The rain continued to fall for a long time, the original muddy and damp land, leaving a pool of stagnant water, when the dark clouds dispersed, it was already dusk, the orange sky, reflecting the mountains and rivers, the fields, as if for the earth once again gilded a layer of afterglow.

Not long after the rain stopped, Shen Ning and the others heard the people in the tea shop looking at the sky, panicked again and again, and shouted: "It's over, it's over, tonight's ancestral hall sacrifice, I won't go until I wait, the village chief is afraid that he will be angry." ”

Hearing this, the people in the tea shop looked strange, but they all packed up and left the tea shop in a hurry, and even the spicy proprietress in the tea shop left in a hurry before she even had the money to clean up.

"Isn't it a sacrifice? Why are you so excited? Gu Yanwu was a little unimpressed, the villages and towns in Nanxiang often held some activities to worship heaven and earth, and the battle was also very large, but no villager would be as flustered as them.

Shen Ning and Li Hongye glanced at each other, and asked lightly, "Senior sister, are we going to take a look?" ”

As a disciple of the Heavenly Master's Mansion, Li Hongye had a lot of experience in dealing with demons, so he naturally discovered the strange beginning of this village, so after Shen Ning asked, he immediately nodded.

Although it was not clear why the two of them followed to take a look, Gu Yanwu, who looked confused, still followed closely behind them.

"Anyway, why should we go with it?" Gu Yanwu was a little puzzled, the village carried out sacrifices, and these outsiders followed them for no reason, which itself was not in line with etiquette.

Shen Ning looked at his fellow friends helplessly, and had no choice but to explain: "This place is only dozens of miles away from the place where we dealt with the wolf demon, and the villages along the way have been destroyed by the wolf demon, only the people here seem to be living and working in peace and contentment, don't you wonder what the reason is?" ”

Hearing Shen Ning say this, Gu Yanwu frowned slightly, he had already sensed that something was wrong with the problem, so he stopped saying nothing and followed behind the village name from a distance.

The distance between the village and the tea shop is still relatively far, and although the villagers have quickened their pace a lot, they still entered the village when it was dark.

As soon as they arrived in the village, Shen Ning and a few others noticed that something was wrong, and they saw that this place called Xujiazhuang was covered with a ten-mile red carpet, and red lanterns were hung in front of the doors of every house.

But it is a festive thing on the surface, but it reveals an indescribable weirdness everywhere.

Li Hongye frowned, and said seriously: "This village is very wrong. ”

Shen Ning nodded,

Gu Yanwu didn't ask any questions this time, and after careful observation, he finally knew what Shen Ning was talking about.

First of all, the layout of the village looks like welcoming relatives, but whether it is the red lantern hanging at the door, or the red carpet spread far away, it is covered with dust and stolen goods, it looks like it has been used for a long time, and what is even more bizarre is that the name of the village seen on the road does not seem to have a trace of joy on its face, but more of a fanatical color.

There was not much time left for Shen Ning to think about it.

Immediately, I heard a shout: "Specially selected Xu Wuyi vein, enter the ancestral hall, and the people in the village will watch the ceremony!" ”

Hearing this shout, the village names who had been wandering around the village aimlessly, suddenly rushed towards the ancestral hall of the Xu family as if they had been summoned by some kind of summons.

"Let's go and have a look."

Shen Ning spoke, and everyone followed.

However, outsiders are not allowed to participate in the ancestral hall sacrifice, so they are very interested in standing under a locust tree in the distance and watching.

Of course, the people of Xujiazhuang, who rushed to the ancestral hall, also saw the existence of Shen Ning and the others, and only heard one of the village leaders ask his companion suspiciously: "These people." Is it a foreigner? ”

"It's a real face."

"Do you want to drive them away, so as not to affect the sacrifice and observation later."

"Forget it, at this juncture, even the village chief is afraid that he is not willing to make extraneous branches, as long as they don't make trouble and are willing to watch, let them watch."

