Chapter 218 Jinjiang
Just when Yan Shixun was stunned because Yeli was all in his mind, the ground he was standing on suddenly became uneven and changed.
Under the muddy and wet village road made by the heavy rain, the yellow and black mud was surging, and rotten arms broke out of the ground, with mud still hanging on the rotten parts, looking hideous and terrifying.
The bloody palm grasped the mud tightly and pulled up the body buried deep in the mud.
Yan Shixun came back to his senses after being distracted for a few seconds and saw the scene in front of him.
One after another, rotten corpses rose from the mud. The heavy rain washed away the mud on their bodies, revealing the pale and incomplete flesh under the tattered clothes, and even the pale skeletons could be vaguely seen through them.
The entire village road... no, under the land of the entire village, there were corpses buried everywhere.
From the faintly visible patterns on the remnants of their clothes, Yan Shixun realized that these corpses were probably villagers of Nancun when they were alive.
This judgment made Yan Shixun open his eyes slightly.
In this case, Nantian might be the last person left in Nancun.
And now, these corpses staggered towards Yan Shixun, and the arms stretched out through the rain, as if trying to grab Yan Shixun.
At the same time, Yan Shixun suddenly felt something grabbing him under his feet.
He lowered his eyes and found that at some point, a pale and stiff arm stretched out from the mud under his feet and grabbed his leg tightly.
The master beside him was calm and composed. He looked at Yan Shixun with a smile and asked in a gentle voice, "You are a guest from outside the mountains, dressed in fine clothes and eating delicious food, but have you ever seen the sufferings of the world?"
"I've seen it. They've also seen all the poor people in this village and all the innocent lives that were sacrificed."
The master’s expression was full of compassion. When he lowered his brows, he looked like a clay sculpture of a god or Buddha placed high on an altar.
"Look, guests, they all died in pain, asking why God was so unfair to them."
The master said softly, "Why can some people wear fine clothes and have no worries about food and clothing, while others have to live in misery and suffer."
He raised his hand and gently brushed away the loose hair on the face of the dead body in his arms.
Although he was extremely wary of his master, Yan Shixun did not intend to disturb him before he found out his true intentions. Therefore, he did not interrupt his master and just looked in the direction of his movements.
The young pregnant woman died of dystocia, with an expression of hideous pain still on her face. Her skin had gradually turned blue and white, and her eyes were wide open, with her eyes open despite her death.
Although she was young, her body was badly worn out and she looked weak. Her limbs were thin and her belly was huge. She looked extremely uncoordinated and shocking.
The smelly blood flowed from the dead woman's body, staining the master's silver-white robe red.
But he didn't care at all. He just gently and carefully tidied up the loose hair on her face that was soaked and stuck with sweat, then stretched out his palm and gently brushed her eyes.
He closed his eyes for her.
And the young woman's face also became peaceful at that moment.
The corners of his mouth curved into a smile.
The master sighed with pity and said, "Her mother-in-law wanted a boy. Every baby girl would be sacrificed by her mother-in-law, hoping that the next one would be a boy. However, she herself had other wishes. So..."
He raised his head, looked at Yan Shixun quietly, and then said softly: "So, I made a decision."
"This world is too hard, someone has to do something for them. If Heaven will not do anything, then... I am willing to give it a try."
Yan Shixun looked at his master's calm face, and suddenly, as if a blessing had come to his mind, his master's words were the final fragments that made him figure out what his master had done back then.
Nancun has its own heritage and customs, and they have an ancient worship that is closer to nature.
For example, offering sacrifices to gods.
In order to fulfill the villagers' own wishes, they would offer the corpses of their deceased relatives to their "gods" to beg for money and peace.
Or give birth to a boy.
However, the people of South Village did not know that the righteous gods would not accept sacrifices, whether before or after the collapse of the avenue.
When the Great Dao was about to collapse, all the gods had already sacrificed themselves to repair the Dao, and there were no more gods in the world.
The sacrifices in Nancun could not even be submitted to the gods.
Among them, some people took advantage of the situation and took away the offerings that the people of South Village wanted to offer to the "God".
