Chapter 90: An old rogue
The red sun sets in the west, and the sky is filled with thousands of rays of light.
The four of them landed in front of a mountain village, with bluestone, yellow earth, and black tiles. Smoke from cooking rose vertically and blended into the mountain mist.
The proprietress said that this is a spiritual place, which is true. It is almost a semi-natural gathering place for spirits, and the feng shui is excellent.
Lin Du felt the spiritual energy around him. Although it could not compare with the spiritual veins buried by the Supreme Sect, it was still much richer than the thin spiritual energy he had felt along the way.
It was the time when the cattle and sheep returned to the pens, so there was no need for anyone to drive them. Just then, a few leisurely oxen came down from the mountain.
Someone came out of the house, shouting something incomprehensible. There seemed to be a creek not far away, with silver bells tinkling, and a girl singing a tune, clear and melodious, just like the sound of a gurgling creek.
The singing was getting closer and closer. The four of them looked at the same time. The last bit of sunset light before the distant mountains set turned into gold edges on the little girl's collar and pleated skirt.
Lin Du suddenly looked at Tao Xian thoughtfully. When the rosy glow fell into people's eyes, it became like a divine light.
"Excuse me, young lady, is this Qinglu Village?" Tao Xian asked for directions spontaneously.
The girl had a red face and her eyes were full of sweetness. She tilted her head and smiled, "Yes, do you want to stay overnight?"
"We are here to look for Granny Ma. Is she still in the village?"
The girl tilted her head and said, "Grandma Ma? She should still be at the pregnant woman's home in the village, but I don't know which home she is."
"Are there many pregnant people in the village?" Lin Du asked casually.
"Spring is coming soon, it's time." The girl didn't seem to understand what Lin Du said, but she soon smiled again after seeing Lin Du's face.
"You are so pretty, as pretty as the Moon Goddess! I guess the Moon Goddess looked like you when she was little."
Lin Du was startled, then lowered his eyes and smiled, "Then I am marrying above my station."
It is recorded in the customs records that the gods worshipped by the villages in western Yunnan are different. Mountains, water, wind, thunder, and everything else have their own gods.
"If she wears a white robe, she'll look more like him." The girl gestured, "But she also looks like him in a green robe. She looks like the incarnation of Moonlight Vine."
Xia Tianwu heard this and his eyes flashed. "Excuse me, young lady. I am a medical practitioner and I am particularly interested in plants. What kind of plant is this moon vine? Can you teach me more about it?"
"You don't even know what Moonlight Vine is? This is a sacred object that represents the Moon God. Wherever Moonlight Vine grows, it will be blessed by the Moon God. If..."
The girl suddenly smiled shyly, "Whoever the moon vine flower falls on will become the bride of the Moon Goddess..."
"Wanxia! What are you doing there? Why don't you come back?"
Someone called out from behind, and the girl turned around suddenly, waved her hand, and said, "Got it, I'm back!"
She turned around and glanced at the four people with a smile, "I have to go back first. Goodbye, stranger."
The girl's skirt fluttered, and the silver bells on her feet left tiny sounds in the air, like a little peacock flying away.
Lin Du stroked the Fu Sheng Fan, thinking, "This Moon God is an old rogue."
Flowers are the reproductive organs of plants.
Sending flowers to the bedside is really too straightforward.
"Do the gods worshipped by these villages really exist?" Mo Lin frowned, feeling that there was something strange in the girl's words.
They are Taoists who believe in their own way, which is different from the direct worship of gods in this village.
Everyone has his own way.
"If it exists, it probably wouldn't be a true god." Lin Du pondered for a moment, "But those who are higher and stronger than humans can also be considered gods to them, which is not wrong."
What kind of good true God would interfere in the affairs of a village in the spirit world and brazenly act like a hooligan and rob a woman?
Being the bride of God doesn't sound like a good thing for a girl.
The four people walked into the village and stood in front of a courtyard with bluestones piled up to inquire about Granny Ma's news.
"Are you asking Granny Ma? She's probably staying at the village chief's place right now."
"Now that spring has begun, it is the right time."
The man was standing in the yard, with a child of seven or eight years old running behind him.
"Exactly... what time?" Tao Xian asked.
