For thirty years, he has roamed the Northeast, his divine might overwhelming all immortals under hea

Huang Dalang was also quite surprised.

The rat spirit actually died right under his nose.

Clearly, someone with even greater spiritual power ended his life.

My eyes searched the surroundings, looking for someone or something that could kill the rat spirit without anyone noticing. I felt that person was nearby.

"Stop looking at Thirteen, he's already gone!"

"Thirteen, this rat spirit is dead. With his cultivation level, there should be treasure inside him."

"The treasure you're talking about is......"

"That's right, it's a demon core."

"This stuff only grows to the size of a grain of rice once every hundred years; it's the essence of the product and a rare tonic."

"Moreover, carrying it on your person can ward off evil spirits, and crushing it into water can cure diseases."

But seeing a rat the size of a month-old pig lying at my feet, I really had no intention of taking its demon core.

After all, I loathe this stuff and find it really hard to do.

Huang Dalang could tell that I was disgusted from the bottom of my heart, so he jumped onto the rat spirit.

"Honestly, such good stuff, and you're not taking it?"

Huang Dalang shook his head and, right before my eyes, ripped open the rat demon's belly and crawled inside.

I really didn't expect him to do this.

But less than three seconds later, Huang Dalang popped out again.

"Thirteen, I have a bad feeling."

Huang Dalang's words left me completely confused, and I had a bad feeling about what he meant.

"No, what's wrong?"

"There's no demon core."

"what?"

"If there's no demon, then there's only one possibility: it was taken away by someone!"

Huang Dalang was very serious.

But what they said confused me.

"It's been taken! Who's so powerful as to steal the rat demon's core?"

"I don't know, but it's probably the person he was talking about."

It was able to take away the rat spirit's inner core and kill it right under my and Huang Dalang's noses without anyone noticing. That rat spirit had a hundred years of cultivation.

I suddenly remembered.

"Brother Dalang, if the demon core is gone, can the demon still live?"

"No, that's what I'm also wondering about."

"However, there is only one explanation at the moment: the person the rat spirit mentioned took the rat spirit's demon core and then controlled the rat spirit through other means."

"What? Zhujiakan actually has such a powerful person?"

"No, no, no."

Huang Dalang shook his head.

"I have cultivated here for a hundred years and have never seen such a person. Moreover, judging from the appearance of the demon core in the rat demon's body, it should have been taken not long ago, at most two days."

"Forget it, let's get out of here quickly. This matter is strange, and we need to think it over carefully."

I nodded.

They hurried into the village under the cover of night.

Because I happened to be coming back from the west, I turned to the side.

I went to take a look at Brother Sanlv.

But as soon as we got near the construction site, we could hear noises coming from inside.

The heavy snoring sound was like a symphony unique to the countryside, playing in the quiet night.

Just as I was about to walk home, my body suddenly froze.

Wait a minute, Li Ergou dug up the ground of the dilapidated temple. Although I sealed it off, if he wants to build a factory, he will definitely need to dig a foundation.

I rushed to the construction site.

After several days of work, the dilapidated temple had long since disappeared, and the place I had sealed off was nowhere to be found.

Moreover, the foundation was dug at least 5 meters deep.

After digging so deep, it turns out the thing under the dilapidated temple didn't react at all?

That's at least five meters deep.

How deep did Li Ergou dig? Could it be that Li Ergou dug even deeper?

I stood beside the unexcavated foundation, my brow furrowed.

None of this seems to make sense.

But the more this is the case, the more I feel that I must have missed something.

And what we've missed is the key to solving all the problems.

Just then, I felt someone approaching from behind.

I turned around abruptly, and the flashlight was instantly raised.

"Who?"

"Thirteen, why aren't you sleeping at home in the middle of the night? Why are you here?"

As soon as I heard the voice, I laughed.

"Brother Sanlu, I was worried about you, so I came to check on you! You seem to be doing pretty well."

"No, this alcohol is too strong. I woke up because I needed to pee. I saw a light over here and wondered who it was that was up so late at night."

"Alright, Brother Sanlu, since you have nothing else to do, I'll head home."

"Hurry back, look at the time."

"Okay, you should get some rest too."

I left the construction site with my flashlight.

I can't quite put my finger on it, but I just feel like there's something wrong with this construction site.

But I can't quite put my finger on what the problem is.

When I got to my doorstep, I saw that the lights inside were still on.

