Chapter 171

Li Zhuiyuan flung his arm downwards, spreading his palm. The copper coin sword fell along with the momentum, turning into a circle of copper coins that landed in his palm.

Although it didn’t maintain the sword shape, the coins were still connected and could be worn on his wrist like a bracelet.

The youth’s fingertip lightly touched the copper rust on one of the coins. This wasn’t metal rust, but a special attachment formed after continuous soaking in evil spirit blood and the blood of the original owner.

Using it for chopping would be very ineffective, far inferior to the Yellow River shovel, even… not comparable to a sturdy wooden stick.

The true value of the copper coin sword lay in using it as a medium for casting spells.

When Li Zhuiyuan had cast spells before, he was accustomed to drawing spell patterns on his arms and hands, then stimulating them with his own vital energy and spirit.

He was too lazy to find a medium because ordinary mediums couldn’t guarantee the effectiveness of the spell casting.

But this didn’t mean mediums were useless, it was just that he hadn’t encountered a truly good one.

Now, he had it.

Having it would make his spell casting easier, and the copper rust on the copper coins themselves could also amplify the spell’s effect to a certain extent.

Li Zhuiyuan bowed once more to the cracked stone tablet. This was to thank the elder for the gift.

Taking things from the Zhao family’s ancestor, Li Zhuiyuan felt strangely uneasy in his heart.

He would find an opportunity later to return a similarly large opportunity to Zhao Yiba.

He just didn’t know if Zhao Yi was interested in Fengdu.

Now, things were gradually becoming clear.

The Miao village elder narrated several versions of the Old Monster Woman story to Li Zhuiyuan, and one of them was correct: the Old Monster Woman was indeed a saintess from the Miao border in her previous life.

What she was sacrificing and refining should be the mother-child connected heart Gu.

Wei Zhengdao, in his “Jianghu Strange Records,” once recorded a dead body that floated downstream in a river. The mother’s body was dressed in Miao clothing, her abdomen bulging. The dominant presence was truly the fetus inside her abdomen.

Wei Zhengdao’s annotation for this dead body was: substituting birth with pregnancy, living one’s life anew.

Essentially, she wasn’t giving birth to her own child, but to herself.

People always had various dissatisfactions with themselves, from small things like appearance to big things like character and temperament.

And this evil technique could modify what was originally unsatisfactory, allowing one to live anew in the most perfect form from one’s own perspective.

Of course, one could also choose the object one considered most perfect and copy them, giving birth to a new them (oneself).

When this evil technique was cultivated to an extreme, it could even modify fate.

Looking at the description on Zhao Wushang’s stone tablet, the origin of the Gu child required a large number of infant lives for blood sacrifice, equivalent to exchanging the lives of numerous children for the rebirth of one’s own child.

Therefore, the Old Monster Woman’s current caution should be due to her fear of the Zhao family Dragon King who suppressed her once. What was left on the stone tablet could be called the Dragon King’s oath.

As long as she dared to commit large-scale killings, the oath would respond.

But the oath could only restrain her temporarily. Once she confirmed the appearance of her new child and prepared to get pregnant again, blood sacrifice was inevitable, and the children in the surrounding area would also inevitably suffer disaster.

In history, she should have come once, but that time the born Gu child was killed by Zhao Wushang.

Her madness at that time should have caused quite a few children to suffer disaster, so much so that even centuries later, legends of her eating children were still widespread locally.

So, it seemed his objective this time was just to protect the children.

Well, and also to protect himself.

Li Ren was lifted up and sent back to the earth building.

The two of them didn’t want to return to the village, but their opinions didn’t count.

Li Zhuiyuan formulated a new plan.

He planned to take the initiative to bite down on the fake bait at the construction site, then express his excitement that the problem had been solved, thus paralyzing the Old Monster Woman.

Then, he would turn around and seize the opportunity to go to that lake to search for her old nest.

This wasn’t a particularly clever plan, but even complex and profound plans, when broken down and simplified, often had very simple essences.

Li Zhuiyuan needed to take the initiative to create an opportunity to directly face the Old Monster Woman, then bring his team and charge over in one wave.

