The monks from Xianxia Island flew away on their magic light, leaving only Ji Yuan and Chang Yi in this mountain range.
Ji Yuan looked around. Although the mountain was burned by the rosy fire, there were not many burn marks on it. However, a faint burnt smell inevitably spread. For people like them with strong spiritual perception, the more pungent it smelled. On the contrary, ordinary people might not feel anything when they smelled it.
Looking at that vein again, although the gap is still there, the ground has disappeared. Now it is just a deep rift, no different from ordinary natural scenery.
"It's a pity for the mountain god here. This mountain range is not small. Originally, the mountain god's Taoism should not be too bad. The rupture of the earth vein must have caused him to suffer a great loss of vitality, and then he was taken advantage of by the demons..."
He sighed and said that the mountain god of this mountain had a good relationship with the branch of Xianxia Island. After the accident, they tried to inform the other party as soon as possible, but they did not expect that it would bring disaster to both sides.
"Let's go and take a look around the mountain first."
After Ji Yuan finished speaking, he and Chang Yi rode on a cloud and flew to high altitude, then patrolled the mountains.
Most of the area in the center of the mountain range seemed fragmented due to the battles between fairies, demons, and monsters. The outer areas were better, but when Ji Yuan glanced at the mountains, he saw countless animal corpses. They were all caused by the impact of the Earthly Evil, which led to the death of large numbers of animals.
The problem that Ji Yuan was worried about was obviously not non-existent. Although the two of them scanned the air with their Dharma Eyes and did not find any traces of evil spirit, the death of animals in the mountains seemed to be extending.
It was not until we flew outward for a long time and reached the edge of a mountain range that stretched for hundreds of miles that living creatures finally began to appear, and we could see herbivorous and carnivorous wild animals living and breathing.
Above the clouds in the sky, Chang Yi's expression relaxed a little and he said to Ji Yuan.
"Mr. Ji, it seems that the evil energy of the ground veins did not spread too far before, otherwise ordinary animals would not be able to survive."
"Well, let's go and have a look farther away. I don't know if the country in this world is in chaos."
"I'm not sure about this."
The two exchanged a few brief words and then flew on the cloud towards the distant human kingdom, but their speed was not fast because they also had to observe the changes in the spiritual energy and the direction of the earth veins below during this time.
In terms of time, from the time when the monks of the Xianxia Island branch set up an array at the crack in the earth veins, to the time when they were attacked by demons, to the time when Xianxia Island rushed to provide assistance, this series of events has lasted at least a month.
Thanks to the speed of Xianxia Island's flying formation, it took a little over ten days to get here from Dazhen, but it also takes time for Xianxia Island to cross the East China Sea. Combined with some of the previous situations, more than a month is a reasonable number.
During this period, although the earth's evil did not erupt as violently as when it was detonated by demons, and was mostly trapped in the mountains, Ji Yuan did not think that it would not leak out.
…
The northwest of Dongtu Yunzhou a month and a half ago was also the northwest of Yuanzhao Kingdom.
It was a sunny morning, but suddenly the ground began to shake. Countless people panicked, and some who were outside even ran into their houses to hide.
Until an old man or someone with knowledge shouted, "The earth dragon turns over!"
He screamed at everyone to escape from the house, otherwise they might be crushed to death by the collapsed buildings.
But in the end it was just a false alarm. After all, the mountains were still quite far away from here. Although there was an obvious tremor here, it did not cause too much disaster. Even the adobe houses were almost intact. Only a few dilapidated houses collapsed.
Two or three days after the earthquake, most people had forgotten about it and continued to live their somewhat difficult lives.
This is the third day after the earthquake, and it is sunny and windy again.
Liao Daqiu and Lao Zhang from the same village were driving an ox cart with rakes, moving forward little by little along the road outside the village. The old ox at the front of the cart looked very thin, but its pace was still very steady, pulling the cart steadily forward on the bumpy village road.
