Chapter 255
Shi Chi was in a daze and didn't know how he left Xiakou Village with his mother. When he returned home, he came to his senses and hurried to look for the little Taoist priest who was staying at his home, but the little Taoist priest had gone out.
First, Shi's mother calmed down, boiled water and made tea, and asked her son to calm down first: "Don't panic, Chi'er, mother has checked, the donkey that the little Taoist priest rode is still tied in the yard, and the little Taoist priest will definitely come back."
Shi Chi murmured, "How is this possible? How could Li Niang be fake? Why would she lie to me?"
Shi's mother hated the demon who seduced her son and said, "Why else? They say that ghosts deceive people either to eat them or to suck the yang energy from them. Once the yang energy is sucked away, the person will collapse. Chi'er, I will find a good marriage for you. Don't think about Li Niang anymore."
"Mom, I'm sorry to make you worry about your son."
Yuan Jing went to the next village at this moment. Outside the fence of a house, he saw a child helping a grandmother with housework. When the child saw Yuan Jing, his eyes immediately became alert, which was not at all like the reaction a child should have.
Yuan Jing laughed and waved to the child. Although the child was extremely cautious, he looked at his grandmother who was watering the vegetable garden and decided to walk towards Yuan Jing.
"What are you doing here?" the child asked in a fierce voice.
Yuan Jing stretched out his hand and pinched the child's face, feeling the feeling of the little monk pinching his face before, and said with a smile: "Children should be children, why are you so fierce? Don't worry, I'm just passing by, I won't do anything to you and your mother-in-law. But I won't do it, can you make sure that others will do the same as me?"
This child is not a real human child, but a little demon. Yuan Jing can see from his heavenly eyes that the child's original form is a deer, and it has not been long since he transformed. Moreover, he can see that the reason why the deer demon came to this family is simply to repay a favor.
This family was also pitiful. Like Granny Song from Liuzhuang, they had two sons. Unfortunately, the eldest son also died on the battlefield, and the younger son died in labor service. The daughter-in-law remarried and didn't even have a grandchild, leaving the grandmother-in-law alone. Later, she picked up a child and raised him as her grandson. The grandmother and grandson have been dependent on each other for the past few years.
"You Taoists are all bad guys!" The child was sharp-tongued and looked at Yuan Jing with even more vigilance. This stinky Taoist really recognized him.
Yuan Jing chuckled: "I'm not a good thing, then you are a good thing? No, that's right, you are indeed a good thing, your whole body is a treasure."
The child almost pounced on Yuan Jing, but Yuan Jing reached out and tapped his forehead, and he couldn't move. Then he trembled all over, and there was a bit of despair in his eyes.
Yuan Jing didn't know whether to laugh or cry, he actually scared a little monster like this, he quickly stopped and said: "Okay, I was just teasing you, I know you are a good monster, I didn't want to destroy your gratitude, but just because I didn't destroy it doesn't mean others will do the same. You stay with grandma for one day, which means you are in danger. Take this jade pendant, carry it with you to cover up your demonic aura, those whose cultivation is not higher than mine won't be able to detect your situation."
"That's all I have to say. As long as you don't kill anyone, I won't take action against you. I'm leaving now."
Yuan Jing threw a jade pendant to the child, turned around and patted his butt and left. Only when he really disappeared did the child feel sure that he had no intention of harming him. Hearing his mother-in-law calling him from behind, the child quickly grabbed the jade pendant in his hand and turned around and ran over.
Maybe... he really is a good Taoist priest, just like my mother-in-law, who is a good person. Back then, he fell into a trap because of his playfulness, and it was my mother-in-law who found him, rescued him, and let him return to the mountain.
When leaving the village, Yuan Jing felt emotional. There are really good monsters and bad monsters, and they cannot be generalized. Just like the cultivators, there are good and bad ones. Some only want to hunt down the monsters and obtain their fur and inner elixir, which can be used to improve their cultivation.
Yuan Jing was glad that his original master was an open-minded Taoist priest who did not strictly abide by the rules of the separation of humans and demons like some other Taoist priests, and was hostile to all demons, regardless of whether they were good or bad.
Yuan Jing sticks to his heart and will not take action against any monster until it has done something evil.
Like the little deer demon just now, he did better than some unfilial children and grandchildren, so Yuan Jing protected him to the best of his ability.
