Chapter 175

Yin Meng sat on the second-floor railing, holding a bag of dried plums; she was keeping watch.

From time to time, she would look down at the young man sitting by the bonfire in the courtyard below; he was deep in thought.

Every time Li Zhuiyuan reached out to pick up a piece of firewood and toss it into the bonfire, Yin Meng would also take out a dried plum and toss it into her mouth.

Accompanied by the "crackle and pop" of the firewood burning in the flames, she would also chew on her dried plum, smacking her lips.

The rest of them were all asleep.

The firelight shone on the young man's face, alternating between light and shadow.

Xue Liangliang, wrapped in a blanket, walked over and sat down beside Li Zhuiyuan.

"Brother Liangliang, you should go to sleep."

"Even if I'm well-rested, I can't be of much use, so I might as well sit with you for a while."

Li Zhuiyuan nodded.

"Xiao Yuan, are you worried about the current situation?"

"Not necessarily."

Li Zhuiyuan stood up, lifted the kettle resting on the bonfire, and filled the two large bowls in front of him; inside was brown sugar ginger tea.

Afterward, the two of them, one big and one small, each picked up a bowl, blew on it, and took small sips.

In the winter mountains, drinking this made one feel very comfortable.

Xue Liangliang looked up at Yin Meng on the second floor, then turned back to look at Runsheng, Tan Wenbin, and Lin Shu You, who were sleeping soundly side-by-side in the room.

"You can't tell much during ordinary times, but once you're out here, the feeling you give people is completely different."

"After experiencing so many things, one always becomes more mature." Li Zhuiyuan looked at the cigarette Xue Liangliang had pulled out. "Aren't you the same, Brother Liangliang?"

"Yes, that's true, but I'm far from being on your level." Xue Liangliang bit down on the cigarette, lowered his head, lit it, and as he exhaled a smoke ring, a look of confusion appeared in his eyes. "Encountering things like this, I find that I really can't be of any help."

"Being able to bring us here, you've already been a great help."

"Is that not sarcasm?"

"No, it's the truth."

Previously, Li Zhuiyuan would choose test questions from A Li's dreams, but he had played too recklessly last time, scaring those things that couldn't be brought to the table so much that they didn't even dare to show their faces.

This time, the test question was "helped" along by Xue Liangliang drawing it for him.

It was a different form, but Li Zhuiyuan believed that he had ultimately gained an advantage, even though it wasn't yet clear where this advantage would manifest.

The reason Li Zhuiyuan wasn't sleeping so late was that he was attempting to clear away the fog on the chessboard as much as possible.

Then, he gradually discovered that the significance of doing so wasn't great.

Because it was very likely that the entire chessboard belonged to Old Bian Po; this place was her home turf.

She was different from any evil spirit or dead-walker he had faced before.

First, she was free.

Second, she had a brain.

Finally, her state was relatively stable.

She wasn't sealed, she wasn't severely injured, and she wasn't just about to recover; she had been active in this area for many years.

Strictly speaking, among all the opponents he had encountered, she was the first truly independent individual in the real sense.

Her gaze shrouded the Miao village, shrouded the construction site, shrouded the village they were currently in... and the surrounding vicinity.

Xue Liangliang finished the cigarette in his hand, tossed it into the bonfire, and then took a blueprint out from his bosom and spread it out on the ground.

"Xiao Yuan, I don't understand Feng Shui, and I can't understand those small flags you had people plant, I can only look at these blueprints more."

"Hmm?"

"The construction of any water conservancy facility will cause an impact on the original landscape environment, and the scope of this impact is sometimes quite broad, not just limited to the construction site itself."

"Brother Liangliang, please continue."

"Look, although this river isn't considered wide and the water flow isn't considered large, it is indeed one of the main streams among the many small water systems in the nearby area, and once this hydroelectric station is built, the place most affected will be here..."

Xue Liangliang took out a pen and drew a circle at a certain location.

"There is a lake here; we saw it when we took the tractor into the village, and the scenery is quite nice. After the hydroelectric station is built, this lake will lose its source of living water, and it should gradually disappear."

Li Zhuiyuan's gaze was fixed on this lake, and he asked, "Brother Liangliang, how did you think to pay attention to this?"

"Because you have a good brain, Xiao Yuan. Things that are obvious, if I can see them, you surely have seen them too, so I can only try to ponder some small corners that you might not consider."

Li Zhuiyuan's fingers gently rubbed over the blueprint, and he closed his eyes.

