The earth is slightly dry and cracked, and the surrounding fields are overgrown with weeds and no one is working.
The wind swept away the sand, revealing the buried town monument. The three words "Plum Blossom Town" were already mottled.
Li Kui looked at the dilapidated town ahead and sighed slightly:
"This world is really chaotic."
It is now 1930, and it was five years ago when he first came. In just five years, the town that was still prosperous at the time has become desolate and depopulated.
Natural disasters and wars have come to this small town one after another.
'I wonder how Ahao and Uncle Jiu are doing?'
Li Kui turned his head and looked at the hilltop opposite. Yizhuang was there, and he had a bad feeling in his heart.
…
Getting closer and closer to Yizhuang.
'Sure enough, he's already gone.'
Li Kui stood still in front of the door, looking at the cobwebbed plaque and the two rotten white lanterns. With a thought in his mind, the door opened automatically, and what he saw was a bluestone road leading directly to the main hall.
Some memories come to mind.
Memories of eating with Uncle Jiu and the others, and practicing martial arts with Ah Hao.
Li Kui walked in. The furniture and other items were still there, but there was a thick layer of dust. It seemed that he had been gone for a while.
However, this is not an ordinary Yizhuang, but a stronghold established by Maoshan, which may leave clues.
Thinking like this, Li Kui's eyes slightly rippled, and he suddenly looked towards Uncle Jiu's room in the backyard, where a shrine was enshrined. Inside was the Earth God, and there was a shallow aura fluctuation.
Exorcise the gods!
"Ouch, who is it?"
An old voice sounded in my ears.
But when he saw a white-haired old man walking through the wall and being brought to Li Kui, he rubbed his head with a look of pain on his face.
"Lord Tutu, the ghost envoy Li Kui from the Yinlu Department wants to ask you a few questions."
When the old man raised his eyes, the green token came into his eyes. He raised his gaze and saw that it was a young man with a stern and heroic face. He was observing the token with suspicion and some vigilance.
Not long after.
"The little god has seen Master Guiji. I wonder if you have anything to ask the little old man." The old man bowed his hands.
"Li Kui's behavior just now was a bit reckless. Please don't be offended by the landlord." Li Kui first apologized sincerely, and then asked: "I wonder where Uncle Jiu, Ahao and the others have gone? How long have they been away?"
"Do you know Lin Jiu, sir?"
"right!"
The old man whispered softly:
"It's like this. Lin Jiu and his two disciples left half a year ago, probably to Phoenix City in Jizhou."
"Jizhou Phoenix City."
Li Kui's eyes flashed, and he quickly found the location of Phoenix City from Black Scorpion's memory, which was at least thousands of miles away from Plum Blossom Town. He asked curiously: "How did they go so far away?"
Hearing this, the Earth God shook his head:
"This little old man is not clear about this. At that time, Meihua Town was ruled by a warlord named Long, and there was a ghost king standing behind him. With elite soldiers and powerful artillery, Uncle Jiu had no choice but to leave here first. Yizhuang asked the little old man
Take care of me."
"Is this so?"
Li Kui nodded thoughtfully, his inner thoughts spreading.
‘You’re already here, let’s kill the demons along the way and kill two birds with one stone!’
After thinking about this, he asked again: "Lord Tutu, where is the ghost king behind the warlord named Long?"
"at……"
The Earth God's eyes lit up and he quickly told the address.
After a while.
At the gate of Yizhuang, Li Kui grinned with bloodthirsty murderous intent, soared into the sky and disappeared in an instant.
…
…
The setting sun, the deserted road.
However, the seven or eight-year-old boy was walking along the official road step by step, clutching a rusty dagger in his hand, his expression numb. There were dead trees with tooth marks on both sides, and there were three or two starving corpses lying underneath.
Flies, maggots, and the unpleasant corpse stench.
"water……"
He repeated the cycle in his mouth. Hunger caused many phantoms to appear in front of his eyes. He raised his head and tried to discern the direction, and plunged into the woods on the other side.
I don’t know how long I walked, but finally a small river appeared in front of me.
