Chapter 82: Swollen and Floating Head
February 23rd, midnight
As the Nuo Master and the Immortal turned away, the Taoists returned to the Jade Purity Palace to bury the treasure box, and the Nuo Master returned to the wooden boat on the Jinshui River. The crowd began to disperse and chased to both sides, gradually leaving the Seven Stars Terrace in the middle empty. The soldiers guarding the terrace also dispersed, most of them went to guard the Jade Purity Palace, because there was another ritual there.
The bonfires around the stage gradually died down, and the place became dark again. However, there was one person who was still staring at this place, and that person was Xu Chong. He just noticed that after the Nuo master left, one of his disciples seemed to have fallen behind, and he didn't chase after him or go to the river. The figure flashed by the stage and disappeared.
Xu Chong wanted to find some helpers to give him courage, but when he turned around, the crowd around him had already dispersed, and the imperial guards had also left. He was alone, so he had no choice but to sneak over, and he had no weapons with him. He relied on the dim moonlight and walked around the Seven Star Terrace, but he didn't see a single person.
It was really strange. There was someone there just now, but he disappeared. At this moment, the stage was almost dark, with only some floating river lanterns in the Jinshui River in the distance emitting a faint light. He wondered if he had seen it wrong, and wanted to turn around and leave, but he heard a faint sound coming from the wooden stage, as if someone was talking. However, there was no one around, and then he heard the sound of metal knocking. He quickly put his ear to the wooden board of the Seven Stars Stage. He heard the ping-pong sound from inside, which was clearly the collision of weapons. Then someone screamed.
Xu Chong thought to himself that something was wrong and quickly looked around for the entrance. He heard muffled voices coming from inside through the wooden board.
"I said that Hu Yong'er had escaped, and there must be a traitor left behind. Sure enough, she jumped out by herself. Fortunately, I was prepared. I led you here because you can't move here. You can't avoid my crossbow."
No answer was heard, but another person's groaning could be heard.
"Hu Yong'er always escapes my plans. It seems like you are the one who is behind this..."
Xu Chong followed the sound and finally found a discarded mask under the west steps. He picked it up and saw that it was the same ferocious mask that the Nuo master and her disciples had worn. There was also a gorgeous cloak worn by the shamans next to it. It seemed that the person had thrown away these things here and then went in from somewhere.
"Who are you? If you wanted to ruin my plans, why didn't you do it earlier? Why did you wait until today?"
"Because... because... I still have to find out your secret..."
Another weak voice said.
"Hahahaha, it turns out that those old folks who are stuck in the past want to inherit my family's legacy. Even Huai Bing couldn't comprehend the magic of the hat monster. Even if I reveal it to you, can you understand it?"
Xu Chong squatted down and brushed his fingers over the wooden board, feeling the gap. He stuck his fingers in and tried to lift it up, but it didn't move at all. He pressed down and it didn't move either. He could only try to push left and right. Sure enough, the secret door slid to the left and opened. However, the door was very narrow and he couldn't walk in. He could only lean over to get in. There was a dark passage inside. He almost used his hands and feet to crawl in. When he crawled to the corner, there was light and a torch in front. Under the torch lay a man, holding a single knife in his hand and three short arrows in his chest. He was already dead. It was hard to imagine how he could be hit by three arrows in such a small place. And the arrow was short, only seven or eight inches long, not half the length of the common arrows.
Xu Chong walked past the man and took the knife from his hand, finally having a weapon. Then he continued forward, but the dead man suddenly woke up and grabbed Xu Chong's wrist.
Xu Chong struggled to break free from the hand, but did not strike back at the man. The man stared at Xu Chong intently. Just like what Xu Chong had seen many times on the battlefield, it was a gray, dying face.
"Be careful... he has a crossbow..."
This stranger said these words for the last time, hung his head and died.
Xu Chong had no time to be afraid, he just kept moving forward with the knife in hand. Finally he crawled through the maze-like passage and arrived at the open space in the middle of the platform.
There was a dim oil lamp lit here, and a blurry figure in front was busy with something.
The man was seen shaking the handle of a wooden machine. It looked like a windmill used in the countryside to blow away rice grains, or like a fan used in a blacksmith's shop to make the flames burn more vigorously. As he turned the object, an object on the ground that looked like an inverted bamboo plaque, several feet long and wide, began to slowly rise. The outside of this thing seemed to be covered with a white curtain, and light shone through it. As the man's hand increased the speed, the fire in the bulging curtain became brighter, and the entire bamboo plaque began to fill up and expand upwards. In a blink of an eye, it was half a person's height, and it was still rapidly growing taller and larger.
