Sui Xiong's patience was good, or it could be said that after crossing to this strange world, wandering on the vast sea and practicing in the ice trench, he had honed his patience very well.
So he lived next to the strange open space for five days and observed for five days.
For the past five days, he had not moved at all. He had only been observing carefully.
Through observation, he concluded the law of magic changes in this forest — in fact, it was very simple. It was the weakest at noon and the strongest at midnight, and the cycle did not stop.
In addition, he finally understood why there were so many plants in this forest, but not enough animals and insects — every night, the strong magic would kill many animals and insects, and their remains would slowly seep into the earth. Perhaps those black skeletons were actually condensed from these remains.
The strong magic at night had no effect on Sui Xiong. His body had already condensed almost to the limit of the ice magic, and the concentration of the magic was so high that his body was constantly losing magic. This magic was produced by him daily, and because it could no longer be condensed and stored, it had to be released outside of his body.
Just the concentration of this magic was already comparable to the magic fog that filled the forest at night, and only the black fog over the black open space, which was obviously much thicker, would be stronger than the magic he emitted.
He also discovered one thing. Those black skeletons seemed to be full of resentment towards all living creatures other than plants. Once insects or animals came near at night, they would madly swarm them, punching, kicking, scratching, and biting, determined to kill them. But they turned a blind eye to Sui Xiong, who was close at hand, as if he did not exist at all.
Perhaps … this was because the physical body he was using was actually already "dead" …
After observing for a few days, Sui Xiong felt that he had collected a lot of information, and finally chose a strong noon to dig the black open space.
The situation was not beyond his expectations. After digging very deep, he saw many dark black skeletons.
They were not complete skeletons, but various fragmented skeletons.
"It seems that those skeletons were temporarily piled up at night." Sui Xiong looked at these skeletons gradually fading in the sun, from dark black to light gray, and nodded secretly.
He did not touch the bones, nor did he bury the hole he dug. He waited until the next night.
Just as he expected, although the magic in the forest was still concentrated in the clearing that night, the faded bones did not turn into skeletons. They only trembled for the whole night.
The next day, it was another sunny day. Under the sunlight, the skeletons faded further. At night, even the sound of their trembling became weaker.
Therefore, Sui Xiong almost completely understood. He stopped observing and left.
He traveled alone in this black forest, traveling by day and resting at night. Along the way, he would occasionally see black empty spaces that could breed skeletons.
He had also tried to attack those black skeletons and found that they were very weak. With a sweep of his tentacles, he could kill all the skeletons in the open space without even using magic.
"This is a good thing." After killing another group of black skeletons, Sui Xiong smiled and said to himself, "It seems that this world is not very dangerous."
After walking for another five or six days, he finally saw the people he had been looking forward to for a long time.
It was a small village built on a huge open space.
This open space was obviously man-made, and there were many tree stumps around it. Many of the tree stumps were still very fresh, and some villagers were working hard to cut down the black forest to open up living space.
The village was not big. The small wooden houses formed a circle around a stone house that was obviously much taller in the center. There was also a circle of wells around it. On the roof of the stone house, there was a strange statue. A horizontal short sword and a vertical eye formed the shape of a cross.
That strange statue made Sui Xiong vaguely feel a little uncomfortable, not dangerous, but simply disgusted. It was like an Indian seeing a fried steak, a Saudi seeing a pork chop rice, a gourmet seeing a dark cuisine, and a small animal rights activist seeing a live shrimp eaten raw … It was really hateful, he didn't like it!
Except for the statue that he hated, the village actually looked quite ordinary. The small village was surrounded by a wooden fence, which was big and tall, almost like a wall. The houses were built a little shabby, but the materials were sufficient, and at first glance, it was obvious that they were very strong. But the clothes of the villagers were a little shabby, and it was obvious that they were not rich.
There was only one exit in the whole village, which was guarded by a tall and strong bald man. Although the man did not wear armor, he was carrying a big axe that looked very heavy, and it seemed that his strength was not bad. He vigilantly patrolled around and did not leave his post for even a step. It could be seen that he was a very responsible person.
Pieces of farmland surrounded the village, and in the farmland there was a kind of vine that Sui Xiong could not recognize. There were no flowers or fruits on the vine, only pieces of gray-green leaves. Looking closely, he found that there were some vague golden veins on the leaves, reflecting the sunlight and emitting a faint golden light.
There were also farmers working in the farmland, mainly women and children. Their work was very strange. They did not loosen the soil, fertilize the soil, remove weeds and catch insects, but carried large and small wooden buckets on their backs or shoulders. From time to time, they scooped a little water from the buckets with a small spoon and carefully sprinkled it on the leaves of the vine.
The spoon was pitifully small. About ten spoons were enough for an ordinary person to drink a mouthful of water. It could be seen that they treasured the water in the wooden buckets very much. They often carefully observed for a long time before watering the vines.
The origin of this water was quite extraordinary, and it needed to be obtained through a special ceremony.
