The next day is faint, the warm breeze is blowing, the wheat tip is full, and the production and labor in the Sanqing Valley are full of stars, men and women weave, and they are full of style.

At the beginning, there were only two or three farmers chatting, and when they heard someone shouting at night, they all thought that it was the thunderstorm and the echo of the beast's cry to confuse the public. However, it was widely spread, everyone talked about it, and they didn't want to describe each other to the same, and several families in the north heard it more accurately, and recognized it was the sound of miserable screams, and everyone gossiped, cheered and exaggeratedly said, and then someone asked why not to confirm the shouting situation? In the end, I came to the excuse that I didn't dare to identify it because I was too frightened. Sanqing Valley has never had such a situation, so that the more it spreads, the more evil it is, one says that it is the wrath of the heavenly prince, the other says that it is the yin official looking for people, and the third says that the Sanqing manifestation is an auspicious omen......

Later, everyone decided to find out the truth, and traced the source of the sound to the lonely and dilapidated grass house near the mountain to the north, which had been abandoned for many years, just because it was close to the mountain, and was violated by mountains and rocks all the year round, and the owner's family was not allowed to move to another place. At that moment, all the men in the valley resisted hoes and carried axes and wooden sticks, and the old and young shouted boldly and hugged each other towards the grass hut in the north.

Although it was a blue sky and a white day, from the edge of the collapsed wall of the grass house, you can see the inside of the house, but everyone has never had this experience, and the rumors are very mysterious, I can't help but feel timid, to the grass house, no one dares to go in to find out, even the previous bold shouting will stop. Several young and strong men stood at the head of the row, their faces were timid, and a few people hesitated for a while, Fang Qi raised his hoe and axe and shouted several times, and his strong voice was mighty and courageous, and he poured into the grass hut one after another.

When the followers saw this, they also followed closely with a smoke. When you enter the thatched house, you can only see the hole on the top of the cave, and the house is filled with a strong smell of filth excreted by animals and birds, which is very pungent and unbearable. Everyone hurriedly retreated to the grass pavilion, but saw that the wild flowers and wild grasses outside the pavilion were luxuriant, and they were more immature and delicate after the night rain, swaying with the wind, but where could they find traces of people, ghosts and gods? The hearts of the people were relieved, and the sense of fear that hung in their throats gradually dissipated, and they began to talk and boast, each of them about his own wise ideas, and the mood was extremely comfortable, and they went to their homes as they spoke.

When you come, when you go, you have a star meal in the morning, and it is almost dusk.

Although everyone found that there was no harm, but something went wrong, it was inevitable that they would be uneasy in their hearts, so they went door to door to worship the gods in the Sanqing Temple to pray for blessings, sacrifice animals and fruits, continue incense, and pray for the gods to protect the children and children, drive away evil spirits and avoid disasters, and the wind and rain are smooth. When the sky is getting late, the moon is starry, the people worshipping are decreasing, and the Sanqing Temple is quiet.

At this time, there was a sound of hurried footsteps and panting outside the temple gate, as if someone was rushing to come, and when he entered the temple, he saw that it was an eighteen or nineteen-year-old farming boy. He knelt down and bowed to the statue of Sanqing head-on, and said piously in his mouth: "The kid has worshiped Tianzun, the supreme god, the Daluo immortal, because the little boy is tired of farming in the afternoon, he actually fell asleep in the countryside, if it weren't for the Wang's mother's family that Wang's wealth chased and bit pheasants, up and down, chickens and dogs jumped, so that the boy I was full of chicken feathers, and I sneezed several times before waking up...... Seeing that the uncle and aunt had already returned to the house, but the boy was late, he asked the gods not to blame, not to blame. After saying that, he kowtowed three times in a row, and each time his forehead touched the ground with a "bang", his forehead was red and swollen after the three knocks, which showed that his intention was sincere, lest the gods blame him.