"That's right."

The villager who asked the question nodded thoughtfully, this is an important node related to whether the village can be smooth in the second half of the year.

So Shen Ning and the others were acquiesced in this way to observe the ceremony.

The sky is dark, the ancestral hall is brightly lit, and the village names are crowded with many people, many people can only stand outside the ancestral hall to watch, bright red candles are placed on the altar, the breeze blows, the lights flicker, as if they may be extinguished at any time.

Shen Ning looked at the situation inside the sacrifice, his pupils couldn't help shrinking, and he saw that on the ancestral hall of Xujiazhuang, it was neither their ancestors nor the sealed spirits promulgated by the imperial court, but a wooden statue of a fox!

"Countryside Shrine again?"

Shen Ning whispered, it was not the first time he had dealt with the Countryside Obscenity Temple, before Lujiazhuang was in trouble with Caifu, a statue of an evil god who abandoned the world, he and Gu Yanwu and others had several twists and turns, and they reluctantly drove the evil god out of Nanxiang, but he didn't expect to encounter the Countryside Shrine here, but this wooden statue is obvious, not one of the many immortals who abandoned the world.

It is very likely that the spirits in the mountains are cultivating and want to take the road of incense to become immortals, so they have a lot of protection for Xujiazhuang and enjoy the incense of this side.

For this kind of rural obscenity, Dajin is expressly forbidden, but over the years, demons have been frequent, and demons who want to take the road of incense to become immortals have emerged in an endless stream, but the path they chose is basically harmless to the people, more like the patron saint of one party, so under the calculation of many gains and losses, Dajin relaxed its control over this matter.

However, this does not mean that this kind of rural obscenity is not harmful to the people.

The path of incense becoming a god itself is harmless to human beings, but the irritable and rampant nature of the country mountain monsters is difficult to change, so there have been many disasters caused by rural obscenity shrines in Dajin!

In the thirteenth year of the Great Jin Dynasty, Nanshan Village enshrined the countryside and obscenity, failed to pay tribute in time, and was devoured by the spirits in the mountains, and there were more than 700 people in the village, none of whom were spared.

In the third year of the Showa Dynasty of the Great Jin Dynasty, Langya Mountain offered the black bear in the mountains to become a god, but because of its slow progress, it killed the name of the village and changed it to practice according to the blood.

..........

This kind of thing can be said to be endless, and enshrinement of rural shrines can be described as the coexistence of risks and benefits.

Sometimes the risks far outweigh the benefits, but even so, when the imperial court is unable to solve the demon trouble, most families choose to worship the countryside and obscenity.

After all, only in this way can they have the slightest possibility to live in this demonic and chaotic world.

Shen Ning stood next to the locust tree, and naturally knew all about these things, so he didn't rush to make a move, but planned to observe it first.

If you make a rash move, it is likely to cause the disgust of the village name, and if the wild gods of this place have abandoned the nature of beasts and can truly protect the people on this side, then it is not impossible to let it exist.

But if there is a certain calamity, then Shen Ning will not hesitate to take action and eradicate the wild gods of Xujiazhuang.

Under the locust tree, several people looked at the scene in the ancestral hall.

I saw an old man dressed in a light blue coarse linen robe, rushing over from a house in the distance, and the village leaders saw that the old man was very respectful, and they all got out of the way and let the old man go to the top of the altar.

The old man's voice was old and hoarse, and he read some prefaces about the sacrifice according to the process:

"The sun and moon are dark, the mountains and rivers are shattered, the evil demons are rampant, Xujiazhuang has a difficult survival, and fortunately the fox fairy protects ........"

The words of the sacrifice are very long, the voice of the village chief is old, but the village names listen very carefully, the entire ancestral hall is quiet, no one dares to make a little sound, and even the breathing is deliberately suppressed.

Shen Ning and the others listened to the sacrificial words of this sacrifice, but they learned about the causes and consequences of Xujiazhuang's offering to the wild gods.

