A piece of ham, cut into small pieces and put in your mouth. Don't chew it in a hurry, just leave it in your mouth and feel the salty flavor it releases with your mouth. When it becomes a little soft, you start chewing it and feel the taste of the meaty fiber.
It's dry and fragrant, and you won't get tired of it after eating it. By the way, he slowed down and tore off another piece. He lowered his hands and bent down. The calico cat stood upright and took the meat from his hand.
The fairies and ghosts coming and going were looking at them, but they were no longer embarrassed or watching. Gradually we walked to the fire in the middle.
The market town was gathered around the fire. This fire is unusual and has its own strangeness, but it is not a divine fire that burns the sky and the earth and burns the soul. It only guides the monsters and ghosts in the mountains to come and drives away other evil things.
Song You saw several ghosts and spirits in uniforms by the fire. Even ghosts were not afraid of the fire.
As soon as Xiong Cha and Niu Cha saw Song You, they gave him away from afar. Song You also returned the gift. It is quite strange that there is such a market town here. Since someone has broken into it before, it is impossible to say that there are legends about it under the mountain. Maybe the master of Fulong Temple has been here before.
Xiong Cha must have told Niu Cha. He didn't get closer to them, otherwise they would feel uncomfortable, and he would feel uncomfortable as well, so he just changed direction and continued shopping.
Song You bought a lot of wild fruits from a monkey stall owner, good semi-dry fodder from a horse stall owner, and a small fish from an unknown mountain spirit. The largest The harvest was mushrooms, matsutake, chicken, and pine mushrooms from a fox stall, and they were all available at the same price as the fodder sold by the horse stall owner.
I also spent a lot of money on some wonderful and interesting things that are rarely seen outside. It was quite a harvest.
But the most rewarding thing is obviously not the things I bought or the bargains I got, but the journey itself. There are countless fairies and ghosts here. I am afraid that all the fairies and ghosts from the mountains hundreds of miles away have arrived. There are many kinds, including cats and rats, wolves and deer, cows, horses and rabbits, spirits made from vegetation, and many other natural creatures. The landscape spirits raised in the earth and the ghosts who died on this road have not dispersed. They have existed in all dynasties. Thousands of spirits other than humans live in harmony here and even have their own order. It not only broadens his horizons, but also adjusts his mind. his understanding.
If an ordinary mortal with literary talents accidentally enters here and leaves safely, maybe he will leave an article about his adventures that will be handed down from generation to generation, right?
As he walked, there were little ghosts watching him. Song You turned around and saw a well-behaved boy with a round face, about eight or nine years old. He was walking in the same direction as him. He always turned to look at him, his eyes were very smart.
Song You nodded and smiled at him. The kid grinned back at him. After walking a few more steps, the kid got a little closer to him, and then asked curiously: "Are you a god?"
"Just a mortal."
"How brave!"
"ha……"
"I didn't hear you clearly just now, how did you get in?"
"It's fate." Song You answered casually, with a soft voice.
"After dinner, I was sitting watching the stars. I saw a fire under the mountain here, so I followed it in."
"coincidence."
"It's a coincidence."
"Manager Xiong wanted to take you out just now, why didn't you go out?"
"It's a rare encounter. I want to visit more."
"There are so many ghosts here, are you not afraid at all?"
"What's so scary about ghosts?" Song You also maintained courtesy towards the little ghost: "There is a poem in the world, knowing that you are today and not the ghost of the past." Generally speaking, after a person dies and becomes a ghost, even a child, Unless there are other opportunities, it will not continue to grow.
Therefore, although the ghost in front of him looks like a child, he may not have existed in this world longer than Song You or even Song You's master, so he cannot be treated as a child.
However, although their experience and knowledge will continue to grow, because they have no physical body, their mental growth will also be affected, so it is not easy to treat them as adults or old people.
"Anzhi is not the ghost of the past." The kid muttered something interesting, so he smiled and asked, "Is there really reincarnation in this world?"
"It's just a poem."
"Is that available?"
"I have not seen."
"I'll just say it!" The kid hit his left hand with his right hand. The force seemed strong, but the sound was soft. Song You smiled and asked, "How many times have you been here?"
"So many times, I can't count." The kid smiled.
"It's just that this place is quite boring. It's full of things used by mountain goblins and monsters. Not many of them are used by ghosts."
"Has anyone come in before?"
"It happens occasionally, more often in the past two years."
"I wonder who built this place? Or was it organized spontaneously?"
"It's spontaneous, but it's also protected by the mountain god." The kid paused.
"I heard that it happened many years ago. It was some mountain goblins and monsters that were close to each other that exchanged some things with each other. But at that time, the scale was not as big as it is now, and it was not fixed in this place. It seems that it started here hundreds of years ago. A mountain god, the mountain god told everyone to come here, and everyone came.”
"Mountain God?" Song You thought for a while. Most likely it is not a mountain god enshrined by the imperial court or the Heavenly Palace. That kind of mountain god is usually not so friendly to monsters and ghosts. On the contrary, it is more likely that the mountain has cultivated elves on its own, and is respected as a mountain god by the monsters and ghosts in the mountain.
Moreover, this mountain god can carve out such an area in the middle of this mountain, relying on the mortal world but staying away from it. This is really an incredible skill. Only the elves cultivated by the mountain itself can do this by relying on this mountain. Waiting for arrangement.
"Yeah." The kid thought for a while: "But I heard that the mountain god has a bad temper. Someone came in before, and the mountain god was very unhappy. He had a fight with that person and was beaten badly. Then he didn't come out. Now it's all us Come over voluntarily and voluntarily recommend some demons and ghosts with deeper morals to take charge of things, so as not to cause trouble."
