Hou Bomin laughed and said, "Some people in the south like something called dry tobacco, which is very addictive to smoke. Do you want to try it?"
Xu Xiaoyan raised her hand and covered her nose: "So this is dry tobacco? I heard that this thing is useless and addictive. If you smoke too much, you will cough. Smoke less!"
Hou Bomin laughed and said, "I didn't smoke this stuff much in the first place, but I liked it for a while. I smoked too much at one time, and I smelled like cigarettes, but I didn't even notice it. That night, I tried to hide well, but was suddenly discovered. I managed to escape with great difficulty, but it was because of the smell of cigarettes that I was killed.
"I didn't smoke much after that. I played a little occasionally, but it was always at night when I didn't have anything to do. By the way, girl, you really run around all the time. But you used to be alone, why are you with others now?"
She pointed at the back of the young man in front of her and said, "Are you attracted to him?"
Xu Xiaoyan put her hands on her hips and said, "Him?"
Hou Bomin laughed and said, "That's right, just..."
Suddenly, the two people turned around and looked at the mushrooms behind them.
They saw Shiitake frantically trying to catch something. They looked over and saw a small bee flying around. Shiitake wanted to catch it but couldn't.
The little bee buzzed and flew to the tree on the other side, rushing towards a moth squatting on the tree.
The mushroom screamed: "Don't eat it..."
The moth turned around and tried to escape, but the little bee pounced on it directly. Its legs were like steel knives, digging into the moth's body, tearing it apart, grabbing something out, and eating it in two or three bites.
Shiitake held his head with his hands, eyes wide open, looking completely stunned.
Shi Hao in front turned around and asked: "What's wrong?"
"No, nothing happened..." Xianggu quickly caught the little bee that flew back, stuffed it into his chest, and smiled innocently, "Nothing, nothing happened!"
Shi Hao asked doubtfully: "Are you really okay?"
Shiitake nodded affirmatively: "It's okay!"
Shi Hao didn't say anything else and led them forward.
After passing through the forest, I saw a village in front of me. The village was gray, and all the wood was painted the same gray color with some kind of paint. It looked quite weird and eerie.
In the village, there are many pavilions standing, and their structures are completely different from those in the Central Plains.
They saw farmers, woodcutters, and pharmacists carrying medicine boxes running down the mountain or coming out of the forest. Soon, there were more and more people.
These people looked at them with hostile eyes.
Shi Hao said in a clear voice: "I am Shi Chongyun, and I have something to ask the leader of your village!"
These people either looked stunned or sneered. They made way for a path but then formed a human wall to block both sides.
Shi Hao frowned tightly, but without much hesitation, he continued to move forward.
When we arrived in front of the village, we found that the village was built in the air.
There is a big pit under the village, and wooden pillars extend from the pit to support the village. The bottom of the village is combined with the surrounding soil and rocks, and on the surface it looks like the village is built on rocks. But if you push away the surrounding soil and rocks, you will find that the bottom of the village is actually empty.
There were gray wooden steps leading up between the earth and rocks, and there was no one guarding the door.
They climbed the stairs and entered the village.
On the surface, it looks like an ordinary mountain town with many bungalows lined up, water tanks, workshop carts, and millstones in front of the doors. It looks no different from ordinary homes in the south.
But for some reason, even though it was broad daylight, there was no one on the road.
Every house has its doors closed, and only through the windows can one see pairs of eyes, some curious and some hostile.
Suddenly, three families opened their doors at the same time, and three girls walked out holding silver plates.
These three girls were all wearing sleeveless flowery dresses that were completely different from those worn by women in the Central Plains. Their arms were exposed, their skirts were colorful and bright, and their waists were either decorated with garlands or tied with wooden decorations.
"A distinguished guest has arrived. Our small village doesn't have much good stuff. We can only entertain you with some fruits as a token of respect!" Three girls stood in front of them, holding silver plates, bowed gracefully, but then raised their heads, their eyes full of provocation.
Shi Hao looked at the silver plates they were holding. There were three large plates, but on them were only three small grapes... one green, one red, and one purple.