There was no other way, she was too cautious, slippery like a loach. If they continued to slowly wear her down, by the time she gave birth to the child and brewed disaster, it would be too late.

After Ran Dacheng was notified, he hurried over again on his tractor.

Having been troubled several times, there was no trace of unhappiness on his face.

For him, the real profit lay in being responsible for the purchase and supply for the construction team after they returned. The kickbacks here were quite substantial.

Li Zhuiyuan and the others sat on Ran Dacheng’s tractor and went to the construction site.

Inside the earth building, Cui Hao listened to the movement through the door panel.

“They’ve left, brother, I’ll take you to escape from here!”

After Yin Meng’s treatment, Li Ren’s wounds were significantly alleviated, and his consciousness had basically recovered. At this moment, he excitedly grabbed Cui Hao’s arm and said choked with sobs:

“Good brother!”

Even if a person’s character wasn’t good, they weren’t necessarily a bad person.

At least, these two people, whose characters were the poorest in their respective teams, had formed a deep friendship during these days of escaping in the wilderness.

This earth building and this village, in their eyes, were the most dangerous places in this world.

Cui Hao collected some food and medicine, which Li Ren carried.

But just as they walked out the door into the courtyard, Cui Hao began to turn in circles on the spot.

The door of the earth building was right in front of them, but no matter how he walked, he couldn’t reach the door.

Finally, Cui Hao put Li Ren down and collapsed on the ground, exhausted.

“It’s over, a ghost hit the wall, the ghosts are coming again.”

Li Zhuiyuan knew what these two were thinking, so to prevent them from blindly running away again and getting lost, he simply set up an isolation array inside the earth building before leaving.

Previously, the array he set up in the earth building was too advanced. After all, this was their temporary base, and their own people still needed to enter and exit, which just gave the “fake person” an opportunity to infiltrate.

This time, the array he set up was very simple: outsiders were not allowed to enter, and insiders were not allowed to leave.

The fake person did not possess strong attack power, nor did they have the ability to break the array, unless the Old Monster Woman came in person.

But then again, if the Old Monster Woman really wanted to kill the two of them regardless of the consequences, they would not be safe no matter where they hid now.

After arriving at the construction site, Li Zhuiyuan told Ran Dacheng to drive the tractor away and wait a distance, not to approach.

Ran Dacheng didn’t understand, but he followed suit.

After checking around, Li Zhuiyuan discovered that it was indeed as Xue Liangliang had said before: ritualistic traces were left in many corners. There were three small offering tables alone, and various talismans and god images were pasted, mainly depicting a gathering of gods.

It was just that they had used their strength in the wrong place.

Li Zhuiyuan looked at the high shelf. The other end of the shelf was connected to the mountain slope on the west side.

The three disciples from the Miao village were thought to have fallen from that shelf after drinking too much at night.

In fact, they really hadn’t looked in the wrong place.

When Li Zhuiyuan used the compass to locate the specific position, the place where yin gathered and evil converged was not below the construction site, nor at the bottom of the river in front, but in the middle of that west mountain slope.

After locating the position, a closer examination revealed that an area on that mountain slope had a different color than the surroundings and should have been refilled and covered later.

The bait was right there.

It was indeed quite a large-scale operation. Its principle was almost like offending a house’s master builder and having someone place a dead cat in the interlayer of your house’s beam.

Li Zhuiyuan pointed in a direction:

“Runsheng, go up and smash that open.”

“Okay!”

Runsheng held the Yellow River shovel. He didn’t walk on the shelf, but ran to the other end and climbed along the steep mountain slope.

“Lin Shuyou, go down and prepare for support.”

“Understood!”

Lin Shuyou also came to the bottom of the slope and got ready.

Li Zhuiyuan took out an array diagram from his bag and handed it to Tan Wenbin: “Tan Wenbin, set up the array.”

“Understood!”

Tan Wenbin took the diagram and glanced at it. It was a simple binding array, easy to understand and easy to set up. For their lower-level contractors, it was considered a basic operation.

He and Yin Meng simply assigned some tasks below, then began to insert the array flags.

