1.

Lin Xiao frowned and said: "The vine corpse demon is different from the tree demon wood monster that absorbs the aura of heaven and earth and cultivates into essence, and most of its formation process is due to coincidence - only when the corpse is involved in it by the growing vines as nourishment, and the two are combined under the aggregation of the aura. But the aura in this place is thin, even if the vines and corpses are combined, how can they generate vine corpse demons?"

"Reiki only refers to 'spiritual energy', not just the real aura of heaven and earth, and reiki is not the key. Ye Xin's cold voice sounded beside him, "If you want to generate a ferocious thing that feeds on flesh and blood, there is one thing that is far more important than aura - resentment, or evil qi. ”

Hongchen nodded and said: "Yes, and the resentment itself is caused by the undead being obsessed with gathering but not dispersing, and there is naturally spiritual power in it." The villagers of Xiyun Village were innocently implicated because of the remnants, and resentment inevitably grew in their hearts. The resentment generated by so many people was enough to demonize those corpses and vines. ”

Lin Xiao also gradually followed the train of thought: "And there is that 'stuffy jar' among these people." This person is a cultivator, he has a certain amount of true qi cultivation, if he also breeds resentment in his body, then it must be the most powerful of all of them. ”

"Definitely. Ye Xin nodded in agreement, "The people in our Divine Sect are not like the children of the Immortal Sect family, and they have been influenced by the 'Requiem Ceremony' since they were children. If you have a grudge in your heart when you die, you will inevitably turn into a fierce ghost!"

Lin Xiao turned to Song Wenyuan: "Then what? What happened next?"

Song Wenyuan sighed faintly: "I had mixed feelings in my heart after I found out that this monster that was a combination of vines and corpses was the relatives and friends I had been thinking about. In order to find out what was going on, I cleaned the courtyard and stayed for the time being, partly to study the origin of the vine corpses, but partly because I missed them so much. ”

"I've been observing this place for seven days, and since I've gone back, I've found some information and books about the vine corpse demon through various means, and the general situation is not much different from what you just guessed. In these seven days, I also found out what the problem is about the water pollution in Ruofeng Village. ”

"Although the vine corpse mainly feeds on flesh and blood, water is also essential for the growth of plants. In the nearly two years since it spawned, it has exhausted all the large and small water sources near Xiyun Village, and then in order to avoid its own withering, its roots continue to explore the location of other water sources underground, and finally found the water source point of Ruofeng Village. ”

Song Wenyuan's words confirmed Lin Xiao's previous conjecture - with the existence of the vine corpse demon as a premise, the problem of water depletion in Ruofeng Village has indeed become much easier to explain. "The depletion of water sources is due to the fact that the roots of the vine corpses in the ground draw a large amount of water from them, and as for the pollution of streams and rivers, it must be because the flesh and blood of the corpses inside the vines are poisonous and penetrate into the water in the process of drawing water. Lin Xiao said.

Song Wenyuan nodded: "Lin Shaoxia is very smart, I admire him." To be honest, the purpose of my action at that time was to find out the cause of the water problem, so that I could give an explanation to the villagers of Ruofeng Village, and finding my family here was actually a windfall;"

"To be able to come to that conclusion shows that my purpose has been achieved. It would have been a happy thing, but ...... But I'm in a deep tangle—because I can't make up my mind to tell me about the vine corpse!"

Hongchen said in a low voice: "Because it's about your family, right?"

Song Wenyuan was silent, and nodded after a long time, and he could see that his eyes were moist again.

"If I told the people of Ruofeng Village the truth, they would definitely not allow such a monster to exist that could threaten their survival at any time. For the sake of its safety, and at the same time my own selfishness, I finally chose to hide the truth of the matter. ”

No one refuted his statement, after all, he didn't raise such a monster to harm people, but to protect his "lost and regained" family and friends.

"Then over there in Ruofeng Village, how do you explain afterwards?"

