The thatch on the eaves is soaked with morning dew, and the thatched hut that was built at night is still moist and green.
This is a resettlement place set up by the government, a village located at the foot of Ye Mountain.
The village is small, with only a dozen mud huts enclosed by a few sections of fence, and some thatched huts made overnight, but it is not enough.
When Li Changan stepped into the village, the first thing he saw was the survivors huddled one after another in the houses, under the eaves and even on the dirt floor.
However, there was no noise, but a bit of silence.
It was only mixed with some intermittent moans and soft cries from time to time.
A whole night passed, the joy of being rescued had long faded, fear and grief had settled in the bottom of the heart, leaving only numbness and confusion spreading on each other's faces.
"Only saved so many people?"
Li Changan felt a little sad.
Although the village seems to be crowded, when calculated carefully, there are only a few hundred people, less than one-tenth of the number of people on the mountain before the incident.
"It's already quite a lot."
The person who replied was the Taoist priest who had come to accuse him earlier. He said that he was a member of the Zhengda Taoist family with a Chinese name of "Middle" and a Taoist name of "Xishi".
"Where are the seriously injured ones?"
Li Changan asked again. When people were rescued in the mountains last night, many people were snatched from the teeth of living corpses, and some of them had their intestines pierced and their stomachs rotten.
"They are all concentrated in Yi Zhuang in the east."
After that, Taoist Xishi explained:
"Although the people here are saved by fellow Taoists, the corpse poison still remains in the body. Once the body dies, it will inevitably transform into a corpse. At the beginning, there was a lot of trouble. After being concentrated and isolated, there is nothing that can be done..."
While he was talking, there was suddenly some noise.
"No, don't! I don't drink..."
I saw a man staggering out of the house in front of me. His feet slipped and he fell down in the mud. Before he could get up, he was restrained by two soldiers who followed him.
The man cried out for mercy:
"Master Jun, spare your life! I still have my mother and children at home..."
But before he could finish speaking, the soldier grabbed his chin and forced him to drink a bowl of water.
"That's Fu Shui."
Taoist Xishishi quickly explained.
"Although the corpse poison can be removed, the poison is so weird and powerful that some people cannot bear it and will transform into corpses in advance. Seeing this, some people refuse to eat the talisman water. As everyone knows, it is not the talisman water that kills them.
It’s the corpse poison in the body…”
As he said this, there was some commotion in front of him. It turned out that the man suddenly twitched, and many red hairs were visible on his face. The two soldiers beside him were not surprised. One of them held him down, and the other pulled out.
Here comes the knife.
"Pfft."
But I saw the knife falling from my hand.
The head rolled into the mud mixed with hot blood.
Taoist Xishi stood there for a while with his lips pursed. After a long time, he sighed and said to Li Changan:
"Fellow Daoist Li, my senior brother and several adults are discussing the follow-up in the front hall and are about to invite you over."
Li Changan shook his head.
"It was all the efforts of the underworld soldiers to save people last night."
"Now that the Yin soldiers are gone, what can happen to the people in the mountains and fields of Li?"
"Just take care of yourself."
After that, he turned around and left.
………………
Li Changan did not go far, but turned around and entered a house on the edge of the village.
"Excuse me."
He said to the woman lying at the door holding her child.
The woman's eyes moved, she put down the child, and raised her hands to slowly move away her legs, which had been bitten to the point where a few pieces of good flesh were missing.
"Thank you."
Li Changan pushed the door open and entered.
"Taoist Priest?"
"It's Daochang Li!"
Unexpectedly, most of the people in this room were villagers from the village where he asked for directions.
He smiled and responded a few words, then turned his eyes and found the big green donkey lying on the ground in the corner, and his daughter who had fallen asleep but still hugged the donkey's neck tightly and wouldn't let go.
"Ah uh."
When the donkey saw its owner, he swept his tail, barked, and tried to wake up the little girl with his forehead, but Li Changan raised his hand to stop him.
Let her sleep, it's a good thing to be able to sleep.
Also at this time.
"Taoist Priest..."