The man's power increased as a result, and he became the "God" of Nanming Mountain.
——That person, or "God", is the master.
It is precisely because of this that Yan Shixun had seen the body being sent to the fork in the road and was caught by his master.
However, what the master said to Yan Shixun now made Yan Shixun realize that after accepting the power of the sacrifice, the master might have used this power to do something to Nancun.
The look Yan Shixun gave his master was so cold that it was frightening.
At this moment, the talisman that he had been silently reciting in his heart without stopping finally took effect in the restraints of his master, opening a gap and allowing him to regain control of his body within a limited range.
Yan Shixun gritted his teeth and asked his master, "What on earth did you do?"
As soon as he said this, the master stopped in surprise. He didn't expect that Yan Shixun could achieve such a level under such a disadvantage.
For a moment, the master's eyes were filled with admiration when he looked at Yan Shixun. He was no longer looking down on him from a high position as before, but as if he was looking at a fellow human being.
Only then did Yan Shixun realize that his voice was very hoarse.
He knew that this was because the guess in his mind... was too cruel, making him feel sad even if he just imagined it.
Changshou Village is located in the lower reaches of Nanming Mountain, but even the village upstream is called Changshou Village. The way to enter is so unique, and the condition of the villagers is so strange.
Yan Shixun checked carefully and found that the elderly people in the longevity village downstream were full of vitality and even their faces looked very good. There was no sign of them encountering any crisis.
In addition, when he was in the village, if it weren't for the chrysanthemum petal he took from the old woman's garden, his memory would have been problematic. He would forget everything that made him worried and alert, and would have been simply relaxed and happy.
Such an abnormal state, coupled with the master's words that he wanted to have no pain in his life, could only make Yan Shixun come to one guess.
——The problematic memory was caused by the master.
However, the most serious situation is in Changshou Village upstream.
The few words that the leader of the hiking team struggled to record, as well as all the records available in the small wooden building, all pointed to the same fact.
Those who claim to settle in the longevity village will die downstream, and then appear in the longevity village through death to gain their "new life".
But not everyone will be truly reborn.
Many people never came back after being taken away by Liu Mingming. However, people like Liu Ming who had similar experiences to those people still live normally in the longevity village.
There are some villagers in the same situation as Liu Ming.
Although Yan Shixun did not find an opportunity to visit the homes of those villagers, he could see the same situation as Liu Ming from the faces of some people he met by chance.
There is no death or crisis in their horoscopes.
It’s as if their lives are exactly the state described by those blessings and auspicious words.
Full of life, even, too much life.
Because of this, it seems even more abnormal.
What plant will never be plagued by dead branches or insect pests?
Artificial flowers.
Always green and lush, always beautiful, time and state are frozen at the same time.
This is Liu Ming and the others, as beautiful as fake flowers.
On the way back to the village chief's house, Yan Shixun also saw the villagers holding white lanterns.
At that time, although Yan Shixun was confused, he was unable to make a judgment because the information he obtained was incomplete, so he could only put the doubt in his mind for the time being.
But now, all the fragments are connected, and the fragments of thought gradually piece together the complete truth.
Yan Shixun realized that all those villagers he found weird were because of their abundant vitality.
However, the situations among the villagers are still different, and there are subtle differences in the feelings they bring to Yan Shixun.
If anything, people like Yanagi are finished products, while some of the lantern villagers are just semi-finished products.
Their happiness and stability are only on the surface; beneath their skin and bones the wails and cries for help from their souls are still hidden.
The souls instinctively felt that something was wrong, so even though they only had a last bit of strength left, they still desperately sent out signals for help to the outside world, begging passing ghosts and gods to save them, begging anyone to take their souls away.
Beneath the dull and stiff appearance of those villagers, their souls were almost shedding tears of blood.
Yan Shixun's heart was trembling. The final result of this guess was too tragic. If his guess was correct, it meant that hundreds of lives had been tragically killed and even their souls had disappeared.
However, his handsome face did not reveal his true emotions. His eyes remained sharp and firm as he looked at his master, quietly waiting for his master's response.
The master was unable to see through what Yan Shixun was thinking.
