Strange Tale

As expected, the enchantment with gradually weakening mind power flickered a few times and disappeared after hitting Si Ren's spell.

Long Jiu and Chang immediately rushed to the place where Xu Hai had fallen just now and now there were still many monsters piled up.Si Ren shouted to Qilin, "Look at Huan'er" and chased after the monk and the Taoist priest in the direction they were fleeing.

Si Ren chased all the way and recited the Brahma mantra, but it was very strange: the direction was correct, and there was no barrier to block it, but he could not see the ruts, nor could he find figures or evil spirits.Finally, after chasing to the small forest in the east of the village, Si Ban remembered that Huan'er said that she and Qilin fell into a hole near here, and Mr. Ji begged him to bring him to find some kind of hole.

It was almost dawn, and after searching carefully for a while in the dark blue sky before the sun rose, Si Ren found the cave.But the cave was empty and there was nothing left.

Si Ren walked around in the hole, then took out the cross with the pattern and looked at it repeatedly: he vaguely felt that he and Mr. Ji would meet again one day.

On the way back to the village, something that Si Bian was reluctant to admit became clearer——Xu Hai died, and he died a terrible death.But no matter how clear the facts are, he still held a glimmer of hope: maybe he was just suppressed, maybe he still had a breath, maybe his soul was still there after dying...

Si Ren thought more and more anxiously, walked faster and faster, and finally ran wildly.

Seeing that he was approaching Ershen Village, suddenly a breeze passed by, and Si Ren smelled a disgusting burnt smell.Suddenly stopping his pace, his mind went blank for a moment, and he slapped his thigh and blurted out: "Oops!"

The dark blue in the sky turned blue and white, and Si Ren finally ran back to the village, panting.When he rushed forward and stopped behind Long Jiu, Long Jiu was standing there with his bare upper body motionless: on his head were clusters of red hair floating on top of his head, and on his back was the imprint of the Nine Infant that had not completely disappeared. Clothes from the blood-stained, burnt torn waistband hung from the legs.

In fact, Si Ren had already seen it when he ran towards Long Jiu just now, and he doesn't want to take a closer look now.But there was no way, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, opened his eyes and looked towards the direction Long Jiu was facing: as far as his eyes could see, there were all black residues.

The light wasn't enough, so I couldn't see what it was, but Si Ren knew what it was.But just like he doesn't want to believe that Xu Hai is dead, he also doesn't want to believe what he sees and thinks now.

Turning back, Si Ren wanted to find an individual answer.The expressionless Yechang and the dumbfounded Qilin were both looking at him.Huan'er sat on the ground leaning against the unicorn and seemed to be sleeping, probably because of a spell cast on her.Why cast a spell on her?Obviously to keep her from seeing things that children shouldn't see.

"What happened?"

Although he didn't want to ask, Si Ren asked cautiously.But no one answered him.

After a moment of silence, Si Ren met Qilin's gaze, "Xiaolin? What's going on? Where are those blood-sucking monsters and villagers? Xiaohai..."

"It's all gone." Qilin replied blankly.

"what?"

"It's gone."

"There's nothing left?"

"Monsters, villagers, and Xiaohai. Xiaohai was gnawed until there was nothing left. The villagers and monsters were burned to death by Long Jiu's fire. They were screaming non-stop. Didn't you hear..." Qilin's expression returned to normal, With a face full of fear, he didn't finish speaking.

"Burn to death?" Si Ren said in a questioning tone what he already understood.

"Yes, they were all burnt to death, that's what you saw just now." Long Jiu's voice suddenly sounded from behind Si Bian's head.

Si Ren turned his head, Long Jiu had changed back to his usual appearance, turned around and walked towards Ye Chang.

He often went forward, took off his coat and put it on Long Jiu as before.

"Why?" Si Ren looked at his back as he was arranging his clothes.

Long Jiu took off his burnt clothes and threw them away, then turned to look at Si Ren, "Why do you say?"

Of course Si Ren knew it was because of Xu Hai, "But most of the villagers are normal people!"

"Just because they are normal people, they should die with the monsters."

The cowardly and numb faces of Xu Hai when he was thrown appeared in Si Ren's mind.Moreover, they themselves admitted that they had gone outside the village to capture people several times and brought them back. When necessary, they would intentionally injure the captured people so that the mutated monsters at home could find their own 'food' in time.

Being threatened is a fact, and being an accomplice is also a fact.But... After all, they didn't kill people directly by themselves.And Si Ren believes that among so many people, there must be someone who has never done anything.In terms of love, Long Jiu may be right: they deserve to die.In the law, but not everyone should be punished.Yu Li, after all, there are more than 100 people in a whole village, how can it be said that they were burned to death in one fire?

The sun didn't know when it climbed halfway from the top of the mountain, and it was already bright.In the morning light, Si Ren's eyes swept over the burnt limbs and broken bones on the ground over and over again, speechless: No matter how you look at it, it is a naked massacre.

Long Jiu's clothes were too big. After finishing the front of the skirt, he rolled the sleeves to a suitable length.

Si Ren gritted his teeth and stared at him for a long time, "What you did...is it a little too much?"

"'Pass'?" Long Jiu raised his head slightly surprised, "Based on what they did, they should be buried with Xiao Hai."

"But Xu Hai is dead!"

"That can't die in vain! Xiao Hai has been with me since he was 13 years old, and I watched him grow up."

"What did you say when you didn't return to the city? Didn't you keep saying that you wanted Xiao Hai to kill himself? Now you can't bear it anymore?!"

