It's obviously a life skill, but you developed it into a magical skill

In a small forest not far from the river bank, a middle-aged woman wearing coarse clothes was running.

Behind the middle-aged woman, there were a bunch of strong men, about five or six in number.

This group of strong men held wooden sticks and hoes in their hands and were pursuing them crazily.

In the arms of the middle-aged woman, there is a clay sculpture.

The clay sculpture looks ordinary, even very inferior. Even the facial features are blurred, and the specific true appearance cannot be seen. Only a general outline can be seen, which is a human figure.

Under normal circumstances, the speed of a middle-aged woman is definitely not as fast as that of a strong man, but somehow, this middle-aged woman is holding the clay sculpture and walking like flying in the rugged woods.

"Stop, stop running. We're not going to hurt you, so it's useless for you to run."

"Yes, if you keep running like this, you won't be able to escape from our village. What's the use?"

"You stop, hand over what you have, this is your only way out."

The strong man behind was panting while chasing him, and he would say a few words from time to time.

But the woman running in front didn't seem to hear it at all. She lowered her head and hugged the clay sculpture in her arms, and continued running quickly.

The woman's face looks weathered, with many wrinkles and rough skin.

She looked down at the clay sculpture in her arms, with a hint of tenacity in her eyes.

Not far ahead, you can hear the sound of river water flowing.

The middle-aged woman came to the river, raised the clay sculpture in her hand, and shouted in a hoarse voice: "Stop, if you come here again, I will throw it into the river!"

After this action appeared, it seemed to have an effect, and the several strong men who were chasing stopped one after another.

The leader raised his hand, looking frightened.

"Don't be impulsive. Let's talk it over carefully. This thing is the treasure of the village. Don't touch it."

When the middle-aged woman heard this, she showed an expression of extreme hatred and said hoarsely: "Baby, do you call this evil thing a baby?"

The leading strong man said helplessly: "Since we invited this clay sculpture from the temple, our village has been enjoying good weather and abundant crops. What is it if it's not a treasure?"

The middle-aged woman's face turned cold and she said in a mocking tone: "It is true that the harvest is plentiful and the weather is good, but don't you know what you did to this clay sculpture?"

"What's the point?" The strong man said helplessly: "We just fed it with our own blood. We didn't hurt anyone's heart. The whole village took turns to worship it, and no one was harmed."

"No harm was done?" the middle-aged woman said angrily: "Even if the whole village takes turns to worship, how long can they worship? Didn't you see that day? If there is only one day without worship, the livestock in the village will die. Got several."

The strong man smiled bitterly and said, "Isn't that a coincidence? There should be wild beasts."

Having said this, the strong man stretched his hand behind his back and made a gesture.

Several other people moved forward.

Unexpectedly, although this action was secretive, it was still noticed by the middle-aged woman.

The middle-aged woman lifted the clay sculpture again, looked at the river in front of her, gritted her teeth and smashed the clay sculpture down hard.

When the clay sculpture entered the water, everyone present looked surprised.

As the clay sculpture fell into the water, it was carried further and further away by the current.

Moreover, the clay sculpture itself is heavy and is gradually sinking.

This scene made everyone present slightly stunned.

The leader reacted quickly and ignored the middle-aged woman. He came to the river and wanted to jump into the river to find the clay sculpture.

The other two men came up and tied the middle-aged woman with a rope.

But when the leading strong man came to the river, he looked at the turbidity at the bottom of the river and knew that it would be difficult to find the clay sculptures.

If the clay sculpture comes into contact with water, it will probably melt away.

"Hahahaha, you can never find it again, you can no longer rely on this evil thing!"

The middle-aged woman laughed wildly.

At this time, the leading strong man finally couldn't help it anymore, stepped forward, slapped him hard, and cursed angrily: "You are also from the village? Why are you so selfish? Do you know that you have lost this thing?" ?Life in the village will return to its original state."

Unexpectedly, after the middle-aged woman endured the slap, she said in a very mocking tone: "Just wait, you will become like me sooner or later."

"Not just you, no one in the village can escape. What I just did was to find a way out for the village."

