In a small forest not far from the riverbank, at this moment, a middle-aged woman in coarse cloth clothes was running.

And behind the middle-aged woman, followed by a bunch of strong men, about five or six of them.

This group of strong men with sticks and hoes in their hands is in a frenzied pursuit.

In the arms of a middle-aged woman, she is holding a clay sculpture.

The clay sculpture looks ordinary, even very inferior, even the facial features are blurred, and you can't see the specific real face, you can only see a general outline, which is a human shape.

Under normal circumstances, the speed of a middle-aged woman is definitely not as fast as that of a strong man, but somehow, this middle-aged woman is holding a clay sculpture and is walking like a fly in this rugged wood.

"Stop, don't run anymore, we won't hurt you, it's useless for you to run again."

"Yes, if you run like this, you can't run out of our village, what's the use?"

"Stop, hand over what you have, that's your only way out."

The strong man in the back was panting after him, and he said a few words from time to time.

But the woman who was running in front of her didn't hear it at all, lowered her head and held the clay sculpture in her arms, and continued to run quickly.

The woman's face looks weathered, with a lot of wrinkles and rough skin.

She looked down at the clay sculpture in her arms, and there was a hint of tenacity in her eyes.

Not far ahead, you can hear the sound of a river flowing.

The middle-aged woman came to the river, raised the clay sculpture in her hand, and shouted in a hoarse voice: "Stop, if you come again, I will throw it into the river!" ”

After this action appeared, it seemed to have played a role, and several strong men who were chasing stopped one after another.

The leader raised his hand with a look of horror.

"Don't be impulsive first, we have something to say, this thing is a treasure in the village, don't touch it."

When the middle-aged woman heard this, she showed an extremely hateful expression, and said hoarsely: "Baby, you call this evil thing a baby? ”

The leading strong man said helplessly: "Since we invited this clay sculpture from the temple, our village can be described as smooth and rainy, and the grains are abundant, what is it if it is not a treasure?"

The middle-aged woman's face turned cold, and she said in a mocking tone: "It is indeed a bumper harvest of grains and good weather, but don't you know what you have done to this clay sculpture?" ”

"What's this?" The strong man said helplessly: "We just fed it with our own blood, and we didn't hurt anyone's heart, and the village took turns to worship, and they were not harmed." ”

"No harm?" The middle-aged woman said angrily: "Even if the whole village takes turns to worship, how long can they worship?" Didn't you see that day? There was only one day before the village died, and several of the village's livestock died. ”

The strong man smiled bitterly: "Isn't that a coincidence? It should be infested with wild beasts. ”

With that, the strong man reached behind his back and made a gesture.

Several others leaned forward.

Unexpectedly, although this action was secretive, it was still detected by the middle-aged woman.

The middle-aged woman lifted the clay sculpture again, looked at the river in front of her, gritted her teeth and smashed the clay sculpture down.

The clay sculpture entered the water, and everyone present showed a look of surprise.

As the clay sculpture falls into the water, it is swept farther and farther away by the current.

And the clay sculpture itself is heavy and is gradually sinking.

This scene made the people present slightly stunned.

The leader quickly reacted, and he didn't care about the middle-aged woman at all, and came to the river, wanting to jump into the river to find the clay sculpture.

Two other men came up and tied the middle-aged woman with ropes.

But when the leading strong man came to the river, he looked at the muddy bottom of the river and knew that it was difficult to find the clay sculpture anymore.

When the clay sculpture encounters water, I am afraid it has already melted away.

"Hahahaha, you can't find it anymore, you can't rely on this evil thing anymore!"

The middle-aged woman let out a maniacian laugh.

At this time, the strong man in the lead finally couldn't bear it, stepped forward, slapped him fiercely, and scolded angrily: "You are also from the village? Why are you so selfish? Do you know you've lost this thing? Life in the village will go back to the way it used to be. ”

Unexpectedly, after the middle-aged woman took this slap stiffly, she said in an extremely mocking tone: "You wait, sooner or later you will become like me." ”

"It's not just you, no one in the village can escape, what I just did is to find a way to survive in the village."

The strong man listened to the middle-aged woman's crazy words, shook his head, and asked the middle-aged woman to take her back.

