Yin Shou Shu

Chapter 222 Ancient Wizard

The atmosphere around the campfire was somewhat tense.

Mo Li was furious at Ran Qing for violating the taboos of the spirit mediums and trading with monsters in the mountains, but the chanting in the night wind continued, and the simple soul banner waved beside the campfire.

Seeing this, Mo Li glared at Ran Qing a few times, but then said nothing more.

Next, Ran Qing attracted three more wandering ghosts, which were then dragged away by the mountain demon.

As the last wandering soul was dragged into the dark forest, the pale skull from before was thrown out by the mountain demon and rolled to Ran Qing's feet.

Ran Qing shone her flashlight into the woods and saw the mandrill, dressed in human skin, limping away, carrying the wandering soul in its mouth.

Previously in Longchang Street, this mountain demon attempted to ambush Ran Qing but was severely injured by the Six Ghosts Summoning Yin Technique.

Now that it has completed the transaction, it has run away so quickly, showing no intention of seeking revenge against Ran Qing.

Long Zongshu was surprised: "This mandrill is quite clever, very intelligent..."

For a wild animal, this mandrill is remarkably intelligent.

Ran Qing watched the mountain demon disappear into the forest, then slowly shook her head: "These kinds of mountain evil spirits that have grown in power are all very clever..."

Monsters like mandrills and shamans that disguise themselves as living people are relatively easy to deal with, since they are not large in size and can be fought by those with some skill in unorthodox practices.

The novel "The Legend of Sister Erjie Exorcising Demons" mentions that there is a huge beast in Tibet called the Tibetan Horse Bear, which is similar to the Mountain Demon Transformation Woman, but its danger level is far greater than that of the Mountain Demon Transformation Woman.

The Tibetan macaque is clever and cunning, and has a penchant for eating people. Some Tibetan macaques, when they become sentient, can speak human language and make distress calls in the forest to lure people to their deaths. Although the Tibetan macaque is large and cannot disguise itself as a human, it can use its scent to create a kind of hallucinogenic effect, confusing people's senses. People may see a Tibetan macaque from a distance and mistake it for one of their own kind, only to realize it's a bear when it's too late to escape.

When the group of the Second Auntie were caught off guard, they encountered a Tibetan bear that was two or three meters tall and as tall as a house. Even the Tibetan lamas with spiritual cultivation were torn in two.

The book "Witchcraft and Spiritual Arts" even contains techniques to drive away the Tibetan bear. It is clear that such a monster existed in the deep mountains of Zangke in the past, but it disappeared with the changing times.

Ran Qing could only be thankful that it was gone.

The Zangke region is already chaotic enough; if there were also powerful and terrifying monsters like the Tibetan bear, the wilderness would be even more dangerous.

After watching the mandrill leave and confirming that the brutal and eerie monster had completely disappeared, Ran Qing squatted down and began to examine the pale skull beside the campfire.

This is a human skull that has been gnawed on by mandrills many times, and there are many teeth marks and bite marks on the skull.

The smooth, rounded skull had no trace of skin or flesh remaining.

It also lacks the dull luster commonly found in skulls.

The skull was completely smooth and deathly white.

When the flashlight was shone on the skull, it even reflected light.

Its translucent and lustrous texture doesn't resemble bone at all; rather, the more you look at it, the more it resembles…

"Jade?" Long Zongshu squatted down and stared at it for a while, then widened his eyes in surprise: "Could this be a jade carving of a mannequin head?"

All three were young, under eighteen years old, and had little experience in the underworld.

But you can also tell that something is wrong with this skull. After all, you may not have seen a human skull, but you must have gnawed on animal bones, right?

I hadn't looked closely before and didn't notice anything wrong with the skull; I just thought it was too clean and too smooth.

Now, crouching by the firelight and examining it closely, I discovered the unusual nature of this skull.

Ran Qing squatted down and stared for a long time, but her expression gradually became serious and confused.

“…This is the head of an ancient sorcerer,” Ran Qing recognized the unusual skull and recalled the records in the book “Witchcraft and Spiritual Arts.” But recognizing the skull’s origin only deepened Ran Qing’s confusion.

In the primitive era of Zangke, a thousand or two thousand years ago, those uncivilized tribes and ethnic groups in the mountains and forests all had their own shamans and priests.

These shamans and priests not only divine good and bad fortune, but also heal the wounded and sick, and exorcise evil spirits that invade the village from the mountains.

Legend has it that priests in barbaric times would concoct spirits to eat and nourish themselves. Sometimes, they even used live human sacrifices.

Priests and sorcerers who use ancient evil arts to enhance themselves will gradually undergo physical changes as they age.

Their bones will become as clear as jade, their flesh will emit a strange fragrance, their consciousness will gradually become blurred and confused, and they will begin to hear eerie whispers that others cannot hear.

Some priests and wizards become more powerful as a result, but many others gradually go mad, eventually disappearing without a trace on a stormy, dark night with thunder and lightning, screaming as they run into the deep mountains and forests.

After Ran Qing finished explaining the origin of the skull, Long Zongshu and Xiao Mianhua were both very surprised.

"Could it be that the mandrill dug up the corpse of an old wizard from deep in the mountains?"

If anyone is most familiar with the dark and primitive deep forests of Zangke, it is undoubtedly the mandrill, the evil spirit that roams the mountains.

Even for Long Zongshu and his clan, those remote, sparsely populated deep mountains and forests were dangerous places.

But those places are the lair of evil creatures like mountain demons and demonic beings.

Mo Li sat by the fire, looking at the strange skull, and frowned as he asked, "What's the use of this skull? This old woman went to such lengths, breaking taboos and trading with evil spirits, to exchange for this skull. Surely she didn't just take it home to collect?"

Mo Li asked her question.

Long Zongshu and Xiao Mianhua also looked at Ran Qing curiously: "Yeah, what's the purpose of this skull?"

Faced with the three people's questions, Ran Qing remained silent.

He silently opened the book "Witchcraft and Spiritual Arts" and quickly turned to the page that recorded the skull of an ancient wizard, which he carefully read twice.

Finally, Ran Qing closed the book, confirming that she hadn't misremembered: "This thing is useless..."

Ran Qing looked down at the skull on the ground, her eyes filled with even more confusion.

"If I had to say, it only has one use, which is to make tea with it."

"The cleaned ancient shaman's skull, when filled with water, will turn into sweet sugar water that you can drink..."

Ran Qing looked at the three of them silently and said, "In ancient times when sugar and salt were scarce, this stuff was quite useful."

Sometimes it can even be used as a prop to show off or pretend to be a deity in front of others.

But in an era when a dime could buy three fruit candies and children's mouths were full of cavities, the skull had very limited use.

If you want to drink sweet soup, one saccharin tablet can make a big bowl of it. Who would use a dead person's bone to make sweet soup?

Aunt Liu was willing to break the taboos of spirit mediums and make a deal with evil spirits for such a thing?
Long Zongshu was somewhat bewildered: "Could it be that the mandrill is lying to us? Was this not what Aunt Liu asked it to trade before?"

Long Zongshu put forward this conjecture.

Mo Li glanced at it and snorted coldly, "It's not impossible."

Mo Li was clearly in a bad mood; the usually optimistic and cheerful girl was speaking in a very harsh tone.

(End of this chapter)