The memory in his brain was retrieved, returning to the scene of riding on Ran Dacheng's tractor along the bumpy mountain road.

The memory scene fast-forwarded, and finally, it returned to the time period when that lake appeared.

Beside his ear, Tan Wenbin's voice from that time appeared:

"Damn it, I've heard of regional discrimination, but this is the first time I've discovered there's also terrain discrimination!"

At that time, he was sitting on the tractor, and in his gaze, that lake had appeared just right; the surface of the lake wasn't large, just a bit bigger than a pool.

The memory scene continuously fast-forwarded and rewound, intercepting his perspective from various angles, and finally, he pieced together that lake and its surrounding terrain in as complete a way as possible.

Then, Li Zhuiyuan began to try to analyze its terrain Feng Shui.

The result was... completely unremarkable.

Li Zhuiyuan opened his eyes. That was also true; if there really were any special Feng Shui patterns, he surely would have sensed something when passing by it.

Xue Liangliang lit a second cigarette; he didn't notice Li Zhuiyuan's expression and movements, but continued to state his own analysis:

"In fact, although the project hasn't been completed yet, the effect of intercepting the flow and cutting off the water has already appeared; the water level of this lake should be quite a bit lower than in normal years."

The water level is quite a bit lower?

Li Zhuiyuan closed his eyes again, once more retrieving that scene in his mind.

He actively made the scene dynamic, letting its water level rise, rise, and rise again.

Suddenly, Li Zhuiyuan was stunned.

Just by raising the water level and submerging the surrounding areas and small hilltops, the entire Feng Shui pattern instantly became a standard 【Puyue Yingkui】.

At the moment of waxing and waning, it collects the essence of the mountain forests, like human lungs, exhaling the old and inhaling the new.

This is an auspicious position; according to the description in the "Liu Family Qi-Gazing Art," it is the place where mountain spirits and wild demons most like to dwell, borrowing the natural momentum to nurture themselves.

He was just passing by, and it was impossible to have nothing to do and keep doing addition and subtraction on the scenery in front of him, so he had just overlooked it.

If he had passed by before the project construction, he feared he would have seen at a glance that the lake was a very good location.

It wasn't suitable for burying people, but it was suitable for nurturing people; if elderly people lived here for a long time, it could prolong their lives, which is what is called a holy land for retirement.

Such a good place only exists "wild" in mountain areas.

If it were in a place like Luoyang, any Feng Shui auspicious cave with even a little bit of class would have been squeezed into a group-rental house after one shovel-dig, layer of tombs, two layers of tombs, three layers of tombs...

Compared to the Feng Shui pattern of that lake, the Feng Shui uniqueness of the hydroelectric station construction site didn't count for much; in fact, it was very likely that Old Bian Po had deliberately made arrangements there, creating a maze to divert attention.

In all likelihood, she had buried an ancient corpse with coffin-Qi underneath the construction site.

She was fishing in this way.

The Feng Shui masters hired by the construction unit were all half-baked; they had set up a bunch of things but hadn't even found the fake bait.

The elder of the Miao village had found it and sent his three disciples to solve it, but they were solved by Old Bian Po in turn.

She was truly cautious.

Li Zhuiyuan was very curious about what she was actually wary of.

Was she wary of the Heavenly Dao?

But looking at her behavioral logic, it didn't seem like it.

An evil spirit's wariness of the Heavenly Dao should be reflected in its "sense of presence," but her sense of presence was exceptionally strong; she just hadn't carried out a massive slaughter.

It seemed that in the dark, there was something right before her eyes that made her have to maintain restraint in this regard.

"Brother Liangliang, thank you; this point you pointed out is very useful."

"Not just polite words?"

"No, that lake is very critical."

"I think it would only be appropriate for you to tell me these things after we go to the lakeside to see it when it's light."

Li Zhuiyuan reached out and tapped his forehead: "No need, it's all recorded here."

Xue Liangliang's mouth opened slightly, finally turning into a bitter smile: "This memory of yours is truly enviable."

Li Zhuiyuan lowered his head and took another sip of brown sugar tea.

Everything has two sides; "forgetting" is sometimes actually a self-protection mechanism.

If one's memory is too good, one will keep everything unhappy one has experienced in the past "fresh in one's memory."

Just at this moment, Li Zhuiyuan suddenly raised his head; he heard footsteps, carrying a sense of caution.

"Pa!"

Yin Meng on the second floor pulled out her leather whip and flicked it in front of her, a cracking sound rang out.

