amaotonovel Chapter 287 When the Furnace Beast is Burning
Chapter 287 When the Furnace Beast is Burning
Chapter 287 When the Furnace Beast is Burning
The others were still immersed in the memory of surviving the disaster, and many were crying bitterly with mixed feelings of sorrow and joy. Only Yuan Louzi was wandering alone like a lonely ghost.
Jiang Wen followed behind Yuan Louzi and saw that instead of the joy of escaping death, his eyes looked extremely empty and as if he had already put life and death aside - this state was even more different from that of the villagers nearby.
"It's not good..."
After a major setback, Yuan Louzi could no longer rely on natural vitality to recover. Instead, he suppressed his emotions instead of seeking change. This was not a true way of getting rid of his obsession.
To put it bluntly, people must have obsessions to live. Once they lose their obsessions and thoughts, they will often feel that death is better than life after weighing the pros and cons. Absolute rationality will replace the desire to survive, and the state will naturally be extremely dangerous.
Seeing Yuan Louzi's expression becoming more and more confused and his muttering becoming more and more confusing, Jiang Wen hurriedly called over a few young and strong men who were relatively sober and asked them to support the staggering Yuan Louzi on the left and right.
"You guys, come over and give me a hand!"
In view of the force Jiang Wen had demonstrated earlier, the young men naturally did not dare to disobey. They rushed forward and lifted Yuan Louzi up, and asked timidly, "Master, what are you going to do?"
Jiang Wen looked at Yuan Louzi seriously and explained in detail: "This senior may have a disease called amnesia. The medical book "Xizhuo of the Origin and Development of Miscellaneous Diseases" says that this disease causes many nightmares and sleeplessness. If it is not treated at this time, I am afraid his life will be in danger."
When the young men saw that Yuan Louzi's eyes were indeed blurry and his expression was dazed, as if he was out of his body, they hurriedly asked, "It is indeed so! Hero, is there any way to treat him?"
"If you want to cure it completely, you must use the Thirteen Ghost Gate Needles. Unfortunately, I have never learned it, so I dare not try it easily."
Jiang Wen ordered several people to set up Yuanlouzi and not to let go. Then he smiled confidently: "It doesn't matter. I have learned some medical treatment methods from the West. It's easy to cure this amnesia."
Afterwards, Jiang Wen recited a magical spell that always worked, picked up a thick wooden stick from the side, and hit Yuan Louzi on the head with it.
"Collapse!"
"Clap-"
It might be because Jiang Wen hadn't used it for too long and inevitably couldn't control the strength well, the wooden stick actually broke in the middle with a snap, and Yuan Louzi, who had the stick on his head, was spinning in place in a daze, and he didn't fall down. Instead, a red gas rose from his neck to the top of his head, and veins on his skin were visibly bulging.
Several young and strong men quickly held Yuan Louzi firmly. The old Taoist priest was completely awake due to the sudden attack. He covered his head with one hand and pointed at Jiang Wen with the other. His eyes were bloodshot and almost bursting. His fingers were trembling and he couldn't utter a word.
Jiang Wen quickly threw the half-remaining wooden stick far away, and said quickly: "Senior, how do you feel now? Are you more sober?" He signaled with his eyes that the young and strong men should hold on tightly, so as not to let the old Taoist priest break free from the shackles and run over to chase him.
Maybe the force of the stick was too great, Yuan Louzi was forcibly supported to the side to rest. Jiang Wen also quickly slipped away to organize the young and strong men who could still move, and first went to the sheds left by the criminals to find some drinking water and food to fill their stomachs.
In order to control the captive mountain people, these criminals basically did not give them food or water. They could only survive on the wild grass and rainwater beside the wooden prison. If this continued, several of them would die suddenly from excessive joy.
After a while, the situation in Pengxi was finally under control. The mountain people took the initiative to drag the remains of the criminals to a centralized place to prevent the spread of the plague. At the same time, they collected the weapons scattered on the ground, and everyone, regardless of gender or age, held one, as if only in this way could they gain some sense of security for a short time.
Jiang Wen used his true Qi to heal Yuan Louzi's injuries and illness. The relationship between the two eased a little, and they were finally able to sit down and chat.
Yuan Louzi touched his still swollen and painful head, and was shocked by Jiang Wen's miraculous method of healing with true qi. He said with lingering fear: "No wonder Junior Brother Yuan Hua asked me to keep an eye on you in the letter. You really dare to kill me..."