Xue Liangliang was originally holding a dagger. It was a gift from Tan Wenbin when they set off, and the other people in the team had the same model on the side of their boots.

But after holding the dagger several times, Xue Liangliang felt that relying on this would not give him enough sense of security.

He simply put the dagger away and picked up two steel bars from the ground, one in each hand. He stood in front of Li Zhuiyuan, providing protection.

Putting aside the practical effect, at least his intention was expressed.

At this moment, Runsheng had already reached that area. He stepped on the protruding part of the rock wall, held the Yellow River shovel, and began to knock and smash.

The new version of the Yellow River shovel, custom-made for Runsheng, was not only bigger and heavier, but also more sturdy and firm.

Every time he knocked, his clothes would bulge up.

Broken stones kept rolling down, hitting his body, but he ignored them and continued to exert force and chisel.

After smashing and smashing, a large area of cracks appeared. This area was originally hollow, not solid.

Runsheng stabbed the edge of the shovel in, changing from chiseling to prying.

One time, two times, three times… Only a “hua la” sound was heard, a large amount of stones and dust rose, and a cave appeared on the rock wall. At the mouth of the cave was a stone coffin.

The stone coffin shook, fell downwards, and directly hit Runsheng below.

Runsheng leaned back, kicked the rock wall fiercely with both legs, and the whole person flew out upside down.

Below, Lin Shuyou was instantly possessed.

In fact, from the moment the stone coffin appeared, evil spirit aura erupted, and he already had an induction.

The vertical pupil opened, and the White Crane Child descended.

The first thing the Child did was spread his arms, retreat quickly, and catch Runsheng in mid-air before continuing to retreat to unload the force.

If it were before, the Child would only have the stone coffin in his eyes and would not have considered saving his teammate at all.

Even if he wanted to save him, he would foolishly stand there and catch him directly, not caring if the possessed child’s arms would break in the process.

Now the Child… was very considerate.

The stone coffin continued to slide down the rock wall, its speed increasing. It went straight into the bottom of the valley and fell into the water.

“Bang!”

The area of water contacted by the stone coffin began to turn black, followed by the rise of black fog.

Accompanied by continuous crisp sounds, something seemed to be breaking out of the coffin.

At this moment, Tan Wenbin and Yin Meng had already set up the array and were just staring at the stone coffin.

Li Zhuiyuan’s voice transmission: “It’s already coming out from the bottom of the coffin, be careful!”

A black shadow condensed beside Yin Meng, and a pair of arms stretched out from the middle of the black shadow.

Yin Meng raised her demon whip, holding it horizontally beside her body. She blocked the pair of arms, then whipped with the momentum, trying to bind the hands.

However, a greater force was transmitted from the pair of hands. Yin Meng saw the situation and could only give up her leather whip, quickly retreating.

“Ah!”

A shrill roar came from the black shadow, and it swiftly moved forward.

Dark clouds began to condense in this small area above the construction site.

Tan Wenbin stepped forward, shielding Yin Meng behind him. At the same time, he raised his right arm, holding a crossbow with two evil-breaking talismans on it.

“Shoo!”

The trigger was pulled, and the crossbow bolt shot out, hitting the black shadow.

Immediately, sounds like a string of firecrackers going off on New Year’s Day erupted.

Although the killing power was limited, it at least scattered the black shadow, revealing its true form.

It was a woman covered in pearl light and treasure aura, wearing gold clothing, a pearl crown on her head, and heavy silver ornaments on her hands, neck, and ears.

It was just that her disheveled hair and dirty face, iron-blue skin, bulging eyes, and continuous gushing of black sewage from her mouth truly ruined this dignified luxury.

Li Zhuiyuan felt that this should be a noble person buried in some local grave, who was dug out by the Old Monster Woman as bait.

Not to mention, purely from her appearance, she really did resemble the Old Monster Woman in legends and stories.

Tan Wenbin didn’t use ghost control techniques. This move would consume his lifespan. When Little Yuan Bro was present, he would listen to Little Yuan Bro’s orders.

“Roar!”

The female noble bared her fangs and claws, venting her inner anger.

