Chapter 181

Early morning, in the courtyard of the earthen building, Runsheng was cooking breakfast.

Breakfast was very simple: a large handful of dried noodles thrown in first, then some vegetables and cured meat cut into it, and that was it.

Since arriving here, everyone's three meals a day were basically just staple foods stewed together, mainly for convenience.

There was no help for it; in a house full of grown men, the one with the best cooking skills was still Runsheng, and the only woman was willing to help, but no one dared to let her near the cooking pot.

"Did you put salt in?" Yin Meng asked.

Runsheng: "I did."

"Oh, good." Yin Meng put the small spoon back into the salt jar, then placed the jar on the ground.

Runsheng bent down, picked up the salt jar, and put several spoonfuls of salt into the pot in succession.

Yin Meng emphasized: "I know this is salt."

Runsheng emphasized: "I know this is for everyone to eat together."

Yin Meng was used to it; she sat to the side, spread her palm open, and that black, cockroach-like Gu insect darted out from her sleeve and arrived in her palm.

Accompanied by Yin Meng's palm constantly flipping and her fingers constantly changing, the Gu insect was like a mountaineer, constantly moving forward and constantly climbing.

Yin Meng was playing with it happily.

The earthen building door was pushed open, and Xue Liangliang led two people in.

One was Cui Hao, and the other was Li Ren.

They had been called down from the dilapidated temple on the mountain by Xue Liangliang.

Although the injury on Li Ren's leg hadn't fully healed, he could still walk with a wooden stick.

Both of them were disheveled and unkempt, with stubble on their faces, and their arms and legs had become thinner; although they had lost a lot of weight, they were more spirited.

It was just that fear and caution still flickered in their eyes; clearly, that experience of encountering ghosts had left them with profound psychological trauma.

Yin Meng asked Xue Liangliang curiously: "How did you invite them down?"

Xue Liangliang sat down and answered: "I told them the construction team was coming back in the morning, and if they didn't come down, the matter of dereliction of duty and absenteeism couldn't be hidden, and they would be fired by the unit. So they came down."

Hearing this, Yin Meng wanted to laugh a little, but she held it in and continued playing with the Gu insect in her hand.

Perhaps life on the mountain was too bitter, and they had had enough; or perhaps the fear of being fired outweighed the fear of ghosts.

In any case, they resigned themselves to their fate.

After washing, cleaning, and shaving, the two changed into clean clothes.

When the construction team arrived here, their former colleagues came back and saw what they looked like now, and everyone couldn't help but feel sympathy.

Even the leader, the one with the highest rank, began to reflect on whether he had gone too far; these two just had personalities that weren't likable, but it didn't deserve this.

Xue Liangliang helped them keep the secret about their absenteeism.

He felt that for ordinary people in that kind of situation, being scared into running away was human nature.

Next was the formal handover and integration of work.

Actually, there were no technical difficulties; it was mainly the kind of things that weren't suitable to be spoken aloud.

Finally, at a small-scale closed-door meeting, Xue Liangliang patted his chest and guaranteed that he had invited a high-ranking eminent monk from Guiyang during the New Year period to perform a ritual here.

Although everyone was still somewhat uneasy in their hearts, after doing it for a while and discovering there weren't so many inconceivable accidents, they naturally accepted it slowly.

Just like Cui Hao and Li Ren, after gradually coming into contact with the villagers and colleagues, they began to think that they hadn't seen ghosts, but had accidentally eaten poisonous mushrooms and had severe hallucinations that day.

Li Zhuiyuan led Tan Wenbin and Lin Shu You, wearing safety helmets, and also joined the work.

At least they had studied this, so it could be considered a rare internship opportunity; what had to be done had to be done.

Watching the originally stagnant construction site have new changes day by day, there was indeed a sense of accomplishment in one's heart.

It was just that Li Zhuiyuan generally held the blueprints together with Xue Liangliang; Tan Wenbin and Lin Shu You were more on the front line.

Because of the return of the construction team, the village became lively again.

Many people doing business supporting the construction site also appeared one after another, such as those in construction site catering; they often understood the progress of the construction period better than ordinary workers.

After the project here was finished, they would go to find the next target; doing this had less competitive pressure, stable customers, and apart from being a bit hard and needing to travel frequently, the income was quite considerable.