Song Wenyuan sighed: "After I left Xiyun and returned to Ruofeng Village, I prevaricated a few words with half-truths, and said that there was a tree spirit on the mountain that had cultivated to become a refinement, cut off the original water vein, and polluted the water source, but now it is fine, but the water vein has been broken, and I am afraid that it will not be able to recover." I was fully prepared before I went back, finding another water source in the mountains closer to Ruofeng Village, and saying that I had already thought of a plan for them. ”

"It's also thanks to the fact that the villagers in Ruofeng Village are honest people, and they have always believed in my statement, and they also thanked me for finding a way to live for them, and called me their benefactor. More than 20 years have passed, and now that I think about it, I still feel that I have always felt that I have deceived these simple mountain people because of my own selfishness, and it is really difficult to have a good conscience. But with my loved ones right in front of me, even if I do it again, I will make the same choice!"

Ye Xin asked, "You said that you found another water source for Ruofeng Village, so after so many years, hasn't the vine corpse demon destroyed this new water source again?"

Song Wenyuan shook his head: "No, I found a solution." ”

"What is it?" Lin Xiao asked.

"As long as its other needs are met, its need for water will be relatively reduced. Also, I found something that could replace the water of the river to draw it from. ”

Lin Xiao looked at Song Wenyuan with understanding, and said, "Actually, I had a question just now, but I never said it - although the formation of the vine corpse demon can be explained, it is impossible to generate such a large vine corpse demon just from the corpses of these people in your village. Now that you think about it, the solution and substitute you are talking about should be corpses and flesh, right?"

Ye Xin didn't react at once: "What do you mean?"

"As long as the vine corpse's desire for blood food is satisfied, a sufficient amount of flesh and blood can fill the growth needs in other aspects in addition to hunger. The simplest example is water, which can be replaced with blood. ”

Ye Xin's eyes flashed a strange color when he looked at Song Wenyuan: "You have been letting it drink blood and eat meat?!"

Song Wenyuan nodded in acknowledgement.

Lin Xiao's face sank: "What about the 'ingredients'?"

Song Wenyuan looked at Lin Xiao's face and said with a slight smile: "Lin Shaoxia doesn't have to look at me like that, I can swear to God that neither I nor it has hurt any innocent person." The flesh and blood I fed to it include the cattle, sheep, chickens and ducks raised in Ruofeng Village, the birds and animals in this Wushan, and the pigs, cattle and mutton that I bought back in the city of Lanzhou, but there is no corpse!"

Lin Xiao's face softened slightly, and said: "The vine corpse demon's appetite will increase as its size grows, and you have been filling its desires with flesh and blood, aren't you afraid that one day it will lose control due to its bloodthirstiness?"

"There will always be worries, but I can't watch it starve or let it destroy the water sources in this mountain. Song Wenyuan sighed: "The people of these two villages now occupy an extremely important position in my mind, the palms of my hands and the backs of my hands are full of meat, I can't be ruthless on either side, so I can only rely on myself to balance the interests of both sides." ”

Hongchen looked at the vines lying on Song Wenyuan's body, and sighed softly: "A monster that has devoured flesh and blood for so many years should be devoured by blood lust now, but it can still recognize you at this time, and even really feel your emotions, which shows that it still retains the humanity of those villagers in Xiyun Village back then." ”

"And this humanity is the love of family and friends for you!"

Song Wenyuan stroked the vines on his shoulders, felt the gentle rhythm of the flesh and blood under the vine skin, and muttered in a low voice, "I know." ”

2.

The night breeze blew gently, the mist cleared, and the clear moonlight sprinkled down, illuminating the entire courtyard. Everyone was silent, as if they were enjoying this rare moment of tranquility, or they were unwilling to bring this mundane hustle and bustle into the peaceful atmosphere between Song Wenyuan and the people of Xiyun Village.

After a long time, Song Wenyuan broke the silence by himself, stood up, bowed to Lin Xiao and Ye Xin, and bowed to Lin Xiao and Ye Xin, and said: "Lin Shaoxia, Miss Ye, I am really ashamed, I have never seen any trace of a cultivator in Wushan since that incident, although the rescue of the two that day was from the heart of the doctor, in fact, I also wanted to find out the details of the two. Later, I heard you talking about things related to that kind of thing back then, and mistakenly thought that you and the murderer back then were the same thing, so I moved to kill. It's good to wake up in time, otherwise it would almost be a big mistake. Wen Yuan is here to make amends, and I hope that the two of them will do more than one Haihan!" said that he was about to kneel.