The strong man listened to the middle-aged woman's crazy talk, shook his head, and asked someone to take the middle-aged woman back.

But at this moment, the middle-aged woman roared again: "Wait! I'll show you something!"

She struggled, trying to escape from the restraints of the two men.

Unexpectedly, the two strong men failed to suppress the woman, and the woman broke free.

But after the middle-aged woman broke free, she had no intention of running away. Instead, she lifted up the clothes on her abdomen in front of everyone.

After the linen clothes were lifted, the strong men all showed expressions of fear.

There was an empty space in the woman's belly.

The middle-aged woman said in an extremely depressed tone: "I have a dream every night. I dream that the clay sculpture has turned into a monk. He comes to me and performs all kinds of things with me. After each time, he Take out an object from my body, and every time I take out an object, my body becomes better, but I know that this is only temporary, that dream is real, and it is all because you brought clay sculptures."

"That thing is an ominous thing. Can a person live without his internal organs? Can I still live without my heart, liver, spleen, lungs and kidneys? Am I a monster?"

"Look at my eyes!"

The middle-aged woman reached out and dug out her eyeballs: "I don't have eyes, but I can see you, just like the eyeballs on my hands, you can look at them!"

She spread her hands, her eyes looked bloody, and smiled crazily in front of everyone.

"I don't want my children to be harmed. Everything I do is for the village. You are the ones who harmed the village."

The middle-aged woman's eyeballs were pinched and her body trembled. Then, she suddenly knelt on the ground and raised her head.

The other eyeball fell out of its socket and fell to the ground. The skin on his body became wrinkled, and streams of blood emerged from the seven orifices.

The middle-aged woman's body turned into a pile of mud after the blood emerged.

This scene was very strange. When this scene appeared, everyone present was so frightened that their expressions changed and they collapsed on the ground.

It took me a long time to recover from this state.

I don’t know what they were thinking, but they quickly fled from the river.

At this moment, Zhou An, who was under the water, did not come out of the river.

In fact, he had a general understanding of the situation on the river bank just now, but the reason why he didn't come out was very simple.

After the woman put the clay sculpture into the water, the clay sculpture immediately sank to the bottom.

It stands to reason that when mud meets water, it will quickly turn into nothingness.

But this clay sculpture is extremely strange. It is actually covered with a layer of black energy, resisting the invasion of the river water.

And after the clay sculpture was thrown into the river, Zhou An could clearly feel that there seemed to be something terrifying in the clay sculpture, and it had already targeted him.

Soon, Zhou An followed the sensing position and looked over.

When he saw a black shadow approaching in front of him, he put his hand into the pink money bag and pulled out the cold iron knife.

Hantie Dao appeared, and the black shadow was already in front of him.

Zhou An saw the clay sculpture approaching quickly.

At this moment, the clay sculpture still had the same face without facial features, but tentacles composed of black air appeared on the limbs of the clay sculpture.

The tentacle suddenly stretched out and swept towards Zhou An. Zhou An could even smell the smell of blood.

"This bitch is targeting me!"

Zhou An made an instant decision and waved the cold iron sword in his hand.

In the past, Zhou An might have been hindered when fighting in the water, but now, he already has the skill of controlling water.

The moment he swung the cold iron sword, the water flow that was supposed to hinder him became his helper at this moment.

The bright sword light emerged from the bottom of the water, and the water flow wrapped around the sword light, pointing directly at the clay sculpture with terrifying power.

The clay sculpture was still running rampant. When the sword light arrived with the water flow, the black tentacles of the clay sculpture spun towards the sword light in an instant.

But the current sword light not only has the original power, but also has the bonus of the water flow. In just an instant, the black energy completely collapsed.

The sharp blade turned the clay sculpture into a pile of fragments.

At this time, the clay sculpture finally turned into mud and slowly dissipated in the river.

Zhou An felt that the gaze staring at him disappeared.

As the clay sculptures disappeared, peace returned to the place.

He put away the cold iron sword and kicked off his legs. The surrounding water seemed to lift him up to the river.

The current rushed out a huge waterspout. Zhou An stepped on it and was lifted by the current and landed on the river bank.

There was a puddle of meat on the river bank, but other than that, it was empty.

