After the hero goes crazy

Chapter 357

'Boom boom boom boom——'

The rapid sound of gongs and drums sounded like raindrops, getting heavier and heavier, and the crowd burst into laughter and applause.

"The dragon is coming!"

Someone shouted loudly, and then someone said:

"Firecrackers sound!"

Yao Shouning hugged Lu Zhi's arm tightly, remembering a rumor:
"During the establishment of the dynasty in Daqing, there was a rule to set off firecrackers on the winter solstice, right?"

She spoke suddenly, before Luo Ziwen could react, Lu Zhi already understood what she meant:
"You mean, the firecrackers are set off to—"

Before he finished speaking, the sound of "boom" exploded one after another.

Immediately afterwards, the sound of "crackling" was heard endlessly, thick smoke shot straight into the sky, and the sound made people's ears "buzzing", Lu Zhi immediately stretched out his hands to cover Yao Shouning's ears.

Thick smoke was covered with cloth, and the strong smell of gunpowder smoke made people feel uncomfortable. There were a lot of flying firecracker debris flying over, and the bombs hurt people a little bit.

Yao Shouning stood there in a daze.

The moment the firecrackers sounded, everything in front of her changed.

The demonic aura soared into the sky, and the souls of pedestrians who had seen in the illusion seemed to be shaken out of their bodies by the sound of firecrackers.

Whether it's a child laughing with candy in his hand, a girl holding her sister's arm or a family member's arm, or a peddler on the street, many people's faces have already appeared demonic!
These people seemed to be frozen in an instant, and the shouting and laughing on the street quieted down for an instant, and the sound of firecrackers became particularly ear-piercing.

At the same time, the two brass bells hanging on Luo Ziwen's waist that didn't ring no matter how he fiddled with them started to vibrate crazily, making a piercing sound of 'jingling bells'.

The sound shook Yao Shouning, who was in shock, and she suddenly raised her head to look at Lu Zhi.

Shizi frowned tightly, and covered her ears with both palms, she reached out to grab his palm, and shouted:
"Sir!"

'Papa boom—'

The sound of firecrackers suppressed her shouts.

But Lu Zhi pressed against the sides of her cheeks, and naturally sensed her movements, so he couldn't help but look down at her.

She pointed to Luo Ziwen's side.

'Clang clang clang——'

The two copper grains vibrated rapidly, leaving afterimages.

At this moment, Luo Ziwen and Lu Zhi's expressions changed drastically, and they both obviously realized that something was wrong.

"Get out of here first."

The prince made up his mind and waved his hand to drive away the thick smoke flying in front of him. As soon as he finished speaking, the sound of firecrackers stopped.

After the sound of firecrackers stopped, except for the flying smoke and dust, the previous still picture was broken.

The children, shopkeepers, and pedestrians holding candies on the street blinked and gradually regained their senses.

Their spirits returned to their positions at this moment, as if they were not aware of what had happened before.

And the monster that Yao Shouning saw gradually disappeared and returned to its original human form.

After a moment of silence, yelling, talking and laughing sounded again, and some people even complained without knowing it:

"There's something wrong with the firecrackers this year. Why did they disappear just after they were set off?"

"I'm afraid the imperial court bought unreal firecrackers to fool us..."

"Perhaps the high tide has affected these firecrackers."

Everyone discussed with each other, and the children were not affected, and they still ran around screaming.

Lu Zhi and the others had solemn expressions, and they found a corner with relatively few people to talk.

"It's not right, it's not right!"

Luo Ziwen held two demon bells in his hands, and kept shaking his head.

When the firecrackers sounded, the bell was still ringing, but when the firecrackers stopped, the bell fell into silence like a dead thing.

"Shouning, what did you see?" Lu Zhi asked:
"Is it related to the firecrackers just now?"

"Yes." Yao Shouning nodded and said:
"When setting off firecrackers earlier, I suddenly remembered the winter solstice last year."

Having said that, she couldn't help turning her head to look at Shizi.

At this moment, Lu Zhi was also looking at her, their eyes met, and she felt a little certain in her heart.

For both of them, that day was a special day. Since then, their lives have been disrupted, and they will never go back to the past.

But having someone to share secrets with herself, and having things to share with each other, is really a very relaxing thing. She smiled at Shizi, and Shizi smiled back at her.

"On that day, my mother mentioned the origin of setting off firecrackers during the winter solstice."

At first, this custom can be traced back to the founding of the country. It was enforced by the imperial court, and later became a folk custom, which has been passed down from generation to generation.

