After Qi Wu paid tribute to the mountain god, he hurriedly gathered with the crowd.
Everyone was soaked in water and shivered when the cold wind blew.
"You'll get sick if you keep going like this."
The old hunter walked to the corner, took out a handful of firewood, and said with a big smile: "We hunters sometimes take shelter here from the rain, so we left the firewood here in advance, waiting to be used today."
Qi Wu was overjoyed: "Thank you very much."
The old hunter didn't care: "It's nothing. Life in the mountains means you help me and I help you. When the rain stops tomorrow, we can collect some firewood and put it back."
Everyone skillfully piled firewood on the fire mark on the ground. Qi Wu took out the fire talisman and lit a branch. He inserted the branch into the dry firewood, blew it gently and fanned it, and the dry firewood was slowly ignited.
Looking at the gradually rising flames and feeling the warmth of the flames, someone breathed a sigh of relief.
"Finally alive."
"Brother Qi, do you want yellow rice cakes or white rice cakes?"
"One more like that?"
One of them distributed dry food, and after everyone got the dry food, they put it next to the fire to roast.
After the pancakes were baked and fragrant, A Yue took out a jar of pickles and asked everyone to spread them on the pancakes. When they took a bite, their mouths were full of salty and fragrant flavor.
"Ayue's skill in making pickles is really good. If you ask me, Ayue, why don't you open a pickle shop instead of following us as a trader?"
A Yue smiled and said nothing.
Qi Wu thought of the scene just now and asked, "Old Sun, why did you ask whether Ah Yue was pushed down?"
Qi Wu and his companions were entering the mountains for the first time. They wanted to cross the mountains and go to Qinghuai County on the other side to sell goods. After searching for a long time, they finally found an old local hunter to lead the way.
The old hunter looked serious and asked: "Have you ever heard of the ghost?"
Qi Wu and the others looked serious. They had traveled extensively and naturally knew some ghost stories. One of them even shouted, "Are you talking about the ghosts who are accomplices of the tiger?"
The old hunter nodded and whispered, "This mountain is called Song Mountain. About ten years ago, a hunter went into the mountain to hunt and then disappeared, leaving only a shoe. At that time, some people said that a tiger demon came into the mountain and ate the hunter."
"At first, people were unwilling to believe it. They thought that they had lived here for generations, so how could a tiger demon appear?"
"But as time went by, someone said that when he was hunting, the hounds were barking in one direction, and he looked in that direction and became so scared that his body froze."
"It was a tiger, four meters long. It leaped towards the hound, and the hound ran away. Fortunately, the tiger didn't catch up!"
"People also found that people were missing from time to time, so they reported the situation to Qinghuai County. After the officials learned about this, they asked me to find Yanjiang County, saying that Songshan was close to Yanjiang County, and you only sold prey to Yanjiang County, so they should be in charge."
"When we arrived at Yanjiang County, the officials said that Songshan belonged to Qinghuai County and should be under the jurisdiction of Qinghuai County."
"After a few arguments, each side sent two monks to search for the tiger monster in Songshan. After searching for ten days, they didn't even see a single hair of the tiger. The two monks thought we had tricked them and wasted so much time. We explained that the tiger monster might be hiding from them on purpose and didn't dare to come out. The two monks didn't listen to our explanation and left in anger."
"We went to the government again, but they ignored us."
"We have no choice. Most people left Songshan to find other ways to make a living. Only a few of us old guys are left here. We can't do anything except hunting."
"Later, we discovered that we would encounter those missing travelers while hunting. The travelers were elusive, suddenly disappearing from your sight, and suddenly reappearing, pushing you."
"Sometimes when I lead people into the mountains, those travelers would pretend to meet us by chance and ask if we could take them along. How could I dare to agree and quickly lead them away?"
"The older generation said that there is a thing called a ghost in the world. When a tiger demon kills a human, the human turns into a ghost and looks for prey for the tiger demon. It tricks the human into a place where the prey turns into a new ghost."
"But dealing with the minions is easy. As long as you reject their demands, they won't do anything to you."
Qi Wu suddenly realized. He was puzzled before. There should be many hunters in such a large forest, but it took him a long time to find only a few hunters, and these hunters lived together.
It turned out that it was the tiger demon who forced him.
Qi Wu saw that A Yue was hesitant, so he asked, "A Yue, just ask whatever you want to ask."
Originally, A Yue felt embarrassed to ask his question, but since the boss said so, he no longer hid it.
"I just have one question. Is there a female ghost among these ghost minions? Is she pretty? Can she seduce men? Can she absorb men's yang energy? Is it possible for me to start a forbidden love with her, avoid the tiger monster's pursuit, and wander around the world together?"
Every time A Yue asked a question, a question mark appeared over everyone’s head, even the old hunter was no exception.
Seeing everyone's reaction, Ah Yue scratched his head in embarrassment and said, "I've seen it written like this in vernacular novels, such as A Chinese Ghost Story and Ghost Story."
Qi Wu was silent for a moment, then patted A Yue on the shoulder and said, "Read less."
Then Qi Wu asked again: "Why don't you, Old Sun, report this matter to the Five Great Immortal Sects? The Five Great Immortal Sects defend the righteous path and will definitely not sit idly by."
"The five great immortal sects?" The old hunter looked confused, he had never heard of this title.
"They are the five famous and upright sects such as the Daoist Sect and the Hanging Temple. They are also the five most powerful sects in the entire continent."
"I seem to have heard of this name." The old hunter said uncertainly. He didn't know where he had heard it, maybe in a teahouse at the foot of the mountain, maybe as a traveler entering the mountain, maybe when he was young, or maybe when he was old.
I can't remember.
In fact, ordinary people know very little about immortal cultivators, and they just listen to them for fun.
Not to mention that stories passed down by word of mouth are too easily distorted. By the time they reach the ears of ordinary people, they are often very different from the real story and cannot be trusted.
For example, Qi Wu once heard that the reason why the Wendao Sect was called the Wendao Sect was because it meant seeking the way to immortality was vast and one had to ask the heavens for the way. Moreover, cultivating immortality meant cultivating the mind, and one needed to constantly ask oneself what path one was pursuing, whether it was the righteous path or the evil path, and not lose one's original heart.
Once, Qi Wu met a disciple of the Wendao Sect, who seemed to be called Dai Bufan. He asked him why the Wendao Sect was called the Wendao Sect. He still remembers Dai Bufan's answer very clearly.
"You asked this, so we have to talk about the founder of our Daoist sect, Xiantian Taoist. In order to find a Feng Shui treasure land, the founder spent a lot of money to ask the people of Tiance Sect to locate and calculate. In the end, they found a fairyland that gathered Feng Shui from all directions. He also said that if the sect wants to prosper, it must be established at a specific time and place."
"It turned out that the founder didn't know the way. Even though he had marked the way well, he still got lost. He had no choice but to ask an old farmer on the roadside for directions. Only then did he find the sect's address without wasting time."
"In order to thank the old farmer, the founder named the sect the Wendao Sect."