"Joke!"
Sha LiFei was so angry that he slowly squatted down and picked up Colonel Zhou's chin with the tip of the knife, "You guys are really good at beating people up, colluding with evil spirits and harming people, and you also said that we are hawks and dogs. Have you forgotten your identity?"
"Commandery Commandant Office people also say that we are eagle dogs..."
He felt very unhappy.
Being called the imperial eagle dog is an insult to people in the world.
Li Yan stepped forward and asked in a deep voice, "Tell me! How did Tian Chiliarch die? And when did your village believe in Cocoon Clothes Cult?"
"Hmph!"
Zhou Dayong snorted coldly and closed his eyes.
For this kind of person, Li Yan was too lazy to bother. He turned around and glanced at Long Yan'er. The Gu girl immediately waved her sleeves and flew out several tiny Sesame Gu.
This little thing won't kill you, but it can penetrate into the nerves and cause pain and itching to the extreme.
"Ah--!"
Zhou Dayong immediately let out a shrill scream and hit the ground with force.
Although he is not Hidden Strength, he is also a good Peak of Manifested Strength player.
This one blow is enough to break your brain.
But before it hit the ground, Sha LiFei stepped forward and lifted it up, using skillful energy to melt it away.
But even so, Zhou Dayong still refused to confess and just stared straight ahead.
Li Yan frowned slightly and looked along his line of sight.
But I saw Zhou Dayong's wife standing in the distance with her two children. What's strange is that seeing her husband and father suffering, all three of them looked indifferent.
"Stop first!"
Li Yan asked Long Yan'er to stop, then squatted down and whispered, "Are you afraid that if you tell anyone, your wife and children will lose their lives?"
"Don't worry, we have a way to save you..."
"Hahaha~"
Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Zhou Dayong with a sad smile on his face, and said with despair, "Solution? They have been seriously ill for a long time, and only with the secret method of the empress can they survive... You guys do it, I have had enough of this world anyway!"
Li Yan was thoughtful, and there was a murmur in his heart.
At this moment, the three Kuai Dayou also turned around and returned.
"Go faster!"
They caught the lame old man and scolded each other to move forward.
The old man had gray hair. Although he was old, he was not kind at all. His eyes were filled with treachery and panic. He stumbled as he walked, looking around secretly from time to time.
Like Zhou Dayong, he was not cursed.
"Fellow heroes!"
When he came in front of everyone, he knelt on the ground with a bang, kowtowed as if pounding garlic, wiped his nose and said with tears, "I'm wronged. I'm just a mud-legged guy. I don't know anything. I beg you heroes to spare my life."
"What are you pretending to be?!"
Sha LiFei kicked him over and said in a cold voice, "We all saw what you did just now and said, what on earth is going on in this village?"
The lame old man originally wanted to quibble, but after Long Yan'er released a Sesame Gu, he cried out for his father and mother in pain and was out of breath. He told the story:
"After the opening of the sea, the government increased the tax on silk weaving, and the people complained. At this time, a plague happened, and everyone couldn't even pay for medical treatment and medicine..."
"The old and weak women and children were the first to be unable to bear it, and more than a dozen people died. At this moment, someone told the little old man a trick, Attendant Silkworm Goddess, and someone also brought talisman paper, which can be cured by burning the ashes and turning it into talisman water. It really cured many people..."
"Since then, everyone has started secretly Attendant..."
"The government's investigation was strict, so we didn't allow people from outside villages to come. Finally, several immortals came and taught us how to raise the sacred silkworms. The silk cocoons spun by the sacred silkworms can be sold for ten taels of silver per pound, so everyone started raising..."
"Those who raised silkworms all got sick, but the immortals said that this was the protection of the Goddess of Silkworms. As expected, they were free from all diseases, and some people with tuberculosis no longer coughed up blood..."
Listening to his words, everyone frowned.
Long Yan'er shook his head slightly and said coldly, "After being hit by this 'Silkworm Zombie Curse', all the internal organs are infected. It's not that all diseases are gone, but that you can no longer feel it."
Li Yan narrowed his eyes. "Why are you fine?"
