It was rainy and cloudy.
Zhong Chengshuo, soaking wet, returned to the house and lit the oil lamp on the table. He did not know how to cast spells, so he could only sit on the bed, dripping wet. Raindrops flowed down his black hair, leaving dark marks on the rocky ground, like blood.
The red cloth is a solid body made of seals and does not absorb water. The water flows over Zhong Chengshuo's skin, from neck to toes, dripping, dripping, as if it will never stop. Zhong Chengshuo sat on the bed, the candlelight jumping in the red eyes that did not belong to him. Under the sculpture of light and shadow, he looked more like a statue than any statue in the Fu family ancestral hall.
He wasn't even breathing.
Until the other five people from Zhian came to the door.
They were all covered with heart-cleansing spells and sealing techniques carved on wood, looking like they were wearing a strange raincoat. Zhong Cheng said he didn't close the door, and his eyes didn't move at all.
The one walking in front was Fu Xingchuan.
The big white dog stayed at the door for a long time, and only entered the room after making sure that Zhong Cheng said there was no strange reaction. Huang Jin changed himself to the size of a ping-pong ball, and his body was caught in the middle of a wooden piece engraved with a heart-cleansing spell and a sealing talisman. Like a desperate sandwich, Huang Jin weakly burrowed into Fu Xingchuan's dog fur.
When Fu Xingchuan was shaking his hair, he was nearly thrown away.
With a roof to rest, Shi'an people got busy again. Lu Xiaohe carefully looked at the decoration inside the house, his eyes fixed on a wall of books. Fu Tianyi's face turned purple from holding his breath, fearing that if he breathed too hard, the precious dust in the "Grand Master's Former Residence" would be blown away.
In the picture, Yin Ren had her long hair tied up and was holding a few fat rabbits as food.
The three rabbits happened to be all black, with shiny fur. They stared with their dull eyes, tied up with ropes to form a furry mess. Yin Ren was tired of building the house, so he skinned a rabbit on the spot and roasted it over the fire until it sizzled.
The weird-looking black rabbit is back, its body still in a mess, but the number of legs has been reduced to four. If you don't count the dozen eyes, this is progress.
Yin Ren finally suppressed the flames. He grabbed a rabbit leg and walked over curiously.
The evil power in his body was eroding his body every moment. Yin Ren arched his waist and his body trembled slightly. His eyes were fixed on the darkness at the bottom of the cliff, and he tried to inhale and exhale to adjust his condition.
At that time, Yin Ren's red clothes were still a bit rough, as if a few pieces of red cloth were tied together with hemp rope. His condition was much better than it is now, and his brows were full of vitality.
Lu Xiaohe put all the books back in their original places. She took a step back and looked at the small space in front of her. The firewood in the house was crackling, and the smoke went out through the chimney. The dim firelight illuminated the sundries under the bookshelf, and the cloth tiger in the rattan basket was painted golden by the firelight.
Yin Ren gasped. He saw the rabbit had seven or eight legs sticking out randomly, a huge eyeball growing on one side of its body, and several ears growing at the ends of its legs.
Yin Ren stopped responding, and the black rabbit huddled in a ball of grievance. Finally, it slowly squeezed into the crevice of the stone and disappeared.
Ge Tingting looked at Zhong Chengshuo with some concern, but she didn't know what to say since even Fu Xingchuan didn't get out of control. The little girl leaned against the wall next to the stove and slowly closed her eyes.
The thing was completely tense, and then it twitched all over as if it had received a great stimulus. Unfortunately, the great master's interest came and went quickly. After poking for a while, Yin Ren returned to his treasure barbecue.
Yin Ren's life in the Skeleton Valley was short and boring. He would only come back in midsummer and late winter for a short period of time. The Skeleton Valley remained desolate for a hundred years, and the darkness under the cliff was always peaceful and calm. The strange black rabbit was the only variable here.
Only the pragmatic Ge Tingting lit a fire in the stove. She squatted down to warm herself by the fire while looking at Zhong Cheng curiously.
Zhong Cheng said that he made a move for the first time. He stood up from the bed and made room for the other person. Then he leaned against the bed, watching the rain outside pouring down, and once again solidified into a human figure.
