The moment I saw this face, I sat down on the ground in fright.

By the few lights left in the shop, I could see that it was a strange and immature face: judging from the delicate skin, a baby boy was estimated to be about three years old, but looking at the expression on his face, and even looking at his eyes, you would find a look that did not match his innocent age, which was an evil nature.

The baby boy just smiled at me, revealing his baby teeth that hadn't yet grown, and it seemed like he was going to turn into a bloody mouth and swallow me in the next second. His face was covered in blood, but I didn't see any wounds, and the blood seemed to be oozing out of his skin for no apparent reason, and it was attached to it, and I was terrified to see it.

Soon, I realized: I was a ghost! Judging not only from this bleeding face, but also what made me sure was that I found that the baby boy's body was floating in mid-air! What the is this?

The entry and exit in front of me was blocked by the little ghost, so I had to keep moving backwards until I was retreated to the wall. The little ghost was also a little conscious, and when he saw my frightened look, the smile on his face was even more exaggerated, and he kept approaching me.

There's a wall behind me. This is really desperate, I look at this trembling little ghost with my eyes wide open, I don't know what to do. Just when I thought I was done calving, I suddenly saw a white shadow flashing over the head of the little ghost in front of me, and then I saw that the little ghost's body was completely "swallowed" by the white shadow!

I didn't react for a moment, but when I looked closely, I saw a man standing in front of me at some point, his head lowered, and a white cloth bag in his hand—it turned out that the white shadow I had just seen was this. At this time, I noticed that the white bag was swollen and seemed to contain something, and it was constantly fluttering, shaking the whole bag, and seemed to be struggling. If I'm not mistaken, it's the same imp from before.

I didn't react for a few seconds, but I saw the man lift the hand holding the bag, and then shook it down heavily, I was surprised to see that the bag suddenly became much smaller, at first I thought I was too nervous to look dazzled, but then the man shook it twice in a row, each time I obviously noticed that the bag was getting smaller, and the last time, the bag shrank to only the size of a palm! At the same time, there was no movement inside, and the whole bag became swollen.

The man looked calm, unhurriedly carried the white bag, came to the Bogu shelf next to the counter, took down a glass bottle with a yellow charm from the top, pulled out the wooden stopper, aimed the white bag in his hand at the mouth of the bottle, pinched the top with two fingers, squeezed it hard, and casually saw that the bottom of the white bag was slowly oozing thick blood! It drips into the glass jar continuously.

As the blood continued to squeeze out, the white bag that was originally bulging continued to deflat. When the last drop of blood dripped in, the man blocked the mouth of the bottle with a wooden stopper. I looked at the bottle and remembered the pool of blood, and I was a little scared.

"Little brother, didn't scare you, did you?" The man spoke suddenly, and as he spoke, he came to the counter, took out a box of matches, struck one, covered the fire with his hand, and lit the extinguished candlesticks in turn. Suddenly, the whole store became bright again.

"No, no." I shook my head a little sheepishly, and then an awkward smile appeared on my face. In fact, I secretly said in my heart: No? The fuck is about to scare Lao Tzu into peeing his pants! What the hell is this evil and crooked place?

"That's good." The man said. At this time, by the bright light of the shop, I could see his appearance clearly: at first glance, he was relatively ugly, his face was speckled with a few pitholes like potholes in the mud, and his eyebrows were very thick, as firm as two "one" characters written with a brush. Under the eyebrows is a pair of mouse eyes, which looks very cunning, and at first glance it is an old fritter doing business, and the abacus in his heart must be profitable. This person looks very interesting when he speaks, and his mouth will involuntarily tilt upward, which is what we usually call a crooked mouth. He was wearing a cyan Tang suit, and his thin body seemed to be very loose. It is not the same as the thinness of those of us who are hungry in the countryside, although we did not eat the last meal at that time, but almost all the meals were sweet potatoes or wild vegetable leaves, and the meat bar was rare, rare, and we could not eat many times a year, so we children were all thin, and it was not an exaggeration to describe it as thin with yellow faces. The face of the man in front of him was a little ruddy and shiny, and at a glance, he knew that he was not a person who was worried about eating, and he must have eaten a lot of big fish and meat.

