Not a god

Chapter 135 Duck Herder

Dusk spread across the valley, and the last ray of decayed sunlight was being crushed by bamboo shadows. The bamboo forest surged like black waves in the sudden mountain wind.

Low in the sky, a crow flew by carrying a child's tiger-head shoe in its beak, and stood on a branch of a locust tree. Its bean-sized eyes reflected the entire village below.

The crooked wooden door was half-open, the wormwood hanging from the eaves was woven into grayish-white spider webs, and the faded peach charms on the door panel - four golden characters "Peace Every Year" were turning a strange dark green under the erosion of moss.

At six o'clock in the afternoon, the entire Wuren Village in Jiangping County was empty. In some houses, the lights and televisions were still on, and there was food emitting white smoke on the tables, but there was not a single living person to be seen.

"jingle--"

But at this moment, a clear bell sounded on the mountain path.

The moment the bell pierced through the thick fog, the centipedes in the cracks of the stone slabs all froze dead.

"jingle--"

As the sound of the bells got closer, hundreds of pairs of orange-red webbed feet tapped on the mossy stone road to the rhythm of some kind of sacrificial dance, making sticky echoes.

"Gah-"

A duck emerged from the bamboo forest, followed by two, three, dozens, and hundreds!

"quack--"

“Ga ga ga ga ga ga ga ga ga ga ga—”

A flock of ducks emerged from the bamboo forest in a line, and a ball of grayish-white fluff was stuck on the head of each bird, as if it were the remains of unburned paper money.

"Take off your flowery clothes, wrap yourself in duck down and change into a skin bag——"

Following closely behind the flock of ducks was a hunchbacked duck herder.

His white teeth were exposed on the left side of his face. He held a bamboo stick in one hand and rang a bell with the other.

The ducks changed their formation as the bells rang. A few ducks at the end of the team were pecking at their companions' fallen white feathers with their beaks, revealing the purple-blue humanoid skin underneath.

The duck herder waved his bamboo stick and hummed a little tune. The little tune went like this:
"Seven souls boil oil to light sky lanterns, three souls are locked in flat-haired beasts——"

"I took out the spine and made soup—"

"I took out the heart and liver and stored them in the cellar—"

"The bronze bells of the soul locks are jingling, and my sons are lined up in a row—"

Suddenly, a muffled thunder sounded in the sky. The duck herder paused. He reached out to catch it, and a drop of rain fell into his palm and shattered.

When I looked up, there was another loud thunder. In an instant as bright as day, thousands of needles fell from the sky.

"It's raining at this time..." The duck herder picked up a bamboo stick to drive the beasts away, scolding: "Go! Go quickly!"

He hit a few wandering ducks with a bamboo stick in his left hand and shook a bell with his right hand, driving the ducks to quack.

Following the mountain path, a dilapidated abandoned temple appeared in front.

The temple door was half collapsed, and the peeling red paint was covered with dark red fungal spots. Looking inside through the temple door, there was a clay statue of a female deity at the innermost part.

The clay statue was sitting on the collapsed altar, its face, which should have been kind and gentle, was cracked with spider-web-like wrinkles. Its right eyeball rolled to the edge of the incense table, revealing a honeycomb-like hole inside, and several white maggots were crawling out from the depths of its pupil.

The statue's robe was half-undone, and its chest, with peeling paint, was engraved with Sanskrit symbols. Viscous dark golden liquid oozed from the cracks, forming a human-shaped puddle on the base.

"Quack quack—"

"quack--"

The flock of ducks rushed into the dilapidated temple.

The duck herder also walked in.

The colorful paintings on the eighteen levels of hell on the west wall have faded to a blue-gray color, but the one in the hell of tongue-pulling is as bright as new - the prisoners all have human bodies with duck heads, and the iron pliers in the hands of the ghost are stained with fresh blood.

Looking at the statue, the duck herder's eyes were full of piety, even admiration, and there was a hint of madness in his humility.

When a drop of rain penetrated the broken tile and hit the statue's brow, the duck herder took out the bloody duck heart from his straw raincoat and offered it on the sandalwood table crawling with termites.

He knelt before the statue, and his sticky prayer voice mingled with the sound of rain.

However, just as the last blessing was about to be finished, there was a noise outside the temple.

In the rain-drenched forest, a female voice suddenly appeared:
"Oh my god! It rains when I say it will!"

someone!

The duck herder stopped his last prayer and looked outside the temple vigilantly, and saw a slim woman.

The woman was drenched by the heavy rain, her clothes stuck to her body and her hair stuck to her face. Her body proportions were excellent, and she had a pair of long legs that could easily beat a catwalk model.

The important thing is that the woman was holding a sword in her hand.

Is he from the imperial court? Or is he just passing by? Should we kill him?
The duck herder became alert.

"Yeah? Where did all those ducks come from?"

After Su Jiuer rushed into the dilapidated temple, she was shocked to see hundreds of ducks on the ground. Then she saw that she was not the only one in the temple taking shelter from the rain, there was also an old man herding ducks.

