There are two land temples in Maotan Village. One is at the end of the village. There is a small house with two doors. There are serious clay sculptures in it. Although they are not exquisite, there are tables and incense offerings. Everything that is necessary is missing.
The second land temple is located in this cemetery area. It is just a small earthen house half a person's height, so that the land inside can be protected from wind and rain.
But the God of Land does not always stay at the end of the village. Instead, he often stays in the small temple in the cemetery, so that he can keep an eye on the ghosts here.
The God of Land sighed here. He had been guarding Maotan Village for seventy or eighty years. Although he was originally a monster and not a ghost that became a god after the death of a mortal, he still had some feelings for this village. Currently, almost everyone in the village, from the old to the young, grew up under his care.
Especially since the people in this village are kind-hearted, the fact that they were able to build a charity cemetery in such unstable times is enough to prove this point. So when something like this happened, the God of Land still wanted to take care of it within his ability.
However, he only has a small piece of land, and his jurisdiction covers only the area around Maotan Village. The disturbance of the earth veins some time ago also affected this place, making the land god in a period of mental weakness. Although he seems to have no injuries, he can only use 70% of his abilities.
"Why… "
The God of Land sighed again. This disaster came too suddenly. Even if he told the villagers in their dreams to flee, it would be too late. Moreover, in this kind of world, if they left Maotan Village, where they lived, all the villagers would probably end up as remains on the roadside in a foreign land. At that time, there would probably be no one to collect their bodies and bury them, and there would be no public tombs for them to rest in peace.
Just when the God of Land was secretly grieving, the ghost fire in the charity tomb suddenly became stronger, which made the God of Land startled. He quickly put on a majestic look and looked at the cemetery.
"In this world, it is a blessing to have a place to rest. Why are you so restless?"
As he spoke, the God of Land gently tapped the ground with his walking stick.
"Boom..."
An indelible ray of light passed by, and all the grave mounds sank slightly. The restless ghost fires immediately became as weak as a fire without fuel.
However, the situation did not develop in the direction that the Earth God had imagined. He found that there were ghosts vaguely appearing not far away.
"Oh no, could it be that the ghosts here have also been affected by the source of the plague and are becoming a nuisance?"
The God of Land was alert in his heart, but he looked at the ghost calmly. He also jumped onto the small earthen temple so that his height was barely equal to that of the ghost.
Before long, the ghosts became clear. There were about a dozen ghosts in the front, and the ones behind were wandering around the edge of the grave. It was impossible to tell how many there were.
The leader turned out to be a newly buried armored ghost, which reminded the God of Land of the two new corpses that Liao Daqiu and the villagers had buried during the day.
The God of Land did not notice it at that time, but now it seems that there is a difference in the armor of the two buried people. One of them has an armor with a heart guard, which should be of more advanced level.
"We are here to pay our respects to the God of Land!"
Although the people are dead, the custom is still the military custom. The two ghosts who were newly buried today knelt on one knee and saluted with their fists. Seeing this, the other ghosts also subconsciously followed suit.
"It seems I was overthinking it!"
The God of Land breathed a sigh of relief and spoke calmly.
"What's wrong? What do you want?"
The leading soldier looked up at the Earth God. He had never seen ghosts or gods in his life. Although he had encountered some evil things, this was the first time he had seen a household name like Earth God, and he was indeed short in stature.
"May I ask, Lord God, what is this plague ghost you just mentioned?"
From the slightly panicked attitude of the God of Land, some perceptive ghosts realized that it must be a big deal. In addition, the God of Land sighed frequently and looked towards Maotan Village, and his worry was self-evident.
The God of Land looked at the ghosts seriously.
"Why are you asking these questions?"
The soldier ghost looked at the God of Land, but before he could speak, the God of Land could vaguely read some kind of answer from his eyes.
…
Maotan Village was very quiet at night. Although Liao Daqiu had done physical work during the day, he tossed and turned and couldn't fall asleep.
"Hey, mother of the child, mother of the child..."
After calling out twice, Liao Daqiu could only hear the faint snoring of the woman next to him. He stopped talking and carefully sat up from the bed, tucking in the quilt to prevent the cold air from rushing into the bed.
Feeling thirsty, Liao Daqiu put on an outer coat, carefully left the bed, put on his shoes and prepared to get some water to drink.
When he walked to the outer room, he did not rush to pour water. Instead, he walked through the hall, lifted the curtain of the child's room, and only felt relieved when he saw that his son was sleeping soundly.
Although Liao Daqiu is not young anymore, he has only one child in his family who is only five years old.
This is not because the old Liao couple are incompetent. In fact, Xiao Liao has an older brother who should be almost 30 years old now. He should be at the age to start a family and build a career, but now there is no news from him.
The world is not at peace. Originally, the eldest son of Old Liao was conscripted into the army. He had been gone for nine years without any news. There were young and strong people in the county who were conscripted into the army at the same time as the eldest son of Old Liao. They ran back the second year. It was said that many people died. It was unclear where the soldiers from the same hometown were now.
