After hearing this, Xiao Feiying hurriedly grabbed a handful of medicinal powder from his waist bag and sprinkled it on the soldier who was covered with "ghost fire", but it had no effect.

At this point, the soldier began to gasp for air with difficulty, panting and screaming with a cry of pain and fear. His chest was heaving violently, as if someone was choking his neck so hard, and the features on his face were twisted and deformed from the intense pain.

There seemed to be a red fire in his abdomen, slowly walking upward, the pain was so red and hot, congested, sweaty, and the green tendons and blood vessels all over his body burst out. Then there was a burst of red light from his throat, followed by a mouthful of bright red blood. After the blood landed, hundreds of "ghost fires" hatched in an instant.

The soldier's body was on fire as if it was hiding coal. His body began to glow with orange-yellow, blood-red light. His hair began to spontaneously combust, but his mouth kept vomiting blood, and at the same time let out a dying wail.

Yu Bingzhong hurriedly pulled out a sharp sword, put it on the neck of Qiao Erzi, and urged: "Hurry up and find a life!" ”。

Qiao Erzi and his sons were completely fearless at this time, and moved their steps to the side with disdain, and then carefully stared at the "flames" on the soldiers. Then he discovered that those rising "flames" were actually composed of countless insects the size of fireflies that glowed orange-red! Now the insects are biting and eating the poor soldier's flesh and bones.

More "ghost fire" pounced on the soldier, and on his skin, wherever the "ghost fire" insect crawled, huge blood blisters. Then countless "ghost fire" insects will bite through these blood blisters and burrow into the soldier's body, eating the soldier's skin and organs from the inside out.

In a few moments, the inside of the soldier's body seemed to be on fire, like a lit sculpture carved out of coal, and thousands of tinder red dots flickered in the dimly lit stone chamber.

When the people saw this, they were frightened and scurried around.

Qiao Erzi shouted loudly: "Little junior sister! Do you have musk on you?! Spread it out! ”

After hearing this, Xiao Feiying said eagerly: "Second brother! That musk is a very rare and rare medicinal material, more valuable than gold, how can I afford it! Besides, women can't be contaminated with musk, especially me......" Qiao Erzi and his son saw that the little flying warbler was spitting, so they asked eagerly: "What's wrong with you?" What do you mean by being especially you? ”。 At this time, Xiao Feiying deliberately said fiercely: "Especially when I have a bad temper and always fall in love with fire!" It doesn't work! ”。

At this time, Yu Bingzhong hurriedly untied the sachet of the beaded gold thread unicorn that fell on his waist and tore it open, and threw the powder of the spice into the air.

The stone room was filled with the smell of musk, and after those "ghost fire" insects smelled the musk, they were like being hit by an insecticide, and the fire on their bodies gradually extinguished, turning into black insects the size of flies, and then suddenly fell to the ground. When everyone looked, they saw that the ground was densely packed with black insect corpses.

Qiao Erzi looked at these "ghost fire" insect corpses and fell into deep thought, Xiao Feiying looked at Qiao Erzi's expression, and asked: "Second brother, how do you know that this kind of insect is afraid of musk, have you seen it before?" ”。

Qiao Erzi sighed lightly and said, "Yes! I used to dig graves and eat smelly food, I think I've seen this kind of thing! ”

When Iron Hammer heard this, he hurriedly interrupted Qiao Erzi and asked, "Then you say, what is this ghost worm?" The ghost fire in the cemetery, we have seen a lot of graves digging and eating smells, why is this so evil? ”。

Qiao Erzi said: "This thing is not a ghost fire, but a fire refining insect." The fire insect is the fruit of the ancient species of mulberry, which looks very much like a mulberry tree, but it is rarely used because its wood and sap are red and oily. If you cut the sore on its branch with an axe, the sun will shine on the tree, and the tree will be on fire, and this fire cannot be extinguished or covered by water or earth. In addition, as long as the mulberry burns a fire, the mulberry (lì) that hibernates under the roots of the tree or lies dormant on the branches and leaves will be awakened, causing greater loss of life and property.

Mulberry (lì), or fire refining insect, wakes up from hibernation under the roots of the tree in the spring when the branches of the mulberry bear leaves, and flies up to the branches. When the snow falls in winter, it hibernates in the soil of the mulberry roots, waiting for the next year's branches to sprout. It's a half-worm thing that looks like a mulberry, but it glows at night. And this thing called the fire refining insect is not like mulberries that can be used as food for people and animals. Instead, it feeds on the flesh and blood of animals. When they eat, the insects secrete a red saliva that melts the flesh of the animal into a thick juice that can be swallowed by itself. This is the same routine used to inject formic acid into humans when mosquitoes bite humans in order to dilute human blood.

On the branch of the fruiting mulberry there was a small sucker-like thing, which was the nest of the fire refining worm.

If we want to talk about the origin of this strange species, we have to start from antiquity. In ancient times, there was a tribal leader who was inspired to drill and grind the trunk of the flint tree with the broken branches of the flint tree because he saw the sacred bird carving pecking at the tree, and thus the fire was discovered, and the era of human beings drinking blood was ended. The person who discovered the way to drill wood to make fire was the Suiren clan, who was later revered as the Suihuang Emperor, ranked as the first of the three emperors, Hua Xu was his wife, and Fuxi and Nuwa were his children.

