Xian Xian

After the sun went down, the sky got dark quickly. The ancestral hall stood quietly in the middle of the village, surrounded by dusk, like a cage with an opaque veil. The wind swept over the treetops, the dead branches made a whimper, and the gate of the ancestral hall was hidden behind the swaying shadow of the tree, like some kind of animal, waiting for its prey to be snatched by its mouth.

Li Chaoge opened the door of the ancestral hall, and the door shaft made a soft creak, which was particularly noticeable in the silent night. Just standing outside the door, a cold air rushed toward his face. The ancestral hall has been built for a long time, and the sun has not been seen for many years. Thin lines have been cracked on the floor tiles, and the moisture crawls on the people’s body along the seams, and it is even colder than the outside.

All the furnishings in the ancestral hall are hidden in the dark, and the uppermost memorial tablets are lined with black holes watching the incoming people? It is extremely gloomy. Li Chaoge stood outside the threshold and signaled to Gu Mingke: "This is it."

Standing next to Li Chaoge, Gu Mingke took the lead into the ancestral hall. With his movements, the candles on both sides lit up for the first time, and the gloomy air instantly subsided like a tide. Obviously it was still the same cold, but it was completely different from the sticky feeling just now.

Li Chaoge followed Gu Mingke and looked at it as he walked: "I saw it yesterday, but I didn't notice the formation in the ancestral hall. Where did they hide the soul gathering formation?"

Gu Mingke slowly stopped in front of the tablet, silently watching the many spiritual positions. Li Chaoge noticed his gaze, followed it, and found that his gaze stayed in front of a simple pattern and seemingly ordinary spiritual card.

"Diqiu Qin God Lord?" Li Chaoge muttered. This tablet has no complicated carvings or exaggerated decorations, and it is not obvious at all when it is placed on the altar table. Li Chaoge first thought that this was the spiritual position of a certain ancestral wife in Turtle Village, so he didn't care about it, but now, Li Chaoge sees something wrong.

"Diqiu..." Li Chaoge couldn't help muttering, "Where is this?"

And? And, if it is really an ancestor, why not write which generation of ancestor it is, and simply write the words "Diqiu Qinshi"?

Gu Mingke watched this tablet quietly, as if he had met some old person. Li Chaoge glanced at him and asked, "Do you know?"

"I don't know." Gu Mingke raised his finger, and the spiritual card that said "Diqiu Qin Family" slowly rose into the air. The memorial tablet faintly glowed with red light, and strands of red silk thread stretched out from other spiritual positions, wrapping around the memorial tablet as if there was a self-consciousness, and rotating back and forth, almost reflecting half of the ancestral hall. Secret and mysterious. Finally, the red silk thread drilled into the words, and the words "Diqiu Qinshi" turned blood red, as if blood had condensed in it, and it would flow out in the next second.

Li Chaoge silently watched this change, and asked softly: "This? Is this..."

"This? It's an eye." Gu Mingke's fingers changed, and he changed his gesture lightly, and the tablet broke from the middle, suddenly turning into powder. The four blood-red characters were still floating in the air, twisting slightly as if there was life, trying to break free. But they still couldn’t make it to Gu Mingke. Gu Mingke’s fingertips lit up? A little shimmer, a light flick, the light passed through the blood character, as if it had broken some kind of barrier. The four blood characters suddenly lost their shape and turned into one. The light smoke dissipated.

There seemed to be a faint sweet smell in the air. Li Chaoge sniffed and frowned. This is the smell of blood, those four characters are actually written in blood?

Whose blood?

As the red letter dissipated, a faint click came from all around, and red gleams flashed across the ground quickly, as if a thin line was broken, and the chain of lines collapsed. Before a pattern of formation had time to show up? collapse. Li Chaoge looked around and asked, "Is this the soul gathering formation?"

"Yes." Gu Mingke put his hand away, his sleeves danced without wind, and said, "That tablet is not the spiritual position of the ancestors of Turtleback Village, but it was secretly put in. Right? Fang secretly changed the ancestral temple spiritual card. The spirit gathering formation was also planted in the ancestral hall, and the gods unwittingly snatched the incense from Turtleback Village. The villagers did not cry or make trouble after they died, and they revolved around the ancestral hall at night. This should be some kind of sacrificial ceremony. , The villagers’ soul silk is enshrined to this spiritual card, and the spirit gathering method in turn strengthens the bodies of these believers. If the soul is not complete, people will become foolish, but their limbs are strengthened and become Swords and guns are not invaded by fire or water. This is simply the most useful puppet. If it takes a little longer, it may be able to create an army of the living dead."

