If everything the watchman said is true, the area they are in is the Dead Village, and the people who moved from Liangcheng all live in the new Xinzheng County, then what is going on with this inn?
Why do some people not shy away from opening an inn in the old Xinzheng County, that is, the dead village?
Why did the boss leave before the day of the county festival but handed the keys to the watchman? Why were there so many fresh ingredients in the kitchen?
The watchman raised his head and glanced at Tang Xiaohao, then lowered his head and continued to cook: "Old Xinzheng County, which is now Suizhuang, was wiped out by the plague that year. Not even cats or dogs survived." After saying this,
, the watchman glanced at the kitchen door, as if he was afraid that someone would come in and hear what he said next, "After that, there will be evil spirits haunting here every night."
On the land of Jiuyuan, people will become undead after death, and there are many types of undead. Whether it is Tang Xiaohao or others, they have heard many stories about the undead since they were young, but few people have actually seen them.
.
One of Tang Xiaohao's former teachers told him that after death, people become undead, and under normal circumstances the undead cannot stay in Jiuyuan, that is, the human world, and must enter the Nine Realms. Therefore, to see the undead, you must not see the undead under specific conditions and environments.
Down.
The watchman took out the fried vegetables from the iron pot: "At first, there were people living in Wangzhuang. After all, there are so many empty houses. It would be a pity not to live in them. But who can bear the resentful spirits that appear every night?
"
At first, the government did not believe what the people said about the resentful spirits. They thought that someone was making lies to deceive the public. The prefect of Liangcheng sent several groups of people to investigate the matter. As a result, without exception, these people saw the resentful spirits in Wangzhuang.
.
Therefore, in the end, the prefect decided to rebuild the county seat, but it must be within the scope stipulated by the government, that is, it was not allowed to be too far from the original old county seat, which was Wangzhuang. As for the reason, it was rumored that it had something to do with the Feng Shui leylines of the Imperial City of the Divine Capital.
Tang Xiaohao watched the watchman wash the pot: "Are the resentful spirits those people who died of the plague? Old people in Xinzheng County?"
The watchman said: "What's the point? Otherwise, why would it be called a resentful spirit?"
Tang Xiaohao asked again: "After people die, they become undead. Wraiths are also a type of undead. They have to go to the Nine Realms. How can they stay in the human world?"
The watchman said: "You asked about the key point. Everyone knows that the undead have to go to the Nine Realms, so I find it strange. But the government can't interfere in this kind of thing. Even the newly built county has other reasons."
The reason why the government will not care about this kind of thing is very simple. Since the Kunlun Dynasty, all dynasties have clearly stipulated in the laws that once anyone among the people engages in alchemy, magic, witchcraft and other activities, they will be regarded as rebellion.
, are all to be beheaded.
Therefore, when the Liangcheng officials discovered the existence of the resentful spirit, they did not dare to report it to the court and could only deal with it in a low-key manner, not to mention that it was not far from the divine capital city.
Not long after the new county seat was built, a traveling merchant named Li came here. He was said to be a traveling merchant, but everyone knew that he was probably an alchemist. After the alchemist named Li came here, he stayed alone that night.
The people of Xinzheng County thought he was dead. Who knew that the next day, the alchemist was not only alive and well, but he also took the initiative to find the county magistrate here and said that he had a way to suppress these resentful spirits here.
.
When the watchman said this, he explained: "This alchemist knows magic, so he is fine."
Different skills? Tang Xiaohao naturally knew what different skills meant, but he deliberately asked: "What does different skills mean?"
The watchman was very surprised: "You don't even know magic?"
Tang Xiaohao grew up in Shendu City. People in Shendu City avoided talking about foreign arts, but people outside Shendu City actually knew about foreign arts and alchemy. They had long been spread among the people, and they only had real contact with them.
There are very few people.
Therefore, those who work on the watch will be surprised why Tang Xiaohao does not know the existence of magic.
Just as he was talking about this, a gust of wind opened the window and blew away the vegetable leaves on the table, startling the two of them.
The watchman calmed down and said: "The alchemist is the owner of this inn. His condition is very simple, that is to free up this big room for him to use as an inn. However, because there are too many resentful spirits, he cannot use it all at once.
All these resentful spirits are sent to the Nine Regions, so seven days every year are designated as the day of the county festival. These seven days are dedicated to sending those resentful spirits to the Nine Regions, and one batch is sent every year until they are all sent away."
Tang Xiaohao finally understood why there was an inn here, but he still had many questions: "So, since the boss wants to send the resentful spirit to the Nine Regions, why did he leave for the countryside?"
The watchman said mysteriously: "That's just rhetoric. You also know that you can't make a big show of it and say that you are going to send away the resentful spirits, right? If the news gets out, you will be beheaded."
This also explains why there are fresh ingredients in the inn, right?
According to the explanation of the watchman, the reason why he has the key here is because he is the only one who can come here on the day of the county festival. It can also be said that he is the alchemist, that is, the innkeeper in the local area.
helper.
Although these explanations sounded far-fetched to Tang Xiaohao, the matter was at this point and he could only stay here for one night and leave tomorrow.
After the watchman brought the food into the lobby, he held a lantern and said: "After you finish eating, find your own room to rest. I will go out to inspect. Remember, don't leave the inn before dawn, don't go out, no matter what you hear
If there is any movement, don’t leave here.”
