Exorcism

Shen Xiuming, who was celebrating his fiftieth birthday, still refused to accept his old age. He didn't miss a drink when he was drinking with the guests. He drank until he was drunk and dragged the strongest young man in the town to wrestle. As you can imagine, he lay on the ground. On the ground, clutching his waist and groaning, the young man apologized red-faced and kept getting slapped on the back of his head by his father.

"Don't blame him, don't blame him." Shen Xiuming reluctantly stood up with the help of everyone, his red face was full of smiles, but he was still grinning a little when he spoke, "It's all my fault, oh, more than ten The injury I suffered in the battle years ago was fine at the time, but now it’s here to trouble me, brat, don’t be proud, when I was as young as you, I could beat ten of you..."

The young man giggled, knowing that Father Shen was going to talk about the Battle of Fuhai City again. He had heard it too many times, so he took the opportunity to interject: "Dad Shen, tell us about Wangshan. I heard that The battle became more intense."

Shen Xiuming's excitement suddenly disappeared, "Oh, don't mention it. I was injured in Fuhai City. It's not a big deal, but the superiors didn't allow me to go to the battlefield again. As a result, I didn't go to Wangshan."

The young man looked up and felt that "above" was a very mysterious place.

"The decree issued by Empress Dowager Ci said that Father Shen has worked hard and achieved great results. He is seriously injured and should no longer participate in battles." The peers among the guests all remembered Shen Xiuming's glorious deeds clearly, and they all cheered him to collect it. Take out the imperial edict.

Shen Xiuming couldn't resist the crowd's objections, so he went back to the house, rummaged through the cabinets, and found the yellowed imperial edict. Holding it in both hands, he returned to the courtyard with a smile. More than a dozen tables of guests all gathered around. Regardless of whether they had seen it or not, they all exclaimed. , reaching out and wanting to touch it but not daring to touch it.

"How many people died in the Battle of Wangshan? I heard that corpses were piled on the ground as far as the eye could see." An old man sighed, with tears in his eyes. He had relatives who died in that war.

"Ten days, the Battle of Wangshan lasted for ten days." The drunkenness on Shen Xiuming's face disappeared, "The fight lasted from the end of October to November. Not only humans died, but also the monsters. That was both sides. The first, and probably the last, alliance. Thanks to that battle, Bingkui was wiped out and there were very few half-demon left. The Holy Talisman Dynasty regained all the territory and expanded a lot, and the world gained another ten years. Taiping, if not for this, we would not be able to rebuild this Yelin Town.

Shen Xiuming glanced around. The yard and houses were all new. They were built less than ten years ago. He returned to Yelin Town, but he could no longer find the memories of his youth. Everything had to be rebuilt on the ruins.

Shen Xiuming suddenly lost interest and felt that he was really old. "I can't do it anymore. You guys keep drinking while I go to sleep for a while. I really can't do it anymore. I think about those days... ugh..."

Shen Xiuming handed the carefully collected imperial edict to a trustworthy old man and turned back to his room.

While appreciating the imperial edict, the guests were still discussing the Battle of Wangshan more than ten years ago, because that battle was full of legend and had a profound impact on the whole world.

"I heard that the human army was almost defeated. In the end, Emperor Ci used a great spell to destroy the entire Wangshan Mountain. The half-demon and Bing Kui were completely defeated..."

"How did I hear that it was not Emperor Ci who destroyed Wangshan, but another person? What was his name? Father Shen used to mention his name a lot, but he doesn't like to say it anymore in the past few years."

"No matter what, it's not easy to live a normal life again."

"But the demons are still running wild in the north, and not all half-demons are dead. The most terrifying thing is that a large number of demons are said to have escaped. They may be hiding somewhere to practice secretly and plan to make a comeback."

"Hey, it's such a happy day, why are you talking about this? Even if the sky falls, it will be supported by the sky above. Let's just farm the land and herd the horses. Come on, keep drinking."

Shen Xiuming was lying on the bed. He could still hear the noise outside at first, but soon fell asleep. He dreamed of the former Yelin Town: the dilapidated bluestone streets, neat houses, boring and busy residents, and the forest. With the rich fragrance of grass and trees, he waved his wicker whip to drive the cattle and sheep, and shouted to his companions in the distance, but they seemed not to hear them, and no one wanted to look back...

Fifty-year-old Shen Xiuming felt extremely aggrieved and almost cried.

He didn't cry, but opened his eyes and found that the corners of his eyes were a little moist, and there were five pairs of dark eyes staring at him beside the bed.

Five little boys, the oldest less than ten years old, covered in dirt, stood side by side in front of the bed, staring straight at their father on the bed.

"What are you doing?" Shen Xiuming still had the depression in his dream, and his tone was not very good.

The kids were unfazed, and one of them shouted, "We dug this up."

Only then did Shen Xiuming see a dirty wooden box placed next to his pillow, staining the bedding. He sighed and sat up slowly. He was always more tolerant towards children.

"Where was it dug out?" Shen Xiuming asked casually. The area of ​​​​New Yelin Town is only half of the old town. The other half is still abandoned and has become an adventure playground for children.