In the room on the first floor, Runsheng, Tan Wenbin, and Lin Shu You immediately ran out, all carrying their gear in their hands.

Li Zhuiyuan stood up, looked toward the earthen wall on the southwest side, and waved his palm forward.

Yin Meng took the first step, hooked the railing with her leather whip, and swung over from the second floor.

Runsheng made a forward dash, bent his knees under the earthen wall, and while Lin Shu You was in the middle of his sprint, he stepped on Runsheng's knees and leaped directly over the earthen wall.

Immediately, Runsheng leaped up, grabbed the edge of the earthen wall with his left hand, and then used his arm strength to pull his body up and flip over.

Although this earthen building was old, before the liberation, it was feared that it had also served as a semi-military location, so the earthen wall was very high and very slippery.

After Tan Wenbin rushed to the foot of the wall, seeing that Runsheng hadn't waited for him and had already flipped over, he continued to maintain his running motion, backed up, and came to the side of Li Zhuiyuan and Xue Liangliang.

The three of them had all gone out, so he would stay behind to protect the important personnel.

Xue Liangliang asked somewhat nervously: "Has she come?"

Li Zhuiyuan shook his head: "It's not her."

Listening to the sound to identify the person, the movement of those footsteps was more like a thief.

Not long after, the gate of the earthen building was pushed open, and Runsheng walked in carrying a man wearing dirty work clothes; the man had a look of terror on his face.

Li Zhuiyuan walked in front of him and asked: "What is your name, Cui Hao or Li Ren?"

"My name is... Cui Hao." The man looked around. "You, are you from the construction team?"

"Hmm."

"Then you... then you..."

Cui Hao really couldn't understand when the technicians of the construction team could descend from the sky with a "whoosh, whoosh, whoosh."

He had just snuck to the outside of the earthen wall when suddenly three figures landed in front of him, surrounding him, and then one of them even lifted him up directly, just like lifting a little chick.

Li Zhuiyuan: "Tell us about your situation; is Li Ren still alive?"

"He is still alive, but he is injured."

"Tell us about what happened to you."

Cui Hao said in surprise: "Since you are people from the construction team, shouldn't you go with me to save people now?"

"Li Ren won't die for a while, right?"

"He won't die."

"Then there's no rush."

Li Zhuiyuan sat down and pressed his hand down slightly.

Runsheng pressed Cui Hao to sit down, and Tan Wenbin walked over holding a dagger; before Cui Hao could react, he first grabbed his hand and then made a cut on his finger.

"Ah!"

After the blood dripped, he did an inspection, and Tan Wenbin nodded, signaling that it was a real person.

"What are you doing?"

Li Zhuiyuan reminded: "Talk about the main point; tell the story of the time you and Li Ren were left behind. Get him something to eat and let him eat while he talks."

Yin Meng handed half a bag of dried plums to Cui Hao.

Tan Wenbin blocked Yin Meng's hand with his arm: "If you give him this, won't he get hungrier the more he eats?"

Afterward, Tan Wenbin tossed a bag of compressed biscuits to Cui Hao and poured him a bowl of brown sugar tea.

Seeing that there was food, Cui Hao began to wolf it down; after stuffing himself with some food, he let out a sigh of relief and began to recount the encounter he and Li Ren had during this period.

Their leader had carried forward a democratic style, letting everyone use anonymous voting to nominate two candidates to shoulder the great cause of staying behind.

This was almost no different from voting to elect "who you find most unpleasant."

Cui Hao was elected with a high number of votes, Li Ren was second, and the two of them had a landslide lead over the third-to-last place.

Everyone else had gone back for the New Year, and the two of them were left behind; to say they had no resentment in their hearts would be impossible.

However, very quickly, the resentment in their hearts was swept away, because they had to make room for fear.

The night Cui Hao recorded that "they" came back was actually just a beginning.

Because next, the people in the courtyard downstairs all came upstairs, and the consciousness of the two of them also began to fall into a blur at that time.

It was like having a dream, muddle-headed, and they actually joined them and started a meeting.

At the meeting, the leader and colleagues repeatedly raised questions, and then Cui Hao and Li Ren began to answer.

This meeting lasted for a long time, and when the meeting ended, it was already light.

When Cui Hao and Li Ren woke up, they found that the two of them were lying in the courtyard.

The two of them thought they had bumped into mountain ghosts and immediately ran out to seek help, but every person they met in the village, after listening to their story at the beginning, would emit a gloomy laugh.

The whole damn village was full of ghosts!

The two of them were so scared they ran out of the village and hid directly in the mountain forest.

