Yang Xianmao sat cross-legged on the bed and meditated, allowing himself to quickly enter the realm of forgetting things and self, in this realm, on the one hand, he could get enough rest. On the other hand, his mind is highly vigilant, monitoring any movement around him, and whenever there is danger, he will wake up from his dreams.

But the night passed uneventfully until the next morning.

As soon as the morning dawned, Yang Xianmao was still in the realm of forgetting things and me, and he heard the sound of footsteps quickly leaning over to this side. Although the sound of footsteps was very thin and light, Yang Xianmao, who was in this state, quickly opened his eyes and heard the sound coming from the deck of the ship, coming towards them.

Yang Xianmao immediately floated out of bed, because he heard the footsteps coming in a hurry, as if there was something urgent, and then the footsteps stopped in the room of the Baiyun Guan Lord next door. Someone shouted softly outside, "Master, Master open the door, it's not good." ”

The door creaked open, and the voice of the Baiyun Guan Master came: "What's the matter? ”

"The trees in the back hill are all withered, and along that crack, the grass and trees on both sides are all yellow and withered, which is very scary. ”

Yang Xianmao was taken aback, opened the door and went out, and sure enough, he saw the two disciples of the Baiyun Guan Master talking nervously to the Baiyun Guan Lord. Yang Xianmao asked her, "What's going on?"

"Today, when the morning was almost dawn, there was a little sister shouting in the yard. We didn't know what was going on, so we quickly got up and asked her, and she said that he went to the back mountain to fetch water and found a crack. I remembered the crack you said yesterday, and I wanted to go over and see what was going on. ”

When she reached the edge of the crack, she did not smell the rotten eggs, but she found that all the trees and flowers along the sides of the crack were withered, as if they had been in drought for many years, and the leaves had withered and fallen to the ground. The bark and trunks of the trees were scorched, and the grass on the ground was turned withered, and when the wind blew, it rose everywhere in the sky. ”

When we heard this, we were all taken aback and decided to go and see it. So a few of us went to the back mountain to the first finger peak, and sure enough, as she said, all the flowers and trees along the cracks on both sides of the withered. We were all stupefied, and we didn't know what to say for a while. Or did the girl who carried the water in the kitchen react and said to hurry up the mountain to find Master and Son, and see if we are going to evacuate?"

Yang Xianmao asked, "Have you ever smelled the rotten eggs I said?"

Several Dao aunts shook their heads and said they didn't smell it. But all the vegetation on both sides of the crack withered.

Yang Xianmao said: "Let's go up the mountain and take a look before making a decision. ”

Yun Yan agreed, and quickly called the disciples to call the people in the other rooms, and a few of them got up with sleepy eyes and heard this, and suddenly their sleepiness disappeared, and their eyes widened. The Lord of Baiyun Temple quickly settled the account and led everyone to the North Mountain.

They rushed back to Baiyun Temple and went straight to Yizhi Peak. They stood still hundreds of feet away from Yizhi Peak, because from here they could already see that the trees on both sides of the crack were all withered, and that withering was the withering of the trees after they had completely died, and the leaves had fallen off, and they were yellow and yellow, and they were blown away by the mountain wind.

Yang Xianmao smelled carefully all the way, but he couldn't smell the smell of rotten eggs, so he was relieved. He made his way to the withered trees, got up and looked at it, and the area was completely dry and no life was visible. Yang Xianmao walked to the crack again, and the crack was full of dead leaves. There were also some carcasses of small animals that fell in, and Yang Xianmao walked along the gap and checked along the way.

However, except for the trees and flowers within a radius of more than ten feet on both sides, all the dead trees, other places are still lush and full of life. He also saw that the rabbit in particular had jumped over the crack and had run away in good spirits without any discomfort, and it seemed that the crack had not caused any further damage.

After Yang Xianmao walked around, he said, "I didn't smell that smell anymore, so there should be no further damage for the time being." There is no need to evacuate for the time being, because this crack is still some distance away from the Baiyun Temple, so everyone just pay attention to it. ”

On this day, Yang Xianmao stayed in the Baiyun Temple, checked the situation from time to time, and found that the cracks had not been further expanded, and the withered trees were still yellow. It's just that the leaves that fall on the ground are flying around under the mountain wind, and they are all gone. Only the bare branches on both sides of the crack remained, and it looked like a tree in winter.

It wasn't until the afternoon that Yang Xianmao was sure that there was no further danger, and said goodbye to the Baiyun Guan Lord and the others, saying that it was time to go back. I can't drink for two days in a row, so it's time to rest. The lord of Baiyun Temple personally sent Yang Xianmao out of the Taoist Temple, Caiyun stayed in Baiyun Temple, and Yang Xianmao went down the mountain alone.

Yang Xianmao returned to Gu's sister-in-law's house, the door was open, and the mallet was sitting on the high threshold, playing with a bamboo man made of small bamboo tubes, and he was having a lot of fun. Seeing him, he stood up excitedly and shouted into the house: "Mother, the uncle is back, you don't have to dream about calling him anymore." ”

Yang Xianmao was suddenly embarrassed, quickly squatted down, picked up his bamboo horn man, and changed the topic and said, "What is this? It's fun to watch." ”

"It's a villain made of bamboo, and it can fight. ”

Saying that, Sister-in-law Gu walked out of it, and came to Yang Xianmao with a twist of willow branches and waist. I didn't ask him what he was doing these days, but said, "I haven't eaten at night, do you want me to fry two dishes for you?"

