[Comprehensive] Traveling through Liaozhai with a hundred ghosts

In ignorant and backward places, it is not uncommon to use human sacrifice, especially in ancient times when ghosts and gods were active.

So Shuweng and Yasha don't think it's a big deal, and Xu Hang can understand it, but he came from the era of perfect etiquette and law in later generations, and many old foolish behaviors have been broken in modern times. He seems to have violated the bottom line.

Besides, although it is ancient times now, it is no longer ancient times, and the gods who still need to use human sacrifices are mostly linked to evil gods or monsters in Xu Hang's impression.

After inquiring about the wild monsters in the mountain, Xu Hang quickly inquired about the location of the village and the information therein.

This is a village in a big mountain near Echizen Castle. There are towering old trees in this big mountain. Among them is a locust tree that grows very tall. I don’t know how much it has grown here. It must have survived for a long time, and this tree will grow. With the tree spirit, you can use some supernatural powers.Sometimes people in the village pray to it for divination, and sometimes it is effective.

However, this tree spirit did not develop for good. After gaining the awe of the villagers, it first asked the villagers to build a shrine for it and asked for offerings.

At first, the offerings it asked for were mainly gold and silver, but as its appetite grew, it was no longer satisfied with gold and silver, and it began to demand living people as sacrifices.

This kind of behavior is no longer what normal gods would do. In fact, this locust tree is indeed called the locust tree in the local population. Under normal circumstances, the locals should find a mage to subdue or seal it, but the locals abandoned it. The benefits obtained after offering sacrifices to evil gods are lost.

Just sacrificing one person every year can guarantee the richness of the land and the protection of evil gods. You don’t have to worry about being attacked by monsters when you go in and out of this mountain forest... There are more than 50 families in the village, and every year one family will wait until the next turn. 50 years later.

With this in mind, the people in the village not only didn't think Huai Xie Shen's request was too much, but even thought it was worth it.

Another locust tree... Xu Hang thought to himself.The locust tree has a heavy yin and is easy to summon ghosts through psychics, so supernatural things often happen.

In fact, Xu Hang can also understand the thoughts of these villagers, but understanding does not mean that they think their actions are right, and their desires are endless. Who can guarantee that the locust tree will not make further progress from collecting money to requiring human sacrifices? Woolen cloth?

Not long after, he came to the village dedicated to Huaixie God, but before Xu Hang had time to ask the villagers, he found that the villagers on the road were full of sorrow, pay attention to their conversation, it is not difficult to hear words related to sacrifice .

For a small mountain village in the middle of the mountains, Xu Hang's foreign faces are very abrupt.

Sure enough, not long after they entered the village, some villagers came forward to inquire about their origins.

Xu Hang is already very familiar with such inquiries, and replied: "I am a painter who is traveling around, and those two are my companions. I heard that there is a village here with beautiful scenery, so I came here just because of the name." .”

The villagers who came to inquire saw that Xu Hang was carrying a picture scroll, with a handsome and elegant appearance. Although he said he was just a painter, he was more like a suave nobleman in Beijing. He was a little apprehensive, and he didn't dare to continue the obvious interrogation, and even invited him to entertain him at home.

Xu Hang did not refuse, and went to the villager's house.He observed it. This villager should have some status in the village, maybe he is the village chief himself.

The villager quickly asked his wife to make tea for them, but apparently he was still wary of Xu Hang and the others. During the chat, there were many inquisitive inquiries. Finally, the villager said: "I don't know. Sir, can you let me admire your paintings?"

Xu Hang said calmly, "Of course."

He took out some sketches that he drew casually in his spare time, and seeing the realistic picture, the villager was shocked, thinking that even if Xu Hang was not a nobleman in Beijing, he must be a court painter with such painting skills.

Only then did Xu Hang start to ask him: "I saw the villagers sighing and sighing on the road, what's the matter? Is it because the harvest is not good this year?"

The villager looked a little nervous, and he said, "Ah? Ah! Yes! This year's rain is relatively low, and the water for irrigation is not enough."

Xu Hang naturally saw that he was hiding something and didn't tell the truth, but he didn't point it out, and didn't continue to inquire about this topic. The villager was secretly relieved when he saw that he didn't pursue it.

After drinking a few cups of tea, Xu Hang proposed to go out to collect scenery. At this time, the villager reminded: "Sir, when you collect scenery, remember not to go to the forest in the east. A few days ago, someone saw the footprints of beasts there. It's not very safe over there."

Xu Hang nodded in response, and the villager emphasized again and again.