Born into prosperity, she should have been quietly buried in the ground after death. Instead, she was forcefully dug out, sacrificed and refined into a dead body, enduring this kind of torture. Anyone would be angry about that.

She leaned forward, her feet not moving, but like she was sliding on the ground, quickly approaching Tan Wenbin.

Tan Wenbin squatted down. Behind him, Yin Meng at this moment waved out a piece of colorful, gorgeous poison fog.

In the middle of this poison fog, the female noble instantly lost her sense of direction and began to roar continuously.

Yin Meng seized the opportunity to grab Tan Wenbin’s collar and pulled back with force. Tan Wenbin also kicked the ground with both legs. The two of them cooperated tacitly, quickly retreating and leaving the battlefield.

As for how to fight, the team had its own set of procedures. The two of them were not frontline fighting personnel.

At the same time, Runsheng and Lin Shuyou had also come down from above, surrounding the female noble from front and back.

It was just that Yin Meng’s poison fog didn’t distinguish between friend and foe.

The two of them didn’t dare to rush into the poison fog and fight the opponent at this moment.

But very quickly, the poison fog dissipated, and dense blisters appeared on the female noble’s body.

This made her, who was already very ugly, even more ugly now.

Tan Wenbin said in surprise: “This kind of miasma poison fog now has this kind of effect?”

Yin Meng: “Besides the fixed blend, I also randomly add some other poisons in each time.”

Tan Wenbin licked his lips: “Meng Meng, listen to big brother’s advice, you must never bring disciples later.”

Runsheng held the Yellow River shovel, and Lin Shuyou held the trident, attacking the female noble.

The female noble was very flexible and moved very swiftly, but she was at most just a fierce dead body in close combat.

After being dispersed by Tan Wenbin’s talisman paper, the black fog on her body was broken, and she just turned into a pure beast.

This was the type of opponent that Runsheng and Lin Shuyou liked the most. No fancy tricks, everyone just fought directly!

But even so, the battlefield was still quite intense.

Because Li Zhuiyuan had instructed them to hold back this time and try not to get too injured.

The truly desperate place was at the bottom of that lake; that was the main event.

With the thought of preserving their strength, their movements were restrained. Runsheng and Lin Shuyou tacitly chose a war of attrition.

This was originally a weakness of the official generals, but after Li Zhuiyuan’s improvement and innovation, the official generals could also fight long wars.

The female noble was entangled and suppressed by the combined efforts of the two. She couldn’t fight, nor could she escape, continuously letting out suppressed roars.

Li Zhuiyuan walked towards the battlefield.

Xue Liangliang wanted to open his mouth and say “danger,” but he immediately realized that he was not qualified to say such words. He could only continue to grip the two steel bars, like Qin Qiong holding his double copper mace, and follow behind.

Li Zhuiyuan took out a small array flag and inserted it into the array eye position, then patted his hands.

Runsheng and Lin Shuyou understood and worked together to exert greater pressure, forcing the female noble step by step into the range of the array.

After it entered, Li Zhuiyuan activated the array.

The female noble’s speed and reaction instantly slowed down.

Seizing this opportunity, the Yellow River shovel and the trident began to wildly attack her body.

Immediately, gold and silver jewelry were hit flying and splattered all over the ground.

Tan Wenbin’s eyes were a little hot. He subconsciously blew a whistle to cover up the embarrassment of his previous thoughts.

He glanced to the side. Yin Meng had clenched her fists, and her breathing was becoming rapid.

Ever since she went shopping, her demand for money had only increased greatly.

Tan Wenbin whispered: “No rush, we’ll pick it up after the fight is over, it’s all spoils of war.”

Yin Meng looked at the youth who was controlling the array.

Tan Wenbin whispered again: “Half donate to the welfare institution, half donate to the bosses of the clothing stores on the pedestrian street to let them pay their rent.”

Yin Meng nodded.

“Ah ah ah!”

The female noble’s piercing scream echoed in the river valley.

Ever since she was forcefully dug out of the mountain cave, she had always been very suppressed.

There was no way. Historically, there was a Dragon King who was like a lone hero, with one person and one pair of fists, who subdued the entire river.

