The strange story of Huai'an Inn

The blacksmith's shop is a short distance from the town, and there is a lonely courtyard connected to the residence standing on the hillside, overlooking the vast sea.The lights in the shop were turned off, and the shopkeeper took Chong Liu to the small courtyard next door, and knocked hard on the door.The dogs in the yard barked loudly.

After a while, the lights of the main house in the yard came on, and after a series of coughing sounds, a man in his fifties asked impatiently in a hoarse voice with his clothes on, "Who is it?" while trotting over to open the door.

Seeing the shopkeeper and Chong Liu's faces reflected by the lights, the man suddenly woke up.He didn't seem to be able to find what to say, and stared blankly at the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper smiled cordially, "Master Wu, long time no see."

The blacksmith known as Master Wu looked back at the room vigilantly. The big yellow dog seemed to sense the master's uneasiness, grinning and threatening at the shopkeeper and Chong Liu.

"Go! Go! It's none of your business." Master Wu pushed the big yellow dog aside, took a step forward by himself, and closed the courtyard door, "Let's talk in the shop."

So the shopkeeper, Chong Liu, went back to the shop and watched the blacksmith close the door, light the lamp, and quickly light the fire in the stove.

Master Wu coughed loudly a few times. The cough was so intense that the whole shop echoed.His breathing was heavy, as if there was a murmur in his chest.

Chong Liu was busy taking out his pen, ink, paper and inkstone.He noticed that there were many more pages of records in the account book of the shopkeeper.

"I don't forge iron very much now." The blacksmith whispered. "Two years ago, a alchemist sent by Da Luo wandered over and gave me an amulet. I haven't had the same problem for a long time."

"Da Luo sent alchemists?" The shopkeeper thought for a while, "Can you show me your amulet?"

Master Wu groped in his arms for a while, then took out a yellow talisman bag and handed it to the shopkeeper.Chong Liu also stretched his neck to watch.

The shopkeeper opened the talisman bag and took out the talisman paper inside, but saw that the talisman paper weighed six, of course it didn't make sense, but the shopkeeper frowned more and more, "How long have you been wearing this talisman?"

"I've been wearing it since he gave it to me."

"Then when did your coughing problem start?"

"Ah, I've had this problem intermittently since last year. It's good and sometimes bad. Recently, it snowed and I got a little cold, and then it started again. I've seen the doctor, and it doesn't bother me."

Zhu Helan frowned but did not let go.He put the spell back into the bag, and said, "This spell is not the Da Luo school spell I've seen, it's extremely powerful, and it's used to suppress evil spirits."

Chongliu asked curiously, "Strong efficiency? Is that a good thing?" But the shopkeeper's expression didn't look like a good thing.

Master Wu also said, "No! Ever since I wore it, I haven't had any nightmares, and I haven't created any... evil things in a flash." "It looks like this on the surface, but... this thing It’s too strong, it’s like putting a cover on a volcano that’s about to erupt. The fire underneath isn’t extinguished, it’s not being drained, it’s just being suffocated. As time goes by, the heat will grow stronger, and sooner or later the entire mountain will explode. The shopkeeper shook his head and looked at Master Wu worriedly, "You've been wearing it for two years, and the damage has already started to appear. You can't wear it anymore."

Master Wu stared blankly at him, and then coughed in response to the occasion.But in the next moment, he suddenly hesitated and said something with an unspeakable expression, "It's not that I don't believe you...but...you don't mean to let me take your order..."

Chong Liuyi was not happy to hear that, "It's a bit hurtful for you to say that. The master knows a lot of craftsmen, even if you don't want to take us to find someone else, why are you lying here? Since the master said so Now, and you do have abnormalities in your body, I think you should think about it carefully."

Master Wu glared at Chong Liu angrily, "I'm talking to your shopkeeper, how can you, a green-haired kid, interrupt!"

The shopkeeper's face darkened immediately.He stood up and handed the amulet to Master Wu, his tone was at least ten degrees colder, "I'm done talking here, since someone else gave it to you, I can't say much. But I advise you, if you want to live through next year, get the amulet as soon as possible." It burns, then come to me. I might save your life."

