July 1937, Xiangxi, Tongshanling area.

Xing Renju went to the Fengtian Police Station to find Pan Jiaming a year ago.

A hand stretched out from the bottom of the cliff, and after groping for a side above, he grabbed the solid tree root next to him, supported his body and climbed up - after the scaly god Xing Renju climbed up the cliff, he immediately turned around and dragged his best friend Long Guozhou up.

After Long Guozhou climbed the cliff, he lay there panting, and asked for a long time: "Brother Jiu, why do we have to go back the same way, didn't you say that there is still a way out of the back of the Jiacuo Palace?" ”

Long Guozhou is a local Miao people, and his original name was Ge Yiwen. Gedi is his Miao surname, and the corresponding Han surname is Long.

Xing Renju tore his clothes and bandaged the part of his arm that was cut by thorns: "The reason why I chose to hide the clue in the Jiacuo Hall is that I don't want the people of the future generations to find it so easily, if I don't go back the same way, they will follow my footsteps and leave the other end easily, and then the things I did will be meaningless, because the mechanism in the Jiacuo Fort and the Jiacuo Hall is not something that ordinary people can solve." ”

Long Guozhou nodded, he remembered the corpses he saw along the way, for hundreds of years, there were countless people looking for Jiacuo Fort and Jiacuo Palace, and the first to find Jiacuo Fort were those new Miao people, that is, those Han people who later established the Jade Casting Society, but after them, it was Xing Renju, a brother of life and death who was a cargo chaser.

"Can you believe it?" Xing Renju slowly walked back to the edge of the cliff and looked down, "This is the first time I have entered the Jiacuo Palace. ”

Long Guozhou looked up at him suddenly: "What? ”

Xing Renju smiled: "Do you think I have been there before?" ”

"Of course!" Long Guozhou was surprised, "Why else have you been able to save the day several times?" Not only saved himself, but also saved me. ”

Xing Renju shook his head: "I have been able to save the day several times, one is because I am a cargo chaser, and entering and exiting these places is like going home, and second, if it weren't for you, I would have died a long time ago, don't forget, the few times I have saved the danger are all your credit." ”

Long Guozhou smiled: "Fortunately, we came back safely." ”

Xing Renju pointed to his clothes that were so tattered that he couldn't cover most of his body: "This is called peace? ”

Long Guozhou hugged Xing Renju: "Let's go, it's time for us to go back to the village, you and I are not young, it will not be easy to come back alive, you should recuperate in the village for a while, and then talk about the next thing, where are you going to go next?" ”

Xing Renju looked at the alpine jungle in front of him: "The Jade Casting Society originated from here, and after two hundred years after leaving here, they went to the Northeast again, so I will also go to the Northeast." ”

Long Guozhou frowned: "It's too dangerous for you to go to the Northeast, you should also know that the last emperor of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, with the support of the Japanese, built a Manchukuo in the three eastern provinces. In addition, on the first day of our trip to Kacuopu, a messenger from outside the mountain came and said that in Peiping,* there was an exchange of fire with the Japanese, and it seemed that war had really broken out. ”

"The war has broken out a long time ago." Xing Ren nodded, "I also asked the messenger, and the messenger said that it was the 29th Army, Commander Song Zheyuan's troops, who exchanged fire with the Japanese army, and I had a relationship with Commander Song many years ago. At the time of the 918 Incident, Commander Song led all the officers and men of the 29th Army to issue an anti-Japanese telegram to the whole country, writing: "Zheyuan and others belong to the army, and the responsibility is to protect the country." I would rather fight and die than be a slave to the country, struggle and sacrifice, and swear blood and national shame'. ”

Long Guozhou said: "I know, you also want to go to the front line. ”

"When I was young, I was a policeman in Xiaocheng, and I fought with the Japanese back then, and I knew how powerful they were, but no matter how terrible the Japanese were, they were not as terrible as those traitors. Qimen reappeared, what I was most worried about was the old and young of the former Qing Dynasty, they always thought that they were using the Japanese to achieve their goals, but they didn't know that they were the night pot in front of the Japanese, and when they used it, they lifted it up, and kicked it away when they didn't use it. Xing Renju continued to walk towards his side, "I have roughly checked out, and I have been looking for who the person from Qimen is. ”

Long Guozhou asked: "Are those remnants of the Manchu Qing Dynasty?" ”

