Chapter 2: Willow Branches Light the Night Lin Yan, in the night, was dressed in simple clothes, his handsome and pale face was full of murderous intent. He walked through the alley, knife in hand. From the other end of the alley, a young man dressed in a black robe, with completely different facial features and no expression on his face walked out. "The city has been sealed at night, go back!" The soldiers guarding the city shouted loudly from afar. "The Tianshi Division is investigating the case. Open the city!" Lin Yan took out a token from his arms and walked forward without stopping. He came to the city gate, tilted his head and said, "Give me a willow branch to light the night! And three sticks of incense and a pair of red candles!" "This is against the rules... Fifth Master?"
The captain guarding the city was about to refuse, but suddenly recognized him. Seeing the murderous intent in the other person's eyes, he couldn't help but tremble all over. Thinking of the other party's reputation as a killer, he immediately tilted his head and shouted, "Did you hear me? Bring a willow branch as a night lamp, three incense sticks, and a pair of red candles!" After he finished speaking, he said carefully: "Fifth Master, why are you leaving the city so late? It's very dangerous outside the city..." Lin Yan had a blank expression on his face and said nothing as he took the willow branch night light and three incense sticks from a soldier. Seeing this, the captain of the city gate hesitated and said, "You are from the Tianshi Department. It is in accordance with the rules for you to leave the city! However, before dawn, nothing outside the city is allowed to enter the city. Later you..." "I won't embarrass you." Lin Yan said in a low voice: "I will come back after dawn." Holding a willow branch as a night light, he walked out quickly along the gap in the city gate. Outside the city, there were gusts of cold wind and endless darkness. The light of the willow branches shining in the night gradually faded away, like a firefly, disappearing in the endless darkness. This little light can only illuminate three feet in front of you. Can’t illuminate this long night, this endless darkness. The soldiers guarding the city looked at each other. Then a soldier whispered, "Everyone says that this Fifth Master is known as the Killer Star and is a vicious man. I didn't expect him to be so vicious that he dares to walk out of the city at night?" "So he is borrowing the willow branches from us as a night lamp?" someone said with a smile. "Outside the city there is endless darkness and evil spirits are rampant. Even a magic lamp may not be able to help." The captain guarding the city shook his head slightly and explained: "Gao Liu City is the place where 'Liu Zun' takes shelter. We hang willow branches on the city wall to illuminate the night, which is the border of Xuanming!" "The powerful evil spirits in the darkness will not dare to attack unless they want to start a war with Liu Zun."
"Of course, there are bound to be accidents. Every year, our brothers who guard the city will inevitably lose some manpower." "It's like this even if you're guarding the city, but it's even more different if you're out of the city." "Not every evil spirit in the dark is willing to give Liu Zun a favor." The captain rubbed his brows, looking a little serious, and said, "I heard that last year in the city, an important figure went out of the city to receive supplies, but on his way back to the city, he was delayed for some reason." "Even though we lit up some night lights on the way, our souls were still eaten up. The six of us had intact bodies and were still breathing, but none of us could wake up." The soldiers looked at each other, and felt that the night wind suddenly became bitingly cold. "The night lantern of the Wutong tree is a symbol of the 'Wutong Goddess' that protects the city. Can't it suppress the evil spirits?" "So, if he returns to the city before dawn, he must not be allowed in!" The captain's face was extremely solemn, and he whispered: "No one knows whether the person who came back at night is a human or something else..." Everyone was silent, and their hearts grew heavier for a moment. Especially the new recruits who recently joined the City Guard were so frightened that their faces turned pale. - Willow branches light up the night. This lantern looks ordinary, but there is a willow branch hanging underneath. This is naturally not the branch of the "Liu Zun" that protects Gaoliu City, but the willow tree planted in the temple, which is contaminated with the aura of Liu Zun. Inside the lantern, there is actually a jar filled with lamp oil and a lit wick. The lantern itself cost two hundred coins, which was not cheap. But lamp oil is also extremely expensive. This is the lamp oil from Liuzun Temple. Just one ounce of oil costs one hundred coins. Even if ordinary people bought this willow branch night lamp, they could hardly afford the lamp oil produced in the Liuzun Temple. But ordinary people basically did not dare to go out of the city at night. They bought willow branches as night lights and usually placed them at home for safety. It is often during festivals, housewarmings, weddings, etc. that a willow branch night lamp is lit and kept on all night as a sign of good luck. This has become a local custom. "..." Lin Yan held a willow branch as a night light and ran along the road. Gao Yanagi Castle was already far away. But when he looked back, he could still see the faint glow of fire, covering the entire city, like a huge monster crawling in the darkness. The City Defense Office would spend a fixed amount of lamp oil every day and light a lamp every hundred steps around the city wall to illuminate the border and drive away evil spirits.
