The master said not to judge people by their appearance

When he regained consciousness again, he was already in the prefect's mansion in Cangzhou City.

Lying on the bed in the guest room, Xie Yunlan coughed twice. He had already spit out the water he inhaled in his lungs, but his throat was still dry and itchy.

Someone heard his movement and hurried to the bedside. Xie Yunlan looked up and saw that it was Wang Tai.

Wang Taixi said: "Master Hou, you finally woke up!"

"Yeah." Xie Yunlan frowned and sat up from the bed. The moment he regained consciousness, his brain began to work rapidly, sorting out what happened before the coma and the general situation at the moment. He ignored his physical problems. Discomfort and other issues will not be discussed for now, just ask, "Where is Shen Fan?"

"Master is having dinner in the front hall." Wang Tai replied, it was already Xu time, it was time for dinner.

As if a hanging stone fell to the ground, Xie Yunlan lay down again clutching his aching chest. He looked at Wang Tai's outfit, which was dusty, as if he had just arrived here and hadn't had time to change his clothes.

"Why did you come to Cangzhou today?" Xie Yunlan asked.

It stands to reason that traveling by land is faster than by water, especially because Xie Yunlan has a very delicate person who can dawdle, Wang Tai and his party should have arrived earlier than them.

Wang Tai explained: "We encountered a heavy rain on the way and encountered a landslide, which delayed us for a few days."

"Are you alright?" Xie Yunlan asked.

"Everyone is fine, just lost a few horses." Wang Tai replied.

Losing a horse is not a big deal, as long as people are fine.Xie Yunlan nodded, his throat was a little itchy, and he couldn't help coughing twice.

Seeing this, Wang Tai said: "Master Hou, the doctor prescribed some medicine, I'll go and get it!"

Xie Yunlan responded, closed his eyes to rest, and at the same time reorganized what happened during the day, especially those half-human, half-snake monsters under the water.

While thinking, there was footsteps again, Xie Yunlan thought it was Wang Tai, so he didn't open his eyes, but after waiting for a long time, he didn't wait for Wang Tai to call him to drink medicine.

The visitor stood by the bed, as if looking down at him. After watching for a while, he sat down directly by the bed again, and put his five fingers on Xie Yunlan's chest. Xie Yunlan immediately opened his eyes, and it really was Shen Fan.

Looking at each other, Shen Fan blinked, seeing that Xie Yunlan had woken up, and the soul fire was still bright, so he took his hand back.

"Are you awake?" he said.

"Hmm." Xie Yunlan looked at him. He remembered that the half-human, half-snake monster set off many waterspouts and went straight to Shen Fan. He just happened to be swept by the tornado, not the core of the attack. As a result, he almost Drowning to death, Shen Fan was fine.

What happened after he passed out?What Xie Yunlan wants to know the most right now is: "Is that monster dead?"

"No." Shen Fan said, "It ran away."

Xie Yunlan frowned: "What the hell is that?"

"That's a transformed snake." Shen Fan explained, "The transformed snake is a monster formed from the resentment of a drowned person."

Xie Yunlan: "Snakes? They have nothing to do with demons?"

"No, ordinary snakes only have resentment, but these snakes also have demonic energy, they are created by inner demons." Shen Fan said.

It really is a demon, this time it really hit the real master.Xie Yunlan pondered: "Is that girl-like snake the body of the demon?"

"No." Shen Fan denied, "It's just a monster created by resentment and demon energy, and the body of the heart demon has someone else."

Xie Yunlan was stunned, and he was keenly aware of something wrong: "Since the snakes are all formed by the resentment of the drowned, the ten snakes corresponded to the ten men who drowned in the Cangjiang River, and the No. 11 woman's appearance Where did the snake come from?"

"I don't know." Shen Fan thought for a while and said, "Maybe it has something to do with people possessed by demons."

Xie Yunlan had some thoughts of tracing in his mind. Just as he was about to speak, Wang Tai came back with a medicine bowl, and Xu Xin was also with him.

"Thank you, sir!" Xu Xin's bloated figure made the bedroom a bit cramped as soon as he entered the room. He moved to the bedside and asked with concern, "Is your health better? You scared me to death in the afternoon, master and Mr. Xie went into the water to fight the monsters. I originally wanted to bring people into the water to help, but unfortunately I am not good at water, and I don’t know how to subdue the monsters.

When Xu Xin was beautifying himself endlessly, Xie Yunlan didn't interrupt. He just sat up from the bed and took the medicine bowl from Wang Tai. The medicine smelled so bitter that Shen Fan couldn't help but take two steps back. , he drank it without changing his expression.

