Chapter 493

This General General Wu Dao is indeed unlucky.

Li Yan has also seen a few General Wu Dao temples; in some places, he is called "Fifth Master General Wu Dao," with only one statue, wearing golden armor and sitting upright holding a long spear.

While in other places, he has become five statues, several of which have green faces and fangs, looking very ferocious and awe-inspiring.

This matter is also helpless.

Building temples and shrines is often done spontaneously by the common people, with merchants donating money and burning incense to pray for the protection of the peace of the region.

But when the common people build temples, they are often not that particular.

The same statue differs from place to place, and is also related to local folk legends; if some stories are heard more often, they will often shape the statue according to what they think in their hearts.

"Five Paths" refers to the Heavenly Path, Human Path, Hell Path, Hungry Ghost Path, and Animal Path, but I don't know when, it was passed around and became "Five Thieves."

It even looks like the real thing, finding several historical prototypes.

It seems that being a god is not that carefree and at ease...

The words of the two also revealed quite a bit of information:

Divine Orders are related to incense!

Within the False False Yin Si, it seems it is divided into several forces.

And that "Five Directions Luo Feng Flag," the "Heavenly Law" prohibits it from flowing into the mortal world, it seems it is not that simple, and there is some secret hidden...

Just as Li Yan was pondering, that unknown False False Yin Si god spoke: "General, please wait a moment, let me handle this matter first, so as not to delay time and violate the False False Yin Si Law."

After saying this, he threw a scroll into the air.

And the black well's bloody water in front of Li Yan also rotated rapidly, floating up a piece of yellow silk, stating the information of the demon god and demonic energy to be captured.

This demon god is not recorded in the "Immortal Cave of Zhao Changsheng."

His name is Zuo Shouquan, originally a formidable warrior of a tribe in the ancient era, with a violent temperament; after death, he was worshipped by the people of the tribe, his essence became a nearby Mountain God, but he was addicted to killing and blood, eventually becoming an evil god.

His appearance is similar to that of a wild man, one hand holding a blade, the other carrying a human head, his roar like a fierce tiger in the mountains; if anyone is unfortunate enough to encounter him, they will surely die.

This evil god also has a unique skill.

Like a tiger demon, he can collect ghost servants.

The evil art passed down is called "Head-Severing Zhao Changsheng Art"; those who worship him will be marked, a bloodstain will appear on their necks, they can use evil arts and incantations, and they can absorb human essence and blood to maintain their lives.

But every once in a while, they will lose themselves.

They will offer their own heads before the demon god's statue.

Their bodies can still move freely, but they will be enslaved by this demon god, causing trouble everywhere and capturing people for blood.

In ancient times, the Flying-Head Rakshasa clan was related to this demon god.

So the legend of the "Headless Man" in the Shu region comes from this...

After reading the information, Li Yan turned and left.

One is to save time; after all, there is still a battle outside.

The second is that those two gods were not talking and were looking at him; if he stayed, it would be hard to avoid being seen through.

This jade accessory left by Yin Changsheng is a method of stealing heavenly secrets.

He didn't want to be labeled as a ghost criminal.

After his figure disappeared, the two voices continued to sound.

"General General Wu Dao, this person has some talent, but you had better not move; the Five Directions Luo Feng Flag sent out will likely be lost."

"I know, the Thunder Mansion is also eyeing this person; what do they want to do?"

"I don't know about this matter either."

"The changes in the mortal world, I'm afraid the Dharma Realm will also find it hard to escape turmoil..."

In the dense forest, Li Yan opened his eyes abruptly.

He took out his pocket watch and looked; only a few seconds had passed.

But in this short time, changes had already occurred again in the ruined temple.

He saw ghost winds howling in the temple, and dots of green light flickering.

Whoosh~

Accompanied by a violent wind, a bloody smell drifted out.

Swish, swish, swish!

Li Yan's previous shot had pierced the internal organs of many swordsmen; although they weren't dead, they had lost their combat power, and their breathing was becoming weaker and weaker.

When the bloody wind blew, they suddenly opened their eyes, like zombies, standing straight up, their pupils flickering with eerie green light.

Their wounds were still bleeding, but these people seemed completely unable to feel it, their eyes filled only with coldness and killing intent, carrying their blades and rushing out again.

Their movements were also very strange, appearing somewhat stiff, but their internal energy was much more formidable; exerting force under their feet, their speed was even greater than before.

It's puppet art!

Seeing this, Li Yan immediately had a guess in his heart.

This type of art can not only control dead objects like puppets but also control living people, and these swordsmen should have been tampered with while alive, so they were easier to control and their power was greater.

Clang!

In the blink of an eye, two swordsmen had leaped over.

The blade light was biting, slashing at Li Yan from the left and right.

Li Yan was not afraid at all; he raised his Dust-Severing Blade, and with a clang, sparks flew, he used the momentum to rotate his body, shifted his shoulders, and his left hand used "Hidden Flower Under the Leaf," sliding past the armpit of the other swordsman and slapping him fiercely.

Crack!

The sound of a chest bone shattering rang out, and that swordsman flew backward, crashing directly into the blade of the person behind him.

