The strange story of Huai'an Inn

Chong Liu didn't rent a horse because he didn't know how to ride a horse, but he found Li Dafu who often went up and down the mountain to buy vegetables grown by Taoist priests and nuns. He gave him some money and rode out of the city in his donkey cart.

Now that the vernal equinox has passed, the smell of winter when everything was depressed when we first arrived has gradually been infiltrated by the slightly drunken warm fragrance.The row of willows by the Bian River bowed to the blue strips with the gentle wind, and the catkins swirled in the air like clear snow, forming white clouds on the ground.The wildflowers beside the road, no matter whether they are february orchids, chrysanthemums, clovergrass or winter jasmine, are in full bloom, and they are sprinkled like stars in the smoky grass.

Chong Liu closed his eyes against the wind, and felt the faint fragrance of flowers slowly hit the earth with the transpiration of vitality in spring.He loves the spring day the most, the dawn that finally ushers after a winter of bleakness and snow, as if even the most unfortunate life can see some hope.

The main road was crowded with horses and carriages, all of them were people who had rushed up the mountain to watch the Shigong Opera and the Duan Du Ceremony.Li Dafu drove the car around, and chatted with Chong Liu, "You also asked for leave to go up the mountain to watch the fun?"

Chong Liu didn't bother to explain the reason too clearly, so he echoed, "Yes."

"Have you seen this real Qi Yao?"

"It's only been a while since I've been in Tianliang, and I haven't had that good fortune yet."

"I have seen it once. Last year during the Hungry Ghost Festival, Immortal Guanli was unwell and unable to preside over the grand ceremony. Immortal Qi Yao presided over it. I really didn't expect that a god with such a high level of cultivation would be so young. Just in his early twenties, maybe around your age."

Chong Liu raised his eyebrows, "Maybe he just has a good face? I should ask the girls on Pomegranate Street to ask for their skin care experience."

"Oh, don't dare to talk nonsense, you are not afraid of being punished by God!"

"I'm a small running hall, God doesn't bother to care what I say." Chong Liu sneered, opened the oiled paper bag in his arms, picked up the scallion pancake and took a bite.

Entering the mountain is also full of uproar, the originally clean mountain forest is abruptly pulled into the mortal world by the noise of people.Apparently, Daoist Qiyao's status is among the best among the three major sects of cultivators today. The Laymen group alone has seen at least three waves of people, holding banners and canopies, flowers and tributes being pulled up the mountain by several carriages.Chongliu heard those boys and girls excitedly talking about the heroic deeds of the real person who went to the Bailuguan military camp to drive out ghosts a few months ago. It's really booming.

What is it like to be liked and admired by so many people?

Although Chongliu didn't want to admit it, he was a little envious after all.

When the chariots and horses reached the halfway up the mountain, Chongliu jumped down, avoided the crowd and found a small path to Yuzhen Temple, which was probably very deserted today.

Passing through a bamboo forest is the south gate of Yuzhen Temple.The small vermilion lacquered door was tightly closed, conspicuous among the emerald bamboo.

Chong Liu squatted for a while beside the white wall outside the door, took out the shopkeeper's letter, and looked at the elegant and elegant lowercase letters written on the envelope.

"Looking up at the end of the year, glory is hard to hold on for long." Chong Liu read the two lines softly, flipped through the front and back, and saw neither the signature nor the recipient.Just these two lines of poems with no beginning and no end, carrying a sense of ominous resentment.

This is not a love poem, is it?

While Chong Liu was wondering, he suddenly heard the sound of the door.He stood up quickly, just in time to meet a pair of gentle eyes behind the opened vermilion lacquered door.

A female crown wearing a plain scarf and a green gauze skirt came out of the door, looked around first, and then set her sights on Chong Liu again after confirming that there was no one else.Chong Liu quickly bent over and asked, "Xiangu, is your Taoist name Taixi?"

The female crown bowed to him, "It's the poor man, but the little brother is from Huai'an Inn?"

Chong Liu hurriedly placed the faith with both hands, "This is what our shopkeeper asked me to give to Xiangu."

When Nuguan took the letter, her eyebrows became more solemn, as if she was half hoping to see this letter, and half trying to hide the uneasiness and...fear.Even as he opened the letter, his hands trembled inconspicuously.

Why was she scared when she saw the shopkeeper's letter?

Seeing that the female crown remained silent for a long time, Chong Liu had no choice but to ask, "The shopkeeper said, do you have something for me to take back?"

"Ah, yes..." She seemed to wake up suddenly from the panic-stricken trance, and took out something wrapped in a handkerchief from her sleeve.

At first, Chongliu thought it would be a hairpin, jade pendant, embroidery and other common tokens of love, but she never expected that when she opened the veil, what she saw was a black veil wrapped with red silk thread. The thing, about the size of an egg, is shiny and oily, as if there are rings of undulating texture.

Chong Liu took a closer look, and immediately got goosebumps all over his body.

That black thing was actually a gigantic silkworm chrysalis!

