I was clearly walking in the streets, but the lantern could not illuminate the surrounding scenery. I could only see a vast white sky, as if the tide had risen in advance and the water had reached the shore and flooded the city.
He Wumei carried a lantern and a small clay pot and returned home alone at night.
It was not too late, and Fuguifang had not yet fallen into a deep sleep. There were still sporadic voices, laughter, noises and barking dogs, but coming in through the thick fog barrier, it was inexplicably more eerie, making people feel panicked, sweaty and anxious.
She didn't dare to stop for a moment.
Suddenly.
"He Wumei?"
There is a blurry figure in the fog.
He Wumei didn't dare to answer, she lowered her head and walked quickly towards home.
But the voice came up: "Why is Wu Niang ignoring people? I am Song Sanlang who lives next to the old locust tree in the east of Fangdong. I asked Medical Officer Lu for some decoction last month."
Song Sanlang? There seems to be such a person.
He Wumei still didn't dare to talk.
The voice hung behind him.
"I asked for the medicine for my grandpa, but it didn't work. The rot in his legs got worse and worse, and the bones were even visible."
He Wumei slowed down unconsciously.
The voice continued to sound in the fog: "Today a traveling doctor came and said that he should soak the affected area with wolfsbane water. I didn't know what to do, so I came to look for you all night long."
Wolfsbane can be used to fight poison with poison, but the old man is old and weak, how can he resist the poison? This is not a cure, it is obviously fatal!
She turned around and blurted out.
"Don't use wolfsbane!"
However.
Looking back, there was no trace of anyone in the fog.
Ding~
The clear and long sound of metal and stone rang in my ears, and my thoughts flew away.
Huh?
He Wumei suddenly felt as if her mind was empty, as if she had just woken up from a big dream, or as if she was trapped in a dream.
What am I doing here?
The wind blows from behind, bringing strands of light green light, which condenses in front, carving out a light path in the fog.
On the road, three indistinguishable people stood in a line along the road. The front man held a stone chime in his hand and looked sideways as if to invite them.
He Wumei unconsciously stepped onto the shallow light and joined in.
The lantern fell from his hands, and the clay pot fell to the ground, breaking into pieces, and the buttermilk spilled all over the floor.
A trace of clarity returned to her eyes, and she heard the cat's sharp and urgent cry.
However.
Bang~ The stone chime struck again.
A hand was put on her shoulder behind her, and she also raised her hand in a daze to put it on the shoulder of the front rower.
The team moved forward along the light path.
The cat's meowing in my ears became softer and softer, and became farther and farther away.
…………
In front of candlelight.
Li Changan looked solemn.
There is a half-drawn yellow talisman on the desk.
He took a deep breath, calmed down, wrapped his pen in cinnabar, as if it was of great weight, and slowly started writing.
Is he making a talisman?
No.
He is seeking death!
The magical talisman in the pen is not an ordinary talisman to destroy evil spirits and calm down the house, but a thunder talisman.
But can the divine power of the Huanghuang Nine Heavens Thunder Mansion tolerate the ghosts of the inhumane world?
Before I could write a complete stroke, lightning jumped in the air.
There was a crackling sound.
"Ouch!"
It was Li Changan who was grinning, but it was not him who was howling.
The big black cat broke into the house, its fur was in disarray, and it was screaming miserably.
…
The night is already dark.
The fog in the streets and alleys has dispersed a lot.
The spilled buttermilk has soaked into the mud, leaving only a piece of white with a smell of mutton.
Li Changan leaned over to examine carefully. The cold spiritual energy remaining on the ground stung his palms, but strangely there was no evil feeling at all.
He stood up and tightened his raincoat.
He picked up the lantern again, took out the wick with his fingers, wrapped it around with the talisman, and then flicked it.
The orange-yellow flame like a silkworm cocoon suddenly turned into light green, and a few fireflies drifted out, heading north against the wind.
Li Changan put the wick back into the lantern.
Pick up the lantern and go away in search of light.
…………
The ancients used "artemisia" to refer to the underworld. Although they were talking about the burial place for the dead south of Mount Tai, there were always tall wormwood bushes with no one in them, and they formed a continuous forest. A mortal who strayed into it would feel as if he had escaped from another world.
There is a vast field of wormwood in front of Li Changan.
In a big city like Qiantang, it is very strange to have such a large area of tall grass on the edge of the city. Due to the high price of firewood on the market, most of the grass and trees except for tea gardens, orchards, and forest gardens have been cut down, and there are usually many grassy areas near the city.
Cleaner than a monk's forehead.
