fairy family

Chapter 53: Human heads and ghosts, tragic elimination (4k words, please subscribe!)
Yu Quechu was among the first group to enter the pass. He walked forward, his eyes scanning the blast furnaces, and soon his eyes fell in front of a blast furnace in the center.

This blast furnace is octagonal in shape, 33 feet high, with holes on all four sides, imprinted with runes and sculpted with ghost faces, like a large alchemy furnace.

There was a roaring sound coming from the furnace, and there was a strong and sturdy man standing on the blast furnace with his hands on his chest and his chest and abdomen exposed.

The other party squinted at the candidates entering the customs and immediately shouted:
"I am Lu Tiehua, responsible for supervising your martial arts examination. Don't dawdle and come forward immediately to listen to my orders!"

The man's voice was rough, like the friction between metal and stone, and the buzzing sound gave people a feeling of iron-blooded bravery.

Yu Que and others did not dare to be negligent and gathered around Lu Tiehua.

Some candidates who wanted to please the other party smiled flatteringly and bowed and shouted: "Junior greets the teacher!"

"Teacher, you have such a strong body! You are truly a great man."

However, amid the buzz at the scene, Lu Tiehua looked displeased and snorted coldly.

With a bang, everyone at the scene looked horrified.

They felt their hearts suddenly beat in their chests and they felt dizzy and had to keep their mouths shut for fear of vomiting on the spot.

Lu Tiehua waved his hand, banged the blast furnace behind him, and shouted:

"Without further ado, today's martial arts exam will test your courage and carefulness.

There are thirty-six molten iron blast furnaces in the field, and each furnace is burning with molten iron, enough to rot flesh and burn bones. And the content of your assessment is to each take three ghost chestnuts, melt them with molten iron, and take out the flesh.

The flesh of the ghost chestnut is the ration for the next level, which is also the final level. Only those who can obtain three ghost chestnuts are qualified to offer sacrifices to ghosts and gods!"

After briefly speaking, the other party shouted again: "Do you understand?"

Its sound buzzed around the scene.

The six or seven hundred people felt their heads buzzing again, and many of them complained in their hearts: "Damn it, can't you just talk properly? Is it possible that listening to you and being scolded by you is also part of the test content?"

But everyone, including Yu Que, looked solemn and responded in a low voice: "Yes!"

"Ruzi can be taught."

Lu Tiehua pointed at a few piles of things in the field and shouted, "Begin the exam!"

Yu Que looked up and suddenly discovered that the mountain of things were pitch black and did not look like chestnuts at all, but rather rotten and twisted human heads.

These heads were in strange shapes, stacked up in the shape of a Jingguan, and they stared at the candidates present with their eyes open as if they were dead.

When everyone came to the human head memorial, they did not dare to take action for a moment. Instead, they looked at him with surprise and suspicion, their eyes constantly jumping between the examiner Lu Tiehua and the human head memorial, and they seemed to be hesitant to speak.

But the examiner Lu Tiehua sneered as he patrolled the central blast furnace, walked left and right, and watched the scene without wanting to explain the meaning of a single word.

Yu Que stared at a human head in front of him. He waited for a moment, and seeing that the people around him did not dare to move and frowned, he wanted to be cautious and try to take out a human head to have a look.

But just as he was about to take action, Qian Huazhen, who was beside him, saw what was happening, suddenly turned around and stopped him with his eyes.

Yu Que raised his eyelids slightly, wisely stopped his action, and continued to work in the same place.

Dozens of breaths passed, and the people around saw that Yu Que, who had the highest literary talent, continued to work hard and did not take any action.

Finally, someone couldn't help it and stepped forward, cursing: "You're afraid of a dead head, and you still want to take the county school entrance exam!"

But immediately afterwards, a scream of pain rang out from this person's mouth.

Click, click, click!
As soon as the other party's finger reached out to the human heads, the heads suddenly opened their teeth and one of them bit the man's finger.

The other person howled miserably, retreated quickly, and rolled on the ground. After shaking for a long time, he finally shook the head off.

When everyone looked again, they saw that the arm that was bitten was almost half gray, as if it had been poisoned.

At the same time, screams were heard in front of several other piles of human heads, and it was obvious that someone had been bitten as well.

All of a sudden, the candidates were whispering to each other and talking a lot.

Yu Que seemed to be thinking about something and looked up at Qian Huazhen beside him.

Qian Huazhen looked at the heads and sighed, "Sure enough, this thing is the rumored human head ghost chestnut!"

Seeing Yu Que's puzzled look, he immediately leaned towards Yu Que with a smug look on his face and explained in a low voice:
"This thing is a kind of evil wood spirit that can strangle living things and cause harm to all directions. The bodies of all dead people, whether livestock or animals, will be used as fertilizer, and their heads will be hung up.

If you crack open the skull, you will find that there is no flesh and blood inside, but only fruit pulp. This flesh is poisonous to humans, but to ghosts and gods, it is a very sweet offering. If it is properly processed and concentrated, it is golden in color and tastes as sweet as chestnuts, so it is called "human head ghost chestnut."