The lame old man quickly replied, "The little old man has to go out from time to time, firstly to buy food with money, and secondly to contact the immortals, so he has no time to raise silkworms. And this Zhou Dalang is also working as an errand in Jinling all year round, so he is fine."
"The little boy has limited legs and feet. He originally wanted to be blessed by the Silkworm Goddess, but he saw something was wrong with these people, so he gave up the idea."
Li Yan continued to ask, "Where are all the 'immortals'?"
"This..."
The lame old man was covered in cold sweat and quickly replied, "I don't know, but when the immortals want to see me, they will send magpies to report the news. They all have their faces covered, and I don't know what they look like."
Li Yan and others naturally did not believe it, but after repeated questioning, they found that this lame old man was just a greedy scoundrel and lazy man who only wanted to make money and did not dare to ask anything.
"Are those the immortals who killed Tian Chiliarch?"
Li Yan turned to look at Zhou Dayong again and said coldly, "These villagers and foolish women don't understand, but you come from Commandery Commandant Office, so you should know the tricks of these demons. How can you help the evil people? It's a shame that Tian Chiliarch still trusts you and promotes you!"
"Monster? Hahaha~"
Zhou Dayong's face was full of grief and anger, "I went through life and death for the imperial court outside, but at home my wife and children were forced to have no way of living, and my parents even got sick and died."
"Those lords and gentry are greedy. Compared with monsters, they are monsters!"
"This imperial court and this world may as well be dead!"
Boom!
There was a thunder in the gloomy sky, and the autumn rain fell even harder.
Li Yan and others looked at each other, not knowing what to say.
"Infinite longevity~"
Wang Dao Xuan flicked the fly whisk, gave a Daoist salute, and said seriously, "The layman is wrong, the rich and powerful are greedy, and the demons harm living beings. They are all great evils, so how can we distinguish between superior and inferior? Besides..."
As he said that, he turned to look at the woman holding the two children, and said unbearably, "They just don't know how to say it, but it doesn't mean it's not painful. Everything in the world has a price, and any evil spell that continues life in this mortal world is a pain."
"I want to ask you, can they sleep peacefully at night?"
"How do you know?!"
Zhou Dayong's eyes were red and he asked sternly.
Although his wife and two children survived the plague because of "Silkworm Zombie Curse", they looked as cold as dead on weekdays, and screamed repeatedly at night, as if they were crazy.
As the days go by, the symptoms become more intense.
Zhou Dayong knew that sooner or later, his wife and children would be completely reduced to puppets controlled by silk just like those people just now, but he could only pretend to be confused and escape.
Now that Wang Dao Xuan exposed it, I am even more angry.
Suddenly, his body stiffened and he stopped struggling.
But when he saw Long Yan'er, he had arrived beside the mother and son. He sighed and released a few leeches from his sleeves.
As the leech's body twisted, a lot of white threads were sucked out.
Snap!
The leech's body swelled into a transparent shape and fell to the ground without moving.
The curse on the mother and son was so deep that not even a leech could cure it.
But as the silk was pulled out, the expressions of the mother and son also improved a lot. Their expressions were no longer dull, but they looked at Zhou Dayong with tears streaming down their faces.
"Master Fu, let us go, we are too tired..."
"Daddy, I hurt, it hurts every night..."
They tried their best to speak, but their voices became weaker and weaker.
"Ah--!"
Zhou Dayong's face was covered with tears and he let out a shrill and desperate roar.
After taking a few deep breaths, he struggled to get up and stumbled over to him. He hugged his wife and child tightly, sobbing, and his body kept twitching.
Then, he turned to look at Long Yan'er blankly, "Is there any way to make them walk more comfortably?"
Long Yan'er looked dark and took out a porcelain bottle from his arms:
"Heavenly Incense Powder, can make people forget the pain and leave with peace of mind."
Zhou Dayong took the bottle numbly and returned to the room with his wife and children in his arms.
Wang Dao Xuan sighed, took out the bell, shook it, and recited the incantation:
"The Supreme Lord decrees that your lonely soul, ghosts, and ghosts will be surpassed, and you will be blessed in all four lives. Those with heads will be surpassed, and those without heads will be promoted...Prosperity Poverty is brought on by you. I am here to save everyone, and you are in a hurry to be reincarnated. I am here to save everyone, and you are in a hurry to be reincarnated."
