Day and night tour

Chapter 216: Changing the Heaven and the Sun
Zhou Xuan returned to the time and space gap an hour ago. The scene in the inn was still the same.

The floor and walls were full of decayed holes, and there was an unpleasant sour smell everywhere. There was no one in the inn.

"This is not the time for the crime."

Zhou Xuan shattered the space-time rift and adjusted the time back to two hours ago.

Two hours ago, the inn was still filled with a foul smell; hunger had already taken its toll.

He went back to three hours ago.

The inn smelled rotten.

"That means Hungry started the attack three hours ago, and Hungry killed people to seamlessly connect with the time when Lao Li left?"

Zhou Xuan pondered.

It is only one in the morning now. Three hours ago, it was ten o'clock. Hunger must have started before ten o'clock.

It was after nine o'clock in the evening when Li Chengfeng passed the lantern and informed Gu Ling of the news that "Hunger was beheaded".

Didn’t it happen that Lao Li just left and now Hunger is taking action?
"Very cunning."

Zhou Xuan continued to use the Wrath-Clearing Scroll to go back in time, and went back to nine o'clock in the evening...

"how come?"

Zhou Xuan just thought that "hunger" was very cunning, but now he witnessed with his own eyes something that was completely impossible.

At nine o'clock in the evening, the Kangfeng Inn still smelled foul and the floor was in tatters.

This means that hunger strikes earlier than 9 o'clock in the evening.

At that time, Li Chengfeng, Qingfeng and the night watchman had not even left the inn.

"Hunger" took action right under the noses of Li Chengfeng, Qingfeng and the night watchman.

But Lao Li and the others didn’t feel that “hunger” was killing people at all?
How is this possible - a large inn was turned into a dilapidated and run-down state, and all the people in the inn were probably killed as well. With such a big commotion, how could Old Li and the night watchman who were scattered in various private rooms turn a blind eye to it?

Zhou Xuan thought of this and did not break the time gap, but walked in the "Nine O'clock Inn".

He walked through the door of the private room to see what Lao Li and the others were doing.

As a result... Zhou Xuan walked through every private room, but did not see Li Chengfeng, Qingfeng, or the night watchman.

"What's going on? Lao Li and the others should still be at the inn at nine o'clock, right? Where did they go?"

Zhou Xuan broke the time gap and, through the Cleansing Wrongs Talisman, turned back the time to eight o'clock in the evening.

At eight o'clock in the evening, the inn no longer looked shabby, but looked respectable and clean.

At this time, "Hunger" did not take action. Zhou Xuan first walked in the cracks of time and space, and passed every private room in the inn, but still did not see Li Chengfeng, Qingfeng, and the night watchman.

"At eight o'clock, they must be in the inn. Where did they go?"

Zhou Xuan was full of doubts.

It was extremely abnormal that Li Chengfeng and the others could not be found in the retrospective time, but he put this abnormality aside for the time being and went to the first floor of the inn, wanting to see with his own eyes how "Hunger" did it.

As for the question of why Li Chengfeng, Qingfeng and the night watchman disappeared from the inn, I will answer it later.

Zhou Xuan walked to the first floor of the inn during the time gap in the inn, quietly waiting for the arrival of "hunger".

Time goes by little by little,

Zhou Xuan noticed that the inn was doing good business. There were twelve eight-person tables on the first floor, and seven of them were occupied by customers.

The guests clinked glasses, some venting their dissatisfaction with life, others chatting about their promising future livelihoods.

The proprietress was busy serving customers and from time to time she would send two plates of salted peanuts to her familiar guests as a side dish for wine.

The boss was leaning against the counter, chatting with the diners with a smile on his face, mostly about how the dishes were cooked today and whether the wine was to their liking.

The inn is filled with the warm atmosphere of human life.

All the good things began and ended with the arrival of the elderly guest in a long gown.

The elderly guest, who must be in his early sixties, with deep wrinkles and muddy clothes, stumbled into the door and called to the boss from a distance, "Give me two jars of Liuyanbai."

