vstars Chapter 765: Maintaining Reason Under the Red Moon
Chapter 765: Maintaining Reason Under the Red Moon
The night dew from the forest behind the village was still sticking to Cao Yuan's trouser legs when he heard the bone-breaking scream.
He tightened his grip on the Demon Slayer Sword and looked back the way he had come.
The figures were tangled together under the old locust tree. The dull sound of the millstone hitting their knees mixed with the woman's wails was like a steel needle piercing their eardrums.
"I'll go and stop the fight, Fatty!"
Baili Pangpang's round belly trembled first, and his green bamboo cloth jacket rustled in the night wind. Just as he was about to rush forward, someone suddenly grabbed his collar from the back.
Turning back, I saw Cao Yuan's face half hidden in the shadow of the blood moon, his brows furrowed, "Fuck."
"Didn't you see the dark pattern on Erzhuzi's body?"
"This red moon can seduce people's demons. If you try to persuade them now, they'll chop you down too."
"We can't just stand by and watch, can we?" Baili Pangpang's neck turned red. He hated to see the elderly and children being beaten. When Aunt Wang chopped down with the knife just now, his back teeth were almost broken.
"Aunt Wang used to cook fish porridge for us, and Aunt Zhang stuffed two handfuls of dates into my pocket the day before yesterday..."
"If you want to intervene, use the methods of the Demon Suppression Division." Cao Yuan slammed his demon-slaying sword into the ground, the blade striking the bluestone slab and sending sparks flying. "Where's the green rope in your arms?"
"The Immortal Binding Rope is specifically designed to combat evil spirits. Tie up the mad one first, and wait for Qiye and the others to break the deadlock."
"Oh! That's right!" Baili Pangpang slapped his forehead and hurriedly touched the cloth bag around his waist.
He always complained that the rope was tight, but now he felt like he had picked up a treasure, and his fingertips were shaking.
As soon as the green rope was shaken, Mrs. Zhang picked up a wooden stick and hit Aunt Wang on the back of the neck. The stick was stained with blood and it was unknown whose clothesline it came from.
"Auntie!" Baili Pangpang shouted with his voice broken, and the green rope swung over and wrapped around Mrs. Zhang's wrist like a living thing.
Mrs. Zhang was stunned for a moment, then suddenly rushed over with a scream, her nails almost scratching the tip of his nose: "Stranger!"
"You are the ones who brought this disaster!"
“My son was fine last month…”
The green rope tightened with a "hissing" sound, and Mrs. Zhang's wrist immediately swelled up and red marks appeared.
She tried frantically to grab the rope with her other hand, but the rope became tighter and tighter, and finally it was wrapped around her waist, binding her like a dumpling.
Aunt Wang took the opportunity to pounce on him, and the axe brushed against Baili Pangpang's ear and hit the wall, making his ears buzz.
"You two come and help!" Baili Pangpang's sweat kept dripping down his forehead, and he threw out another green rope to tie up Aunt Wang.
Shen Qingzhu stood beside him at some point, pinching a locust leaf between her fingertips.
His eyes looked like he was looking at a tangled mess: “There are three men carrying harpoons in the east, and one holding a torch in the west.
Fatty, you tie the front and I'll block the sides."
Cao Yuan didn't say anything.
He stared at the blood-stained dagger on the ground - it had fallen out of Mrs. Zhang's sleeve when she was struggling, with a piece of meat still hanging on the blade.
The light of the blood moon shone on the blade, and he suddenly felt his throat tighten.
The knife was moving, not in a physical sense, but in his mind, poking at his nerves: "Pick it up and stab that fat guy. He's blocking your view of the blood moon..."
"Cao Yuan?" Shen Qingzhu's voice suddenly exploded in his ears.
Cao Yuan suddenly came back to his senses and found that he had bent down without knowing when, with his fingertips only half an inch away from the handle of the knife.
His back was wet, with cold sweat running down his spine. He looked up and saw Shen Qingzhu staring at him, his eyes sharper than a demon-slaying sword.
"I'm fine." Cao Yuan straightened up, his voice as hoarse as sandpaper scraping against iron.
He knew what Shen Qingzhu was guarding against - the residual soul of the Black King had been in his body for three years. It was like a ball of dead ash at ordinary times, but the blood light under the red moon could rekindle the dead ash.
At that moment, he almost believed the sound of the knife, and almost wanted to see how bright the red would be when the blood moon shone into Baili Pangpang's heart.
