Li Changan followed the guidance of the Little Yellow Book and went all the way east to find the Corpse Buddha. On the way, he happened to meet Yan Xinglie. He was like-minded and helped him recapture the White Lotus Demon Girl. However, because he had exhausted the Demonic Needle of the Fengzhen Demon Girl, he had to
Go to Pingye City to replenish supplies at the risk of exposing your whereabouts.
On the other hand, while the Thousand Buddha Temple ceremony was in full swing, a zombie quietly sneaked into the Demon Transformation Cave and worshiped the Buddha with a human head...
……………………
The sheep with round eyes bent its front legs and kept kowtowing.
Faced with this strange scene, everyone had different reactions.
The mother and son cowered and hid behind. They had suffered enough from the demons, and they seemed to be fighting against the enemy. Fu Jiulang, besides being horrified, looked a little eager to try, with his cheeks leaking.
As for the White Lotus Saint, the boss on horseback had it in a black bag.
Li Changan rubbed his chin, as if he had thought of something. Yan Xinglie had already stepped forward, grabbed the horn of the sheep with one hand, and pulled out a dagger with the other hand, placing it on the top door of the strange sheep.
The sheep's body trembled a few times, but it didn't struggle.
The bearded man didn't hesitate when he saw this. He inserted the tip of the knife diagonally into his scalp, and then scratched it all the way along the top of his head, his spine, and the root of his tail. Where the blade passed, he only saw the skin being opened, but not the flesh, and there wasn't even a drop of blood.
No beads splashed out.
This is strange.
Li Changan stepped forward and was shocked to see that under the open fur, there was not flesh and blood fascia, but another layer of skin. The skin was smooth and delicate, just like... human skin?
At this moment, Yan Xinglie put away the dagger, grabbed the sheepskin and pulled hard.
Then he saw a naked woman rolling out of the sheepskin!
………………
It was extremely lively outside the west gate of Pingye City today.
The gongs and drums were noisy, and the crowds were shouting, blocking the front of the City God's Temple.
The Pingye City God also has its origins. Legend has it that a hundred years ago, there was a powerful man in Pingye who did evil, and the people were miserable. It happened that there was a scholar in Pingye who knew a little about magic. He learned from the ghosts and gods that the Lord Taishan was traveling around the world, so he
He wanted to pass through Pingye City. The scholar stopped the law driver at night and accused him of being a powerful man. Hearing this, the prince was furious and asked the judge to take away the life of this powerful man. But the laws of nature are fixed and cannot be changed tampering with them. Just take one life to get it.
The scholar died suddenly because of this.
The people of Pingye felt his kindness, made statues of gods, built temples for him, made him the City God of Pingye, and offered him incense day and night.
But that was decades ago.
In recent years, the world has been deteriorating, and people's livelihood has become a problem. How can they have the spare capacity to worship the City God? In addition, in recent years, most people in Pingye have converted to a Buddha called Baiyang Buddha, and the City God's Temple has become increasingly dilapidated.
.
But now I look at this century-old temple. The beams and pillars have been replaced, red paint has been applied, and the bricks and tiles have been renovated. Even the doors, windows, and eaves have been hung with red silk ribbons, swaying in the wind, so majestic.
It's a pity that the temple owners, namely the City God and the City God's Mother, were respectfully invited out of the temple. A bare-breasted Buddha occupied the middle hall.
After a while, there was a "cracking" sound of firecrackers.
The new host is about to attract a few "good people" who have contributed money to the show.
There was some commotion in the crowd.
It turned out to be a lame beggar banging a broken bowl and singing a tune.
"The world is strange, the world is strange. Officials become bandits, bandits sit in court, and monks occupy the City God's Temple..."
As soon as he didn't play the song, he was surrounded by several fat and strong "faithful believers" who gave him a good beating.
During this mess, the old man took the opportunity to squeeze through the crowd, then turned around and pulled out a few fat sheep from the crowd. Both the people and the sheep were covered in grass and morning dew. I guess they came all the way early in the morning.
, but didn’t want to be blocked outside the city gate by worshipers worshiping Buddha, so he got away now.
He counted the number with his fingers and hurried into the city gate.
At this time, a little boy pointed at the old man’s sheep and said:
"Auntie, why are the sheep's pupils round?"
"What are you talking about? Where are the round eyes of this sheep?"
The baby's mother glanced at the child without taking a closer look, and just held the child. How could she talk such nonsense on this great day when Baiyang Buddha moved to his new house? She quickly said "Amitabha" several times, but she didn't see him.
