The only beast master in the world of cultivating immortals

Chapter 258

"Have you heard? Another person died yesterday. It was the eldest daughter of the Zhang family. She suddenly went berserk at night and kept talking about looking for her brother. Before her family could stop her, she ran out at night."

"Wait a minute, the Zhang family only has one Yao'er with a handle, where does her brother come from?"

"Who knows? This morning, her family found her in the shallow pond, and she was submerged in water up to her waist. The person was soaked in it, and it was gone. I heard... It was like soaking for half a month. It's almost gone, and I can still recognize it from the birthmark on the clothes..."

"It's not just the Zhang family, the two brothers from the Zhao family in Yanxi Village next door are also gone... The day before yesterday, they drank with people from our town, and they clearly saw them walking back on the road, but they saw a red shadow flashing past. The two brothers turned into the forest as if they were blind... The people in their village searched for a day, but they couldn't find anyone, and they all went to the city to report the crime to the government just now."

"Hey, if you add it up like this, I'm afraid there will be more than a dozen in February? It's only the beginning of the month. If this continues, I don't know when it will end."

"Early this morning, I saw Li Yuanwai's family driving away. I heard that they were going to move out of Shuiyang Town, and they would never come back again. If the rich and powerful can move away, how can we poor people live? ?”

There are very few pedestrians on the desolate street, and there are old people sitting on the side of the street chatting with dejected expressions. The cold wind blows, rolling up pieces of white paper and floating in the air.

The young man walked quickly across the street, he had no time to listen to the chatter of these elderly people.The gloomy sky is suffocatingly oppressive, and it looks like a heavy rain is coming.

In this kind of sky, even if it is not past the united hour, the sun may still be hanging on the thick clouds, but it is no different from the darkness. At this time, I can no longer wander outside, and I have to go home as soon as possible.

This world has become more and more strange and frightening to him. The peace and harmony when his parents were still alive is gone forever. All the changes seem to be caused by the death of their old emperor of Yan.

Originally, the existence of the emperor was too far away for the young boy in the small town, so far away that it was not as real as the statue of the land god in the temple.

But five years ago, before the old emperor died, when he suddenly passed the throne to his youngest son, the boy felt the presence of the emperor.

I heard from the merchants who passed by the town in the early years that the newly enthroned emperor was too young to convince his brothers, even his many uncles, and rebelled one after another in just a few years to fight for the throne. .

Although most of the rebellion had been suppressed and the position of the little emperor had been secured, the young man could feel his own life becoming worse at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The first thing that made the boy feel heavy was the tax apportioned by the government, which became heavier and heavier, so that when his mother was seriously ill in bed, his father didn't even have money to buy medicine.

After his mother died of illness, his father was taken away by the government because he couldn't pay the heavier and heavier taxes. It is said that he went to a far away place to serve as a prisoner to repay the unpaid taxes.

Because of his father and because he is young, he does not have to pay taxes for the time being, but this is only temporary. In another year, he will also face taxes that have caused complaints from many neighbors.

However, he doesn't have to worry about next year's events now, because he doesn't seem to live until that time, and he doesn't know when, everything around him that he can touch has become strange and weird.

Two months ago, the well-known cloth merchant and shopkeeper in the county came back with four assistants to receive the goods. At midnight, it is said that he came across a string of red lanterns floating in the air on the official road.

One of the youngest buddies was frightened and ran away, while the cloth merchant, shopkeeper, and several other older buddies were too frightened to move.Since that day, no one has seen those people again, as if the world has evaporated.

More than half a month ago, a group of warriors, as if they were looking for something to avoid, passed by Jiming Village next door, staying overnight, but when the next morning, the villagers who entertained these warriors were horrified to find that all these warriors had been beheaded He died tragically in the middle of the night, and the strange thing was that there was not even a drop of blood at the place where the severed head was severed, and all the heads were missing.

The case caused a sensation in all towns and villages. The county government sent people to investigate the case. A whole group of arresters suddenly went mad for some reason. Kill each other, and finally die.

Half a month ago, a person in the town yelled in horror, and bluntly said that he saw a giant about ten feet tall passing by slowly, but even though he was close at hand, no one else saw it except this person.The next day, this person died on the bed at home, torn apart, extremely miserable.

