Knife splashing

Chapter 3: The Troublesome Ghost in Lijiabao

咣 咣 咣!
"Blind Third Brother is dead!"

The sound of gongs, accompanied by shouts, broke the tranquility of Lijiabao.

Not everyone has been harmed by wolves, but everyone loves to watch the excitement, especially in the village, where fights between neighbors can attract a crowd of people to watch.

At this time, many people were already holding hoes and preparing to go to the fields. When they heard that "Blind Old Third" had died, they immediately ran over.

"Tsk, tsk, this is 'Blind Third Man'?"

"That's the beast. I've seen it before!"

"I thought it was something else, it doesn't have three heads and six arms, look how scared you are..."

"Fugui, what nonsense are you talking about? If you have the ability, why don't you catch 'Blind Third'? You are waiting to die before you come here to make sarcastic remarks."

"I don't have time..."

"My pig is so frightened, woo woo..."

Heidan's mother came running and looked at the body of "Blind Old Third". The sadness that she had suppressed before surged into her heart again and she sat on the ground and cried loudly.

Heidan's father, Li Baoquan, also came. After asking the reason, his face turned red. He waved his hand and slapped Heidan hard, cursing: "You bastard, who told you to act on your own..."

He seemed extremely angry. He looked at the villagers around him and gritted his teeth and said, "Brother Huzi helped me a lot when he was alive. If something happens to Yanwazi, how can I explain it to him?"

"Forget it, it's over."

The people around him tried to persuade him.

But Li Baoquan still looked angry and wanted to beat Heidan.

Li Yan raised his hand to stop him and glanced at him calmly, "The money has been collected, for a chicken."

"chicken?"

Li Baoquan was stunned, stopped, and then rubbed his hands embarrassedly and said: "This... Look at what happened."

It’s no wonder that Heidan’s father behaves like this.

Although a swordsman is a man of his word and his actions must be followed, who among those who dare to put their heads on their belts is a good person?
There are those who are chivalrous and righteous, but there are even more who kill people for money.

And the price is never cheap.

Of course, Li Yan's father, Li Hu, was a generous man, and if someone in the village came to him for help, he would most likely promise to do so, so he was often taken advantage of by others.

But Li Yan's reputation is not that good.

The reason is simple, different concepts.

He is originally a modern person and has died once, so he doesn't care about clan etiquette, the relationship between ruler and subject, and he will not be bound by other people's views. He just wants to do things to make his heart happy.

When it’s time to strike, I will never put away the knife.

Don't even think about getting a penny less than what you deserve.

No one can take advantage of me.

It seems normal to him, but in the eyes of others, he is just a troublemaker.

I didn't expect that I would become a hero this time.

"I said, it's still Yanwazi who has to take action!"

"Just like his father, he will be a brave man in the future!"

People around gave thumbs up and praised him.

Li Yan smiled and said nothing.

"The patriarch is here!"

Just then, someone shouted.

I saw several people coming up the dirt road in the village. They were all quite old. The leader was a thin old man with a goatee and a pair of reading glasses.

Although there are many people with different surnames in Lijiabao, the only major clan is the Li clan, so the head of the Li clan in every generation also serves as the village chief.

The patriarch of this generation is called Li Huairen, the only landlord in the village. His family has been farming and studying for generations. He passed the imperial examination and became a scholar. He is very concerned about his reputation when doing things and has a good reputation.

He came closer, circled around the corpse of "Blind Third" for a few times, and listened to everyone's story. He stroked his beard and nodded, saying, "Yes, it's the busy farming season. Once this scourge is removed, the villagers can farm in peace. It's a good thing."

"You deserve a reward for your meritorious service. Zhou Juezi, your pig died. I will buy it and give it to Li Yan's family. It is also a token of appreciation from the village."

Li Yan chuckled, "That's great, thank you, clan leader."

Practicing martial arts consumes a lot of energy, just like a glutton. My stomach has been lacking in oil and water these days, so a big bite of fat pig will keep me going for a while.

This is the benefit of having a bad reputation.

The village chief knew that he was difficult to deal with, so he never assigned any hard labor to Li Yan's family, and he never missed out on the benefits they deserved.

The one who was even happier was Zhou Juezi, because he raised this fat pig and was waiting to sell it for a good price during the New Year, but he couldn't bear to eat it himself.