Countless fragments of memory appeared around the rabbit. The picture was like a broken mirror, projecting all kinds of fragments related to the black rabbit in front of people.
Yin Ren didn't take it seriously at first. This place was heavily polluted by evil spirits, and birds flying over here were often affected and fell to their death on the rocks. There were also many dead bird skeletons piled up nearby. The one that happened just now was probably a hapless goose that fell down.
The rabbit meat was roasted to a crispy golden color, with fat oozing out. Although it should have been infiltrated with a lot of evil power, Yin Ren obviously didn't care. He stared at the roasted rabbit with burning eyes, took out a package of spices from his pocket, and looked solemn as if he was doing something earth-shattering.
Those recipes and storybooks were almost worn out, and she even found two well-hidden color books. I don't know who that guy was hiding from in this unfortunate place.
Animal meat is smelly, and poultry meat is scarce. Rabbit meat is tender, easy to carry, and the leftover fur can be used. Yin Ren seems to like this kind of food very much.
Occasionally, strange-looking evil creatures will be born in the Valley of Bones, but in such an environment with too high a concentration of evil power, it is difficult for new evil creatures to survive. It is more important to build a house than to deal with a strange thing that comes from an unknown place and poses no threat.
The second time they met, Yin Ren was sitting on the edge of the cliff.
There is order in chaos, so common that it makes people uncomfortable.
When Shian and his companions began to recall their memories again, the rain in the memory world had not stopped yet.
"I'll keep watch. Everyone go to bed early. We have to continue recovering our memories tomorrow." Fu Xingchuan curled up again. On his head, the little yellow ball had already turned into a pool.
A rabbit that can't really be called a rabbit.
Lu Xiaohe was already rummaging through the books on the Master's bookshelf. The more she read, the more distorted her expression became. Finally, she flipped through the books faster and faster. In less than two hours, she had actually flipped through all the books on the bookshelf—if only the first page was counted.
"Half of it is the most popular storybooks of each era, a quarter is various miscellaneous notes and recipes, and the remaining quarter is a mixture of everything except serious books."
Fu Xingchuan: “… Yeah.” He wasn’t that surprised.
It squirmed like a worm, staggering towards Yin Ren.
The legendary great master, the elusive evil creature... At the end of countless identities, they only saw an ordinary person.
The main operator Huang Jinxu recovered, and with the help of another main operator Zhong Chengshuo who provided energy with blood, more memory details gradually emerged.
"How is it?" Fu Xingchuan, who was sitting by the stove, raised his head.
After hesitating for a moment, he picked up a bird bone and poked the thing that looked like a rabbit.
The Great Heavenly Master Zhong Yi, after all, was the name given to Yin Ren by the world. Compared to the former residence of the so-called Great Heavenly Master, this place was more like an ordinary mortal room.
Yin Ren's hand holding the rabbit leg trembled slightly, and he almost wrote "Did I get retribution for eating too many rabbits" written on his face.
Everyone saw the boundless "black ocean" in Yin Ren's perspective, as well as the strange-looking black rabbit of unknown origin.
A black rabbit.
However, after he turned the roasted rabbit over, something in his peripheral vision was still twitching.
At this moment, something moved on the cliff not far away.
The first time they met was when Yin Ren was building a house in Haigu.
At this moment, Zhong Cheng's reaction was not as good as usual. Shi An and his men were busy running around, but this man didn't even turn his eyes. Seeing the other party's attitude, Ge Tingting didn't dare to speak first, and moved towards Lu Xiaohe again.
Yin Ren glanced at it from the side and said, "You're still alive? You look quite capable. So, are you the Rabbit King who came to avenge your people?"
The thing didn't respond at all.
Yin Ren forgot the pain for a moment, and cast a few simple spells, all with the most basic effects of loud noises and bright lights. The squirming thing on the ground was not affected at all, and moved towards Yin Ren at a steady speed.
A bit creepy.
"You can't see, you can't hear... you react to vibrations, and you probably still have some sense of touch. What the hell are you?" Yin Ren muttered, moving his butt away, obviously not wanting to touch this evil rabbit.
