Chapter 653

Several hunters were like blood gourds, their torn fur coats torn into rotten cloth strips.

They were panicked and their legs were weak, so they rolled down from the hillside.

"The tiger demon is eating people!"

A sturdy farm woman saw it and immediately screamed at the top of her voice.

This immediately blew up the whole fair.

The old man selling candied haws next to him trembled, the straw target scattered, and the hawthorn balls rolled into the donkey dung pile.

The big man performing chest-breaking stone-breaking just swung the hammer, and the bluestone slab below cracked into two halves with a 'crack'.

It wasn't that he had Gang energy, but that the person cooperating below was shaking.

The monkey show troupe was even more miserable. Seven or eight naughty monkeys screamed and dragged their iron chains into the crowd, overturning the steamer of the bun shop and tearing down the shed of 'Wu's Sesame Cakes'...

The crowd at the fair was already crowded, and the chaos triggered a chain reaction.

Many people heard it as 'the tiger demon came down the mountain to eat people', and seeing others running, they hurriedly picked up their children and squeezed out in a panic. Some people stood on tiptoe to watch the fun, but were bumped and stumbled...

Sha Lifei and the others were not idle either.

Seeing a child knocked over and trampled on the ground by the crowd, Sha Lifei stepped forward directly, crossed his hands, used clever force to separate the crowd, and held the crying child in his arms.

Wu Ba had astonishing divine power, slapped the hot oil pot back to its original position with one palm, and supported the collapsing thick wooden long banner alone.

But facing this chaotic crowd, what they could do was just a drop in the bucket.

Just at this moment, Long Yan'er suddenly made a move.

She formed hand seals, her white sleeves fluttered, and dense 'frost moths' suddenly rose. The fluorescent light at the tail used for confusion, although difficult to exert effect during the day, the scales scattered by the flapping wings were sprinkled on the crowd.

Her Gu arts could not be resisted by ordinary practitioners, let alone these common people.

Soon, a strange scene appeared at the fair:

The originally panicked common people all stood still with dull eyes and drooling.

And the range was constantly expanding.

"Bold!"

A roar came from the inn in the distance: "In broad daylight, you dare to use Gu arts to hurt people!"

Before the voice fell, the window on the second floor of the inn shattered with a bang, and a figure broke through the air.

It looked quite large, but the movements were very agile. When landing, the toes pointed to the ground, like a horse stepping on a flying swallow, stepped on the shed support twice, and jumped directly above the crowd, slapping Long Yan'er's head with one palm.

Long Yan'er was maintaining the Gu arts, glanced lightly, and ignored it.

She knew that the other party couldn't hurt her at all.

Sure enough, Sha Lifei behind her held the child with one hand, wiped his waist with the other, and had already pulled out a flintlock pistol.

The man naturally knew what this was, hurriedly withdrew his hand, forcibly performed a swallow-turning somersault, landed, and retreated.

"Despicable!"

After landing, he cursed angrily.

It was a man in a brocade robe, tall and large, with palms reaching past his knees.

He was born with a strange appearance, and his martial arts were not simple.

Sha Lifei didn't indulge him, and cursed back directly: "Blind dog eyes, didn't you see we were saving people?"

Clatter~

A group of people surged from the distance, all of them martial arts practitioners, holding knives, guns, and sticks, surrounding everyone.

At the same time, several men from the Cao Gang also came back to their senses.

"Misunderstanding, it's all a misunderstanding!"

They were sweating profusely and hurriedly blocked in the middle to persuade.

"Second Master Shi, these few are the distinguished guests of the helmsman..."

"Master Sha, this is our helmsman's junior fellow apprentice..."

After some persuasion and explanation, both sides put away their weapons.

Sha Lifei muttered a few words and still guarded Long Yan'er, while Wu Ba giggled foolishly and separated the surrounding people without a sound, obviously not relaxing his vigilance because of the relationship.

The man in front of him was Chen San's junior fellow apprentice, surnamed Shi, given name Heilong, rumored to be a descendant of Shi Qian, the 'Flea on the Drum', with excellent skills and a flexible brain. He opened the Jingyang Ridge Inn and played the banner of the Liang Shan legacy, which was considered a local martial arts hero.

Because of him, the Jingyang Ridge temple fair had developed over the years.

And hearing the low whispers of the Cao Gang brothers, Shi Heilong was also quite surprised.

"Masters, I was reckless, I'm sorry."

Shi Heilong didn't argue, and directly cupped his hands to apologize.

"Easy to say."

Sha Lifei grinned and dealt with it.

The misunderstanding was resolved, and things naturally became easier to handle.

Long Yan'er formed Dharma seals and released the illusion. The Cao Gang people and Shi Heilong's brothers comforted the panicked common people and carried the wounded to the medical clinic.

Shi Heilong was the convener of the big fair, and he made quite a bit of money every year, openly and secretly.

If it wasn't handled properly, the fair would probably never be held again.

After a while, the chaotic fair finally dispersed.

The timid common people had long since left this place of right and wrong with their old and young.