"Give me the knife." Shen Qingzhu bent down to pick up the dagger, raised his hand and threw it towards the eaves of the old locust tree.
The blade stabbed into the wood with a "click", casting a long, thin shadow in the moonlight.
Cao Yuan looked at the shadow, his Adam's apple moving: "Thank you."
"What are you thanking me for?" Shen Qingzhu patted his shoulder, the warmth of his palm seeping through his clothes.
"Back then, you carried the black coffin in the Demon Suppression Pavilion for three days and three nights without letting go. Your evil nature now is nothing."
Suddenly there was a louder commotion in the distance.
From An Qingyu's direction, Erzhuzi's roar mixed with the wind from his fists sounded like someone was demolishing a house.
After Baili Pangpang finished tying up the last villager, he squatted on the ground and gasped for breath. The green rope piled at his feet looked like a big green snake. "This Hongyue is very evil. When I was tying people up, the words that Zhang Sao scolded me were different from usual..."
"She cursed, 'Give me back my son's life.'" Shen Qingzhu squatted down and used a branch to brush away Mrs. Zhang's hair that was scattered on the ground.
"But her son's wife, whom he married just last month, has never been to sea."
"The red moon doesn't entice the truth, it entices obsession."
Cao Yuan looked at the horizon.
The fishing boats were getting closer, and the dark patterns on their sails merged into one, like a group of wriggling black worms.
He touched the chain on his chest—it was the one the Demon Suppression Division used to lock him up. Normally, it was as heavy as a piece of iron, but now it was unusually light. "Why haven't Qiye and the others arrived yet?"
"It's almost there." Shen Qingzhu looked up at the sky. The edge of the blood moon was dark red, like drops of blood about to fall.
"An Qingyu just contacted me. Wu Hen, that kid, was driving his rickety motorcycle faster than a will-o'-the-wisp."
Baili Pangpang suddenly exclaimed "Huh".
He untied the green rope on Mrs. Zhang's wrist and saw a dark line on the back of her hand, as thin as a thread.
"Erzhuzi also had this before... Could it be that this Red Moon and the Dark Pattern in the Sea are in cahoots?"
No one answered him.
Cao Yuan stared at the back of his hand - there was nothing there, but he could feel the Black King's residual soul crawling in his blood vessels, one by one, as if counting heartbeats.
Shen Qingzhu's eyes swept over all the tied villagers, and finally landed on the short knife on the eaves: "Fatty, how many green ropes do you have in your bag?"
"Twenty. What?"
"Tie up the three of us too." Shen Qingzhu said softly, as if discussing what to eat today.
"I just felt Mrs. Zhang's pulse, and her heartbeat was abnormally fast.
The red moon is still rising, wait until it reaches the top of your head..." He didn't finish, pointed at Cao Yuan, and then pointed at himself,
"We two can't handle it, and neither can you, Fatty."
Baili's round face wrinkled into a bun: "Tie yourself up?"
"What if a monster comes rushing over..."
"It's better than becoming like them." Shen Qingzhu pointed at the villagers struggling on the ground. Aunt Wang was still cursing, but her voice was hoarse.
"When Qiye and the others arrive, even if we are tied up, we can buy them some time."
Cao Yuan took out the chain from his arms.
It was specially made by the Demon Suppression Division, specifically for locking up "monsters" like him. "Use my chain. The green rope can't bind the Black King."
"Okay." Shen Qingzhu squatted down and began to untie his belt.
"First tie the hands, then the feet, and finally the waist."
"Fat brother, you are responsible for tying me up, and Cao Yuan will tie himself up - only he can open his chains."
The roar of motorcycles could be heard in the distance.
When Wu Hen's broken car rushed through the village entrance, black smoke was still coming out of the exhaust pipe. Lin Qiye was sitting in the back seat, holding a sheathed sword in his hand.
Cao Yuan looked at them and suddenly smiled: "You came just in time."
"That's just right!" Wu Hen braked too hard and almost fell into the ditch. "I've been driving forty miles on the mountain road, and the tires are almost worn out..."
He suddenly stopped talking and stared at the villagers tied up on the ground. "Oh my god, are you guys tying up pigs for the New Year in advance?"
Lin Qiye didn't say anything.
He looked at the blood moon, then at the fishing boats on the horizon, and slowly placed his hand on the hilt of the sword.
Cao Yuan knew that was a sign that he was about to draw his sword.
"Don't do anything yet." Shen Qingzhu tied the last piece of green rope into a knot.
