Ask Sword

"What should we do now?"

On the cemetery, the four of them looked around, looking at the tombs full of pits and valleys.

"Gather up and cover. Leave a note explaining the situation."

After thinking for a moment, Li Ang said: "It gets dark quickly here, after covering the coffin, we will go behind the mountain."

According to Zhuo Wenbai, everything in Qishui Village originated from the black fish-producing lake in the back mountain. It was the place where the celebration was held, and it was also the last place Li Ang and his party hadn't explored.

Everyone worked together to clean up the coffin and walked down the graveyard.

At this time, the villagers in Qishui Village had finished their farm work ahead of schedule and gathered in the village. They changed out of their brown clothes and put on ragged and old clothes, silently and orderly arranging candles, drums, lanterns and other celebration props.

"Those clothes are deliberately worn."

Ji Xing looked into the distance and said, "It was new clothes, but they were cut into tatters and patched."

Guan Anyan asked: "Is it to imitate the previous legend?"

"Well, it should be."

Ji Xingwang said: "They dressed up as their ancestors who were fleeing at that time.

Just like folk dances in some places, it uses collective performances to restore the deeds in ancient legends. "

Accompanied by Ji Xingwang's words, a group of villagers came slowly carrying long strips of fishing nets. The whole village seemed to have gathered here, including the villagers in the ancestral hall that Li Ang and others saw during the day.

Except Zhuo Wenbai's family.

"They are going to pack their things and prepare to go up the mountain."

Seeing this, Ji Xingwang said quickly, "They are going to change at sunset, and we have to go to the mountain before them."

"."

Li Ang looked at Qishui Village, counting the number of people present, silent for a long time, then suddenly took out a pen and paper, drew a woman's face on the paper, and showed it to others, "Do you recognize this face?"

"Um?"

The three were puzzled, Yu Yong glanced at it, and asked in doubt: "Is this a bit like Empress Qihuai?"

The two brothers Yu Yong and Yu Yuan specially visited the Qihuai Niangniang Temple in Bingzhou City, which was rumored to be very effective, and they were able to get a lottery, so they were very impressed.

"Empress Qihuai?"

Li Ang realized something, and said, "You go to the mountain to investigate, I will go to other places to explore, if you encounter danger, I will launch communication fireworks."

"What?! You still have to split up at this time?"

Ji Xingwang, who has always been prudent and steady, couldn't help questioning at this moment: "And where did you get this painting?"

"Long story short, long story long, I'd better not say it."

Li Ang said quickly: "Now it's just a conjecture. By the way, if you meet Yu Shusheng and the others, you must ask about the origin of the Qihuai Niangniang Temple near Bingzhou."

After finishing speaking, he kicked off the ground and quietly jumped into the dense forest.

Ji Xingwang and the three wanted to ask again, but at this time the sun was setting and the thick fog was slowly rising from the mountains and forests, gradually covering their sight.

And in the mountain village far away, the group of Qishui villagers also played drums and marched up the mountain.

"What is he doing?"

Yu Yong clenched his teeth and said, "It's been said that there are ghosts in the fog. Is he going to die? Or does he want to escape alone."

"Friar Road is not that kind of person."

Guan Anyan made an excuse, and frowned unconsciously. Her intuition is extremely keen, and she "feels" that Luffy is not a bad person, but she also faintly feels that the other party is always a little less popular, as if he has practiced evil skills.

"Okay, we can't stop him if he wants to leave."

Ji Xingwang looked away, and said in a deep voice, "Go up the mountain. Go to the lake before the villagers."

————

Zhuo Wenbai's home has arrived.

Li Ang quietly pushed open the door, and Zhuo Wenbai, his wife, and their daughter were not here.

"really."

He opened his mouth and spat out a piece of fish—a black fish regurgitated from his abdominal cavity and cooked by Zhuo Wenbo's wife.

It is said that because of the existence of Qishui God, the black fish in the lake can be caught by people, so Qishui Village has to worship the god every year, and those who eat the snakehead fish may see the phantom of Qishui God.

But just now, when Li Ang chewed the black fish meat, what he saw was Empress Qihuai's face.

"Qihuai Empress, the Water-Dwelling God"

He muttered to himself, put away the fish, pushed the door and went out.

————

The shadows of the trees in the back mountain are flickering, cold and inexplicable,

Ji Xingwang and others arrived at Houshan first, and saw that the lake in Houshan was indeed as described by Zhuo Wenbo, with round and perfect shores and clear water.

With the remaining rays of the setting sun, one can see black fishes swimming calmly in the lake.

"There's a stone tablet here!"

At a glance, Yu Yong saw a stone tablet erected at a slant on the edge of the lake.

The stele is in the shape of a column as a whole, with moss and dry vines growing on the back, and the front is relatively well preserved because it faces down obliquely, and many crooked and curved scratches can be barely seen on it.

"Chewen."

