Elaborate on the world of mortals

Chapter 867: The God’s Dream
Taoist Xue was warmly received by the farmer's family.

A large group of people started discussing the matter during dinner, and Taoist Xue also took the opportunity to gain a better understanding of the situation.

Most of the Zhang family members had heard the story from hearsay, but after dinner, the old man of the Zhang family went to the village again, and then an equally old village chief and three young men followed him.

After dinner, an oil lamp was lit in the main hall of the Zhang family. Footsteps were heard outside. Zhang's daughter-in-law went to open the door, and it was her father-in-law who had returned and others outside.

"Dad, uncle!" "Yes!"

The person outside responded, then went into the house together and closed the door again.

The first thing the visitor saw was the Taoist priest sitting next to the Zhang family man who had stood up in the house. The two sides exchanged greetings and quickly got straight to the point without any further ado.

After discussing for more than a quarter of an hour, the general situation had become very clear, and the next step was to actually see it in the evening.

There are quite a few people who are going to stay overnight at Zhang's house tonight.

The beds in the two rooms had been set up as a bunk bed, with more than a dozen children sleeping sideways inside. The old woman and daughter-in-law of the Zhang family were also in the room to look after them.

Many people, including the Zhang family men and Taoist Xue, slept outside the house.

Using wooden boards, door panels, benches and other items borrowed from the village, some beds were set up outside the house, and people could sleep on them by covering them with straw mats.

There are several of these simple beds in the Zhang family’s yard, and there are also a few in the area behind the house where there is no fence.

Including Taoist Xue, there are nine adults guarding the house today. This is because so many children sleepwalked the day before yesterday and scared the Zhang family, so people from the village have come to help keep watch since yesterday.

In weather like this, you won’t feel cold at all sleeping outside. On the contrary, it will be quite cool. If it gets a little colder in the second half of the night, just cover yourself with some clothes.

At three quarters after the evening, the lights in the room went out. Zhang's daughter-in-law opened the door and came out, speaking in a low voice.

"The children are all asleep"

"Well, you should go and rest too, we are here for you!"

"Ugh!"

The woman responded, went into the house, closed the door, and checked the doors and windows from inside to make sure they were locked.

Some of the men in the yard were lying on straw mats, some were sitting on them, some were wearing gowns and some were shirtless, they were obviously not sleepy yet and were chatting idly.

The calamus mosquito coils made with a mixture of medicine were lit, making the yard and the back of the house filled with smoke. While chatting, there was the occasional "pa~" sound of mosquitoes being swatted.

"Dad, do you think this Taoist priest is reliable?"

“You have to give it a try.”

The Zhang family hadn't had a good night's sleep in the past two days, so they looked particularly tired. The father and son were lying on a straw mat on a door panel, and Taoist Xue passed by them.

"Master, please lie down and take a nap. If anything happens, we will wake you up!"

After the old man from the Zhang family said this, Taoist Xue looked at the empty bed board left for him.

"No need, you guys take a good rest first, I have somewhere else to go!"

After saying that, Taoist Xue turned his head to look upwards, then jumped lightly. Like a big bird spreading its wings in the night sky, he rose from the ground with a slight sound of wind, then landed on the roof of the Zhang family's main hall, and then sat down cross-legged.

The mud houses in the countryside were of course not very tall, but this scene was just like when Mai Lingfei showed off his skills in Xihe Village, shocking everyone who saw it in front of and behind the house.

People felt relieved all of a sudden, it was obvious that this guy was really capable!
At the hour of Hai, almost everyone inside and outside the house who should be asleep has gone to sleep, except for one or two people who are on night watch who are still awake. However, they cannot be said to be very awake, as they are basically in a daze.

Old man Zhang lay on the straw mat and rubbed his eyes to try to wake himself up. He looked at the roof and saw a Taoist sitting cross-legged there. He couldn't tell whether he had his eyes open or closed, but his body was very straight.

Before he knew it, Old Man Zhang had fallen asleep.

"Wake up quickly - you are sleepwalking -"

A scream woke Old Man Zhang up. When he opened his eyes, someone was already rushing towards the gate, and someone was shouting behind the house.

At this moment, at least seven or eight of the dozen or so children left the house. Some of them opened the door and ran out, while others climbed out from the windows at the back and sides of the house. It was obvious that the locked doors and windows could not stop them.

Even though they had their eyes closed, the children ran very fast.

"Quick, stop them--"

The men sleeping outside woke up and tried to stop them, but the children were very agile, as if they were just playing around while awake.

Some people pounce but miss, while others can only catch one.

Old man Zhang hugged his grandson and held another child, but three more people ran over to him.

"Quickly - quickly catch -"

The two women in the house seemed unable to stop them, while the men outside the house hurriedly stopped less than ten people.

It was at this time that Taoist Xue, who had been observing for a while, took action. He suddenly jumped from the roof and reached the back of the house first.

As the three men looked up subconsciously, the Taoist priest landed in front of several children who ran away under the moonlight, flicked his sleeves, and a whisk appeared, sweeping directly at one of the children.

“Woo~Pah~”

The child flew backwards, and in the air he was like a leaf, and landed lightly on the ground behind the house.

Two more children flew back. Taoist Xue moved his body and mind and returned to the back of the house at a faster speed. He held the two children in the air with his hands and gently put them on the ground.