Shi Hao looked at the three grapes and for a moment didn't know what to do with them.
Turning around, I saw Shiitake Mushroom walking towards me step by step.
Xianggu was wearing a gray cloth skirt, with disheveled hair, and her eyes, which had always been sleep deprived, now became sharp.
A few strands of her fluffy black hair fluttered in front of her face. The sack on her back was tied with a hemp rope that went around her chest. The farewell hook that she bought for a penny at the Red Hill Party was casually inserted at her waist.
Shi Hao made way, and Xianggu came to the three women, looked down, then stretched out his hand, grabbed one on the left, one on the right, and quickly ate all three grapes.
The three girls looked up at her, and after a while, stood up, snorted, threw down their silver plates, walked away unhappily, and went back to their rooms and closed the door again.
Hou Bomin, Du Yuejiao and Xu Xiaoyan all looked at the mushrooms.
Shi Hao said: "Ms. Mushroom...are you okay?"
"No...it's okay!" Xianggu said with certainty.
They continued forward, and from time to time a door would open, and women would come out with various "snacks" and "fruits" on silver plates to entertain them.
Shi Hao and others found that all the people who came out were young women, and there were almost no middle-aged or old women.
It’s not that there are no older women in this village, but that those people just stay in the house and watch without coming out.
Shiitake mushroom took the lead and ate all the snacks and fruits they brought to him.
The women were so angry that they threw their plates and left.
Du Yuejiao muttered, "What are these people doing? Why did they send us food? After we ate it, they got so angry?"
Shi Hao said: "Miss Xianggu...are you really okay?"
"It's okay!" Xianggu said again in a very affirmative tone.
They continued on their way, eating almost all the mushrooms along the way and ate a lot of them.
Suddenly, a horrific scream was heard from a house next door.
The cry was sharp, piercing and frightening.
"What's going on?" Xu Xiaoyan asked in surprise.
"It's okay!" said the mushroom.
The woman in the room rolled over in pain, smashing many things with bangs.
All the other houses around also closed their doors. No one came out, and no one even asked about the situation.
The door of the family opened, and an old woman in a cloth skirt came to Xianggu, kneeling down and saying, "My granddaughter is ignorant, stupid, and arrogant. She provoked the girl without permission. Please spare her life!"
Kowtow hard in front of the mushrooms!
Hou Bomin, Du Yuejiao, and Xu Xiaoyan all looked at the mushrooms at the same time.
So the screams in the house were caused by the mushrooms? But they didn't see anything.
Only Shi Hao roughly understood what had happened.
Along the way, other young women in the village came out of their houses with food for them to eat.
After the food they brought out was eaten neatly by the mushrooms, although they were angry, they all retreated and did not come out again.
Only in this room, the young woman inside looked at them from the window, and then a black shadow flew out of the window and flew towards the mushroom.
To be on the safe side, Shi Hao always used his profound energy and the Sacred Heart Mirror Method to keep a perfect grasp of the situation around him.
However, even so, he didn't know what flew out of the window. It felt like just a small black shadow.
When the black shadow was about to approach the mushroom, something flew out from the mouth of the sack behind the mushroom, ate the little thing in one bite, and flew into the house through the window in the opposite direction of the little thing's flight path.
Screams followed.
The old woman kept kowtowing in front of Xianggu.
Shiitake didn't say anything else and just whistled softly.
Shi Hao sensed something flying out of the window and back into her sack.
The screams in the room gradually died down and turned into soft sobs.
"Thank you, young lady!" The old woman kowtowed a few more times, stepped back and closed the door.
Shi Hao and others continued to move forward, and this time, the entire village became completely quiet.
No one spoke, and no one opened the door to bring them food.
They wandered around the village for quite a while, but no one came to entertain them or cause them any trouble.
Shiitake looked a little bored. She let her messy hair down, raised her dirty hands and yawned.
"Look there!" Xu Xiaoyan was sharp-eyed and pointed her finger there.
Chapter 148 Three Cups of Wine
They saw a golden "air flow" flying towards them from high above.
When they flew closer, we found that they were not air currents, but a group of golden butterflies.
The golden butterflies circled in front of them and turned away.
