On the ninth day of August, the Autumnal Equinox, I traveled to the town.

Strong wind.

Everything is inappropriate.

"Young gentleman, please see, the meat in this part is the smoothest and tenderest. Use a sharp knife to penetrate a little deeper, cut off the whole piece, cut it into small pieces, put it in your mouth and chew it slowly. How can the word 'fresh' be used to describe it?"

"The way to eat it is to shave it off, put it into the pot in one piece, add more aniseed ingredients, and cook it for an hour. By the way, be sure to remove the blood foam at any time, otherwise the smell will be too strong. When the time is up, , change the fire to a simmer, continue to cook for half an hour, turn off the heat, simmer for a quarter of an hour, take it out, add spicy pepper, garlic, vinegar and other seasonings, the taste is excellent, it can be called the best! "

"Each internal organ has its own way of eating it. For example, my favorite is the heart, which is pickled and stir-fried with garlic. It has a unique garlic aroma. Yes, I don't have heart. If I eat too much heart, I will eat it. If you are heartless, I suggest you eat more."

"Blood is also a good thing. Put a large amount of ice water in the basin containing the blood. After it solidifies, immediately pour it into a large pot and boil it. When the inside and outside are the same color, then cool it with cold water, and the blood tofu will be ready."

The pines roared with the wind, the moon hung high, and the light shining into the forest was dim.

The hunky-backed man had his back to Zhao Chan, holding one person's ankle upside down, and holding a short boning knife in his other hand, cutting them skillfully. There was a large basin underneath, with steaming blood inside.

Half of Zhao Chan's body was pale in the moonlight, and the other half was hidden in the darkness.

The big man squinted at the young man's expression and showed off: "Pick fresh seasonal vegetables, cut a piece of blood tofu into thick slices as thick as your index finger, and fry them together. The taste... tsk tsk, I will never forget it, it makes people dream."

He neatly arranged all the parts, pinched the gall he deliberately left in his mouth and swallowed it. He said with emotion: "Human gall has a sweet aftertaste, which makes me more happy than eating meat."

He turned to look at Zhao Chan.

The big man with monkey eyebrows, dog eyes, cow ears, leopard nose, and tiger's mouth, with extremely weird facial features, grinned ferociously: "The young man has been looked down upon by his neighbors and has always wanted to be a master..."

"If you ask me, you can't become a master of others by working hard. Only by eating people like me can you become a master of others."

Quickly picked up the broken pieces of meat that he accidentally dropped, opened his mouth and swallowed: "It's not as good as gall."

The dream suddenly shattered into pieces and disappeared into the yellowed and worn book in my mind that was full of cracks.

The first page of this book shows this man-eating monster with strange facial features.

The brush strokes that outline the demon are powerful and expressive, and the demon is portrayed so lifelike that it seems as if it will jump out of the book the next moment and choose people to devour.

In the lower left corner of the page, there are a few words written that are almost indistinguishable - [Sword Qi Zhixuan Chapter].

When I first had this strange dream, the monster on the first page of the book was lifeless. As the number of dreams increased, the monster quickly became clearer and more realistic.

Zhao Chan wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and stared at the beam with his narrow eyebrows.

He didn’t know why this wordless book passed down from his ancestors got into his mind, and he couldn’t predict what would happen as the monster became more and more lifelike...

The sky was already bright, gray, damp and hot.

There has been a lot of rain recently, and the old house, which has never had mold, is now severely moldy on the beams, with mold spots and spots spreading unchecked.

She put on a white and dark short coat that was full of patches, and inserted the peach branch at her side diagonally around her waist.

The peach branches are more than three feet long, with new buds.

As the youngest paint picker in the town, I have been idle at home recently due to the rainy season.

In addition to picking paint, which is his main business, he also does part-time work for the Xizhao Inn at other times. It probably rained too much and the inn's business was not good, so the landlady asked him to go back after a while.

Zhao Chan frowned, he was very short of money right now.

Walked to the courtyard, grabbed the wooden sword standing by the wall, and started practicing for five years.

