The strange story of Huai'an Inn

Zhuang Cheng.

Although Chong Liu has never seen this person with his own eyes, it is not difficult to guess his identity from the clothing and attire of the scholar on the second floor combined with the current situation.

The original Luzhou layman finally appeared!

The shopkeeper turned around and looked up at the scholar on the second floor. Although he was looking up from the bottom, his posture was as calm and steady as a mountain, but his momentum restrained the scene, "Zhuang Cheng, let go of these people."

The scholar's appearance was supposed to be handsome and outstanding, but at this moment, under his eyes, there were thick bruises, his cheeks were thin and sunken, but those eyes were extremely bright, trembling with unpredictable persistence and madness.He lowered his body and leaned all over the railing, the smile on his face was disturbingly frenzied, and his nostrils fluttered a few times.

"You smell like trees."

After finishing speaking, he suddenly climbed onto the handrail and fell down from the second floor while hanging upside down. When he landed, he smashed a square table and made a loud bang.

Chongliu and the two dyers screamed in fright, and the shopkeeper and Song Mingzi were also stunned.

He fell... on his head...

For a moment, the entire lobby fell into a bewildered silence.All eyes were fixed on the cloud of flying dust.

The scholar's body was twisted and unnaturally lying among the wood of broken tables and chairs, and he couldn't see clearly what his head had been like.

But in the next moment, the broken and twisted human body suddenly began to convulse violently, as if possessed.Those broken bones began to stretch, and they came together abruptly, making a creaking sound.

Zhuang Cheng's calves stood up first, then his knees led to his thighs, his upper body, his chest, and finally his bloody head "stands up".His right eyeball was squeezed out of the eye socket, and he pushed it back with a puff.

The whole scene was so weird and frightening that even Chong Liu, who had seen a lot of "big world scenes", felt acid regurgitation in his stomach and hair on his back.

Because the shopkeeper drew symbols on the table, the two dyers on the opposite side of Chongliu are the only ones in the entire theater who have not entered that weird trance state. However, such a scene is obviously too exciting for the two of them. It was beyond cognition, so he fell into a state of complete panic and panic, stood up and ran out the door yelling.

Chong Liu tried to grab one person, shouting "Don't move!" However, the bearded dyer was too strong, and Chong Liu missed it.

The gate was heavily blocked by the crowd who had tried to escape before, and the two couldn't get out at all.So they grabbed the bodies of the spectators who were motionless blocking the road, trying to squeeze out of the crowd.

However, the moment their hands touched the audience, they suddenly showed panic, and then became dull. Their eyes stared at somewhere in the sky, as if they saw something extremely terrifying, their facial features gradually distorted, and then stopped moving. .

They also became one of those audiences.

Seeing this, Song Mingzi cursed something in a low voice, and then told Chongliu, "Don't leave this table."

Even if Song Mingzi didn't say anything, he wouldn't dare to care about Chongliu...

Zhuang Cheng walked slowly towards the stage, raised his hand and wiped the blood on his head with his sleeve, and brushed the dust off his clothes as if nothing had happened, "This play must be finished. The god in yellow is coming soon, I don't understand Those who are in awe can only become... food..."

The shopkeeper stared at Zhuang Cheng who was stepping up to the stage, raised his brows, and said in a chatty and curious tone, "When will the god in yellow clothes you mentioned come? As far as I know, all the gates have been closed. Closed, how does it come?"

"Not all the doors are closed." Zhuang Cheng was already standing on the stage, staring at Zhu Helan with that crazy smile, "When the book of poverty is opened, the filth in the world will become stronger and stronger. When the filth is out of balance, It's not just a door to open. Hehehehe..."

Poor book...

familiar name...

The national teacher mentioned that he once took a boat with Mr. Gou Chen to search for the Poor Book in the sea.Because it was recorded in the ancient books, with that book, one can master all the mysteries about the filth and get the most original knowledge of the filth in the world.

If that book can really close a door...does it also mean that it can open countless doors?

Zhu Helan also knew about the Book of Poor Extremes, but no one had ever actually seen it, and none of its contents had been handed down, so the alchemists always thought it was just a legend.

Even in the dream of the national teacher, not a single book appeared.Only the scene where Mr. Gou Chen was brutally murdered by a dirty god...

Zhu Helan took a step forward, "How do you know this? Who told you?"

