A few days later, in a dilapidated hut on the outskirts of Tangchang County, Xu Shouguang slowly opened his eyes and felt his head was dizzy. He recalled that he had fainted since the last battle with the puppet, and he did not know that he had fallen asleep this time. How long. After he gradually got used to it, he wanted to get up. As soon as he turned his head, he saw Chao Qiandai sitting on the ground, sleeping with his hands on the bedside. He was probably tired from taking care of him these days. Xu Shouguang looked at the sleeping Chao Qiandai. His eyebrows were as soft as willow leaves, his eyelashes were long and curved, his nose was straight and slender, his lips were soft and plump, and the slightly upturned corners of his mouth revealed a sweet smile, which exuded even in his sleep. Charming and very beautiful.
After sleeping for several days, Xu Shouguang did feel a little thirsty. He slowly got up, trying not to wake Chao Qiandai. But at this time, as soon as the door opened, Yuta Yuguri came in from the outside. When he saw Xu Shouguang sitting up, he immediately said hello: "Boy, you're awake."
Chao Qiandai also woke up after Yuguri Yuta shouted. She saw that Xu Shouguang had sat up at this time, and her face had returned to rosy. She suddenly smiled and said: "Xu Shouguang, you are finally awake!"
Xu Shouguang nodded, and then asked, "How long have I slept?"
"Three days!" Chao Qiandai rushed to answer, "These three days have made us worried..."
"...Oh...that was really hard..."
"It's okay, just wake up!" Chao Qiandai interrupted Xu Shouguang before he could finish his words.
"Um...please give me a break, I...I want to come down..." Xu Shouguang scratched the back of his head and said sheepishly.
Only then did Chao Qiandai realize that he was lying on the quilt and quickly stood up, his face flushed with embarrassment.
After Xu Shouguang got out of bed, he came to the table and poured several bowls of water from the pot. After drinking them all, he felt better. After that, he put down the bowl and saw a purple bead on the table. There was some black energy lingering on the bead. It was a demon pill!
When Xu Shouguang saw the demon pill, Yuta Yuguri said: "This is the demon pill in the puppet's body. I saw you using the demon pill's special skill before, so I thought this demon pill might be useful to you, so I brought it back to you. ..”
Yuta Yuguri paused, then pointed at the half body of the puppet placed in the corner of the room, "I searched all over the dyeing shop, but couldn't find the missing child, so I brought this one back too. Take a look and see if you can find it. Can there be any clues..."
Xu Shouguang collected the demon pill, squatted down in front of the puppet's incomplete body, and observed it carefully. Although it was severely damaged, it must be said that the workmanship of this puppet is very exquisite, the key points are cleverly designed, and the joints have been carefully polished. Xu Shouguang looked back and forth, and suddenly he discovered that there seemed to be something carved on the back of the puppet. He hurriedly stretched out his hand to turn the puppet over and have a look, but when he touched the puppet, everything in front of him suddenly turned into black and white. Chao Qiandai He and Yuta Haguri disappeared, and in front of him was a young man wearing a large blue coarse cloth shirt.
"Mo Xuan." A deep voice sounded behind the young man. When he turned around, he saw a burly middle-aged man in his forties and immediately shouted excitedly: "Grandpa! Come and see the machine bird I made." !”
After that, the young man named Mo Xuan put five rings tied with thin threads on his fingers. As his fingers moved back and forth, a slightly weird-looking, big bird made of wood with a mechanism actually moved along with it. got up.
"Grandpa, this machine bird can still fly..." Mo Xuan controlled the machine bird, and saw the machine bird spread out its two huge weird wings with a clatter, and kept flapping up and down. Suddenly, all the sawdust and fallen leaves on the ground were covered by this. The wind blew them everywhere. Then I saw the machine bird's legs slightly bent, then kicked upwards, and actually flew.
Watching the machine bird flying higher and higher, Mo Xuan felt very unhappy. His legs had been disabled since childhood and he could only sit on a plain chair. Whenever he saw the birds flying happily in the forest since he was a child, Mo Xuan felt envious in his heart, so he spent many days and nights building this machine bird, hoping that it could fly in the sky instead of him.
