Midnight in the depths of the mountains is always surprisingly quiet, everyone who has been on the road for a day has gone to bed early, Wu Yunlin fell asleep in this snoring sound one after another, and heard a crisp bell "ding, ding" in the distance in a daze

The bell is getting closer and closer, accompanied by an old voice: "Happy God crosses, people and ghosts retreat." ”

Wu Yunlin was about to get up as soon as he turned over, but was held down by Xiong Ge, and then whispered: "Happy God is in a hurry, taboo the living, don't make a sound, don't go out, let's leave early in the morning"

Three figures gradually appeared in the mist, led by an old man, wearing a green cloth and a black belt around his waist, with dark skin, although the autumn was deep and heavy, but he was still wearing only a pair of straw sandals. The one in the middle wears a hat and covers his face with a light veil. Dressed in white clothes and white pants, like a dead man's shroud, he jumped up and down with the bell and followed the old man. The last man was a child of eleven or twelve, dressed in a patched coarse cloth shirt, but also with a black belt around his waist and a dirty package behind him.

Strangely, the child was holding a large white bowl in his hand, which seemed to be filled with water, and he walked cautiously behind the two, as if he was afraid that the water in his hand would spill out.

The old man held a thick stack of yellow paper in his hand, and pierced a string of copper coin-like holes with a copper coin-like sharp weapon, which was the unique dark coin of Xiangxi, the old man held the dark coin and sprinkled it into the sky, and shouted: "Happy God crossing, buy the road and borrow, ordinary people, do not approach, return to the hometown in a hurry, and enter the soil for peace!" ”

The old man came to Lao Zhang's house and stopped, looking at it in a daze, "I didn't expect that I hadn't seen it for so many years, and it had fallen to such a point." ”

"Xishen Inn, grandpa, is this it?"

"This is the place where we are going to stay in a hurry, but we still have to call it Xishen Inn to the outside world."

"It's been so many years, and I don't know if that old brother is still there-Ning'er, go knock on the door, remember the method I taught you."

The child answered, and carefully handed the porcelain bowl in his hand to the old man. walked forward, straightened his waist and cleared his throat, and said crisply: "The sky is not collected, the land is not left, the east comes and goes and the east is returned, today I borrowed your store, and the gold bricks are included in your cabinet." ”

There was no sound in the room, and the child looked at the old man and shouted again, but the voice was a little louder than just now. After calling three times in a row, there was still no one in the house answering, and the old man said gloomily: "Sure enough, there is no one."

Let's go. ”

After speaking, the old man knocked Xiao Yin Luo and was about to leave, when the voice of Lao Zhang in the house said slowly: "The sky must be collected, the earth must be kept, the east comes and goes and the east returns, the dead turn into a gold brick, and the gold brick is put into my cabinet." ”

The old man suddenly looked happy, and the child clapped his hands happily, and hurriedly said, "Grandpa, there are people, there are people." ”

At this time, the person in the back room said, "Is it Mr. Ya?" ”

The child hurriedly replied, "It's not Mr. Tooth who came. ”

"It's Mr. Che?"

"It's Mr. Che who came."

"Can you drink the Soul Forgetting Soup of the Netherworld?"

"Just drink a pot of tea in the sun."

The person in the back room was silent for a long time, and said, "I didn't expect Mr. Che to come now, wait a while, and I will welcome God into the cabinet." ”

There was a sound of rustling in the back room, obviously the man was cleaning up, and after a while, Lao Zhang opened the two large wooden doors, Lao Zhang first took out a charm made of yellow paper from his arms, took off the cloak on the head of the man in white, and revealed a young and miserable white face, without the slightest blood on his face, his eyes were closed, but his lips were bright red as blood, and the whole body was shrouded in a terrifying feeling, this was really a corpse.

Lao Zhang pasted the yellow paper in his hand on the forehead of the corpse, pointed his right hand at his face with a sword, and shouted while gesturing: "Please enter the cabinet with the god of joy." ”

Sure enough, the corpse actually moved!

