The woodcutter was taken aback, "Really? Looking around, he pointed to a forest next to him, and said to Hu Shu: "You go out of this forest, there is a gentle slope behind you, although it is not easy to walk, but you can barely pass, that gang of strong men are lying in ambush under that slope, you carefully bypass the road and cross the slope, and it will be fine." ”

Hu Xuan said, "Thank you. The woodcutter waved his hand, and hurried away from the road, diagonally up the hillside.

The three of them followed the woodcutter's instructions and went into the woods, where vines and weeds grew everywhere, which was extremely difficult to walk, tall trees covered the sky and the sun, and the low bushes were dense, and there was a smell of rotting leaves in the woods. The stone lock walked in front, and Hu Bolt hugged A-Ning, stepping over the fallen dead wood, bypassing the half-man-high climbing vine, stepping on the half-foot-thick rotten leaves, and walking forward with difficulty. Sure enough, as the woodcutter said, after the woods, it was a gentle slope, and the three of them breathed a sigh of relief, wiped a handful of sweat and looked forward, only to see that the boulders on the slope were stacked on top of each other, like a stone forest.

"Let's rest here for a while," said Shi Suo, and by the way, observe where the robbers are in ambush. ”

Hu Xuan and A Ning were already too tired, so they found a tall boulder peak, climbed up and carefully looked down the road, and looked for a long time, but they did not see the shadow of the robber.

After sitting for a while and taking a breath, A-Ning remembered the two people carrying the human head again, and asked Hu Xuan: "They killed someone, but they held their heads, did they go to the cottage to ask for a reward?" ”

Hu Xuan shook his head, "I don't know, the logic of the robbers, we can't guess." ”

Shi Suo whispered beside him, "Attention, someone is coming." ”

Looking down, sure enough, along the road, two people rode in the distance, a person in front of him was riding on a horse, dressed brightly, as if he was a rich man, and two people walking behind were carrying burdens, like servants. The three of them walked closer and closer unhurriedly, and from the slope down the slope they could see very clearly, and the bell around the horse's neck could not stop "jingling".

"Ah," A-Ning exclaimed, "They take the road like this, isn't that an ambush in the middle?" How do you tell them? ”

"No," Hu Xuan said, "Let's go down, and the strongman will inevitably find out, so we have to see the movement first." ”

Seeing that the three people were unaware of the danger in front of them, they walked down the mountain road to the bottom of the slope, at this time, a few stones on the side of the road under the slope slowly moved, Hu Xuan and the other three opened their eyes wide, and found that it was a few people wearing stone-colored gray clothes, covering their heads, because they were far away, they thought they were stones in the chaos, so they didn't see it. Two of them, with their heads covered, walked unhurriedly to the middle of the road, and at least two others, lying behind the stones on the side of the road, did not move.

When the three men saw that two masked men suddenly came on the road, they quickly stopped, and they were so frightened that they turned around and wanted to run, but the two masked men were very fast, one after the other, and stopped the horse, and one of them stretched out his hand and pulled the rider off and threw him to the ground. The two servant-looking men shouted "ahh Shi Suo whispered: "Kung Fu is good." ”

Listen to one of the masked men shouting, "Leave the money and horses around your lives." ”

The two robbers took their horses and took their burdens, and returned to the roadside, and the other two robbers who had been hidden by the roadside also came out, and the four men opened the baggage, checked the money and goods inside, and laughed loudly, looking very proud.

Suddenly, a gloomy slap came, "Wait." ”

The four of them were taken aback, but they saw a man sitting on a big rock on the side of the road, who was wearing a hat and holding a swarthy bow in his hand, looking at them condescendingly.

The three of them were watching the robbery from a high place, thinking that they were powerless to help, so they didn't dare to move, but they didn't pay attention to when the person wearing the hat suddenly appeared, and they were also taken aback, and hurriedly shrank back and didn't move.

I heard a robber exclaim: "Zhang Shenji!" ”

The four robbers put down their burdens and looked nervous, and one of the tall men said: "Zhang Shenjian, our well water does not interfere with the river water, do you want to eat black and eat black?" ”

The man wearing the hat snorted with his nose and said: "I am not so interested in eating black with you, I am just looking for you to check one thing, a few days ago, Liu Liang Dao, robbed a horse gang, did you do it?" ”

The tall man shook his head, "No. ”

Zhang Shenjian snorted again, "Yes or no, I'm going to check your bags." The tone was very rude.

The four robbers were outnumbered, but they were quite nervous, and surrounded Zhang Shen's arrows in four directions, and two of them also drew knives from their waists and held them in their hands. Zhang Shenjian looked at the tall man and said gloomily: "So, you Shennong four ghosts are going to do something with me?" ”

"You are too ...... to deceive people" Before a robber's voice fell, Zhang Shenjian had already jumped down from the stone, and hit the tall man's body directly, the tall man's hand was also fast, the cold light flashed, and a dagger stabbed straight forward, Zhang Shenjian was jumping down from the stone, seeing that the dagger was about to pierce his body.