It's not that Chong Liu has never seen a silkworm chrysalis, but such a big one...is simply a monster.Moreover, with the change of the viewing angle, a strange and chaotic color faintly flows on the fleshy, oily shell, some of which look like purple, and some of which look like green, as if it is alive.

If such a big silkworm turns into a moth...how big would it be?

"When you hold it with your hands, be sure to pinch the part where the red silk thread is entangled, or wrap it in a cloth so that your skin does not touch it." She said, wrapped the handkerchief again, and handed it to Chong Liu, "I tell you Shopkeeper, I will take my master there on time tonight."

Master?

Why is there still something about her master?

Chong Liu looked at the handkerchief bag and didn't dare pick it up.He asked cautiously, "That thing...is it alive or dead?"

Seeing that he was timid, Tai Xi chuckled a few times, and his brows became softer, "Why, didn't your shopkeeper tell you what you want to take back?"

"……No……"

"Is it dead or alive? Sometimes it's not as simple as black and white." Xiangu said inscrutablely, "As long as you don't touch it directly, it will be fine. Don't worry."

Chong Liu had no choice but to reach out and take the weird silkworm chrysalis.Through a layer of fabric, he could still feel a subtle, uncomfortable temperature, and he seemed to have the illusion of wriggling in a trance.

Now Chongliu completely believes that the shopkeeper and this fairy girl must not have an affair... No one will give such a disgusting token of love.

Chong Liu bid farewell to Tai Xi, and started walking down the mountain with the ghost thing in his hands.The feeling of being cautious, as if he was holding some flammable and explosive dangerous goods.

It was quiet all around, only the breeze pierced through the forest and beat the leaves, sending a faint sound of chanting scriptures and the sound of gongs, drums, silk and bamboo from afar, and the Dharma transmission meeting had already begun.On the way down the mountain, there were fewer and fewer people, probably already at the top of the mountain.Chong Liu avoided the main road and went down the mountain by a relatively secluded shortcut, kicking the stones on the side of the road and whistling all the way, and gradually forgot what strange thing he was carrying.

Suddenly, his steps stopped.

There was a figure in front of him shuttling among the trees, wearing taupe-colored clothes, he looked very familiar.

Isn't that Xu Hanke?

Chong Liu cursed inwardly, didn't they all tell them not to go out today, why did this person still run out?And what about his adjutant Liu Sheng?Why is he alone?

Chong Liu frowned, took two steps forward, and looked carefully.Xu Hanke's walking posture is a bit strange.

His body leaned back slightly, but his right hand was stretched out in front of him, his posture was a bit stiff.

It was as if... being dragged away by someone.

But it's clear that no one is holding his open hand?

"Officer Xu!" Chong Liu shouted.

With such a close distance, it stands to reason that Xu Hanke should be able to hear his yell, but he didn't turn his head, as if he didn't hear anything.

Chong Liu trotted forward two steps, and shouted again, "Guan Xu! Where are you going! The way up the mountain is not there!"

Xu Hanke seemed to be deaf, and made up his mind to ignore him.Chong Liu cursed in a low voice, "Could you stop acting recklessly, brother!" After hesitating for a moment, he still followed.

Even if Xu Hanke will die today, it has nothing to do with him. It is not related to him, and he has no obligation to save him.But now that he heard that number, he was already forced to be involved.If something happened to Xu Hanke, he might not be able to forgive himself.

Next time I sleep with cotton in my ears...

That Xu Hanke looked very weak, as if he couldn't walk fast, but Chong Liu couldn't catch up when he trotted.He squinted his eyes, staring closely at the hem of the taupe-colored clothes that shone among the trees.

Where is this little Xiansi going?Why is it getting more and more biased?

The road has long been lost among the lush bushes and grass, and it is almost impossible to walk under the feet.Chong Liu almost thought that Xu Hanke might be able to do light work, otherwise how could he walk like flying in such a place?

During the whole process, Xu Hanke still turned a deaf ear to Chong Liu's call, and moved forward indomitably, as if he was still muttering something.

Suddenly, there was a burst of light in front of my eyes.The lush woods were broken, and the sun poured down on the face.

Chong Liu's heart stopped suddenly.

The mountain road in front broke apart, forming a high cliff, facing the mountains and mountains that stretched like sea waves in the distance.Reflecting the high and distant sky of the day, it should be a refreshing and magnificent scene of mountains and rivers.

But Xu Hanke was still walking forward, as if he didn't see the cliff at all.

Chong Liu Sa Yazi rushed up.

"Xu Hanke! Stop!!!"

Seeing that one of Xu Hanke's feet was about to be sold out, Chong Liu finally caught up in time with all his strength and grabbed Xu Hanke's sleeve.

At that moment, a very strange and terrifying feeling suddenly passed through his hand holding Xu Hanke's sleeve like an electric current, and passed through his body.

At that moment, he saw that something was pulling Xu Hanke's right hand.

