Song Xin took the core and felt cold and didn't know how to use it. But he could also guess that this thing was not cheap.
"Here, you two saved my life, how can I accept it..."
Zhang Xiuyang thought that Song Xin was dissatisfied with the quality of the core, so he explained: "Hey, brother Song, despite the weird appearance of this demon core, it contains a lot of death energy. If you swallow it directly, it can help you. It is for body refining. If it can be used as medicine, it can also bring people back to life."
Song Xin realized that they had misunderstood and hurriedly explained: "You two, please don't misunderstand. I have no objection. You saved my life and gave me such a valuable thing. I can't accept it anymore."
"Hey, take it, take it, look, I still have a lot." Zhang Xiuyang took a small bag and opened it to Song Xin.
"So many!?" He saw that the bag was filled with cores of various sizes and colors, just like the glass marbles he played with when he was a child. Song Xin was dumbfounded in shock. The two of them had killed countless monsters along the way to get these cores.
"We just happened to encounter a group of mountain demons that were harming people. Hey, our senior brother captured them all with a set of formations."
"Brother Mo Yang's methods are really eye-opening to Song Xin, so you're welcome. Thank you both for the gift."
"When we draw talismans, we sometimes need to use different source energy in these cores, so we collect them on weekdays." Zhang Xiuyang put away the bag and asked:
"By the way, how did you get into trouble with this Shanxi?" Zhang Moyang was also curious. It stands to reason that Shanxi would not attack a practitioner on his own initiative.
"There is a man named Liu Jing who wants to buy my life." Song Xin felt that these two people did not look like bad people, so he told the story of his grudges with Liu Jing.
"Liu Jing? Could it be Nanyang Liu Jing?" Zhang Moyang was quite surprised when he heard this name.
"How come, Brother Mo Yang also knows about him?" Song Xin asked in shock.
"Well, when I was ten years old, I came to Jingzhou with my master to visit friends. I met him once, but then I didn't know where he went. I heard that he changed to witchcraft, and his whereabouts are unknown..."
Zhang Xiuyang said: "It must be that there is no hope of breakthrough, so that's why it's like this."
Zhang Moyang nodded and said: "Well, indeed, at that time, his cultivation level was from the third level of a warlock to the first level of a qigong practitioner. He was actually able to make up his mind to abandon his cultivation level and start practicing witchcraft again."
"Senior brother, do you have to give up your cultivation to practice witchcraft?" Zhang Xiuyang asked in disbelief.
Song Xin was also surprised, but when he saw that Wei Qi had not practiced as a disciple for several years, he understood in his heart, because Liu Jing didn't know how to teach him at all.
Zhang Moyang nodded: "Witchcraft is based on human blood and energy, so they all raise voodoo or cultivate some things that absorb blood and energy to assist."
Song Xin nodded when he heard this and said: "Indeed, Liu Jing once used a vine called ghost vein to absorb my energy and blood."
Zhang Moyang and Zhang Xiuyang were both shocked, "Ghost pulse?"
"Do you know this stuff?"
Zhang Moyang said: "This is a kind of Gu insect from southern Xinjiang. I have heard of it but never seen it. It is said that it looks like grass during the day and will suck blood at night. I didn't expect Brother Song to have seen ghost veins."
Song Xin told the two of them what happened to him at the Wei family. Zhang Moyang had a cold look on his face, "No wonder Liu Jing disappeared in those years and seemed to be hiding in the Wei family to practice. At that time, he should have lost his cultivation and his body was fragile. He could still rely on the Wei family to provide him with An endless supply of Qi and blood cauldron.”
Song Xin couldn't help but admire Zhang Moyang's knowledge. Although he hadn't seen these things, he felt like he was there. "That should be the case. Later, his training accidentally went awry and he went away to recuperate for a year. I also took advantage of that time to successfully break through to the alchemist realm, so I could escape from the Wei family."
Zhang Moyang and Zhang Xiuyang suddenly realized, "That's it. It seems that Brother Song also has a bad fate. No wonder he cultivates so fast."
"So, what Shan Xi said about Brother Song's reward must be false." Zhang Xiuyang asked at this time.
Zhang Moyang pondered for a moment and said: "This shouldn't be a reward. I guess Liu Jing just knows this Shanxi and was entrusted to come here. But Brother Song, don't worry, since he is a witch cultivator, he will never dare to blatantly offer rewards to practitioners. Life, that would be tantamount to suicide.”
This surprised Song Xin, "Why is this?"
"Brother Song doesn't know that there was a big war between the practitioners and the witch cultivators, and many people died on both sides. If we pursue the practitioners blatantly, it will definitely cause another war. Even if the practitioners don't pursue the case, those great witches will I will also clean up the door myself.”
After hearing this, Song Xin breathed a sigh of relief.
Zhang Xiuyang said: "By the way, Brother Song, are you here to see the Zuosang Ceremony on February 2nd?"
"Exactly." Song Xin nodded.
