Awakening Day Collection

Chapter 2 Preface (2)
Inside the iron fence was indeed a wide courtyard, on the ground of the courtyard lay a huge mass of limp-looking objects.This object is three or four feet long and two feet high. It looks pale in the sun, and its whole body is wriggling. It seems to be alive, but its limbs and facial features are completely invisible from the outside.It doesn't know which part makes a strange snoring sound, as if it is panting, the whole body is like a large wrinkled piece of movable meat, slowly wriggling on the ground, every movement will drive the whole body The "meat" quivered and fluctuated.

This is like a large piece of living flesh, Yu Zhike had such a strange association, and couldn't help but feel a strong nausea.He searched for the relevant knowledge in his mind, and felt that this thing seemed a bit like the "seeing meat" recorded in "Shan Hai Jing". It is said that it was a tonic used by ancient emperors. Can reproduce one piece.There are also different titles such as "meat Ganoderma lucidum" and "Tai Sui" among the people.

But Yu Zhike keenly felt that this is not an ordinary sight meat. There has never been any book recording such a huge piece of sight meat. What's more, it emits a disgusting stench all over its body, which is not like a precious tonic. ?What's more, Yu Zhike felt an unspeakable evil from the first time he saw it. It was a kind of deep horror from ancient memory, a kind of creepy feeling that could hit people's hearts directly, and made him sweat all over his body. Straight up, I felt that there was a darkness spreading in front of my eyes that couldn't even be illuminated by the sun.

And another more terrifying association emerged: rather than saying that this monster looks like a mass of irregularly shaped flesh, it is more like a human brain, a human brain enlarged hundreds of times.

The missing Yao Dao stayed in the big city of Xie Misigan for so long, so it was just to feed this monster?Yu Zhi could think about it.And Prince Zalandin's behind-the-scenes support for him is undoubtedly for this monster.What is it good for?

Yu Zhike was meditating, when suddenly there was a sound from the sky above the courtyard, as if some movable iron plate was lifted.He looked up and saw that a small window had been opened on the side wall above the patio, and a black mass was thrown out of the window and fell to the ground with a "slap".Yu Zhike took a closer look and couldn't help but let out an exclamation.

—that's a baby!A baby that has been smashed to pieces!
The monster in the courtyard didn't know whether it smelled or heard it—because it was hard to find its facial features from its appearance—suddenly, it made a whining sound similar to excitement, and its whole body sped up and squirmed, and a group of tentacles protruded from the lower side The ordinary strips of meat swept all the remains of the baby in it at once, and then retracted them into the body. There was a sound of bone and flesh shattering like chewing.

It is eating.

Yu Zhike could only feel an uncontrollable anger rising from the bottom of his heart.This little baby, judging from his body shape, was only seven or eight months old, but he was thrown to death and fed to this disgusting monster like this. How cruel it must be to do such a thing.He couldn't help raising his head, staring at the window, because the distance was too far to see the face of the person in the window clearly, he could only feel two sharp eyes sweeping across his face, and then disappeared.

Being discovered, Yu Zhike thought, I have to go back quickly.But it was too late for this thought. He had just turned around and walked two steps, when there was a "squeaky" metal sound behind him, he turned his head and saw that the iron fence that blocked the courtyard was lifted up by the mechanism.There was nothing between him and the monster.

shit.Yu Zhi knew something was wrong, so he tried his best to walk lightly, stepping back little by little, hoping that he would not attract the monster's attention, but he would come to whatever he was afraid of.The side of the monster facing him suddenly cracked a gap, revealing a dark red ball in the gap, turning restlessly, and the surface of the ball faintly shone with green light.

Yu Zhike suddenly realized that these were the monster's eyes!He hurriedly turned around and ran towards the entrance of the corridor.There was a sound of hair-raising heavy objects rubbing against the ground behind him. It was obvious that the monster had spotted him and had already chased him.

If it was a person, or a beast like a liger, Yu Zhike still had the courage to turn around and fight, but facing such a monster far beyond human cognition, his only choice was to run desperately.While running, he glanced back, and saw that the huge body of the monster was like a pine caterpillar, moving forward arch by arch. Although it had no legs, its speed was astonishingly fast.

Yu Zhi could run with all his strength, and he could hear the strange sound behind him approaching, and felt that his heart was about to jump out of his chest.He even had the illusion that this fleshy monster opened its mouth wide and was spraying scorching breath onto his body.

Fortunately, the monster is bloated after all, and it will stop at the corners. With the help of a few life-saving turns in the tunnel, Yu Zhike was not overtaken by the monster, but rushed out of the tunnel at a critical moment .The exit of the tunnel was narrow, and although the monster chased after him, its huge body was blocked, unable to rush out.But it still slammed into the exit, causing the surrounding bricks to shatter.

"I just rushed out of the Taoist temple and ran all the way back without stopping." Yu Zhike said.

After Qiu Chuji listened, he thought for a while and stood up: "Let's go and have a look!"