The ceremony was like this: About every ten days or so, in the evening, several young girls in black robes would gather in front of the main door of the stone house, and they would chant incantations around a large pot. There was a wooden frame above the pot, and a live chicken was hung upside down on the wooden frame. They would chant incantations until the moon rose, and then they would cut the neck of the unlucky chicken, let the chicken blood flow into the pot, and mix with the original pot of water. Then they would continue chanting incantations until the moon was in the middle of the sky, and then they would move the pot into the stone house.
Sui Xiong had tried to see what they were going to do next more than once, but his soul could not penetrate the stone house, as if it was blocked by a tough animal skin, so he had to give up.
He only knew that the next day, the villagers would fetch a bucket of well water when the moon rose, put it under the moonlight for a night, and send it to the stone house before sunrise. He didn't know what kind of processing went through, but on the third day, they could go to the stone house to get the kind of water that was used to water the vines.
Sui Xiong guessed that there must be someone like a pharmacist or a magician living in the stone house. He directed the little girls to cast spells on the well water, so that it had a special power to promote the growth of the vines.
Of course, maybe the master who lived in the stone house and never came out was actually a chef who lived in seclusion. He had mastered the essence of cooking that had been passed down for thousands of years, and he could stew a pot of chicken blood soup into a wonderful taste that even the vines would be moved and grow vigorously.
Sui Xiong felt that in this magic world, everything was possible.
Well, if there was a chance, he must taste the taste of this chicken blood soup!
In addition to the special water used to water the vines, of course, the villagers would also fetch water from the well for daily use. Sui Xiong noticed that there was a small river not far from the village, but no one went to fetch water from the river. Everyone ate and used the well water.
Perhaps this had something to do with the chaotic and turbid magic that was everywhere in the woods. Because according to his observation, the closer to the village, the more the chaotic and turbid magic in the woods would weaken, but the uncomfortable aura would become stronger. Perhaps it was this aura that he hated that allowed the villagers to resist the erosion of the ubiquitous chaotic magic in the black forest and avoid being hurt.
But the effect of this resistance was obviously limited. Every evening, both the lumberjacks and the farmers would hurry back to the village and lock the gate. A group of young people holding hammers or axes would come to the small wooden houses located on both sides of the gate and take turns to keep watch.
At this time, the aura that Sui Xiong hated in the stone house in the center of the village would be greatly strengthened and shroud the whole village. The vines in the farmland would also emit a faint golden light. Although it was completely different from the aura, it would also repel the inherent chaotic magic in the black forest. The two complemented each other to protect this small village.
Sui Xiong hid in the depths of the woods more than ten miles away, watching the situation in the village with his soul. He found that the main work of the villagers, in addition to logging and farming, was to raise chickens, but they did not eat the chickens. The chickens were purely sacrifices.
He also studied the vines. The strange thing was that the vines could resonate with the aura that he hated, but when he used his soul to contact these vines, he did not feel any repulsive force, as if they were just ordinary vines.
There was obviously some mystery in this. Unfortunately, they could not communicate because of the language barrier. He had to hide the doubts in his heart and planned to ask after they became friends.
Sui Xiong was not in a hurry to contact the villagers. He had been observing from a distance. He observed for a long time and determined that the villagers' lives were quite boring, with almost no entertainment or pastime. Every day, in addition to logging or farming, there was no joy to speak of.
These people from the other world seemed to have a very hard life!
Day after day, they repeated the simple work, never resting. Like a group of diligent ants, they worked hard to manage their own small territory, never slacking off.
Sui Xiong silently observed them, waiting for the right opportunity to contact them.
He did not want to contact these people rashly. First, he did not know their language at all, so he could not communicate with them at all. Second, his appearance was too scary. He was afraid that once he appeared, these people would be scared half to death. Maybe they would swarm up and fight with him.
He knew almost nothing about the customs of this world. But to put himself in their shoes, in the face of a big monster with a language barrier, as long as it was a normal person, they would first consider escaping or fighting. Those who were bold enough to communicate with the big monster in a friendly way were either the protagonists full of love and courage in fairy tales, or the "undead" in funny cartoons.
Anyway, the people in this village did not look like them.
After a period of time, the vines in the fields became thicker and thicker, and the golden veins on the leaves became more and more obvious. When the villagers looked at them, their faces often showed smiles, probably foreseeing the joy of a bumper harvest.
But the strange thing was that they often showed worry and uneasiness, which made Sui Xiong quite surprised.
After a period of time, they even stopped logging. Under the leadership of the bald gatekeeper, all the young men and women, regardless of gender, began combat training together, practicing the skills of using axes and hammers. Many people were busy making shields with wood, as if they were going to fight.
Sui Xiong observed them curiously, not understanding where their worries came from, nor did he understand who they were going to fight with.
But in his heart, he was secretly a little happy. Looking at the appearance of these villagers, it was obvious that the upcoming battle would be very dangerous. At that time, as long as he appeared as an ally, even if he was not welcomed, at least he would not be regarded as an enemy.
This was the opportunity he had been waiting for for a long time!
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