Lin Xiao hurriedly supported him, stood up with Ye Xin and returned the salute: "What Brother Song said, it's good to explain these things clearly, you are also doing this to protect your relatives, we can understand, you don't need to blame yourself." ”

"I know that you are cultivators from famous families, and you are responsible for destroying demons. Although Song Wenyuan didn't kneel, he still couldn't bow down, and continued, "But I can swear to the sky that even if my family members become demons now, they will never hurt anyone, if this is not true, the heavens and the earth will be destroyed." I also hope that a few noble hands will be raised and let go of the relatives and friends below, and we will be willing to be cattle and horses to express our gratitude. ”

Lin Xiao was about to speak, but his wrist was tightly clenched, and he couldn't help but be stunned for a moment, and looked back at Ye Xin beside him. I saw her slowly walk up to her, and said in her usual flat tone: "Brother Song doesn't have to be like this, we are not like those old-fashioned pedantic people in the righteous path, and the ideas of people and demons are not so rigid. A demon that has not harmed anyone is naturally considered a good demon, so why can't you keep it? You can rest assured, as long as it continues to keep to itself, no one will hurt it. ”

Lin Xiao couldn't help but glance at him quietly behind Ye Xin, and thought: "If you want to scold people, you don't know how to be subtle, those pedantic people in the righteous path who are old-fashioned?

But what he didn't know was that Ye Xin's move was pushing him out of the responsibility for this matter in disguise, and it was actually protecting him. After all, Lin Xiao is the head disciple of the Ziyang Divine Sect, if such a promise is given by him, in case someone else discovers the secret here a day later, and uses this promise to question and attack Lin Xiao's identity, then he must bear this responsibility, and he may be ruined at any time.

And Ye Xinnai is a member of the Demon Sect, and in the eyes of righteous people, he is close to demons and monsters, so why not be afraid of the responsibility behind this promise. Therefore, it is up to her to guarantee that the future trouble will be much smaller than Lin Xiaolai's.

After Song Wenyuan thanked Lin Xiao and Ye Xin, Hongchen asked on the side: "By the way, Mr. Song, I want to ask - you said that you have consulted books and materials about the vine corpse demon through various channels afterwards, so have you investigated by the way, what is the origin of your 'stuffy jar' friend?"

"This ......," Song Wenyuan frowned, "I did try to investigate, but I can't hide it, after all, I'm just a small country doctor, and I have a shortage of connections, and it's not easy to find information about the vine corpse demon, and it's tantamount to finding an unidentified person." ”

"After so many years, who is the 'stuffy jar'? What is the school and what school? Where did the broken silk book on his body come from...... I know these issues are equally important to you, but unfortunately, until now, I have been ignorant of them. ”

"Wait, didn't you say that the stuffy jar stuffed you with a piece of jade pendant before you died?" Lin Xiao suddenly remembered this.

"Oh, there is. Song Wenyuan reacted, nodded, and then reached out to remove the medicine bag hanging from his waist, revealing a piece of jade pendant with a pitch-black body—it was actually a piece of black jade. "It's the only thing left for me by the stuffy jar, so I wear it all the time. ”

Ye Xin looked at the jade pendant intently: "Can you take it down and show it to us?"

"Absolutely. Song Wenyuan took off the jade pendant and handed it to Ye Xin.

Lin Xiao leaned over to Ye Xin's side and looked at it twice, reached out and touched the antique tassel tied to the jade pendant, and said, "He left this jade pendant to you, do you hope that you can follow this jade pendant to find his master, and let you help bring back the news of his death." ”

Song Wenyuan shook his head: "I don't think so." ”

"Why?"