Lao Liao and Lao Zhang sat on the cart. The former would tickle the old ox's side with his whip from time to time, and the old ox would know which way to turn.
Soon, a river appeared in sight. Lao Liao looked at it and sighed.
"Ah... this world..."
Lao Zhang, who was sitting next to him, looked in the direction of Lao Liao and saw two corpses by the river. Both were facing upwards with pale faces, their skin and flesh were swollen and covered with several circles of blisters. They seemed to be wearing something that looked like armor, so they might be two soldiers.
Because they were not far from the river, the two men could see the figure in the river clearly and confirmed that it was indeed a corpse. There was no need to run over to rescue the person immediately.
"I don't know if he drowned or died in a war."
Lao Zhang sighed, while Lao Liao shook his head and didn't want to talk about this topic. He spanked the cow's butt and turned the ox cart into a small road. In front of him were several farmlands piled with straw.
Liao Daqiu looked back at the corpse on the riverbank, then looked at his companion Lao Zhang.
"Lao Zhang... wait until we collect the straw and go back, or else..."
Old Zhang also knew what Liao Daqiu wanted to say, and nodded helplessly.
"Okay, after we load the straw onto the truck, we'll go to the river to collect the bodies of the two soldiers, load them onto the truck, and then take them back to the old place."
"Hey, let's do it!"
As they were talking, the two old farmers parked the ox cart and went into the fields to work. They could load a few carts of these straw stalks back and use them as firewood for cooking, and occasionally they could also be used as emergency fodder to feed the cows mixed with other feed.
After being busy for more than an hour, they dug up the grass and tied it up before putting it on the ox cart. At this moment, a thick layer of hay had been piled on the cart, and there were still a lot of grass stalks in the field. However, the remaining ones would not be taken away, but burned instead, so that the crops would grow better during the planting season.
"Okay, okay, let's go back."
"Um."
The two men turned the ox cart and soon returned to the riverbank. The two bodies were still lying there. This time the ox cart did not pass directly, but was driven to the river by Liao Daqiu.
"Why… "
Both of them sighed slightly and began to use a rake to completely dig the body ashore. Because of previous experience, they were particularly careful in this step, for fear of scratching the body, which would then stain the ground with blood.
The weather was still cool and the corpses had not yet started to stink. The two men took great pains, their clothes getting quite wet, before they placed the two corpses on the pile of straw on the cart. Then they got on the cart and drove the oxen away.
More than a quarter of an hour later, the ox cart was approaching the Maotan Village where Lao Zhang and Lao Liao lived.
"Old Zhang, you stay here and watch over me. I'll go get some help."
"Got it, go ahead!"
Lao Zhang curled himself up in the haystack. His clothes were a little wet before, but he didn't feel anything because he was hot after finishing his work. Now he felt a little cold.
Liao Daqiu got off the car alone and ran towards the village. He chatted with every acquaintance he met along the way and even went to the village chief's house to call for help.
About half a quarter of an hour later, Liao Daqiu came back with four or five men. They did not come back empty-handed. Some of them brought shovels, some brought rakes, and some carried broken mats.
"Hey, Uncle Liao, can we not do this kind of thing in the future? Let's just leave the corpse of this stranger alone..."
A younger man carrying a hoe subconsciously fanned his nose before he approached the cart because he was afraid of the stench of the corpse.
"Xiao Liu, what you said earlier made sense. We can't take care of the bodies on the roadside and on the riverbank outside the village. We should help if we can. Besides, our village also needs river water. The county doctor said that the accumulation of corpses will cause an epidemic. This is not only a good deed, but also a way to help ourselves."
"Yes, yes, I'm sorry for saying too much..."
The young man said nothing more and followed the others to that side. They first unloaded the straw stalks and then drove the ox cart to the other direction.
Not long after, they arrived at a place similar to a mass grave, with small graves everywhere. Some had simple wooden signs as tombstones, while others did not.
