Chapter 88 The Missing Tribute
Zhao Yushu was not dreaming.
This is not surprising. After all, the offerings had been sent to the mountain last night, and the matter would be over when the villagers safely descended the mountain at dawn.
Although Lao Zhao still had doubts about the mountain god's demand for tributes and the witch's weird slogans, the shallow knowledge he had learned was only used for running away and fighting, and he was really unprofessional in matters of ghosts and gods.
So Zhao Yushu quietly put a silver ingot on the bed in the morning, and then said goodbye to his father-in-law and prepared to set off.
Then, a shout from a distance shattered all his fantasies: "Something happened!"
Damn, am I possessed by the elementary school student who is the god of death?
A young villager ran all the way into the village, ran quickly to the yard where Zhao Yushu was, and hugged his father-in-law's legs: "Village Chief! Something happened!"
The village chief's face had already changed, but after all, at his age, he was still able to maintain his composure: "Talk properly! What happened?"
"Child, child..."
The village chief was startled. He didn't care that Zhao Yushu hadn't left yet. He grabbed the young villager by the collar and pulled him up. "What's wrong with the child?"
"The child is lost!"
The old village chief's body shook. No matter in any era or place, children are hope. The word "losing a child" is devastating news to all parents.
Zhao Yushu rushed over and supported the old father-in-law who was about to fall, and slowly put him on the ground: "Father-in-law, please calm down first and listen to me first."
Then Zhao Yushu called into the house and asked the old woman to get two bowls of water. He handed one bowl to the terrified young man: "Drink some water first and talk slowly. Have you reported to the police?"
The young man took the bowl of water and drank it all, then looked at Zhao Yushu in doubt, as if hesitating whether to tell this stranger.
"Young master is from Dongdu, tell me quickly!" The old man took a sip of water, took a breath, and urged at the top of his voice.
The young man nodded like a chicken pecking at rice: "We reported it! We found the child missing before dawn, and we searched everywhere but couldn't find him. Brother Erhu went straight to report it to the police. I went home to report the news, and the others are still looking!"
"Don't panic, old man. Maybe he just got lost," Zhao Yushu comforted him softly, but his heart was pounding. Combined with the information he heard yesterday, he suddenly had an ominous thought about the tribute demanded by the mountain god.
"Were you guys in the mountain temple last night?" Zhao Yushu asked
"No, we carried the pig's head and the offerings in. The witch told us to stay with the boys and girls and apologize to the mountain god. She told us to guard outside and not let tigers or bears in."
"Where is the witch now?"
"He was still in the mountain temple. He was dumbfounded and kept asking the mountain god to spare his life. He couldn't say anything else. All four children were gone!"
Zhao Yushu stood up and said, "Father-in-law, I'll go and see if I can help. You lead the way!"
Just as the old man was about to say something, Zhao Yushu patted his sword and smiled at him: "It's okay, I'm also a cultivator, if there's anything, I can be of some use."
Zhao Yushu does not consider himself a saint, but as he comes from an ordinary family and has received higher education in the new era, he has a natural sympathy for the lower classes, not to mention that these are children.
"There is no time to lose. You show me the way and I'll take you!" Zhao Yushu grabbed the young man's belt, activated the Flashing Light, and the two of them turned into a trail of afterimages and rushed out of the village.
"Gods, with the help of gods, it's okay, it's okay." The old village chief wiped his tears and comforted the old woman who was also crying bitterly.
The mountain road was winding, and Zhao Yushu had to let the young man down before they had walked halfway because he was vomiting so violently.
Zhao Yushu felt a little sorry, thinking back to the day when he was flying with Zhang Hong, he vomited all over the place. Now that he had learned the footwork, he forgot his previous cowardly behavior. He really shouldn't have done that.
Old Zhao helped the villager up, and the two of them tried their best to walk up the mountain. Fortunately, in order to worship the mountain god, the village had built a simple mountain road. Although it was a bit slippery after a night of rain, Zhao Yushu had some skills, so it didn't take much time.
The mountain god temple was built on a flat area near the top of the mountain on the village side of the mountain range. It was not very large, just a big house. According to this villager, there were several similar mountain god temples, all of which were built by several nearby villages near their own villages.
The mountain god statue was a clay sculpture, and Zhao Yushu didn't recognize it just by looking at its appearance. At this time, more than a dozen villagers inside and outside the mountain god temple were in a panic, and it was obvious that there was no one in charge.
Zhao Yushu looked at the temple and the statues, and felt that they were a little strange, but he couldn't tell what was strange. It seemed that he had missed something.
"Adan, why did you come back so soon? Didn't I ask you to go find the village chief? Where is the village chief?" A middle-aged man came over, looked at Zhao Yushu suspiciously, and asked.
"I went there, and the village chief asked this immortal to bring me back," the young man called Adan answered stutteringly.
"Immortal?!" The middle-aged man subconsciously took a step back and looked at Zhao Yushu in surprise and doubt.
"Don't talk nonsense. Have you found the child?"
The middle-aged man shook his head and said, "We have searched everywhere nearby, and several skilled people have gone deeper into the mountains to look for him, but we haven't found anyone, nor any traces of wild animals. Immortal, do you think we have really offended the mountain god?"
Zhao Yushu glared at him and said, "Don't say you didn't offend him. Even if you did something to offend him, you can't blame the child. Otherwise, is he still a mountain god? Just call him a mountain ghost!"
"Hey, hey, hey, please keep your voice down. You are an immortal, so naturally you are not afraid of anything." The middle-aged man murmured this. Zhao Yushu couldn't help feeling a little angry, but when he thought that the people in these mountains had relied on the mountains for their livelihood from generation to generation and had a reverence for their patron saint that was no less than that of the emperor, he realized that he had indeed said the wrong thing.
"Where is the witch?" Zhao Yushu looked around but didn't see the witch who had gone crazy as Ah Dan had mentioned.
"One of them ran away without being watched!"
"Ran!?"
Zhao Yushu almost couldn't breathe. Such a big thing happened, and the only witness and initiator of the sacrificial activities was an old witch. How could you, a group of grown men, fail to keep an eye on her?
The middle-aged man was a little embarrassed: "She is stupid, she just kept kneeling there and begging the mountain god to spare her life. She didn't respond when we called her and she didn't stop when we slapped her. We were anxious to find the child, so we left her in the temple by herself. Before you came, we happened to go in and saw that she was gone." Seeing that Zhao Yushu was angry, the middle-aged man hurriedly explained that the monks' deterrent power to them was also terrifying.
After hearing what the middle-aged man said, Zhao Yushu immediately realized something was wrong: "Call the remaining hunters over!"
Soon, several villagers came running over. Because it was a sacrifice, they were not wearing hunting clothes and did not carry bows. They looked like ordinary villagers.
"What do you want, Immortal?"
"Is anyone good at tracking?"
"We go into the mountains all year round, and tracking is our specialty."
Zhao Yushu waved his hand and said, "Follow me into the temple, and you can see where the witch ran from."
Everyone walked into the mountain temple, and the hunters quickly began to look for traces left by the witch, running back and forth in and out of the temple from time to time, while Zhao Yushu circled around the statue.
Although Yu Shu had lost his memory, he also took the time to look at the mechanism himself. The first thing he wanted to confirm was whether there were any secret passages here.
"Master, we found it," a voice sounded from behind. Zhao Yushu turned around and saw a hunter frowning, "We looked around. It rained last night, so she must have left footprints. However, these footprints are wrong!"