Knife splashing

Chapter 222: Disasters Originated from the Plan
"Young Master Li, what kind of Gu is this?"

Yan Boyan was shocked and became even angrier.

How could he not guess that his wife had been ambushed?

As soon as he finished speaking, the strange insect struggled frantically, shaking its body and making noises.

"twitter--!"

The sound was unusually sharp, like a sudden tinnitus.

boom!
Without saying a word, Li Yan pinched the sewing needle and stabbed it down suddenly, nailing the strange insect's head to the wooden table.

The sound stopped abruptly and the insect stopped moving.

“This is not a Gu.”

Li Yan's face was serious, and he shook his head slightly and said, "Do you have any peach wood branches at home? Find some and burn the insects into ashes, and then give it to Madam."

"Quick, go get the peach wood!"

Yan Boyan immediately ordered the maid to get it.

He had never heard of this weird method, but so many people didn't notice that they were tricked, but Li Yan was able to find the strangeness, so he was naturally more trustworthy.

According to Ezhou customs, people are very respectful of five kinds of plants.

One is the Holy Spirit Spear Reed, which is believed to be able to communicate with gods.

The second is peach wood and maple wood, which are believed to ward off evil spirits.

The third is bamboo, which symbolizes good or bad luck, and it is especially taboo to see bamboo blooming.

Therefore, many people hang peach charms at home and make peach bows and willow arrows to hang on their doorsteps. Many mythological performances also have similar plots.

The Yan family is wealthy and powerful, so naturally there is no shortage of peach wood.

Crackling!

As the peach wood burned, everyone was surprised to see that the insect quickly shrivelled and turned yellow, and then turned into a thin piece of black ash, like the remains of burnt fire paper.

Li Yan picked it up carefully, mixed it into the water and stirred it.

The strong woman immediately took it carefully and fed it to the unconscious Mrs. Yan, and her breathing then became noticeably stable.

Li Yan finally breathed a sigh of relief and asked seriously, "Did Aunt go to any strange places before she got sick?"

"Especially caves."

"this…"

Yan Boyan looked a little embarrassed, and shook his head, saying, "To be honest, my wife is a Taoist. In her spare time, she would go to various Taoist temples to burn incense, always accompanied by her maids and old women."

"When the incident first happened, I was in a bad mood and those people didn't serve me wholeheartedly, so I drove them out."

Li Yan frowned and said: "This is troublesome..."

"master."

At this moment, the strong woman hesitated for a moment, gritted her teeth and said, "I just remembered this thing. I have heard of it before."

Looking at everyone's gaze, she sighed, "Master also knows that I am from Xishan'ao Village, not far from the native mountain village."

"When I was young, I heard the elders tell a story about a monster in the mountains called Silkworm Woman, who often hid in caves. If the monster looked at you, you would go crazy and die."

"I originally thought it was just a legend. After all, I have never heard of anyone seeing it. Could it be that the lady was harmed by this monster?"

"That's not a monster."

Li Yan shook his head and said, "This is an evil method. Most of the practitioners are women. They need to hide in caves all year round and cannot see the sun."

"She would lure people into a cave, pretend to be a ghost to scare them, and perform evil magic. The worm would hide in the human body, eat away the soul during sleep, and drive people crazy."

"As time goes by, the bugs will grow bigger and bigger. When a person dies, they will turn into human-faced moths and fly out of the mouth, and then be absorbed by the monster."

"This method is not a witchcraft. The human-faced silkworm absorbs the host's soul and spirit, and its aura is almost identical, so it is difficult to be discovered..."

In fact, he concealed a lot of things.

On Mount Taibai, after he captured the criminal, Yu Linzi told him that there was a forbidden secret method called "The Treasury of Immortals of Longevity" in the world, which was found by a secret organization of alchemists in ancient times when they excavated the remains of the Battle of the Gods.

These methods are all bloody and cruel, and require the worship of evil gods.

Because many of them disturbed the boundary between life and death and were targets of the living Yin messengers, he asked Taixuan Zhengjiao to help collect information.

The original copy of "The Treasury of Immortals" has long been scattered throughout China.

The classics of Taixuan Orthodox Sect do not mention any methods of cultivation, but there are records of these evil techniques.

Although the records are incomplete, there are still more than thirty types.

Moreover, as a living ghost messenger, he also knew more secrets.

These so-called longevity techniques are all a kind of vicious inheritance. There are not only longevity methods, but also various secret techniques.

What's even more troublesome is that the demon god worshipped by practicing this method actually exists and is suppressed in Luofeng Mountain.

Now this one called "The Art of Longevity of the Divine Silkworm" is one of them, and the demon god worshipped here is called Tao Nu.

Perhaps, it is also related to the ancient battle of the gods.

Anyone who practices the "Changsheng Xianku" and worships the devil for a long time may cause his devilish energy to escape.

That time in Shangjin City, he captured a trace of evil spirit.