"I was just wondering if the imperial court originally ordered the setting off of firecrackers because the appearance of fireworks and firecrackers can drive away evil spirits."

In the early years of Dingguo in Daqing, the evil spirits had not been completely expelled, so they used the power of firecrackers to scare away the remaining evil spirits so that they would not dare to harm the world again.

Last year's winter solstice was supposed to set off firecrackers, but in the end, due to the continuous heavy rain and the rush of the winter solstice, the sound of firecrackers was not heard during last year's festival.

This is like an ominous omen.

Yao Shouning said:
"When I heard someone yelling to set off firecrackers earlier, I was thinking about this." When she said this, her face changed slightly, and her eyes showed fear:

"Then when the firecrackers really sounded, I saw demon faces appearing on the faces of passers-by on the street."

After finishing speaking, she emphasized:
"many people!"

This is not good news!Luo Ziwen and Shizi looked at each other in blank dismay.

They knew that it was impossible for Yao Shouning to joke about such a thing, not to mention that his previous performance of hitting the demon bell could not be deceiving.

"There is indeed something wrong." Lu Zhi frowned with a pair of sword eyebrows:
"The street was quiet for a while before. At first I thought everyone was waiting quietly for the dragon dance team to come over. Now it seems that it may be different."

"So many demons have turned into demons—" Luo Ziwen's complexion changed slightly, and his eyes fell on the street in the distance.

Pedestrians on the street come and go, everyone has a smile on their face, completely unaware of the danger:

"How is this done?"

700 years ago, there was a record about the alienation of evil spirits, that is, evil spirits split out their ghost souls to make evil gu, which were planted in human bodies.

These monsters use the human body as a petri dish, sucking people's essence, blood and soul, transforming the human body, and finally make people completely demonized, and then devour their soul consciousness to completely occupy their physical body - this kind of technique is called demon. The technique of descending is actually similar to Chen Taiwei's divine descending technique, but compared to the Taoist divine descending technique, it takes longer and is inferior.

"...But this kind of sorcery requires an opportunity and time." Having said that, Luo Ziwen glanced at Lu Zhi:
"However, how did the Yaozu manage such a large number of people being infected by Gu?"

Yao Shouning panicked when he heard what he said, and raised his head to ask Lu Zhi:
"You are also infected with this kind of demon?"

"..." Lu Zhi hesitated for a moment.

In just a short while, Yao Shouning had tears in his eyes and pale lips, as if he was about to cry.

He hurriedly said:

"Yes." As soon as the voice fell, he explained again:
"But the situation is different."

He was afraid that if he spoke slowly, Yao Shouning's tears would fall, so he said hastily:
"Although I was also a monster, but after the outbreak that day, I was suppressed. Later, with the help of Mr. Xu, and the information provided, the She clan in Nan'anling was wiped out. In fact, although my monster does not know the reason It has not been completely eliminated, but it has been suppressed by me, and it will not happen in a short time."

Yao Shouning was so upset that he went to hold his hand:

"I don't want you to be like this."

Lu Zhi's heart warmed, he held her tightly with his backhand, and comforted her softly:

"No, I will look for She's remnant soul after the 'River God' is over." Speaking of this, a dark light flashed in his eyes:
"The world is so big, I don't believe I can't find it. Once the remnant soul of She family is eradicated, the monster in my body will naturally be expelled."

"En." Yao Shouning was unhappy, but still nodded in response.

After finishing speaking, he turned his head to look at Luo Ziwen who was a little embarrassed:

"It should be the cause of the blood mosquito gu."

Luo Ziwen listened to her conversation with Lu Zhi, and was afraid that she would cry, and he was too embarrassed to stay here.

Hearing what she said now, he knew that Yao Shouning had regained his composure, so he couldn't help but heaved a sigh of relief, and nodded slightly:

"I also think it's blood mosquito Gu."

In January, Shendu was attacked by a swarm of monster mosquitoes, causing some civilians to die of infection.

Later, Chen Taiwei sent medicine, so that the people who had festered wounds after being bitten by mosquitoes were treated. In addition, as soon as the flood receded, these mosquitoes disappeared immediately.

At that time, everyone thought that it was the appearance of drugs that caused the demon mosquitoes to return in vain. Now it seems that the demon clan has other plans.

Only a large number of blood mosquito Gu can spread the Gu on a large scale.

"If that's the case, I feel relieved." Luo Ziwen sighed lightly:
"Although there are many mosquitoes, their demonic aura is weak, and they live in human bodies. Although it is difficult to avoid demonization, they should not be able to suck human souls, and they will not make people lose their minds for the time being."