After finishing speaking, he didn't say anything more, and waved to Chong Liu, "Liu'er, let's go."

Chong Liu quickly collected the things, followed the shopkeeper and strode out of the yard.When he was about to go out, he looked back, but the blacksmith didn't chase him out.

"Master...is he really leaving just like that?"

Zhu Helan sighed, the hot air condensed into a white mist in the cold air, "He has never liked the ability he acquired. He used to make money to support his family, but now he has made a lot of money. After the yard is finished, he can't afford it. Sending all three of his sons to the academy, he was afraid that when he wanted to stop, he happened to meet that alchemist.

The alchemist probably told him something that made him wary of me.Sigh... If he doesn't listen to what I say, any more words will only increase his resentment, and it may make him miss the chance to save his life even more.In the end it still depends on him. "

Chongliuqi said, "That national master Mengku is too disrespectful to us! Let's help him, but he let his disciples and grandchildren repeatedly provoke him."

"How many times?" The shopkeeper was stunned for a moment, and then remembered an episode that Chongliu had told him, "You mean the young alchemist you met when you and Song Mingzi went to fetch the fan?"

"It's not him!"

Zhu Helan folded his hands and fell into deep thought, "I don't think this matter has anything to do with Mengku. The national teacher is old and has rarely participated in the affairs of the Daluo faction in recent years, but in the name of a teacher. In the past two years I'm afraid it will be passed on to Wuyu, his third disciple. I have already inquired about the Yuanchu you met last time, and it is Mengku's eldest disciple who has no income."

Chong Liu tightened his cotton padded coat, thinking about what the shopkeeper said, "I didn't collect much information from Da Luo, after all, they are also mysterious. But I know that Mengku took seven apprentices, but why didn't he choose Da Luo?" Apprentice inheriting his mantle?"

"Because Mengku told me that his big apprentice is not very 'submissive', it seems that he has a disagreement with his master in philosophy. There are also many schools among alchemists. The simplest classification is longevity school, cultivating the body Immortals do not care about vulgar things; the Jiangmo Sect is a sect that subdues demons and eliminates demons to benefit the common people and accumulates merit, such as the Qingming Sect and the Daluo Sect;

However, there are many complex branches of ideas derived from these factions.Like Mengku, although he once faced the demon army brought by Tianguren, in fact, he didn't have such a strong aversion to all the ungodly things.But his first disciple Wu Sheng was a little more extreme than him, maybe even more extreme than Daoist Qi Yao.He believes that people like you and me who are contaminated with filth are a disaster, and sooner or later they will cause harm to the world, so they should all be locked up and get rid of the filth collectively.If it cannot be removed, it should be locked up to avoid disaster. "

Chong Liu showed a disgusted expression, "This man is sick? Did we provoke him?!"

"It's not difficult to understand such a person. He is just afraid of what he doesn't know. People are afraid and unwilling to understand, so they want to eliminate." At this time, the two walked to a place not far from the main road, and weighed six Then I remembered the main purpose of their visit this time, "Huh? If the blacksmith quits, what about this business?" It matches. But there is no other way out.” The shopkeeper walked towards the carriage quietly waiting on the main road.

Chong Liu glanced back, and the courtyard was already hidden in the night.All that can be seen is the dark sea with a layer of silver thread under the moonlight.

The sound of the waves vibrated in the air, and the salty taste filled his heart, making him inexplicably feel... nostalgic.

He recalled the sea in his dream.

He recalled the innocence and freedom of being inseparable from the whole, the whole vast spherical world.

Zhu Helan heard the sound of footsteps trampling on the snow behind him, turned around, but saw Chongliu staring at the distant sea in a daze.

Zhu Helan frowned slightly, then returned to Chong Liu, "What's wrong?"

Chong Liu suddenly came back to his senses, "Ah? It's nothing. I haven't seen the sea for a long time. The place where my master and I lived was not far from the coast."