The rabbit seemed to have sensed something, and suddenly stopped and began to kick its legs in slow motion.
Yin Ren: “…” This thing is simply too weird.
He staggered to his feet and walked quickly back into the house. The kicking rabbit was dumbfounded, its ears, which had been erected, limp down, and its round eyes rolled back and forth.
It seeped into the cracks in the stone again and disappeared.
The third time, the fourth time... Every time Yin Ren came back here, this strange black rabbit would appear and slowly move towards Yin Ren. An ordinary person would probably be scared enough by this thing. Fortunately, the great master Zhong Yi was knowledgeable and just kept a distance from it carefully.
The change occurred during their sixth meeting.
Yin Ren sat on the edge of the cliff again, and when the rabbit came over, he did not dodge.
"You know what?" Perhaps because there was no one around him, he no longer concealed the weakness brought by the pain. "The more evil spirits I seal, the more mortals outside are afraid of me... Practitioners are in awe, and ordinary people are afraid of me. It's very uncomfortable."
The rabbit moved a little slower.
"Now I can only smell the fireworks when I go back to my hometown every year... The people there firmly believe that I am their relative and will not hurt them. In this way, I can still talk to them through the door and taste the sweet fruits and food of the world."
"But if my condition gets worse, will I hurt them one day? If those people leave me, I will be no different from the wild animals in the mountains. To be honest, every time I go there now, I get so nervous."
Yin Ren said softly. A strange rabbit that lacks all five senses, a perfect person to confide in.
The rabbit stopped just outside Yin Ren's fist, as if unsure whether to move forward. Yin Ren looked at it for a while, then stretched out a finger and slowly pressed it against the rabbit's fur.
The touch was very strange, hard and cold, not like a living thing at all. On the other hand, the rabbit seemed to be burned by Yin Ren's fingertips and began to tremble wildly in place.
"Sure enough, I knew it." Yin Ren brushed away the troublesome red clothes, "You can't be worse than the evil power, little thing."
The rabbit's shaking eased.
It hesitated for a long time, and finally squirmed twice, slowly sticking to Yin Ren's palm. The terrifying blind eyes on its body slightly closed, and it acted very coquettishly.
Cold, dead touch.
But this is the only living thing here and now.
Yin Ren was stunned for a long time. He clenched his fingers and stroked the strange rabbit twice.
"That's good." He smiled at it. "It seems you are not afraid of me."
This time, Yin Ren stayed longer. He carved a small magical device out of a piece of wood that could convert sound and vibration into each other, and hung it on the black rabbit.
"Me." Yin Ren instructed the rabbit to touch him. His voice was transformed into a specific vibration by the spiritual weapon and directly transmitted to the rabbit.
"You." He poked the rabbit again.
The rabbit froze in place, without any reaction.
"Me." "You."
"I, you..."
Perhaps he wanted to confirm the intelligence of the strange rabbit. Yin Ren never got tired of teaching it over and over again, from the rising sun to the setting sun.
"Thank you." At last, Yin Ren rubbed the rabbit's ears, "With you as my little companion, my body doesn't hurt that much. It's a pity, if you had intelligence-"
"I."
The rabbit's spiritual device emitted a very faint sound. It carefully simulated the vibration it received and carefully restored the word.
“I, I, I… I, I… I.” The fist-sized eyes turned towards Yin Ren, as dark as a thousand-year-old cave.
"I."
A strange and distorted sound came from the spiritual weapon.
Year after year, even if only fragments flash by, this memory seems particularly long.
Anyone could see that the rabbit was sane. Unfortunately, its five senses were severely impaired, making communication very difficult. As time went by, its cognition became even lower than that of a three-year-old child.
For example, it took it more than ten years of meeting before it truly understood the true meaning of "I" and "you".
Fortunately, the Great Heavenly Master was extremely long-lived, and a hundred years passed by like a flash. In the end, they were even able to have some simple conversations—
"Rain, hate it." The rabbit tried to speak through the magic weapon, but his speech was not clear.
"Well... I quite like it." Yin Ren said, "Why do you hate it?"
"Rain, a lot." The rabbit began to answer some incomprehensible words again.
