Walking along the river, observing the dead corpses one by one, you can find some things in common: they were brought ashore after they died in the river, they were injured, and they had black energy. Combined with the sacrifice scene I just witnessed, it can be speculated that these corpses may have been killed by the "water god".
It was noon at this time, and the two of Yuanzhuo had walked for so long, and their mouths were inevitably dry. I saw a bare loess road in this place. From time to time, a horse-drawn carriage ran past and was shocked by the sand. Although it was spring, the road was close to the river, and the grass and trees on the river bank were lush. There were already mosquitoes dragging their families and their mouths on the road to wait for the rabbits. After walking for a while, he still didn't see the residence. Tang Zhuo had already been bitten by a few bags, and his heart was on fire. Fortunately, after walking a few dozen steps, he saw a residence appearing on the side of the road from a distance.
Tang Zhuo's eyes lit up and he rushed over. The first house closed the door, Tang Zhuo knocked on the door and said, "Hello, is anyone here?"
"… "
Only heard the sound of footsteps coming from the door, but it was not coming towards them. Tang Zhuo suspected that the people inside didn't hear it, so he knocked again and said, "Hello, is there anyone? Could you give us some water to drink?"
Only a sharp voice said: "No! Nothing! Go! Go!"
The voice sounded like chasing a beggar, which was uncomfortable. Tang Zhuo didn't care, and then walked to the second house. Who knew that the old man from the next house was sweeping the ground in the yard in front of the door. Suddenly he caught a glimpse of Tang Zhuo coming. As soon as he dropped the broom, he rushed into the house and said, "Crack!" slammed the door shut.
Tang Zhuo: "..."
Xuan Ziyuan followed and said, "Maybe they thought you were begging."
Tang Zhuo said: "I'm sorry, I thought 'we'!"
The two walked to five houses in a row, either the door was closed, or they waved their hands to chase people away. Finally, when they knocked on the door of the eighth house, the door actually opened a small crack.
Tang Zhuo looked down and saw a little girl who was only nine or ten years old standing at the door. Tang Zhuo said, "Little sister, can you give us some water to drink?"
The little girl blinked, opened the door wider, turned her head and said, "Mother, someone wants water!"
The room was so dark that Tang Zhuo and Xuan Ziyuan walked into the room, only to see a woman in her twenties sitting in the dilapidated small room, embroidering a picture in her hand. Seeing this, she smiled and stood up, brought two bowls of water from the kitchen, and said, "Please." There was a black cat sleeping at the woman's feet. ' shouted and jumped to the table.
After Tang Zhuo finished drinking the water, he asked the woman, "This sister, we are new here. We just passed by the river outside and saw a group of people chasing ducks into the water. When he asked, he said it was 'Sacrificing to the Water God', no If you know what you know, is it inconvenient to tell us?"
The woman took the bowls of the two of them, and she was surprised for a moment when she heard the words, and said, "... ah? This... "
She lowered her head and raised her head again, her eyes erratic. Tang Zhuo said amicably: "Sister, you don't have to worry, you can say anything if you have something to say. This young master and I will never tell outsiders."
The woman sighed, pinched her fingers, and said, "Actually, I don't know much about their sacrifices... That river has been weird since a while ago. People in our village used to cross by boat when they went out. There is only one boatman in charge of ferrying this river, but another boatman came later, saying that the previous boatman fell ill and died, and they will be responsible for this river from now on..."
She pursed her lips and continued: "It was from that time that people from our village who wanted to go out took that boat and went out... never came back... including my husband... Now, only me and I are left. daughter…”
Tang Zhuo asked: "This 'never came back', does it mean that they all died?" People who went out on boats were killed without anyone noticing until they were found floating on the water, and then they were salvaged. thrown on the side of the road.
The woman nodded blankly.
"Afterwards, people came to the village, claiming that the water god was angry because we didn't worship it for too long, and wanted to kill us all. We can't tell outsiders its identity, otherwise it will disguise itself during the day or night. An outsider came to kill us... So we were all very scared. Every few days, we went to the temple to offer incense, but it has been more than a month now, and the situation has not improved at all... "
Tang Zhuo said, "Who is here?"
The woman said: "I don't know. They all look ordinary and have no identity. They just left after saying those words to us."
Tell them that they can't tell outsiders that they are the so-called "water gods". The "outsiders" here obviously refer to people from Xuanmen like Tang Zhuo and Xuan Ziyuan. If they say something wrong, they will be killed. No one wants to be killed, so it is not easy to tell outsiders. He also said that if he misses the point, he will disguise himself as an outsider to kill them. The "outsider" here may refer to strangers from outside the village. In this way, it can be guaranteed that the villagers themselves will not say anything. Exit, and if someone said it, if someone from Xuanmen came to investigate some situations, other villagers would be afraid that it was the incarnation of the water god, so they kept their mouths shut and drove them straight away.
Tang Zhuo wanted to ask very much, why is this woman not afraid of being killed
Tang Zhuo asked, "So, where is the closest Water Temple from here?"