It is nothing more than basic swordsmanship such as stabbing, point, collapse, teasing, and cutting.

When the children in Youju Town reach the age of nine, the demon slayers in the Demon Slayer Division will gather these children together and teach them some simple weapon skills and boxing skills.

Hearing the noise, neighbor Sun He climbed up the low courtyard wall, squatted down with his buttocks pressed, and tore into the sorghum pancake.

He deliberately chirped and shouted to Zhao Chan: "Little toad, I beg my father to give you the quota to deal with monsters with the Demon Slayer Department this time. Fifteen cents for a trip, isn't it better than what you can earn from traveling all over the mountains and fields to collect paint? many?"

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Sun He has a big black mole on the left side of his face, which trembles as he talks.

"I heard that Old Liu was eaten by demons in the Evil Mountain. You risked your life to retrieve some broken bones. Now you are short of money to buy him a coffin. The helper at the coffin shop said that there is only fifteen cents short. Hey, what a coincidence. !”

"Ouch! Stop practicing your sword! The three-legged cat kung fu taught by the demon-slaying priest is useless! Look at how sincere my eyes are, and how sincere I am to help you. If you don't go, I will go. In the past, there were only four , five cents, this time there are fifteen cents!"

Lao Liu is the master who taught Zhao Chan how to pick paint. He is in his forties and has a wrinkled face when he smiles. He is honest and funny. I have been a bachelor for most of my life. I often say that when I save enough money, I will happily marry Widow Liu and love her for the rest of my life.

Half a month ago, I quietly entered the Evil Mountain and never returned.

The Evil Mountain is filled with miasma and demons are entrenched, and all the paint pickers know that if you go into that place, you will never live or die.

I don’t know if Zhao Chan went to Evil Man Mountain or not, but he picked up some wreckage. As for whether the wreckage belonged to Lao Liu, no one in the town cared about this trivial matter. After all, he and Lao Liu had no friends and were alone in Youju Town.

Zhao Chan raised his head and looked at Sun He who was waiting eagerly.

Sun He was moved when he saw Zhao Chan: "Fifteen cents in exchange for that glowing treasure book! I searched all over your house, but I couldn't find it. Where did you hide it?"

Sun He pledged himself to jump off the courtyard wall, held Zhao Chan's arm affectionately, stuffed the remaining pancake to him without any explanation, and said politely:

"Are you hungry? Try some of the sorghum. You can only eat it once during the holidays... When you come back, I will sneak a dozen pancakes that my mother has spread out for you."

Zhao Chan pulled away and said, "I'm not hungry."

Sun He's eyes rolled, and he was planning on it. He was determined to give him a showdown, take the initiative, and grab the treasure book directly. Zhao Chan was an orphan, and he was bullied when he was bullied.

He immediately grabbed his shoulders and stuffed the sorghum pancakes stained with saliva into Zhao Chan's mouth.

"Little toad! My brother is kind enough to feed you pancakes, why don't you appreciate it?"

Zhao Chan stepped back smoothly, not wanting to conflict with his narrow-minded neighbor.

"Still hiding?"

Twenty-two-year-old Sun He was a head taller than Zhao Chan and taller than Zhao Chan. He said, "Be obedient. After you finish the pancakes, my brother will talk to you about business. Do you want to buy a coffin for Lao Liu?" "

The young man still understands the simple truth that eating people is short-tongued and soft-handed.

"Just eat it! Bring that luminous book to your brother by the way." Sun He pounced on Zhao Chan.

Zhao Chan had no choice but to continue to evade.

Sun He couldn't catch him and stamped his feet angrily: "I don't know what's going on in your family? How can you, a wild brat with no father and mother, own this treasure book? You can't control it!"

Zhao Chan quietly stared at Sun He, who was about to pounce. The helpless young man seemed a little angry.

This time, without waiting for Sun He to take action, he stabilized his lower body and "glued" his feet firmly to the ground. He walked a few steps quickly, like a gust of wind, and touched Sun He's right shoulder with the wooden sword in his hand.

Sun He suddenly yelled, covering his shoulders, his face twisted in pain.

