"Chang'an secret record?"
Although the cover is missing two words.
But when Zheng Xiu read the record about "Cotton Sloughing", he blinked and completed the words on the cover.
"Huh? The strong man actually knows the secret of 'Eternal Darkness'?"
The old man said in surprise.
Zheng Xiu shook his head and did not answer. After reading the record about "Cotton Sloughing" with a strange look on his face, he turned to the first page and read the summary.
After reading it in one breath, Zheng Xiu roughly understood it.
The person who wrote this book does not really know that there is everlasting darkness, or has faced it directly.
Just as primitive people were afraid of the dark night in the ancient times without fire, so the ancients were in awe of the unknown.
All fear comes from the "unknown" and from insufficient firepower.
In other words, it is due to human beings' "ignorance" and "weakness".
Things that cannot be explained by "common sense" range from climate change and the alternation of day and night to water condensing into ice and fire turning into charcoal. The ancients with rich imagination recorded some strange secrets in this way based on what they saw and heard, combined with certain subjective conjectures.
Cotton slough is one of them.
This ancient book also writes about many strange creatures, called demons and monsters, such as a carp with a human face, a tiger with an eight-legged spider body, a wandering fish, and a sun chaser.
I don’t know how many years ago, the ancients imagined that the world is divided into two sides, one side is "eternal world" and the other side is "eternal darkness". The two sides are not connected with each other. But once something strange happened in the ordinary world, they speculated that something evil came out of the eternal darkness and caused harm to the world.
To be honest, Zheng Xiu had read some ancient folk books like this before he was imprisoned, and they contained all kinds of strange things. However, the things recorded above were too bizarre. In today's world, people still generally believe that the "theory of a round sky and a square earth" is , Zheng Xiu finds it difficult to regard these strange stories as true.
Now you have to believe it even if you don’t believe it.
The book says that "cotton slough" is invisible and colorless and difficult to distinguish with the naked eye.
Cotton slough starts out like an infectious disease.
Before the founding of Daqian, on a starless night, legend has it that there was a young and beautiful woman named "Mian" in an unknown village. She was ten months pregnant, but during her labor, she gave birth to a "child" that looked like mud. .
Mian and her husband were shocked. The mud seemed to have a spirit, slipped into the crack of the door and disappeared into the night.
Mian was depressed from then on, but ten days later, Mian heard the sound of a baby crying at home, and finally found the baby in a sealed box.
The baby's eyebrows were like cotton, and the woman missed her baby so much that she thought it was her baby's transformation and rebirth, so she named her baby "Sheo".
The appearance of the slough looks like that of a normal child, except that it is exceptionally quiet, does not cry or fuss, and grows very quickly.
It can grow to the size of a child in three months in one month.
The woman only thought that the child had caught a cold when he was born, but the husband looked more and more strange because the child looked like cotton and not like him.
Until two months later, the child suddenly fell into a deep sleep and dark green mold spots appeared on his body.
Another day, Mian heard the cry of a baby in another room at home. When she opened it, she saw another baby.
At the same time, in Mian's village, another pregnant woman also gave birth to a mud baby.
Until the sixth strange baby appeared in the village, someone invited a magician who claimed to be a natural psychic. The alchemist said that the child was evil, so he burned all the children and the pregnant woman in a fire, and finally ended the matter.
Therefore, this phenomenon was later called "cotton sloughing".
Cotton slough is called the "hundred-year bug" because this phenomenon occurs every hundred years, mostly in remote places.
At the end of the record about "Cotton Slough", the author speculated based on the words left by the strange alchemist at that time that Cotton Slough is a kind of "worm" from Changdian. After a hundred years, it will sneak into the belly of pregnant women and eat the babies in the belly. , and replace it. When a pregnant woman gives birth, the newborn cotton slough will escape in the form of "sludge". After a period of development, the human-shaped "human antler" will be sent to the pregnant woman's home, where it will continue to absorb nutrients and split into more "human antler". ".
