Bamboo ink fragrance in front of the court

It was three days after arriving in the capital.Xie Zihuan was invited into Prince Jinggan's residence.

During the day, the noble prince also greeted him personally, and let his servants treat him well.Xie Zihuan is a cultivator who cares about etiquette and does not break the rules of the Tao, which is not ordinary difficult to deal with.

Underneath the bustling scene of the capital is the evil spirit at night.Now that people are panicking, they are a little more depressed.Every three days, the capital loses a young woman, and the next morning, the unrecognizable corpse will be seen in the wilderness outside the city gate.This is not a monster, so the women of each family dare not go out at night, even if the night market is noisy, they will never step out of the house.A few days ago was different from the past, what was discovered was the body of a young man.Crane bone and chicken skin are very permeable.

After Xie Zihuan had almost rested, he heard that the prince had summoned him, so he tidied up his clothes and went to see him.

"Master Dao, I'm telling you the truth. My king lost a ferret a few days ago." Hearing this, Xie Zihuan couldn't help thinking that the prince would not let him find a ferret for him.

Seeing that Xie Zihuan hadn't expressed his opinion, he continued, "That ferret has some spirit." After speaking, he looked at Xie Zihuan's reaction.It turns out that the monster that haunts every three days must have been released by the palace.If the timing hadn't been so tight, Lord Jinggan would not have believed that there was a monster in his home.

"What orders does the lord have?" Seeing the condescending man in front of him hesitate to speak, Xie Zihuan asked.

"If you catch that monster, can you spare his life?"

"Why did the prince ask such a question. Although Yushan does not accept ghosts who have not committed crimes, they will never allow monsters to cause trouble. This monster has attracted a lot of popularity, and I am afraid that it has no good thoughts. Even if there are good thoughts, this Let alone an act that promotes morality, how long will it be able to withstand the punishment of the day?" Although Xie Zihuan's tone was not sharp, it was firm.

Seeing this, Jing Qian couldn't say anything else.This ferret has been raised for at least four or five years. It took a lot of energy for the idle prince, and even the princess forgot to look for it.If this monster is it, I really have some palpitations and regrets.

The moon is bright and cloudless tonight, and according to the usual rule that monsters come out to suck people's energy, today they are not among them.After taking a bath, Xie Zihuan lay down holding the sword.Seeing no movement from the window, he fell into a light sleep.In the dream, Hao Ran greeted Su Mo with a smile on his face. He wanted to hear what Su Mo said, but the slight itchiness at the tip of his nose quickly woke him up.The dream was not a witchcraft, but the sudden appearance of a black cat made Xie Zihuan get up immediately.The cat was still pointing its butt at him, and its tail barely brushed his face.It was only after seeing clearly that it was the one Su Mo was holding in his arms.

The cat heard the movement and turned around, staring directly at Xie Zihuan with a pair of blue eyes.Seeing that Xie Zihuan was unmoved, the cat went to hook the Demon Suppressing Sword beside him.The sharp claws slid across the scabbard, and the sound was harsh.The cat was obviously angry, but Xie Zihuan didn't know where the anger came from.Feeling that something was wrong, he hurriedly dressed and stood up.The black cat had jumped off the bed and was sitting on the window sill, its long tail swaying slowly from side to side, as if it was waiting for him.

"Where are you taking me?" When Su Mo followed him, he often saw the ghost talking to the black cat, and he probably could understand it.

The black cat glanced at him, let out a short meow, and then jumped off the window sill.

He stepped out of the palace and followed the black cat all the way out of the city gate. During this period, nothing happened.Approaching the gate of the city, Xie Zihuan still didn't notice any evil spirit nearby, but there was a faint scent of bamboo and ink mixed, that ghost?

"Hey, Taoist priest, you are here." I saw Su Mo pulling a weed in front of him.

He was a little helpless for a ghost to disturb Xie Zihuan unconsciously late at night for the second time, but he didn't feel anything wrong.He hummed softly to express his agreement, and then quietly waited for Su Mo to finish the work at hand.

After Su Mo pulled out the weeds, what was hidden was a stone tablet.He squatted down and caressed the words on the stone tablet, but stopped somewhere.Although it was night, Xie Zihuan could still see the writing on the tombstone clearly.The tomb of my best friend Su Mo, inscribed by Gu Tingchen.The hands in front of the three characters Gu Tingchen are still trembling.Oh, dear friend.The word "best friend" actually made the relationship so simple.

"Your... bones are here?" Xie Zihuan said after a long time before Su Mo stood up and faced Xie Zihuan.

"There are empty tombstones but no bones. If there are bones, how can I be a lonely ghost with nowhere to go?" Unexpectedly, the tombstone is still placed here for 400 years.

Xie Zihuan had always been taciturn, and he didn't know what to say at this moment.It was Su Mo who said, "Taoist priest, burn some paper money for me." After speaking, he took out a handful of paper money from somewhere and handed them to Xie Zihuan.Xie Zihuan took it, feeling a little helpless when the other party came to the door again and again just to let him burn something for him.

Light the paper money and place it in front of Su Mo's tomb, which has a stele but no coffin and bones.Su Mo took the paper money, looked at it for a while and put it into his sleeve. "Save the cold food for the day. Maybe you can find something in the ghost market. Then you don't need to burn it." Su Mo's face was slightly blurred in front of the extinguished fire, seeing that the fire was about to touch him The clothes were gone, Xie Zihuan looked anxiously and didn't care that the open fire couldn't burn Su Mo, so he hurriedly pulled Su Mo who was still silent in the ghost market to buy something.

Su Mo didn't know, so when he lowered his head, he saw Doudou thumping and patting the ashes left over from burning paper money with his paws, and then he seemed to understand.The corners of her lips curled up, the sadness just now disappeared. "Taoist, if you say you want to take me in, I'm afraid Su Mo will have no complaints."

