Cannibalism

Weizhou is located in the south of Hengshan Mountain, adjacent to the Xiangjiang River with nine twists and eighteen turns. There is a misty cloudscape of Hengshan Mountain in the distance, and a beautiful mountain lake lies nearby.The terrain of Weizhou is undulating and surrounded by streams. This mountain lake is formed by the confluence of small mountain streams flowing from the southwest of Weizhou.

The diameter of this small mountain stream is only three or four feet wide all year round. It rises to four feet when it is rainy in spring and summer, and shrinks to three feet when there is little rain in autumn and winter.The green grass by the stream is lush, and the lush trees grow straight and tall.The stream water is continuous and not frozen, it is crystal clear and tastes sweet.The Xiangjiang River is not in the city, so this small mountain stream has become the source of living water for the people of Weizhou and all the birds and beasts.

Probably because of the benefit of the small mountain stream, the flowers in Weizhou City are in full bloom, and the whole mountain is full of fragrance. The honey produced is famously sweet in the nearby towns.

As a result, the people of Weizhou enshrined a bee god.According to "Weizhou Shenyizhi", an alchemist passing through Weizhou once found a beehive on a yew tree trunk on the outskirts of the city.The queen who kept the hive alive has died, but a new drone has taken her place.Many days passed, not only did the hive not disappear, but it grew stronger and stronger. The hive was still full of swarms of bees, full of vitality.The story was spread throughout the village by alchemists, and the people thought that the god who was in charge of brewing nectar had descended into the world, and they came to worship this yew tree one after another.Afterwards, the honey harvest in Wisconsin became more and more gratifying.So the villagers built a temple next to the yew tree, dedicated to offering sacrifices to and worshiping the bee god loved by the people. They also regarded the yew tree as a sacred tree and respected it.

This awe has been in awe for 300 years. Over the past 300 years, most of the days in Wisconsin have been smooth and rainy, and the grain has been plentiful. It has never experienced large-scale floods and droughts.Occasionally, the harvest is slightly poor, which is acceptable to the common people, and it will not be postponed to the second year. The autumn harvest in the second year can often improve.Therefore, when the harvest is not good, the incense in the Weizhou Temple will be more vigorous, and will continue until the next year.

Unfortunately, this time there will be no next year.

When Yuan Shiren and Xie Sheng arrived in Weizhou, Weizhou had already experienced heavy rain for four consecutive days.At this time, the rain has turned slightly, and there is a rainy atmosphere over the town.And the small mountain stream with a sweet taste turned into a flood beast in an instant, rushing out of the river, the mountain lake could no longer hold back the big Buddha, and the flood flooded most of the houses in the town, including the living tree on the outskirts of the city. More than 300 years old yew.

When the flood was about to engulf the temple, the people removed all the well-stored tables, chairs and cabinets in the temple and used them for disaster relief.No one wants to continue to worship Cheng Feng, because worshiping him is useless.

The two of them found traces of the fleeing people in the caves on the hills outside the city.The surviving people are lighting a fire to bake clothes and wild fruits picked from the mountains.The hill was higher and escaped the flood, and the people were able to have a temporary refuge for the day.

"If it rains for a few more days, I'm afraid this mountain will not be able to survive." A hunchbacked old man covered his face and cried, "My grandson was drowned in the water. He was sleeping in the house when the flood came, so he died in his sleep, wow Woooo..."

"My old father is gone too, his crutches fell on me, he couldn't run, he couldn't swim, he drowned..."

Xie Sheng found a tall and strong young man who seemed to be engaged in farming.

This young man looked honest and easy to talk, and it was easier to ask for some information related to the flood.

"Excuse me, before the flood came, did you observe any signs of abnormal celestial phenomena?"

The young and middle-aged man was only wearing a tattered blouse, with a large area of ​​his chest and arms exposed.Even at his normal and healthy age, his face is green and yellow, and his eyes are bloodshot.

Half a catty of sand was stained on his trousers, his body smelled of rancid sweat, and his face and body were covered with a layer of rough mud scabs. He looked dirty, but he didn't feel dirty anymore. , but was too tired to rest on the ground: "No, there is no sign at all. Even the farming and weather hexagrams divination in the Fengshen Temple are suitable for autumn harvest."

"Heh, what about the bee god and divination." A woman next to him mocked, "See the flooded bee temple over there? The god can't even keep his own temple, so how could he have the strength to do so?" Us? I have blinded me for many years of worship."

The woman pointed to the flood that had not subsided not far from the mountain.The two-story temple only has a red tile eaves, and the raised eaves are faintly visible under the rushing flood.