There was a hesitant call from behind, and Li Changan turned around and saw an eager but dazed face. Li Changan recognized him as the scholar in the village who was dreaming of yellow rice. That day, his wife got the spell and grabbed him from the bed.
He stood up and thanked Li Changan with a frown.
The Taoist priest turned his eyes and didn't see the stocky woman in his impression, but he didn't ask any more questions and said with a smile:
"Master Xiu Cai, what do you want to discuss with us?"
"How dare you be called a Taoist priest like that?" He waved his hands repeatedly, "I just want to ask a question for everyone..."
He raised his head, squeezing out a bit of hope amid his misery.
"We people...what should we do in the future?"
………………
"what to do?"
“What else can we do besides moving them all?!”
In the conference hall, the heads of several parties sat together.
Sitting there were the remnants of the official army, the Longxiang Guards, and the Yuzhou Prefecture. Needless to say, there were also Huang Taihu from the White Lotus Sect, and the remaining monk representatives from the Thousand Buddha Temple, a warrior monk named Puzhi.
The person who got angry was the general of the army, whose surname was He. He thought that leading the troops to this Thousand Buddha Temple would be a good job with good food and drink, but he didn't expect that he would almost become a traitor even if he lost all his troops and didn't mention it.
The rations of the living corpses, right now, there is no trace of righteousness.
The target of his anger was a representative sent by the Yuzhou City Yamen, but he was just a clerk in the accounting office.
Knowing that there are man-eating monsters here, not to mention the magistrates in the city, even the officials with some status and connections are unwilling to risk their lives. They passed the blame back and forth, and in the end only one unlucky guy was pushed to top the tank.
Fortunately, this person is a local, cares about his hometown, and is willing to work hard in everything.
But after all, he was just a petty official who fought for food. Faced with the domineering military commander, he did not dare to refute the slightest, so he just muttered:
"The imperial court..."
But before he finished speaking, the general gave him a strange look.
"The imperial army is suppressing the rebellion. How can they care about the corpses jumping outside Yuzhou City?"
How many? How many living corpses can make you cry for your father and mother, throw away your armor?
These shameless and unreasonable words actually aroused a bit of hardness in the unfortunate guy. He raised his head and said sincerely:
"My lord, move them all away? That's easy to say. There are thousands of households and tens of thousands of people near Thousand Buddha Temple, not to mention where they are moving to. It's a season when the old food is about to be used up and the new food is not yet ripe.
, if you move, what will you do to make ends meet?"
Although these words are sincere, but these days, which Qiu Ba is not a Crab?
"How brave!"
But when the general heard this, he only thought that a mere petty official dared to refute him. He laughed angrily and actually wanted to kill someone with a knife.
Yang Zhiji, Master Yang, quickly came out to smooth things over, comforted Qiu Ba, and then turned to the unfortunate guy and said:
"It's not that we don't care about the life and death of the people in Yuzhou, it's really difficult to control the monsters for a while. They haven't come down from the mountain today, but who can be sure that they won't come down tomorrow? At that time, the monster spread and erosion in Yuzhou was still small, and I was afraid that it would still be infected.
Others' methods. If the surrounding people are not relocated, by then, there will not be thousands of living corpses in Yuzhou, but tens of thousands! I am afraid that even if the imperial court sends a large army, it will be helpless."
Finally, he made a conclusion with "serious words and thoughtful words".
"General He's words are also based on the overall situation."
This great truth left the unfortunate man speechless.
But no matter how great the truth is, is the blood and tears of tens of thousands of people small?
He looked at everyone in the field, his eyes questioning and pleading.
Isn’t the duty of your officers and soldiers to protect the environment and the people? Isn’t the duty of your town and government department to eradicate evil spirits? Don’t you care about the ancestral legacy of Thousand Buddha Temple? There is also the White Lotus Sect. If the left envoy dies and the followers die, they will not take revenge.
What?
But.
The military commander is violent and arrogant but hides his timidity, Master Yang is gentle and indifferent, the leader of the five big and three thick monks only knows Amitabha, Huang Taihu of the White Lotus Sect sneers and just watches the show, and Taoist Longtu...
Taoist Longtu turned his face sideways and avoided that gaze.
