Lantern.

At this moment, the whole city is full of lanterns.

When they are lit, they are more like red and heavy persimmons.

And after the old man died, the light and heat of the lanterns that filled the city seemed to be robbed, and all the light seemed gloomy and cold.

On the long bridge, the girl looked at him with a smile and seemed to be very happy, and danced barefoot, while the singer fell behind her, her hands playing, as if she were plucking an invisible string.

No one could see them.

Ning Chang's figure moved suddenly, ignoring their provocations, but rushed towards the direction where the black shadow had disappeared.

The girl stopped dancing, looked in the direction where he had disappeared, and said uneasily, "This young man seems to have some means, shouldn't he be a variable for Lord Hades?"

The singer was still plucking the silent strings, but her expression seemed to be intoxicated, and at this moment the girl asked, she just said indifferently: "Death is dead, what do you care about so much?"

The little girl felt that there was some reason, and continued to turn around and dance.

......

It was getting late, and on the opposite street of Ning Baoshui's old house, the old woman closed the door, packed up the bamboo strips for weaving lanterns, and finally cleaned the house.

The room was very quiet, except for the occasional rustling sound.

The old woman took out a slender candle from the clutter pile, lit it and placed it on the table, and the candlelight illuminated a spiritual tablet with only seven words written on it—the tablet of grandson's eastern fortune.

Dongyun is the name of his grandson, when he had a serious illness, he invited a famous doctor to treat him, and he was almost well, but she wanted to have extraneous branches, so she went to ask Ning Baoshui for a bowl of runic water.

She held the candle flame in her hand, looked at the spiritual table, her body shook with the candle flame full of guilt and hatred, she picked up the cloth and wiped it, and then collapsed the spiritual seat on the table.

Then she remembered something that had made her mind a little dazed.

She thought that when she saw the smoke coming from Ning Baoshui's house two days ago, she hid a dagger in her sleeve and went to knock on the door of his house. At that time, she was like a dead heart, and there seemed to be a voice in the dark that told her, you really deserve to die.

But that day, she didn't see Ning Baoshui, but saw her two apprentices, she wanted to take out the dagger in her sleeve, but an inexplicable thought in her heart stopped her, let her hand into the cloth bag on her waist, took out a pendant that she couldn't even remember the origin of, and gave it to the other party.

Everything is very unreal. She even wondered if she was old and dizzy.

But it didn't matter, she sat down in her chair for a while, then pulled out an iron pair of scissors from the basket, and after a long silence, stuck it in her neck.

At the moment when the scissors were about to cut through the skin, the door opened, and a young man in white grabbed the scissors, and then formed a field with spiritual power to hinder the sneak attack of others.

The old woman felt the great strength of the scissors.

She opened her eyes, looked at Ning Changjiu, recognized him at a glance, and said angrily: "Why are you?

Ning Chang removed the scissors, he didn't look at the old woman, but looked at the spiritual seat, and at this moment he realized that the things in this city were more complicated than he expected.

He originally thought that a big demon was haunting him and wanted to make waves in the city, and some strange patterns and atmospheres in the city also confirmed this.

So he was also prepared in advance, and he had already imagined the old woman to be the monster.

And the series of events that happened tonight changed his mind, and he had a vague glimpse of a grand conspiracy entangled with blood and bones, but he could not see all its outlines for the time being.

Ning Changjiu walked to the side of the case, picked up the spiritual seat, and looked at the words on it for final confirmation.

The old woman stared at him and said sharply, "What do you want to do?"

Ning Changjiu asked, "Your grandson is dead?"

The old woman was scarred, and her face was full of anger: "Yes...... He died, he was killed by Ning Zhushui!"

Ning Changjiu asked again: "Then what did you do when you came to the door twice and gave these things?"

The old woman seemed to be a little sluggish, she stared at Ning Chang for a long time, her eyes were resentful, but she didn't speak, because many of the things she did now were contradictory, part of it was to obey the consciousness of reason, and part of it was driven by instinct

Envoy.

