Wow-
In the bright red glow, an old crow was screaming on a dead tree. Two Taoists, one big and one small, were carrying bags. Ahead on the road was the outline of a small town. Under the tall gate, many figures were passing by the crooked land temple.
“It’s quite lively here.”
Sun Yingxian brought Mingyue all the way here and walked into the town. There was a lot of noise and vendors setting up stalls greeted passers-by; an old man pushing a cart sat on the street to rest, watching people coming and going on the street, and took a towel to wipe the sweat from his forehead; a woman with a basket squatted at the vegetable stall, picking and bargaining, and casually pulled over a child who wanted to run to the candied haws stall.
It was bustling, orderly and noisy.
The Taoist priest quietly counted on his fingers and observed his surroundings. Nothing seemed wrong, so he bought some cakes on the street and went to the inn in the town. He booked a large dormitory room that could accommodate more than a dozen people. He chose two beds, one large and one small, near the window. However, the bedding was a little damp and there was a faint smell of mold.
The trade route in Suliu was prosperous, and there were many merchants and travelers passing through here. As night fell, this big house was filled with people in a moment. Most of them were rough men driving carts and transporting goods, and the air was filled with a sour smell of sweat.
"Let's spend the night together and leave together tomorrow morning."
The Taoist took out two cakes from a yellow cloth bag and handed one to Mingyue. These were the cakes that Xiaoxian had made for him when they came out of Lujia Village.
"Stingy." Mingyue snatched the cake fiercely, glared at the Taoist priest, ate it with water, and lay down to sleep. Listening to the snoring in the room, she could not fall asleep. Looking at the cold moonlight outside the window, she missed her mother who was still in the mountains.
"I don't know if my mother would be bored alone, with no one to talk to her..."
He murmured something while resting his head on his arm, then turned over and was about to see if Sun Yingxian was asleep when he saw a bulge on the bed opposite him and a faint light coming through the gap under the quilt.
Mingyue got out of bed and pulled back the quilt, only to see the Taoist sticking his butt out, lighting a candle that came from nowhere, and flipping through a yellowed book.
"What are you doing... reading? Can you let me read too? I miss my mother and can't sleep."
"After watching it, you will be even more unable to sleep... Ugh."
The Taoist quickly closed the book and put it in his arms, blew out the candle in one breath, sent the little man to bed, pulled the quilt over him and lay down.
"The methods contained in this book are profound and extensive, and the various moves are extremely difficult to understand. You need to grow up and understand the principles of heaven and earth and the principles of human relations before you can comprehend them. I can only observe for a short while and dare not look at it for a long time."
The two of them talked in whispers for a while, and then gradually quieted down.
…
The night clouds moved around, and the moonlight dimmed.
Whoosh~~
A thin layer of mist covered the long street. In the quiet town late at night, the wind whistled through the street. The mist swayed and drifted amid the occasional barking of dogs.
Woof woof woof—
The barking of dogs in the town suddenly became loud. The candle in the house in the yard lit up for a moment, then quickly went out with a rustling sound. The yellow dog in the yard held the leash and barked wildly a few times, then tucked its tail between its legs and whimpered, not daring to come out of the shack.
The town became dead silent. A few wisps of green smoke drifted across the long street, swaying and wandering around like they were wandering around, quickly seeping in through the gaps in the windows of the nearby houses.
The ropes of the lanterns in the inn were swaying in the wind. Mingyue opened her eyes, looked out the window with her side profile, and stretched out her little hand to poke the Taoist priest in the next shop.
"Bad Taoist priest, there is an evil spirit outside."
"sleep!"
Sun Yingxian turned around and covered his head with the quilt, not because he was afraid, but because he didn't want to meddle in other people's business. Wutong God was very powerful in the southern part of the country. Villagers could get money by worshiping him, and many people believed in him. If you offended him, you would definitely get into trouble and be chased by superstitious people with sticks.
"But... but, they got into the women's room." Mingyue sat up and pricked up her ears to listen. There seemed to be faint women's moans outside, and there were more than one place, even in this inn, it seemed that there were sounds coming from the rooms of families of passing merchants.
