When Xiao Qianqiu was young, he also saw how powerful creditors were. As long as someone owed them money and refused to pay them back, three or five big men would rush in and rummage through the boxes and cabinets, leaving not even a hen or an old skirt behind. , this is kind, if it is not enough, and if the debt is owed for a few more days, people will often have to sell their wives and children to pay him back. At that time, the painters in Qingzhou City and the craftsmen who made clay statues for the temples made other statues that may not look like them. They made statues of evil debt collectors in hell. But now that I think about it, those debt collectors who can go out for a hen and a few coins are all thugs at the lowest level. When they meet Tian Sanhu, who is not yet on duty in the county, he is afraid that he will call her brother, but he doesn't Knowing what kind of creditor can make Hualin change his mind? I want to take a good look at it.
I saw Hualin pull twice with a grimace, and a salt bag moved its position. The air in front of him suddenly became as solemn as substance. Then, a vortex slowly spread in the air, and a fat little hand looked at it. To get out of the whirlpool...
Reach out...
Stretch out...can't reach out!
Xiao Qianqiu was amused and surprised at the same time. He didn't know what part of Hualin's "creditor" was playing. As he was watching, a strange sound came from the whirlpool, which made him shiver involuntarily, and then , the little hand disappeared, and a long and thin mouse tail tried to get through.
Once again it didn't work out.
Then, the tail twisted into a shape angrily - Xiao Qianqiu guessed - suddenly, with a flash of fire, a strange creature appeared in front of them. The thing looked like a disproportionately fat snake, with... Decorated with too many flowers and fruits, Hua Lin said hello to it, obviously not surprised that the creature that appeared was not the same one that appeared just now, and then put what he had spent so much effort to get tonight into the snake's mouth, The strange snake then disappeared in the flames.
Hualin put the empty silver blade back into the scabbard and reluctantly looked at the place where the flame had disappeared for a long time. He muttered a few words, "Damn the financial industry." After that, he walked towards his residence.
The chieftain spent a frightening night in front of Pai Gang. He knew they were there, so he had to concentrate and not sleep. He wanted to make a last stand. Although the possibility of victory in this fight was slim, he was never afraid of fighting, but maybe, It was because he was not as old as before that he actually fell asleep before dawn. He slept very well and did not wake up until others came to ask him to have dinner.
He reached out to pick up the food, and found that in just one night, his hands had become exposed with veins, and all the minor wounds in his memories had healed, leaving criss-crossing gray-white scars on his skin. After eating, he went to the stream to fetch water and wash his face. In the stream, he saw that his beard and hair were all white.
He was startled by his own image reflected in the stream, and stared at it for a while. At this time, he found that a priest he had hired when he was a chieftain in Galadong was secretly hiding behind a tree and looking at him with a mixed expression. The expression of shock and fear is definitely not the expression that a barbarian who is used to war and killing should have.
Paigang Chieftain, who had become old, thin and rickety, washed his face as if nothing had happened, and walked back slowly. When he had a cover, he suddenly became as flexible as a young warrior again, a With a fierce jump and a strong grab, he caught the priest who was about to leave quietly: "What! You spy! I thought you were one of my tribesmen, so I always trusted you, and what I gave you She has more priests than other chieftains hired. Even if she loses this time, it is thanks to my intercession that she did not take away your things and gave you clothes and food. Is this how you repay me! She was ordered to take it by an outsider. Gala Cave! I will call all the tribesmen to come and have a look! I will make you die more miserably than a slave! I will throw you into the snake den behind the mountain and let you be bitten to death by a hundred snakes! They will not Forgive a tribesman who betrayed his camp to outsiders!"
His words were very harsh, but his voice was not loud. The priest who was eager to escape did not have the cunningness of Chieftain Paigang at all. After being intimidated, he immediately defended: "No, no one instigated me! Dear Chieftain!"
"Then why are you hiding behind the tree, like a tiger about to pounce?"
"Toast," the priest stammered for a long time. After repeated pressure from Chief Paigang, he told the whole story. When he was young, he studied with an old priest who was known to be prestigious. Like all priests, they It was passed down orally without writing. They would depict mountains, forests, thunder and lightning on their magic weapons, and they would also use pictures to teach craftsmen to carve the Guru's subordinates (scorpions and spiders) into weapons and shields in order to borrow their power. But a Priests will not teach students to draw these pictures. They only need to recite scriptures and perform appropriate rituals, and they will learn every talisman they should learn from dreams and mists. Each priest must obtain those talismans alone, and cannot receive them through others. And every time after taking the talisman, the priest will feel the loss of vitality and the chill that penetrates into the bone marrow. It's not the coolness of the cold mountains at night, but more like...
At this point, he suddenly stopped, probably because he felt that he had said too much to a person who was not a priest, so he turned the conversation to other directions. He mentioned that because of this cost, many priests would not They claim to know so many magical talismans, and they also depict the power of the Guru and each of his subordinates on their magical weapons, but there are few truly powerful talismans among them, and many people despise them because of this. Even the high priest also looked down upon it - Pai Gang had already put his knife on the priest's stomach and asked him what all this had to do with him hiding behind the tree.
He was also afraid that obtaining too many talismans would send him to the Guru in advance, so when he found out that the high priest actually brought his teacher a book, he secretly read it.
He ran away after turning only a few pages, and the book was more terrifying than the dream after the ceremony.
But the pages that proved his sin still appeared in his dreams from time to time. The creature depicted on one of the pages had the same white hair as Paigang Toast today, was thin, stooped, and had scars crisscrossing the whole body. The thing is, those scars are oozing blood, and there are white roots growing out of those oozing scars, and the notes next to them - oh, he is willing to pay any price to forget those notes - why? Of course he is as illiterate as any Yi people! But he actually recognized those annotations!
What do those notes say? Chief Paigang asked in a hissing voice.
"Precious stone, precious grass, the only light... Vessel, vessel, vessel of the Great God, better than all life... Blood, the churning sea of blood, worth it..." The priest spoke with difficulty, those words were not foreign. , he said, it was from another world, and he didn’t know how to say those words in the language of the barbarians. He could only try his best to translate, or pronounce something similar to what he knew. Usually his pronunciation was different from that of ordinary people. Strange, but when he recited this passage, especially when he recited the part that he could not translate, his voice was like the unique tone of the most powerful priests when they called the Guru during rituals. It is a long sound without fluctuations. It is said to be the sound made by the wind blowing through the deep cave.
"You have proven yourself." Chief Paigang let the priest go without asking any more questions. This alert old thief had noticed some unusual movements. From just now to now, no one has approached this stream. The jungle on the edge of the river is supposed to be a popular time for people to fetch water.
The shadows of the trees, and the shadows lurking behind them, were different from the past, as if something had risen from the deepest cave as the priest chanted.
And the priest's voice didn't sound like the priest he knew.
He must return to Gala Cave as soon as possible. The little girl who knows strange magic may know what to do. At least, she does not believe in the Guru.
Chieftain Paigang clutched the knife tightly and walked in the direction of Gala Cave - which he thought was the direction of Gala Cave.
Late that night, someone came to report to Hualin that Chieftain Paigang was missing.