The patriarch's decision was an unexpected surprise.

In order to avoid any accidents, he immediately pulled Li Yan away and wanted to kill the pig first. One reason was that the meat was still fresh, and the other was to take the opportunity to make the matter a reality.

"Look how anxious you are!"

Li Yan joked, but still asked Heidan to pull the pig.

After they left, Village Chief Li Huairen also breathed a sigh of relief.

An idle man in the village looked envious and laughed, smacking his teeth: "Chief, Brother Yan has done a great job in killing the wolf, so he should be rewarded. But it would be useless to just throw away the body of this blind third brother. It would be better to skin him and eat his meat, which would both satisfy our craving and relieve our hatred..."

"You beggar!"

Before he finished speaking, someone yelled with a dark face, "How many people has this blind old man eaten? How can you still eat him? In my opinion, burn him and be done with it."

Heidan's mother burst into tears again when she heard this, and the others followed suit and sighed.

The clan leader Li Huairen stroked his beard and said thoughtfully, "In the old days, there were many wolves in Guanzhong. There were many old soldiers still alive at that time. After killing them, they were all hung on the crooked tree at the entrance of the village as a deterrent, which would provide peace for a while."

"Zhu Zi, take a few people and hang this blind third brother to the village entrance!"

"Yes, patriarch!"

Immediately, several men came forward and dragged the wolf's corpse.

"Don't! Don't!"

Just then, a weak female voice sounded from the crowd.

When everyone looked over, they saw a middle-aged woman standing behind the crowd. She had a sallow complexion, unkempt hair, and a foul odor that made people retreat three feet away.

It was the widow Wang from the village.

Speaking of which, Widow Wang is also a pitiful person.

The man was from another family, and he had been stealing since he was young, and he was uneducated and unskilled. He was never welcomed in the village, and even his wife, Widow Wang, was bought from a human trafficker. But even after getting married, the man could not settle down, and often went to Chang'an City to hang out with his bad friends, and when he got drunk, he would come back and beat his wife.

Later, he got drunk and fought with others. He died on the official road outside Chang'an City at this time last year, leaving behind only Widow Wang and a four-year-old girl.

Normally, under such circumstances, if Widow Wang remarried, the villagers would not say much, and might even be happy to see it happen.

After all, it is not easy for orphans and widows, and there are still several bachelors in the village who have no place to go.

However, after her husband died, Widow Wang fell seriously ill. After waking up, she became confused and dazed. She did not clean the house, which was like a pigsty and stank to high heaven.

Poor her daughter also suffered and was locked up at home all day.

I would rather find an ugly woman than a lazy guy.

Now the bachelors in the village had no interest in this and even made fun of her in private.

In the entire village, no one wanted to deal with Widow Wang.

Seeing everyone's gaze, Widow Wang shrank her head, but still whispered: "The body of this blind third brother is not clean, and there is bad luck on him. We need to burn it and ask someone to perform a ritual..."

"shut up!"

Before he finished speaking, clan leader Li Huairen's face changed and he shouted sternly, "Don't spread rumors here to confuse the people. You can just burn incense all day long. If you dare to believe in the White Lotus Mother and bring trouble to the village, don't blame me for being ruthless!"

After these words were spoken, everyone's faces turned grim.

There were many witches and sorcerers among the people, and city god temples in various places were also very popular. The imperial court would hold grand ceremonies on some important festivals, with the Taixuan Taoist priests personally presiding over the sacrificial ceremonies.

However, there is no mercy towards some obscene cults.

The most famous one is Maitreya Sect, which has many branches.

Two years ago, the people in a village were secretly preaching. When the imperial court learned about it, it directly sent troops to strangle them and set fire to the village.

Thousands of people died and it remains a ghost village to this day.

Widow Wang was usually sloppy and weird, and she burned incense at home every day, just like those fools who converted to Christianity. Even though he didn't find any evidence, Li Huairen was very wary of Widow Wang.

For a moment, everyone's eyes were a little gloomy.

Widow Wang didn't dare to say anything when she saw this.

The clan leader Li Huairen snorted, ordered his men to drag away the body of "Blind Old Third", and then hurriedly led his men away.

