"Master, can I ask you a question?"

If he doesn't squeak, he will be treated as acquiescing.

"Master, do you have a cinnabar mark on your chest?"

While speaking, Xing Ruyi also deliberately glanced at the placket of the fox's clothes.

"Want to see it?" The fox asked lightly, and without waiting for Xing Ruyi to answer, he said again: "Not now, let's come and see it when you grow up." ”

"Stingy, take a look, what's the matter."

"Naturally, it's tight." The fox touched the top of her head: "In a few years, you will know." ”

"Then master, I'll ask you another question."

and did not squeak, and as if he had acquiesced.

"Master, are you a fairy or a monster?"

"What do you think I am?"

"I've seen you turn into a fox, supposedly, you're supposed to be a youkai. But in this world, how can there be a monster who looks as good-looking as you, master. Moreover, monsters are all cannibals, even if they don't eat people, they will hurt people, and the master never harms people, and will help people, so the master must not be a monster. If it's not a monster, it must be a fairy, but how can a fairy become a fox, and the gods in the story are all able to soar through the clouds. Master, you'll only change. ”

"The master is not a monster, but he is not a god in the sky."

"What's that master?"

"The master is just your master." The fox touched her head again: "When you grow up in the future, you will know that in this world, there are not only people, monsters and immortals, but also other people who do not belong to them." ”

"Then why did the master come to our town?"

"To find you."

"Looking for me? Oh, I see, the master wants to find a clever and cute little apprentice. ”

"Sort of."

"Yes, yes, no, no, what is counted." Xing Ruyi tugged at the fox sleeve: "Does the master not want to find an apprentice, or does he think that I am not smart and cute enough?" ”

Of course you are clever and cute, but I don't want an apprentice, but a lady.

The fox didn't answer, and Xing Ruyi was a little angry. Glaring at him, he let go of his hand, leaned against the corner of the carriage, closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep.

"It's Maple City ahead."

"Maple City? Is that the city where my father is? ”

"Hmm."

"Great!"

"That city is not peaceful."

"Because of the war?"

An Lushan rebelled, forcing the emperor to run out of the imperial capital, not to mention Fengcheng, even other cities, are also chaotic, this way, I also met a lot of refugees, and occasionally encountered a group of bandits. Fortunately, her master knows how to do magic, and those bandits will only suffer when they encounter them.

"It's not."

"It's not a war, what is it?"

"Demon."

"Demon?" Xing Ruyi quieted down, and after a while, she asked again, "Is it a very powerful demon?" Will my dad be okay then? ”

"Go to sleep, wake up and go to Maple City."

Go to bed? Will she be able to sleep at this time? Seeing that the fox was silent, Xing Ruyi was also a little uneasy in her heart, she turned around, leaned on the window, lifted the curtain and looked out.

The night was slightly cool, and in addition to the smell of earth and grass and trees, there was also a smell of blood.

In the distance, on a large tree with very lush leaves, the leaves were peeled off one by one, and a pair of emerald eyes like jewels stared closely at the carriage in which the fox and Xing Ruyi were riding, and even an inaudible cat meow came from between the leaves.

Cat demon!

The fox narrowed his eyes and let his mind drift away. The cat, hidden behind the blades, felt the breath of discovery and ran away with a low cry. ”

Maple City, as the name suggests, is a city with many maple trees.

Autumn is the most beautiful season in Maple City, and the red and bright maple leaves spread all the way from the city gate to the entire city. Even the girls in the city love to embroider a red maple leaf on their clothes. The Tang Dynasty believed in Buddhism, and there was also a Buddhist temple in Fengcheng, and next to the Buddhist temple, there was also a grandmother's temple. What is enshrined in this shrine is neither a Buddhist family, nor a Taoist family, neither a heavenly immortal, nor an earth immortal who works in the people, but a "grandmother" wearing black clothes and black robes, full of wrinkles, and an old dragon bell.

There are many legends about the origin of this grandmother's shrine.

One of the legends is that a hundred years ago, Fengcheng was hit by a flood, and the people who couldn't escape were washed into the flood, and just when everyone thought they were going to die, an old woman in a black robe appeared. She bent her waist and sat on the back of Wang Ba, fishing for people when she saw them, and saved many lives along the way. Later generations remembered the merits, and built a grandmother's shrine on this halfway mountainside, and offered incense all day long.

This maple city is the first grandmother's temple, and then the Buddhist temple. Therefore, although the Tang Dynasty advocated Buddhism, in Fengcheng, everyone's favorite worship was the black-clothed grandmother enshrined in the grandmother's temple.

The Buddhist temple next to it is red bricks and yellow tiles, which looks very magnificent, and the grandmother's shrine next to it is black bricks and black tiles, which looks a little dull. Coupled with the dotted incense, it looks even more and more weird.

