"What are you hearing, the sound of horse hooves? Well, no, there is the sound of water, it's a river..."
Qin Bing was excited.
Since there is a river, all you need to do is walk along it, and it won't take long for you to find people there.
The further the two of them moved forward, the louder the sound of running water became, and a light appeared in the northwest.
The two of them quickened their pace, and as they got closer, the light came from a pair of red lanterns.
“Qiaotou hot pot!”
Xu Shu pointed to the plaque next to the red lantern and said, "This, this is a hot pot restaurant!"
As soon as the words came out of his mouth, a strong feeling of hunger arose in his belly.
Qin Bing pointed to the front left and said, "The sound of water comes from there. Look, there is a bridge over there, and there must be a river below. Since we meet a store here, let's explore the situation first."
The sky is getting darker and darker, and it seems that this Qiaotou hotpot restaurant is the only one left in the vast world.
The gurgling smoke leaked out from the cracks in the doors and windows, exuding an amazing aroma.
Xu Shu suddenly felt hungry, and Qin Bing also made the sound of swallowing saliva.
"Let's have a meal first. I'll treat you to this meal."
Xu Shu shook his pants pocket, and the silver coins rattled.
The two of them pushed open the door of the hotpot restaurant. Seven or eight tables were already seated inside, and smoke like white mist filled the entire lobby.
"Dear guests, please come inside."
A middle-aged man with a sheep's belly handkerchief on his head came forward enthusiastically, calling himself Lao Cui, and asked Xu Shu and Qin Bing to sit down.
The rich aroma of meat wafted through the room, making Xu Shu greedy and urging Lao Cui to serve the food quickly.
Lao Cui agreed and left quickly.
Xu Shu looked around and found that the entire hall was divided into two parts.
The food at the five tables on the left was filled with smoke. Pieces of red and white tender meat slid into the dark brown spicy pot. He couldn't help but move his index finger and wanted to get up and snatch the tender meat into his mouth.
"Huh."
Xu Shu secretly exclaimed, there were two tables to the east, but the banquet had not yet been opened, and the people sitting at these two tables were actually acquaintances.
One was the soldier asking for directions, and the other was a wealthy old man sitting in a carriage spreading money, but the old man's guards and maids were missing.
Xu Shu smiled at the two of them, and they nodded slightly at him, but their attention was quickly absorbed by the aroma of the hot pot.
After waiting for what seemed like a thousand years, Lao Cui finally delivered two soup pots to Xu Shu's table. Xu Shu and Qin Bing each had one pot.
The bottom of the pot was clear and white, steaming out, and I lost my appetite.
Xu Shu said, "Water pot? Why replace the butter pot with two?"
Lao Cui smiled and said, "Please treat your guests with courtesy. This is the rule of our store, one person, one pot.
As for the bottom of this pot, it looks like a plain water pot, but in fact it has something special.
When the meat is put into the pot, its flavor develops on its own. As you eat it, it turns into a red soup pot.
If you don't eat until the bottom of the pot turns completely white, I will keep your honorable guest from using his chopsticks."
"Where's the meat?"
“Please take it upon yourself.”
Xu Shu was about to stand up, but Lao Cui pressed his hand on his shoulder, making him unable to move.
Lao Cui took out two boning knives and put them on the table, "I told you that if you want meat, you can take it yourself."
"Where to get it?"
"Of course it is taken from the honored guest."
Xu Shu took a breath of cold air and was about to stand up, but found that there was a thousand kilograms of weight under his feet, and his butt seemed to be on the bench. Lao Cui's honest and charming smile suddenly became extremely charming.
Xu Shu turned to look at the table where the wealthy old man sat, and saw him holding a sharp knife to cut off a piece of meat from his abdomen. His face was full of pain, and blood was already flowing from his feet...
The soldiers on the side were doing the same, with faces full of pain as they were picking at the flesh on their bodies. Their chests had been cut open, revealing the dense white bones, but they were still being cut with knife after knife.
The two of them painfully cut the meat, but they put their big chopsticks into the pot before the meat was put into the pot. As expected, the color of the bottom of the pot changed.
The two of them were obviously in great pain, but they ate one chopstick after another and ate extremely delicious food.
Lao Cui patted Xu Shu's shoulder gently, "As the saying goes, you can come and go without any worries, and no one can escape the sins he commits in front of him and disappears in death."
"Could it be...I, am I already dead?"
Xu Shu felt a cold air rushing straight to the sky.
Lao Cui smiled secretly.
At this moment, Qin Bing grabbed the sharp knife on the table.
Xu Shu wanted to stop him, but his arms weighed a thousand pounds.
Suddenly, an image appeared on the bottom of the pot in front of Qin Bing. It was a pink and tender little girl, about five years old.
The little girl was holding a glass of milk. Suddenly her feet stumbled, the glass fell to the ground, and a crawling ant was hit.
The picture is fixed on the ant, and a ball of red light is about to be thrown out, and it quickly dissipates.
Lao Cui murmured, "What's going on? Why is this innocent mistake revealed?"
Immediately afterwards, the image on the bottom of the pot changed. The little girl seemed to be a few years older, and Qin Bing's outline could be clearly seen.
The little girl accidentally stepped on a cockroach to death. The scene was frozen on the cockroach's corpse. The red light condensed but did not spill out.
Lao Cui frowned and continued to stare at the bottom of the pot. The pictures continued to flow, showing scenes of killing mosquitoes and ants.
Until the little girl in the picture grew up to be Qin Bing, there was still no red light that could be successfully saved from the bottom of the pot.
"There are such people in the world who are pure and simple, with no evil heart."
Lao Cui stared at Qin Bing, his eyes shining.
