bayedsolid Chapter 96: Soul Guardian
Chapter 96: Soul Guardian
After Cheng Su and Chang Feizhang left, because of what happened just now, more than half of the diners in the inn lobby were gone, leaving only a few scattered tables of diners.
Without the previous lively atmosphere, it seems a bit deserted.
"Brother Lin, where were we just now?"
Guo Yong's words pulled Lin Lezhi back to his senses. Lin Lezhi came back to his senses and said "Oh", then smiled and said: "Just now I said that I still have a lot to learn from you big brothers."
Guo Yong sighed and said with a sense of inferiority: "What is there to learn from us? We live in the open air, hungry and full. Whether we can survive depends entirely on our skills."
"Brother Guo, you can't say that. You brothers have a special skill, hunting as a base, and you go deep into the mountains and forests all year round. You are not afraid of snakes, insects, tigers and leopards. Such a generous temperament and courage are beyond the reach of ordinary people. I admire such extraordinary qualities very much, and I would like to learn a thing or two from you brothers."
Guo Yong was obviously pleased with Lin Lezhi's praise. He laughed heartily and said cheerfully, "Brother Lin, if you want to learn anything, just tell me."
Lin Lezhi looked at the men. They were all wearing clothes made of animal skins. They looked very brave, and they also had beautiful jewelry accessories hanging around their waists.
Lin Lezhi looked at the wristbands made of animal fur on the wrists of several people. They looked very exquisite.
"The furs you guys are wearing look really special to me. I wonder if you guys made them yourself?"
"Yes, we got these with our own hands." Guo Yong said proudly, "This fur is a good thing. It not only keeps us warm in cold weather, but also protects us. It is a must-have for us living in the mountains all year round. We are used to wearing it and forget to change it when we go out of the mountains."
"If Brother Lin likes, we brothers can take Brother Lin to hunt in the mountains when we come back from the lake island," Guo Yong added.
"In that case, I would like to thank the big brothers first. I wonder..." Lin Lezhi looked at the two people other than Guo Yong and said, "We have been chatting for a long time, but I still don't know the names of the other two big brothers?"
"Xu Tian."
"Lü Xingpeng."
The other two clasped their fists.
After saying that, the other three people looked at Guan Ziheng, who was sitting aside and had not said a word. Guan Ziheng lowered his head and ate the food he had bought with relish, with no intention of talking at all.
After being nudged by Lin Lezhi's elbow, Guan Ziheng raised his head and found that the three hunters were looking at him. He was so frightened that he swallowed the food without even having time to chew it.
"Ahem! Ahem!"
Lin Lezhi raised his hand to help Guan Ziheng smooth his back, and then helped Guan Ziheng out of the situation, "Thank you brothers for telling us your names. This is a friend I just met, Guan Ziheng. He was here at noon today."
Hearing this, Xiao Yihuo and his group paused what they were doing and looked in Lin Lezhi's direction in confusion.
Lin Lezhi was so shameless when it came to lying that he clearly said at noon that he had met Guan Ziheng three months ago.
The three of them were puzzled as to why Lin Lezhi would lie about such an insignificant matter.
Guan Ziheng recovered now, coughed a few times and said, "Yes, my name is Guan Ziheng, and I am fortunate to have the good fortune to meet you all."
Guo Yong smiled cheerfully and said, "Don't be afraid, little brother. Although we are accompanied by ferocious beasts, we don't eat humans."
Guan Ziheng smiled shyly with timidity in his eyes.
Guo Yong turned his gaze to Lin Lezhi again and said, "It can be seen that Brother Lin likes to make friends."
"It is a joy in life to meet like-minded friends." Lin Lezhi said sincerely: "You brothers are generous and upright. It is fate that I can meet you today."
"Well said!" Guo Yong laughed heartily and said cheerfully, "What Brother Lin said is exactly what the three of us brothers think. It's fate that brings us together. Let's drink to our heart's content tonight!"
Hearing this, although Qingchuan looked at Lin Lezhi, a hint of worry rose in his eyes.
Although it is a minor injury on the shoulder, it should not be taken lightly.
"I have been feeling a bit cold recently, so I am afraid I can't enjoy the fun with you brothers. You brothers are all straightforward people, so..." Lin Lezhi picked up the teacup and said to the three people, "Lezhi will drink tea instead of wine today. When I feel better, I will drink with you brothers."
The last time he drank, he almost crippled himself. Lin Lezhi also knew the strength of his body. If he drank again, he might not be able to bear it.