Seeing this, Xu Xin immediately said: "Master Xie choked on water in the afternoon, don't get caught in the cold, I have an old ginseng plant in my house, so I asked someone to stew it to make up for Master Xie..."

"No need." Xie Yunlan interrupted, he stood up and put on his robe, "Where are the people from Hekou Village locked up? Take me there, I have something to ask."

"Now?" Xu Xin was stunned for a moment, "Master Xie won't rest anymore? It's getting late, why don't we try again tomorrow."

"Right now." Xie Yunlan insisted. The method of He Zhu's death has not yet been found out, and another snake escaped. If the delay continues, someone may be killed again.

Xu Xin had no choice but to lead them to the direction of the prison. On the way, he asked Xie Yunlan what happened underwater. Except for Xie Yunlan and Shen Fan who went into the water, those on the shore didn't know what happened underwater. They only saw the turmoil The shrill infant cries from the river and the bottom of the water, as well as the fire that pierced the surface of the water.

The escaping snake still needs to be hunted down, and this matter must be assisted by Xu Xin, the prefect of Cangzhou. Xie Yunlan told Xu Xin about their encounter with the snake, and Xu Xin was amazed: "Master His supernatural powers are really amazing, but there is one thing I don’t understand, how did the master get out of the predicament when the transforming snake finally moved the river so powerfully?”

Xie Yunlan's narration only lasted until he fell into a coma, as if the story came to an abrupt end at the most exciting point, making people eager to know what happened afterwards.

Wang Tai also asked, "That's right, master, how did you get out of that waterspout in the end?"

Xie Yunlan glanced at Shen Fan, this is what he wanted to know.

"Swimmed out." Shen Fan gave a simple and somewhat perfunctory answer.

swim out?With such turbulent currents, even fish schools living under the water are hard to escape. How can human beings who do not belong to rivers get out of trouble and bring one person with them?

Xu Xin and Wang Tai only thought that Shen Fan had something bad to say about the supernatural powers and secrets to outsiders, and didn't ask any more questions. Xie Yunlan stared at Shen Fan's appearance that looked completely the same as ordinary people for a while, and didn't say anything.

When the group arrived at the prison, all the people in Hekou Village were locked in a cell. They didn't know the news of He Zhu's death yet. When the old man saw Xie Yunlan coming over, he grabbed the cell door and asked, "My lords, are you going to interrogate my He Zhu?" It's been a day, why haven't you put him back?"

"He can't come back." Xie Yunlan observed the expressions of old man He and everyone in the prison, and saw that everyone was in a daze, speculating that they probably really didn't know what happened last night.

"Master Xie, what do you mean by this?" Old man He asked anxiously, "I, the old man, was the mastermind of the sacrifice of the river god. If there is any crime, just come at me. He Zhu is just helping me!"

"You guys have a deep love between father and son." Xie Yunlan sneered, and the nine young men who were thrown into the river by Old Man He were not the sons of other people.

"Do you want to see He Zhu? Yes, as long as you answer a question for me." Xie Yunlan looked at the old man He, "Apart from those nine men, have you ever sent a woman to the God of the River?"

Old man He's eyes flickered twice, and he opened his mouth to answer: "No..."

"How dare you say no!" Xie Yunlan took two steps closer. He was already tall, and the stooped old man He was a head shorter than him. Now he walked up to him, and when he yelled at him sharply, he was as aggressive as a raging wave. momentum.

Old man He trembled from the fright, and changed his words tremblingly: "There is..."

Xie Yunlan frowned, and his cold and stern expression became more and more terrifying. The old man quickly argued: "But that shouldn't be counted against us. The sacrifice was organized by the people of Cangzhou, even the prefect. Everyone has a share!"

Xie Yunlan's sharp gaze turned to Xu Xin. Xu Xin jumped out like a mouse whose tail had been trampled on, and immediately retorted: "How dare you slander me! I have never heard of any river gods, let alone participated in the competition." What a sacrifice!"

"It's not Mr. Xu, I'm talking about the former prefect, Mr. Zheng Rui Zheng." Old man He explained, "That was already ten years ago."

"Ten years ago?" Xie Yunlan's heart moved, "The year when the dragon fell?"

Shen Fan had been listening quietly behind Xie Yunlan, and when he heard the words "there is a dragon falling", he suddenly raised his eyes.

"Yes, it was that year!" Old man He heard that Xie Yunlan even knew about the dragon falling ten years ago, so he didn't dare to hide it, and confessed, "Ten years ago in the summer, there was a torrential rain that lasted for more than a month... ..."

Everyone watched the water level rise day by day, and the dikes in the north of Cangzhou City were strengthened several times during the heavy rain, but there was still a sense of precarity in the non-stop rain.