Li Zhichang immediately summoned Mongolian guards to protect him, and Qiu Chuji rushed to the north of the city with eighteen disciples.Although accompanied by these heavily armed soldiers, Yu Zhike still felt lingering fear when he came to the gate of the Taoist temple.But he still bravely walked in the front, led everyone to find the tunnel, and drilled down together.The Mongolian guards clenched their weapons, ready to kill at any time.

However, the monster has disappeared without a trace, and both the corridor and the courtyard are empty.Only some mucus remained on the floor of the corridor, and the baby's blood remained on the floor of the courtyard, which proved that what Yu Zhike experienced just now was not a nightmare.

The Mongolian soldiers searched the Taoist temple carefully and made an even more astonishing discovery: they found more than a dozen dying babies and a huge unfinished bronze statue in a secret room.This bronze statue has only completed the torso, not the head yet, so it is impossible to know what it is.But people noticed that the chest and abdomen part of the bronze statue is a movable copper plate. After opening, the inside is empty, and there is a metal tank below it that seems to be filled with fuel.

"The feeding of monsters with babies that Zhike saw was probably just a coincidence," Qiu Chuji said after a moment of contemplation. "The dead ones are thrown down for feeding, and the living ones...maybe used for sacrifice."

"Sacrifice?" The disciples were surprised.

"Yes, the sacrifice. The chest of this bronze statue is a furnace," Qiu Chuji said. "It seems that during the sacrifice, babies are thrown into it and burned alive."

Everyone couldn't help shivering.

"Such a god is unheard of in the land of China. I guess it may be an evil god from the countries of the Western Regions." Qiu Chuji said again.

The babies were all rescued.However, due to the lack of medical care and medicine, it is still difficult for them to escape the fate of death. What's more, it is difficult for those who survive to find someone willing to adopt them in Xemisgan. Death may be the best relief.

In the end, the Yaodao could not be found, and the Taoist temple was burned by the Mongolian soldiers, but the hearts of the Quanzhen Taoists were still hard to calm down.They couldn't help guessing, what was that huge monster that looked like flesh, what was the conspiracy between the master of the Taoist temple and Prince Zalandin, and what did this evil bronze statue represent?They all faintly realized that what this terrifying Taoist temple represented might be some kind of darkness and evil that people had never heard of.Behind it, lurks something beyond people's cognition, even more chilling than Genghis Khan's iron hoof.

"Master, can I record this matter in our westward journal?" Li Zhichang asked.On this journey from the Middle Earth to the Western Regions, he insisted on recording the itinerary, the customs and geographical conditions along the way, and prepared to pass on the deeds of the Changchun real person to future generations.

"Don't record it for the time being," Qiu Chuji said after pondering for a moment, "Let's leave it to future generations to discover those things that have not been determined. Remember, this matter cannot be mentioned again, and it should be treated as never happened."

two

When the Taoist priest named Lan Zhenshu came back to the village, Li Mutou was basking in the sun at the door, nursing his injured leg.Seeing Lan Zhenshu coming back, he was a little surprised.Lan Zhenshu's face was pale, his head was sweating profusely, and there were many ruptures on the Taoist robe, and dark red wounds could be seen on the exposed skin.

"Master Landao, what's wrong with you?" Li Mutou asked hurriedly, "Didn't you and your brother go hunting for the emperor's treasure, did you find it?"

When Lan Zhenshu heard someone calling him, he was startled at first, then seemed to finally relax, sat on the ground slowly, and whispered: "Please give me some water."

Li Mutou turned and went back to the house, and brought Lan Zhenshu a bowl of water.Lan Zhenshu took the bowl with his right hand, but his wrist shook so violently that he couldn't hold it firmly, and the porcelain bowl fell to the ground and broke into pieces.

"Sorry, I will pay you for this bowl." Lan Zhenshu said with a wry smile.

"What are you talking about?" Li Mutou waved his hands again and again, "You are my savior, what is it to break a bowl?"

Li Mutou is a mountain dweller in the Langzhong mountain area in eastern Sichuan. He lives with his only son. A few days ago, when he went up the mountain to cut firewood, he accidentally fell off the cliff and broke a leg. He was about to die in the mountain. The Taoist priest saved him.Li Mutou, who was so grateful, invited the two Taoist priests to his home, and asked them why they came to this remote village, but they didn't hide anything.It turned out that one of these two Taoist priests was Zhuo Zhending and the other was Lan Zhenshu. They were Taoist priests of the Zhengyi school who practiced in Longhushan.It was the Jiajing period at this time. Emperor Jiajing had always been the most enthusiastic about the practice of alchemy, so Zhang Yan followed suit and sent his disciples to Sichuan and Yunnan provinces in the southwest to search for treasures and treasures left by ancient alchemists. Cheats and other things in order to offer to the emperor.Zhuo and Lan were two of the disciples who were sent out and arranged to come to Langzhong Mountain.

"The two Taoist priests may have come to the wrong place," Li Mutou said, "There have never been any Taoist temples in our area, and there are not even a few wandering Taoist priests. Where did some old gods who practiced Taoism leave behind any treasures?" ? But..."

"But what?" Zhuo Zhending asked.

"The old monk has one, I don't know if it will be useful to the two of you." Li Mutou said.

