92 offerings
Who would steal their own offerings?
Now that we know who the culprit is, Honghua asked, "Sister Mu, what should we do next? Fill up Tiger Pool?"
She recalled the story of Jingwei filling the sea that Dr. Ying had once taught her, and squatted down to start picking out pebbles.
Du Zhijin: "We still don't know where that demon is hiding. We need to find a way to force it out."
The demonic aura at Tiger Xue Pool was indeed strong, but she could sense that the demon was not there.
It is cautious, or rather, timid and afraid of death.
Upon hearing this, Honghua fiddled with the pebbles, deep in thought: "Water... If the other party is a monster related to water, what is it afraid of? In the Five Elements, earth overcomes water. There is a lot of land in the village, but how can it overcome it?"
“Earth…” she said, arranging the stones to form the character “earth” while filling in the blank with her fingers.
She wasn't very literate. Doctor Ying had told her that he didn't expect her to compose poems or essays, just to know some everyday characters. So she racked her brains but could only think of the characters for "ground," "field," and "block." It was Du Zhijin who was inspired by her: "grave."
Honghua suddenly realized: "Oh right, the grave too. Sister Mu, you mean...?"
Du Zhijin wanted to teach her, so he didn't give her the answer directly. Instead, he guided her to think further: "Why did the monster choose Tiger Xue Pool? There's clearly a stream in front of the village. Isn't the stream's basin wider?"
Upon hearing this, Honghua also found it strange. Indeed, that stream not only flows through their village, but also passes through two villages to the east and two villages to the west. If the monster were to tamper with the stream, wouldn't it harm even more people?
Combining this with what Du Zhijin had just said about "graves," a sudden realization dawned on her: "I get it! Relocating graves! There were several graves on the back hillside, and the village chief moved them specifically to protect the water quality!" Then, a thought struck her, and her voice trailed off, "But that doesn't make sense. There are graves everywhere in the village; people could be buried even on the field ridges. If a monster is afraid of graves, it shouldn't have come to our village. So why did it specifically avoid those few graves?"
Du Zhijin was already quite satisfied that the child had thought of this, so he stopped keeping him in suspense: "Yes, the monster's target is those graves, but not to move them. Instead, it wants to dig up what's inside the graves by moving them."
A powerful demon silently perished in a small mountain village, its remains and demon core vanishing without a trace. Demons coveting its legacy dared not venture there themselves, fearing the demon might have a backup plan; instead, they resorted to underhanded methods to manipulate the villagers into risking their lives for it.
Unfortunately, it was destined to be a wasted effort, because the demon core was not in Wuling Village at all.
"Here you go. You and Uncle Huang and Aunt Huang stay at home and don't come out no matter what noise you hear, understand?"
She handed Xingyue over. Honghua, holding the sword which was as tall as her, was both excited and worried: "Sister, what are you going to do? Is there anything I can do to help?"
Du Zhijin patted her fluffy head and smiled, "You've already helped your sister a lot. In the future, when you've reached the Foundation Establishment stage or even the Golden Core stage, you can fight alongside your sister again."
"Hmm." Seeing that the little girl still looked sullen, she took her hand and said, "Come on, let's go home."
Feeling the thick calluses on the hand holding her sword, Honghua made a silent decision.
She must grow up quickly, cultivate diligently, and strive to join Sister Mu in vanquishing demons and monsters as soon as possible!
Aunt Huang and Uncle Huang were unaware of their daughter's lofty ambitions. Seeing their daughter's eyes, no longer bloodshot and gradually returning to normal, Uncle Huang wept with joy, repeatedly murmuring, "May the Bodhisattva protect us."
Aunt Huang, however, immediately noticed the sword beside Honghua and hurriedly asked her, "Where did this come from?"
This is no ordinary sword. Though not ornate, it is ancient and heavy, inspiring awe for no reason.
Honghua didn't hide anything and repeated what Du Zhijin had said: "Sister Mu lent it to me to keep me safe and told us not to go out."
The couple exchanged a glance, both seeing a solemn expression on each other's faces.
Things are probably about to change outside.
Uncle Huang hurriedly started reinforcing the doors and windows, and even brought in the yellow dog and several hens. Aunt Huang went to the kitchen to bake pancakes, preparing for the next three meals without cooking. Of the family, only Honghua stared blankly out the window.
The windows were tightly closed, and from her angle, she could only barely see a corner of the Ying family ruins.
The wind howled through the holes in the broken wall, like someone was crying. Sunlight shone on the ruins, reflecting a dull gray-white color. Unburnt cotton wadding hung on the broken walls, a dark, mushy mess, a far cry from its former cleanliness.
Sparks seemed to explode in her mind, and a thought suddenly popped into her head. Honghua suddenly realized that the graves on the back hill contained the remains of Doctor Ying's parents.
————
Based on his initial assessment, Du Zhijin deduced that the monster causing trouble in Wuling Village was an evil dragon.
Shaped like a snake, with a tiger's head, some reaching several tens of feet in length, they mostly dwell under rocks in streams and pools, their sound like the mooing of a cow.
She had no experience dealing with adult dragons, only a newly hatched baby dragon, about the length of a thumb, which was taken by the elders of Beast Taming Peak to be used as a mount shortly after birth.
