"Something's wrong, there's something wrong."

Wang Xu was walking forward, and the sound of gongs and drums suddenly came from the entrance of the town.

A large group of people huddled together, carrying two stretchers covered with straw mats, and hurried to the ancestral hall.

"What's wrong?" An idler passing by walked up and asked.

"Woe to you, the blood demon has begun to appear again, and it has killed the Fan brothers." The person who was asked replied casually, and followed the crowd to the ancestral shrine in the town.

"Blood Demon!"

Wang Xu's eyes narrowed slightly, Liyang County is a big county, with a population of more than one million, and the place is big, so it is naturally impossible to be calm.

The blood demon is the monster that is active around Liyang County and makes people talk about the tiger's color change.

Every few years, a blood demon will appear, and if ordinary people encounter it in the wild, they will lose their lives nine times out of ten.

The imperial court encircled and suppressed several times, and once the county order was issued, but in the end nothing was found.

Later, seeing that the blood demon would not impact the township, it would only attack passers-by who stayed in the wild at night, and that was the end of it.

"What an eventful season!" Wang Xu followed quietly and followed everyone to the ancestral shrine.

The ancestral shrine of Jiuquan Town was built by the three major families in the town, and many ancestral tablets are enshrined in it.

When Wang Xu's group of people arrived, the three elders in the town had already been invited over, and they were discussing countermeasures with many respected people, and Wang Xu's father in this life was also here.

"Third Elder, you see, this is the Fan brothers who were killed by the blood demon. The Fan brothers, who were proficient in rock climbing, had been collecting medicine in the mountains for a living, and when they were found this time, they had died on the mountain outside the town, less than ten miles from the town. ”

The person who spoke was the boss of the cloth shop in the town, and he belonged to the head and face of Jiuquan Town.

"Ten miles, this is too close, isn't this under our noses, how can this be good?" Boss Jiang, who runs a grocery store, also said with a sad face.

"Yes, the blood demon is not terrible, in the past, the blood demon appeared, and committed murder in other places, no matter how many people died, it was none of our business, and if they died, they would die. But now, the blood demon appeared around the town, and this is a great disaster. "Master Zhou, who runs the oil mill, has a mouthful of dry tobacco.

"It's a little tricky!" Listening to what everyone said, Master Wang also looked embarrassed, and he couldn't even care about Wang Xu, who was hiding in the crowd and eavesdropping.

"Silence!"

In front of the ancestral shrine three zhang high, there are three Taishi chairs, on which sit three respected elders.

These three elders are the longest-lived and most majestic ancestors of the three major families in Jiuquan Town, Zhang, Wang, and Zhao, and they are also the three elders who are in charge of ancestral shrines and festivals in the era when imperial power does not go to the countryside.

Zuo Chuan said: The major affairs of the country are only worship and Rong.

The three elders are not officials, and they are not in the product, but they are in charge of the right to sacrifice, and the weight of their words is even greater than that of Lizheng.

In the Confucian world, where good and filial piety are the first, if it is time to worship the ancestors in the New Year, the three elders will speak on behalf of the ancestors, and the people present will not be able to stand and listen.

"Blood demons have been rampant in the township for so many years, but they have never impacted the township, and it should be worry-free to hide in the township. However, no one knows what the blood demon thinks, and dares to pack a ticket to say that it will definitely not attack the township, so it has to be guarded.

In this way, the notice will go down, and from now on, the villagers will not be allowed to go out if they have nothing to do, and the other families will take turns to guard the large and small intersections into the town. Also, the villages below don't know about this yet, so send someone down and be sure to inform everyone before it gets dark. ”

It was the prince of the Wang family who spoke among the three elders, and according to his seniority, Wang Xu also had to call the third grandfather.

"It's not enough to just notify the following, and then send someone to the county to report this matter to the county lord, and it is best to let the county lord send someone to sit in town, this is the best strategy."

The grandfather of the Zhang family also spoke, the Zhang family is not weaker than the Wang family, although there are few businessmen, but there are many small officials, even the Li Zheng in Jiuquan Town is also the Zhang family.

"Blockading villages and towns can avoid deaths, but now the autumn harvest is approaching, people can't go out, what about the fields outside? I think that the county lord may not be reliable, it is best to allocate some money from the sacrificial field, go to the county's academies, Taoist temples, temples, and invite some masters to come, and the autumn harvest can not be delayed. ”

The last to speak is the grandfather of the Zhao family, the Zhao family owns the most fields in Jiuquan Town, and is the most dependent on the sky to eat among the three.

