casket of old days

Chapter 112 The Hospitable Villagers

There were sounds of rummaging and swallowing in the room. After a while, Zheng Sanshui limped out with a torch in hand, welcomed the two of them in, said that he wanted someone to talk to them, and then went out.

After a while, Chu Qiguang and Chen Gang heard the footsteps of a group of people.

Then I saw a group of skinny old men and women with sunken cheeks holding torches, sickles, pitchforks, hoes, kitchen knives... slowly surrounded them. Face.

Zheng Sanshui said slowly: "You two, don't blame us. If the Taoist temple finds out that we have colluded with monsters, the whole village will be ruined. You can stay here."

Chu Qiguang didn't move, just said casually: "Chen Gang, I'll leave it to you."

Chen Gang nodded and went up: "You gangsters, my young master is kind enough to subdue demons and demons for you, but you still want to kill people?"

An old woman didn't speak, but raised her hand and poked the pitchfork over. Chen Gang grabbed and turned over and fell to the ground.

Another old man slashed at Chen Gang with a sickle in his hand, but was kicked by Chen Gang on the chest and flew out.

Although these villagers were ruthless in their moves, with the forks and hoes in their hands hitting Chen Gang's back of the head, heart, lower body and other vital organs, their physique was so poor that they were almost as fragile as paper in Chen Gang's hands.

But at this moment, Chen Gang's back tightened, and it was Zheng Sanshui who hugged him directly.

The strength of the other party's embrace was beyond Chen Gang's expectation. Even Chen Gang hit the other party's face hard, trying to break free from the other party's embrace, but Zheng Sanshui refused to let go.

Chen Gang punched the opponent's face again, blood was all over his hands, he could hear the sound of bone cracking, but Zheng Sanshui behind him still didn't let go.

In front of Chen Gang, the elderly villagers had already stabbed Chen Gang and Zheng Sanshui with pitchforks and sickles. Chen Gang seemed to be able to clearly see the excited and fierce expressions on their faces.

Seeing that Chen Gang was in a dangerous situation, Chu Qiguang frowned, his figure was like a storm, and he rushed directly into the crowd, punching his fists like bows left and right. With the sound of crackling, the villagers were like wheat harvested by a scythe. One by one was knocked to the ground.

Then Chu Qiguang grabbed Zheng Sanshui, and with a flick of luck, Zheng Sanshui was shaken away. He looked like a wild dog whose spine had been removed, and was picked up by Chu Qiguang at will.

Seeing Zheng Sanshui whose face was severely deformed but still growling and trying to struggle, Chen Gang said with a grim expression, "Did you...take the elixir?"

Seeing that the victory and defeat had been decided, the other old men and women who fell on the ground looked at each other, and finally fell to their knees one by one, begging bitterly.

"Two heroes, I beg you to let us go, we were temporarily bewitched by ghosts, and we dare not do it again..."

"We are worried that you will expose us in the Taoist temple. This village cannot stand the torment."

"Old Zheng took the elixir because he was afraid that he would not be able to defeat you..."

Looking at the old men and women who were kneeling on the ground and begging, Chen Gang turned to Chu Qiguang and asked, "Brother Dog, what should we do?"

Chu Qiguang looked at Zheng Sanshui in his hand and said, "How did the dead man die? The rat demon can't say he did it."

Zheng Sanshui insisted: "It was killed by the rat demon."

Chu Qiguang felt that things were not that simple. He looked at the skinny appearance of the old men and women at the scene, and suddenly asked, "Where did your food go?"

Zheng Sanshui said: "Of course we ate it."

"It's not easy to say... That's not easy to say..." Chu Qiguang sneered: "Then I will call the Taoist temple, and the whole village will be destroyed by then."

Under Chu Qiguang's threats, the villagers reluctantly led them to the woodshed behind the ancestral hall, pointed to a small bag of wheat and said, "It's all here."

Chen Gang frowned and said, "There are at least a hundred mu of land planted outside, how could there be only this? And with your appearance... you don't look like you are full."

Zheng Sanshui sighed, "It's really been eaten by us."

Chu Qiguang looked at him and other skinny old people, and found that several of them looked down from time to time.

At the same time, Qiao Zhi had already jumped onto the eaves, and said to Chu Qiguang in his heart: "Licking the dog said that there is a smell of death coming from under this ancestral hall, not only the smell of the corpse, there may be other corpses in there under."

So Chu Qiguang walked vigorously for a few times, then walked to the place where the abnormal noise was coming from, lifted the straw above it, opened the door panel on the ground, and found the entrance to a cellar.

Continuing to walk, Chu Qiguang and Chen Gang suddenly saw more than a dozen living corpses being tied up inside, all locked in the cellar.

The biggest characteristic of these living corpses... is that they are relatively young. Some look seven or eight years old, some are in their teens, and the oldest seem to be no more than fifteen or sixteen years old.

They were all as thin as skeletons. Chu Qiguang and Chen Gang got excited when they saw them coming down, and they all struggled to climb towards them.

In the following narration by Zheng Sanshui and the villagers, Chu Qiguang and Chen just now knew what was going on.

In order to avoid taxes and corvee, almost all young men and women in the village fled, leaving only Zheng Sanshui's family to take care of the elderly.

They made an appointment to earn money outside to buy food, and they would come back in a year or so.

But half a year has passed...a year has passed...three years have passed...no news of the escaped young men and women.

However, the elderly and children left in the village simply do not have enough physical strength to plant many fields. Coupled with the drought for several years, there is a serious shortage of food... More and more elderly and children in the village are starved to death.

At this time, the disciples of Immortal Dao came here and gave them the medicine of immortality.

At the beginning, the villagers were reluctant to use this potion, but their belief in Taoist Xuanyuan supported them and made them resist the temptation of paganism in their hearts.

But when the first villager gave his grandson who was about to starve to death, a strange atmosphere began to spread in the village.

Zheng Sanshui murmured: "We have lived a long time, and we will die when we die, but these children are only so young, I really can't bear to watch them starve to death like this..."

So the old people died one by one, and the children were fed the elixir before they died, and then turned into living corpses, and were kept under the cellar of the ancestral hall.

But living corpses cannot survive unconditionally forever. Although they are ignorant, they still need to eat to supplement their own consumption.

It's just that they can eat a lot of things, not only flesh and blood, but also bark, grass roots, and sawdust can keep them running.

The disciples of the Immortal Way told them that if they want to cultivate to become immortals, they have to undergo autopsy. As long as these living corpses are properly raised, they will one day recover their spiritual wisdom and transform into immortals.

(End of this chapter)