Liuyan Bai is a type of liquor brewed by the Liuyan Distillery at Yuejiazhai. It is very strong and is usually bought by drinkers with tight wallets. They only buy half a cup at a time and sip it with a plate of peanuts. This way they can satisfy their craving for alcohol without spending much money.

But this old customer asked for two jars of Liuyanbai right away. I'm afraid his appetite was too excessive.

The boss smiled apologetically and said to the old customer, "Old sir, are you buying this wine to drink now or to store it for later use?
Liuyanbai's wine doesn't smell good if it's stored. It's better to buy two jars of grain wine. The longer it's stored, the better its aroma. The price is only 10% more expensive than Liuyanbai..."

"I'll drink it here."

The old customer said.

"Drink here, two jars?" The boss was very surprised.

Liuyanbai wine is packaged in small-mouthed jars, but no matter how small the jar is, one jar weighs four kilograms, and two jars weigh eight kilograms. If you drink these two jars of wine, you will die.

"Stop talking nonsense, two jars."

The elderly guest took out fifty Jingguo banknotes from his pocket and slammed them hard on the table.

The money has been paid, and as a business person we cannot make things difficult for the customer. Since he insists on having two jars of wine, then just serve two jars of wine.

The boss waved to the waiter.
The waiter then brought out two jars of packaged Liuyanbai.

The elderly guest untied the rope around the jar, tore open the seal, picked up the jar, and drank from it.

At this moment, not only the boss was shocked, but also the boss's wife, diners, waiters, and even the cooks in the kitchen were all shocked. They all gathered around and watched the old man drinking.

Those were two jars of Liuyanbai. A normal young man would be so drunk that he couldn't even hold on to the wall after drinking two bowls.

An old man drinking from two jars is simply a strange story. People are curious, and in a short while, a large group of people surrounded the old man.

"Wow, he really drinks...he drank the whole jar."

"This old man is probably the god of wine."

In addition to those who were curious, there were also those who were concerned about the old man's health, and advised: "Old man, don't drink anymore. This wine has a strong aftereffect. I'm afraid you will end up in Shan De Hospital."

The old man gulped down one jar of wine after another. When he finished the second jar, he put the jar on the counter. He began to lose consciousness and kept burping.

The boss was a nice guy and asked his waiter to make a bowl of sour noodle soup to sober up.

"No one can drink like this."

After giving instructions to the waiter, the boss pulled a bench for the old man to sit on and patted him on the back to help him get rid of the smell of alcohol.

"Oh, old man, I admire your alcohol tolerance, but you can't drink like this. You still have a long life ahead of you."

After being hit several times, the old man suddenly vomited on the ground.

"vomit!"

The wine that had just been poured in flowed down like a flood.
The inn lobby suddenly smelled of alcohol, but the landlady didn't mind. She ran to the kitchen, shoveled out the coal dust, and sprinkled it on the vomit.

The drinkers did not mock the old man. They were all regular drinkers and everyone had gotten drunk and embarrassed.
Some people even gave the boss some hangover-relieving medicine and asked him to help give it to the elderly.

"vomit!"

The old man continued to vomit.

But this time, what was vomited out was not alcohol, but a large piece of liver.

The liver was squeezed out of the old man's mouth like a piece of coagulated pig blood.

pat!

When the liver fell to the ground, everyone around was shocked.

"vomit!"

This time,
The old man vomited out a stomach sac.
Then it was the spleen, lungs... As soon as the organs in the body fell to the ground, they began to grow wildly, and a blood-red mass of rapidly growing moss spread wildly throughout the inn.
Inside the inn, someone's feet were stained with blood, and immediately a pool of extremely acidic liquid appeared on the bloody ground.

After the liquid wrapped around the person, it quickly digested the flesh and blood...

The people in the inn were transformed from living people into skeletons with flesh and blood corroded away.

The skeleton fell into the bloody ground, and was wrapped in a thicker acid, corroding the bones with a hissing sound.
The big bones were melted into small bones by the acid, and the small bones were corroded into a sticky and smelly mass.

The bloody ground formed by the five internal organs was still spreading, climbing up the floor, climbing up the walls, and climbing up the ceiling.

