As soon as he saw Lin Ji, the strong man's expression suddenly changed.
"Who are you?!"
He held the pickaxe in his hand tightly and glanced at the old man who had expired on the bed. His face was quite complicated for a moment.
Lin Ji looked at this man quietly.
He is said to be a strong man, but in fact he is just tall and has a broad frame.
Under his thin clothes, his body was as skinny as the old man on the bed.
His face is vegetable-colored and his nose is blue.
"I'm just a pedestrian passing by here to ask for directions." Lin Ji hesitated, then pointed to the old man on the bed and said, "His death has nothing to do with me. When I came, he was already dying."
Hearing this, the strong man's face showed a look of surprise.
"You can't leave! If the old man dies, he will die. You are a young man, you can't leave!"
Lin Ji frowned slightly and asked puzzledly: "Why can't I leave?"
"Without the old thing, the ore I handed over will not be enough. If the monk is dissatisfied, won't I suffer?"
"Come here, you can take over that old guy's job! Just right!"
The strong man said excitedly, and his eyes gradually became malicious. He clutched the pickaxe tightly, as if he would take action as long as Lin Ji made the slightest move to leave.
Such malice that almost overflowed made Lin Ji feel cold all over.
What he was afraid of was not the strong man who was strong on the outside, but the... servility shown in every word and deed of this strong man.
Lin Ji simply sat down by the bed.
"I won't leave, but can you tell me what's going on here? You all work for the monk?"
"Call the monk!" the strong man argued. Seeing that Lin Ji was not ready to leave, he relaxed a little, but still blocked the door.
"We lowly pigs were born to serve the monks. If we can't serve the monks, we have no meaning."
As he said that, the strong man seemed to see the pity in Lin Ji's eyes, and said: "I'm not stupid, you look like a foreigner at first sight! Foreigners are all pigs, you and I are no different! We must all contribute to the monks.
lifetime."
"Then what? From birth to death? What's the point?"
"Next life, I will become a monk in the next life." The strong man replied, "If I do well, I will become a monk, if I do poorly, I will become a noble, and even if I do worse, I will become an official... But if I make the monks unhappy,
, they will cast a curse, and they will be pigs forever."
Lin Ji pursed his lips slightly, breathed a long sigh of relief, and tried hard to get rid of the depression in his heart.
"Do you believe what those monks said? Have you seen them?"
"I've seen it! I've seen it!" The strong man nodded quickly, with fear in his eyes.
"tell me the story."
"That's the magistrate of our county. He pissed off the monk because he didn't turn in some ore."
"Then what?"
"He... more than a dozen of his wives were kidnapped, and his newborn son, who was supposed to be a hereditary official, was treated as a pig and sacrificed to the abbot."
The strong man said with some fear: "The bone skewers in the hands of the current county magistrate are made from the ribs of that little pig. We saw it with our own eyes."
Lin Ji narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Bone skewers?"
"The reward from the monk can ensure a safe life."
"You've been treated like a pig, how can you still be safe? How can you be safe?"
Hearing this, the strong man hesitated for a moment, but soon shook his head heavily.
"Useful, really useful."
Lin Ji shook his head secretly. He knew that no matter how much he said, it would be difficult to change the thinking of these people for decades, so he simply did not waste words.
"How many times did you mention ore, and also said you were helping the monks? Were you sent to mine?"
"Yes, there is a jade mine just a dozen miles outside the county. The monks attach great importance to it and let us dig it."
"How long have you been digging?"
"I don't know. I've been in the mine since I can remember, and the same goes for that old guy." The strong man pointed to the old man's body on the bed.
When asked, Lin Ji nodded and said nothing more.
No matter how many there are, this person probably doesn’t know.
A somewhat helpless smile appeared on his face.
"Oh, no wonder Master Tian said, kill a bald donkey whenever you see one."
Some things cannot be understood just by listening to others say a few words.
Before coming here, Lin Ji had heard many people talk about Victoria more than once.
But it was difficult for him to understand it until he saw it with his own eyes and heard it with his own ears.
Only by experiencing it personally can you finally feel the same way.
"Tantrism...Buddhist country."
Just as Lin Ji was murmuring and thinking, there was suddenly some noise outside.
The village that had been quiet just now became noisy again.
He heard the sound of many footsteps, and after a little exploration with his consciousness, he found that the people living around him came to the street one by one, and then fell to their knees on the ground.
The strong man seemed to have seen the situation outside, and his expression suddenly changed.
"The monk is here. Follow me out to greet him."
Lin Ji naturally would not refuse, and walked out of the house with the strong man, and then asked casually: "Do I have to kneel down?"
"I'm a pig, how can I not kneel down when I see the monk?"
While he was talking, the strong man knelt down and buried his head deeply on the ground, exactly like the hundreds of people around him.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Lin Ji still standing, with anxiety on his face.
"Kneel down quickly, kneel down quickly!"
"You can't be disrespectful to the monks, otherwise you will be a pig in the next life."
Lin Ji looked up at the sky. On the very far horizon, there seemed to be a small black spot getting closer and closer.
He responded casually: "You were not pigs, but you are not now. No one can save you."
"But it's not your fault."
Lin Ji lowered his head and looked at the strong man who was still looking at him out of the corner of his eye.
"But I'm not a pig, never have been."
"What nonsense are you talking about!" The strong man became more and more anxious.
In the sky, there was a faint sound of wind.
Lin Ji saw a big bird, it was a roc.
Pengniao are monsters, most of them are only in the first and second realms.
Lin Ji had seen it in Ghost Stories. This bird was extremely tame and was common in several western states, where it was used as a mount.
At this moment, a monk wearing monk's robes sat cross-legged on the back of the bird.
Soon, the bird landed in the middle of the crowd and trampled to death two people who were kneeling on the ground.
Brains splattered everywhere.
There was no commotion among the people around, as if they were used to it.
The Pengniao's face was filled with human excitement, and he lowered his head to lick it.
The monk was unmoved. After taking a look at Lin Ji, who was standing alone, he ignored him.
"Where is the county magistrate?" the monk asked.
An old man kneeling at the front stood up and knelt down in front of the monk.
"How was the harvest today?" the monk asked again.
"Replying to the monk, today's harvest is less than yesterday...20% less." There was despair in the county magistrate's voice.
The monk nodded.
"Then you go and die."
As soon as the words fell, the sharp point of the Peng bird's wings penetrated the chest of the county magistrate.
Lin Ji watched this scene, but his attention was focused on the bone string in the county magistrate's hand.
He kicked the strong man next to him.
"Oh, stay safe?"
The strong man shivered.
The monk not far away finally set his sights on Lin Ji.