I turned to him and asked, "What was going on just now?" ”

The man smiled a little embarrassedly and said, "That, the little ghost who was caught by the head descender from Vietnam is more evil, and the charm can't be suppressed, so he ran out of it." ”

I scolded in my heart, it's really a fucking ghost, if you fucking come late, my life will have to be with you! I feel a little uneasy when I think about it now, I'm afraid I can't stay in this evil place, I glanced left and right, and subconsciously covered the silver mask in my arms and wanted to leave.

This action was seen by the man, and the businessman's acumen made him understand it immediately, and he hurriedly stopped me and said, "Eh! Little brother, do you have something to sell? ”

I stopped and looked at him without speaking.

"Hey, little brother, I'm the shopkeeper of this store, if there is anything you sell boldly, you can sell it at ease, you can inquire, I am not a bully, and the price I give you will definitely not be low!" The man continued.

I thought for a moment and nodded, "I have something to sell." ”

"Take it out and I'll see, what is it?"

I took out the mask I was carrying in my arms, placed it on the table, and slowly untied the layers of red cloth wrapped on it, and when the mask was completely exposed, a subtle expression appeared on the man's face. His eyebrows were about to be raised but he immediately pressed them down, and he looked at this mask with a wrinkled face for a long time, as if he was appraising.

I tempted: "Shopkeeper, look at this, how much is it worth?" ”

"Huh?" The man seemed to be a little distracted, and he was absent-minded in answering my words, and it took four or five seconds for him to react clearly, and then he showed a dissatisfied expression, shook his head, and said, "Hey, little brother, you are not very valuable." ”

I felt a pimple in my heart: "How many dollars can it be worth if it is not worth much?" ”

The man tilted his head and thought for a moment, then reported a number: "Probably, octagonal." ”

I was a little disappointed. The things we took so much effort to fish out of the yellow-skinned demon mound are worth four or five baskets of eggs?

The boss also noticed my reaction, and explained with a crooked mouth: "Little brother, I still quote you the highest price." Originally, the silverware was not worth much in these years, not to mention that you also know how many catties and taels of this mask is, and the weight is not enough! ”

Although I know it makes sense for him to say this, after all, this thing almost cost me and my grandmother's lives, and I still can't accept this price. I shook my head, wrapped the mask again in a red envelope, and put it back in my arms, not going to sell it.

Seeing me like this, the man suddenly showed an anxious look, and a step blocked in front of me, and said, "Little brother, this is really the highest, you take it to other stores to see, my price is definitely the highest." ”

"Thank you, then I'll go to other stores and ask for the price."

"Add two dimes!" Seeing what I said just now, the man suddenly panicked, grabbed my sleeve directly, and the flesh on the side of his mouth kept twitching as he spoke, "Then I'll add two more corners to you and make a piece for you, okay?" ”

I frowned, wondering, this boss's performance made me a little inexplicable, wasn't it worthless, then why did his performance look like he wanted this mask. Suddenly, I seemed to understand something: this guy seemed to have something in mind.

I rolled my eyes, ready to put him on again.

So, I waved my hand and said forget it, and pretended to leave the store.

"Don't, little brother, there is really no such price outside, you are still young, it is easy to be deceived when you go out, I have no ...... here."