Ning Changjiu continued to ask: "There are lanterns sold in the city, which one else sells them besides you?"

The old woman still didn't answer, she looked at the spirit position for a while, and then at Ning Changjiu, as if she was going to turn into a powerful ghost at any time.

Ning Chang sighed, looked at her, and said, "It seems that you don't even know about it?"

The old woman said angrily, "What are you talking nonsense?"

Ning Changjiu suddenly broke the spiritual position in half and threw it in front of the old woman's shoes, the old man looked at this sudden scene, his expression quickly changed from the initial shock to a monstrous anger like wanting to eat people, she stared at the broken spiritual position on the ground, and kept shouting her grandson's name in her mouth, and her old body trembled, as if the skeleton was about to collapse at any time.

"You...... You...... You are worthy of Ning Baoshui's apprentice, that old thing's apprentice turned out to be ...... It's not a thing!"

She knelt in front of the half-section of the spiritual seat on crutches, and her old tears were in tears.

Ning Chang looked at her and said, "But from beginning to end, you don't have a grandson at all." ”

The crying stopped suddenly, and the old woman Huo Ran raised her head, her face full of wrinkles, and a pair of pupils shining white in the night.

......

My grandson's name is Dongyun, and his mother gave birth to him in winter, and he is a handlemaker, and his father was so happy that he went to Upper East Third Street to buy a fish and catch three handfuls of green onions...... How could I not have a grandson? My grandson was killed by that evil man!" the old woman's voice was sour, and it hurt to hear it.

The old woman held her head, and she wanted to recall the time when her grandson was still alive as usual, but for some reason, she couldn't remember anything, as if that period of time had been erased.

What's even more terrifying is that she gradually finds that she can't even remember her past, she can't remember what she looked like when she was young, as if she has been an old woman with gray hair since she was born.

The only memory in my mind is the tedious and repetitive things like sitting on the bench in the room, weaving lanterns out of bamboo strips, and painting paper paste on the lantern shelves.

She looked up, her gaze blank but fierce, like an old wolf showing its claws before he died.

"You little demon Dao, what kind of demon magic did you cast...... Why can't I remember anything? You demon Dao, give me back my grandson!"

As she spoke, the old woman got up from the ground, she threw her crutches violently, and her five fingers rushed towards Ning Changjiu.

......

In another old house, Shubai cleaned up the bronze embryos in the house, and swept the not very spacious yard again, and then he stood in front of the half-blackened, iron-blue curtain, and wondered if he should get a new one this year.

In the end, he secretly took out the bag of copper coins, which was still bulging, and only a few buns were missing from it.

For some reason, he suddenly felt that something about greed and evil thoughts in his heart had disappeared.

He looked at the bag of copper coins, frowned, and thought to himself that he hated Na Ning for catching water, and he also knew that this bag of copper coins was likely to be ill-gotten gains, but no matter what, this is not his own thing, my Shubai has always had revenge and revenge, where would he do this kind of stealing chickens and dogs?

No, it's not like you're so good......

He gradually thought about what happened two days ago, and suddenly gave birth to a ridiculous thought, the hatred that was originally hidden in his heart, almost indissolvable, when he met the young man in white, he knelt on the ground with his head on his head, and after saying those words, it seemed that most of it had disappeared, and even gave birth to the idea of being a good person.

And after the old woman knocked on the door and glanced at him inadvertently, he suddenly felt that the veil in his heart had been lifted again, and the previous good thoughts suddenly became ridiculous.

He didn't know if the ups and downs of this emotion were illusions or real, but at that moment, the darkness in his heart seemed to have been erased again, and he felt that he should return the bag of money to the young man.

Shubai sat on the cold ground, silently thinking about this, and his chaotic thoughts wandered like ghosts.

Suddenly, the light dimmed in his field of vision.

He looked up and saw the junction between the courtyard and the lobby, where Master was standing like a tree, his snow-white hair blowing in the night breeze.

"Master......" Shubai shouted.

The old man was silent for a while before he slowly spoke: "Boy, come here." ”

Shubai got up suspiciously and walked to the two

In front of the people, looking at the increasingly old face, he asked, "Master, what's wrong?"

