Nine

Sitting on the boat and looking at the scenery along the way, there was a trace of excitement and excitement about to meet Zhu Xieyu, but also full of worry and anxiety: what did Situ Jin's kid want to do with so many things? Looking at his hanging appearance, he doesn't look like a person who is very domineering and wants to have some earth-shattering deeds, what does he do to absorb people's skills in every possible way? If he is the murderer of Ye Yi Muyou, then is there another person who specializes in absorbing the power of the dead? What is the relationship between him and Hua Xiangrong? What are they up to?

After a night, the sky has just dawned, the boat has docked at the Yuxi ferry, got off the boat and went southeast for five or six miles, and then arrived at Kunlin County, the most prosperous town in Miaodi, just because there is the largest Nuwa Temple in the entire Miao Xinjiang, and there is also the ruins of the head religion of the Lunatic Sect that was once regarded as a myth, and it is backed by the Moon God Mountain, which is cited as a holy place by the people in the Miao world.

The Miao people have always only believed in the god Nuwa, especially the worship of the moon, three hundred years ago under the banner of infinite divine power from the moon, and the leaders are all descendants of Nuwa, the Lunatic Worship Sect was once prosperous and brilliant, rampant in the world, at that time, the witches were divided into curses, spells, witch doctors, and souls, and the worm Gu, corpse Gu, grass Gu, surrender, and poison research were all kinds of wars against each other for many years.

After the revival of the Moon Worship Sect, the two villages of the seven caves of Miao Jiang were directly subdued, so that they were integrated with each other, and all the people in the Witch Gu Sect were respected by the Moon God Palace on the Moon God Mountain, and the Moon Worship Sect was unprecedentedly powerful, and it was the king and hegemon in the Miao Land, and there were many intrusions on the neighboring land, and it was even more unaware of the life and death that ran to the Central Plains to do evil. Later, after several internal scuffles, the Tianshan Sword Sect united with the two major factions of the Central Plains to suppress it, although it was not completely destroyed, it was finally a big injury to the vitality of the year, and gradually it also declined, and lost control over the following factions, and split out again The twelve sects are collectively known as the Twelve Villages of Wu Gu, each scattered in the boundary centered on the Moon God Mountain, each doing its own thing, and not buying each other.

Although the Lunatic Worship Sect exists in name only, and the Twelve Villages have also broken away, but because of its unprecedented strength and prosperity, coupled with a lot of benefits, the Twelve Villages are still boasting of being a branch of the Lunatic Worship, even if the Moon God Palace, which was once built specifically for sacrifice and worship, is now abandoned, it is still regarded by them as a symbol of holy land and dignity, and they dare not disturb easily, and outsiders are not allowed to set foot on it.

The reason why the Moon God Mountain was favored by the Moon Worship Sect of the year, used as a sacrifice to build a palace, is because this mountain is the highest in the Miao Land, according to them, it is the closest place to the Moon God, and it is the most convenient to extradite the divine will, and more importantly, this mountain is shaded by hot flashes, dense vegetation, rich in poisonous insects and poisonous weeds, and it is infested with snakes and scorpions, and the poisonous miasma lingers, which is a good place to collect Gu and refine Gu.

Although the witch Gu black seedling is ferocious, but for the belief in the heart is particularly persistent, because the Moon God Palace is a sacred place, so he also consciously never wades into the disturbance, even if he is usually not allowed to go to the mountains to collect Gu, at most he only dares to go halfway up the mountain, and he will return when he picks it, and worship all the way, for fear of offending the gods.

Before I went up the mountain, I got a set of women's Miao clothes in the city to change into, and I didn't have some gourds and silk sacs around my waist, so that even when the Miao people saw me entering the mountain, they would only think that I was going to pick Gu, and they would not arouse suspicion.

Although the Moon God Mountain is high but not so steep, I want to guard against snakes, insects, rats and ants, and I don't dare to blindly use light exercises, while sprinkling realgar powder to open the road while keeping an eye on the feet, easier than I imagined, there was no miasma along the way, and there were no swarms of poisonous insects blocking the way, but I saw some poisonous snakes and centipedes with broken limbs. Because the god Nuwa is a human head and a snake body, the Miao people have never been willing to hurt snakes easily, at most they only dare to drive them away.

At the top of the mountain, you can see the mythical palace of the moon god, even if it is now barren and dilapidated, its once majestic and majestic, golden and splendid, can still be glimpsed one or two.

The palace gate is wide open, I think someone has already entered, and a few of the three rows of stone slabs in front of the gate street have been dented, thinking that it will trigger some kind of poisonous gas mechanism after stepping on, which can be regarded as broken, I can't help but praise in my heart: "Well done!" ”

In the middle of the temple enshrines a statue of Nuwa with a human body and a snake tail that is more than a foot high, sitting on a stone carved water lily, with low eyebrows and eyes, and holding the heart with both hands to show mercy to the world, its expression is solemn and loving, and there are some similarities and overlaps with the Guanyin law of the Central Plains. There is a canal around the statue, and the unrecognizable stone carvings on the four corners should be the mouth of the fountain, but it has long since dried up.

The statue of the god is facing a circular altar, which is made very wide, and it is thought that in addition to offering various offerings and candles, it is also used for many people to dance, and there are three mottled stone faces under the altar, which should be the frequent wear and tear of the futon where the priest and the moon witch kneel all year round.