"Bad Taoist Priest, what are these women yelling..."
"ah-"
The blanket on the floor was kicked aside, and the Taoist covered his ears and sat up, staring at the wall in front of him: "No matter if it's a human or a monster, I hate bullying women the most! No matter what!!"
He stood up and rushed out of the room, following the evil spirit while taking out a few yellow talismans from the bag on his waist and holding them between his fingers. With his other hand, he kept writing and drawing in front of him, muttering magic spells in a low voice.
A guest who opened the door to urinate had just walked out of the door when the Taoist priest rushed into the room from a distance. After a moment, he walked to the door not far away and stopped, then kicked the door open with a bang.
On the bed with curtains, a shadow suddenly looked up and smelled the scent of yellow paper, "Taoist priest?" The next second, the curtains were lifted up, and the darkness inside rushed straight to the window.
“Don’t run!”
Sun Yingxian walked over quickly, almost without stopping, and pressed his fingers on the forehead of the dazed woman on the couch while he broke open the window and jumped into the street. The sudden loud noise woke up the woman on the couch and the man sleeping beside her. The former realized that someone had come into the room, and was so scared that he pulled the quilt to cover his body and screamed.
"There's a thief—"
Suddenly, the whole inn became noisy.
On the long street, people's footsteps were running and falling. Sun Yingxian looked at a cloud of green smoke that was about to float into the sky in front of him, and shot out four yellow talismans in his hand.
"You want to run! Get down here!"
Imperial decree! All gods and ghosts in the eight directions obey my command!
The Taoist scattered yellow talismans in the sky, which lit up with imperial edicts. Green smoke instantly appeared, and flames exploded with bangs. The smoke let out a shrill scream, and immediately turned into a figure that fell straight to the ground.
"Do you really think I have no ability?"
Sun Yingxian pulled out a red rope from his wide sleeves and pulled a section of it between his index finger and thumb. The figure on the ground struggled, and the Taoist raised his foot and kicked hard, pressing down the other person's elbow. The red rope quickly passed through the figure, along the arms, neck, and then to the legs and knees, tying it tightly.
"Luckily you're not a female monster... Hey, I'm going to give you a great fortune later, don't be resentful, this is a good thing."
The Taoist took out the demon-subduing mirror from his bag and blew away the dust on it, as it had not been used for many years. He tucked it under his armpit, then took off the yellow cloth bag from his waist and was about to cover the monster tied up on the ground.
'Bad Taoist priest, be careful.'
Mingyue's voice came quietly to the Taoist's ears. Sun Yingxian shuddered and raised his eyes quickly. On the street ahead, four figures appeared at some point, tall and short, fat and thin. They stood in the mist and swayed as if they were not touching the ground.
"Five links, five links... one here, and four more over there."
The Taoist counted a few times, took the demon-subduing mirror from his armpit, and quietly turned it, reflecting the four people on the ground and over there in the bronze mirror.
They showed the appearance of pigs, horses, snakes, dogs, and rats... and stared at me gloomily.
"Um... um... can you wait a moment?"
The Taoist quickly waved his hand, holding the demon-subduing mirror, and turned sideways to walk towards the inn, saying, "Let me go back and have a good sleep first, and come back tomorrow, how about that?"
Hehehe~~~
In the mist, four gloomy chuckles were heard, and the four figures floated up and stretched out their hands to grab their companions who were tied up on the ground. For a moment, one of them turned his head and looked towards the corner of the inn.
"who?!"
A short black shadow with a long tail rushed out of the shadows, passing through the light from the lantern at the door, reflecting light red fur, and holding a small knife in its mouth.
The moment his limbs fell to the ground, he transformed into a child, holding a knife tightly in his hand, and passed under the four figures.
Hiss~Puff~Puff~~
The cloth was torn, blood splattered, and something fell into the crotch, making a sticky red mess.
The Taoist subconsciously clamped his legs together, covered his crotch, and took a breath of cold air.
'This little fox is so damn cruel, who taught him to be so cruel...'