Central Plains·Wuzhen·Wanfu
"Sir Wan, there is a woman at the door crying and wanting to see you. She seems to be the wife of the shopkeeper of the porcelain shop at Erxiangkou in our town."
"Oh? Please come in quickly."
Several servants dragged the woman in. Looking at her red and swollen eyes, it seemed that she had been crying for a long time. As soon as several people were seated in front of them, the woman knelt on the ground and kowtowed to the seat.
"Master Wan! My old man ran away to the outside of the town last night! He hasn't come back yet. I'm afraid something might have happened. I really have no choice but to come and beg Master Wan!"
"Get up quickly." Wan Shiwu hurriedly helped the crying woman up. "What exactly happened? Wan repeatedly emphasized not to leave the town after Haishi, and even tried not to leave his house. Why did shopkeeper Ding leave the town alone?"
The woman raised her head and roughly wiped the tears on her face, twitching her lips and said: "Last night, my old Ding got drunk and said he was going to pick fruits in the woods outside to make wine for these heroes, no matter what I couldn't hold him back no matter what, and I said that all the bandits were dead and there was no need to be afraid of the outside world, but I still haven't come back this morning."
When Yun Musheng heard this, she suddenly thought of something and hurriedly asked the woman, "You said he entered the forest?"
"That's how it should be."
Yun Musheng turned around and looked at each other, Qiu Mingming and Ma Qingfeng. Although they didn't say anything, they already knew through each other's eyes that shopkeeper Ding was in serious danger.
"We'll set off to look for him in the woods right now!"
"slow!"
Just as Yun Musheng was about to stand up, he was stopped by Wan Shiwu. Even Ma Qingfeng, who was on the side, grabbed his arm tightly and frowned: "Have you forgotten that thing we saw that day? It is stronger than us. There are too many, it’s not human at all!”
"You, what are you talking about? Didn't you kill all the bandits in Zhenlao Gate? Is there anything else in this forest?" The woman asked smartly after hearing what Ma Qingfeng said.
"Ah, it's nothing. We will definitely go to the woods to look for traces of Shopkeeper Ding, and please ask Madam to return home first and wait."
"No, no, tell me, what else is in the woods?!"
The woman clutched Wan Shiwu's clothes tightly and refused to let go, as if she was gradually losing her mind. However, perhaps only those present who had seen the evil spirit in the forest knew that this woman was not crazy, but was even very alert.
Mr. Wan winked at the surroundings, and a few servants stepped forward and dragged the woman away. Even so, the woman still resisted with all her strength, and kept shouting: "You Tell me! What's in the woods? Tell me!"
After the farce ended and the room returned to calm, Yun Musheng couldn't bear to ask: "Since Mr. Wan has been guarding Wuzhen for so many years, he must have the ability to control the evil spirit."
"If Wan had the ability to capture it, he would not have just defended the town over the years, but would have killed it."
"..."
"But, when the sun shines brightly at noon, it might not be a bad idea to go explore the woods. If you are not afraid of death, you can go with Wan."
"Of course..." As soon as Yun Musheng's words of promise came to his lips, the image of the one-eyed being torn out of the spine suddenly appeared in his mind. Although he paused for a moment, he finally agreed.
Ma Qingfeng, like Yun Musheng, hesitated again and again and finally decided to go with him. It was not because of friendship, but because of his future livelihood, he wanted to enter the Xiaoyao Houhou Mansion, and he wanted to ask for this Master Wan.
Central Plains·Wuzhen Outer Forest
At noon, Xiao Lingluo was arranged to play in the backyard of Wanfu. Accompanied by Qiu Mingming, the rest of the group came to the forest. Perhaps it was because of the hot weather these days. As soon as they entered the forest, the smell of rotting corpses was overwhelming. , leaving them almost unable to breathe.
Lying on the ground and hanging on the trees, there were all the broken limbs and broken arms of the thieves. Ma Qingfeng felt strange, and then curiously said: "Stop looking, stop looking. Do you think that Ding is blind or can't smell it?" Son, there are so many rotting corpses, even I don’t want to come here, let alone a commoner like him!”
Wan Shiwu turned around nervously and made a silent gesture to Ma Qingfeng: "Shh, speak softer. Even if the red sun is high at this moment, if that thing is awakened, we will not get any good results."
"I remember that he was drunk at the time, and it was already late at night. Could it be that he didn't notice these corpses?" Yun Musheng covered his mouth and nose with clothes and said softly.
"Or, when he discovered the terrifying scene here, he couldn't escape?"
After Wan Shiwu finished speaking, Yun Musheng and Ma Qingfeng looked in the direction he was looking. They saw traces of something being dragged on the grass not far away, and some red objects could be vaguely seen in the bushes.
The three of them stepped forward. Yun Musheng knelt down and picked up the red thing for inspection. However, he accidentally cut his finger and a drop of blood came out.
"Begonia red?"
"Hey, little brother, the color of your blood is quite noble." Ma Qingfeng teased from the side.
"I'm talking about this thing. Judging from the color and luster, it must be a fragment of a porcelain bottle fired by shopkeeper Ding recently. Combined with the traces of being dragged, it must be...",
"Presumably it's not that he doesn't want to leave, but that he can't leave anymore." Wan Shiwu took over Yun Musheng's words and said. As soon as the few people stood up and decided, a loud and miserable voice suddenly penetrated the quiet woods.
"Old Ding! He was dragged away by something! It's an evil spirit. I knew there was an evil spirit in this forest! We can't stay in this place anymore. I have to go back and tell the people in the town that we have to move out quickly!"
After saying that, the woman turned around and walked back to the town, still shouting as she ran. Yun Musheng and Ma Qingfeng walked over quickly, one covered her mouth, and the other restrained her hands and feet.
Wan Shiwu also hurriedly walked up to the woman and stopped in front of her, soothing her and saying, "Mrs. Ding, this is absolutely not allowed. You must not leave Wuzhen, not even for an hour!"
Yun Musheng glanced at Wan Shiwu with some confusion, and then the woman bit her palm hard, causing Yun Musheng to subconsciously let go of her hand.
The woman whose mouth had lost its cover yelled again: "Why! Don't think I don't know. I saw the fire three years ago. You are not here to put out the fire at all, you are here to collect the monster! Even if you ask me to go It is much safer to live in the constant wars in Junting than to stay with this evil devil, bah!"
Yun Musheng wiped her palms on her body, then tore off a piece of cloth and wrapped it around her palms, covering the woman's mouth again.
"Shh! Stop shouting, it will come if you shout again."
The woman seemed to ignore Yun Musheng's admonition and kept struggling and making noise. Wan Shiwu turned his eyes and looked deep into the forest, as if he heard something. After confirming again and again, he gradually let go of the woman's tight grip. Human hands.
"It's too late, it's already here."
Before Yun Musheng could react, a swift shadow passed him by.
"Eh?"
The woman suddenly became quiet. When Yun Musheng reacted and looked ahead, she saw a long tree vine piercing into the back of the woman's head like a spear and coming out of her mouth, covering it with Yun Musheng. The left hand in her mouth was also pierced.
The heartbreaking pain hit him immediately, but even so, he did not dare to act rashly. This thing always gave him a sense of oppression that could kill him at any time.
