Chapter 292 Strange People and Strange People
"Mr. Gu, are you going out again?" An old man clenched the cane in his hand.

Gu Qingyuan nodded: "Let's go out and pick some herbs. Xiaochen is too weak and born with deficiencies. He needs medicine to make up for it."

The old man nodded: "Poor little guy, he lost his mother so early, and he was frightened by the evil spirit. This world is really evil!"

This village is called Huaifeng Village. Gu Qingyuan brought Qingfeng and the baby here several months ago and settled down here. For the sake of convenience, he named the baby Gu Chen. It was said that his mother died young because of a ghost and the fetus in her belly was also seriously injured. Gu Qingyuan was reminded of his mother by the ghost, so he came to this village and settled down. He usually stayed at home and only taught the children in the village occasionally, so the village elders were very respectful to him.

Gu Qingyuan walked out of the village and came to another village called Scorpion King Village. An old man had passed away and a funeral was being held here, so the village specially invited fortune-tellers from all over the place.

Here, cultivators with profound cultivation mostly hide in the mountains and rivers, hide in sects, and devote themselves to seeking the great way of Yin Xian, but this world has also given birth to many strange people, or in other words, the cultivators of the lowest level.

Whenever someone dreams that their ancestors have appeared in their dreams but has vague memories after waking up, they will invite a fortune teller to walk the ghost on their behalf and invite the soul of their ancestors to possess their body. This story has been passed around and has led to countless strange folk stories.

It is said that when Bandage was a child, he met a man who came to the village to buy knives on credit. The man gave him the knives for free and told him to come back and pick them up at a certain time. Decades later, his words often came true, as if he had the ability to predict the future and his words came true.

Some people also said that there was a big-bellied man in the neighboring town who was good at carpentry. However, when he did other carpentry work, he always had various accidents, either breaking his legs or shaking his hands. Later, with the guidance of an expert, he went to the city to learn the craft from a master. He now made excellent coffins. He did not need a ruler or line. He just used his hands to mold it and measured it with his eyes to make a perfect fit.

On the fifteenth of July last year, an old woman passed away. Her family members were keeping vigil for her, but she fell asleep in a daze. In the morning, they were scared to death. They saw the black coffin was half open and the corpse was lying straight with eyes half open. The shroud and shoes were mostly covered with mud and grass. It seemed that the corpse in the coffin could not stand the loneliness, so it went out for a walk, and came back to lie down again when the rooster crowed at dawn.

The family was at a loss and were extremely anxious. It so happened that the coffin was made by a strong man. He got the news and came to take a look. After looking at the corpse in the coffin, he shouted, "Old lady, your children and grandchildren will have their own blessings. No matter how reluctant you are, you can't let go. I will carry the coffin for you myself tomorrow. You can go with peace of mind!" As soon as he finished speaking, the stiff corpse was no longer stretched straight and even its eyes closed.

There is also a mountain guard with five drawbacks and three shortcomings, a pig killer who scares off little ghosts with a butcher knife, and an old black dog that drives away evil spirits. There are countless stories like this, most of which are rumors, nine of which are false and one is true. But even this one truth is enough to make ordinary people very awe-inspiring. After all, for a mortal to encounter such weird and supernatural things is no less than a disaster.

Life and death are not a big deal. In the Scorpion King village, the invited witch chanted some words and walked around the coffin three times on each side. The customs of each village are different. In the Scorpion King, burial is not popular, but cremation is. There is a big fire pit in the back mountain where the ancestors of all generations are buried.

After the witch finished muttering and called out, all the villagers over the age of 20 walked forward one by one, knelt down, kowtowed, and then moved closer to the coffin, facing the old man in the coffin, as if to let the person in the coffin see their appearance clearly.

No matter how many dirty secrets he had with him during his lifetime, he had to make this trip. He would go back to the world he was in when he was alive, and he would go to another world after his death. That was to bless his ancestors. They were of the same blood and origin, and they were one.

After walking around once, the witch led the old man's son forward, took a drop of blood from his fingertips, smeared it on the old man's brow, and then asked his closest relatives to carry the old man to the back mountain, where they burned in a big fire pit and turned the old man into dust.

Neither the relatives, friends nor the neighbors who were watching on the sidelines cried out loudly. Those who couldn't help themselves just sobbed a few times and let their tears flow silently. In this case, the distance between life and death was not as far as imagined.

The pond was full of fire. In the flames that were licking the sky crazily, in the flying smoke and dust, it seemed that a figure appeared, stood up, and walked to the back. There, there were countless figures standing together, waiting for the arrival of that figure. The figure seemed to look back, missing something, and then merged into the group of figures. The old man's son could no longer hold back, laughing and scolding, tears flowing down his normal face like a spring. The witch ignored the burning ashes and flames, walked to the fire pond, grabbed a handful of black ashes, wrapped them in yellow paper, stuffed them into a cloth bag, and distributed them to the old man's relatives. This is a talisman, the ancestors are always with him, protecting the descendants.

At the same time, another amulet was passed around for several times and was taken by a man hiding under the shadow of a tree, who hurried back to the village.

It was still the old man's home, and there was another group of people busying around. Women were coming in and out, and there was a faint sound of a baby crying, which then stopped abruptly.

The man ran into the house and handed the amulet to the midwife. The midwife, wearing a ferocious mask with a bright red base, took the amulet and stuffed it into a small cloth bag.

There was a newborn baby in the cloth bag, the old man's grandson. The old and the young, seemed like a reincarnation, one left and the other was born. Fortunately, the two still had interactions. Before the old man died, he saw his newborn grandson, so he left with a smile.

Now the little baby's face is smeared with black powder, his face is black and blue, and he has fallen into a deep sleep without making any cry or sound. Now with the amulet in, he sleeps more soundly.

In this world, the souls of the dead will turn into monsters if not handled properly, while the souls of newborn babies will attract the covetousness of dirty things. In the eyes of those evil spirits, the white and pure souls exude an alluring fragrance.

Some midwives wear masks of evil spirits to scare away evil spirits, some wear amulets with ashes of loved ones to protect their souls, some paint their faces with black material to attract a trace of negative energy, and some put babies into a deep sleep of suspended animation to avoid detection by external strange creatures.

A short sleep is like a small death, and death is like a long sleep. Although being immersed in sleep is an unguarded and powerless act, it can also effectively block the perception of dirt.

Until they reach adulthood, children work hard to stay alive and grow up safely. When they are older, they will be led by strange people such as witches, and with offerings, they will find some gentle ghosts and become their godparents. This will make them feel related, and other ghosts can live a more stable life because of this relationship.

"Emperor."

Zhong Kui suddenly appeared in front of Gu Qingyuan and greeted him softly.

"How was the harvest?"

Hearing Gu Qingyuan's question, Zhong Kui opened his hands, and countless points of spiritual light flew around, but they could not escape the small space of his palm. That was...

The strange creatures that Zhong Kui collected from various places were enough to scare the monks.

(End of this chapter)