endless route.

Chapter 367 7. Master Shan and the secret of the village

"Can you tell me why?"

Ji Dao reached out and flicked his sleeves, and the little Taoist priest beside him quickly took out a lantern and cast a faint light to illuminate the surroundings.

The entire village was shrouded in dense darkness, as if shrouded in black mist. The lantern could not illuminate very far, and could only illuminate the figures of a few people and the simple moss-covered bricks beneath their feet.

By this glimmer of light.

The little Taoist priest led the crane to the cliff outside the village gate so that it could spread its wings and take off at any time. The ghost general and immortal corpse quietly disappeared into the darkness and explored the surrounding situation in the dark.

Zhang Ergou is not normal.

You and others must be on guard.

"Master Dao, how old do you think this cottage is?" Zhang Ergou stretched out half of his arm and pointed to the ground.

"Speak directly if you have something to say, why are you trying to be mysterious?"

Ji Dao frowned to guard against Zhang Ergou, quietly turned the lever on his thumb, and just glanced at the ground with his peripheral vision.

The stone bricks have aged over time, and the corners have been smoothed away, leaving only an edge protruding out of the mud, which blends seamlessly with the surrounding scenery, giving it the feeling of a long-abandoned wild temple in the mountains.

This stone brick is indeed very old.

I'm afraid it was earlier than Nanze's accident.

It is probably from the early to mid-Ming Dynasty.

However, this is also a normal situation. Ancient people must have visited Wuhaixianzhou a long time ago, otherwise when something happened to the ancient city of Nanze, the residents would not have been moved here.

"Master Tao, this place was not a village earlier, but was occupied by these bandits later. Can you tell what kind of place this place was in the early years?" Zhang Ergou continued to ask.

He didn't do much, he just hid under the eaves of an old house and asked around. There was nothing else around.

"What is this place?"

Ji Dao glanced at the top of Zhang Ergou's head.

In the hazy darkness, a ghost general had jumped up to the eaves and touched the top of Zhang Ergou's head. The cold light of his long knife was looming, and it circled around the eaves, then escaped back into the room without using the knife.

The ghost master didn't take action.

It means there is no danger ahead.

Ji Dao breathed a sigh of relief and began to think carefully about Zhang Ergou's abnormality, because Zhang Ergou alone could not pose a threat. He was not morally qualified enough, and it was not enough for him to be infected by a ghost.

He can't poison himself.

The sword cannot pass through the corpses of ghosts, generals and immortals.

There is no need to resort to the methods of gods and ghosts. The slightest movement will be strangled in advance and knocked unconscious by the ghost master's sword.

"Master Dao, do you still remember, when you encountered bandits poaching cranes, who were they going to wish for their birthday?"

Zhang Ergou continued to ask questions.

He seemed to be under a curse, unable to utter a single statement, and could only provide clues through constant questioning.

"Give them a big boss."

Ji Dao recalled that at the beginning, a few bandits were secretly poaching the crane. They wanted to take the crane back to celebrate the birthday of the village leader. They didn't know whether the world was high or not.

But later when the bandits were suppressed.

The big boss was stunned by the poisonous mist and lay straight on the ground as if dead. He didn't show any extraordinary skills. He was not as vulnerable as the big wolf dog in the village.

Dozens of people were arrested in the entire village. Because there were so many people, they had to feed them two meals a day when they were brought back to Tiangong, so Jidao handed these people over to Zhang Ergou for disposal.

Zhang Ergou doesn't have a ghost seal, but he is the successor of the Blood Pill Demon Dao. He is really a crooked sect. Although he has corrected his evil ways now, it is still easy to control a few bandits.

Moreover, the blood pill is a way to control people. Zhang Ergou can control these people by taking some blood monkey blood from the Tiangong treasury.

So Ji Dao didn't care at first.

He didn't want to see Zhang Ergou perform sorcery, so he let Zhang Ergou handle it on his own. But from what he said now, it seemed that there was something wrong with the big boss, and there was some secret behind it?
"What, is there something unusual about the big boss? Where is he at the moment? Can't you just take me to kill him?"

Ji Dao asked aloud when he thought of this.

If you were able to stun the opponent once last time, it doesn't matter if you do it again. It's dark in the mountains but it hasn't rained yet. Even if the fire creates fog again, it will only take a few minutes.

"Master Tao, you absolutely must not do this."

"I'm the boss now."

Zhang Ergou said quickly with a frown on his face.

"What's wrong with you being the master? Could it be that you have really fallen under the evil spell here? Are your soul controlled by something in this mountain?" Jidao thought of many records in ancient books when he heard this.

Who is the boss of this village?

Anyone will be controlled by the evil things in the mountains.

This situation is quite common. There are often such stories in ancient myths and monsters. Evil things are hidden deep in the mountains and rivers, controlling the woodcutters and hunters in the mountains, and tempting them into the mountains to eat them alive.

The accused people were delirious.

Even the wives and daughters at home can be given away.

