear when there is light, if we turn off the lights, where will the shadows be?"

  "No wonder, I just heard your shout and turned off the switch. As soon as I felt my neck relax, I fell to the ground. If it weren't for your reminder, I'm afraid I would have..." He said, then turned off his own headlamp again.

  "It's all because of my inadequate protection, please don't blame the master!" Chiyoda made a move to get up and apologize on his knees, but was stopped by Mochizuki: "You rest well, I've checked and you two are not seriously injured. That old man has also run away, our mission is already here, we have to continue. I won't believe that the Fusang sacred tree can't be found!"

  "What shall we do now? Go back by the same road and take that left fork?" asked Qian Xue.

  Wang Yue thought for a moment, then said firmly: "No, we'll just follow this road ahead and keep going. Since there's danger on the right side, the left side can't be much better either. We've already lost seven people, we can't afford to make any more mistakes. Let's take a short rest, and as soon as you all feel a bit better, we'll set off immediately."

  "However, master of the house," Chiyoda said in a low voice, "that wooden ship up ahead..."

  "When we first arrived here, it was calm and peaceful, nothing happened. If it were a ghost ship, it should have taken our lives at that time. Now I somewhat believe what the old man said, that ship is not clean, these few setbacks are all because I wanted to open the cabin cover, and suffered misfortune. I think as long as we wait for the next time, don't look inside, turn off the lights and stick to its edge to try."

  "Let's go! There is no time to lose!"

  "Go!"

  Feeling their way in the dark, several people hastily adjusted their equipment. Relying on their memories from earlier, they leaned against the inner stone wall and slowly moved forward. Several times, the inflatable boats were squeezed between the "Snowflake" ship and the stone wall, and except for the sound of rubber scraping, there was nothing else unusual. They didn't even dare to breathe loudly, fearing that something unexpected would happen again.

  They felt their way through the darkness for four or five miles before the few people finally turned on their flashlights. When they looked back, they could no longer see the wooden boat. After a brief stop to tend to their wounds, they prepared to examine each other's injuries.

  Qian Xue was preparing to help her sister look at her back, when she suddenly saw the tail of a kayak, and a pair of eagle-like hands were pinching it. "Ah! He's still there!"

  Mong Yue suddenly stood up, holding Tongzi Qie, and walked towards the back of the boat. Just as he was about to strike, a voice came from below: "Mr. Mong Yue, please take me with you..."

  "Mr. Zhuo?" Qian Xue exclaimed in surprise, no mistake, this was indeed Zhuo Yu's voice.

  Right after that, a head emerged from the water, shaking off the river water on top of it. If it wasn't Zhuo Yuguang, who else could it be?

  "You dare to come again! You almost took our lives just now, aren't you afraid I'll kill you?" Wang Yue's knife was pressed against Zhuo Lao Han's neck.

  "I really don't know what happened just now, I was thrown into the cabin by Mr. Wangyue, and when I woke up again, it was pitch black. Next thing I knew, you were holding a knife to chop me, so I dodged into the water and hung onto the bottom of your boat, following you here. I really haven't done anything wrong to you, have I? Besides, for the road ahead, I'm afraid we'll still need me to scout ahead for you. I'm willing to be your cannon fodder, even if it means stepping on landmines, as long as you don't leave old man alone, or else I'll definitely die at my age!"

  "What happened to you?" Mochizuki asked.

  "I really don't know."

  Looking back at the injured Tachibana sisters, I thought to myself, could it be that this old man was possessed just now? He had heard of such things when he was learning about Taoism. Looking at Zhuo Lao Han, who also looked weak and feeble, thinking about it, how could he possibly have such great abilities, really being so fierce, yet still being afraid of himself?

  "Climb aboard yourself, take up an oar and row for us. If I see anything suspicious, you'll understand me with one slash of the knife!"

  It is said that Ken allowed himself to get on the boat, and Zhuo Lao Han hurriedly said: "Thank you, Mr. Wangyue." With hands and feet working together, he finally climbed onto the inflatable boat. Just as he was about to make some small talk, Wangyue had already thrown over a wooden board, so he could only sit down where he was and hurry the inflatable boat forward.

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