When Zhou An came to the pile of minced meat, he didn't find anything unusual.

He thought about what he had heard before, turned around and walked towards the inn.

He always felt that there was something wrong with the scene just now, but he couldn't figure out where the problem occurred.

It always feels weird.

It's all such a coincidence.

Zhou An thought that he might as well ignore this matter for the time being and report it to the Suppressant Bureau for handling.

It's not that far from the river to the inn.

Soon, Zhou An arrived.

The driver was almost rested at this time.

The two set off again, and the carriage continued to rush towards Tingyun Mansion.

…

The drive is long and the journey is boring.

Zhou An lay in the carriage of the carriage and fell asleep.

When he first rode in the carriage, he was not used to the vibration of the carriage, but now that he is used to it, he can rest in it.

Time flies by in a blink of an eye.

"Sir, we are at the inn ahead again. You can go down and have a rest."

The driver's voice came from outside.

Zhou An walked out of the carriage, looked at the situation outside, and asked, "How long until we arrive?"

The coachman quickly replied: "It will only take two days at most."

Zhou An nodded, got off the carriage, and went to the inn as usual. After asking where the river was, he went to practice his water-bending skills for a while.

After he finished practicing, he returned to the inn to prepare for rest and set off immediately.

Unexpectedly, when I went there, the inn looked the same, and when I came back, it looked completely different.

At this moment, the inside of the inn has changed from deserted to lively.

There are many stalls on both sides of the inn, and many people are selling things here.

The way they sell things is also different. It's not too complicated. They just put a piece of cloth on the ground with various gadgets on it.

The coachman was wandering inside. When he saw Zhou An coming, a flattering smile immediately appeared on his face.

Zhou An asked: "What is going on?"

He had only been away for a long time, but he had already changed drastically. Zhou An couldn't understand it.

The coachman also knew that Zhou An didn't know much about the customs here, so he immediately explained: "Master Zhou doesn't know something. In the post station near Tingyun Mansion, many people come to set up stalls and sell things. In fact, this is also a way to make a living. own means."

"After all, there are a lot of people coming and going, and they can make a lot of money."

Zhou An understood instantly.

Isn't this thing the same as the high-speed service area in the previous life?

The coachman continued: "Sir, you can take a look and buy some gadgets here. It's still very good. The things here are all specialties of the nearby villagers."

Zhou An nodded. He was still resting anyway, so it didn't hurt to take a stroll.

Even though this place is quite small, the items sold here are quite comprehensive.

From food and drink to entertainment, everything is sold here.

Some of the things were quite strange, probably the specialties mentioned by the coachman.

Zhou An was wandering around, and the common people were not idle either. Seeing Zhou An's extraordinary temperament, they shouted one after another, trying to attract Zhou An's attention.

Zhou An, on the other hand, is a good person. Every time he passes a stall, he will take a look at it and buy some when he sees something he likes.

But he just bought some food. After all, as a grown man, he really didn't like using those gadgets.

After shopping for a while, Zhou An stopped in front of a stall again, frowning as he looked at the things on the stall.

In this stall, there is a small clay sculpture, about the size of a fist.

The clay sculpture is very rough, even the facial features are missing.

He had seen this clay sculpture.

Not long ago, the clay sculpture thrown down by the middle-aged woman in the river was exactly the same as this clay sculpture.

The only difference is that the one the middle-aged woman dropped was as big as her arms, while the one now is only the size of a fist.

Zhou An could feel that there was a strange power inside the clay sculpture, which seemed to be extremely cold.

He looked at the stall owner in front of him and looked at it carefully.

The stall owner is an honest, middle-aged man, wearing ragged patched clothes and a sallow complexion.

Seeing Zhou An stop and feeling Zhou An's extraordinary temperament, the stall owner immediately showed a flattering smile and asked: "Master, what do you want to see? I have everything here."

There are not only clay sculptures on the stalls, but also some small items.

Zhou An squatted down, pointed at the clay sculpture, and asked, "How do you sell this thing?"

When he asked this question, he immediately observed the middle-aged man's face.

Don't tell me, I saw something unusual.