The whole family became the evil creature's food. In the end, as they had no other choice, they robbed ordinary people and sent them to the mountains.

"Master Dao, I suspect the same thing, but I can't tell the age of this cottage, nor can I see where this cottage was in its early years. I'm afraid you have to take a look at this matter."

Zhang Ergou sighed and walked out of the eaves.

After seeing his face clearly at this moment, Ji Dao suddenly took a breath of air and looked at it carefully for a long time without being able to speak.

Although Zhang Ergou is already middle-aged, his appearance is not exactly straight, and there is a bit of evil smell between his eyebrows, but after tying up his hair and changing into formal clothes, he does have some smell.

But this moment is completely different.

Zhang Ergou's eyes were sunken and had thick dark circles, but the skin on his face was tight and white, and the skin was red, as if he had applied some rouge. His whole face was radiant and looked ten years younger.

Except for the eyes.

He was like a child again.

But those eyes were very frightening. They were tired, confused, droopy eyelids, and the pupils were gray and black. They were exactly the same as the eyes of a dead person who had been lying in the coffin for decades.

Like a flashback.

It's like the ghost of the dead inhabiting the living.

Zhang Ergou's skin is like a borrowed shell, he is young, but the soul inside is decaying and dying.

"This is really strange."

"You are really possessed."

"What's going on now? Your skin is rosy and full of blood. Are you taking blood pills to force yourself to live longer?"

Ji Dao touched his chin and sighed.

I really didn't expect that there was an evil thing in the mountains and fields, and it was so audacious that even the people in the Supervisory Immortal Division dared to touch it.

"That's not the case."

"I don't know what's going on." Zhang Ergou shook his head bitterly.

"Tell yourself, what symptoms do you have, and how many days do you expect to live?" Jidao asked again. Zhang Ergou was also a Taoist, so he could make his own judgment on this issue.

"The lifespan should be more than half a year. He won't die for a while. If he uses blood pills, it can last for ten to twenty years."

"I can't say for sure about this matter. The previous headmaster was just a mortal. He is fifty-eight years old this year. He has been the headmaster for twenty years and has never died suddenly halfway."

Zhang Ergou shook his head and was unsure.

"What are you doing standing here? The several questions you just asked me are all doubts in your heart? You have been here for so long and you haven't found any clues?"

Ji Dao asked questions again and again.

Zhang Ergou is not a fool, he must have realized something. After all, something happened to him, and he is more anxious than anyone else.

"It's true. During this time, I searched for the source of the problem and found out that this village was not a village in the past. It dates back to long before the people migrated to the ancient city of Nanze. When there were no villages and towns at the foot of the mountain, there were already ancient buildings here."

"These bandits don't know anything about anything. The big boss just woke up and became stupid. His eyes were blurred and he lost his mind. He defecated in his pants every day and couldn't find any clues."

"So I've been searching for a while."

"What exactly was this place in the early years? What is hidden in the mountain? How does it relate to the Immortal Sect of the Boundless Cliff Stone Tablet? What does it have to do with the wreckage of the boat master not far away?"

"The only thing I know is that there is a mountain master in this mountain. The leader has to go to the back mountain to worship every few days. Other bandits are not allowed to follow him, and they are not allowed to make loud noises during the ceremony."

"Later, I went down the mountain to the town to inquire about it, and I also heard similar rumors, saying that there is indeed a mountain master nearby, sleeping somewhere in the mountain, and if he wakes up, he will come down the mountain to eat people."

"I guess Mr. Shan is in the back mountain."

"When I went to look for it in the back mountain, I found that there was a cave in the back mountain. A staircase led into the depths, but it was filled with huge rocks and blocked by iron ropes. It was impossible to dig down within ten years."

"This road is completely blocked, but the mountain master has come down the mountain several times to eat people in the past hundred years, so there must be other ways to enter the cave in the mountain, but I have never found it."

"So I could only look for other places to dig holes, and tried to dig into the cave in the back mountain to find out."

"It might be feasible to have a deep dry well behind the eaves of this place. I was digging soil in it just now. When I heard something strange, I came out and hid in the dark to observe, but I didn't expect you to be Master Dao here."

"Master Dao's voice is too loud. He will probably wake up Master Shan once he speaks. And I haven't found a way out. It's going to rain soon. If evil things sneak down the mountain and eat people, we won't be able to find them. It will only harm the people at the foot of the mountain in vain." ”

Zhang Ergou sighed repeatedly and told the whole story.

It was because of this that he dissuaded Ji Dao and asked him to speak in a low voice. It was not because he was afraid that Mr. Shan would be woken up, but mainly because he had not determined the location at the moment and was afraid that he would go to eat people at the foot of the mountain.

Of course, the Supervisor is not afraid of Mr. Shan.

Such matters involving folk gods and ghosts usually do not come into the eyes of the Jianxian Division, and can be solved by sending the Ghost Suppression Division. If it really dares to show up in the village, tonight will be the day of his death.

Zhang Ergou is very confident about this.

