A common tavern that connects all fantasy worlds

"John, we have to go to work tomorrow, and the proprietress of the hotel will also come out to drive people away."

His companion said, picked up the copper coins and left, ignoring his constant yelling behind him.

There was only one person left, so of course guessing games couldn't go on anymore, John counted the money in the bag cursingly, and smiled again.

He lost every day, but he won today. It's a pity that these guys ran too fast, so he didn't let him take advantage of his luck to win enough.The money is probably only enough for him to spend half the night... Of course it's better than nothing!

Thinking this way, he wanted to put away the wooden bowl and leave, but he saw another person squatting down on the opposite side, spreading his hands, revealing the two coins in his palm.

"Here to send money again." John smiled, reached out his hand to take out another two cents from his bag, looked up and said, "Guess how much... Wait, who are you?"

"Lisa." The woman opposite said.

She was wearing a plain dress with few patterns, a veil, and her hair in a bun. She couldn't see her face clearly, but her voice was pretty nice.John didn't enjoy himself enough, but was aroused by lust, and said very eagerly: "Well, Lisa, what a mysterious lady. How much do you guess?"

"Four," Lisa said.

"Oh, it's quite bold." John turned the brim of his felt hat back, blew on the copper coin in his hand, and said, "Then...I bet two. I'll count three two one...the Chinese behind you is doing Well?"

Qiu Sheng, who was winking behind Lisa, saw John pointing this way, almost going crazy, the language barrier is really uncomfortable!Young master, I tell you to run, run the fuck!

Lisa heard what John said and looked back.Her neck didn't move at all, but the head on her neck turned half a circle, staring straight at Qiu Sheng, leaving the thick bun to John.

John straightened up abruptly, ran back with his mouth shut, and didn't even have time to pick up the money in the bowl.

Lisa sighed, turned around, stood up with the bowl in hand, looked at Qiusheng again, and walked slowly to the back of the hotel.

"Don't come into the pine forest." Her voice became ethereal and dark, like the echo of distant mountains; her footsteps were soundless, and she seemed to be swallowed by shadows, and soon disappeared.

"Ah...do you speak Cantonese?" Qiu Sheng asked, but it was impossible to get any response.

The cold wind at night blew, and the shadows of the buildings on the street fluttered and swayed under the light of the wind lamp, which made him shiver, and hurried back to the house.

In the room, Uncle Jiu was about to go to bed after washing his feet. Seeing Qiu Sheng running in in a panic, he reprimanded him, "What are you doing so frizzy? I just came back now. Are you fascinated by the decoration of this hotel? "

"No, master, there are ghosts and ghosts in this hotel..."

"Nonsense." Uncle Jiu shook his head, "Your master, how can I be so careless like you? I have always kept my Dharma Eye open and looked at the compass since childhood. If there are ghosts, why don't I know?"

"Really, Master, I didn't lie to you!" Qiu Sheng quickly told what happened just now, and took out grapefruit leaves as evidence.

Hearing that what he said was not fake, Uncle Jiu gradually became more serious and asked, "So...you went out just now?"

"...not too far..." Qiu Sheng replied cautiously.

Uncle Jiu shook his head helplessly, pulled his apprentice's shoulders to make him turn around, and pulled out a talisman from the collar of his clothes.

"This magic talisman is on you, as long as you walk to the door of the hotel, I will feel it...Why didn't it work this time?"

He was talking to himself, and took out the compass from the package on the side table, but the pointer on it was as motionless as when he first came to this town.

Uncle Jiu frowned, and directly took out a bunch of incense sticks, a piece of yellow paper, a box of cinnabar, and a stick of wolf hair from his bag. He first lit the incense respectfully in this foreign land, and then mixed the cinnabar ink. , ready to chant spells and write talismans.

This talisman won't cost him too much mana, and it is the most common talisman for body protection and life protection.It's just that this time he finished writing the talisman, but he didn't feel the mysterious touch that was smooth and upright. He picked up the talisman and pasted it on his apprentice, but he didn't see any changes in Qiu Sheng.

"Is there something wrong with my writing? Or is this a foreign country, and my magic power cannot reach the heavens?"