The middle-aged man's expression became a little strange, but he quickly covered it up.

He picked up a fist-sized clay sculpture and said, "It's not expensive, it's a penny each."

A penny is indeed so cheap that it can no longer be negotiated.

Especially this thing, it's just a thing made of mud, and probably not many people will buy it yet.

But Zhou An knew that the origin of this thing must be different.

"Then give me this." Zhou An said, pointing to the clay sculpture.

This was the second time he encountered it. To be honest, he felt that cold power locking on him again.

This thing is really weird.

When they met for the first time, he felt that it would be best to report the matter to the Newspaper Pavilion Yun Mansion and let the Zhengui Secretary handle it. After all, he was a professional person.

This second time they met, he had the same idea.

But the feeling of being stared at was uncomfortable, especially the cold gaze, which made him feel uncomfortable all over.

When the stall owner heard what Zhou An said, he looked overjoyed and quickly wrapped the clay sculpture in a piece of cloth and handed it to Zhou An.

Zhou An took out a penny.

The stall owner accepted it symbolically and said thank you several times.

Zhou An touched his chin, looked at the stall owner in front of him, and suddenly said something.

"You haven't been ripped off, have you?"

The stall owner was originally happy. After hearing this, his expression froze and an ugly smile appeared on his face: "Sir, I really don't know what you are talking about."

Zhou An smiled and said: "You really don't know? I'm afraid your end is coming!"

The stall owner was stunned for a moment, then suddenly fell to his knees: "Sir, please help me."

This scene happened here and immediately attracted the attention of many people.

But Zhou An is good at everything except being very thick-skinned.

He didn't care, after all, they were strangers.

He stretched out his hand to help the stall owner up. He pointed to the empty space next to him and said, "Let's go aside and talk."

The stall owner nodded and followed Zhou An to the vacant seat.

"Sir, you must save me, you must know something is wrong with this thing." The stall owner begged bitterly.

He carried the other stall owners on his back, faced Zhou An, and lifted up the clothes on his arms.

As the clothes were lifted, Zhou An saw an empty space under his arms.

This is not that the hand is missing, but that there is only a layer of skin left on the arm next to the wrist, and the flesh and blood inside has long been hollowed out.

It is precisely because of this that the stall owner showed a horrified expression after hearing Zhou An say "empty" just now.

Zhou An touched his chin, pointed at the clay sculpture, and asked, "Where did you get this thing from?"

The stall owner quickly said: "The villain got it from a barren mountain next to Tingyun Mansion. There is a small temple there. The abbot inside said, please bring a clay sculpture back and make offerings with blood every day, and the clay sculpture will become more and more beautiful." Big, it was only about the size of a thumb when I took it back, but I have raised it to the size of a fist."

"He said that this thing could make my wishes come true, so I invited him back. At first I saw that it could have such a change, and thought it was real, until something went wrong with my hand."

Does blood feeding make you bigger?

Zhou An thought about what the stall owner said.

He felt that the clay sculpture was still looking at him with cold eyes, but he didn't do anything. He probably thought it was because the clay sculpture was not big enough.

"Do you remember the name of the temple?" Zhou An asked.

"Remember, of course I remember, it seems to be called Huayun Temple." The stall owner said immediately.

Zhou An nodded and suddenly asked: "Do you think this is fun?"

The stall owner was immediately stunned on the spot, not understanding what Zhou An meant by this sentence.

Zhou An looked at the people around him and joked: "Actually, when we were by the river, I felt something was wrong. How could a woman outrun several men? So I didn't look."

"Although that woman said it was because of the clay sculpture, I don't think it's necessary. The clay sculpture is harming her and increasing her strength and speed. This is obviously wrong. Now that I have met you inexplicably, you are It brought me a play, which is too much of a coincidence."

"And when I said you were emptying out, you performed very well. Both your expression and movements were in place, but there is only one thing wrong. You shouldn't kneel down in front of so many people. This is a bit too much. "

After Zhou An finished saying this, the stall owner's expression became extremely strange, and then he sighed.

"He is worthy of being the person who solves Yunlai Mansion's troubles. He has a really good mind."

Zhou An smiled and said, "How can I say it's good?"