Qian Huazhen said with a sigh:
"There are so many ghost chestnuts in the field, and each one is a human head, not an animal head. I guess some farm has been struck by evil spirits, and the examiners took them back after eradicating the evil tree."

Yu Que listened and couldn't help but praise him: "Brother Qian is really knowledgeable. I have never seen this kind of ghost food in books."

Hearing this, Qian Huazhen looked even more proud, and said modestly: "Thank you very much. I didn't write it in the book because I was afraid that if people knew about it, they would take the initiative to plant this human head ghost chestnut. It's normal that I don't know."

The fellow patted himself on the shoulder and said, "But with me here, you and I can seize the initiative today..."

But the next moment, Qian Huazhen paused, he suddenly raised his head and looked behind and to his left and right.

Suddenly, cries of "Aiya" were heard.

Behind the two men, five or six people suddenly fell backwards and fell to the ground.

It turned out that while Qian Huazhen was muttering, the other confused candidates around him all raised their heads, stood on tiptoe, held their breath, and gathered around the two of them to listen.

Qian Huazhen suddenly turned around and scared the other person.

These examinees quickly got up from the ground, bowed to Qian Huazhen with a dry laugh, and then looked at the human-headed ghosts happily, thinking about how to start.

Qian Huazhen's face suddenly fell, realizing that he was too proud just now and even forgot to pull Yu Que to the corner to talk.

Yu Que didn't feel sorry when he saw this scene.

He laughed dumbly and bowed to Qian Huazhen: "The opportunity is gone. It seems that Brother Qian and I have to work harder."

As soon as he finished speaking, Yu Que's eyes focused, and he quickly stretched out his hands and took out two chestnuts from the pile of human heads and ghost chestnuts.

White hairs appeared on his hands, surrounded by gray air. He pinched the human-headed ghost Li's teeth with each hand, one by one, as if pinching a crab, to prevent him from being bitten, and then he took the initiative to hand one to Qian Huazhen.

Also.

Qian Huazhen was not the only one at the scene who knew the origin of the ghost chestnut. There were people who knew it more completely than Qian Huazhen.

The entire examination room began to fall into chaos, with candidates rushing to grab the human head.

Because although there are many of these things, their number does not seem to be as many as the candidates.

And each candidate requested three ghost chestnuts, who knows how many ghost chestnuts can pop out of a human head ghost chestnut. So everyone naturally had a lot of fun scrambling for them.

Instantly, screams were heard everywhere.

Many people were bitten by the human-headed ghost chestnut in a hurry, and were poisoned and fell to the ground.

Upon seeing this, examiner Lu Tiehua showed sarcasm on his face and immediately shouted at him.

The bailiffs from all around came forward and quickly dragged him out of the examination room to prevent him from dying in the room.

Those who were dragged out refused to believe it and shouted, "I still have another hand, why are you kicking me out of the examination room?"

"Third brother, you are fucking hurting me!" "A bunch of trash." Lu Tiehua taunted mercilessly:

"You can get bitten even when you pick up a chestnut. You are clumsy and weak. Eliminate."

In addition, he would wander around the venue from time to time, and when he saw a gray-haired candidate standing awkwardly in front of the human-headed ghost chestnut, he wanted to catch him but didn't dare to.

The examiner Lu Tiehua took a few glances, then stretched out his hand impatiently, picked up the white-haired candidate, handed him over to the yamen runners, and drove them out of the examination room together.

The white-haired candidate shouted, "Young man, I haven't even started yet, how dare you eliminate me?"

Lu Tiehua's face was filled with impatience, and he scolded: "You are already old, your flesh is sour and your bones are old, why are you still trying to take the martial arts exam? You are tired of living."

No matter how much the white-haired candidates cried for their parents, this man remained indifferent and coldly expelled them one by one.

When this person passed by Yu Que and Qian Huazhen, even though they were agile and well versed in concoction techniques, they were not white-haired candidates.

They both looked a little nervous, worried that the other party would find a reason to eliminate them.

Fortunately, Lu Tiehua's gaze only swept over them and then continued to look at other candidates.

At this time.

Yu Que had already climbed onto a blast furnace, carrying a ghost chestnut. However, when he looked at the molten iron in the furnace, he frowned and did not start roasting the chestnuts immediately.

"Although the examiner surnamed Lu hinted that the chestnuts should be roasted with molten iron when he announced the question, the hint was too simple. Are there any other tricks?"

His worries were not unfounded, because the next moment, screams were heard from the blast furnaces around him.

Ahhhhh!
Someone anxiously threw the ghost chestnut into the molten iron. The head actually jumped up, carrying the molten iron, and bit the candidate's body.

Some people were even bitten on the face, their skin was immediately torn apart, and they fainted, not knowing whether they were dead or alive.

Yu Que was shocked when he saw this: "Sure enough, roasting chestnuts is not an easy task."