The huge inn was covered with purple-red flesh and blood. In Zhou Xuan's opinion, the inn at this moment was like a huge stomach, melting everything in the house with intense acid.

"Damn "Hunger", what a lovely lady boss, the boss, and every diner here, no one has bad intentions, you just ate them all up,
A beast without a human heart."

Zhou Xuan usually has a hard time getting angry, generally because he feels that there is nothing worth getting angry about.

But at this moment,
A fire ignited in his heart, burning from his dantian to his throat.

"Oh!"

Zhou Xuan smashed the time crack angrily.

The tragic scene made Zhou Xuan furious, but anger was useless.
What we should do is to bring "Hunger" to justice and vent all our anger on it.

Zhou Xuan took a few breaths and tried to calm his emotions.

At this moment, the calmer you are, the more likely you are to find clues to "hunger".

Zhou Xuan held the lantern and activated the Cleansing Wrongs Talisman again, turning back the time to seven o'clock in the evening.

He wants to solve the mystery of the disappearance of "Li Chengfeng, the night watchman" in the inn.

Lao Li and the others must have been in the inn at eight o'clock, but they were nowhere to be seen.

At what time did they disappear from the inn?

……

Time went back to seven o'clock in the evening. At this time, Zhou Xuanxing walked into all the private rooms of the inn.
Everyone is here.

Lao Li, Yun Ziliang, and Qing Feng were in the private room of the Peony Pavilion.
The other six night watchmen were in the other three private rooms.

They all looked serious as they waited for "Hunger" to show up.

Zhou Xuan sat in the private room of the "Peony Pavilion" and observed Lao Li and Qing Feng.

Everything seems normal in Peony Pavilion.
Li Chengfeng and Yun Ziliang asked for some advice on how to find dragons.
Qingfeng closed his eyes and concentrated, holding a "porcelain ear" in his hand.

The porcelain ears are instruments used for monitoring.
He used his porcelain ears to amplify his perception and monitor everything that happened in the inn.

Everyone's behavior seemed completely normal.
but,

Suddenly in an instant, Qingfeng, Li Chengfeng and Yun Ziliang in the Peony Pavilion disappeared.

Zhou Xuan went to check the other private rooms, and the night watchman was gone too.

All the people seemed to have disappeared from the face of the earth.

Zhou Xuan took out his pocket watch.
The pocket watch can display the accurate time in the space-time rifts and totem halls.

At this time, the hands of the pocket watch pointed to "seven forty".

Before 7:40, Lao Li, Qing Feng and others were all in the inn as normal.

But after 7:40, they suddenly disappeared from the inn...

"What's this about?"

Zhou Xuan walked out of the gap in time and space, holding a lantern, and inspected the inn again. He found that the rest of the inn was badly decayed, but a few private rooms were almost not decayed.
"Ask Lao Li and the others." Zhou Xuan activated his vest and left the inn.

Li Chengfeng, Yun Ziliang and the painter were all waiting anxiously at the door of the inn. When they saw Zhou Xuan coming out, they eagerly asked, "Young Master, what did you see?"

“There are several very important time points.”

Zhou Xuan raised the lantern high, illuminating Li Chengfeng's face, and asked, "Old Li, what time was it when you killed Hunger? Can you be more precise?"

"Nine ten at night."

"Are you sure?" Zhou Xuan asked.

"Yes, Qingfeng is the second in command of the City God. He is usually meticulous in his work. After killing Hungry, he took out the City God's Book and accurately recorded the time of the killing."

Li Chengfeng answered in a serious tone.

Zhou Xuan asked again: "What time did you leave the inn?"

"After killing Hunger, I released the lantern, which delayed me for two or three minutes. I left the inn before 9:15." "Did you leave the inn before 9:15?"

"How dare I leave? I have been guarding the inn the whole time. Lao Yun can testify to that."

Li Chengfeng felt Zhou Xuan's distrust and moved Yun Ziliang out.

"Indeed, I haven't been there. I was there too." Yun Ziliang also echoed.

"Lao Li, Lao Yun, it's not that I don't trust you, it's just that this is too weird."

