The county seat in front of us is called Pingkou County. The inspection in and out of the city is very strict, especially for vehicles entering and exiting. I wish I could open it for you and check it.
Even a shabby donkey cart like Ye Ming's was checked inside and out several times by the guards before it was released.
Ye Ming discovered that being a blind person still had its benefits.
Because all the able-bodied young men in the city were taken to serve as soldiers, and the rest were old, weak, women and children.
For example, in the store they were looking for, the waiter was a kid of 12 or 13 years old, the shopkeeper was also arrested and sent to the army, and the landlady was taking care of everything in the store.
There were not many outsiders in the store. Most of the people eating there were soldiers and gangsters.
After finally seeing some slightly normal customers, the landlady was overjoyed and greeted Ye Ming and the two children warmly.
After checking into the store, Ye Ming gave him a "wink" and Maisui quickly closed the door.
Lei Ling said: "It's strange. The evil spirit in the city is also very strong, and there is not a single evil spirit. What's going on?"
Ye Ming said: "Have you seen the statue behind the boss lady's counter?"
"Idol..."
Lei Ling recalled the statue. It looked like a ferocious armored general, but she had never seen it before.
Ye Ming said: "When it gets completely dark, go out and take a look to see what the problem is here."
"knew......"
Lei Ling was helpless. She didn't expect that after new members joined, she would still have to do this kind of work, which made her feel a little tired.
But there was no way. Who told Liu Yuanze that his evil power was too strong to enter the city?
As a cat, almost no one would be wary of Lei Ling. She walked struttingly on the roof at night, even if she was seen by the night watch soldiers, it didn't matter.
Not long after she came out, Lei Ling encountered an unexpected situation. She hid in an alley and watched two figures flying by in the next street.
It's not a sinister thing, it's a ghost.
The so-called evil spirits are the ghosts transformed by people who died in places with extremely evil spirits.
This kind of ghost is ferocious and cruel, has almost no intelligence, cannot communicate, and can only hurt and harm people.
But the behavior of the evil spirit in front of her overturned Lei Ling's consistent understanding of evil spirits.
Because these evil spirits are actually patrolling the streets!
Yes, these ghosts are doing underhanded work, patrolling the streets of the city.
Lei Ling was shocked and followed quietly.
She found that these ghosts were not intelligent and would still want to attack people when they saw them. However, they seemed to have been given some kind of order by someone and were forcibly patrolling the streets without harming people.
Although they do not actively harm people, they are not good things after all. Being with these evil spirits for a long time will make a person's temperament become cruel, and the body will be gradually eroded by the evil spirits and become weak.
Lei Ling quietly followed the two evil spirits in a circle, and found two more evil spirits passing them by on the way.
The two evil ghosts seemed to be forcibly controlled, and they patrolled the city mechanically.
After following around, Lei Ling discovered that there were a large number of evil spirits in the city, and these evil spirits were all responsible for patrolling an area.
This situation puzzled Lei Ling, so she went into a large family's home to check.
It was found that the shrines of wealthy families no longer placed statues of gods and Buddhas from Buddhism and Taoism, but five statues of fierce generals wearing armor and holding sharp weapons, which they called the "Five Evil Generals".
These "five evil generals" are the four generals of earth, water, fire, and wind, as well as the leading general Bingsha.
Lei Ling had never heard of any place where the "Five Evil Generals" were worshiped, and she didn't know the origin of it.
After searching several more houses, Lei Ling discovered that every household in the city that could afford a house would have a statue of the "Five Evil Generals" in their home.
Those with money and status would display statues of the "Five Evil Generals".
The poorer ones will also put up one or two statues.
Moreover, every household will offer incense to the "Five Evil Generals".
After looking around, Lei Ling was shocked and confused, wondering what was going on.
After thinking about it, Lei Ling decided to take a look outside the Chenghuang Temple.
