Recently, a rumor has spread in Pingye County, saying that there are monsters on the nearby mountain road.
This monster looks like a human, but it has long arms and legs, is more than ten feet tall, and is covered in long hair that is hard to be damaged by swords. It can tear tigers and leopards apart, and chase galloping horses with force.
The long-haired monster is cruel by nature and loves to prey on passers-by. Once caught by it, if it is unlucky and it is hungry, its legs will be caught on the spot, raised high above its head, and slowly torn open bit by bit from the vagina, and the long-haired monster will open its mouth and swallow the leaked out Blood and five internal organs; if it encounters a time when it is not hungry, it will be strung up by it and taken back to the nest as a food reserve.
What's the way to string it together, you ask?
Hey, have you ever seen how fishermen on the river collect live fish? Pass a straw bundle or a twig through the fish's gills and tie a knot. No matter how noisy the fish is, it will be docile and can be carried home and returned to the water, while still keeping it alive.
I don’t know who was so lucky that he not only saw this diorama of monsters eating people, but also escaped and ascended to heaven, and told the story vividly.
In any case, this matter has spread, and no one in the country knows about it. The mountain road itself is just a remote road, and the only people passing by on weekdays are woodcutters, hunters, salt dealers, etc. Once this rumor came out, there was no one. People are willing to leave.
But Fu Jiulang didn't believe in this evil. As a well-known ranger near Pingye, every friend on the ground didn't know that he was stubborn and courageous.
Invulnerable to swords? Have you ever asked about the highly practiced sword on your waist?
………………
"Quack."
A few crows circled around their heads and landed on the branch of the tree opposite. A few pairs of black rice-like eyes stared at him. Fu Jiulang knew that he wanted to choke him until he was dead and full of maggots.
"Get away, I'm not dead yet!"
He wanted to yell something like this, but a stick as thick as his wrist passed through his cheeks, stuck in his teeth, blocked his speech, and rested on a tree branch, hanging him in the air.
The initial severe pain has passed, and now there is only saliva mixed with blood flowing down the beard, stimulated by the foreign body and pain. Flies landed on the wound on his cheek and buzzed, but his bound hands could only hold on to the slippery stick body, for fear that his own weight would tear open the wound or even tear off his jaw.
As for the hundred-refined sword that he was proud of—here, it was broken into several pieces under the roots of the tree.
At this time, there was a sudden buzzing sound.
Fu Jiulang couldn't turn his head away, so he could only see out of the corner of his eye that a short tree parted like weeds, and a hairy giant with an animal skin around his waist came out of it. He was holding a skinny old man who was struggling in his hand.
The giant roared several times and waved away the crows beside Fu Jiulang, like a butcher chasing away flies on the chopping board.
Then, he took off the wooden stick from the tree branch, pinched the old man's chin with his fingers, squeezed the teeth open, took the sharp end of the wooden stick and drilled it into his cheek, and then skewered the living man like a fish. .
The old man rolled his eyes in pain. The wooden stick blocked his mouth and tongue, and he could only squeeze out a few gossamer moans from his throat.
"You deserve it. If it weren't for you, an old man, would I be in this situation?"
Fu Jiulang felt happy and hateful at the same time. He struggled and kicked the old man a few times. The old man was shaking in pain and didn't care about him.
……………………
This hairy giant was tall and long-legged, and his steps were long and fast. Fu Jiulang was picked up on a wooden stick, and he felt that the scenery in front of him was flying by. Before he could recover, he was taken into a cave with a wound on his cheek. After being pulled, the man and the pole were hung on the stone wall. The hairy giant also came out of the cave and did not know what he was doing.
Only then did he have time to look around.
There is nothing special about this cave, except that there is a large rusty cauldron in the corner. There are many bones piled next to the cauldron, including those of orcs. Fu Jiulang felt cold in his heart.
"Did my good man Fu Jiulang die in the belly of a monster?"
It was a pity that he was young and helpless, and had not yet started a family and started a career. He felt sad for a while, and it became even more dazzling when he looked at the other "salted fish" being carried on the same pole.
"It's all thanks to this old man..."
He struggled and wanted to kick a few more times, but when he rolled his eyes, his pupils suddenly dilated.
At this time, the sun was setting in the west outside the cave, and it was raining heavily. The fine raindrops formed a curtain at the entrance of the cave. Suddenly, a person opened the rain curtain and stepped into the cave.
The person who came was wearing a raincoat and a bamboo hat, with a tasselless long sword hanging from his waist.
As soon as he came in, he took off his hat, but he was a Taoist with short hair.
The Taoist patted the rainwater on his bamboo hat and put it aside. Then he looked up and saw the two people hanging on the stone wall. He smiled casually:
"The two friends have different interests."
What a fuss!
Fu Jiulang rolled his eyes while hanging on the stone wall, but he couldn't hide his excitement. No, even the skin on his cheeks seemed to be a little brighter red.
There is no perfect way for everyone!
He made some whining sounds in his throat, reminding the Taoist to put him down quickly.
Suddenly, the light dims.
A huge thing blocked the entrance of the cave.
"It's over."