The corpse's hands were stretched straight ahead, its eyes closed, as if a normal person were sleepwalking. But his movements were much stiffer than those of a human, and he walked forward slowly, and the bones of his body rubbed against each other to make a strange sound, as piercing as a sharp knife cutting through a porcelain plate, and he jumped straight over the threshold and stood straight behind the door.

At this time, fortunately, there was no one else around except for the three of them, otherwise, seeing this situation, I would have to be stunned on the spot. This may also be one of the reasons why Lao Zhang repeatedly told Wu Yunlin and others not to go out.

It turned out that these two people were the well-known corpse chasers in Xiangxi, and the man in white was naturally the "happy god". And this place is naturally a "corpse inn" that has not been patronized by the gods for many years.

It was just dawn.

Lao Zhang, the boss who opened the door, watched Xishen enter the house, a look of surprise flashed on his face at first, and then calmed down. He took a deep look at his grandfather and grandson, and walked into the house without looking back.

Xiao Ning held a big bowl all night, his arm was already hurting to death, and he hurriedly walked forward, and was just about to sit down, when he was stopped by his grandfather: "Xiao Ning, how did grandpa teach you?" ”

Xiao Ning pouted, took out a simple oil lamp from his schoolbag, and came to the southeast corner of the inn, where a small bamboo basket-like thing was hanging from the roof beam, and Xiao Ning put the oil lamp in his hand in the small bamboo basket. Then, the old man took out a piece of yellow paper from his arms, put a pinch of his hands, and actually burned in his hands, Xiao Ning was dumbfounded, and the old man said something in his mouth: "The mandate of heaven pays me, my life bears you, if you bear me, the mandate of heaven does not allow it, light a yin lamp, shine on your future, you do not live up to me, please do not blow the lamp." ”

After speaking, he lit the lamp with the yellow paper in his hand, and the ancient lamp shone with a faint blue light, and the flame did not move at all despite the wind.

"Xiao Ning, look at it, don't let the lights go out, if they go out, it will be a big deal."

Xiao Ning pouted and said, "I've been tired all night, I knew that my feet were so tired, so I didn't come out." ”

The old man kindly touched Xiao Ning's head, and said with a smile: "It was you who were clamoring to come out at that time, and now it is you who say you won't do it, good boy, one night later, send the god of joy, and we will go back, I promise you, after I go back, I will teach you the method of lighting the oil lamp without fire just now." ”

Xiao Ning jumped three feet high, clapped his hands and smiled: "Grandpa's words count." ”

But this time I was really entrusted by others, so I had to take this trip, and there was a war along the coast, and I fought with foreign devils? Many people died, and this employer was shot to death by a foreign devil. In January 1841, the British army took advantage of the situation and captured the two forts of Shajiao and Dajiao.

"yes, that's not a good world." Lao Zhang sighed and changed the topic: "Xishen hasn't eaten yet, I'll do it." ”

Lao Zhang turned around and entered the house, and after a while, he made three dishes, a stir-fried potato, an eggplant and a small bowl of Xiangxi's unique sauce and chili, plus two bowls of rice.

Wei Ning, who had been hungry for a long time, was not polite, and hurriedly held the bowl and was about to start, but was stopped by his grandfather:

"I haven't eaten anything, what are you anxious about?"

Wei Ning hurriedly stopped, and the old man Wei ordered each dish with chopsticks, and there were words in his mouth, as if he was inviting Xishen to eat, and then burned a stack of dark coins in the southeast, and Lao Zhang poured all the meals back into the pot and fried them again before serving them again, which was considered to be Xishen's use.

After the meal, the old man Wei called Wei Ning and instructed: "Go and see if the seven orifices of the god of joy have fallen, if there is any falling off or loosening, use the cinnabar to refill it, and the seven orifices will not be able to get angry." ”

Old Man Wei conjured a stack of Chenzhou talismans from his arms, handed them to his grandson, and said: "Stick this talisman on the forehead, chest, arms, and knees, don't do it, when the new talisman is pasted, you can remove the old talisman, otherwise the corpse will have a seizure, and the consequences will be unimaginable." ”

Wei Ning responded, because Xishen was tall, Wei Ning pulled a bench and stood on it, Xishen's eyes were closed, and the seven orifices were sealed with cinnabar, a specialty of Xiangxi, Wei Ning was bold, and there was no timidity in the face of the corpse, and he carefully checked Xishen. Old Man Wei stared intently at the lamp in the southeast corner, the flame was straight and straight, without a trace of trembling.