...Similar to such terrifying rumors, the boy had already heard about it half a year ago, especially in places where rebellions and wars took place, and it was rumored that some people had seen the Yin army marching at night.

The teenagers at that time just thought it was fun, and listened with relish to the merchants or warriors from afar, with a little panic and fear on their faces, describing these bizarre-sounding tragedies vividly and vividly.

But the young man now no longer has the same mood as before, because the horrible and weird things that seemed to be far away from him, seemed to be spreading to the town where he lived, as if he had grown feet.

Especially in the past two months, weird and terrifying things have been happening around him, emerging one after another, and becoming more and more frequent.

Rumbling--

A thunderous thunder resounded across the ground, and the boy couldn't help speeding up his pace of going home.

When passing through an alley, the young man suddenly slowed down. He saw two people from the famous village carrying out a dead body wrapped in a straw mat from the dark alley. He kicked open the straw mat, revealing a face full of maggots, and an indescribable stench permeated the surroundings.

"That's...the lame beggar..."

When the young man saw the face of death, he felt a strong uneasiness and throbbing in his heart, and he recognized it.

"How did he die? I saw him begging on the street yesterday. He died less than a day ago, and he is so rotten?"

The two corpse collectors threw the corpse wrapped in straw mats on the cart, and left expressionlessly, or numbly.

The young man stood there watching for a while, then his expression became more solemn, and his brows frowned deeper. Not only did he have no relatives, but it was even very difficult for him to survive.

He has no money in his family, so it can be said that his family is barren. The only valuable property is the leaky house. But in this time of war and chaos, and ghosts and demons are rampant, who would want his dilapidated house?

When the young man was secretly sad, a small ball hung with ribbons and silk suddenly rolled to the young man's feet. It was a hydrangea ball, and the bright red silk was even tied into a beautiful concentric knot.

This is a small ball with a festive meaning. If it is thrown from a high place on a well-built embroidered building, on a sunny and sunny day, by a wealthy girl waiting to be married, it will be enough to attract people. The blood of hundreds of people is racing, scrambling to grab the most.

But now this hydrangea rolled out of a dark alleyway on the eve of the storm, lying quietly on the dirty ground covered with mud and unknown blood, rolling at his feet.

"..."

The moment he saw this red hydrangea, the boy felt a chill from his tailbone straight to the top of his head, his whole body was stiff, and his conscious thinking froze at this moment.

The boy's head seemed to be turning little by little uncontrollably, and looked towards the direction where the red hydrangea rolled out. It was the alleyway where two corpse collectors had just carried out the lame beggar.

"Officer, can you help the little girl pick up the ball?"

In the dark alleyway, I saw a pretty girl in her twenties, wearing a dazzling red wedding dress, with a smile on her delicate face, asking softly.

No, you can't pick it up!
The boy's eyes widened in horror. The jeweled girl in front of him could appear in any magnificent place, but she shouldn't appear in this dark, cold and dirty alleyway.

There was no trace of blood on that pretty face, it was so pale that the young man thought of the high-quality rice paper he had seen in the bookstore, a cold and strange aura came over his face.

"it is good!"

But the young man who wanted to refuse and run away realized that his body had lost control at this moment, and a low and hoarse sound that didn't seem like something he could make spit out from his mouth.

Then the young man looked terrified and watched himself bend down, easily picked up the red hydrangea that had rolled down at his feet, and held it in his hand.

Seeing the poor young man whose clothes were covered with patches, holding a red hydrangea in his hands, and the pretty girl in a red wedding gown, standing in the thick dark shadows, he smiled at the young man.

"Lang Jun, why don't you come and give me back to my concubine?"

Hearing this, the young man walked stiffly into the alleyway and came to the girl in the wedding dress. The high walls on both sides blocked the extremely dim light from outside the alleyway, and a chilly and biting aura came from all directions.

"Back to you!"

The boy in commoner handed the red hydrangea to the girl in the wedding dress.

But this girl didn't even look at the red hydrangea, her black and white eyes stared straight at the commoner boy,

"don't want……"

The girl's blood-stained lips lightly opened, her eyes were smiling,

"Since the lord picked up the hydrangea, it belongs to the lord, even the concubine!"