It turned out that as early as two years ago, Xujiazhuang was sacked by a group of bandits, and many people died in the whole village, seeing that the food for life was about to be robbed by the bandits, a talking red-haired fox appeared in Xujiazhuang, incarnated as a behemoth, bitten to death the bandits who came to make trouble, and asked Xujiazhuang to worship it, help it cultivate into the five immortal fruit position, and finally become the master of the incense road.

In return, it will always bless Xujia Village.

There have always been five immortals in the folk, which are snakes, rats, weasels, foxes, and hedgehogs.

So after hearing the fox's request, the people of Xujiazhuang naturally couldn't ask for it, and since then they have worshiped the red-haired fox day and night to help it achieve the fruit position, and in the days to come, sure enough, the wind and rain are smooth every year, and there is no disaster to Xujia Village, so even after hearing that several neighboring villages have been destroyed by demons, the village names of Xujiazhuang are not panicked at all.

They can make the fox fairy, one of the five immortals, bless!

Just listening to the sacrificial words, the fox fairy in Xujiazhuang seems to be not bad, Shen Ning secretly thought in his heart, and temporarily pressed the opposite to deal with this matter, on the other hand, Li Hongye and others are the same.

Only Wang Yan sighed, "Alas, the world is in chaos, if it weren't for the lack of power of the imperial court, the village names would not worship the mountain spirits to seek peace." ”

Shen Ning smiled and said lightly: "What about the mountain spirits, if they can really protect the people, even if they ask His Majesty to canonize it as a god, why not?" ”

"But the mountain spirits don't change their bad roots after all, and there have been a lot of things that the wild gods have caused trouble over the years." Wang Yan retorted to Shen Ning in a rare way.

After all, the contradiction between the Great Jin Demon Clan and the cultivators has reached the point of irreconcilability.

However, Li Hongye stood on the united front of Shen Ning, "Actually, I think that if there are really demons who are bent on goodness, there is no need to kill them all, and if we don't leave a way back for these animals, we are afraid that the world will not be stable." ”

Shen Ning nodded in agreement.

However, to everyone's surprise, just as they were chatting about how to mediate the relationship between humans and demons, they only listened to the village chief in the ancestral hall, and his voice suddenly increased a little:

"Today, there is a daughter of the Xu family, who is eighteen years old, and she is intellectually gifted, so it is a sacrifice and a ...... to the fox fairy."

At these words, Shen Ning and the others couldn't help frowning slightly, and once again turned their eyes to the ancestral hall.

The ancestral hall, which had been quiet, became noisy at this moment.

I saw a woman wearing a wedding dress and a red hijab, under the "escort" of several burly bankers. , slowly walked into the ancestral hall.

"Daughter of the Xu family, tomorrow is the day you get married, incense for the fox fairy, so that it can know your birth date and fate." The village chief's eyes were full of indifference when he looked at the woman, and his voice was unusually calm.

The woman under the red hijab couldn't see her face clearly, and her voice was clear but trembling, "I know." ”

The woman in the bridal dress took a stick of incense and put it on the altar.

At this moment, a loud shout suddenly sounded outside the ancestral hall: "Sister, don't!" ”

Looking for the sound, I saw a child trying to pass through the crowd, but was stopped outside by several fast-eyed men.

"Presumptuous, Xu Changgeng, how can you naughty boy be allowed to shout in the ancestral hall, come and bring me down!" The village chief shouted angrily, and several village names stopped Xu Changgeng and wanted to take him away.

Listening to her brother's heart-rending screams, the woman in the wedding dress trembled uncontrollably.

The child is not very old, but he desperately wants to take his sister inside, and several adult men have no way to take him for a while, one of them wants to take him away directly, and the child named Xu Changgeng bit his hand in one bite.

"Ahh

The man was in pain, so he had no choice but to let him go.