Two wandering souls were arrested on the way, and Yuan Jing returned to the Shi family. When he saw that even Shi Chi showed an expectant look this time, Yuan Jing knew that Shi Chi had discovered that Li Niang's identity was fake, otherwise how could he believe what he said last night?
Shi's mother also became more enthusiastic towards Yuan Jing: "Little Taoist priest, have you eaten? I just bought a pound of pork and killed a chicken. I was neglectful to you last night, please forgive me."
"Nothing, I just happened to come all the way here and I'm hungry. Thank you for your help." Yuan Jing was not polite. He helped the Shi family solve the problem, and the Shi family treated him to a meal. No matter how you look at it, the Shi family was the one getting the better deal.
Yuan Jing was very satisfied with the meal. He had been eating simple meals for several days. He had planned to have a good meal when he went into the city yesterday, but he ran into Mr. Shi's situation. He just took a few baked cakes with him and came out again. Now he finally made up for it.
"Young Taoist priest, what kind of monster was that Li Niang last night? Could she be a fox spirit that specializes in sucking people's yang energy?" Seeing that Yuan Jing was satisfied with his meal, Shi's mother finally had the courage to ask. Shi Chi also pricked up his ears. He never believed in such strange things, but the tomb he saw in Xiakou Village today made him confused.
Yuan Jing nodded again and again, "It is a demon, but not a fox demon, but a weasel demon. The reason why it came to stay here last night was because it smelled a fishy smell in this yard, and the smell was the strongest on Shi Xiucai, so I guessed that this demon had some contact with Shi Xiucai."
Oh my god! Shi Chi slid off the stool and sat on the ground. He was shocked. A beauty like Li Niang was actually a weasel in disguise? How could this be possible? He almost went to bed with a weasel last night. He wanted to vomit when he thought about it.
Shi's mother knelt down to Yuan Jing and said, "Please, Taoist priest, save my son! I will do anything for you."
"Mom!" Shi Chi was ashamed. His mother did everything for her son, and he was the unfilial one.
Mother Shi couldn't kneel down, and Yuan Jing held her up with one hand: "Since I'm here, of course I'm here to solve the problem. You can do everything as usual tonight, just wait for the weasel to fall into the trap. You don't have to worry, I'm here."
"Thank you, Taoist priest. Thank you, Taoist priest." Mother Shi thanked him profusely.
Although Shi Chi felt that Yuan Jing, the young Taoist priest, was too young, he was the only one he could rely on now. He had been in and out of the county town several times, and no one had discovered what was happening to him. And whether what Yuan Jing said was true or not, he would know when night came.
Shi Chi still held on to a glimmer of hope in his heart, hoping that Li Niang was a girl from a good family and that she had to lie to him. Thinking back to the time when Li Niang came to accompany him to study at night, with her beauty by her side, those were the happiest days of his life.
If Li Niang was really a weasel spirit, Shi Chi couldn't accept it.
When night came, the whole village fell silent. Shi's mother went to bed as usual, but although she closed her eyes, she held tightly in her hand a folded talisman paper. It was given to her by the young Taoist priest, and she believed it could save her life.
In fact, this is just a talisman to clear the mind, to ensure that Shi's mother will not be knocked unconscious by the weasel spirit's smoke.
The weasel spirit came as promised. She thought that the smoke she had used last night was not enough, which caused Shi's mother to wake up in the middle of the night. This time, she had to use a heavier dose. It would be best if the old woman got seriously ill, so that no one would stop her and Mr. Shi from having a good time in the future.
Shi Xiucai was her chosen target, so how could she give up just because of an accident?
When the smoke entered the room, Shi's mother almost fainted again, but she soon came to mind. She knew that the demon had come again. She lay on the bed, not daring to move, and placed all her hopes on the young Taoist priest, hoping that he could get rid of the demon.
There was another knock on the door. Shi Chi took several deep breaths before he mustered up the courage to go and open the door. He didn't notice that his legs were trembling. After the door opened, he saw the beautiful woman standing at the door. Shi Chi no longer felt happy as before. He was only afraid and wanted to stay away from her.
"Young Master..." Li Niang looked at Shi Chi with affection in her beautiful eyes.
Shi Chi was almost tempted again, but the talisman on his body made him sober up immediately. He stepped back a few days and asked, "I went to the end of Xiakou Village today, and there was no Huang family there. Who are you? Are you a human or a demon?"
