The two walked over in silence, pretending to stand at the end of the queue as if nothing had happened, waiting in line to buy glass bottles like other people.
As the team moved forward slowly, and seeing the two of them approaching the colorful booth, the crowd suddenly heard the sound of arguing.
The harsh curses were mixed with a few shrill cries from women.
What happened?
Hu Qi and Gu Jiyun hurriedly leaned out of the team to look.
I saw a few men in yellow roughly grabbing an old woman in ragged clothes and scolding her fiercely, as if chasing away a stray old dog.
The old woman let them beat and scold her without resisting at all, because she held a glass bottle in her arms like a treasure, which was exactly the kind sold by these men in yellow.
"Old thief, you are so brave. You dare to steal something from our Chishui Sect! Return it as soon as possible, or we will not be polite!" A man in yellow came forward and roughly competed with her for the bottle in his arms.
.
The old woman seemed frail, but the hand holding the glass bottle was very strong.
"Please! Give me a bottle of holy water! My husband is seriously ill, and he will die without holy water! If he dies, I won't be able to live anymore! Please have mercy on us!"
The old woman burst into tears as she spoke and looked very sad.
But a man in yellow took advantage of the old woman's sadness and unceremoniously snatched the bottle from her arms.
"Others paid for it, so why should I give it to you for free? If you don't have the money to buy it, just let your husband wait to die!"
The man in yellow's attitude towards the old woman was so rude and indifferent that even Gu Jiyun couldn't stand it anymore.
But the people watching all had expressions of indifference, and they were still queuing up to buy holy water. No one came out to help the old woman, not even a word of advice.
The treasure was taken away, and the old woman sat down on the ground, collapsed and cried loudly: "I have pawned everything, and all the money I got in exchange was used to buy holy water, and I can't get out a single copper."
Come on! Just be merciful and give me a bottle of holy water to save my husband!"
Her cries made the man in yellow even more impatient. One man even came over and kicked her, cursing: "Stop talking nonsense! If you don't have money, you will die! Every bottle of holy water consumes the goddess' soul. Why?"
Free to you!"
But even in such a dire situation, the old woman still sat there and refused to leave, as if waiting for a miracle to happen.
The midday sun made her mouth dry and her body sweaty. But after a while, before the miracle came, she had fainted from the heat.
Everyone who passed by her did not stop to shield her from the scorching sun above her head, and even a concerned look was stingy and unwilling to give her. It was as if she was a dead body that had been left on the roadside for a long time.
The old woman was lying on the ground, being burned red, purple and eventually black by the harsh sun. Her eyes were tightly closed and she was motionless. Even if she still had breath, it must have been very weak.
Hu Qi, who was dressed in Qiao Zhuang's costume, finally broke free from the shackles of her psychology and stepped forward to rescue her. However, as soon as she took one foot out of the crowd, her arm was pulled tightly from behind.
He turned his head in surprise and met Gu Jiyun's solemn look. He slowly shook his head at Hu Qi, as if to say, "Don't mind your own business! Don't forget the purpose of our trip!".
Thinking about the unknown Lu Ning and the unconscious Toto, and then looking at the old woman in front of him, the urge to draw a sword to help suddenly subsided a lot.
Soon, there were two people in line.
Without saying a word, Hu Qi took out the money from his arms and gave it to the man in yellow like the others, picked up a glass bottle from the table, turned around and left.
Walking to the old woman's side, Hu Qi glanced at Gu Jiyun, and then the two of them worked together to lift the old woman up and move her to the shade of a tree to rest.
Only then did Hu Qi realize that the people around him looked at the two of them as if they were looking at monsters.
The faces of the people in yellow were even more serious. A few of them gathered together, pointing at the people under the shade of the trees, and whispering something in a low voice.
"It's not a good place to stay for a long time." Gu Jiyun felt
The atmosphere was a bit tense. While reminding Hu Qi, he tightened his grip on the weapon hidden in his waist.
Hu Qi took out the kettle and filled it with some wine from the inn. He put the wine to the old woman's lips and watched her drink it slowly. There was some blood on her face, then she bent down and whispered softly.
said:
"Old lady, I can give you the holy water in my hand. But, can you tell me about the Chishui Sect?"
The old woman, who had regained her consciousness slightly, raised her eyes and looked at the two of them carefully, and asked tentatively: "You...are not locals, right?"
Hu Qi and Gu Jiyun glanced at each other and said tacitly: "We are cousins and our hometown is in the north. We have heard about the Chishui Sect for a long time, so we came here because of its reputation."
He had no choice but to tell a lie, but the old woman was thinking of saving his life without any doubt.
"How about this? You guys go to my house with me and wait for my husband to finish drinking the holy water, and then I will slowly tell you about the Chishui Sect, okay?"
The two of them did not dare to delay and immediately followed the old woman and left here.
When leaving, Hu Qi noticed a strange phenomenon:
A person who had just received the holy water could not wait to open the bottle and drink the bottle of holy water in one gulp.
