Start practicing from Mr. Fox

Chapter 129 The Witch's Evil Deeds
"How can there be two different kinds of stones?"

Chen Ji opened his palm, revealing two stones in his hand, one clearly bluish-green and the other whitish.

"This is……"

The speaker paused, then suddenly realized something.

"I remember now, this should be the stone mill in the village!"

"Tell me in detail."

The burly man hurriedly explained to Chen Ji.

"This stone mill has been used in the village for almost three cycles of sixty years. The villagers have always used it to grind wheat. The wheat that is ground is white and fragrant, and it tastes good no matter what you cook with it."

"But a few years ago, someone saw lightning strike the millstone, and red stones fell off."

“At that time, the village invited a shaman to come and see. She said that the stone mill was struck by lightning and was a punishment from heaven, which was unlucky, so it could not be left. So it was smashed into pieces and the shaman was asked to exorcise the evil spirit. After that, it was piled up in the quarry and no longer dealt with.”

"When the road was being paved, someone must have been too lazy to break the stones, so they brought these stones over instead."

"When the master asked me just now, I realized that this stone should be from the old millstone."

He glared angrily and said.

"If I find out which guy is so lazy that he caused the villagers to fall and suffer, I'll skin him alive!"

Chen Ji ignored those words, only nodding slightly as if deep in thought, remembering what he had said earlier.

"What is the background of that sorceress?"

"She's an old woman from a nearby village. She has some skills, and people from the surrounding villages who need to choose auspicious dates for weddings and funerals will go to her."

"Does it have a bad reputation?"

"I didn't know that. I'm not married yet, so I haven't contacted her."

The burly man replied.

Chen Ji was taken aback upon hearing this, then burst into laughter.

"Fellow Daoist, you are indeed enviable."

"Please don't tease me, I'm still single at my age, what's there to envy?"

The burly man shook his head, his face full of helplessness.

Chen Ji smiled slightly.

"Although I am unmarried, at least no one in my family has passed away. Isn't that something to be happy about?"

The burly man was taken aback, but after thinking for a moment, he chuckled sheepishly.

“What you say is indeed true. My parents are still alive, and even my grandfather is still alive. It is truly a blessing.”

"Alright, you focus on recovering. I'll go ask around to see what's going on."

Chen Ji walked over to the yamen runners as he spoke.

"Master Chen, have you discovered anything?"

Zheng Yuan cupped his hands and asked.

"I should know what's going on."

Zheng Yuan's eyes widened in disbelief.

They had only been there for less than a quarter of an hour, yet Chen Ji already knew what kind of demon was causing the trouble.

No wonder he's an even more powerful master than the Taoist priests of Qingfeng Temple.

The old man hurriedly bowed and asked in a trembling voice what kind of demon it was.

"Stone mill."

"Stone mill?"

The constables were astonished, never expecting that it was a stone mill demon causing trouble.

They all looked down at what they were holding.

Ordinary demons and ghosts can be fought, but what about a stone mill?
Let alone becoming a demon, even if it hadn't, it wouldn't be able to do anything with a big hammer, let alone these things in its hands.

So he sheathed the ghost-head knife behind his back, stuffed the blood-soaked rope into his bag, and put the books that the academy had brought him aside without any further agitation.

The old man, however, pointed behind the crowd with trembling hands and cried out in alarm.

"What? That millstone is a monster?"

The constables looked over and were horrified.

Sure enough, there was a large blue stone mill on the ground, and the millstone frame next to it was shiny with oil, indicating that it had been used for many years.

The things I had just put away were now taken out again and placed in front of me, as a form of comfort.

"It's not that."

Chen Ji shook his head and said slowly.

"That was an ordinary graphite; the one that became a demon should be the previous one."

Zheng Yuan raised an eyebrow, looking quite puzzled.

"How could a stone mill transformed into a demon trip a passerby?"

"They've already smashed it and laid it on the road; those are the broken stones."

"Although the stone mill demon's physical form is shattered, its resentment should still remain."

“It was difficult to cause trouble when it was piled up there before. Now that it’s placed underfoot, it’s perfect for playing tricks on people when they walk by. Once someone falls down, they can roll into the potholes in the road and no one will notice.”

"No wonder it's so!"

After Chen Ji's explanation, everyone suddenly understood.

The villagers now understood all the problems they had encountered.

"What should Master Chen do now?"

Zheng Yuan asked earnestly.

"Although this millstone demon doesn't harm people, we can't let it run rampant, lest it actually hurt someone or become too ferocious."

"nature."

Chen Ji nodded and looked at them.

“I just looked at these stones. The millstone monster is not in the village right now. There is only residual demonic energy on them. It must have gone somewhere else and will return later.”

"Since you won't have any problems while you're inside, you can all go inside and hide. Zheng Gong and I will wait for you on the road."

"I do not go!"

Unexpectedly, the old man became furious upon hearing this and refused Chen Ji's arrangement.

"If what the Taoist priest says is true, then I will not leave."