"The god in yellow clothed himself to teach." Zhuang Cheng replied arrogantly, "I am his chosen envoy, his priest in yellow clothes. I will prepare his tower and his throne for him."

"You are not his priest, you are just an ordinary person infected by filth and stunned." Zhu Helan shook his head regretfully, "Tell me, what happened when you were attending a funeral in Yingzhou?"

Zhu Helan's evaluation made Zhuang Cheng very insulted, his upright face was distorted by anger, and bitter venom spread in his tone, "Human? I am no longer a human being."

In the next moment, Zhuang Cheng's body underwent unimaginable changes.

Yellow viscous substance began to diffuse from his seven orifices, every pore of his body.The mucus quickly evaporated, and the pale yellow smoke spread in the theater building with a pungent and choking smell. The smoke was so heavy that he couldn't breathe. He covered his mouth and nose with his sleeve and coughed repeatedly.

On the beams, pillars, walls, tables and chairs, and the audience who were standing still, similar yellow sticky objects gradually began to ooze out, which seemed to be the appearance of Tai Sui.They wriggled slowly, emitting light yellow filaments from each other, interlinking like a spider web.

Only Chongliu, Song Mingzi and the shopkeeper were not affected.

The shopkeeper took out a talisman from his sleeve and held it between his index finger and middle finger.Through the heavy choking yellow smoke, a strange red light shone from his eyes.

And Zhuang Cheng's eyes were also changing, the whites of his eyes were quickly filled with black filaments, but the black pupils were filled with yellow quartz-like foreign objects.

Zhu Helan warned, "If you must get rid of this filth, everything you are familiar with, your home, relatives, friends...all will be destroyed. You think you are chosen, you are special, but your God He is the God of Destruction, he will not pity you, he just treats you as a bug that happens to be used, and the moment he descends, you will become a pool of flesh and blood under his feet."

"Family? Friends?" Zhuang Cheng's voice was distorted just like his body, becoming wet and weird, as if there was a mouthful of thick phlegm in his throat, "I've lost them a long time ago. Hahahahaha..."

Just when Zhuang Cheng's attention was being held back by Zhu Helan, Song Mingzi had already quietly turned into a cloud of green shadows, quietly sinking into the Shadow China.When he shot at Zhuang Cheng from behind like a sharp blue sword, the back of the scholar whose whole body was covered with yellow fat-like mucus suddenly opened.

Those lumpy and cohesive Tai Sui splashed into four long bridges behind Cheng Cheng, gathering around the pine tree.It was as if a huge yellow hand was about to grab a flying insect in the air.

Chong Liu's heart was already in his throat, and he watched the Tsing Yi alchemist being submerged in the four nightmare-like sticky substances.But in the next moment, a burst of clear Dao Qi erupted from the fat mass, and Song Mingzi rushed out of the encirclement and fell to the ground, but the mahogany sword in his hand was corroded and riddled with holes.

"Damn it..." Song Mingzi was furious, "I only have this mahogany sword left..."

Zhu Helan put the spell between his fingertips in front of him, and began to chant the language that he had memorized but could not understand.Accompanied by the reverberation of his deep voice, there was a thunder-like loud noise from under the ground, and then the whole theater building began to tremble, and the lanterns hanging above the head fell one after another.

Chong Liu lay on the table with his head in his arms, feeling that everything around him was falling into madness, and even the earth was no longer solid.The rumbling sound was like a giant drum in an unnamed temple in ancient times, hitting people's minds one after another.

Suddenly, the stage around the shopkeeper completely cracked and collapsed, and seven or eight huge vines rose from the ground.Those vines were obviously from the locust tree, the flesh and wood blended together, strong and terrifying.One tree vine supported the shopkeeper, and the other tree vine followed the shopkeeper's movement of throwing his sleeves like a Nuo dance, and directly lashed at Cheng Cheng's body with a howling force, and the deformed scholar flew away like a bug. After going out, it slammed into the wall with a slap, and the flesh and yellow viscous substance mixed together and covered the entire wall, as if it was a bug that was slapped flat with a fly swatter.

But then, the Tai Sui wriggling in the flesh and blood began to pull out the yellow silk, quickly pulling the flesh back together.Skeleton, muscles, skin... The scholar who had been photographed out of shape was quickly "stitched".A strange and arrogant smile burst out on his demonic face that had recovered a little bit, and a huge wave of yellow viscous substance sprayed out from his chest again.