"I can't be completely sure, I only know that their name is 'Nine Sons', it is a very mysterious organization, the outside world doesn't know how many of them are, who the leader is, and what they have done, I got the name Nine Sons by accident, for the name of this organization, two of my friends took their lives, died unexplained, and it was extremely terrifying!" Xing Renju frowned when he said this, "I found that the people who are in a relationship with me seem to die tragically in the end, which is why I want to leave Miao Village and go to the Northeast." ”

Long Guozhou asked: "What are you doing in the Northeast?" How can I help? ”

Xing Renju said: "When I go to the Northeast, I will first find a painter, he is also a cargo chaser, called Zhang Molu, since it is the layout, it must be responsible for simple things, it should be said that it is the things that seem simple to me to become complicated in the eyes of future generations, and similarly, I am more worried that the clues will fall into the hands of the Japanese, rather than this, it is better to simply put the clues under the noses of the Japanese, let them find them, and I can't imagine that the clues are actually at hand." ”

The two walked like this, until they came to the gate of Miao Village, Long Guozhou suddenly asked: "Brother Jiu, I'm just curious, what is Qimen?" I don't think there is a second person except you, right? ”

"Some people say that Qimen is the filial piety of the year, some people say no, some people say that Qimen is not filial piety, it is a rumor I released, what is the truth, I can't tell you." Xing Renju sat struggling on top of the big rock, "I can only say that if the chaser finds Qimen, it is equivalent to finding what he and the other chasers have been pursuing all their lives. ”

Xing Renju's completely unclear answer made Long Guozhou still feel confused, but he knew that he couldn't ask anymore, Xing Renju could answer so much, and he also regarded him as a true brother.

But when the two returned to Miao Village, they found an old man lying at the entrance of the village, and the old man's crutches were thrown together, which were not broken, and there were no traces of beatings around, indicating that he was not attacked.

Long Guozhou immediately stepped forward, while Xing Renju carefully observed the surroundings, and then walked a few steps towards the stockade, and as soon as he walked in, he found that there were people lying inside.

Xing Renju did not step forward immediately, but asked Long Guozhou sideways: "How is it?" ”

"There were no external injuries, breathing slightly faster and heavier, not being attacked." Long Guozhou probed the old man's snort and pulse, "The pulse is a little fast, it should be poisoned, the eyes and mouth have no color, it seems to be just ordinary drugs like sweat medicine, which does not hurt life." ”

Xing Renju looked at the people in the village: "Guozhou, look inside." ”

Long Guozhou helped the old man to the side, and then stepped forward quickly, and after seeing the situation in the village, he was surprised: "What's going on?" ”

Xing Renju shook his head: "Guozhou, it seems that I have affected the people in your entire village. ”

An hour later, the tribesmen of Long Guozhou, who went up the mountain to hunt, returned one after another, and were surprised to see the scene, and counted the number of people after first aid, and found that the poisoned people were as high as 50 people, most of them were old and weak women and children, because during the day the men went out to work and hunt, and only the elderly, women and children were left at home.

After Long Guozhou and the tribesmen settled the poisoned people, they took Xing Renju to the ancient watchtower in the center of the Miao village, which is the patriarch of the Miao village, that is, the place where the old man of the village lives, and the big and small meetings are also held here, and there are four stone houses distributed in four directions around the watchtower, and there are people who live in the four positions of the village, the village sacrifice, the village manager and the village tiger.

This village is located in a remote area, because of the relationship of history, the relationship with other Miao villages is somewhat estranged, has always been self-sufficient, the only contact with the outside world is the messenger, so the rules in the village are also different from other Miao villages, the title of the position is not the same, the so-called village old in other villages is also called the elderly, by the village in the respectable, and fair old people, and here, the village old and the same as the elderly, but also the patriarch in the village, the principal.

Zhai Zhi can be regarded as the deputy patriarch, because Zhai is too old and some affairs cannot be supervised personally, so after the order is issued, it is carried out by Zhai Zhi; As the name suggests, the village sacrifice is the priest in the village and the leader of all the doctors here; Zhai Li refers to the person who implements the orders of the old man and disposes of those who violate the regulations of the village; The Zhaihu refers to the person who controls the military power in the village.

