Chapter 19 ancient temple

Amidst the rumbling sound of iron cables, the white waterfall became farther and farther away, and finally turned into a thin white line, falling between the blue mountain walls. Jumping off the wooden bucket, Yun Jisang hesitated again. Where should I go?He didn't know the surrounding terrain, so it seemed that he could only rely on finding the mountain people and inquiring about it. I followed the mountain all the way to the south, but I didn't see any pedestrians along the way, only a large flock of birds flew by, casting continuous light shadows on the ground.At a fork, he turned east, onto a narrow path.Judging from the scale of the road and the traces on the side of the road, there should be a family at the end of this small road.

Sure enough, after walking about two miles, I saw three small huts.But to his disappointment, these huts were quiet, the courtyard was empty, and the vegetable field behind was also full of weeds, obviously it had been abandoned for a long time. After turning around in the yard, his eyes fell on the door and window of the hut, where a few pieces of yellow talisman paper were pasted.The runes written with cinnabar were almost invisible after being washed by the rain.With his extraordinary eyesight, he could barely distinguish the lines on it. This is... a demon-suppressing talisman and an exorcising talisman?Yun Jisang has also studied Taoist talismans, so he naturally knows that these things are not very useful, but they are just mysteries deliberately used by Taoists to give believers psychological comfort.However, today's imperial court emphasizes Taoism, and even the Taizu once issued the "Order to Universally Distribute Fushui" to the descendants of heavenly masters, encouraging Taoists to use Fushui to treat people's diseases.However, only Taoist priests of the Zhengyi school are qualified to write talismans. Both the Yingzong and the Xianzong successively issued edicts prohibiting the forging of talismans in order to protect the right to record talismans of the family of celestial masters... Taihang is not the territory of the Zhengyi school. It must be the wild Taoist priests who came from somewhere to play tricks and fool the mountain people.Yun Jisang shook his head with a wry smile, turned back, and walked south for half an hour, the sky had gradually dimmed, but Yun Jisang still found no trace of human habitation.It seems that this place has been forgotten by the world, and there are barren fields and abandoned huts everywhere.And without exception, these huts are affixed with the talismans of the seven towns to exorcise evil spirits.

He seemed to smell an ominous breath from the slightly cold wind. Here... what happened?Where did these mountain people go?Are these abandoned huts related to the incident under the mountain that Luo Pukong talked about?A lot of questions wrapped around Yun Jisang like chains and chains, and his steps became heavier and heavier. The mountain wind is piercing, and the night is like a tide. The waning moon moved rapidly between the clouds, the hazy yellow moonlight flickered, and the road in front of me became blurred.The mist in the valley rolled towards the top of the mountain, like a cold white wave, engulfing everything.

He plunged into the fog and lost his way.After walking a few miles deep and shallow, he had to stop and wait for the mountain fog to disperse. Are you a little reckless?It's hard to say if such a person can find clues when he goes down the mountain alone. Senior sister brings Ming Huan up the mountain alone, so she won't be in danger, right?She had met the murderer... After thinking about it for a while, she felt that she was worrying too much.Zhuo Anjie's swordsmanship is outstanding, she is shrewd and sophisticated, and she has her own armor in her chest.She debuted for ten years, and she hasn't heard of anyone who has won favor from her.Bieyuejian is well-known in Jianghu, and it is definitely not for nothing.If the murderer really came to kill her, and her internal injuries were still unhealed, most likely she would have to rely on her senior sister to protect her.Thinking of this, he couldn't help laughing at himself.

The wind is getting stronger.The fog receded in the gale and quickly routed. Yun Jisang looked around, only to realize that he was standing on a small hill.To his surprise, not far away, a small light was flickering faintly. There are people there! He exerted strength on his feet, and after a few ups and downs, he was already close to the light. This is a small village.Strangely, there is no sound of chickens crowing or dogs barking in this village.Except for the faint light, the whole village was dead silent, without any sign of life. Yun Jisang came to the light and found that it was an ordinary white paper lantern.The lantern was inserted obliquely in front of the door of a farmhouse, swaying obliquely in the wind, like a white spiritual streamer.