A room in the residential house next to the earthen building was rented by two older sisters, and a sign for "Massage, Cupping" was hung at the entrance, and business was also very booming.

Many workers would slip out halfway to get a massage, otherwise, they would have to queue up when they got off work at night.

After being stable for a period of time like this, Xue Liangliang began to prepare to leave; his mission was to provide technical assistance, and he didn't need to stay until the end of the project.

After discussing with the person in charge of the construction unit, the departure time was determined: the day after tomorrow.

Everyone began to make final preparations before leaving, and they indeed all had things to do.

Wen Xiushan, supported by his apprentice A Cai, came to the earthen building and requested Li Zhuiyuan to go up to the Miao village to help see A Mei's situation.

Li Zhuiyuan took Lin Shu You and went together.

That night at the Miao village banquet, Li Zhuiyuan knew that the A Mei who kept staring at him was fake.

But in the environment at that time, it was indeed inconvenient for him to expose the fake A Mei's identity, because he still had to go to the old hag's lair next, and there was no need to alert the enemy.

Afterwards, he didn't go to the Miao village to ask about the real A Mei's situation.

Because there were only two possibilities:

Either the real A Mei was fine, or the real A Mei had already been harmed to death.

Regardless of which possibility it was, there was no need for him to go and ask again.

But facts proved that sometimes you cannot look at this world, especially when looking at people, from an overly rational perspective.

A Mei was still alive, but it was like she had been possessed; she could only open her eyes and sit there blankly.

Li Zhuiyuan looked at Wen Xiushan.

Wen Xiushan's old face flushed with shame, and he lowered his head.

It was Wen Xiushan's apprentice A Cai who explained that the grandfather had already used various methods these days, but none of them could make A Mei wake up.

This explanation made Wen Xiushan even more embarrassed.

Li Zhuiyuan couldn't understand why the old man didn't call him sooner?

They had people in the village working on the construction site, and they could know that he had also been on the construction site during this period.

What the youth didn't understand was the deep logic of this kind of stupid behavior; he did know why the old man wanted to do this.

Perhaps he felt embarrassed to invite him again, and he wanted to use his Miao village's methods to save A Mei; in the old man's view, this was a matter of face.

If it weren't for the fact that he had tried again and again and failed, and learned that he was about to leave here, he might not have lowered his face to come and invite him in person even now.

Li Zhuiyuan checked A Mei's situation; there was no evil aura on A Mei, she wasn't possessed, she hadn't been cast with Gu, and she hadn't been cursed.

She was overly frightened, leading to her inner self-closure.

Which is commonly known as... scared silly.

Therefore, all the ritual operations that Wen Xiushan had done before were completely like winking at a blind person.

Li Zhuiyuan had someone arrange a separate, quiet room, and he was alone with A Mei, walking into A Mei's closed heart through hypnosis.

Half an hour later, A Mei's crying sound came out.

The heart was opened, the fear of that night was vented, and next, she only needed to rest quietly without being stimulated.

Wen Xiushan wanted to invite Li Zhuiyuan to stay for a meal to express his gratitude again, but Li Zhuiyuan refused.

The problem was solved too quickly, the sky was still early, and he and Lin Shu You left the Miao village.

On the way back on foot, Li Zhuiyuan also took the opportunity to turn onto the Zhao Jun temple on the mountain.

The originally broken stone tablet had been buried back by large stones; this should have been done by Zhao Yi.

Because Cui Hao and Li Ren didn't have that heart, and even less that strength.

Li Zhuiyuan sat in the dilapidated temple, blowing in the wind, and watched the blue sky and white clouds for a while.

While emptying himself, he would also try to imagine whether Zhao Wuyang, after suppressing the old hag, had also sat here like this.

Before leaving, the youth symbolically pulled some newly grown wild grass for the dilapidated temple.

Lin Shu You climbed onto the roof of the dilapidated temple, wanting to clean up the vines, and then accidentally made the roof of the dilapidated temple collapse a corner again.

"Brother Xiaoyuan, I..."

"It's fine, the Long Wang won't mind."

This temple was built here originally to look out and deter the sealed old hag, not to seek incense and offerings.

Walking back down the mountain, next to the earthen building, he ran into Tan Wenbin who was walking out of the older sister's rented room.

Tan Wenbin was twisting his neck and stretching, his face relaxed and comfortable.