A section of the banner embroidered with the four characters "Bee God Chengfeng" flipped back and forth on the turbulent water surface, and finally was thrown down by stones and sank to the bottom of the water.

Tobishijin asked, "How did the flood come about? The rainstorm?"

"Who knows how it came about. A narrow stream turned into a mighty Yellow River." The woman pouted her mouth and replied indignantly, "The waterfall hanging from the source can drown people to death."

"So, how many people in Wisconsin survived?"

"All members of our family have survived." The young man's brows and eyes were exhausted, but when he talked about the situation, he had a look of joy, and there were only two eyes on the muddy and black face: " There are probably [-]% of the living fathers and villagers, and most of the survivors are old people and babies who can’t run. The flood rushed to the crops at the beginning, and washed away all the crops overnight. It didn’t start to flow until daytime Xiang Minju. Thanks to our quick legs and feet, we escaped from the flood.”

Xie Sheng echoed: "As long as people are still alive, it is a blessing in misfortune. When the flood recedes, you still have the strength to rebuild Weizhou."

"Hey, how can it be so easy to rebuild." The woman sat there with a dejected look and sighed, "When the flood recedes, the town will be full of corpses of children and old people. It's so disturbing to see... the harvest... It's gone, the house is flooded, and the family wealth that has been saved for most of my life has not been brought out. Where can we buy bricks, tiles and grain, and where can we rebuild Weizhou. Our family's Xiao Zhi has no money to marry a wife."

"Sister-in-law!" The young man hurriedly reminded her, "This has nothing to do with whether I marry a wife or not."

It seems that he is Xiaozhi.

"Eat the fruit!" Someone yelled by the fire over there, "The fruit is roasted, and the clothes are also dried!"

Autumn is here, and there are many wild fruits on the mountain, but most of the wild fruits are sour, hard to swallow, and may be poisonous if eaten raw.The villagers mixed bark and wild fruits and baked them on the fire to barely eat.

Hearing the cry, the people rushed forward, grabbing wild fruits, touching their clothes and asking, "Which one is mine?"

"At this time, it doesn't matter who owns it. It's good to wear something."

"Yeah! They're all tattered anyway. Wear whatever you want."

Xiao Zhi, who was talking to Xie Sheng, also rushed over to snatch a handful of wild fruits and returned, and gave half of it to the woman: "Sister-in-law, eat quickly, don't be snatched away."

Then he turned his head and asked Xie Sheng and Yuan Shiren: "I see that the silk and satin you are wearing looks clean, it doesn't look like you escaped from Weizhou. Why are you staying with us on this small hill?"

Xie Sheng said nonsense: "We are merchants who passed by Weizhou yesterday. We parked the goods near Weizhou earlier, but not only did not find the goods, but we were chased by the flood to the hills and could not go down again. He lamented in a dignified manner, "We, like you, did not notice the vision of the flood and were deceived by the gods."

Yuan Shiren also said: "The flood came for no reason, you should be more careful."

The woman ate wild fruits and bark with great gusto, chewing them with crunching sound, and she could eat even a piece of bark with relish.

She swallowed a wild fruit whole, raised her head and said, "We have always believed in the gods and gods, but we have come to such a miserable end. If the gods still refuse to let us go, let the flood rise more than ten feet and submerge us. The whole hill, then I have nothing to say, now I only have this life left, if God wants it, take it, don't torture me anymore."

"Sister-in-law, don't be angry." Xiao Zhi persuaded, "This little brother is right, no matter what, you are lucky to survive."

The wrinkles at the corners of the woman's eyes were crowded together, and Jin Shi could see that the woman's eyes still had spirit, and she did not give up hope of living.

Xiao Zhi glanced at the empty hands of the two well-dressed people in front of him, and wondered: "Since you have hands and feet, why didn't you go grab the fruit just now? After this meal, I don't know when I can eat the next meal, even if I don't eat it now." If you are hungry, eat more."

"We still have a bag of dry food on us, so we won't compete with you for food." Xie Sheng turned his head and looked to the other side, and found that not everyone got the wild fruit, and there were a few weak and emaciated women and children who were no match for their strength. Those strong men can only eat with a few branches.

The bark is not subject to unified management, and it can be eaten elsewhere.The wild fruits grow in steep areas, and they are picked by everyone up the mountain together.

Tobishiren shook his head at Xie Sheng, meaning there was no other way.

Xie Sheng said that the two of them brought dry food with them, but in fact they didn't bring anything to eat.Unlike these common people with mortal bodies, the two of them can live for a month without drinking or eating, and their bodies will not be too emaciated.