There was a hint of anger in Li Niang's eyes. Who was it? Who dared to ruin her good deeds? "Shi Lang, what are you talking about? Am I not the Li Niang you like?"
Shi Chi happened to see that hint of anger, and he became even more frightened: "You are a demon, get out!"
"Which stinky Taoist priest or bald donkey dares to ruin my good deeds?" Li Niang's beautiful eyes turned into vertical pupils, which made Shi Chi's hair stand on end.
"It is this Taoist who has ruined your good deeds, a weasel spirit. Besides, this Taoist is much more fragrant than you, a weasel spirit. Tsk tsk, it's so stinky. Only Shi Xiu can endure it." A childish voice sounded behind Li Niang, and snapped his fingers. Shi Chi immediately smelled the fishy smell described by Yuan Jing, and immediately bent over and wanted to vomit. This time he believed that this woman was really a demon.
The weasel turned around and saw that it was actually a Taoist priest, a young Taoist priest at that. The fear he had just felt disappeared and he became arrogant: "You don't want to leave the Yangguan Road, but insist on breaking into hell, you stinky little Taoist priest, you brought this upon yourself, wait until I deal with you, stinky little Taoist priest, then I will come and be gentle with Shi Lang."
"Ugh~" Shi Chi really vomited.
The beautiful woman just now turned into a weasel head in the blink of an eye. Her pair of jade hands turned into hairy claws and pounced towards Yuan Jing, trying to spray smoke at the same time. Yuan Jing didn't want to be suffocated by the stench of the weasel, so he shot out a golden light, and the smoke couldn't be sprayed out. The weasel spirit was also hit by the golden light and flew backwards, revealing its true form, a weasel.
Yuan Jing ran over and beat the weasel with his fists and feet, making it scream miserably: "I told you to be a good goblin, but you ran out of the mountain to harm people? Do you think the goblin and the scholar are fun? Is this the first scholar you have taken a fancy to? And you think I am so easy to bully because I am young? What about hell? How come you didn't foresee that you would enter this hell first?"
Shi's mother and Shi Chi walked out of the room tremblingly to watch Yuan Jing beating up the weasel spirit. When they saw the weasel on the ground, the mother and son almost fainted.
"Chi'er, you should thank the Taoist priest. If he hadn't happened to pass by our village, you would have been harmed by this weasel spirit, wuwu."
"Mom, I was wrong. I shouldn't have disobeyed you, wuwu..." Shi Chi also cried. He was afraid of the weasel spirit, and he felt that Yuan Jing, the young Taoist priest, was very cruel. He beat the scary weasel spirit and made it cry. At first, he was also afraid that the young Taoist priest was too young to subdue the spirit. Who would have thought... he was so cruel!
Yuan Jing brutally smashed the weasel demon to death with his fist, then took the corpse and told them to go out and deal with it, and told them to go to bed. But the mother and son didn't dare to go to bed first, and they couldn't fall asleep anyway.
Yuan Jing went to the back mountain to skin the weasel and dig out its inner elixir, making use of the waste. Although he did not need the inner elixir, he could use it to make medicine and trade it with others. Yuan Jing himself had never taken the elixir made from the inner elixir. The weasel skin was shiny and slippery, and could be made into a magical tool or sold for a good price.
When he came back, Yuan Jing was a clean and tidy little Taoist priest again. He didn't look like the one who had just killed a monster and skinned it to dig out its inner elixir. Seeing that the mother and son of the Shi family were still waiting for him, he greeted them with a smile, and then went into the room to rest. After seeing what had just happened, the mother and son of the Shi family did not dare to disturb him.
The next morning, there was no movement in the little Taoist priest's room, so Shi's mother thought he was still sleeping. But when she found that the donkey behind the house was missing, she hurriedly pushed the door open, only to find that the little Taoist priest had left.
After getting rid of the harmful weasel, Yuan Jingtian took his donkey and left before dawn.
After he got rid of the weasel spirit last night, he noticed that Shi Chi's face had changed. The black energy hovering between his brows began to dissipate. However, although the weasel spirit was the evildoer in the whole incident, Shi Chi was not entirely without fault. If he does not learn his lesson and continues to be greedy for beauty in the future, he may embark on this path again.
After entering the county town this time, he found an inn to stay in and decided to stay in the county town for a few days.