As the clan leader and village chief, he doesn't have an easy time. After Xiaoman comes Mangzhong, and the summer harvest is imminent. Not only does he have a lot of things to do in the village and in his own family, but he also has to deal with the grain inspectors from Chang'an city.

The incident of "Blind Old Third" was just a minor episode to him.

Without the excitement, everyone dispersed and went to work in the fields.

Only Widow Wang stood there, staring blankly at the wolf corpse being dragged away. A trace of fear flashed in her eyes, and she quickly ran home.

When she returned to the courtyard, she immediately slammed the wooden door shut.

The room was dark and murky. Widow Wang's expression changed. She was no longer as cowardly as before. She lit three incense sticks, put them on her forehead, knelt on the ground and worshiped towards the main hall, muttering:

"Third Aunt, disaster is coming..."

.........

Zhou Juezi's movements were very efficient. In less than an hour, he had slaughtered the big fat pig.

Li Yan forced Heidan to eat several kilograms of food and asked him to run errands and deliver some to the neighbors he was familiar with in the village.

After finishing all these, Li Yan carried most of the pig and rushed home.

His home is at the east end of Lijiabao Village.

This is a typical Guanzhong farmyard. The yard is very large. Vegetables are not planted on the rammed land, but stone locks, stone balls and other objects are placed on it.

Lijiabao was originally a military fort, and several families still retained the old tradition of farming and practicing martial arts. Li Yan's family was one of them.

The difference is that on the door of his house hangs a wooden plaque with four large and powerful characters “威战百战威” inscribed on it.

An old man was squatting beside the threshold.

The old man had white hair, a hunched body, a face full of orange peel wrinkles, cloudy and lifeless eyes, and was holding a large pipe and puffing out clouds of smoke.

The right trouser leg was empty.

It was his grandfather Li Gui in this life.

Li Yan grinned and said, "Grandpa, the clan leader gave us a pig as a reward. Would you like to have pork stew noodles or oil-splashed noodles for lunch?"

However, Li Gui didn't even look at him, smoking with a sullen face.

Li Yan chuckled and said nothing. He carried the pig into the yard and placed it in the kitchen.

The father and son could not finish eating this half pig in a short time. They had to pickle it and make lard from it, which was quite time-consuming.

Li Yan was not in a hurry. After putting the pig down, he went to the yard.

Now that the sun had risen, he took off his clothes and wore only a jacket, revealing his streamlined and toned muscles. He did some warm-up exercises and adjusted his breathing. Then he suddenly placed his fists on his waist and stood straight like a javelin.

Then, he pushed up with one hand as if lifting a tripod, and then slowly lowered it.

The ten great skills of Hongquan: Overlord lifting the tripod.

Guanzhong Red Fist has a very ancient tradition and many branches. Every village, town, and martial arts school has its own tradition and killer moves.

He practiced the old Red Fist, which was handed down from the previous ancestor of the Li family, who was taught by a general in the army. It has many tricks and wonderful points.

That military general was a figure often mentioned in teahouse storytelling. He was known as someone who could defeat ten thousand enemies, and his deeds were undoubtedly extraordinary.

His grandfather Li Gui was a brave soldier in the army, fighting for life and death and had rich experience.

His father, Li Hu, was a swordsman from Guanzhong who made a living by traveling all over the country. He also mixed with many underworld gangsters, which made him even more ferocious.

But no matter what, the ten major skills of Hongquan are the foundation.

Hongquan emphasizes "support and supplement as the mother, hook and hang as the ability, transformation as the wonder, tricky hitting as the method". There are endless variations of various fighting styles, but if the foundation is not solid, all will be in vain.

The ten major exercises are divided into soft and hard types. Li Yan never stopped practicing for a single day, no matter it was windy or rainy, hot summer or cold winter.

And his training method is different from that of ordinary people.

Those who practice martial arts know that "a boxer's body is as precious as gold", so one must proceed step by step. If one rushes into things, one will suffer from a lot of problems.

But Li Yan seemed to have broken through this realm.

He pushed up with one hand, stretching his body to the limit, as if he was really lifting a large bronze tripod, and as if a bowstring was stretched taut, a creaking sound came from his body.

At the same time, Li Yan also remained calm and focused.

In his Dantian, a stone statue was slowly floating...

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(End of this chapter)