Face the warm spring breeze, Zhang Yuan galloped on the country road. This is the outer ruins, the ruins city is thirty or forty miles away, surrounded by farms. It is the spring plowing season, and farmers can be seen working hard everywhere in the fields. It is also these unknown little people at the bottom who planted crops with hard work and sweat, saving hundreds of thousands of people inside and outside the ruins city from famine. The spring breeze blew, the seedlings swayed, and the air was filled with the fragrance of soil and grass. The blue horse under Zhang Yuan's crotch couldn't help but slow down its pace to avoid stepping on the rice fields that had just grown new seedlings. Woof! A white-haired fine dog barked and passed it, leading the way for Zhang Yuan in front. The harrier squatting on Zhang Yuan's shoulder tilted its head with disdain and looked ahead with sharp eyes. One person, one horse, one dog, and one hawk naturally became the focus of attention of the farmers in the field.
When they saw the Taoist flag on the saddle, they all showed awe. Zhang Yuan appeared in the outer ruins today, not for an outing. After the guardian month meeting of Chunfeng Pavilion ended last night, Xuanyong Taoist, the outer hall manager of Tianwang Temple, gave him a task. Qiujia Village, 70 miles southeast of Xiaxu, is suspected to be haunted by something strange. Zhang Yuan's task is to investigate the situation and kill the strange if possible! This is probably his novice task as an outer guardian. The Tianwang Temple was quite generous and equipped Zhang Yuan with a mount, a hunting dog and a hawk. Of course, this blue horse, white-haired fine dog and messenger hawk were only temporarily lent to him. The ownership still belongs to Tianwang Temple. Suddenly, a hare jumped out of the bushes on the side of the road and fled forward in panic. The white-haired hound in front suddenly brightened up, and it sped up and chased after it. In the blink of an eye, it threw the unfortunate hare to the ground. It bit off its neck with one bite! Holding the hare's body, the hound returned and showed off to Zhang Yuan triumphantly. Good dog! Zhang Yuan laughed. This spiritual hound looked almost exactly like the Roaring Sky Dog in his memory. Its head was pointed and thin, its body was streamlined, and its skin and flesh were clearly defined under its short hair, giving people a pleasing feeling. It ran very fast, and it was smart and spiritual. Not only that, the greatest function of this white-haired hound was to detect strange existences!
Unfortunately, they were hounds carefully cultivated by the Heavenly King Palace. If Zhang Yuan wanted to own one, he needed to exchange it with Taoist skills. He leaned over and swung the long whip in his hand, rolled up the hare that the hound had just hunted, and stuffed it into his horse bag. I'll feed the hawk and the dog later. The little incident on the way did not affect Zhang Yuan's itinerary. Under the guidance of the map distributed by the Heavenly King Hall, Zhang Yuan successfully arrived at Qiujia Village. This village is located on the edge of the outer ruins, with hundreds of households, which is considered a relatively large enclosure. When Zhang Yuan appeared at the intersection, some villagers who found him hurried into the village to report the news. Seeing this scene, Zhang Yuan did not rush in directly. Stop at the intersection and wait patiently. After a while, twenty or thirty villagers came out. One of them was a white-haired old man with a cane. He stepped forward and saluted respectfully, saying: "Are you an envoy from the temple?" Zhang Yuan turned over and dismounted, nodded and replied: "Zhao Yun, the guardian of the outer palace, was ordered to come to investigate strange things." As he said, he showed his guardian bronze medal. "It turned out to be Zhao the Dharma Protector!" The white-haired old man hurriedly said, "I am Qiu Sande, the village chief of Qiujiazhuang. Thank you for your hard work, Dharma Protector!" The other villagers followed suit and saluted, "Thank you for your hard work, Dharma Protector!" The villagers were very respectful, and it was obvious that they had great respect and admiration for the Heavenly King Hall. Zhang Yuan waved his hand, "No need to be polite, let's go in and talk." So, surrounded by the village chief and a group of villagers, he came to the ancestral hall in the center of the village. Most of the villagers stayed outside. There were only Zhang Yuan, Qiu Sande and two respected elders in the ancestral hall. Zhang Yuan didn't waste any words and asked directly about the situation. Qiu Sande naturally told everything he knew. It turned out that two days ago, something unusual suddenly happened in the ancestral hall of Qiujiazhuang. The candles went out without wind, and half of the ancestral tablets fell down. That night, many villagers heard strange words, which scared everyone and kept them awake all night. As a result, on the second day, more than a dozen dogs in the village died. And all of them were sucked dry of blood! In this situation, Qiu Sande hurriedly sent people to the ruins city to report to the Heavenly King Temple for help.
Although nothing happened last night, the people in the village were already in a panic... Zhang Yuan listened to Qiu Sande's story and thought to himself. The area and population of the outer ruins are much larger than the ruins city. And with the growth of the population, it is expanding every year. Although there are gangs and family forces in the outer ruins, the farther away from the ruins city, the worse the safety. For example, Qiujiazhuang belongs to the periphery of the outer ruins. There are no gangs here, and it is mainly managed by the clans themselves. Although there is one less layer of exploitation. But when encountering a danger that cannot be solved, they can only ask for help from the Heavenly King Temple. The reason why the Heavenly King Temple responded to their request is because the villagers have been offering incense to the temple for many years! But the outer ruins are vast, with villages scattered all over the place, and the Tianwang Temple has very limited manpower. That's why there are outer temple guardians! In short, Zhang Yuan is now doing outsourced work. Get rewards based on the completion of the task. "Village chief, it's not good!" Qiu Sande had just finished explaining the situation, and before Zhang Yuan could speak, a villager rushed in from outside the ancestral hall, shouting with a pale face: "Something happened to Qiu Laowu's family!" "What?" Qiu Sande and the two elders stood up together, and everyone changed their faces. Zhang Yuan said in a deep voice: "Let's go and take a look!" Qiu Sande and others immediately had a backbone, and hurriedly led Zhang Yuan to the villager's home where the accident happened. Zhang Yuan left the Qingcong horse and the harrier at the door of the ancestral hall, and only took the white-haired fine dog. Qiu Laowu's family, where the accident happened, was at the east end of the village. When Zhang Yuan and Qiu Sande rushed over, they saw that the other party's door was open, and some villagers were looking around nearby. They wanted to see the excitement, but no one dared to get close. Everyone could hear the chewing sound coming from Qiu Laowu's house. The sound of chewing was so creepy! Qiu Sande couldn't help swallowing his saliva and said in a trembling voice: "Zhao Protector..." "All of you disperse, don't come in no matter what happens." Zhang Yuan said sternly: "Otherwise you will bear the consequences!"
He noticed that the dog following him had lowered its body, and its eyes were fixed on Qiu Laowu's house. There was a low roar in his throat. As if telling Zhang Yuan... There must be something strange ahead!