Zhang Moyang said: "Since we have met, it is fate. We are here for this too. This is not the place to talk. How about we find a small village to stay and talk slowly?"
The three of them searched nearby. At dawn, they saw smoke coming from a mountain col. I walked slowly over and soon saw a small village.
The village is not big, with about a dozen households. It is deserted and deserted, with only a few households lighting fires for cooking.
In front of the house at the entrance of the village, there were several old people sitting. One old man was missing a leg, another was blind in his left eye, and two others were not disabled. "He must have been injured in the army when he was young and then returned home..." Song Xin thought.
Seeing three strangers approaching, the old man was not very scared.
"Old man, please be polite." Song Xin and the others saluted.
It was a bit strange for the old men to see how many people there were. Nowadays, except for official servants and thieves who visit their village, outsiders are rarely seen in their village. It’s just that because of the war in recent years, there have been a lot fewer thieves. But soldiers who wanted to grab food still came occasionally. The official came here to arrest young people to collect grain. This village was full of old people and children, and there were no young people to arrest. Thieves are just after money, but they are also penniless. Gradually, few people are willing to come here. When the old man saw the three people in front of him saluting him, he knew that they were just passing by.
"Where did these little brothers come from?" an old man asked.
"Oh, Mr. Hui, I'm from Xiangyang. I came here to see the local customs."
"Oh, Xiangyang, I went there once when I was young. It's so big." The lame old man said.
"Little brother, what customs are you coming to see?"
Zhang Moyang took a step forward and said, "I heard that there is a custom called Zuosang here. I wonder if the old gentleman knows about it?"
"Well, yes, yes, I have participated in it when I was young. In the past, there were many villages and towns nearby, and the population was large. When young boys reached adulthood, they had to swim to the boat in Mianshui River and swim back to the shore with a stone on their back. Now young boys Everyone was drafted into the war and killed. When we are buried, no one will remember this custom."
"Our elders say that a warrior is considered an adult only if he can swim back from the middle of the river. So all the children in the village have to swim, and these few also swam at that time." The old man shook his head as he spoke. Reminiscing about the past.
"Well, yes, when we were children we could swim several times in the Mianshui River, but now we can't." A lame old man next to him said with a rather lonely expression.
The blind old man said: "In previous years, during Zuo's funeral, there would be many outsiders coming to watch the fun, but now there are no more."
"Oh, I also heard that there were immortals who came to see us." The lame old man said.
"Immortal? Is he a cultivator?" Song Xin heard the old man's words and suddenly thought of the possibility. Could it be for Shui Mansion? Then I thought that Zhang Moyang and the two were also here, and they must have something to do with Shuifu. I would ask them about it later.
Song Xin asked: "They also came to see this custom? Where did they go after that?"
"I don't know about that. Some people saw them disappearing after they dived into the water. Some said they drowned, while others said they were the water gods of Mianshui."
"Yes, I heard that someone has seen it." Several old people agreed.
Song Xin chuckled and confirmed that there was indeed something different here, otherwise it would not attract practitioners. He half-jokingly asked: "Are these immortals also here to express their gratitude to the warrior Xin Youmi for salvaging the body of King Zhou ashore?"
"I don't know about this. How can we mortals know about the things of immortals? However, little brother, you don't know something. My old man said that there is a river god living in this water area. He comes every year on the second day of February. The water will slow down on the fifth day of the lunar month, so you can go swimming at that time," said the old man who is blind in his left eye.
Another lame old man continued: "The story I heard when I was a child is that the river god saw the warrior carrying the body of King Zhou being washed away by the water, so he cast a spell to stop the water flow and let the warrior swim ashore. Later, everyone here will know how to do it. Imitate this as a coming-of-age ceremony. The river god also slows down the water for a few days every year. This is the origin of the Zuosang ceremony."
"Well, it seems there are still a few days until February 2nd. If you come and see it then, you will know. Maybe you can even see the immortal." An old man next to him added.
Song Xin, Zhang Moyang and Zhang Xiuyang looked at each other and knew they were in the right place.
"The three of us are quite curious. Can we be allowed to stay in the village for a few days and wait until February 2 before leaving?" Zhang Moyang said as he took out a sling of money.
"Hey, no, no, if we take your money, it will be robbed by the government and thieves in the end. It's better not to give it up. They see that we bad old men have no money, and they won't embarrass our lives. Just stay here. Stay here, there is still an empty room in my shabby thatched hut, I think you are well-dressed, you must come from a respectable family, as long as you are not too dirty," said an old man.
Song Xin said: "I'm so grateful to the old gentleman for his kindness. It would be nice to have a place to live. I'm not afraid of any mess."
Although this thatched house is not big, it is more than enough for three people to live in it. A few people sat down and began to discuss what happened this time. The old man took an earthen jar, got some water for them, put it on the table, and went out to chat with the old people.
Zhang Xiuyang asked: "Brother Song, do you know that at the bottom of the Mianshui River here, there is a water mansion owned by General Shui Shui?"