"We've tied it up. First, look at the horizon—the dark patterns on those sails are the same as the ones on Erzhuzi's body."
Lin Qiye's eyes swept over and his pupils shrank slightly.
Wu Hen scratched his head: "So this red moon is a trigger?
Draw out the obsession in the village, and then deal with the dark patterns in the sea..."
"Connected to form a formation." Shen Qingzhu finished for him.
"You're tying us up now because you're afraid we'll be affected by the Red Moon and ruin your plan to break the formation."
Lin Qiye suddenly laughed, a very light laugh: "You guys are good at finding work for yourselves."
He turned to Wu Hen and said, "Go and take down the dagger on the eaves. It's the trigger for the dark patterns on the villagers' bodies."
Wu Hen jumped up to reach for the dagger, muttering, "This broken eaves is taller than my old sow."
Cao Yuan looked at his back, then looked at himself who was tied up - the chains made his wrists hurt, but he had never felt so clear-headed.
The blood moon rose overhead.
The fishing boats on the horizon began to blow their horns, and the sound was like a baby crying.
When Lin Qiye's sword was unsheathed, the moonlight shattered into pieces on the sword, like a handful of red glass shards.
"Here it comes." Shen Qingzhu said softly.
No one knew whether he was talking about a demonic beast or something more troublesome.
But at least now, they were tied tightly.
When Lin Qiye's sword was unsheathed, the light of the blood moon flowed down the sword's spine, as if wrapping the sword with a layer of flowing blood film.
Wu Hen came back holding the short knife, with half a piece of locust bark still hanging from the tip: "What's so special about this broken knife?
Aunt Wang always thinks it is too dull when she cuts pig grass.
"The dark pattern is alive." Lin Qiye used the tip of his sword to pick up the short knife. The blade suddenly trembled violently, and the dark pattern crawled along the blade onto the sword, like a black snake trying to drill into his palm.
"The villagers' obsession feeds them, and the red moon paves a path for them—this knife is the core of the formation."
Wu Hen took a closer look, and the hair on the back of his neck stood up: "Oh my god!
There's a fish scale stuck in the seam of the knife?
Under the moonlight, there was indeed a dark green scale embedded in the notch of the dagger, and the edge was a faint blue, as if it had been poisoned.
Cao Yuan stared at the scales, a taste of rust rising in his throat - the residual soul of the Black King surged in his blood vessels, and he could hear some ancient hissing, like waves crashing on rocks.
"It's the scales of a sea monster." Shen Qingzhu's voice suddenly tightened, and the green rope that bound him cracked.
"Last month, the Demon Suppression Division reported that a fishing boat had gone missing in the East China Sea, and this dark pattern was engraved on the bottom of the boat..."
Before he finished speaking, the fishing boats on the horizon suddenly turned at the same time.
The originally scattered sails were squeezed into a ball, and the dark lines formed a huge vortex. The moonlight flowed down along the vortex, as if an invisible hand was pressing the blood moon into the sea.
Erzhuzi suddenly let out an inhuman howl. He broke the green rope, his nails turning black and gray, and he was grabbing at Aunt Wang who was closest to him.
But Aunt Wang's eyes were also red, and the axe in her hand was stabbing towards his heart.
"Hold!
The green rope is useless! "Bai Li Pangpang rushed over to hug Aunt Wang's waist, but she elbowed him in the stomach, causing him to roll his eyes in pain.
"This evil is even more fierce than before!"
Lin Qiye's sword suddenly burst into red light.
He turned his wrist and the tip of the sword touched the scales of the dagger. The dark pattern instantly retracted into the slit of the knife with a hiss like a snake burned by fire.
Wu Hen took the opportunity to pull out a yellow talisman from his arms and slapped it: "This is the evil-suppressing talisman my grandfather taught me. It doesn't matter if it's a demon or a ghost, just smear it in the face!"
"It's useless." Beads of sweat appeared on Lin Qiye's forehead.
"This is a living formation, we must cut off the source."
He looked out to sea. The fishing boat's horn had become a shrill whistle. "The source is in the sea."
Cao Yuan suddenly coughed violently.
The chains were tightening on his wrists, causing them to bleed, but he could feel the Black King's residual spirit laughing—the laughter mixed with the sound of the waves, making a buzzing sound in his head.
Shen Qingzhu noticed his abnormality, hooked her bound ankles on a rock, and slid over to him: "Hold on, Lao Cao."