"In that case, we won't force Brother Lin. We are not the kind of people who stick to formalities. Brother Lin and Brother Guan can do whatever they want."
At this moment, the worry in Qingchuan's eyes had completely disappeared.
Qingchuan drank up the tea in his cup and raised a faint smile on the corner of his mouth. How could a man as knowledgeable as Brother Lezhi not know the priorities? It was just that he had thought too much.
There was nothing important to do at the moment, so Jiang Lian'an walked over to the man and sat down. Before Jiang Lian'an could ask any questions, the waiter brought a plate of cakes from the back, put it on the table, and said with a smile, "Eat."
Seeing the pastries, the man happily picked up a piece and stuffed it into his mouth. Perhaps the pastries were so delicious that the man moved his feet happily back and forth.
"I didn't order this." Jiang Lian'an asked puzzledly.
The waiter realized that he had forgotten to explain, so he said, "You don't have to pay for this. It's a gift from our innkeeper."
Guo Yong, who was standing by, saw this and, having drunk some wine, said with a somewhat unhappy look, "We brothers have spent a lot of money in the inn these few days, why didn't you send us any cakes?"
The waiter realized that he had not expressed his meaning clearly, and quickly apologized, "No, these cakes are not for Master Jiang, but for Qiao Ying. This is an unwritten but consensus rule among all the people in our town. No matter where Qiao Ying goes, everyone will give him something to eat."
Jiang Lian'an looked at the man who was happily eating cakes, and asked with some surprise in his eyes: "You mean, this man's name is Qiao Ying?"
"Exactly. He was a child picked up by Old Man Wu from Haibei Village. I don't remember exactly when, but it was probably more than ten years ago, after the strange things happened on the island. I don't know how this child got unconscious on the lakeside north of Pinghai Lake."
Guo Yong knew that what he said just now was reckless. He looked at Qiao Ying and said with pity in his eyes: "Is there such a thing?"
"Who said it wasn't true? But it just happened!" There were not many customers in the store at the moment, so the waiter simply described it vividly: "It just so happened that old man Wu was a bachelor with no children. He usually made a living by fishing in the lake. After he found Qiao Ying, you don't know how happy he was. He even worked harder than usual."
As he was talking, the waiter looked sad again and continued, "I never thought that this child looked like a normal person, about ten years old, could talk and walk, and smiled at everyone he met. But no one would have thought that he was an idiot who didn't know the common sense of the world and didn't even know his own name."
"Old man Wu discussed with the villagers and decided that something must have happened to the child and scared his soul away, so Old man Wu spent all his savings to hire a Taoist priest to give the child back his soul. Unexpectedly, it actually worked. When the Taoist priest performed the ritual that day, many people in the village went..."
…………
More than ten years ago, when Qiao Ying was a teenager, she was still a child. Old man Wu invited a Taoist priest to his home to perform rituals in the yard.
Pulling the child to his knees, he kowtowed and bowed to the Taoist priest. After bowing three times in a row, Old Man Wu clasped his hands together and said devoutly, "Master, please bring this child back to life. This child is still so young, and it is really pitiful that he has become like this. Master, please save this child."
After the Taoist priest prayed to the spirits and asked the heavens for a while, he shook off the dust in his hand, looked at Old Man Wu and said mysteriously: "I just asked the ancestor, if you want this boy to recover, it depends on whether your heart is sincere."
"I am absolutely sincere. Please give me a solution, Taoist Priest." Old Man Wu said, covering his chest.
Seeing that Old Man Wu was not getting the idea, he frowned slightly, took a deep breath and said, "This method... is not impossible, but the Grand Master is not helping for nothing. It's not that the Grand Master doesn't want to come down to earth to help this child's soul come back, but the more incense offerings there are, the stronger the Grand Master's magic power will be."
This time, Old Man Wu understood. He ran into the room and took out a small, worn red package from the shabby cabinet beside the bed. He opened it without hesitation. There were about a dozen taels of silver in it.
But when Old Man Wu took out the silver, he hesitated.
The Taoist priest saw the hesitant look on Old Man Wu's face, and then he spoke slowly, "This heaven-reaching technique will consume my cultivation. If you still have doubts, I can only leave it to fate."
"No...no, Taoist priest, it's not that I don't want to give it, I'm just afraid that this money is not enough."
The Taoist priest raised his eyebrows slightly, looked at the rotten package in Old Man Wu's hand and said, "How much you have, the Grandmaster can use his magic power to help the child recover as much as possible. After that..." The Taoist priest stroked his beard and continued, "It depends on the child's own luck."
