Chapter 124: Emotional Scene

Through the information on the token, Ye Ran roughly understood what happened.

The place where the incident happened is a little far from here. If we set out now, we can arrive before noon tomorrow.

But there is one thing that Ye Ran is very concerned about. How could the City God disappear for no reason?

Although this official position is not high, it is also a real small leader of the underworld. Who is so ambitious that dares to attack the City God?

Some ideas emerged in Ye Ran's mind.

The only force in the world that dares to attack the staff of the underworld is probably the mysterious temple.

If it is not them, then it is likely that the underworld’s own people did it.

It is not easy to identify the murderer. After all, the one-eyed ghost king once said that the underworld is no longer the same as before.

In order to save time, Ye Ran immediately prepared to leave and hired someone to drive a boat in the fishing village.

He did not wake up Xiao Beijing and others. The trip to the mirror world had already made them suffer enough, so he let them have a good rest.

The fog on the sea surface had long dissipated and returned to normal, otherwise Ye Ran would not have set off immediately, after all, he did not want to encounter ghost ships again.

As soon as he landed, Ye Ran got in the car and drove away from the coastline, and the light of the car's taillights gradually disappeared into the darkness.

Due to the changes of the times, the scope of the city god's jurisdiction has also changed to a certain extent.

In the current steel forest, people no longer believe in the city god, and you can't even see the temple.

Without the incense offering, the influence of the city god on a piece of land will also decline.

So now there are still places where the city god temples appear, generally in the countryside. Although the incense offerings are less, at least they can continue to exist.

Once no one in a certain area worships the city god, this official position will also dissipate.

In some more remote mountainous areas, you can still see the existence of many temples and ancestral halls. Because of the inconvenience of contact with the outside world, these people still have awe of gods and ghosts in their hearts. Generally, if something happens at home, they will go to the temple to burn incense and pray.

But nowadays are different from the past. It is hard to see rural towns that are out of touch with the outside world. Many places are connected to highway entrances and exits and are in line with modernization.

Ye Ran followed the location on the information and got off the highway toll station and slowly drove into a small town.

The flow of people in this kind of place can be said to be extremely large. The main means of transportation in the town is not four-wheeled vehicles, but two-wheeled motorcycles.

Since there is only one road, the road is not only crowded with traffic, but also a large number of people are walking in the streets.

This place is located in Shu. Friends who live here may know the scene they can see every time they go back to their hometown during the Spring Festival.

Roll down the window and drive forward slowly, feeling the local fireworks atmosphere. From time to time, three or two people stop to chat. The most common sentence they say is.

Go to the market.

Ye Ran looked on the road for a long time and finally found a place to park. It was not a parking lot, because many places in rural towns did not have this facility. It was just a slightly wider position on the roadside where parking could be done.

Motorcycles honked constantly as they came and went. Ye Ran lit a cigarette and prepared to find a restaurant to eat something and get some information.

The surrounding buildings and shops were closely connected. At a glance, grocery stores, restaurants, etc. were separated by a wall, and white smoke filled the steamer.

"Handsome pot, sit inside, sit inside, eat something?"

The lady at the door was very enthusiastic, holding a spoon for rice noodles in her hand

"Boss, three taels of beef rice noodles, plus a fried egg." Ye Ran put out his cigarette, went into the store and found a seat to sit down, and then took out his mobile phone to watch videos.

Ye Ran has been to many places, and the restaurant model in Shu is very different from many places.

For example, in Shaanxi, Guangdong and Guangxi and other regions, if you order a bowl of noodles, it is a bowl.

It is different in Shu. It is divided into one tael, two taels, and three taels, and the price is different.

Those with a bigger appetite order three taels, and those with a smaller appetite generally order one or two taels.

The most noteworthy thing is that no matter it is rice noodles or noodles, there will always be a bunch of rattan vegetables in the bowl that you are tired of eating.

Either it is peas or lettuce leaves.

As soon as the food was served, Ye Ran asked: "Boss, do you know that there is a place called Wantou Township and Yuhuang Village nearby?"

Ye Ran searched with the navigation. Not to mention how big Wantou Township is, there are many places called Yuhuang Village alone. There are too many people with the same name and it is completely confusing.

