dragon hunter

Chapter 395 The Painter's Story
"Who?" The ghost with a translucent figure sensed that there was an extra person in the room, and looked over sensitively.

"It's you!" The other party and I spoke almost at the same time.

I haven't seen the female ghost with long hair covering her face, but I can hear her voice. She is the ghost cultivator who possessed Fang Jianguo before.

What's going on in all this?Too many questions piled up in my mind.

The unconscious man lying on the ground is a young version of the old Fangtou, but I have seen the brothers and sisters of the Fang family, so it can't be the old Fangtou rejuvenated.

"Why did you appear here?" The female ghost surnamed Ruan said in a gloomy voice.

"Who is that person on the ground, and what are you doing, senior?" I asked in a deep voice.

Although the other party helped me once, why did she lie, and whether the strange man lying on the ground is an old square man? If I don't clarify these questions, I'm afraid I won't even be able to sleep comfortably.

"These have nothing to do with you, you leave here immediately." The other party said unceremoniously.

I hesitated for a while, and said sorry, no matter who the man lying on the ground is, since I met him, I will not let him be taken away.

The female ghost cultivator surnamed Ruan seems to see my meddling intentions. Now she has reached the critical moment of casting spells. If she interrupts, not only will her previous efforts be wasted, but she will also suffer backlash.

"I advise you not to meddle in other people's business, this is just our family business." The female ghost Xiu surnamed Ruan anxiously flashed in her eyes.

Just as I was about to speak, the man lying on the ground suddenly coughed and slowly opened his eyes. His eyes were confused at first, and then became clear.

"She's right. I owe her this, and I have to pay it back sooner or later. Brother Zhang, you better leave this matter alone." Although the man had an unfamiliar face, his voice was still square.

I stared blankly at this scene, completely confused, and asked tentatively, "Are you Father Fang?"

The man lying on the ground gave a wry smile and gave a strange answer.

"I am Fang Laogeng, but not him, because the real Fang Laogeng does not exist at all."

I couldn't understand the other party's answer at all. If Fang Laogeng didn't exist, wouldn't the brothers and sisters of the Fang family pop out from the cracks in the rock?

"You haven't discovered that he is not a human being at all?" the female ghost Xiu surnamed Ruan said coldly.

"What do you mean you can't be regarded as a human being?" I am completely confused now. I originally planned to prevent the other party from taking the house, but the development of the matter completely deviated from my expectations.

Seeing the old Fangtou, he surprisingly didn't refute. Thinking of the other party's weird troubles, my heart moved, and my insight opened.

After blinking twice, I looked at the old Fangtou lying on the ground again, and couldn't help but let out an exclamation.

"Paper puppet, how is this possible?" My eyes were full of disbelief.

The number of contacts with the old square head is not infrequent, and I have helped him exorcise evil spirits, but I have never thought that he is not human at all.

"No, this is not an ordinary paper puppet." It's not that I haven't seen paper puppets before, and I had a fight with a room full of them.

But those are all dead things controlled by people, no matter what, they can't pretend to be a living person.

Suddenly, I remembered a story that my second uncle told me when I was a child, and I suddenly remembered what the old square head in front of me was.

"This is a paper puppet that was born with spiritual wisdom and has been cultivated to the level of transformation. It is the best body for seizing a body. No wonder the female ghost cultivator surnamed Ruan has her eyes on him." I said to myself.

There are very few paper puppets that can give birth to spiritual wisdom, but it is not impossible. In some folk ghost stories, the snail girl who repays her kindness, and the old man who gives money are actually paper puppets who have cultivated to the point of transformation.

However, this kind of paper puppet is not like a demon. It was raised by nature and must have come from the hands of a great master.

"Let go of him first, what's the matter, let's talk about it first." I frowned and stared at the female ghost surnamed Ruan.

Even though I now know that the old Fangtou is not a human being, there are still many doubts that have not been clarified. Naturally, I will not allow him to be taken away alive by others.

In my opinion, whether he is a human being or a puppet, as long as he has his own thinking, he is a living being.

"Why should I let him go, he killed my sister." The female ghost surnamed Ruan was full of resentment.

I glanced at the old square head, and there was a strange look in his eyes. At the beginning, he said that his wife died of dystocia many years ago.

Now that he knows that the other party is not a human being, naturally he will no longer believe such nonsense. There is probably something hidden about this matter.

"If you don't stop, don't blame me for shooting." I stared at the other party and said in a deep voice.

The old Fangtou's reaction was a little strange, he lay motionless on the ground, letting the other party seize his home without any resistance.

But I will not allow such a thing to happen in front of my eyes, even if the other party has helped me, this is not a reason for me to give up my principles.

The female ghost cultivator surnamed Ruan seemed to be very scrupulous about me, and she hated to interrupt the spellcasting, and the backlash of the failed spellcasting blew up some chicken and duck sacrifices placed around it.

