Daming's Bizarre Story: Painted Skin

In the winter of Bingshen year, it was very cold.

Before noon, the sky was painted with ink, and the whole city seemed to be covered with dust, the streets and alleys were dark and difficult to see, only the cold sound of the new wind blowing, which made people feel chills on their backs.

The bell of the National Teacher Tower on Xiaoxing Mountain was ringing "Dang Dang Dang", hovering over the entire lonely city.

----

No one in the world is more miserable than him. He crawled out of the turbulent soil with the help of rain, naked, without a thread, and half of his body was rotten.

"It shouldn't be like this..." He squatted next to the collapsed tombstone, trying to recall, although his memory was a bit messy, he shouldn't have been unprepared.

After walking half a circle around his grave, he finally found a robbery hole. His muscles could no longer allow his face to change color, so he cursed his mother in his heart, opened the coffin soaked in rotten water, and touched it several times. Fished out a roll of bamboo slips, the hemp rope has been completely rotted, and the word "Zhaoran" can be vaguely seen on the remaining bamboo pieces.

These two characters come from the Han Dynasty, the effect of light and shade, and the good and bad burials are clearly visible.

He had a strange look on his face, thinking that no matter where he was buried, he would be a big murderer, and after thinking hard for a while, he wondered if his predecessor was a master of Taoism who specialized in Fengshui and astrology.

It's a pity that he removed all the coffin boards, but he couldn't remove a magic weapon.

It seems that someone stole it, Zhao Ran secretly regretted it.

He had no choice but to dig a new grave next to him, even if it wasn't for people to see his rotten body, he couldn't show it naked.

An old man was buried in the new grave, about 70 years old.People in their seventies are rare in ancient times, but they are rarely seen in common people's homes, so they treated it as a happy funeral at home, and borrowed some money to get a silk, satin, blue silk shroud for the old man to wear. Well, suddenly there was only a "click", and something fell out of the sleeve.

Zhaoran lowered his head to pick it up, and it turned out to be half of his own rotting bone, he couldn't help being annoyed, looking at this scene, even if he didn't meet the wild dogs, he would have fallen apart when he ran out of the cemetery.

He lowered his head and took the rotten bone back, he just wanted to try it, but he never thought he would do it.

But when he turned around, he saw white smoke billowing from the old man's coffin, making a hissing sound, which scared him so much that he almost fell to the ground and fell apart completely.

The white smoke dissipated quickly, and Zhao Ran boldly looked into the coffin, only a piece of skin remained on the old man on the coffin board.

Zhao Ran took a closer look and found that there was still a piece of black lacquered iron on the old man's skin. He picked it up, it looked like iron but not iron, it was very light, and there were some lines on it, but it seemed that it was only half of the token. I don't know what was written.

He didn't see this thing in the old man's coffin just now, so he lowered his head and looked at his rotten belly, and suddenly he was afraid that half of the money would just fall out of his belly, and he was the only one who died before he died. Sewing this half of the ring into the belly seems to be an important magic weapon.

When the magic weapon came, Zhao Ran was refreshed, but what's the use of an iron sheet that can dissolve human flesh and take human skin?

He reached out his hand to dig in his stomach again, but he couldn't find anything good.

Zhao Ran couldn't help being a little discouraged, turned the iron sheet over and took a closer look, and suddenly saw another puff of smoke and sizzling noise, he quickly raised his hand to wave away the smoke, but saw a white claw waving in front of him, and looked down again, All the flesh and blood on his body was gone, leaving only a white skeleton, and it was clear that he couldn't help but cry.

He looked at his own white skeleton and at the human skin in the coffin, and suddenly he knew nothing about his teacher. He looked around, picked up the human skin, and ran all the way between the graves, looking for a river to drown himself. The skeleton was cleaned first, and then the old man's human leather was put on it.

There is no flesh and blood on the body, the skin is a bit slumped, and the body is dangling, as if wearing an inappropriate clothes, but after a while, it is obvious that the flesh and bones under the skin have grown at a speed visible to the naked eye, and the whole portrait is only filled with steam. The ball bulged up.

Soon he felt so hungry that his eyes were bursting with gold, and he looked at the limbs that were still skinny, but the flesh and bones no longer grew.

Looks like we need to find something to eat first!

Zhaoran put on his shroud, put away the half piece of black iron order, and walked out of the mountain along the path outside.

----

He walked along the road for a long time, but he couldn't walk anymore, so he dragged his old legs slowly along the road.

There was a sound of horseshoes behind him, Zhao Ran quickly turned his head, showing a look of anticipation, only to hear a startled horse behind him, and the person in front shouted: "Oh my god, I'm so scared to death, where did the old monster come from!"

Several knights in soap clothes and official boots clearly understood that this was an official servant, and quickly stretched out their hands and said: "The official, the official, the small people are aisle dealers, and they have been robbed of money, knocked unconscious and thrown in the cemetery, because the clothes on their bodies are all dirty. The thieves picked it up, so I borrowed a shroud as a last resort."

"Borrowed... the shroud?" A big man in front of him glanced at Zhao Ran, and he hesitated for a moment.

Zhaoran threw himself on the ground immediately: "Master Qingtian, help me!"

The big man waved his hand and said, "That's all, that's all, we still have official duties to take you to the temple at the intersection over there, and you can find your way down the mountain by yourself." He turned back and asked, "Who will take him for a ride?" .”

Difficult expressions appeared on the faces of several people, who would want to ride with the man wearing the shroud that had just been ripped off the corpse, the big man over there had not waited for a reply, he was obviously already struggling to climb onto his horse.

The big man had no choice but to pull him on the horse and gallop all the way to the front of the temple. A knight next to him said anxiously: "Brother Hemeng, there seems to be a dog slave in front of you."