But at this time, the middle-aged woman let out another roar: "Wait! I'll show you something! ”

She struggled, trying to escape from the bindings of the two.

Unexpectedly, the two strong men didn't suppress this woman, and the woman broke free.

But after the middle-aged woman broke free, she had no intention of running away, but lifted the clothes on her abdomen in front of everyone.

When the linen clothes were lifted, the strong men all showed frightened expressions.

In the place of the woman's belly, it was empty.

The middle-aged woman said in a very depressed tone: "I have to dream every night, I dream that the clay sculpture has become a monk, he comes to me, and I have a good trip, after each trip, he takes out an object from me, and every time I take out one, my body becomes better, but I know that this is only temporary, and the dream is true, all because you brought the clay sculpture." ”

"That thing is a hoodoo thing, can a person still live without internal organs? Without my heart, liver, spleen, lungs and kidneys, I can still live, am I a monster? ”

"Look at my eyes!"

The middle-aged woman reached out and pulled out her eyeballs: "I don't have eyes, but I can see you, just like the eyeballs on my hands, you see!" ”

She spread her hands, her eyes were bloody, and she smiled wildly in front of everyone.

"I don't want my children to be harmed, everything I do is for the sake of the village, and you are the ones who hurt the village."

The eyeball was pinched and exploded by the middle-aged woman, and the middle-aged woman's body trembled, and then, she suddenly knelt on the ground and raised her head.

The other eyeball fell out of its socket and fell to the ground, the skin on its body became wrinkled, and blood bubbled out of the seven orifices.

And the body of the middle-aged woman, after the blood bubbled out, turned into a mess of mud.

This scene was very strange, and when this scene appeared, all the people present changed their faces in fright and sat down on the ground.

It took a long time to recover from this state.

I don't know what they think, so they fled from the river as quickly as possible.

At this moment, Zhou An, who was under the water, did not come out of the river.

In fact, he also had a general understanding of the situation on the riverbank just now, but the reason why he didn't come out was very simple.

After the woman put the clay sculpture into the water, the clay sculpture immediately sank to the bottom.

It stands to reason that when mud meets water, it will quickly turn into nothingness.

But this clay sculpture is extremely weird, and it is covered with a layer of black gas, resisting the invasion of the river.

And after the clay sculpture was thrown into the river, Zhou An could clearly feel that there seemed to be something terrifying in the clay sculpture, and he had already targeted him.

Soon, Zhou An looked at the position of the induction.

When he saw a dark shadow approaching in front of him, he reached into the pink money bag and pulled out the cold iron knife.

The cold iron knife appeared, and the black shadow had already arrived in front of him.

Zhou An saw that the clay sculpture was approaching quickly.

At this moment, the clay sculpture is still the face with no facial features, but in the limbs of the clay sculpture, tentacles composed of black gas appeared.

This tentacle stretched out abruptly and swept towards Zhou An, who could even smell a smell of blood.

"This is eyeing me!"

Zhou An made a decision in an instant and waved the cold iron knife in his hand.

In the past, when fighting in the water, Zhou An might have been a little hindered, but now, he has the skill of resisting water.

The moment he swung the cold iron knife, the flow of water that should have hindered him became his helper at this moment.

The snow-bright sword light appeared at the bottom of the water, and the water flow wrapped the knife light, with a terrifying majesty, pointing directly at the clay sculpture.

The clay sculpture was still on a rampage, and when the knife light arrived with the flow of water, the black tentacles of the clay sculpture spun towards the knife light in an instant.

But today's sword light not only has the original power, but also has the bonus of water flow, but in an instant, the black qi completely shattered.

The knife was sharp, turning the clay sculpture into a pile of pieces.

At this time, the clay sculpture finally completely turned into silt and slowly dissipated into the river.

Zhou An felt that the gaze staring at him disappeared.

With the clay sculptures gone, there is a return to calm.

He put away the cold iron knife and kicked his legs, and the current around him seemed to carry him to the surface of the river.

The current rushed out a huge waterspout, and Zhou An stepped on it, and was carried by the current and landed on the riverbank.

There was an extra mess of meat on the riverbank, and other than that, it was empty.