Li Chaoge thought of the sight of himself when he entered the village, and suddenly felt a chill in his back: "You mean? That is, those invulnerable iron corpses are not accidental, but are finished products? If it takes a little longer, the other soft corpses will be too. Will it become an iron corpse?"

Gu Mingke nodded. Li Chaoge was secretly frightened, if they came one month late, they would face the iron corpse of a village. Fortunately, after she came to Fenzhou, she made a decisive decision and went into the village to slaughter her corpse that night. Otherwise, every time a day is delayed, the danger is greater.

Li Chaoge frowned tightly. This? This is no longer an ordinary monster case. Someone? The intention of creating dead people? Legion behind the scenes? Thinking carefully about the intentions of the people behind the scenes is very terrifying. Who on earth is in charge of these things? What do they want to do?

Li Chaoge looked for other clues in the ancestral hall. She flipped through the memorial tablets one by one and said in a low voice: "Who is the Emperor Qin Clan, secretly replacing them? The family's ancestor tablet is too wicked, right."

Gu Mingke was fiddling with the incense burner, and he didn't move at all when he heard Li Chaoge's words. And? Li Chaoge thought of a group of people hiding in the shadows, not only killing people in a village, but also turning the corpses into a dead army. Li Chaoge became more and more angry as he thought about it, and kept cursing, "Stealing the incense from the house, using the incense burner of the house, but not even changing the fruit on the table of confession. I am so big, I have never seen this? Such a wicked one. People? The heart of the rebels and the thieves, the people who get the wrong, and the people who get it, if you let me know that they have bad intentions, I will not be able to forgive them."

Standing in front of the incense burner, Gu Mingke swept away from the light, and he saw that the fruit in the offering plate was rotten.

No wonder Li Chaoge is so filled with indignation.

As the principal of the ruling dynasty, Li Chaoge hates these rebels who raise private soldiers. She cursed for a while, and gradually thought of something wrong. Li Chaoge whispered: "The corpse poison and the soul gathering array must be used together. The person who spreads the portrait? and the person who is in the ancestral hall? It must be the same. If they really want to deceive? Such a **** with a wider audience, and? Want to use a strange-looking **** of war? Could it be that the **** of war in the portrait has something to do with the Emperor Qin family?"

Li Chaoge thought of the strange figure on the portrait, and couldn't help but dislike it: "It's so ugly. No wonder everyone refuses to stick it on the wall after getting it, and then throws it into the stove and burns it. Could it be this? ? Is their intention?"

Gu Mingke pressed his lower lip, still couldn't help but laughed? Li Chaoge looked at him strangely: "What are you laughing at?"

Gu Mingke coughed slightly, stopped laughing, and said to Li Chaoge solemnly: "It's a matter of fact, don't speculate about other people's looks."

Li Chaoge is even more strange: "I didn't say you again."

Gu Mingke put the incense burner away, right? Li Chaoge said: "The soul gathering array has been solved, and I can't find any clues if I stay in the ancestral hall. Let's go and find the next one."

Li Chaoge cursed, feeling a lot of anger, and nodded and walked out. Before leaving, she noticed that Gu Mingke brushed down her sleeves, and the fruits on the table changed rapidly, as if time was flowing backwards on them. The rotten and collapsed fruits quickly colored and swelled, once again becoming fresh and delicious. Li Chaoge was secretly jealous. Gu Mingke could restore the corrupted fruit with his hand. How strong is his strength?

But then again, Li Chaoge looked at the bright fruits, and then at Gu Mingke, who was trimming his sleeves, and asked, "Do you use these? Are these fruits useful?"

Gu Mingke retracted? His sleeves went out, and he glanced at Li Chaoge. He didn't seem to understand why she wanted this? Asked: "No."

Li Chaoge's eyes became more and more strange: "Is this? There is no one in this village? It is impossible for me to eat the fruits that have been spoiled once. Even if they are restored, they will continue to rot after two days. Why are you in vain? "

Gu Mingke didn't know why he wanted to do this? In one fell swoop. Gu Mingke thought for a while, and said, "You have been talking about it for so long, and now you are changing the offerings. You should lose your breath, right?"

It turned out to be this? Li Chaoge snorted softly, and murmured softly: "The surname Qin did it? What are you looking for to make up for the lack of virtue?"

Gu Mingke didn't change his face, he pushed open the door of the ancestral hall, and said to Li Chaoge: "Okay, let's go."