The shopkeeper made another Nuo dance movement, crossed his hands in front of his chest, and two huge tree vines formed a shield in front of him, resisting the attacks of those sticky Tai Sui.

Taking advantage of the stalemate between Zhu Helan and Cheng Cheng, Song Mingzi cut his palm with a fruit knife, then took out a square sapphire seal from his bosom, smeared his blood on it, and then put The seal was stamped at a certain position on the ground, and the hands were sealed several times, and there were words in the mouth.

Chongliu recognized that this was the blood-stained gossip array of the Qingming sect to drive away evil spirits.If the formation is completed, all the filth in the middle of the eight seals can be expelled.This magic circle is very powerful, but it takes a long time to prepare, and if it is interrupted in the middle, the caster may become the target of concentrated intrusion of filth.

Song Mingzi probably wanted to rescue all the innocent people from the taint of Chengcheng first, so that the taint would not penetrate too deep and could not be pulled out.Letting them escape first would save them a lot of worries.

The scene was so dangerous, but Chongliu couldn't help much, he could only hide under the table and watch the shopkeeper manipulating the tree vines to fight the monster covered in yellow Tai Sui.Although the scene was spectacular, the situation where the whole theater building was crumbling was really frightening.

Why is Xu Cheng's distortion so severe and... powerful?

Chong Liu searched for the information about the scholar that he had collected in his mind, trying to figure it out.

There are indeed several secrets in Xu Cheng. Twenty-seven years ago, the Cheng family was considered a wealthy family, but the new head of the family at that time, that is, Xu Cheng's father, Yan Yan, made the belly of Lu Hua, a personal maid of Mrs. Zhuang's, helpless, and took the maid as a concubine. The eldest son Cheng Cheng was born.

Lu Hua didn't commit herself to Yan Yan willingly, but her own family didn't feel sorry for her at all when they found out about it, they just wanted to rely on her to climb high branches, make this matter known to everyone, and force the dealer to accept her. He also forced her to agree to the arrangement of staying in the palace as a concubine.Not only did she have to serve the young master who had spoiled her innocence all day long, but she also had to endure the pain of being pregnant in October for him.

Although Yan Yan hadn't married the main wife at that time, Lu Hua's status was humble after all, and her background was not right. do it yourself.After Hu Yan married his main wife, she still had to bear the humiliation and scolding from her main wife, and knelt in the yard wearing a single shirt in the ice and snow, and knelt for an hour.

But Xu Cheng's vitality is too strong, even if she intentionally abused herself, he still grew up in her womb and was born.

After Cheng Cheng was born, Lu Hua's situation did not improve.Although Huan Cheng is the eldest son of Huan Yan, in a scholarly family whose grandfather Zhuang Shihong is a great Confucian, he is like a dirty secret, an annoying mouse.His existence was a stain on the reputation of the Zhuang family, which directly led to the estrangement between his grandfather and his father. Coupled with the repeated instigation of Zhuang Xi, Yan's younger brother at that time, the conflict between Zhuang Shihong and Yan's father and son continued to intensify, until the family finally separated, and the Zhuang family gradually decline.The family moved back to the old house in Yingzhou, and only Hu Yan stayed in Tianliang City with his wife and children.

After the separation of the family, Cheng Cheng's younger brother, the son of the main wife who had been given high hopes by Xu Yan, contracted smallpox and died.So Yan Yan suddenly began to pay more attention to the eldest son, forcing him to study every day, not allowing any time for rest and play, hoping that he could get a good name in the exam, win back his face, and give him a chance to return to the Zhuang family tree.

And Cheng Cheng also worked very hard, and the articles he wrote were praised by the teachers of the Academy many times.But he had bad luck and failed the state examination twice in a row.Because of this, Zhuang Yan was extremely disappointed in him, and the beatings and punishments intensified.

Zhuang Yan himself has not made any achievements in these years.The several painting and calligraphy shops he opened could not continue to operate, and he became addicted to alcoholism.In the end, they owed a lot of debt, and had to move the family out of the original house and squeezed into the dilapidated courtyard on Lianqiao Street.In order to support his family of four, Zhuang Cheng went out to write letters for others, or write Spring Festival couplets to earn some money for living.

One day he returned home after writing a letter for a day, only to find that his mother, Lu Hua, had died suddenly.It is said that he choked to death while eating glutinous rice balls.

Not long after that, Zhuang Yan brought his wife back to Yingzhou, and it seemed that he had reconciled with his father Zhuang Shihong.Only Zhuang Cheng himself was left to live in that dilapidated hut.