Jiang Wen chuckled and said, "Master Yuanhua, you are too kind. I am not as powerful as he says."
Yuan Louzi said angrily: "I am not praising you!"
Jiang Wen continued to laugh and said, "I just took it as a compliment."
Jiang Wen stood up and looked around. Seeing that the situation had basically calmed down, he asked Yuan Louzi more questions.
"Senior, what on earth happened to you this time that caused you to be trapped here?"
Yuan Louzi sighed deeply and recounted his experience.
Yuan Louzi had always loved to seek immortals and visit secluded places. When he was young, he had explored many ancient tombs and ruins. If Li Zicheng and Sun Chuanting had not fought in Shaanxi, he would have almost found the entrance to the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang.
However, in recent years, he suddenly became interested in ancient swords and began to wander around various famous smelting cities and mountains, trying to find the whereabouts of many precious swords. This time, he found a clue at the old site of a prison in Feng County, Yuzhang, and turned to Zhanlu Mountain in Fujian to search for treasures.
However, what he did not expect was that in this deep forest that should have been abandoned long ago, there was such a group of vicious criminals lurking. Not only did they kill people like grass, they were also proficient in the art of battle and ambush. Yuan Louzi originally thought it was just an ordinary visit, and he naturally fell into the trap and was surrounded by the criminals. The only disciple he accepted was so strong-willed that he was attacked by the criminals with poison arrows, lime and other insidious tricks, and finally died heroically in battle.
Yuan Louzi was completely desperate and wanted to die, so he was locked up with the mountain people. In addition to being driven as a slave every day, one person was taken away every few days and no one was ever seen coming back since then.
"This group of people is really inhumane!"
Yuan Louzi said this with resentment. Although he was old, he was still very strong, so he could not fall down even after being hit by a stick. From his horizontal training skills, it can be seen that he practiced a lot when he was young.
Jiang Wen also agreed, "Indeed. I think there is something wrong with this group of people. There may be something fishy going on. It is not just cruelty, but a disregard for life."
What Jiang Wen was referring to was naturally the identities and origins of this group of criminals.
At the beginning, Jiang Wen almost concluded that these people were the Japanese pirates scattered along the coast in the mountains. After all, Onoda Hiroo, the "last devil" in World War II, managed to hold on for more than 20 years before surrendering. It was normal for such a situation to occur in ancient times when information was not well developed.
But soon, Jiang Wen discovered another suspicious point.
For example, these people suspected of being Japanese pirates could indeed understand Japanese, and their language and culture were very different from those of the people nearby. But logically, the Japanese pirates should have been basically pacified as early as the Jiajing period, which was nearly a hundred years ago.
Even if according to historical records, the Japanese pirates appeared for the last time and invaded the coast of Fujian in July 1624 (the fourth year of the Tianqi reign) and there was no trace of them since then, these people should have been isolated from the world for thirty or forty years. They may not be much younger than Yuan Louzi. How could they still be young and strong, and even form a well-organized army?
More importantly, at that time, the average height of people in Japan was only 157cm, but the people who had fought with Jiang Wen with swords before were not necessarily much shorter than him. This was also extremely suspicious and could only be explained by the record in "History of Ming Dynasty·Japanese Biography" that "probably one-third of them were real Japanese pirates". These people were originally fishermen and pirates along the coast, who made trouble in the name of Japanese pirates, and then were surrounded and suppressed by Qi's army and fled, and then hid in the mountains so far away from the sea.
You should know that the Wuyishan area where Songxi County is located, according to local archival documents, is "mountainous and rugged", "obstructed by rocks, gullies and streams", and "rich in lead mines and timber". As the government of the three provinces "originally came from Qin and Yue and did not conspire with each other", there were mixed refugees in the area, which were "coveted by thieves". The poor had no way to make a living, so they turned to "stealing mines to make a living", and the area became a huge ruling gap.
Jiang Wen speculated that it was among these people that they gradually formed their own independent system. They communicated with each other in Japanese and made a living by murdering passers-by. At the same time, they absorbed other refugees to join them, which led to the formation of such a settlement scale.
Otherwise, if there were no old, weak, women or children in such a wetland, but only young and strong people, it could only be explained by "artificial selection"...
Although this inference is outrageous, it can barely explain the reason for the formation of this place. After Jiang Wen put forward these guesses, Yuan Louzi nodded slowly, but also put forward his own speculation.
