Without further ado, we prepared immediately, packed up and immediately went to find Cao Nan.

Because we found that whether it was dealing with people, ghosts, or arranging formations, Cao Nan had resources. There are birds to deal with people, arrays to set up stakes, ghosts, and corpses.

Cao Nan simply opened the timber warehouse at his home and let us choose.

Hu Lai made some very small stakes such as peach, jujube, locust and willow. Huang Mao cut out three peachwood swords and three jujube swords, and divided two for me and Cao Nan.

He said that although this thing has never been turned on, it is still somewhat useful against ordinary lonely ghosts.

Cao Nan carried a rooster and a few catties of glutinous rice, and I brought a fire peach core and a slingshot, the slingshot is Meng Shuisheng's toy, this thing can shoot far with the peach pit, which is much stronger than throwing it with your hands.

As for other dry food, water, floor mats and other daily necessities, they must be indispensable, useful and useless are all prepared, and each person carries a large backpack.

It was midday when we were ready, so we had a bite to eat and set off.

Cao Nan drove a three-wheeled motorcycle straight to the south field, and it was there that Hu Lai lost the big worm.

The south field is the closest to the village, not too remote, so we got off the bus and kept moving along the ranger trail.

On the way, Hu Lai made up a lot of common sense about insects for me and Cao Nan.

Only then did I realize that what we call a worm in modern times and a worm that we talk about in Dharma practice are completely different things.

Dharma practice is a very traditional and closed business, so the worm mentioned in the Dharma practice is a worm in the broad sense of the word in ancient times, not just today's insects.

Modern people listen to insects. Instinctively, I think it's some very small insects, beetles or something, but it's not, the range of insects is very wide, it's a big class.

Birds are feathered insects, mammals are caterpillars, turtles and shells are beetles, fish and snakes are scale insects, and humans and frogs and earthworms are insects.

Even humans are a type of worm!

This is appalling now.

There is an example that can glimpse the signs, that is, the tiger in the Water Margin, the part where Wu Song fights the tiger, there is no word tiger in the whole text, only a big worm.

The reason is very simple, the nickname of Li Yuan, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, was Li Hu, and tiger was a shunning word at that time and could not be used. So the literati writers could only use a more ancient word instead, worm. Originally, this title was only temporary, and it should have been changed back after the Tang destroyed the country, but the Tang Dynasty was a strong and long-lasting dynasty, which had a very far-reaching impact on later generations. So much so that later generations have not been able to completely change back until the Ming Dynasty.

The tiger, with long hair all over its body, is the head of the caterpillar, and the first is big, so the tiger is called a big worm. In fact, strictly speaking, it should be called a big caterpillar to be the most accurate. It means the largest and most ferocious of the "caterpillars".

The python that Hu came to chase is a kind of scale insect.

Of course, although the practice of Dharma is conservative, it will still change. Caterpillars, insects, and featherworms will no longer call.

The worm in the mouth of the insect chaser is now a kind of xenomorph that shuttles deep underground!

Basically, they all belong to two categories: beetles and scale insects.

Take the python as an example, its name comes from the fact that it looks like a python, but it is definitely not a python, it is a different species, and there is no such thing on the surface.

They multiply, spawn, grow, and die all year round in the underground rivers and gushing into them.

Everything is underground, and there is no intersection with the light outside, and it is impossible for ordinary people to encounter it.

Occasionally, there are some news pictures that say that the corpses of some monsters float out of the sea, but in fact, some of them are the corpses of large insects that died after entering the sea.

The large insect evolved into the form of a dragon. They often leave land and go to sea.

It is only the primate of all things, such as man, who studies them and tries to get benefits from them.

This is the insect catcher!

Otherwise, it would be two completely unrelated worlds, old and dead.

"Is Worm Treasure precious?" After Hu finished speaking, I asked curiously.

The insect catcher often drives the big insects underground to run tens of thousands of kilometers, and the time is measured in years, over the mountains and mountains, and sleeps in the open, if there is not enough sweetness, it is impossible to persevere.

The ultimate goal of the insect chaser. It is to drive the big insects into the Jedi and kill the insects for treasure.

Worm treasure is something they dream of.

