Chapter 42: Selling Ghosts to Deceive Monsters

The bonfire was blazing.

Du Si didn't care about drying clothes, and took out the half-wet books one by one to dry.

One of them, "The Punisher's Talk" printed by Zhuangyuantang, attracted Zhou Yi's attention.

Zhuangyuantang settled more than 1,000 taels of printing fees every month, allowing Zhou Yi to live a comfortable life in Kyoto.

Zhou Yi stood up and leaned over, smiling and asking.

"Mr. Du, I came from Luojing. Is there a Punisher's Talk in Hengyang?"

"Ah! Yes, who are you?"

Du Si was concentrating on baking books. When he heard the voice, he looked up at Zhou Yi. He had a handsome face and a scholarly temperament.

"Zhou Yi, from Zhoujia Village, Hengyang, returned to his hometown to visit relatives."

Zhou Yi leaned over and used a branch to pick the fire. A wisp of the Earthly True Fire melted into it, and the temperature immediately rose a lot.

"Zhoujia Village... I've never heard of it."

Du Si couldn't help but feel close to him when he heard that he was from the same village. He said, "This book sells very well. My father specially ordered it from Zhuangyuan Hall and told me to carry it with me, saying that it can ward off evil spirits."

"Wear away evil spirits? Haha, your father is right!"

Zhou Yi smiled and said, "There are many simple and easy-to-use folk methods in the book, which can save you a lot of trouble when you go out."

"The Liuquan hermit who wrote the book must be a strange man, a great scholar in the Jixia Academy as the legend says."

Du Si carefully baked the book and said admiringly, "I will definitely visit him when I arrive in the capital."

At this time, the head of the traveling merchants who had been paying attention secretly came over when he saw "On the Punisher".

"Mr. Du, we heard that this book was written by gods and is for the purpose of saving people from suffering."

The headman took out a roll of red cloth from his arms, which contained several pages of paper: "Before I left this time, I paid a fortune teller to copy down what the gods said."

Written on the paper were the words at the end of each story of the executioner, which advised people to stay away from demons, ways to identify demons, and the mantras to calm down and resist temptation.

Zhou Yi asked: "Are the above methods useful? I will also bring a copy with me next time I go out."

"It works! Last time I went to Jin County, I passed by a mass grave and ran into a ghost wall. I kept going around and around and couldn't get out. In the end, it was Erdan's boy's urine that broke."

The headman shouted to one of his companions: "Erdan, you must protect yourself. One day, the boy's urine will lose its effect and kill everyone."

Erdan muttered: "I still have to find a wife!"

"Hahaha..."

The companions laughed in a series of laughter, and someone joked that they would take Erdan to break his boyhood when they arrived in the county town.

Zhou Yi also laughed loudly, without any deity style, but joy from the heart.

All he had seen and heard since he came from Luojing was tragedy. Ordinary people were like cattle and sheep waiting to be slaughtered in front of demons, and it was inevitable that they would feel depressed.

Now with a book and a few pieces of paper, his mood was like clouds and moon.

Although he could not save the world from difficulties, he had done something useful for the human race.

There was cold wind and rain outside the mountain temple, but it was warm and cheerful inside the temple. When they heard that Zhou Yi came from Kyoto, they urged him to talk about the prosperity of Luojing.

Zhou Yi was about to open his mouth, but after recalling it, he realized that he had lived in Luojing for nearly two years. Every day, he would go home to copy scriptures except for duty. It was similar to the life of a otaku in his previous life. The most prosperous place he went to was Chunfenglou to drink.

Would it be detrimental to the elegant image of the girl dancing in Chunfeng Tower...

"Luojing is just full of people and cars, no different from ordinary county towns. Why don't I tell you a story I heard?"

Zhou Yi changed the subject, and countless experiences of monsters and ghosts flashed through his mind. He said slowly: "There was a Song Bo in Nanyang County. He met a ghost while walking at night. He asked who the ghost was..."

"...Song Bo bit his tongue, spit yang blood on the ghost, and took it to the demon-killing department to receive a reward of two strings of money."

Desolate mountains, old forests.

A ruined temple, night rain.

Bonfire, ghost stories.

The merchants, Du Si and others dared not breathe, and only breathed a sigh of relief when the story was over.

