Chapter 130. Liúshuǐ People (6) Mountain Village Family Recognition Drama

     This was also the first time the children in the village had encountered a ‘big baby’ like Wang Xue, who would throw tantrums at them.

     They looked at each other for a moment, and then more than half of the children hopped back home along the bluestone street like rabbits.

     When they came out again, each of the children was holding their own gift.

     There were snacks like rice crispy treats and fruit-flavored biscuits, toys like glass marbles, slingshots, spinning tops, and iron rings, all spoils won from games. Some of the younger boys and girls brought silver bracelets, jade rabbit pendants, and sandalwood bead strings. Some even secretly took the gu insects their parents raised.

     They surrounded Wang Xue and gave her the treasures in their hands carefully to express their serious intention to make friends.

     Even when the village elders saw the valuable silver and jade ornaments, they didn’t stop these actions. Instead, they offered a few words of explanation for the village children, their understanding of the truth being quite limited.

     The childhoods of the village children were still very happy. They truly didn’t know much about the outside world. They were taught to be very polite, neither unruly nor wild, just adorable little ones. The adult villagers seemed to work hard, but this hardship made their physical fitness generally stronger than that of ordinary people.

     The premise is to abide by the survival rules of the village.

     Wang Xue’s tsundere attitude didn’t last long. She quickly joined the children in their games. Whether it was skipping rope, kicking shuttlecock, or playing slingshot and dodgeball, she was always the ultimate game champion.

     “…”

     No wonder they liked her so much.

     Ye Mo looked at the sunny smile on the face of the ‘big baby’, which was exactly the same as the faces of the small children. Childishness is rare, and it will make people laugh happily with them unconsciously.

     On the flower bridge, the villagers prepared a very rich lunch, and the chef was the best couple in the village.

     It’s a treat.

     They prepared fragrant and delicious, colorful five-colored flower rice, as well as lean meat crispy morsels, tender and delicious fried cakes, and moderately salty and spicy, fragrant and delicious pig trotters, ribs, and beef offal, all products of the village’s own planting, raising, and hunting.

     There was also a small amount of live gu insect feast. The villagers were reluctant to eat these gu insects themselves, preparing them for the children and guests. Some were poisonous, some were not, and their function was to strengthen the body. After a period of time, they would be excreted from the body

     Even though these gu insects were hopping and jumping, the children caught them without hesitation and shoved them into their mouths. As expected of the Miao village, some of the little girls had been playing with poisonous creatures since their full moon.

     Ye Mo & Wang Xue: “…”

     These gu insects had a greater effect on bone structure than on physical fitness. Wang Xue heard the prompt from the system while eating the insects: 【Survivor Wang Xueqin has broken through the strength attribute value, strength attribute +1】 × 2.

     Of course, whether it is the Miao people or the Shui people, living by the water means their food menus always include fish.

     The pot for cooking fish is an extra-large, two-eared bronze cauldron. This cauldron has been a cooking utensil since ancient times, and it is engraved with inscription arrays. The “Cultural Relics Protection Law” stipulates that bronze ware, as cultural relics, is prohibited from being traded.

     So they simply used it. Underneath the cauldron, they added fruit charcoal they had burned themselves. The charcoal fire was blazing, but with little smoke and smell. Before long, hot steam billowed out from the bronze lid on top.

     At the same time, the rich, oily, sour, and spicy aroma of the fish in the double-eared bronze cauldron wafted across the entire flower bridge.

     The fish, freshly caught from the stream, had been cleaned, the bones and innards skillfully removed, and then tossed into the boiling pot of oily, sour, and spicy broth. The pungent, sour, and spicy aroma filled the air, making mouths water

     Ye Mo was a person who loved sour and spicy food. She finally tasted the Miao village food that Wang Xue had mentioned. The sour and spicy taste penetrated into the tender fish meat just right, and it really lived up to its reputation.

     Regardless of whether there were gu insects, regardless of whether it was a sugar-coated bullet, regardless of whether the tableware had the suspicion of damaging cultural relics, eating first was the priority.

     ……

     After eating and drinking, the villagers drove the children who were reluctant to leave the child king Wang Xue out of the floral bridge, telling them to go play.

     Only then did Mo Shenpo solemnly introduce Wang Xue and Ye Mo to the respected elders of the village and some of the young men and women, clarifying that they were not antique dealers, but their benefactors.

     “I’m sorry, I kept so many things from you before. It was my fault.”

     “I knew it, Snow Child^[1]雪娃娃 (Xuě wáwa): “Snow Child.” It’s Wang Xue nickname from the villager is a good person!”

     “Even Grandma Mo can misjudge sometimes. Many people in the village truly think highly of Snow Child.”

     Wang Xue received many apologies and also learned that apart from the private matter of removing the Gu, the other villagers’ interactions with her were genuine and not for probing or any other purpose.

     The spies in the village had enough Gu worms. Gu worms hid in the lower level of the stilt house during the day and crawled out at night. It was hard to guard against them. Watson’s medicine bag also fainted many Gu worms.

     Wang Xue: “…”

    Mo Shenpo also talked about the current situation in the village.

     When the elders heard that the phenomenon of ghosts gathering in the village was very serious and there were more people than ghosts, they frowned.

     Fortunately, some solutions to suppress Yin and preserve Yang have been written in the Shui book.

     Peach wood, wine, and chicken blood vine are easy to find. The village is truly not lacking in things like copper coins, sandalwood, and jade. There are even some Taoist magical items, such as compasses, whisks, jade gourds, incense burners, three-pure bells, and ruyi scepters. If they are really lacking, they can be bought in the nearby town.