"Xie Zihuan came to the capital to collect demons, not ghosts. If you still have a relationship in the world, do you really have no complaints when you are accepted?" Suddenly thinking that the actions just now were really unnecessary, this made a somewhat displeased deep voice.

"Huh? If Su Mo didn't have nostalgia, he really hoped to be reborn, and he would leave this world and not be troubled by the world." When he said this, the two strands on Su Mo's forehead fluttered slightly in the wind.Xie Zihuan is not a nosy person, other people's stories are others' stories, so he doesn't want to ask more.

It's time to return to the palace.Su Mo didn't follow, but stayed in front of the tomb with the black cat in his arms for a while before disappearing into the night.

The prince of Chenshi invited Xie Zihuan to have breakfast together, during which time he asked how he slept.Xie Zihuan answered one by one, but he never responded directly to the prince's seemingly non-existent request to let him spare the ferret's life.Hearing that the corpses of the boys and girls whose essence had been sucked had not decayed or been buried, Xie Zihuan asked to take a look.

The corpse after being drained of essence looked like a dead bone, the clothes were empty under the clothes, and the hair on the top of the head still had lost its luster.These corpses were gathered in an abandoned house, and they did not dare to bury them easily because they were eaten by monsters.The wooden coffin where the corpse was placed was covered with yellow talisman paper.I don't know whether it is anti-demon or anti-ghost.The air around is heavy.

Xie Zihuan stepped forward and tore off the talisman papers that imprisoned the souls of the dead, and took out his own yellow talisman, muttering something.The yellow talisman was immediately lit and turned into ashes in Xie Zihuan's palm.Scattering the ashes of the talisman on the coffin, and reciting the mantra of passing away, Xie Zihuan only felt a whistling whistling past his ears.

"Dao... Daoist, does this count as letting the souls of the dead go back to life?" The servant of the palace who led Xie Zihuan to the old house asked shiveringly, rubbing his arms and feeling a little cold.The rest of the people hid a little away and watched Xie Zihuan cast spells.

"Ah."

Seeing that Xie Zihuan didn't say much and the servant didn't ask other questions, he looked around and saw that the spider webs in the corner became more and more strange.

"How long has it been since the first corpse was found?" Xie Zihuan asked the others to separate the corpses in the coffin one by one.

"Ah?" The servant obviously didn't pay attention to Xie Zihuan's question, and he was in a daze.

"It's been seventeen days," replied a strong man who carefully moved the corpse away.

The condition of each corpse was almost the same, they were all drained of energy and thrown into the wilderness.After careful inspection, Xie Zihuan found the white filaments at the corner of the mouth of the last man's body.Open the upper and lower jaws of the corpse, and gently pull out the filaments.

Seeing this, the boy stepped forward, "This is it?" He forgot to be afraid for a moment.

Xie Zihuan lightly pinched the thread, and replied, "Spider thread."

"Spider silk?" The servant's tone of surprise was normal.The spider silk will break with just a little force, how can Xie Zihuan pull it like this.

"The monster is not ordinary. This spider silk is probably used by the monster to absorb the essence. See if there are any in the other corpses."

Except for this male corpse, no spider silk was found on the rest of the female corpses.

The footsteps of the young man slowed down, and he was beside Xie Zihuan again. "Master Daoist, can these ghosts really die? They won't stay in the world, right?" After asking, he looked around nervously, for fear that a ghost would float out of nowhere.

Xie Zihuan didn't stop, "Whether he can be reborn depends on good fortune. But, he won't stay in the world." After speaking, seeing the servant, he secretly let out a sigh of relief.If it is said that there are still many exceptions, the boy must be terrified.

Back at the palace, Xie Zihuan realized that he was running out of talismans.So he asked the people in the palace to get some back from outside, and then they used brushes and cinnabar ink, closed the door and started to draw by themselves.According to what San Ri said, that evildoer should have come out to find someone tonight.

The whole capital knew that there was a male corpse, and no one went out at night.The Zuihualou also closed its doors early.Each family retrieved the children who were playing outside and closed the door tightly.

Lord Jinggan asked Xie Zihuan if he needed help, but Xie Zihuan refused.Bringing a stranger out, I'm afraid it will cause trouble and kill a life in vain.Pack up your things and wait for Yuhui to go down.

Take out the gossip plate, and see the pointer start to rotate.It just turned around slowly and then returned to the original place and never moved again.Xie Zihuan frowned, carried the demon-suppressing sword on his back, took the compass, and left the palace while watching the whole party.As soon as Xie Zihuan stepped out of the gate, the butler ordered someone to close the gate behind him.

Walking on the empty street, Xie Zihuan glanced at the night sky.There is no moon and no stars.

"Xiang'er, where are you, Xiang'er?" Xie Zihuan heard a faint voice of a woman calling in the distance.Then there was a sudden exclamation.All of a sudden there was a gust of wind.The compass in Xie Zihuan's hand turned quickly, and he ran towards the place where the sound came from.

"Mother, mother..." There was a burst of children crying.

He drew his sword and drew a circle in the air, the blade was already heading towards the corner.

"Monster." With a huff, he saw a giant spider stop pulling out its silk, kicked its front legs back a foot, and dodged Xie Zihuan's sword.Then, the two hind legs quickly pulled out the spider silk from the tail and crossed it to the front legs. Hao Ran walked towards Xie Zihuan like a rope as thick as a thumb.Swinging the sword, he chopped the spider's thread twisting like a thin snake, pulled out a piece of talisman paper and immediately flew towards the spider's tail.The spider seemed to have been on guard and turned over, but the spider silk dancing on its front legs didn't stop.

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