My parents are still awake.

Why am I so sure?

The main reason is not just our family, but all the villagers in Zhujiakan go to bed very early so they can turn on the lights less and save money.

"Father, Mother, I'm back."

Before I pushed the door open, I made a sound.

"Thirteen's back! Is Sanlv alright?"

"It's alright, Brother Sanlv is in good condition."

"Dad, don't persuade people to drink next time. What if they get sick from drinking?"

"That's right, Dad. Look, even Thirteen said the same thing. You should listen to his advice."

My father didn't respond to my mother at all, as if what my mother said had never been said.

"Go to sleep, it's getting late."

As my father spoke, he turned off the light.

I went back to my room, and as soon as I took off my clothes, my dad started snoring.

"Why………"

I sighed, lay down on the kang (a heated brick bed), and gazed at the stars outside the window.

I don't know when I fell asleep...

…………

When I opened my eyes, I was all alone in my house.

I naturally went to the kitchen, lifted the pot lid, and as expected, there was rice that my mother had left for me inside.

One egg, and a bowl of cornmeal porridge.

egg.

This rare item is now something I can enjoy freely.

But I know that my mother still saved up the eggs to take to the county town to sell and earn some money.

After breakfast, I went to the main room to offer incense.

After the incense sticks were placed in the incense burner, I sat quietly in front of the memorial tablet.

Soon, the two immortals, Liu Ruoyun and Huang Dalang, took their seats.

I can clearly feel their presence.

"Thirteen, thirteen."

I had originally planned to take advantage of this quiet time to talk to Liu Ruoyun and Huang Dalang.

But as soon as the sound came, my mother's shouts came from outside.

"Hey, I'm here."

I walked out of the house, and my mother's face lit up with a smile.

"Thirteen, Sanlu really keeps his word, he really made your father the supervisor."

"It seems our family is headed towards becoming a ten-thousand-yuan household."

As my mother spoke, she carried the pork into the house.

"Mother, this meat..."

"Oh, Teacher Wang from elementary school slaughtered a pig. I was thinking of buying some to help you replenish your body with oil and fat."

"Slaughtering a pig? Why would Teacher Wang slaughter a pig when it's neither a holiday nor a festival?"

"I didn't ask. They're government employees."

"Slaughtering a pig is nothing, right?"

I didn't say anything, but why slaughter a pig when it's neither a holiday nor a festival? I haven't heard of any happy occasion.

Both of them know what Teacher Wang looks like.

Although he was a government employee, he was rather stingy, or rather miserly.

My own children only get to eat candy during the Lunar New Year; otherwise, we don't even need to worry about it and try to save money wherever we can.

But this sudden slaughter of the pig...

As the old saying goes, something unusual must be going on.

I decided to go and take a look anyway.

Teacher Wang's home is right across from the village primary school.

Three mud-brick houses

His house was surrounded by people at this time.

After all, slaughtering a pig when it's not a holiday or festival makes everyone want to join in the fun.

"Thirteen's here, perfect timing! Stay for dinner. Look at this pig, so fat, the stew will smell amazing."

"No, Teacher Wang, I've already eaten at home. My mom told me that your family slaughtered a pig, so I came over to see if there's anything I can help with."

I didn't ask directly why the pig was slaughtered, but instead made some polite conversation first.

I am not very familiar with Teacher Wang.

I never went to school back then because I was stupid.

I didn't have much interaction with Teacher Wang. In my impression, apart from being a bit stingy, Teacher Wang seemed to have no other problems.

You can't blame him for that. These days, even we ourselves are reluctant to eat good things, so how could we possibly give them to outsiders?

"Teacher Wang, why are you slaughtering a pig at this time of year? Is there some happy occasion in your family?"

If I remember correctly, Teacher Wang's daughter is around 20 years old, which is the age when rural girls should be getting married.

"No, it's right here. I heard this pig grunting in its pen when I woke up this morning. I went over to check and found it lying on the ground convulsing."

"I figured this pig might have gotten sick. If it died, the blood wouldn't be drained completely, so I decided to bleed it while it was still alive and just killed it."

"Oh, is that so?"

"Come on, Thirteen, come inside. There's nothing much to do here. Let's eat something together."

"No, no, now that I'm done with everything, I'll be going."

Faced with Teacher Wang's enthusiasm, all I can think about now is going home and telling my mother that it's better not to eat this meat.