And Li Yan took the opportunity to flick his blade, and the other swordsman whose blade had been deflected was directly disemboweled, flesh and intestines scattering all over the ground.

The stomach was also torn open, falling to the ground.

Sure enough, a small cloth bag was hidden inside, wrapped with paper talismans, human bones, hair, and other items.

Li Yan didn't even look and continued to swing his blade.

After these swordsmen became puppets, their strength and speed became stronger, but their moves became stiff and full of holes.

Not to mention they had already become living dead, even when they were alive, no matter how high their kung fu was, it wasn't enough for Li Yan to look at.

Figures flew, and blade light flickered.

Li Yan wandered between the blade edges, appearing to be in constant danger, but in reality, he was strolling leisurely, with everything under control.

Those who fed him moves were Zhang Xiaoshan and Wu Qu, both of whom were born into famous families and were like geniuses of martial arts.

With a high perspective, naturally, things looked different.

Li Yan didn't take these people seriously.

They were just puppets; the real threat was still in the temple.

Whoosh~

Sure enough, the ghost wind howled again, and several black shadows flew out, flying up and down in the air, emitting strange laughter.

And dense fog also rose around, dim and dark, making it hard to see.

Li Yan has the sense of smell; naturally, he could perceive that these black shadows were all human heads, disheveled, with pale faces, the severed parts wrapped in a mass of black smoke.

Green light flickered in their eyes, and they flew extremely rapidly in the air.

The laughter carried a certain eerie power, like demonic sounds piercing the ears, making people restless, chest tight and wanting to vomit, and their blood and qi were obstructed.

One of the heads suddenly opened its mouth and sprayed a stream of black energy, whistling directly toward Li Yan.

This is a curse, similar to "containing sand and shooting shadows."

And Li Yan was waiting precisely for this moment.

He suddenly erupted, charged directly out of the encirclement, and rushed into the temple.

From the information obtained from the False False Yin Si, this type of flying head art is very tricky, with extremely fast speed; even if the head is shattered, they will still turn into headless demon corpses and continue to cause trouble.

Its weakness lies in the bodies inside!

"Ah-!"

A shrill scream rang out, and the flying heads chased from behind.

They spat black energy one after another, wanting to stop Li Yan.

And when Li Yan arrived at the gate, he didn't even look, taking out a copper tube and pressing the mechanism toward the rear.

This was a trophy searched from the old Daoist Tan Wanpei.

It's a bit like the "Rain of Pears" needles in the martial world, driven by a mechanism, capable of releasing nearly a hundred poisonous needles in an instant, covering a huge range.

This item is far less useful to him than a firearm, only winning in being secretive, and the sound is not loud. Swish, swish, swish!

The sound of poisonous needles piercing the air rang out.

The heads behind were all hit, pricked like hedgehogs, their wounds rapidly turning black and hardening, and the poison made them scream repeatedly.

And Li Yan had already arrived in the temple.

He saw several people lying neatly on the ground.

Pfft! Pfft!

With a wave of his blade, he pierced the hearts of several headless bodies.

"Ah-!"

With every blade, screams rang out outside, and the sound of heads falling to the ground.

And those puppets also lost control, falling to the ground one after another.

Soon, the vicinity became quiet.

Li Yan didn't kill them all, but left one, holding the Dust-Severing Blade against its chest, and said faintly toward the outside of the temple: "Roll in here!"

!.

Whoosh~

The ghost wind blew, and a head floated in slowly.

Although its face was iron-blue, it could still be seen that it was a young man with refined features, his eyes filled with fear.

It was none other than the Du family descendant, Du Yuanguang.

At this moment, Du Yuanguang was filled with extreme regret.

Relying on this evil art, sacrificing people to the demon god, they had run amok in one place and accumulated a huge family business, so it was hard to avoid being somewhat arrogant.

So what if the Daoist arts are high?

Famous orthodox sects also can't do without incense money.

So what if the imperial court has rules?

In the eyes of those officials, human sentiment is greater than rules.

As long as things are done secretly, nothing will happen.

Who could have thought that he would provoke such a killing god.

"Speak."

Li Yan asked coldly: "Your Du family, when did you start worshipping and sacrificing to this Zuo Shouquan?"

Upon hearing this, Du Yuanguang's eyes flickered.

The name Zuo Shouquan was the Du family's biggest secret; how could this killing god in front of him know?

And he even knew their biggest weakness!

Li Yan's eyes were slightly cold, his wrist exerted force, and the Dust-Severing Blade cut directly through his chest, but didn't go any deeper.

"Don't, don't, I'll speak!"

The fear of death made Du Yuanguang beg for mercy, and he said tremblingly: "Our family's ancestors, in the deep mountains near Neijiang, were in a village called Shi Long Village."

"In the village, the story of the headless man had been circulating since ancient times, but very few people had seen it, and they just took it as a legend."

"Back when the Great Xing Dynasty collapsed and the Xuan Dynasty was newly established, cities were built everywhere, and a lot of stone was needed. My Du family happened to be a wealthy household in the village, so we led the villagers to split the mountains and open stone quarries nearby."