After finishing speaking, he frowned and said:
"However, with so many people affected by the Gu, we still can't take it lightly. We must first inform the eldest princess, the general and Shenwumen of the news."

Lu Zhi responded and reminded:
"This kind of Gu worm may not affect the mind, but the demonization of a person's face may cause a lot of conflict—"

If there are more and more human beings with demonized appearance, new troubles may arise.

Luo Ziwen is not a fool, he was shocked when he heard this.

Finally asked again:

"My lord, what about you?"

He looked at the people on the street, the sound of gongs and drums was getting closer and closer, the dragon dance team seemed to be coming this way, and a large number of people were also approaching this way.

Although Lu Zhi had practiced martial arts since he was a child, it was difficult for him to be an enemy to so many people alone, and besides, Yao Shouning was with him.

Although Luo Ziwen didn't say anything, he hoped that Lu Zhi and Yao Shouning would leave with him temporarily.

"We're not leaving for now."

Lu Zhi shook his head:

"The evil spirit has subsided."

Having said that, his eyes fell on the demon bell hanging on Luo Ziwen's waist.

Since the sound of firecrackers stopped, the demon bell has never sounded again, "The demonic energy should be temporarily suppressed, and there will be no major problems."

Luo Ziwen was about to speak when Yao Shouning remembered something and said anxiously:
"My parents and the others may have gone to the street—"

The Yao family is also planning to go out tonight. After the two go out, the Liu family and others may also go out later. Once they are separated, where can they find them?

Yao Shouning immediately said:
"I can't go back either, I have to find my parents."

Lu Zhi comforted her:
"Don't worry, the mosquito's breath is weak, even if these people are infected, it is impossible for them to attack at this time. The sound of firecrackers only makes them feel something. Most people will not find out that there is a problem at this time."

Yao Shouning relied on the blood talent of the Bianji clan to spy on the opportunity of the demon transformation in advance, which does not mean that there will be chaos tonight.

After Luo Ziwen calmed down, he also felt that Lu Zhi's words made sense.

"I know."

Yao Shouning also realized that if he cared, he would cause chaos.

Liu Bingzhou was a person who participated in Yingtian Bookstore back then, so he should have known what happened now, if there was turmoil tonight, it would be impossible for him to persuade Liu Shi to go out.

Thinking of this, Yao Shouning felt a little at ease.

After thinking about it again, she didn't feel that there was a crisis tonight—instead, when her mind flickered, day and night alternated in front of her.

In front of her, there appeared a long dark river with dots of lights floating down from top to bottom. There were many tourists by the river, and many of them were holding folded lotus lanterns in their hands.

For some reason, the scene in front of her seemed very familiar, as if she had seen it somewhere before.

When Yao Shouning was frowning and thinking hard, a figure seemed to pass by in front of her eyes. She quickly widened her eyes and wanted to look, but found that the light gradually brightened, and the river full of lotus lanterns had disappeared.

There was still a busy street in front of him, and Lu Zhi was looking at him worriedly.

"Shouning, are you alright?"

Lu Zhi asked.

She has been distracted twice today.

"No, it's alright..."

Yao Shouning hesitated for a moment, but still shook his head:

"My son, come with me for a while, I want to find my parents."

Naturally, Lu Zhi would not refuse her request.

Luo Ziwen, who was eager to send the news back to the general's mansion, was sent away first, and then the two joined hands and mixed into the crowd.

After Luo Ziwen left, Duan Changya hid in the dark together with the others in the General's Mansion, following them from a distance.

"I always feel that I will find a useful clue tonight." After Luo Ziwen left, Yao Shouning told Lu Zhi the phantom he had seen earlier.

After the previous shocking scene, Yao Shouning was overwhelmed, and he no longer had the mood to play at the beginning.

The team of wandering dragons passed by the two of them, and the crowd of onlookers became more and more, and the sky gradually darkened, and the two of them arrived at the sacrificial altar by the river.

At this time, the torches had already been lit on the sacrificial altar, and the nearby embankment was densely packed with people.

Lu Zhi and Yao Shouning did not approach to join in the fun, but found a stone pile far away with few people and stood on it, watching the scene at the altar from afar.

The floods two months ago almost flattened all the houses in the south of the city. After the river receded, a large area of ​​ruins was left buried by river sand.

In the past two months, many people have excavated some items buried under the sand here, and the place has been dug uneven, making it look more dilapidated.

The altar was being built on top of the ruins, and it looked a bit out of place with the surrounding environment.

(End of this chapter)