"Wantou Township is not in our town. It seems to be in Jinniu Town, which is more than ten kilometers away from here. You have to go there to ask. I don’t know much."

After the boss lady finished speaking, she turned around and continued to work.

Ye Ran didn’t ask any more questions. While eating rice noodles, he checked the location on his mobile phone.

Many counties in Shu are composed of nearby towns of all sizes, so the rate of duplicate names is extremely high.

After dinner, Ye Ran continued on his way. The road was winding and winding. When he arrived at Jinniu Town, he asked around while walking. The cement ground under his feet turned into mud.

After driving for an unknown period of time, the shadow of a building finally appeared in front of him.

Looking up, a temple was built on the top of the mountain. The buildings under it were scattered, and occasionally a few houses were seen close together.

Most of the people walking in the fields were old people. It was rare to see young men, but there were quite a lot of children.

This is understandable. It is normal for young parents to go out to work and leave their children to their grandparents.

This place is a bit far from the town, and it takes at least half an hour to come in.

As soon as the car drove onto the country dirt road, people passing by and working in the fields all turned their eyes to it.

After driving a distance further, Ye Ran parked the car next to the store.

As soon as he got off the car, the old man who was sitting here bragging began to discuss.

After entering the store, Ye Ran bought a pack of cigarettes. Unexpectedly, the prices in this place were really cheap. For example, spicy snacks such as spicy strips were still 50 cents a pack, and spicy strips of 1 cent were still available.

The children next to him just stared at him quietly. Perhaps because it was too cold, they had a long runny nose from time to time.

"Boss, give these children some snacks."

Ye Ran handed over ten yuan and turned away immediately.

To be honest, seeing these children reminded Ye Ran of his past.

At that time, he was also very greedy for snacks, but he didn't have a dime on him.

I have no impression of my parents. I have been living with my grandparents since I can remember. But at that time, my grandparents were also very poor. They only got a few pocket money during the New Year and other festivals.

Ye Ran still remembers that his grandfather was also a Yin-Yang person, but he was only half-baked and only knew some simple tricks.

Speaking of which, the old man was Ye Ran's guide, allowing him to get in touch with the Yin-Yang industry for the first time.

Although the old man was not good at Taoism, he was very good at boxing and kicking. Ye Ran followed him to learn since he was a child.

As for later, after the two elders passed away, Ye Ran lost his family and struggled at the bottom of society for many years, suffering from all kinds of contempt.

Later, for some reasons, he came into contact with orthodox Taoism, and then he completely stepped into the Yin-Yang industry.

But Ye Ran soon found that it was as difficult as climbing to the sky for wild Yin-Yang people like them to survive.

Moreover, the rules and regulations of the world, plus the various rules of the Yin-Yang industry, made it even more difficult for people to move forward.

At that time, Ye Ran was less than 18 years old, but because he was abused by society, his mentality grew up early.

Two years later, the hospital's physical examination form wrote the bad news that he had cancer.

Because it was discovered early, there was a chance to cure it.

But Ye Ran couldn't afford so much money, and the business he took could only barely fill his stomach.

Every shady person has his own territory. A young man like Ye Ran couldn't compete with those old-timers.

At that time, Ye Ran hadn't yet thought of stepping into the evil way. In addition to taking business, he worked as a waiter outside or worked on the construction site.

There was no way. He didn't have any education or skills.

He had no products. He had no choice but to go to the factory to screw and do hard labor.

But the prices at that time were completely different from now.

Many people don't know now that there used to be a two-yuan coin with a dark green color and the words "two yuan" written on it.

Whether it was a construction site or a factory, the wages at that time were extremely low.

Ye Ran didn't want to die, so he had to work hard to earn money to buy medicine at the hospital. Later, he had no choice but to go to an informal place to borrow money.

After a while, the debt he was carrying reached a huge number.

Later, he couldn't pay it back, and couldn't afford the medicine. The debt collectors were even more vicious.

Ye Ran has always been good at martial arts, so of course he is not afraid of fighting, but you can't ignore the law. If you are arrested, you will not only be beaten, but also be punished. If you dare to fight back, it will be aggravated.

With Ye Ran's temper, it is impossible for him to be beaten on the spot. The result of fighting back is that he was arrested.

