CH 15

The burning sensation disappeared in a second, and the fire seemed to be full of ice water. The pressure and cold air covered his face. Wu Rong shivered, put down his hands slowly, and opened his eyes.

He was stunned by the sight in front of him. The stilted building built against the mountain, the tall and luxuriant old maple tree, and the center of the village were used as the square for sacrifice. The fire pond Wu Rong came in just now was still in place, but it was extinguished. The environment in front of him was exactly the same as that in the stronghold. It looked like a mirror, but there was no color here, only black, gray and white. 

There was also red. The bloody red was more bright and dazzling against the black and white background.

The statue was still standing by the fire pool, and the blood splashed on the skirt fell down one by one, emitting thick heat. The exquisitely carved face was smiling. The more he saw it, the more strange he felt, as if an evil spirit possessed him.

She was watching Wu Rong.

Instinctively alert, Wu Rong retreated silently, pulling away from the statue. But he hit a mass of air conditioner on his back. 

“Moo –”

The cow mooed suddenly behind him. How can there be cattle here?! Wu Rong looked at the wood frame in front of him to kill cattle, and turned his head slowly.

A headless cow stood quietly behind him, Wu Rong’s face was facing its neck. There was no blood in the wound, no multiple wounds cut by the axe, and the incision was smooth, as if there was no head.

“Moo –”

The cow’s cry came again, and this time it became clearer. Wu Rong found a huge cow’s head under the cow’s belly. It was also a single one. The big eyes were still open, and the mouth was chewing something repeatedly, as if it was still ruminating.

“Hum, hum, hum.”

The pigs that came and went roared, and the burnt pigs walked around the fire pond leisurely. But some pigs were left with only the front half of their bodies, and some are left with only a back seat, jumping on one leg. Wu Rong suddenly remembered the statement he heard in his last life.

Both humans and livestock have souls after death, but human souls are complete, while livestock are muddled and their souls are broken and scattered. Therefore, it was said that reincarnation of livestock was the greatest punishment for the villain. It was not only the transformation from man to livestock, but also the essence of his soul. The pain of broken soul was the ultimate in the world, so it could be used as punishment for the wicked. 

Only cattle, cats, dogs and other animals that can communicate with souls were relatively complete.

Wu Rong confirmed that the pigs and cows had died. What he saw now was their souls.

What a strange place this was!

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“Llrr!”

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A giant snake that was probably only found in myths and legends landed in front of Wu Rong. It was very large, coiled up like a small mountain, the whole body was emerald, each scale was the size of a bowl.

The giant green snake yawned, and its mouth was big enough to swallow ten Wu Rong. He looked around in high spirits and saw Wu Rong standing still. He urged him to arch Wu Rong with his head and made him stagger. 

But after touching the Green Snake, Wu Rong strangely understood its meaning.

“Will you take me to find the Zhong Gu?”

The giant green snake flicked happily, and with a clever effort, it directly arched Wu Rong onto the top of its head. It skillfully carried Wu Rong and walked around the stronghold.

The usual stronghold village was only black and white, and the quiet and strange were more like old art photos. And there were countless more gadgets than normal. Wu Rong saw a path leading to the witch stilted building. Bai Gu warned him that except for the only correct path, all the other roads were bewitched. Wu Rong could not see it in the past, but now he can see it clearly in this world. The road was full of black worms, which looked like earthworms. 

When the giant snake passed by, they were so frightened that all of them pretended to be dead. Each of them stretched into strips, like chocolate bars scattered all over the place.

The giant snake was taking him outside the stronghold. As he approached the stronghold gate, Wu Rong saw the bridge of Ai Bridge. Under the bluestone slab bridge stood a woman in white wearing a Ru dress and a bun. She was holding an oil paper umbrella with a gentle and quiet expression. She smiled at Wu Rong and wore the sachet that Ai Qiao put under the bridge at her waist.

All things have spirits, but there were too many sundries and distractions in reality, and nobody was able see it.

Green Snake had a clear goal and lead Wu Rong to the Drum Tower outside the stronghold. 

——

The atmosphere outside the fire pool was solemn, and the flames were crackling and burning. Dozens of Miao men and Miao women were guarding the fire pool, and their expressions were more serious and tense than those of the sacrifice just now.

When the fire pool was opened, the smell of another world would attract many dirty things. Before Wu Rong recovers the Gu, they must be well prepared and guard the fire pond to prevent foreign objects from invading.

“Here we are!” 

Bai Gu warned with a cold voice, and the wooden staff handed down from generation to generation hit the ground heavily. The sound of ghosts crying and wolves howling came from the dark depths, sharp and piercing. On the edge of the firelight, there appeared five grim and twisted white faces, full of fangs. They looked longingly and fearfully at the burning fire pool, and the leader could not resist the temptation to step forward and expose himself to the light.

Its face looked like a ghost, its nose was bright red, half a person tall, and its whole body was covered with black brown hair. Its eyes were small and divine, and it showed no animal-like intelligence. Facing the fire pool, it stood up like a man, showed its fangs to the guards, and uttered a ghostly and sad howling sound, which made people shiver.