"We should stay and confront him clearly. Back then, my ancestors collected stones from the mountain and carried them back to carve them into millstones. Did we ever mistreat him?"

"Over the years, the villagers have treated it well. Since it was made, they have cleaned it carefully before each autumn harvest, and people also set out food to worship it during festivals."

"Although he can't compare to the gods and immortals in the temple, he's almost as powerful as the Kitchen God during the New Year festival. Now that he's turning into an evil spirit, why is he still trying to harm people!"

"Ok?"

Chen Ji's eyes flickered as he listened to the words.

"What did you just say, old man? That this millstone was made by your ancestors?"

"Exactly."

The old man nodded.

"Then the old man must know something else."

Chen Ji thought for a moment and then asked the question.

"I just heard that a sorceress in the village once had someone smash the millstone. You should know more about this, sir, right?"

"really."

The old man thought hard for a moment, then nodded and slowly began to recount this story.

It was roughly the same as what the burly man had told me, but with many more details.

“Back then, there were no millstones in the village, so my ancestors found someone to go up the mountain to collect stones and make a large millstone specifically for processing grain.”

"Because it was too big, it was always placed at the entrance of the village. After the wheat harvest, several people in the village would come together to use it, grind the flour, and then divide it equally."

"When I was a child, I used to play hide-and-seek with the villagers around this stone mill. I could feel a sense of familiarity with this stone mill back then."

"I stopped playing with it when I got older; I only used it for grinding flour."

"It's strange, but the flour ground by this millstone tastes better than ordinary flour, and you never get any stone fragments in it. In fact, during years of famine, if you burn a few sticks of incense, you can get half a bag of flour and bean flour, which is enough to keep you alive."

"At the time, the villagers only said it was the gods' blessing. Since then, they have held a sacrifice at the village entrance every year and would also put a bowl of food in front of the stone mill."

Chen Ji listened with an increasingly strange look in his eyes.

The villagers didn't know, but Chen Ji understood that this must have been the work of the stone mill demon.

This kind of stone mill cannot be considered evil in any way.

Based solely on the fact that the villagers saved lives during a disaster year, they should have erected a monument and built a temple. How could things have come to this?

It seems the key is still that fortune teller.

So Chen Ji asked the old man if he knew anything about the sorceress.

"Of course I know."

The old man nodded.

“That old woman isn’t from our town; she’s from Fenshan Town. She’s said to be able to see through the yin and yang, and she’s very accurate at calculating the time of day for ancestral graves, so many people seek her out.”

“If someone encounters evil spirits while out and about, there are people who specifically seek her out to handle it.”

Is it Fenshan Town again?

Chen Ji pondered for a moment, then nodded slightly without changing his expression.

However, you can't really hear the difference like that; you still need to ask more clearly.

"Old man, do you still remember what the sorceress said about the stone mill?" "Let me think, it's been several years. I'm getting old, my memory isn't what it used to be."

The old man frowned in deep thought, then suddenly relaxed his brows.

“Master, I remember now. The sorceress said that this stone mill absorbs the essence of heaven and earth, the spiritual energy of the five grains, and the life force of people.”

"Every time he grinds grain, he is grinding his own soul into his body. He absorbs people's souls to become a demon."

"They told us that the stone mill would soon become a demon, and might even take several lives with it, so we should deal with it as soon as possible."

"So you just smashed it?"

Zheng Yuan looked on coldly.

He never imagined that anyone would treat such a life-saving millstone in this way.

"of course not."

The old man shook his head.

"Although this sorceress has some reputation, this stone mill has been in our village for so many years. How could it suddenly be smashed just because of her?"

"Then why did it still break in the end?"

Zheng Yuan asked.

The old man's expression was complicated. After a long while, he slowly sighed.

"Because something really strange happened afterward, but not many people know about it."

"what?"

“A child in the village hid behind a stone mill while playing hide-and-seek. When he was found, he was already trapped and dead inside the mill. The villagers searched the area many times, but they couldn’t find him at all.”

"Moreover, some people saw that when others approached the millstone, mist would rise outside, which was completely unlike an ordinary millstone."

"Afterwards, the villagers invited the sorceress to check the situation again. She said that this was a millstone that had turned into a demon. The children who died earlier were taken by the millstone to be eaten as food for its cultivation. If it was not dealt with, it would eat two more children."

"Only then did someone agree to her suggestion to destroy the millstone."

"Anyone actually believe that?"

Zheng Yuan scoffed.

The old man shook his head helplessly.

"You have to believe in something, otherwise this world is too difficult."

Chen Ji didn't know how to respond, so he simply remained silent, paused for a moment, and then asked the key question directly.

"Who smashed that?"

The old man gave a bitter smile.

"No one smashed it; the stone broke on its own."

After saying that, seeing the puzzled looks on Chen Ji's and the others' faces, he sighed.

"I remember it was a sunny day. I was thinking about where to go to collect stones when the weather suddenly changed."

"In the blink of an eye, the clear sky turned into dark clouds, and there was even a flash of thunder."

"Then everyone in the village saw several bolts of lightning strike down, hitting the stone mill directly and shattering it into several small pieces."

