Painter

Chapter 153 Two: Ghost Lord
In the dark, Li Chan put the stele carved by Xuanxin Sword into the pit and tamped the loess.

In front of it is the sun-drying field of Baektou Village, with flagpoles erected and an altar for the autumn festival.Below the stage is the pit dug by the demons. Under the newly dug loess, more than [-] villagers from Baitou Village who died of the plague were buried.

Li Chan patted the dust off her hands, turned and left, and looked back at the old pagoda tree in front of the village.

The cold mist is misty, and there is the sound of ghosts crying. The resentment of the dead has not dissipated, and there are already signs of condensed demons.

The black donkey under the tree was groaning uncomfortably, Li Chan took out the scroll from its back and unfolded it.

He waved the pen, and although he didn't dip it in the ink, the night mist gathered on the tip of the pen, and in an instant, it turned into a picture of a deserted village on the paper.

Li Chan put away the scroll, carried the book case on her back, and patted the ass of the donkey.

The stupid donkey was taken aback for a moment, then came to his senses, and walked away from the archway of Baitou Village without haste.

Chance Yaoying followed behind him, seeming to have become a bit more mighty and majestic.

The fog in the village dissipates without wind, the crickets sing everywhere, and the cold moon hangs high.

Walker took away a saber and left dozens of new graves.

Most of the new tombs are unnamed, except for one with a stele in front of it, engraved with three vertical characters.

"The tomb of Mr. Zheng and Mr. Lang."

"Raising food to save the poor, died of illness in Baektou Village, under the Yanwu Mountain."

"The 23rd year of Lin Gong, autumn."

……

Qingling County is adjacent to Mt. Jiwu, south of Qizhou, and is the southernmost county of Gyeonggi-do.The county is adjacent to the Jinghe River in the west, and it was originally an important place for water and land transportation, and it was quite prosperous.But after half a month of heavy rain in mid-spring, the ground was flooded with water two feet, and the rice seedlings were all dead.The rain stopped, and the locust god crossed the border again.In the months that followed, rice prices skyrocketed and famines ensued.

People in Tsing Yi passed through the outskirts of the county, and victims of the disaster can be seen everywhere.The dead were wrapped in straw mats and thrown into the field.Those who don't even have straw mats become floating corpses in the water.

The black donkey passed by on the road, and the hungry people on the side of the road were digging wild vegetables, their green eyes fixed on the black donkey's autumn fat, like wolves and tigers.They didn't bear to look away until they saw the black donkey's owner with a sword on his waist.

At the gate of the city, a woman stopped the guest in Qingyi, offering to exchange her daughter for some food.The girl was only eight or nine years old, and the woman unbuttoned her blouse and praised her for being a beauty despite her young age.The girl was dressed in rags, her eyes were set off by her thin face, she looked like a deer.

Dozens of refugees stared blankly at the rice bag on the black donkey's back.The man in green shook his head, indifferently pushed the woman away with his scabbard, and passed through the gate into the city.

The woman sighed secretly, and closed the shirt for the girl, but she saw that the girl's waist was bulging, and she didn't know what was wrong.Her heart skipped a beat, she dragged the girl to a remote place, took out the bulging bag and saw that it was five pieces of cooking cakes, immediately burst into tears, and dragged the girl to kowtow repeatedly to the city gate where the man in green clothes disappeared.

Li Chan entered Qingling County. Although there was a famine in Qizhou, the market in the county was extremely lively.Calligraphy and painting books, which are usually valuable, are sold at low prices, but no one cares about them.Some sell their sons and daughters, or sell themselves.Among the disheveled crowd, there are occasionally a few people in brocade with oily faces.When Li Chan was walking through the market, he saw a man in brocade clothes pinch a young girl's chin. After examining her teeth carefully, she frowned in disgust and waved her away.

Believers gathered in front of the Bawa Temple at the end of the market. In front of the steps, Lingzhu cranes wore crowns, imposing, and under the spiritual blessing of the Seventh Grade Shravaka, they recited a piece of "Elimination of Locusts" to show that the great god expelled locusts merit.Surrounded by sandalwood smoke, one can faintly see the sacrifices on the altar, and there is no shortage of three animals and eight treasures.