"Thirteen, I have other people here, so I won't see you off."

"It's nothing, Teacher Wang, you're busy."

After saying goodbye to Teacher Wang, I hurried home.

Just as I was about to reach my doorstep, I ran into Brother Sanlv coming towards me.

"Thirteen, what are you doing? You look pretty anxious."

"Brother Sanlu, it's alright."

"Thirteen, it's perfect to run into you. I have something to ask you."

"What's up?"

Brother Sanlu looked left and right.

It's all made to seem mysterious.

Seeing that there was no one else around, he leaned close to my ear.

Do you know Wang Xiulian?

Upon hearing the name Wang Xiulian, my body stiffened instantly.

How could I not recognize her? She was engaged to me when we were children, even though she's already broken off the engagement.

"I know him, what's up, Brother Sanlv?"

"That's great to know her. Tell me about her family situation."

"Well, I really don't know the specifics, but judging from how Wang Xiulian's father talks, he should be someone with some savings."

I was telling the truth. I was naive before and had no idea about Xiulian's family situation.

This judgment was entirely due to Old Wang's behavior a few days ago.

"Oh, I see. Okay, Thirteen, I have something to do, so I'll go first. I'll come to your house to find you later."

I waved to Brother Sanlu, who was walking away in a hurry, clearly because he had something to do.

"Mother, I'm back."

"I think we shouldn't eat that meat. Teacher Wang said that the pig bled itself this morning because he was afraid it would get sick and die, so he bled it first."

"You silly child, even if this pig is sick, it's been bled dry, so it'll be fine."

"Besides, have you ever seen anyone throw away a pig? In previous years, all the chickens, ducks, geese, dogs, and pigs that died of disease were picked up and eaten, so what's wrong with anyone else?"

My mother was clearly reluctant to throw away the pork.

They started talking about things from a few years ago.

Indeed, what my mother said is true.

But there really wasn't much to eat back then, because the livestock that died from the plague were all cooked and eaten.

Back then, meat was extremely scarce.

"Mom, I think we shouldn't eat this. I think there's something wrong with this pig."

"The pigs have a problem? What problem could a pig possibly have?"

"I can't really explain it, but I just feel like something's wrong."

My mother looked at me, then at the pork on the cutting board, which was about to be cut, and remained silent for a long time.

Her eyes told me.

It's such a waste to throw away such a big piece of pork.

"Mom, don't worry about it. We can buy more. Your son is very capable now, why would we have to worry about not having meat to eat?"

Fearing that my mother would ultimately be reluctant to part with the meat, I went straight up to her and took it from her.

"Thirteen, it would be such a shame to lose this, how about...?"

"Mother, I know, but I feel there's something wrong with this meat."

My mother eventually watched as I took the meat outside.

Just then, two dogs came by, one black and one yellow.

It's a real shame to throw this away if people don't eat it, so let's feed it to the dog. It's better for the dog to eat it than to throw it away.

After consoling himself for a moment, he tossed the pork to the two dogs.

One piece of meat, two dogs.

This will inevitably lead to a battle.

Just as I expected, the two dogs started fighting.

However, they seemed evenly matched, and in the end, each bit one end of the meat, tearing it in half.

Seeing this, I also became interested.

"Hey, these two dogs are actually quite interesting."

"Thirteen, if I'm not mistaken, dogs eat meat?"

My dad is back. In the past few days, under Brother Sanlv's arrangement, my dad has gone from being a laborer to a foreman.

She looks much better.

"Yes, Dad, this meat was bought from Teacher Wang's family. I felt something was wrong, so I fed it to the dog. Anyway, the dog can eat it and that's fine, it's better than throwing it away."

"That's true, that's true."

My father didn't say anything more, but walked into the yard.

But I could sense that my dad still felt he couldn't understand my behavior.

Just then, Teacher Wang ran towards me carrying a child.

"Thirteen, thirteen, quick, save this child!"

I turned my head and saw Teacher Wang holding a child who looked to be about ten years old.

I've never seen him before, so he probably isn't a child from Zhujiakan.

Dark circles under the eyes and on the sides of the nose.

It looks like they've been poisoned.

"What's wrong, Teacher Wang?"

"I don't know either. We just slaughtered a pig at home, and this was just cooked. The child insisted on eating it, so I cut off a small piece for him."

"The child fainted right after eating. Look what happened!"

"Teacher Wang, don't worry, let me take a look first."