"Are you here to take shelter from the rain, too?"

"..." The duck herder forced a smile, nodded at her, and then said nothing.

Su Jiuer looked at the sky outside and thought that the rain would probably continue for a while.

I couldn't help but feel a little irritated.

She was soaked through at this time, but she was wearing a windbreaker on the outside, so she was not afraid of being exposed, but she was worried about catching a cold or something.

I took out my cell phone, but there was no signal, which made me even more annoyed.

Just find a place to sit down.

She wanted to take off her clothes and wring them dry, but there were men here and she was a girl after all, and no matter how carefree she was, she certainly couldn't do such an inappropriate thing.

In fact, sometimes Su Jiuer feels that people are really strange. It’s okay to wear a bikini on the beach, but if you wear underwear somewhere else, you will be regarded as an exhibitionist.

Of course, she was just complaining in her heart.

She endured the discomfort of being wet and started chatting with the duck herder:
"My fellow villager, the ducks you raise are so fat... Hey, why are they so skinny?"

"Yes, yes."

"Fellow villager, are you from nearby? Do you know how to get to Wuren Village?"

"Just go through this bamboo forest."

"You take good care of your ducks. They don't poop everywhere. Those who drive the ducks away, the ducks poop wherever they are driven, and the whole street is full of duck poop."

“Haha, that’s right.”

"No shouting either."

“They don’t like to bark.”

"My friend, your outfit is quite... retro."

"My family is poor, and I can't bear to throw away old clothes."

"Haha, this is so old, maybe it was left over from the Qing Dynasty?"

"Just kidding, joking."

"Ah..." The atmosphere suddenly became silent.

You could hear a pin drop in the dilapidated temple, and outside the temple the bamboo forest was swaying, but Su Jiuer's hand had quietly grasped the hilt of the sword.

Just then, a bolt of lightning struck from the sky, instantly illuminating the statues in the temple, the flock of ducks, the mural of hell on the west wall, the girl with a sword drawn, and the duck herder holding up a bamboo stick to block the way.

The loud sound of the long sword and bamboo stick colliding was drowned out by the roar that followed the lightning.

Su Jiuer's sword was blocked, and the sword quickly moved along the bamboo stick and cut towards the old man's fingers holding the stick.

In an instant, five fingers were chopped off, blood spilled into the air, and the broken fingers were swarmed over by the ducks on the ground and eaten cleanly.

"what!"

The duck herder cried out in pain, angry and anxious, and wanted to ask the other party why she suddenly attacked and hurt him, but this girl did not play by the rules at all. She was just chatting with him, but when they started fighting, she didn't even give him a chance to say a word.

Just as she cut off five fingers of one of his hands, the woman stepped on the ground, rushed over swiftly, and stabbed him in the face with a sword.

The duck herder flew backwards and raised his hand hastily to ring the bell, but the stab at his face was a feint. The girl lowered her wrist, and the sword drew a crescent shape, chopping off his arm and spilling blood all over the ground.

The arm fell to the ground, but the bell was caught in the woman's hand.

"You, you are from the imperial court!?"

The duck herder's hands were disabled, and he was sweating profusely from the severe pain. He looked at the other man playing with his bell, and was shocked and angry: "How do you know..."

Know what? Su Jiuer knows nothing.

It was true that she came to Jiangping County today to investigate a case, but she was indeed lost in the mountains. She saw this abandoned temple and came here to take shelter from the rain. She didn't recognize this strange old man at all.

However, from the moment she stepped into the temple, she felt the murderous intent and evil thoughts coming from the old man, so strong that they could not be dispelled.

During this period of time, Su Jiuer has been able to turn danger into safety every time she has been doing justice, thanks to her ability to perceive murderous intent and evil thoughts.

This is a forbidden technique of the Sovereign level that belongs to her exclusively after she broke through to the second level of Sovereign Level.

A weird dilapidated temple, strange ducks, evil-looking statues, and an old man dressed like an ancient man who was full of malice towards him.

Damn it, he really thought that Su Jiuer was a fool!
After getting the bell, she suddenly realized what had happened. She looked at the duck herder with a shocked expression, "How could you be so mean?"
"Oh! Those ducks on the ground are actually humans!"

The man herding ducks wants to vomit blood, so you didn’t know anything just now, so what are you robbing?
If he asked like this, Su Jiuer would definitely give him a blank look. It seemed that the villain was about to use a magic weapon, so no matter what it was, he would definitely snatch it away first.

The duck herder now has both his hands broken and his life-threatening creature is also lost. The woman in front of him is so cruel and ruthless that he cannot escape death.

He made up his mind, looked at the statue in the temple, and quickly muttered the prayer he had just finished:

"I will grind my bones into powder and embroider a wedding dress for you. I will wait for you to open your eyes for three hundred years."

"The mandarin duck pillow is embroidered with blood on the fingertips, and the golden lotus is wrapped with ropes made of leg tendons."