The sign said "Cupping," and the older sister really had cups.

However, Tan Wenbin was the only guest who really went for cupping.

The older sister's cupping skill was very rough; after all, she wasn't a professional in this field.

But Tan Wenbin was quite compatible with this rough technique now; every time he finished cupping, others at most had some water mist inside, and being able to produce some water droplets was considered very heavy dampness, but for Tan Wenbin, after the cup was pulled out, water could flow out from inside.

That was no longer heavy dampness, but heavy Yin energy.

Those two hairy children had swallowed too much resentment, making him have indigestion now, and even he, the godfather, suffered together.

Li Zhuiyuan had suggested that he could use a formation to shave off some of the resentment to alleviate Tan Wenbin's pain.

After hesitating again and again, Tan Wenbin still refused.

He said that the two children hadn't lived a good life since they were born, and being able to eat a full meal this time really wasn't easy.

Tan Wenbin had just lit a cigarette at the entrance when one of the older sisters walked out, flipping her hair, holding a pack of medicinal plaster in her hand.

She said this was brought from her hometown, and it was very useful to apply.

Tan Wenbin made a gesture to take out money, but was hit twice by the older sister, and the two were laughing and joking.

Soon, the other older sister came out, also with a cigarette in her mouth, and at the same time handed a newly woven scarf to Tan Wenbin.

The scarf wasn't long, and the pattern wasn't much, but the stitches were very dense.

Tan Wenbin hung it directly around his neck.

This was a gift from the two older sisters to Tan Wenbin, knowing he was about to leave.

The two older sisters were both straightforward, and there was no such thing as forcing good women into prostitution; they just came here specifically, purely to earn a sum of money and leave, relying on labor to earn money, and they had husbands and children in their hometown, and their husbands also knew what they were doing when they came out.

After returning to the earthen building, Tan Wenbin asked suspiciously: "Where did Mengmeng and Runsheng go?"

Li Zhuiyuan: "They told me, they want to go to the bottom of the lake one more time."

Tan Wenbin: "Mengmeng still wants to continue catching bugs?"

Li Zhuiyuan shook his head.

Although it was Yin Meng who brought it up, he knew it wasn't Yin Meng who wanted to go.

Runsheng: "You can stay on the shore and wait for me."

Yin Meng: "Your body hasn't fully recovered yet, I'm not at ease with you going down alone."

The two walked all the way forward and arrived at the main Zhao Jun temple in the deepest part.

Here, the ground was densely inserted with crystals, and there were impact marks everywhere.

Yin Meng sighed with emotion: "Brother Xiaoyuan really didn't have it easy here originally."

After sighing, Yin Meng's attention was on these crystals; she tried to touch them with her hand, but discovered that the interior of this crystal had already deteriorated, and after touching it, it turned into dust and fell off.

Not only because the project at the hydroelectric station caused the Feng Shui here to change, but also because the old hag herself was one of the necessary conditions for these crystals to form.

Yin Meng felt a bit of a pity.

Runsheng walked in front of the old hag's headless corpse; the corpse was still there, but because the "boy" squeezed out all her vitality when he was born, it was equivalent to bones that had been stewed again and again, and it no longer had any taste.

Yin Meng was startled for a moment, and not only didn't get angry, but instead nodded in deep agreement:

"That makes sense."

The Gu insect in her palm climbed even faster.

Time passed slowly.

Xiao Hei bit for a long time, and Runsheng also touched it for a long time.

Gradually, the anger in Xiao Hei's eyes faded; it also slowly let go, and then, stretched out its tongue and licked the wound on Runsheng's wrist that it had bitten.

It confirmed that the person in front of it hadn't had its body taken away.

Runsheng picked up the tonic that had only been drunk half a basin earlier and sent it in front of Xiao Hei; Xiao Hei drank the tonic and rarely licked the plate.

In the past, it was supplied with good food and drink every day, and it wouldn't make this move.

Runsheng pointed to the dog house.

Xiao Hei turned around, walked in, lay down, and began to sleep.

Today it barked so many times and even bit someone; for it, it was a rare big consumption in its life, so it had to rest well to replenish its vitality.

Yin Meng: "I'll help you treat the wound."

"No need, Xiao Hei's body is clean, I'll just rinse it with well water."