Yang Xianmao was very moved in his heart and said, "Okay, I was drinking with my friends a few days ago and encountered some strange things. So it's delayed, but I'm not drinking every day, how are you, how are you doing these days?"

Sister-in-law Gu nodded and said, "It's good, you don't sleep alone with me, no one is noisy with me." ”

Yang Xianmao was still a little embarrassed, and said: "I should have come back a long time ago, but a big crack suddenly opened on the top of Beishan Mountain, and the smell of some rotten eggs came out." As a result, I learned this morning that all the flowers and trees were dead more than ten feet away along both sides of the crack. ”

Sister-in-law Gu said: "I have heard about it, and it has spread on the street. Someone went to Baiyun Temple to hear about it, and ran to see it, and the village was a little bigger, and soon the news spread. But there is more than one strange thing that has happened in the past two days, so everyone is a little numb. ”

Yang Xianmao's heart sank, and he hurriedly asked, "Except for the fish in the river that you said are like fools, what else is strange?"

Sister-in-law Gu said: "Qian Shanren in the town fought with the beggar gang and killed several people. But Qian Shanren never showed up, and the beggar gang surrounded Lord Qian's house. But there are a lot of masters in the family, and the beggars can't attack it, so the two classes are in trouble. ”

Yang Xianmao heard Sister-in-law Gu talk about the murder, her tone was flat, as if she didn't feel anything. Yang Xianmao was taken aback, if it was just an ordinary vendetta, Yang Xianmao would not be interested. But the question Yang Xianmao asked earlier was that there were other strange things happening, but Sister-in-law Gu said this as a strange thing, which means that there must be something strange in it.

Quickly asked her, "What is weird?"

Sister-in-law Gu said: "Qian Shanren is a rich man in the village to avoid disasters, I don't know why he came here, but he is still kind and charitable. Every morning, a large bucket of gruel must be placed in front of his house for those who are homeless and begging, and many beggars depend on their family's soup to survive. And these beggars are the people of the beggar gang, it stands to reason that the people of the beggar gang still have a lot of feelings for Qian Shanren, and they praise him in front of and behind their backs, but I didn't expect something strange to happen this time, do you know what the reason is?"

Yang Xianmao shook his head. But he echoed and said: "Since you have said so, there must be something strange, which means that it must be a very strange thing." ”

"Absolutely, exactly. It stands to reason that the beggar gang is grateful to Qian Shanren, but this morning is really weird, after drinking the porridge, a group of people from the beggar gang suddenly became angry, saying that the porridge was poisonous, and Qian Shanren seemed to want to harm them. Then a swarm rushed up and beat the soup kitchen man to the point that his head was bleeding. ”

Of course Qian Shanren didn't do it, he was framed for doing good deeds with good intentions, not to mention poisoning, his subordinates were still beaten like this, Qian Shanren's eldest son took a group of people to find the beggar gang Qian Gang Master to theorize, but the Qian Gang Leader insisted that Qian Shanren's porridge was poisonous and wanted to kill the poor. ”

"There was a fight in two strokes, Qian Shanren's eldest son likes to dance with guns and sticks, and his martial arts are really good. Later, Qian Shanren's son was seriously injured and escaped under the protection of the guards, and the leader of the beggar gang was also injured, and several of his men died. In a fit of rage, the leader of the Qian gang mobilized the beggar gang to surround Qian Shanren's house, demanding that the Qian family hand over the murderer and compensate for the loss. ”

Yang Xianmao thought for a while and said, "Why do they think that the porridge is poisonous, has someone been poisoned? Or is there another reason?"

Sister-in-law Gu shook her head and said, "I don't know, anyway, the people of the beggar gang don't seem to be causing trouble, but they just insist that the porridge is poisonous, and that Qian Shanren wants to harm them." So there was a fight between the two, and there were dead and wounded on both sides. There is no yamen here, and no one is willing to uphold justice, whoever has a hard fist will be justified, so the beggar gang will put Qian Shanren's house on the periphery. Mr. Qian once wanted to calm things down and ask Qian Shanren to let the beggar gang leader take people away. As for compensation, it was possible to negotiate after sitting down, but it was categorically rejected by the money gang owner. ”

Yang Xianmao asked, "What do the beggars want to do? Do they have any specific requirements?"

Sister-in-law Gu said: "Their request is very simple, let Qian Shanren hand over all the family wealth to the beggar gang to atone for his sins. ”

Yang Xianmao shook his head and said, "The beggars have gone too far, and you don't have evidence to prove that the soup in the alms is poisonous." Even if it is proven, it seems that you beggars have not seen anyone poisoned by this, and even if someone is poisoned, it seems that no one has died from poisoning. It's not even clear why someone else is asking someone else to compensate for the damage, but I think it seems like a nonsense that the beggars deliberately added in order to swallow other people's wealth. ”