Xu Chong did not rush forward directly, because he saw that the man had something like a crossbow on his waist. Although it did not have the connecting rod commonly seen on Zhuge Liannu, it was much smaller, but he could see the arrow sticking out of the tip. Moreover, the cloak that the man wore was very bloated, and he did not know what was hidden inside. So he did not dare to act rashly, but hid behind the gradually rounded white object in front of him, intending to go around to the back and kill the man in front of him in one fell swoop. The man did not notice anything unusual behind him, and walked to the other side to shake a handle. He saw the cover of the Seven Star Terrace above his head creaking open to both sides, and he could see a pale waning moon above his head. The wooden board above was where the real person cast a spell to collect the earthly evil spirits just now, and it could actually open slowly.
The man stopped what he was doing, picked up a horn headgear from his feet and put it on his head, as if he was going to perform on stage.
Xu Chong approached quietly, wanting to hit him while he was distracted by the mask, but he stepped on something rolling on the ground, and when he looked down, he found it was a steel fork over ten feet long. Hearing the noise behind him, the man turned around. Seeing Xu Chong, he did not hesitate, and threw the bull-head mask at Xu Chong, but was blocked by Xu Chong with a single knife.
Xu Chong had already recognized that this person was Yu Jing. They had met him once through the smoke that day, so he couldn't see him clearly. However, Yu Jing had an odd figure, with slightly hunched shoulders, probably because of doing too much carpentry work. He remembered this figure very clearly.
"Traitor, why don't you surrender?" Xu Chong shouted, not to give himself courage, but just to call the surrounding imperial guards.
Yu Jing picked up the crossbow at his waist, but it was not strung. Xu Chong was stunned, but heard a whoosh. He subconsciously dodged and dodged a short arrow by leaning sideways. Seeing that the opponent missed, Xu Chong raised his knife and approached again. However, Yu Jing did not abandon the crossbow and draw his knife, but continued to aim with the crossbow. With the naked eye, another arrow was pushed out from the crossbow box below, but it was still not strung. Xu Chong didn't understand how this unstrung crossbow could shoot, but he was more careful. When Yu Jing pulled the trigger, the sound of flying arrows came again, and he subconsciously lowered his head. With a "puff", another arrow shot out and brushed past his scalp and stabbed into the wooden board behind.
This frightened Xu Chong. He had seen the so-called Zhuge Crossbow, which could fire continuously, but perhaps it was necessary to hold the crossbow with the left hand and press the lever with the right hand. However, the crossbow in front of him did not need to press the lever, nor did it have to be strung up, and the crossbow arm did not move when it fired. It was just that the speed was far slower than that of ordinary crossbows.
"What tricks? I'm not afraid!"
He said this, but his feet retreated very quickly. When Yu Jing raised his hand to shoot again, Xu Chong had no way to retreat, because behind him was the felt airbag that was more than a person's height. The white airbag already had eyes, nose, mouth and ears. It was not yet inflated, and was still very soft, but it looked particularly twisted and hideous, with its mouth half open, revealing a ball of fire inside.
Xu Chong could only move slowly with his back against the soft thing, his eyes fixed on Yu Jing's finger, waiting for the arrow to fly out before dodging, which was already very passive. However, Yu Jing did not shoot the arrow, and seemed to be a little afraid. Xu Chong suddenly realized that he was worried about the fake head behind him, afraid of hitting this thing. So, he jumped left and right more boldly, making it difficult for Yu Jing to aim. Yu Jing slowly backed away and suddenly squatted down. For some reason, Xu Chong only slowed down his pace to watch, but Yu Jing freed one hand to grab a rope on the ground and pulled it hard. Who knew that a flame suddenly spurted out from the mouth of the fake head. Xu Chong had no eyes on his back, and the flame hit his butt. He was finally smart and quickly rolled to put out the fire on his butt, but the pale head behind him had already emerged from under the Seven Stars Terrace and began to fly slowly into the air.
Xu Chong thought for a moment and swung his knife at the fake head. However, the fake head was not only very tough on the surface, but also very soft. The knife was like chopping cotton. It only left a mark on the surface without cutting through it. He used the tip of the knife to stab. How could Yu Jing allow him to destroy this air bag? He picked up the steel fork that was more than ten feet long at his feet and rushed towards Xu Chong. Xu Chong kept an eye on Yu Jing from the corner of his eye. When he saw something happening over there, he quickly dodged without stabbing with the knife. He knew very well that as long as he got close to the fake head, Yu Jing would be afraid to use any means.