The stall owner continued: "When we were at the first river, I thought you were a person with a warm heart."

Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Zhou An.

“Don’t use the four words Gudao Rechang indiscriminately, as there is ambiguity.”

The stall owner looked confused and couldn't figure out what Zhou An meant.

Zhou An then waved his hand and asked him to continue.

The stall owner didn't think about it and continued talking.

"Actually, there are no women or men. This is the effect brought about by this thing."

With that said, the stall owner took out a bead and placed it in front of Zhou An.

The bead was made of metal. Zhou An looked at it with a thoughtful look on his face.

The stall owner continued to explain: "This bead has a hallucinogenic effect. You have fallen into the trap of an illusion."

"Then what? Then I will be lured over by you and become the prey in your trap." Zhou An said.

The stall owner shook his head: "You have mental defense. I can only hallucinate at best and cannot hurt you. I just think the river is not a good place to talk, so I just want to lure you there."

"Actually, I wanted to lure you there today, but you seem to have seen through it, so I'll just say it here."

Zhou An tapped the table with his hand. After a moment, he said, "Did you give that pile of cold iron as a gift?"

The stall owner did not deny it and shrugged his shoulders: "Yes, it was indeed given by me. It is a meeting gift for you. You should stop meddling in our affairs from now on."

Zhou An was happy and looked at the stall owner up and down: "You indulgent people really know how to play, and you have used the gift-giving trick."

He had already guessed the identity of the person in front of him.

Other than being a pervert, I can't think of any other result.

After all, these are the only forces that have interactions with him.

The stall owner did not deny it, but said bluntly: "Mr. Zhou, the things have been given to you as a greeting gift. From now on, we will not mess with you anymore, but we also ask you to show your kindness. Don't Come and interfere with our affairs, don’t worry, we won’t cause trouble in Tingyun Mansion, how about this?”

These few words were indeed beyond Zhou An's expectation.

He didn't expect that the other party was here to subdue him.

Zhou An touched his chin and said, "The Huayun Temple you just mentioned must also be from your side."

The stall owner nodded: "Yes, they are our people. I also want to lure Lord Zhou over to have a good talk. Now that we have talked, the people over there should also evacuate. In a word, we won't Making trouble in Tingyun Mansion will not affect Lord Zhou's affairs, but please don't do anything to us after Lord Zhou encounters us."

After saying this, the stall owner in front of him slowly disappeared, as if he had never appeared before.

At the same time, those who set up stalls and hawked goods also disappeared, and the stalls on the ground became clean.

Zhou An opened the cloth in his hand and found that the clay sculpture inside the cloth was no longer there.

When this scene appeared, the people resting at the inn were startled and looked around in panic.

The driver was also a little scared.

Zhou An thought for a while, stood up and walked over, came to the coachman and said, "Get in the car and let's go."

The coachman nodded fearfully, as if he was afraid of bumping into something evil, so he quickly got into the carriage and drove away.

Zhou An sat in the carriage, thinking about what the man said just now, and then shook his head.

He no longer thinks about these things, it is better to go to Tingyun Mansion first.

…

Tingyun Mansion is very large and very prosperous, even more prosperous than Yunlai Mansion.

This is an important transportation thoroughfare, and many businessmen have opened up their own money-making places here.

Whether it's food, clothing, housing, transportation, food, drinks and entertainment, Tingyun Mansion has everything you need.

After the coachman entered the city, he was familiar with the roads and quickly took Zhou An to the Hengtong Chamber of Commerce.

The person in charge of the Hengtong Chamber of Commerce in Tingyun Mansion is called Zhou Qingyun. Speaking of the same surname as Zhou An, he is a member of the same family who is not related to him.

Zhou Qingyun is a lean man who looks like a monkey. If you put some hair on his face, he will be no different from a monkey.

As a businessman, he is no less shrewd than Qi Shuo.

As soon as he saw Zhou An, he immediately greeted him enthusiastically, calling Mr. Zhou one after another.

His words seemed very cordial.

This behavior is like lifting Zhou An to the sky.

In fact, this is normal. After all, Zhou An let the Hengtong Chamber of Commerce shine in this mining rights.