Runsheng walked to the well, drew water, and rinsed the wound.

After the red fresh blood outside was rinsed clean, one could see the blood groove bitten by the dog, which was scorched black inside.

This was caused by the conflict between the five-black dog's constitution and the aura in his own body, which meant that the evil and baleful aura in his body now was very heavy.

Runsheng took out a talisman drawn by Xiaoyuan from his pocket and pasted it on the wound; the talisman paper didn't turn completely black, but it turned gray.

Touching the wound with his fingertips, Runsheng sighed.

It seemed he still had to trouble Xiaoyuan.

He never cared whether he was some kind of freak; anyway, when he was a child, he was used to being called a "freak" by his peers in the village because of his habit of eating incense.

What he cared about was that if the aura on his body was too heavy, it would cause misunderstandings, thereby affecting Xiaoyuan's next river walk.

It just so happened that at this moment, Li Zhuiyuan returned from the bearded man's house.

"Xiaoyuan."

"Brother Runsheng?"

Runsheng raised his bitten wrist, and Li Zhuiyuan took a look and smiled: "Brother Runsheng, you go wait for me at the workshop."

"Good."

Runsheng walked behind the house.

Li Zhuiyuan prepared to go upstairs and met Yin Meng on the way.

"Brother Xiaoyuan, Runsheng he..."

"It's fine, I have a way."

Yin Meng nodded: "That's good, that's good, it worried me to death."

"By the way, where are Binbin and A You?"

"After they came back this afternoon, they were called by Grandpa Li to collect tables and chairs."

Li Zhuiyuan suddenly felt that if he had known, he would have taken them both to sit in the peach forest; otherwise, they wouldn't have been harnessed by his own Great-Grandpa to grind flour right after returning home.

Actually, Li Zhuiyuan understood the thoughts of his companions.

Earlier, their development paths were all designed by himself.

But now, they had their own subjective initiative.

Although, sometimes, even Li Zhuiyuan felt that they were very dangerous doing this, yet he had no way to open his mouth to stop them.

No one wanted to be the team's drag, and they all thought about being able to exert a greater effect when walking the river.

Moreover, here, besides team interests, there were also their own development needs.

They were people, not tools in his eyes; sometimes what he thought was best was instead not the most suitable for them.

Arriving on the second floor and walking into his room, A Li was drawing inside.

This painting had already completed the parts of Lin Shu You and Yin Meng, and was currently painting Tan Wenbin's part.

Li Zhuiyuan looked at the half-piece of memorial tablet left in the room; this amount wasn't enough.

A Li put down the paintbrush and prepared to go out; she knew the youth's meaning.

The tacit understanding between the two had long reached the point of not needing to speak, just needing eyes; well, A Li also couldn't speak.

But even if A Li taking memorial tablets as materials was something everyone was used to, Li Zhuiyuan still felt embarrassed to let A Li do this with just one look.

This time it was his own direct need, which was reasonable and appropriate, so he had to open his mouth to speak himself.

People, they can pretend to be confused while knowing, but they cannot pretend to be confused deliberately.

He held A Li's hand, walked downstairs, and arrived at the east room.

Liu Yumei was in the room, holding a brush and doing clothing design; next to it was one of A Li's, and what she was currently drawing was the youth's men's clothing.

Auntie Liu had just come in from the warehouse, holding memorial tablets, and was currently replenishing the ancestors who were out of stock.

It just so happened that at this moment, two young customers entered the shop.

Liu Yumei said somewhat unexpectedly: "This is?"

Li Zhuiyuan said to Liu Yumei: "Grandma Liu."

Immediately, the youth's gaze looked at the memorial tablets on the offering table.

Although this restocking was a bit urgent, Liu Yumei had long been used to it, just waved her hand, signaling self-service.

Li Zhuiyuan walked to the offering table and bowed to the memorial tablets on the offering table:

"Junior's attendant Runsheng has had some problems and needs to make wooden nails to suppress them; I ask all seniors to help!"

When saying these words, Li Zhuiyuan's voice was pressed very low.

When the youth opened his mouth to speak, Liu Yumei suddenly felt a warning in her heart and immediately blocked her perception.

Auntie Liu stood to the side, still thinking about appreciating the two children choosing, but who knew that after hearing these words, her throat immediately became sweet.