Li Chaoge and Gu Mingke left the ancestral hall and walked on a quiet path. A cold moon climbed up the treetops, hanging alone, a crow stood beside the moon, suddenly flapping its wings and flying, alarming the few dead leaves left on the branches.

The dead leaves fell on the ground and were stepped on by Li Chaoge. Obviously it is a very bleak scene, but the two people's elongated backs obliquely cast on the small road, unexpectedly gave birth to a sense of warm companionship. Li Chaoge asked: "It will be the new year soon. You left the capital without talking to your family, is it okay?"

"It's okay." Gu Mingke replied, "There is no one in the Gu family? My mother stays at her natal family for the New Year. Everything is just right. What impact does my absence have. On the contrary? Go to Fenzhou and brave the cold to investigate the case. You did not do it properly."

Li Chaoge casually said, "Prince Zhao Wang is in the capital, and Li Changle will come back during the Chinese New Year. The saint? The queen is accompanied by his sons and daughters. How can he care about me? I have always been with them in the past years? During the Chinese New Year, I stayed in Miyagi last year. You are not at ease. It is inconvenient for you to be with the opponent, it is better to come out and do your own things."

Gu Mingke wanted to say something, but when the words came to his lips, there was only a sigh: "No."

"You don't need to comfort me, I understand." Li Chaoge is very clear about her own position, even if she is replaced by her, she will also prefer relatives who have been with each other day and night for more than ten years, rather than a strange daughter who came back suddenly. It’s so common for people? There is nothing to say.

Li Chaoge felt that talking about this at night? It's pretty horrible, so he asked: "Now? Where are we going?"

"Go to the source." Gu Mingke is not good at dealing with emotional-related topics. Since Li Chaoge turned back to the case, he also said along the way, "Don't you want to know the person behind the scenes? Who is it? I'm also curious, let's go."

Li Chaoge asked: "But there is only one formation and one surname in the ancestral hall. There is no specific information about the performer. The dead spirit is sealed in the image and will only escape after being destroyed by fire? The time and place are random, according to death. Finding the source of qi? The road doesn’t work either. Soul gathering formation and death qi? Both roads are broken, how do we find the person behind the scenes?"

Gu Mingke replied: "If you can't find lifelessness, then go to the person who posted the portrait?"

"But everyone in Turtle Village? Are dead, no one? Can? Ask, where should I find the person who issued the paper?"

"You don't have to ask people?" Gu Mingke stretched out his hand and said, "Give me that portrait."

Li Chaoge took out the Martial God statue from his sleeve, and Gu Mingke took it. He glanced at it by the way when he was casting the spell, and in all fairness, it was really ugly.

Gu Mingke was slightly better at knowing his mind, but it didn't affect his ability to cast pinches at all. Gu Mingke used the "tracking technique" to quickly identify the smell on this piece of paper. Li Chaoge, the girl, the peasant woman... Gu Mingke flipped his fingers, and instantly, a burst of blue light lit up from the portrait, turning into thin blue lines, shaking. Youyou stretched towards the depths of the night?

Li Chaoge looked at the scene in front of him and asked, "This? Is this..."

"Tracking tactics." Gu Mingke explained, "The paper is stained with the breath of many people, and one of them must be from the person who made the painting. I picked out the most suspicious ones, which is the end of the spiritual line. The place is where the scent master is. The closer you are to the opposite side, the stronger the trace line’s light, and vice versa."

Li Chaoge looked at the faintly gloomy blue line that seemed to be broken at any time, and asked, "Where are you here? So many weird tricks?"

"It's a little trick, it's nothing." Gu Mingke picked a thread and said, "Go find him first. If you like it, I will teach it to you on the way."

Li Chaoge nodded in response. After finishing speaking, she was a little embarrassed?, said: "You have helped me heal my wounds many times, and you still teach? I have no tactics, but I have nothing to return to you."

"No." Gu Mingke shook his head lightly. He remembered his own mission, smiled, and said, "You are doing me a great help if you don't cause trouble."

Gu Mingke and Li Chaoge are both indifferent people? After having a clue, they went straight to find someone at night without any delay. However, this time is different from when they came here. When they came to Fenzhou, they had no distractions. They just let go of speed and drive, but now they are looking for a way. Sometimes they walk into the deep mountains and old forests, and they have to think of other ways.

The two of them stopped and walked, but a day passed, but the tracking line suddenly broke. Li Chaoge was surprised and asked, "What's the matter?"

Gu Mingke raised his eyes, looked at the condescending and silent mountain, and said, "There may be interference."

"Interference?" Li Chaoge also raised his head, staring at the endless mountains, frowning slightly, "Is there a monk in the mountains?"