Zhou An felt at ease, and was soon taken to the best restaurant in Tingyun Mansion by Zhou Qingyun and had a feast.

The meal was luxurious. After finishing the meal, Zhou Qingyun took Zhou An to a house here.

The house is very big, it can be said that it is very good in the entire Tingyun Mansion.

These are provided by Hengtong Chamber of Commerce.

Along the way, Zhou An was tired from traveling and didn't really want to talk.

Zhou Qingyun naturally knew about it, so he just exchanged a few words and left directly.

In such a big house, Zhou An was the only one left in an instant.

But before Zhou Qingyun left, Zhou An said that he wanted to build a swimming pool in the backyard.

Zhou Qingyun also agreed, saying that it would be done tomorrow.

Since it was afternoon when he arrived, Zhou An did not go to the supervisor to take roll call.

Now that it was night again, and the swimming pool was not ready yet, he didn't want to work on improving his proficiency anymore, so he went to bed early.

…

The next day.

The next day, when the sun's rays shone in, Zhou An stretched.

He got up early and went out to have breakfast.

Not to mention, the prosperity of Tingyun Mansion is really not comparable to that of Yunlai Mansion.

Even between mansions, there is probably a hierarchy.

There are noisy sounds everywhere, and there are many more people visible to the naked eye.

Zhou An rushed towards the position of the craftsman's supervisor.

As he rushed there, he looked at the people around him from time to time.

This is his old habit. When he comes to a strange place, he always likes to go shopping. When he goes shopping, he can learn a lot about the living customs of the people.

Soon, Zhou An came to the door of the craftsman supervisor.

There are still people stationed here as the supervisor.

It's just that now that the mining rights have been given away, the management of the minerals has become even more lax. They just go there to check every once in a while.

When Zhou An pushed the door open, he happened to see a bunch of people drinking tea and chatting leisurely.

These are all people in the industry. When Zhou An opened the door and entered, everyone looked over. Some of them looked puzzled, wondering what Zhou An was doing here.

In such a leisurely position, they all live a very leisurely life.

Now that a stranger suddenly came to see him, he naturally wanted to take a look.

A person took the lead and walked over. Just as he was about to speak, he saw Zhou An raising his hand to stop him.

"It's okay. Let's keep fishing. Just be serious when it's time to work." Zhou An found a seat to sit down and poured himself a cup of tea.

His action made everyone present even more confused.

There were only three people sitting in the yard, none of them old, the most in their forties.

Everyone looked at the man in his forties.

The man thought for a moment and asked.

"Young master, I wonder why you came to be the supervisor?"

Although Zhou An's clothes are not gorgeous enough, he has his own temperament, so this person did not offend him and asked about his origin first.

Zhou An leaned on the chair, put his hands behind his head, and said leisurely: "My name is Zhou An, and I am here to take up my post."

Just as he finished speaking, the three people present trembled, stood up as quickly as possible, and said with cupped hands: "I have seen Mr. Zhou!"

While talking, several of them were already sweating.

When someone comes to take office, they naturally get the news in advance.

Now that Zhou An has come to take office, he is the top position of the supervisor of Tingyun Mansion.

Although he can only be regarded as the top leader in Tingyun Mansion, he is still very impressive.

Unexpectedly, the chief craftsman supervisor came over and saw a few of them drinking tea here. They deserved a scolding!

Zhou An waved his hand and said: "Let's continue drinking tea. I am a very peaceful person and don't like to lose my temper. But speaking of the front, everyone can fish, but not food. Once you encounter something, you must complete it seriously. ”

In fact, according to Zhou An's character, he particularly likes fishing.

He believes that catching fish is actually human nature.

But fishing does not mean cooking.

Several people nodded quickly to show that they understood.

Zhou An was about to ask the names of these people to find out the specific situation here.

Unexpectedly, before he could speak, there was a sound of footsteps.

Zhou An looked at the door and found that a large number of people carrying various gift boxes had poured in from the door...

Okay, okay, I'm on an intravenous drip. Fortunately, I can code words using my voice. If I die, I'll die.

A new plot is about to unfold, please vote for me monthly.