Uncle Qin’s initial intention was likely this path.

But Li Zhuiyuan’s path was the team path. The main focus was team cooperation. If it still required fighting with blood and life-and-death crises and getting full of injuries every time… then what kind of team path was it?

In fact, among the dead bodies that died in the youth’s hands, few truly died happily. They basically all went away feeling very suppressed.

However, fighting to this point, Li Zhuiyuan couldn’t help but sigh. This female noble was also very enduring. Being afraid of death was probably also a character.

The youth hesitated, wondering whether or not to make a further move and accelerate the process.

Hmm… it seemed there was no need for that. Dragging it out and fighting for a while longer would just seem more real, and the Old Monster Woman would also be more at ease.

“Cough!”

Li Zhuiyuan coughed.

Tan Wenbin immediately understood. He cleared his throat and began to shout: “Old Monster Woman, hurry up and confess and surrender! The heavenly way is clear, there is no place for evil spirits like you!”

With the shout from the front, everyone understood what they were supposed to do.

Yin Meng shouted: “Old Monster Woman, don’t struggle, we represent the righteous path to execute you!”

Runsheng struck down with a shovel, shouting as he changed his force: “Old Monster Woman, die!”

White Crane Child: “Old Monster Woman!”

On a mountain not too far from here.

The Miao village elder stood there with his cane. Behind him, there was a group of strong young men from the Miao village.

When the stone coffin was dug out, he felt it.

By the time dark clouds appeared in that place, it was almost a hint.

It seemed that the youth had made his move.

He had already said that he would not participate in the actions against the Old Monster Woman.

But when the matter truly happened, he couldn’t help but want to get closer and see.

Who was willing to live in the shadow of the Old Monster Woman forever?

In fact, he was the one who most hoped the Old Monster Woman would be eliminated.

It was just that although the person had come, he hesitated whether or not to go down and help.

Going down and taking a side this time, if something went wrong again and the Old Monster Woman wasn’t killed but escaped, then his village would suffer disaster afterwards.

If he was just one person, it would be fine, but he didn’t dare to gamble the survival of the entire village.

At this moment, A Mei, the granddaughter standing beside Wen Xiushan, spoke: “Grandfather, we must go down and help, for revenge!”

“A Mei…”

“Grandfather, the Old Monster Woman didn’t kill us initially, it was definitely not because of her benevolence. It might have just been because it wasn’t convenient for her to do so yet. We have already offended her. How can the safety of our village be entrusted to the pity of an evil demon?”

Wen Xiushan continuously took deep breaths, doing his last struggle in his heart.

But very quickly, Wen Xiushan’s sense of struggle disappeared.

Because he saw that the Old Monster Woman suddenly rushed towards the youth.

A sword appeared in the youth’s hand, then the youth broke the sword into two sections and struck out.

The Old Monster Woman let out a miserable scream. This sound, even drifting to where he was standing, shocked the surrounding birds.

Subsequently, the Old Monster Woman fell to the ground. The other two young people who could surprisingly fight the Old Monster Woman in close combat without falling behind seized the opportunity to go up and tightly press the Old Monster Woman to the ground.

The Old Monster Woman was defeated, captured!

Wen Xiushan waved his hand: “Go, children, follow me to kill the Old Monster Woman!”

Immediately, a group of strong young men from the Miao village let out whistling sounds from their mouths and ran down from the mountain.

Li Zhuiyuan heard the movement and turned his head to look in that direction.

He didn’t think the Miao village people were coming down this time to pick fruit. Normal people wouldn’t be willing to touch this kind of unlucky fruit.

He still admired the courage of these Miao people, even if they didn’t appear at the beginning, at least they appeared.

After all, except for Elder Wen, the remaining people were all ordinary people.

But the problem was, this was bait, and this female noble in front of them was not the real Old Monster Woman.

Going into the field this time was truly unwise.

Most people, in fact, would make this mistake, making the worst choice in continuous hesitation.

If they couldn’t smoothly capture and kill the Old Monster Woman, then the children in this Miao village would inevitably become the Old Monster Woman’s first blood sacrifice objects.