The young man was about to stand up, but he heard a muffled snort, although the hum was low, but it was heard very clearly in this temple that was only more than ten zhang in size. He couldn't help but be stunned, looking around, but seeing that in addition to the three statues of gods enshrined on the five-foot clay platform in front of him, as well as the fresh flesh, melons and fruits, red candles and incense enshrined in front of the stage, where else could he see a figure?

The young man had doubts in his heart, could he have heard it wrong? Suddenly, I remembered the strange things in the night, the rumors, and I was afraid, and I couldn't help but shudder. His gaze slowly moved to the three statues, and under the candlelight, he saw the three statues solemn and with a benevolent face. He folded his hands above his head, bowed down majestically, and said repeatedly: "The kid didn't mean to be late, he hasn't done evil on weekdays, don't be annoyed by the gods, don't blame the gods." After a while, there was still silence in all directions, and he thought to himself that he was sincere and worthy of his heart, and the gods would naturally not blame him indiscriminately, so he gathered his mind and stood up, bowed to the idol to the end, and turned to leave. At this time, I suddenly heard an "ah" sound behind my ears, real but like a ghost, the young man's brain buzzed, Dengjue was out of his body, his head was confused, and he stumbled and almost fell to the ground. This time he heard it with certainty, his forehead was dripping with cold sweat, his hands and feet were sore, and he was so weak that he couldn't take another half step forward, like a wooden chicken unable to move.

I don't know how long it took, but the boy was thrilled and woke up like a dream. His knees weakened, and he immediately knelt forward, and in a panic, he hurriedly stretched out his palms to the ground, stopped the momentum, and almost planted a "dog eating". He was frightened, his heart was beating violently, but he felt that his cheeks were hot, his eyes were misty, and he was panting for breath arrogantly, hoping that someone would enter the temple at this time. However, after a while, only to feel the cool breeze blowing, and there was no sound at all, although the young man was frightened, but for too many years, his mind was buffered, and the sense of fear gradually subsided. Thinking about this, he took a long breath, slowly twisted his neck towards the right back, and carefully looked at the things behind him with the peripheral vision of his right eye, and saw that there was nothing unusual, and then turned to the left, all of which were normal.

His heart was slightly relieved, and he slowly exhaled the breath he was holding in his chest, and made up his mind to run towards the outside of the temple. I saw his right foot raised slightly, the sole of his foot did not reach the ground, and he heard a voice from behind him, "This little brother is slow to ......" and heard the voice of the voice floating, soft and weak, although it felt pale but it was obviously a human voice was definitely not a ghost's doing, this time he was not shocked but angry, turned around and raised his voice and asked: "Who is pretending to be a ghost!?" His eyes were everywhere, but he saw a hand slowly stretched out from behind the statue in the middle, with his palm facing inward, and waved it slightly towards him. The young man immediately realized that the person hiding behind the statue meant to let him pass, he hesitated slightly, and was thinking to himself whether to go or not, and he didn't know which Li Si and Zhang San were playing tricks. He was hesitating to himself, only to hear the man continue: "Little brother, come here, I'll ...... I...... Before the words "harm you" after "won't ......" and "won't" came out, I heard a sound of coughing, wheezing and vomiting, as if he was sick.

The young man stepped forward, climbed the mud platform from the right side, turned around and looked behind the three statues, and saw a person curled up on his knees against the statue in the center, and under the shadow of the red candle, he saw that the man was unkempt and ragged, because he was looking sideways, he could not see his appearance clearly. The three statues of the gods in the temple are each nine feet high and five feet wide, lined up, and dense on the left and right. His body happened to be tightly covered by the idol, and if he hadn't looked in from the corners on both sides of the clay platform, who would have expected that there would be someone behind the idol.