Mr. and Mrs. Liao always believed that their son was still alive. Although they secretly wiped away tears many times, they never gave up this hope. They looked forward to their eldest son returning home one day. However, they felt like there was a gap in their hearts. It was at the end of the third year after their eldest son left that they miraculously conceived their second son. It was considered a child born in old age.
Liao Daqiu encouraged his fellow villagers to build a charity cemetery out of a desire to accumulate virtue and do good deeds, hoping that God would allow his eldest son to return home in appreciation of this.
In other words, he also had a helpless thought that if his eldest son encountered misfortune outside, he hoped that someone would collect his body and bury him in peace.
Every time he saw his youngest son at night, Liao Daqiu would vaguely recall the appearance of his eldest son sleeping soundly when he was a child. Thinking of this, the sleeping youngest son actually turned into his eldest son in his eyes, and he was the eldest son when he was a child.
Old Liao was stunned for a moment, rubbed his eyes and looked again, and saw that it was still his youngest son on the bed.
"Why… "
With a sigh, Lao Liao left his youngest son's room and returned to the outer room. He lifted up the upside-down tea bowl and picked up the kettle on the table to pour himself some water. However, before the kettle was full, he felt that there seemed to be some light outside the house, which made Lao Liao quite curious.
But he glanced outside and didn't care. He continued to pour water, then picked up the teacup to drink water. He drank several bowls in a row. Even the teapot was empty, but he still felt thirsty.
'Am I ill?'
As Liao Daqiu thought about this in a somewhat distracted manner, the light coming through the wooden window became more and more annoying.
Finally, Lao Liao walked to the window, pulled out the wooden pin, and pushed the window open. He discovered a dark green outside. Upon closer inspection, he saw a lot of "people" standing outside the house. Each of them had their heads down, their faces were dark and unclear, and there was a dark green glow around them.
"Ghost!"
Old Liao was so frightened that he screamed and collapsed to the ground, letting the wooden window panel hit the window frame with a "bang".
"Mother, mother, there is a ghost, there is a ghost, please get up quickly..."
Liao Daqiu screamed in fright, but there was no sound in the inner room. Just as he was panicking, a sound came from outside.
"Please don't be afraid, benefactor!"
The voice was clear, calm and deep, without any of the eerie feeling of a ghost as imagined, which made Lao Liao stop talking temporarily.
"My benefactor, we are all the people you and the villagers have buried over the years. You have done us a great favor. We will never harm you or the people of Maotan Village."
Hearing this voice, Liao Daqiu calmed down a little. He thought that by building a charity cemetery and helping others to rest in peace, he had indeed helped others, so it shouldn't harm himself, right
"Can you please open the door and see me, benefactor?"
As soon as he heard this, Liao Daqiu hesitated again. After waiting for a long time, he finally gritted his teeth, slowly walked towards the door, struggled for a while, and finally pulled out the door latch and opened the door.
There were so many ghosts standing in the yard that Liao Daqiu couldn't even count them all at once.
'So many have been buried over the years...'
When they saw Liao Daqiu open the door, the ghosts outside actually knelt down one after another. Seeing so many ghosts kneeling, Liao Daqiu forgot what fear was. He subconsciously stepped out of the door and raised his hand to stop them.
"Oh, no, no, no! Everyone, please stand up quickly, please stand up quickly!"
The ghosts knelt for a long time before they stood up. Only then did Liao Daqiu see clearly that the two soldiers who were recently buried were in the front. One of them took a step forward and spoke to Liao Daqiu sincerely.
"My benefactor, this place is about to face a disaster. There is a kind of ghost that is breeding. I heard it is called the plague ghost, which will spread the plague and kill people."
"Ah? There are rumors in the county that a plague has started in other places. Could it be because of this plague ghost? Will we be in trouble?"
Liao Daqiu became nervous. Although it is often said that ghost stories are not to be trusted, he was willing to believe them at this moment.
"My benefactor, Maotan Village is on the path of the plague ghost. We came here for no other reason than to repay you. We have decided to fight to the death with the plague ghost when it arrives. I hope to keep you and the people of Maotan Village safe!"
Although only this one ghost was speaking, all the other ghosts were looking at Liao Daqiu. Their faces were gloomy, but Liao Daqiu was surprisingly convinced.
"this… "
"My benefactor, we have discussed this with the God of Land. We still have some time. I hope you can find an excellent paper craftsman to make a few battle flags and 150 weapons for us. The battle flags should include the commander's flag on the left, center, right, and front and back formation flags. The weapons need to be 50 shields, 50 swords, 50 spears, and 50 bows and arrows. The more arrows, the better!"
Liao Daqiu quickly wrote it down and repeated it silently several times. After making sure that he would not forget it, he looked up at the ghosts again.
"Uh, anything else you want?"
After hearing these words, there was a rustling sound among the ghosts, and then they became quiet again. It was the leading soldier who spoke again.
"If possible... I hope to offer another full meal..."