This was the first time she had eaten melon seeds and coughed up blood!

Auntie Liu's reaction also made Li Zhuiyuan feel suspicious.

Auntie Liu waved her hand busily, signaling that she was fine.

Seeing that the youth had finished speaking, A Li began to flip the cards for her ancestors.

She knew that Runsheng had sixteen Qi gates on his body, so he needed sixteen large wooden nails.

It was just that the memorial tablet had its fixed shape after all, with a thick base and a narrow top.

In the past, taking them to plane into wooden shavings was already considered maximizing utilization efficiency.

But this time, one memorial tablet could only make one large wooden nail, and the rest were waste materials, so this time, A Li chose sixteen memorial tablets.

She couldn't hold them all by herself, and Li Zhuiyuan was helping on the side.

From the early days of eating with the girl, Li Zhuiyuan knew that the girl had always had obsessive-compulsive disorder, so every time she chose memorial tablets, she would choose the old ones first.

This could also be considered treating everyone equally; no ancestor would be "abused" specifically, and no ancestor could get the girl's preferential treatment.

After the two held the memorial tablets and went out, Liu Yumei looked at the team of memorial tablets that had become sparse, her eyes revealing contemplation.

Auntie Liu took out a handkerchief and spat out the fresh blood in her mouth; she said somewhat incredulously: "Mistress, why would it be like this?"

Liu Yumei: "I don't know the reason either; the causal taboo on this child has suddenly become heavier, so heavy that even I feel wary."

Auntie Liu: "A Li wasn't like this before."

Outside the house, Qin Shu, who had just finished sending the paper offerings, was coming to the east room to report according to his usual habit.

Just walking to the door and hearing this sentence, he intended to withdraw his feet and go to the field to see if there was any work he could do.

But here, he couldn't jump up and leave directly; moving at an ordinary person's walking speed, it definitely wouldn't be faster than sound.

Liu Yumei: "A Li's river walk doesn't have much reference value."

It wasn't as uncomfortable as imagined; Qin Shu felt he was used to it, and he picked up the hoe.

Auntie Liu: "Then..."

Liu Yumei: "I have seen those who succeeded in walking the river, but they didn't appear in such a situation as Xiaoyuan so early in the process of walking the river.

Our Xiaoyuan is indeed too special, as if he has received more... from the river water."

Liu Yumei wanted to say "care," but no matter what, she couldn't say this word.

Where did this care come from?

But if she were to speak ill of the river water now, she also felt it wasn't appropriate.

Liu Yumei looked at Auntie Liu and asked: "Are you alright?"

"No harm."

"Mm." Liu Yumei dropped her gaze on the ancestor memorial tablets again and smiled, "By the way, when ordering memorial tablets in the future, get more of various rare materials."

"Mistress, what do you mean."

Involving ancestor memorial tablets, Auntie Liu didn't dare to play freely.

"My meaning is, a set of memorial tablets can have various different materials, don't just limit it to high-grade thunder-struck wood."

"I know."

"In addition, in terms of style, it can also be richer."

"Style?"

"Some big, some small, some thick, some thin; memorial tablets don't just have one specification."

"Different specifications, put them in one set?"

"Why not; for those with high seniority, you make them bigger, for those with low seniority, you make them slender, distinguishing the long and young, the honorable and the humble for them.

This is also convenient for our A Li to take materials."

"Understand."

Liu Yumei patted her forehead and blamed herself: "Sigh, why did I only think of this now."

"What do you mean..."

"We worship memorial tablets, which is reasonable and appropriate; A Li, as a family member, taking and replacing memorial tablets is also reasonable and appropriate; and the relationship between A Li and him is very special.

Heh, now it seems that these guys are not spiritual, which is not all bad; at least here, it is equivalent to breaking the cause and effect."

Auntie Liu suddenly realized: "Mistress, I understand."

Xiaoyuan's river walk was sudden, and there were so many good things in the ancestral house that they didn't have time to equip Xiaoyuan with them.

Now, ancestor memorial tablets... are equivalent to the only channel for the Qin and Liu families to transport benefits to Xiaoyuan.

Therefore, the mistress would let herself diversify in material selection and specifications, so as to broaden the range of benefit transportation.