There were a lot of ghosts patrolling the city along the way, but the patrol routes were too mechanical and lacked spirituality, far inferior to the Yin Cha patrolling the city.
Even if Lei Ling could openly walk behind the two evil spirits, they would not know to look back.
As long as it's out of sight, there's no problem.
Arriving outside the Chenghuang Temple smoothly, Lei Ling noticed something different when looking from a distance.
Even if you are far away from the Chenghuang Temple in other places, you can still feel the strong presence of incense.
But the City God's Temple here is so close, and you can't feel the scent of incense. There is only a thick evil atmosphere, which makes your whole body uncomfortable.
Moreover, the Chenghuang Temple seems to have been renovated and is a little different.
Lei Ling adjusted her viewing angle so that she could see the situation in the main hall.
Looking up, sure enough, there is no statue of the City God in the main hall. Instead, there is a statue of the "Five Evil Generals".
While Lei Ling was observing the five statues carefully, she suddenly saw one of the statues with red eyes, and a two-foot-tall general wearing iron armor and holding a flaming sword walked out of it.
As soon as the phantom appeared, it stared at Lei Ling outside the temple with wide eyes.
"The brave cat demon who dares to spy on the gods must be beheaded!"
The man holding the flaming sword is naturally the "Fire God General". What appears now is not his true body, but a clone of the evil spirit.
When this clone saw Lei Ling, he rushed out of the Chenghuang Temple without caring about friend or foe, and raised his sword to kill.
The opponent was just a clone. Lei Ling was not afraid, but she was afraid that her attack would trigger the reaction of the other four statues, so she immediately turned around and escaped.
Seeing that Lei Ling was avoiding the fight, the Fire God General chose to pursue her fiercely, carrying a big sword and chasing her all the way.
Although Lei Ling did not practice any special speed skills, she relied on her flexibility and petite body to move between houses to avoid the attacks of the Fire God General.
Seeing that he could not catch up with Lei Ling, the Fire Demon General shouted loudly, and the surrounding demons heard the order and gathered here one after another.
Seeing this, Lei Ling went straight into the alley and played hide and seek with them.
Although the evil spirits were ferocious and violent, they had little intelligence and were tricked by Lei Ling.
The Fire Demon General was also too big to be used here, and was eventually escaped by Lei Ling.
The angry God of Fire was dissatisfied and casually hacked the two evil spirits to death to vent his anger. He then returned to the City God's Temple carrying the blazing sword.
As soon as I returned to the Chenghuang Temple, I heard a voice coming from a statue:
"Son of Fire, did you miss?"
"Damn it, Grandson Shui, stop talking sarcastically, that little kitten will run away and you won't be able to catch it."
The Fire God will be very rude to that general.
"I said, if you guys are noisy, why are you bringing me with you? I didn't say anything sarcastic."
Another voice sounded.
The Fire God General just snorted.
A thicker voice asked:
"Huo, what's the cat demon's cultivation level? Is it an enemy or a friend?"
"I didn't know if we were friends or foes before, but now we are definitely enemies."
The Fire God General said confidently,
"As for my cultivation, as a flexible cat demon, it took me a long time to get rid of me in the most advantageous area. My cultivation is probably not that good, so it's nothing to worry about."
The voice that mocked him before said again:
"You're so embarrassed to say that a monster who doesn't know who is the enemy or friend, was forced to become an enemy by you. If this is put under human military law, you should be punished."
"Zhan Nima! You're a stinking gutter, you spew shit. If you don't say sarcastic words for a day, you will die, right? If you have the ability, challenge me to a duel. See if I don't beat the shit out of you."
"Who is afraid of whom? You are a barbarian who is not smart enough to be a child. In terms of duel, if I use some tricks, grandpa, you will have to kneel down and call daddy on the spot!"
The two god generals started to quarrel. The more the quarrel got, the more heated it became and they decided to make a fight.
That somewhat thick voice sounded:
"Water, fire, you have enough."