Yun Jisang lifted the lantern and shone it on the door.Under the light, the door was covered with dense yellow talisman paper. Why is there a talisman posted here?Could it be that there is really a monster around here? "Is anyone there?" Yun Jisang knocked on the door. The wooden door opened in response to a hoarse moan, which was especially piercing in the silent night. Yun Jisang stood at the door for a while, seeing no one answered, then stepped into the house. The house was cold and silent, dilapidated and simple furniture scattered everywhere, and the thick dust showed that no one lived here for a long time.After walking around the room, he found a silver hairpin in the corner of the stove.Clearly, the owner here was in a hurry.When he was about to walk out of the house, the light suddenly illuminated a graffiti on the wall.

He stopped suddenly and raised his lamp to shine.It was an extremely weird boy's graffiti. A high mountain, a small farmhouse at the foot of the mountain.In front of the farmhouse, a smiling child is watering the seedlings.But in the corner of the hut, there stood a puppet with loose hair, quietly looking at a child.The puppet has no feet, and only a few thin threads are pulled behind it, and the end of the thread extends all the way to the back of the mountain.The puppet's face was blank, with no features. " Faceless puppet?It also appeared here?This is a coincidence?still……

Yun Jisang looked around with a lantern, but couldn't find any other graffiti.Apparently, the painting was painted by the family's children before they moved out.He went to a few more houses, and every house was empty.It seemed that the entire village had disappeared overnight.What made them disappear so silently?robber?Natural disaster?plague?Or some unknown evil? Holding a lantern, Yun Jisang walked slowly in the deserted village alone.The dim light looks so small in this vast darkness, like the only star left in the night.The surrounding houses are all dark, and each one is so peaceful and lonely.They silently collected the secrets of the old masters in the dust and hid them in the silent darkness.

A clear and crisp voice resounded suddenly, echoing as clear as an autumn anvil, ignoring the confused night. It's the sound of wooden fish!Yun Jisang got refreshed and walked quickly following the sound. The sound of the wooden fish was slow and monotonous, like the beating of a dying heart, ruthlessly smashing the silent night into pieces.Yun Jisang turned around a mountain depression, a corner of the red wall was faintly exposed by the edge of the forest, and the sound of wooden fish came from there. When he came under the red wall, he realized that it was actually an ancient temple.

The scale of the ancient temple is not small. Judging from the dumped stone incense burner in the courtyard, the fireworks here used to be quite prosperous.It's just that the temple is empty at this moment, and the place as far as the eye can see is barren, only the monotonous sound of wooden fish echoing in the main hall. Yun Jisang carefully carried the lantern and walked towards the main hall. A white-haired man in an old cassock sat with his back facing him in the middle of the hall, slowly knocking on the wooden fish, and seemed to have no reaction to Yun Jisang's arrival. Yun Jisang walked behind him, and asked cautiously: "This master...are you alone here?"

