The Lord who use immortals as food

The third day of August.

The autumn rain during the white dew season is a good weather for the small county of Fenghuai on the edge of the mountains. At this time, the summer heat has dissipated, the crops are ripe, the deer and rabbits are fattening in the mountains, and the fish in the streams are waiting for the nets. It is a few days of leisure before the harvest.

Pei Ye has been in good spirits these past two days. At this time, he was carrying a fishing rod and a basket, and his straw sandals clicked across the stone bridge on the edge of the county town. Just as I walked down the last step, an old face with a deer head and a rat head came over to me: "Brother Pei, was the fishing beautiful?"

Pei Ye kept walking and glanced sideways: "Ang."

But it was the crazy widower Lao Xiangzi who lived in the next yard. This time Pei Ye couldn't help but take a second look at him, because there was a crude and unfamiliar symbol painted with blue paint on his dirty forehead, which obviously came from him. His trembling and weak hands looked strange and happy at the same time.

Seeing that the young man noticed his achievements, Lao Xiangzi seemed to have been rewarded. He came up to Pei Ye with increased energy and kept tilting his head back and forth to show: "Hehe...hehe..."

Pei Ye couldn't help but smile, looked back, and asked, satisfying the old man's wish, "What do you want from me?"

Lao Xiangzi's expression suddenly became excited. He straightened his back, opened his mouth, and immediately covered it. He bent over and looked around, then leaned into Pei Ye's ear and whispered, "Be a god."

"..."

"Be a god! Be a god!" Lao Xiangzi's eyes were shining brightly, and it was obvious that he wanted to share it with others, "I have a way to become a god. Brother Pei, please help me. We can become gods together. Sickness and no disaster…”

"..." Pei Ye was too lazy to pay attention to his new round of madness, "You can do it yourself."

Lao Xiangzi's nagging is no longer a day or two.

He has lived alone for many years, has no children, has food, clothing, housing and transportation alone, and is not mentally normal. A few years ago, you could still see him running around the streets with the neighbor's little girl. Now that the girl has grown up and got married, she is not willing to get close to him. He spends all day messing around with these gods, ghosts, Taoism, and Buddhas.

Lao Xiangzi was not a devout believer, nor did he rely on incense. He was just good at casting a wide net. Today he prayed to Buddha and tomorrow he performed rituals. The Mountain God Xiaogui, the Dragon King HeBo, and the King of Hell City God all received a few sticks of incense from him, and also received various incense sticks from him. Strange sects and gods from all over the place could find a place in his family.

Moreover, Lao Xiangzi didn’t understand the teachings and had the final say all by himself. When others finished plowing the land, he urged him to plow it quickly so as not to miss the farming season. He lay on the bed and said that my land does not need to be plowed. When others asked why, he said that I believe in this year. If I get the Buddha, the Buddha will do the work for me.

This joke was widely circulated in the east of the city, so one can imagine Pei Ye's attitude towards him.

Lao Xiangzi saw that he didn't care, and explained anxiously: "No, no, it's true this time! You believe me, I slept in a ruined temple in the east of the city yesterday, and I heard it with my own ears, begging under the big willow tree. Big Ears, the god enlightened him and he has become a god..."

"oh."

"Oh, why don't you believe it? You are sick and I am sick too. If we become immortals, won't everything be cured?"

"I'm not sick."

"Hey - I know how to have a cock!"

"Diseases should be kept under wraps. It's true that I'm not sick, but injured, and it can't be cured."

"Who cares what he is! Can gods be cured? Maybe gods will come down to earth tonight, and if we don't go, we won't have a share!" Lao Xiangzi said earnestly, "I really saw it with my own eyes. Big ears have become immortals. , more than one foot tall, wearing armor, majestic!"

"Then if he becomes an immortal, won't he go to heaven?" Anyway, the two of them were traveling together for the time being, Pei Ye said perfunctorily.

"Yes! He has gone to heaven!"

"..." This answer was somewhat beyond Pei Ye's expectation, "Isn't he begging for food under the big willow tree right now?"

"He's not here! No one else can find him. Only I know that he is..." Lao Xiangzi hesitated for a moment, then looked around with a sly look, gritted his teeth and said softly: "Brother Pei, I tell you secretly, he was drunk Immortal water, become an immortal."

"Then you go and drink too."

"No more!" Lao Xiangzi slapped his thigh, "There was only the bottom in the cup. I was afraid of the pain, so I fed the fairy water to the cat, and the cat became a fairy! The fire can't burn it, and the knife can't chop it. , Brother Pei, you are very powerful, you can't be chopped with a knife without bleeding - let me try..."

He stretched out his hand to pull out the dagger from Pei Ye's waist. Pei Ye stretched out his hand and pushed him away speechlessly: "I am familiar with these words. Aunt Zhang said she saw you carrying a dead cat. Is it the one you said became an immortal? strip?"

Lao Xiangzi was stunned and said anxiously: "Yes, no! No, no. The cat died because it didn't draw this!"

