The two brothers Yu Yong and Yu Yuan are puppet masters. Although Yu Yuan is now dead and the puppets they brought have been lost, Yu Yong alone is enough to kill all these villagers who exist in "human" form during the day. .
In order to prevent him from killing someone to vent his anger, Ji Xingwang had to promise him that he would not let go of Yu Yuan's murderer and took him to Zhuo Wenbai's house.
but...
"The two guests are back?"
In Qishui Village, Zhuo Wenbai stood outside the door, looking at Li Ang and Guan Anyan who appeared in front of him with a normal expression, and said with a smile: "In the morning, I saw no one in the room, so I thought you two left first. I happened to cook some porridge at home. , do you two want to eat together?"
"Need not."
Li Ang paused and glanced at Zhuo Wenbo's wife who came out of the room with porridge - both of them were still alive and seemed to have no memory of what happened last night.
Or, pretend you have no memory...
Li Ang took a deep look at Zhuo Wenbai and asked calmly: "It's like this. We left this morning to find a friend who came to Qishui Village some time before us. His surname is Chu, he is in his twenties, and he is a scholar. .I wonder if you have any impression?"
"Scholar?"
Zhuo Wenbai frowned and recalled, then shook his head and said, "Sorry, I have no impression. Qishui Village is a small village, and outsiders can basically be found if they stay for a long time. Maybe that Chu Langjun has left here?"
"Did you leave, or was you secretly imprisoned by someone?"
Yu Yong said gloomily: "There are not many places to hide people in this village..."
Zhuo Wenbai felt his hostility, the smile on his face faded slightly, and he frowned and said, "What are you talking about? The people of Qishui Village are honest and do not do such things."
"That's not necessarily the case..."
Before Yu Yong could finish speaking,
The villagers in the village who were carrying hoes and preparing to go to the farmland seemed to be aware of the noise here. They all turned their heads and stared at Li Ang and his group expressionlessly.
The skin on the face slowly tore open one or two gaps.
"I'm sorry, he was just looking for people to be interested in, and he was just talking nonsense in a moment of impatience."
Seeing this, Li Ang interrupted the conversation between the two and said to Zhuo Wenbai: "If our companion is not in Qishui Village, but wandering outside, where might he go?"
Zhuo Wenbai thought for a while and said: "Qishui'ao is surrounded by mountains on three sides. There are wolves and other wild animals in the mountain forest, and there will be dangers at night.
If you're not in Qishui Village... maybe go to the Qishui Temple on the west side of the village?
There is food and firewood there, and you can stay temporarily. "
"That's it, thank you."
The surrounding villagers were still staring here. When Li Ang saw this, he immediately ended the conversation and turned to leave with the other three people. Zhuo Wenbai turned back to the house, ate breakfast calmly with his wife, and talked casually about tomorrow morning. Qishui Village celebration, and going to the ancestral hall to pick up my daughter later.
After walking out of the village and leaving the group of dull villagers, Yu Yong immediately lowered his voice and said: "The skin on the faces of those villagers is cracked. Are they going to turn into evil ghosts during the day?"
"possible."
Li Ang nodded and said: "Fortunately, I didn't attack the villagers before, otherwise it would have been difficult to leave."
"In the entire village, it seems that only Zhuo Wenbai's family is special. Could it be that they and his wife are the center of the mutation? And they can also come back from the dead..."
Ji Xingwang was silent and turned to ask Guan Anyan, "Anyan, can you see anything?"
"..."
Hearing this, Guan Anyan thought about it for a moment and said softly: "There are indeed no traces of Senior Brother Chu in the village. He should have never been here."
"Never been here? How is that possible?"
Yu Yong said: "Qishui'ao is so big. He has been missing for a month and a half. Could it be that he has been staying on the mountain? He didn't have much food and water with him when he disappeared, right?"
"Hao Man is a monk in the Hidden Realm. Although he can't compete with the evil ghosts in the village, there is no problem in writing the Zhang Shui Talisman. It is not impossible to find a place to hide."
Ji Xingwang said: "Go to that temple and look for it first. Maybe there will be clues."
The four of them quickly found the Qishui Temple located on the hillside of another hillside. The entire temple was small and exquisite. In the middle, there was a statue of a young man with a black fish on his feet and a compassionate expression on his face.
Under the statue, there are melon and fruit tributes, as well as sacrificial incense and candles.
It was clear that the so-called celebration was about to be held, but no one was guarding the Qishui Temple, and there were no traces of the melons and fruits being eaten.
"Strange, why does this statue feel so familiar..."
Yu Yong stood in front of the statue and murmured to himself. He climbed onto the stone altar to inspect it and found that the statue was made of wood and painted on the surface. It did not have a long history - at least not as old as 180 years.
"Here's an account book!"
Guan Anyan found an account book in the corner, which recorded the incense money given by some pilgrims from other places. As of the second year of Ningyi, the incense was still strong, and it was mainly concentrated at the end of July.
"The end of July, probably now."
Ji Xingwang said in a deep voice: "The time when there are the most pilgrims from other places is probably when Qishui Village holds celebrations and sells black fish to the outside world.
Judging from records in previous years, the peak number of pilgrims is July 30, which should be the day of the celebration.
The last time recorded in the account books that pilgrims sent money for incense was the early afternoon of July 29, the second year of Ningyi.
If Qishui Village disappeared in the second year of Ningyi, then we are now on the day before Qishui Village disappeared in history.
And, most importantly,"
He took a deep breath and said in a low voice: "At the beginning of the afternoon on July 29th, the second year of Ningyi, it was almost the time when we entered Qishui Village when the mutation occurred.
Equivalent to when we entered the mutation, there were still pilgrims offering incense in this water-dwelling temple normally.
So, what about them? Why can't I see them? Did they collectively leave Qishui Village at the same time we entered the mutation?
Or did they disappear quietly? Or will Qishui Village just tie the local villagers here? "
Too many questions remained unanswered. Li Ang thought for a while and asked Ji Xingwang: "Brother Ji, I wonder if Chu Haoman told you about his recent research through letters some time before he disappeared?"
"have."
Ji Xingwang nodded, "Hao Man's epigraphy research covers a wide range of topics, but he has recently been studying the ancient legends of Jiuyou."
"Jiuyou?"
Li Ang raised his eyebrows in surprise. This word has multiple meanings. In a broad sense, it refers to the deepest and deepest part of the earth. In a narrow sense, it refers to a place of pure yin and no yang.
In some classics, it is also described as the underworld where ghosts go.
Or the end of the world's rivers and oceans - in this definition, the underground river where Chang'an Ghost Market is located is also part of Jiuyou.
"Yes. The letter he sent me stated that there have been considerable research results that can connect many real events in history with the legend of Jiuyou. Including the investigation near Bingzhou is also part of the research .”
Ji Xingwang said: "But he also said that there is no evidence to confirm his conclusion at this stage, and it is still speculation. More evidence is needed, so he did not disclose the specific content to me."
"Is this so..."
Li Ang stood at the door of the temple, squinted his eyes and thought for a moment, suddenly thought of something, and said, "Do you think there are too many tombs on the mountain opposite?"