Just as he was about to fight back, his eyes were dazzled when Zhao Chan crashed into his chest. The huge force made Sun He's feet leave the ground with a thud, making him dizzy and dizzy.

The young man held the wooden sword tightly, tilted it at Sun He's neck, looked down at him, as if he was going to chop off the head if he disagreed with him.

Sun He immediately smiled awkwardly, which was worse than crying, and said softly: "Let's stop making trouble."

Stop making trouble, I almost forgot that you are a paint picker. You climb mountains, wade through rivers and run in forests all year round. You are agile and have greater strength than ordinary people. "

Zhao Chan moved the wooden sword away.

Sun He tried several times before he got up, walked around Zhao Chan, looked left and right, and asked, regardless of his previous grudges, "Little toad, you are so compassionate, tell me where did the glowing book come from?"

"..."

"If you don't tell me, there is a ghost. It must not be from your family, it must be picked up outside! All the poor mice in your family have fled, how can you have such a treasure? Little toad, let's just have a small relationship, give it to me first Take a look at the treasure book."

Zhao Chan's face was expressionless, as if his heart was still when he was cutting the sumac trees one after another in the mountains. He said very few words: "I will give you the treasure book after I earn fifteen coins."

Sun He's eyes rolled, "Okay, brother, I believe you. You also know that working as an auxiliary with the people from the Demon Slayer Division is just an easy job of helping with swords and swords. You won't be able to face the monsters directly. My father told me that this The demon slayer leading the team this time is Wang Huan, and Wang Lishi is one of the top experts in our Youju Town! These fifteen cents are a sure profit."

"But our brothers have settled the score. The fifteen cents are in exchange for your luminous book!"

  "Yes, I know."

"Just go to the Demon Slaying Department and say my father's name."

  "got it."

Zhao Chan's expression remained unchanged. In the past few years as a paint picker, he not only had the strength to match that of a strong man, but also tried his best to hide his happiness and anger in his heart at the request of Lao Liu.

Sun He turned around and took a few steps to run, grabbing the wall with both hands. His right shoulder and chest hurt badly, but he didn't want to be embarrassed in front of Zhao Chan. He gritted his teeth and turned to look at Zhao Chan: "What a gentleman, what a horse is hard to catch." ?”

"A gentleman's words are hard to chase." Zhao Chan said softly.

Sun He grinned, and the big black mole on the left cheek was extremely conspicuous: "What do you mean by a gentleman?"

"It's hard to chase a horse."

There is nothing to take, the lacquer knife used for picking lacquer is on the belt, the peach branch with new shoots more than three feet long is still hanging on the waist, and the wooden sword used for sword practice is standing in the corner.

Zhao Chan pushed the door open and entered the alley, locked it and trotted towards the Demon Slayer Division.

Not long after, Sun He left and came back, turning inside and out again, looking up at the mottled mildew spread on the beams.

There was also mold in his house, which was more active than the mold in Zhao Chan's house. My parents said that no matter how rainy it rained in the past, mold never grew in their house.

"Where did the bastard hide the treasure book?"

Late at night more than twenty days ago, when he was bored and scratching the wall, he saw Zhao Chan standing under the moon, holding a book. The book was emitting a dazzling white light.

From then on, every time Zhao Chan left home, Sun He would climb over the wall and go in to find the glowing treasure book. Thinking about these objects with his heels, he knew that they were not ordinary objects. If they were the spiritual objects in the story, their price would be immeasurable. !

With money, my father can be a catcher, and my mother can wear flowery dresses.

"Follow him secretly, maybe you can find something." Sun He said to himself.

Just as he climbed over the wall and jumped into the alley, he suddenly came face to face with an unkempt old man.

"Old man! Are you from a foreign country?"

He had never seen such an old man in the local area.

However, many foreigners came to the town this year, and many of them bought houses and settled here.

The old man seemed to have a bad neck and slowly turned his head to look at him.

He bared his teeth and smiled. His teeth were as black as mold growing wildly on the beams of the house.

Sun He hated the cold and hurried after Zhao Chan.