Crossing the Sword

Unexpectedly, Ding Yuan's family was just an ordinary farm family, and they didn't prepare any special food and wine to entertain Zhang Tianya. Ding Feng, or Xiao Feng, suggested slaughtering the old hen at home, but was stopped by Ding Yuan, who just told them to prepare some ordinary home-cooked meals.

Ye Shisan was very satisfied with this. If they really slaughtered the only old hen in the house, it would make Ye Shisan feel uncomfortable.

During the dinner, I learned some things about Ding Yuan. It turned out that he was the former governor of this Guizhou Prefecture. He was an honest official, but his colleagues were jealous of him and he was excluded everywhere. So he resigned in anger and returned to his hometown, but he was elected as the village chief by the villagers of Dingjia Village. It should be noted that within the jurisdiction of Emperor Yan, officials only reached the town level, and there was no village chief. The so-called village chief was just a leader elected by the villagers and had no real power.

After hearing this, Ye Shisan got straight to the point and said, "The village chief invited me here, didn't he just want to talk about his worries?"

Ding Yuan smiled and said, "Mr. Ye is indeed straightforward. Actually, I heard from my daughter Ding Xiang that you are very good at magic and are proficient in advanced magic such as escape. I think you must have great magical power. So I have an unwelcome request."

"Whether it is unkind or not, why don't you tell me about it, Mr. Ding?"

Seeing Ye Shisan asking, Ding Yuan sighed and said, "There hasn't been a wedding in Dingjia Village in the past few years."

Ye Shisan thought to himself, "This old man is really not simple. His words have fully aroused my curiosity." So he frowned and asked, "Why is that?"

Seeing that Ye Shisan was interested, Ding Yuan said, "Because twelve years ago, there were many cases of monsters kidnapping grooms in this area. Whenever there was a wedding, a monster would appear and kidnap the groom. And up to now, no kidnapped groom has ever escaped. No one has ever been found alive or dead! Gradually, no one dared to get married. Everyone was terrified of marriage."

At this time, Ding Feng finally couldn't help but interrupted: "Dad, do you really want to ask Master Ye to deal with the monster? If there is no monster, I'm afraid..."

Ding Yuan immediately interrupted him and said, "No matter what, we can't let our Ding Village become extinct!"

Ye Shisan heard something was going on, so he asked, "What did Xiaofeng just say? Why is Mr. Ding being so secretive?"

Ding Yuan smiled bitterly and said, "That's just my private matter. Don't worry about it, Mr. Zhang." His face looked somewhat sad and helpless as he spoke.

But he was unwilling to say, and Ye Shisan did not ask any more questions. He glanced at the family of three and found that Ding Feng looked angry, while Ding Xiang was pale and in a very low mood.

Ding Yuan also noticed this and comforted them, "Don't worry. Your father was once a prefect and has made some friends. Once the monster issue is resolved, we will leave and settle somewhere else." He then said to Zhang Tianya, "Master Ye, please save Dingjia Village no matter what. I will work like a slave to repay Master Ye's kindness."

Ye Shisan thought about it for a moment. He was a parent official after all. Although Emperor Yan said he could not care about anything, if he stood aside and watched such a thing, he would probably feel that he was going too far. He nodded and asked, "You don't have to be a slave, but you have to tell me everything you know about the monster." Through the Chihuo Sect, he also began to learn to be cautious.

Ding Yuan was delighted to hear his promise. But he immediately became depressed again and shook his head, saying, "We know almost nothing about it. No one has even seen what it looks like. Maybe the grooms have seen it, but they may have been killed! Every time when they are halfway through the wedding procession, a cold wind suddenly blows and the groom disappears."

Ye Shisan felt helpless after hearing this. After all, if they really encountered a monster, it would be difficult for ordinary people like them to find the monster. He sighed and said, "Then I'll look for it tomorrow."

After dinner, Ye Shisan opened his Sky Eye and began to search around. Under his Sky Eye, even the Chihuo Sect Leader could not escape, let alone a monster who only knew how to catch the bridegroom? Even if it was a master like Xiangliu, he knew that he could not see through it at all. If a monster really reached that level, he would know that he could not afford to offend such a monster and would have thought of other ways.

He started to search for the monster outside the village. However, he did not expect that the consumption of the Heavenly Eye was so great. After less than half an hour, he felt exhausted. It seems that the Heavenly Eye not only requires sufficient skills, but also consumes a lot of energy. He hurriedly found a place to meditate and recover.

After nearly half an hour, Ye Shisan finished practicing and was pleasantly surprised to find that his spiritual awareness had improved a little through this meditation. This discovery made him very happy and he continued to use his heavenly eyes to look for traces of the monster. When he was tired, he practiced again to recover.

After repeating this twice, it was already night.

During this period of time, Ye Shisan had already explored the area within a radius of ten miles, and found no creatures with demonic aura. It seemed that his luck was not good today, and he knew that it was not a good idea to continue looking like this, so he decided to go back to Ding's house to rest, and wait until tomorrow to discuss with Ding Yuan a way to lure the snake out of its hole.

Thinking of this, he turned around and ran back towards Dingjia Village.

From a distance, the sound of a zither could be heard coming from the direction of Ding Yuan's house. The sound of the zither was like the sound of nature, so beautiful that there was an old saying that "the sound lingers in the beams for three days", which was not an exaggeration to describe the sound of the zither.

Out of curiosity, Ye Shisan went to the source of the piano sound.

In the Ding family's vegetable garden, Ding Xiang was wearing plain clothes and playing the zither alone. Ye Shisan did not disturb her, but just listened quietly, and was unconsciously immersed in it.

As the sound of the piano rose and fell, Ye Shisan thought of his lonely childhood. While other children could act like spoiled brats in front of their parents, he could only practice hard under the supervision of his master. The sadness he felt every time he was called a "wild child" came to his mind again, and tears fell from the corners of his eyes without him noticing.

After the song was over, Ding Xiang was surprised to find that Ye Shisan had stood behind her without her noticing, with tears on his face. She hurriedly said, "Ding Xiang greets you, sir. Please forgive me for disturbing you with my piano music."

Ye Shisan was awakened from his memories at this point, and hurriedly wiped away his tears, thinking, "This time, I've lost a lot!"

"No, no! The girl's piano playing is so beautiful, it is my blessing to be able to hear it, how can I disturb her?" He chose to use words to cover up his inner embarrassment.

Ding Xiang bowed her head and said, "Sir, I am so ashamed to accept your compliment."

Ye Shisan said, "Miss Ding, you are too modest. I have never heard such beautiful music. It is really inspired by my feelings." After a pause, he said, "The music comes from the heart. The music can also be said to be a way of expressing the heart. I just heard that the girl's music sounded a little sad. I wonder what is on Miss Ding's mind. Can you tell me?"