After more than an hour of bumping, the cripple finally stopped the boat on the shore and led them along a trail at the foot of the mountain.

Although he knew that the location of Quliu Village was very remote, Li Mi never expected the journey to be so difficult, and after getting off the boat, he walked a full two miles before he could vaguely see the village with smoke in the distance.

The cripple told the three of them to be careful about the rest of the road, because a rare rainstorm had washed away the mud and rocks on the mountain a few days ago, and some of the paths were broken, so they had to step on the mud puddle one foot deep and one foot shallow.

Cao Shaocheng and Shen Luo didn't complain all the way, both of them were martial arts practitioners, their legs and feet were neat, and Cao Shaocheng even hung the burden that Li Mi was carrying around his neck.

The road beyond is not even enough to be called a road, just narrow paths hidden in the cols.

The cripple said that there was originally an official road built by the villagers themselves to reach the riverbank, but it was later washed away by the muddy water on the mountain when it rained, and it was abandoned.

Li Mi walked with his head buried, the soles of his feet had worn out a few large bubbles, at first he could still vaguely discern the direction on the path between the rocks, but as the sun was about to set, the surrounding scenery became surprisingly consistent, and he could only barely see the corners of the clothes led by the cripple.

The three of them walked among the winding mountain roads, and the cripple who had been gushing just now became silent as the sky turned dark.

Time passed quickly, the night was dark, and all around was darkness that could not be seen, and after passing through a dense forest, I could finally see the faint moonlight when I looked up.

By the moonlight, Li Mi looked at this mountain col, like a winding canyon split by a giant sword, standing majestically, and as they went deeper, the whole mountain seemed to be rolling in an irresistible force.

Finally, the cripple led Li Mi and the three of them through the canyon, and there was a huge archway in front of him, with three big characters written on Quliu Village.

Behind the archway, there is a very high watchtower, which is made of wooden black lacquer and is as high as eight zhang.

Li Mi glanced at it, estimating that standing on the watchtower could overlook the movement within a radius of ten miles.

"What is the village building this for?" Shen Luo was stunned, "A watchtower of this size, even if it is Bianjing, will only appear on a few main roads close to the imperial city. ”

"It is said that wolves often haunt the mountains, and sometimes they will rush into the village at night to bite chickens and sheep or hurt people, so the village chief arranged for people to let off wind on the watchtower, and also raised many dogs in the village."

The cripple explained with a smile, and added, "But that was a long time ago, and the watchtower has been abandoned for years." When the Feng family moved to Quliu Village, they funded a large amount of money to help the village exterminate wolves, and the results were good, and now there are basically no wolves in the mountains. ”

With that, he led a few people into the village.

The village is not large, and by the moonlight, there are less than 100 households in the distance, and there are many deserted and dilapidated yards.

But a huge courtyard with a magnificent architecture came into view, which seemed out of place and abrupt in this poor and remote village.

Seeing Li Mi staring at the courtyard, the cripple explained: "That is the Feng family's compound, and it is also the origin of the curse in Quliu Village. ”

"Curse origin?" Li Mi was a little strange.

"Yes, the Feng family is the most mysterious place in the entire Quliu Village." The cripple led the three of them into the village, and said as he walked, "Originally, Quliu Village was an ordinary village, and the people in the village had no quarrel with the world, living a life of sunrise and sunset. ”

"Later, a family surnamed Feng moved into the village from outside, and since then, strange things have been going on in the village. People often see white-clothed female ghosts with their hair scattered near Feng's house, and the villagers are very scared. Later, the old Taoist priest in the village went to Fengjia to do the rituals, and the situation was better, but whenever an old man died in the village, this strange situation would still appear. ”

"In the next few years, the Feng family didn't know what windfall they made, as if they got rich overnight, they spent a lot of money to build the Feng family compound in the village, and also invited the nurse and the servant, I was fortunate to come to the banquet back then, the banquet was full of delicacies and delicacies that I had never seen in my life, and the pomp was about to catch up with the princes!"

"The Feng family has not left Quliu Village since their fortune, and the old man of the Feng family is kind and charitable, and many people in the village have benefited from him, so they don't have too much to worry about the strange things brought by the Feng family. It wasn't until later that the old man Feng got a son in old age, and three clansmen died on the same day of the Feng family, which frightened the old man Feng and the people in the village. ”

The Feng family found a Taoist priest, and the Taoist priest pinched his fingers and said that the children of the Feng family were the lonely stars of the heavens, which would bring bad luck to the Feng family and Quliu Village. However, after all, it is his own flesh and blood, and the old man Feng spent a lot of money to ask for advice on how to break the game, and the Taoist priest finally said that the child hit the gold, fire, and earth, so it is best not to see people before the age of twenty. So the people in the village never saw the children of the Feng family again, and the strange thing really didn't happen again. ”

"Until 20 years ago, the children of the Feng family performed a crown ceremony, and the Feng family held a banquet that day, and the scene was grand, and it was the first time I saw the child. looks like a peach blossom, and a good son is raised like a lady, but the child has a cold face from beginning to end and doesn't seem to like to talk. ”

"The morning after the crown ceremony, something happened to the Feng family. All 57 members of the Feng family died violently, but only the old man Feng escaped, and the housekeeper Liang Kuan was spared death because he went home to visit relatives. It is said that at that time, the corpse was carried from the courtyard for a whole morning, and white cloth was everywhere. Since then, it has been as if there is a curse in the village, whether outsiders break in or people in the village want to move out, they will inexplicably bleed to death. ”

In the end, the cripple muttered a little bit of a mouse-thrower: "The people in the village say that this is the Feng family who died unjustly, and turned into a ghost and came back to ask for his life, and the curse will be broken only if he has collected fifty-seven lives!" ”

"Fifty-seven lives?" Li Mi and Shen Luo glanced at each other, and the shock in their eyes was self-evident.