The old man took out a bronze key from his waist, he handed the key to Shubai's hand, and said, "There are still a few bronze paintings in the storehouse, you wait and take them out, and move them to the side of the sand water, there are many stone piers on the side of the sand water, and you will put these bronze paintings in the order of stacking, from west to east, one by one." ”

Shubai was a little surprised, and asked, "Master's bronze painting is worth a lot of silver, and if it is taken away at will, what should I do?"

The old man just said, "Just do as I say." ”

Shubai looked at the simple key in his palm, and wanted to ask, but he still closed his mouth, held the key tightly and nodded.

When the old man had finished explaining what had happened, he turned back and walked towards the room.

Shubai suddenly remembered something and asked, "What happened to the story of the white bone corpse demon that Master told me last time?"

The old man's body paused slightly, he didn't answer, and his tone was a little dry: "What kind of white bone corpse demon? I have told such a story, it should be nonsense, I can't remember it......"

With that, he stepped into the darkness of the night.

Shubai picked up the key and opened the door of the storehouse, which was full of dust and cobwebs, and as soon as the door was opened, the rats and insects on the ground squeaked and scattered, and he covered his mouth and nose, endured the nausea in his heart, and walked in.

He looked around, and there was only a wooden box in the center of the storeroom, which should be what the master had given him.

He opened the wooden box, glanced at it, made sure it was correct, put it on his back, and walked in the direction of Shashui.

To his surprise, the box was not as heavy as he had imagined.

He came to the upper reaches of the sand and water and saw the first stone pier.

These stone piers are very ancient, as if they have existed here since the founding of the city, and the edges of the stone piers are dotted under the wind, frost and rain, and they do not look ordinary.

He turned out a bronze painting and placed it on the stone pier, and by the light, he could vaguely see that it seemed to be a picture of a divine war, and behind the clouds, there was a great god standing with a sword, stuck in the mud, half of his body white.

As he walked along the river, he took out a second painting at the second stone pier, and the whole bronze painting depicted a great and deep abyss, and at the edge of that abyss were two hands that were only bone-white, and the owner of the claws of bone, as if trying to pull his body out of the abyss.

The third bronze painting depicts a huge skeleton comparable to a mountain, on which are hung with new flesh and blood, and the jade belt wrapped around the crook of the arm is actually made up of countless skulls, and its waist, which resembles a tassel falling, is a bundled white body of a woman, and at the lower end of the body, countless ant-like people, all with the face of a monkey with a sharp mouth, they are holding swords and slashing its thighs, cutting flesh and bones to pieces.

The bronze painting was extremely depressing, and it was terrifying to see the white tree, and after hurriedly putting it down, he hurriedly ran towards the next stone pier.

The next painting was much more peaceful, and the bony body was no longer visible, for it stood in the middle of a great river, and the hookah had swept most of its body, and only its head, shoulders, and arms were exposed, and the waves of the river were tumbling violently, and he, like half an ordinary person, scooped up a handful of water in the air, opened his mouth, and drank it.

The last bronze painting is simpler, showing an empty throne, and under the throne, many ghosts float, kneeling in unison in the direction of the throne, reverent and silent.

Shubai looked at it carefully for a while, only to realize that it was not really an empty throne, but because the throne had been turned away. On the armrests on both sides, the palms on the back are faintly exposed, without a trace of flesh and blood.

Shubai finished putting the last piece of the bronze painting according to the old man's instructions, and he vaguely felt that this omen indicated something, as if it was the order in which a certain story occurred, and this was very similar to what the old man said.

If these bronze paintings really tell the story of the white bone corpse demon, then what do the last two bronze paintings mean?

Shubai pondered earnestly, and suddenly, a chill rose up his spine.

Because he found that before he knew it, the whole world was darkened.

He slowly looked up, and was surprised to find that the red lanterns on both sides of the river had turned white at this moment, and the candles behind the white paper also shone with a faint and miserable white light.

......

......

(There is another chapter)