Because of the cooked food, the people of the Suiren tribe became healthier and stronger, and their lifespans became longer and longer, and they grew their tribe into a kingdom through continuous annexation wars, the Suiming Kingdom. The site of the Sui Ming Kingdom is in the current Shangqiu, Henan Province, in the lower reaches of the Yellow River, which is the birthplace of the later Shang Dynasty.

Legend has it that the people of Suiming Kingdom do not know the four hours of day and night, and their people do not die, and they ascend to heaven if they are disgusted with the world. In other words, the people of Suiming have no concept of time, they are very energetic, and they don't have to sleep day or night. Only when I am sad and sad and cry will I fall asleep like an ordinary person.

In the capital of the Suiming Kingdom, it is called "Suiming", because there is a flint tree with rhizomes stretching for thousands of hectares, and its huge, lush branches and leaves are covered with sky. There is a bird that looks like an osprey, and every time it pecks at the branches and leaves of the flint, it makes the flint glow. In fact, the name of this bird is "Jiao Ming", and it is a mythical bird that looks like a phoenix. The book says that it "has a long beak and a round wing, and a round tail, and the feeling of water when you arrive." That is to say, the temperament of this bird is water, and it specializes in flint. Therefore, the sacred bird Jiao Ming feeds on the branches and leaves of mulberry trees and fire refining insects. ”

After hearing this, Iron Hammer asked, "Qiao Er, did you hear all these things from your master?" Xiao Feiying continued: "Second brother, why haven't I ever heard my father mention this fire refining insect you mentioned?" ”

Qiao Erzi said: "At that time, I had just been separated from the hammer, and I hadn't met the master yet!" ”。

At this time, Yu Bingzhong rushed over and urged: "What are you still spending on this guy, don't you find a way to make a living!" ”

Qiao Erzi took out the compass and looked at it, and found that the pointer of the compass could not be stabilized at all. He said to Yu Bingzhong: "This stone room does not have a terrain belonging to Kun, if it is according to the principle of feng shui, it is respected by soil virtue, but it is furnished with gold utensils." Within the five elements, gold is born in the soil, so the power of transformation is very strong, and the compass can't detect it. But after I think about it, maybe I can come up with something else."

After Yu Bingzhong heard this, he no longer urged.

Xiao Feiying seemed interested in the story of Qiao Erzi and his son, so he urged Qiao Erzi and asked, "Second brother, you continue."

Qiao Erzi smiled slightly and continued: "At that time, I was still a beggar on the street. I remember that it was a late autumn evening, and while I was begging for food in the street, I suddenly saw a group of funeral procession, carrying a thin paulownia coffin walking down the street.

When I saw this, my heart itched, and I thought about following me to the graveyard and stealing some tribute to eat. So he followed all the way to a mass grave.

By this time it was already dark, and the wind was blowing so hard that the leaves and branches of the trees were almost hanging to the ground. Such a big movement naturally alarmed the crows in the nest in the tree, and the crows circled uneasily in the sky not far from the top of the branches like frightened birds, adding a touch of sadness and terror.

The sky was covered with dark clouds, and the only source of light was the faint dark gray glimmer that seeped down from the thin dark clouds in the sky.

The mourners took out shovels, shovels, and heads and began to dig a pit next to the root system of a crooked-necked locust tree.

I hid not far away and looked around. I only saw: about forty miles around, there are mulberry trees, and only this one is a locust tree. The roots of the locust tree are luxuriant, with hair-like roots extending two meters away from the roots of the trunk.

And though the mulberry trees grew crookedly, and the trunks were covered with large bales, the mulberries bore well. In general, the mulberry tree grows dark black or dark purple in April or June every year, which means that it is ripe. But the mulberries here look very pleasing red, and the mulberries look very watery. The unexpectedly large amount of water makes its particles full and crystal clear, like red agate or clean and pure red coral illuminated by strong light.

Some of those mulberries hang right next to me, crystal clear and fruity.

I was about to pick one off, but suddenly I heard a terrible scream. I hurriedly followed the sound and looked, only to see that the coffin was placed on the side of the root system of the locust tree, and the two Liba'er with shovels screamed, and their bodies seemed to spontaneously combust from the inside out. In an instant, it turned into a pile of white bones.

The mourners exclaimed, "This mulberry... This mulberry has a ghost! Then he hurriedly threw away the tools in his hand, and ran away as if he had lost his soul in fright.

At this time, the roots of the locust tree that had been surrounding the coffin actually crawled towards the damp, bright red white bones.

First, the roots in the pit went all the way up the feet of the corpse and wrapped around the top of the head. The whiskers, regardless of their thickness, were like the vines of a creeper, and they all had legs. And their feet are still suckers, they suck the human body, and the blood-red color in the middle of the original brown roots is constantly flowing in the roots. Those feet that suck the roots of the human body keep climbing towards the human body, constantly pulling up the buds, and constantly growing in an instant. It grew to the top of the corpse's head, but it continued to grow, spreading its branches and leaves, radiating towards the branches of the surrounding mulberry trees. Until the roots of these locust trees entwined every branch of this mulberry forest within a radius of nearly ten miles.

As I was about to run away, I found a stone tablet nearly a man tall hidden in the bushes, narrow in shape, but not low in size. The stele base has a camel stele, and the stele head is surrounded by a negative stele. I vaguely saw two lines of Han Li engraved on the stele, so I quickly wiped the dust off. The words on the stele appeared, and it was written: Eight hundred miles of mulberry, eight thousand autumn Huaifu. ”