"Okay, Taoist priest." Old Man Wu did not think twice and gave all the money in the package to the Taoist priest. The package contained his life savings. Old Man Wu knelt down and kowtowed again, saying, "I beg Taoist priest to let the ancestor appear and help this child."
The Taoist priest shook his head, then stuffed the money into his pocket, then shook off the dust and said, "Okay, considering your sincerity, I will sacrifice my life to help you perform the Sky-reaching Art once more."
"Thank you, Taoist Priest, thank you, Taoist Priest!"
Old man Wu kowtowed several times in a row. Qiao Ying, who was standing next to him, thought it was fun and tried to kowtow as well.
After performing a series of magic, the Taoist priest looked exhausted, and the peach wood sword he had just swung in his hand fell to the ground. He supported himself on the table with both hands in time to avoid falling.
Old Man Wu quickly stood up, ran forward to support the Taoist priest, and asked with concern: "Master, are you okay?"
The Taoist raised his hands, then immediately sat cross-legged on the spot and meditated on the spot.
The people didn't know what was going on and dared not speak.
After about half an incense stick of time, the Taoist priest suddenly opened his eyes and stood up.
Old Man Wu immediately stepped forward and asked anxiously, "How is the matter going? Did the Grandmaster say anything?"
The Taoist priest looked at Qiao Ying who was kneeling on the ground and said with a bad face: "The Grandmaster cannot help him resolve this matter, but he can make him suffer less in the future."
"This...the ancestor has great powers, why can't he help us? Is it because the money I gave him was not enough?" Old Man Wu asked in panic.
The Taoist priest raised his hand and said, "No."
"That……"
After a while, the Taoist sighed, looked at Old Man Wu and said, "Well, seeing that you are sincere, I will sacrifice my own skills to tell you the truth."
"Thank you, Taoist Master."
The Taoist looked at Qiao Ying and said, "In his previous life, this boy was a ruthless and evil person who did all kinds of evil."
As soon as he finished speaking, the villagers looked at Qiao Ying who was kneeling on the ground with a frightened look on their faces. They all said that they wanted to drive the child out of Haibei Village as soon as possible to prevent disaster from coming to the village.
Discussions arose all of a sudden.
After discussing for a while, the Taoist priest suddenly raised his hand to signal for silence, and then slowly said: "Although this boy was evil in his previous life, he had already gained enlightenment before his death, and he voluntarily gave up one of his three souls and two of his seven spirits to guard the land in his next life. In addition, with the appearance of the ancestor just now, if this boy stays in the village, he can help the village ward off disasters and add blessings, so everyone needs to treat him well."
After hearing what the Taoist said, the villagers' faces gradually improved and they no longer talked about driving Qiao Ying away.
The Taoist priest walked up to Old Man Wu and said, "He is stupid in this life because of his own choice. It has nothing to do with others. The Grandmaster can only do this for him. You have a connection with him, so just treat him well."
Old Man Wu knelt down again and kowtowed in gratitude, "That's good, that's good, thank you, Taoist Priest."
After that, Qiao Ying stayed in Haibei Village. He smiled cheerfully at everyone he met. Even if someone called him stupid, he would greet them with a smile. Although he was stupid, he lived a happier life than anyone else.
Perhaps what the Taoist said was true, and this boy really had the ability to guard an area, ward off disasters and bring blessings to the village.
Ever since the incident in Huaifeng Village, a rare snake has appeared in villages near Pinghai Lake.
The snake is dark all over with white patterns on its back. Although it never hurts people on its own initiative, if you are bitten by it accidentally, you will die within two hours. The common people suffered greatly from it, but Haibei Village was safe.
As time went by, the nearby villages were no longer harmed by the snake, and Qiao Ying's deeds as a spirit-suppressing person spread. Everyone believed that it was the child's blessing.
From then on, one ordinary morning, Old Man Wu took Qiao Ying to the lake to fish.
Qiao Ying suddenly said to Old Man Wu: "Qiao Ying."
But after saying this, Qiao Ying returned to his previous lost state. However, from then on, whenever someone called him Qiao Ying, he would run over with a smile on his face, and others would also give him some food and ask him to take it back to Old Man Wu and themselves.
With the help from various villages, the life of Old Man Wu's family has improved a lot.
Over time, the name Qiao Ying became known to every citizen in Pinghai Town. Everyone knew that Qiao Ying was a spirit guardian who voluntarily gave up one soul and two spirits in his previous life to guard the area.