The shepherd turned around frequently, as if he had memorized the two women's figures very well, and then he drove the sheep into the city gate.
After entering the city gate, the old man walked along the base of the wall, deliberately picking up the remote terrain, passing through an abandoned alley where rats, sparrows and basil lived, and finally arrived at an old and lonely courtyard, with a white plaque hanging on the gate -
—Jingshen Village.
There is a saying in this world that statues of gods and Buddhas should not be abandoned suddenly, otherwise they will turn into monsters and harm people. Therefore, wherever there is spare capacity, a "god worship village" will be set up to house abandoned statues. This remote courtyard
It is precisely such a place. Because of its remote location and because it is unlucky that few people come here, it has become the den of this old man.
"Stab it."
He opened the door, and what he saw was a large courtyard overgrown with weeds and three shabby tiled houses. In the courtyard were lame figures, broken arms, blind eyes, one ears, faded paint...all kinds of gods and Buddhas.
Sitting or standing, looking up or bending down, they fell into the vines and grass. A gust of wind squeezed in through the crack in the door, carrying a few wisps of residual fragrance and floating upward accompanied by midges.
The old man muttered a few words, but he was still not used to this courtyard. No matter how many times he came here, he always felt that these statues were like lonely ghosts, treating the living people indifferently.
He spat, locked the door bolt, and led the sheep into the courtyard.
After a while of "whispering".
There were fewer sheep and more people in the yard.
……………………
In this river and lake, although human traffickers are the lowest of the nine, the most shady existence, there are also secrets among them. This business is commonly known as "Daxuba", and in the Jiangnan area it is called "Thaxu". There is a secret trick circulating in the industry.
The technique is called "Making Animals", which involves using a secret method to process livestock fur, and then wrapping a living person with the fur, thus turning the person into an animal. Once this technique is performed, if the fur is not untied for a long time, the skin inside will
Humans will become completely transformed into livestock. Even if the skin is peeled off, the meat chopped, and the meat is put into the pot, the shape and taste will remain the same.
The old man could only get the fur, and the sheepskin in his hand could not even change the eyes of a human being. If time went by, let alone completely transform into a sheep, he would have to return his human body first, and then burst the sheepskin.
.
He peeled off the skins one by one, but he saw that the yard was full of naked but pretty young women, but their expressions were dull, their eyes were dull, and there was still saliva in their mouths. They were kicked and dragged by the old man.
Stuffed into the side compartment.
Then fold the leathers carefully one by one.
at this time.
There was a burst of noise outside the door, followed by "dong dong dong" knocking on the door quickly and urgently.
The old waiter's expression tightened, and he hid the leather in his hand in the corner, then stepped forward and pressed against the door, put one hand in his arms, straightened his voice, and spoke in a nonchalant tone.
"Who's calling the door?"
Someone immediately answered outside the door:
"Is uncle back? I am Wang Cheng."
The old man looked calmer, unlatched the door, opened the door, and saw several young men outside carrying the statue of the god, all of them sweating profusely from exhaustion.
When the door opened, they rushed in.
………………
The new person entering this gate is the City God of Pingye.
It is shaped like a middle-aged official. The paint is often faded, but the whole body is still clean and there is not much dust.
The man who called himself Wang Cheng was a sturdy man with narrow eyes. He ordered a few young men to place the City God in a corner, then gave a few copper coins to send the idlers away, and then went to the door again.
The old man sat in front of the door and folded the sheepskins by himself, while Wang Cheng began to put incense on the statues one by one. There were many statues in the courtyard, and the old man's sheepskins were all folded, but Wang Cheng's incense was He hadn't finished it yet. He looked at it coldly for a while and then said:
"If these gods and Buddhas have spirits, they must first deal with you and me; if they don't, why do you worship them?"
Wang Cheng still respectfully laid the incense and knelt before him.
"May I have peace of mind?"
The old man laughed and happened to see Wang Cheng offering incense to the newly arrived City God. He thought that when they were in the City God's Temple, they were an in-laws, how come here the City God was alone.
"It was carried back again."
Wang Cheng gave the answer without looking back.
"The presiding monk said that it was lonely in the temple, so he asked the City God to stay with Baiyang Buddha."
The old man was dumbfounded by this answer. He shook his head and said "tsk tsk" for a long time, until Wang Cheng finished offering the incense, sat down in front of him, and asked:
"This time it's one day later than expected?"
The old man said several times that he was unlucky, and told him everything about Fu Jiulang's entanglement until he went down the mountain all night this morning.
Wang Cheng frowned and seemed to have chewed the old man's words several times before speaking again.
