Originally, Lan Ting was used to replacing sleep with meditation at night. Since joining the barbecue shop, he has developed a good habit of sleeping at night.

The four of them woke up feeling refreshed and energized, thanks to Lan Ting’s arrangement of the formation.

“Let’s go out and play, I haven’t had enough fun!” Meng Jingzhou was the most energetic, calling Lu Yang out of bed like chasing a pig.

Lu Yang kicked Meng Jingzhou before reluctantly getting up.

Man Gu went to the market early to buy ingredients. He made a pot of gnocchi soup with four eggs and a few drops of sesame oil, filling the whole hall with fragrance.

Lu Yang liked to eat vinegar and put a small spoonful in his own bowl of gnocchi soup. The four of them ate and went out to play feeling refreshed.

Although they left early, there were already a large number of tourists on the street. Lu Yang heard that the hostel had already been fully booked, and many people chose to stay in homestays.

People’s faces were filled with joyful smiles, and children wore tofu masks similar to Lu Yang’s, holding windmills and jumping around. Parents held their children’s hands, afraid of losing them.

“It’s as lively as a temple fair here.”

“Have you heard? Someone brought a huge creature from the southern part of the mainland, by the river. Let’s go take a look!” Someone excitedly told their companion.

After hearing this, Meng Jingzhou couldn’t resist his curiosity and took the three of them to the river to see the huge creature.

The four of them came to the familiar stone bridge, but this time they stood on it, and small flags were inserted on both sides of the stone bridge.

When they saw the huge creature, Meng Jingzhou was somewhat disappointed: “I thought it was something else, turns out it’s an elephant.”

On the banks of the Hidden Dragon River, this was already a gathering place for tourists every year. Now someone brought an elephant from the southern part of the mainland to show off, and there were even more curious onlookers.

Lu Yang didn’t need to say much, he had certainly seen elephants before. Meng Jingzhou and Lan Ting came from aristocratic families and had seen more strange objects than Lu Yang had heard of. Man Gu lived in the wilderness and even hunted elephants.

Ordinary people didn’t have the experience of Lu Yang and the others, so they were very interested in animals with such huge bodies.

Tourists exclaimed, “Is this a demon beast? It’s so big, and it has such a long nose and teeth?”

The owner of the elephant was a foundation establishment stage cultivator, and he explained, “It is indeed a demon beast. The demon beast realm is difficult to evaluate, but it is roughly at the sixth level of Qi Refining. However, its size has nothing to do with being a demon beast. These creatures are called elephants, and they grow to be this big when they reach adulthood.”

Tourists continued to ask, “How heavy is such a big creature?”

The owner of the elephant laughed dumbly. Who knows? There is no scale big enough to weigh it.Another tourist suggested, “Since we’re right next to the river, we can put the elephant on a big boat, mark where it touches the water, load the boat with stones and other things, and when the marked spot touches the water again, we can weigh the big stones and know how heavy the elephant is.”

The owner of the elephant also wanted to know how heavy his spiritual pet was and readily agreed.

Under the owner’s command, the elephant was driven onto the boat. The elephant was too heavy, and the boat in the shallow water couldn’t carry it. The owner rowed the boat to the middle of the river and pulled out a small knife to mark the spot where it touched the water.

Just as the owner was about to swim back, the elephant unintentionally looked up and saw Man Gu, which scared it. Beasts are most sensitive to breath, and the ancient barbarians often hunted elephants in the wilderness. This kind of fierce killing intent flowed in their blood, and although the elephant didn’t understand the meaning, it shuddered at the sight of Man Gu, which was due to the suppression of its bloodline.

The elephant panicked and fell into the water with a splash, sinking straight to the bottom.

The people on the shore exclaimed and urged the elephant’s owner to save it, but the owner calmly marked the spot where the elephant fell into the water and said, “This is where my elephant fell.”

The people on the shore didn’t understand, and the elephant’s owner didn’t explain. When they were close to the shore, the elephant’s owner pointed to the mark and explained, “My elephant fell here, and it’s still here!”

Everyone laughed, thinking he was joking, but the river churned, and a whirlpool appeared. The elephant flapped its big ears and flew out from under the mark.

A special product of the southern continent, the giant flying elephant.

Man Gu witnessed this scene, frowned, and then suddenly realized, hitting his palm with a hammer and saying, “I remember now, we learned this idiom in class. It’s called carving a boat to seek a sword!”

He now had a profound understanding of this idiom.

Lu Yang: “…”

What kind of nonsense did you learn in class?

Meng Jingzhou laughed and said, “I still remember when we found the first reverse life element talisman under the bridge. I was really scared when I found out about this kind of thing, but fortunately, the person has already been reported by us.”

Lu Yang was about to joke along with Meng Jingzhou when he suddenly saw the small flag in front of him, his smile faded, and he seemed to remember something. He pulled out the small flag, frowned, and carefully studied it in the sunlight.

When Lu Yang saw the appearance of the small flag in the sunlight, his heart sank.

“What’s wrong?” Meng Jingzhou noticed Lu Yang’s expression, and he didn’t wait for Lu Yang’s joke. He realized that Lu Yang was acting strange.

Lu Yang looked serious, pointing to the faint pattern on the small flag and asked, “What does it look like to you guys?”

“Reverse life element talisman?!” Lan Ting was the first to react, and she was most familiar with this pattern.Meng Jingzhou widened his eyes. The pattern on the small flag was very faint, and it was impossible to see without direct sunlight. Even if people could see it, they would only think it was a special feature of the Spring Festival. How many people would recognize the pattern of the Reverse Lifespan Talisman?

“Don’t panic; maybe the Reverse Lifespan Array hasn’t been completed yet!” Meng Jingzhou convinced himself not to be flustered.

Lu Yang calmly analyzed, “That’s impossible. Don’t forget, it’s not just one or two of these flags; the entire Yanjiang County is filled with them!”

The small flags with the Reverse Lifespan Talisman pattern were hidden among ordinary flags. Who could have thought of that?!

Lu Yang continued, “In other words, the Reverse Lifespan Array has already been completed. It’s blatantly displayed in front of everyone, but no one has noticed!”

“Why hasn’t the Reverse Lifespan Array been activated?” Meng Jingzhou thought of the conditions for activating the array. In addition to arranging the Reverse Lifespan Talisman into the array, blood sacrifice was also required.

It would be easy for the person who dared to set up the Reverse Lifespan Array to kill a few people. What was he waiting for?

Lu Yang said coldly, “He’s waiting for more people. There aren’t enough people at the Spring Festival now, and there are still more people rushing to Yanjiang County!”

The Reverse Lifespan Array plundered the lifespan of mortals and transformed it into cultivation for the person who set up the array. The more mortals plundered, the greater the improvement in cultivation!

Meng Jingzhou also remembered, “According to custom, on the second night of the Spring Festival, people will gather in the streets to sing and celebrate, gather by the river for feasts, and hold singing competitions!”

Today was the second day of the Spring Festival.

(End of the chapter)