The village chief frowned, and said coldly: "If you don't take him down, you have delayed the business, and the fox fairy will blame you?" ”

In just one sentence, it hit the hearts of everyone in Xujiazhuang, and they were ruthless and surrounded them, wanting to take Xu Changgeng away.

Unexpectedly, Xu Changgeng actually took out a sharp knife from his arms, glared at everyone present, rushed forward with an arrow step, and directly stabbed the sharp knife into the chest of a villager closest to him, the sharp knife was pulled out, blood gushed out, accompanied by a terrible scream, the village name fell to the ground and convulsed.

Xu Changgeng killed someone, but there was no fear on his face, looking at the villagers present, his voice was like summer ice, and he was cold: "I see who dares to stop me today!" ”

When the villagers saw Xu Changgeng's ferocity for a while, and saw the name of the village lying on the ground convulsively, they were actually shocked by his fierce appearance for a while, and they hesitated and didn't dare to step forward!

The village chief naturally did not allow this scene to happen, and immediately gestured to the two men behind him with his eyes.

The two received a signal from the village chief and quietly walked out through the back door of the ancestral hall.

Xu Changgeng was holding a sharp sword, looking around at everyone fiercely, and there was still some nervousness in his voice, "My family has never been sorry for everyone, but after my parents died, you not only emptied our family's property, but also swallowed my family's land, so that our sisters and brothers can only live on wild vegetables, these things are forgotten, but you still have to dedicate my sister to the fox fairy of Nalaoshzi, are you too much, today please get out of the way, let me take my sister, since then our sister and brother have left Xujiazhuang, Will never come back. ”

"If you are obsessed and are not afraid of death, just come up, I promise Changgeng to die and kill one."

The village names subconsciously swallowed their saliva, but there were still villagers who were a little more bold and said: "Xu Erlang didn't say that, your family occupies so many paddy fields, even if we don't plant, you can't do hard work with a child and your sister and a weak woman, so will such a good field be wasted?" As for emptying your property, it is a debt owed by your fathers, you just don't know, they are all villagers and villagers, how can you point a knife at it? ”

"Be obedient, put the knife down, your sister is knowledgeable, but everyone elected to be the wife of the immortals, this is a great kindness, and it is a good thing that many people can't ask for......"

"you, that's a good thing." Xu Changgeng interrupted the man's words and said angrily: "Since it's a good thing, why don't you let your daughter go!" ”

"We don't want this blessing, I ask you again if you let it go!."

Although Xu Changgeng had just taken the lead and killed a villager, which shocked many people, he was just a child after all.

When everyone recovered from the shock, they were not afraid anymore, and gradually approached Xu Changgeng.

Just when Xu Changgeng wanted to make a move, two big men suddenly appeared behind him, grabbed his hands, and snatched the bloody sharp knife.

"Slap" was a slap on Xu Changgeng's face, the latter directly lost the ability to resist, and fell straight to the ground, only to hear the village chief's voice and then sounded again at this time, not mixed with a trace of emotion:

"Xu Erlang disturbed the ancestral hall to sacrifice, and according to the clan rules, he immediately sank into the pond!"

Most of the people in the village chief's decision are meaningless, you must know that Xu Changgeng is in the middle of the clan and killed a clansman from Xujiazhuang, and the murderer should have paid for his life, not to mention that Xu Changgeng is still a clansman who killed.

"Sister." Xu Changgeng's voice was weak, the scene in front of him was vague, looking at the bright red figure on the altar, tears were left in the corners of his eyes, he was not able to protect his sister after all.

"Stop!" Just when the villagers wanted to do it, the woman in the wedding dress lifted the red hijab, revealing a beautiful face, tears had blurred her face, she actually took out a pair of scissors from her sleeve and put it against her white neck, and said coldly: "Let go of my brother, otherwise I will die in front of you now!" ”

When the village chief saw the situation in front of him, his eyes froze, and the villagers also stopped moving, if Xu Ya'er really died in the ancestral hall, no one dared to guarantee that the next sacrificial fox fairy would not be the daughter of his own family.