Mo Xuan is a member of the Mohist family. The Mohist family is good at using mechanisms. In the pre-Qin period, it kept pace with Confucianism. It once had a prosperous period when it could compete with others. However, as Qin Shihuang praised Legalism and burned books to harass Confucianism, the power of Mohism gradually declined. After Dong Zhongshu, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, proposed to "depose hundreds of schools of thought and respect Confucianism alone," Mohism began to withdraw from the world and stopped recruiting disciples. It has been passed down from generation to generation by descendants of the Moh family, and Mo Xuan is the only descendant of the Moh family in this generation.
Mo Xuan is extremely accomplished in mechanical arts and can build various complex mechanical structures in his teens, which makes his father Mo Qi very pleased. He looked at the machine bird created by his son and felt infinite emotion in his heart. He seemed to be able to see that soon the Mohist family would return to people's sight, commanding hundreds of families and dominating the world.
Suddenly, there was a bang, and the thin wire controlling the machine bird in Mo Xuan's hand broke. It must have been that the machine bird flew too high, and the length of the thin wire had reached its limit. The tight wire could not withstand the huge force and broke. The machine bird lost control, turned around in the air and fell down towards Mo Xuan who was sitting on Suyu. Seeing that the bird's body was about to hit Mo Xuan, Mo Qi rushed forward, jumped up, and knocked Mo Xuan and Su Yu aside.
The machine bird fell to the ground and was smashed to pieces. Mo Qi was glad that his son was okay. He looked at Mo Xuan and saw Mo Xuan sitting on the ground blankly, his eyes full of disappointment and he kept muttering: ". ..Can’t use strings…Can’t use strings…You have to let it fly on its own…”
Since then, Mo Xuan locked himself in the workshop again and studied day and night. Mo Qi was very torn in his heart. He was worried about Mo Xuan's health, but he didn't want to interrupt his research. After all, the revival of the Mo family could not be achieved by himself... So Mo Xuan had no choice but to do it himself.
One day, Mo Qi placed incense on the ancestor's tablet as usual and prayed to the ancestor to bless the Mo family. Suddenly, he discovered that the seal on the wooden box under the ancestor's tablet had been torn open! He hurriedly stepped forward and opened the wooden box, only to see that it was empty. Mo Qi suddenly panicked. What was contained here was the demon elixir of a big demon that his ancestor had conquered in 2001! He looked around but couldn't find any clues.
At this time, someone in the distance shouted: "The water has escaped!"
Mo Qi followed the sound and saw thick smoke billowing from his workshop. Many villagers were running back and forth carrying buckets, basins and other things to put out the fire.
"Mo Xuan... Mo Xuan is still in the workshop!" Mo Qi hurriedly ran towards the workshop. At this time, he was only worried about his son, so he no longer cared about the demon pill and rushed straight into the burning building. In the workshop.
The workshop was filled with thick smoke and the temperature was so high that it was difficult to breathe. Mo Qi searched for a long time and finally found Mo Xuan in the innermost part of the workshop. At this time, Mo Xuan was sitting on Su Yu, his face was darkened by the smoke, but when he saw Mo Qi, he immediately pointed to the side and shouted excitedly: "It's done! It's done!"
Mo Qi looked along the direction and saw a puppet swaying on the ground. Under the light of the fire, Mo Qi saw that the whole body of the puppet was made of wood. It was made with fine workmanship and the joints were handled very cleverly. The key was that he did not see a thin thread for control on the puppet. This puppet People are actually alive!
"This..." Mo Qi looked at the puppet in front of him in disbelief, like a newborn baby learning to walk. He seemed to have forgotten that he was in a fire scene at this time. Mo Xuan also completely ignored the surrounding situation and just shouted excitedly: " Grandpa, have you seen it? No strings are needed! The puppet can move by itself without strings!"
The fire was quickly put out by nearby villagers. Fortunately, the fire only destroyed the workshop and no one was injured.
Soon, the news that Mo Xuan had created a living puppet spread throughout the country, and many people came here to see the miracle. But Mo Xuan locked himself and the puppet in the room without seeing anyone. He still wanted to continue to fulfill his dream. He wanted to create a machine bird that could fly by itself. Before that, he didn't want anyone to disturb him.