Zhou Xuan turned his back and looked at the dilapidated inn, and said: "I am the Zhou family's Nuo God. The first incense stick is for "storyteller", and the second incense stick is for "tattoo", both of which are connected to the hall of the dream god.

Therefore, I always have some strange dreams. "

He used the "dream theory" to cover up the existence of his "cleansing injustice talisman".

The painter nodded and said, "It is the law of dreams."

In the Well Country, those who can understand the laws are all after burning seven incense sticks.

Although Zhou Xuan did not have enough incense, because of everyone's unreasonable trust in him, they did not find it strange no matter what happened to him.

"Maybe it's the law of dreams."

Zhou Xuan said: "I was taking a nap in the inn with a lantern and had a dream about what happened in the inn today.

"Hunger" moved his hands around 8:30, and his possessed feet used two jars of white wine to entice him,

It no longer looks like a human stomach, but rather like the five internal organs. The five internal organs have grown wildly, turning the inn into a giant stomach, swallowing up everyone in the inn.

"That's impossible. We were all in the inn at half past eight."

Li Chengfeng felt mixed emotions when he heard this. If what Zhou Xuan said was true,

That means,

"Hunger" devoured everyone in the inn right under everyone's noses.

This was something he found extremely difficult to accept. As the fifth clergyman of the Bone Elders' Society - a scholar of the gods, he was sitting in an inn, yet he watched helplessly as everyone in the inn died.

Incompetent, useless,
It is not an exaggeration to use this word to describe him.

This kind of thing not only made Li Chengfeng feel guilty, but also damaged his confidence.

"I watched in my dream that you, Lao Yun, Qing Feng, and the other night watchmen disappeared out of thin air at 7:40."

"We disappeared?"

Li Chengfeng was surprised by Zhou Xuan's conclusion.

"That can't be possible. We have been here the whole time." Yun Ziliang also testified.

It's impossible for them not to be nervous about this kind of thing.
They were in the inn, but "Hunger" attacked them in front of them. Judging from the most basic logic, they were most likely in cahoots with "Hunger".

Zhou Xuan pressed his hands down and said, "Lao Li, Lao Yun, I trust you two very much. I didn't have any doubts just now. I was just explaining everything that happened in the inn in the dream.
I have a question now, what happened from 7:40 pm to the time you left the inn at night?"

"No, we are in the private room, just..."

"Peony Pavilion, I know, please continue." Zhou Xuan reminded.

After these words were spoken, Li Chengfeng no longer doubted the authenticity of Zhou Xuan's "dream". He did not say that he and Qingfeng had been staying in the "Peony Pavilion" all the time. Obviously, this was what Zhou Xuan "dreamt" about.

Li Chengfeng told the whole story, saying, "I was chatting with Lao Yun, and Qingfeng was monitoring with the Porcelain Ear Instrument, and everything was normal.
We didn’t hear any noises or notice anything unusual until around nine o’clock in the evening, when Qingfeng and I entered the “Hunger” dream and felt extremely hungry. Then we took action and killed Hunger.”

To Zhou Xuan, what Lao Li said was already a cliché and a meaningless repetition.

"Think about it again!"

Zhou Xuan urged, "Besides the abnormality, did you hear any other sounds?"

"Nothing." Li Chengfeng recalled carefully, but couldn't think of any movement.

"Yes." Yun Ziliang said, "I heard someone shouting outside the inn."

"Who's yelling?"

"It's just the shout of a knife sharpener."

Yun Ziliang preached.

Knife sharpeners are very common in Jingguo. If someone's kitchen knife, scissors, or hoe is blunt, there will be a knife sharpener to sharpen them. They are a common craftsman.

When Zhou Xuan came to Jingguo, he heard the shouts of knife sharpeners while walking through the streets.

"What does the knife sharpener shout?"

"Just yelling normally." Yun Ziliang imitated the rough voice of a knife sharpener and yelled to Zhou Xuan: "Sharpening scissors~Sharpening kitchen knives..."