"Back then, some brave people even went to see it. The stone mill was mottled and pitted, completely different from before."

"The sorceress said this was a divine lightning exorcism. The demon is now half-dead, with most of its soul gone. It's just that it's too attached to the village and refuses to leave, so she has to deal with it a little more."

"How was it handled?"

Chen Ji asked.

"The sorceress drew a talisman on the pile of stones and said that it must not be removed for less than a year. With this talisman, the remnant soul of the stone mill demon can be suppressed and it cannot cause any trouble."

"Unfortunately, some mischievous children accidentally tore it off and then re-attached it, which may be when the problem occurred."

"I see. Where is the talisman now?"

"Here I am."

Before they knew it, the burly man who had spoken earlier squeezed in to listen to them, holding a talisman in his hand.

Chen Ji looked at the talisman and recognized that its main function was to erase memories.

He frowned, now 90% certain that the one truly committing evil deeds was this sorceress.

All this effort was just to capture this stone mill demon alive.

However, something went wrong in the middle, and the stone mill demon escaped.

That's why things are like this now.

Moreover, he suspected that the sorceress was not the mastermind behind it all, and that there must be someone else watching the stone mill demon.

After all, the methods used were very similar to what happened to the Copper Toad Demon.

The only difference is the lightning.

Even if it was a lightning strike, it must have been a spell obtained from who-knows-where, otherwise even a demon could not have done such a thing.

It seems I still need to go and ask the stone mill demon and the sorceress in person to find out what's going on.

He paused, then looked at Zheng Yuan and the others again.

"I already know about it. You two should get some rest."

"I'll keep watch on the streets tonight and ask the stone mill demon for details when he comes."

"This……"

The old man sighed.

"It's really indebted to the Taoist priest to keep watch for us, so I, with my old bones, will stay with him as well."

"Need not."

Chen Ji waved his hand, saying frankly that they were not strong enough, and that he should go and rest so as not to have to be distracted by protecting them.

The group felt awkward, but they knew it was the truth. So, before it got too late, they bowed, thanked them, and took their leave.

The old man quickly returned and brought a food box, which was slowly filled with a lot of food.

"The villagers gave it to the Taoist priest because they were worried that he would go hungry if he didn't eat."

"Have a heart."

Chen Ji accepted the gifts, watched the old man leave again, and then rode the wind upwards to use his geomancy to examine the layout of the village.

It wasn't as trapped as Tongshan Village, but when I asked the old man, the location of these piles of rubble was quite peculiar.

It perfectly aligns with the dilemma of the Eight Trigrams.

No one knew where the stone mill demon hid during the day, as it could not be found even in the air.

So he slowly descended, and decided to pour himself a drink and eat to his heart's content.

Soon, the sun set and night fell.

The distant chirping of insects could be heard, and the villagers, following Chen Ji's instructions, turned off their lights and went to bed early.

Even the constables who were waiting in the nearby courtyard for a chance to help fell asleep.

Chen Ji was absorbing the five elements when he suddenly sensed something. He opened his eyes and saw small stones slowly rolling on the ground.

Although they were pebbles, they were exceptionally light and made no sound as they rolled on the stone pavement.

It's just like a bundle of grass.

"coming!"

Chen Ji's eyes flickered, and he used his Qi Observation Technique to stare at the rolling pebble.

Sure enough, tiny shadows shimmered on these small stones.

"Search for Qi!"

Chen Ji used the same technique he had used to find the Iron Pot Demon, and an arrow slowly appeared in the air, pointing into the distance.

Chen Ji then lightly stepped on the wind, following the direction in which the pebbles rolled, and tracked the aura all the way.

Finally, they stopped at the village entrance, at the place where they had asked the question earlier. In front of them was the brand-new stone mill, but a faint spirit appeared on it.

He was staring at the situation in the village with a puzzled look on his face.

"Wait, why is no one here?"

"Wasn't there someone else just now? Where did they go?"

Just as he was muttering to himself, he suddenly heard a voice behind him.

"Fellow Daoist, are you looking for me?"

"Hiss, what are you doing here!"

The stone mill demon was startled and jumped up with a cry.

Thousands of small stones flew from behind him in an instant, heading straight for Chen Ji's face.

Chen Ji raised an eyebrow and said, "Impressive skill."

The stone mill demon appeared surprised, but it was all an act. If it were someone with a slower reaction time, this one move would have allowed the stone to launch a successful sneak attack.

With so many stones coming at you, even a tough-skinned demon would find it unbearable, let alone an ordinary cultivator.

However, Chen Ji was prepared and shouted loudly while holding a magic seal in his hand.

"The wind is coming!"

"call!"

In an instant, wind and fire arrived.

The wind fueled the fire, and the fire intensified the wind; two tornadoes, one red and one white, trapped the stone mill demon.

"A Taoist priest?"

The stone mill demon was taken aback, then its expression changed and it roared angrily.

"Even a Taoist priest must help the Blood Demon commit evil!"

(End of this chapter)