"I can build you a nest if I get a chance." Yin Ren poked the rabbit's fur. At that time, he was curled up in pain, but his voice was still smiling.
Rabbit: “Ah?” It froze in confusion again, and huddled together next to Yin Ren’s head.
The topics of their chats were similar, and the content could only stay within the daily routine. Yin Ren was like talking to a baby who hadn't grown up for hundreds of years. As long as the conversation was a little complicated, Rabbit wouldn't understand.
"I'm leaving." But every time he left, Yin Ren would always say goodbye to it.
"When are you going to yell back?" the rabbit asked vaguely.
"Half a year later." Although he had answered this question countless times, Yin Ren still answered patiently.
Rabbit: "Oh."
At this moment, the rabbit would shrink its body, take off the translation device, and arch it to Yin Ren's feet. Yin Ren would touch its head - although each time, the position of its head was not very fixed, and there was usually nothing on it.
Weird, purposeless, insignificant company.
But it is so important.
It was so important that even at the last moment, the Great Heavenly Master took it seriously in mind.
The memory fragments are actually the fragments of flashbacks. Time finally comes to this moment, the rainy night after the destruction of Yin Village.
After sealing the last evil spirit, Yin Ren's physical condition worsened, and his face was so haggard that it was a little scary. The power of the evil spirit corroded his skin, and blood kept oozing out. Despite this, the first thing he did when he regained consciousness in bed was to find the simple translation tool.
In the illusion, the rabbit finally got the right number of organs a rabbit should have. Except for the wrong position, there was nothing wrong with it.
It appeared at the edge of the cliff as usual, patiently waiting for Yin Ren. When the latter walked in front of it, the raindrops above the rabbit's body were cut off by an umbrella.
It was an old umbrella stained with fresh blood.
"I'm back." Yin Ren said.
"The rain has stopped." The rabbit was very happy, "Nest, nest."
"There is no nest." Yin Ren squatted down. He wanted to touch the rabbit, but when he saw the bloodstains between his fingers, he withdrew his hand. "You need to leave here."
"Leave?" The rabbit froze in practice.
"There will be many enemies coming here." Yin Ren said softly, "You can withstand the power of evil spirits, but you may not be able to withstand the swords and guns of the army. Killing and weapons are the best way to ward off evil spirits. Even children know this."
The rabbit continues to solidify.
"In short, you have to hide and don't come to see me again."
The rabbit finally reacted. It tried to interpret Yin Ren's words in its own way: "If you want, go."
Yin Ren's expression suddenly became complicated. Sadness, reluctance, and finally deep sorrow.
"Yes," he said, "my life is over. I am going to die."
"die?"
"Death. I remember we talked about something similar."
"oh."
The black rabbit moved its ears and kicked its four feet lightly.
"When will you come back?"
Yin Ren said nothing more.
He stretched out his hands and picked up the rabbit for the first time. The black line like umbilical cord behind the rabbit quickly became thinner and hid deep in the cracks of the stone.
Over the years, the rabbit has learned his temperature and has become quite warm. But the touch is still not good - for a "creature" with only a rudimentary sense of touch, perhaps it has done its best.
"I won't be back." Yin Ren answered calmly.
"It won't come back." The rabbit thought, "It won't come back."
"Forget it, it doesn't matter if you can't figure it out. It doesn't matter if you don't run away." Yin Ren looked at the dark horizon connecting with the sky, and faced the rolling dark clouds, he slowly closed his eyes. "It's just to save you, I can still do it."
The rabbit half understood.
The Rickets' army had originally planned to use this mountain area as their base camp, and they arrived very quickly - perhaps for this army, this was just a temporary adjustment of route to eliminate an evil creature and obtain its hidden treasures.
Just like those long-standing legends.
Evil-repelling weapons and sealing magic. With layers of defense, the army stepped into the Valley of Corpses like a swarm of ants.
At the top of the mountain, Yin Ren drew layers of formations with his own blood. The rabbit stood beside him blankly. It could not see or hear, but could only feel the gradually stagnant air.
"I should have sent you away earlier." Yin Ren said, "I was selfish and didn't want to face that moment alone."
Rabbit: "Oh."