Zhou An came to this pile of meat puree and did not find anything abnormal.

He pondered what he had heard, and turned to the station.

In the scene just now, he always felt that there was a problem, but he couldn't think of what the problem was.

I always feel weird.

It's all too much of a coincidence.

Zhou An thought about it, just leave this matter alone for the time being, and report this matter to the Zhen Wei Division for handling when the time comes.

There is not much distance from the river to the post station.

Soon, Zhou An arrived.

The coachman was also almost rested at this time.

The two set off again, and the carriage continued to rush towards Tingyun Mansion.

……

The drive is long and the journey is boring.

Zhou An lay in the carriage and pretended to sleep.

At first, he was not used to the shaking of the carriage, but now that he is used to it, he can rest in it.

Time flies.

"My lord, it's the post station again, you can go down and rest."

The voice of the coachman was heard outside.

Zhou An walked out of the carriage, looked at the situation outside, and asked, "How long is it until we arrive?" ”

The coachman quickly replied, "Two days at most." ”

Zhou An nodded, got down from the carriage, and came to the post station as usual, and after asking where there was a river, he went to practice his water resistance skills for a while.

When he finished practicing, he returned to the post station to rest and rest, and set off immediately.

But I didn't expect that when I went, the post station was one look, and when I came back, it was another.

At this moment, the inside of the post station has become lively from deserted.

On both sides of the station, there are many stalls, and many people are selling things here.

They also sell things in different ways, they don't have too complicated things, they just put a cloth on the ground and put all kinds of things on it.

The coachman was wandering inside, and when he saw Zhou An coming, a flattering smile immediately appeared on his face.

Zhou An asked, "What's the situation?" ”

He has only been away for a long time, and he has already changed a lot, and Zhou An can't figure it out.

The coachman also knew that Zhou An didn't know much about the customs and habits here, so he immediately explained: "Lord Zhou doesn't know that in the post station near Tingyun Mansion, many people come to set up stalls to sell things, in fact, this is also a means of supporting themselves. ”

"After all, there are a lot of people who come and go, and they can make a lot of money."

Zhou An instantly understood.

Isn't this thing just like the high-speed service area in the previous life?

The coachman continued: "My lord, you can take a look, it is still good to buy some gadgets here, and the things in this place are some specialties of the nearby villagers. ”

Zhou An nodded, anyway, he was still resting now, so it didn't hurt to take a stroll.

Don't look like it's small, but it's really full of things.

From eating, drinking, and having fun, there's something for sale here.

Some of the things are quite bizarre, and they should be the specialties that the driver said.

Zhou An was wandering around, and those people were not idle, they looked at Zhou An's extraordinary temperament, and shouted one after another, wanting to attract Zhou An's attention.

Zhou An is wet with rain and dew, and every time he passes a stall, he will take a look, and he will buy some when he sees what he likes.

But he just buys some food, after all, as a big man, he really doesn't like to use those gadgets.

After strolling around for a while, Zhou An stopped in front of a stall again, looking at the things placed on the stall, his brows furrowed.

In this booth, there is a small clay sculpture, about the size of a fist.

The clay sculpture is very rough, and even the facial features are absent.

He'd seen this clay sculpture.

Not long ago, in the river, the clay sculpture thrown down by the middle-aged woman was exactly the same as this clay sculpture.

The only difference is that the middle-aged woman threw it down the size of her arms, and now this one is only the size of a fist.

Zhou An could feel that there was a strange power in this clay sculpture, as if it was extremely cold.

He looked at the stall owner in front of him and looked at it carefully.

The stall owner was an honest middle-aged man, dressed in a torn patched outfit with a sallow face.

After seeing Zhou An stop and feeling Zhou An's extraordinary temperament, the stall owner immediately showed a flattering smile and asked, "This son, what do you see?" I've got it all here. ”

There are not only clay sculptures on the stalls, but also some small things.

Zhou An squatted down, pointed to the clay sculpture, and asked, "How can this thing be sold?" ”

When he asked this question, he immediately observed the middle-aged man's face.

Not to mention, I saw a trace of abnormality.

The middle-aged man's face became a little strange, but he quickly covered it up.