During the period from before the New Year to after the New Year, the two of them basically lived in a Zhao Jun Temple in the mountains.

But the two of them had such poor wilderness survival skills, and when they escaped the village, they didn't have time to bring supplies, so they could only sneak into the village under the cover of night to steal a little, and hide back in the Zhao Jun Temple in the mountains before dawn.

Originally, when sneaking into the village to steal things, the two of them didn't dare to approach this earthen building again; after all, this was the starting point of the nightmare.

However, Li Ren accidentally stepped on a beast trap set by a hunter in the mountains; although he pried it open and escaped, the wound began to fester because it wasn't treated well.

Cui Hao found some herbs, mashed them up, and applied them to Li Ren; the effect was very obvious, Li Ren's wound swelled up high and began to fester with pus.

With no other choice, when Cui Hao snuck into the village tonight, he headed toward the earthen building, because he knew there were medical supplies here.

Then, he was caught.

Li Zhuiyuan rubbed his temples while analyzing the words in Cui Hao's mouth.

Cui Hao wasn't lying, but what he said might not be the facts.

It certainly wasn't the case that the whole village was full of ghosts; the two of them were just being focused on.

Li Zhuiyuan suspected that the appearance of that scene that night might have been Old Bian Po wanting to figure out the true intentions of the construction team, whether they would give up the construction of the hydroelectric station.

The gloomy-laughing villagers Cui Hao and Li Ren encountered in the village later should all have been fake.

It's just that one point doesn't make sense: either ask and be done with it, or ask and silence them; what was the purpose of playing with people after asking? Was it that boring?

Li Zhuiyuan: "Zhao Jun Temple, what kind of place is that?"

Cui Hao: "It's just a dilapidated temple in the mountains; it's been there for years. When we were doing measurements, we went there. At that time, there was a person in the team who said this was a temple of merit, and even took a few of us to worship together, and each of us swiped a tile as an amulet."

"Is that tile on you?"

"I've been carrying it."

"Let me see."

Cui Hao reluctantly took a tile out of his pocket and handed it to Li Zhuiyuan.

The tile was very small, with three patterns carved on top and three vertical lines on the bottom, implying inheriting the will of heaven above and following the hearts of the people below, with boundless merit.

It was indeed a tile of merit, but it had no actual effect of warding off evil.

There is indeed a folk tradition of collecting tiles of merit or bricks of merit, not for collecting as antiques, but because people feel that taking this home and building it into their own house can settle the house and ward off evil.

It is said that the real Leifeng Pagoda collapsed because nearby residents dug out too many bricks.

Li Zhuiyuan suspected that since the tile had no effect, what might be playing a role was the temple behind the tile.

Zhao Jun Temple... Li Zhuiyuan hadn't heard of this kind of temple; he did know of a Zao Jun Temple.

But this Zhao Jun could make Old Bian Po wary; even if one carried a tile of his in one's pocket, she didn't dare to really kill the two of them.

Li Zhuiyuan clapped his hands, stood up, and said to Cui Hao:

"Let's go, we're going to save your colleague."

The Zhao Jun Temple was already in a semi-abandoned state, or rather, the original purpose of building it wasn't for the inheritance of incense, because its location was truly too remote and too difficult to travel to.

The surroundings of the temple had already collapsed, wild grass and roots grew in clusters, and only in the main temple room was there a broken roof, barely shielding from wind and rain.

Over the past few days, Cui Hao and Li Ren had been hiding here, surviving in the wilderness.

Li Ren's condition wasn't very good; the wound had already become infected, and he was running a fever, and his consciousness was also in a blurred state.

Li Zhuiyuan pointed at him, and Yin Meng immediately squatted down and began to help him treat the wound.

The rest of them began to inspect this Zhao Jun Temple.

There was a stone carving standing in the temple, but after being exposed to wind and sun for a long time, the stone carving had also become very rough; of course, one couldn't blame all the problems on wind and frost, it was mainly that this stone carving was carved relatively roughly from the beginning and wasn't very attentive.

Behind the stone carving, there was a monument of merit.

The handwriting on it was mottled, but it could still be vaguely identified.

It mainly recounted the achievements of Zhao Jun; after he came here, he helped the mountain people control water and repair canals, and also expelled the monsters and evil spirits that were causing trouble in the mountains.

Li Zhuiyuan frowned slightly; the content of this monument of merit was also very vague, and it didn't even clearly write out Zhao Jun's name; Zhao Jun should be a title of respect.

