When Zhao Youliang saw it clearly, he was shocked again; it turned out to be a backwards walking corpse.
Fortunately, he walked along a straight road, so he did not damage any buildings.
Upon seeing the upside-down corpse, the ghost baby immediately let out a gurgling laugh, though it was merely a cold laugh.
Judging from their appearance, they seem to have dealt with each other before.
The male doll being ridden by the ghost baby was constantly whimpering while shedding tears of blood.
Upon closer inspection, it turned out that his mouth had been sewn shut tightly by the ghost baby, and he could no longer make a sound.
Seeing this, the backward-walking corpse roared and accelerated towards the ghost baby.
The ghost baby was not afraid at all, and laughed eerily as it rode the male doll to confront the enemy head-on.
The male doll tried to resist, but it was firmly controlled by the strings hanging from the rattle drum in the ghost baby's hand, like a marionette, unable to act on its own.
The two collided with a muffled thud, like a sudden clap of thunder in the still night.
It was this muffled thud that startled Qi Zhigang inside the house.
"What's that sound? Who is it?!" As the room lights came on, Qi Zhigang's shadow as he got out of bed was reflected on the window.
"Not good!" Seeing Qi Zhigang about to come out to check the situation, Zhao Youliang wanted to show himself and stop him, even though he knew he couldn't defeat either the ghost infant or the backward-walking corpse...
Just then, the ghost baby, who had also witnessed Qi Zhigang's actions, suddenly screamed and retreated on its own.
The backward-walking zombie on the other side immediately gave chase without hesitation, and the two disappeared from Zhao Youliang's sight in the blink of an eye.
With the crisis averted, Zhao Youliang and the big yellow dog simultaneously spat each other's paws out of their mouths and gagged with their backs turned.
They clearly despise each other.
Qi Zhigang, who opened the door to check the situation, was taken aback by what he saw: "Brother Gou? Quantum?"
"What are you doing? Have you drunk too much? Throwing up?!"
Zhao Youliang was embarrassed by the question and quickly wiped his mouth before recounting what had just happened, leaving Qi Zhigang utterly astonished...
......
Nothing was said that night, except that the faceless ghost Buddha appeared in Zhao Youliang's dream and read him the blood-stained letter for a long time.
When Zhao Youliang woke up the next day, he felt sore all over, just like he had run ten kilometers of cross-country with a weight the day before.
"Oh my god, what happened?"
As he spoke, Zhao Youliang struggled to his feet, leaned against the wall, and walked to the door to open the shop for business.
The big yellow dog, who had been up for a while, was taken aback by his appearance. Then, its eyes gleamed as if it were thinking about something.
"Good morning, Dog Bro. Why didn't you go out and cause trouble on the street today?"
Despite the severe pain in his body, Zhao Youliang still hurriedly bowed and greeted the big yellow dog.
The big yellow dog, as always, ignored the guy and jumped onto the wicker chair to sunbathe its eggs upside down.
Seeing this, Zhao Youliang didn't dare to say anything more. He endured the pain all over his body, picked up a broom, and swept the area in front of the door.
Just then, an elderly woman with white hair walked towards them from afar.
The most unusual thing was that a white crow was perched on the old lady's shoulder.
As they approached the paper-making shop, the old woman hesitated for a moment before asking, "Young man, is this shop yours?"
"Old woman, I want to buy a pair of paper figures."
"How pitiful I am, an old man with white hair, to bury a young man with black hair; there is no greater sorrow in the world than this, alas..."
"Old woman" is an ancient term for an elderly woman to refer to herself.
For example, in Du Fu's poem "The Officer at Shihao," there is the line, "Although the old woman is weak, please let the officer take her home at night."
Zhao Youliang is no longer the naive young man he once was; upon seeing the old woman, he immediately recognized her extraordinary nature.
Just as I was about to greet them, I heard a thumping sound from the side.
Turning my head, I was surprised to find that the thuggish dog was already kowtowing to the old woman with a fawning expression.
Seeing this, Zhao Youliang became even more certain of his idea.
Ignoring the scoundrel who was trying to "fulfill his filial duty," he quickly brought out a stool for the old lady to sit down.
"Grandma, please sit down first. I'll go inside and bring out two paper figures for you."
The old lady was clearly very satisfied with Zhao Youliang and the big yellow dog's attitude, which made her slightly ugly face even more kind.
"Go on, my good boy, I'll wait here."
When Zhao Youliang brought out what he considered to be the two best paper figures, the old lady nodded repeatedly in approval.
"Excellent craftsmanship, excellent craftsmanship."
“In today’s society, it’s rare to see a paper craftsman like you.”
"But this technique looks so familiar! Young man, who is your teacher?"
Zhao Youliang did not hide anything and recounted how he learned skills from Manager Liu.
The old lady nodded repeatedly upon hearing this: "So it's because we're from the same school. No wonder, no wonder."
"Since that's the case, then I really can't give you the money today..."
Hearing the old man say this, Zhao Youliang pondered what the old man had just said while waving his hands repeatedly.
"Look at what you're saying, since you know Uncle Liu, how could I possibly ask for money?"
"Please take it, sir... Please accept my condolences."
The old lady didn't say much after hearing this, she just nodded.
Then, with a meaningful look, he glanced at the paper shop again, before riding the wind and carrying the two paper figures away.
Only the old woman's slightly hoarse voice remained in the wind: "Child, this time I owe you a debt of karma."
"If you ever encounter any problems in the future, you can come to Skull Mountain to find me."
After the old lady left, Zhao Youliang was astonished to discover that only he could see her.
Because pedestrians on the street were coming and going as usual, no one was surprised to see an old man "flying in the sky".
Just as Zhao Youliang was guessing the other party's identity, Egg Boy slowly floated out of the shop.
“Quantum, that was the Crow Ancestor just now, and he was my parents’ ancestor. He was of the same generation as Hu San Taiye of the Hu family.”
"Huh?!" Just as Zhao Youliang was surprised, Mad Prisoner added.
“There is a lot to it. The shamans in the Northern Kingdom are not just the five major families.”
"Besides the five major families, there are also the Eight Dark Gates. This Crow Ancestor is the ancestor of the Eight Dark Gates."
"Like the Third Master Hu of the Hu family, he attained enlightenment at the end of the Investiture of the Gods period."
"It's just that the Crow Ancestor has an eccentric personality, being both righteous and evil, and her true form is... that's why no one worships her and her reputation is not well-known."
Zhao Youliang could understand what the mad prisoner was saying: In the hearts of our people, crows are a symbol of disaster and death.
Who would keep a crow as a sacred object in their home?
However, Zhao Youliang didn't care at all about the true form of the Crow Ancestor.
He only knew that he was lucky today, and that he had gained another powerful backer from now on.
I wonder how Crow Ancestor got to know Uncle Liu; it seems the two have quite a close relationship...
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