"If you want to follow this jade pendant to find the master of the stuffy jar, the premise is that this jade pendant must be something on his body. But I thought about it carefully, I had never seen this jade pendant before he stuffed it into me when he was dying, and it should not have been on him. ”

"Could it be that you haven't seen it before, maybe he's hidden it all along. ”

Song Wenyuan shook his head categorically and denied this statement: "This jade pendant is at most a sect or a symbol of status, if you want to talk about importance, it must be that broken silk book is more important." When I first healed him, I could even turn out the half of the silk book from him, and it was impossible to find a piece of jade pendant. So this jade pendant must not be a stuffy thing. ”

"If it's not his own, then it's possible to ......," Hongchen muttered, "He was pulled from the murderer before he was poisoned!"

Lin Xiao's eyes lit up: "So this jade pendant points to the group of murderers who slaughtered Xiyun Village and snatched the remnants of the map back then. ”

When Lin Xiao was questioning, Ye Xin had been silently observing the jade pendant from the side, gently rubbing it from time to time, or flicking the body of the jade pendant with his fingers and putting it in his ears to listen to the sound. Just as Lin Xiao's voice fell, she suddenly said, "This ornament is not made of jade. ”

Lin Xiao and Song Wenyuan were both surprised: "What?"

The two of them looked carefully at the piece of "jade pendant" in Ye Xin's hand, and saw that it was pitch black, about seven or eight inches long, and the body of the ornament was smooth and shiny, if it weren't for it, it would almost make people mistakenly think that it was a wooden pendant. There are also a few thin stripes engraved on the matching body on both sides, just like the words on the ancient book, which makes this "jade pendant" full of ancient meaning.

But the most unusual thing is that this "jade pendant" has a cold atmosphere that is completely different from jade, even if it has been held in Ye Xin's hand for a long time, there is no sign of being covered with heat.

"This is not jade?" Lin Xiao said with a frown, "Then what kind of texture is this?"

Ye Xin said: "This is a kind of stone that surpasses jade, and I have only seen it in an ancient book. Have you ever heard of the phrase 'the stones of other mountains can attack jade'?"

"Naturally, I have heard of it. Is it ......?"

"This ornament is made of 'other mountain stones'. This mountain stone, also known as 'Kunwu stone', looks the same as jade, but it is harder than jade. Ye Xin said, "Because of the peculiar stone quality of this mountain, it is often used to smelt to cast and cut jade knives, and it is said that in ancient times, the jade master in the land of Xihu used this stone to make a pair of sharp blades used to unravel jade and cut jade, which is the legendary 'Kun Gong knife'." But it is extremely rare to use these other mountain stones to make ornaments. ”

Lin Xiao asked, "Then where does this 'other mountain stone' come from?"

Ye Xin continued: "Legend has it that this stone came from Kunwu Mountain, more than 200 miles west of Yishui, but those are all false rumors, and they have long been unverifiable. There is only one place where there are other rocks today. ”

"Where?"

Ye Xin said two words indifferently: "Qishan." ”

"Qishan?" Lin Xiao couldn't help frowning, "Qishan is a place of battle in ancient times, one of the few remaining ancient battlefields in the world, and the aura has been accumulated for thousands of years, although it is a treasure land, but I have never heard of any famous families of the righteous path or the Demon Sect in Qishan?"

"You're right. Ye Xin nodded in agreement, "Qishan is indeed the site of an ancient battlefield where spiritual energy accumulates, but after all, it is a place where corpses are all over the field, and most of the spirits gathered are 'Yin Spirits'. Although these spirits are not harmful to the human body, they are extremely difficult to refine, because no sect, whether good or evil, will choose to stay there for a long time, spending a lot of time and energy to domesticate those yin spirits. ”

Hongchen thoughtfully took the piece of "jade pendant" in Ye Xin's hand, and muttered for a long time: "Come and see, the lines on this pendant don't look like the word 'Ji' written on a seal?"

"Ji?" Lin Xiao raised his eyebrows, "Is that the 'Ji' of the Fox Fairy Spirit Ji?" Hongchen nodded.

Ye Xin lightly stroked along the line a few times and said, "In this way, it is indeed a bit similar." ”

"I thought of a possibility," Hongchen said, "Have you ever heard of the 'Qishan Youxuan Ji Clan'?!"

【To be continued】