Shi Hao said: "It seems that we are asked to follow them. Since we are here, we should make the best of it. Let's go!"
They followed the group of butterflies, bypassed a pavilion, and went deep into the village.
They saw a building in front of them, which was close to the cliff.
There was probably a cave carved out of the cliff, and a building was built outside the cave. Putting the two together, what you see is half a palace building clinging to the cliff.
The flock of butterflies flew in.
They arrived at the palace gate, where two warriors were guarding the gate, making way for them.
"Everyone, please come in!" A woman's voice came from inside, floating in the air.
Shi Hao and others entered and first crossed a square. There were several wooden statues of animals placed on both sides. The statues were black, and no one knew what kind of beasts they were. They looked ferocious and weird.
Entering the inner hall, a silver carpet was spread out and a woman was sitting cross-legged behind a desk.
The woman was probably less than 30 years old. She had her hair tied up in a high bun and wore a bright red robe that spread out on the ground behind her like a red phoenix.
On both sides of her, there were four other girls, all dressed like Miao girls from southern Hunan, each with her own unique style.
The woman behind the case said, "I am the witch leader of this place, Yan Zhuxia. I don't know when my witch village offended you, so that you came here from afar and provoked my village?"
Shi Hao stepped forward and bowed, "Madam, you have misunderstood. The Hanyang Gang in the upper reaches of the Han River is expanding like wildfire, and intends to annex the nine villages in Bashan in the name of the so-called Hanshui League. I am entrusted by the Nangongshan Gong Family and the Xieluoshan Wudang Temple to come and discuss with your village to jointly resist the Hanyang Gang."
A woman nearby snorted, "You said you were discussing this, but you're just knocking on our door and trying to force us to join, right?"
Shi Hao turned around and asked: "Why do you say that, young lady?"
The woman said bitterly, "When entering the village to provoke, the first step is to swallow the Gu with a Gu, and eat the whistle Gu outside the village. Don't you say you don't know these rules?"
Shi Hao turned around and looked at the mushrooms with Hou Boming, Du Yuejiao and Xu Xiaoyan.
Xianggu lowered his head, with his messy hair draped in front of him, covering his eyes and face, and pretended that he heard nothing.
Shi Hao looked at Yan Zhuxia again: "Madam, you really misunderstood. This was purely an accident. We are here only to form an alliance and have absolutely no intention of fighting."
Yan Zhuxia ignored her and glanced at Xianggu: "Rules are rules. Now everyone in the village knows that our Wu Village is looked down upon. We are not from the Central Plains, and we don't know any etiquette. If it is a personal grudge, we can find whoever we should find. But if there is no result from such an open challenge to the whole village, wouldn't our Wu Village also lose face
"What's more, you have defeated so many girls on your way here. The poisonous insects they raised with great effort are gone just like that. As the village leader, I have to do something."
Shi Hao hesitated for a moment and asked, "What do you plan to do, Madam?"
Yan Zhuxia said: "First, my four sisters are called Hongou, Cuiling, Zishao and Lantan. Each of them has a bug, and they will fight with you in the same way as fighting crickets."
As they were talking, the four girls each took out a round box, placed it on the table, and opened the box.
Shi Hao looked and saw that each of the four round boxes that looked like Go chess boxes contained four small insects.
Among these four small insects, one is a golden silkworm. This silkworm crawls around at the bottom of the box. Occasionally it raises its head, and its two eyes emit green light, which makes people's scalp tingle.
—It was just a small insect with a shell, such as a beetle, lying motionless at the bottom of the box, but it gave people an inexplicable feeling of evil.
—A moth, but it is blood-colored, and it feels like there is blood flowing in the moth body on the scalp.
—A centipede, very tiny, was placed at the bottom of the box, emitting a faint stench.
The four women dispersed and looked at them with either sneers or vicious eyes.
But Xianggu came forward and opened the sack. She lowered her head and it seemed as if her head was buried in the sack.
After picking for a while, she pinched a small insect out of the sack.
It is really hard to tell what kind of insect this is. It looks like a toad, but it is smaller than an ordinary ladybug.