"The reason the village was called Shi Long Village was because on the nearby hillside, there were exposed rocks that naturally grew dragon scales and were exceptionally hard."

"Legend says it was the dragon vein revealed, which could protect the village's peace, but the village had always been poor, so everyone didn't take it seriously and split this place open directly."

"As a result, the mountain rocks collapsed that very day, and many people died. To appease the people's hearts, my Du family hired a Yang Opera troupe to drive away evil and suppress the spirits."

"Who knew that that very night, the people from the opera troupe would disappear mysteriously."

"Subsequently, singing could often be heard from the old opera stage in the middle of the night, and there were also commoners who said they saw headless men near the opera stage, and they fled in succession, and the village was abandoned as a result."

"One of my ancestors fell into a serious illness because of that incident, and after waking up, he passed down the method of sacrificing to Zuo Shouquan."

"At that time, the Du family's situation was bad, we left our hometown and were bullied, so we used this method to kill and collect wealth, gradually rising to power..."

Listening to this person's account, Li Yan vaguely guessed the cause and effect.

Zuo Shouquan's true body was a Mountain God; most likely, a strand of demonic energy was suppressed under the mountain, and he could only cause trouble occasionally, but because the Du family split the mountain, he was completely freed.

"What did you send people to do secretly?"

Thinking of this, Li Yan continued to ask.

Du Yuanguang hesitated again, his eyes flickering, and he begged for mercy tremblingly: "If I say it, can you spare my life?"

Li Yan said faintly: "As long as you are obedient, I will definitely not kill you."

Hearing this, Du Yuanguang didn't quite believe it.

But things had reached this point; if he didn't speak, he would die immediately, and coupled with Li Yan's reputation of keeping his word, he had no choice but to gamble.

"Every year on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, according to the rules, the Du family must hold a human sacrifice, killing fifty people, putting the heads in a bronze tripod in the mountains, and piling the hearts and livers outside."

"If we don't do this, the ones who die will be us; we will run to the mountains ourselves, remove our heads, and put them into the tripod."

"Are there guards there?"

"No, there are many headless men in the mountains, all accumulated over many years, appearing and disappearing unpredictably; no one knows where they are hidden, and those who enter the mountains on weekdays, even us, cannot come out alive."

"Whose orders were you following to harm me?"

"It was the Ghost Sect; I don't know specifically who it was, only the patriarch has seen them, I only know that every year they send a large batch of silver to Xiangxi."

Hearing this, Li Yan was lost in thought.

It seems as he guessed, the Ghost Sect's main power is not in the Shu region, and most likely it is still cooperating with the Yang family of Bozhou to oppose the imperial court.

Therefore, they used these underhanded means to deal with him.

Just at this moment, Li Yan felt a stir in his heart, directly sheathed his blade, and strode toward the outside of the temple.

Seeing this, Du Yuanguang's head hurriedly flew toward his body, black mist surged at the neck, and it reconnected bit by bit.

And in the open space outside the temple, Li Yan looked toward the night sky.

Clatter, clatter!

The sound of wings flapping rang out, and the falcon Lidong landed, full of wind and frost, and somewhat exhausted, chirping chaotically at him.

Li Yan laughed dumbly, "Something happened, there was no way."

During this period of split-team action, the most tired one was this falcon.

Every fixed period of time, it had to travel between three places to deliver intelligence.

And they also had an agreement that when a certain time arrived, they would tie ribbons or burn fireworks on the mountain peaks where they were located, allowing the falcon to find the target.

It was easy to talk about Sha Lifei and Wang Daoxuan's side.

Only Li Yan's path was traversing, and he had to fight people from time to time, hide his figure, and didn't have time to release the signal, making the falcon search for two days.

After checking the secret letter, Li Yan was lost in thought, immediately wielded his brush to write down the intelligence from his side, and tied the copper tube to the falcon's claw again.

Soon, the falcon flapped its wings and pierced into the night sky.

And Li Yan turned back into the temple.

"Let's go."

Looking at the bewildered Du Yuanguang, Li Yan said in a deep voice.

"Go... go where?"

"Shi Long Village, Head-Severing Mountain!"

…………

Near the Dazu Rock Carvings, in a bamboo forest on the hillside.

The treasure-hunting Yu father and son were stir-frying tea.

The steps for making tea leaves usually involve spreading, killing green, rolling, re-frying, and drying; different crafts and different styles result in different flavors and grades of tea leaves.

Especially this spiritual tea, the process is even more cumbersome.

The Yu father and son were busy from morning till night, but they enjoyed it.

After all, the secret of the Tea Immortal is the foundation for the Yu family's future foothold; becoming familiar with this craft early can also increase some experience.

And in the thatched cottage nearby, Lu San looked at Sha Lifei, his eyes full of worry, "Last night, did you dream of it again?"

"Hmm."

Sha Lifei's lips were iron-blue, still feeling a lingering fear, and he couldn't help but curse: "I'm not a sorcerer, how could I dream of the Corpse Forest? It must be that bunch of old monks who set a trap for me!"

(End of chapter)