Then the whisk moved a few more times, sweeping over the children in the arms of the three men, and the children who were still moving around calmed down.

Before the three men who opened their mouths slightly could say anything, Taoist Xue had already leaped up and flipped into the air and walked to the front yard.

The whisk was swept out repeatedly, and the children who ran out flew back to the ground one by one, and the children who were controlled also calmed down one by one.

In just a few breaths, the courtyard and its surroundings had returned to calm, and the two women in the fog had also left.

Everyone in the front yard stared at Taoist Xue in a daze. The old village chief was the first to react and hurriedly shouted.

"What about the back?"

"It's okay - the Taoist priest subdued them in just a few moves -"

The sound made everyone breathe a sigh of relief, and then became excited again.

"Master, you are really capable!" "Master, you are so amazing!"

"Taoist Master."

Taoist Xue raised his hand to stop the meaningless compliments, and instead looked seriously at the children around him who were temporarily placed on mats outside the house. They were still sleeping, as if everything that had just happened had nothing to do with them.

"I didn't make a move right away, but I tried everything I could but couldn't feel where the person who cast the spell was. He must be very far away. The caster's skills must be so high that they are beyond the comprehension of ordinary people."

Taoist Xue's words still have some reservations. No matter how powerful a sorcerer is, he still has to follow certain necessary conditions when casting spells.

But Taoist Xue couldn't detect where anyone was tonight, and he had carefully checked the condition of each child before nightfall, and nothing had been tampered with. How could this be achieved with just the birth date of one person, and there were more than a dozen of them?

No, there are more than a dozen people. I heard from Old Man Zhang that there are at least several counties around, and it may even be a larger area.
Seeing that the Taoist priest looked thoughtful and silent for a long time, the old village chief finally couldn't help it.

"Master, do you have any solution? If you come here every night, no one can stand it!"

"Let me think about it. We'll talk about it tomorrow. Everyone, go to bed first. There shouldn't be any problems tonight."

The people around looked at each other.

"Okay, come on, let's carry the children back to the house first."

After a busy while, everyone sent the child back into the house. After some hustle and bustle inside and outside the house, they gradually fell asleep. Although the Taoist priest said that there was nothing to do tonight, they did not dare to be negligent and continued to sleep as usual.

Taoist Xue also returned to the roof and closed his eyes in deep thought.

The other party should be connected with the imperial court, and their level of Taoism is terrifying. Although I have not slacked off in these years, I am afraid it is difficult to compete with them. But now I have to think about how to break their magic, even if it is only partially. It would be great if Master Yu was here.
As he thought about it, Taoist Xue seemed to gradually enter a state of tranquility, or even seemed to have fallen into a dream.

Taoist Xue felt as if his consciousness flew out of his body and arrived at a nearby county town, where he saw many children coming to a temple.

There is a hall in the backyard of the temple, inside which stands a not-so-big clay sculpture of a human body with a dragon head and wearing a black robe. It looks three parts solemn and seven parts scary. There are dozens of children worshiping here, and many more are waiting outside the hall.

After this group of children finishes their worship, the next group will come.

At a certain moment, when a child was bowing down, the sandalwood on the incense burner of the statue became brighter. Immediately, the people waiting nearby came forward to check, and after several eliminations, they pulled out one person.

About half an hour later, many children left, and each of them walked out of the temple with their eyes closed and ran back along the way they came.

Taoist Xue returned to the temple and saw that the child who had just been pulled out could not go back and was stopped in the temple.
Seeing the child being stopped, Taoist Xue became a little impatient subconsciously, and his consciousness actually rushed into the temple. At this moment, he gradually developed a body from simple consciousness.

But at this moment, the dragon head clay sculpture in the temple seemed to open its eyes, and an extremely terrifying pressure suddenly formed, and Taoist Xue suddenly felt like he was drowning and suffocating.
At this painful moment, Taoist Xue suddenly felt a strong pulling force coming from behind.

"Wow, wow, wow."

There seemed to be a sound of water in his ears, and Taoist Xue's consciousness suddenly returned to the air outside, but the feeling of palpitations and fear still accompanied his heart.

“So that’s how it is”

A voice came from the side, Taoist Xue turned around and found that there was an extra person in the air.

The person next to me had long hair draped over his shoulders and was wearing a loose green robe. There was a fiery red mark on his forehead, and there was a faint glow. He looked very familiar. He must have been the one who pulled me just now.
Suddenly, Xue Daoist's heart skipped a beat. Wasn't this the great god Yunlai, one of the great gods who subdue demons?

Over the years, even in the northern border, there are temples dedicated to the True Lord or the Demon-Subduing God, or statues of the gods as accompanying sacrifices in some large temples, but they are not so popular.

"Are you Yunlai Supreme of the Heaven Realm?"

Yunlai glanced at Taoist Xue, who seemed somewhat excited.

"Xue Yuan, I am here to teach you some magic to solve your current problem. I'm afraid the situation here is serious. If you want to find the root cause, you need to be careful."

Along with the divine voice, the other party pointed a finger at Taoist Xue's forehead.——
Before dawn, roosters crowed in the village.

"Oh oh oh——"

Taoist Xue opened his eyes suddenly and looked around subconsciously. He found himself still sitting on the roof of Zhang's house. Everything before seemed like a dream or a magical illusion in his spiritual realm.

But both the painful feeling and the subsequent changes are extremely real!

(End of this chapter)