The first to notice that the bronze wooden statue had disappeared, and the man who found the old man again, panicked, and quickly shouted at the rest of his companions. When a few people came around, the old man with a shovel woke up leisurely. The old man said that the people of their village had bothered and expressed their gratitude, and then said that the Yellow River flooded every year, endangering both banks, and that cleaning up the river and building embankments were useless, and that the root cause must be cured.

The biggest wish of the people who live by the river is that the river can stop for a few years and let people live a stable life, so as soon as the old man said it, the panic of several people suddenly decreased a lot, and they all wanted to continue listening. But the old man refused to speak, stood up with an iron shovel, and walked slowly into the distance, saying without looking back as he walked, because he was going to come out of the river, he had injured seven lives, and as compensation, he would return the villagers to the seven river protectors.

The old man walked farther and farther, and several people did not dare to chase him, and when the old man came to the river bank after dawn, the old man had already left without a trace. The locals couldn't tell whether the old man was a god or a demon, but they were worried and panicked for a while.

Originally, people thought that the old man would not appear again, but what was unexpected was that only one day later, someone saw the old man somewhere else.

"Baby, guess where you met him?" The old ghost probably thought it was boring to be alone, and after talking for a while, he asked me, "Guess what." "

"How can I guess that?" I listened very fascinated, and I didn't want the old ghost to stop telling, but I had touched his temper to some extent in the past two days, so I deliberately provoked him, saying that he might not know what was going on.

"Fart!" The old ghost really couldn't bear the agitation, so he was anxious: "Up and down this river, there are still things that Lao Tzu doesn't know?" "

The next time people saw the old man, it was in the mourning shed. In the past, our hometown has always practiced burial, and the dead should be buried in the ground, and the people who protected the river and repaired the embankment came from various villages, and the seven people who died in the river before the salvage of the bronze wooden statue were taken home afterwards and prepared for burial. Before the burial, a funeral shed is set up at the head of the house, and the body is placed for seven days, and it will not be buried in the cemetery until relatives and friends have worshipped.

Seven different dead, from seven different villages, all young and strong good boys, died sadly. When the old man with the shovel disappeared, the dead were still in the mourning shed at home. After nightfall, someone got up at night and vaguely saw an old man with a shovel appear outside the spiritual shed in a village, and at that time the man thought that it was a playful idle man in the village who took the opportunity to steal the sacrifices in the spiritual shed, so he wanted to stop it. But the moment he showed his head outside the shed, the man was almost driven crazy with fear.

He saw the old man with the shovel standing next to the coffin, the lid of the coffin was opened at some point, and the corpse, which had been dead for a few days, was crawling out of the coffin.

After that, the corpse followed the old man and slowly left the village. Overnight, the old man walked through the spiritual sheds of six villages, and six corpses were taken away by him in a row, and the earliest deceased was already past the first seven, and the old man went to the cemetery again and dug up the buried corpses with his own hands. The seven people who died unexpectedly while cleaning the river were all collected by the old man.

Since then, the old man has completely disappeared, and no one has seen him again.

"Who's that old man? What did he take seven corpses for? I involuntarily asked, vaguely aware of something, but not so clear.

"Who said those were seven bodies?" The old ghost glared at me and said, "Lying in the coffin of the spirit shed, they are corpses, and once they are out of the coffin, they are alive." "

Since the old man disappeared, until more than ten years later, someone once saw the boatman with a broken right hand in the river, although the man with a broken hand was missing a hand, but the water was skillful, like a fish in the river, and like a water bird, they often sailed the big river, sang the tune of the river, and were extremely familiar with the river. The title of Kawakoko came from that time.

"Those seven people are the ancestors of the Seven Gates of the River." The old ghost said: "Pang Liu, Wang Sun, Song Chen, Tang, Seven Doors and Seven Families." "

If it weren't for the old ghost telling me so much, I probably never knew about Hawako's family history. Although there may be some people in the seven gates of Pang Liu, Wangsun, Song, Chen, and Tang, there may be some people in the Seven Gates, Ding Xingwang, and a group of children and grandchildren, but there is only one person in that serious family. Grandpa is alive, he is the river tree, unless he dies, the successor under the head can be regarded as the river son in the strict sense. Time passes, the world changes, time will change a lot of things, in the early years, although the seven gates of the river are all different surnames, but there are unified door rules, there is a unified leader, is a complete whole, during the Republic of China, the seven doors have some changes, these changes led to the rupture of the seven doors alliance, some families, such as the Song family, washed their hands and left the river to get rid of the line, changed to be a corpse collector, once the door was broken, then they were not the real river monks.

"No wonder, grandpa said that there are no more than three rivers in the world, plus me."

"Your lord is still a little prescient, did he have a premonition that Lao Tzu was going to pull him to work?" The old ghost grinned, pointed at himself, and then pointed at me, and said: "Liu Wang Song, these three families have washed their hands, and the Tang family at the end of the gate has no son, so there are three rivers in the world, one for Lao Tzu and one for you." "

"And another?"