He knew that if he gathered all the power here and was willing to risk his life, he might not be able to compete with the monsters in the mountains. But he knew even more clearly that General He had already made arrangements to salute, Master Yang presented the memorial overnight, and Pu Zhi secretly asked him last night
The man sold his property... It was his dragon figure. Even though he had pulled out the corpse poison and regained his magic power, the three-headed and six-armed demonic figure was still lingering in his heart, making it difficult for him to have the idea of resistance.
I was so ashamed and helpless.
For no reason, he thought of Li Changan.
Thinking of this wild Taoist who dared to be an enemy of the White Lotus Sect with just a single will; this wild Taoist who went against the current while everyone was fleeing down the mountain to eliminate demons and save people.
What would he do if he were here?
………………
Li Changan was helpless.
When the scholar asked the question "What should I do?" and when the eyes of the people around him turned to him with bright expectations, he wanted to pat his chest and say "Don't worry."
But at this moment, he recalled in his mind the scene at dawn: living corpses all over the mountains and fields, from the woods, from the grass, from the rocks, from the mountain roads... countless, killing endlessly, biting the team
The tail came fiercely, but stopped abruptly at the foot of the mountain and receded silently, like the rising and falling tide.
Every time I think about it, my heart can't stop shaking.
Why should they feel at ease?
One person and one sword?
Or the Yuzhou Prefecture? The imperial army? Zhenfusi? White Lotus Sect? Qianfo Temple Warrior Monk Group?
This long silence gradually dimmed the eyes of the people around him. In the end, Li Changan could only say:
"Everyone, let's go somewhere to hide for a while."
It is said that he was hiding for a while, but in reality, the listener naturally knew it well, but he became more silent and dejected.
The Taoist priests only offer comfort.
"I know it's hard for everyone to leave their homeland..."
However, the scholar shook his head bitterly.
“It’s hard to leave the homeland.”
He explained:
"The Taoist Priest doesn't know that nine out of ten of the farmers near Yeshan are the monk's tenants, but eighty-nine out of ten of these tenants are refugees who have fled. He said that I, a useless old man, am originally from the Central Plains.
"Ren, I feel ashamed to say that my ancestors also gave a few two thousand stones, which can be regarded as farming and reading. But in these troubled times, scriptures cannot stop the swordsmanship. There is trouble in my hometown, so I have to move the whole family."
"My original intention was to go to Suzhou and Hangzhou to seek refuge with relatives and friends, but along the way, we encountered swordsmen, bandits, demons, and wild beasts in turn. When we arrived at the border of Yuzhou, our families were separated, our money was gone, and we could no longer leave. It was spent.
It took several years for me to finally settle down. Even though I was cultivating someone else's land, I still had rice in my stomach and roof tiles in my head. I'm just sorry for my wife, who is a lady who has never touched the spring water, but she did it for me.
This poor person who only knows how to read has turned into a rough peasant woman..."
He rambled on for a while, then suddenly realized that he had said too much and gone too far, so he apologized.
"Taoist Priest, you see, when I moved, I had the support of young people and money and food, and this is still the case. Now I am alone, and the rice vat at home is about to bottom out. What else can I do?"
As he spoke, he chuckled, walked to the corner with his waist slumped, let out a long breath, and sat down slowly.
"That's okay, that's okay. If I leave, when my old wife comes back to life, I'm afraid she won't be able to find me."
The scholar spoke calmly and calmly, but the atmosphere in the room became increasingly silent and embarrassing. Li Changan finally couldn't bear it anymore and opened the door as if to escape.
outside the house.
The sunshine stirred up the fresh and smelly air unique to the countryside, which made Li Changan feel a little shaken.
He turned his head and stared at Naye Mountain for a long time. The foot of the mountain was lush and lush, the mountainside was filled with clouds and mist, and the rolling glazed golden top of the mountain reflected the bright sunlight.
Qingshan Pagoda is Naihe's nest of demons.
He held the hilt of the sword and suddenly spoke:
“Friend, you’ve been following me for so long and you’ve seen enough excitement, so it’s time to show up, right?!”