The woman pointed and said, "We still have to go north."
The two thanked the woman and left. The little girl hugged the black cat and stood at the door and beckoned to them.
Tang Zhuo said to Xuan Ziyuan: "Do you also think that those people were killed by something in the water after they got on the boat? Maybe the water in the water is not a water god at all, but some kind of monster."
Xuan Ziyuan said, "What's wrong with the boatman?"
Tang Zhuo said, "The boatman?"
Xuan Ziyuan said, "According to the woman, there used to be a boatman in this river, but a new one replaced them, and then something happened to the dead."
Tang Zhuo was speechless. In this case, with the two suspects of the boatman and the "water god" in the water, the culprit who killed the deceased is somewhat uncertain. If it is a boatman, then it may be murder for money. If it is a "water god", then it is out of the instinct of monsters to kill people. At this time, the most likely person to kill should be the "water god", but how does the boatman protect himself? what about
Tang Zhuo felt that a boatman who could ferry on the river where the dead were like eating was definitely not an ordinary person. Maybe he could be as powerful as an ox to carry Mount Tai, or he could kill a big worm with a hanging eye with one finger...
At this time, Xuan Ziyuan said: "Don't you think that mother and daughter are very strange."
Tang Zhuo blinked, recalling that when he had just talked to the woman, he still wondered why the woman was not afraid of being killed by the water god? After all, the woman looked very weak and raised a child by herself. Xuan Ziyuan said, "They are all dead."
Tang Zhuo stopped.
Tang Zhuo looked at him, and Xuan Ziyuan said without changing his expression: "You just talked to her so much, have you noticed that her pupils are pitch-black and no figure can be reflected?"
Tang Zhuo froze for a moment, shook his head, and said, "No."
The two continued to walk forward. Xuan Ziyuan said, "She has a black cat at home, and the shadows of the mother and daughter reflected in the black cat's eyes are two skeletons."
Black cats are the most evil. Tang Zhuo shuddered when he thought of what he had said to the dead man. It is no wonder that the woman is not afraid of water gods, it turns out that they are already dead people. Xuan Ziyuan continued, "I saw their bodies by the river just now. The mother wore a jade bracelet on her wrist, and her daughter had two red ribbons on her head."
The corpse will become very swollen after being soaked in water for too long. It is difficult to tell who is who from the facial features alone, but it can be roughly inferred from the clothing.
Tang Zhuo suddenly stopped, turned to stare at Xuan Ziyuan, suddenly patted his shoulder, and said sincerely, "My God! You are too powerful!!"
Xuan Ziyuan: "…"
Tang Zhuo smiled and continued walking with his hands behind his back, saying: "It seems that there are indeed strange things in this river, and they are not ordinary strange things. They can actually breed dead people and reproduce such evil things." He said, his face changed. , seemed to remember something, covered his mouth and said: "Wait... Since they are dead, then the water they gave us to drink... "
Xuan Ziyuan said, "There should be no problem."
Tang Zhuo let out a sigh of relief and said, "Have you checked it? That's good."
Xuan Ziyuan said: "I haven't checked it, and I didn't drink it, but seeing that you haven't had any adverse reactions after so long, there should be no problem."
Tang Zhuo: "..."
As the two talked, they came to the market.
Naturally, there are not many market people in the barren mountains and fields, but they are quite popular compared to the village they just passed by. The two were ignored and chased after passing by, and they didn't plan to ask anyone any more, so they went to the Water Temple.
On the way, I met an old man with gray hair, sitting under a big tree to enjoy the shade. Tang Zhuo walked over and asked, "Old man, do you know where the Water Temple is?"
The old man's face was like dead tree bark, his eyes were wide open, he leaned over, and said hoarsely, "…Huh?"
"..." Tang Zhuo said loudly, "Do you know where the Water Temple is?"
The old man said: "Oh - Send Zi Guanyin Temple, it's - there!"
The old man's accent was too heavy and slow, and Tang Zhuo had a hard time hearing it. Looking in the direction of his fingers, he thought that the water temple was in that direction. He nodded quickly, thanked him and left.
Before the two came to the temple, Tang Zhuo stepped in first.
I saw that all the people who served incense in this temple were women, when they suddenly saw Tang Zhuo entering, they covered their mouths and secretly smiled at him. A series of question marks suddenly appeared on Tang Zhuo's head: ? ?
As a result, when I saw the statue at this time, it was actually a Guanyin. I quickly came out and looked at the plaque.
Tang Zhuo: "..."
Tang Zhuo's face flushed, he aggressively killed Xuan Ziyuan who was standing at the foot of the steps, grabbed his collar and said, "Speak!!! You didn't go in and you saw me go in but didn't remind me, did you? on purpose!!!"
Xuan Ziyuan didn't speak, just turned his head. Tang Zhuo was slightly shorter than him, but his momentum was not weak at all. He stood on tiptoe and grabbed his collar and pulled his face back, and said fiercely: "Are you trying to laugh at me!!!"
Xuan Ziyuan no longer evaded, looked at him expressionlessly and said, "Yes."