"Monk? Is there any small temple nearby?" Lan Zhenshu asked.

"There is no temple, just a lonely monk," Li Mutou said, "he came here about 20 years ago, lived alone on the mountain in the north, and didn't interact with others. No one knew what he came for. At first everyone was worried about what bad things he might do, but after a long time, he didn’t do anything to hurt us, so everyone gradually felt relieved.”

It is very common for monks to live in seclusion alone in the mountains, but it is rare for monks to live in seclusion, not to mention staying for decades, which sounds a bit strange.The two of them were just trying their luck, so they decided to take a look, maybe they could find some "Buddha treasures" without Taoist treasures, which could calm Master's anger a little bit.

The two Taoist priests set off in the direction indicated by Li Mutou that day, and Li Mutou took care of his injured leg at home.A few days passed, and just when he almost forgot about it, Lan Zhenshu came back in a daze.

Li Mutou wanted to ask why Zhuo Zhending didn't come back with him, but Lan Zhenshu just shook his head repeatedly and refused to say a word, so he had no choice but to stop asking.On the night after he came back, Lan Zhenshu started to have a high fever. Li Mutou left him at home and sent his son to travel more than ten miles to invite a doctor to prescribe medicine. Get better slowly.During this period, Lan Zhenshu hardly uttered a word, but the fear in his eyes did not diminish in the slightest. Li Mutou even suspected that his brain had been burned out by the high fever.

What happened to these two priests?Why did Zhuo Zhending disappear?Why was Lan Zhenshu so frightened and refused to say anything?Li Mutou couldn't help guessing in his heart, but he knew that he couldn't get the correct answer from his random guessing.Honest and simple, he just tried his best to take care of Lan Zhenshu, and planned to let his son send him away after he recovered.

However, one afternoon, when Li Mutou was standing outside the house exercising his muscles and bones, a person came from a distance, and it was Zhuo Zhending.He couldn't help being surprised and delighted: "Master Zhuo, you're back? Where have you been these days?"

Zhuo Zhending nodded lightly, and did not answer the latter question, but Li Mutou suddenly felt something was wrong.First of all, when Zhuo Zhending and Lan Zhenshu entered the mountain, they wore Taoist robes of fairly good quality, but they were worn out after traveling for a long time, but now they are wearing tattered clothes when they come back. Looking closely, they look like monks Robes—could this set of monk robes be obtained from an old monk?

What made people feel even more uncomfortable was the aura exuding from Zhuo Zhending's whole body.Although his appearance and body shape did not change at all, Li Mutou had a strange feeling that the person in front of him was not Zhuo Zhending, but another stranger.Or to put it in another mysterious way, that is, Zhuo Zhending's appearance has not changed, but his soul seems to have been replaced, especially that pair of indifferent eyes, which really makes people shudder.

Just when Li Mutou was hesitating, Zhuo Zhending had already walked past him and pushed open the door.Almost at the same time as the door opened, a scream erupted from the room.Li Mutou hurriedly turned his head, only to see Lan Zhenshu rushing out of the room rolling and crawling, and collapsed on the ground after two steps.

The expression of extreme fear that Li Mutou had seen once again appeared on his face, his hands were unconsciously scratching in the air, and he yelled incoherently: "Impossible! You are dead, why are you dead?" Maybe... you are dead! You are dead!"

dead?Li Mutou was shocked.Zhuo Zhending still didn't say a word, but approached Lan Zhenshu step by step.Lan Zhenshu couldn't even stand up, so he could only move his legs back a little bit on the ground, his voice became hoarse because of fear: "I saw it with my own eyes! Half of your body turned into bones! How do you May come alive, how is it possible?"

"You are dead!" Lan Zhenshu roared hoarsely.

Li Muju was also frightened, and quietly dragged his injured leg back step by step.Only then did he realize that the two of them went to hunt for treasure together, but Lan Zhenshu came back alone. It turned out that Zhuo Zhending was already dead.And not only died, but also died a miserable death, "Half your body has turned into bones", no wonder Lan Zhenshu was so terrified when he came back.

But now, this person who was considered dead by Lan Zhenshu actually came back to life, and he came back intact. Judging by his gentle and coordinated movements, it doesn't look like half of his body has turned into bones?Could it be...a ghost?
Thinking of the word "ghost", Li Mumu was even more frightened. He hid behind the well fence outside the house and observed secretly.He saw Zhuo Zhending approaching Lan Zhenshu unhurriedly, while Lan Zhenshu kept retreating in horror, his whole body shaking like sifting chaff.

"I really didn't abandon you on purpose!" Lan Zhenshu suddenly changed into a kneeling position, knelt in front of Zhuo Zhending, and began to kowtow heavily, "That monster... I have nothing to do with it, I can only run for my life ! If I don't escape, I will die like you!"

Lan Zhenshu kowtowed like garlic, but Zhuo Zhending remained silent and said nothing. This invisible pressure seemed to be even more unbearable for Lan Zhenshu.His head hit the hard ground again and again, and the blood flowed all over his face without stopping. Finally, after a heavy collision, Lan Zhenshu's head tilted and did not move anymore.

(End of this chapter)