But even so, the successful resistance that Yan Shixun showed at this moment was enough to make him admire him.
The master asked Yan Shixun with a smile: "After seeing that there was something wrong with the river water, the guest still had the courage to step into the river. I knew that you were different from those who came to Changshou Village in the past to beg for longevity and happiness."
"But even so, I still didn't expect..."
The master's eyes carefully examined Yan Shixun from head to toe. This look made Yan Shixun feel like an item to be sold, and he frowned unhappily.
But at the same time, Yan Shixun was secretly confused.
Why didn't he feel nauseous when Ye Li looked at him? Was it because of Ye Li's ghostly identity?
If Yan Shixun had not been unable to move temporarily, his reason would have told him not to act rashly so as not to alert the enemy.
Otherwise, the uncontrollable rage in his heart would make him want to rush over and dig out his master's eyes.
But the next second, the master's voice drew Yan Shixun's attention back.
"Perhaps the Heavenly Dao also agrees with my actions and has actually favored me with its fortunes."
There was surprise in the master's tone, and his voice even broke, tearing away the false appearance of compassion and revealing the falsehood and greed hidden underneath.
This pulled him down from his high and mighty pedestal into the mundane world.
The master said happily: "I didn't expect that he would be born with the appearance of a demon in his bones!"
His face was filled with joy as he said with emotion, "It took me several decades, thousands of sacrifices, and thousands of times of going back and forth between yin and yang. Finally, in the chaotic land where yin and yang meet, I barely grasped the way of heaven."
"But I didn't expect that the heavens would be so kind to me and send the evil spirit to me when I was about to achieve great success. This is something I never dared to think about before."
As for the person who was born with evil spirits in his bones, my master had only heard of the legend but had never seen a real one.
This made him think for a time that the evil spirit possessing his bones was just a regrettable imagination of his predecessors, a short-lived miracle that was not a thing of this world.
As an evil spirit entering a human body, yin and yang blend in one body, yin and yang circulate and coexist, reaching the origin of the Tao, and coexisting with the Tao from birth...
No matter how shocking it sounds, there is a fundamental problem.
——How can the human body bear the cold and evil spirits?
Even if the evil ghost with bones is successfully born into the world, the surrounding ghost energy will continuously invade the body of the evil ghost with bones. It will be difficult for it to survive the fragile infancy, so how can it survive until adulthood?
Therefore, even though the master had great interest in even a piece of dry bones or a corpse with an evil spirit possessed, and knew that as long as he had a corpse with an evil spirit possessed in its bones, it would be twice as easy to accomplish his plan, but he still had to give up the idea with regret.
How could it be possible? And don't even expect to see a demon that has managed to survive.
For this reason, when the master first saw Yan Shixun, he did not recognize Yan Shixun's bone structure and only thought he was a ghost exorcist with some Taoist skills from outside the mountain.
It was not until Yan Shixun was in a world completely controlled by him, but still managed to escape from the disadvantageous situation with a glimmer of hope, that the master was shocked and carefully examined Yan Shixun again, and then found out...
There really are miracles beneath the avenue!
The master smiled and said to Yan Shixun: "Although our ways of inheritance and cultivation are different, we all have the same goal."
"Don't you want those people to never have to suffer again, and to be forever happy? People all pray for longevity, and now, I have achieved it. I have made the villagers of the Longevity Village successfully live as long as the heaven and earth, and there will be no more pain in their lives."
"And now, as long as you're with me."
Master's eyes sparkled with light, as if he had seen the realization of his goal: "I will occupy the world of Nanming Mountain, and you will be with the Great Dao. When the powers we each possess are combined... the entire world will be ours."
“By then, it will not only be the villagers of Nanming Mountain, but also everyone in the wider land!”
The master's voice was trembling, unable to conceal his excitement: "All lives will no longer have to endure suffering, no one will have to endure separation and death and illness, they will be in happiness forever, forever..."
However, in sharp contrast to the master's excited expression was Yan Shixun's indifference and even disgust.
Yan Shixun looked at his master as if he were looking at a funny dancing flea.