"Hey!" They stopped their fast horses at the same time, turned around and saw a thin man in dark clothes at the foot of the mountain steps. Turning around, his eyes finally fell on Zhaoran, and Zhaoran couldn't help feeling nervous.

He Meng asked, "Is Master Wen up there?"

The thin man ignored him, but leaned over and sniffed Zhaoran up and down, and then snorted softly: "A dying man."

He Meng's face was a little unhappy, but Zhao Ran was greatly relieved, turned his head and said: "Thank you for your kindness in reaching out to rescue, I will not delay the adults' affairs."

He Meng hesitated for a moment. Originally, he wanted to put the old man in the temple. At dawn, other mountain people passed by to rescue him. He didn't expect that the place where Mr. Wen stayed was in this mountain temple, but if we let this old man now If the old man leaves, if he encounters a wild wolf in the deep mountains, I am afraid that the old man will become a supper for wild beasts.

"No, you can't leave!" The dog slave said coldly and arrogantly, "My lord is working here, what if the news leaks out?"

Hemeng is also a small flag, but this dog slave is speaking in an orderly tone, he held back his breath and said: "That's fine, sir, you can stay behind the temple for a few hours, and you can leave after dawn .”

Zhaoran shouted in his heart not to, but he was helplessly lifted off the horse by He Meng.He Meng was anxious and couldn't bear to help him, so he carried Zhaoran all the way, like a chick, into the Niangniang Temple.

"Who is outside the temple?" A cold voice came from the temple.

"He Meng!"

"Zhang Qiang!"

"Su Zijian!"

"Left armor!"

"See Mr. Wen!"

The cold voice in the temple then asked: "There are five of you here, who is the other one?"

He Meng glanced at Zhao Ran, bowed and said, "My lord, it's an old man who was robbed that we rescued on the road."

"The old man who was robbed..." The people in the temple snorted coldly.

With a sound of "swaying", the temple door opened wide, and a gust of strong wind came in, making it obvious that both legs trembled. I saw a young man in a red brocade robe sitting in the temple, with a heavy waist and temples, and a beautiful appearance. , Zhao Ran looked up and couldn't help but praise "good skin" in his heart.

After he finished praising, he realized something was wrong, quickly lowered his head, Wen Zhigeng glanced at Zhaoran, and then said coldly: "You guys have leisure and elegance, to save a dying person, if you leak the important matter of the national teacher, You don't need to report back to your general banner, just go on the road with him here!"

Everyone in Hemeng bowed their heads and remained silent.

----

While talking, someone from outside the house stumbled in, lying at the young man's feet and excitedly said: "My lord, he, they are here!"

Wen Zhigeng scolded: "Idiot, if you make such a loud noise, if you startle people away, be careful to skin your dog."

The dog slave said flatteringly: "My lord, don't worry, they are about a mile away from here."

"One mile... good." Wen Zhiyu said softly with his thin lips slightly curved.

He turned his head and said to He Meng: "Go to the temple and hide behind, carefully cover your breath."

He Meng lowered his head and said, "Yes!"

Zhaoran hurriedly lowered his head and followed along, only to hear the voice behind him: "Slow down."

Wen Zhigeng looked at him and said, "You are with me."

Zhaoran groaned inwardly, Wen Zhigeng stepped on the dog slave who was still lying on his stomach and said, "Where are they?"

"There is still half a mile to go, they are riding..." he said, wagging his nose, "My lord, they are riding Sichuan horses."

"Why do you know it's Chuan Ma?"

Hearing Wen Zhigeng's question, the dog slave's bones were all shattered: "My lord, the northern horses are vast and flat, and most of them are raised, so the sweat on their bodies smells of green grass, but the southerners raise their horses mostly with hay and millet. , especially Sichuan horses are mainly millet, and the earthy smell from their bodies is quite different from that of northern horses."

Zhao Ran couldn't help but feel creepy.

"Chuan Ma, it seems that they plan to cross the Five Elements Mountain." Wen Zhigeng sneered, then turned to look at Zhaoran and asked, "How long will he have to live?"

The dog slave looked at Zhao Ran and smiled, opening his mouth so wide that it almost cracked his ears: "If you say it to your lord, you won't survive dawn."

Wen Zhigeng said indifferently: "Forget it, let's send it away early."

As he spoke, he raised and lowered his palm, and struck Zhaoran's neck with one palm.

Zhaoran was so angry that he wanted to scold his mother, he had seen that this feminine man was not a good guy, but he did not expect to be so cruel.

He cursed and cursed in his heart, but he had no choice but to fall down on the palm of his hand. The dog slave stuffed him into the bridge in the courtyard, and said bitterly: "You old bastard can still sit in the sedan chair of an adult after you die. It's really amazing." Know when to cultivate the blessing."

Zhao Ran couldn't help being a little dumbfounded, how could he be blessed if he was dead, the only way to be blessed is if he is not dead.

----

After a while, only the sound of footsteps came from outside, and someone said, "There are people inside."

A woman's voice seemed to come from outside: "It doesn't matter, there are only two people inside. One is a young man who is full of blood, and the other is a dying old man with exhausted blood. Probably someone who is about to die and return home."

Zhao Ran couldn't help but smile bitterly in his heart, this woman guessed pretty well on the surface, but the key point was off topic, he didn't know who he was and where he was going to return home, let alone the people in this house were not his A filial son, but a man-eating beast waiting first.

There was a coughing sound outside the house, and someone said urgently: "I'm afraid it will snow heavily tonight, so let the adults go in and rest first."

"Don't come in!" Zhao Ran thought in his heart, but the temple door was still opened, contrary to his wishes.