The thing was about the size of a five- or six-year-old kid, but it was by no means a kid.It was like a soft, boneless thing covered with a layer of human skin. The skin was full of fine folds. Since there were no bones or muscles, it was all fat, trembling in the air, changing shape.Instead of grabbing Xu Hanke's right hand with its fingers, it wrapped its entire arm around it.Countless red filaments spread out from the folds of the skin, adhering to Xu Hanke's clothes and skin like a sticky net.

At that moment, the thing also turned its "head". The distorted, wriggling and changing face faced Chong Liu, and five randomly distributed eyeballs buried in the folds stared at Chong Liu at the same time.The empty, extremely strange sight that seems to be out of human comprehension, with cold malice, sticks to Chong Liu's wide-open sight due to fright.

The red filament seemed to come alive, spreading along Xu Hanke's body to Chong Liu's hand in a flash.Chong Liu let go of his hand with a loud cry, and hurriedly flicked his wrist to shake off the red thing.But on closer inspection, the hand was empty, nothing.

Looking up again, the monster was gone.Xu Hanke stood on the edge of the cliff with a confused face, looked at his right hand, and then at Chong Liu.

"Are you... the waiter at Huai'an Inn?"

Still in shock, Chong Liu cautiously walked to the edge of the cliff and looked down.

There are at least hundreds of feet high cliffs, and many slender dead trees grow densely underneath, probably the wreckage left by a wildfire.The sharp tree trunks stabbed into the sky like knives.If it falls, it will definitely be worn on it like a kebab.

Where did that monster go?

Is he wrong?

No...he doesn't have such a delicate and realistic imagination...

"Why am I here? Where's the lost child just now?" Xu Hanke looked around, puzzled.

Chong Liu turned his head and said, "Didn't I tell you not to come out and run around today?!"

Xu Hanke was stunned.Before this little boy in the hall always had a grinning expression in the hall, but he didn't expect to have such a temper after get off work?

Chong Liu stood on the spot with his waist in his arms, trying to calm down.What exactly did he see just now?He glared at Xu Hanke angrily and asked, "What kid? Where's your companion?"

"We were scattered by the crowd when we went up the mountain. I wanted to go to Yuxu Temple to wait for him, but on the way I saw a lost little girl sitting under a tree crying, so I wanted to take her to find her family. I'm obviously pulling her up the mountain... Where is this?"

"You're pulling her? It's obviously pulling you to stride towards the gate of hell, okay?" Chong Liu pointed at the bottom of the cliff, "You're almost turning into a Western Region skewer, do you know that!"

Xu Hanke looked under the cliff, his face was pale, and he was a little scared.

"This is... what's going on..." Xiansi murmured, "Did you really see a ghost?"

ghost……

Is that thing a ghost?

But in this blessed land of Tianjia in Zilu Mountain, the mountain is full of alchemists whose mission is to subdue demons and save the common people. How can there be any hiding place for ghosts?

"Who knows..." Chong Liu left the edge of the cliff and looked around.It's so quiet here that you can't even hear the chirping of birds.Although the scenery is bright and beautiful, there is a cold stench in the air. After staying for a long time, my heart feels a little hairy.

There is such a creepy feeling in the blue sky and white sun, as if everything around is a little uncertain.

Will that thing confuse people's senses?

"We'd better get out of here quickly." Chong Liu glanced at Xu Hanke nervously, rubbing his fingers unconsciously.The feeling of those red sticky threads crawling onto his skin before seemed to be still on the skin, although the skin was clean and there was nothing on it at this time.

When he quickly walked back the same way, Xu Hanke chased after him, "Brother...why did you tell me not to go out? Did you know that strange things would happen to me in the mountains?" Chong Liu pursed his lips tightly.Zhu Yi was involved in this matter, and he didn't trust the young official in front of him very much, "I... I had a dream, dreaming that something would happen to you today."

"Nightmare?" Xu Hanke pondered for a moment, then asked again, "Can you elaborate on what you dreamed? Have you ever had such a dream before?"

Chongroku wanted to prevaricate a few words.After all, these scholars have never believed in strange powers and gods.Unexpectedly, Xu Hanke was so interested.

"No, I just think the dream is unlucky, so I would like to remind you..."

Xu Hanke nodded, but asked each one.He quickly walked a few steps and stopped in front of Chongliu, and even saluted Chongliu upright, "Brother, Xu will always remember his life-saving grace. If there is any opportunity in the future, Xu can do his best. Brother, please give me this opportunity to form a grass ring."

Chong Liu waved his hands uncomfortably, "It's no big deal, just pretend it never happened."

"How can I do that! I, Xu, must repay the small favors I receive from others, let alone you saved my life!"

"... If you really want to repay, you can just give some money when you check out." Chongliu said perfunctorily.

Buying a favor for such a high-ranking official, Chong Liu didn't feel at ease.He was always hanging in his heart, always felt that the matter was not over yet, and he seemed to have done something wrong.

Obviously saving a life, how could it be wrong?