The fire reflected on the stove, and the crickets under the stove were chirping and waving their long whiskers. Suddenly, a piece of firewood with sparks burned off and fell down, and the crickets jumped out in fright.
Outside eaves.
After a few bowls of wine, Liu Gun took his son beside him and sat opposite Lu Liangsheng. He calmed down and thought carefully about what had happened in the past two days.
"Mr. Lu, I dare not hide it. There have been a lot of strange things happening in this town in the past two days. First, chickens and dogs were lost from someone's home, and then people started dying without any injuries. We thought they died suddenly of illness. The coroner examined the bodies and found that not a drop of blood was left in the family. At first, we thought it was a ghost, so every household put talismans, bronze mirrors, and scissors at the door. As a result, another family died the next day. We felt that things were not going well, so I went to the county government with these two brothers to report the case and see if we could meet a Taoist priest passing by and ask him to help exorcise the demon."
Liu Gun recounted what happened and the other two nodded, proving that it was indeed the case. To conceal or falsify such a thing would require one's brain to be stuck in a door.
Lu Liangsheng frowned slightly and continued to ask, "Before the death, no other strange things happened?"
On the other side, Liu Gun, who was thinking about something, was stunned when he heard the question. He was embarrassed and forced a smile.
"I was in a deep sleep and didn't notice it."
The two people next to them looked at each other, and one of them raised his hand to the scholar and said, "Mr. Lu, we do know that when we were drinking at home that night and the second family died, most of the dogs in the town were barking. Did a monster come into the town?"
Lu Liangsheng, who had experienced many things like ghosts and monsters, did not have much emotional change about these things and nodded calmly.
"Animals are naturally sensitive to dangerous things. If there weren't something dangerous or strange approaching, all the dogs in the town wouldn't bark like this. Is there nothing else?"
When the two of them, including Liu Gun who was standing beside them, shook their heads, the latter suddenly clapped his palms and moved forward holding the bench.
"Mr. Lu, I overheard something in the Hezhou County Office. It said that many flags and carriages were found on the road a hundred miles outside the city, but no one was seen, and the horses were gone. I heard that the flags belonged to Tuyuhun."
Tuyuhun
Lu Liangsheng's brows furrowed even more. He had fought with the other party in the capital, and considering the journey, he should have arrived here. How could he suddenly disappear with both the man and the horse
Seeing that the scholar remained silent, Liu Gun and the other two dared not breathe. Their Adam's apples rolled, they swallowed, and squeezed out words in a low voice.
"Mr. Lu, could it be related to what happened in our town?"
“There is no connection.”
Hearing the three of them, Lu Liangsheng waved his hand and put aside the disappearance of the Tuyuhun envoy for the time being. "That is the government's business. For now, let's talk about the monster in Jishi Town."
He paused and glanced at the child in Liu Gun's arms.
"Let me ask you, are there any children in the two families who died?"
The three of them lowered their heads and thought about it. After all, they were not familiar with each other and were not very clear about the situation at home. They only went to take a look at the excitement after the incident happened.
After a while, Liu Gun raised his head and said, "It seems so."
"Yeah." Lu Liangsheng had only seen one body in the morgue before. When he came to Liu's house and saw that the folded amulet on Liu Bochin's neck had turned black, he roughly guessed something.
"Tonight is the third day. The monster will surely come again. Take your two brothers and your wife back to your room first, and let Boqin and I sit under the eaves."
"Hey, listen to the gentleman."
Liu Gun stood up and took two steps. Then, he reacted and quickly sat back on the stool. His eyes widened and his lips trembled slightly. "Mr. Lu, are you saying that the monster is coming to my house tonight?"
"Maybe it's on its way."
Lu Liangsheng pulled the ignorant little guy from his arms, picked up the talisman paper he had given him that year, and showed it to him. One corner of the yellow talisman that overlapped into a triangle had turned completely black. Liu Gun was so frightened that he trembled all over, and his wife who followed closely beside him had an even paler face.
"Why... it's dark... it was fine yesterday."
If Lu Liangsheng hadn't pointed it out, the couple wouldn't have noticed at all. Liu Gun pulled his wife to kneel before Lu Liangsheng, "Mr. Lu, please save Boqin. My husband and I will serve you like a slave."
The two men's bent knees were stopped by something they couldn't see. Lu Liangsheng raised his hand and helped the couple up. "I told you before that I'm here for this matter. You go in first."
The couple looked at each other, then looked at their son. They still believed the scholar in front of them, nodded, and called the two brothers over there to go back to the bedroom and close the door.
Under the eaves, the two-and-a-half-year-old kid saw his parents enter the room. His chubby little face became anxious. He raised his little hand, shaking it from side to side, and was about to run and knock on the door.
"Birchin, come here, I'll make you something fun."