Ji Xingwang took a deep breath, and immediately let Yu Yong get out of the way, and leaned forward to observe carefully.

"Qi Wen is the writing on oracle bones of the Yin and Shang Dynasties. It got its name because it was carved on tortoise shells and animal bones with a Qi knife. It is the content of epigraphy."

Guan Anyan explained to Yu Yong: "Senior brother Chu is the one who studies Qiwen."

"oh."

Yu Yong nodded. The study of epigraphy began in the Sui Dynasty before. Some sects, such as Taixuanzong, collected a large number of bamboo slips, oracle bones, bronzes, and stone tablets. They studied the characters on them, trying to restore the history of ancient times. Gain the power of the ancient monk.

Legend has it that in ancient times there was no way of cultivation, humans and gods lived together, and the closer the blood to the gods, the stronger the power they would have. For example, "Hua Xu walked in the footsteps of a great man, and Fuxi was born in Lei Ze."

After the era of cohabitation between humans and gods ended, the Shang Dynasty still worshiped the theory of ghosts and gods. Whether it was war, grazing, plowing, or praying for rain, it was necessary to pray to the gods for guidance.

It wasn't until the Haotian Daomen appeared later that the worship of ghosts and gods gradually turned into the worship of Haotian, that is, the sky itself. And the method of practice in the world has also changed from blood inheritance to cultivation based on spiritual veins.

Because of that ancient history, involving the secret of the birth of Haotian Daomen,

The past dynasties of Haotian Daomen have spared no effort to cover up and eliminate, and keep the secrets locked in Taihao Mountain.

This also led to the Central Plains dynasty's cognition of the history before the Shang and Zhou Dynasties stagnated at the stage of legends and myths.

In fact, the reason why Taixuanzong was able to take the lead in studying epigraphy was that they were powerful and secretive on the one hand.

On the other hand, it was also because in the former Sui Dynasty, the several headmasters of Haotian Daomen died prematurely or died unexpectedly, which led to endless turmoil in Mount Taihao. greatly weakened,

Only then did Taixuanzong and other sects grow wantonly, and led to the expansion of the follow-up school, and gradually gained the confidence not to be afraid of Haotian Daomen.

Yu Yong has no interest in this historical secret, but Ji Xingwang, who has been studying epigraphy, is very excited.

He lightly brushed the notch with his palm, rubbing out something like a thin paste from the notch, muttering "Baiji water"

"Senior brother Chu has been here?"

Guan Anyan said excitedly.

The traditional Chinese medicine Bletilla striata is soaked in water and boiled to obtain a viscous glue, which is one of the tools for epigraphy rubbing.

The bletilla striata traces are still very clear, which means that someone has been here not long ago and rubbed the stele—it was obviously Chu Haoman.

"Well. Haoman came here before us, so he must have obtained some information. Now we just need to figure out the words on the stone tablet."

Ji Xingwang squatted on the ground, struggling to analyze the words on the stone tablet word by word.

Guan Anyan asked: "Teacher, what does the deed above mean?"

"Do not use it today for divination in the Jiawu period. 胹."

Ji Xingwang shook his head, got up and said: "No, these words have been peeled off and weathered a lot, so I can't fully interpret them, I can only barely guess.

In this sentence, Jiawu is the date of divination.

Zhen is a person who specializes in divination and asking gods in the Shang Dynasty.

As for Xun, "Zuo Zhuan·Xuan Gong Two Years" says that the butcher Xun Xiong Xun is not familiar with it. It means overcooked.

It sounds like in the Jiawu period, I asked someone for divination and asked the gods, got a certain result, and cooked something. "

"Do people in the Shang Dynasty need divination even when they eat and cook?"

Yu Yong frowned,

Before Ji Xingwang could give an explanation, the sound of drum music started to approach from far to near.

The group of Qishui villagers walked up the mountain with lanterns and candles and fishing nets.

"Hide."

Ji Xingwang immediately retreated with the two of them and hid far away in the depths of the dense forest. He set up soundproof symbols and other talismans to conceal his breath, and quietly observed the actions of the villagers in Qishui.

As dusk came, the villagers of Qishui became more dull and numb. Some people's limbs were twisted and their bodies were blurred. They were only one step away from completely turning into evil spirits.

However, they were still driven by some hidden power to strictly implement the celebration process, as if they were performing for ghosts and tourists who did not exist.

Those villagers in tattered clothes appeared as the ancestors of the refugees, and circled the lake for several weeks.

The drum band, on the other hand, is engrossed in playing noisy music with ecstasy.

I don't know if the dance was originally like this, or because the actors have turned into ghosts, the whole process presents a strange and creepy feeling.

Ji Xing, who was hiding in the shadows and watched the three of them, felt cold all over, his five senses trembled, and disgust, irritability and fear spontaneously arose in his heart.

After an unknown amount of time, the dance finally ended, and the villagers moved out a heavy wooden square table covered with a red cloth—something bulging was obviously placed on the table, and its outline emerged from the red cloth.