This is the only information that Chongliu collected that was relatively easy to obtain in the past. At that time, he thought that this information should not be of much use, so he just recorded it without further investigation.But from the few words that Zhuang Cheng revealed just now, it can be heard that there is deep hatred in his words.And the pseudonym "Luzhou Layman" he used may show that this obsession is related to his mother.

Is there something strange about Luhua's death?

As soon as she died, Zhuang Yan reconciled with her father... The timing was a bit too coincidental.

He hid under the table and pondered the possible causes and consequences, unaware that every inch of the surface of the table above his head, where the shopkeeper drew the charm, began to be covered with yellow sticky substance.The scholar's eyes had already noticed him who had been dormant in the corner, unwilling to attract attention, and instantly realized that he was the weak point that was easiest to hit.

Even though it was a very strong protective spell, with the power given to him by the God of Yellow Clothes, he could still break through.He deliberately let Zhu Helan hit him several times, delaying the time to wear down the protection spell.

When a line on the talisman was finally completely destroyed, he immediately aimed his spear at Chong Liu who was hiding under the table.

Chong Liu suddenly felt a cold and damp air sweeping his whole body, and every hair stood on end.When he raised his head, he saw a huge mass of yellow Tai Sui rolling continuously, and the yellow spider-like mucus sprayed and spread forward as it rolled, approaching him at an extremely fast speed.

He retreated in panic, but a tree vine suddenly crossed his eyes, blocking the sticky thing for him.

Zhu Helan's eyes were burning with cold anger, and he pointed at Zhuang Cheng, "This is between you and me, don't touch him."

However, Zhuang Cheng let out a series of unsteady laughter with a strange voice, "Is a priest of the Mother Goddess also worried?"

Zhu Helan jumped forward suddenly, a tree vine caught Zhuang Cheng's throat and tightened, pressing him firmly against the railing on the second floor.Zhu Helan approached him, separated by a few restless vines, his voice was low and dangerous, "This is my city, and you have usurped it. The slave of the god in yellow."

"You and I are the same." Zhuang Cheng's face covered with yellow mucus became more and more distorted. It was obviously the pain of his throat being squeezed, but there was still a mocking smile, "If I am a slave, so are you."

At this time, Song Huangzi's seal has been stamped to the last one, and the magic circle will be completed.At this time, the originally motionless crowd began to rustle, and Chongliu noticed that many of them were shaking.

Their eyes widened, looking high up, and their mouths opened, as if seeing something indescribably terrifying.

Something is wrong.

When Song Mingzi's seal was formed, a strong holy air erupted in the lobby, colliding violently with the filthy air from Zhuang Chenghe's body, and the resulting air flow would include Chong Liu Many people were shocked and fell to the ground in embarrassment. Zhu Helan and Zhuang Cheng were also shocked by Dao Qi, and each was forced to retreat a few meters.The violent cyclone burst upwards, lifting the roof of the theater all at once.

But outside the roof, what Chong Liu saw was not the blue sky and white clouds that should appear.

A huge, cohesive yellow slime mold (that is, Tai Sui), vibrating like fat, wriggling rhythmically to cover and cover everything.Those trembling folds and gaps were suddenly pushed away, revealing several translucent swollen bubbles with black sliding dots inside.

Eyes... Those swollen blisters are eyes...

The dizzying scene was accompanied by an increasingly strong stench.The spectators who were shaken out of the empty state by the Dao Qi had no idea what happened. After a short period of confusion, they were all frightened and collapsed to the ground.The terrified, heart-piercing cries of children and the bewildered and frightened wails of adults burst into my ears, like the sound of nightmares from hell.

Song Mingzi tried to open the gate of the theater building, but after opening it, he immediately closed it again.

Outside the door was the same, wriggling yellow slime mold.The moment the door was opened, they sprayed sticky threads at him, if he hadn't dodged in time, he would have been caught.

Zhu Helan was shocked.This Zhuang Cheng... seems to have had a direct connection with the god in yellow.Such a large amount of filth has probably already infiltrated Tianliang City silently, quietly occupying the filthy world that is usually invisible to the naked eye, forming the giant yellow tower that Chongliu has seen before.

But now, the whole theater building was pulled into the tower by Zhuang Cheng.

The question is, where does so much filth come from?

Could it be that the filth is constantly leaking from another world because the Book of Poorness has been opened?