"Which of you can tell now, what's going on?" I looked at the two people opposite me in confusion.

The old Fangtou sighed, sat up, glanced at me, and said, "If you really want to talk about all this, it has something to do with your ancestors."

"How do you say that?" Curiosity flashed in my eyes.

"I was a painter before I was alive..." Old Fangtou began to slowly tell about his background.

It turns out that my previous judgment was wrong, the paper puppet is not his true self, and he is just a remnant soul living in the paper puppet.

According to the old Fangtou, the brothers and sisters of the Fang family were all adopted by him, and his origin is even more bizarre.

Before he was alive, he was a painter in a small town. One day, a man surnamed Fang brought a painting and asked him to copy it.

The moment he unfolded the picture scroll, he was completely stunned.

Because he had never seen such a spiritual painting, in his eyes, this painting already had its own life.

From the first time he saw the painting, he fell in love with the painting, but the artist's professional ethics did not allow him to keep the painting for himself.

Therefore, he came up with another method, which was to copy two identical paintings, one of which was handed over to the employer, and he planned to keep the other for himself.

However, he miscalculated, that ancient painting with a mysterious origin is not so easy to copy, and every time he draws halfway through, all previous efforts are wasted.

The employer surnamed Fang was very urgent and even gave an ultimatum. If he couldn't finish it within three days, then the other party would find someone else.

In order to keep his beloved ancient paintings, the artist copied them day and night. After two days and two nights without sleep, he finally succeeded.

But the copied painting was to be handed over to the employer, and he wanted to keep a copy himself.

So, regardless of his physical condition, he continued to work overtime, but with a mortal body, how could he not sleep for days and nights?
In the end, when he was halfway through copying, a mouthful of blood was sprayed on the semi-finished product, and he died suddenly in the painting shop.

Maybe because of his concern, or maybe for some other unknown reason, his soul was not led into the underworld, but continued to wander in the studio.

He saw the horrified look of the employer surnamed Fang when he came to pick up the painting, and he also watched helplessly as the other party dragged his body into the wild and buried him alive, and even more watched the other party, taking away his hard work.

He wanted to stop it, but he couldn't do anything, because he couldn't touch the other party at all.

He just drifted in the Yang Realm in such a daze, his soul became weaker and weaker, until when he was about to lose his wits, he accidentally possessed himself on the body of a paper man in a paper goods store.

The owner of the paper goods store was also a strange person, and he could tell at a glance that the paper figurine was different, and said: This is also fate, so you can stay here with peace of mind.

Since then, year after year, day after day, the artist has been attached to the paper figurine, unable to move, and placed in a dark and cold corner.

The owner of the paper goods store was old and died of illness. His son took over the job and his skills were not good enough. His business was declining day by day, so he planned to sell the shop.

Just one night after the transfer of money in the shop, the painter accidentally discovered that he could move, and he sneaked out of the paper goods shop.

Now, decades have passed since his death, the sea has changed, everything seems to be different, even the Ruan family, which was once prosperous for a while, has disappeared.

He still misses this ancient painting, and that painting seems to have a magical power that has always attracted him, and it has not diminished due to the passage of time.

But now he is just a paper figure and cannot appear in front of people. It is his luck to meet a kind old Taoist priest.

The old Taoist taught him the basic cultivation techniques. He found a place where no one was around, and hid day and night to absorb the essence of the sun and the moon.

I don't know how long time has passed, but after experiencing a thunder disaster, he finally turned into a human.

It can be said that he is the weakest demon in the world, because he can only know the most basic breathing techniques, and after turning into a human, the meridians in his body solidify, completely reducing him to a mortal.

However, he didn't care about these things. What he was thinking about was still that ancient painting, even if he had already died once because of that painting, even if hundreds of years had passed.

When he came out of the mountain, the world had completely changed. He could hardly recognize Panlong Town at the foot of the mountain.

Fortunately, he has the skills to make a living, so he resumed his job as a painter, and has been secretly looking for the whereabouts of ancient paintings.

When he learned that the ancient painting finally fell into the hands of the Fang family, he changed his name to Fang Laogeng, wanting to sneak into the Fang family and take another look at the painting.

Then, he quickly found out that the ancient painting in the hands of the Fang family had been dedicated to the Dao Festival.

He had watched the Dao Festival from afar, and he knew that the opponent's method was so powerful that it was impossible for him to get the ancient painting from the opponent.

But at this moment, he got another piece of news, that is, the ancient painting he had copied at the beginning fell into the hands of the descendants of the Ruan family.

Everything after that was just like old Fangtou's life, he found the descendants of the Ruan family and took him as his wife.

In the eyes of outsiders, this is a poor but happy family, but they don't know that the Fang family's children were all adopted secretly, and the painter doesn't love his current wife. All he did was for that ancient painting.

(End of this chapter)