The "human antler" only looks like a baby, but in fact, it is a kind of insect called "cotton slough".
A human being is not a human being.
Since ancient times, to solve the problem of "cotton slough", the only way to prevent further reproduction of cotton slough is to burn all "human velvet" and pregnant women with raging fire.
Such horrifying "stories" are recorded in ancient books in obscure words.
The more Zheng Xiu read, the more frightened he became.
Suddenly, Zheng Xiu thought of a strange question. Such a cruel method to solve cotton sloughing, no matter how ignorant a normal person is, it is impossible to believe an outdated ancient book and directly choose to burn pregnant women and children alive.
Zheng Xiu had seen the baby with his own eyes. If he hadn't used [Inspiration], on the surface, the baby would have looked the same as a normal baby and would have been difficult to distinguish.
"Why do you believe so much in the ancient books?"
The old man sighed: "Because, about twenty years ago, there was already a cotton shed here."
Zheng Xiu's brows jumped: "Twenty years ago?"
"Yes, strong man." The old man smiled helplessly: "The old man burned human antler with his own hands, and he knew that cotton sloughing is very powerful. After burning the human antler, the old man felt guilty and depressed. He trained Xiaozhao to become the leader of Jingtang Town. The sixteenth generation of pure witches has returned to his fields."
twenty years ago.
It was twenty years ago again.
Cotton slough, which occurs once every hundred years, appears again after 20 years.
Zheng Xiu had an expressionless face and clenched his fists.
There was a voice in his heart that kept telling him that all this had nothing to do with him. But Zheng Xiu could not explain this unique time point with the word "coincidence".
Grass!
Why on earth!
If he first came into contact with this matter because of Ruchen's persistence and conscience, when Zheng Xiu learned that Mianshe had reappeared after twenty years, his mentality was slightly different.
"I will solve the problem for you. Zheng is a psychic like the alchemists back then."
The old man was overjoyed when he heard this: "Seriously?" But after the joy, the old man looked sad: "However, ancient books record that the alchemists of that time were still burned."
"It doesn't matter. If it can't be solved, you can burn it again." Zheng Xiu said in a neither happy nor sad tone: "In exchange, Zheng hopes to receive compensation for this matter."
"Do you still want money?" Xiaozhao suddenly raised his voice and interrupted.
The old man touched Xiaozhao's head and expressed embarrassment: "What the strong man doesn't know is that Jingtang Town is located in a remote place and rarely communicates with the outside world. Living in the town does not use Daqian's coins and gold and silver, but When bartering, if a strong man seeks wealth, I'm afraid..."
Zheng Xiu shook his head and waved his hands: "No."
He made a list and stated his requirements.
Two cotton-padded jackets to keep out the cold, some firewood, dry firewood, and some coarse grains.
The old man was overjoyed when he heard Zheng Xiu's request. They had no money, but they needed supplies. As the fifteenth generation of pure wizards, he had a certain prestige in the town, so he could easily get what Zheng Xiu needed.
Farewell to the Jingwu family, the doors and windows of the houses in Jingtang Town were still closed.
But a door or window secretly opened many gaps. Zheng Xiu and Ruchen were walking on the road. The eyes coming from inside made Zheng Xiu feel uncomfortable.
They looked at Zheng Xiu and Ruchen as if they were looking at two monsters.
Ruchen followed Zheng Xiu obediently, jumping up and down, looking very happy, but his face became full of sadness when he smiled: "Brother Zheng, tell me, if we interfere in this matter, will it delay your rescue of Feng Bei?" What about the donor?”
Zheng Xiu shook his head: "I didn't plan to delay for too long. In fact, I had roughly thought of a solution when I checked the baby just now. Now that I have read Jingwu's complete "Eternal Secret Record", I am even more sure. If everything goes well, it should be there tomorrow. This matter can be solved before it gets dark. The worst result is that they will fail and follow their own native methods. Furthermore, when I was looking for cotton sloughs, they collected supplies for me, which also saved a lot of time. Less time, two birds with one stone.”