Li Zhuiyuan urged: “Quickly finish it.”

Lin Shuyou stabbed the female noble’s back neck with the trident, forcefully lifting her head.

Runsheng inserted the Yellow River shovel into the female noble’s mouth, prying it open.

Yin Meng held a poison sac and seized the opportunity to stuff it into the female noble’s mouth.

The poison sac went down her throat. Very quickly, the female noble’s body began to swell. After it swelled to a very exaggerated degree…

Li Zhuiyuan: “Retreat!”

Runsheng and Lin Shuyou immediately retreated, and everyone else found nearby cover.

Li Zhuiyuan didn’t retreat, but modified the array to reduce the range of influence and increase the suppression effect.

“Boom!”

There was an explosion, and flesh and blood flew everywhere, but these corrosive pieces of flesh didn’t spread too far and were blocked by an invisible barrier.

Li Zhuiyuan had everyone retreat earlier for safety. If any piece of flesh accidentally broke the range of the array and caused poisoning to someone, even Yin Meng would have difficulty dealing with it.

On the ground, a pool of exploded black appeared, and the residual pieces of flesh also began to turn into pus.

Li Zhuiyuan held an evil-breaking talisman and threw it in, further stimulating its resentment and poison volatility, considering it as an aftermath.

By the time everything was handled, the Miao village people had just run to the scene.

They really didn’t delay. After all, there was a mountain separating them, and after seeing the Old Monster Woman being controlled, they ran even faster, afraid they wouldn’t catch the last blow.

But unfortunately, Li Zhuiyuan didn’t give them this heavy sense of participation.

Wen Xiushan was old and already panting when he ran here, but he still came forward and grabbed Li Zhuiyuan’s hand: “Thank you, sir, thank you, sir.”

“No need to thank me, this is what I should do.”

Wen Xiushan said apologetically: “I came late.”

“It’s good that you could come.”

“Unfortunately, I couldn’t help with anything.”

“Then help tidy up the construction site here?”

“Okay, no problem, I’ll immediately instruct them to do it.” Wen Xiushan pointed around and spoke to them in Miao language, then pointed to the ground again and said something sternly.

Beside him, A Mei explained: “Grandfather said everyone is not allowed to privately pocket the gold and silver on the ground. These must all be cleaned up and saved for the village’s benefactor.”

Li Zhuiyuan said to Wen Xiushan: “Let the compensation for those three people come from here. I feel this is faster. If we go through the official certification process, it will be slower and more troublesome.”

Wen Xiushan was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and said: “This is yours, sir. Our village still wants to prepare a thank-you gift for you.”

“Then just listen to me, I don’t like to argue about this.”

“Yes, sir. But this is too much.”

“Leave enough for yourself, and hand the rest to him.” Li Zhuiyuan pointed at Tan Wenbin.

Tan Wenbin came forward and said: “The rest, donate it to repair the roads in the county? Repair as much as you can, even filling potholes is fine.”

Wen Xiushan sighed: “Sir’s great righteousness, this old man admires!”

Subsequently, Wen Xiushan said again: “Please, sir, come to our village for a banquet. Our village will celebrate tonight. Please do not decline, sir.”

“Okay, I’ll go.” Li Zhuiyuan looked at the pool of black remaining on the ground, “It is indeed worth celebrating that the Old Monster Woman is dead.”

Yin Meng puffed up her cheeks, blew several breaths continuously, then gritted her teeth and rolled her eyes several times.

She wasn’t expressing dissatisfaction with anyone. Even if she didn’t get the gold, it wasn’t a big deal, but it was like getting a red envelope during the New Year. She originally wanted to put it in her pocket, but who knew she wouldn’t get it again.

After Tan Wenbin finished negotiating with Wen Xiushan, he walked back and shrugged at Yin Meng.

It wasn’t that he wasn’t chivalrous enough and didn’t keep his word, but since people had come, you had to say something nice, at least to save Face of Yuan Zi Bro.

Yin Meng smiled, indicating that she didn’t take it to heart.

At this time, Runsheng walked past Yin Meng, and a heavy object was placed in her hand.

