A few minutes later, Gu Xu and Shi Xiaohan arrived at their destination - Xunliu Street.
The area near Xunliu Street is considered the busiest place in Yishui County, and is also known as "Washe".
Big shops, small shops, dance pavilions and song stands, wine shops and tea houses are all gathered here. Fortune tellers, medicine dealers, barbers and other professionals often come here to attend business.
On both sides of the road, you can also see street performers with their own unique skills.
For example, the thin man who performs the "Bone Shrinking and Softening Kung Fu" can quickly shrink his body and fit into a small jar.
For example, the short, fat middle-aged man who performed "Three Immortals Returning to the Cave" used one chopstick, two bowls, and three balls to make the three balls switch back and forth between the two bowls, which was dazzling.
For example, in the performance of breaking a large stone on the chest, one person lay down with a large stone on his chest, while the other person picked up a sledgehammer and suddenly smashed the stone into pieces, which caused a burst of exclamations from the onlookers.
There was also a lame old man who, with a wave of his sleeve, actually created a goldfish bowl out of thin air in broad daylight!
"Gu Xu, this man shouldn't be a cultivator!" Shi Xiaohan looked at the lame old man and couldn't help but exclaimed, "Even I can't see how he managed to conjure up this fish tank!"
Gu Xu looked at the old man and thought for a moment.
With the talent of [Extensive Memory], he is undoubtedly able to capture and remember every detail of magic.
"This old man, he is not lame at all," he squinted his eyes slightly, observing every subtle movement of the old man, and replied, "He just keeps the fish tank between his legs for a long time - even after the magic show is over. , making people around him mistakenly think he is lame."
"Then the price he paid for doing tricks must be too high!" Shi Xiaohan felt incredible.
She simply couldn't imagine that a person had to hold a fish tank between his legs when eating, walking, or shopping - what a painful life it was!
"If you want to practice a skill to the extreme, you must make sacrifices," Gu Xu sighed and responded, "Look, the person who performs the 'Bone Shrinking Kung Fu' needs to stretch the bones and joints hard. If you are not careful, you will cause dislocation of the internal organs. If I guess correctly, before today's performance, he had practiced it thousands of times in private and risked his life.
"Another example is the performance of breaking a large rock from the chest. The principle is that the stone has a large mass and a large inertia. Therefore, the moment the hammer hits the stone, the acceleration of the stone will be very small and it will not exert excessive pressure on the person.
"But if the person swinging the sledgehammer moves a little slower and fails to remove the force in time when hitting the stone, the performer's ribs will be broken. This undoubtedly requires day after day practice and Extreme understanding.”
"I understand what you're saying," Shi Xiaohan said with a slight frown, "but what do 'inertia' and 'acceleration' mean?"
Gu Xu smiled and explained in layman's terms.
Shi Xiaohan seemed to understand but not understand.
However, she didn't want to appear too stupid in front of Gu Xu.
So she nodded, pretending to be suddenly enlightened, and said with a smile: "That's it!"
The two of them didn't stay here too long.
Afterwards, Gu Xu relied on his powerful spiritual perception ability to lead Shi Xiaohan towards the place where the evil spirit was stronger in the market place.
As they walked, they suddenly met an old acquaintance.
"Aren't you two very busy on weekdays? Why do you suddenly feel free and relaxed today and come to Xunliu Street to hang out?"
The person who came was none other than the hunchbacked old man guarding the warehouse in the exorcism department.
He was holding a cricket cage in his left hand and a newly bought storybook "The King of East China Sea Wanted to Die" in his right hand. He was humming a tune and leisurely watching the street performers perform tricks.
"We are here to investigate the case." Gu Xu replied.
"That's such a pity," the old man shook his head, "A new troupe recently came to Xunliu Street, and their performance is wonderful! If you have time, I would like to show you!"
"The theater troupe?"
Gu Xu looked around.
I saw a sea of people and traffic on Xunliu Street.
There is simply not enough space to place a stage.
Where is the theater troupe that the old man mentioned?
Gu Xu soon knew the answer.
I saw a middle-aged man with an average appearance and gloomy temperament in the corner of the street.
He was wearing old coarse cloth clothes, with a bag on his back and a small wooden frame on his shoulder.
When the crowd of onlookers gradually increased, he placed the wooden frame on his shoulders on the ground, making it look like a miniature theater building; he also placed the pocket on his back next to the small wooden frame.
Then he slapped the drum board and sang a popular drama in a loud voice.
As soon as the song started, more than ten mice came out of the pocket.
These mice were all covered with masks and little theatrical makeup. To the beat of the music, they jumped onto the "mini theater" one after another, standing on two feet and dancing like humans.
The stories they perform are completely consistent with the middle-aged men's lyrics.
"It's amazing!" Shi Xiaohan exclaimed, "It turns out this is the 'theater troupe' that the old man said!"
The onlookers also watched the lifelike performance of the mice on the wooden frame attentively, and bursts of thunderous applause broke out from time to time.
The porcelain bowl at the middle-aged man's feet was quickly filled with reward money.
Gu Xu stared at these mice for a while.
He found that even with his far superior observation ability, he couldn't understand how this middle-aged man controlled these mice.
And this middle-aged man has no aura of true energy fluctuations on his body, which obviously proves that he is not a practitioner who masters beast-controlling spells.
"Perhaps this is the legendary ancestral skill!" He secretly guessed in his heart.
But it’s important to do the mission.
Gu Xu and Shi Xiaohan only stayed for a moment next to the artist performing the rat show, and then continued to move forward, looking for the source of the evil spirit.
At this time, Gu Xu couldn't help but feel envious of the hunchbacked old man who guarded the warehouse - on every day off, the old man always had a lot of free time, either to listen to music in Goulan, or to watch a play in Wase; even if While at work, he could read a storybook and play with crickets leisurely.
This is simply the salted fish life that Gu Xu longs for but may never be able to experience in this life.
…………
At the end of Xunliu Street, dozens of people gathered in a circle and were holding a lively "God Dance" ceremony.
"Tiao Shen" is a traditional witchcraft custom in the Daqi Dynasty. It is said that you can invite gods to cure diseases and eliminate disasters, drive away evil spirits and chase ghosts, and you can also invite the spirits of your ancestors to talk to you.
In the center of the crowd, there is an incense table with offerings and incense candles placed on it.
Next to the incense table is a young woman, wearing a skirt, beating a single-sided drum with an iron ring, dancing with dancing steps, and showing off her energy.
She was mumbling words, as if she was singing or praying. The words did not follow the rhythm and were of uneven length, giving people a strange and eerie feeling.
Several young people nearby were also playing drums.
The drums sounded like thunder.
Because there is no rhythm, it seems messy and harsh.
After a moment, the young woman suddenly trembled all over and fell straight backwards to the ground.
Seeing this, everyone around them nodded and lowered their eyebrows, saying in unison: "Welcome our ancestors to return!"
