At noon, when the sun was blazing, Damu Town's deputy mayor, Song Zhengge, had an accident on his way back to the town station from Guawo Village. The news of his car plunging into the forest, leaking oil and exploding, burning into a pile of bones spread back to the mountain village, casting a deep haze over the village that was already in a state of panic.
"What a sin! All of you are a sin! You said that Mountain Worm has gone to the US to enjoy his life and won't be coming back! Look at it now! You've cursed three national cadres to death right after he came back! Now that he has spoken, I'm afraid you're going to break the roots of your ancestors!"
"Stop scolding, Dad! Didn't the big boss in the city send the money to your pocket? Didn't you say that it's a good thing? It's considered as helping Old Zhang's family to take care of their ancestral house? Mountain Worm can't say anything even if he comes back …"
"You, you, you even learned to talk back. You little rascal, see if I don't beat you to death, beat you to death. I, your father, am seventy-eight years old, and my brain has become muddled. You're not even fifty, and your brain has become muddled as well. Whatever I say, you do …"
"What do you want to beat? What do you want to beat me to death? Even if you beat me to death, you can't appease Old Zhang's family's anger.
Mountain Worm left a message for Er Mu to prepare his belongings and go up the mountain by himself within three days. He even said that we, the families who agreed to occupy his ancestral house during the village meeting, must give him an explanation.
Speaking of which, the Zhang family is the nemesis of the nickname 'Er Mu'. A few years ago, Er Mu of the He family died in his hands. Now, Er Mu of the Xiang family is about to die as well. I was thinking that no matter how evil the Zhang family's Old Man was, he couldn't just kill half of the villagers. If he killed Er Mu, maybe he wouldn't look into it anymore.
Why don't we go out and hide for a few days … "
"Hide, hide, hide! Damn it! We can hide once but we can't hide forever! Moreover, even if Mountain Worm doesn't dare to wipe out half of the village, how do you know which family he's going to target … Go, go get a healthy mule.
Go, go and get a healthy mule. I'll go and look for your Brother Ah Lie. I'll put my old face on the line and see if I can use my strength, sigh … "Similar conversations could be heard in many of the houses of the mountain villagers. In a short while, the entire mountain village was filled with villagers who were pulling their mules and rushing to Tao Lie Lin's house which was halfway up the mountain in embarrassment.
At this time, Zhang Lisheng, who had stirred up the entire Guawo Village, continued to study the ancient books attentively in the side room of the Zhang family's old house. He did not care about such a small matter like killing people with a little spell. After all, Qu County was a barren land of Miaoyi since ancient times. There were countless people who were injured by poisonous insects, so it was not strange for one or two people to die occasionally.
Sitting on the wooden bed, Zhang Lisheng put down the Book of Mountain Separation that was written on the old parchment and carefully picked up a book that was as thin as a cicada's wing from the wooden box at the head of the bed. The young man flipped through it for a while and his eyes lit up. Muttering, he muttered, "Sacrifice, in the beginning, one devours another's will to transform into its shape. Don't tell me that the key to the Witchcraft's Gate of Sacrifice lies in the word 'will'?
'Will', consciousness, will … Didn't the Rank-6 Wizard of the Gate of Sacrifice rely on absorbing beast souls to obtain their power? Devouring another's will to transform into its shape? Don't tell me that the 'will' reacts on the 'material' so that whatever one thinks in one's heart will become true?
No, no, if the Gate of Sacrifice's method is so mysterious, why would one still need to absorb beast souls … "
Zhang Lisheng's intuition told him that he had found a certain key. He carefully pondered over the sentence 'Sacrifice, in the beginning, one devours another's will to transform into its shape.' The more he thought about it, the more he found it to be memorable. After reading through the Wizard's Log Lake, he put the ancient book back into the wooden box and calmed his mind. Without warning, he heard a knocking sound resonating from the courtyard.
Frowning, the young man closed the wooden box at the head of the bed and got off the bed. He walked to the courtyard in his black cloth shoes and pulled open the latch. When he opened the wooden door, he was baffled to see Uncle Ah Lie standing in front of the door. The mountain roads on both sides were filled with green mules. There was even an old mountain man holding the reins standing in front of each of the mules, looking at him with a smile on his face.
With a jolt of his mind, Zhang Lisheng immediately figured out what was going on. However, he maintained his composure and asked Tao Lielin, "Uncle Ah Lie, what are you doing?"
"Mountain Worm, isn't it because our fellow villagers feel sorry for your Zhang Family? They're all here to apologize and ask for a favor. Look, we're all from the same village for generations …"
"Uncle Ah Lie, if they knew that our Zhang Family's ancestors are from the same village for generations, they wouldn't have seized our Zhang Family's ancestral house, don't you think so?"
Tao Lielin's words were interrupted by Zhang Lisheng, so he was rendered speechless for a moment. At this moment, an old mountain man with a hunched back, who was at least 70 years old and whose skin was already dry and wrinkled, kneeled onto the ground with a thud. "Old Lisheng, Old Lisheng, it's my Ge Pu Family that was blinded by the big boss in the city and had bad thoughts.