And the bold ones, as well as many martial arts performers, stood on tiptoe and stayed to watch the fun.

"All disperse, all disperse, don't talk nonsense to me!"

Shi Heilong stared at the surroundings and said: "What tiger demon, it's mostly a tiger that ran from somewhere on the mountain. Everyone rest assured, I'll go up the mountain to cut the tiger whip for wine. The yamen has already said, spreading rumors to confuse the public will be beheaded after autumn!"

This remark of his, both coaxing and scaring, finally drove away the people watching the fun.

After all, if it really caused a huge stir, even he couldn't bear it.

After doing all this, Shi Heilong immediately turned and walked towards the inn.

The injured hunters were still inside, so he had to ask clearly what was going on.

Sha Lifei gave a wink, and several people followed behind.

One was out of curiosity, and the other was to see if they could take a business order along the way.

Shi Heilong saw it, his heart moved slightly, and he didn't stop them.

The layout of this Jingyang Ridge Inn obviously took some effort.

The hall hung with a faded tiger-head wine flag, a peach wood carved screen of the story of Wu Song fighting the tiger was slanted next to the elm wood counter, and coarse pottery bowls were stacked in a tower shape, pressing down on the rubbings of the 'Water Margin' opera, which had the flavor of a theme inn.

However, it was old after all.

The copper pot hanging on the fire pond had been smoked black, and the scorched wine fragrance was mixed with the smell of pine resin.

The beams and pillars were covered with fur deposited by hunters, the corners of the walls were covered with spider webs from replicas of cooked copper whistles, and even the 'Three Bowls Without Crossing the Ridge' yellow paper pasted on the mottled walls had its handwriting blurred by oil smoke.

Several hunters had already been simply bandaged and were sitting on the benches in the hall.

Each one was pale and was drinking yellow wine to suppress their shock.

"Proprietor!"

Seeing Shi Heilong enter, everyone hurriedly stood up.

Jingyang Ridge Inn was famous for its strong liquor and high-quality wild game.

If they only relied on others to send it, it would inevitably be in short supply, so Shi Heilong specifically hired a few hunters to walk in the mountains and wilderness all year round to supply wild game for the inn.

"Don't be polite, sit down, what exactly happened?"

Shi Heilong pulled over a bench and sat down, asking with a solemn face.

"Proprietor, it scared us to death..."

Old Hunter Zhang trembled and poured down the yellow wine, the wine foam dripping down his beard:

"We stayed in the mountains for a night. In the early morning, the forest was terrifyingly quiet, not even a bird chirped. Er Lengzi insisted he saw a lame deer, so we followed the blood spots to Old Pine Slope, and suddenly smelled a fishy sweet smell..."

Shi Heilong frowned, "Sweet smell... aren't animals smelly?"

"It's true!"

Old Zhang hurriedly explained: "It's like... like peaches rotting in the dog days, mixed with the smell of incense in the temple!"

Sha Lifei next to him heard this, and his eyes narrowed slightly.

And the other hunters also started talking at once.

"That beast seeped out from the tree shadows..."

"Yes, in broad daylight, its eyes were green, looking at people like scraping bones with ice shards."

"Why did you say it was a tiger demon?"

"Sanwazi shot an arrow, and the arrow shaft shattered into wood dregs as soon as it left the string. The air it exhaled froze our fur coats hard, and it rattled when we ran."

"Fog rose in the mountains, and when we fled to the mass grave, an old man in a burial shroud suddenly turned out from behind a tombstone, his face painted deathly white and grinning at us, but that laughter... was clearly a tiger's roar!"

Listening to everyone's words, Shi Heilong also felt his scalp tingle.

He knew these hunters; they were all people who had run in the mountains since childhood, and it was inevitable that they would see some strange things. Being able to scare them like this was definitely not simple.

Thinking of this, Shi Heilong asked carefully: "Did you commit any taboos?"

Old Zhang heard this and said with a bitter face: "Proprietor, our brothers are all old hands, how could we mess around."

"Before going up the mountain, we burned incense, and we were careful about what we said, what should be moved, and what should not be hit, all kept in mind..."

Saying this, his face suddenly changed, "It wouldn't be that thing, would it?"

"What did you do, speak clearly!"

Shi Heilong stared with round eyes and scolded in a low voice.

Old Hunter Zhang looked at the others and shook his head: "The Wu Song Temple on the mountain has been in disrepair for a long time and has become a bit desolate. We simply cleaned it up, and Shanwazi made a wish, saying he wanted to hunt a few tigers."

Shi Heilong's face sank, "So it's my fault?"

Most of Jingyang Ridge's reputation came from 'Wu Song Fighting the Tiger'.

Tiger meat in the inn was naturally the top dish.

Shi Heilong also specifically raised the price, and the reward for hunting a tiger was doubled.

"Proprietor, don't blame us."

Several hunters hurriedly apologized.

Shi Heilong wasn't really angry, but pondered for a moment, turned his head to look at Sha Lifei next to him, his heart moved, and he cupped his hands respectfully: "Masters, I was negligent."

"I have also heard of the great name of the Twelve Yuan Chen, can you..."