"As expected of Brother Zheng!" Ruchen smiled and gave Zheng Xiu a thumbs up.
Zheng Xiu and Ruchen returned to the open space where the "purification ceremony" was held. The flames burned out, leaving only a mess.
The woman was still holding the "human antler" and was sitting on her knees on the ground. The husband at the side did not dare to come forward, but kept silent.
"That man is such a beast, how can he watch his mother-in-law being burned alive! I might as well slap him to death!"
Ruchen looked at the obedient husband, suddenly showed a ferocious look on his face, and said something murderous. Then he returned to normal. When he turned to look at Zheng Xiu, he was as simple and calm as the white moonlight. Ruchen touched his bald head and wondered: "Zheng Xiu" Brother, how are you going to find that insect named Cotton Slough?"
"Follow the clues."
Zheng Xiuyi said something as if he was pointing, and then walked towards the woman.
"What do you want to do to our Cuihua!"
The frightened man opened his hands to block Zheng Xiu and Ruchen.
Ruchen burst out laughing: "You are really weird! It was you who wanted to burn your wife, and now it's you who jumped out! Since you can watch your wife being burned to death, wouldn't it be a joke to act so coquettishly now? ?”
"What nonsense are you talking about, monk!" When the man heard this, he said angrily: "The Jingwu said that being burned by the fire is purification! Besides, it was Cuihua who didn't want to be separated from that insect! That's not a human being! It's not a human being at all! It's an insect, wuwuwu... If it weren't for that insect, how could I watch Cuihua being burned to death... Wuwuwu... What did our old Zhang family do wrong? Why did God deal with our Cuihua like this? Woohoo!”
The man who was furious at first suddenly collapsed and cried bitterly.
When Ruchen saw this, he was stunned. He wanted to curse a few words, but suddenly couldn't curse when he looked at the man kneeling on the ground and crying bitterly.
"Step aside."
Zheng Xiu touched his eyebrows with his fingers, and a dice moistened with a faint black air came out of his eyebrows.
leave.
fail.
Zheng Xiu waited for a while.
When the special effect disappears, Zheng Xiu throws it again.
It wasn't until the third time that Zheng Xiu finally triggered [Opportunism] and achieved great success.
Ruchen looked at Zheng Xiu's weird movements, but he couldn't see Zheng Xiu's weird things. He was wondering if Brother Zheng had an itchy scalp. He was about to pay attention to it, but saw Zheng Xiu's eyes were firm and did not look like he was playing, so he obeyed. Close your mouth and watch what happens.
He remembered what the master said: There are eight eccentricities in the world, and the odd person has one stone. The implication is that all people in the world are normal, but thaumaturgers behave strangely in order to follow all kinds of strange "rules" and conform to the "restrictions" of thaumaturgy. It is difficult for ordinary people to understand, so they are called strange people.
Maybe Brother Zheng’s rule for performing surgery is to scratch his forehead? While thinking about it, Ruchen touched his bald head out of habit.
[Concentrate your attention! 】
Ordinary successful [Inspiration] cannot be seen clearly, but under "concentration", Zheng Xiu's vision suddenly changed, and the outline of the characters and the eaves on the ground were simultaneously dyed with a layer of gorgeous ink light and shadow.
Great success in vision.
"This is?"
Under his spiritual vision, Zheng Xiu discovered that there was a green light spot floating in the sky above Jingtang Town. Countless light spots danced with the wind, sometimes upwards and sometimes downwards.
After careful identification, the light spot turned out to be an umbrella shape, which reminded Zheng Xiu of a plant called "dandelion".
"No..." Zheng Xiu's pupils shrank and he subconsciously held his breath: "It's spores."
"steamed stuffed bun?"
Hearing Zheng Xiu talking to himself, Ruchen quickly asked.
"Don't make any noise."