The man kept chattering around me, but I was unmoved. Finally, I seemed determined to leave, and suddenly shouted, "Five pieces!" How about five pieces? It's not easy to see that you are entering this industry at a young age, I can be regarded as doing good deeds and accumulating virtue, opening a warehouse and releasing grain, and taking care of you. ”

I listened to it and scolded my mother. This guy is still pretending, it's really slippery, and he still takes care of me? I'm still afraid that I don't know how he made the abacus in his heart? From anise to five pieces, this is how many times it has been multiplied. It's similar to how we usually go to the market to buy vegetables, if you bid lower than the person who buys vegetables, people will definitely disagree at first, and look like you are going to die if you have less than half a penny, and finally you want to leave, he will immediately change his face and treat you as if you were your parents, and sell them to you according to your price. This man lied to me, saying that this thing was a rag and then bought it from me at a low price, and then multiplied it dozens of times and resold it to a rich financier. This cunning old and cunning guy really fools me for a fool?

But I didn't rush to debunk the old fox, because I felt that the mask could be worth more.

"I'm sorry, I don't want to sell it." I continued to pretend to leave.

Seeing that he couldn't keep me, the man became more and more panicked, and gritted his teeth: "Twenty yuan!" ”

This sudden offer made me untenable, and I looked at him in surprise. Twenty bucks! What was this concept like at the time? It's enough to buy a hundred-pound pig and kill the stew for the whole village to eat!

"Twenty dollars for you! Just twenty yuan, little brother, trading at a loss, it can't be higher, it really can't be higher. ”

I glanced at the man and couldn't help but purse my lips. Walking towards the counter, he sat down at the Eight Immortals table on the side, made a gesture of invitation to him, and said, "Shopkeeper, why can't you open the skylight and say something?" ”

The man was stunned for a moment, showing a stupid look, he knew that I had seen through it, so he grinned a few times and nodded. He cautiously walked to the door of the shop, poked his head out to look left and right, and then carefully closed the door. Then he turned his head and smiled at me again, came to the table of the Eight Immortals, and did not rush to sit down first, but lifted the pot on the table and respectfully poured a cup of tea.

"The contemptible person is called Liu Xie, and he is the shopkeeper of this Chu Pavilion, of course, the Taoist also calls me Liu Da Crooked Mouth, I don't mind this, if the little brother wants to call me that, it's okay." This Liu Da smiled crookedly, and pushed the cup of tea in front of me: "Little brother, I can't hide it anymore, so I'll just say it." The mask in your hand is valuable, but it's not valuable. ”

"How do you say that?"

"This thing, only people in our industry can see the value, that is to say, if you sell it in this demon market, it must be a good price, but if you want to sell it in an antique store, it will be octagonal and worthless."

I wondered, "Why is it so much worse?" ”

Liu Da crooked his lips and smiled, "Because, in the eyes of our pedestrians, that mask is the key to going to a mysterious place!" ”

"A mysterious place?"

He hummed and asked, "Have you ever heard of gluttony?" ”

I nodded. Gluttony I have read in the book, it is one of the four fierce beasts in ancient times, and the other three are Chaos, Han Qi, and Qi Qi. But the gluttonous impression is the deepest for me, in the "Classic of Mountains and Seas" in the Northern Second Classic described it like this: its shape is like a sheep's body and human face, eyes under the armpits, tiger teeth and human hands. Lü's Spring and Autumn Period: "Zhou Ding is gluttonous, has a head but no body, cannibalism is not swallowed, and it is harmful to his body." All in all, gluttony has always been a very mysterious existence in ancient China, and in terms of the cognition of legends, it is a creature known to women and children; In terms of the perception of living things, it is a terrifying monster.