Lao Xiangzi stretched out an index finger on each hand and pointed at the crooked blue symbol on his forehead: "Look! Do you see it? I understand! If you want to become an immortal, draw it first. There was this on Big Ear's head that day. With it, you can become an immortal by drinking the fairy water. Brother Pei, please quickly draw one. Let’s get the fairy water together and become an immortal together. Will your illness be cured?”

Pei Ye said nothing. He had already passed the alley in front of his house. He knew that Lao Xiangzi could not follow him very far.

He had already experienced dealing with Lao Xiangzi, and the more he dealt with him, the more energetic he became.

The big catfish is the river god, the widow at the head of the city is the Queen Mother, the stones picked up by the stream are the sky-repairing stones, and now there is a fairy water. Lao Xiangzi didn't mean to lie. He really couldn't tell the difference between imagination and reality.

Lao Xiangzi chased Pei Ye and kept chattering. Pei Ye was stunned and thought he was not a person. Finally, he stamped his feet angrily: "You don't believe it! Then I'll find it myself! When I become an immortal tonight, I'll come here to piss you off first." !”

When leaving, he stepped on the water very loudly.

But only a few breaths later, the sound of "pah, pah, pah, pah" came back, and the old man opened the bamboo basket and said, "I'll get one of the fish!"

Pei Ye rolled his eyes: "I didn't catch it!"

…

After getting rid of Lao Xiangzi, Pei Ye walked towards the west of the city.

Since two years ago, Pei Ye no longer dares to experience the coolness of the rain. But even if he lies in the house wrapped in a quilt on a rainy day, the pain in his chest and abdomen will most likely occur.

There were still a few of the pulse-protecting pills that Doctor Qian had prescribed, but the liquor he had swallowed with them had bottomed out. He felt that he couldn't escape the bad weather this time, so Pei Ye had to go to the liquor store to get some.

However, when I first arrived in the west of the city, I saw him holding a wine gourd in his hand, and a familiar face shouted: "But you want to sell wine to Lao Zhang? He won't open the door! He sold the shop a few days ago, and he made a fortune and moved to the county to be happy. Now, if you want to drink, you have to go to Old Lu’s house in the north of the city!"

Pei Ye then headed to the north of the city again, passing a big willow tree. Pei Ye took a careful look and didn't see the tall, lame, big-eared beggar under the tree. Instead, there were two businessmen asking questions. What.

It is said that Big Ear's martial arts practice went wrong in his early years, and someone he offended came to have his legs broken. There were repeated changes in his family, and his relatives died one after another, and he finally fell into a state of despair.

Fortunately, I was not too arrogant in the martial arts gym back then. Pei Ye laughed at himself, passed the big willow tree in a staggered pace, and headed towards the Lujia Liquor Shop.

Not long after, the wine trick was already in sight, and Pei Ye sped up a few steps and rushed to the door.

Opening the curtain, a noisy excitement suddenly flooded into my ears, and the hot air mixed with the aroma of wine hit my face, drawing a clear line between the small restaurant and the cold rain and fog outside.

There are always more people in the leisure time. Pei Ye bypassed the man with a warm face who was leaning into a ball, stepped over the legs and feet that were stretched out on the ground, and put the gourd on the counter.

"Uncle Lu, fill it up."

"Okay." Lu Youcai was in his forties, with eyebrows as sharp as a knife. He took off the lid of the gourd and walked to the wine barrel. "Xiao Pei, your visits have become increasingly rare since you moved."

"There's nothing I can do. If I don't have the money to sell the house, I'll have to take half my life." Pei Ye said with a smile.

"Alas, being blessed hurts your wealth, and being unlucky hurts yourself. Xiao Pei, you are considered lucky. You have to look towards the bright future so that you can have hope for the future."

"Yeah, I'm not satisfied with anything." Pei Ye took the gourd, "Or four coins?"

"Bullshit!" Lu Youcai raised his brows and put the full gourd on the table, "Have I ever asked for money from you before? How can a poor man charge so much now?"

Pei Ye laughed, still counted out four copper coins, and pushed them in front of Lu Youcai: "It's precisely because you are a poor man now that you have to calculate everything clearly."

Lu Youcai sighed and accepted the copper plate. Just as Pei Ye was about to say goodbye, Lu Youcai suddenly said, "By the way, I see you are leaving the city again? You must be more careful these two days. It seems that someone outside the city has been eaten by tigers and wolves."

"It's okay, I won't go into the mountains." Feng Huai relied on the mountains to eat. It was inevitable that herbal collectors and hunters would get lost in the mountains. Although they didn't always happen, it was not uncommon, so Pei Ye didn't pay much attention.

"It's not in the mountains, it's outside the city." Lu Youcai corrected, "Someone saw it this morning. Outside the ruined temple in the east of the city, there were only tattered clothes and blood left. Even the bones and flesh of the people were gone, and they didn't know it. Who suffered?"

