Chapter 12 Are you crazy?!
Achoo!
Pingyu sneezed.
"Am I going to catch a cold?" she wondered.
After all, the wind inside the room was getting stronger and stronger, causing the candles used for lighting to burn out and take turns burning on his eyelids. Even though the gauze curtains on the bed were constantly scraping against his ankles and the bedding was almost pulled off the floor, Pingyu still couldn't hear a sound.
It felt as if my heartbeat and breath had been washed away.
This is the feeling one should get when a demon emerges. The souls of the dead are so fragile that even if they wanted to attach themselves to another person's body, they would do so silently.
However, the bell around my neck was getting hotter and hotter.
Even when facing the python demon, it had never displayed such fiery heat. It was as hot as burning embers, threatening to scald and tear off a piece of her skin.
it hurts.
Pingyu wanted to fiddle with the bell, to tuck it under her clothes. But when her fingertips were just a hair's breadth away from it, she stopped.
Ping felt a slight tug at the front of his shirt. The movement was gentle, yet it felt as if someone were breathing on it.
Pingyu opened his eyes.
There were no hideous demons or monsters in sight, as I had imagined.
She saw a pale, bluish face, like a child's.
He opened his bright red lips and spoke in a clear voice: "Sister, please help me."
No sooner had he finished speaking than a golden light flashed before his eyes.
She grabbed the cup and turned the boy over, almost instinctively pulling him into her arms. But the dashing man, who carried the force of a fatal blow, stopped abruptly just inches away from her.
Are you crazy?!
Nezha's furious voice suddenly rang out.
Pingyu then realized she had done something foolish, and she was horrified:
No, am I sick?!
Why would I protect a monster?!
But she still didn't let go, shouting back, "He asked me to help him!"
Before she could react, a tremendous force lifted her by the back of her neck, and she was already suspended in mid-air. She looked up in horror, only to be met with the young man's gentle smile.
Jinzha said, "Leave the rest to us."
The weak mortal was pushed behind the cultivator.
Unexpectedly, the demon showed no fear. It crawled on all fours on the bed, banging its head on the ground several times, striking the three people beneath it with such force that it even broke a hole in its forehead.
Black mist billowed, flowing like blood across his face.
The demon solemnly declared, "My sister and I are willing to sacrifice our souls as ingredients for elixirs, please, immortal, save my mother's life!"
All three of them were taken aback.
I bought this wine cup to exorcise demons, so why am I being asked for help now?
Pingyu peeked out from behind Jinzha and looked back at the bed. Above him, besides the messy bedding, was the motionless Huang Kou Gong. Of the three people and one ghost in the room, only four could speak.
"Where's your sister?" she asked, puzzled.
The child turned around and brushed his hair aside.
“Here,” he said.
After his thick, black hair was parted like a clump of grass, Pingyu saw a girl's face on the boy's scalp. She looked about seven-tenths like the boy, with large, round eyes. However, the brother had thick eyebrows, while the sister had thin ones, and their lips were also different thicknesses.
The face on the scalp opened its mouth.
Beneath her porcelain-white teeth lay her bloodied tongue, which had been cut in half.
Pingyu got goosebumps all over her body. She covered her mouth, feeling waves of acid churning in her stomach. But she couldn't vomit now, so she forcefully suppressed the urge to vomit.
The demon boy lowered his hand, turned around, and said apologetically, "My sister's tongue was cut off in half because she cried too loudly when she died. She can't speak, so please forgive her, esteemed immortals."
Jinzha and Nezha had been training in the immortal mountains since childhood, and most of the people they encountered were mountain spirits and monsters who had gone astray. They had never seen a monster like this brother and sister before.
They exchanged a glance, recognizing the same intention in each other's eyes. They both decided to remain still and listen to what grievances the monster had to confide in.
Nezha nodded slightly and asked him, "What's the story behind your request for us to save your mother?"
"Regarding this matter, I humbly request that you allow me to consider it carefully, Immortal Master."
The child demon lowered his head, lost in deep thought, and began to speak slowly and deliberately:
“Our mother was an embroiderer. She would embroider patterns on coarse cloth and then sell them in the interior of the country when she went to the market. My father was a winemaker and ran a winery. Since we could brew wine, we never lacked millet and sorghum. Therefore, although our family was not rich in the early years, we could still feed the four of us. We were not poor at all, and we even had a rather leisurely life. In those years when the feudal lords were in turmoil and the countries were constantly at war, my mother, my sister and I were very content to live so comfortably.”
"It's a pity my father isn't..."
The evil spirit who called herself "Tong'er" sighed softly.
"He was obsessed with wine, and whenever he brewed a fine brew, he would sell it to the farmers. Having seen many wealthy merchants riding in carriages and adorned with gold and jade, his ambitions grew higher and higher each day. My father claimed that he would brew a nectar that even the gods would find rare. He wanted to leap over branches with wine and fall asleep on a pillow of gold and jade. Unfortunately, he was just an unworthy tree, with little hope of advancement. Even though he devoted himself day and night to the distillery, neglecting farming and burying himself in brewing, my father could only produce slightly less cloudy wine. Until one day, he suddenly woke up in the middle of the night, shouting that a god had come to visit him in a dream."
immortal……
Pingyu tugged at Jinzha and Nezha, then raised her chin towards the yellow wine cup on the bed.