Fu Jiulang was heartbroken.
……………………
After escaping from the foggy valley, the Taoist priest and the bearded man decided to visit Pingye City.
At that time, the rescued woman claimed to be a Pingye person and knew that there was a shortcut leading directly to Pingye. However, there were rumors that evil spirits had been brewing on that path recently, and the road was not peaceful, so the woman was quite hesitant in her words.
But neither the Taoist priest nor the bearded man took the country ghost stories seriously. Are there monsters on the road? Wouldn't it just cover up his whereabouts? But I never thought that it would rain at dusk, and there was still a long way to go from Pingye County.
We had no choice but to walk on the mountain road in the rainy night. It was too dangerous. Fortunately, the woman mentioned that there was a thatched cottage left by a hunter nearby. The Taoist priest asked a few people to rest for a while and went to explore the way to find it. As a result, he didn't see the thatched cottage, but broke into the hairy man's cave.
Long before the surprise in Fu Jiulang's eyes turned into panic, the Taoist priest had noticed the strange movement behind him.
He suddenly lowered his body, and a strong wind swept over the floating coir raincoat, causing the accumulated water in the coir raincoat to splash out and hit the stone wall, turning into scattered crystals.
The Taoist priest turned his wrist on the ground and turned around nimbly. What he saw was a hairy weirdo, his body almost blocking the entrance of the cave.
As his mind raced, the long sword was already unsheathed and struck the hairy weirdo.
However, when the sword came down, it seemed as if it had struck the fine chain armor. The sharp blade only cut off a few strands of hair, leaving a shallow wound.
The hairy giant roared, raised his fists as big as stone grinding, and smashed down his pocket.
"Boom!"
Flying rocks were flying and dust was rising.
However, the Taoist had already retreated. In mid-air, Shi Shiran used his sword to brush aside a few flying stones.
This hairy man obviously had some rudimentary intelligence. He missed a single blow, his face was full of shame and anger, and he immediately chased after him using his hands and feet.
The Taoist priest did not advance but retreated, holding a sword to meet him. He suddenly took off his coir raincoat, but a handful was still on the hairy man's face.
When the hairy man pulled off his raincoat from his face in anger, he saw that there was no trace of the Taoist priest anywhere in front of him. Just as he was about to turn his head to look for her, he suddenly felt a huge pain in his leg. He was caught off guard and fell to his knees.
But the Taoist priest took the opportunity to get behind it, used his long sword as a chisel, and struck him hard in the hollow of his leg, suddenly causing him to fall into disgrace.
He got up angrily and wanted to give the cunning Taoist priest a good look, but when he raised his head...
The bright sword tip magnified infinitely in his eyes.
The Taoist priest jumped lightly and dodged the hairy man's dying punch. He circled around the giant's fallen body a few times to confirm that it was really dead, then stepped forward, lifted the hairy man's head, and held the hilt of the sword that was left outside the eye socket.
"Pfft."
A mixture of red and white slurry spurted out, bringing out a broken eyeball.
The Taoist priest wiped the blood off the sword on the hairy man's hair.
The scene in front of them was a complete twist for the two people hanging on the sticks. They screamed and struggled, hoping that the Taoist priest would let them down quickly, but the Taoist priest made a silencing gesture to them and pulled the hairy man away. He dragged his body aside and clung to the entrance of the cave like a gecko.
Fu Jiulang didn't know why, but not long after, a few sheep broke into the rain curtain, followed by a hairy giant. This hairy man was shorter than the previous one, but he still had to hang his waist when entering the cave.
Now, Fu Jiulang still doesn't know the Taoist priest's plan. His eyes widened, and he saw that the Taoist robe was bulging, and the Taoist fell silently like a big bat.
The tip of the sword reflected cold light and was aimed at the hairy man's exposed neck.
After inspecting the body of the hairy man before, Li Changan discovered that although the hair of the hairy man was tough and difficult to damage, his skin and flesh were ordinary. This condescending sword immediately penetrated everything.
"Click."
It was the tip of the sword that pierced the neck bone.
The hairy man screamed and reached out to catch it, but the Taoist grabbed a strand of long hair on top of it and jumped off its shoulder warily.
Then, just like swinging on a swing, the Taoist priest circled around its neck, and the sword blade in his hand also walked around its neck. But seeing the blood spurting out from his neck, the huge head of the hairy man was "swung" down by Li Changan.
The Taoist priest jumped lightly from the headless corpse's shoulder, then stepped forward to cut open the wooden stick, rescued the two unlucky guys, and took a look at the cave. This cave should be tidied up from time to time. It is not as stinky and dirty as ordinary beasts and demon caves. The innermost part is paved with withered grass branches, and there are two large crude stone bowls placed on a flat stone next to the old tripod.
It can be seen that this hairy giant not only looks like a human, but also has living habits that are quite human-like. If it hadn't been for feeding on humans, Li Changan would not have taken their lives.
But the cave left behind is quite good, just suitable for shelter from the rain and spending the night. So the Taoist priest gave the two people a few polite instructions, then found his coir raincoat, put on his bamboo hat, and stepped out into the evening mountain rain again.