The reason why the wormwood was spared here is quite simple.
Li Changan raised his head and looked into the distance.
The fog has now dissipated, the night sky is bare, and a lone moon shines high on the hills.
This place is Feilai Mountain, where the rumored ghosts gather.
Fluorescence points forward.
Li Changan threw himself into the grass without thinking.
…
The branches of wormwood are connected to branches and leaves are connected to leaves, as if they have merged into a sea and drowned people.
When you jump up and look beyond the wormwood, you can always see the "coast" not far away. But when you walk along the set direction, you can't get out of the tall grass. Jump up again and say, "Coast"
"Still in front, neither far nor near.
Li Changan stopped.
Listen attentively.
The night wind blows through the grass, and the dense branches and leaves sway and rustle. Listen carefully, but there are some smaller sounds hidden in the wind.
"Why did he stop?"
"Oh, maybe they discovered us?"
"I'm so hungry, let me eat him."
"He is also a ghost and cannot be eaten!"
Li Changan put down the lantern, held it up with both hands and flicked it inside. Then, a paper bird silently slipped out from under the coir raincoat and fell into the depths of the grass.
At the same time, the quarrel in the wind became more and more intense.
along with.
"It doesn't matter if he is a human or a ghost!"
There was an overwhelming sound of large grass stems coming from deep in the tall grass, and something suddenly came roaring towards me.
Li Changan also pointed out the formula.
"disease."
A golden light suddenly appeared.
With the sound of "Ouch", the rumbling stopped suddenly.
The Taoist priest ignored him and continued to use incantations.
Shouts of surprise and pain were heard all the time.
After a while, listen carefully again.
The sound of the wind is just the sound of the wind and nothing else.
He picked up the lantern and continued forward.
After only ten steps or so, I walked out of the sagebrush and saw a mountain road paved with gravel in front of me.
…………
Along the way up the mountain, the mountains became darker and darker.
It's not that the moonlight is not bright enough, but that there are always shadows lurking thicker than elsewhere on the winding mountain road, where the tree roots are entwined, and between the weird stone crevices.
Whenever Li Changan approaches, these shadows will make a thin sound and hide furtively deeper into the forest.
There is no need to catch up and check, the Taoist priest will know what it is.
Aren't the Shadowless Thieves, one of Qian Tang's three evils, mostly evil ghosts who sneaked into the city from Feilai Mountain to cause trouble?
Don't worry about the lonely ghosts.
Continue climbing upward.
Huh?
Suddenly stopped.
There is a Taoist temple on the mountainside ahead.
The Taoist temple was of course in dilapidated condition. The entire gate had collapsed without any remains. The courtyard wall was growing with weeds, flowers and vines, making it difficult to tell from a distance whether it was a wall or a bush.
It looked so dilapidated, but the weeds in front of the "door" were shorter and sparse, and it was obvious that there were people walking around all the time.
Enter the view.
He first gave people a fright.
The courtyard was silently crowded with all kinds of strange monsters, standing or standing, lying on their backs or sitting down!
But upon closer inspection, it turns out they are all sculptures.
Buddhas, yakshas, immortals, ghosts and gods, and even various folk wild gods and barbarian gods, all gathered here regardless of whether they were Chinese or foreign enemies, were all abandoned for a long time and exposed to wind and rain, so that the paint faded, the mud shells peeled off, and the limbs were mutilated.
Among them, the latest color is a group of statues of children and girls piled randomly in the corner.
When he entered the hospital, Li Changan had already made a guess. Seeing the boy statue, he was already sure that this Taoist temple should be Qian Tang's God Worship Village - a place where abandoned statues of gods were placed.
The abandoned god and the sacrificeless soul complement each other.
The Taoist priest shook his head, not knowing whether to laugh or not, and walked to a statue of the King of Growth.
The craftsmanship of the statue is very good, and although it is mottled all over, it still retains its majestic appearance.
It should have been enshrined in a certain mage's private temple before. In order to facilitate the borrowing of magic, the sword of wisdom in his hand turned out to be a real thing.
The Taoist priest bowed to the King of Heaven.
Take off the sword.
Although it was stained with rust, as soon as he held it in his hand, Li Changan concluded that it was once a good sword, and now it is also worthy of use!
The Taoist priest suddenly grasped the hilt of the sword with both hands and turned his waist, as if waving a whip. The power came from his feet, rose from his waist, was transmitted through his arms, and was finally swung out by the blade of the sword.
In an instant, the rusty sword seemed to be washed away by the wind and rain, and regained its sharpness, roaring loudly in the quiet night.