The Master had also taught us how to deal with the evil dragon, and that method was the "Spirit-Locking Array." Choose a loess slope backed by a mountain and facing water. Use nine stones, each about half a person's height, as a base, burying them three feet deep according to the "Nine Palaces" orientation. Fill the gaps between the stones with clumps of mud mixed with aged rice husks and cinnabar. The array must be set up at the hour of Yin (3-5 AM), when the earth's energy is strongest. Then, barefoot, step onto the loess at the center of the array, the center of the Nine Palaces, and holding five dried reeds, insert them into the earth according to the five elements' orientation. The array is then complete.
Stones, rice husks, cinnabar, and other such things are easy to find. In fact, this is not the first time she has drawn this formation, so she can set it up with ease. The only problem is how to lure out that evil dragon.
Unbeknownst to her, she found herself back at the cemetery. Zhou Shitou, who had returned sometime earlier, was now sitting blankly in front of Ying Jianhua's tombstone, his face full of confusion.
Du Zhijin walked over and asked him, "What are you looking at?"
Zhou Shitou scratched his head and pointed to the empty bowl, saying, "The offerings are gone."
Offerings? She remembered. Early this morning, Zhao Xiaocui and her mother had been busy plucking chicken feathers and boiling water to prepare a sumptuous meal for "Ying Jianhua". However, farmers are poor and there is no reason to waste food. The offerings are usually displayed for a while and then taken home. Zhou Shitou came here to take the offerings back.
But now, that fat chicken is gone. The wine and fruit are still there, which shows he was a picky thief.
Her first reaction was: "It was stolen?"
Zhou Shitou shook his head: "Impossible. This is Doctor Ying's tomb. Who would be so foolish as to steal here? Aren't they afraid of retribution?"
"It might be a weasel or some other animal that's greedy," she added.
"Sigh." He sighed deeply, picked up the three broken incense sticks and threw them aside, blaming himself for his bad luck. "Stealing food is one thing, but I shouldn't have broken the incense. What a terrible thing to do."
The incense stick broke?
She bent down, took the three incense sticks in her hands, and examined them carefully, noticing something strange.
The three incense sticks broke at different points, some high and some low, suggesting they weren't broken accidentally but rather intentionally.
She tucked the broken incense stick into her bosom and looked thoughtfully at the small mound not far away.
Since we're going to set up an array anyway, to prevent harm to innocent bystanders, let's deal with the nearby minor demons first.
Because many people had suffered from conjunctivitis, farm work had been delayed for quite some time. Now, the recovered laborers were all working hard in the fields, and no one paid attention to Du Zhijin's movements. Her reason for choosing to act at noon was also simple: the midday sun made the fog thinner, weakening the evil dragon's control and making it easier for her to act.
She strolled around for a while, collecting everything, and then began setting up the array. The "Spirit-Locking Array" was simple to draw and could be completed in half an hour, but...
She glanced at the will-o'-the-wisp that relentlessly followed her, and flicked her finger to extinguish it.
Coincidentally, opposite this new cemetery was a suitable loess slope. Because of its proximity to the cemetery, with more corpses, there were more will-o'-the-wisps.
Ordinary people might be afraid of this thing, but Du Zhijin wasn't. The so-called will-o'-the-wisp was actually produced by the decay of corpses. If you looked closely, you would see that the edges of the flames had a cold bluish tinge, and a fishy smell mixed with rotten soil and wood ash would fill your nostrils. She even had the leisure to wonder if this was the will-o'-the-wisp of her parents-in-law, whom she had never met.
Hmm, then wasn't her behavior just now quite absurd?
Then she remembered that Amo's parents had passed away many years ago, moved again, and their remains had long since turned to ashes.
Thinking of this, Du Zhijin hesitated for a moment, then walked to a grave next to Ying Jianhua and solemnly bowed three times.
She and Amo were not yet married, so it was inappropriate for her to call them "father" and "mother" at this time. She could only silently vow in her heart to make up for it in the future.
"Thank you both for raising Amo. I will definitely treat him well."
As soon as she finished speaking, she keenly caught the sound of staggering footsteps and immediately chased after them with her sword.
This little demon keeps stealing offerings from Amo's grave.
"Buzz—"
A gust of wind swept past, and the Drunken Mist Sword vanished without a trace, thrusting straight forward. Du Zhijin thought his attack was sure to hit, but the little demon reacted swiftly, managing to dodge the sword's light in time.
That's interesting; it runs faster than a rabbit spirit.
The little demon who stole the offerings was of unknown origin, yet seemed to know the terrain very well, constantly dodging left and right using the hillsides and trees, and Zui Lan brushed past it several times. Just as the unknown little demon was about to disappear from sight, Du Zhijin frowned, made a hand seal, and Zui Lan burst forth with streaks of sword light, turning into countless afterimages, and a sky-covering rain of swords slowly took shape.
If this demon could witness the sword rain of Mount Dengxian before his death, then his death was not in vain.
However, just as the rain of swords was about to fall, she heard a voice that could never have come from here.
"stop!"
She opened her eyes wide in disbelief and exclaimed, "Amo?!"
Why is he here?
Besides, who would steal their own offerings?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
