The strange story of Huai'an Inn

It has been three days since I went to sea, and the days seem to be stagnant, the front, back, left, and right are the same scenery, the sea, the sky, and nothing else.

Chong Liu stood on the deck, looking westward at the last ray of sunlight that was about to completely sink under the sea surface.Not far away, the sailors gathered around a pot of charcoal fire, talking and laughing loudly while drinking heavily.These are ordinary sailors who seldom deal with dirty smells. Even though according to Xu Hanke, they all knew that this was an extremely dangerous voyage, they still chose to go up.I'm afraid it's because of the extremely considerable remuneration for the crew, right?

This reward was distributed to their families the day before they boarded the ship, that is to say, even if they couldn't go back, their families would still have enough money to spend the rest of their lives without worrying about food and clothing...

Chong Liu looked at the rough but real faces reflected by the firelight, and imagined what kind of stories might be behind those hearty smiles.Maybe the young man who looked no more than [-] or [-] years old had a gambling father in his family who was heavily in gambling debts; maybe the grizzled jobber just wanted to leave an inheritance enough to send his grandchildren to the academy ;Maybe the strong Huotou needs money to treat his seriously ill mother...

One life, 300 taels of silver.

Maybe it was because he took a long time to look at it, a crew member with a big beard waved to him, "Little brother, do you want to come over and have a glass of wine?"

These people usually concentrate on doing their own things, and rarely talk to Xu Hanke and other "superior people" in their eyes.But Chong Liu is different from them, he always wears coarse clothes, and the experience of working in the inn all the year round endowed him with a layer of street life that other people don't have.

Chong Liu laughed, walked over and sat on a wooden crate that was given out to him.A Huo'er handed him a bowl of wine with a pungent smell. Chong Liu took a sip, his whole face wrinkled, and he swallowed it with a grunt, "It's so refreshing!"

The sailors laughed.

"Hey, little brother, how did you get in among those high officials?" asked the bearded man who greeted him just now.Everyone also looked curious.

Chong Liudao, "How do you know I'm not a high-ranking official? Maybe I'm a senior official than them all?"

A few people laughed, "The few of us have been running on the sea for so many years, how can we mess around without this little ability to know people? Although you are white and tender, you are different from us rough people, but you have a bit of style Not at all, you can’t be an official at first glance.”

Chong Liu took another sip of wine and said with a smile, "You're right, I'm just a waiter."

"The waiter? In the inn?"

"Yes."

"Why did they bring an inn waiter here?" Another young man whose cheeks were flushed by the wind asked, "And does your inn recruit people based on their appearance? Is it a serious inn?"

Chong Liu rolled his eyes and decided to change the subject, "Do you know what we are looking for this trip?"

After a moment of silence, the red-cheeked young man said, "You're looking for an island, right? Is there a treasure on the island?"

Another Huo'er asked in a low voice, "Are there really water ghosts near that island?"

As soon as the word "water ghost" came out, some crew members immediately spit on the ground, and some people gave Huo'er a look, "Don't talk nonsense! Bad luck!"

Someone handed Chong Liu a piece of dry bun, Chong Liu took it and took a bite.

"Hey, who is the member who came with you, who looks better than the girl? There is another one, your brother?"

"The 'better than a girl' is my boss."

"Your boss is the innkeeper?"

"correct."

"You don't suffer anywhere?" Everyone was puzzled.A sea voyage without a single merchant.Either high officials, or alchemists, there are even innkeepers and waiters.

The gray-haired old man said, "Your boss took a guide fish. But I saw that it does not point to the south. Wherever it points, our boat will go. What is that thing for?"

Chong Liu was about to answer, but suddenly heard a bang, the sound of something falling on the deck.Everyone was shocked, busy looking for the sound.

Chong Liuyi turned his head, but saw not far behind him, something reflecting white light was churning and jumping on the deck, with a layer of wet liquid dripping around it.