"It's the time when the next generation in our village is sprouting." The man smiled and said, "What do you want from Granny Ma?"
"Let's go find her and seek medical help." Lin Du interrupted, "Excuse me, auntie, where is the village chief's home?"
"It's at the very back, near the Moon Well."
Lin Du thanked them and led the group inside. Along the way, they could still smell the pungent smell of chili oil and the sound of spatulas sizzling incessantly, almost covering up the crying.
Xia Tianwu and Lin Du looked at that family at the same time.
The family was silent, with no sign of cooking, only the sound of crying.
"Why, why is it a girl?"
"I don't want a girl. If it's a boy, I still have a chance to leave this village, but..."
The woman's crying was intermittent, and was soon interrupted by a male voice that sounded suppressed and angry.
"Don't talk nonsense. What's wrong with the girl? She was favored by the Moon Goddess! Besides, I have never left the village. What's wrong?"
Xia Tian frowned imperceptibly. Tao Xian tilted his head and saw that Lin Du did not stop walking. He even smiled when he met his gaze. In one hand he held a heavy iron folding fan, which hung straight down at his side, and the veins on the back of his hand were slightly bulging.
As we walked along, we found a well. The well was surrounded by a circle of vines, twisted and green, almost black. There was a layer of something like mist on it, which gave the whole vine a strange grayish-white color. White flower buds were scattered on the vine, and it looked somewhat translucent in the sunset.
Xia Tian did not hesitate for a step, turned around and whispered to Lin Du, "It's the vine in Granny Ma's yard. Although it looks a little different, it's indeed the same. I won't mistake this smell."
Lin Du narrowed his eyes. This layout...
If this vine has always existed, then it is truly a blessing from heaven.
"What's wrong? Is there something strange?"
"Just looking at the layout along the way, it is a natural Yin-gathering and soul-trapping formation. This Inoue Fuji is the pulse of the formation." Lin Du paused, "It may not be correct."
Natural formations are rare. Lin Du has learned the basic forty-nine formations and the incomplete ten ancient formations. Now he is learning the large volume of the collection of one hundred and eight formations.
The one hundred and eight formations are something that all formation masters in the world of cultivation must master. If one has mastered all of them and is able to deploy and execute formations, then he or she can already have a position in the Formation Masters Alliance.
I don't know if it's because he has counted the ancient formations, but Lin Du learned the 108 formations very quickly. Now, the only ones that are rarely used at the end are yet to be learned and memorized.
Xia Tianwu didn't care about what Lin Du said, "It may not be correct." The junior master's guess had never been wrong, not to mention that it was something like a formation.
She hesitated for a moment, "From what Junior Master said, do you think this vine came later?"
"A suspicion is not necessarily correct."
Lin Du took a look at the array in his hand that detected Yin energy. The needle had already soared to more than halfway, indicating that the Yin energy was extremely heavy. However, because it was mixed in with the rich spiritual energy and was close to the mountains, it was difficult for a cultivator to detect it with just his five senses.
"It could also be natural. This village might be a good place to raise corpse puppets."
Xia Tianwu's face darkened as he looked towards the gate of the village chief's courtyard.
Tao Xian and Mo Lin were already standing outside the village chief's courtyard, knocking on the door.
The courtyard was extremely clean and bright, but not more spacious and luxurious than the courtyards of other villagers along the way. At first glance, they were all the same. A girl was sitting in it, smiling sweetly at a basin of water.
Tao Xian explained his purpose, but the girl seemed not to be listening, and the washing things in her hands were dripping.
Soon, a middle-aged woman with a slightly protruding belly came down from the room. She held her waist and looked at the people outside the gate. "Are you here to see Granny Ma? Please come in."
A group of people came in and entered the main hall, where they saw an old woman with black hair sitting at one side of the square table, with an old man sitting next to her, but there was no young man to be seen.
Xia Tianwu smelled the faint floral scent again on the old woman.
She calmly pressed the jade belt around her waist and watched Mo Lin come forward to explain his purpose.
"I am Mo Lin, a disciple of the Supreme Sect. I encountered an evil sect that eats human blood. When I attacked him, I was accidentally poisoned by a snake. I have heard of your great name for a long time. I came here today to ask you to diagnose and treat him."