At this moment, the wealthy old man stood up, and the red bottom of the pot in front of him became clear again.
At the same time, the upper body of the wealthy old man was almost shaved, revealing his terrifying skeleton.
Xu Shu said, "I understand, the bottom of this pot can reflect the evil deeds done in front of me.
How many evil things have been done, how many pieces of meat must be cut off?
When the meat is put into the pot and the soup becomes muddy, until all the meat is rinsed and the soup becomes clear again, is it considered that the sin has been eliminated and the redemption has been completed?"
"How can you still talk!"
When Xu Shu said a word, Lao Cui was so shocked that his body turned into a shadow and stared at Xu Shu in disbelief.
"Old Cui..."
"Old Cui, you also called me, seeking death!"
Lao Cui suddenly changed his color, slapped Xu Shu on the shoulder, and muttered something.
In an instant, Xu Shu was pinned down on the seat, unable to move.
The clear bottom of the pot finally slowly came into view, and Xu Shu's hand grabbed the sharp knife uncontrollably.
In the picture, a five-year-old boy took out two bird eggs from the bird's nest and killed the two birds. The picture was frozen.
With a swish, red light flew out and fell into Lao Cui's mouth.
Immediately afterwards, the screen changed again...
The scene changed more than twenty times in a flash, and Xu Shu never made big mistakes but kept making small ones.
Stealing family money, getting into fights, evading fares on the bus, lying to others...
Lao Cui shook his head slightly, "I thought he was some kind of god, but it turned out he was just an ordinary boy..."
Before the thought came to an end, the bottom of the pot began to shake, and Xu Shu in the picture looked like he does now.
"What's going on? This is impossible. This pure river water can reflect the past and present life, how can it be swaying..."
Lao Cui looked intently at the bottom of the pot. In the picture, a resentful Xu Shu pushed Zhang Xing away, lay down on the table, and fell asleep.
"This is impossible!"
Lao Cui exclaimed in shock.
The bottom of the pot only reflects the sins of the previous life, and such a mindless picture will never appear.
Suddenly, the bottom of the pot stirred violently, and the entire hot pot restaurant shook.
There was a loud bang, the hot pot exploded, the roof of the hot pot restaurant was blown off, two walls collapsed, and random lights came out, as if some restriction had been broken.
A group of diners turned into billowing red shadows and threw themselves towards the Qingbai River not far away.
Outside the hot pot restaurant, the wealthy old man's carriage, knights, and pretty maids all turned into paper figures and horses, and burned violently.
Xu Shu was shocked. When he touched his pocket, he found that there was a handful of paper money instead of silver coins. He took out the pocket and burned it.
At this moment, a strong wind blew past, and the billowing smoke covered the sky and the moon. The strong wind passed by, but Qin Bing was nowhere to be seen.
Xu Shu was furious, grabbed Lao Cui, and punched him.
Xu Shu expected that the green ring had a miraculous effect on restraining evil spirits, so he swung the fist with the green ring.
There was a bang, and a big hole opened in Lao Cui's chest. He screamed in pain, but no blood flowed out.
There was a burst of smoke, and Lao Cui's chest returned to its original shape, but his whole body felt quite tired.
Xu Shu was about to hit him again, but Lao Cui hurriedly knelt down and said, "God, please forgive me, God, please forgive me..."
Xu Shu first destroyed the hot pot restaurant and then injured Lao Cui Xianghuo. Lao Cui was extremely frightened.
"If you want to survive, hand over my people quickly."
"Shangxian Rongzhen, your companion was definitely not captured by Lao Cui, but most likely the handiwork of Mr. Shouyi."
"Who is Mr. Shouichi?"
"The owner of this spiritual cage."
"What spirit cage?"
"Old Cui Zhen is an unjust ghost who has been wandering between heaven and earth for more than twenty years. More than ten years ago, he accidentally felt the source of power and offered incense at home, so he gained some magic power.
As for what this spiritual cage is, the little old man can't tell clearly. Anyway, since I entered this place six years ago and met Mr. Shouyi, I have been living here.
Under the orders of Mr. Shouyi, I rewarded the good and punished the evil spirits who wandered here by mistake, and occasionally caught some wild animals for blood food, so I lived a happy life."
"Rewarding good and punishing evil? What's going on at the bottom of the hot pot pot?"
"The bottom of the pot is water from the Qingbai River. If the wandering soul survives the hot pot, it will enter the Qingbai River. As for what kind of world is under the Qingbai River, I am afraid only Mr. Shouichi can tell clearly."
"What about the wandering souls who can't survive?"
Lao Cui didn't answer.
Xu Shu sneered, "The trick of a big fish eating a small fish, you are just a wandering spirit, dare to do such evil."
Lao Cui said proudly, "I have entered the incense path and condensed the incense body.
In this spiritual cage, I am considered a person, otherwise Mr. Shouyi would not send me to guard this Qiaotou hotpot restaurant.
Dare I ask what path the immortal cultivates? Why does the condensed incense body look like the real body?"
"This is beyond your knowledge. Take me to see Mr. Shouichi immediately."
"It's a coincidence that today is Mr. Shouyi's birthday. I'm about to go to congratulate him. The immortal can go with me."
With that said, Lao Cui turned to the counter and picked out a load of bamboo cages. There were living things struggling in the bamboo cages, and the mouths were sealed. Through the gaps, two wild boars could be seen.
"please!"
Lao Cui led the way.
Xu Shu bent down and picked up a sharp boning knife.
Lao Cui's heart skipped a beat, "Shangxian, what do you want this thing for?"
Xu Shumo held the sharp knife and said, "It should be good to use it to cut meat and eat hot pot."
Why, it’s just a knife and you’re still reluctant to part with it?”