The most bizarre thing is that whether it is the old Zhai or the other four, its position can not be hereditary, such as death or too old to hold, then the whole village people raise their hands to elect the next one, and the successor must also abandon the previous name, for example, if Long Guozhou is elected as the old man, then the Chinese name of Long Guozhou and his own Miao name will no longer exist, replaced by the word "old village".

In the top room of the watchtower, the old man sits in the middle of the stone table, and the left and right are surrounded by four people, such as the village executive and the village sacrifice, and later the dragon boat and the criminal benevolence salute the old man of the village, and sit on the two stone benches in the middle.

The moment Xing Renju sat down, Zhai Lao nodded to the village sacrifice on one side, and the village sacrifice then took out a jar, put his hand into the jar and took out something, and placed it on the stone table.

Xingren raised his eyes and found that it was a human index finger, and he immediately turned his head to look at Long Guozhou for some reason.

Long Guozhou was also confused, he didn't understand what this meant at all.

"When you were eating and resting, the head of the Tan Long family woke up and attacked other people in the house, almost strangling his son, and the Tan Long family worked together to restrain him, but in the process, the head of the Tan Long family bit off his son's finger and struggled frantically, and finally they had to knock him out and lock him in a strong dungeon." The old man said clearly, and then looked at the village sacrifice.

The village priest nodded slightly, and continued: "Before you came, news came from the dungeon, and the parents of the Tanlong family came to their senses and found that they were locked up, so they went crazy again, and used their heads to install the wooden fence, although they finally broke the wooden fence with their bodies, but they were also seriously injured and bled to death. ”

Xing Renju knew the meaning of the parents of the Tanlong family, that is, the oldest elder in the Miao family called Tanlong, and the large and small meetings in the village were also voted on by the parents of the family, and if something happened to the head of the family, it was a big deal, because the total number of people in this ancient nameless Miao village was only more than 300 people.

Xing Renju frowned, but he couldn't say his opinion, the rule was that you could only remain silent until Zhai Lao didn't say anything to let you speak.

Long Guozhou also looked at Zhai Lao eagerly, and at this time, Zhai Lao nodded at him, and Long Guozhou immediately asked: "I have checked before, they are just an ordinary poison, not fatal." ”

The village priest immediately said: "Ge Yiwen, do you know what kind of poison it is?" ”

Long Guozhou shook his head: "I don't know, I can't see too many abnormalities." ”

The ancient ethnic groups in the deep mountains judged that poisoning was all used by local methods, all of which looked at their complexion and body color, and saw that their seven orifices were very red and abnormal, but Long Guozhou found that there was no other abnormality except for the slight redness of his face and eyes, in other words, according to normal judgment, it should not be fatal.

"It's the wrath of the witch god!" At this time, the priest said in an extremely low and hoarse voice, and when he spoke, he lowered his voice, as if he was afraid that something hovering around people would overhear.

When Xing Renju heard this, he couldn't help but want to refute, because years of adventure experience let him know that although there are indeed unexplained things in the world, being unexplainable does not mean that they are ghosts and gods.

Seeing that Xing Renju was a little excited, Long Guozhou immediately explained in a low voice: "The 'witch god's wrath' mentioned by the village sacrifice refers to a kind of mushroom. ”

Xing Renju calmed down at this time, just when Zhai Lao looked at him and nodded to indicate that he could speak, there was a scream from under the watchtower, and then the screams were repeated, and everyone except Zhai Lao immediately got up, Zhai Hu walked to the window, looked down, and then asked loudly: "What's the matter?" ”

There is only a scream below, and the bright torches are also swaying from all directions of the village, because the watchtower is the place where the old man of the village lives, and there is a scream here, and the Miao people in the village will immediately go out and come to this side.

Zhai Hu immediately ran down the stairs, Long Guozhou and Xing Renju followed, and when the three of them walked to the gate of the watchtower, they saw two men guarding the door slumped to the ground, one covered his ears, and the other covered his face, rolling on the ground, and they were covered in blood.

Zhai Hu grabbed the torch next to him, Long Guozhou was about to step forward, but he grabbed it, he raised the torch and looked around, pointed to an ear and a piece of skin in the pool of blood and said: "Oh no, someone with poison has run out." ”

Xing Renju frowned at this time: "The poisoned person is so powerful? These men of yours are so powerful that they can't even beat them? ”

At this time, the Miao people from all directions arrived, and Zhaihu immediately ordered to arrange for some of them to look for the previous attackers, and let the others go home immediately, and tie up the poisoned people in the house to death, and all of them were taken to the sacrificial stone house, only the strongest place was there.