……………………
"It's right here."
The later it gets, the heavier the rain will be.
Finally, just before sunset, Li Changan led Big Beard and the mother and son back to the cave. Outside the cave, the heavy rain was already hanging upside down like the sky.
"Huh." The Taoist breathed a long sigh of relief, took off his rain gear and put it aside to dry. "It's almost impossible to come back."
"Two friends, don't mind a few more people..."
He said hello loudly and took a few steps inside, but was stunned.
It's not that something unexpected happened, but the two of them were rolling around in a ball. Fortunately, they were beaten by the hairy man. They didn't have any strength, and neither of them could do anything to the other. They were just covered in mud, which looked quite funny. .
The Taoist priest couldn't laugh or cry and separated the two people.
"Two friends, why is this?"
"The Taoist Master doesn't know, if it weren't for this old man..."
The young man was impatient, and he opened his mouth and said a lot of words, regardless of the air leaking from his cheeks. The old man was mute and couldn't say a word for a while, so he simply took out some scraps of grass from his arms to feed the sheep. However, after listening to these words, Li Changan probably understood the grudges between the two.
This young man is a son of a wealthy family nearby. His family name is Fu Jiulang, so he is called Fu Jiulang. And this old man was a passing sheep trader. The two of them had nothing to do with each other, but it was just a coincidence that Fu Jiulang fell in love with the old man's sheep.
"Taoist Master, please give me some advice. I have never owed him anything. The price you offered is 10% higher than the market price. Hey, this old man doesn't want to sell it!"
"Someone has ordered this sheep." The old man muttered.
"I'm a stubborn person. If he didn't sell me, I would buy it, so I paid twice the price..."
double? Li Changan took a look at the old man's sheep and found that they were quite fat. However, they acted stupidly and walked away when they heard the shouts. They stayed motionless when they were not heard. They didn't hear a single cry from the beginning until now. Could it be that they were suffering from the plague?
"Unexpectedly, this old man still refused to sell me, so I fell in love with him, so..."
Ever since, the old man was troubled by him, so he got into this trail, hoping to scare Fu Jiulang away with the legend of the long man, but he didn't expect that Fu Jiulang was also a stubborn donkey, and he bumped in regardless. As a result, the two The man and the sheep were knocked into the hands of the elder.
"Old man, let me ask you something..." Fu Jiulang laughed at the Taoist priest a few times, then turned his head and asked, "Sell me one for three times the price."
The old man rolled his eyes and ignored him.
"Hey! You..."
Fu Jiulang suddenly changed his expression, and Li Changan quickly held him down.
"The sheep belong to someone else. If my husband won't sell them, how can you still rob them?"
In line with the principle that it is better to dissolve enemies than to make enemies, the Taoist priest turned to the old man again and said:
"Old man, for the sake of three times the money, just sell him one of your sheep, so that this stubborn boy won't be entangled in you."
Unexpectedly, the old man said angrily:
"This young man is allowed to be stubborn, but the old man is not allowed to be stubborn. He wants to buy it, but I won't sell it!"
After saying that, the old man put his felt hat on his eyelids, folded his hands and turned sideways, ignoring anyone.
The Taoist smiled, these two people are stubborn and have their strong points. After being told not to do anything again, they were left to fend for themselves.
……………………
The next day, the sky was bright.
The heavy rain last night stopped at the fourth watch. When I woke up in the morning and looked far into the distance, I saw the bright forest and the clear blue sky.
The Taoist priest moved his joints and found that the old man and his sheep were gone.
"It's not bright yet today, and the old man drove the sheep away secretly." Fu Jiulang came over and made a report.
Maybe he felt uncomfortable being entangled by this young man.
Last night, due to Li Changan's instructions, the two of them did not take action again. They just kept talking for most of the night. They never thought that this old man would leave without saying goodbye.
The Taoist just smiled and shook his head. He didn't care about the old man's rudeness, and he wasn't afraid of leaking the news. After all, he would probably be exposed when he entered the city this time. The bearded man's initial plan was to go back quickly, and after obtaining the golden needle, he would take advantage of the White Lotus Sect. Before I got the news, I immediately left the city and continued walking through the mountains and woods.
Therefore, the Taoist priest just joked:
"You can't buy this sheep after all."
"Not always."
Fu Jiulang smiled and pulled out a sheep from behind a big stone.
"Did you steal that old man's sheep?" The Taoist priest frowned.
"No, no, no." Fu Jiulang shook his head quickly, "Am I such a mean person?"
"The sheep hid itself. The old man was guilty and left in a hurry without paying attention."
Hiding yourself? This sheep is stupid...
Huh?
Li Changan was shocked to find that although the sheep still didn't cry out, it was not as blank as yesterday. Instead, its eyes were full of agility...
wrong!
The Taoist priest frowned. The sky was gloomy yesterday and he didn't look carefully at it. When he looked at it today, why were the pupils of this sheep round?
Just when he was wondering, the sheep suddenly behaved strangely.
It knelt down with its hind legs bent, its front hooves raised flat on the side of its head, and the front half of its body raised and lowered again and again.
This sheep...is actually kneeling down?