Mo Qi would help his son send away the troublemakers every day. After witnessing this masterpiece with his own eyes, Mo Qi became more and more convinced that his son had the ability to carry forward the Mo family.
One day, Mo Qi was at home when he heard someone shouting outside the house: "Mr. Mo, are you at home?"
Seeing someone calling him, Mo Qi hurriedly went out and took a look. It turned out to be Li Zheng, and there were several people in luxurious clothes following Li Zheng.
"Upright!" Mo Qi saluted with clasped fists.
"Mr. Mo, these are the officials from Jingzhao. They heard that Mo Xuan created a living puppet, so they came all the way to our place... Mr. Mo, why don't you invite some officials? Sit down in my room..." Li Zheng introduced the people behind him very respectfully.
"...Oh, I'm sorry, please come in quickly..." Mo Qi heard that these people were from Chang'an. Thinking that this was an opportunity for the Mo family, he quickly got out of the way and bowed to invite them. Several people entered the house.
A few people were not polite, and walked into the house with their heads held high. Just as they were about to follow, the last of the people reached out to stop them, and said to Zheng Zheng: "My grandfather's words are not suitable for outsiders to listen to. You are busy with your own business."
After hearing this, Li Zheng felt a little uncomfortable in his heart. However, with all the dignitaries across from him, Li Zheng had no choice but to swallow his anger, bowed with a smile and said, "Okay, what do you want me to do next?" Come to me at any time, little old man, I’ll go down first..."
After hearing this, the man nodded to Zheng Zheng, then turned around and entered the house.
In the room, the red-robed leader among the people spoke. Although his words were polite, his tone was full of pride: "Mr. Mo, we are ordered by General Tian to check whether this puppet is really alive as rumored. , I hope Mr. Mo will take me to have a look as soon as possible."
"...Okay, gentlemen, please wait a moment. I'll ask Quanzi to bring the puppet out..." After Mo Qi said that, he shouted to the back room: "Xuan'er, there are some nobles who want to take a look. Look at the puppet you made, come out with the puppet..."
"Grandpa, I'm almost done here..." Mo Xuan's voice came from the back room.
"Hey, please let it go for a while and come out for a while. It'll be fine for a while..."
"Okay..." After the words fell, there was another sound in the back room.
After a while, the door to the back room opened with a creak, and a young man sitting on a cart was slowly pushed out, and the person pushing the cart was the puppet. At this time, the puppet's movements were much more skillful, and he no longer looked like the one in the fire scene that day. He was holding the armrest behind Suyu with both hands, and his steps were as smooth as ordinary people. When he saw the people outside the door, he was actually quite polite. He nodded and said hello.
Everyone was stunned. This puppet seemed to be more evil than the rumors. They had never thought that a puppet could be so vivid. In other words, what they saw in front of them might not be a puppet, but a wooden figure. Real person!
The leader in red robe walked around the puppet several times, looking up and down. Finally, he tried to suppress his curiosity, returned to his seat, and asked Mo Xuan with a smile: "This... this puppet looks like a real person, does it need to eat?"
"No need, this puppet has a mouth but no stomach, and its body is driven entirely by its core. All you need to do is take it under the sun and moonlight from time to time and let it absorb the essence of the sun and moon." Whenever talking about mechanism skills, Mo Xuan Will be happy to introduce.
"Then maybe this puppet can understand human speech?"
"Of course!" Mo Xuan felt very unhappy when he saw that Hong Pao seemed to be looking down on him when he asked the question.
Mo Qi heard the dissatisfaction in his son's words and hurriedly came out to smooth things over: "The puppet often talks to the dog, and he knows a little about human language. You will know it once you try it."
After hearing Mo Qi's words, Hongpao became interested and tried to say to the puppet: "High five..."
As soon as the red robe finished speaking, the puppet man immediately raised his hands and clapped them twice.
Seeing the puppet man's reaction, the red robe became more interested and tried to say: "Jump!"
After hearing this, the puppet man immediately kicked his feet and jumped up to a foot high.
"Hahaha, that's interesting..." Hongpao was very satisfied with the puppet man's performance. At this time, a green-robed man next to him took a step forward and whispered in the red-robed ear: "Father, this puppet is strange. If you let grandpa dedicate this to the saint, he will definitely be able to please the saint!"
