The weight of these ancient books was surprisingly heavy, I almost couldn't catch them, "What are these?"
"This is "Shan Hai Jing", and this is "Xuan Zhong Ji". There are also "Sou Shen Ji", "You Ming Lu" and "Legends of Immortals". Bai didn't give me a chance to ask more questions. Several heavy documents were placed on his knees, "Be careful, there are many ancient books that are priceless."
"Wait, what?" I finally couldn't hold it any longer, and put all the books on the ground, "What are you guys doing? Wen Jiubai finally has no money, and plans to sell the property?"
"What are you talking about?"
As soon as I finished speaking, I felt a knock on the head. Wen Jiubai was holding a thick ancient book in his hand, which was completely used by him as a brick.
"Since you're here, help us check it out together." Wen Jiubai sat cross-legged on the floor and opened a book in his hand, "This is a very tedious task."
"What are you looking for?" I asked curiously.
It is rare for Wen Jiubai to put on such a big display to check the information. Generally speaking, all the knowledge about ghosts and goblins is in his own head. Where on earth is the evildoer able to use Wen Jiubai's entire house of books
"Gu Diao." Wen Jiubai saw through my thoughts and replied, "It's this guy."
"Bone... what?" I was at a loss.
Wen Jiubai smiled and looked up at me, "Actually, I received a commission yesterday. The commissioners came in groups of three or five strong men. It is said that they came here overnight from the northernmost suburb of Yancheng. Just to ask me to drive out a man-eating monster for their village."
"Monster?"
Wen Jiubai nodded, "Unfortunately, they don't have photos or paintings, and all the clues are just a glimpse of one of them. But even so, when that person was pushed out by other big guys, his legs were still shaking .”
Fascinated, I nodded and motioned for him to continue.
"When I asked 'what's the matter', several people pushed the witness out. The witness was blue and trembling, and he hesitated for a long time before he began to speak. He told me this A story." Wen Jiubai simply put down the book in his hand, and began to tell me the cause and effect.
"The witness was an ordinary farmer in their village. He had a wife and three children. Recently, for some unknown reason, the children in the village kept disappearing one after another. At first, everyone thought that a wolf had come to the village. The child was taken away from the village, so he put a few pieces of pork at the entrance of the village, hoping to lure the wolves away. But the child was still missing the next day, but the meat at the entrance of the village did not move. Later, several middle-aged men in the village could not stand it any longer. , organized them, and ran to the mountain opposite the village to fight wolves. Unexpectedly, none of these men came back the next day. At this time, the people in the village also realized that this was probably not the case. Not wolves, but something scarier."
"Then, on a dark evening after the rain, the farmer came back from the field, and just as he was about to see his house, he heard a heart-piercing cry from a woman. He was familiar with that voice, it was His wife's voice. In addition, there is a very strange cry of a baby."
"The baby is crying?" I was stunned for a moment, and I always felt like I had heard this saying somewhere before, but I couldn't remember it after thinking about it carefully.
"That's right, according to the farmer, it was a strange sound between the cry of a baby and the roar of a beast." Wen Jiubai continued, "After hearing that sound, the farmer immediately picked up his hoe and rushed into the house , and then he saw a scene that he will never forget for the rest of his life. A huge monster curled up in his house, blood was everywhere on the floor and walls, his three children were gone, and his wife— There is also a white calf exposed from the monster's mouth, and the embroidered shoe on the foot of that leg belongs to his wife."
"So... all four of his family were eaten by that monster?" I gasped.
Wen Jiubai nodded, "That's right."
"Then how did he survive?"
"Actually, the moment he saw the monster, he was so frightened that he almost passed out, but maybe because the monster was already full, he just flicked his tail and glanced at him, and ran out very quickly. I don’t know where he ran to. According to the farmer, the monster’s body was like a big vulture, but it had the pattern of a leopard on its body. Its bird-like mouth was full of sharp teeth, and it could easily tear apart a full-grown man. man. It has a single horn on top of its head, and its limbs are like deer's hooves."
The more you listen, the more familiar you become. I seem to have seen this creature somewhere... Where is it, where is it
Before I could think clearly, Wen Jiubai spoke again, "Although I can't make an exact judgment based on a farmer's incoherent narration, I can roughly guess that it's close to ten. I saw this guy almost two hundred years ago. once."
"Have you seen it?" I also quickly brought my thoughts back to the conversation with each other.
"Yes, if my guess is right, I have sealed this guy before." Wen Jiubai picked up a book from the pile of books on the floor and handed it to me. What is written in official script is "Shan Hai Jing".
"Gu carving, human beings first recorded it in the volume of "Shan Hai Jing · Nan Shan Jing". There is a record in "Nan Shan Jing", 'It is five hundred miles to the east, and it is called Luwu Mountain. There is no vegetation on it, and there are many gold and stones. The water of Zegeng flows out, while the Nanliu pours into the pouring water. There are beasts in the water, and they are called Gu carvings. They are shaped like carvings and have horns, and their sounds are like those of a baby. They are cannibals.'”
Wen Jiubai opened the old "Shan Hai Jing", pointed to a verse in it and read it to me, "It means, in a place called Luwu Mountain where there are no flowers, plants and trees, but only jade minerals. Ze Gengshui from The mountain originates, and then flows southward into the torrential water. There is a beast in the water, named Gu Diao, which is shaped like an ordinary vulture eagle but has horns on its head. It makes a sound like a baby crying, and this creature eats people. After that, there is a record in the "Things of Things" in the Ming Dynasty, "The gu sculpture is like a leopard, with a horn of a bird's beak, and the sound is like a baby.'”
I nodded confusedly.
"As for the folklore, it is also said that Gu carvings will appear every nine years, go to a village with people to eat a big meal, and then go back to sleep in the cave satisfied. But other than that, how to eliminate it , but there are very few records of how to seal it." Wen Jiubai sighed lightly, "If the monster that the farmer said this time is a Gu carving, then he must have broken free from my previous seal and escaped. It’s no wonder that Gu Diao is different from other miscellaneous monsters. It is a big monster that has existed since ancient times, and its lifespan is almost as long as the history of China. If weak humans want to stop it, it is not an easy task. .”