Chong Liu took a closer look, and suddenly felt a chill in his chest.

"This is... what the hell!" The boy Huo'er widened his eyes in horror.

Something on the ground, as long as a man's forearm, appeared at first glance to be a fish.But it has no scales, and the epidermis covered with a layer of wet mucous membrane even looks a bit like human skin texture.There are six or seven eyes on its flat head, and the eyeballs seem to be scattered randomly, with different sizes and uneven positions.The mouth is like a wound that has been torn open, and some hair-like things are gushing out from the mouth.

Its belly is very big, stretched to the limit, it becomes transparent, and it can be seen that it is full of gray hooks, much like... a brain.

The wet stuff bubbling under its twitching body may at first glance be sea water, but if you look closely, you will find that they are gelatinous, spreading from the strange fish.There are also things like blood threads and meridians spreading in it.Every time the strange fish twitched, the "water" on the beach also rippled.

All the crew members who were drinking happily and smiling just now turned pale when they saw something like this.There are many taboos among people who make a living at sea, and they are most afraid of catching strange-looking fish when fishing, which is an ominous sign.

In the heavy silence, the bearded man said, "How did this thing jump onto the deck? Our ship is so tall."

Another young man with red cheeks raised his foot to touch it, but Chong Liu grabbed him.

"Don't touch anyone, hurry up and call our shopkeeper." Chong Liu looked at everyone seriously.

The bearded man hurriedly ordered Huo'er to call Zhu Helan, and the rest of the people also formed a circle, and no one dared to go forward.Chong Liu squatted down, his nose fluttering slightly.He could smell the fishy smell from the depths of the sea, the fishy smell from the water ghost...

But at this moment, there was another bang.Chong Liu was startled, but saw another strange fish falling less than three feet away from him.This time, instead of scales, the fish's body was covered with teeth.

Layers of densely packed, human teeth.

Several crew members yelled in fright and retreated one after another.But the nightmare is not over yet.Crackling, weird fish seemed to have fallen from the sky, falling on the deck one after another.Chong Liu raised his head, but saw that the moon and stars were sparse in the sky, not even a single cloud.

He rushed to the side of the boat and looked towards the nearby sea water.The pitch-black sea water fluctuated expressionlessly under the hull, without any abnormalities.Like a blank mask.

He remembered the strange things at sea told by A Liang, who was disguised as a water ghost, at the inn.

This is the water ghost telling him that they are coming.

Zhu Helan was comparing the nautical charts with Song Mingzi, Daoist Qiyao, Xu Hanke, and Mr. Xuanwu to speculate on their current locations.Hearing Huo'er's message, several people rushed out from the boat building.

While everyone was in a daze, Zhu Helan had already stepped over those strange fish and put his hand on Chong Liu's shoulder, "Liu'er, are you okay?"

Chong Liu turned his head to look at him. In the night, a strange color flashed in his pupils, "The water ghost is coming. We have to find a way to protect these crew members."

Zhu Helan's expression slowly solidified in the moonlight, "They are here to take you away."

Chong Liu took a deep breath and whispered, "Maybe I should go with them. They won't hurt me..."

"No." Zhu Helan cut off his words, without any room for turning around, "You don't want to leave my sight again. If you dare to try, your brother is still in my hands."

Chong Liu raised the corner of his mouth and smiled, "What kind of threat are you?"

"Very useful threat." Zhu Helan raised his jaw and narrowed his eyes and said, "Don't forget that I am also a majestic priestess of the mother goddess. I have sacrificed countless people. I am cruel and merciless. It is not impossible to feed your brother to the locust tree."

"Hmph, now I'm really good at talking big. I don't know who it was that I almost strangled to death in the underground." Chongwu didn't know when he came to Chongliu's side, and when he raised his hand, he was holding a sticky nose-like Strange fish, "Where did these things come from? They look more disgusting than our other brothers."

Zhu Helan said angrily, "Don't touch those things!"