He picked up a fist-sized clay sculpture and said, "It's not expensive, it's not expensive, it's a penny." ”

A penny is indeed so cheap that it can no longer be bargained.

Especially this thing, it's just a thing made of mud, and I don't think anyone buys it yet.

But Zhou An knew that the origin of this thing must be different.

"Then give me this." Zhou An pointed to the clay sculpture and said.

This was the second time he had encountered it, and to be honest, he felt the cold power lock on to him again.

This thing is so weird.

When he first encountered it, he felt that it would be best to report this matter to Tingyun Mansion and let the Zhen Wei Division handle it, after all, he was a professional person.

This second encounter, he also had this thought.

But the feeling of being stared at was very uncomfortable, especially the cold gaze, which made him feel uncomfortable.

When the stall owner heard Zhou An say this, he showed a look of overjoy, and hurriedly wrapped the clay sculpture with a piece of cloth and handed it to Zhou An.

Zhou An took out a penny.

The stall owner symbolically accepted it and said thank you a few times.

Zhou An touched his chin, looked at the stall owner in front of him, and suddenly said.

"You're not hollowed out, are you?"

The stall owner was originally happy, but after hearing this, his expression froze, and an ugly smile appeared on his face: "This son, what are you talking about, I really don't know." ”

Zhou An smiled: "I really don't know? I'm afraid you're nearing the end of the day! ”

The stall owner was stunned for a moment, and suddenly knelt directly on the ground: "Childe, Childe save me." ”

This scene happened here and immediately attracted the attention of many people.

But Zhou An is good at everything, but he is very thick-skinned.

He didn't care, after all, they were strangers.

Stretching out his hand to help the stall owner up, he pointed to the vacant spot next to him and said, "Let's go to the side." ”

The stall owner nodded, followed Zhou An, and came to the vacant position.

"Childe, you must save me, you must know that something is wrong with this thing." The stall owner pleaded bitterly.

He carried the other stall owners on his back, faced Zhou An, and lifted the clothes on his arms.

As his clothes were lifted, Zhou An saw that there was an empty space under his arm.

It's not that there are no hands, but where the arms are next to the wrists, there is only a layer of skin left, and the flesh and blood inside have long been hollowed out.

It is precisely because of this that after hearing Zhou An say the word hollowing out just now, the stall owner showed a frightened expression.

Zhou An touched his chin, pointed to the clay sculpture, and asked, "Where did you get this thing from?" ”

The stall owner hurriedly said: "It was obtained by the villain from a barren mountain next to Tingyun Mansion, where there is a small temple, and the abbot inside said, please go back with a clay sculpture, and use blood every day to feed, the clay sculpture will get bigger and bigger, and when I ask it back, it is only the size of a thumb, and I have raised it to the size of a fist." ”

"He said that this thing can make my wish come true, so I invited it back, and at first I saw that it could have this kind of mutation, and thought it was real, until there was a problem with my hand."

Will blood feed get bigger?

Zhou An reflected on what the stall owner said.

He felt that the clay sculpture was still staring at him with a cold gaze, but he didn't do it, he guessed it was because the clay sculpture was not big enough.

"Remember the name of the temple?" Zhou An asked.

"Remember, remember, of course remember, it seems to be called Huayun Temple." The stall owner said immediately.

Zhou An nodded, and suddenly asked, "Do you think this is fun?" ”

The stall owner was immediately stunned on the spot, not understanding what Zhou An meant by this.

Zhou An looked at the people around him and joked: "Actually, when I was by the river, I felt that something was wrong, how could a woman outrun several men?" So I didn't look at it. ”

"Although the woman said it was because of the clay sculpture, I don't think it's necessary, the clay sculpture is harming her, and increasing her strength and speed, which is obviously not right, and now I met you inexplicably, and you brought me another play, which is too much of a coincidence."

"And when I just said that when you hollowed out, you behaved very well, both in demeanor and in action, but there is only one thing wrong, you shouldn't kneel in front of so many people, this is a bit excessive."

When Zhou An finished saying this, the stall owner's face became extremely strange, and then sighed.

"It is worthy of being a person who solves the troubles of Yunlai Mansion, this mind is indeed good enough."