Not only did the master's words fail to move Yan Shixun in the slightest, but after a moment of shock, Yan Shixun felt that they were even more absurd and ridiculous.
He said that he wanted to bring happiness to all lives, but what the master did was to turn those people into monsters that were neither human nor ghost, neither alive nor dead. Even the remaining souls were trapped in the dead bodies and could not leave.
In fact, the original source of the master's power was the corpses of those who were forced to death in Nancun.
The so-called happiness built on death is nothing but false mercy stained with blood.
Yan Shixun frowned and looked at his master with disdain.
"What if I say no?"
Yan Shixun sneered: "In my opinion, your so-called goal is ridiculous. Even a dog passing by would despise it. You want me to join?"
He curled his lips and smiled contemptuously: "Ha."
Yan Shixun's words brought Master's excitement to an abrupt end.
The master's face turned cold. The compassionate look he had shown before seemed like a false mask, and at this moment, he revealed his true expression.
But soon, the master started laughing again.
"That doesn't matter."
The master said softly, "As long as it is an evil ghost in the bones, even if it is a corpse, it can be used in the same way."
"Since I first made the decision decades ago, I never thought I would be able to see a living evil spirit."
A strange smile appeared on the master's face: "It doesn't matter if you don't want to...your corpse will be willing."
Before he could finish his words, the arms that had stretched out from the mud and were holding onto Yan Shixun tightly suddenly attacked and climbed upwards even more rapidly, like vines entwining a big tree, trying to take away the tree's nutrients and sunlight, and strangle the tree to death between the vines.
And only on the dead tree can the vines bloom.
Just like... what my master has always done.
A pair of arms covered in dirt tightly grabbed Yan Shixun's calves, and gradually moved up to grab his thighs and waist...
On the clothes soaked by the rain, there were incomplete hand prints mixed with black and red blood and mud, which looked weird and embarrassing.
One rotten corpse after another broke out of the ground, almost surrounding Yan Shixun. The rotten corpses on the village road were also very close to Yan Shixun, and Yan Shixun could even feel the cold chill coming from them.
That is the unique coldness of the dead, which makes living people feel the fear from the soul just by touching it.
But Yan Shixun was not affected at all. He didn't even spare a glance at those horrific looking corpses. Instead, he took off his coat as prepared, and spun it quickly in his hands to cover the corpses that were rushing towards him.
The cashmere coat soaked up the rain and became extremely heavy.
Once it fell into Yan Shixun's hands, it became the most powerful weapon, covering the corpses unexpectedly. The heavy coat made it difficult for the corpses, whose movements were stiff, to get rid of it. For a moment, a vacuum zone was formed around Yan Shixun, making the corpses nothing to be afraid of.
At almost the same moment, the spell that Yan Shixun had been chanting silently took effect, and the gap that had been torn open before became larger and larger, finally allowing him to completely break free from the suppression from his master and regain his freedom of movement.
He kicked down hard with his long legs, and his Martin boots stomped on the corpse's head mercilessly, making the corpse's already swollen face burst with a loud "bang" like a balloon being stepped on. Blood and flesh splattered all over the ground, and the other corpses under his feet were covered in blood and flesh.
Yan Shixun took advantage of the force and rushed towards his master at an extremely fast speed like an arrow shot from a bow, even throwing away the rain curtain around him, making a loud bang that broke through the air.
Yan Shixun's eyes were as sharp as a knife, and his sharp eyebrows were revealed between his wet hair, which was sharp and irresistible.
His eyes were fixed on the master in front of him, his palms clenched like knives, pointing straight at his master's throat.
"…Give me the divine formula to suppress the evil."
The last few spells were whispered in the air.
Golden light wrapped around Yan Shixun's palms, appearing so righteous in the gloomy rain that even the unconscious corpses around him fled in all directions out of their survival instinct.
The master slowly opened his eyes and looked at Yan Shixun in disbelief.
He didn't expect that the evil ghost in his bones would be so strong and powerful!
But despite the shock, a tremor of excitement appeared on the master's face. He looked at Yan Shixun excitedly, and with a determination to win, he also stretched out his hand.
“Puff!”
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