The watchman's words naturally frightened the two girls, Xiaolingdang and Baomeng. They both looked very frightened. The two who were still hungry lost their appetite and could only reluctantly pick up the chopsticks.
After the watchman closed the door of the inn and left, Tang Xiaohao knocked off the chopsticks of Chi Erda who was holding the food and putting it in his mouth: "How did you lead the army to fight? You dare to eat strangers' food casually.
?What if the drug is taken? What if this is a black shop?"
Chierda was also hungry and anxious. After Tang Xiaohao reminded her, she reacted and immediately took out the silver needle she had prepared to test the poison.
Seeing this, Su Mu said: "Silver needles are useless."
Childa asked, "Why is it useless?"
Tang Xiaohao explained: "Silver needle poison testing is only limited to highly toxic poisons such as arsenic. Most poisons will not react to silver. If you can't test it, have you never read the book?"
Baomeng and Xiaolingdang had already lost their appetite, but after hearing what Tang Xiaohao said, they simply stopped eating.
Chi Erda was so hungry: "What should we do? We can't just be hungry, right?"
Tang Xiaohao raised his hand and went to get the treasure box placed by Su Mu: "It's simple, catch a few mice to test the poison."
However, Su Mu said something unexpected: "No need to catch them, there are no mice here. There are no other living creatures except us and the one who does the watch."
Everyone was stunned, because how could this be possible? Where there are people, how could there be no rats? Even if no one lives here, but this is an inn, there will definitely be rats.
The watchman had warned them not to go out, and it was too late now and they were too tired, so they could only rest first.
Chi Erda looked at the food on the table, could only smell it, swallowed and prepared to go upstairs to find a room to stay.
Tang Xiaohao came to the door of the inn, checked a little, and then lowered the door latch: "Someone has to keep vigil here tonight. Little Lingdang and the princess should have a good rest..."
Chi Erda immediately said: "I will keep vigil."
Tang Xiaohao looked at Chierda and said: "Forget it, I'm even more worried about you keeping watch. If something happens, you won't be able to beat me. Your mind is still so stupid, so you should go and rest."
After saying that, Tang Xiaohao winked at Xiao Lingdang, telling her to protect Baomeng.
Little Bell understood and went up to the second floor with Chierda and Baomeng.
Tang Xiaohao then whispered to Su Mu: "You haven't recovered yet, so you should go and rest. I didn't say anything just now because I was afraid Chierda would know about it and would attack us."
Su Mu nodded and said: "You are quite cautious and don't trust that pig head easily. You go to sleep first, I will watch over you."
Tang Xiaohao stretched his waist and said, "Don't worry, we have to sleep until at least three o'clock in the morning before setting off. Otherwise, this place is too dangerous."
Su Mu said: "Prince-in-law, I always feel that something is wrong here, because there are no living things, not even mice. It's so strange."
Tang Xiaohao nodded and said: "I know, but what can I do? Now that we have settled down, we can't take the princess on an adventure, right?"
Su Mu glanced at the position of the stairs and lowered his voice: "Then what are you thinking about next?"
Tang Xiaohao replied: "The reason why we came here tonight is because Chierda said that the person who responded was in Wangzhuang. I had been observing the man who was doing the watch before and found that he had no other communication with Chierda, not even eye contact.
None, and coupled with the story told by the watchman, I think there is something wrong with it."
With that said, Tang Xiaohao told Su Mu the story about Xinzheng County and Suizhuang told by the watchman.
Su Mu was startled after hearing this, lowering his head and thinking about something.
Tang Xiaohao saw this and asked: "What's wrong with you?"
Su Mu raised his eyes and looked at Tang Xiaohao: "You probably don't know that there was a civil uprising in a county near Shendu City in the early years. The court did not announce this to the public. Now that I think about it, I suspect it is Xinzheng County."
"Civil uprising?" Tang Xiaohao was surprised, "What do you mean? Is there any relationship between the civil uprising and the plague?"
Su Mu knew about this because of Xuanbu's announcement. Every once in a while, Xuanbu would inform Sashiko about some special situations around Shendu City, so that Sashiko could take control of them. Because if he needed to leave Shendu City to perform a mission, the two would not be in trouble.
His eyes went dark.
At the same time, if there are special circumstances where the mission is performed, only Sashiko performing the mission will be informed of the relevant details before leaving.
Therefore, what Su Mu actually knew was only a rough idea. After all, it was a secret of the imperial court: "If it is really Xinzheng County, it is not a plague, but because of the civil commotion, and the cause of the civil commotion is Guijia."
Tang Xiaohao's eyes widened, and he asked after a long time: "Wait a minute, I'm completely confused. What do you mean? Didn't you say that people died from the plague? Why is it related to Guijia again? What does this have to do with?"
Su Mu looked serious: "Prince-in-law, listen, the real Guijia is different from the ones you have seen before. They look the same as you and me, only stronger and even smarter, just like a
New race, do you understand what I mean?"
Of course Tang Xiaohao understood what Guijia was. Wu Tianlu had already explained it to him, but he had never really encountered "normal Guijia" like Zhang Haotian and Liao Ran, so he didn't understand what Su Mu said.
What does the Guijia Civil War mean?
The most important thing is that there is another layer of meaning hidden in Su Mu's words, that is, the court's fear of Guijia seems to be more than just the superficial things that can cause infection.