Liu Yumei: "That, you can also inlay on the memorial tablet... forget it, too much is as bad as too little, you keep a good check, memorial tablets, after all, must have the appearance of memorial tablets; they can be luxurious, but they cannot be too outrageous."

"You can rest assured, I understand."

"Go prepare."

"Yes."

After Auntie Liu went out, Liu Yumei sat back in the chair; she originally wanted to let Auntie Liu try to do some inlaying on the memorial tablets.

For example, some beads, runes, which ancestor likes to use knives, swords, read books, look at paintings, all should be equipped.

But when she was about to say this idea, the warning that appeared earlier surfaced again.

You can moderately drill through the loopholes of the Heavenly Dao, but you must never treat the Heavenly Dao as a fool.

Once you go too far, it is no different from directly sending the causal backlash that needs to be borne.

Liu Yumei picked up the brush and continued to design clothes for the youth.

She often regretted one thing, which was why she didn't send some things to the youth early.

In the past, the children of the Qin and Liu families would have some good things on them when they were young; the Long Wang family had this foundation.

But Xiaoyuan didn't.

Her original intention was to take Xiaoyuan to the Qin and Liu ancestral house after the initiation ceremony ended; anyway, as the only descendant of the current generation, whatever in the ancestral house this kid liked and could control, he could choose at will.

But unfortunately, the initiation was the start of the river walk, and she lost this opportunity.

Clearly having the inheritance of two Long Wang families, yet when walking the river, he was like a Jianghu grass-roots, directly creating a rich family's poor path.

However, looking down at the jade ring on her finger.

This thing, when they first met, she wanted to give it to the child as a meeting gift, but this child firmly refused.

Perhaps, this was the will of heaven in the dark; before entering the sect, even if she wanted to give it, this child wouldn't want it.

Drawing and drawing, Liu Yumei glanced back at the offering table and mocked herself:

"You guys didn't expect it either, I lived a life of fine clothes and food, and in my old age, I was arranged to raise a child in poverty."

Sixteen memorial tablets were carried into the small workshop.

Runsheng had long been sitting inside waiting.

A Li was familiar with the road, picked up the ink brush, and began to outline the memorial tablets.

Then she took out tools and began to take materials and carve.

Li Zhuiyuan helped on the side.

Runsheng wanted to help, but he couldn't get his hands on this kind of fine work, and could only help handle the tabletop, and by the way, polish some tools.

Wooden nails were not hard to make, and there was no need for detailed texture carving, so it didn't take time.

High-end memorial tablets, even if they were original, could exert miraculous effects of suppression.

"Puchi!" "Puchi!"

Li Zhuiyuan opened two cans of Jianlibao, and he and A Li drank one can each.

"A Li, you go rest."

A Li nodded, her gaze falling on the can of Jianlibao in the boy's hand.

She wouldn't collect ordinary beverage cans anymore; after all, the grade of her collection had come up.

But cans that were opened together and drunk together, she still wanted.

Li Zhuiyuan could only raise his head, drink the remaining beverage in one breath, and then hand the can to A Li.

A Li took the can, a satisfied light revealing in her eyes, and left the workshop.

"Brother Runsheng, you take off your clothes."

"Good."

Runsheng took off his clothes.

In the past, Qin Shu used sixteen coffin nails to help Runsheng forcibly open his Qi gates, teaching the "Qin Family Dragon-Watching Method" body-refining technique in the most rigid way.

Nowadays, the original wounds had long healed, and the original round marks left by cupping had also become very faint.

But today, Li Zhuiyuan had to re-drill the Qi gates.

Li Zhuiyuan picked up the wooden nail, picked up the hammer again, and aimed at the Qi gate position, starting to nail the nails.

"Ding ding ding! Ding ding ding! Ding ding ding!"

Li Zhuiyuan's hands were sticky, all covered in Runsheng's blood.

Fortunately, the spraying of blood was just for that moment when it was nailed; after the nail was nailed in, Runsheng would contract his muscles and stop the bleeding himself.

Runsheng didn't feel pain, and didn't even frown; he just said somewhat apologetically: "Xiaoyuan, next time I won't eat things indiscriminately again."

"Actually, the Gu child corpse you ate was just a catalyst; the Qin Family Dragon-Watching Method is endless, even if it's not in battle, it's always tempering your tendons, bones, skin, and flesh when you eat and sleep daily; when you train to a certain degree, the things in your bones will inevitably be stimulated."

