Song Jiang saw that the other party seemed to have misunderstood them, so he quickly smiled and said, "Brother, did you just come down from the mountain? Did you see a girl in her twenties and a sister in her forties?"
After hearing this, the man scratched his head in confusion and said, "There are very few tourists here, and even fewer female tourists... But this hilltop is not too big, so you shouldn't get lost."
Song Jiang said anxiously after hearing this, "It's really hard to say... Both of them are outsiders and not familiar with the environment here."
What people didn't expect was that the man was still very warm-hearted. After listening to Song Jiang's words, he suggested that he could help the two of them look for him together. Song Jiang naturally wanted to find him. When the three of them chatted on the road, they learned that the man's name was Fang Jing, a local. , my biggest hobby is camping around with my bag on my back...
According to Fang Jing, this small hill is indeed the boundary of Jingtan Temple. It has no name. When locals mention it, they will call it the hill behind Jingtan Temple. If there is one outstanding aspect here, it should be this one. There is a stream in the mountain, and monks in the temple and some pilgrims often like to go up to the mountain to get water from the stream to make tea.
When Song Jiang heard what Fang Jing said, he quickly asked him, "By the way, I heard that Jingtan Temple is a thousand-year-old temple. There should be many legends about this place, right?"
Fang Jinghou smiled and said, "It's said to be a legend, so naturally it can't be taken seriously..."
Zhou Shiwu, who was on the side, interjected after hearing this, "That's right... Let's hear it, but forget it if it's a story about a scholar and a ghost. Once you hear it, you'll know it's too fake."
Fang Jing suddenly said to Zhou Shiwu in a funny tone, "Why did the scholar and the ghost offend you? If you want to hear more romantic stories about the past legends, wouldn't they be stories about scholars and ghosts, scholars and banshees? Of course , there are also legends about punishing evil and promoting good, but they are not as attractive as romantic stories..."
Song Jiang was a little curious and said, "There are also stories about scholars and female ghosts in this mountain?"
Fang Jing shook his head and said, "That's not...the legend on this mountain is quite the opposite. It's the legend of a human bride and a wild ghost in the mountain."
Fang Jing's words made Song and Jiang instantly think of the woman in red that Wang Yaning had seen during the illusion, and the stone fish that was used as a token... So Song Jiang asked Fang Jing to bring that one with great interest. Tell them the legend.
The story begins thousands of years ago. At that time, the location of Jingtan Temple was still a wasteland, and there was only a small town called Tancheng within a hundred miles nearby.
The people in Tancheng have to go in and out through this unknown hill in front of their homes. Because their ancestors have done this for generations, the people in Tancheng do not find it inconvenient. After all, the mountain is not high, and the mountain road does not count. Difficult to walk...
But I don’t know when, some travelers who returned late began to have accidents in the mountains one after another, and they died in various ways, including drowning in small puddles; some being hit by falling branches while walking; and some taking good care of themselves before going out. However, when he came back, he was hanged in the mountains for no reason... In short, in the end, as long as people walked in the mountains at night, it was almost impossible to return them, which made the people of Tan City panic for a while.
It stands to reason that since walking on mountain roads at night can easily lead to death, wouldn't it be better if you don't walk at night? ! But the situation in Tancheng is a bit special. The people in the city have only one way to survive, which is to raise silkworms and reel silk. Apart from this, they cannot be self-sufficient in other agricultural products and daily necessities. They have to go over the mountains to the next door. Purchased from town.
But the distance between the two towns is exactly one day. After all, some fresh seasonal vegetables cannot be delayed for two days on the road, otherwise they would have spoiled by the time they were transported to Tancheng... So these Whether a small businessman or hawker goes out early and comes back late or goes out late and comes back early, he still has to walk at night to earn a living.
At first, people thought that those who had the accident must be alone, so every time they wanted to walk out of the city at night, they would always go into groups and go out of the city together in groups. But even so, it didn't happen. There are still people who were forgotten by everyone and died miserably in the mountains...
Occasionally, there are people who are lucky enough to come back alive, but their spirits are often greatly stimulated. After returning, they talk nonsense all day long, saying that there are man-eating evil spirits in the mountains who come out to harm people at night. Finally, the people of Tancheng couldn't bear the daily fear, so they invited a Taoist priest from outside to subdue this evil ghost entrenched in the mountains.
But I don’t know whether the Taoist priest’s magic power is not high, or the evil ghost is too powerful. In short, the Taoist priest went into the mountain to collect the ghost and did not come out again. After daybreak, some people braved the courage to go into the mountain to look for someone, but the result was The Taoist priest and his two young disciples were found hanging from an old tree in the mountains.
From then on, the evil ghost in the mountain became famous after the battle, and ordinary Taoist priests and monks almost changed their expressions after hearing it... But the people of Tan City have to live. If this problem is not solved, then the whole town will have no choice but to move away from this place. Gone to find a place to settle down.
It was at this time that a wandering monk came to Tancheng. After observing the sky at night, he came to the conclusion that if the people of Tancheng wanted peace, they could only negotiate with the evil ghost to see how the other side could not harm Tancheng. The people of the city and let them live a normal life.
So the monk went up the mountain again with the attitude of being polite first and then fighting. This time he lived up to expectations and brought back a "good news", that is, the evil ghost in the mountain proposed that as long as the people of Tancheng sacrificed a bride to him every seven years, he would not To harm the people of Tan City who were walking at night... As soon as this news came out, Tan City was in an uproar. They could accept the sacrifice of pigs, cattle, sheep and horses, but the sacrifice of human beings was really hard to accept.
But some things are often said to be unacceptable, but after weighing the pros and cons, the result is to agree to sacrifice. After all, in those years, it was not a trivial matter to let the entire town leave their homes where they lived, and it required a lot of manpower and material resources. It is even more immeasurable. In comparison, it takes seven years to sacrifice a woman is nothing at all... But the question is who is willing to be this unlucky bride?
At first, someone suggested buying a woman from outside and bringing her back. But at that time, although human trafficking was legal, buying her and killing her was definitely illegal! Unless she wants to. But who would voluntarily die? ! So someone else suggested that people with girls of the right age at home come out to draw lots, and whoever they caught would be allowed to go.
But some wealthy people in the city naturally refused, so they offered to pay the family who sacrificed their daughter to compensate... In this way, something that no one wanted was turned into a business. Among them, it is inevitable that some tragedies will occur where parents who are greedy for money give up their daughters for profit.
An update today...
(End of chapter)