Although it is dangerous, it also has great benefits for him.

By capturing evil spirits, one can obtain a demon from the underworld, which can not only repair the Daluo Dharma body, but also strengthen the soul-catching rope.

Thinking of this, Li Yan already had a vague guess.

There must be someone practicing evil techniques near the village where this strong woman lives, but his skills are probably not strong enough to disturb the lives of people, nor to attract evil spirits.

"Native mountain village?"

Yan Boyan, who was standing by, suddenly realized what was going on and cursed, "It turns out that this bunch of chieftains had already murdered my family three years ago!"

Seeing Li Yan's puzzled look, he sighed, "This is a family matter, but since you are here, it would be inappropriate to hide it from you. Please follow me."

Having said that, he told the maid to take good care of Madam Yan, and then took Li Yan to the main courtyard at the back hall and entered a study.

The Yan family's study is undoubtedly the best decorated.

The bookshelves and antique display cabinets are both made of the finest golden nanmu wood. They have simple shapes and thick patina, making them look more solemn and simple.

A piece of Hui ink is placed on the desk, emitting a faint scent of ink.

Through the window sill, you can see the small garden with stacked rockery and a plum tree poking out from the branches. It looks like a landscape Chinese painting with a unique charm.

However, Li Yan discovered something strange.

There are many bookshelves here, but they are empty. Even the antique shelves are empty, as if everything has been moved away.

There was only a book on the desk.

Yan Boyan picked it up and sighed, "The root of everything is in this booklet. Young Master Li will know it at a glance."

After Li Yan took it, he saw four big characters "Ten Strategies to Guard the Country" written on it. After opening it, he immediately understood that this was a policy paper written to the court by a man named Yan Jue.

Yan Jue, seems to be Yan Jiuling’s grandfather…

Li Yan continued to scroll down and became more and more shocked.

"The policy of maritime ban is in force today, but times have changed and it is appropriate to lift the maritime ban to benefit the country..."

Good guy!
The first strategy is to suggest lifting the maritime ban.

"The system of native officials is old. The governance of a country should be fair and orderly. Although the system of native officials has its origins, many drawbacks are now exposed..."

The second strategy is to change the natives into commoners!
Of course, these are just clichés on the surface. Between the lines, they are filled with ideas of great unification and fanatical hegemony.

Some of the subsequent strategies sounded a bit extreme, but the first two alone have become the national policies of Daxuan today.

In a trance, Li Yan seemed to see an old angry young man with white hair, beard and eyes, spitting and dancing...

A trace of nostalgia flashed in Yan Boyan's eyes. "My father had a heart full of patriotism in the past, but because of his upright temper, he was disliked by others. Even though he passed the imperial examination, he only got a casual official position. He was resentful all day long, so he went to teach in the academy."

"In his spare time, he wrote this book, 'Ten Strategies for Securing the Nation', which was despised by people at the time and denounced as nonsense."

"Until the imperial court went to war several times and the treasury was empty, someone offered this strategy, using my father's words to seek benefits for his own faction."

"No one expected that His Majesty would appreciate it so much that the opening of the sea and the reform of the natives began to be implemented, but my father had passed away many years ago."

"This incident caused quite a bit of controversy in the Confucian community. Some people supported it, some people cursed it, and some of my father's students used it as a banner."

"Although my Yan family is also a family of scholars, we cannot afford this reputation, and we dare not act recklessly. But we eventually offended those chieftains."

"Thinking back three years ago, the imperial court had not forced me to do anything, but only sent people to persuade me with kind words, so they did not do anything overtly, but secretly sent people to cast evil spells on me."

"Today, they no longer hide their true identity. Gangsters often spy outside their house and plot evil deeds."

"I sensed something was wrong and was afraid that Jiu Ling would be disturbed, so I sent him away early. Then I sent all my children, wives, and concubines, as well as the Yan family's collection of books, to Hankou..."

"I see."

Li Yan suddenly realized and shook his head, saying, "No wonder there are so many guards in the mansion."

Yan Boyan shook his head and said, “These are the righteous men of the Yichang Divine Fist Association. When they heard about this, they were indignant and came to the mansion to take care of it.”

Li Yan frowned and said, "The storm is coming to Yichang City. I guess those people can't wait any longer. Why didn't Uncle Yan leave earlier?"

"I can't leave!"

Yan Boyan's expression became solemn. "In my whole life, I have not made any progress in studying. If I die, even if I am afraid of them, my father's "Ten Strategies to Defend the Country" will become a laughing stock."

"Even if Yibianchang City falls, I will not leave. Even if I am assassinated and killed in the mansion, the Yan family will not fall!"

Li Yan heard this and stood in awe, "Uncle, you are so righteous!"

He didn't try to persuade her any further, knowing it was useless.

"I am not capable enough, I can only do this much."

Yan Boyan said calmly, "The reason I told Young Master Li about this is because I hope you can meet Jiu Ling one day and tell him the whole story."