"..." Tang Zhuo was speechless by his straightforwardness.
The two walked around together. This time, Tang Zhuo was determined not to ask anyone, and he found the Water Temple within a moment.
Tang Zhuo stood in front of the temple, raised his head and exclaimed, "Wow, it's really ruined."
I saw that this water temple was extremely narrow, the roof had been broken one after another, and the ground was full of garbage, dog shit, and snot. I was shocked to see it, and I was afraid that it would collapse in the next second. However, there are people coming in and people going out, and it seems to be a little popular.
Tang Zhuo said: "This water temple must have been abandoned for a long time, and it has been broken into this way, and suddenly said that those villagers should come to worship, alas, those villagers were already too poor to eat, and they had to pay their respects from their teeth. The incense money was dug out of the crevices to worship this god of water, and where would I have the money to redecorate this temple?"
Tang Zhuo said, subconsciously took out his clothes, but only took out a few copper coins. When Xuan Ziyuan saw it in his eyes, he took the initiative to give him a large piece of silver. Tang Zhuo was stunned, took it happily, put it in the donation box, and stepped into the temple.
This water temple has really been abandoned for a long time. The outside looks very broken, and the inside is even more broken. The futon used for kneeling on the ground is also dirty and can't bear to look directly at it. There are ants crawling everywhere on the ground, and the statue of the water god is also very ugly and shoddy.
The people who came to this water temple to pray were basically all the villagers of that small village, all of them with gray faces and sad faces. Several village leaders knelt on the futon and put their palms together in prayer. Tang Zhuo's heart jumped, he stretched out his hand and pulled Xuan Ziyuan, motioning him to look, only to see a woman kneeling on a futon, putting incense into the incense burner, closing his eyes and clasping his hands together, and began to pray. In the next instant, the water god statue shook slightly, and a black air swept across the woman's face, and then disappeared.
Tang Zhuo thought to himself that there must be a ghost in that statue.
The woman opened her eyes, smiled happily, kowtowed a few times, and said, "Thank you, Lord Water God, thank you Lord Water God." She picked up her skirt and trotted away from the Water Temple.
The next moment, the evil spirits burst out with a black gas, and stabbed at the statue!
Hearing a loud bang, the statue was broken into several pieces. A monster full of black energy jumped up with its claws and claws, and was about to attack!
This change happened between the electric light and flint, and the villagers in the temple were shocked and fled. Tang Zhuo shouted: "To ward off evil spirits!"
The evil spirits turned over, and the black air spread out like seaweed. The monster flinched and took a few steps backwards, barked twice, and tried to escape, but in an instant, it was enveloped by the black air and fell without moving. on the ground.
Tang Zhuo immediately retracted his sword and stepped forward.
The black qi dissipated, and I saw this monster with long hands and feet, very short body, a fang-toothed monkey head, covered with black hair, very ugly, and was still roaring at them.
However, this monster looks ferocious, but in fact its attack power is not strong, and it is even a little timid, so that it only dares to hide behind the statue and pretend to be a ghost.
Yin Luan was already unsheathed, but when he saw that he was completely useless, he silently retreated. The monkey-headed monster grinned and kept making threatening gnashing noises. Tang Zhuo ignored it, walked around the temple, and said with his hands behind his back: "This water temple has been abandoned for a long time, perhaps a long time ago, in that river There is indeed a water god, but because the incense was too light, he moved away. The godless temple is no different from an ordinary house. The place is sparsely populated and the yin is strong, and the temple suddenly came to the temple for no reason. After so many living people, this kind of low-level mobs who are unable to fight against other monsters will take advantage of them, and they will play tricks here and absorb the yang energy of living people."
Tang Zhuo was talking, and when he saw Xuan Ziyuan looking at him, he pretended to cough. After listening to it quietly, Xuan Ziyuan slightly curled the corners of his lips and said, "Long time no see, I didn't expect to grow a lot."
Tang Zhuo said, "Thank you for your compliment."
The monkey-headed monster was still struggling on the ground, but the more he struggled, the closer he got to Tang Zhuo. Tang Zhuo bent over to pick it up, held it in his hand, and asked in confusion, "What's wrong with this monkey head, why is it staring at me all the time?"
Xuan Ziyuan said: "It is said that some monsters are very competitive. If someone is beaten, they have to fight against that person." Tang Zhuo smiled, thinking it was very interesting, so he tied the monkey head Jin and Hyun Jae-yeon left together.
The monkey-headed monster had its limbs tied, but it was so stubborn that it barked its teeth all the way, and kept making a terrifying roar, which attracted passers-by to look back frequently. Tang Zhuo saw that it was not tired for a long time, sighed, and bought it a piece of meat to feed it on the side of the road. The meat seller squatted behind the table in fright, and only dared to come out when he saw them walking away.
When we came to the river, there were some people surrounded by the river. As soon as the two of them stood firm, they saw a boat approaching from a distance. An old man in his 50s or 60s stood on the bow, shaking the oars and shouting loudly on the shore: "The boat is coming!"