Soon Ji Xingwang and the three knew what it was,

As a villager lifted the red cloth, several trays of neatly stacked whole grains appeared on the table.

All the villagers poured the whole grains into the lake, and the lake immediately splashed.

Countless black fish that had been swimming in the lake surfaced one after another, eating food.

clatter——

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the villagers dipped their fishing nets into the lake, knelt down on the ground, and prayed.

"teacher"

Guan Anyan said softly: "The shape of the placement of those grains"

"I know, like people."

Ji Xingwang breathed in and said, "The head is rice, the body is millet, the heart is millet, the hands are wheat, and the feet are bean. It forms a human figure. This should be a simulation of the scene where the Qishui god dipped into the lake when the village was built."

"Ahhhhhhhhhh—"

A sharp hiss interrupted Ji Xingwang's words.

In the lake, the group of fat black fish did not fall into the fishing net after devouring the whole grains, but slipped away one after another along the gaps in the fishing net.

This incident seemed to have brought great fear to the Qishui villagers. They stopped the drumming and performances, gathered around the lake, looked into the lake, and screamed in panic.

Gudong Gudong.

The surface of Qishui Lake was like boiling soup, with large and small bubbles constantly popping up. Those whole grains that hadn't been eaten splashed out as the bubbles burst and sprinkled towards the lake.

"Is this part of the celebration? Or is the celebration a failure?"

Yu Yong asked subconsciously.

I saw that the lake continued to surge like boiling, forming a long flood, which extinguished the lanterns, washed away the soil on the riverside, and broke the trees along the banks.

Those snakeheads in the lake were washed ashore by the current and ran aground one after another.

Looking around, countless snakeheaded fish are piled up on the ground, trees, and stones, making people doubt how deep the lake is, how many snakeheaded fish are there,

The villagers of Qishui Village were not at all happy about the fish catch. They screamed in fear, got up and retreated, and saw Ji Xingwang and the other three hiding in the forest through the collapsed forest.

"."

All the villagers froze in place, staring blankly at the three outsiders.

"escape!"

Before he had time to think about it, Ji Xingwang threw several talismans forward, grabbed Yu Yong and Guan Anyan with both hands, performed the Feather Falling Technique, and glides down the mountain.

Those half-demonized villagers seemed to have decided that they were the culprits who interfered with the celebration, and chased them frantically.

The wind whistling by my ears,

Ji Xingwang gave Yu Yong and Guan Anyan a piece of Feather Falling Technique, letting them glide on their own, while he turned around and released the spell towards the villagers and ghosts who were chasing him.

Binding Fire, Earth Splitting, Lightning Strike, Wind Claw...

Boom boom boom!

Ji Xingwang, a cultivator in the cloud patrol realm, struck with all his strength, and the thunderous thunder struck straight down, igniting the forest with raging fire.

The dozen or so ghosts that were chasing them were blown away, but even more ghosts came rushing forward by falling.

"Wood contains yang energy, and its fine structure burns. Burning endlessly, it is a mountain of flaming fire"

Seeing this, Ji Xingwang's eyes flashed fiercely, he formed a formula with his hands, pointed downward, and swept heavily from bottom to top.

call--

The fierce wind blows towards the mountain along the track of his fingers, and the moment it passes through the mountain forest, the temperature suddenly heats up.

Directly ignite the air, ignite the trees, and draw a fire belt nearly fifty feet long on the mountainside.

Cloud Patrol·Flame Mountain

The wind helps the fire, and the fire uses the wind,

The fire belt spread rapidly, distorting and deforming the air, and the descending ghosts were also blocked from the fire belt.

"It should be able to delay for a quarter, half an hour."

The pale-faced Ji Xingwang let out a long sigh of relief, and brought Yu Yong and Guan Anyan to the ground, his feet softened involuntarily.

"Steady."

Yu Yong supported Ji Xingwang, and suddenly heard footsteps approaching from far away.

He suddenly turned his head to look at the forest, raised his arm, and held a dagger in his palm, ready to throw it at any time.

"Wait, it's me!"

The flustered Yu Scholar ran out of the fog and said out of breath, "I just came from the graveyard, and Liao Kaifeng and Yan Yan who were with me have died and turned into ghosts.

Liao Kaifeng was killed once, and Yan Yan was also dumped by me, but he may come over at any time. We'd better leave now"

"Not urgent."

A muffled voice came from the mist,

Li Ang stepped closer and casually threw a fat black fish on the ground.

"you"

Ji Xingwang looked at the black fish and realized instantly, "Have you been to Qishui Lake? You made the movement in the lake just now?"

"It's not me, to be precise, it's your disciple, Chu Haoman."

Li Ang said lightly: "We'd better move to the ancestral hall now, and in the process, Yushusheng, you can tell me about the origin of the Qihuai Niangniang Temple."