Not to mention that Master Dao has already come here in person, even if Master Dao does not come today, he is still sure to kill Master Shan alone, because there are still two ghost masters and many tricks in the village.

But the key point is that the whereabouts of this mountain master are elusive. He has never appeared during this period and has been sleeping somewhere in the mountains.

We don't even know what it looks like, whether it's a demon or a ghost, how to attack, and which way to get down the mountain. If we can't find this thing, it will easily bring disaster to the people down the mountain.

People are all mortals.

How do they protect themselves from demons?

"You have made great progress now. You can care about ordinary people even though you can't protect yourself. You are really a man who deserves respect after three days of absence. You have lived up to the high expectations that the Immortal Master has placed on you."

Jidao nodded and praised Zhang Ergou, then looked around at the ancient buildings and said, "But this matter may not be simple. What you said makes sense. There is a big problem here."

If it is just an ordinary cottage and the so-called Shan Laoye, there is indeed no need for the supervision of the Immortal Supervisor personally, but the key is that there are immortal gates nearby and the remains of ancient boat masters.

These two things are not simple.

Is the Immortal Gate of the Supervisory Immortal Division qualified to be built anywhere? Even the land of mountains and seas such as Tiangong has only one immortal gate, and many Dusi don't even have immortal gates.

This place is not Dusi.

It's not a dangerous pass either.

But there is a fairy gate standing in the valley.

As long as you think about it, you will know that there must be something abnormal nearby. Earth-shattering events have happened in ancient times.

The same is true for the wreckage of the boat division. Any place where the boat division is destroyed is a dangerous place, especially this place where the entire army was wiped out and died in a miserable state. It is even more dangerous.

The Qianzhou Strait and the series of ancient ships in the Arctic Mountains that I have been to before all have traces of battles left by the boat master, and what can sink the boat master is definitely not that simple.

The two are combined together.

This village may have a lot of secrets.

In ancient times, this kind of place would definitely be a heavily guarded secret place. Let alone the mountain master going down the mountain to eat people, even if three chickens died in the common people's homes, it would trigger an investigation.

I have seen many similar situations.

In fact, Tiangong is an example. On the south bank of Tiangong Xianhai Lake, there are traces of ancient sea guards. Although it has been abandoned long ago, its purpose is unknown to this day.

This building in the mountain is very old, and it was probably built by Triton in the early ancient times, but its purpose is difficult to guess. Without certain clues, it is impossible to start reasoning.

"What should we do now?"

Zhang Ergou became even more worried when he heard this.

It's like an unjust case. It's easy to catch the criminal. The key is that he has no direction at all. He was forced to dig a well, and the probability of digging into the cave is very low.

"First, report the matter to the Immortal Master, and then dispatch troops and horses to surround the mountain. We must not let the mountain master take advantage of the rain to go down the mountain. If it dares to appear, we will execute it on the spot."

"If it doesn't appear in the end, then slowly search for it in the village, and send people to Wangjingdusi to see if Wangjingdusi has any historical records of this place."

"I can't take care of it at the moment, otherwise I will go to Wangjing Dusi to hold him accountable. The people in the area have been eaten by Master Shan several times, but no one comes to take care of it, and no one investigates the cause."

"What do you want to do with Wang Jingdusi? A group of drunkards and rice sacks can't even protect the common people. I think they have a way to kill them. Sooner or later, the immortal will chop them all down."

Ji Dao angrily opened his mouth to make arrangements.

Master Xian had previously revealed his idea to use Wuhai Xianzhou as the main direction for the development of Jianxian Division, because the environment of this continent is slightly better than that of Shanhaixianzhou and its population is larger than that of Tiangong.

At present, it seems that the environment of Wuhaixianzhou is not normal. There are still some hidden dangers in the mountains, but overall it is much better than Tiangong. At least the people can survive.

That being the case.

Sooner or later, this place will become the territory of Jianxian Division.

Although strictly speaking, Wuhaixianzhou is now the territory of the Jianxian Division. The Jianxian Division is the commander of the entire Haiwei, and the capital in the late Ming Dynasty was under the jurisdiction of Haiwei.

The Supervisory Immortal Division is above the Wangjing Dusi. Although it is not a direct subordinate relationship, the supervisor of the Supervisory Immortal Division has a complete suppression and subordinate relationship with the Wangjing Commander.

Only the commanders of the Dusi in various important places are qualified to enter the Jianxian Division to hold positions. For example, the commanders of the Wangjing Dusi can only sit in the corner and obey orders in the Jianxian Division.

There is really no way in modern society. The Ming Dynasty has already perished, and the Lord of the Immortal Supervisory Department is just a commander without troops.

But in a place like Wuhaixianzhou, which is isolated from modernity, the social system is still the same as that of the Ming Dynasty. They are all remnants of the Ming Dynasty. The head of the Supervisory Immortal Division is no longer a mere commander.

Or even the complete opposite.

With just one word from the Immortal Supervisor, the commander can be punished with death, and the latter will either rebel or be put to death.

(End of this chapter)