1.11 Tombstone, Soul Bell
To live in the heart of the living is not to die.
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When Man Man returned to Li's house, Li Mu and his father were sitting in the living room waiting.
"I've told my dad, you don't have to hide it anymore." Li Mu opened his mouth to speak, his voice was obviously a little hoarse.
Man Man was a little embarrassed, after all, Li Xingguo had always regarded them as good friends of his son, and they were secretly investigating him.
After learning everything, Li Xingguo actively cooperated. But in the final analysis, grievances in the business field always do not affect the family. So after thinking about it, things still haven't made much progress.
Li Xingguo asked about Jiuying, and she told the truth that she went to Li Xingguo's hometown in Yuning.
When Li Xingguo heard this, his face changed.
He had always felt that his hometown was very weird, and if it wasn't for another reason, he wouldn't bury Wang Li and Li Jing there.
Li Xingguo never took Li Mu back. In such a strange place, Li Xingguo was very afraid that Jiuying would be in danger if he went alone.
After listening to it, he was also a little panicked. She hurriedly called Jiuying, but the other party was always not in the service area.
Li Xingguo's hometown is too far away, even if Man Man leaves now, he can't catch up with Jiuying. I thought that with Jiuying's skills, there should be no big mistakes.
She comforted Li Mu a few words in turn, but when she returned to the room, she didn't sleep all night.
Jiuying looked down on the hill next to the mountain village.
The village is located in a mountain col. The rows of houses are neat and orderly, and from above they look like checkerboard lattices. It was meal time, and smoke was rising. It's a leisurely idyllic scene, if you ignore the black stone monuments around the village.
Jiuying stood here and took out a compass to measure feng shui. I found that this is a natural place to nourish the soul, but it seems that the formation has been destroyed.
Descending the mountain road, Jiuying arrived at the entrance of the village.
There is a stone monument standing at the entrance of the village, and the stone monument is not high, only about one meter. It sits on a huge stone platform, half blue and half black, with a large blood-red character engraved on it, "Backing Mountain Village". Jiuying has rarely seen a village that would engrave its name at the entrance of the village so solemnly, especially such an ordinary name.
The stone platform looks a little old, mossy and mossy, but strangely the stone tablet is clean. The three characters on the stele take on an eerie black-red color in the setting sun, and the handwriting looks new, as if it is often depicted.
There is also a huge stone mill on one side of the stone platform, and the middle of the two grinding discs is also black and red, giving Jiu Ying a feeling that he has just ground flesh and blood.
Behind the stone platform are the countless stone tablets that I saw from the mountain just now, and if you look closely, they are all tombstones, and they are all black. They are all the same size, neatly arranged, with names and dates of birth and death engraved on them in the same format. It's just that unlike ordinary tombstones, these handwriting also have an eerie crimson color.
At a glance, it seemed that the tombstone with no end in sight was full of Sensen's coldness, which made Jiuying shiver. The cemetery Jiuying has seen a lot, after all, this line of work is to deal with the deceased, but this is the first time that Jiuying can be frightened from the bottom of his heart.
The sun will not set in the distance, and the dark tombstone group looks even more eerie under the reflection of the blood-colored sunset. Seeing this scene, Jiuying had a sentence popping out of his heart, "It's time for the devil".
If you want to talk about the countryside, Jiuying has not been there. In the villages she has seen, many people die and are buried in the surrounding wastelands or in their fields. It is the first time that Jiuying has seen such a grand and strange tomb group as Gushan Village.
Suppressing the uneasiness that welled up in his heart, Jiuying hurried through the tombs. There were rows and rows of tombstones around him, and Jiuying restrained himself and only moved forward. The yin qi here is strong, and Jiuying feels that the air has a sense of stickiness.
The tombs cover a large area, and by the time the nine babies arrived in the village, it was already dark. Jiu Ying felt a sudden lightness on his body, and the village could hardly feel the yin qi, and it was like two worlds outside the village, and it was clearly distinguished.
Generally located in the middle of nowhere, villages can look a little dilapidated and barren. The backing village is completely different, and most of the buildings in the village are made of bluestone. The courtyards are square, and they all look like the same house structure. Connecting them is the same bluestone paved road, if you just look at the scene in front of you, Jiu Ying will feel that you are walking in a rich Jiangnan town.
I don't know if it's because it's dark, or if there are not many people in the village, Jiuying didn't see anyone along the way.
There were no children playing, no adults returning home from farming, the smoke of the cooking that I had just seen on the mountain had disappeared, and the smell of food was gone. Only the footsteps of the Nine Babies echoed in the empty alley, as if they had walked into a ghost town.
Jiuying sniffed vigorously without believing in evil, and there was an indescribable smell at the end of his nose. It's like offering incense, but the smell is thicker, Jiuying smelled it a few times, and even felt that the fragrance was pungent, which made people sick.
Jiu Ying's face changed, and the smell mixed in it was obviously a corpse smell. She didn't dare to be careless anymore, waved the bell on her wrist, pinched a few gestures in an instant, and took out an evil charm from the small bag on her waist, and then she was fully alert and walked forward.
Obviously, he just came to explore Li Mu's mother's tomb, but he didn't expect his hometown to be such a strange place. Jiu Ying didn't carry too many magic weapons and charms on her body, but at this point, she was unwilling to return.