Li Chan sat in the tea shed next to the Bawa Temple, called the tea doctor to serve a pot of Qiuyuebai, took out a piece of cooking cake, broke it, and swallowed it with the tea.A few rangers at the corner looked at the black donkey, winked at each other, and approached quietly.Li Chan glanced at them, put the sword horizontally on the table, then turned around and continued eating the pancakes.

The rangers looked at the calm back of the man in green, then at the sword on the table, looked at each other, hesitated for a while, and finally left.

After Li Chan ate the pancake, he chewed half of the jerky again.Faint voices of conversation came from the table next to it: "The food in Shannan Road has already arrived... The ghost master is paying for food..."

Li Chan took a sip of tea, swallowed the jerky, and called out, "Doctor!"

Dr. Cha glanced this way and walked over, "What's the matter with the guest?" His voice was weak.

"What's the matter with the ghost master paying for food?"

As soon as Dr. Cha heard the question from the guest in Qingyi, he knew that he was an outsider. He sighed: "The guest didn't know that a month ago, [-] shi of grain came from Shannan. The famine in Qingling County has long It's time to stop. But not long after the food arrived, the ghost lord led the army, passing by Qingling County, and took all the food away, not even half a grain of rice left!"

"Where is the ghost master?" Li Chan passed five copper coins along the beech wood table.

Coppers during the disaster were the least valuable, but they were better than nothing. Dr. Cha’s listless face finally glowed, and he explained: “This ghost master is said to have been born in Changping in the east. It’s a mass grave. More than 800 years ago, General Feng Kuo, the invincible general of Zhao State, was defeated. He and his [-] subordinates were all killed by the enemy. Since then, this place has been unpopular, and it is said that there are soldiers in trouble. A month ago, the resentment after the death of General Feng turned into a ghost lord in that ancient battlefield, once this ghost lord was born..."

Li Chan said: "Once the ghost master is born, he will go north to the Ghost House Mountain to occupy the land and become king."

"The guest is a sensible person." Dr. Cha nodded, and sighed: "As the saying goes, soldiers and horses go before the food and grass are moved. This General Feng wants to lead the ghost soldiers to Guihu Mountain, so he snatched the food from Qingling County."

Li Chan glanced at the street, "I heard that Ghost House Mountain has only produced ghost masters from all directions for thousands of years. Has anyone seen General Feng's ghost soldiers?"

"Why haven't I seen it before!" Dr. Cha lowered his voice, "The ghost soldiers passed by this street that night. They were all wearing black armor and blue-faced fangs. They could scare people out of their urine." He was not moved when he saw the man in green, He said anxiously: "The guests don't believe it, besides me, there are many people who have seen it!"

"I believe." Li Chan smiled, "I just need to ask the doctor about someone.

"Who?"

"Zheng Junshan."

"It turned out to be Zheng Ming's mansion." Dr. Cha said, "Zheng Ming's mansion is not an ordinary official. He has extraordinary supernatural powers, and he came from Qianyuan Academy! The guests must have heard the names of the four great scholars of Qianyuan Academy. No……"

Chen Xu Xiazheng, the four great scholars of Qianyuan Academy.Li Chan knew Xu Yingqiu among them because of his paintings, and only then did he know that the person surnamed Zheng was Zheng Junshan, the magistrate of Qingling County.

Dr. Cha is still saying: "Even if the grand scholars of Qianyuan Academy don't enter the temple, they are regarded as the fifth grade. Of these four grand scholars, the first three are all walking the world on behalf of Qianyuan Academy to get rid of evil spirits. Duzheng Ming Mansion took the Jinshi examination two years ago, and was promoted to Qingling County as a magistrate in just two years. Guests should know that Qingling County is Ji County, and Zheng Ming Mansion is now a sixth-rank official residence, only one step away. To enter the temple..."

Dr. Cha talked on and on, as if he knew everything about the temple. Li Chan listened for a while and asked, "Where is Zheng Mingfu's house?"

Dr. Cha pointed to the north of the street, "Go this way, and when you arrive at the county government, you can go east, and you will find the highest gate."

"Thank you."

Li Chan paid the tea money, carried the book case on her back, picked up the sword left by Mr. Zheng Lang, and left the tea shed.

(End of this chapter)