Worm Valley
"It's a kind of sorcery that uses the life of a living person to replace the life of someone who is about to die or has recently died." Qiu Zimu's smile faded and he frowned. Although he had never learned witchcraft, he had heard some of the most basic techniques.
Although substitution is not listed as a forbidden technique, it can be regarded as a very vicious and evil technique. After all, who can swallow the bitter pill of taking the life of an unrelated person to die for another person?
Therefore, this kind of evil magic is usually used in the wizarding circle to avenge those who have been framed, and it is strictly forbidden to use it to harm others, but there will always be one or two people with bad intentions.
"Who is so vicious as to want to kill me right away? I'm going to cripple him!" Ye Jing'an was furious. His wonderful trip hadn't even begun, and he hadn't even had a good meal. Forget about food, he hadn't even had a white steamed bun, and now he was still starving, and someone was actually trying to kill him!
"Let's go back first and get the solution for you." Qiu Zimu pulled him up the mountain.
As they were almost home, Ye Jing'an spotted the large ginkgo tree that Qiu Zimu had mentioned. It was quite obvious, provided you had to go around the mountain road for eighteen bends to see it.
After returning home, Qiu Zimu's second uncle took a piece of yellow paper, took a little blood from Ye Jing'an, wrote incomprehensible runes on the paper, cut a strand of his hair, put it between the paper and burned it, put it in a bowl, added water and handed it to Qiu Zimu.
"Just drink it." Qiu Zimu raised the corner of his mouth.
"!!!" Ye Jing'an covered his mouth and shook his head. He would never drink this disgusting talisman water.
"Don't want to drink? You will die if you don't drink!" Qiu Zimu picked up the bowl and poured it into him.
"Puh, phuh, phuh, this is too choking." Ye Jing'an used paper to wipe off the black talisman ash stuck on his tongue, and then drank water to rinse his mouth.
When he looked up, he saw Qiu Zimu laughing at him. He picked up the bowl and said he wanted Qiu Zimu to try it no matter what. The two of them were still like when they were little. No matter the time or place, if they disagreed, they would start fighting.
"Zi Mu, what are you doing?"
Hearing the familiar voice, the two men stood upright.
"Dad, Ye Jingan and I are playing." Qiu Zimu replied with a smile.
Ye Jing'an put away his aggressive demeanor, smiled slightly, and greeted Qiu Zimu's father. When he was serious, he was quite serious and quite deceptive. People who didn't know him described him as a gentle and modest gentleman.
"Jing'an is here, why are you here alone? Your father isn't here?" Qiu Ningyuan put down the teacup in his hand and sat on the sofa.
"I came down the mountain alone to gain experience and came to see Zimu." Ye Jing'an shook the Ye'an Sword.
"Dad, Jing'an was just replaced." Qiu Zimu said.
When Qiu Ningyuan heard this, his brows immediately furrowed and he asked, "Jing'an, have you met any strange people on the road?"
Ye Jing'an thought about it and found the man staring at him very strange. The man had followed him all the way, and finally walked up to tell him where Qiu Zimu lived and left. This was too strange. If he really just wanted to help out of kindness, he could have just shouted on the road before, it's not like he couldn't hear.
Qiu Ningyuan nodded and asked again: "Is there a scar on your face?"
"Yes, yes, yes." Ye Jing'an said.
"Okay, I spared his life last time, but he dared to come and harm others again. He almost took Jing An's life, so I won't spare him this time." Qiu Ningyuan slammed his hand on the table, then turned around and said to the two of them with a smile, "Okay, let's go have dinner, I'll take care of this matter."
The two nodded and chatted as they walked.
"Do you know that person?"
"Yeah, that's my uncle. He learned witchcraft and did some bad things, so my dad scolded him and kicked him out."
"So, were all the deaths people outside talking about caused by him?"
"I don't know about that. My dad will take care of it." Qiu Zimu patted Ye Jing'an on the shoulder and told him not to worry about it.
When the dead were mentioned, Ye Jing'an recalled what happened on the road. He covered his rumbling stomach and complained about the vague address given by Qiu Zimu. He had been walking around aimlessly for more than four hours.
Qiu Zimu smiled awkwardly and said, "You didn't understand it when you were little. After dinner, I'll give you a treasure as compensation!"
"By the way, what ethnic minority are you from? I can't even understand what you're saying." Ye Jing'an asked.
"Miao. The Miao people in Wangqi'ao are divided into two branches, the White Miao and the Black Miao. The one you met speaking Chinese when you just got off the bus is the White Miao, and the old lady behind and our family are the Black Miao. Only we Black Miao know the art of witchcraft. We usually live in the mountains for a long time to raise witchcraft, rarely go out, and speak Miao language." Qiu Zimu said.
Ye Jing'an was stunned. He had seen Miao clothing before. They all wore shiny silver ornaments on their heads, and their clothes were very luxurious. They were quite different from the clothes worn by the old lady he met.
Qiu Zimu patiently explained the customs and habits of the Miao people here, secretly amused. With Ye Jing'an's behavior as a child, Uncle Ye would definitely not take him to remote places to see the world. After all, if he ran away, he couldn't be found in the familiar city, let alone in an unfamiliar place.
"Then how come you can speak Mandarin?" Ye Jingan asked again.
"Brother, what I'm talking about is the situation in the past, when the old grandmother was young. What era is it now? Is she really still staying in the mountains?" Qiu Zimu sneered.
That's right, his Ye family ancestors used to catch ghosts, but now there are no ghosts for him to catch. Times have changed, and we must adapt to the changes of the times!