Expelled evil spirits?

So, had this Zhao Jun dealt with Old Bian Po before?

Li Zhuiyuan walked out of the dilapidated temple, turned back to look at the direction the stone carving was facing, turned sideways, and according to the map memory in his brain, this direction was facing that lake.

The young man suddenly realized that this was a sub-temple, or what was called a companion temple.

The real Zhao Jun Temple main temple wasn't here.

But judging from the orientation of the sub-temple, it shouldn't have been built here, but should have been a bit further up.

Li Zhuiyuan raised his head and looked above the Zhao Jun Temple, where a few large stones were piled up.

"Brother Runsheng, try to pry open a stone."

"Alright!"

Runsheng inserted his Yellow River shovel into the gap and began to exert force to pry.

Very quickly, the stone gradually loosened, and one of them was pried open.

Inside, a stone tablet was revealed; the stone tablet was soaked in the passage of time, and the writing on it was in blood, vigorous and powerful.

When he saw the content on the stone tablet, Li Zhuiyuan's gaze also froze.

"The Saintess of the Miao Frontier, stepped onto a crooked path, willingly degenerated, plundered and killed infants from all directions, supplemented them into her own womb, vainly attempting to use herself as a furnace to nurture a Gu-child.

Heaven is angry and people are resentful, both humans and gods are furious.

Today I am here, to kill the Gu-child, and suppress the Saintess.

Time is long, human power is limited; if the suppression is lost, this monster will reappear.

The day it starts killing again is when my descendants will uphold my legacy, return to this place, and suppress the evil spirit again!

—— Zhao Wuyang of Jiujiang."

The Zhao family of Jiujiang.

Zhao Yi's ancestor.

Zhao Wuyang was Zhao Jun; Li Zhuiyuan guessed that this person was in all likelihood the Long Wang in the history of the Jiujiang Zhao family, and also the only Long Wang.

Logically speaking, this should be Zhao Yi's opportunity; he was also walking the river.

This wave should have been given to Zhao Yi.

As a result, it was divided to him instead.

Li Zhuiyuan couldn't help but look at Xue Liangliang, who was standing in front of him and also looking at the text on the stone tablet.

The first thought in the young man's mind at this moment was actually: this is a good opportunity to lay out a plan to kill Zhao Yi.

This was an instinctive reaction.

Because Zhao Yi was worthy of respect and worthy of being killed.

But very quickly, this thought was erased from Li Zhuiyuan's mind, because doing so was quite boring.

If it were in ordinary times, if both sides met, each relying on their own abilities, digging pits for each other, and burying the other party in advance, that would be fine.

But under the personal inscription of the Zhao family Long Wang, to ponder and consider such things felt like throwing a child's tantrum in front of an adult, appearing boring and childish.

After all, no matter what, every generation of Long Wang is worthy of respect.

Li Zhuiyuan reached out, gently pushed Xue Liangliang away, walked to the stone tablet alone, stood calmly, and said:

"It's a pity, your Jiujiang Zhao family has only produced one generation of Long Wang so far."

He held the inheritance of two Dragon Kings; even when facing Dragon Kings of other families, at the very least, the first sentence couldn't show weakness, which meant he couldn't be too polite.

Each family has its own pride, each leading a generation of style.

Afterward, Li Zhuiyuan bowed to the stone tablet, and immediately followed with the gate rites of the Qin and Liu families.

This wasn't bowing to the Jiujiang Zhao family, but to that senior who had once suppressed the evil spirits of the Jianghu.

After the rites were completed, Li Zhuiyuan straightened up and said:

"The work of your Zhao family Long Wang, I, Long Wang Qin and Long Wang Liu, have taken it!"

"Crack!"

As soon as the words fell, the stone tablet cracked, splitting into two halves; in the middle, a rusted copper coin sword was inserted.

Li Zhuiyuan blinked.

He hadn't expected the Zhao family Long Wang to be so generous.

The inscription wrote that descendants would come to suppress it; but even if they were descendants of other families, as long as they were willing to come here to suppress this monster, he would also gift the tools to help them.

This was probably the breadth of mind of a Long Wang.

Li Zhuiyuan reached out and grabbed the copper coin sword; the moment he touched it, a cool sensation went straight into his palm, making his brain feel clear for a moment.

Good stuff.

Li Zhuiyuan pulled out the copper coin sword, and while observing the precious copper rust on it, he sighed in his heart:

"Sorry, Zhao Yi."

———

This is to make up for yesterday's word count; there will be more tonight.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 176 =====