If the autumn harvest is delayed, the loss is not a little bit, after all, the people take food as the sky, and if they can't eat enough, it's useless to say anything.

"Six years ago, there was a blood demon in Dahong Town, and it cost hundreds of taels of silver to invite three Xiucai to sit in the town, and even three Xiucai were killed by the hands of the blood demon. If you invite someone again, I'm afraid Xiucai won't dare to come, so you can only invite someone to raise the master, which costs..."

The Zhang family master stopped talking and looked at the Zhao family master who was sitting on the side.

Xiucai is not worth much, invite a Xiucai to sit in town, and two hundred taels of silver is enough.

Lifting people is different, in the entire Liyang County, there is one count, and there are no more than ten people who have made a name for themselves, and each of them is a master with a lot of money.

If you invite a showman, two hundred taels is enough, and if you invite a lifter, you need at least one thousand taels or more.

Among the three major families, only the Zhao family relies purely on the land for food, and it will inevitably be unbeautiful if it is shared equally.

"The sacrificial fields and ancestral properties in the town were purchased by our three major families, and each of them contributed a third of it at that time. That's it, this time my Zhao family will pay half, and your Zhang and Wang families will pay half, so it's okay now, right? ”

After the Zhao family finished speaking, without waiting for the rest of the two elders to speak, he said: "The land of your Zhang and Wang families is not as much as our Zhao family, but the autumn harvest is not my family's business, if the autumn harvest is delayed, the price of grain will be unstable, and it will affect the whole body, now is not the time to shirk." ”

The prince of the Wang family and the grandfather of the Zhang family glanced at each other, nodded and said, "It should be so..."

The three clan elders discussed countermeasures, and the order was issued.

Zhang Li was rushing to the county seat with three clansmen, and the others were paid by people and those who were rich, and the entire Jiuquan Town was operating because of the appearance of the blood demon.

Wang Xu's Wang family belongs to one of the three major families, not the main family, and it has only become popular in the town in the past few decades because of the appearance of Master Wang.

The Wang family was also assigned the task of sending thirty men to guard the two paths leading to the north, and to send people to inform the twelve villages in the north.

"Liu Quan, you choose thirty tenant farmers to guard the two exits in the north. In addition, send another twenty-four men, in groups of two, to go to the twelve villages in the north to tell everyone about the appearance of the blood demon. ”

Master Wang called the housekeeper and released the task.

After saying this, he noticed that the crowd had dispersed, and Wang Xu not only did not go home, but walked towards the two corpses placed at the door of the ancestral hall.

"Xu'er?"

Seeing Wang Xu walking towards the corpse, Master Wang hurriedly walked over and blindfolded Wang Xu: "I can't see it, I'll have nightmares." ”

"Father, I'm fine."

Wang Xu pushed away Master Wang's hand and continued to look at the two corpses on the ground.

Both bodies were covered with straw mats, with only one arm exposed.

Because there was something in the way, Wang Xu couldn't see how miserable their death was, and he could only speculate from the conversation with everyone on this bloodless arm that these two people were sucked of blood from their bodies and died.

Blood demons, blood demons that can suck blood, what kind of monster is this, zombies?

It shouldn't be a zombie, although the blood demon mostly comes out at night to harm people, it is not that it has not been active during the day.

Zombies don't like the sun, even high-level zombies who are not afraid of the sun will never come out in the daytime, he is very curious about what the blood demon is.

"Father, has anyone ever seen a blood demon?" Wang Xu asked if he didn't understand.

Old Man Wang shook his head slightly, and while waving his hand to let Liu Quan hurry up, he replied: "No one has ever seen a blood demon, everyone who has seen it is dead, and even the name of the blood demon is taken because it can suck blood." ”

Wang Xu had the heart to ask again, but before he could ask, four young men carried away the corpses on the ground.

Looking up, the stake table has been set up not far away, and there is a family burning paper in front of the stake, and when they see the corpse being carried over, they cry even more, and it should be the family of the Fan brothers.

The rest has nothing to do with Wang Xu.

He is only an eight-year-old child now, and he can only be a spectator.

No matter how much the blood demon makes trouble, there are also tall people who are on top of it, but the blood demon is stirred, the villages and towns are sealed, and the search for the falcon has to be postponed, this kind of change is not what Wang Xu likes.