The little guy was stunned for a moment when he heard the words behind him. He turned around and saw Lu Liangsheng putting a hand out of his wide sleeve. He blinked curiously, but finally couldn't help but take small steps towards it.
"Watch it."
While Lu Liangsheng was talking with a smile, he said in a voice from his sleeve, "Master, play with this kid."
"You!! How can a teacher tease a little kid..."
In his sleeves, the veins of the Taoist Toad bulged. As soon as he turned over and sat up, he was held in the palm of his disciple's hand and pulled out of his sleeve. His bean-sized toad eyes met a pair of curious eyes on his return.
The toad paused for a moment, his cheeks puffed up, and he glared fiercely: "... If you look at me again, I will eat you up in one bite!"
Looking at the big toad standing on the man's palm and talking, the little man was stunned for a moment, then the corners of his mouth suddenly opened up, he giggled happily, clapped his hands excitedly, and wanted the toad to continue talking.
"That's your mother..."
"Hehe~~"
"Smile foolishly, be careful or I will really eat you!"
“Hehehe…”
Lu Liangsheng looked at his master who could even argue with children, smiled, and turned his gaze to the dark outside of the courtyard. He quietly cast a spell to conceal his own cultivation and his master's accomplishments.
The night wind blew quietly outside the courtyard, and the lanterns hanging under the eaves of the courtyard gate swayed gently in the wind.
Wow~~
A river was flowing on the road outside the courtyard. A thin layer of mist gradually rose on the dirt road in the distance, spreading along the ground over the wooden bridge. In the mist, there seemed to be faint voices whispering.
"It's that household... there is a child under the age of three."
"This time the child is mine, and the adult is yours."
"Haha, it's a rare trip out... I must eat my fill."
Woof woof woof~~
In the pitch-black night, the dog on the farm started barking violently. In the spreading mist, two vague figures, one tall and one short, were vaguely visible floating in the air.
"These dogs are so annoying..."
"After you finish eating the humans, just kill these beasts. Don't waste time. Go in quickly. After you finish eating, leave tomorrow and go see what the Northwest Demon King wants to tell the other demons."
As the fog spread, the two lanterns swaying in the wind went out together, and the darkness pushed the edge of the dissipating light and enveloped the entire courtyard gate.
In the middle of the yard, in a room lit with warm yellow lights, Liu Gun and three other people were leaning against the window frames and door panels listening to the noise outside. In addition to their son's laughter, there was also an old voice speaking.
"Did you hear... why is there an extra sound?"
When Liu Gun turned his head to look at the two brothers next to him, the oil lamp on the table suddenly flickered, shook a few times and went out in an instant.
"What's going on?"
The woman screamed in fear, and her husband next to her covered her mouth with his hand: "Don't make a sound, there seems to be movement."
Having served in the military, Liu Gun and the other two were more sensitive to any disturbance. It seemed that the wind was blowing in the yard.
Whoosh…
The sound of the wind whimpering passed through the yard, and the old trees in the yard rustled their branches. Lu Liangsheng, who was sitting under the eaves, had his black hair brushing against his shoulders. He raised his eyes, felt the demonic aura spreading over him, and smiled.
"Sure enough, he came to my door."
The Toad Taoist priest stood on the palm of his hand, wagged his tongue, made faces to tease the child, and waved his flippers.
"You two little demons, your master has no interest in you."
The moment the words fell, smoke seeped in from the gap in the courtyard gate and rolled around in the yard. A scholar was seen sitting under the eaves, holding a large toad in clothes and teasing a child.
"Huh? Why is there a scholar?"
“… and a big toad.”
The white mist gradually dissipated, revealing two figures, one tall and one short. One had a green face, thin cheeks, and big scarlet eyes. The other had a pointed mouth and a long beard pointing outwards. His back was slightly arched, like a mouse. His sharp and dry nails scratched the ground, stirring up mud, and he laughed sinisterly.
"It's a good opportunity to eat together."
At the side, a green-faced, thin-bearded figure looked at the scholar carefully and saw the toad in his hand. The next second, his scarlet eyes suddenly widened and he took a step back.
"Let's go... Let's go... It's him..."
Everyone tilted their heads: "Who?"
It was unclear whether the slender green-faced monster that was retreating was shouting in fear or roaring in anger, and its voice was trembling at this moment.
"Old demon Zi Yan."
All the hair on the rat demon's body stood up in an instant, his eyes narrowed, his pair of yellow front teeth opened wide, and his whole body began to tremble.
"The one who ate countless humans and monsters? Why is he here? Let's go—"
Turning around and about to escape into the white fog, the scholar under the eaves stood up, waved his robe sleeves, and made a spell with his fingers. The old tree swaying in the wind, countless branches crackled and spread out, rapidly extending like vines, and swept towards the two monsters.
"Leave them all to me!"