Old man, old man, you're a magnanimous man. I, an old man, will kowtow and apologize to your family. Next year, I'll offer four types of livestock as an offering to the old men of the past generations. Just this once, just this once, just this once, please, please … "
"Aiyo, Uncle Rao Lin, w-what are you doing?" Seeing the old man kneeling, Zhang Lisheng remained calm. However, Tao Lielin panicked right away and went to help the old man up immediately. However, before he could help the old man up, the other villagers who were pulling the mules on the mountain road also kneeled down as if they had just woken up from a dream.
Tao Lielin's face flushed as he looked at the mountain people kneeling on the ground around him. He rubbed his hands hard and said to Zhang Lisheng loudly, "Mountain Worm, look at what you've done, kid!
Do … do you want your Uncle Ah Lie to kneel down as well to ask for a favor from you? "He was really going to kneel down as he was speaking.
Zhang Lisheng stopped him immediately and said helplessly, "Uncle Ah Lie, you're wasting my birthday if you kneel down. Sure, whatever you say. I'll forget about this. However, if there's a next time, I'll make it clear that we'll settle old and new scores together.
"Also, Elder Ge Pu, what's going on with that 'big boss in the city' that you mentioned? Tell me about it."
Hearing that Zhang Lisheng had bypassed him, Old Ge Pu felt relieved and said immediately, "Old Man Lisheng, it's a boss with the surname Guo who came from another place. He wants to open a hotel in your Zhang family's ancestral house. He even opened a company called 'Heng Xiang' or something …"
"Uncle Rao Lin, stop it now," Tao Lielin interrupted the old man's words anxiously and said while looking at Zhang Lisheng's pale face, "Mountain Worm, this is not a small matter now. Y-You can't act recklessly anymore."
Zhang Lisheng nodded noncommittally and did not say anything.
At this time, in the entire Guawo Village, be it the tourists who came from foreign countries or the mountain people in the village, everyone's attention was focused on the front of the Chinese-styled old house that was completely different from the surrounding bamboo buildings on the hillside of the village that was built on the mountain.
Among the crowd, a tall man with thick eyebrows and big eyes who looked like a college student pointed at Tao Lielin. A girl who had slightly tanned skin and an unusually delicate face said in surprise, "Lulu, isn't … isn't that your father? Why is he leading a large group of people to lead their horses and kowtowing to a young man on the street? Is this a folk performance from your hometown?"
"Yao Lin, don't talk nonsense if you don't know anything. Don't simply point at him. That young man is our village's' old man '…" The girl replied with a complicated expression. She then forced a smile and said, "Sigh, I can't explain this to you foreigners. Don't we all want to go to the Snake Stockade Valley to have a look? It'll be too late if we don't depart now."
"Then let's go. The Snake Stockade Valley is the highlight of our self-help tour this time.
Let's go, let's go. What's so good about kowtowing? I haven't seen enough of the Qing Dynasty dramas. " Some of the seven to eight young men and women who were with her saw that the girl was in a bad mood, so they quickly called out to her loudly. They carried their backpacks and walked out of the village on the mountain road.
The young people were agile and soon disappeared in the mountain road. At the same time, the mountain people who surrounded the Zhang family's old house to apologize also led their animals under Zhang Lisheng's order and returned to their homes with gratitude. Only Tao Lielin was left in front of the Zhang family's house.
"Uncle Ah Lie, is there anything else?" Zhang Lisheng asked when he saw that Uncle Ah Lie did not leave.
"It's nothing. It's just Er Mu. Sigh, I'm really cursed. A few years ago, Big Er Mu from the He family died in your house, and now Little Er Mu from the Xiang family has provoked you because of his house.
Grandpa Xiang was there too. I saw him opening his mouth a few times but he dared not say anything … "
"Alright, Uncle Ah Lie. With your word, everything will be over." Zhang Lisheng's attitude was even more gentle now that he was alone with Uncle Ah Lie who had helped him before and had always cared about him sincerely. He completely acted like a junior and agreed to it without any nonsense.
"That's great, that's great." Tao Lielin breathed a sigh of relief and looked much more relaxed now. After thinking about it, he lowered his voice and said again, "Mountain Worm, does what happened to Mayor Song have anything to do with you?"
"Mayor Song? What happened to Mayor Song?" The young man played dumb and asked back.
"There was a car accident on the way back to the town. He crashed into a tree and the car was burning due to the oil leakage. I heard that it almost caused a forest fire and the three people in the car were burnt to ashes."
"Uncle, I'm an old man, not a terrorist. What does the oil leakage and explosion of his car have anything to do with me?
It's true that I cast a curse on him, but I don't know if it'll work or not. Even if it does, it'll only make him have a few years of nightmares, "Zhang Lisheng casually made up a story.
"A few years of nightmares? That'll make him mentally ill. Mountain Worm, tell me, you've even stayed in the US before. How … Sigh."
"Uncle Ah Lie, even though I've stayed on Mars, I'm still Zhang Lisheng. My temper is still the same," The young man smiled and said softly.
"Alright, alright. I can't win you in an argument. Are you planning to stay here for a few days or do you plan to stay here for a long time?"
"I'll only stay for ten days to half a month."
"Alright then. I'll ask your aunt to cook for you these few days and send your meals to you."
"Uncle Ah Lie, don't trouble yourself. I-I can cook for myself."
"How are you going to cook when you don't even have rice, flour, oil, and salt at home? Stop talking, I'll send your meals to you now. Alright, alright. Go back to the house now." Tao Lielin waved his hand and walked away along the way he came.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