Coming out of the villager's house, Shuweng chuckled softly: "It seems that people here have ghosts in their hearts."

Yasha glanced behind them out of the corner of his eye, and there was another villager hanging behind them stealthily, apparently watching their movements, afraid that they would disobey the advice and go to the east woods.

The villager didn't leave until he saw Xu Hang sitting by the nearby field and taking out his painting tools to paint.

Shuweng asked: "Do you need me to inquire for you?"

He is still very good at inquiring about other people, Xu Hang nodded: "Then I will trouble you."

Shuweng went back to the village, and when he saw people chatting together, he went over there.This was probably his talent. It didn't take long for the Shuweng to let the villagers put down their guard.

By noon, Shuweng had successfully figured out all the things he wanted to know, and returned to Xu Hang with a satisfied expression.At this time, Xu Hang also finished painting a painting of rural scenery.

Shuweng looked at the newly painted painting and sighed: "Every time I see your painting, I feel very miraculous. It is obvious that you can draw things so realistically with a simple brush without any magic. "

Xu Hang said lightly: "Looking at your appearance, you should have already found out what you want to know."

Shuweng said with a smile: "It's natural."

Then Shuweng quickly told Xu Hang what he found out: "They don't want us to go to the east woods. It's not that there are any wild beasts infested, but that the shrine dedicated to the evil god is there. The villagers are worried because a few days ago It happened to be the day of this year's sacrifice, but the sacrifice originally ordered this year was a child from an ordinary villager's family, but for some reason, the youngest son of the rich family in the village died. Now the evil god Huai took the opportunity to attack, On the grounds that the sacrifice was different from what was originally reported, I demanded another sacrifice."

Seeing Xu Hang frown, Shuweng added a guess of his own: "I guess, the people who asked the city lord to participate in worshiping the evil gods before, probably hoped that the city lords would also become believers of the evil gods and worship the evil gods. After all, the top of the village In the sky, there are only more than 50 households."

Xu Hang had already packed his things, got up and said coldly, "Let's go."

Although Xu Hang's expression was still calm, both Shuweng and Yasha could sense that he was not happy at the moment.

Yasha swung his wrist and said excitedly: "It seems that we can have a good activity tonight."

After dark.

Xu Hang and the others, who pretended to leave in the afternoon, turned back again, this time heading straight for the woods on the east side of the village, and they easily avoided the eyes and ears of the villagers.

In the woods, it wasn't long before they saw a shrine.

Shuweng stopped suddenly: "There is an enchantment here."

It was not difficult for Xu Hang to break the barrier, but he didn't want to disturb the monster too quickly, so he stuck the breath-holding talisman on himself and Shuweng and the others, and then sneaked into the shrine.

This shrine was well built, and at first glance it looked quite formal, and there were witches inside, but they were only people with weak spiritual powers, and they were still far behind the real shrine.

The main body of the locust tree is behind the shrine, and there is a monument next to it, with the words Omori evil god written on it.

The tree is so huge that about ten adult men can encircle the tree with open arms, and the crown of the tree can hardly see the end of the top.

It wasn't until Xu Hang came to the tree that Huai Xie Shen found out that the intruder was a big monster!

Huai Xie Shen instinctively realized that the visitor was not kind, and sure enough, Xu Hang was a person who didn't talk nonsense, and he did it as soon as he said it.

To deal with wood spirit monsters, it is most effective to use fire attacks.

Xu Hang directly sprayed out the real fire of samadhi, Huaixie God didn't expect him to do it so quickly, completely unexpected, the flame directly burned to its tree.

Huai Xie Shen yelled terribly, and immediately summoned the priestess of the shrine to put out the fire.

But it doesn't know that the true fire of Samadhi is not extraordinary fire, and it cannot be extinguished by water.

Not long after, the shrine heard the fire bell.

Xu Hang frowned. It seemed that it had to be solved quickly. The tree was too big and had too much yin energy. It would take a long time even if it was burned, so he drew out his peach wood sword to trigger the thunder.

For an extremely sinister tree like the locust tree, Tianlei is undoubtedly its biggest nemesis.

Huai Xie Shen felt that there was a greater crisis.

Originally, he wanted to beg Xu Hang for mercy, asking why this big monster could not get along with him, but now he simply gave up.

Although I was reluctant to part with this rare hundred-year-old locust tree, I was afraid that if I didn't leave, I would have no chance to escape!

So when Xu Hang was about to do the magic trick, he suddenly noticed a white spirit coming out of the tree, looking at it sneakily, as if it wanted to slip away.