Zheng Xiu held down the monk's bald head and resumed breathing. This cotton slough will only look for parasitism in pregnant women, swallowing the babies in their wombs and replacing them. Such a regular breeding method made Zheng Xiu understand that the "spores" in the sky that could only be seen with spiritual vision were harmless to others except pregnant women, otherwise the ancients would have noticed something strange.
The other residents of the town were also safe.
The green light spots were not dense. Zheng Xiu took a few glances and took the time to look for clues.
When he looked down, Zheng Xiu found that the "human antler" held in the woman's arms had "silk threads" attached to it.
"Don't worry, Zheng means no harm." Zheng Xiu showed a charming smile to Cuihua and reached out his hand at lightning speed.
Zheng Xiu pulled out one. There was no difference in the hair, and he still didn't cry or fuss. Speaking of which, Zheng Xiu's initial feeling was not wrong. The baby's cry was not like a cry, but more like a cry. It was not a sound that a human baby could make at all.
The creature that looks like a baby on the surface has actually been replaced by "cotton slough".
The invisible "silk thread" was like a spider's thread. After Zheng Xiu pulled it out, the thread actually stuck to Zheng Xiu's finger and extended downward.
Zheng Xiu never explained, Ruchen was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot and kept scratching his head. When he saw Zheng Xiu raising his middle finger towards him, he stretched out his hand and shook it on Zheng Xiu's finger: "Brother Zheng, what are you pointing at me for?"
"I didn't mean you."
Zheng Xiu rolled his eyes, but soon he discovered something. Ruchen's fingers passed through the silk thread of the cotton slough without any hindrance.
"So that's it." Zheng Xiu wondered whether the alchemist who first discovered Mianshe had seen the same scene, and then he came up with the idea of burning Mianshe to death with fire.
But on second thought, Zheng Xiu denied this possibility. If the alchemist could really see the "silk thread", he would naturally be able to follow the clues and find Mianshe's hiding place. How could he use such a cruel method of killing one thousand enemies and damaging himself eight hundred. Psychics and psychics cannot be generalized. Zheng Xiu had to achieve great success to see deeply. Presumably, the alchemist's level of psychics back then was not as deep as Zheng Xiu's now.
"Go! Follow!"
Zheng Xiu knew that time was tight and didn't want to waste time. He didn't talk nonsense at the moment and let Ruchen catch up.
Following the "silk" left by the cotton slough, you should be able to touch the nest of the cotton slough.
Shortly after Zheng Xiu and Ruchen left.
Xiaozhao helped his grandfather back into the house.
The house had been covered in dust for many years and was covered with cobwebs. It was obviously uninhabited all year round.
What's even more strange is that on top of the dust, there is a thick layer of black crow feathers. The crow feathers are brand new, as if they were just plucked from the crow.
"Grandpa, I haven't seen you for five years, why did you suddenly come back?"
Xiao Zhao wiped off the dust on a stool with his hands and turned a blind eye to Crow Feather in the room. After helping the old man sit down, Xiao Zhao obediently knelt beside the old man's knees and asked with innocent eyes blinking.
After sitting down, the old man's back gradually became straighter and straighter, and his cloudy eyes became brighter, as if he had changed into a different person in just a few seconds.
"Xiao Zhao, do you still remember the 'Sun Chaser Says'?"
The old man asked suddenly without answering.
Xiaozhao answered: "I remember. Legend has it that in ancient times there was a man named 'Zhu' who worshiped the scorching sun. One day he ran and ran towards the scorching sun, running through thousands of mountains and thousands of rivers. Finally, he stood on a very high mountain. , on such a high, so high mountain peak, I caught up with the sun.”
The old man nodded and said with a smile: "Well, just remember, what happens next?"
"Then the candle melted."
The old man smiled and said: "The candle was melted by the scorching sun because it was too close to the sun..."
The old man said this and closed his eyes.
for a long time.
The old man opened his eyes again: "It's the same if it's too close to the darkness!"