"Master, is the grandmother of this grandmother's temple really spiritual? Otherwise, I will also bow down, and let her bless my father to be obedient and safe. ”

Xing Ruyi said, walked up to her grandmother, folded her hands, and was about to kneel when she suddenly stopped. Although the incense in the grandmother's shrine is prosperous, it is messy on the stage. The remnants of the candles were placed at random, and the incense ash was also covered with a thick layer, and no one cleaned up the fruits on the table, exuding a rotten sweetness.

Xing Ruyi was cleaning up, and at the same time chattering: "Don't the people in this Fengcheng like to be clean?" I don't know how to change the fruit when it's rotten, the incense ash is so thick, I don't know how to clean it, and the candle is burned like that, and I don't know how to clean it up. People say that worshipping the Buddha is sincere, and this worship of grandma can't be so-so, and it's okay to make do. Just like them, if I were my grandmother, I wouldn't bless them. ”

"You little girl, you don't know anything, you dare to talk nonsense here. Do you want to worship grandma, then you worship, see if you have any life after worshipping. ”

A disdainful voice rang out from outside the grandmother's shrine. Xing Ruyi stopped what he was doing, followed the sound and looked, only to see a young man standing outside his grandmother's ancestral hall who was not much older than himself. Although he is a teenager, he deliberately puts on an old-fashioned appearance, which looks a little funny.

"What are you laughing at, you're from out of town, right? No wonder I don't know what happened in this grandmother's shrine. ”

"Change, what change?"

"This grandma is not a fairy at all, but a monster, a monster that eats people."

"Youkai?"

"You've heard the legend, but it's not like that at all. Our Fengcheng has indeed had a lot of floods, and it is true that a lot of people have been flooded, but this grandma, when she appeared on the water, was not to save people at all, but to fish children back to eat. At the beginning, the big guys didn't know the truth, and they thought that this grandma was helping everyone save people. When the flood subsided, everyone calmed down and looked for someone, they found that their children were gone. Recall that the children who disappeared were all children that the grandmother fished up on the river. In order to find those children, the adults rummaged through the corners of Maple City, and finally found this place. And guess what? Those children who were originally alive have been turned into skeletons. What's even more terrifying is that those skeletons still have very sharp tooth marks, and their clothes are very torn. This look is to be eaten alive by life, drinking blood and eating meat. ”

"It's scary."

"Isn't it? According to my grandmother, the family members who lost their children cried so miserably. But no matter how much I cried, the children couldn't come back. Everyone watched Grandma take those children away, and now they are dead, and they are still dying so miserably, who else can she be? The city lord organized everyone to find this grandmother, and after finding her, he wanted to burn her to death. As a result, as soon as the fire was lit, a demonic wind blew. If it weren't for the fact that a Taoist priest happened to pass by, we Fengcheng would be dead. ”

"This grandmother is a monster, why do you want to build her such a grandmother's temple?"

"This grandmother's shrine is not specifically for worshipping her, but for suppressing her. It's just that outsiders don't know, and it's inconvenient for our people in Fengcheng to tell others, so they change their appearance when they are passed around. As for the fruits you see, we don't give them sincerely, because we are worried about angering this grandmother and letting her run out and harm people again. ”

"Since the Taoist priest is so powerful, why don't you just accept this grandma?"

"It's still not powerful enough, it's really powerful, can it be suppressed here? In short, this is not the place to burn incense for blessings. Now in this world, it's useless to ask for immortals, it's better to save some effort and take good care of yourself. The boy sneered, turned around, and prepared to leave.

"Has anything happened to Maple City recently?"

"You've heard about this, too?" The young man looked back: "Actually, it's nothing, it's just that someone lost his soul for seven or eight days in a row." Everyone said that it was the grandmother in the grandmother's temple who ran out. also said that she had been suppressed for many years, and she had already cultivated from a small monster to a big monster. This little monster eats human flesh and blood, and the big monster is much more particular, and eats the soul of a person. There is a saying, don't say that I didn't tell you in advance, after dark, don't walk around the streets, and when someone calls you, don't look back, don't agree. ”

"What happens if you say yes?"

"Silly you, of course your soul was eaten by a monster. Forget it, I won't tell you, there is no balance in this city now, and it is either robbed or cannibalized. I have to go home quickly, or my mother will scold me. ”

"Little brother, wait a minute." Xing Ruyi followed after a few steps: "Do you know, have you ever come to Fengcheng with a gentleman surnamed Xing, dressed like a scholar." He has a beard, so long, and his eyes are exactly the same as mine. ”

"I know the gentleman you are talking about, I have seen it."

"Where is he?"

"I don't know, I was captured by a monster, and I was caught on the street." The young man shook his head: "I guess, I'm afraid I won't be able to live." ”