After thinking for a long time, the village chief's face was gloomy, and he approached Xu Ya'er step by step, and his voice was cold to the bone: "You can choose to die, but even if you die, your brother will be killed by me, and he will die worse than now, not only your brother, there is no one to sacrifice to the fox fairy, even your father and mother will be dug up by the villagers and whipped the corpse, it is because of you, an unfilial daughter, that all this has been caused, if you put down the scissors now, I can promise you that you will let your brother ........" ”

"Don't you come here...."Xu Ya'er's lips turned pale, and her voice trembled with jealousy.

But because of this short emotional fluctuation, the village chief seized the opportunity, grabbed her hand holding the scissors, and wanted to snatch the scissors away.

Seeing this, the rest of the villagers surrounded and subdued Xu Ya'er.

Seeing that the scene was under control, the village chief immediately snorted coldly: "Come on, sink Xu Changgeng into the pond immediately." ”

The ancestral hall fell into noise again, Xu Yaer watched her younger brother being framed by everyone, she was so angry that she spit out a mouthful of blood from her mouth!

The villagers did not care about this scene, but continued to carry out the punishment according to the instructions of the village chief.

"So many of you bullying a couple of orphans." A voice looked over the wall of the ancestral hall, looking for prestige.

I saw Gu Yanwu sitting on the wall, looking at everyone present with a slight sneer.

The villagers knew that this was an outsider, and they were not polite, and said viciously: "When we are in the village, where is your turn to be disturbed by an outsider, leave quickly, if it touches the fox fairy, we will let you not eat and go around!" ”

"Fox Fairy-sama?" The mockery in Gu Yanwu's eyes was even heavier, and he pointed to the wooden statue: "Are you talking about that thing?" ”

Under Gu Yanwu's fingers, the statue made of wood actually shook rapidly, only to hear Peng's sound, and it shattered violently.

This scene shocked the village names present, but the village chief didn't seem to be afraid of Gu Yanwu's strangeness, and said coldly: "If you offend my Xu family ancestral hall, you should be skinned in order to calm the anger of the fox fairy!" ”

"Take him."

With the order of the village chief, although the villagers were still a little afraid in their hearts, they still rushed towards Gu Yanwu.

The corners of Gu Yanwu's mouth rose slightly, a long sword appeared in his hand, and he waved it to the ground, and the rumbling sound came and went, and several villagers were immediately blown upside down and flew out, spitting blood from their mouths, not knowing whether they were dead or on fire.

"Demons! Sorcerer! ”

After seeing Gu Yanwu's strength, the villagers were shocked and did not dare to act rashly.

The village chief narrowed his eyes, so he had to slow down his tone and said, "This immortal, this matter is my Xujiazhuang's affairs, please don't make it difficult for the old man?" ”

"Embarrassed? If you're embarrassed, don't do it! ”

Gu Yanwu shrugged his shoulders indifferently, jumped off the wall, and glared at the few village names who had captured Xu Changgeng, who was so frightened that he hurriedly let go of his hand and retreated again and again.

Xu Changgeng also relieved himself from the palm just now at this time, hugged Gu Yanwu's thigh, and cried: "Big brother, I beg you to save my sister, I beg you." ”

Kowtowing while talking, Gu Yanwu looked around at everyone, he had always been cynical, his voice was extremely cold at this time, and he said with undoubted majesty: "What are you still doing in a daze, don't put it in quickly." ”

Just when the villagers were hesitating, they saw a few more people walking in from the gate of the ancestral hall, it was the stranger who had been with Gu Yanwu before, the village chief squinted his eyes, looked at the few people who walked in, and knew that they must be unbearable, Gu Yanwu and others, so the folds on his face were wrinkled, and he smiled: "Release people." ”

Where did the villagers dare to disobey Gu Yanwu's intentions at this moment, and they immediately released Xu Ya'er.

The sister and brother hugged each other and cried.