Fortunately, Jiu Ying relied on the string of bells on his left wrist most of the time, and he didn't rely very much on other things, so he simply explored boldly.
There are six bells in total, the size of a little finger's nail, and they are spherical in shape. They are made of a black metal and are hung from a red rope on the left wrist of the Nine Infants. They are called soul bells, which are different from ordinary magic weapons, which are the companion bells of the vein of the Nine Infant Mother. The companion bell is passed on to the female but not to the male, so the mother of the ninth infant Qian Luan has it, and the father Qian Jin who is full will not have it.
After the owner of each soul bell is born, a bell mark will appear on the chest. The elders perform a special ritual to transfer the mark to a bell prepared in advance.
At birth, the shade of color of the sigil represents the potential of the owner of the soul bell. The mark of the Nine Babies is dark purple. After the transfer, this is represented by the number of bells. There are six soul bells of the Nine Infants, which is already a relatively powerful talent.
From then on, the owner of the soul bell shook the bell, and it no longer made a sound that could be heard.
This kind of bloodline has become increasingly scarce, and Jiu Ying doesn't know if there is anyone else besides her.
Jiuying walked forward cautiously, the courtyards she passed by were all closed, and the high courtyard walls also blocked her vision, not knowing whether there were any people inside.
Seeing that he was about to reach the end of this road, suddenly there was a "squeak" door sound behind him, followed by a "knock knock" running sound, and then something hit Jiu Ying's leg.
Originally, Jiuying subconsciously turned around and wanted to throw up the bell, but when he heard that the voice was wrong, he hurriedly stopped it. This one was stunned and was hit.
What hit her was a little doll about three years old, and she could only see the outline when it was dark, and she didn't know if it was a boy or a girl. The child sat on the ground because of the reaction force, but he didn't cry, just looked up at Jiuying in a daze.
There was another sound of shredded footsteps on the opposite side, and a hoarse female voice called "Aquatic, Aquatic".
It seems to be a boy, Jiuying bent down and helped Shui Sheng up while thinking, who knew that the child would not let go of the corner of her clothes. Jiu Ying thought about explaining to the adults, so he simply held Shui Sheng's hand and waited for someone to come.
It was an old lady who came to find Shui Sheng, and Shui Sheng called out crisply, "Grandma!" ”
Shui Sheng's grandmother saw that Jiu Ying didn't ask anything, took Shui Sheng's arm and tore away the hands held by the two, and turned around to leave.
Jiuying hurriedly spoke, "Old man, I'm here to worship Li Xingguo's wife, she's me..." But soon, the essence faded, as if he was still an old man in his twilight years.
"Let's go!" The old man didn't say anything more, took Shui Sheng's hand and walked back. Shui Sheng quickly ran to Jiuying's side and grabbed Jiuying's hand.
Jiuying saw that the old lady did not object this time, so she took Shui Sheng's hand and followed behind.
The three of them walked silently all the way to the nearest courtyard gate, and the two large wooden doors showed the grandeur of the courtyard. A crack opened in the door, and the old lady had already stepped into the courtyard. The threshold was very high, and the child let go of Jiuying's hand and entered the door half-crawling. He turned around and beckoned like Jiuying, and waited until Jiuying also entered the courtyard before pushing the courtyard door and closing it.
Several lanterns were lit under the porch in the courtyard, and the lights were bright, which also allowed Jiuying to see the general appearance of the courtyard. This is a very square yard, also paved with bluestone slabs, the main house sits north and faces south, a total of three rooms, and there is a side room on the right. The light is on in the middle of the main room, and the room on the right side is also on.
The old lady walked in front and pushed open the door in the middle, and then turned back and said the second sentence, "Come in." ”
The room was very bright, and at the entrance was a stove with a square table in the middle.
Although this village is very weird, Jiuying is not a person who likes to get to the bottom of it. Her purpose was to explore the grave of Li Mu's biological mother, and she didn't want to know about the secrets of other people's villages.
All she had to do was spend the night here, ask for the location of the cemetery, get up early tomorrow to investigate, and then leave.
The old lady looked very old, and was wearing a very old cloth gown, and the light shone on the deep furrows on her face, leaving deep and shallow shadows. Her eyes were slightly cloudy, and she was looking at Jiu Ying carefully at this time.
Jiuying was not very comfortable being looked at, and wanted to say something to interrupt, but he felt that his hand was pulled by a child. The child, called Shui Sheng, pointed to the table and motioned for Jiu Ying to step forward.
The aquatic eyes were bright, and he saw that Jiuying did not move, and then turned his head to look at the old lady.
Only then did the old lady speak, "If the girl hasn't eaten yet, sit down and eat together!" After speaking, he took out a pair of chopsticks from the cupboard next to him and put them on the table, and then sat down.
Jiu Ying followed the instructions and washed his hands in the sink on the stove. The village is very remote, but it has water and electricity, and it seems to be very wealthy. Jiuying thanked the old lady and sat down next to the aquatic life.
The meal is very simple, a plate of fried wild vegetables that I don't know what it is, a pot of steamed buns, and a pot of porridge.
Jiuying still wanted to talk, but the old lady ate slowly without raising her head or opening her eyes, and she didn't seem to have any meaning to communicate. Jiuying also closed his mouth in amusement and ate quietly.