My Apprenticeship to Uncle Jiu: I Was a Warlord in the Republic of China

But Uncle Jiu was not there. After asking Wencai, he found out that Uncle Jiu had come to Jiang's house. He hurried to Jiang's house to find Uncle Jiu, and then knelt down and begged, "Uncle Jiu, help me. Two people have died in our village."

When Uncle Jiu heard that two people had died, he immediately became serious, borrowed the donkey cart from the Jiang family, and rushed to the charity cemetery to get his weapons.

Jiang Li listened to what the man said and started thinking in his heart that this snake demon was either a poisonous snake or a python. No matter which one it was, it would be very dangerous if it could kill two people.

He immediately asked the carpenter to work harder and make a few peach wood sticks and peach wood spears. He also prepared a few pieces of cloth and a few bottles of kerosene, in case they might be of use.

On the other hand, Uncle Jiu and the villager from Wangjia Village took their weapons and rushed to Wangjia Village.

Wangjia Village is not far from Jiangjia Village, only about twenty miles away. Uncle Jiu arrived at Wangjia Village at noon. He saw hundreds of people from the village crowded at the entrance of the village. There was a commotion when they saw Uncle Jiu coming.

When Uncle Jiu got off the donkey cart, the head of Wangjia Village came forward and said in a tearful voice, "Uncle Jiu, you are finally here. We have heard that you are a master from Mount Mao. You must help us get rid of the snake demon."

The villagers behind immediately echoed, and the scene was in chaos.

Uncle Jiu was a little uncomfortable with this situation, but he still said, "Don't worry, take your time to talk. Whoever comes here can tell me what's going on so I can be prepared."

At this time, the village chief scolded a few times, and everyone slowly quieted down. Then he invited Uncle Jiu to the village. As soon as Uncle Jiu entered the village, he found that there was indeed a faint evil aura.

At this time, the village chief brought a few people over and said, "These are the people involved. Li Chun'e's husband was poisoned to death by the snake demon. When he was found, his body was blue and stiff."

Uncle Jiu immediately asked, "Apart from turning blue, are there any other symptoms?"

The village chief said, "There seems to be a smell of alcohol on his body, and some small wounds, as if he was pierced by some small thorns. Maybe he was pierced by a branch when he was rolling."

Then the village chief said, "This Butcher Wang is the father of Wang Shitou. Wang Shitou disappeared last night. He must have been captured by the snake demon."

"This Wang Erniu saw with his own eyes last night that a child was dragged away by a snake demon, right behind Butcher Wang's yard."

When Uncle Jiu heard there was an eyewitness, he immediately asked, "Did you see clearly what kind of snake it was last night? How big was it?"

Wang Erniu said in horror, "I drank a little last night, and it was late, so I didn't see clearly what kind of snake it was, but I did see a very long, black, long object moving on the ground."

"There was also a child dragged away by it. I was so scared that I started to scream. Then everyone in the village came out and found that Butcher Wang's son was missing."

At this time, Butcher Wang knelt on the ground and cried, "Uncle Jiu, I beg you to save my son. He is the only child in my family and he is only seven years old."

Uncle Jiu quickly helped Butcher Wang up and said, "I wonder if you have looked for it and found any clues."

Everyone said they had looked for it but couldn't find it. The village chief asked someone to bring out some snake skins and a dozen dead snakes and said, "We have searched the whole village, but we haven't found anything else except these."

Uncle Jiu took the snake sloughs and looked at the dead snakes again and said, "There are indeed a few poisonous snakes among these snakes, but the venom is not fatal, and these snake sloughs are too small to drag away a seven-year-old child."

"Let's go to Butcher Wang's backyard first."

Everyone immediately took Uncle Jiu to Butcher Wang's house. As soon as Uncle Jiu arrived there, he found that the evil spirit here was obviously stronger, and there were no traces of large snakes crawling on the ground.

At this time, Wang Erniu pointed to a broken fence in the backyard and said, "That's right. The snake dragged Wang Shitou away through the hole under the fence."

Uncle Jiu went forward to check and found that there were indeed traces on the ground, but they were not traces of a snake crawling, but rather traces of something being dragged away.

A careful inspection of the ground revealed many regular small holes, as if they were rubbed out by a small awl. These marks extended all the way to the grass and disappeared.

Uncle Jiu looked around and said, "I don't think this is a snake demon, but rather a giant centipede demon."

After listening to Uncle Jiu's words, everyone thought about the details carefully and said, "Yes, yes, yes, we have never heard of any snake sloughs being found there in all these years, and these traces do not look like a big snake has crawled there."

At this time, Wang Erniu said, "But I clearly saw him moving forward like a snake, how could it be fake?"

Uncle Jiu asked, "Did you see it clearly?"

Wang Erniu stuttered and said, "No...no."

Uncle Jiu said, "That's it. I guess it was because it was too dark and I was too nervous. You remembered it wrong."

At this time, the village chief stepped forward and asked, "Uncle Jiu said it was what it was. Can you think of a way to get rid of it first? Otherwise, I'm afraid we won't be able to sleep."

Uncle Jiu said, "Of course we have to get rid of it, but the things needed to deal with the snake demon and the centipede demon are different. I am not prepared at all. To be safe, let's wait until it's dark before taking action. We should also make some preparations."

At this time, Butcher Wang shouted, "No, Uncle Jiu, we can't wait for my son, please save him."

Uncle Jiu said with some difficulty, "I also want to save him, but we have to find where his nest is first, and then think of a way."

Butcher Wang cried and said, "Then let's look for it quickly." Then he stood up and ran to the weeds at the back of the yard.

Uncle Jiu immediately asked someone to hold him back and said, "Don't be impulsive. It's in the dark and we are in the light. It would be bad if he attacks us by surprise."

Butcher Wang cried and said, "I don't care about that. I want to save my son."

At this time, Wang Erniu whispered, "I saw that child last night and he didn't seem to struggle or make any sound."

Butcher Wang immediately stood up and was about to hit Wang Erniu, but was stopped by someone in time. He was still shouting, "You are talking nonsense, my son is just scared and dare not move, you are talking nonsense."

Uncle Jiu said to Butcher Wang at this time, "I know you are very anxious, but if it is really a monster that has taken your son away, it has been a whole night, he should also..."

When Butcher Wang heard this, he immediately collapsed to the ground and cried heartbreakingly.

Uncle Jiu calmed down and said to everyone, "Everyone, no matter what kind of monster it is, we must get rid of it for everyone's safety. Now, women and the elderly should collect hay and firewood to prepare torches."

"Finally, find twenty more roosters and kill a pig to get its blood for later use. The other men will come with me to find the monster's lair. When the time comes, we will set a trap and use the pig's blood to lure it out."