"In our line of business, there is a saying that has always been circulating. Legend has it that this gluttony is the son of the Jinyun clan. What is this Jinyun Clan? Now it mainly refers to an ancient clan, that is, "the seedling of the Yan Emperor, when the Yellow Emperor was the official of Jinyun", in our line, the Jinyun clan refers to the number of the Yellow Emperor. In other words, the demon beast is the son of the Yellow Emperor. Liu Da swallowed his saliva with a crooked mouth, paused and continued: "This gluttonous mana is boundless, but it has a vicious personality, it is condensed and infected by filthy things, and it has fallen into the demon path, but its cultivation is above the immortal god, and it has the power of immortality. This gluttony does nothing wrong in the world, everywhere it is purgatory on earth, no one can surrender, until the time of the Shang Dynasty, the four elders of Maoshan and their three thousand disciples came forward, killed it with their hands, just when they were about to seal its corpse, suddenly the wind blew fiercely, the yellow sand was all over the sky, and after it was dispersed, it was lost gluttony, it was rumored that it was taken away by its six protectors, hidden under the ancient altar, and the surrounding area was expanded into a mound, and it was sealed forever from then on, called the gluttonous mound. No one knows where it is, only that this demon mound contains endless treasures that are unrivaled by wealth, and even secrets about immortality. ”

After listening to this, I was in a trance, and I didn't come back to my senses for a while, and after a while, I asked, "Then what does this mask of mine have to do with this gluttonous demon mound?" ”

"Legend has it that after sealing the demon mound, the six protectors of gluttony left six masks with the same faces as them in the world, and the six masks all have clues about the demon mound, and they are linked one by one, and when the six masks are found, the location and secret of the demon mound will be revealed. Little brother, the mask in your hand is just one of them. If I'm not mistaken, the six protectors of gluttony are: Charm, Philip, Earth Wolf, Monkey, Hooked Snake, and Gu Eagle, and the appearance of that mask is the Earth Wolf among the six protectors. ”

The word ground wolf appears in "Corpse", which mentions: "There are dogs in the ground, and the name is earth wolf." The Book of Jin and the Five Elements Chronicles also mentioned: "It was the time when the general Sun Wuzhong lived in Jiyang, heard the sound of dogs in the ground, and found the ground, there were two dogs, both white, one male and one female, and they were taken and raised, and they all died." After that, he was finally destroyed by Huan Xuan. "This earth wolf is a monster that lives underground, and after thousands of years of cultivation, it became a human form, and was regarded as a bad omen by the ancients.

After Liu Da said this, it is true that the hideous and vicious face on my mask is not much different.

At this time, I suddenly remembered something and asked, "How can I see the clues about the gluttonous mound hidden in this mask?" ”

At this time, Liu Da's crooked mouth was obviously put aside, and after three or four seconds, he said: "No, no, little brother, you see I have said so much, is it time for us to talk about the deal at this time, let's make a decision, you also got twenty yuan, and I also got what I wanted." I can naturally see this clue, and it doesn't hurt to tell you, but you're new to this trip, and it's not good to know too much, right? ”

"If you don't say I won't sell"

I interrupted him directly, and a stubborn force came up, and I got up and was about to leave. Liu Da crooked his mouth and told me to lose my donkey temper again, and hurriedly came up to coax me: "Yes, yes, I told you that it was done, right?" ”

I just quieted down. Liu Da tilted his mouth and glanced at me, his face a little reluctant. He sighed secretly, walked to the back room, took out a basin of water, put it on the counter, and said to me, "Give me the mask." ”

I looked at him, hesitated for a moment, and finally pulled out the mask and handed it to him.

Liu Da took it with a crooked mouth, untied the red cloth on it, and slowly immersed the face of the mask in the water facing up. Because it is silver, it is relatively heavy, and it sinks steadily to the bottom of the pelvis. Then, he picked up the inkstone, pointed it at the basin of water, and slowly poured the ink from the inkstone into it.

When the ink touched the clear water, it did not spread in the clear water as usual, and it did not even penetrate into the clear water, but at that moment it turned into a faint wisp of black smoke and floated up, but it did not rise and disappear in the air, but floated in the air like a spirit, a fist high above the water, constantly intersecting and entwining, as if converging into some pattern.

Slowly, as the ink continued to pour in, more and more "black gas" surged up, merging into a pattern one after another.

Finally the pattern became clearer and clearer to my eyes: above the basin, a surging river emerged, surrounded by endless mountains. The whole scene is like a moving ink painting.