"It's not clear now." Gu Mingke looked at the sky and said, "The sun is going to set, you drove all night last night, and you have to rest today. Let's find a place to stay first."

Li Chaoge had no objection, even if she could move, the horse would not work. Li Chaoge saw cooking smoke in the depths of the mountains. They followed the direction of the cooking smoke, and finally rushed to the only village nearby before it got dark.

A mountain village is different from a city. As soon as the night falls, the road is quiet and there is no one left, and a little movement will cause the dogs to bark. Li Chaoge and Gu Mingke led the horses, found the nearest family home, and knocked gently on the door: "Sorry, how disturbed. We got lost accidentally. Now it's late at night and can't hurry. We want to be in your house." Borrowing, I wonder if it can be convenient?"

After Li Chaoge knocked on the door, he waited patiently for a while, and the sound of opening the door came from inside. The wooden door was opened quietly, revealing a grizzled old woman inside. The old woman looked at Li Chaoge warily: "Do you want to stay overnight?"

When Li Chaoge saw that he was an old man, his tone became more polite: "Yes. Is it convenient for grandma?"

The old woman looked at Li Chaoge up and down, her eyes showed a look of suspicion: "You look like this? You look good, isn't it a mountain spirit fox?"

For a while, Li Chaoge didn't know whether to thank the old woman for complimenting her for her beauty, or to be mistaken for being a stranger. Gu Mingke stood behind and smiled lightly. Li Chaoge was embarrassed and pulled Gu Mingke to the front of the door, and smiled: "Grandma misunderstood, we are pedestrians?. If you don't believe me, he looks like this? Like a vixen?"

Seeing Gu Mingke, the old woman's face became even more suspicious: "Our village is remote, and there are not many foreigners in a year? How do you come tonight? Both, both look like fairies?"

"Really not." Li Chaoge was helpless, she didn't know what to think, she blurted out, "Most of the mountain spirits and ghosts are attractive in appearance, even if they really want to appear? If two isolated women are formed, how can one man and one woman come to the door at the same time?"

The old woman thinks about it, too, and the monster turns into a couple, whether it is to seduce a man or a woman, it’s not right. If it's a pedestrian on the road? It makes sense.

Chinese New Year is coming soon, the couple? Anxious to go home, it is also possible to go the wrong way for a while. The old woman relieved her heart, opened the door, and let Li Chaoge and Gu Mingke come in: "It's a person? Just fine. It's cold in the mountains, come in."

The old woman walked to the straw shed tremblingly and found a place for them to tie their horses. Li Chaoge stood at the door with a horse, and looked around quickly, and found that the front of the courtyard was a main house, with wing rooms on the east and west sides, and a straw shed behind the main house, which should be a place for raising poultry and livestock. Only the main room was lit with lights, and both sides of the things were dark and silent. It seemed that this yard was only occupied by the old woman.

Gu Mingke followed and said leisurely: "The reason you proved that you are a human being is really unique."

Li Chaoge is clear, although her reasons are strange, but useful. Didn't you see the old woman and let her guard down when she heard it?

The old woman tied their horses in the back of the straw shed, and gave Li Chaoge the two to clean up the wing. While holding the lamp, the old woman said, "I made you laugh. My wife left early. Both of my sons moved to the town. There is only one old woman in the house. Dongxiang hasn't lived in a long time, and the bed is full of dust. , I will clean it up for you."

"No." Li Chaoge quickly stopped, and said, "Grandma's willingness to take us in is already a great favor. How dare I bother grandma to do it anymore. We can clean up the dust by ourselves, thank grandma."

Grandma seems to rarely see outsiders. She talked a lot about it and made sure that there was nothing lacking in the room before she tremblingly went out. Waiting for someone? After leaving, Li Chaoge closed the door, and let out a long sigh of relief: "This? A person in a mountain village? It's too simple. The old woman is alone? Isn't it true that we are the villains?"

Gu Mingke flicked his index finger, and the dust in the wing was swept away. He clasped his sleeves, paced slowly to the wall, and said: "This? This village should rarely see people?. That old woman pushes the door? Seeing you, the first reaction is a stranger, but? Not a bandit, it is very clear. problem."

Li Chaoge followed Gu Mingke's gaze and found that there was a portrait on the wall, and the person on it was glaring and with three eyes and arms, exactly the same as the **** of war she saw in Turtle Village.

The pair in the old woman's house is even bigger and more detailed.

Li Chaoge walked up to Gu Mingke, staring at the picture, his tone of emotion and anger indistinguishable: "Am I looking like a bandit?"