"There's one more." The old ghost looked into the distance, his expression was a little embarrassed, and he squinted his eyes and said, "There is another one in Yinshan Gorge." "

The old ghost said it very clearly, and he explained the origin of the river to the earliest, although it was a bit mysterious, but at least it gave me an explanation. But listening to this, I was even more confused, the appearance of the river can't be as simple as patrolling the river.

"Then the seven big palms you said"

"Baby, we have something to do, and that thing is bigger than the sky." The old ghost's eyes showed a slit slightly, and he said to me very solemnly: "It won't be long before Lao Tzu has to go out to a long house, I don't know when I will come back, this matter, I want to join forces with the seven gates, your master is not there, Lao Tzu is far away, those bastards, who is the big palm, Lao Tzu is not at ease, do you understand?" "

I immediately understood, the old ghost asked me to do what the Seven Masters of the Lamp was, it was completely a false name, what ability could I have to lead the Seven Gates? It's just that I'm young, I don't have such a deep scheming city, and I'm better than others.

"Whether you understand it or not, it's decided."

For the rest of the day, the old ghost and I had been on a land trip, and the waterway was completely impassable, and we couldn't find a boat. But the distance is not particularly far, we walked slowly, all the way, the old ghost taught me something along the way, he is indeed very powerful, and the kung fu in his hands is something I have never seen before.

After that, we finally saw Yinshan Gorge from afar. I don't know if I was too panicked, or if it was true, when I walked near the Yinshan Gorge, I felt that there was a layer of gray mist floating there, and the sun above my head was blocked from shining on the fog, because in this way, the entire Yinshan Gorge was gloomy all year round.

It was a strange place, people passing by Yinshan Gorge once saw a team rushing into Yinshan Gorge from the outside, the team was mighty, but it looked fluttering, as if it was a transparent shadow, holding a big flag and golden knife, and the yin qi was overwhelming. Ordinary people don't say that they enter the Yinshan Gorge, even if they pass by the canyon, they will suffer a serious illness after returning home.

Yinshan Gorge is not a dangerous place, the entrance to the canyon is there, but no one dares to enter or leave. The old ghost didn't have the slightest fear, and led me straight up towards the entrance. As soon as I walked into Yinshan Gorge, the light immediately dimmed, and I saw a blurry and black patch in front of me, a cloud of gray mist that seemed to be impossible to disperse all year round, sticking to the top of the canyon and slowly undulating.

Raised my legs and walked in, just one step, it was like two completely different boundaries, the temperature in the Yinshan Gorge was very low, I couldn't help but shiver, I felt a wave of cold air rushing from all directions, and I drilled into the skin and flesh along the clothes. But the old ghost is not afraid of this, his thin body is like a stove, steaming hot, I can't help but cling to him, I feel much better.

The area near the river beach is always wet, and at the bottom of Yinshan Gorge, there is a layer of slimy mud, like a swamp. As soon as I stepped on it, half of my leg sank into the mud, the old ghost was a little familiar with this place, pulled me out, and walked along, so it was better, but after walking for less than ten minutes, in the depths of the dead canyon, there seemed to be a strange breath rolling up and down, making people feel a strong hair, always feeling that in a corner around, there were countless pairs of green eyes, staring at us.

rumble

A ball of green light suddenly exploded in front of me, and it was a ghost fire that came out of the night in the mass grave, but such a big volley exploded, and the dots of green light illuminated the surrounding area of a miserable green, which was terrifying, and the chill on my body was heavier, and I kept talking to the old ghost, trying to reduce the pressure in my heart.

"Baby, walk slowly, the mud is very deep, don't step into it." The old ghost led the way in front and said to me, "I haven't asked you all this time, what's your name?" "

"Chen Chen Jinshui" Cold sweat broke out on my forehead, and even when I spoke, I began to tremble.

"Your father's name is Chen Yinglong, is it, your name is Chen Jinshui" The old ghost paused, suddenly laughed, and said: "The sixth child has studied for two days, more than the Tao in Lao Tzu's stomach, and the name given to you is like a name, unlike Lao Tzu, when naming his son, he thought about it for three days in a row, and finally named him Dog Baby"

"The dog baby is not bad." I nervously swept around as I accosted, "What is he doing now, doesn't he have to be a river wheat?" "

The old ghost's footsteps suddenly stopped, and he stood there without looking back, but I saw his body shake slightly, and after a long time, he slowly spoke: "The dog baby has a bad life, and he is dead." "

For the first time, the old ghost's tone seemed a little humane, very bitter and helpless, and at the same time there was a deep sadness, probably remembering his son who had died a long time ago. At this moment, I felt that he was actually very ordinary, not terrible at all, an old man who had been forgotten by everyone, pitifully tight.

"It's all over, don't take it to heart," I tried to persuade him, but as soon as my steps slipped, my body staggered, and my right foot stomped into a mess of mud. It's a mud pit, so deep that you sink with your right foot. I quickly pulled out, but as soon as I moved, I felt something grab the neck of my right foot.