Du Si praised: "Song Bo is brave and smart, playing with ghosts and monsters at his fingertips, amazing!"

"It turns out that ghosts are afraid of blood on the tip of the tongue. You need to practice on weekdays, otherwise you will be afraid of the pain and can't bite it when you meet a ghost."

The head of the merchants murmured: "Don't kill the ghost after catching it, you can send it to the Demon Slayer Division to get a reward!"

"Mr. Zhou, tell another one, it's better than the storyteller's."

"The storyteller always tells the same story, and changes the story of the executioner to make money as a new story."

The merchants were curious and started to make a fuss.

Zhou Yi smiled and planned to tell a horror story to scare people, so as not to waste the atmosphere.

The door of the mountain temple was opened at some point.

The mountain wind poured in, blowing the flames to dance.

A merchant got up to close the door and found a figure squatting outside the temple.

The light of the fire reflected the figure clearly, and it was a beautiful young woman.

Her whole body was soaked, her thin clothes were clinging to her skin, her arms were trembling as she hugged her chest, and a touch of white could be seen.

Rumble——

Lightning and thunder, wind and rain were rushing, and the woman's face turned blue from the cold.

"Who are you?"

The merchant took a step back and subconsciously pressed the hatchet at his waist.

"I am the daughter of the Huang family in Guning County. I got lost in the mountains and encountered heavy rain..."

The merchant was about to speak, but the headman stood up and patted him on the shoulder three times, saying loudly: "Miss Huang, if you don't mind, come in to avoid the rain and warm yourself by the fire."

"Thank you, old man!"

The woman stood up and walked into the temple, trembling as she walked, and her graceful curves trembled with it, attracting the attention of the merchants.

The woman walked to Du Si and sat down, tearing off her clothes to warm herself by the fire, revealing a lot of her beauty.

Du Si frowned and glanced away.

The headman took out a bamboo tube from his bag and said with a smile: "Girl, this is our homemade rice wine, it will warm you up in the cold weather."

"The old man is really a good man, I will definitely repay you."

The woman's voice was ethereal, and it sounded like a little bug crawling in the ears, making people feel itchy all over.

Gently twisted the bamboo tube, raised his head and drank a sip.

The slender and white jade neck slowly grew a layer of white hair.

The slender fingers holding the bamboo tube turned into white hair claws.

"Do it!"

The headman shouted, and suddenly pulled out the hatchet and chopped at the woman.

The actions of the other merchants were surprisingly consistent. It was obvious that they had received some kind of signal and were ready to ambush and kill.

Five sharp hatchets and two sharp spears hit the woman in no particular order.

"Ah!"

The woman screamed, and several holes were broken on her body, but no blood was seen.

Puff! Puff!

The sound of air leaking from the bellows was heard, and only a wrinkled human skin was left.

The three-foot-long white-haired weasel broke through the back of the human skin and fled from the mountain temple, leaving a series of bloodstains on the ground.

"She, she, she is... a monster!"

Du Si's eyes were wide open, and his face was shocked and scared.

Zhou Yi pursed his lips and chuckled. The moment he saw the bamboo tube, he roughly guessed the end of the weasel.

There is an article in the Xingzhe Shuo Yiwenlu, in which Shi Yuanwai of Huling County suspected that his son married a fox spirit and asked the local elders how to solve it.

The elders dug out the rice wine brewed on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month and asked Shi Yuanwai to find a way to trick his daughter-in-law into drinking it. Sure enough, the prototype of the fox spirit appeared, and was finally beaten to death by the guards.

Yellow wine is yang in nature, and the Dragon Boat Festival is the last date of the year's yang energy. The brewed yellow wine can suppress the demon spirit and make the demons and ghosts appear.

The headman sighed in annoyance and said, "We lost a good piece of fur. This yellow-skinned creature is too cunning."

"The monster has a strong desire for revenge. Maybe he hasn't left yet."

Before Zhou Yi finished speaking, the scene in the mountain temple changed drastically.

The ruined temple in the rainy night on the barren mountain turned into a magnificent palace.

The temple was filled with red gauze curtains, and the rich smell of incense wafted in the air. A woman's faint laughter could be heard.