The children opened their eyes wide and thought. One of them hesitantly pointed his finger and said: "West, west."

Shen Xiuming recalled the layout of the old town in his mind, "To the west, that is the old residence of Shen Hao's family, and next to it is the school..."

The wooden box had been opened by the children, and there was a pile of paper inside. It was broken and old, but it was still intact. Shen Xiuming gently brushed the dust off and almost cried when he saw the writing on the first piece of paper. .

That was the name of his younger brother Erliang Shen Xiuwei, his birth date, and his parents' circumstances.

Most of the residents in the town are illiterate, and this box is like a common memory for everyone.

Shen Xiuming's hands were trembling as he carefully flipped through the scraps of paper and saw one name after another. Some were very familiar, and some were very unfamiliar. It was necessary to judge whose name it was based on other circumstances.

Mu Xingqiu, Shen Hao, Mu Songxuan... and Shen Xiuming's own names are among them.

The children looked at each other and felt that their choice was right.

When browsing again, Shen Xiuming discovered something interesting. A certain character in several people's names was drawn with a small light circle. If he hadn't looked carefully, he wouldn't have noticed it at all.

He took out the circled pieces of paper one by one. By coincidence, these names were the ones he was most familiar with.

There are ten in total: Shen Xiu Ming’s Ming, Shen Xiu Wei’s Wei, Shen Hao’s Hao, Shen Tongyou’s You, Mu Xingqiu’s Xing, Mu Songxuan’s Xuan, Mu Feihuang’s Huang, Zhao Dayi’s Da, Guan Jin Wu’s Wu, Qin Lingshuang’s Ling.

Shen Xiuming's emotion turned into surprise. Drawing circles was not special. As a teacher, drawing circles on words was almost a habit. But one thing was really coincidental. These ten people escaped from Yelin Town together. partner.

Mr. Qin deliberately found the box that night and drew circles on the records of these ten teenagers? Shen Xiuming thought it was impossible. His biological daughter had escaped from marriage. How could Mr. Qin, who always loved face, have such leisure?

Was it a circle drawn by someone else? Shen Xiuming felt it was even more impossible. The more he thought about it, the more confused he became. He wanted to put this matter down several times and regard it as a coincidence, but he could never do it. The doubt was like a bug crawling into his ear, and the more he wanted to lure it away. As it comes out, it burrows deeper and deeper inside.

"Take me to the school... where you dug out the box." Shen Xiuming decided to see it with his own eyes.

The five children rushed out to lead the way for Father Shen.

Shen Xiuming put the piece of paper back into the wooden box, tucked it under his arm, and walked out of the room. The guests were drinking happily, and he slipped out quietly along the eaves without being noticed by anyone.

The new town is very small and there are not many residents. Most of them are drinking at Father Shen's house. There are almost no people on the street. The five children run in front, occasionally stopping and turning around, waiting for Father Shen to catch up out of breath.

The houses in the town were all newly built within the past ten years, but they still cannot stop the atmosphere of decay around them: there are still a large number of abandoned houses in the eastern part of the town, which have long been occupied by lush weeds. The new residents once launched a vigorous weeding campaign. As a result, The effect was very little. The weeds seemed to have been enchanted and could grow overnight.

But humans have at least established a foothold here, built houses and roads, and opened up farmland in the wilderness. Everything is still fragile. As long as humans relax for a moment, the weeds will quietly come back. Shen Xiuming understands the difficulty of the task, so he refuses to accept his old age, so he loves and even indulges the children because they are the hope of defeating the wilderness.

The walls of the school have long since collapsed, and the available bricks and wood have been used to build new houses. However, weeds have not completely taken over the place. Naughty children explore this area every day, and traces of excavation can be seen everywhere.

Five children stood on the edge of a deep pit, all with proud smiles on their faces. This was their masterpiece. The pit was several feet deep and was taller than some of the children.

Shen Xiuming was also laughing, but he made up his mind to fill the hole afterwards. It was okay for the children to be naughty, but they could not be harmed.

There were some miscellaneous little things in the pit, all of which were of little value. Shen Xiuming walked around in a circle and couldn't identify which part of the school it belonged to. It seemed that this trip was in vain. He couldn't find any clues and even had doubts. It doesn't make any sense either.

That was a coincidence, Shen Xiuming thought. Mr. Qin just drew a few circles for some inexplicable reason.

But his heart still couldn't regain peace. He looked down at the wooden box and decided to keep it and let others see it later.

Suddenly there was a loud noise in the west of the town. Shen Xiuming was startled and said to the five children: "Go home and don't go out." After saying that, he withdrew his legs and ran towards the road, secretly saying to himself: You are not old, you can still On the battlefield.

The guests who were drinking at Shen's house had already crowded into the street, holding weapons in their hands and shouting: "Is the demon clan attacking? Where is Father Shen?"

Shen Xiuming shouted, caught up, and led the men in the town to run towards the creek to the west.

In the abandoned school, five children did not run home immediately, but stayed by the pit, their eyes widening.

Just when Father Shen turned around and left, a ball of white light appeared at the bottom of the pit.