Thinking about it, Uncle Jiu simply decided to try another trick that he hadn't used for a long time.

I saw him holding the sword formula in his hand, taking a horse step with his legs, stepping on the soles of his feet, shaking his head while stomping the ground, and muttering: "I invite Taiyi Lord of Tang Palace, Liantai Mars to step on the black wheel, holding the seven-star sword of subduing demons in his hand. There are hundreds of ghosts and gods in the Yin, thousands of demons and all kinds of monsters in the yang world, and I will not stop when I hear my amulet... The disciples are dedicated to beseeching, the Marshal of the Tang Palace is coming, and the magic soldiers are as urgent as the law!"

"Master, please God here, won't the lady boss downstairs scold you?" Qiu Sheng asked worriedly, but seeing the master pointing his hand at him, he said, "Go!...go! Why don't you go!"

After trying this and that, Uncle Jiu let out a "hey", put his posture back, and stared blankly at the few sticks of incense stuck in the window.

Seeing his gloomy expression, Qiu Sheng quickly persuaded him: "Master, is it because you are not down to earth, so you can't invite God?"

"Please God, what earth qi is on your body?! The earth qi is used to invite ghosts!" Jiu Shu scolded, then looked at his hands and shook his head: "... I always hold my body upright, and I don't dare to have a moment Forget about my responsibilities, why did the magic talisman fail today, and the gods did not come? Is it true that, as Miss Chunhong said, I was a pawn for a tiger and an accomplice to that Wu Youde?"

"Master, you did the right thing. Didn't you tell me that humans and ghosts have different paths? Wu Youde deserves to die, but his concubines and servants may not all have committed evil. Just like me, even if you, Master, are hurting nature behind your back, I have done all the bad things... as an apprentice, I don't necessarily know it, so can you still ask me to suffer retribution with you?"

Qiu Sheng said indiscriminately, and immediately received a blow on the head from Master.

At this time, Uncle Jiu also came back to his senses, thinking that what this stinky boy said was right, and besides the ghost who got on the corpse before, he also dealt with the female ghost who captivated him in Renjia Town, and his mana was not the same as it is today It doesn't matter... at least it means that I have not violated the precept of the incompatibility between good and evil and was punished.

Then the only reason he could think of was the same.

Chapter 20 Falling asleep

In the carriage the next morning, Uncle Nine was smoking a cigarette and told Ikab his speculation.

"From what Qiu Sheng said, rubbing grapefruit leaves can still see ghosts, but spells and magic strikes don't work. The problem is not that the method is wrong, but that... our gods can't control this."

After all, he still didn't say the worst possibility, which even he didn't want to believe, but Ichab, who is such a clever person, could hear it from his words, nodded and didn't interrupt.

Uncle Jiu continued to puff out smoke rings, and after a while, he said, "I haven't told you about this before, so let's talk about it now. Qiusheng and Wencai already knew about it...

"I, Lin Jiu, and our sect have never formally joined the Maoshan gate.

"The Maoshan school of Taoism has spread widely in our province. Nine out of ten Taoist priests have learned Maoshan art, but the real Shangqing school is only the disciples of Maoshan's 'Three Palaces and Five Views'; The things we learn are very complicated, such as Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and even folk shamanism and divination. We will learn as long as it is useful. We can usually say that we are Taoist priests in Maoshan, but if we really go to Maoshan, most people will not recognize it. .

"For worshiping the gods, it doesn't matter whether you have that name or not. As long as you sincerely believe in it, the gods will bless you. But for some specific Taoism, of course, the formal disciples of others are stronger.

"Usually our wandering Taoist priests can't subdue demons without relying on the power of gods. Commonly used talismans are nothing more than asking specific gods to solve corresponding troubles, and the same is true for gods. Now the technique of talismans cannot be used. Well, I don’t have any mana, and here I’m just an old man who knows a little more than ordinary people..."

"Don't say that, Uncle Jiu, maybe what I need this time is your knowledge." Ikab said, "And... what if Qiusheng didn't see a ghost?"

Qiu Sheng, who was sitting across from Wen Cai, huddled together, immediately retorted: "I saw her neck twisted half a circle!"