"Don't ask, eat first." Qiu Zimu served him some rice.
The food was quite varied, but there were some dishes Ye Jing'an couldn't bring himself to eat. Bee pupae, cicada pupae, grasshoppers, and even scorpions. Seeing Qiu Zimu eating so deliciously, Ye Jing'an felt like vomiting.
"What are you looking at? Eat it, it's delicious." Qiu Zimu picked up a scorpion and gave it to him.
Ye Jing'an's eyelids twitched wildly as he looked at the scorpion in the bowl. He could feel the stinger on the back of its tail moving. It seemed that if he put it in his mouth, he would be pricked by the stinger.
"I still like to eat cabbage." He handed the scorpion to Qiu Zimu with disgust.
Ye Jing'an was starving, and even eating cabbage alone took him two bowls of rice. He secretly muttered to himself that he would never come to Qiu Zimu's hometown again.
After dinner, Qiu Zimu took Ye Jingan to his room and took out a small bell with fine workmanship.
This bell looks quite different from your average bell, about the size of a coin. It's completely hollowed out, carved with bizarre patterns, which is quite pretty. The most striking feature is the small, round, dark green beetle enclosed within, with two small white dots on its back. At first glance, it resembles the face of a monster.
"What is this and what is it used for?" Ye Jing'an asked curiously.
"This is a witchcraft bell. The small poisonous insects inside are connected to the mother insect I raised. If you are poisoned, drop blood on its elytra and then ring the bell. The mother insect I raised will react and I can help you." Qiu Zimu explained.
"Not bad, I like this thing, it's small and easy to carry, thanks, brother." Ye Jing'an played with the witchcraft bell.
Qiu Zimu walked over, took the bell, pointed to a small hole on the bell and said, "This hole is for feeding it. You have to feed it with your blood to establish a connection with it."
"Feed with blood? Where can I get so much blood?" Ye Jing'an suddenly didn't want it anymore.
"Just feed it for a week, and then feed it young leaves and fruits. It's easy to keep alive." Qiu Zimu smiled.
"Okay, I'm going to sleep." Ye Jing'an put away the bell. Tired after a day of work, he just lay down on Qiu Zimu's bed.
"It's been so many years, why are you still like this? Get down quickly and don't sleep on my bed!" Qiu Zimu grabbed his hand and tried to pull him off the bed.
"I won't, what can you do about it?" Ye Jing'an crossed his legs and provoked him in a naughty way.
"Okay, just wait for me." Qiu Zimu began to look for something in the Gu jar.
Ye Jing'an knew what Qiu Zimu was going to do. He had always been good at this. If he couldn't win by scolding or beating someone, he would just release the bugs. If he didn't provoke them too much, the bugs would tickle him. If he provoked them too much, they would bite him directly.
But Ye Jingan really couldn't do anything about the little bug. It was too small and fast. If he couldn't catch it, it would run all over his body. The itching was really unbearable. Without saying a word, he jumped out of bed and ran outside.
Qiu Zimu raised the corner of his mouth and said, "That's more like it. Hey! Your room is on the left!"
"Get up and have breakfast. You are still sleeping." Qiu Zimu lifted the quilt for him.
Ye Jing'an was awake, but his consciousness was still hazy. Even in this dazed state, he could clearly feel that his feet were more painful than yesterday. But he still had to eat. He couldn't expect Qiu Zimu to bring him food while he sat on the bed, so he had to slowly move to the bathroom to wash up.
The Qiu family's breakfast was normal: rice noodles topped with a generous layer of minced pork sauce. But yesterday's meal had left a lasting impression, and Ye Jing'an suspected the minced meat might be some kind of insect meat. He picked up a little to test, and it turned out to be ordinary pork. He mixed the noodles and tasted it. It tasted just as good as anything you'd find at a noodle shop.
"This noodle is delicious. Who made it?" Ye Jing'an asked.
"My dad." Qiu Zimu said with a smile.
Ye Jingan changed his mind and it was not impossible to come to Qiu Zimu's house for the second time.
After finishing his noodles, Ye Jingan leaned back in his chair, looked up at the ceiling, and asked leisurely, "Is there anything fun in your house?"
"There is a worm valley behind our house. There are many interesting things in it. Do you want to go?" Qiu Zimu went in there once with his father when he was a child. Anyway, it was very interesting to him.
"Let me rest for a while, then I'll go for a walk. I'm too lazy to move now because I'm full." Ye Jing'an said.
"But my dad won't let me go into the Insect Valley." Qiu Zimu smiled awkwardly.
"Oh, your family's forbidden area? Then why are you asking me if I want to go?" Ye Jing'an glanced at him.
"There's the poisonous insect I want in there. I want to catch one and raise it." Qiu Zimu moved his stool and moved closer to Ye Jingan. "It would be more fun if we go together."
"You're afraid of being beaten by your father, so you're asking me to take the blame." Ye Jing'an pushed his stool away with his foot.
Qiu Zimu touched the tip of his nose: "How could that be? Am I that kind of person? Are you going or not?"
"Go, of course. I tell you that forbidden areas are just lies told by parents to their children. Maybe your ancestor lives in the forbidden area. Let's go!" Ye Jing'an raised the corners of his mouth, even looking forward to seeing what Qiu Zimu's ancestor looked like.
"We don't have any ancestors in our family." Qiu Zimu smiled helplessly.
Growing up, the person Ye Jing'an talked about most was their ancestor. His words were so fantastical that Qiu Zimu just took them for fun. Ye Jing'an had always had some outrageous ideas, so it was normal for him to come up with such a trendy ancestor.
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