"That's it." Song You nodded and said,
"That man is so rude."
"you do not say!"
"We are destined to be together. I would like to offer you a stick of incense."
"How is that possible?"
"I just want to talk to you for a moment."
"Respect is worse than obeying orders!" Song You happened to see a shed selling incense, and the owner was a mouse. This was one of the few places in the market town that sold things related to ghosts, so many wild ghosts gathered there.
Walking into the shed, there were tables and stools inside, but they were very small. The height of the table was only over one foot, and the stools were less than one foot.
One person and one ghost bowed to each other and sat facing each other. The calico cat also jumped on a stool.
"What does the guest want?"
"Three sticks of grass incense." Song You saw that everyone else ordered three sticks of grass incense.
"Want to light it up?"
"want."
"Okay!" A living person suddenly came in. Whether it was the wild ghosts who were popular here or the mountain goblins who came with the wild ghosts, they kept glancing towards Song You and spoke in a softer voice. .
The calico cat turned around and stared at the stall owner without blinking, making the stall owner a little scared.
"That's not polite." Song You turned the cat's head back manually, and then ignored the eyes of other monsters and only talked to the kid.
The kid is a good talker and talks while eating. He has good Taoism and can eat the ashes of incense. Ordinary wild ghosts can only eat the smoke from burning incense.
However, this type of incense does not have the blessing of wish power, and its help to Taoism is extremely limited. It cannot help these wild ghosts to walk on the spiritual path. Its main function is to fill the stomach.
Usually when the market is not open, most of them, who cannot get incense, feed on the morning dew in the mountains and the evening mist, and live a very miserable life.
I heard the little ghosts complain that there are monsters and monsters in the town this episode. Everyone treats ghosts the least and look down upon them the most. Ghosts have the lowest status here and can buy the least things.
And the coins used here are copper coins. Copper coins are very unfriendly to ghosts. The most unfriendly thing is that they are difficult to get.
Copper coins are very heavy, and the wider they circulate, the heavier they become. The heaviest coins are like a thousand catties, and ghosts with insufficient moral integrity cannot pick them up.
Therefore, most of the ghosts who come to the market town either go to exchange for the copper coins that no one has touched for many years, or they have to make an appointment with other mountain goblins, come with them, and ask these friends to help get the money.
There are also some smart people who simply make friends with some spiritual animals and let the animals help carry money. Song You found it extremely interesting.
I also heard the kid laugh and say that many people at the foot of the mountain vilify goblins and ghosts very seriously. They always think that they are scary, ugly and irrational, or that female goblins cannot control themselves when they see poor scholars. They often regard these things as... I come here for jokes and often laugh out loud.
Sometimes the kid would ask him about things at the foot of the mountain, which dynasty, which generation, which city or village is still there now, Song You would answer him if he knew anything, and he could only apologize if he didn't know.
Half of the small talk is half of the fragrance. The kid sighed: "There are few people in this world who dare to talk to ghosts like Taoist Master. I haven't talked to anyone for a long time." After a pause, he added: "Just now, Steward Xiong wanted to lead the Taoist. Taoist priest really should go out with him." Song You looked at the stall owner for the fourth time and plucked the calico cat's head back with his hands, and asked again: "What should I say?"
"First of all, the Taoist priest should not stay here for a long time. If he stays for a long time, he may not be able to get out. Secondly, there are many roads out here. The Taoist priest may not be able to walk back to his original place. He may not find out until dawn We walked into the deep mountains, and the road in front and behind us was gone. After leaving this fire, there were actually many vicious evil things. We all had to be careful when passing by. There were many mortals who accidentally broke in. I was eaten before I came here. I didn't meet the Taoist Master on the way here, so I'm really lucky. It would be difficult if I met him when I went back."
"Evil thing? What is it?"
"It's hard to say. There are many kinds. Most of them are naturally born evil creatures, or ghosts full of resentment. As for spirits with savage nature and mountain monsters that have eaten people, they are rare."
"That's it..." Song You's curiosity arose again: "Then how can I meet them?"
"Take the main road more often. It's best to go back the way you came. Don't walk randomly. If you encounter monsters and ghosts going in the same direction, try to walk with them. A journey is a journey..." The kid said, suddenly feeling that something was wrong, but carefully After thinking about it, I couldn't figure out what was wrong.
"Thank you."
"Since you treated me to some incense, I will give you something as a gift in return." The kid had finished eating the last bite of incense ash, stood up, patted his butt, and said to him: "There is a lantern seller over there, I will bring it to you." You go buy a lantern, and then go to the fire in the middle to ask for some kindling. The lantern will become brighter than the ordinary lantern. It can burn until dawn, and it can also scare the evil things on the road. Hehe, I shouldn't say that. , it’s unlucky, it’s better to say that you won’t encounter it. But even though you won’t encounter it, the mountain road is dark when you are away from this market town, so you should still have a lantern to illuminate it. "
"Why is this so embarrassing?"
"Don't refuse."
"Thank you." Song You popped the calico cat's head back for the fifth time, patted her again, then followed the kid out with a smile.
Although this kid looks young, he has quite a temperament in his words. Unlike ordinary people, I had invited him to a favor before, and when he accepted, he should have already thought of returning the favor.
So Song You only declined once. So he really went to buy a lantern, and the kid took out money from his body to pay the bill. It was more expensive than three sticks of grass incense.