Liao Daqiu also felt a little emotional. Tracing back to the source, all these graves were created thanks to him. Of course, he could not have killed anyone. All the bodies in this cemetery were unknown bodies that died near Maotan Village. It was Old Liao who first proposed the idea of burying them.
In this uneasy world, corpses found dead on the roadside can be found everywhere.
Out of consideration for his hometown and out of sympathy for the dead, seven or eight years ago, Liao Daqiu started from the village chief's house, looking for acquaintances to discuss matters door to door, and finally this cemetery area was established.
It has to be said that most people are selfish, but even in difficult times, there are still good people.
A few people first worshipped at a small land temple half a person's height outside the cemetery, praying for the God of Land to watch over them, and then began to work efficiently.
They were all farmers who made a living by digging for food. They had plenty of strength to dig a hole. Several people took turns digging and soon dug a big hole. The corpses were rolled up by the broken mats.
Without turning the body over, several people carried it together and put it into the pit.
"Every wrong has its perpetrator, every debt has its creditor. We are not the ones who harmed you, but we couldn't bear to see your bodies exposed in the wilderness, so we found a place for you to be buried. In this day and age, it's good enough to have a body covered with soil after death. We don't have the energy to offer sacrifices to you, so rest in peace!"
Liao Daqiu talked for a while, and then started to fill the soil with everyone. This kind of burial work was not as complicated as a formal funeral.
Soon, with the joint efforts of several people, a small grave mound was built. Liao Daqiu and the old village chief used shovels to hit the grave mound to compact the soil.
When they went back, everyone felt relieved. Even the young man who had complained before, even though he had only said a few words before, now felt a sense of accomplishment for having done a good thing.
"Hey, Lao Zhang, we still have to straighten the straw." "Of course not!"
"By the way, Uncle Li, I heard that there's an epidemic in the neighboring county?"
"Well, you know what. I heard about it, too. Last time I went to the county to buy some things, I met my wife's family. That person was a doctor. He told me that there was an epidemic in the neighboring county recently."
The old village chief, carrying a hoe, looked at them and then at Liao Daqiu.
"So it is necessary for us to bury the bodies together with Lao Liao. I heard that the epidemic is caused by the poisonous miasma from these corpses. It is the resentment of the dead who cannot be buried!"
"Hiss... Uncle Li, please stop talking..."
"Hahahaha, how dare you, a grown man, be so timid?"
"Hahahaha... I mean, Xiao Liu, you won't be able to get a wife like this!"
"Go away, who said I was a coward!"
A group of people chatted with each other and returned to the village with a cheerful mood. Although life was hard, it was still much better than those remains on the roadside.
Gradually, the sky darkened and the night deepened. Ghost lights began to rise and fall in the cemetery outside the village, while a faint yellow light filled the land temple nearby.
In this quiet night, a weasel suddenly appeared in the distant wilderness, then rushed towards the cemetery at a high speed, and finally stopped in front of the land temple.
“Squeak, squeak, squeak… squeak, squeak…”
The weasel kept squeaking in front of the land temple, the sounds were high and low, some were sharp and some sounded like crying.
"What? The plague ghost? So powerful that even the underworld can't suppress it!? It's spreading?"
As the surprised voice appeared, a hunchbacked old man walked out of the land temple and looked at the weasel with a shocked expression.
“Squeak… squeak… squeak…”
"You... Never mind, just go ahead!"
Hearing the words of the God of Land, the weasel stood up and bowed to him, then turned around and flew away, disappearing into the wilderness.
The God of Land sighed, turned around and looked at the cemetery, where ghost lights were floating up and down.
In those turbulent times, the underworld was weak and there was not enough energy to take in even the wandering ghosts. The God of Land had already reported this cemetery to the City God in charge, but after all these years, it can only be maintained like this.
"Oh, plague ghost... How many people will die this time..."