Pei Ye was startled: "Where? The ruined temple in the east of the city?"

"That's right. This beast dares to come so close. People in the east of the city are worried that it will come into the city at night and eat people."

Pei Ye thought of Lao Xiangzi's words and frowned: "Have you reported to the official?"

"I must have reported it. The police will be there early in the morning."

Pei Ye thought of the two policemen under the big willow tree. It seemed that the government had found the victim, so he no longer worried, left Lu Youcai, went out, picked up the fishing rod and basket, and walked home.

Pei Ye's house is right next to Lao Xiangzi's dilapidated courtyard, and it is also dilapidated.

Pushing the door open and walking into the yard, he opened the fish basket, which contained some herbs picked along the way.

Pei Ye took out a few flavors and crushed them carefully in a stone mortar. Then he took out a clean cloth and went to the corner to pick up a dark hair ball from the basket.

Pei Ye lifted up the little black cat, looked into the bright jasper eyes for a while, then gently put it on his lap to look through it.

On the small and soft abdomen, the bandage showed slight blood marks, and Pei Ye knew that there was a fatal wound underneath.

This black cat was picked up by Pei Ye yesterday when he went fishing by the stream. It seemed like a long wound had been cut on its belly by a sharp stone.

It's hard to say whether they are domestic cats or wild cats. There are many families raising cats in the city, and they mate without restraint. This gradually forms a group of cats that beg for food in the vague area between the county town and the mountains.

To be fair, this cat is very beautiful, with a jade-black body, no mottled colors, fine hair, no scars and no diseases, and does not have the cunning and vicious temperament of a wild cat that comes from fighting.

If cats also have society, then its temperament should be that of a prince or aristocrat. When Pei Ye treated the wound on it, it never barked or resisted, making it look calm and courteous.

After taking off the bandage, the wound had solidified. Pei Ye applied new herbs and re-bandaged it.

After dealing with it, Pei Ye walked into the house and pushed out an old man who looked like a ghost.

If the old man stood up, he should be taller than Pei Ye, but Pei Ye knew there was no such chance. The old man was leaning on a rough and crude wheelchair, motionless, as if he had stopped breathing, like a dead tree that had aged for years.

Under the dim light, the details on his face were even more ferocious—the scars on his cheeks were like fleshy centipedes, spreading all the way to his scalp and neck. His eyes were completely gone, leaving only two dark holes, his white and dry hair was sparse, and a large area of ​​his scalp was exposed.

"Grandpa Yue, I'm going to start practicing my sword. It's just past Shen hour and I'll practice until the moment of You hour."

"Okay, I'm listening..."

Whenever the old man spoke, he would straighten his neck, raise his chin to the sky, and slightly lift his back from the wheelchair. He would use all his strength like a cormorant swallowing a fish. It looked ridiculous and terrifying at the same time.

The so-called sword training refers to the sword technique that the old man taught Pei Ye after his "Dantian Zhong" was injured, saying, "At least you can learn it now."

The teaching process is also too difficult and strange, because this swordsmanship was created in the heart of the old man after he was paralyzed. The old man has neither practiced it personally nor can he see the young man's movements. He can only rely on hearing to judge whether the young man's movements are standard and whether the strength is appropriate. .

Fortunately, the old man was really good at swordsmanship, and even so, he could always point out Pei Ye's mistakes to the point. Of course, there will be times when you really can't hear or answer Pei Ye's questions. At this time, the old man will say: "Just practice a few tricks, that's not the case."

But no matter what, this is indeed a superb sword. After two years of practice, Pei Ye has become more and more proficient in sword moves, gained a lot of insights into sword theory, and his sword sense is getting better and better. He is already a master of swordsmanship, but he still has Haven't really learned even one move.

Even the realization that "I haven't learned it myself" was only vaguely realized by Pei Ye after his swordsmanship progressed to a certain level. Before that, he once thought that it was enough to practice those sword moves exquisitely and proficiently, and he never saw the higher realm.

"When you really learn it, I will definitely be able to hear it." The old man said, "You can even see it."

But this was obviously not today. Pei Ye had practiced for enough time as usual and raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead. Perhaps due to the sweat, his forehead felt itchy, so Pei Ye wiped it twice more.

Seeing that the cold wind was getting worse, he pushed the old man back into the house, started to pack the food, and at the same time gave himself a pot of warming medicine.

It had obviously rained quite a bit in the morning, but the black clouds had not dispersed at all. Instead, they had become thicker, and now they were pitter-pattering as if they could no longer bear the accumulation.

The miserable wind and rain, the dilapidated and cramped courtyard, the dry and hard jujube trees in the courtyard, the terrifying paralyzed old man, and the old sword with its scabbard and faded color formed the place where Pei Ye lived for two years.

The willow branches hanging down in the courtyard were blown by the wind. The young man tore off a section, took out the wood core, held it in his mouth, and blew a light and loud whistle.

He raised his head, and the sky swallowed up the last trace of his light.

It's night.