Suddenly, there was a soft sound of "dang", the tall man's dagger had been removed, the black shadow flashed, Zhang Shenjian rolled to the ground, and the tall man flashed aside, and his face was cut by the bowstring A bloody mark.

Zhang Shenjian has not yet stood up, the other three robbers have already attacked, cut down with knives, Zhang Shenjian curled up in the ground, used the bow as a knife, and made a style of knife technique, two knives were cut on the back of the bow, when it sounded, and Zhang Shenjian had jumped up.

The tall man ignored the pain, rushed up again, a dagger stabbed straight again and again, extremely fast, the momentum was very brave, Zhang Shenjian was also forced to take a few steps back, borrowing a big stone to avoid the attack of the tall man, the other three people came from three sides, Zhang Shenjian held the bow in his left hand, raised his right hand, and the tall man shouted: "Be careful of the hidden arrow." Before he could finish speaking, one of the robbers was struck in the face, and a small red feather arrow was stuck in the cheek, and he was bleeding profusely.

There was a fierce fight here, and the three people on the slope above could see the gods, and Hu Shuo whispered to Shi Suo: "This Zhang Shenjian is good at martial arts, if you fight with him, what will the result be?" ”

Shi Suo shook his head, "I can't beat it, if it's a frontal and open fight, I may be able to support it for a while, but his actions are insidious and experienced, if I really do it, I'm afraid I won't be able to last long." The sleeve arrow just now is not easy to defend. ”

Among the five people who were fighting fiercely, another robber was hit by an arrow, screamed, covered his neck and retreated to the side, Zhang Shenjian longbow picked up, and the knife in the robber's hand clanged, with one enemy and four people gradually gaining the upper hand, suddenly, Zhang Shenjian screamed "ah", and suddenly jumped to the side.

The robbers were struggling to parry, and suddenly saw Zhang Shenjian jump away, and the tall man followed Zhang Shenjian's gaze, and also let out an "ah" sound, and retreated with a dagger.

I saw a person walking along the mountain road, the person was wearing a black hat, his face was gray, he was wearing a wide shroud, his body was stiff, his arms and upper body did not move, his legs were not bent, and he moved forward little by little.

A-Ning was so frightened that she couldn't speak, leaning on Hu Shuan and shivering, Hu Shuan held one of her hands, but didn't know how to comfort her. Seeing that the zombie was getting closer and closer, he jumped a few times, stood still, his eyes closed, his face like a withered tree, and stood stiffly in the road.

Zhang Shenjian ran away, and the robbers didn't care about fighting anymore, so they ran backwards in a swarm, and even threw their baggage on the ground.

After a while, another man came from the mountain road, wearing a sackcloth robe and carrying a horsewhip in his hand, which was the accomplice of the man who had seen the man carrying the human head before, and saw that he came forward unhurriedly, picked up the burden that the robber threw on the ground, and raised the horsewhip, and the zombie in front of him walked slowly forward, but no longer jumped, and looked closely, he walked faster, his upper body was still not moving, but his legs were somewhat bent.

Seeing that this person's corpse turned around the corner of the mountain and walked away, the three people lying on his stomach here got up, and Hu Xuan said to Shi Suo and A Ning: "Got it, this is to drive out the corpse." ”

"What corpse?" Stone Lock asked.

"This is the custom of Xiangxi, if a person dies in a foreign country, the body needs to be transported back to the hometown for burial, but the cost of hiring a car and horse is too high, so some people hire this kind of corpse driver to drive the corpse back. It is said that when the corpse chaser recites a spell, the corpse will walk on its own. ”

"I've heard of chasing corpses, but is it true?" A-Ning asked, looking like she was still in shock.

"What do you think?" Hu Xuan asked rhetorically.

"I don't know," A-Ning's face was still pale, "I haven't recovered yet, it's terrible, if I saw zombies in the blue sky, if I were myself, I would definitely faint." ”

"That's not right," Shi Suo said suspiciously, "The first time we saw it, it was two people carrying a human head, but this time, this human head has become a zombie." ”

Hu Xuan said: "I think, the secret here has been broken by us, saying that zombies can walk on their own and being driven home by others, etc., is obviously nonsense." But since it is a custom to drive away corpses, it means that there are indeed many people who are rushed home for burial after they die. ”

"You say zombies are dressed up as people?" Stone Lock asked.

"Yes," Hu Xuan said, "the corpse chaser transports the corpse home, in fact, he just cuts off the head of the corpse, of course, he must be embalmed, only carry the head back, if he meets someone, he holds his head on his head, wears a wide robe, shrinks underneath, and dresses up as a zombie." Anyway, no matter who encounters this, they will be afraid, and no one will dare to go forward and take a closer look. ”

"Then, if you bring home a head, if you don't have a body, the main family won't do it." A-Ning said with wide eyes.