Ghost baboons were also called mandrills. In the mountains in the southwest, their reputation was comparable to that of the yellow weasel in the northeast. They were all evil mountain spirits and wild monsters.

“Bang!” 

The gunshot sounded, and the Miao people’s old guns were not powerful enough. The sound was very loud. The leading mandrills trembled with fear, and the rest of Miao Yong fired guns one after another to demonstrate. Finally, this small group of mandrills was scared away.

Use shotguns to deal with mountain spirits and wild monsters, and use chicken blood and poison Gu to deal with ghosts. Living in the mountains for so many years, the people in the village had enough experience.

In addition to mandrills, there were many lonely souls from the mountains attracted by the campfire. After several waves of defense, the young people guarding the fire pool were tired. But the old people in the Witch Village looked more dignified. The Miao women who took a rest did not leave. They sat down around the fire pool, holding hands and singing melodious ancient Miao songs.

This was a song to praise gods, appease Gu and pray. Pray for the safe return of those who have traveled far away. 

“Calculate the time. A-Rong should go to Laomiaodong.”

The old man of the village smoked and refreshed himself by the pungent tobacco.

“Wait until the cock crows.”

The old man of the village cheered up loudly, “Cheer up! There is still a hard battle to fight!” 

As soon as he finished speaking, a baby crying voice suddenly came from the deep dark mountain forest. When the voice sounded, everyone looked ugly. The old man clenched his teeth and said, “The cat ghost is coming.”

He saw that there were more than ten dark shadows in the place where the ghost baboons came and went just now. The shadow was small and exquisite, only two fists big. It seemed harmless. But when it appeared, the bonfire, which had been burning vigorously, suddenly became shorter. The temperature dropped suddenly, and frost began to form on the grass leaves closest to the shadows.

The Yin Qi was too heavy and the ghost Qi was dense, which led to such a scene.

The bonfire faded, and the shadow headed by it walked forward slowly, just sitting at the junction of light and dark. The slender tail was coiled on the front paw. It was skinny and old. The eyes of the deep cat were dark, flashing with evil and vicious light. 

This was a group of cat ghosts.

Cat ghost, also known as cat poison, was the most dangerous animal poison, which was once popular in ancient times. It was recorded in the Sui Book, Biography of Empress Concubine, Documentary Empress Dugu: “Later, the different mother and younger brother Buddha cursed the queen with cat ghosts and witches and killed her.” Later, those people who were good at using cat ghost witch Gu were exiled to the frontier, and some of them wandered to the southwestern frontier today.

It was too evil to keep a cat poison, and cat poison was the most famous poison that was easy to bite back. If you were not careful, you would kill the sorcerer. These cat ghosts were originally raised by one person in the Evil Miao Stronghold. He wanted to raise many cat ghosts so that they could devour each other and finally create a poison king. Unexpectedly, the cats and ghosts joined hands to eat him.

This group of cat ghosts who killed the owner should have been destroyed, but they were poisoned by Ge Lang and put into the woods behind the witches and their Miao Village. 

Compared with mandrills and wild ghosts, they were more humane and dangerous.

Grandma Wu who had been keeping her eyes closed finally stood up. Her eyes were sharp and clear, as in her youth. Pushing aside the help of others, Grandma Wu strode to the fire pool and said something to the old cat in the old Miao language.

After saying that, Grandma Wu waved her hand, and eight young people came in pairs with four big bamboo baskets and put them beside the witch. The old man overturned one of the bamboo baskets and rolled out wriggling shadows. After these things came out, the cats and ghosts immediately became agitated.

The bamboo basket was full of rats numbed with drugs. They were still alive and fresh. Four baskets were enough for the small group of cats and ghosts to eat and take. The witch meant that as long as they leave here, these mice will belong to them. In the next three years, the stockaded village will sacrifice them with mice.

The old cat ghost had a spirit. It understood and hesitated. The ferocity in its eyes seems to be in deep thought. After a long time, it tried to move forward, and its paws stepped in the firelight range. The witch’s tone suddenly became severe, and a series of very rhythmic words poured out like singing, full of warning. But this time, the old cat ghost seemed to have made up his mind and shook his head slowly. 

“Meow.”

It shouted hoarsely, a cat ghost came out from behind it, and put a small white ball in its mouth in front of the old cat ghost. The cat ghost was not very skillful. When he put it down, the little white ball did not stand firm and rolled on the ground for a circle.

“Mi?”

A tender and shrill cry sounded, which was extremely childish and sounded completely harmless. But at the moment when the cry sounded, the witch’s face suddenly changed, and Bai Gu, who was standing behind, also stared. 

The most terrible thing finally came.

The white mass stood up, it looks like a snowball, wobbling, stumbling, a grunt rolled into the firelight, seemed to be a painful fall, and aggrieved cried.

“Miwu.”

This was the cry of the milk cat. The one caught in front of the old cat ghost was a white and chubby baby cat!