Chapter 231 From Good to Evil Ran Zhongshi waved his hand without explanation. "Come and see." After the two men disappeared, the discussions in the government office suddenly became louder. "Ghost Mother Cult members, it's been less than an hour, where did he catch them?" "I don't know. Did I hear it right? Two galloping horses? How did they do that?" "I saw a dead body with a poisonous sore." "You are capable, no wonder you are so popular. Let's go. The boss is in a bad mood today. Don't go and bring bad luck to him." "Brother Shao has lost more than he gained this time. He must be mad as hell. So where is Brother Shao?" "I don't know. He was in the rain for a long time, and then he disappeared..." Liang Qu followed Ran Zhongshi through a corridor and turned into a quiet room.
The room was airtight, with not even a window open. It was filled with dim yellow light, and there were bookcases all around the walls. The most common items on them were not books, but fresh mugwort, which gave off a strong fragrance, and the rest were some calamus and peach wood branches. The two clerks who had carried away the corpse earlier were grinding the juice in a mortar and pestle, making the fragrance of the mugwort even more profound. Ran Zhongshi stood behind the two and asked, "Do you remember that at the end of May we had a small meeting on the pleasure boat, and Xiang Fangsu and the others said they wanted to go to an island to explore?" "Remember, there was a gain?" "Well, it's a rare big one. There is a total of one Wolf Smoke Master, three Galloping Horse Masters, and more than ten ordinary warriors on the island. All of them were captured. Afterwards, when cleaning up the battlefield, Ke Wenbin found several bloody mugwort plants that were very wilted, with yellowing leaves, just like the fire-eating seedlings. Do you know the fire-eating seedlings? " "I know. It's because of improper fertilizer application. My neighbor has a child who likes to urinate in the weeds behind the house. The leaves of the weeds around him have turned yellow." Studying in the academy is a special study of the seasons and solar terms, in order to become familiar with basic planting knowledge, which is common sense. What Ran Zhongshi called "fire eating seedlings" refers to burning of seedlings, which may occur due to uncomposted manure, too much fertilizer, or improper fertilization. Essentially, it is a change in osmotic pressure that causes the plant to lose water and the leaves to turn yellow and red, as if they had been burned by fire. "Well, warriors have vigorous Qi and blood, and after death they can benefit the world, in accordance with the principle of endless life. At the beginning of the Dashun Kingdom, there was a battle between the Dragon-Elephant Martial Saint and the Yuanji Martial Saint. Afterwards, the rats that tasted the blood grew as big as calves and wreaked havoc on the local area. After all, human blood is different from fertilizer. As long as it is not soaked in water, it will not become weak easily if it is absorbed bit by bit. And even if it is "weak and cannot be supplemented", it should not react so quickly. It will take less than an hour." Liang Qu's eyes flashed. "Is there something wrong with the blood of the Ghost Mother Cult's people?" Ran Zhongshi snapped his fingers and said, “That’s right, we later conducted some experiments and found that the stronger the Ghost Mother Cult member, the easier it is for Artemisia to react to his blood. Warriors below the fourth level will have the mildest reaction. After mixing with blood and leaving it to stand for three hours, the mugwort juice will turn slightly yellow and have a slight foul odor. It only takes half an hour for the wolf smoke to be at its most intense, with a noticeable change of color within almost a quarter of an hour. In addition to mugwort, we have been looking for other plants with similar phenomena. So far, we have found that calamus and peach wood also have a certain reaction to the blood of the Ghost Mother followers.