Wei Ning knew that the stakes were very high, so he didn't dare to be sloppy at all, and according to his grandfather's instructions, he pasted the Chenzhou talisman in the designated position, and then tore off the old talisman, Old Man Wei took the talisman, and with a pinch of his hands, it burned in the air and turned into a black butterfly and scattered.

Old Man Wei breathed a sigh of relief, although Wei Ning was young, he did things neatly, not inferior to adults in any way - even if it was an adult now, I am afraid that you would not dare to be in the same room with the corpse, let alone help the corpse change charms.

Suddenly, a gust of wind blew through the hall, and the flames in the southeast corner flickered, and the old man Wei's face changed greatly, and he hurriedly stepped forward, hoping to protect the beating flames, and at this time, Wei Ning was facing away from Xishen, carrying a bench and sitting on a chair.

Whew, Wei Ning only felt a gust of wind blowing behind him, turned his head to look, and was suddenly frightened, it turned out that Xishen didn't know when he was already standing behind him, his two originally closed eyes had been opened, snorting white gas, and his eyes were staring at Wei Ning intently.

"Grandpa!" Wei Ning was so frightened that he hurriedly shouted, but Old Man Wei had just walked to the oil lamp at this time, and he was four or five meters away from Wei Ning, how could he catch up with Xishen who was behind Wei Ning?

"I'm glad God is gone!" Lao Zhang screamed loudly in fright, jumped three feet high from the table, and ran to the back of the hall.

Xishen poked out his long arms from his shroud, his white arms were frighteningly green, there was not a trace of blood on them, his nails were long, pointed, and black, and there were white hairs on his arms that were more than an inch long, and he grabbed Wei Ning with both hands and lifted it up.

"Rejoice in the anger of the gods!" Old Man Wei took out a small sword made of copper coins from his arms, and lit a string of charms with his left hand like a trick, and at this time, Xishen didn't seem to hear Old Man Wei's voice at all, and his head swung mechanically, making a clicking sound, lifting Wei Ning higher, as if he wanted to hold his feet and tear Wei Ning apart alive. Wei Ning struggled desperately, but the corpse seemed to be infinitely powerful, grabbing Wei Ning's legs alive, no matter how Wei Ning struggled, he couldn't break free.

Seeing that Wei Ning was about to be torn apart alive by this dead corpse!

"Hurry!" Old Man Wei strung up the burning charm on the copper coin sword in his hand, and ran forward quickly, the copper coin sword pointed directly at the head of the dead corpse, and actually passed straight through the head of the dead corpse!

Even more strange is that the dead bodies did not bleed.

"Dang!" With a loud bang, the copper coin sword passed through the head of the dead corpse and landed on the wooden board behind it, Xiong Ge picked up the white bowl that Wei Ning had been holding on the table, drank a large sip of water, and then sprayed it on the burning Chenzhou talisman.

Whew, Chenzhou Fu Yushui not only did not extinguish, but burned more vigorously.

Old Man Wei shouted: "Please return to the throne of the happy gods!" Xishen seemed to stiffen, his hands stopped in mid-air, and Old Man Wei hurriedly rescued Wei Ning.

Old Man Wei slapped the copper coin sword on Xishen's chest, back of the heart, hands, and feet several times, and then took out a wooden nail from his arms, and inserted it into Xishen's throat seven inches, and sighed:

"You are a character in front of you, I didn't expect to be so bad when I died, I can only lock your soul with locust wood, and after you are in the ground, I will naturally release your soul and let you reincarnate, if you are offended, please bear with me."

Old Man Wei lit a few more talismans, put the burned talismans into the white bowl, and said to the frightened Wei Ning: "Drink it, so as not to be poisoned by the corpse." ”

Wei Ning frowned as he looked at the black stuff in the water, but he still barely drank it.