"Is the 'goods' this time still complete?"
"One was left behind..." the old man asked tentatively, "Should we abandon this yard?"
"That Fu Jiulang is a ranger from Sakon, so it's nothing to worry about. But it's the Taoist priest you mentioned and the man in black who followed him..."
Wang Cheng thought for a while.
"I heard that the White Lotus Sect recently offered a reward to search for someone. From your description, it seems quite similar. It seems to be called Yan..."
"Yan Xinglie."
"That's right, it's Yan Xinglie."
Wang Cheng clapped his hands and smiled, but suddenly stared at the one eye. The voice that reminded him was not that of the old man next to him. Suddenly, he jumped up like a wild cat with exploded hair, turned around and walked away from the corner. He pulled out a short knife and looked in the direction of the source of the sound.
But I saw a short-haired Taoist squatting on the wall. Beside the Taoist, a young man with dog skin plaster on his cheeks was trying to keep his balance unsteadily.
"Why did my father-in-law leave without saying goodbye?"
The Taoist priest smiled and spoke while jumping into the courtyard. Then Shi Shiran moved a few steps and vaguely blocked the direction of the door.
When the old man saw it was Li Changan, he was stunned for a moment but quickly calmed down. He winked at the squinty-eyed man and turned around with a smile on his face. He followed Li Changan's words and said, "Isn't that right?" .
"It's just the old man's fault, he's just in a hurry..."
He took a few steps forward to greet Wang Cheng, then turned back to greet Wang Cheng.
"Ah Cheng, why did you bring the knife? Put it down! Put it down! This Taoist priest is not a bad person...do it!"
The old man smiled and took a few steps closer, but his face suddenly changed. However, the target of his attack was not a Taoist priest, but Fu Jiulang, who had just jumped into the courtyard and had not yet gained a firm footing. And Wang Cheng followed closely behind, wielding a short sword. He didn't take any action and just stood between the Taoist priest and Fu Jiulang.
Fu Jiulang just stood firm and looked at this scene. He didn't know that he was being treated as a soft persimmon by the other party. He was furious immediately and did not use the newly returned blade on his waist. Relying on his height and long arms, He opened his arms and grabbed the old man's neck.
Unexpectedly, the old man didn't dodge, he just shrunk his thin body, covered his head, and rushed into Fu Jiulang's arms. Fu Jiulang smiled and turned to grab him, but he didn't look. Guer's hand quietly reached into his arms.
"Watch out!"
Fu Jiulang heard a reminder in his ears, and a bright silver light burst out from his arms.
At the critical moment, he felt a tightening in his neck, and was actually dragged back two steps.
After being in a trance, he took a closer look and saw that the silver light in the old man's hand was a fish skin dagger. The sharp edge was sharply sharpened, which made his internal organs feel cold.
If the Taoist priest hadn't been a step ahead, he would have been tricked by the old man and disemboweled him on the spot.
"Old thief......"
Fu Jiulang was so ashamed and angry that he gritted his teeth and pulled out the sword from his waist, trying to get back to his place.
Who would have guessed.
The old man glanced at Wang Cheng, who was still curled up on the ground and rolling his eyes, and then looked at the Taoist priest's long sword that had never been unsheathed. He simply threw the dagger to the ground and captured him without a fight.
………………
Fu Jiulang was filled with anger in his chest.
He glanced at the two human traffickers who were tied up, and his upper and lower molars were grinding together. But he usually prided himself on being aboveboard and disdained to humiliate those who couldn't resist, so now he could only vent his anger on himself.
Li Changan checked the kidnapped woman in the side room, and when he came out, he saw Fu Jiulang walking around in the yard like a stray dog, looking at anything he didn't like, and cursing.
"Ha, this kid who deserves to be killed by a thousand swords is quite diligent in worshiping Buddha..." As he said that, he picked up a stick of incense and sneered, "I'm flattering you. I was fooling you with some tasteless and bad incense."
When Fu Jiulang mentioned this, Li Changan noticed that even though the yard was full of green smoke, there was no scent at all.
"What you said is wrong."
The old man covered his head and said nothing. The guard with narrow eyes heard that someone doubted his "piety", but he was not convinced.
"One stall is put into another. Although I am engaged in an immoral business, I am always unambiguous about worshiping Buddha and worshiping gods. In Pingye City, every household worships Buddha and burns incense. If you go out and ask, who doesn't know this? Such unscented incense is the finest Dharma incense used to honor Baiyang Buddha."
After saying that, he glanced at Fu Jiulang with his remaining eye.
