The man sitting in front of the easel, painting human skin, is all blood red.
Because he has no human skin, his flesh and blood are exposed to the air, and you can even clearly see his blood vessels beating.
As for the facial features, there are only a few bloody holes left.
Looking at the pen in his hand, it is also not simple.
The pen barrel looks like human bones, but I don’t know what material the bristles are made of.
When this person was painting the skin, every time he drew a few strokes, he would turn to the unconscious maid and wet nurse next to him, open his mouth like a blood hole, and take a breath.
What he inhales is the yang energy and vitality of these people.
With each breath of Yang Qi and vitality, the maid and nanny will have a few more white hairs on their heads, and the wrinkles around their eyes will also increase.
After absorbing the yang energy and vitality, the man first let it pass through his body, then opened his mouth, spit out his forked tongue like a snake, licked the tip of the pen, and then continued to draw human skin.
Obviously, it is using people's yang energy and vitality as ink.
Only in this way can human skin be made incorruptible and immortal, and its death and demonic aura suppressed, so that no one can see its flaws.
The paper figures that had been attacked and set on fire at the inn were placed on the desk nearby, looking like naive New Year picture dolls.
No matter who it is, it is difficult to associate them with the demons that seduce people's lives.
Although Zhu Xiucai had already guessed that there was something wrong with Zhang Benwu, he still couldn't help but shudder after seeing the strange scene of the painted skin with his own eyes.
Even Su Jianqing looked solemn.
She said in a very low voice: "It's a painted-skinned ghost! This kind of evil ghost likes to take off the skins of living people to make clothes, and blends in with the crowd to steal the yang energy and vitality of living people. People who are sucked by it can easily Otherwise you will get seriously ill, or worse, you will be plagued by misfortune or even die!"
Zhu Xiucai was confused: "Why did the Painted Skin Ghost dress up as Zhang Benwu? It couldn't be just to steal the yang energy and vitality of Zhang's servants, right?"
Su Tingyu was eager to give it a try: "Why are you thinking so much? If you catch it and ask it, won't you know everything? Taking off its painted skin is when the painted ghost is at its weakest. With the strength of the four of us, it is not difficult to capture it alive."
She couldn't wait to capture Painted Skin Ghost alive and conduct various experiments.
She hasn't tried Painted Skin Ghost yet.
Before Qin Shaoyou could stop him, Su Jianqing said first: "No. The Painted Skin Ghost pretending to be Zhang Benwu definitely has a big intention, and it is probably related to the follow-up actions of the Black Lotus Sect. As soon as we take action here, we will immediately If you try to scare the snake and let the demons of the Black Lotus Sect notice it, it will ruin the business."
Su Tingyu felt a little regretful when the proposal was rejected, but she did not persist.
Qin Shaoyou also believed that he could not alert the enemy, but he would not be willing to do anything.
So he asked: "Two Taoists Su, do you have any way to trick the Painted Skin Ghost without letting it notice?"
Su Tingyu shook her head.
Her Taoist methods are all upright and upright, and there are no sinister tricks.
Su Jianqing had an idea: "I can put a curse on the human skin and activate it when necessary. I can temporarily ban the painted skin ghost and make it unable to move, but I need someone to lure it away from the human skin."
"How long does it take to divert him?" Zhu Xiucai asked.
"At least five breaths of time."
"Five breaths? I'll try."
Zhu Xiucai quietly climbed down the wall and disappeared into the darkness.
After a while, several dog barks came from outside the big wall of Zhang Mansion.
The Painted Ghost in the study suddenly stood up after hearing these barks.
Because these barks are very similar to the barks of the dog bought by Qin Shaoyou.
The Painted Skin Ghost subconsciously wanted to rush out of the study, but soon realized that he had not yet put on human skin and held back.
After thinking about it, it walked behind the closed door of the study and shouted outside: "Someone is coming!"
The guard who was guarding in the distance heard the sound and hurried over, asking through the door: "What are your orders, young master?"
"Go and see where the barking sound is coming from, and bring me the dog."
The voice of the Painted Skin Ghost now changed from when Qin Shaoyou and others saw it in the afternoon.