Yin Meng squeezed it, then subconsciously pinched it with her fingernails. Hey, it was a little soft.

“Buy clothes.”

After Runsheng left this sentence, he went to help tidy up the construction site.

When he was in close combat with the female noble earlier, quite a bit of the gold on her body had bounced onto his body. It was normal to casually pick up a piece and stuff it into his pocket.

“Oh, happy?”

Tan Wenbin leaned over again at this time.

“No.” Yin Meng carefully put the piece of lump into her bag.

“Spend it without worry. Little Yuan Bro has good hearing. Pretend he didn’t hear me.”

“Hu…” Yin Meng breathed a sigh of relief, “I’ll go help tidy up.”

Tan Wenbin stole a moment of laziness, found a cement block to sit on, and lit a cigarette.

At this time, Lin Shuyou walked over, handing over a piece of glittering gold.

“Brother Bin, here.”

“Heh.” Tan Wenbin almost choked on his smoke, laughing. “What are you giving it to me for? Keep it yourself.”

“Buy clothes.”

“I’m a man, what clothes do I buy?”

“You take it and buy clothes for sister-in-law.”

…

The banquet in the Miao village was very lively.

Everyone ate and drank heartily, then gathered around the fire and sang and danced.

Everyone was warmly entertained, and no one was left out in the cold.

After all, in ancient strange stories, their group of people belonged to the warriors who defeated demons and triumphed.

At the end of the story, there would inevitably be a description of celebrating victory.

Under Li Zhuiyuan’s instruction, Runsheng, Yin Meng, Tan Wenbin, and Lin Shuyou all went together to jump and dance.

However, eating is eating, and playing is playing, but don’t drink too much wine. After all, there were still real activities in the latter half of the night.

Ran Dacheng was also called over to join this celebration. He was far away when the incident happened and didn’t know exactly what happened, only remembering hearing a series of ghostly cries and wolf howls.

Now he was drunk, his brain wasn’t very clear, only knowing to make noise along with everyone.

However, his tractor crank had already been inadvertently taken by Tan Wenbin and stuffed away for him.

“Not going to dance and play a bit?” Xue Liangliang asked Li Zhuiyuan.

“Brother Guangguang, you go and play.”

“It’s a pity not to go. This is truly authentic ethnic flavor. Later in life, if you want to experience it again, it will be difficult.”

“Why?”

“True, sincere celebration is happy. Pure performance celebration doesn’t have much meaning.”

“Oh.”

“Then I’m going.” Xue Liangliang stood up from his seat and joined the ocean of happiness.

Li Zhuiyuan remained seated in his original place.

A Mei brought over some food and placed it in front of Li Zhuiyuan, asking curiously: “Sir, why aren’t you going to play?”

“I don’t like crowds.”

A Mei: “Sorry, we didn’t consider it thoroughly.”

“It’s okay, it’s good that they like it. You don’t need to stay here with me, go and play.”

Ever since she entered the Miao village, A Mei had basically been sitting by his side, serving tea and pouring water, her gaze not how much leaving him.

“It doesn’t matter. Dancing and singing can be done anytime. Now, I just like to look at you, sir.”

“Do I have something dirty on my face?”

“No, sir, you are really very good-looking. It’s a pity, sir, you are a bit too young. If you were a few years older…”

A Mei had been drinking wine. At this moment, she actually took the initiative to stick out her tongue and lick her lips.

It didn’t feel dissolute, but rather just right, open and sweet.

Li Zhuiyuan lowered his head and took a sip of tea.

“Sir, do you like someone like me?”

“You already said, I’m still young.”

A Mei rested her hand on her cheek, staring straight at Li Zhuiyuan: “Then I can wait for you to grow up, sir. Speaking of which, I’m still taking advantage.”

“What about your grandfather?”

“The Old Monster Woman is dead, Brother A Cai is fine. Grandfather went to see him.”

“Oh, congratulations.”

“This is all thanks to you, sir.”

A Mei raised her wine cup, took the initiative to lean over, and her soft body pressed against Li Zhuiyuan’s.

“Sir, have a drink.”

“I’m still young, I can’t drink wine.”