Hu Lai nodded solemnly and said: "Insect treasure is one of the few things between heaven and earth that still contains aura, and it is infinitely useful, if you get it, it will be sold on the market." Enough to squander three generations. ”

I gasped in shock and squandered three generations, what kind of sky-high price does that have to be?

"In ancient times, the heavens and the earth were clear, and there was aura between heaven and earth, so there were immortals and immortals in ancient legends. Until the pre-Qin period, there were still qi practitioners, but then the aura between heaven and earth slowly dried up and disappeared, only a little bit of the deep underground will remain, and the big insects live underground all the year round, and they will be contaminated with some insect treasures formed in the body. And the insect treasure is also the core of its power, which is very precious. Huang Mao explained.

"Immortals, immortals?"

I was speechless for a while and said, "Isn't it too?" "If there are still immortals and immortals in this world, then where are there places for evil spirits to live?

"Hahaha, that's a saying, just listen to it, don't take it seriously." Yellow hair haha.

"Get out!" I gave him a blank look, and it was more reliable to speak nonsense, so I asked, "Then have you ever taken the insect treasure?" ”

"I took one, and that was five years ago." Hu Lai smiled and said, "That's a beetle, it looks a bit like a soft-shelled turtle, it's a small worm, about eighty or ninety years old." ”

"Eighty or ninety or a bug?" Cao Nan was shocked and asked again: "Then what is a big worm?" ”

"Big insects generally take more than one hundred and twenty years, and the python we are chasing is about two hundred years old, which is in its prime, and it is more powerful." Hu Laidao.

Cao Nan and I were stunned and speechless for a long time, in a hundred years. It's unbelievable, worthy of a different species, to live for so long.

The average life expectancy is only 70, which is too far behind.

"Then did you use that insect treasure for yourself, or did you sell it?" I asked curiously.

"Of course I used it." A hint of pride flashed on Hu Lai's face, and he said: "The average time for us to take a worm treasure in this line of chasing insects is eleven years, and the benefits that insect treasures can bring cannot be bought with money, so few people are willing to sell the insect treasures in their hands, and most of them are for themselves and those close to them." ”

Cao Nan and I were shocked and speechless again.

Eleven years of sleeping in the open air, over the mountains and mountains. Compared with ordinary people, that state is at least twenty years old, it's not easy, no wonder one is enough to eat three generations.

"And what is the effect after you use it?" Cao Nan asked in surprise, his eyes were dotted with stars, and he looked at Hu Lai with a look of adoration.

Hu Lai smiled and said: "I will have no illness or disaster in this life, if nothing happens, the longevity will be more than 100, and I will be old and immature, and I will be light and healthy until I die." ”

"Wow!!"

Cao Nan and I grew up and couldn't help but marvel.

Live a hundred, no illness or disaster, light and healthy, how many people who maintain health and eat supplements dream of? Real money is difficult to exchange for a healthy and tough body, and it is so refreshing to live a lifetime without illness or disaster.

The richest man in the world can't do this, and no matter how developed the hospital is, there are incurable diseases.

With this effect, it's still a small worm, but what if it's a big worm?

I don't dare to think about it anymore.

It's no wonder that the insect catcher can persevere, the temptation is too great, and he can't walk the road when he encounters a big insect.

I'm afraid it's the same for everyone.

Outsiders are puzzled, but they don't know the huge temptation. No wonder Huang Mao said that the python is Hu Lai's current "wife", and the gold is expensive.

"So there are many insect catchers who spend half their lives looking for insect treasures, and they are happy to do this, and only insiders can appreciate this reason." Huang Mao smiled, as if he would also take insect treasures.

"Master Hu, take me as an apprentice!" Cao Nan was tempted, and couldn't wait to grab Hu Lai's arm and beg.

I'm all moved, it's a good thing, it's not money at all, and status can be measured without status.

The loss of the unknown is frightening, while the gain of the unknown is exciting. This kind of expectation and longing is probably more attractive than drugs.

It turns out that money is really not everything, and there are many things in Dharma practice, which cannot be measured by money at all.

……

At this point, I finally have a clearer understanding of the insect catcher industry.

They eat and sleep in the open. All of them are tanned, dirty and smelly, worse than beggars, and they look as embarrassed as they look.

But they enjoy the best things in this world!

Something that money can't buy!

……