In addition, someone saw a ghost chestnut flying out and kicked it immediately, kicking the chestnut into the molten iron, but a cloud of burnt smoke rose up immediately. The other person lay on the stove and used tongs to dig around, but found nothing.

Soon, the scene was filled with smoke and screams of pain.

The military examination had been in progress for more than half an hour, but no one had managed to fish in troubled waters and gain anything from the molten iron.

On the contrary, nearly one-third of the candidates present have been eliminated.

Almost everyone who left was injured, and some fell into the molten iron and were almost burned to charcoal.

Such a scene made Yu Que feel horrified.

Moreover, both he and Qian Huazhen had tried carefully, but both failed, and only fished out a ball of pitch-black meat residue from the molten iron.

All of a sudden.

The atmosphere on the field was becoming more and more anxious, and no one knew the correct way to take advantage of the situation.

But at this moment, bursts of exclamations suddenly broke out in front of an iron furnace.

Yu Que and Qian Huazhen looked up and saw a group of people gathered on a blast furnace. There was a strong candidate with his upper body naked, holding a chestnut in his hand, and throwing it into the molten iron confidently.

Whenever a ghost chestnut jumped out of the molten iron with a scream, the man would raise a ladle, pick up the human-headed ghost chestnut, throw it into an iron bucket beside him, soak it in oil, and then pinch it and continue to throw it into the molten iron in the blast furnace.

After repeating this process over and over again, the ghost chestnut became shiny and its skin and flesh fell off at a speed visible to the naked eye, revealing the yellowed bones. It turned into a skull and the surface began to crack.

Examiner Lu Tiehua was also standing nearby, watching with interest.

With this candidate's reminder, Yu Que and Qian Huazhen looked at each other.

They were both members of the Alchemist Guild, and their eyes showed some understanding:

"No wonder there is kerosene next to the iron stove. I thought it was used to start the fire and increase the temperature. It turns out that kerosene is used to seal the heat and cool the outer shell!"

Yu Que had tried it just now, but he heated it up by frying it instead of cooling it down, so he didn't get the right method.

"It seems that my cultivation experience is still shallow, and I need to work harder." He thought to himself, reflecting secretly.

On the side, Qian Huazhen looked at the candidate with surprise on his face, muttering: "This person's skills are so sophisticated, he looks like a veteran alchemist. How come I haven't seen him in the guild? Is there someone in the guild that I don't know..."

Yu Que raised his head upon hearing that, his eyes also showed a strange look, because he recognized the man at the first sight.

This person was none other than the apprentice Fang Mulian, the partner he met in the ghost shop.

This person has mastered the skill of frying fried ghosts. Even though Yu Que is now a ninth-rank refiner with spiritual awareness, he cannot guarantee that he can be as experienced and skilled as this person when frying ghosts.

"Good good!"

Near the blast furnace where Fang Mulian was, the candidates kept cheering:
"Thank you!", "Thank you for your guidance!"

The others were not fools either. Although most of them had never been exposed to the art of refining, with Fang Mulian's demonstration in front of them, they could imitate it.

Amid the cheers of the crowd, Fang Mulian's body was covered in sweat and steam.

His face was even redder and his spirits were high, as if he had drunk strong liquor and was extremely excited.

The cheers from the crowd increased his confidence and made him look resolute. In his heart, he kept saying, "Mother! Master! I am not a waste, not a waste."

Crackling!

Soon, Fang Mulian finished processing a ghost chestnut, and a bunch of glittering golden things fell into the molten iron with a plop.

His face was filled with joy. He observed the temperature of the fire for a while, then quickly wiped his hands, and without using the tongs, he soaked his hands carefully in the kerosene.

The man reached into the molten iron with his bare hands and carefully picked up the chestnuts that had been roasted in the molten iron.

Kerosene burns when exposed to heat.

It enveloped Fang Mulian's upper body, turning him into half a fire man. The sound was terrifying, but the man was not afraid at all and was unharmed.

When everyone at the scene saw this, they immediately started buzzing with discussion.

Some of them even had their eyes shining, and immediately shouted, "Brother, roast more and sell them to me! Ten thousand dollars per piece."

These words immediately attracted the attention of many people. They glanced at the examiner Lu Tiehua and found that although he frowned, he did not scold the person who was bidding the price. So they all started bidding the price.

Qian Huazhen, who was beside Yu Que, also had a bright look in his eyes and shouted from a distance:

"Thirty thousand, Qian will give you thirty thousand coins for each one!"

This guy also wants to spend money to buy it.

Yu Que did not join in the fun. With Fang Mulian's demonstration, he had already completely understood the trick of getting chestnuts from the fire and recovering gold from molten iron.

"It turns out that when you fish out ghost chestnuts from molten iron, you have to use flesh and blood to fish them out. Otherwise, if you use fire tongs, the metal element is too strong to suppress ghosts, and the ghost chestnut's energy will quickly burn and turn into charcoal."

Yu Que's eyes were filled with hesitation, and he pondered over it again and again.

He immediately took a human head ghost chestnut and a bucket of kerosene, went up to a blast furnace and started frying.

(End of this chapter)