Su Jiuer frowned slightly. Although she couldn't hear clearly what the man was mumbling, she had a bad feeling.

She shouted warningly: "Hey, shut up."

The duck herder paid no attention to her warning and kept muttering even faster:
"The root of the tongue is soaked in wine and hidden in the bottom of the cellar, and the heart and liver are dug out and presented on the table."

"If you think this candlelight is too dim--"

“Sizzle!!”

The duck herder looked down and saw a sword piercing through his back.

Blood kept rising in his throat, but the eulogy had come to an end, and he finished the last sentence with sobs.

"Burn me...into soul-drawing smoke!"

Su Jiuer pulled out the sword, and the duck herder lost his support and fell forward.

He had killed someone, but it wasn't the first time.

Su Jiuer never hesitated when it came to taking action, but this time, it seemed a little late.

She glanced at the ducks on the ground, then turned around and looked outside the temple.

It was raining heavily the previous second, but now the sky was clear. There was no sun or moon in the sky, but there was a strange and huge eyeball staring at the earth.

"..."

Is this... falling into a dream?
How do I get back?
send!
……

At the dinner table, after the big boss proposed to establish a 'special recruitment program for people with destiny', the two major guilds were very supportive, but the details of how to do it could definitely not be decided today.

After finishing what they wanted to say and finishing their meal, the leader did not stay long and left first. Those who stayed were the people from the three major guilds and the Pastoral Office.

With the start of the construction of the Dream Monitoring Tower, the Pastoral Office took the lead, and the representatives of the three major guilds served as the first informal heads of the meeting.

There is no other mission, just to get to know each other and exchange contact information. If you are interested, you can arrange your own program later.

Taoist Xuanji, who was kind-hearted and plump, smiled and introduced them: "This is my eldest disciple, whose Taoist name is Qingluan, and this is my second disciple, whose Taoist name is Qingyun."

"Master Qingluan, Master Qingyun."

The two young Taoists bowed to them.

The eldest disciple, Taoist Qingluan, is a cheerful female Taoist. When she saw Situ and Gu Nanzhi, she smiled and said, "We already know each other without any introduction. We often see you on Douyin. Mr. Si, Mr. Gu, I have heard of your great names for a long time. I have heard of your great names for a long time."

Situ was a little embarrassed: "These are just minor incidents, not worthy of being shown on the stage."

Taoist Xuanji kicked his eldest disciple in the ass in annoyance, "How many years have you two been practicing? He has caught up with you in just a few months, why are you pretending?"

That kick was not just a pretense, but a real kick. Chen Xi felt in his heart that this Taoist Xuanji was truly a man of kind nature.

Song Tiehan, the representative of the [Minjiang people], also introduced two younger generations to the others, and there was another round of polite greetings.

It's not like in novels where geniuses meet and make appointments for fights and gambling. Their conversations are no different from those of ordinary people.

In fact, Situ was still a little reserved. After all, the situation of the other two guilds was different from their [Jiangda Alliance].

They have a profound background and are backed by many experts. Now, if you randomly ask two people to accompany the leader for dinner, they will start with the second-level monarch's fate. There are even third-level public fate bosses in the guild.

For a Xuanmen background like [Tianfu], if the old Taoist priest of Longhu Mountain is included, it is not wrong to say that they have the support of a fourth-level king.

What about the Jiangda Alliance? There are a few second-level monarchs in total. They have a lot of work to do during the day, and now they have to be dragged here to fill the occasion. They are obviously the top leaders of the guild, but the women are used as men and the men are used as mules.

It feels like I'm three little friends. They all have their parents to support them and are children of wealthy families, but I'm just a poor little kid without a father or a mother to love me, and I feel a little embarrassed.

He thought Gu Nanzhi would be like him and look at her for a sense of identity, but he found that the dwarf did not feel as embarrassed as he did.

Gu Nanzhi chatted with people from other guilds in a very confident and relaxed manner.

Well done, very energetic and didn't embarrass Brother Chen.

"I've wanted to meet Director Chen for a long time." Song Tiehan shook hands with Chen Xi: "I heard that he is still studying. It's true that heroes emerge from youth."

"Brother Song is joking."

Song Tiehan introduced to Taoist Xuanji: "Master Xuanji, this Director Chen is incredible. I dare say that without him, there would be no Jiangda Alliance today."

Chen Xi didn't know how the conversation turned to himself. He thought the dinner was over and was about to leave, but Song Tiehan praised him so much that he had to deny it awkwardly but politely.

[Minjiangren] is a chamber of commerce, so they naturally pay close attention to the actions of [Jiangda Alliance]. They also know the importance of Chen Xi in it, and know that his foresighted arrangements and methods have allowed Jiangda Alliance to always stay ahead of everyone else.

Taoist Xuanji also praised: "I just heard a lot about Director Chen at the dinner table..."

But when he looked at Chen Xi at this moment, doubts suddenly arose in his heart.

(End of this chapter)