Zhou An smiled and said, "How can you say it's good?" ”

The stall owner continued: "At the first river, I thought you were a warm-hearted person. ”

Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Zhou An.

"Don't use the words "Gudao hot intestines" indiscriminately, there are ambiguities."

The stall owner looked puzzled, not understanding what Zhou An meant.

Zhou An waved his hand and let him continue.

The stall owner didn't think about it either, and continued to talk about it.

"Actually, there are no women, and there are no men, it's the effect of this thing."

As he spoke, the stall owner took out a bead and put it in front of Zhou An.

The bead was made of metal, and Zhou An looked at the bead with a contemplative expression.

The stall owner continued: "This bead has a hallucinogenic effect, and you have fallen into the trap of illusion. ”

"And then? Then you lead it over and become the prey of your trap. Zhou An said.

The stall owner shook his head: "You have a mental defense, I can only hallucinate at most, I can't hurt you, I just think the river is not suitable for talking, so I just want to lure you over." ”

"Actually, I want to lure you over today, but you seem to have seen through it, so I'll just say it here."

Zhou An tapped the table with his hand, and after a while, he said, "You sent that pile of cold iron?" ”

The stall owner did not deny it, and shrugged his shoulders: "That's right, it was indeed given by me, and it is a welcome gift to you, so you don't have to worry about our business in the future." ”

Zhou Anle was happy, and looked the stall owner up and down: "You indulgent people are really good at playing, and you have used the gift giving set." ”

He had already guessed the identity of the man in front of him.

I can't think of any other result than being an indulgent person.

After all, there are only these forces that have intersections with themselves.

The stall owner did not deny it, but said bluntly: "Lord Zhou, the thing has been given to you, as a meeting gift, from now on, we will not provoke you again, but please also raise your noble hand, don't interfere with our affairs, you can rest assured, we will not make trouble in Tingyun Mansion, how about this?" ”

These few words came out, which was indeed unexpected by Zhou An.

He didn't expect the other party to come to convince him.

Zhou An touched his chin and said, "What Huayun Temple you just said is also from your side." ”

The stall owner nodded: "That's right, it's our people, I also want to lead Lord Zhou over to have a good talk, now that we have talked, the people over there should also be withdrawn, in a word, we won't make trouble in Tingyun Mansion, and we won't affect Lord Zhou's affairs, just ask Lord Zhou not to do anything to us after he meets us." ”

After saying this, the stall owner in front of him slowly disappeared as if he had never appeared.

At the same time, the people who set up the stalls have disappeared, and the stalls on the ground have become clean.

Zhou An opened the cloth in his hand and found that the clay sculpture inside the cloth was long gone.

When this scene appeared, the people who were resting at the post station were startled and looked around in a panic.

The coachman was also a little scared.

Zhou An thought about it, stood up and walked over, came to the coachman and said, "Get in the car, let's go." ”

The coachman nodded in fear, as if he was afraid of colliding with the evil things, so he hurriedly got into the carriage and drove away.

Zhou An sat in the carriage, thinking about what the man had just said, and then shook his head.

He didn't think about these things anymore, it was better to go to Tingyun Mansion first.

……

Tingyun Mansion is very large, and it is very prosperous, even more prosperous than Yunlai Mansion.

It is an important transportation artery, and many merchants have carved out their own places to make money here.

Whether it's food, clothing, housing, transportation, eating, drinking, and having fun, there is everything in Tingyun Mansion.

After the coachman entered the city, he was familiar with the doorway, and soon took Zhou An to the Hengtong Chamber of Commerce.

The person in charge of the Hengtong Chamber of Commerce in Tingyun Mansion is called Zhou Qingyun, and he has the same surname as Zhou An, and he is still a family that is not related to each other.

Zhou Qingyun is a lean person, he looks like a monkey, and if he puts some hair on his face, he is no different from a monkey.

As a businessman, his shrewdness was no less than Qi Shuo's.

As soon as he saw Zhou An, he immediately greeted him warmly, and shouted one by one.

In the words, it seems very kind.

This style is like trying to hold Zhou An to the sky.

In fact, this is also very normal, after all, Zhou An let the Hengtong Chamber of Commerce shine in this mining right.