This is the first time that Chong Liu took the initiative to talk about his past with his master.Zhu Helan was slightly surprised.

In the past, Chongliu always killed him by saying that he was from Gaotu.

But Mount Gaotu is far away from the sea, so this is... Are you telling the truth to yourself?

Zhu Helan didn't continue to ask anything, but urged, "Let's go, there are still many things to do tonight."

............................................................

The shopkeeper negotiated with another carpenter about the details of making the wooden compass fish. As long as a magnetic needle is inserted into the wood, it can be used in the same way as the iron one.The carpenter's taint seems to work differently than the blacksmith's abilities, and the wood carvings he makes often come to life.

Generally speaking, what he carves are small creatures like birds, bees and butterflies, which will not cause too much damage.But one time before he met the shopkeeper, he took a big business and helped a villager to carve a statue of the Empress Houtu, which was as tall as two people.

As a result, a month later, someone went to visit relatives in that village, but found that the whole village was quiet and there was no one there.

Whether human or animal, there is no one left.

What is creepy is the traces of dark dried liquid splashed everywhere on the ground and walls, and there are many pieces of rotten and maggoted meat.The whole village was filled with a rotten stench, like hell on earth.

He walked all the way to the newly built Houtu Niangniang Temple, and saw the broken limbs scattered all over the ground.Only the wooden statue of Empress Houtu stood on the divine seat, with her belly stretched out and her kindly smiling mouth covered in blood.

The government cut the wood carving open, and found many people in the village in its stomach...at least the undigested parts of many people.

Later, with the help of the shopkeeper, the foul smell on the wood carvings was greatly suppressed, so that they could only move under certain circumstances.

And this time, the specific situation planned by the shopkeeper with the spell is that when it senses that there is a strong foul air approaching from the outside world, it will start to swim in the direction of the foul smell.At this time, in order to prevent the guide fish from getting out of control, it should be soaked in pig blood and replaced with fresh blood every day.When it starts to move, immediately instill a few drops of human blood to appease it.

After Chongliu wrote the prototype of the contract, and the shopkeeper negotiated with the carpenter about the pick-up time, it was already daylight.Cars and horses began to come and go on the official road, and it was no longer safe to take a shortcut, so I had to drive back to Tianliang City.

Fortunately, the place where the carpenter lives is not as far away as the blacksmith.It took about three hours to arrive.

Nothing happened for the next two days.Everything was done step by step, but the three people from Ming Yuandao probably planned to stay in the inn until the guide fish was finished, which made everyone a little nervous.

In fact, Chongliu thinks that these three people are not difficult to serve.The black-clothed brother named A Liang played outside with his junior sister all day long, and Xiao Yi, the head of Ming Yuandao who was aliased Li Xiao, was also very low-key, except for occasionally calling him to clean up the room and change the bedding and incense. Not picky about anything.

And there are quite a lot of rewards left...

Only a few times, he saw Xiao Yi standing under the locust tree, looking around at the locust tree, and didn't know what he was studying, which made Chong Liu a little bit concerned.

Until one day, suddenly a young man about 27 rushed into the inn to look for the shopkeeper, holding in his hand the blacksmith's amulet that Chongliu had seen before.

As soon as the young man saw Zhu Helan, he rushed over and fell to his knees with a plop, as if seeing a life-saving straw.

Chong Liu has long been familiar with the strange behavior... Many customers who ordered things from the shopkeeper but failed to fulfill their obligations in accordance with the contract are like this when they come back to the shopkeeper for help, almost the same as Xizhu before.But he was kind, gentle and swift enough to hold him up before his knees hit the ground, lest it be scary to be watched by so many guests in the lobby.

When the shopkeeper saw the young man, he said, "Huh? You are Master Wu's eldest son, Ah Feng, right? I haven't seen him grow so big in a few years?"

The shopkeeper obviously looks younger than the other party, and he still has the tone of an old uncle. Chong Liu wanted to laugh when he saw it.

"Mr. Zhu! Please go and see my father...he...he's probably crazy!"