Gu Mingke was stunned, and couldn't help looking back at her: "I thought you would ask this picture for you."

"It's already posted here? What's the rush." ​​Li Chaoge thought very much. She turned and walked to the table, just about to remove the armbands on her body, and suddenly thought of something, "Wrong? Ah, the two of us? Why are we in the same room? in the room?"

Gu Mingke raised her eyebrows secretly, she finally thought of it. When she first entered the house, she and the old woman promised so readily, Gu Mingke still asked for another arrangement for her. Therefore? Gu Mingke has been holding back and did not say. Unexpectedly, she did not have other plans, but? Forgot.

Gu Mingke and Li Chaoge were on each side, and neither of them spoke first. At this time, the door was pushed open, and the old woman walked in with a plate of hot rice and greeted warmly: "You guys have been on the road for a day. You probably haven't eaten yet. Me? There happens to be hot dishes, thick tea and light rice. Don't dislike it."

The arrival of the old woman broke the deadlock. Li Chaoge smiled awkwardly and said, "Grandma, don't bother, we two? Have used it already, no need to prepare."

"What can you eat on the road is nothing more than cold and hard dry food, which is comparable to hot food and hot rice." The old woman was very enthusiastic. Before Li Chaoge objected, she put the food on the table and said, "Your husband and wife are on the way. After working hard, eat some hot dishes to warm up your body, so take a rest as soon as possible."

Li Chaoge twitched his eyebrows uncontrollably: "Husband and wife?"

"Right? Ah." The old woman said it right. She raised her head and looked at Li Chaoge curiously, "Aren't you a husband and wife?"

Gu Mingke finally moved. He walked over from the portrait, pressed Li Chaoge's shoulder, and said, "Yes."

Li Chaoge's shoulder was held by Gu Mingke, she quickly glanced at Gu Mingke, she was about to say something, she was seated at the table by him: "Is there an old lady Lao? Prepare food for us. This? The portrait looks very fresh. , I don't know where it came from?"

"You ask about the statue of the **** of war." The old woman smiled honestly. She looked at the statue of the **** of war. There was a sudden burst of light from the muddy and old eyes, "that is the **** who protects us, can you bless our village? There is no disaster, no trouble, safe travel, and no intrusion by foreign enemies."

Li Chaoge didn't know what Gu Mingke was doing. She was interrupted twice in her speech. At this time, it seemed strange to go back and explain. Li Chaoge sighed helplessly, and then inquired: "Grandma, who is this Valkyrie? Also? Does he really have this? Supernatural powers?"

"Of course." Speaking of the **** of war, the old woman said with a proud face, "the **** of war is the hope that God has given us, and he is destined to end the troubled times and rule the world. When the queen was pregnant, there was a high priest who used to tell the Kui Kingdom. The emperor is about to be born. Sure enough, when the son was born, there was lightning and thunder, and the sky fell. Ten sects were unable to argue with him. He was practising divination at the age of twelve, and he predicted that major events in the country would never go wrong. Later, he used divination to foresee fighter opportunities and led the army to victories in all battles without disadvantage. The son is where he is. In this place, there is no magical power that can't be realized. The military and the people call him the **** of war. Later, every household painted the portrait of the **** of war and posted it at the door to ward off evil spirits and protect the house and defend against foreign enemies."

Li Chaoge knew this? It was a legend, but he still felt it was too exaggerated: "Whether he is studying literature or martial arts? Since he was studying at the age of three, was involved in government affairs at the age of ten, and learned divination at the age of twelve, how could he have time to lead soldiers to fight? "

Martial arts have to build their foundation since childhood, if the chassis is unstable, the follow-up will not be able to become a climate at all. Can a child really take care of this? So many things?

When the old woman heard Li Chaoge questioning the **** of war, her face was not look good for a moment: "Nature? Of course?. The **** of war is the reincarnation of the emperor, and he is born as a king. How can there be things that can't be done?"

Li Chaoge stopped talking, and sensibly gave up arguing with the old woman? She asked: "What happened to Valkyrie?"

The old woman sat upright, folded her hands with a pious face, and said solemnly: "The **** of war has ended the troubled world, died of life, and then returned to the sky to be a god. He has been blessing us. If the old Qin people encounter suffering, just pray sincerely. The Valkyrie will show his spirit and save his subjects from fire and water."

Li Chaoge's slender eyebrows lightly raised: "Qin's?"

"Yes." The old woman closed her eyelids and said respectfully, "The **** of war is surnamed Qin."