The hoarseness is obviously much less, and it is more like Zhang Benwu's voice.
Although the nurse outside the door was surprised, he didn't dare to question, let alone refuse.
After leaving a few elites to continue to watch outside the courtyard, the rest of the people scattered out to look for the dogs.
But Painted Skin Ghost is still not satisfied.
It sincerely wanted to find the dog and cook it for Mr. Zhang to fulfill its filial piety.
So after giving instructions to the nurse outside the door, it returned to the desk, picked up the New Year doll on the table with its hands without human skin, and muttered something.
After a while, these innocent, fat and cute New Year picture dolls swayed and turned into pale and strange paper figures, and got out through the gaps in the doors and windows.
At the same time, Zhu Xiucai, who was as dexterous as a cat, had returned to the roof.
He couldn't wait to ask: "How is it? Did the curse succeed?"
"Successful." Su Jianqing nodded.
In the short time it took for the Painted Skin Ghost to call the nursing home, Su Jianqing took advantage of her being a spirit ghost cultivator, flew directly through the roof, flew to the human skin, and used her magic power to add a few strokes on it.
The few strokes she added formed a curse, but because it was colorless and traceless, Painted Skin Ghost could not detect it at all.
Qin Shaoyou was worried about another thing: "Monk Ma and the others are still outside. If you pretend to be a barking dog, you won't hurt them, right?"
Zhu Xiucai said: "Don't worry, sir, I slipped out to say hello to Monk Ma and the others. And the position where I imitated the dog barking was far away from the direction where they were hiding."
"That's good." Qin Shaoyou was relieved this time.
Now that they have discovered the identity of the fake Zhang Benwu and tampered with his painting, Qin Shaoyou and others will leave Zhang Mansion to investigate the next suspicious point.
It is also a stepping stone for the encirclement and suppression operations after the arrival of the large forces.
But just as they were about to leave, a servant led Shilang Zhang over with a lantern.
Zhang Shilang was about to take a rest when he heard the noise outside and called someone to ask. Only then did he find out that his grandson had sent the nurse to look for the dog, so he came over to have a look.
Zhang Benwu in the study seemed a little flustered after noticing the arrival of Minister Zhang.
It didn't care to continue painting the skin, so it quickly grabbed it and put it on, and blew black air at the sleeping maid and nanny.
The maid and nanny woke up immediately. While blaming themselves, they also wondered why they fell asleep inexplicably.
Zhang Shilang quickly entered the study.
After Zhang Benwu greeted him, he said, "You're still up so late, what are you doing?"
The Painted Skin Ghost put on a serious look.
"My grandson is reading Shangshu. I relied on the sixteen-character heart biography to get rid of demons and ghosts, which made me further realize the importance of sages' books."
As expected, Zhang Shilang was overjoyed. After a few words of encouragement, he asked him a few more questions from "Shang Shu". Seeing that his answers were all good, Lao Huai was very relieved and nodded repeatedly.
"If you have any questions about your studies in the future, you can ask me at any time."
"My grandson thanked his grandfather."
Zhang Shilang nodded and suddenly asked: "I heard from the nursing home that you asked them to find a dog. What kind of dog is it? I will send someone to help you find it."
"It's just an ordinary local dog. Don't worry about it, Grandpa." The Painted Skin Ghost obviously didn't want to talk about this, so he forcibly changed the subject: "Grandpa, can you tell me about your previous career as an official?"
"Why did you suddenly think of asking this?"
"Because my grandson will be like his grandfather in the future, becoming an upright and famous official who assists the king and cares for the people, and takes the country and the country as his own responsibility!"
"Hahaha."
Zhang Shilang was so happy to be flattered by his "good grandson" that he actually talked about the things that happened when he was an official.
During this process, Painted Skin Ghost asked a few questions from time to time, slowly changing the topic from how to be a good official to talking about Zhang Shilang's interpersonal relationships in the officialdom.
But Qin Shaoyou and others lying on the roof felt that something was wrong the more they listened.
This painted-skinned ghost really wants to be an official!
To be precise, it wants to be Zhang Shilang!
