Painter

Chapter 78: Chapter 78

A gorgeous firework lasted for less than half a quarter of an hour.After the sound of the uproar stopped, the red-sleeve strokes were lingering, the silk and bamboo were muted, and the atmosphere was charming.Some guests left the hall with the women around them, looking for a hidden place to spend the night together, Li Chan's farewell did not attract much attention.

In Qiwan Alley, a group of night watch officers and soldiers walked by wearing armor and carrying knives, carrying lanterns.There is no curfew in the past few days, and the state government officers and soldiers are very busy.Just water, robbery, obscenity and other things can't be dealt with.In the middle of the night, there was another news from the mansion that a demon had appeared in Changle Square, and this group of people was mobilized from the vicinity of the West Market to assist the demon hunters in investigating the traces of the demon.

The two rabbit-toed puppies were led by the official in front, the sound of animal breathing and the friction of hard leather armor one after another.

These dogs from the barracks dog shop are well-trained, have a keen sense of smell, and are far superior to humans in terms of detection and vigilance. A small dog passed by Huancai Pavilion and suddenly raised its head and barked at the wall.All the officials followed the barking dog and saw that there were only a few jujube branches protruding from behind the gray straight eaves and tiles on the top of the wall, and there was no abnormality.But seeing that small dog barking fiercely, some people showed hesitation.

However, soon someone pointed to the inconspicuous back door of Huancai Pavilion and said a few words in secret.After a while, the official sent the two dogs to the exit of Seven Bend Alley.

At this time, the back door of Huancai Pavilion was opened, and a person was carried out by several guards with big arms and round waists.

Shi Chang, the leader of the officers and soldiers, took a look, led the people over, held up a lamp to shine a light on it, and said in a low voice, "Why did you die?"

A nursing home said: "Hey, this guy is a man who opens the skylight, and he doesn't have long eyes. He dared to steal into the Huancai Pavilion."

Shi Chang frowned, "Even if they are thieves, they won't be killed directly."

The nurse gave him a sideways look, and said with a sneer, "What do you think is the origin of this guy who stole it?" He just meaningfully pointed at the sky, which clearly meant that he was a "immortal figure".

He tactfully did not pursue further.

The nurse scolded: "It's also my fault that this guy is stupid, he doesn't have eyes, he's not good at his feet, he slipped and fell to his death while opening the skylight on the room, bah, what bad luck! The brothers had to collect his body in the middle of the night. I still have to trouble the servants to get this guy away quickly."

After finishing speaking, he took out a money bag and stuffed it to Shi Chang.

After a while, the body was carried onto a bullock cart.The ox cart left Qiwan Lane, passed through the West Market, and arrived at Gongxie.

This corpse spent the middle of the night with other corpses in the mortuary. Before the cock crowed, it was carried into another bullock cart, covered with a thin straw mat, and transported to the southern suburbs of Xuandu.

At the foot of Zhixing Mountain in the southern outskirts of Xuandu, there was originally a mass grave for burying unclaimed corpses.

Decades ago, Western Buddhists and Taoists came here to discuss the Dharma. A Buddhist priest from the Fansheng Kingdom marked out a cadaver forest here to teach the supernatural powers of the Bone View to the Dayong Buddhists.He led his disciples into this forest, and ate carrion with bread.

Dayong Buddhism also practiced the Temple of White Bones, but it was not as radical as the Western practice. This incident caused quite a lot of disputes in the Xuandu practice circle at that time, but in the end, this cadaver forest remained.

The so-called Corpse Tuo Forest is nothing more than a stone pagoda dedicated to the Lord of the Corpse Tuo Lin, but once it is related to Buddhism, in the eyes of ordinary people in the market, the meaning of this place becomes completely different from before. mud.It is said that after a person dies, he only needs to abandon the corpse here without burial, so as to eliminate the resentment of the dead soul and ensure the safety of future generations.

The corpse was dragged by the bullock cart and carried by the corpse transporter, passed through the rotting corpse forest, and was thrown into a pile of rocks, where it was accompanied by rotting corpse maggots.

In the middle of the night, no one investigated the identity of the corpse from the Huancai Pavilion to the mortuary to the place where it was abandoned.Only a few old ravens were watching him from the top of the tree to confirm whether the newcomer was really dead.

At dawn, two old ravens flapped their wings and flew to the side of the corpse, tilting their heads to look at the man's remains.His stomach has already begun to swell slightly due to corruption. If there is no accident, they only need to wait a few more days before they can use their blunt yellow beaks to peck open the flesh that has lost its strength and have a full meal.

But there was a burst of morning mist drifting against the wind at this time, the old raven felt danger and fluttered its wings to fly. Suddenly, it was firmly held down by a fluffy white claw protruding from the mist.

The old man was terrified and thumped vigorously, but the white cat that appeared in the mist just jokingly watched the helpless struggle of the weak under its paws.

The old man felt that his life was over, so he folded his wings and gave up resistance, but the white cat felt that he had lost interest and let go of his paws.The old raven came to his senses, fluttered his wings and flew away, terrified, completely oblivious to the misty mist.Another man and two women came out.

Just as few people would care about the cat and mouse that died in Taoism, Xu Da would not be saddened by Nie Er's death, and even had the mood to play with the crow.Hong Yao looked at the black feather sinking into the green spring forest in the distance, and then looked down at Nie Er and the corpses beside him, almost without any disturbance in her heart.Suddenly I muttered in my heart, the so-called thing hurts its kind, and now I am also a non-human.

Li Chan's expression was also very calm. He left the Shilihualiu embankment of Yequan Dongqu, and was blown away by the middle of the night running around.He squatted down in the rancid and pungent corpse forest, stared at Neer's face for a long time, stroked the wound on the back of Neer's head, looked down, and saw Neer's ten fingers whose nails had been pulled out.

Immediately afterwards, she saw an inconspicuous protrusion on Nie Er's boot, and Li Chan stretched out her hand to feel it, and it was a hard object.He took off Neel's boot and poured out the hard object.With the crisp sound of rings striking each other, the broken jade tin fell into Li Chan's palm.

For some unknown reason, the officials at the government office did not perform an autopsy. Not only did they miss the traces of torture on Nie Er's body, but they also left the only valuable item on his body.

Li Chan held the jade tin in his hands and said in a low voice: "When I first arrived in Xuandu, I met Sanlang. There was a slight smile, but then his eyes focused on Nie Er's face again, and he fell silent again, putting Yu Tian in his pocket.

Sao Qingniang gently held Li Chan's hand and found that his knuckles were tense.Looking at Ne Er's body, she said softly, "It can be regarded as alive."

(End of this chapter)