"Qiye said that no matter how fierce the Black King is, he is afraid of clean light."
"Clean light?" Wu Hen yelled at the top of his voice. He was hitting Erzhuzi's knees with the demon-suppressing pestle of the Demon Suppression Division.
"Is this pestle of mine clean enough?"
"It's the human heart." Lin Qiye's sword suddenly burst out with a dazzling white light. It was the spiritual energy in his body burning.
"The villagers' obsession is a dark fire that must be extinguished with their own kindness."
He turned to the bound Mrs. Zhang, who was now staring at her wrists, which were red from being tied with green ropes. The madness in her eyes faded a little.
"Mrs. Zhang, did your son send two baskets of sea fish to the village last month?"
Mrs. Zhang was shocked.
She stared at Lin Qiye and suddenly burst into tears: "That brat insisted that the sea fish was fresh, and got up early in the morning to knock on every door..."
Her nails slowly retracted into the flesh, the dark lines like ashes blown away by the wind.
"He said he would take me to live in the city after the rice harvest in the fall..."
Aunt Wang's knife fell to the ground with a clang.
She looked at the blood on Erzhuzi's face and suddenly rushed over to hug him: "Zhu'er, you said the other day that you wanted to weave a grasshopper for me..."
Erzhuzi's nails had also faded. He hugged Aunt Wang tremblingly, as if he was back to the time when he was seven years old and was chased by wild dogs and threw himself into his mother's arms.
The whirlpool in the sea began to loosen.
Lin Qiye's sword shone brightly, dimming the blood moon a bit. "Wu Hen, burn the dagger!"
Wu Hen picked up the short knife and ran towards Aunt Wang's stove, shouting as he ran, "Fat Uncle!
Borrow a light! "Bai Li Pang Pang took out a lighter from his pocket and threw it, hitting Wu Hen's feet.
He cursed "Fatty" and when he bent down to pick it up, the dagger suddenly became so hot that he let go - dark patterns emerged from the slit of the knife and wrapped around his wrist.
"Fuck!" Wu Hen jumped up in pain, and the dark lines on his wrist crawled up his arm like a black snake.
"Nana! This thing bites!"
Lin Qiye's sword slashed across the dark pattern.
The black snake let out a shrill scream, broke into two pieces and fell to the ground, turning into a ball of black mist.
Wu Hen took the opportunity to throw the dagger into the stove. The flames shot up with a "boom". The dark green scales wailed in the fire, which sounded like a baby crying.
The fishing boat on the sea suddenly turned its bow and plunged into the deep sea like mad. The dark patterns on the sails peeled off and fell into the sea without a trace.
The light of the blood moon slowly faded and turned into an ordinary moon, but the edges were still tinged with red, like eyes that had been crying.
Fatty Baili collapsed on the ground, gasping for breath, the green rope scattered all over the floor. "I said Aunt Wang was kind-hearted, and Aunt Zhang gave porridge to the five-guarantee households for three years... This evil thing only picks on the weak."
Cao Yuan felt the blood on the chain and suddenly laughed: "The Black King just told me that after I kill you, I will be able to see the blood moon at its brightest."
He looked up at the moon, which was cool and clear. "But now the moonlight is much brighter than it said."
Lin Qiye sheathed his sword, the scabbard making a soft sound as it hit his leg: "Because the light now is the human heart."
He looked at the villagers who were still wiping each other's tears. Mrs. Zhang was wiping the blood off Aunt Wang's face, and Erzhuzi was squatting beside them picking up an axe.
“No matter how vicious the evil spirit is, it is afraid of the world.”
Wu Hen pulled the remains of the short knife from the stove. The black handle was still covered in dust. "We have to take this thing back to the Demon Suppression Division and let those old scholars study it."
He suddenly moved closer to Cao Yuan and stared at the blood on his wrist. "Hey, Lao Cao, your chain is really tight, isn't it?"
"As long as you can subdue the Black King, that's all." Cao Yuan moved his wrists, and the chains jingled.
“Besides…”
He glanced at Shen Qingzhu, who was helping the villagers untie the green ropes, his face silvered by the moonlight.
“With someone watching, it’s hard to go crazy.”
Shen Qingzhu turned around and threw a handkerchief over: "Don't be so poor."
"Wipe the blood off. Aunt Wang will be bringing the fish soup soon. You told her last time that the fish porridge she cooked was too salty, and she's holding a grudge."
The sound of roosters crowing came from the distance.
It's almost dawn.