Xiang Nan, Hua Ling, and the old foreigner immediately held up torches and started investigating.
I saw that all the houses in this righteous village were dilapidated and filthy. There is only a small room next to the back door that can be lived in. This room is where the corpse guardian usually lives, and it is also the only room in the righteous village prepared for the living.
“Let’s stay in this house tonight.” Xiang Nan said to Hua Ling and the old foreigner.
They both nodded and followed Xiang Nan into the house.
“Oops~” As soon as he entered the house, Hua Ling oops again in fright.
Xiang Nan quickly turned around and saw an upright dead man standing behind the door. The body was covered by a large white cloth, only a vague outline was visible. There was a wooden spiritual tablet on the top of his head, and a life lamp in front of him. It was only as big as a soybean.
Xiang Nan smiled when he saw this, "Don't be surprised. This is the guard of the righteous village. He died a few days ago and is standing here frozen."
The so-called stiffness means that a person takes poisons such as mercury and arsenic before death. After death, the body will remain incorruptible for a long time. Only in this way can the body be able to withstand the long journey and be sent back to its place of origin for burial by the exorcists.
After a person dies and the body becomes completely stiff, it takes some time for the medicine to take full effect. During this period, the body must lean against the door panel, which is called "Standing Stiffly".
“You’ve seen a lot of dead people, why are you so timid?” the old foreigner said with a smile.
"Of course I'm not afraid of dead people. Who would have thought that there would be a zombie standing behind the door." Hua Ling pouted.
"Okay, stop bickering. Find some firewood and light a fire first." Xiang Nan ordered, "I will move this body to the front."
Although he is not afraid of zombies, he does not want to sleep in the same room with them.
Hua Ling and the old foreigner all nodded, looked for some firewood, and started to light a fire to cook.
…
A bowl of hot porridge fills the stomach and makes everyone feel comfortable.
Xiang Nan was about to make arrangements for bed when he suddenly frowned and gestured to Hua Ling and the old foreigner.
The two of them immediately became alert.
I heard something moving outside the door.
Xiang Nan quietly opened the door, a kite turned over, and went directly to the roof. When he looked down, he saw several people walking towards the hut.
“To reach the stars, you need to ask the master of the stars. If you move the mountains, don’t move the Mount Everlasting. What you burn is the incense of dragons and phoenixes, and what you drink is the sea water from all over the world.” He then asked in the secret language of the green forest.
The people who came over were also stunned and stopped one after another.
One of them said loudly, "There are tall buildings on Changsheng Mountain, and heroes from all over the world come here; dragons and phoenixes make old friends as they wish, and the waters of the five lakes and four corners of the country are surging."
"It turns out that the leader of Xiling is here, but he is far away from us." Xiang Nan jumped down and said with cupped hands.
Seeing that he was three to four feet away at a glance, and that he landed silently and effortlessly, everyone in Xiling couldn't help but be secretly surprised.
"It turns out Taoist Banshan is here. I'm being rude and disrespectful." The leader of Xiling also saluted quickly.
“Please let’s talk in the room.” Xiang Nan invited again.
“Easy to say, easy to say.” Xiling leader cupped his hands and said.
…
Several people entered the house together.
"Chen Yulou, I'm from Xialing." The leader of Xiling said, cupping his hands, "This is Luo Sihai, Hong girl, Huamaguai, Kunlun Molec~" There was a boy who looked like a Miao nationality, who was not introduced.
“Nice to meet you!” “I’ve admired you for a long time!”
After seeing the ceremony, Chen Yulou smiled slightly and said, "Brothers Partridge Whistle, the phoenix has always been in a land without treasure. Could it be that you are here to hunt for treasure?"
“It’s true that people in the Ming Dynasty don’t speak secretly.” Xiang Nan nodded and said, “The three of us brothers and sisters are here specifically for the Pingshan Ancient Tomb.”
Seeing that they also came for Pingshan Ancient Tomb, Luo Sihai, Hong girl, and Huamaguai all stiffened. Because they also came to excavate the Pingshan Ancient Tomb.
As a result, the two families have become rivals. For a time, tensions were inevitable.
“I’ve heard for a long time that people who moved mountain Taoists to ancient tombs only wanted the elixir of immortality.” Chen Yulou added, “As for the gold and silver treasures, they didn’t take any of them. I wonder if this is true?”
Xiang Nan nodded, "I'm here just for the pill beads in the bottle mountain. As for other things outside of me, they have nothing to do with us."
"Seriously?" Luo Sihai couldn't help but ask after hearing this. He didn't believe there were people in the world who were not greedy for money.
Xiang Nan ignored him.
The bacteria in the morning do not know Hui Shuo, and the worms do not know the spring and autumn. There are some truths that you will naturally understand if you understand them. If you don’t understand, there’s no point in explaining it.
"To be honest, brother, I also came here for the ancient tomb of Pingshan." Chen Yulou said with cupped hands, "Since you, the Qishan group, only want pills and beads, and my Xiling group only want gold, silver and treasures, if we don't interfere with each other, why don't we fight When we are in one place, we will become a family and take care of each other. Isn’t it a good thing to get the best of both worlds?”
"Thank you very much, Brother Chen, for your kind words." Xiang Nan said with cupped hands, "But we are moving in the mountains and are used to traveling alone, so it is inconvenient for us to travel with others. I only accept Brother Chen's kind words with my heart."
Seeing what he said, Chen Yulou could only smile and said, "Well, in that case, we won't bother you. Brothers, get some rest early!"
After saying that, he led Luo Sihai, Hong girl, Huamaguai and others to exit.
As he was leaving, Luo Sihai could still be heard muttering, "These old bastards...are just pretending...why don't we get rid of them..."
…
“Senior brother, I didn’t expect that this group of people who were unloading the mountain would also dig up the Pingshan ancient tomb.” The old foreigner also asked, “Will there be any collision in the future?”
"Let's just do our own thing and ignore the rest." Xiang Nan waved his hand and said, "Okay, it's getting late, let's go to bed."
Hua Ling and the old foreigner all nodded, took out their felts, and slept on the ground.
About Xu time, I suddenly heard several loud thunders outside, which shook the roof tiles, and then came the heavy rain, howling down.
Fortunately, the house they stayed in was relatively complete and they didn’t have to worry about leaks.
However, it is different when Chen Yulou, Luo Sihai and others live in the front yard. There is wind and rain leaking, plus thunder and lightning, the roar is deafening, I don’t know how unbearable it must be.
The weather in the mountains changes rapidly. By around Hai hour, the clouds have dispersed and the rain has stopped. A cold moon peeks out, illuminating the grass and trees in Laoxiong Ridge.
At this moment, Xiang Nan suddenly heard another set of footsteps, rushing past the house.
He frowned and quickly exercised his power. Looking around, he saw Chen Yulou, the leader of Xiling, chasing a three-legged lame cat.
What the lame cat is holding in its mouth is a human ear.
When Xiang Nan saw this, he quickly woke up the old foreigner and asked him to stay on watch all night, and then he could come back by himself.
Then, he used Qinggong and followed him.
He knew that Chen Yulou was likely to be in danger during his trip, so he had to lend a helping hand.
Otherwise, the trip to Pingshan will have to be declared over before it officially begins.
“Senior brother, be careful~” the old foreigner reminded from behind.