If Runsheng had followed Old Man Shan to be an ordinary corpse-salvager all his life, his innate characteristics wouldn't have been stimulated, and he would have been able to pass this life safely, albeit appearing strange.

But unfortunately, Runsheng followed him to start walking the river, battle after battle, serious injury after serious injury, Qi gate fully opened time after time, which catalyzed his true side.

Runsheng's expression was slightly dim, and his gaze lowered.

This was the first time Xiaoyuan had almost clearly told him that he wasn't a person.

Although he had long known this fact.

Which normal person couldn't eat without eating incense, and which normal person would have a strong appetite for those dirty meats?

Li Zhuiyuan continued to nail the nails while saying:

"It's great, we brothers are not people, we are monsters wearing human skin."

Runsheng raised his head and looked at the youth.

The youth had a smile on his face.

But in the smile, Runsheng noticed the pain the youth felt when saying this sentence.

He knew that monsters wearing human skin were the most ear-piercing words to the youth, but the youth took the initiative to say it to comfort him, taking it as a joke.

"Xiaoyuan."

Just a call, and no more words could be said, and there was no need to say them.

The scenes in that dream back then, the two of them didn't remember now.

In the dream, even if he was manipulated by the dream ghost and became a puppet, Runsheng still didn't follow the "master's" order to launch an attack on Xiaoyuan.

This matter, forgetting it was forgetting it, because some things actually don't need to be obsessed with remembering; anyway, they were all placed in the bottom of the heart.

"Alright, Brother Runsheng, you now operate the 'Qin Family Dragon-Watching Method' again, according to my instructions, if I tell you to be fast, you be fast, if I tell you to stop, you stop, if I tell you to go retrograde... you go retrograde."

"Good."

Although Li Zhuiyuan hadn't started practicing martial arts, his understanding of the "Qin Family Dragon-Watching Method" was something even Qin Shu couldn't compare to.

Under his command, Runsheng began to operate the method again.

"Er... er... er..."

Runsheng emitted a painful low roar.

"Pause for a moment."

Li Zhuiyuan raised his hand to signal, and then arranged a simple sound-insulation formation for this small workshop.

"Alright, it can't be heard outside now, continue."

"Ah!!!!!!!!!!"

Runsheng began to roar painfully.

This was like animals needing to grind their teeth; Li Zhuiyuan was equivalent to grinding teeth for Runsheng.

Forcibly grinding the evil and baleful aura that was constantly growing in his body.

Falling into reality, it was equivalent to Runsheng living and grinding his own skin, flesh, and bones.

The pain in this was far beyond scraping bones to treat poison.

However, Runsheng endured it all.

"Alright, it's okay."

"Hoo... hoo..."

Runsheng panted, raised his head; the luster in his eyes became deeper.

The original large muscles also contracted and became lean; although the whole person was still very large, compared to before, he had thinned out a bit.

From the temperament, he already had a shadow of Qin Shu.

"Beast nature" transforming into human nature not only wouldn't make him weak, but instead would make him stronger, because only humans could reasonably use power in a sober state.

The change in temperament also meant that Runsheng's body-refining technique had truly entered the door.

Although he took the path of hitting the door with brute force.

But he really, hard-headedly, hit out a gap.

Most importantly, the evil and baleful aura on his body was suppressed back; if Xiao Hei bit him again, there wouldn't be that kind of wound that broke the evil.

Li Zhuiyuan took out the talisman paper he drew and pasted it towards the wound on Runsheng's wrist; the talisman paper didn't change.

"Brother Runsheng, you've worked hard."

Runsheng shook his head, then looked at Li Zhuiyuan and said:

"Xiaoyuan."

"Mm?"

"Let's be people together, okay?"

When Li Sanjiang returned with a cigarette in his mouth, Runsheng had just taken a shower by the well on the dam and was preparing to clean up the bloodstains washed off his body.

"What's wrong, so much blood on the ground, did the family kill a pig?"

Runsheng scratched his head and said: "Grandpa Li, I made it."

"You made it? You had a massive hemorrhage?"

Li Zhuiyuan had just dismantled the formation in the small workshop and walked out to prepare to wash his hands; hearing the dialogue outside, the youth said directly:

"Great-Grandpa, originally Auntie Liu was preparing to make blood tofu, but I accidentally knocked it over, and Brother Runsheng is helping me clean it up."