As the bottle fell to the ground with a clang, the man began to become trance-like, and his eyes gradually became dull. His body was swaying, as if he had completely lost consciousness, like a walking zombie.
Hu Qi was shocked and immediately took the bottle far away: "What the hell is this? It makes people look less like humans and ghosts like ghosts. Is this the so-called holy water? Can this cure diseases?"
"
Gu Jiyun opened the bottle carefully, not daring to put it in his mouth to try it. He just put it under his nose and smelled it: "The liquid inside is colorless and odorless. Could it be just ordinary water?"
"This is indeed water!" The old woman on the side took over the topic with a smile: "It's just holy water with the power of the gods added! Therefore, when you drink it, it is just like ordinary water, but it can cure all diseases!"
Hu Qi and Gu Jiyun glanced at each other, both showing baffled expressions.
"Auntie, how far is it from your home?" Hu Qi asked politely.
"It's not far, just walk a few miles and you'll be there." The old woman got the holy water and became very energetic.
"Then can you tell me about the Chishui Sect?" Hu Qi asked impatiently.
The old woman glanced at him and sighed quietly: "I know you don't believe in the magic power of this holy water! But it can indeed make people immortal and bring people back to life! If it weren't for this holy water, all the people in Jiangning Mansion would have died long ago.
Already..."
Then, without waiting for the two to ask further questions, the old woman explained the whole story:
Jiangning Prefecture, located in the southeast, always has abundant rainfall and lush vegetation. But for some reason, since the beginning of this year, not only has it not rained, but the temperature has been much higher than in previous years.
Large areas of land were red and cracked, making it impossible for farmers to cultivate. Not only that, the Luoshui River, which the people relied on for survival, was also gradually drying up.
The water in the well became turbid, and the people in the town fell ill and died one after another. Suddenly, the once prosperous city of Tianfu suddenly became a desperate and dead city.
Magistrate Song of Jiangning Prefecture quickly reported the disaster situation to the superiors, and the emperor also issued relief funds in time. However, the imperial envoy sent was the same as Magistrate Song. They were both corrupt officials who had a blind eye for money.
They joined forces, regardless of the lives of the people, embezzled disaster relief funds, and increased taxes, making life worse than death for the people of Jiangning.
At this moment, the Chishui Sect descended from the sky. The goddess, who was born with divine power, generously gave holy water to everyone, eliminating the incurable disease that had been rampant for a while.
She injected her magic power into the river and well water. Since then, the river water began to rise and the well water became clear. The lives of the people in Jiangning soon returned to normal.
From then on, Chishui Religion became the holy religion of Jiangning Prefecture. People no longer went to the temple to worship Bodhisattva, but instead began to worship Chishui Religion and the goddess.
Soon, a legend began to circulate in Jiangning Mansion: These sacred waters have magical powers that can defy the heavens and can make blind people regain their sight.
, it can make people who are bad at walking walk like flying, and it can also make the dying people regain their lives!
Since then, there has been an endless stream of people going to Chishui Sect to ask for divine water. Groups of people kneel outside the Chishui Sect, just for a drop of divine water.
At first, the goddess was generous in giving gifts, but gradually, due to excessive treatment, the goddess consumed too much divine power, causing a shortage of divine water, and the number of sick people in the city began to increase day by day.
People in Jiangning Mansion began to panic again.
Until suddenly one day, the goddess claimed to have been favored by God, allowing her to regain her magic power. However, her magic power was limited, and the amount of divine water that could be produced every day could only be limited, and the people needed to buy it with silver taels.
In order to survive, the people of Jiangning Mansion did not hesitate to spend all their money and queue up day and night, hoping to get more divine water.
Slowly, the amount of money spent to buy the sacred water increased day by day. Many people sold iron and sold their sons and daughters to buy it. This made the Chishui Sect attract the attention of the Wang Prefect.
Seeing that the Chishui Sect had made huge profits from the people, the prefect of Song Dynasty was naturally unwilling to accept it and began to collect taxes under clever names.
But the greedy Magistrate Song realized that these taxes were just the tip of the iceberg of the Chishui Sect's profits, so he started to demand benefits directly.
If the Chishui Sect refused to obediently pay the money, the Song Prefecture would send troops to drive them away or even arrest the Chishui Sect members so that they could not sell the sacred water.
The Chishui Sect had no choice but to hide in the powerful caravan and hide around. They only dared to sell the sacred water in the middle of the night for fear of being discovered by the spies of Magistrate Song.
This is why they gave in so easily today, just because they were afraid of alerting the government!
After hearing what she said, Hu Qi frowned and asked cautiously: "Madam, you said that this holy water is very good, but did you see it with your own eyes, or did you hear it from hearsay?"
This time, the old woman immediately darkened her face: "Do you think I, an old lady, would make up stories to lie to you? To tell you the truth, if my husband didn't drink this magical water often, I would have been a widow long ago!"