Suddenly, the girl in wedding dress stretched out her hand and touched the boy's face.The girl's hands were colder than the white ice in winter, and half of the boy's face was numb from the cold in an instant.

The fear that the young man had accumulated since then suddenly exploded at this moment and turned into anger. His hair stood on end, and a rumor that he didn't know if it was useful was suddenly recalled by him.

Stimulated by the strong threat to his life, the anger that turned from fear made him bite the tip of his tongue. A warm feeling filled his whole body, and at the same time, a blazing heat spread from his chest.

The soreness that made him stiff and unable to move suddenly faded away. At this moment, the boy regained control of his body, and the smile on the face of the gorgeous girl in front of him also suddenly faded away.

It was just a trance, when the boy looked again, the dark and unclear alleyway was empty, and the girl in the wedding dress disappeared in an instant.

"Just now...was it a hallucination?"

The young man was having a hard time accepting the reality, but when he lowered his head and saw the things in his hands, the joy that hadn't had time to emerge froze on his face... The luxuriously decorated red hydrangea was actually still in his hands!
A chill rose from the boy's heart, and he felt like falling into an ice cave at the moment.Hastily threw away the red hydrangea in his hand, and quickly left the alleyway.When the boy fled back to the street, the chilly air around him seemed to be a little lighter.

When the bloody courage that suddenly rose just now dissipated, only fear remained in the young man's heart. He glanced back at the dark alley, hurriedly quickened his pace, and escaped from the dark alley, but accidentally bumped into a person who was also in the dark alley. Passers-by in a hurry.

"Where is the hairy boy who doesn't have eyes when he walks?"

The passer-by who was hit and staggered angrily cursed.

At this moment, the young man was in a state of shock, and he was in a state of confusion. He just wanted to go home quickly:

"sorry, I……"

However, before the young man finished speaking, he saw the angry passers-by become terrified. Suddenly, as if seeing a ghost, he pointed at the young man's face and shouted in horror:
"Ghost...ghost...ghost handprint!"

The young man couldn't see his own face, and didn't understand what the passer-by meant.

"He's gone crazy!"

Passers-by yelled in horror, rolling and crawling away from the boy, as if avoiding disaster,
"He hit a ghost!"

The young man froze in place. On the street, a few passers-by in a hurry were attracted by the shout and glanced at the young man. Afterwards, the faces of these passers-by changed drastically, and they dispersed in fright as if seeing a plague god.

"That kid...has ghost prints on his face! He...he won't live for a few days!"

"Don't talk, stay away from him! Be careful of his bad luck!"

"It's such a pity for such a small doll... I don't know which family's son will die at a young age. Hey... What kind of world is this."

"Don't you want to live? Say a few words less."

Seeing the passers-by fleeing in all directions like avoiding the plague, the boy's heart sank. He remembered that the strange girl reached out and touched his face. Could it be that something was left on his face?
The young man couldn't bear the strange eyes of passers-by who were avoiding snakes and scorpions, he covered his face and ran all the way, rushing into a shabby, dilapidated tile-roofed house.

After returning home, the first thing the boy did was to fill half a tank of water from the water tank with a crock that was missing a corner. Then he stretched out his head and saw the reflection of the slightly rippling water surface, on the right side of his cheek, with a palm and five fingers. The slender black and blue handprints are clearly visible and extremely glaring.

The young man's face showed a livid color, and then turned pale. He knew that some unlucky people would encounter ghosts at inopportune places, and at this time, ghosts also had intentions and powerlessness, so they could only leave their marks and wait until the right time came.

The most suitable time for ghosts to attack is undoubtedly the middle of the night. Perhaps, as a passer-by said, he has few days left to live, and maybe he won't be able to survive tonight, and he won't be able to see the sun tomorrow.

The young man felt cold all over his body, he hurriedly scooped up water from the earthen pot, patted his cheeks, and scrubbed desperately, but even though his cheeks were painful and even oozing blood from washing, the black and blue palm print had nothing to do with him. The skin and flesh are firmly together, without any sign of fading.

"What did I do? Why did I encounter such a thing!"

In recent years, the young man who had been hit hard one after another, seemed to have been drained of all his strength, slumped on the ground, crying loudly, as if he wanted to vent all the depression and pain that had been accumulated in his heart for the past few years.

(End of this chapter)