"It's hard to say. It's not that I haven't seen some people whose physique is different from ordinary people..."

Ichab replied, and then fell into thought again.

He really didn't expect what Uncle Jiu said just now to happen, and it also made him start to think about the nature of the world.What are supernatural beings, and what is God?Why, according to Uncle Jiu, the relationship between humans and gods is more like a transaction?One party pays piety and the other pays "blessing", which is similar to the debt transaction in New York City except that there is no currency involved.

Thinking about other non-Chinese religions, why do believers believe in God?

Of course, he does not deny that there are people who choose religion purely for the purity of their own spirit and the perfection of their own personality, but let’s be realistic... there will only be a very small number of such people.

The purpose of most people's religious belief is to "get something" or "avoid something"; when he lived in his hometown, what his father had always instilled in him was "the theory of original sin".

Compared with other religions, Chinese gods can be said to have clearly marked prices, and they are innocent.Even when he was in Renjia Town, he heard Uncle Jiu tell him the story of the local land temple. It turns out that this "land god" used to be a real person who lived in the local area, and the land was "sealed" because of road construction and disaster relief. god.

If gods do exist, how do people deal with them?

While he was thinking for a long time, the carriage drove across the gravel road on the hillside and approached in the direction of Sleepy Hollow.

It was night when I arrived, and I couldn't see clearly what crops were growing in the large fields outside the town.There was no one in the sheriff's office. Ikab asked the old man at the gate, and the answer he got was that the local squire, Master Fantaso, was holding a reception at home, and the sheriff went to dance there.

This kind of leisurely feeling is not like the serial crime just happened. Three people were beheaded. Do you still have the mood to dance?

As soon as he arrived, Ikab already felt that the atmosphere in this town was a bit weird, but he didn't say anything, he just asked the old man to lead the way so that he and Uncle Ninth could find Fan Ta Suo's house smoothly.

The small road in the town is not easy to walk, and the old man who leads the way is not very flexible. Uncle Jiu asked Wen Cai to help him, but he fell behind and whispered to Ikab who was carrying a lantern: "That house is a little strangeness."

Looking around, the surrounding buildings can be divided into three categories at a glance.One is a simple rectangular wooden house covered with a thatched roof; the other is an ordinary American-style brick house, which is the same shape as other small towns in the United States and was built by Americans who later moved here; finally One is Fantasso's house, which is mixed with spires, stone walls, wooden panels, and glass windows. You can't see much light in the night, but cast huge shadows on the road, and the surrounding trees are bare. None, bent towards the sky, like a dead man's hand protruding from the ground.

This place is completely different from New York or the town we passed by on the road. It belongs to the old immigrant town. Fantasso's house was designed and built by the first immigrants who were also aristocratic in Europe. Only they would have Such an aesthetic.

If you have lived here for a long time and are used to this kind of castle-like residence, of course you don’t think there is anything wrong with it; but for a young man like Ichab who has seen the world, he will inevitably feel that the atmosphere here is cold and decayed, and the thick curtains The windows with intricate decorations make people feel terrified, as if there are pairs of eyes staring at the passers-by behind them.

"They like fireplaces, expensive furniture and antique lampstands. The value of this house is enough for me to work in New York for more than 300 years. But... I prefer the sun." Ichab said.

"Me too." Uncle Jiu replied.

After leading the way, the old man went back to the sheriff's office by himself. When the group walked quickly through the fields on both sides of the road and arrived at the gate of Fantasso's house, they could already see the lights and hear the noise of the ball.

Looking to the side, there was a couple of men and women rolling together in the shadows by the window and kissing each other, tsk-tsk so loudly that Uncle Jiu frowned and both apprentices swallowed.

"This American is really shameless..." Wen Cai said in a low voice.

"Customs are different in different countries, so don't make a fuss, and don't be rude, just treat it as normal." Uncle Jiu replied in a voice lower than that of a literary talent.People can't understand what the apprentice said, but people can understand what he said.

"Wow...then is there any country that has the custom...that you can sleep as soon as you meet?" Qiu Sheng also complained, but was hit on the head by Uncle Jiu with a cigarette bag.

