Extreme Demon

Three days later.

In the afternoon, in a private school in Huangjiazhuang near the iron mine.

I'm leaving, Juanjuan!

A girl with pigtails was carrying a cloth satchel and waved to her friends sitting in the school.

Song Yunjuan sat in her seat and smiled at her.

Go back quickly, your parents will scold you again if it's too late.

knew!

The girl walked briskly and trotted away under the sunset, gradually running away until she could no longer be seen.

Song Yunjuan didn't look away until her friend was completely out of sight, and looked at the empty school. Everyone had left, and she was the only one left in the end.

It's time for me to go back. Song Yunjuan carefully put away the pen, ink and papyrus on the table. He put it into the small satchel he brought, then stood up, patted his butt, and walked out of the school classroom.

Huangjiazhuang looks particularly dim and quiet under the setting sun.

Several women who were chatting by the wall hurried away as soon as they saw Song Yunjuan coming out, as if they didn't even want to look at her again.

There were several seven or eight-year-old boys in the distance who were playing in the mud with runny noses. When they saw Song Yunjuan coming out, they were so frightened that they ran away.

Run! The little disaster star is out!

This way!

Song Yunjuan didn't take it seriously when she saw this. She lowered her head, straightened her small satchel, and walked towards her home.

Huangjiazhuang is not far from her home, only a few miles away. But for a little girl who is only ten years old, this journey is also extremely long.

In fact, her family was doing well a few years ago, and her father, mother, grandparents, and grandparents were all still alive.

But since two years ago, the eldest brother has been obsessed with refining alchemy and cultivating immortality. There are no more annual exams. I spent the whole day at home talking about it and practicing immortality and elixirs. He also squandered his family's money and bought a lot of messy books on immortality and alchemy.

From then on, life started to go wrong.

First, the grandparents went out for an outing one day and never came back. Then came the parents. Before the time came to observe filial piety, they fell off the carriage in an accident and rolled down the cliff.

After that, no one else in the family could control the eldest brother, so he began to make alchemy and cultivate immortality crazily, as if he was possessed by a demon.

Most of the other brothers and sisters left disappointed. Until now, she and her eldest brother were the only two people living in the village. In order to make elixirs, the eldest brother sold all the valuable things in the house. Now the whole village is empty, and even thieves are not willing to patronize it. The servants at home were also dismissed, leaving only the two of them.

Song Yunjuan's fair little face was a little disappointed. She missed her grandpa and her father.

There is also the sweet-scented osmanthus cake made by my mother, which is delicious. She lowered her head and gently wiped her moist eyes, then quickened her pace and hurried home.

Unfortunately, there is nothing now. Fortunately, Mr. Chen in the private school took pity on her family's change and did not kick her out because she didn't pay the money. He still let her stay and listen to the class.

Song Yunjuan tied up her short shoulder-length hair with a straw rope. I walked quickly all the way, and finally arrived at the door of my house just when it was getting dark.

The gate of Songjiazhuang was left open and unlocked. The surrounding area was dark and not popular at all.

Song Yunjuan had long been used to it. She pushed the door open hard, walked in, then locked the door with her backhand, and then lowered the thick door latch.

boom.

After the door was locked, she patted the dust on her hands and turned to look at the courtyard of her home.

The ground was covered with fallen leaves and branches, and the room was dark, with no lights on.

She took advantage of the moonlight and walked towards the side hall.

In the empty and silent courtyard, her footsteps echoed continuously, and her worn-out moccasin boots made a clicking sound on the stone slabs.

Song Yunjuan had long been accustomed to this kind of scene. She quickly walked to the side hall and took a look. It was dark inside, and the moonlight shone on the dining table in the middle. There was nothing on it.

well

She sighed and had no choice but to walk towards her brother's bedroom.

After crossing the stone bridge, she walked to the largest wing on the left and gently opened the door.

squeak.

The harsh sound of wood scraping was extremely noticeable throughout the village.

The room was dark, and Song Yunjuan could only barely see the furnishings inside through the moonlight.

On the left side of the room was a dark corner where nothing could be seen. Through the moonlight, I could faintly see a huge thing placed there.

Song Yunjuan knew that it was her brother's pill furnace.

She looked to the right and saw a few bowls vaguely placed on a square table under the moonlight.

Brother, you are still making elixirs.

After a while of silence.

Well, I just practiced a little bit. A male voice replied from the darkness.

Song Yunjuan walked into the room, fumbled her way to the dining table, fumbled with her chopsticks and prepared to eat.

But after picking up a plate of vegetables, she realized that the food was actually cold. Even if you are not allowed to light the lights at night, now you can't even heat the food? What kind of cold refining method, how can you make an elixir without using fire?

Brother, don't you have any hot food?

Yes, it was made in the morning, and it hasn't had time to heat up yet. A reply came from the darkness.

Song Yunjuan sighed.

But what she couldn't see was that there was no one behind the alchemy furnace in the darkness!

There was no one, so where did that voice come from?

no one knows.