Once the river embankment breaches, not to mention Hekou Village, the whole of Cangzhou, and even the Jiangnan area, will be affected. Even if they are lucky enough to survive the flood, all the tens of thousands of mu of good land in Cangzhou will be wiped out. There will be famine and plague, and there will be tens of thousands of casualties.

No one wants to see the river embankment burst, but whether it rains or not is determined by God, and there is no use for them to worry about it.Just when everyone was worried, the river god suddenly appeared.

"You saw it again?" Xie Yunlan narrowed his eyes.

The old man He hurriedly put himself aside: "No, it was a man named Zhang Li from our village. He hid from the rain in the Heshen Temple and slept all night. At night, he saw the Heshen's spirit. At the time, I didn’t really believe that a beautiful woman was dedicated to the God of the River, but the one swore to the heavens that if I lied, I would kill my children and grandchildren, and then we believed it..."

Under such circumstances, suddenly appearing a river god who claims to be able to stop the rain is like a straw in a desperate situation, with a glimmer of hope for survival, who wants to sit and wait for death.

Old man He's voice became softer as he spoke, Xie Yunlan sneered and said, "Since you dared to do it back then, why don't you dare to say it now?"

"This matter really can't be regarded as our doing..." Old man He argued, "The most beautiful woman in Cangzhou City at that time was the oiran of Caiyunfang. , where an old country man like me can see it."

"It was the news of the river god's apparition that spread to Cangzhou City. Everyone believed it. They thought that dedicating the oiran to the river god would stop the rain, so they blocked the entrance of Caiyunfang together and asked them to hand over the oiran. Even the prefect They all acquiesced to this matter, and someone reported the crime for the oiran, and knelt in front of the mansion for a long time, but he closed the door and disappeared."

"On the day of seeing off the relatives, almost all the people in Cangzhou participated, and not long after the oiran was presented to the God of the River, the rain really stopped." I feel that offering 72 bridegrooms to the new river goddess this time will bring the peace of Cangzhou again.

After listening to the story of the river god's sacrifice ten years ago, Xie Yunlan frowned. He was puzzled by one thing: "What does this matter you mentioned have anything to do with the falling dragon?"

"It doesn't matter, it just happened to happen in the same year..." Old man He felt wrong while talking, and changed his words, "It seems to have something to do with it. I heard that the dragon is the new river god. Yes, it should be like this. Before that dragon appeared, Cangzhou had been in good weather for many years, and the River God had never appeared before, so the torrential rain that lasted for more than a month must have been caused by that dragon!"

Is it really?Xie Yunlan still had doubts about this, so he briefly brought up the subject and asked, "What's the name of the oiran?"

"Her name is Xu Liniang." Ten years later, old man He still remembered this name, after all, she was indeed a rare beauty, although she was a bit worse than Shen Fan.

Xu Liniang... Xie Yunlan recalled the woman's face under the water. The snake was transformed by the resentment of the drowned person, but this snake is not just a monster. Made by people possessed by demons.

Who made such a monster?And instruct it to pretend to be a river god and let Hekou Village sacrifice men to itself?Is it to avenge Xu Liniang?But why the interval of ten years?

When Xie Yunlan was meditating, no one around dared to disturb him. The old man He was waiting quietly, but he couldn't wait for a while and asked, "Master Xie, I have told you everything you want to ask. Has He Zhu been released?"

Xie Yunlan glanced at him and waved to the guards around him. The guards went to the morgue on the other side of the cell and brought the corpse covered in white cloth.

"This is..." Old man He supported the fence of the cell with both hands, propped his head, and stared blankly at the corpse in front of him.

Xie Yunlan lifted the white cloth: "This is your son He Zhu."

He Zhu's swollen face was exposed in front of Old Man He's eyes, and Old Man He's legs gave way and he knelt down on the ground.

"Do you know how He Zhu died?" Xie Yunlan looked down at the old man He, his lips trembling, and murmured, "How did he die...?"

"Today we held a sacrifice in the Cangjiang River, and personally fought with the river god underwater. The river god's true face is a snake, a monster made of the resentment of a drowned person." Xie Yunlan's tone was cold and cruel, " Transformation Snake didn't have much supernatural power at first, but it had the power to get He Zhu out of the prison in one night, and drowned in the Cangjiang River because someone kept feeding it with resentment."

He hooked his lips and smiled, mocking contemptuously: "It's thanks to you that your son has ended up like this."

Old man He's body was completely paralyzed, Xie Yunlan took one last look at old man He, he had nothing to ask, and turned around towards the exit of the prison.

When he walked to the door, there was a mournful howl behind him, and an officer couldn't help but look back. Xie Yunlan was unmoved, and he left without stopping.