Li Sanjiang: "If it's knocked over, it's knocked over; what a big deal, I don't like eating blood tofu, it's easy to get internal heat."

Li Zhuiyuan squatted by the well and washed his hands.

The well mouth was equipped with a manual pump, so there was no need to take a water bucket and tie a rope to draw water; just press it a few times, and a cup of water would always be prepared on the side, and when the well mouth was dry during the day and water couldn't be drawn, a cup would be poured into it.

Li Sanjiang looked at Runsheng somewhat strangely and asked suspiciously: "Why does it feel like Runsheng has lost some weight?"

"No, right?"

"No, he really has lost some weight." Li Sanjiang walked closer, raised his leg, and kicked Runsheng who was squatting on the ground wiping the floor, "If Old Man Shan came over and saw this, he would think I don't give you food to eat; remember to eat more, and raise the meat back."

"Alright, Grandpa Li." Runsheng responded with a smile; eating, he was good at it.

Li Sanjiang looked at Li Zhuiyuan: "That, Little Zhuiyuan, you come with me for a moment."

"Good, Great-Grandpa."

Runsheng handed over a handkerchief; Li Zhuiyuan wiped his hands and followed Li Sanjiang into the house.

He didn't expect that entering the house wasn't enough, and Great-Grandpa signaled Li Zhuiyuan to follow him upstairs.

It wasn't until following him into the room that Great-Grandpa took out a lottery ticket from his pocket.

"Little Zhuiyuan, you see what this is."

"Great-Grandpa, did you go to win a prize?"

In these years, the trend of winning prizes could be said to be prevalent in various places.

Every time a township held one, both sides of the road were counters selling lottery tickets, with unified uniformed sales staff standing behind, and nearby villagers would be attracted, as lively as going to a fair.

The scrapped lottery tickets were paved layer upon layer under their feet.

"Those who win prizes are not as refined as those who sell them; I picked this up."

"Picked it up?"

"Yes, you look."

Li Zhuiyuan took the lottery ticket, on which was written "Beijing Two-Person Five-Day Luxury Tour."

"Hehe, you look, how is my luck, Great-Grandpa? I heard Zhuangzhuang say that you are busy with internships now and don't need to go to school anymore, and you have nothing to do now, so it's just right for you to go to Beijing to see again."

"Great-Grandpa, I don't want to return to Beijing; I live very well here."

"It's not asking you to return to Beijing to live; this is a package tour, don't go for nothing."

"But, I can't go, Great-Grandpa." Li Zhuiyuan pointed to the small characters on the lottery ticket, "The date has already passed; this is the prize opened in the previous two periods."

"Expired? Has someone already won it?"

"Mm."

Generally, these big prizes were won by the organizers themselves, who went on stage to collect the prizes, and ordinary people could only draw shampoo or soap.

"Hiss, this is a waste of joy; I even treated it as a treasure and put it in my pocket."

"Great-Grandpa, if you want to go to Beijing to see, I'll take you to travel."

Traveling to Beijing was almost the dream of all the older generation at present; they wanted to go and see that sun.

"Why spend that money; I heard that eating and drinking in Beijing are not cheap; I won't go, won't go, won't go!"

"Great-Grandpa, I have saved a lot of money, enough to take you..."

"How much money you saved is enough; have you married a wife? Have you had a baby? Have you bought a house in the city?"

Li Zhuiyuan blinked; he was only how old.

Li Sanjiang touched the youth's head: "It's fine, Great-Grandpa has planned everything for you here; business is good now, let Great-Grandpa save more, it's enough, it's enough."

"Good, Great-Grandpa."

The youth knew that earning and saving money for himself was the greatest pleasure in Great-Grandpa's life now.

"Dinner is ready!"

Downstairs, Auntie Liu's punctual report came.

"Go, you go call that girl to eat together."

"Mm."

After Li Zhuiyuan left the room, Li Sanjiang took the lottery ticket and looked at it again:

"Why did it expire?"

Li Sanjiang smacked his lips twice.

Originally, he didn't like drawing prizes. He didn't like playing cards on weekdays either.

But the original thought that wasn't there was instead seduced out because of this expired lottery ticket.

"How about, I go buy one tomorrow and scratch it?"