Ikab motioned for several people to follow, straightened the neck scarf, knocked on the knocker on the door, and walked in directly after the maid opened the door.

Different from the cold and dead exterior, the inside of the house is quite lively at this time.The men and women of the town gather together, dance to the sound of the band, drink, smoke, play cards, or go upstairs to find a room to exercise their muscles and bones. From now until more than 200 years later, the American party has remained unchanged. .

Especially the young people are the craziest. A group of young men are circling around a girl in a corner of the hall. The girl is blindfolded and opens her hands, as if trying to grab a man from among them, and she is still shouting: "Giggle!" Witch, the witch is giggling... who's going to give her a kiss?"

Ikab wanted to find the local sheriff and the most powerful squire Fan Taso in the crowd, but he didn't pay attention to the situation in front of him, and was caught by the girl when he walked over.

"Oh, you are...Theodore?" The blindfolded blonde girl guessed as she stroked his thin face.

"I'm afraid I'm just a stranger passing by, miss." Ichab replied, but he was obviously attracted by the lady in front of him.

This girl sounds very similar to Ren Tingting before her father died, and she also looks like a lively and clever character; but her words and deeds are inexplicably calm, and after hearing what Ichab said, she responded generously: "Then stranger, let the witch give you a kiss."

As she spoke, she blindfolded and kissed Ichab's side cheek.

Qiusheng and Wencai looked dumbfounded. What Master said was true. It seems that kissing each other is really an American custom!The girl was young and slender, and she caught Ichab and kissed him without even seeing what he looked like!

When the girl took off the blindfold, her beauty shocked the master and apprentice again.There are some aesthetic differences between Chinese and Americans, but this lady has big eyes, small face, pointed chin, upturned nose, and a petite figure. She is a standard beauty in any country; There is absolutely no way to say the word "ugly".

Ichab, who was stared at by those big eyes in front of his face, was even more speechless. From the eyes of this girl, he could see the joy from the lively party and the curiosity from seeing strangers. , and the melancholy that sinks in the deepest part of consciousness and cannot be shaken off.It is a bit weak to describe this encounter in any language, he just feels... as if he saw someone of the same kind.

"I'm here to look for Mr. Bottes Fantaso." He nodded slightly and said softly to the lady.

"Bottes Fantasso is my father. I am his daughter, Katrina. May I have your name?"

Seeing the communication between the two young people, Uncle Jiu put on a smile, and said to the apprentice beside him, "I thought Ikab wasn't interested in this aspect... It seems that I just haven't met the right one. people."

Look at that kid's current state... It seems that his eyes can't tolerate others anymore, and he never thought about introducing Uncle Nine to Katrina. When he got up, he only answered a question when someone asked him a question.

"Master, although you are talking on paper, you still understand it quite well."

Qiu Sheng talked too much again, and then nimbly dodged before Master's pipe knocked off.

Chapter 21 Night

It wasn't until he returned to the room and lit the lamp that Ichab got rid of a certain emotion and began to turn his attention back to the crime in Sleepy Hollow.

Just now he even forgot to introduce who the three Uncle Nine were. He was only focused on flirting with the lady, and annoyed another handsome and strong young man next to him. Come out to mediate.

Mr. Bottes Fantaso received Ikab and his party in a friendly manner, insisting that these uninvited guests stay at home temporarily, and arranged bedrooms for them.The house was so big that the entire New York Police Department could move in without any problem. The servants quickly cleared out the rooms on the side of the second floor, and prepared several sets of casual clothes for Uncle Jiu's master and apprentice who didn't bring much luggage. The service was meticulous.

At night, Uncle Jiu was in the room, trying to see if the foreigner's clothes fit.

In the era when several people lived, the general trend of blending Chinese and Western has already begun. Although these clothes are a bit retro...but after a little thought, you can understand how to wear them.

"Oh, Uncle Jiu, you are changing clothes."

Uncle Jiu, who was putting on his clothes, heard the sound of the door, and Ikab rushed in, his hands trembling in fright, and he almost pulled off the metal buttons of the double-breasted coat.

"Cough, why are you so flustered?" He patted his chest, breathed a sigh of relief, and asked.