Xu Hang immediately realized that this might be the true body of Huai Xie Shen.This locust tree is different from the one he encountered in Lanruo Temple. Today's locust tree has not become a spirit, but is possessed by an evil spirit in the mountain.

Xu Hang immediately interrupted the incantation he was chanting, drew a sword flower, and then directly stabbed the white spirit body with the tip of the sword.

Huai Xie Shen did not expect his intentions to be discovered so quickly, Xu Hang's sword was as fast as thunder, this time Huai Xie Shen had no way out, and was directly stabbed by the peach wood sword.

"why?!!"

It let out a cry of resignation.

Why does this big monster want to have trouble with it? !Why does it try everything to make itself stronger, and in the end the big monster can end its life with one blow? !

It's a pity that no one will answer him, Xu Hang flicked the mahogany sword, and flicked away the monster's blood from the sword.

Then he found that four Gouyu fell on the ground where he had just killed Huai Xie Shen.

[Name] Dryad

[item type] royal soul

[Quality] Five-star

[Item Description] When you hold two pieces, your life value increases by 15%, and when you hold four pieces, the healing effect increases by 30%.

At the same time that Xu Hang picked up the tree demon Yuhun, people from the village arrived.

Seeing the locust trees burned by fire, the villagers were terrified.

During the day, the villager who warmly entertained Xu Hang and the others yelled at the others: "Firefighting! Hurry up and put out the fire!"

But no matter how many buckets of water were poured on it, the fire showed no sign of being extinguished.

Xu Hang stood behind the tree. At this moment, the villagers were busy fighting the fire, but no one noticed them.

Finally, an old man who couldn't walk knelt down and prayed: "God of the tree! Please don't abandon our village!"

As the old man knelt down, other villagers also begged in succession.

Seeing that the fire could no longer be extinguished, the villagers were very sad. Among the crowd, no one knew who was the first to say: "We are willing to offer you another sacrifice! If one is not enough, we can increase the number!"

Then, someone followed suit immediately: "Yes! We can increase the number of sacrifices!"

……

Xu Hang watched this scene indifferently, and suddenly said: "Yasha, I allow you to destroy this village."

Since following Xu Hang, Yasha, who hadn't wreaked havoc for a while, showed a wild smile: "I should have said it earlier! I'm almost rusted during this period of time!"

Yasha's figure quickly disappeared.

Not long after, there was the sound of houses collapsing and flames appearing in the village.

The villagers rushed back to the village in horror.

On Xu Hang's side, as the locust tree was burned, he saw some soul fragments floating out of the locust tree, which should be the remains of the previous sacrifices eaten by the locust god.

It's just fragments, without a complete soul, even if Xu Hang wants to, he can't save them.

At this moment, Xu Hang saw two figures appearing in the void, they were holding a sickle and a spirit rod respectively, one black and one white, this feature made Xu Hang's first reaction think of black and white impermanence.

"Why is this place again, I just came here to collect souls a few days ago!" Gui Shihei complained, "Ah...why are there so many soul fragments?! This is asking me to work overtime!"

To his partner's complaints, Gui Shibai had only one sentence: "Let's lure them all to the underworld as soon as possible!"

The two ghost emissaries who were about to start their work noticed Xu Hang's existence at this moment.

The author has something to say:

Yesterday I forgot to remind everyone not to search Giant View, it seems that it was my fault that this little cutie suffered a serious heart attack [cover face]

Speaking of living sacrifices, in fact, it is not just ancient times. During the Song Dynasty in our dynasty, there were many cult groups in the folk activities, inspiring living sacrifices.According to "Yi Jian Zhi" (written by Hong Mai in the Southern Song Dynasty): "Hubei is the most victorious of the traitors who kill and sacrifice, and their ghost name is Lengzhai God. The official Shixiu is called a smart person. One can be three, and the teacher Monks, Taoists, so-called practitioners, one can be two, and other women and children are one.”

It probably means that the top sacrifices are Confucian scholars, the next level are monks, and then other people.

If you want to know more about it, you can read "The Custom of Killing and Sacrifice to Ghosts in the Southeast Region of the Song Dynasty"

The officials at that time hated this kind of vulgarity very much. In 1031 AD, Song Renzong issued an edict stating that Lingchi could be used for people who killed people and sacrificed to ghosts.

It's better to live in the present age =. =

After looking at the progress, there is only one more chapter to go to Heianjing~

Let the protagonist wander on the road again, I'm afraid I will be beaten up by my uncle [shivering]