But listening to his coughing and wheezing sound was very painful, and the two sounds of "hum" and "ah" made before were secretly unbearable. The young man already smelled some blood in his nose, and when he saw his chest rise and fall, he vomited into the ground from time to time, and when he looked at it, he saw a pool of pus and blood! The young man's heart rose with pity, and he thought to himself, although this man behaved strangely, but he seemed to be very sick. In an instant, he forgot the previous horror of Soul Fei, and asked with concern, "Are you okay?" ”

Hearing this, the man nodded slightly, and waited for his cough to subside a little before he slowly spoke, "Little brother...... Your name is ...... What's the name? ”

The young man replied, "My name is Zhong Chengliang." Seeing that the pain was unbearable, he immediately said: "You are sick, Uncle Ma here is a popular doctor, I will invite you to take a look." ”

The man shook his head and waved his hand, and his words were slightly bitter: "Little Brother Zhong, I'm so thirsty...... If you have wine, take some of it from me. ”

When Zhong Chengliang heard him say this, he felt very strange, shouldn't he drink water when he is thirsty, isn't this person a drunkard? It's just that the valley is remote, and ordinary people can't see it, how can a wine man find it here, but hide in the temple? Zhong Chengliang couldn't figure it out for a while, so he didn't pay much attention to it at the moment. Seeing that his expression did not seem to be pretentious, he agreed, "You wait for me for a while, and I will go back and fetch you wine." ”

"Thank you...... Zhong Xiao...... Little brother, don't alarm others yet. When the man had finished speaking, he coughed and gasped a few more times, and said no more.

Zhong Chengliang turned over and stepped down, the corners of his eyes swept over the offerings, the meat and vegetables should be complete, except for the lack of wine, and he smiled secretly in his heart, thinking that if there was wine here, it would seem like he was drunk, but he was afraid that the big and small cups of wine would have already been swept away. He opened the temple door lightly, and rushed to the house to get wine.

At that time, the moon was in the sky, the stars were shining, and the smoke curled and the candlelight flickered. The smell of fireworks and the wild game in the countryside were mixed with the rush to the face, Zhong Chengliang took a few deep breaths with a "hiss", and suddenly felt refreshed, and all the previous frightes and uneasiness were also scattered with the wind at this moment, gone.

He was adopted by an old man surnamed Zhong since he was a child, and his parents are unknown. When I was a child, I heard Uncle Zhong tell me that he was collecting medicine from the mountain that day, and when he went to the depths, he heard the sound of a baby crying, and he found him in the mountain stream, and when he held him in his arms, he immediately stopped crying. At that time, he was holding him to search left and right in the mountains and forests, but there was no trace of anyone, and he turned his mind to look for this baby or a gift to the sky, and he had no children and grandchildren under his knees, so he took him back to be raised as his own descendant. However, a few years ago, Uncle Zhong was unfortunately attacked by a fierce beast when he was collecting medicine in the forest, and passed away suddenly. He is honest and diligent by nature, and he is very popular with everyone, and he has grown rapidly in a few years, and he has also learned the ability to fight animal hunting with one hand.

He had returned to the house at the time of a cup of tea, and because he drank less, he only left a jar of old wine made by Uncle Zhong before his death, which was enough for 5 catties. Zhong Chengliang hugged the wine jar into his arms, and instantly recalled Uncle Zhong's loving and dignified expression before his death, and couldn't help but burst into tears.

When I arrived at the temple, I saw that the temple door was still hidden, and I knew that no one had entered the temple to worship after I left, so I gently pushed open the temple door and walked in, and then closed the temple door lightly. He stepped forward quickly, climbed up to the clay platform, and when he saw that the man remained curled up and did not move, he asked in a low voice, "I have brought the wine, are you asleep?" ”

How did you know that the man laughed when he heard this, as if he was in a good mood, and said to Zhong Chengliang: "Little Brother Zhong, please...... Cough...... Please bring the wine! ”

Zhong Chengliang couldn't help but laugh secretly when he saw this, he was really an alcoholic, and he was so drunk that he got rid of his illness! Lifting the jar, he walked up to him and handed it over. At this time, it was close, and it was only then that I could see that this person had a national face, with slightly frowning silkworm eyebrows, straight mountain roots, and closed eyes, which was quite majestic. After a closer look, I saw blood stains on the corners of his eyes, nose, and lips, and his face was like a dark cloud, eerie and terrifying, like a ghost! Zhong Chengliang's fright was not trivial, and with an exclamation of "ah", the hand-held wine jar fell from his hand.