     Back then, those who besieged the village’s ghost masters due to their ghost techniques were primarily from the heretical sects, though still considered part of the Taoist schools. They were forever left behind in the village, and their belongings have been gathering dust in the village’s warehouse for hundreds of years.

     The wealth of the village has accumulated for thousands of years, but it is often only in and not out. It is not only the witch’s family that has national treasures in the kitchen cabinet, but many families have them. In addition to RMB, they are very rich.

     As for the topic of solving the Yin land, the elders of the mountain village were very excited to hear this. Only by being trapped in one place for many years can they understand their desire for freedom.

     Even though forbidden techniques regained their power after the resurgence of the supernatural, they were unwilling to rely on them to imprison themselves for thousands more years.

     The elders expressed their deepest gratitude in a very simple and abundant way, offering what they considered the best food, drink, entertainment, the most powerful mother-child gu insects, and exquisite varieties of jade and porcelain.

     “There is nothing good in the village, don’t be disgusted. No matter what you need, we will cooperate with you.”

     Mo Shenpo called two young people, the girl’s name is Gan Lan and the boy’s name is Ulangda.

     The children in the village can’t go to high school or university, but those with talent can learn gu techniques, while the rest learn the Shui people script. Even though the era of the ghost masters was many years ago, there are still a dozen elders and young people who know more Shui characters than Mo Shenpo.

     These two young men were among them.

     Let them follow Wang Xue and Ye Mo, one is to help, and the other is to expand their knowledge.

     The Yin land can be solved, but it does not mean that they give up the “Water Scripture” completely. The ghost control technique can still be used. The Shui Book is not weaker than Taoist magic in catching ghosts and exorcising evil spirits.

     Ye Mo and Wang Xue looked at some precious gifts in front of them that were hard to refuse: “…”

     Their purpose is really not this.

     ……

     The method to crack the Yin land is related to the three forbidden areas of the mountain village.

     The forbidden areas are located at the foot, middle and top of the mountain. If their core point coordinates are drawn on a two-dimensional map, it will be found that they are a very accurate equilateral triangle.

      Ye Mo first called Watson and asked him to check the information of the Shui and Miao people, not just the Miao people.

     Then she prepared an excuse and asked Manager Xie for a long emergency leave and to ensure that their project still progressed faster than the next door. Then she and Wang Xue, Gan Lan and Ulangda started to explore the nearest forbidden area.

     The so-called forbidden areas are the tombs built in the village.

     The forbidden area at the mountain peak was built on the north-facing, shady side, opposite the mountain village. What should have been a dense forest was instead a series of barren graves, neatly arranged.

     In order to keep the Shui people existence a secret, the tombstones were placed on the inner side of the burial mound, with a tomb gate made of three stacked stones in front.

     Those buried here were all from the village. The core area was the tomb of over a hundred ghost masters, whose deaths were a sacrifice of life energy. Upon closer inspection, their graves were arranged in the pattern of the Bagua and Nine Palaces.

     Surrounding the ghost masters’ tombs were those arranged according to the Twenty-Eight Mansions^[2]The “28 Mansions”(二十八宿; Èrshíbā Xiù). refer to a system of Chinese constellations,. They were also people who voluntarily sacrificed themselves for the village. Further out were the graves of a few who had married into the village, as well as those who had died in recent years. They had the will to sacrifice, but not the ability

     There were no dead souls in the forbidden area here before. It was not until the last ghost master died and no one presided over the sacrifice that the dead souls appeared. Some of the dead souls in the village drifted away from here.

     Even so, Ye Mo and Wang Xue still offered a stick of incense to the ghost masters who had disappeared long ago and bowed. This was a kind of respect for the people in the village.

     Gan Lan and Ulangda prepared all the shovels and other tools, intending to assist the people who broke the Yin formation to dig their own ancestral graves. This was a helpless move.

     “Where do we dig from?”

     “Not for now.”

     Ye Mo just found a relatively flat place, spread a piece of white cloth, sat cross-legged, and closed her eyes to rest.

     The two were dumbfounded: “?”

     Wang Xue made a random pose, like she was moving mountains and overturning seas, winked her right eye, and raised her chin: “Telekinesis, you know?”

      Gan Lan and Ulangda looked at her with adoration: “What kind of divine power is telekinesis?”

     Wang Xue: “…Superpowers?”

     Unable to explain clearly, she began to tell Gan Lan and Ulangda stories, from the East to the West, from ancient times to the present.

     …

     On the other side, Ye Mo was using her mental power to scan the ancestral tomb of the mountain village.

      Because it was a sacrifice, it was empty and there were not many precious burial objects. There was a stone coffin in the middle, and the coffins were full of copper-colored mummies dressed in gorgeous clothes, some of which were already rotting.

     Unable to protect the soul, they were trying their best to save the body.

     Ye Mo opened her eyes and read and studied the black ghost book written on the stone from Mo Shenpo, while practicing.

     The sun set, the moon came out from the dark clouds, and the sky quickly darkened.

     Wang Xue was trembling because many undead souls transferred from the mountain village stronghold had appeared in the empty tomb. In order to have two more companions, she took out the spirit testing device, while Gan Lan and Ulangda eagerly dripped their blood.

     “Grandma!”

     “Grandma!”

     “…”

     Mountain Village Family Recognition Drama

     Wang Xue hid beside Ye Mo, helplessly watching these things, feeling that she seemed to have done something stupid.

     Ye Mo: “It’s also a good thing?”