Even in the dim night, you can still see the Yunmeng River winding like a giant dragon, embracing almost the entire Tianbei City, including dozens of counties, towns, townships, and villages below it.
For thousands of years, this river has fed tens of millions of people.
There are two county towns adjacent to Julu, Yaogong County to the north and Guangzong County to the south.
Li Kui looked at it for a while, deep ripples appeared in his eyes, and he began to look for traces of Xu Zhao. Fortunately, he was familiar with the latter's aura. With this as a reference, he soon found Xu Zhao resting in the hotel.
"Hahahaha, this kid."
The next second, he couldn't help laughing. When he saw Xu Zhao lying on the bed gloomily, Li Kui knew that he must have failed to catch the monster today. After thinking about it, he immediately
Jumping down, getting closer and closer to the earth.
He landed grandly at the crowded night market without attracting any attention. He glanced left and right, smelled the aroma of meat from the barbecue stall, and walked over with a smile.
On the other side, Jiaxin Hotel.
"Oh, it's so annoying."
Xu Zhao's eyes widened, staring straight at the ceiling, and then he rolled around on the bed irritably.
In fact, he had already sensed the aura of the monster just now, but he just happened to run into a kidnapping incident. After dealing with the bad guys, when he turned back, there was no trace of the monster!
"It's just a little bit close!" Until now, he is still unwilling to give in.
"Knock knock knock."
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.
"Who is it?"
There was no response, but constant knocking on the door. Xu Zhao Liyu stood up straight, frowned as he looked at the door, a faint white light appeared all over his body, he went straight forward, grabbed the doorknob, and opened it with all his strength.
Unexpectedly - it turned out to be a familiar face.
"Brother Kui!"
"Why are you here?"
"Hahaha, I didn't scare you." Li Kui was holding a beer skewer in his hand, glanced at the white light on his body, and said with a smile: "[Shengguang] has been practiced well, it's a bit interesting."
"Hey, please come in."
Xu Zhao stepped aside and closed the door again when Li Kui came in. He said helplessly: "Brother Kui, I was almost scared by you. I thought it was someone who knocked on the door so late at night and didn't make a sound."
"Hey, this is not a surprise for you."
Snapped,
Li Kui opened the beer can with one hand, took a sip of the cold beer, and said with a wicked smile: "I originally planned to come in directly through the window, but thinking that you might be scared, I knocked on the door instead."
"..."
Xu Zhao opened his mouth slightly, rolled the words he wanted to complain about on his lips and swallowed them back. He simply picked up the stinky tofu on the paper bowl and wolfed it down: "Thank you Brother Kui for sponsoring the skewers."
Immediately, he couldn't help but curiously asked: "Brother Kui, you are not here specifically to see me this time, are you?!" As he said that, Xu Zhao's mature face could not help but quietly gave Li Kui a signal:
Brother Kui, don’t covet my beauty.
"Zhao, sometimes being too confident is not a good thing." Li Kui patted Xu Zhao heavily on the shoulder and said, "I have a mission this time. I happen to be near Julu County. I will come over after I finish my work.
Look at you."
Xu Zhao nodded thoughtfully:
"Are you leaving soon?"
"No, I have some unfinished business, so I should stay here for two days." Li Kui lazily leaned on the back of his chair.
Tang Xiyan is currently missing. We cannot rule out the possibility that he is in Julu County. We need to spend some time to look for him.
Immediately, he looked at Xu Zhao: "Tell me, which monster is it?"
"A cat demon with five hundred years of experience."
Xu Zhao raised his neck and drank the cold beer in one sip, scratched his head and recounted what had just happened.
"Do you need me to help you find her?" Li Kui asked after hearing this.
Xu Zhao immediately shook his head. Seeing him like this, Li Kui said no more: "Okay, take a good rest after eating."
The moon sets and the sun rises.
Early the next morning, a burst of gongs, drums, and crackling firecrackers woke Xu Zhao from his sleep. He glanced at the clock hanging on the wall, and it was only five o'clock in the morning.
"Hey, where's Brother Kui?"
When Xu Zhao saw that Li Kui was not in the room, he stood up and opened the curtains to look downstairs. His eyes couldn't help but be surprised.
I saw a group of Wuyangyang people parading across the street. Leading the way were a few people wearing bird feather masks, walking and dancing with graceful postures. In the middle were dozens of Taoist priests wearing khaki robes, or chanting
Sing sutras or play a musical instrument.
The tune is high-pitched and exciting.
People on the streets on both sides splashed the talisman water in porcelain bowls to the sound of drums.
It was vast and extremely lively.
"What is this doing?"
Seeing this grand occasion, Xu Zhao couldn't help but wonder to himself. As he looked around, he suddenly noticed the figure of Li Kui. He was squatting on the steps of a noodle shop, talking to an old man.
Xu Zhao blinked his eyelids, quickly put on his shoes, and rushed downstairs. After going out and turning right, he heard the old man's angry voice after a few steps: "Young man, your accent sounds like you are not from here.
"
"Yes, Binhai came here to meet friends."
Li Kui smelled the smell of cigarette smoke on the uncle's clothes. He smiled and took out the cigarette case from his pocket. He shook it and exposed the butt of the cigarette. "It's rare to see such a grand occasion. Please tell me about it."
"Young man, you..."
The old man glanced into the noodle shop and took it with a smile, "It's quite good." He took a nice sip, but choked, and couldn't help but raise his eyebrows and said, "This is quite powerful.
"Okay, I'll tell you how old I am."
"In our place, this is called Jiang Er, and also called Zhen Ping An." The old man looked at the old man who was in his early fifties and had thick hair, but it was slightly sparse in the middle. He said cheerfully: "It has a history of thousands of years. Now,
For hundreds of years, it has been jointly organized by Julu, Guangzong and Yaogong counties, twice a year."
"That's it."
Li Kui asked curiously: "Why is it called removing filth? Is it the kind of story about monsters and gods?"
"No, no."
The old man slowly exhaled a mouthful of thick fog, shook his head and said: "Our place has always been a battleground for military strategists in ancient times. Several battles were fought near Julu, involving hundreds of thousands of people.
's death."
"The resentment is soaring to the sky!"
What the old man said was true, and he said seriously: "Our ancestors and the headmasters of Taiping Dao gathered people every year to hold rituals and comfort the souls of the dead in order to clear away the grievances of the dead souls."
"For hundreds of years, it has never stopped."
As he said that, he stretched out his hand and pointed at the Taoist priests who were singing sutras, "Look, they are all Taoist priests of Taiping Dao."
Li Kui followed the words and looked.
Taoist priests are all ordinary people, but the talisman water spilled from the hands of the common people has a strong aura of Zhiyang. After thinking for a moment, he asked aloud: "Uncle, what is the talisman water in that bowl used for?"
"
"The town is safe!"
The old man looked like it was not obvious: "Every year or festival, people here go to the Taiping Taoist Temple to ask for a peace talisman. Then, while waiting for the ceremony, they burn the peace talisman and add their own talisman to the bowl.
Rice and rice wine will be sprinkled on the ground when the procession passes by the house."
"I see."
Li Kui's eyes narrowed slightly and he pointed at the people wearing bird feather masks at the front of the team:
"Hey, uncle, what kind of dance are they dancing?"
"Shangyang dance."
The old man blurted out without thinking: "They are from Xiaoyu Village. Only the people in their village are the best at this special dance. They send people to dance every year."
As he said that, he looked at Li Kui and said, "You are a foreigner. I'm afraid you don't know this village."