After taking two bites of the dish, she found it hard to swallow. The minced meat in it seemed to be a little rancid, and it didn't look like it had been cooked just in the morning.

I told Chen Meiqin in school today that she will come to my house to play in a few days, brother.

Well, I'm listening. The voice replied.

Can you stay with me at home during the day? Yunjuan whispered.

I want to make an elixir. The voice answered briefly.

Can't you stay with me for a day? Yunjuan's eyes were full of disappointment.

I want to make an elixir. The voice repeated.

Yunjuan fell silent, lowering her head and eating her food silently.

She didn't notice at all that a tall figure silently walked out of the corner of the room and slowly stood behind her.

The figure had a pale face, that of a man, an expressionless face.

He looked down at Yun Juan and slowly stretched out his hand. He was holding a pair of scissors with blood on them.

Bang bang bang!

Suddenly there was a loud knock on the door of the house.

Song Yunjuan stood up immediately.

Who is it? She quickly ran out and came to the gate.

Is anyone here?

We were passing by here for an outing. The road was blocked by rocks at night and we couldn't go back for the time being. We wanted to stay here for the night. A clear man's voice came in, with a hint of gentleness.

Song Yunjuan hesitated for a moment. She and her eldest brother were the only ones in the village now, in case she encountered any bad people.

Little girl, are your adults here? We can pay the money in advance and just borrow it for one night. The man said again. We're not bad people, this is the cost of staying overnight.

Wow.

There was a crisp sound, and a bunch of big money was thrown in through the wall.

Song Yunjuan ran to look at it and picked it up.

Eight large coins, one circle larger than ordinary copper coins, glowed faintly copper-black under the moonlight, and were tied together with black silk thread.

She counted carefully and found that there were eight big coins. Ten big coins were one tael of silver. This man actually had eight big coins when he made a move. It seemed that he was not short of money.

Song Yunjuan hesitated for a moment, thinking that her eldest brother was still at home, so she lifted the door bolt. Struggling to open the door.

Squeak.

The door was open, and standing at the door were three strong young men who looked like martial arts practitioners.

The leader was wearing a Confucian scholar's uniform with gray clothes. He seemed to be a scholar, but even the spacious scholar's robe could not hide this man's strong figure and muscles.

When Song Yunjuan looked at the three of them, her eyes fell on the scabbards they were carrying, and her heart suddenly beat.

Little girl, are you alone at home? Xiaosheng Lu Sheng was passing by here, but he didn't expect that the mountain road collapsed unexpectedly, and he couldn't go back for the time being. Zhuangzi is the safest place in the area. There are high walls to stop wild beasts, so he wanted to come here Let me stay here for one night. The scholar tried hard to sound gentle and kind, but his fierce temperament, strong muscle outline, and the long knife hanging horizontally on his waist all clearly showed that , this person is not a kind person.

My eldest brother is also at home, but he is refining alchemy. If nothing happens, don't disturb him. Song Yunjuan reminded seriously. Also, you can stay here. Please don't light the lamp. My eldest brother doesn't like the light.

How can we do it without lighting up the lamp? Duan Meng'an, who was behind Lu Sheng, couldn't help but muttered.

Song Yunjuan bit her lip, feeling that the three people in front of her did not look like kind-hearted people. She was a little scared and shrank back.

If you want to light a lamp, you should light it where you live. Don't take it out, otherwise my brother will be angry. When he gets angry, he is very scary.

Lu Sheng squinted his eyes and looked inside Zhuangzi. Sure enough, everything was dark. There were obviously many lanterns hung, but there was no light at all.

Okay, let's just light the lamp in our room. Is that okay? He smiled gently at Song Yunjuan.

Song Yunjuan grabbed the big bunch of money. There was really no money left at home. This money was really important to her. Save money, and you will be able to pay for the tuition for the next six months.

come in.

She stepped aside and allowed Lu Sheng and the others to enter.

Bang.

The door was closed and bolted again.

Song Yunjuan led Lu Sheng and the others towards the guest room.

The fallen leaves and branches all over the ground made Song Yunjuan a little embarrassed. Anyone who looked at this dilapidated family situation could tell that the family was in a state of decline.

After sending the three people to three guest rooms respectively, Song Yunjuan wanted to turn around and go back to rest.

Boom, boom, boom.

Suddenly someone knocked on the door again.

I'll go take a look. Song Yunjuan hurried to the gate. As for whether Lu Sheng and the other two were thieves, she wasn't worried. All the valuable things in the house had been sold by her eldest brother. The rest were so dilapidated that even the people who received the goods disliked things that were difficult to move.

Looking at the little girl running out, Lu Sheng looked at the dilapidated courtyard and the gloomy environment.

It's hard for this little guy.

I didn't expect there were people living here. Duan Meng'an felt a little nervous.

Is it strange that there are people living in this village? The other person is Ning San, who was chosen by Lu Sheng to make this trip.

They pretended to be passers-by and planned to carefully investigate the internal situation of Zhuangzi.