At this time, Lao Zhang came out of nowhere and said, "Did you meet a ghost blowing out the lamp just now?" ”

Lao Zhang touched Wei Ning's head and said, "Little friend, are you injured, you were so brave just now." ”

Wei Ning was obviously very dissatisfied with Lao Zhang's escape just now, snorted, said goodbye, and didn't let Lao Zhang touch it, Lao Zhang didn't care, and said: "Master is tired for a night, since the corpse of the happy gods is lifted, rest early, it's still the old rule, I will keep the lamp for the masters." ”

Old Man Wei frowned and said: "No, I have never encountered it, let alone me, even my Wei family has never encountered it for generations - there must be something bad around here, Lao Zhang, have you heard that there is anything unclean around here?" ”

Lao Zhang shook his head and said, "We have always been clean here, I haven't heard of it." ”

Old Man Wei muttered: "This is really strange, it shouldn't be like this!" Old Man Wei glanced at Xishen, at this time he was standing there upright, the locust wood in his throat was particularly eye-catching, Old Man Wei was puzzled, thinking that he was thinking too much, so he said to Lao Zhang: "Then please help me take care of this lamp, it must not be extinguished, as long as there is a little movement, you must wake me up immediately." ”

Lao Zhang said: "It's not the first time I've looked at the lights, I still know the stakes here, you can rest." ”

Wei Ning was frightened by this god of joy, far away from the god of joy, lying in the arms of the old man Wei, and soon fell asleep. Old Man Wei was also tired, so he ordered Lao Zhang a few words, leaned on the table and fell asleep.

"Not good", Old Man Wei woke up from his dream and sat up suddenly, at this time Wei Ning was sleeping soundly, Old Man Wei pushed Wei Ning away from his arms, only to see that the oil lamp in the southeast corner had been extinguished!

And Lao Zhang actually fell asleep on the ground!

Old Man Wei hurriedly woke up Lao Zhang and said hurriedly: "You, how can you fall asleep!" ”

Lao Zhang answered in a daze, and was so angry that Old Man Wei slapped him hard, "Why did the hometown search lamp go out?" ”

"What?" Lao Zhang was so frightened that he trembled, and sure enough, he saw that the oil lamp was extinguished.

Old Man Wei was so angry that he trembled: "Didn't you say that it was good for you to look good!" You, how can you let it go out! Something is wrong! ”

"I don't know, why did I fall asleep, I went to bed very early last night, besides, let's talk about daylight, what, how did I fall asleep?"

"I'm too lazy to talk to you, what about God?"

"Xi God, Xi God, what's wrong with Xi God?"

"The god of joy is gone!" Old Man Wei was so angry that his face turned pale.

What, the god of joy is gone, Lao Zhang reacted and looked behind the door panel, where it was really empty.

Could it be that the god of joy is gone?

"Alas......" Old Man Wei let out a long sigh, recovered his reason from his rage, and said: "You also know what will happen if the god of joy is gone, you also saw it last night, this is still the result of my efforts to suppress and the seven orifices are sealed by cinnabar, if the god of joy once the seven orifices are fully opened, become a corpse, what will be the result?" ”

"Remember the Wang family in Pupu a hundred years ago."

Lao Zhang had a cold war, a hundred years ago, the Wang family of Lipu was originally the largest family among the corpse chasers, because of the loss of a corpse, turned into a corpse, killed more than 200 people in a village overnight, the Wang family in order to atone for their crimes, the whole family of 74 people, including more than 30 corpse chasers, all committed suicide. Since then, the royal family of Lipu has been completely erased from the history of corpse chasers.

"What now?" Lao Zhang asked.

"Look, you must find Xishen before dark, it's daytime, and the corpse can't attack, if it's dark, the consequences will be unimaginable."

"Yes, what are you waiting for, hurry up and find it." Lao Zhang slapped his forehead.

"Wait, I've been thinking this has been weird since the beginning, are you really sure you don't have anything unclean here?"

Lao Zhang pondered for a long time and said, "There really isn't." ”