Chapter 161

That person was led to a room next door, probably to stay there tonight. After that, the second person started the ceremony. I couldn't hear clearly what he said or see clearly what he was doing, but after a while, people remained silent and the flames burned even more vigorously.

One of them said, "We need sacrifices, but just giving livestock is not enough. We need human heads. If human heads are not enough, we can use whole corpses. If corpses are not enough, we can kill living people. Hasn't the evil spirit killed many people? Bring them to me. The evil spirit needs them to calm down its anger. You also hope that this matter will be over soon, right?"

People started discussing.

"We're going to die anyway, so let's just burn it."

"Who knows how long I can live?"

"But I don't want to die either. Since I just need a body, I'll give it to him."

People carried the corpses piled up far away and put them on the ground. They got the answer before they asked. They immediately threw the corpses into the flames. The flames crackled and after a while, the corpses were burned to ashes and disappeared. When the wind blew, a burnt smell came out.

The child didn't know what was going on, so he sniffed and asked, "What's that smell? It's like the smell of ashes when we burn paper money at home. Can I eat it? Is it a burnt cake? Let me see it?"

The adults slapped the children, pushed them into the house, told them not to come out without permission, and closed the door.

The scene became quiet again.

The flames suddenly shot up into the sky, and the man fell down with a cry. He shook his head and said to the group of people, "No, I can't do it. I can't cure this evil. I am unlucky. Oh."

Before he finished speaking, his eyes went dark and he stopped talking. The person next to him reached out and felt his hand, but he was no longer breathing. However, his body was still warm, and felt soft and fluffy. However, the person in his hand did not feel like a dead person, but rather a ball of cotton that had been exposed to the sun and should be stuffed into a fire and burned to ashes.

After discussing for a while, they decided to put the man's body into the fire as a little help from afar. After all, they hired this man to deal with the evil spirits, but he failed to deal with the evil spirits and dealt with himself instead. That was incompetence. Since he was incompetent, they had to deal with his body as he asked them to.

That makes sense.

Suddenly there was a short scream on the road.

Many people hurried over to see what was happening. When they arrived, Leyuan followed them and went over to see as well. They found a dead body on the ground. It was the body of the last sacrificer. It looked like he was already dead. The ground was covered with blood, which was flowing happily and lively, as if he had wanted to come out to play for a long time.

At first, people thought that the bloodstains were just flowing randomly, and they were just horrified but didn't pay much attention to it. Until someone looked at it carefully for a long time, and suddenly shouted: "Look! Doesn't this bloodstain look like a circle? This is heaven's punishment! This is the work of that evildoer! This person was killed! But it wasn't us who killed him. Let's run for our lives! If we don't leave now, it will be too late. We will definitely die."

People hesitated and fled in all directions.

The lady said to them, "Don't worry. Even if we get out of here, we may not be able to get away. If we get out of the city gate, do we think we can definitely get to other places alive? Why would others take us in? If they think we will bring disaster to them, they will not let us stay. If the evil spirits keep watching us, we will die soon."

People stopped hesitatingly.

Some people left, and some stayed.

They wanted to continue the unfinished ritual.

So they returned to the place where they had been before, next to the very tall campfire, where a mysterious person was standing. He was wearing ordinary clothes, which were torn, old, and uneven in color. In his hands, he was spinning sparkling beads, which were strung together with very elastic thread. It looked like they had once belonged to a noble lady.

There was a red rope with a small wooden fish stuck on his wrist, and there was an obvious scar on his neck that seemed to be caused by a knife. It looked quite scary.

When he opened his mouth, his voice was miserable, hoarse and unpleasant. He said to the people: "I have a way, but it is not a sacrifice."

The lady asked, "What is that?"

The man said, "This is not a very kind way. Are you sure you want to listen?"

The lady said, "Just keep talking! We can't survive now, who cares about kindness or not? If there are still people saying such nonsense, people like you don't need to speak up. I will make the decision. I will throw such people into the fire first and roast them. If they can turn over, it's good fortune. If not, then they should die today. I won't be polite."

The man nodded slowly and said with his eyes closed: "Okay, then I will tell you. This method requires the ashes of Peach Blossom Lady Xu Miaoman's body. Add pigment and water to the ashes and grind them into a fine and smooth powder until it can be used for painting. On a piece of Fuyang paper, draw the figure and back of Peach Blossom Lady, and add a piece of sea, and then you can suppress Peach Blossom Lady in it."