All the craftsmen walking around the streets of Jingguo have to shout. After all, they have no storefronts and no fixed stall locations, so they can only use shouting to remind nearby customers with needs. It is a primitive form of advertising.

After hearing this, Zhou Xuan asked Li Chengfeng again: "Did you hear the shouting?"

"Yes, I heard it. I remembered it. I even stood by the window and looked out. It was strange to hear shouting in the middle of the night."

Li Chengfeng was reminded of his recent memories after hearing Yun Ziliang's talk. He said, "Then I saw the knife sharpener enter the inn. I guess he is a businessman who runs an inn and wine shop."

Knives are often used in inns and taverns, and they often become blunt easily. Some knife sharpeners specifically visit various taverns and inns in the afternoon in an attempt to attract some business.
So although it is a bit strange that the knife sharpener appears at night, it makes sense if you think about it carefully.

"The knife sharpener..."

Zhou Xuan was thinking about the "knife sharpener" and asked Yun Ziliang: "Old Yun, you have a good memory, but you only told half of the yelling."

In the past, there was no such thing as "shouting". At most, people would install a loudspeaker in front of the stall and shout "X brand of braised eggs, 50 cents each, tastes great."

In the past, yaohou appeared more frequently in some old folk art pieces, such as "Selling Cloth" and "Learning to Yell" in crosstalk.

As a fan of folk art, Zhou Xuan paid special attention when he heard the shouting in Jingguo. When the craftsmen shouted, he also shouted a few times in his heart, which satisfied his fascination for folk art.

But after listening to the shouting many times, he discovered the difference between the shouting of authentic craftsmen and the shouting in folk art.

When craftsmen shout out their wares, they not only introduce their trade by shouting out words, but also add their own "names" in their shouts.

For example, if a man named Li sells candy, he would give himself the name of Candy Man Li.
When they were calling out, they would say: "Tangren Li's sugar figures are crunchy when chewed and sweeter than honey."

There are many people selling candy figures, and each one has a different taste. Each one has its own favorite customers. When they shout out their names, they can attract regular buyers.
It can be regarded as the prototype of "fan economy".

The same is true for knife sharpeners. They shout out their "name" when walking on the street. Customers who like their craftsmanship will come out enthusiastically and call the knife sharpener to do their work.

Therefore, Zhou Xuan knew that Yun Ziliang only told half of the call and did not mention the name of the knife sharpener.

"Now that you mention it, the knife sharpener really did make a name for himself. Let me recall."

Yun Ziliang held his chin and thought for a long time before saying, "It seems that the knife sharpener's surname is Qian...I think his surname is Qian."

He asked Li Chengfeng.

Li Chengfeng's memory is very strange. Let him figure it out, but he really can't figure it out. But if you give him a hint, he will remember everything at once."

"Sharpening scissors~Sharpening kitchen knives~Old Qian sharpened the knives, a smooth iron mirror~Sharpening scissors~Sharpening kitchen knives~"

Li Chengfeng learned all the shouts of the knife sharpener.

Hearing this,

Zhou Xuan clapped his hands and said, "Just ask around on this street if there's a knife sharpener named Qian."

……

After receiving Zhou Xuan's instructions, Li Chengfeng went to ask the people who had not yet fallen asleep.

Zhou Xuan sat on the stone steps in front of the inn and smoked.
The painter looked worried.

He had never imagined that "Hunger" was not only ferocious and cruel, but also extremely powerful, able to kill all the people in the inn right under the noses of the City God and Gu Lao.

"Mingjiang Mansion, I'm afraid there is great danger."

Yun Ziliang also felt that the turn of events was extremely dangerous. Even though he was in the inn, he could not figure out how "hunger" made him and Lao Li disappear out of thin air after 7:40.

Half an hour later, Li Chengfeng came back.

"How's it going, Lao Li?"

"I found out, I found out." Li Chengfeng began to recount, "There was a knife sharpener named Qian. He used to live in the alley in front of Yue's house. People nearby called him Caidao Qian. His knife sharpening skills were praised by the neighbors."

"You said he used to live in Qianmen Alley, but where is he now?"