When the red robe heard this, he nodded slightly. The green robe immediately expressed his understanding. He took out a bulging money bag from his waist, threw it on the table, and said to Mo Qi: "There are a hundred taels of gold here. I bought this puppet with you today." Man, please hurry up and thank me!"
Mo Qi originally thought that the arrival of this group of people could help him revitalize the Mo family, but he didn't expect that these people just wanted to use this puppet to impress others. He was thinking about how to refuse, but then Mo Xuan said: "This puppet is not for sale. !”
The green robed man was usually arrogant, but he was about to get angry when he saw that the young man in front of him dared to say no, but when he saw the red robed man in front of him raised his hand, he hurriedly bowed and took a step back.
"Little brother, did you know that this puppet is going to be dedicated to today's saint?" Hongpao said with a smile and a gentle tone.
"So what if you are a saint? If you don't sell it, you won't sell it!" Mo Xuan only had mechanism skills in mind and said decisively.
"Hmph!" Seeing that the boy in front of him was ignorant, Hongpao's expression changed instantly, he flicked his sleeves and shouted: "How dare you! How dare you despise today's saint! Take it down!"
Seeing Hongpao's order, his men drew their sabers one after another and approached the father and son step by step.
"Xiao Xuan, get rid of them!" Seeing that the group in front of him had bad intentions, Mo Xuan shouted to the puppet behind him.
After receiving Mo Xuan's order, the puppet man immediately stepped forward and stood in front of the father and son.
When everyone saw that Mo Xuan dared to resist, they were so angry that they raised their swords and slashed forward. Suddenly, a cold light filled the room. Seeing that the father and son were about to fall prey to the sword, the puppet man stepped forward, first kicked the green man who rushed up first, and then punched the black man in the face. Fly away. Seeing that the blade on the side was about to hit Mo Qi, the puppet man quickly stretched out his hand, caught the blade with his palm, then lifted it, knocking over the knife holder together, then stepped forward and punched the other holder. The knifeman's belly was immediately beaten to the point where gastric juices surged up, causing him to vomit out all the delicacies he had eaten during the day.
Seeing that the puppet man was so brave and knocked down several followers in an instant, Hongpao could no longer sit still. He fell from the chair to the ground, turned around and crawled towards the door. But he was not as fast as the puppet man. The puppet man caught up with him in two steps and kicked Hongpao on the butt. Hongpao immediately fell forward and fell to the ground.
Mo Xuan couldn't help laughing when he saw the red robe in such a mess. He didn't notice that the green robe nearest him was pulling out a gleaming dagger from his boots and rushing towards him.
"Xuan'er, be careful!" Mo Qi shouted as he threw himself in front of Mo Xuan. The dagger in green pierced Mo Qi's back deeply, and a stream of bright red blood poured out instantly.
"Grandpa!" Mo Xuan cried out as he looked at his father who risked his life to block the dagger for him. The puppet man turned around when he heard the sound and saw Lu Yi stepping on Mo Qi's back and pulling out the dagger. After pulling out the dagger, Lu Yi kicked Mo Qi away who was lying on Su Yu, and stabbed Mo Xuan's heart with the dagger. But before he could take action, he felt a sharp pain in his back, and then the pain came. When it reached his chest, Lu Yi looked down and saw a wooden hand suddenly coming out of his chest. The wooden hand was holding a beating heart. Then the wooden hand suddenly retracted and pulled the heart away. Squeezed to pieces. Green Yi screamed and dropped the dagger to the ground.
Without any hesitation, the puppet man picked up the dagger on the ground and killed all of Hongpao and the rest of his men one by one. Then the bloody puppet man slowly walked to Mo Qi and knelt down.
Mo Xuan abandoned Su Yu and lay beside Mo Qi, sobbing. At this time, Mo Qi was so breathless that he struggled to take out a pendant from his arms, put it into Mo Xuan's hand with difficulty, and said with an almost inaudible voice. The voice said: "Take this...go...to Dazhou...to find you..."
Before he finished speaking, Mo Xuan felt his father's hand sink.