"He has to pay the price for what he did wrong. How my people should be punished is my business. Others can't do it if they want to!"

"What about the people who died in battle under your command? It's impossible for Xiao Hai to be alone for so long, right?"

"That's different. He died on the battlefield in an upright manner. What's the matter with Xiaohai? He was calculated by people using despicable and shameless means, and he died so painfully that there was no body left! These bastards with human skins and no hearts , Just being burned to death like this is already considered cheap for them. One day, if you catch that monster monk and monster, they will definitely make their life worse than death!"

As he spoke, Long Jiu put a brocade bag in his hand into his bosom.That bag looked familiar to Si Ren, he frowned and thought about it: On the Mo family mountain, Long Jiu had brought out a similar brocade bag when he called out the souls of the three generations of Mo's grandfather and grandson to fight with Qingniujing Dazi.

Si Ren suddenly felt that something was wrong: so many people died, and he didn't see a single soul on the way back.

"What's in the bag?"

Long Jiuhe often did not answer.Si Ren looked at Qilin again, "What's in the bag?"

"Xiaohai and the three souls and seven spirits of everyone in the village." Qilin was waiting for Si Ren to ask him.

Si Ren stepped in front of Long Jiu, stretched out his hand, "Give it to me."

Long Jiu tilted his head, "Why?"

Si Ren was already very angry, "Everyone is dead, why are you still clinging to your soul?!"

"I will collect the souls of those who die in my hands as long as there is time."

"Are you crazy?! Aren't you afraid that people from the underworld will trouble you?"

"Afraid? Hmph. You should first ask them if they are afraid of me."

Si Ren grabbed Long Jiu's fat sleeves that didn't fit well, "let them go."

Long Jiu shook off Si Ren's hand, "Impossible."

"Let them go, and forget about other things."

Long Jiu raised his neck, "So what if I don't let go?"

"You... what about Xiao Hai? Why did you even take his soul?"

"I said: what to do with my people is my business."

Si Ren had nothing to say.The dead cannot be brought back to life, and he cannot snatch their souls.Long Jiu raised his chin as if it was a matter of course.Si Ren looked at him with a livid face for a while, then flicked his sleeves, "You can do whatever you want."

After speaking, Si Ren walked to Qilin and picked up Huaner, "Go, Xiaolin. Let's go and check every house to see if there are still people who were arrested and tied up. If there is nothing wrong, let them go. Bite and bring it here."

Si Ren wakes up Huan'er and takes Qilin to start looking for living people from house to house, and when he sees one, he quickly lets go.Soon the head of the village went to the end of the village to check again. All the rescued people ran for their lives. Three injured people were taken to the village road by them and put in the same place as the person who was almost killed by the old lady before. .

When Si Ren was doing these things, Long Jiuhe often stood still and watched them busy.A few times in the middle, I often wanted to reach out to help, but was stopped by Long Jiu.

In the end, Qilin and Huan'er were asked to stand aside, and Si Ren knelt down and took out a "bead" that shone red and dazzled from his backpack.After using the "beads" to heal the injured person, he pinched the mouth of the almost dead man with one hand, and added the "beads" in with a thud.

"Little Blade!" Long Jiu and Qilin shouted in unison.

Si Ren ignored them, and ran his hand along the man's chest to help him swallow the "bead".

Soon, the man woke up.Qilin first ran over to blame Si Ren, "How could you so casually give Tu Shanli's heart to someone who doesn't know you and has nothing to do with you?!"

Si Ren didn't look at Qilin, and took out another Qingxin Pill and gave it to the man, "Saving someone's life is better than building a seven-level pagoda. You don't need to know it, and you don't need to have anything to do with it."

"Then you can't waste the heart of the nine-tailed demon fox in such a hasty way!" Long Jiu also stood behind Si Ren, "If I had known this, I shouldn't have begged Du Du's mother to let Tu Shanli's soul go." Help you keep that heart."

Si Ren didn't speak, and squatted for a while as if he didn't hear it, then stood up and turned to look at Long Jiu, "It's like you said that Xiao Hai is yours, and both life and soul are at your disposal. Tu Shanli's heart is his. I personally handed it to me, how I want to use it is also my own business."

Long Jiu was speechless, stared at Si Ren's eyes for a while, then turned and left.

"Long Jiu!" Si Ren suddenly shouted.

Long Jiu stopped, and Si Ren took a few steps to stand in front of him, "You... go back."

"Huh? 'Back'? Go back to where?"

"Yan City."

Long Jiu frowned, "I don't understand."

"What don't you understand? If you didn't come home with me, Xu Hai wouldn't die. If Xu Hai didn't die, the matter of Ershen Village might be resolved in other ways. Mr. Ji may not easily fall into the hands of Hunduo, Now the monk and Taoist are leading him to disappear, and I don’t know how many people will be harmed again. Letting you come back with me was a mistake from the beginning, so...you should hurry back to Yancheng with Yechang. Without our drag , if it’s just the two of you, the return journey will be much faster.”

Si Ren's words seemed to be well-founded and well-organized, but Long Jiu knew in his heart: Si Ren was able to say these words to him, in addition to the reasons for speaking, there was also a problem between the two of them.

Long Jiu didn't feel that he had done anything wrong, so he pursed his lips and hesitated, "Okay. Then be careful on the road."

Si Ren didn't expect Long Jiu to agree so readily, and stood there in a daze for a moment.Long Jiu had already started to walk towards Yechang, "Let's go, let's go back."

final part