"He died three years ago. He was addicted to opium and prostitutes. He got sick and lost the courage to live. He found a piece of wire, connected it to an electric switch and electrocuted himself to death."

Li Chengfeng explained it very clearly.

"That's strange. How did you hear him yelling in the inn when he's been dead for three years? Unless you went back a few years... Sigh..."

When Zhou Xuan thought of this, he suddenly came to his senses and asked the painter, "Is there a way in the Jing Kingdom to send people back a few years?"

The painter was inspired by Zhou Xuan's words and immediately thought of a possibility. He said word by word: "The law of time."

this moment,
The truth is out.

Zhou Xuan said: "That means the opponent has comprehended the "Law of Time". He adjusted the time in several private rooms of the inn to a few years ago and sent Lao Li, Lao Yun, Qing Feng, and the night watchman to the time of the inn a few years ago.

The rest of the inn is real time.

In an inn, some parts are from a few years ago, and the rest are now,
People who lived a few years ago certainly couldn’t see what was happening in reality.”

Because Li Chengfeng and the others were sent back a few years ago, Zhou Xuan could not see Li Chengfeng and the others when he went back in time through the Wrong-Clearing Scroll.
"After 7:40, so this is how you disappear."

When the painter heard this, he lost his composure and clenched his fists until they made a cracking sound.

"Hunger" is the offspring of God. He has physical dreams, but he definitely does not understand the law of time.

In that case,

That means, among those who took action at night, there was not only one who was "hungry", but also someone who understood the law of time.

"The third evil god has appeared." Zhou Xuan said.

The evil god is different from gods and white walkers. The latter master the complete way of incense, while the evil god comprehends a certain law as he grows.

"It is indeed the third evil god. If it were a mortal seven or eight sticks of incense, it would be impossible for him to master such a profound law."

The painter also agreed with Zhou Xuan's point of view. He himself understood part of the law of time, and through Zhou Xuan's "one-knife painting", he also understood part of the law of space.

He didn't have a deep understanding of the two laws, and there wasn't much he could do with the laws.

Being able to send several people back to a few years ago at the same time would be impossible without a very deep understanding of the laws of time.

Only the evil god could possess such a powerful law ability.

"You have many evil gods in Mingjiang Prefecture."

The God of Life, the God of Willow, and the Evil God who appeared today, a total of three!

As for whether there are more evil gods, Zhou Xuan has no idea.

"Everything is clear now. The 'Hunger' you killed was not Hunger itself, but a part of Hunger's body. It was used by the third evil god to deceive you."

He sorted out the timeline of the evening's events.

7:40: The third evil god took action and sent Li Chengfeng, Yun Ziliang, Qingfeng, and the night watchman to a few years ago.
Half past eight: "Hunger" took action and devoured all the people in the inn with its five internal organs. At the same time, it nailed the fifth dragon-locking cave and decayed the inn. However, because the private rooms of the inn were built several years ago, they were not corroded too much.

Nine o'clock: The third evil god sent part of Hunger's body to the inn a few years ago, where it was discovered by Li Chengfeng, Lao Yun and others.

This part of the hungry body had the physical dream of "hunger", and because it was cut into the shape of a "human stomach" by the third evil god, it confused Li Chengfeng and Lao Yun, making them think that they had successfully killed "hunger".

Nine fifteen: Li Chengfeng and others are still controlled by the time law of the third evil god. They walk out of the inn and walk on the street. It is still the Yue family residence of a few years ago.

Therefore, Li Chengfeng, Qingfeng and others did not notice the decay of the inn at all.

A few years ago, the streets of Yuejiazhai Kangfeng Inn were quite peaceful.

The third evil god used the law of time to steal things in the inn.

Zhou Xuan put his arm around the painter's shoulders and said, "The evil god is very fierce. It's time for us to launch a counterattack..."

"Fight back? How?"

The painter felt powerless. Against an evil god who could send several people back several years ago, could Mingjiang Mansion still have the ability to quickly counterattack?
ps: Brothers, my tooth got inflamed again today. It hurt so much that I cried out in pain. I went to the hospital for an IV drip. I came back late, so the update will be a little late.

(End of this chapter)