The black and white screen turned, and the scene was filled with various large dyeing vats. This seemed to be the dyeing workshop that Xu Shouguang had visited before. There was a small room at the end of the dyeing workshop with a bed. Mo Xuan was lying on the bed, his face was pale, as if he had been poisoned. A short man in a cloak sat beside the bed, holding Mo Xuan's hand and saying: "My dear nephew, please take a good rest. If you need anything, just ask. Your father and I are close friends, and I will do my best to help you..." "
Seeing Mo Xuan struggling to sit up, the puppet man beside him quickly stretched out his hand to help him up. After Mo Xuan sat up, he coughed violently at first, then calmed down for a long time, and then said feebly: "Uncle Song, I know my own body well, and I'm afraid I won't live long. I'm not afraid of death, but there are two things. I won’t be able to rest in peace if I explain clearly..."
"Oh...nephew, please don't be depressed. Speak out first. Song will see if I can help you..." The short man in the cloak quickly held Mo Xuan's hand to comfort him. At this time, Mo Xuan felt violently again. Coughing, he accidentally knocked down the man's cloak, revealing a dark face under the cloak. Xu Shouguang took a look, yo! Isn't this Song Dahe, the leader of the Dazhou Salt Gang?
Mo Xuan apologized quickly when he saw it, but Song Dahe said indifferently: "It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter..."
"I admire Uncle Song's charisma..." Mo Xuan raised his weak hand and fisted it, and then said: "Mo Xuan has two wishes. One is to kill that thief Tian Lingzi. He caused my family to be destroyed. I hate him." I am too weak to kill him with my own hands..."
"Don't worry, my dear nephew, Song will definitely avenge you and your father!"
"Thank you...Thank you Uncle Song...Mo Xuan still has a wish, which is to ask Uncle Song to adopt Xuan'er. I'm afraid that he will not be able to survive after I die..."
"My nephew, don't worry, even if my nephew doesn't tell me about this matter, Song will definitely treat it as his own!"
"Then...that's great..." Seeing Song Dahe agree, Mo Xuan smiled with relief, then turned to look at the puppet in front of him, "Xuan'er...I can't accompany you anymore. From now on, you have to listen to Uncle Song if..."
The puppet nodded, with a sad expression on his wooden face.
At this time, Mo Xuan had already turned his head to look at a strange big bird standing in the corner of the room, seeming to be saying: "I really want it to take a look in the air for me..."
The black and white picture turned again. In front of Mo Xuan's grave, the puppet was kneeling in front of the grave, constantly scattering paper money into the sky, while Song Dahe looked at the mounds of soil on the ground and lamented: "Oh, what a pity for my nephew." Ah! He died at such a young age..."
After a while, Song Dahe suddenly said to the kneeling puppet in front of him: "Xuan'er, do you want your master Mo Xuan to come back?"
Hearing Song Dahe said that he could bring Mo Xuan back, the puppet man quickly turned to look at Song Dahe. Song Dahe had a serious expression on his face and said word by word: "I once met an immortal when I was young. He taught me He tried my art of returning Yang and said it could bring human flesh and bones to life..."
As soon as he heard what Song Dahe said, the puppet immediately kowtowed to Song Dahe. While kowtowing, he said in a weird tone: "Uncle Song, please save my master!"
"Of course I will save him, but..." Song Dahe looked embarrassed.
"Just what?"
"It's just that this Yang-returning technique is very expensive. It requires ginseng, velvet antlers, snow lotus, gastrodia elata, Ganoderma lucidum and other elixirs, and then collect the hearts of seven or seven forty-nine children, use these hearts as the medicine, and then refine it in the elixir furnace. It takes seven, seven and forty-nine days to refine the Yang-Returning Pill..."
Song Dahe paused and then said: "Song will find a way to deal with those elixirs, but the hearts of these forty-nine children...Song really can't bear it..."
After listening to Song Dahe's words, the puppet man looked at the mound in front of him again, thought for a long time, and finally said: "Uncle Song, just go ahead and prepare, and leave the hearts of forty-nine children to me..."
At this point, the black and white picture gradually dissipated. Xu Shouguang clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. He stood up suddenly, turned around and walked out the door.
"What's wrong?" Chao Qiandai chased after him and asked.
"Go and seek justice for him!"