"I see that these people's iron smelting skills are not very sophisticated. I'm afraid they are paper trough workers who sneaked into the forbidden mountain."
Yuan Louzi said that in the late Ming Dynasty, the papermaking industry flourished in Guangxin Prefecture, Jiangxi Province, and a large number of papermakers gathered near the closed boundary to engage in bamboo planting and paper production. At the beginning, it was found that there were no less than 30 paper mill households in the Shitang Paper Mill in Qianshan, and each household had no less than 2,000 helpers. These people begged for alms during the day and traveled across the country at night. Many of them were scattered in the hilly area at the foot of Mount Wuyi.
"Senior, why do you think these people should be trough workers instead of miners?"
Hearing Jiang Wen's question, Yuan Louzi slowly stood up, first took the hammer held by the young man beside him, and handed it to Jiang Wen.
"Take a closer look."
Jiang Wen took the hammer and felt that it looked as good as new, still shining brightly and chillingly. However, when he looked at it from such a close distance, he found that the hammer seemed to be even older than he had imagined. There were countless potholes and dents on it, as if it had experienced thousands of battles and remained until now.
"Didn't you want to ask me earlier where the other people who were arrested went? Come with me to the back of Pengxi and take a look."
With the help of two young men, Yuan Louzi slowly stood up and took Jiang Wen to a deep cave behind the tree-shaded canopy - he had explored here in the dark at the beginning, and revealed his whereabouts due to a moment of shock.
The mine looked spacious and neat in appearance, reinforced with wooden supports. It was still chilly and chilling after so many years. But when a few people stepped into it, the young and strong man who was supporting Yuan Louzi vomited uncontrollably and was so horrified that he could not walk.
"Everyone is here..."
"Book of Jin·Biography of Foreign Relatives·Yang Xiu" records: "Xiu was extravagant by nature, and his spending was unrestrained. He made charcoal crumbs and mixed them into the shapes of animals to warm wine, and the rich and powerful in Luoyang all competed to imitate him." It means that in ancient times there was a kind of animal charcoal, which was charcoal made into the shapes of animals. It was very hot and looked like a ferocious beast with its mouth open and attacking people. However, this charcoal was made of nothing more than crushed charcoal crumbs and mixed with other things.
But what they saw at this time was a blood-stained sword-testing ground on one side, with bamboo and wood racks built on top for stacking corpses, and human remains scattered on the ground in layers, and on the other side, there were huge lumps of charcoal shaped like kneeling people, all of them seemed to have been stripped of their clothes, with their eyes wide open and their mouths open, as if they had suffered great pain and torture.
Part of their bodies had completely turned into a black, gray, hard coal-like state, while the other part retained some soft human features, but was shriveled and withered like tree bark. The naked eye could discern slight traces of the transformation.
Jiang Wen was stunned. What kind of ghost cave was this that he had found? There was such a horrifying "human charcoal" in the world!
When people outside the cave heard the screams, some of them also walked into the mine. Soon they found their relatives and friends whose lives and deaths were previously unknown among the "human charcoal" arranged in rows and filled with miserable conditions.
Yuan Louzi said slowly, "In addition to testing the quality of swords on humans, the criminals also feed some kind of drugs to living people, which makes these poor people unable to speak and see. In the daily torture, they are turned from human to charcoal, and finally thrown into the furnace by them to forge the swords they want..."
Jiang Wen now realized that his previous expectations were too conservative. He only thought that these suspected Japanese pirates were using human beings as sacrifices to swords, but he did not expect that they had actually found a more bizarre "human charcoal" method to use living people to refine swords.
But ordinary ores can be shaped by high-temperature forging. Why do these people accumulate and use so much "human charcoal", but the weapons in their hands are still weathered weapons, and they have not created many magical weapons that can rival the Zhanlu Sword and the Zhanshe Sword?
Jiang Wen looked deep into the cave, knowing that all the truth must be hidden inside, but Yuan Louzi nervously stopped Jiang Wen and warned him in a firm tone.
"Don't go in there, there are man-eating demons in here!"
Jiang Wen turned his head and saw Yuan Louzi's hair and beard were all standing up with a look of shock. He was not joking at all. He also found that the shallow and deep footprints on the ground were slowly spreading to the depths of the cave. Then, the blood, body parts and mud on the ground were all swallowed up by a deep darkness. There was no sound anymore...
I sat up in shock from my dying illness, and the King of Hell praised me for my good health!
(End of this chapter)