Chong Wu sneered, "What's the matter with touching? Isn't it just some deformed fish, Xiao Liu and I are not afraid of these."

"Don't cause trouble for Liu'er!" The shopkeeper warned.

Chong Liu had a headache and said, "Xiao Wu, you will frighten the crew if you take it directly like this. Throw it away quickly."

Chong Wu curled his lips, raised his hand and threw the strange fish far into the sea, making a splash.

Behind him, three or four masked Bai Xiaosheng from Baixiaomen had dismissed the crew, and only the leader in charge of the pilot was left arguing with Liu Sheng.

Daoist Qi Yao squatted down to carefully examine the severely deformed fish, and there were a few traces of flame in his cold eyes.Song Mingzi knelt down in front of him and asked, "Senior brother, we have set up iron fences and golden soup arrays on the hull, how did these filthy things come up?"

Daoist Qi Yao said, "We are not familiar with the spells of water ghosts. Maybe they have found a flaw in our formation. It seems that another layer of enchantment must be placed. In my opinion, it is time to try what you and I created together before. array."

Song Mingzi was stunned for a moment, as if somehow embarrassed, he stuttered, "You...you are...meaning, the one we realized during the group practice on the way to the capital?"

Daoist Qi Yao cleared his throat, and his fair cheeks were a little red, "That's it."

"...Do you think that formation is more effective than the Iron Encirclement Gold Soup Formation left by our ancestor?"

"The Iron Encirclement Gold Soup array defends against the filth we often see in the world, but there are so many types of filth, and the ancestors at sea have never seen it, so I am afraid that there is no way to protect it. But what you and I have learned is based on human will. An enchantment set for the foundation. As long as no one invites, nothing from the outside world can enter the ship."

"Then which crew member invited it?"

"As soon as we tell them, no matter whoever asks to come into the cabin, or hears any voice asking to come on board, say no. These crew members are already so scared that they will not agree."

Song Mingzi nodded.If they can't even guard against the Iron Encirclement, they can only try new methods.He thought about it, and suddenly laughed, bright and hearty, with a bit of banter.He pushed Daoist Qi Yao with his shoulder, "Brother, our formation doesn't have a name yet."

Daoist Qi Yao's face was full of discomfort, he glanced at him like a warning, got up and went to discuss with Zhu Helan and Chong Liu.

Song Mingzi looked up at his senior brother's back, but his smile didn't fade away.

He and Daoist Qi Yao have been in the same mind since they were young, and they cooperated most tacitly when they went down the mountain to practice together after they grew up.At that time, Song Mingzi and Qi Yao were sitting together on the embankment watching the moon rising into the sky. He turned his head to look at his senior brother's face as cold as a banished fairy, thinking that maybe one day he could practice together with his senior brother.But later, all sorts of trifles created a rift between the two, and this idea was temporarily put aside.

The method of joint cultivation of the Qingming School is that two alchemists live together in one place, enter meditation at the same time, and put their palms together.In Dingzhong, the two people's spiritual consciousness blended, Dao Qi penetrated, and their cultivation bases benefited each other.With this method of practice, the increase in cultivation is several times that of practicing alone.But two co-cultivators must absolutely trust each other in order to succeed in spiritual connection.

He never thought that one day his dream would come true.

However, the success of co-cultivation is not what makes his heart throbbing the most.When they comprehended this new formation and their consciousness reached the most perfect fusion, he felt an impulse that could not be ignored.He knew that his brother felt it too.

It's like a sleeping firework suddenly blooming, hot and amazing.

Everyone knows that alchemists advocate pure heart and few desires in their practice, but few ordinary people know that alchemists are pure in heart and few desires in order to understand their minds and see their nature.But if the true feelings come up, there is no need to forcefully suppress them.So that night, Song Mingzi leaned forward and kissed Daoist Qi Yao.But the senior brother did not avoid it.

He touched his lips with his hands, and the gentle touch of his senior brother's lips seemed to be still on it.