Xie Sheng took Yuan Shiren to hide in a corner where no one was around, and discussed the next action.

Tobishiren asked: "Should we search the city?"

Xie Sheng looked serious: "Investigate the source of the flood first. This flood is not simple."

"Okay, let's do that."

They passed the town through the air and came to the source of the small mountain stream.Overlooking the city during the period, I saw a row of corpses floating on the flood, including old people with white hair and babies whose hair hadn't even grown.They were swollen all over.The two of them sighed for a moment, feeling in their hearts that the disaster is merciless.

The source of the mountain stream is already a waterfall with a width of tens of feet, and the huge waves are empty, and the momentum is majestic.Xie Sheng and Yuan Shiren stood in the air to observe the source of the flood, but found that the flood had no source at all.

Floods erupted out of thin air from the mountain, and the mountain was full of dry stones.

"It's really strange." Xie Sheng looked back and forth, "You said Cheng Feng is no longer a god, then when he lost his godhead, did you see him?"

"No." Toshiro shook his head, "Yesterday I came to visit the two seniors, and the first one I visited was Cheng Feng, but the temple enshrining him has been destroyed, and I can't detect the presence of gods' blessings here. .I have been looking for him for a long time, but I have not been able to find him."

"There is no aura of divine protection, so is there any other aura?" Xie Sheng was thoughtful, and his voice fell silent, "For example—the aura of death?"

Hitoshi Tobishi wondered, "A breath of death?"

Right now the city is full of dead bodies, big and small, how could there be no breath of death, Xie Sheng asked a really strange question.

But when Kiteshiren saw Xie Sheng's serious face, Kiteshiren was a little confused.

"The breath of death I'm talking about is different from death itself." Xie Sheng's gaze suddenly became extremely sharp, like a sharp blade that can cut through the sky, "It doesn't come with death, but it will bring murders one after another. For example... the God of Plague that our family experienced before, the God of Plague is surrounded by the breath of death."

Tobishiren finally understood what Xie Sheng was talking about.

He guessed that Xie Sheng suspected that this flash flood was exactly the same as that flood and plague, and that it was a sin committed by the God of Disaster.

Tobishi Jin put the index finger and middle finger of his left hand in front of his lips, and said a formula, and then the sky burst into light, and a multicolored light passed through layers of dark clouds and shrouded the rushing flood.

The rolling water waves are also dyed with colorful colors, and the waves are surging for a while, and the waterfall seems to hang down on layered brocade.

After a while, a black divine light suddenly appeared at the source of the flood, and ink-like mist swirled out from there, suppressing the fast-flowing flood, breaking through all the colorful auspiciousness set by Yuan Shiren.

"I don't know why this god called me out?"

The dull sound shocked the mountains and rocks, and the flood surged up.

Xie Sheng was shocked.

——It turns out that the Flower God summoned this "God of Disaster".

"Hello, I am the god on Yuanshou Mountain." Yuan Shiren looked directly at the cloud of ink mist and said, "I came here to find my friend, he is the bee god of Weizhou, may I ask if you have met?" past him?"

"I haven't seen it before." The voice came out word by word from the black mist, "From now on, my mountain flood disaster god is the god of Weizhou, and this is my jurisdiction."

Yuan Shiren frowned: "But if you live here for a long time, there will be no worship at all, because the people will not worship you."

The voice chuckled: "I don't need offerings from the people."

Xie Sheng asked: "Since there is no need for offerings, why do you still live here?"

"I just said that I don't need people's offerings." The voice laughed even more presumptuously, "but I didn't say that I didn't need other people's offerings."

"Who will worship you?"

"You don't need to worry about this. When I come here, someone will enshrine me."

The mountain flood disaster god was obviously going around in circles with them.Seeing that he couldn't find out why, Xie Sheng no longer planned to continue talking nicely with him.Xie Sheng summoned a formation and made a cage enchantment on the flood, trying to catch the black mist with this method, but when the enchantment was closed, the black mist disappeared with a murmur.

"The incense that is enshrined to me is endless now, and I am a hundred times more powerful than you. Don't try to catch me, you little tiger." The dry branches trembled with the laughter.

The voice of the god of disaster has drifted away: "See you later!"

Seeing that the God of Calamity disappeared without a trace, Yuanshiren became anxious: "What should I do next?"

"Let's go back first and ask the villagers for any clues, such as enmity." Xie Sheng held his breath and suppressed his anger, "We must find out the person who enshrines the disaster god and cut off the incense."