Ichab had already spread out a piece of paper on the table beside him, and continued: "I have already asked the sheriff for the local memorabilia at the first time, and those that can be connected with 'beheading'... Except for these few murders, There is only an anecdote 20 years ago. It is said that a mercenary from the Grand Duchy of Hesse, Germany, who liked to cut off other people's heads on the battlefield, died in the woods on the outskirts of this place. The locals said his soul still lingers in the In the shadow of the pines, cut off the heads of those who go too far in the woods."

"Sounds reasonable." Uncle Jiu finally got dressed, walked over and looked at the event information recorded on the paper, and said, "This kind of villain turned into a murderous ghost will probably repeat the violent behavior in his lifetime."

There is not much information recorded on the paper. This is not because the sheriff is irresponsible... but the United States was just established 20 years ago. Order was not fully established in this area at that time, and the preservation of information was very problematic. A wanted warrant is not bad.

As if he was born with this language, Uncle Jiu read out the words on the wanted notice: "The butcher on the battlefield, an unknown mercenary from the Principality of Hesse was found in this town. The man was riding a black horse with bristling hair With sharpened teeth and a hooked nose, the townspeople must retreat quickly and report his tracks to Captain Murphys as soon as possible. Whoever leads the way to find this mercenary will reward him with a gold pound."

"Uncle Jiu, you are an expert, so there is indeed the possibility of ghosts doing evil. But there are several unexplainable points in this inference..." Ikab continued, "First of all, the time is wrong. This mercenary died in the forest. It happened 20 years ago, Sleepy Hollow has been quiet for 20 years, no one has been beheaded until this year. What could be the cause of this?"

Uncle Jiu watched him put away the piece of paper, sat down on the back chair in front of the window, lit his cigarette pipe, thought for a while, and then replied: "Either he was like Mrs. Ren, and the grievances were not deep enough at the beginning. The corpse has been sleeping for 20 years before it can come out to harm people...or of course someone is playing tricks."

"Besides this, there is a second point of doubt. The bodies of Van Garley and his son were found in the wild, which is not a problem...but the widow didn't die in the woods, which doesn't match the legend. So, it's not certain that it must have been done by ghosts 'Supernatural Cases' under."

Ichab also sat on the other side of the table by the window, delivering his conclusions.

The conclusion is that there is no conclusion... The information we have now is still too little. Based on these, it is difficult to deduce the whole picture of the case. We can only talk to people tomorrow, survey the scene, and examine the body if possible.

After finishing the business, he started to complain to Uncle Jiu again: "Speaking of which, I'm not used to the folk customs here... Especially not long after the death of three people, these people gather together to drink and have fun, Prom or something."

"I thought all of you Americans were like that. So... isn't that normal?"

"It's not just abnormal anymore. I don't know what to say, but I always feel that people here are particularly nervous...especially that Brom."

Uncle Ninth agreed, but he thought in his heart that no one could tell that the young man named "Brom" was obviously interested in Miss Katrina of this family... and the girl came up and kissed you, of course he will be nervous.

Youthful, youthful.

[30. No. 30]

It just so happened that Qiusheng and Wencai also changed their clothes, and came to look for Master from their rooms. As soon as they came in, they said, "Master, it's still very lively downstairs, why don't we go to eat something? We've been traveling all day, and we haven't had a meal in the evening." Let's eat."

"Don't worry, according to the etiquette of hospitality, the maid will bring the food in a while..." Ichab said inexplicably, causing the two young men to droop their eyebrows.

Uncle Jiu shook his head. These two apprentices had lived in Renjia Town all their lives, and they felt new when they arrived in the provincial capital, let alone going abroad.Now it seems that the two of them have gradually adapted to the life away from home after a two-day trip, and they no longer clamored to go back. Instead, they began to move around and wanted to "do as Romans do".

Instead of letting the two apprentices go down and run around by themselves, it is better to watch them, so as not to be eaten by others, or to cause any trouble in this unfamiliar "Sleepy Valley".

Thinking of this, he also turned his head to persuade Ikab: "I'm a little hungry too, let's go down and have some food together, and we can also find out the news by the way."