After resting for a day, he went to another village and could go back and forth on the same day, because he heard that there were several cases of children going missing in that village. It would have been fine if he hadn't heard about it, but since he heard about it, there was no way he would ignore it, because he suspected that the missing children were also related to monsters. Some monsters specialize in eating children, which not only have tender meat, but are also full of vitality. Just like some monsters and ghosts eat children's hearts. The heart is also the most important part of the human body, with the most essence, blood and vitality.
As expected, he discovered a demonic aura in the village. He followed the aura into the mountains and found a wolf demon sleeping in its den. The wolf demon dared to come down the mountain to eat children before it even transformed. Of course, Yuan Jing did not hesitate to kill the child-eating wolf demon. A wolf demon that had not transformed could not escape from his grasp at all. In the end, he burned the wolf demon to ashes with a fire.
Seeing that the sky was getting dark, Yuan Jing found a quiet valley and offered a talisman. When the talisman paper turned to ashes, the temperature of the valley dropped and the sky became darker. Of course, in Yuan Jing's eyes, the valley was surrounded by yin energy at this moment, and then a gloomy door appeared in front of him. The door opened from the inside and two ghost messengers flew out.
"Master Yuan, are you sending ghosts to the underworld again this time?" One of the ghost officials knew Yuan Jing and had dealt with him several times.
"Yes, this is a wandering ghost that I caught on the road. It's just right to send it down to be reincarnated. Thank you, Brother Ghost Messenger."
"No, Master Yuan, you are too polite."
After saying this, the ghost caught all the ghosts with a chain, then led one of them, saluted Yuan Jing, and flew towards the door. After they all entered the door, the door disappeared in front of Yuan Jing, and the yin energy in the valley naturally dissipated.
Behind the ghost gate, another ghost asked curiously, "Why are you so polite to that little Taoist priest?"
The ghost smiled mysteriously: "That person has a great background, of course we have to respect him, but it doesn't matter if we can't meet him, after all, one is in the underworld and the other is in the world of the living."
Another ghost was even more curious: "What kind of identity makes you so cautious?"
"It's unspeakable. It's unspeakable. Haha. Let's go."
Yuan Jing was not surprised that the ghost officials he dealt with respected him very much. He thought that these ghost officials should be able to discover that his soul was very strong. As long as they did not destroy their mission, everyone would be fine.
All the ghosts were sent away, but there was still one ghost that refused to go to the underworld to reincarnate. Yuan Jing released him from the ghost-binding talisman. A puff of black smoke transformed into a ghost that looked like a middle-aged man in front of him. Yuan Jing asked, "Now you can tell me about your story, how did you die? Where is your home? Only after you figure out these details can I help you fulfill your wish."
Yuan Jing knew at first sight that this ghost was not an ordinary wandering ghost. He must have had a good family background before his death, and he died in vain. He had a grudge, and it would be difficult for him to enter the underworld if he didn't get rid of the grudge. Of course, Yuan Jing didn't do it for nothing. He helped the wronged ghosts to fulfill their wishes and eliminate their grudges, so he would naturally gain some merits. Although it was not much, a mosquito is still meat, and he must have earned merits by catching ghosts and eliminating monsters in this life.
The confused eyes of the middle-aged man gradually became clear. He floated in the air and bowed to the young Taoist priest below: "Thank you for your help. Taoist priest, my surname is Xu, and my name is Xu Zeng. I am the owner of a cloth shop in Qingyuan County. This time I came out to buy a batch of cloth. Unexpectedly, I suddenly lost consciousness halfway through the journey. When I woke up, I became a ghost just as you saw."
"I died in an unclear way. I have an old mother and two children at home. I am worried about them. The bad guys can harm me, and they may also harm my family. I just can't find the way home."
"Qingyuan County? Well, we will go to Qingyuan County in two days, and then we can help you investigate the situation at your house."
"Thank you, Taoist priest." The middle-aged man bowed again to express his gratitude, tears streaming down his face.
After Yuan Jing learned about Xu Zeng's situation, he put him back into the ghost-binding talisman, then patted his butt and went down the mountain and returned to the county town. He had wanted to stay in the county town for a few more days, but it seemed that it was not going to work. Sometimes it is like this, plans cannot keep up with changes.
Since he met Xu Zeng, it was his fate with Xu Zeng, and he had to help Xu Zeng fulfill his wish.
When the mother and son of the Shi family arrived at the county town and thought of the young Taoist priest Yuan Jing, he had already ridden his donkey out of the city gate and headed for the next county town, which happened to be Qingyuan County.
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