In the autumn rain, the rebirth mantra echoes with the sound of bells.
Li Yan looked solemnly and looked at the gloomy sky.
Their team is known as the Wandering Immortal. On the surface, it seems that they are pursuing power and wealth, but in fact, their real purpose is to experience and practice.
He was always thinking, what is the purpose of practice?
For immortality?
Great Luo Dharma Realm is not as beautiful as the legend says...
For strength?
Power is important, but like wealth, it is endless.
There is a mountain higher than a mountain, and there are too many people in the world who will do whatever it takes to pursue power. No one can reach the other side, only Shuras who die on the way.
At this moment, he suddenly thought of Sichuan Sword Immortal Cheng JianXin.
Those who protect a person can be called a mortal fairy.
Perhaps, practice is to achieve transcendence and get rid of the suffering in the world.
Helping others transcend is not helping yourself...
After a long time, Zhou Dayong came out of the room.
With a dull expression on his face, he said to everyone:
"Come with me."
Just say it, and lead the way in the direction of the ancestral hall.
"Da Lang, what are you doing?!"
When the lame old man saw it, he became anxious and said, "Don't worry, you will kill us!"
"Old guy, you talk a lot!"
Sha LiFei slapped the old man to the ground.
Soon, everyone arrived at the village ancestral hall.
There is Attendant an ancient stone statue inside. I don't know what age it is, but it was able to isolate the atmosphere a little. Plus, there was a faint smell of a corrupt ancestral hall, so no one noticed it.
"They also sent this thing..."
Zhou Dayong explained it, then stepped forward and used his strength to move the statue away.
A rough tunnel entrance is exposed below.
Zhou Dayong lit the torch in front, Li Yan winked, and asked Wu Ba, who was huge, and Sha LiFei, who was good at firearms, to stay outside to take care of them, and then brought the others in.
As soon as he entered the cave, the dark and humid air mixed with the strong smell of putrefaction and sweetness hit his face, which was nauseating.
Zhou Dayong silently held the torch and bent forward to lead the way. The fire flickered, barely illuminating the huge natural cave extending underground from the ancestral hall.
Soon, everyone arrived at their destination.
Seeing the scene in front of them, even Li Yan and others who were used to seeing evil spirits felt their scalps go numb.
But seeing the darkness deep in the cave, Zhou Dayong lit each brazier, and many "cocoons" piled up in the center of the cave came into view.
These cocoons are not as soft and white as silk, but have a sickly, translucent and sticky feel, and the outline of a human figure can be vaguely seen inside.
They were wrapped in cocoons, like insects caught in spider webs, with their eyes closed, their faces ashen, and their bodies trembling slightly with a certain rhythm - as if they were being slowly sucked out life by invisible mouthparts.
And crawling and squirming around the cave and in the gaps in the rock walls are the "divine silkworms" that Zhou Dayong calls them.
They are as big as wild boars, and their entire bodies are a shiny, uncomfortable gray-white color. The mouthparts on their heads open and close, and they constantly spit out sticky and tough white threads.
These giant maggot-like monsters are slow and clumsy, but combined with their constant swallowing, winding, and wrapping movements, as well as the mucus dripping from their mouthparts, they all make people feel disgusted.
The cave echoed with the rustling of mulberry leaves and the hissing of spinning silk.
"Those are the first batch of villagers..."
Zhou Dayong's face was dull, "If you are hit by 'Silkworm Zombie Curse' for a long time, you will become a puppet. Those who can move will guard the ancestral hall, and those who cannot move at all will form a cocoon here."
"The cocoon formed will be sucked by the sacred silkworm. When it is empty, it will be reeled with hot water. This is the so-called Divine Silkworm Silk..."
"Simply... so heartless?!" Kong Shangzhao's voice trembled.
Following Li Yan and others, he saw many things, from the "flat peaches" grown by children in the capital to the sacred silkworms fed with human lives here, which completely overturned his three views.