In the turbulent river of blood and turbidity, the boy's exhausted body suddenly felt a surge of strength. He walked faster and was about to rush forward to drink water.
at this time.
"You will die if you drink this river water!"
He felt as if someone had grabbed him on the back of his neck. When he looked back, a huge bloody tiger head hit his eyes. His pupils shrank and he fainted.
"..."
Li Kui held the tiger's head in his left hand, looked at the boy, and sighed slightly.
Looking at the dozens of giants floating on the river, there are also a few sparrows standing on their white and swollen bellies, as if they will explode under the beaks in the next second.
"This damn world." Li Kui said in a complicated tone.
It had been more than ten days since he left Meihua Town, and now he came to the border of Tiannan Prefecture. There was a severe drought and locust plague. The fields that had been cultivated for a year were all eaten up by the locusts that blocked the sky and the sun.
Coupled with the warlords' tough tax collection, subordinate officials' embezzlement and seizure of disaster relief funds, and the demons behind their backs who fueled the flames, tens of millions of people were forced to leave their homes in search of a way out.
The roots of the grass were almost dug out and the bark of the trees was almost stripped off.
Along the way, countless people starved to death.
When he was in the Ming Dynasty, Li Kui once heard Tang Sai'er say that there was a drought in various parts of Dongshan. She said: the people lived on grass roots, sold their wives and children, and moved away, old and young;
He himself had seen the victims, who were naked, hungry and emaciated.
When these microcosms were completely enlarged, when Li Kui walked into Tiannan Prefecture, and when he saw the terrible current situation along the way, he finally had a profound understanding of this troubled world.
The more injustice he saw, the stronger the fire in Li Kui's heart became.
The tiger head in his hand is the demon king of the nearby world.
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth!
Use the sword in your hand to purify the world of purity!
…
The sky is getting dark.
Snapped.
The bonfire was burning fiercely, and the thick meat porridge in the iron pot was fragrant.
Li Kui ground the rejuvenating elixir into powder, mixed it with some water, fed it to the boy, and covered him with a blanket.
Immediately, he sat on the big rock and looked at the boy.
He was thin and small, with a pale complexion and dry hair. He was so hungry that only his skin and bones were left. His ribs were clearly visible. He was holding a dagger tightly in his hand and would not let go no matter what. He was talking meaninglessly in his sleep.
Xiao Hei lay down at Li Kui's feet and took a short rest.
"mother……"
"mother……"
Various scenes flashed before Zhou An's eyes. Familiar faces such as father, mother, and little sister appeared in front of him, but they seemed to be very far away from him. He ran, ran, and chased.
Until he was under a dead tree, his mother held him in her arms and said, "Xiao An, don't let others pick up my mother's body."
His eyelids trembled and he suddenly opened them, revealing cloudy eyes.
"woke up."
Strange voice.
Zhou An stood up suddenly, clutched the dagger, and stared at him fiercely, like a wolf cub at the end of his life.
The firelight illuminated his pupils, and he could see the person clearly.
He had a sword on his waist, his face was gentle, and he looked at him gently with a slight smile on his lips.
This is a very strange yet familiar look.
bona fide.
"water."
"Hungry."
(Who are you?)
The long-term hunger reduced Zhou An's voice to a cry just seeking food.
Li Kui lowered his eyelids slightly, stood up, picked up the iron pot on the campfire, filled the boy with a bowl of meat porridge, and placed it next to his hand: "Hot, you are too weak. Eat slowly, bit by bit."
Zhou An still looked at Li Kui warily.
Li Kui looked directly into his eyes.
a long time.
Zhou An carefully picked up the bowl, and the aroma of meat rushed into his nose. The cells in his body seemed to be resurrected in an instant, desperately sending out signals of thirst, and his head even started to feel dizzy.
He couldn't wait any longer.
Open your mouth wide and swallow.
However,
"I told you to eat slowly and little by little."
An invisible force imprisoned Zhou An's body. He raised his head and looked at Li Kui. In his wary and turbid eyes, there was finally a different look, a mixture of shock and hatred.