When the two god generals heard this, they both snorted coldly and ended their exchange of words.
It became quiet in the Chenghuang Temple.
...
After Lei Ling went out, Ye Ming was not completely idle. Instead, he found the proprietress's eleven or twelve-year-old son, the boy who acted as the waiter in the shop.
"I have copper coins here. If I ask a question and your answer satisfies me, I will give you three copper coins. How about that?"
Ye Ming pointed to the pile of copper coins on the table and said to this boy.
The boy nodded repeatedly when he saw so many copper coins.
Then, Ye Ming began to ask questions.
According to this boy, the "Five Evil Generals" are new gods that have only been welcomed in the past six months.
It was General Dong who personally gave the order. As long as you welcome the statue of "Five Evil Generals" to your home, you will be exempted from some taxes.
When everyone heard about the tax exemption, they naturally rushed to welcome the "Five Evil Generals".
In order to welcome the "Five Evil Generals", the guard general of Pingkou County directly ordered that all the statues in the Chenghuang Temple be cleared and changed into the "Five Evil Generals" temple.
As for the original statues in the Chenghuang Temple, they were all destroyed.
Moreover, since the "Five Evil Generals" were ushered in, no evil spirits have harmed anyone in the county for several months.
Everyone said that the "Five Evil Generals" were blessing us, and they burned incense and offered offerings more frequently.
This kid also heard that the "Five Evil Generals" first came from Lumen Pass where General Dong was based.
I heard that now Lumenguan, Anwucheng and surrounding counties, villages and towns all believe in the "Five Evil Generals", and almost all the City God's Temples have been transformed into "Five Evil Generals" temples.
Ye Ming asked again about the origin legend of the "Five Evil Generals".
But this kid only knows that the "Five Evil Generals" are said to be the spirits of generals who died on the battlefield in ancient times, and the details are unknown.
After confirming that this boy knew only so much, Ye Ming sent him away.
The boy held a pile of copper coins and said that if there was anything else Ye Ming wanted to know, he could help find out.
Ye Ming said he didn't want to know anything.
In fact, he still has a lot he wants to know, but those things are not something that a young man can inquire about. If he doesn't get it right, he will lose his life.
Not long after sending the boy away, Lei Ling also came back.
A somewhat nervous Lei Ling asked Ye Ming to help see if anyone was following her. After confirming that no one was following her, she breathed a sigh of relief.
Then, he told Ye Ming what he had just witnessed and experienced.
After hearing this, Ye Ming tapped his fingers on the table and "looked" out of the window:
"Leave the city tomorrow, meet up with Liu Yuanze, and have a good time in the neighborhood."
The next day, the long-lost sunshine shone in Pingkou County. Everyone got up early and started a new day of life.
Ye Ming and his entourage sat in a donkey cart and slowly headed towards the city gate.
Sure enough, those evil spirits had no shady authority, could not enjoy the power of incense, and did not dare to come out during the day.
According to Ye Ming's judgment, the "Five Evil Generals" should be able to use the power of incense, but they don't know why.
It stands to reason that only people with great virtue can use the power of incense.
This "Five Evil Generals" doesn't look like a good guy at all, so he can be used for some reason.
This time I encountered another search when leaving the city, which was even stricter than entering the city. It gave people the feeling that the city might be closed at any time, and no one was allowed in but no one was allowed out.
If such a situation existed during wartime, there would be nothing wrong with it, but now that it was wartime, such a situation would be thought-provoking.
After finally passing the inspection, I was extorted for more than a dozen copper coins before I passed the test.
After leaving the city gate, Ye Ming drove to a relatively flat hillside five miles outside the city and stopped here temporarily.
Ye Guo took out a whistle and blew it hard, making a loud sound.
After a while, there was a "rustling" sound from the forest in the distance, and a big blue-white snake appeared, came to a few people, and transformed into a handsome man.
"Uncle, I have made an important discovery!"
...