Could the deity in that person's dream be the Guhuoniao?
Jinzha shook his head at her, signaling the girl to continue listening.
"Looking up three feet above my head, I'm sure there are gods watching over me. I've toiled day and night, without a moment's rest, and finally, I've received their favor. That god told me the recipe for brewing wine in Heaven, and my day is finally coming!" My father laughed wildly and ran out the door that day, like a madman. My mother chased after him in terror, but tripped over something on the ground. I rushed into the side room with my sister and picked up the object... It was a clay sculpture. It was a strangely shaped bird with nine heads, and a woman's face was carved on its belly. My mother, fearing ghosts and gods, placed it on the table..."
"My father revealed himself and returned at dusk. When he came home, he brought three slaves: two children and a woman. Only then did we realize that he intended to brew wine with meat and offer blood to the gods."
"And the god he worshipped was the clay statue that tripped my mother!"
At this point, Tong'er's voice suddenly rose: "If I could go back to that day, I would definitely smash that demon statue no matter what!"
His words seemed to bleed with blood, each one dripping with poisonous pus. The black aura surrounding the boy surged violently, nearly engulfing him like a flood.
Even as the crisis raged, a golden light flashed by. The golden ring struck Tong'er's head, shattering the bewitching black mist.
Nezha's emotionless voice rang out: "Speak if you want to, don't get too agitated. If you let resentment disturb your mind again, I'll kill you."
Upon hearing this, Tong'er quickly composed himself. He kowtowed several more times to Nezha, expressing his gratitude: "Thank you so much for your help, little immortal!"
Nezha snorted coldly and said nothing more.
Pingyu watched this unfold and thought to himself: This person is clearly not bad, so why does he insist on doing good deeds while saying things that can be misunderstood?
Tong'er calmed the resentment within her and continued the preface:
“My father would light three incense sticks, first cutting open the child to take the heart of one yin and one yang. Then, like a fish being deboned, he would take their mother's spine and place it on the altar along with the two hearts. After the incense burned out, the clay statue would spew out a bluish-green flame, burning the flesh and bones to ashes, finally turning them into a white jade-like wine cup filled with inexhaustible fine wine. He made a fortune from this wine, and his heart became insatiable, like a snake swallowing an elephant. Even though the lives of refugees were cheap, not worth a few copper coins, my family's savings were limited and could not support his large-scale purchase of slaves. In addition, there were not many slaves with twins, and those of suitable age were even rarer.”
"So six months later, he could no longer find a suitable human sacrifice."
"At that time, there was a shortage of slaves, but a powerful nobleman heard the rumors about the bone goblets and sent a slave to place an order. He was worried because he could not get the money, and he was also anxious because he would be punished by the nobleman if he could not deliver the goods on time. His mother felt sorry for him and slaughtered the pheasant in the house to make soup."
The woman went into the chicken coop and picked out the fattest hen.
All she had to do was call out, and Tong'er would throw firewood into the stove. The fire burned so brightly, the dry, crackling firewood popping and crackling, sparks flying everywhere. Then the pot heated up red-hot, the well water bubbling and spewing bubbles of all sizes… Tong'er quickly scooped up a ladleful while it was still hot and poured it over the hen's bright red comb. The water, like tongues of fire, scalded the tender yellow skin of the hen, and feathers fluttered down.
The man sharpened his knife on a stone, and after plucking the feathers, he bled the chicken before butchering it. Reaching into the chicken's belly to remove the liver and intestines, he found two warm eggs, and felt a rare sense of satisfaction.
How wonderful! The eggs laid by our own chickens are also auspicious, exactly two, no more and no less.
Then, the chicken is cut into eight pieces, with black marrow threads scattered throughout the broken bones. It's then rinsed with water, and the chicken fat, feathers, and head are thrown into the fire to burn cleanly. When plated, the meat is still slightly pink, eaten half-cooked, sweet and tender like mud – that's what makes it fresh!
Beckham brought over four sets of bowls and chopsticks.
The man smiled; he thought the number four was good too.
Four joyous events arrive at the door, and the four walls shine with glory...
Even in fame that has spread far and wide, there is still a "four".
He chewed the meat, slurped the bones, and swallowed the millet stuck in his throat, then slurped it down with a bowl of hot soup.
"Tong'er, Xiao Bei."
His belly was full of oil and fat, and he spoke in a friendly manner. However, the chicken today was too raw; he ate so much that there were bits of meat stuck in his teeth, and blood on his teeth.
"Did the chicken eat its fill today? Although our family is better off than usual, we killed a hen that only lays two eggs today. From now on, we can only cook clear soup and eat millet. But Dad wants to eat meat every meal and have oil in his belly every day."
“One of you is copper (桐), and the other is shell (贝), generating wealth in two ways; neither can be lacking.”
At this moment, Tong'er and the man who had just finished eating opened their mouths together, without distinguishing between them.
"Isn't it said that our bodies and hair are given to us by our parents? But now Dad doesn't want to give them to us anymore."
He said, "Why don't you return all of these?"
A note from the author:
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