"Who collected the corpses for the Feng family at that time, can you be sure that all those corpses are the Feng family?" Li Mi asked.

The cripple recalled, and replied: "At that time, it was the old Taoist priest Zhang Luo who collected the corpses of the Feng family with the villagers, and he also held a special ritual to overtake these corpses, and buried them in the back mountain afterwards, and planted some camphor trees, saying that it was to suppress the resentful spirits." However, those trees were really vigorous, and within a few years of planting, the entire cemetery was obscured, and from a distance it looked like a devil, and many people in the village did not dare to go there. ”

"What about the children of the Feng family, did they also die in that accident back then, has anyone seen his body?" Li Mi asked again.

"The old Taoist priest has seen it, he has a good relationship with the Feng family, so naturally he will not admit his mistake, and several people who helped in the village at that time have confirmed that it is indeed the young master of the Feng family." The cripple was sure of this.

Li Mi was suspicious of this matter and did not fully believe the cripple's words.

The old Taoist priest and the villagers present were able to identify the body of the Feng family's son, perhaps at the behest of someone, or they were behind the scenes, or it was possible that the Feng family's son was just hiding it from the world in a way of faking his death.

After thinking about it, Li Mi found that they had approached the old mansion of the Feng family, and suddenly, a chill surged into his heart.

The four of them had no torches, so they could only barely make out the road by the moonlight, and under the moonlight, the outline of the old house of the Feng family could be seen clearly.

The crumbling walls, the stone lion statue with the courtyard gate crooked, the moonlight reflected by the fragmented glazed tiles, and the thick dead leaves on the road.

"Someone's watching us over there!" Shen Luo suddenly said loudly.

Cao Shaocheng also touched his hand behind his back and made a gesture of drawing his sword.

Li Mi's heartstrings tightened, and he looked at Shen Luo, and sure enough, between the shadows of the two half-hidden doors of the Feng family's old mansion, there was a thin shadow standing there.

At first glance, the shadow that was as brittle as the white bones was pale in complexion, and its face was like a ghost, hidden in the shadow of the gate, and it was really as terrifying as a demon.

After a while, the cripple who was taken aback reacted and stopped everyone, "Don't be afraid, that should be the old man Feng, since the tragedy back then, he has been like losing his soul, chattering all day long, making himself a ghost and a ghost." ”

After hearing this, Li Mi went to look at the door of the Feng family's courtyard again, and found that the figure of the old man Feng had left quietly, and only bursts of crows came from the dark courtyard, which was extremely terrifying.

The cripple seemed to be very taboo to stay near the Feng family's compound, and hurriedly took a few people to the depths of the village.

Li Mi took one last look at this mysterious and terrifying murderous mansion, behind which there was an equally black mountain range, in contrast, if the black mountain range was as high as the sky, it seemed that it would crush over this stormy mansion at any time.

Deep in the village, there is a carved flat land, compared to the loneliness and gloom at the entrance of the village, there are singing and dancing, and the villagers seem to be celebrating a festival.

"Cripple! You kid hasn't been back to the village for a long time, why are you here today? Hey, why did you bring outsiders in? An old man who was familiar with the cripple was very happy to see him, but when he saw Li Mi and the three of them following him, the old man's face suddenly froze.

The cripple said, "Your village is so wicked, I don't dare to come often." It's not going to send three friends over today, and by the way, I want to see old friends. ”

According to the cripple, his mother was originally from Quliu Village, so he is also half a villager of Quliu Village, so he has more dealings with Quliu Village and has a few acquaintances.

The old man's name was Liu Sanxi, and he frowned at the cripple and said, "You don't know about the things in the village, how dare you bring outsiders, you are not afraid of ......"

Liu Sanxi didn't dare to say the rest of the words, but the meaning of the words was already obvious.

"Don't worry, I've explained to them, I will definitely leave within seven days, nothing will happen!" The cripple patted his chest.

Cao Shaocheng also stepped forward and said with a smile: "Grandpa, we have a friend who has disappeared in this area, there is a village nearby, we think that we can not only spend a few days to find a friend, but also maybe wait for him." It is really helpless to enter your village by mistake, and I hope that my grandfather can take us in for a few days to rest. ”

Liu Sanxi understood, it turned out that he was looking for someone, but he was still a little hesitant, "But ......"

Cao Shaocheng hurriedly took out a silver ingot from his arms and handed it to the old man, "Don't dare to live in vain, Sichuan will offer it!" ”

Seeing this, Liu Sanxi said: "Forget it, then within seven days, whether you find anyone or not, you must leave immediately." Otherwise, the consequences are unimaginable! ”

Several people nodded their heads one after another.

Li Mi didn't know that since they entered the village, they had been closely monitored by a pair of eyes on the watchtower.

Soon, in a courtyard not far from the watchtower, another person who received the watchtower flag ran all the way to an unfathomable dark path.