"If I die, it will be a worthy death. There is no need to be sad."

Li Yan didn't know what to say, so he could only clasp his fists with a serious face. At the same time, he secretly made up his mind that if he heard any rumors, he would take action in advance to eliminate some hidden dangers for the Yan family.

At this moment, the maid ran over in a hurry and said excitedly: "Master, the lady is awake, the lady is awake!"

"what?!"

When Yan Boyan heard this, he hurried out.

Several people came to the side room in the side yard, and sure enough, Madam Yan was already awake on the bed in the room, leaning on the bed and being fed water.

"Ma'am, are you okay?"

Yan Boyan hurried forward and shook the old woman's hand.

His wife was married to a prominent family. She was also a lady from a prominent family when she was young. She had a gentle personality and was good at managing the household.

Yan Boyan already respected him very much, and when he learned that his three years of madness were caused by the affairs of the Yan family, he felt even more guilty.

"Husband."

The old lady was still a little weak, and she managed to force a smile on her face, "I'm sorry for having wronged you over the years."

Yan Boyan felt even worse after hearing this, and gritted his teeth and said, "Madam, you were harmed by the evil magic of the villain. Do you remember which cave you went to that year?"

The old lady frowned and said, "I don't remember clearly what happened before I passed out. I just had a very long dream."

"I dreamed that I was trapped in a cave. There was a woman in yellow hiding inside. She had a yellow complexion and a bloated body. Then she turned into many moths flying towards me..."

As he spoke, a hint of fear flashed in his eyes.

"Don't think about it, ma'am."

Seeing this, Yan Boyan quickly changed the subject and said with a smile: "Jiuling has made great progress. He has passed the imperial examination and is now taking the palace examination in the capital. Maybe the news will come in a while..."

"Oh, Jiuling can finally study with peace of mind."

After hearing these things, Mrs. Yan finally smiled. She said a few more words and then fell asleep again with a tired look on her face.

Li Yan walked out the door and said with a smile: "The spell has been broken. Just take some more tranquilizers for a while, and Auntie should be able to recover."

"Thank you so much this time, my friend."

Yan Boyan's face was full of smiles, and then he said, "By the way, Jiuling also asked me to pass on some things to you in the letter."

As he spoke, he took Li Yan to the study room on the other side of the courtyard.

This study was obviously much smaller, and it was probably used by Yan Jiuling. However, it was not empty like the study in the main courtyard, and there were still many things left.

Yan Boyan said, "We left in a hurry, so we could only take away those precious books, so we left some behind."

As he spoke, he came to the antique shelf, took down a wooden box from the third shelf, blew away the dust on the surface, and shook his head, saying, "Jiuling has been interested in all kinds of supernatural things since he was a child, and he has bought a lot of idle things."

"I don't know how many times I got angry with him for this, but I didn't expect this thing to be useful to you..."

Putting the wooden box on the desk, Yan Boyan smiled and said, "Today, we have guests coming from afar, and my wife has recovered from her illness, which is a double blessing."

"My dear, please make yourself at your leisure. I will order the banquet to be prepared. My dear, you must drink a few more cups with me."

It can be seen that the old man is in a good mood, so Li Yan naturally would not refuse. After Yan Boyan left, he slowly opened the wooden box.

He took the Chu Witch Order to ask Yan Jiuling, but he didn't expect that the other party knew quite a lot about it and said that he had collected some similar antiques.

These things were also one of the goals of this visit to the Yan family.

After opening it, Li Yan's expression immediately became solemn.

There were books and manuscripts on one side, and various sundries on the other side. There was also a Chu Witch Order inside, but it was more complete.

He was excited and picked up the Chu Wu Ling.

Sure enough, a hot breath surged into the dantian and penetrated into the soul-catching rope.

Unfortunately, this Chu Witch Order did not become a heavenly treasure. It contained even less aura than the one given by Yuan Ba, and only made the Soul-Catching Rope one palm longer.

Of course, something is better than nothing.

There was a warm smile on Li Yan's face.

The Daluo Dharmakaya devours fortune and luck, and it can only absorb it when the fortune and luck from the heavenly spirits and earthly treasures have not yet settled.

But currently, two exceptions have been found.

One is jet and jade dinosaur eggs. Perhaps due to the age in which they were formed, the speed at which good fortune accumulates is extremely slow.

The other is the Chu Witch Order.

Li Yan now knows the aura contained in it, which is called "Shensha" and can be obtained after completing the mission in the underworld.

There must be some unknown secret between the two.

Li Yan put the Chu Witch Order aside and continued to look through the remaining artifacts, such as tokens, stone carvings, and wood carvings, all of which were related to Ba Chu Witch Taoism.

Unfortunately, the rest are just ordinary items.

Li Yan looked a little regretful, and then looked at the manuscript on the other side. He picked it up and flipped through a few pages, then his brows slowly furrowed...

　Just two updates today.

　　Recommend a friend's book.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)