"Thankfully, Fu Jiu is still from Pingye..."
"This is so disgusting..."
Fu Jiulang immediately made fun of him, but he couldn't hold back his anger and wanted to fix him, but Li Changan reached out to stop him.
The Taoist priest leaned down in front of an unknown Buddha and picked up a stick of Buddhist incense.
Judging from the craftsmanship alone, it is as the warden Mingmu said, it is a well-made incense, but it has no smell... Li Changan's expression moved, he flipped his wrist, and a dragon jade talisman ignited at his fingertips, and then his nose After taking a sniff, the color changed.
The Taoist priest asked in a deep voice: "Do you think everyone in Pingye County loves Buddha?"
Before Wang Cheng could answer, Fu Jiulang shouted and cut off the conversation.
"Where is the Buddha who would steal other gods to be his wife? I think they are all obscene worship of fake Buddhas!" Fu Jiulang spat, but changed the topic, "But it is true that every family worships Buddha and burns incense in every household. Many elders in my family also do so.
Worship the Baiyang Buddha."
After that, perhaps to prove that he was from Pingye, he told a rumor.
"I heard that some idiots who came to Pingye to escape the war would rather have their wives and children starve to death just because they believed in the Buddha, and would exchange their last possessions for incense and candles to pray to the Buddha to seek some sort of White Sun Pure Land."
So ridiculous? Li Changan frowned.
"In this case, the government has never controlled it?"
"Control?" Fu Jiulang sneered, "The Baiyang Sect was brought in under the leadership of several officials."
The Taoist priest nodded, thoughtfully.
………………
A few hours later, in a secluded courtyard.
"This is Chengliang, my former military commander, and the chief officer of Pingye Town Fusi."
According to the agreement, Li Changan and Yan Xinglie met and were mysteriously taken to a secluded courtyard by the bearded man. A man in official uniform was waiting in the courtyard. The man's demeanor and movements were quite similar to Yan Xinglie's, and his behavior was very strange.
He bears some traces of military service, but is a little fatter.
"This is Taoist Priest Xuanxiao. We were able to reach Pingye safely this time only because of Taoist Priest's help."
"where……"
Li Chang'an was about to say a few words of courtesy, but unexpectedly the man bowed down like he was pushing a mountain of gold toppling a jade pillar, and the Taoist priest quickly supported him.
"What is this doing?"
"Others don't know about the dangers involved in Si Zhong's mission. Doesn't Cheng know that if the Taoist priest hadn't helped him out of righteousness, the general would have..."
Without saying the rest of the words, he was pulled up from the ground by the bearded man.
"The favors owed by Yan are free to be repaid by Yan. Why do I need you to pay my respects?"
With that said, the bearded man patted Cheng Liang's shoulder again and said with a smile.
"I've said it many times, don't call me 'general'. You and I are no longer in the army. I am no longer the former captain of Zhechong, and you are no longer the general of the central army. You and I treat each other as brothers."
Commensurate it."
After finishing speaking, without waiting for the man to speak, he turned to Li Changan and said in a deep voice:
"The plan has changed, I'm afraid I will be delayed for a day in Pingye."
…
"Pingye doesn't have a magic needle either?!"
This result was unexpected. According to Cheng Liang's explanation, although the magic needles are not very rare, they are distributed to various health centers across the country and only one or two can be prepared. Unfortunately, a few days ago, the Fusi Department of Pingye Town
I killed a powerful demon and spent a lot of talismans and magic weapons, including the demon-conquering needle at the bottom of the box.
"So, if you want to cross the Demonic Needle, you have to go to another guardhouse?"
"It doesn't have to be this way."
Cheng Liang explained:
"The depletion of supplies has been reported a long time ago. New talismans and magic weapons will be added to the treasury in the near future, but it will take some time."
"how long?"
"As informed by the official document above, it will be delivered tomorrow."
………………
I recounted some old stories and shared some new experiences.
Firstly, Cheng Liang had some official matters to deal with, and secondly, the Taoist priests also had to do some repairs. He said goodbye and left, walked out of the yard, turned around a few street corners, but suddenly stopped.
"how?"
An urgent voice cut in from the side. A bald man seemed to have been waiting here for a long time. The fat-headed and big-eared monk was the presiding monk who occupied the City God's Temple this morning.
"Quiet!"
Cheng Liang made a silent gesture and pulled the presiding monk into the uninhabited narrow alley next to him.
"That's right."
He opened his mouth, but there was no trace of his previous boldness, and his face was full of gloom.
"Inform the young master that the saint is in Pingye."