Zhou An was at ease, and was soon taken by Zhou Qingyun to the best restaurant in Tingyun Mansion and had a big meal.

The meal was luxurious, and after eating, Zhou Qingyun took Zhou An to a house here.

The house is very large, and it can be said that it is very good in the entire Tingyun Mansion.

These are all provided by Hengtong Chamber of Commerce.

Along the way, Zhou An was tired of traveling and didn't want to talk much.

Zhou Qingyun naturally knew, just a few words of exchange, and left directly.

In such a big house, only Zhou An was left alone in an instant.

However, before Zhou Qingyun left, Zhou An said that he would build a swimming pool in the backyard.

Zhou Qingyun also agreed, saying that he would definitely get it done tomorrow.

Since it was afternoon when he came, Zhou An did not go to the craftsman supervisor to roll call.

Now it's night again, and the pool hasn't been cleaned up, so he doesn't want to get any more proficiency and rests early.

……

Following.

The next day, when the sun's rays shone in, Zhou An stretched.

He got up early and went out for breakfast.

Not to mention, the prosperity of Tingyun Mansion is really not comparable to Yunlai Mansion.

Even between the prefectures, it is estimated that there is a level.

There is a lot of noise everywhere, and there are many more people visible to the naked eye.

Zhou An rushed towards the position of the craftsman's supervisor.

In the process of rushing away, he also looked at the people around him from time to time.

This is his old habit, when he comes to a strange place, he always likes to go shopping, and when he walks, he can understand the living customs of many people.

Soon, Zhou An came to the door of the craftsman's prison.

The craftsman is here, and there are still people stationed there.

It's just that now that the mining rights have also been given away, the management of minerals is even more lax, and it is just a matter of checking it every once in a while.

When Zhou An pushed the door in, he happened to see a bunch of people, who were leisurely drinking tea and chatting there.

These are also people in the line, when Zhou An pushed the door in, everyone looked over, and a few of them were puzzled, not knowing what Zhou An was doing here.

In such a quiet position, they are also very leisurely.

Now I suddenly came to find a stranger, and naturally I wanted to take a look.

A person took the lead and walked over, and was about to speak, when he saw Zhou An raise his hand to stop him.

"It's okay, let's continue to fish, as long as we should be serious when it's time to work." Zhou An found a place to sit down and poured himself a cup of tea.

His action made the people present even more confused.

There were only three people sitting in the courtyard, all of whom were not very old, and the most of them were in their forties.

All eyes were on the man in his forties.

The man thought for a moment and asked.

"This son, I don't know what you have to do when you come to be a prisoner?"

Although Zhou An was not dressed gorgeously, his own temperament was there, so this person was not offended, and first asked for the way.

Zhou An leaned back in his chair, put his hands behind his head, and said leisurely: "My name is Zhou An, and I came here to take office." ”

As soon as the words were finished, the three people present trembled in unison, stood up as fast as they could, and arched their hands: "My subordinates have seen Lord Zhou!" ”

As they spoke, several of them were already breaking out in a cold sweat.

Someone came to take office, and they naturally got the news in advance.

Now Zhou An has come to take office, but he is the number one supervisor of Tingyun Mansion.

Although it can only be regarded as the leader of Tingyun Mansion, it is also very good.

Unexpectedly, the leader of the craftsman supervisor came over and saw a few of them drinking tea here, which is not to be disciplined!

Zhou An waved his hand and said: "Let's continue to drink tea, I am very peaceful, I don't like to lose my temper, but when it comes to the future, everyone can touch the fish, but not the vegetables, once you encounter something, you must finish it seriously." ”

In fact, according to Zhou An's character, he especially likes to touch fish.

He believes that this kind of thing is actually human nature.

But touching the fish does not mean the dish.

Several people quickly nodded their heads, indicating that they knew.

Zhou An was about to ask the names of these people to find out the specific situation here.

Unexpectedly, before he could speak, there was a sound of footsteps.

Zhou An looked at the door and found that a large number of people carrying various gift boxes had poured in from outside the door......

Okay, okay, with a drip, it's good that I can use voice code, and social death is social death.

A new plot is about to unfold, begging for a monthly pass.

(End of chapter)