However, lanterns and lamp oil will inevitably be "damaged". Lin Yan also knew that this was an unpresentable rule, so he simply asked for a lamp, three incense sticks, and a pair of candles. "Half of Chen Jiangbao's head was found two miles ahead, under a tree on the left." “There should still be traces left there!” As Lin Yan thought about this, his worries grew heavier and he couldn't help but quicken his pace. The light of the willow branches shining like a night lamp illuminated the three feet in front of me, as if dispelling the darkness in front of me. But there was still endless darkness around him. Only the pale yellow fire in front of him swayed gently in the cold wind and moved forward quickly in the darkness. But before he had gone thirty steps, he stopped. Because the darkness ahead has not dispelled. The light from the willow branches lighting the night lamp only illuminated two feet in front of us. "..." Lin Yan's face was cold as he pushed the lantern forward one foot. But there was still darkness in front of the lantern. He extended another half foot forward. The front was still as dark as ink. The willow branches act as a night lamp, but can no longer illuminate the darkness ahead. After a moment of silence, Lin Yan put away the lantern and said, "Don't you want to give Liu Zun some face?" It was still pitch black ahead, and there was no response. Only at night, the cold wind blows, penetrating the heart. Seeing this, Lin Yan took out a stick of incense from his arms, put it into the lantern, and lit it with the help of the lamp. He inserted the incense stick in front of him. These are the incense and candles in Liuzun Temple, which are said to have the effect of exorcising evil spirits. But Lin Yan knew that it was not about exorcism, but about worship! "According to the rules, the living can only walk on the road of the living." "It's already night, so I'm taking your place." "I offer this stick of incense as an apology!" Lin Yan held the lantern and bowed. This is the rule for walking at night that has been passed down from generation to generation in Gaoliu City! If the rules recognized by both day and night are not followed, misfortune will arise!
The incense stick was stuck in the ground, but the darkness ahead remained unchanged. Lin Yan knew that the other party felt that this stick of incense was far from enough! Then Lin Yan was seen following the same procedure, lighting a stick of incense and sticking it into the ground. The front was still as dark as ink and had not receded. Lin Yan's eyes became a little cold, but he still lit the third incense stick and stuck it into the ground. "I offer you three sticks of incense tonight. Please spare my way." Lin Yan said this in a calm tone. This is the incense made from Liuzun Temple. It is extraordinary. Ordinary people can only burn three sticks of incense in a day. Burning too much incense and worshipping too much will harm your own essence. But these three incense sticks lit up. The pitch-black night ahead remained unchanged. The evil spirit in the darkness is still not satisfied. The atmosphere was silent for a moment, and the wind howled like a ghost. "If you don't eat the toast, you will be punished with alcohol!" Lin Yan finally couldn't hold back any longer. He still held the lantern in his left hand, but drew his sword with his right hand. He said coldly, "You're looking for death!" The etiquette of this world has arrived. The ancestral rules were also followed. The other party was given enough face! Since you won’t give way, I’ll just have to fight my way forward! Lin Yan slashed forward without hesitation. Magical power! Demon suppression! The darkness receded suddenly like the tide. Lin Yan had a blank expression on his face. He picked up three incense sticks and extinguished them with his hand. Then he picked up the lantern and went on. The fire gradually faded away and disappeared at the end of the darkness ahead. There was silence here for a moment, and then a green light emerged in the dark forest. "Grandpa, isn't it said that we, the monsters with flesh and blood, are afraid of human knives?" A childish voice said, "The evil spirit has no form, and the knife cannot cut it, but why did the evil spirit retreat?" "It was not that knife that split the darkness apart."
An old voice said with emotion: "It was the strong murderous intent and the murderous aura that he revealed the moment he moved his knife." "There's an old saying that God is afraid of evil people." "If even the gods are like this, what about the evil spirits?" The old voice sighed like this. The childish voice just now couldn't help but say: "But before, outside the city of Qifeng, wasn't that ferocious-looking man also eaten by the black fog?" "He looked ferocious and roared fiercely on the surface, but in fact he was already afraid in his heart, so he died." "So this person, was he not afraid at all just now?" "Whether he was afraid or not, Grandpa didn't know, but the moment he drew his sword, the evil spirit was definitely afraid of him." The old voice also sighed faintly: "He is young, but he is full of murderous aura, especially when he draws his sword, he looks extremely fierce, and there seems to be a sea of blood and corpses behind him... I have lived for so many years, and I have never seen such a murderer!" After a pause, the old voice sighed again and said, "But he trampled on the rules of day and night, which may be a bad omen." (End of this chapter)