The man didn't look back, nodded slightly, and continued to knock on the wooden fish silently. "I saw that the village was empty just now. I don't know why?" "Let's go, everyone is gone." The man's voice was old and thin. "Gone, why are you all gone?" "It's getting dark, that thing will come out. You go too, if you don't go, that thing will come to catch you..." Yun Jisang shivered, and then his heart moved, and he asked: "What is that thing? But is it a faceless puppet?" The man's body trembled violently, and suddenly he screamed: "No face, no face is coming! The wind! The wind is blowing! No face is coming to catch you, Xiao Shanzi! Hurry: hide! The wind is coming丨 Shameless is here! Come to eat your heart!" "You..." Yun Jisang was surprised, but the man suddenly turned around, revealing a shriveled old face.Only then did he realize that the other party was the old lady he met on the way to the puppet gate! At this moment, her body was trembling, and her dim eyes were full of fear, as if she saw the most terrifying thing in the world coming to her. . "Is Shameless that puppet? What did it do to the people in the village? Mother-in-law, tell me..." "Shameless...you are here, Xiaoshanzi, run, here you are...run...run...let's all run together..." The old woman hugged her head and sat there with her head bent, murmuring murmur endlessly. "The people in the village run away because they have no face? What about you? Why don't you run away?" Yun Jisang turned to her again and asked. "I won't run, Xiao Shanzi, grandma won't leave you. Don't worry, grandma won't lose face..." the old woman muttered, showing a kind smile to the air around her. "Aren't you afraid of being shameless? Why aren't you afraid? You know it?" Yun Jisang asked excitedly. There was a weird smile on the old woman's face, and she took out a fire bag from her bosom: "Look, I have this, I'm not afraid of losing face..." She pulled out the bamboo tube, blew violently, and The torch was blowing. In the beating firelight, the wrinkled old face looked even more terrifying. "I'm not afraid of being shameless, I'll burn it to death... burn it to death..." The old woman held up the torch and approached the tattered scripture curtain hanging down on one side. "Mother-in-law, don't..." Yun Jisang was thinking about the connection between the old woman and the faceless puppet, seeing her like this, she hurriedly stopped her, but it was already too late.Almost in an instant, the scripture mantle was blazing, and the tongue of flame quickly jumped up to the roof, igniting the entire hall. . "Burn it... burn it... burn it, you won't dare to come if you don't have the face... burn it hard..." the old woman shouted like crazy. Yun Jisang saw that the fire had grown, so he hurriedly picked up the old woman and jumped out of the hall.He ran all the way out of the temple gate before he put the old woman down and turned around to look. In the thick night, the golden red flames soared into the sky, mysterious and wild, as if to indicate something.In a short while, the already rotten girder was burned, and amidst the rumbling sound, the Great Hall of Great Heroes collapsed. The old woman looked at the blazing fire, her eyes were full of obsession and fanaticism, and she murmured some vague sentences It seems that the reason why the old lady went crazy should have something to do with the shameless appearance.And nine times out of ten, this so-called faceless is a faceless puppet.In this way, the things under the mountain that Luo Jiankong talked about refer to the desolation of this village, right?What did that shameless person do to make the villagers flee out of fear?Did it take away the children of the villagers?If so, what is it for?How many people in the Puppet Sect know what happened under the mountain?Is it because of this that Mei Zhaoxue often goes down the mountain?And Cao Zhong didn't pay any attention to Mei Zhaoxue's whereabouts, does it also mean that he knows the secret? He was contemplating, when the old woman suddenly pointed at the woods not far away and yelled frantically: "Shameless! Shameless is here! Xiao Shanzi, run! Shameless is here to arrest you!" Yun Jisang turned his head to look, only to see a dark shadow flashing in the forest, as expected, someone was peeping.He flew up and threw himself into the forest.But he didn't see behind him, the old woman's body shrank into a ball, and she muttered endlessly: "...take out your kidneys, so that you have feet and can't walk; dig out your liver, so that you can't see with eyes; To gouge out your heart so that you cannot speak...to remove your kidneys so that you have feet so that you cannot walk; to gouge out your liver so that you..." The black figure in front of him was obviously very familiar with the terrain, Yun Jisang almost chased him away several times, but clung to him with his excellent sense of hearing.Although the distance is only tens of feet, the distance can never be shortened.After passing through several woods, the other party disappeared. Who is this man?Is it a faceless puppet?Although they are far away, from the back view, this person is slightly fat, but he looks a bit like Luo Jiankong.If it was really him, why did he go down the mountain at night?Could it be that, as he and Wang Biyan said, they were here to investigate the murderer's tracks?In any case, I will ask him a good question tomorrow.