Obliquely in front, Tan Wenbin, who was originally just dancing in a circle, had always been paying attention to Little Yuan Bro’s side.

At this moment, seeing Little Yuan Bro sitting so close to that A Mei, Tan Wenbin not only had no expression of watching the excitement, but his eyes revealed solemnity.

He would rather believe that the sun would rise from the west tomorrow than believe that one day Little Yuan Bro could suddenly be so intimate with a stranger.

There was definitely a problem here!

Runsheng and Yin Meng also noticed the situation here. The two of them seemed to be planning to leave the celebration team and walk over.

Except for Lin Shuyou, everyone else had discovered something was wrong.

Mainly because Lin Shuyou was just being pulled into a dance by two enthusiastic Miao sisters, lowering his head with a shy blush, and didn’t come over to observe this side.

Tan Wenbin immediately raised his hand, shouting for Runsheng and Yin Meng to continue jumping and dancing.

The meaning was very clear: don’t go over and make trouble. Little Yuan Bro definitely had his own reasons.

“How long do you plan to stay here, sir?”

“Since the matter at the construction site is resolved, I should probably leave immediately.”

“Life in our mountains is still not convenient.”

“Well, I like living in the city.”

“I also want to go to the city.” A Mei smiled and said, then reached out and hugged the youth, drinking wine willfully.

After finishing the wine, she still stuck out her lips, wanting to kiss Li Zhuiyuan’s face.

Li Zhuiyuan raised his hand, stopping her action.

“You’re drunk.”

“I’m not drunk.”

“I’m still going to dance with them.”

Li Zhuiyuan stood up and walked into the crowd.

“Hehe hehe…”

A Mei stayed in her original place, laughing louder.

At this moment, Wen Xiushan came back. He said happily: “A Cai has already regained consciousness. As soon as the Old Monster Woman died, he was fine.”

“That’s really good, grandfather.”

“Yes, it’s really good. Where is the sir? I didn’t ask you to entertain the sir well while I was away.”

“Sir went to dance.”

“Oh, you go and get me some more wine. Get that jar I brewed at home.”

“Okay, grandfather, I’ll go get it for you now.”

A Mei stood up, left the noisy crowd, and came into the house.

After entering the house, she walked up the bamboo ladder to her room on the second floor.

Pushing open the door, she walked to the bed and sat down.

Her legs lightly swung below the bed, looking like a mischievous girl.

As her feet pulled, the bed cloth below was kicked open. Vaguely, one could see an identical A Mei lying at the bottom of the bed, her eyes wide open, revealing fear, motionless.

Gradually, the A Mei on the bed also stopped moving. She just froze there, gradually becoming flat and transparent.

At the same time, in the main temple of the Zhao Jun Temple below the lake surface far away, on the altar, the disheveled and dirty-faced woman sat on the steps, in the same posture as A Mei in the Miao village. She began to pat her abdomen.

Her belly began to get bigger and bigger, and also more and more transparent.

Through the medium like glass, the woman looked at the child inside her belly.

This time, the boy was already nine-tenths similar to Li Zhuiyuan.

“Really good, I really like him, so handsome, so smart, so much want to eat him into my belly in one bite.

Do you know me? Mother watched him up close for a long time today. Mother really wants to have a child like him.

However, it’s fast, very fast. My child, you’re about to be born, hee hee.”

The woman’s left eye was ferocious, so dense that it almost wanted to turn into water droplets and flow out. The love in her right eye was so deep that it made people unable to extricate themselves.

She patted her belly at the same time, her face full of expectation.

Suddenly, the woman was stunned, but very quickly, her face revealed ecstasy again:

“Child, can you talk to mother now?”

“Hee hee, I just said it, that youth is very smart. You were conceived according to his model, so you must also be very smart.”

“What, what did you say?”

The woman lowered her head, pressing her ear against the skin of her highly bulging belly, listening carefully.

“What did you say, say it again?”

“You said he actually discovered I was fake a long time ago?”

The woman continued to listen, then she raised her head in astonishment, staring dead at her belly, not daring to believe:

“You still said your mother… is very stupid?”