And mixing the juice of mugwort and calamus in a ratio of three to one can cut the entire manifestation time in half! The disadvantage is that the juice of both must be fresh enough and cannot be picked for more than half a day. " Liang Qu was incredulous after hearing this. What is this, a special reagent for the Ghost Mother Cult? "These plants actually have a common feature among the people. May has just passed, and Brother Liang should know it clearly." "Warning against evil?" "Correct!" Needless to say, mugwort and calamus. At noon on May 5th, the Heavenly Master rides on an Aihu (wormwood) tiger; his Pu sword kills all evil spirits, and ghosts and monsters enter the tiger's mouth. Peach wood is similar. Peach tastes spicy and has a bad smell, so it can repel evil spirits. There is a saying that a hundred-year-old peach wood sword can kill ghosts. Taoist ritual instruments still like to use peach wood to make swords. They start selecting wood from the age of three, and make swords of the same height. They use secret methods to stimulate the nourishment of qi and blood, and by the time they grow old, the swords will be as hard as tempered steel and covered with red lines. But even if these three can really ward off evil spirits, why would they react with the blood of the Ghost Mother Cult members? Seeing Liang Qu's confusion, Ran Zhongshi continued. “Martial arts seek to obtain the original text because the original text usually contains the writer’s will and allows people to feel the mystery to the greatest extent. When one's strength reaches a certain level, one's will can be substantially retained in external objects. If an ordinary person is glared at by a tiger hunter master, his spirit may be extinguished and he may lose his vitality. Just like a weak rabbit that is frightened by a tiger, this place is called Tiger Hunting. When it comes to the Grandmaster Zhenxiang, Yaolong Wusheng is even more mysterious. Even if the physical body is destroyed, it is still possible to leave the will to linger. However, the will without the physical body is easily disturbed by external objects, and it has no consciousness and gradually grows into a strange thing. We call it "evil". The Ghost Mother Cult believes in the Yin-killing Water Mother. You grew up by the water, so you should be very familiar with her." Liang Qu nodded. Yinsha Shui Laomu was not a deity invented by Daqian after he retreated to the marshland and established a sect, but a folk water god that had been passed down for a long time. The specific cause is impossible to verify. There are too many similar gods, especially in the riverside areas. It is not uncommon to have two or three in a county. The Yinsha Shui Laomu was indeed a righteous god in the beginning, but why she later became an evil god. Because he had fought against the Ghost Mother Cult, Liang Qu had studied many legends about the Yin-killing Water Mother. When it comes down to it, it's because this Yin Sha Water Mother is naturally evil and has some evil spirit. As "it may make people rich overnight", she was naturally sought after and worshipped by villains, and gradually people's impression of her began to deteriorate. When believers were impacted by the influx of "righteous gods" from other places, accompanied by some "taking things out of context" and "debating scriptures", they were completely unable to recover. Rather than saying that it is the gods who are evil, it is better to say that it is people who are evil. “We suspect that the deity worshipped in the Ghost Mother Cult is real, but it is definitely not a god. Instead, it is the resentment of a great master after his death combined with something else. When he was alive, he must have had the strength of a Yaolong Martial Saint. As a result, the entire Ghost Mother Cult has been affected by it, but we haven’t figured out exactly how it has affected us, and what the benefits and disadvantages are.” This is how the so-called evil spirit was born. Liang Qu was lost in thought, and then thought of his own golden dragon and tiger body.
When he used the Azure Dragon Seven Killings Spear to dispel the sword light, he mobilized the dragon and tiger energies, and the whole process was very easy. Logically, the other party should have no shortage of superior swordsmanship... Could it be that the method of exorcising evil and subduing demons has taken effect? "My lord, it's yellow!" Two clerks held up the yellow juice. The previously emerald green and fragrant mugwort and calamus juice completely turned into a pool of yellow liquid, like pus after an inflamed wound, emitting a slight foul odor. Ran Zhongshi covered his nose and told them to pour it out quickly. He turned to Liang Guandao and said, "Look, the verification is correct." Liang Qu was delighted. "Thank you, Brother Ran!" "Why thank me? It's raining heavily outside. You've been swimming and fighting today. Go back and rest early. I'll send someone to investigate the road. You just wait to receive the credit." comfortable. Get rid of the poisonous snake that was lurking in the dark and get another credit. This time, with the addition of the big anchor designed for the second time, I have two major tasks in hand and feel relaxed all over. Liang Qu stepped out of the door and walked halfway. Ran Zhongshi looked up: "Anything else?" "Brother Ran, did you bring any silver? I have something to do, so I don't have to go home to get it." "How many?" "Two small ingots." "I wonder how much it is." Ran Zhongshi took out some money and said, "I'll give it to you. I'm too lazy to remember it." Liang Qu raised his hand to take it, thought about it, and didn't say goodbye. What is borrowed must be returned. If it is said to be a gift, there is a sense of debt between the two parties. Walking out of the quiet room, people coming and going looked normal. Liang Qu turned out of the corridor, knocked on the door, found Li Shoufu in the filing room, and asked him whether he had helped him keep an eye out for any files on Xiangyi County. He did not forget what the old giant clam said, that there once was a mermaid tribe in Xueshi County, now Xiangyi County. He had always wanted to take a mission to go there and take a look, so he asked Li Shoufu to help him keep an eye on it. If there are any mermaid tears left, even if there are only two or three, thousands of water essences would be a huge profit. Li Shoufu shook his head. Liang Qu was not too disappointed. Decades had passed, so one or two months wouldn't make a difference. Hebo controls the entire Huaiyin Prefecture and will radiate to other counties sooner or later, so there is no shortage of tasks. "If you have any, please let me know."
Liang Qu put down the two small ingots, and Li Shoufu put them in his sleeves without making a sound. "Don't worry, Sir Liang. I will go to your house to inform you as soon as I have any news. I will never let anyone get there first." (End of this chapter)