It is said that every year in the Lunatic Cult, all the rituals and oracles are performed by the Red High Priest and two Moon Witches. The Moon Witch is okay, once she is old or has someone she wants to marry and start a family, she can resign on her own and then return to her normal status, and then be replaced by a younger girl who is qualified. The red-clothed high priest is a little miserable in the eyes of ordinary people, although he is the most sacred and noble person in the entire Lunatic Sect except for the sect leader, once he is selected to become the high priest and worship the heavens, then he is the spokesperson of the moon god in the world, and it means that from now on he must cut off the love of the mortal, or the love with the mortal, if he really wants to marry and reproduce, then the object can only be the sect leader who is a descendant of the gods.

So the question is, Nuwa's descendants have always been women, so there is no doubt that the sect leader must be a woman, but the high priest is both male and female, if the sect leader and the high priest of the same period are of the opposite sex, it is good to say, it is better to marry each other in the case of looking at each other, if the same is a woman, the sect leader can marry by his heart, if he marries a Miao husband, then the life after marriage can also be very free and capricious, and even if he meets a handsome young man or a strong young man who meets his heart, he can fill the boudoir, Not only did the husband not complain, but he gave understanding and support, believing that this was the Sect Master's wife giving grace to the Sect members, and those who were fortunate enough to be honored by her would also be honored and do their best to produce excellent talents for the Cult.

Of course, the most bitter is the high priest, but when the priest is not the one who is not the one concerned, because it is likely that when he is still an ignorant child, a group of people in black will suddenly break into the house and say that he is the best candidate for the high priest, and then forcibly take it away, and from then on it may be the end of never leaving the Moon God Palace to die alone.

A noble life, a lonely life, this is fate.

Of course, there have been other things in this, that is, the high priest of Xiyue who invented the Acacia Gu, it is said that she successfully broke away from the Lunatic Worship Sect, but what kind of inhuman torture and abuse she has endured, it is unknown, and in the end, she still made a mistake and could not die well.

I was suddenly very scared, I was afraid that I would have the same fate as Xiyue in the future, I was afraid that there would be no return this time, and I was even more afraid that I would never see Zhu Xiyu again.

Originally, I have always been calm, especially when the situation is unclear, but at this moment, I desperately called Zhu Xiyu's name loudly, if he came and was also in this hall, then he would definitely be able to hear me and respond to me.

I shouted for a long time, shouting and searching, but no one responded to me, and the whole hall only echoed with my voice. How could there be no response? Is he not here at all? Or is he already ......?

I was completely panicked, my feet were flustered, my heart seemed to drain all my strength with every beat, no, I had to find him immediately, I would see people in life and death...... The side hall on the left has been blocked by the collapsed stone pillars and ceilings, leaving only a gap that can't pass at all, I lay down and looked inside, and I couldn't see anything clearly in the black area, so I could only temporarily put away the idea that Zhu Xiyu might be collapsed inside, and turned to the side hall on the right.

This side hall is only one-tenth the size of the main hall, because inside, even if the sky is bright outside, but the hall is very dim, I lit the fire fold and searched along the wall line, and vaguely identified a wooden shelf placed on the east side, which was filled with all kinds of bottles and jars of medicines and medicinal materials, and about two feet apart placed a larger wooden shelf, which was filled with all kinds of witchcraft-related books, and then to the south wall here placed a desk, on which the pen, ink, paper, and inkstone were all available, when I was about to turn again, Suddenly, I caught a glimpse of a person standing behind the right side of the desk, this person was not tall, wearing a big red robe, with loose hair, and a ghostly atmosphere.

"Who is it?" Immediately drew his sword in his hand, Rao is a person like me who has never believed in ghosts and gods, and has experienced all kinds of dangerous changes, and I also felt numb in my legs and feet, and my heart beat faster.

The man did not answer.

I made a gesture and slashed at him, but he didn't have any intention of dodging the response.

At this time, there was an unburned oil lamp on the table near me, so I attached a fire fold to light it, and the room suddenly became much brighter, and then I looked at the man in red, and where was the person, but a lifelike jade statue.

Zuo is just a red-clothed high priest who has outstanding merits, so he specially dropped the jade statue for her.

I didn't care about her anymore, by the light of the moment, I once again went through the entire side hall, and I felt more and more strangely tight, you said it was a study! There are so many medicine bottles and pots, and there is a Dan furnace in the center, which is far from the alchemy furnace of the Central Plains Warlock, more like a rice cooking pot with a delicately engraved lid, you say it is a Dan room! However, under this rice cooking pot is a small altar, which is exactly the same shape and style as the main hall, the only difference is that the size is smaller.

No matter what this side hall is for, I already have a full view, in short, except for the passage that can't be passed, I have turned around the entire hall, why don't I see Zhu Xieyu? Unless he didn't come at all, unless he was collapsed in ...... I shook my head desperately trying to shake off this thought, if that passage was blocked early in the morning, I couldn't pass him, he definitely couldn't get through, otherwise where else could others go?

I paced and scanned my eyes to see if I missed any joints or anything suspicious, and finally fixed my eyes on the jade statue.

This woman's gaze is wrong, it can't be a squint? Definitely not.,Even if it's a squint craftsman carving, I'll give her a straight time.,So...... I followed her line of sight and saw that her eyes were fixed on a piece of paper on the desk.

I hurried to the table to take a look, and there were traces of writing on the rice paper.