But the debt collectors talked and laughed with the official staff, and passed cigarettes to each other, and left happily.

Ye Ran has been looked down upon, beaten, and betrayed. Before he was 18 years old, he was used to the darkness of the world.

He once quarreled with others because the price of steamed buns was 50 cents higher, and he once returned the rent and slept on the street to save a little money for medical treatment.

From that time on, Ye Ran's mentality began to change.

Later, in order to compete for business, Ye Ran beat his competitor to a pulp for the first time, forcing that person to withdraw from the industry.

Since then, Ye Ran's style of doing things has changed, because he tasted the sweetness of violence.

But this practice did not last long, and he was remembered by someone with ulterior motives, and finally went to the detention center without surprise.

It was also at that time that Ye Ran saw the evil cultivator for the first time and was locked up in the same detention center with him.

After talking with him, Ye Ran tried to contact the evil method, but he only did it secretly. If he was caught, he would die very ugly.

After a long period of research, Ye Ran has been able to master a variety of evil methods and successfully killed opponents in actual combat.

He can help people solve things that ordinary righteous people cannot solve.

Because the righteous way has a lot of rules and regulations, such as corpse refining and ghost control, which are all forbidden techniques, the evil cultivators are different. Although they spend most of their time hiding, they are extremely free and don't have to care about these rules and regulations, and they make more money.

Since then, Ye Ran has been out of control, and was wanted for quite a long time.

Unfortunately, although he had money later, the cancer had spread and was incurable.

Ye Ran went completely crazy, desperately researching evil methods, constantly experimenting with evil magic on people, and finally discovered that ashes could prolong life.

Until now, Ye Ran is still the person who loves money, but he is not crazy enough to spend a penny.

Everyone loves money and likes to use money, not just Ye Ran.

Of course, except for those who say they are not interested in money.

It is no exaggeration to say that in this era, if there is a fifty-cent or a dollar on the ground, most people will not even look at it.

Not to mention that it is rare to see cash on the ground now, I believe that many people who love money do not even look down on the cold two or three dollars in the mobile phone wallet, and they will not care even if they lose it suddenly.

Walking out of the door of the canteen, Ye Ran lit a cigarette with a click, turned around and looked at the child who was eating chili peppers, and tore open the snack bag and licked the package.

Ye Ran also did this when he was a child, and he always thought it was funny.

Ye Ran held the cigarette in his mouth and walked to the front of the mud road. Because the road was too narrow, the car could not drive in at all, so he could only walk.

Since he had arrived at the destination, he would go to the temple on the mountain first, and then go to find out some news.

The mountains in Shu are different from many other places. At first glance, they are all withered and yellow weeds, and there are not many green plants.

Although the muddy road into the village is difficult to walk, the path up the mountain is built with steps, and it doesn't take long to reach the top of the mountain.

The temple looks very deserted, with only a few young people walking on the mountain road. Judging from their clothes, they should have come from other towns.

Ye Ran stepped onto the mountain road. There was a small stone statue of the land god on the left side of the road. There were only three buildings in the whole temple. The closest one was a toilet, and there was a temple above it. There was also a hall at the top of the mountain.

Stepping onto the steps and coming to the temple, several young people were squatting together to burn paper, holding incense sticks in their hands and worshiping the stone statues in front of them again and again.

Ye Ran looked around. On the mountain road outside, there were gods of wealth or land gods, and there were many Bodhisattvas in the temple.

This place is not related to the city god. After all, there is Buddha on one side and the underworld on the other. It is impossible to put them together.

Walking into the temple, there is a row of clay statues of Bodhisattvas on the left, fruits and incense sticks on the tribute table, and a cushion on the ground.

The right side is very wide, with a table and chairs, on which many firecrackers are placed.

An old woman with a hunched figure is holding a lit incense stick and inserting it into the incense burner.

This old woman should be the manager of the mountain temple. Ye Ran did not disturb her and just sat aside waiting.

After the old woman finished worshipping, she turned around and smiled: "Young man, you look unfamiliar. You must have come back from other places. Do you want to burn paper or incense?"

"If you burn paper, it's five yuan for two bundles, and firecrackers are twenty yuan a board. Incense is much cheaper, two yuan a bunch."