"Of course."

Sha Lifei smiled slightly, "It's just that our reward is a bit expensive."

Shi Heilong patted his chest and said: "Expensive is nothing, as long as you can remove this trouble, I will definitely not treat you badly, you can just name the price."

"Bold!"

Sha Lifei gave a thumbs up, "Ezhou handles things for people, the reward is 30,000 taels. Now our market price is naturally more than that, but since it's Chen San's junior fellow apprentice, let's count it as this."

As soon as this was said, the surroundings were in an uproar.

"30,000 taels!"

"It's really a lion's mouth, might as well go rob!"

"Inviting True Lord Liu from Yanggu County, 3,000 taels is enough!"

Listening to the complaints of these people, Sha Lifei smiled slightly and didn't explain.

Shi Heilong recognized the Gu arts just now, but still dared to deal with Long Yan'er alone.

Although the misunderstanding was resolved, he had to test them.

If the other party agreed immediately, then this person must have a problem!

The tiger demon harming people might also be a trap...

"Shut up, all of you!"

Shi Heilong's face was ugly, he glared fiercely at the Cao Gang disciples who followed, and then cupped his hands: "Masters, sorry, Shi will handle this matter himself."

Listening to this, Sha Lifei was completely confirmed.

This person was just a stick, knowing some things about the Mystic Sect, but not knowing much.

With the current reputation of the Twelve Yuan Chen, 30,000 taels of silver was really not expensive.

Of course, this was the common reward for the whole team. If they handled it easily, it would certainly be cheaper, but it was still a price that these martial arts people couldn't accept.

Thinking of this, Sha Lifei prepared to take people away.

They either eliminated demons voluntarily, or followed the market price.

In short, they couldn't take jobs at will and ruin the status of the Twelve Yuan Chen.

This was human nature.

If it was too cheap, it would be despised by others.

As for the tiger demon, it was easy to solve.

Zhang Qiu Town had a Chenghuangmiao, and there were many people from the Mystic Sect nearby.

As long as it was reported, naturally someone would handle it.

But just at this moment, Zhao Donkey, who had been silent, suddenly pulled his clothes, stepped forward and said: "Brother Sha is joking, we will handle this matter, the reward is also easy to talk about, I want an object in Proprietor Shi's inn."

There is treasure here!

Sha Lifei heard this, immediately understood, touched his big bald head, and laughed: "That's right, just joking, since I know Chen San, what reward or not, forget it."

Zhao Donkey still couldn't speak, so he added a patch.

Sure enough, Shi Heilong heard this, shook his head directly, stood up and raised his hand: "What are you talking about?"

"Don't ask around, is Shi the kind of stingy person? Just take whatever is in the shop!"

To tell the truth, he wasn't a fool either.

The appearance of Sha Lifei and the other two clearly showed they had discovered something.

But he was neither a person of the Mystic Sect, nor did he really want to report it to the Chenghuangmiao.

After all, public opinion is fearful; even if the demon was caught, the business of Jingyang Ridge would probably be ruined.

He could only handle it himself, and later say it was a rumor to the outside world.

And he was also very curious about what was in the shop that could catch the eyes of these people.

"Good!"

Sha Lifei agreed immediately, then looked at Zhao Donkey.

And Zhao Donkey was not in a hurry. Under the gaze of everyone, he walked around the hall a few times, ran to the back kitchen, and hugged out a fat tabby cat.

Shi Heilong was stunned, "You all took a fancy to this cat?"

He was a bit strange. To drive away mice, several cats were raised in the inn.

This one was the laziest, didn't catch mice, and liked to run to the back kitchen to steal food.

If it hadn't been raised since it was small, it would have been thrown out long ago.

Zhao Donkey still didn't speak, held the tabby cat and walked a few steps in the hall, suddenly exerted force with both legs, jumped onto the table and soared into the air, and threw the tabby cat in his hand upward.

"Meow!"

The tabby cat was thrown directly onto the roof beam, but after landing, it didn't mess around, but its whole body bristled, its back arched, and it kept screaming at the corner of the roof beam, as if it had seen something terrible.

And Zhao Donkey also scurried onto the roof beam like a monkey, pulled a red rope from his arms, his hands flew fast as light, tied an object tightly, and then jumped down.

Everyone looked, but it was an old copper candlestick.

Shi Heilong was full of surprise, "This... who put the candlestick on the roof beam?"

Obviously, he didn't know there was such a thing on the roof beam either. His heart was curious, and he couldn't help but ask: "Masters, I keep my word, but I just want to ask one more question, what kind of treasure is this?"

Looking at Zhao Donkey's movements, he had already guessed that this was a treasure-hunter, and it was hard not to be itchy.

"This is a 'Long-Lasting Lamp' from a tomb."

Zhao Donkey glanced at him, "What's the use? Even if I tell you, you won't understand, and you won't be able to use it, but someone put this thing on the beam because they want to curse you."

"When sleeping at night, did you dream of anything?"

As soon as this was said, several people including Shi Heilong suddenly changed their faces...

(End of chapter)