The Taoist priest raised his eyes and saw the same confused expression on Luo Jiutian's face.
"Isn't this village called Lianshui Village?"
"That's right." The Taoist priest nodded.
"Then Fire Lotus Village is..."
"Perhaps..." The Taoist Master looked at the old covers of the three books, "Fire Lotus Village was its former name?"
"Did the book mention the reason for the name change?"
"No," the Taoist priest opened the last two pages of the second book. "The second book ends here. It just talks about the immortal person becoming the immortal prophet... Where is the third one?"
Luo Jiutian frowned, grabbed the third book, turned a few pages forward, and then turned a few pages back.
"Jiutian, what is written in the third book?"
"It was torn off," Luo Jiutian showed the pages of the book. "The parts with words were torn off."
Judging from the height of the spine, the third book should be the thickest, but the paper in the middle has been torn cleanly, leaving only a few blank pages.
Who could have done it?
The Taoist priest's gaze moved back to the corridor.
Did the owner of this house tear it off?
"This kind of village history book is actually placed in his home, which shows that his family's status in the village is extraordinary." Luo Jiutian said quickly.
The Taoist priest remembered something, "Village chief."
"Village chief? Is this the village chief's home?"
The Taoist priest recalled the scene two years ago, when the villagers holding torches chased them down the mountain, and the man with sinister eyes standing in front of Miao Miao's father's car.
"I still remember the appearance of the mayor of Lianshui Village," the Taoist priest ran towards the corridor, "Quick, let's go take a look."
Luo Jiutian quickly followed, and the two ran to the door closer to them. The Taoist Master grabbed the door handle and opened it little by little.
squeak--
The Taoist priest seemed not to hear the harsh sound of opening the door.
Luo Jiutian was inexplicably nervous. He turned around and looked carefully, then grabbed the Taoist priest's sleeve uneasily.
The room was completely dark.
Because the two of them had adapted to the dark environment, they quickly saw the furnishings in the room clearly.
This is indeed a bedroom, with a large brick bed standing in the center of the room, and a vague figure lying flat on the bed.
The two approached.
The bed and floor were dark, and a thin layer of dust and smoke would be kicked up when walking around. The bedroom was much more severely burned than the living room. There were no surviving items such as quilts or pillows on the bed, only a solitary person.
The two of them stopped beside the bed.
The Taoist priest frowned and said nothing.
"Is she the village chief?" Luo Jiutian asked.
Lying on the bed was a neatly dressed middle-aged woman.
The woman's eyes were closed tightly, her expression was solemn, and there were three deep "Sichuan" lines in the middle of her eyebrows. She indeed looked like a highly respected person.
"No..." The Taoist priest was a little disappointed, "The village chief is a man."
"Oh," Luo Jiutian's voice deepened, "That shouldn't be this person."
After all, this woman didn't even loosen her bun. It was tied tightly on her head as if to show her presence.
The Taoist priest nodded slowly, then turned around and said, "Let's go to another room and have a look."
The two of them went out and closed the door. Although they were very gentle, they actually made a lot of noise, and the woman on the bed never responded.
The second door was no different from the first one, but when the Taoist priest put his finger on the door handle, he shuddered.
"What's wrong?"
"Cold," the Taoist priest said, "this doorknob is very cold."
"cold?"
Luo Jiutian reached out and touched it. The metal handle was indeed as cold as if it had been frozen outdoors for several hours at minus 30 degrees Celsius. It was even a little sticky. Luo Jiutian couldn't help but think of the time when he was a child and licked the big iron door in the winter.
Thinking of this, his tongue swirled a little, "There may be a problem, Taoist priest, please be careful."
The Taoist priest didn't say a word, but gripped the handle tightly and twisted it.
Push away.
The sharp sound of the door opening sounded, and at the same time, a strong rancid smell hit the face.
The two of them were hit by the sudden biochemical weapon, and their steps faltered for a moment. Luo Jiutian grabbed the Taoist priest and shook his head, and the stars in front of his eyes dispersed little by little.
"What does it smell like?" Luo Jiutian twisted his nose and asked in a sharp voice.
The Taoist priest's face turned green. He turned his head and coughed twice quickly, took a deep breath, held his breath, and pushed the door wide open.
Luo Jiutian originally squinted his eyes to look in, but just one glance made his eyes widen.
There was actually light in the room.
On the opposite side of the room, facing the door, an orange-red fire was lit, and above the flame was a man's face.
"Not good!" The Taoist priest rushed over, took off his coat and greeted the flames.
Luo Jiutian saw clearly that a human face appeared on the flames. It was a person burning!
He reacted quickly and immediately joined the fire-fighting team.
The flames burned brighter and stronger, and strangely, apart from the pungent rancid odor, there seemed to be no pungent smell of dust or smoke in the air.
There is only fire, no smoke.
"Jiutian, that's him!" the Taoist priest shouted, "he's the head of Lianshui Village!"
"Is it him?!" Luo Jiutian put out the fire more vigorously, but the fire was not small at all.
The village chief stood upright in the middle of the room, looking unmoved even as the flames licked his body.
The Taoist priest threw away his coat, took out two talismans from his pocket, shouted "Conquer the fire", and threw the talismans between his two fingers into the flames.
The charm flew lightly into the fire, landed on the village chief's shoulder, and then slipped from his shoulder to the ground.
It's no use.
The Taoist priest gasped and looked at the fire in disbelief.
Luo Jiutian was also dumbfounded. He slowly stopped and stood next to the Taoist Priest.
"I know," Luo Jiutian shook off his sleeves, "I have to use my Panlong..."
"No, Jiutian," the Taoist priest immediately held his hand, "It's useless, we can't put out this fire at all."
"Do you know what's going on?"
"I can guess..." The Taoist priest picked up the intact coats of the two of them, "He might have been the one who pushed me down the well just now."
"he……"
Before Luo Jiutian could say anything, the village chief suddenly let out a long sound like a sigh.
The sound was very long and sounded like something was leaking air.
As the long sound sounded, the village chief slowly opened his eyes.
"crow……"
He spoke, his voice shrill and harsh, like the cold wind blowing through the dilapidated thatched house, like the claws of the night scratching outside the door.
"...going to return home..."
Their faces turned pale.
"The locust flower will fall asleep..."
The village chief's lips opened and closed in a dull manner, pouring the sounds of these words into their ears very clearly.
"The child is going home... there is a mother at home..."
The last word fell.
The flames instantly reached the sky, completely surrounding the village chief. After the hot orange color disappeared in front of their eyes, there was only a cloud of dust around them, and the man was no longer visible.