Sure enough, Yu Jing didn't dare to use all his strength to stab at Xu Chong with his long steel fork. Seeing Xu Chong dodging, he just swept it sideways and blocked the steel fork with his knife. Yu Jing's steel fork went backwards, and Xu Chong rushed in front of the head again. Yu Jing held the steel fork again but didn't dare to strike with all his strength. However, Xu Chong turned around and wanted to cut the ugly fake face with a knife, but it didn't work. In the stalemate between the two sides, the head behind Xu Chong slowly floated up.
Outside the Seven Stars Terrace, the imperial guards in front of the Yuqing Zhaoying Palace were about to return to the city. They also saw a faint orange light on the Seven Stars Terrace. A group of people slowly came over. They saw a distorted and terrifying human face rising from the ground. The head was laughing with a crooked mouth and staring at them with wide eyes. Everyone was frightened and retreated together. However, after retreating a few steps, the bonfire that had just been extinguished was rekindled. This time, the fireworks hidden in it were ignited. Countless colorful lights shot straight into the sky, attracting the attention of all the people who had not yet dispersed nearby.
Xu Chong was in the audience and was also startled by the screaming fireworks outside. He looked up and saw Yu Jing seeing the opportunity and stabbing at him with the steel fork. This time he had no scruples because the man's head was already off the ground and the place he was stabbing was Xu Chong's feet, so he would not hurt the head.
Xu Chong was still looking up at the fireworks in the sky, not knowing that the barrier behind him had been lost. He just thought that his opponent was trying to strike him again, leaving room for maneuver. He used his single sword to block it, but he didn't expect his opponent to come with all his strength. Yu Jing was actually quite strong, and Xu Chong's single sword couldn't break the steel fork, which stabbed into his foot. He was heartbroken and screamed. He threw the single sword with all his strength. This desperate move was his trump card to reverse the situation on the battlefield, and he once killed the Xixia leader on the top of the city. Yu Jing really wanted to dodge this ruthless and accurate sword, but he didn't dodge it. The single sword went straight into his chest, but it bounced away with a "bang!"
When Yu Jing was stabbed, Xu Chong grabbed the steel fork with both hands and pulled it out, then rushed forward to fight Yu Jing barehanded. Then the pain in his feet delayed his strength, and he only grabbed Yu Jing's collar and broke free. A cloak fell off, revealing a heavy armor underneath, and a dent was clearly visible on the breastplate on his chest. Xu Chong suddenly realized one thing, the ox head that Shen Kuo saw under the tower should be his pretending . It seems that he did not use the fake armor and wooden steel fork made of paper on the stage, all of them were real, except for Wang Ze's head. But Shen Kuo said that the ox head he saw was one foot tall, but Yu Jing was not that tall, and there was also a horse-faced old woman who was not seen here.
At this moment, the swaying, grinning head behind him had already slowly risen into the air, but it was still tied to a rope and could not float away with the wind, so it stayed above the Seven Star Terrace.
The crowd around them had been staring at the fireworks in the sky, thinking it was an entertainment program at the end of today's sacrificial ceremony. Unexpectedly, as soon as the fireworks stopped, something rose into the sky - it was an ugly, dying, pale and smiling face. It gradually rose into the sky and looked down at all living beings, shouting a ball of flame.
In order to let more people see this horrifying scene, this head has no back, but two equally weird faces in front and back. There is fire coming out of its mouth, and its eyes are empty but look around with disdain.
Maitreya had thought of using the dragon, hiding in the sky to pull the eyelids, to make this face more lively, but it was too much. The lack of excess life was a pleasant surprise for this horrible and rigid ghost face, because this human face was now listless and slightly mocking, more like an evil god that emerged from hell, unfettered by emotions and humanity.
Whether it was the crowd around or the soldiers on the city walls, they all started to scream as if they were possessed. All the fear accumulated from hearsay in the past month was aroused at this moment by this faintly glowing, stupid head. At this moment, there was no need for any street tabloids to speculate. Everyone who had recently pondered the ten scary nursery rhymes could easily associate it with the ninth sentence: "If it returns, the king will shine in the sky." Now it has been resurrected from hell, swaying in front of everyone, looking so swollen, exaggerated, frivolous, dull and disrespectful. It is waiting to fly to the palace with hatred and flames.