Zhou Dayong's eyes were filled with sadness, "The villagers have been forced to have no way out. If they can't pay the taxes, the court will come to demand payment. The secrets here will definitely be exposed. Besides, if you are hit by Silkworm Zombie Curse, you can only sacrifice on time and feed the sacred silkworms, so that others can live longer."
"Eh..."
Fatty Lin, who was next to him, sensed that something was wrong. He suppressed the churning in his stomach and subconsciously made a secret gesture. There was a faint golden light in his eyes. When he scanned the collected silk threads, his pupils suddenly shrank.
"Yan XiaoGe!"
There was a hint of trembling and disbelief in his voice, "These threads... these threads are not right! They... they have precious light!"
Treasure Qi can be seen from Divine Ability of Fatty Lin.
After hearing what he said, everyone also became curious.
Li Yan stepped forward and picked up a handful. After several experiments, he nodded and said, "It is indeed a treasure. It is invulnerable to water and fire and is extremely tough. It is almost useless for making utensils, but it is a good material for making mortal armor."
"I know!"
Kong Shangzhao nodded and said, "Cocoon Clothes Cult, that's probably why they came from this. They secretly dragged these people into the water, not only to plot to control them, but also to collect silk, killing two birds with one stone."
"It should be."
Li Yan nodded and looked at a stone statue in the deepest part of the cave.
It was an image of a female fairy wearing a gorgeous brocade dress and a phoenix crown on her head. Her face was blurred, and she was twisting the fingers of one hand into a shape of twisting silk, while the other hand was holding a silkworm cocoon.
Li Yan narrowed his eyes slightly, "Is this Lei Yin?"
Zhou Dayong looked at the statue with complicated eyes, with deep-seated hatred and a hint of fear. He said in a hoarse voice, "Yes, it's her. We said she was the Silkworm Goddess. I heard from the old people in the village that there was Attendant back then, but it was Orthodox God, so the people easily believed it."
Li Yan said in a deep voice, "The Silkworm Goddess has another person, Horse Head Goddess. This Lei Yin is just using the name of Orthodox God to deceive the world."
Wang Dao Xuan also nodded and said, "I would like to think that the plague in your village came out of nowhere. It was more like the method of the scum warlocks in Jianghu. They first released the disease, and then came to treat the disease to make money."
"That's it..."
Zhou Dayong didn't understand this and continued, "Except for our village, which is the worst-hit... several nearby villages, like Zhangjia Village and Liushu Hamlet, also have people secretly raising these things, but the quantity is not so large, and they are not so blatant..."
"They thought they were getting a bargain, but they didn't know they were digging their own graves!"
He took a deep breath and turned to Li Yan, with a flash of pain in his eyes, "As for Brother Tian... I was also deceived and was not the mastermind."
"All I know is that the person who did it was named 'Lin Zhongweng'. He was too thin to be human and wore a green robe. He gave me a small bell and asked me to go to the big locust tree in the northeast corner of the camp and ring it at three o'clock."
"He promised that the bell would only make Tian Chiliarch sleepy. He said that Brother Tian is from the capital. With his help, he can stop those Silk Weaving Bureau people from messing around..."
"I am also obsessed with it, and I am afraid that my wife and children will be killed."
As he spoke, he took a deep breath and said, "Then 'Old Man Lin' is the chief leader of Lady Lei Yin in Jinling, and he is mixed with a group of Ghost Opera Troupe."
"I guess that once Demon Army arrives in Taihu, all the villages in Jinling City and outside the city that believe in Cocoon Clothes Cult will be their internal agents!"
"That's all I know, farewell."
After that, he turned around and left.
Li Yan frowned, "What are you doing?"
Zhou Dayong stopped, his voice cold as ice, "Kill!"
After that, he left the cave without looking back.
When everyone saw this, they did not stop him.
They knew that this man was only relying on hatred for support now. As for whether he would kill a few officials and gentry, it was none of their business.
"Let's go!"
Li Yan looked around, his eyes full of anger, "The real murderer has been found, we will Jinling City rescue the other Lin Family people, and let them see what good things they have done!"
At this moment, he didn't bother to worry about anything Aristocratic Clan or any Dharma lineage.
Just as Zhou Dayong said, Lei Yin is a monster.
These people are not...