"There are more people than I thought. But when I think about avenging everyone, it doesn't seem so bad..." Yin Ren stopped and took a breath. In his hand, the evil fruit emitted a faint light. "Don't worry, you will be fine."
Rabbit: "Oh."
Yin Ren smiled helplessly and added the final touch to the magic circle.
He spent three days and three nights painting this blood array. Working non-stop, Yin Ren looked like a corpse. The light of magic blazed down the cliff, and the aura of war drew closer.
At this distance, he seemed to be able to understand the chanting of magic and the clashing of armor. Dust flew like a living thing, and the ritual of exorcism emitted a soft white light, illuminating the dark rainy day like day. In the rolling dust, countless golden phantoms surrounded the cliffs, and the atmosphere was almost sacred.
Yin Ren stood up calmly, picked up his little companion, and walked out the door step by step. The enemy's footsteps rumbled in the valley, but Yin Ren didn't even look at them.
Every rock on the cliff is covered with runes, and there is an inconspicuous object at the end of the cliff.
It was an empty altar.
It was made of earth, stone and wood, and looked extremely rough. Behind the altar, there were only rolling clouds and darkness. Yin Ren gently placed the deformed rabbit beside him and sat down in front of the altar.
Then he took the apple out of his pocket.
The fragrance of the tempting crimson apple was stronger than a few days ago. However, Yin Ren's lips were dry and cracked, and he coughed from time to time, even swallowing the blood in his mouth was difficult.
After staring at it for a while, Yin Ren took out the apple again and calmly cut it into two halves. He placed one half on the plate in front of the empty altar. He handed the remaining half to the rabbit's mouth.
"I've never seen you eat anything." Yin Ren said, "If you can eat, try it."
The rabbit was curled up under the umbrella, with its mouth open on the left side of its neck. It didn't seem to understand the concept of "eating", but Yin Ren had already handed the apple to it, so it still opened its mouth tentatively.
As soon as the apple entered its mouth, the rabbit froze again, and a little shock light appeared in its misplaced eyes.
"good."
It emphasizes.
"good."
"Haha." Yin Ren laughed twice. "Unfortunately, the previous offerings were not enough for those children to eat. I'm sorry for putting you through this. Next time..."
Halfway through his speech, Yin Ren's smile disappeared and his face darkened again. As the army approached, the ground nearby began to tremble, and the thin bones of the dead bird slid on the rocks and bounced with the raindrops.
Yin Ren withdrew his gaze, wrote a powerful flying spell on a piece of silk with blood, and then tightly wrapped the evil fruit in it. After wrapping the knife, he tightened the string on the silk and hung it on the rabbit.
This time, he did not take back the translation magic weapon from the rabbit. The rabbit continued to chew the apple, unaware of the outside world.
Yin Ren took a deep breath, knelt down from his sitting position, and lit the incense in front of the altar. Behind him, in the rain, the silhouettes of the vanguard team were faintly swaying.
The corners of Yin Ren's mouth gradually curved.
"Red lights are on, green lights are burning, every household has closed their doors. At midnight, fruits are sweet, be careful when you turn your back to the door." He hummed intermittently. "Pray for peace, make wishes, close your eyes and you won't see. Roosters are crowing, footsteps are heard far away, come back next year to report peace..."
After humming the song, Yin Ren spoke in a rare serious tone as the enemy's roars became clearer.
"I have been walking in the world for many years, but I have never seen a god, let alone asked a god for help. Usually, only mortals ask me for help, and I always fulfill the so-called wishes myself. Unfortunately, I am no longer able to do anything."
"I will avenge the blood feud myself, but a person like me cannot get rid of the obsession of becoming a ghost after death, and cannot walk the world again. Let me pray for the trivial things after my death, just as a blessing."
Yin Ren kept mumbling to himself, and the three incense sticks burned for a long time in the rain. The half-eaten apple on the offering plate was soaked with rain water, and its skin was bright as blood.
"It doesn't matter if you are a legitimate god in heaven or a wild immortal. As long as my wish can be fulfilled, I am willing to accept the throne of the Supreme God and sacrifice myself..."
The rabbit stopped chewing the apple at some point.
(End of this chapter)