The man seemed to have expected it, and when he heard Zhong Chengliang exclaim, he stretched out his hands and hugged them in the right direction, and he had firmly caught the wine jar. "Bang" opened the cylinder cover, held up the bottom of the altar and poured wine into the mouth, the wine did not stop, almost want to drink to the bottom!

Zhong Chengliang was stunned, and before he came back to his senses, he only heard the man pause slightly, stretched out his tongue and licked his lips, and praised: "Good wine, good wine!" Then he said to him, "Little Brother Zhong, you can also drink some." After speaking, he handed the wine jar to Zhong Chengliang.

Zhong Chengliang saw that he came happily, and his temperament was really straightforward, and he was suddenly arrogant at the moment, and he was no longer afraid, so he took the wine jar and poured a few sips of wine, but he felt that the soft liquid was soft, sobered up and moistened his throat, and the fragrance was refreshing to his lungs, and there was an indescribable sense of relief, so he couldn't help but drink two more sips.

"Hahaha...... Happy, happy! The man took the wine jar handed back by Zhong Chengliang and drank it in a big gulp, as if he had thrown away the pain of coughing and vomiting blood. He drank a lot of wine, and the wine in the altar had been drunk eight or nine times out of ten at this time, and finally he couldn't bear to drink it all, stopped, looked up and said: "God treats me well, and before I die, I have enough alcohol addiction, haha...... Hahaha......"

Zhong Chengliang listened to his laughter with both tragedy and sourness, both mourning and hatred. Seeing that his facial features were bleeding, his eyes seemed to be blind, his sideburns were silver, and his face was depressed, he didn't know what to say for a while.

Suddenly, there was silence in the temple.

The man coughed lightly a few times, and immediately spoke: "Little Brother Zhong, you and I are destined, and I can drink your jar of wine before reporting to Lord Yama, and I am grateful to Xu Jian!" I have no regrets about making friends like you before I die. ”

At first, Zhong Chengliang only said that he was addicted to alcohol and sick, and then he looked at his strange appearance and showed that he had another hidden secret, and saw that he was heroic when he drank heartily, but now he heard him say that time is approaching, and he really didn't understand the reason, and said to him cautiously: "Senior, let's go to Uncle Ma to have a look, maybe...... Maybe it will cure you. ”

Xu Jian laughed, reluctantly stopped, and said in his mouth: "It's useless, the poison of the Seven Immortals Devouring Soul Scatter has entered the viscera, it's not ...... If I can't be cured, I can drink this wine before I die, and it will also fulfill my wish. After speaking, he suddenly turned around and faced Zhong Chengliang, and said with a pleading meaning: "Little Brother Zhong, my life is bright and fair, but I was accidentally murdered by a traitor, and I suffered an innocent wrong...... It is not a pity for me to die as soon as I Xu Jian, but thousands of brothers in our gang will suffer from catastrophe! I would like to please...... Please do it for me, I don't know if you are ...... cough, cough ......" Before he finished speaking, he was forcibly interrupted by the sound of coughing and wheezing.

Zhong Chengliang has lived in Sanqing Valley since he was a child, and has never had contact with people and things in the outside world, and occasionally his uncle who returned from going out told the rest of the teenagers about the outside world and anecdotes about the rivers and lakes, so he more or less knew about the outside world, although he yearned for it, but he never moved the idea of leaving the valley. Hearing Xu Jian's plea for help, his heart moved, and he wanted to agree, but he was afraid that he would be entrusted with it, so he immediately frowned and felt a dilemma in his heart.

Although Xu Jian couldn't see with his eyes, he had already guessed that Zhong Chengliang was worried at the moment, only to see him bow his waist and abdomen, and the soles of his feet were knee-high, and then he stepped forward and bowed down to Zhong Chengliang.