To make matters worse, among the crowd who were still screaming in panic just now, some people suddenly became quiet strangely.An old man stared and murmured, "It's talking..."

"The second game...begins..."

"Shh...don't talk...it's starting..."

Chong Liu could also hear the continuous sound of gongs and drums coming from somewhere in the void.Intermittent afterimages appeared in his mind, even if he closed his eyes, he couldn't cut them off.

He saw a stage on which stood a man in a yellow coat and a mask.He saw all the other characters, too, except that they all had distorted faces, the makeup on their faces was mottled, and their outfits were in tatters.

Seeing this, Zhu Helan knew how serious the situation was, and it was impossible to suppress so much filth just by relying on the saplings of the locust tree.

Song Mingzi formed a mudra with both hands, and began to recite scriptures aloud.His voice was as loud as a bell, completely different from the usual voice, and even disturbed the sounds and images echoing in the minds and ears of Chong Liu and the others.

Then Chong Liu broke free from the weird mental bondage, only to find that the yellow sticky mass on the top of his head was bulging downwards, and some drop-shaped sticky strands began to drip down.

But at this moment, something happened to Zhu Helan.

The shopkeeper has always been unable to smell or see any filth, even the head teacher of the Qingming sect can't feel it.But at this moment, it was as if something that had been suppressed to the extreme exploded suddenly, and the boundless red flocs, like an erupting mountain fire, erupted from the shopkeeper's body like a scorching sun.

The foul smell was stronger than anything Chong Liu had ever perceived before.

The filth turned into a thick floc, wrapping the shopkeeper heavily.And in the blurred light and shadow, the shopkeeper's figure changed.

Chong Liu couldn't see what the shopkeeper had become, but Zhuang Cheng, who was opposite him, changed his expression.

That was the first time that Zhuang Cheng had a look of fear on his face.

The next moment, Chong Liu suddenly felt his feet slippery.

Looking down, the yellow slime mold spread from nowhere and had already engulfed his feet.The wriggling goo began to squeeze his skin, and quickly climbed up his calf, gathering more and more around him.

"Chongliu!" Song Mingzi saw it, and immediately a palm wind flew over to try to clean up the filth on his body.But Chong Liu's body suddenly lightened, and the world was spinning before his eyes, and he was actually lifted up by those yellow mucus.

The filth rushed in quickly, wrapped him layer by layer, and spread to his chest and neck in an instant, and finally choked his mouth and nose, covering him completely.

But Chong Liu, wrapped in that disgusting sticky substance, was strangely calm.

I don't know if it's because he saw too many things beyond his cognition, and then he became a little numb, but he didn't feel afraid.

In the package of those yellow things, his perception stretched out inexplicably.He could even feel some intermittent fragments of thoughts seeping into his mind from those wriggling clumps of yellow Tai Sui.

resentment……

Strong, unresolved resentment...

He vaguely knew in his mind that Zhuang Cheng wanted to use himself to restrain the shopkeeper.But Chong Liu felt that this feeling of being wrapped in filth was no stranger.It's like a... long-forgotten, pre-birth state...

Those slime molds were drilling into his skin, hooking up something that had been suppressed and slept for a long, long time.

So he grasped the threads of his thoughts and began to let his perception extend out of himself, climbing and climbing along those intricate sticky threads until he reached a node, and he saw a memory.

He saw Zhuang Cheng, who was only about ten years old, curled up in the corner of the woodshed by himself.His cheeks were bruised, one eye was swollen, and there were marks all over his body from beatings with sticks and the like.But his expression was numb, and his eyes were empty, not at all like the expression that a child of that age would have.

After a while, the door opened, and a middle-aged woman walked in quickly.She has an ordinary appearance, with traces of years engraved on her face, but when her eyes see Zhuang Cheng, her heart is extremely distressed.

She stuffed two steamed buns into Zhuang Cheng's hands, "Eat it quickly, eat it quickly."

Zhuang Cheng stared blankly at the dry food in his hand, swallowed, obviously hungry.But he shook his head and said, "Mom, I can't eat it. If Dad finds out, you will be beaten again."

"He's already asleep, no one knows. Be good, eat quickly. After eating, you will recite the book, lest he will test you again tomorrow."

Chong Liu watched Zhuang Cheng gulp down his throat, looked at the suppressed tears in Lu Hua's eyes, and vaguely guessed that there was something darker under the surface of the information he had collected.