The lady murmured, "Fuyang paper? I know this. It is said to be made of extremely fine and tough silk thread. It doesn't look special on the surface, but in the sunlight, it is very warm, bright and soft. It is worth a thousand gold coins, and everyone says it has a good color.

There is also a rumor that although the paper is not extremely yang or strong, its name contains the character “yang”, which means brilliance, and the character “fu”, which means helping people to go straight up. If people encounter demons or monsters, using this paper can barely save their life.

What you said today means that those rumors are most likely true?"

The man smiled slowly and said, "I don't know what the rumors are, but if you use this method, you will definitely be able to save your lives. However, there is one more thing."

The lady asked anxiously, "Just what?"

The man said, "However, the paper must be real, good, and intact. The painting must not show the face, but the back view. The spirit and the shape must be similar. The background must also be a natural landscape, majestic enough. Otherwise, it will not be suppressed. I looked here before I came. It was very dark and the evil spirit was condensed. I am afraid that I can't escape for a while. If the source is not dealt with, everyone will die."

The lady's face changed: "Okay! I will try to find a painter in the city to use Fuyang paper to draw the back of the evildoer."

The man said again, "Wait a minute."

The lady asked anxiously, "What happened?"

The man said, "To be honest, the most important point has not been told yet. If the painter cannot control the Fuyang paper and the ashes pigment, even if he uses Wugen Water and the Queen Mother's Peach Banquet Qiongjiangyuye, he will definitely die while painting. If he does not finish the painting, the paper will be wasted and he will need to replace it with a new one. If the pigment is used up, I am afraid there is nothing that can be done."

The lady asked, "So, we have to find someone who can paint and suppress the evil spirit? If an ordinary person dies here by accident before the painting is finished, our hope of survival will be reduced by one point."

The man nodded.

The lady frowned and asked, "Then I wonder if the master can paint for us?"

The man hesitated for a moment and said, "I don't know if I can do it. Since you asked, I'll give it a try. If it works, everyone will be happy. If it doesn't, it's my fate. I have only lived till today. You can burn my body into ashes, add them to the pigment, and mix with water for later use."

The lady was overjoyed and smiled with tears in her eyes: "That's great, thank you very much."

The man nodded, his expression became more serious, he closed his eyes, and said something. No one understood it anyway. The people around him even thought they didn't hear anything at all, they were just hallucinating because they were too nervous, and didn't take it seriously.

The man waited for Madam Taohua's ashes to be delivered and mixed them with pigments. He processed them with a clean grinding disc and stick, turning them into a pile of colorful, shiny powder. He slowly added clean water, and there were even some ice cubes that had not yet completely melted, which came from nowhere and fell into the water, making it look even better. After slowly stirring it, these things were ready to use.

The man held his breath and concentrated. The people around him didn't dare to speak or do anything. They just stood still, staring intently, not moving an inch, for fear that even loud breathing would affect the result. Some people were so scared that they even closed their eyes, but did not dare to move, their bodies trembling slightly.

The man spread out a piece of Fuyang paper and began to paint. At first, he could still hold a brush, but gradually, he began to lose strength. Beads of sweat the size of beans condensed on his forehead, his face turned from white to red, and then from red to white. His brows were tightly wrinkled, and his arms began to tremble. Fortunately, his fingers were not affected. He was very careful and opened his eyes wide, but tears welled up in his eyes involuntarily.

The skin on their bodies began to crack, their bones crackled, and the shapes of their bodies gradually distorted. Everyone watching this was shocked and terrified, but they still couldn't run away because they were afraid that if they ran away they would be the first to die, or they might affect the overall situation. It was better for them to stay here. At least there were many people here, and even if they had to die, they could die together.

It’s not that I’m alone, it’s just that I’m wronged.

The painting was gradually coming to an end, but the painter's breathing became louder and louder. He couldn't breathe and was going to die. He knew this very clearly. Fortunately, he still had some spare energy to think about other things. After thinking for a while, he said to the lady next to him with shaking hands: "I can't do it, but you can still go find the person who is closely related to this matter."