When Long Guozhou heard Zhai Hu's arrangement, he immediately asked, "Zhai Hu, are you planning to give up these people?" ”

Zhai Hu frowned: "It's not to give up, it's to resign yourself to fate, for hundreds of years, only a very small number of people who have been poisoned by the 'wrath of the witch god' have survived, and the rest are either dead or disabled, the number of poisoned people this time is huge, all of them add up to more than fifty people, if you don't lock them up, do you want to watch them maim the clansmen or be killed by the clansmen?" ”

Long Guozhou couldn't refute it, and subconsciously asked: "However, who poisoned it?" The wrath of the witch god is not within a radius of dozens of miles, and every year the village elder will send someone to investigate, and after finding it, he will pull it out and burn it on the spot, and even the children in the village know that the mushroom cannot be touched. ”

Zhai Hu glanced at Xing Renju at this time, Long Guozhou's temper was very straight, in his opinion, Zhai Hu suspected that Xing Renju was suspicious of him, and immediately said: "I can use my life to guarantee that this matter has nothing to do with Brother Jiu!" ”

Zhai Hu immediately glared at Long Guozhou and said: "I didn't say that he did it, but this matter may have something to do with him, for so many years, the wrath of the witch god has not appeared, but this time he appeared after he came, is this a coincidence?" I don't believe it! ”

"Lord Zhaihu, I'll find out about this matter!" Long Guozhou said, and deliberately used the word "adult". After he left, Xing Renju nodded slightly to the Zhai Hu, and immediately went out to chase Long Guozhou, he knew Long Guozhou's irritable temper, but what he didn't expect was that after the two of them left the old watchtower, it was just less than a quarter of an hour's effort, and the entire Miao Village became a battlefield - because of the screams under the watchtower before, most of the people rushed to the watchtower, and neglected to take care of those who were still in a semi-comatose state of poisoning, these poisoned people woke up one after another, and began to attack everything they could see around them, they hurt people and poultry, Destruction of furniture and houses.

Because the poisoners who committed violence are all relatives, the remaining Miao people did not be ruthless at first, and planned to capture and tie them up alive and then find a way, who knew that their mercy caused one after another to fall under the poisoner's weapons and fists and feet, among these old and weak women and children, some old men who usually even had difficulty walking, but they did not expect that at this time they became like they were possessed by something, and one person could easily deal with two or three young adults.

In the early morning of the second day, the screams and shouts of killing in the Miao village were replaced by cries, and all the poisoned people had been captured.

Long Guozhou and Xing Renju stood on a huge turtle-shaped rock outside the village, watching the people in the village carry the bodies of the poisoned people to the stone dam outside the village.

At the bottom of the corpse were two layers of firewood brushed with pine oil, and each layer of corpses was also brushed with pine oil, and another layer of firewood was padded to ensure that the corpse was burned clean.

"Once upon a time in the stockade, anyone who died in the wrath of a witch god would be burned to ashes, and cattle could not be slaughtered as usual." Long Guozhou said expressionlessly, "There were a total of 52 people who were poisoned last night, 75 people were killed by the poisoners, a total of 127 people died, and the total number of people in the entire village was only 315, and now there are 188 people left." ”

After Long Guozhou finished speaking, he suddenly turned his head to Xingren and said, "Brother Jiu, you can go quickly, you can't stay here." ”

Xing Renju shook his head: "I can't go, Zhaihu is right, there is such a big thing in the village, I can't get out of it, now that I go, the people in the village will think that I am guilty and abscond, and you will be implicated." ”

Long Guozhou grabbed Xing Renju: "Brother Jiu, it's too late if you don't leave, they have already decided that they have something to do with you and will not let you go." ”

Xing Renju broke free of Long Guozhou's hand, shook his head and said: "Guozhou, I won't leave before the matter is clear, your stockade is kind to me, if it weren't for you, I'm afraid I would have been buried in the mountains a long time ago." ”

"Of course you can't go." At this time, Zhai Hu led four strong men to appear behind them, and after they turned around, he said, "Mr. Xing, Zhai Lao is invited." ”