At this time, it was nearly dusk, and the two walked into the village along the ridge, wanting to find someone to spend the night. The village is not very large, there are only about seventy or eighty households. When the two of them came to a house with an unclosed door, they could see an old man busy inside. Yang Yan said at the door: "Old man, how are you!"

When the old man heard someone call him, he put down his work, looked at the two of them, and saw that they were not locals, and said, "This is the little brother, do you have anything to do?"

Yang Yan said: "In the next surname Wan, our brother and sister are passing by here, we want to go to Yongzhou City, it is late, I want to spend the night here with you, I must give money when I leave tomorrow, I don't know if it is inconvenient."

The old man listened and said with a smile: "This is what the little brother said, who can carry the house on his back for those who are away from home. What else do you say and don't give money. It just so happens that my two sons have gone to the city to run errands, and you two can live in their rooms. As long as we don't think our countrymen's house is dirty, we can stay, right?"

Yang Yan said: "Then thank you for your old man, your old surname?"

The old man said: "Your little brother is polite, what kind of surname do we countrymen have, this village is called Qijia Village, most of the people in the village are surnamed Qi, and my old man is also surnamed Qi. Don't stand still at the door, come in."

So Qi Laohan let the two into the house and beckoned the two to sit down. At this time, I found the two little tigers in Xin Huan's arms, and I couldn't help but be stunned, and said: "Little girl, what are you holding, how does my old man look like a tiger." ”

Yang Yan nodded and said: "Yes, we came from the bushes in the mountains, and we met them on the way, my little sister liked them, so I took them away, but fortunately I didn't meet the big tiger." Do you have anything here that they can eat right now? ”

When Qi Laohan heard that they were coming from the mountains and forests, he couldn't help but change his face, leaned in front of Yang Yan, and said in a low voice: "Little Brother Wan, you came from the mountains and forests, did you see any monsters on the road?"

Yang Yan knew that he moved, and immediately thought of the big python he saw by the waterhole, and before he could speak, Xin Huan said: "Yes, yes, we saw a big python by the waterhole, you often live here, have you seen it, is it a monster?" ”

Qi Laohan's face suddenly turned pale, and he hurriedly waved his hand to Xin Huan and said, "Little girl, don't say it again, that's the python god." As he spoke, he looked left and right, as if the python would suddenly come out, and as if he was afraid of overheard, and whispered, "Then did it see you?" ”

Xin Huan was just about to speak, Yang Yan hurriedly said: "No, no, we just saw such a big python from a distance, and then it disappeared into the pool, we thought it was dazzling, but now it seems to be true." As soon as he mentioned the giant python, he scared the old man Qi into such a look, and when he called the python "Python God", he knew that there must be something here, so he lied and didn't mention the confrontation between himself and the python.

Old Man Qi let out a long sigh of relief and said, "Thank God, you weren't discovered by the python god. ”

Xin Huan couldn't help but be curious, and asked, "Why do you call it the Python God?" ”

Old Man Qi was about to speak, when he suddenly heard a noise outside the door. The three of them looked out. Five or six village novices were driving a person with a hoe, sickle and other things in their hands, and among them there was an old man in his fifties, who said, "Get out, get out of here, don't come to our Qijia village again, and don't say that you have been here." The man who had been driven away was carrying a hat, his face could not be seen clearly, he was dressed in a green cloth, but he carried a long sword with a sheath on his back, and he looked back as he walked.

When Yang Yan and Xin Huan saw each other, they both felt that this small mountain village was actually full of weirdness.

Xin Huan wanted to ask again, but Yang Yan secretly waved his hand to her, signaling her not to speak, and to ask Old Man Qi himself. Xin Huan is also clever, and goes to the side to tease the little tiger to play.

Yang Yan said: "Old man, what's going on, why did Gong want to drive that person away." ”

Old Man Qi sighed, looked at the long knife that Yang Yan was carrying behind his back, and said, "Young people now, they think that they can run rampant in the world with a few martial arts, but they actually want to kill the python god, isn't that going to find death?" ”

Yang Yan said: "Is the python god you always said the same python we saw?" ”

Qi Laohan said: "Who else is it not?" That's not an ordinary python, it's a thousand-year-old python! ”

Yang Yanzhi never believed in any ghosts or anything like that, but thinking of what the world these mountain people had seen, it was understandable to regard such a rare giant python as a thousand thousand pythons, and he didn't say anything, and said: "Then when did it exist, and why do you call it the python god?" ”

Qi Laohan sighed again and said, "That's a long story, we didn't have a python god here." It was about three years ago, and it suddenly came down here with a group of men, and in less than a month, it ate dozens of people in a row. Later, more than a dozen villages in our vicinity joined together and rounded up twice, but they were injured more than a dozen people. Later, the subordinates of the python god went to each village to spread the word, asking the twenty or so villages around us to pay tribute to them every month, so as not to harm us. We had nothing else to do, so we had to agree. Fortunately, since paying them tribute, the python god has not been harassing the village in any way. ”

Yang Yan said: "The python god still has subordinates? Can his subordinates still talk, and are they also pythons? ”

Qi Laohan shook his head and said: "No, only the python god is a big python, but his subordinates are also monsters, all of them have blue faces and fangs, indigo faces and red eyebrows, and some of them have horns on their heads!" ”

Yang Yan nodded and said, "Then did you want to pay tribute to the python god, or did his subordinates say it?" ”

Qi Laohan said: "Of course, it's its subordinates, how can this kind of thing be said by the Python God himself!" ”

Yang Yan said: "In this way, the people who can speak are actually the subordinates of the python god, have you ever heard the python god speak with your own ears?"

Hearing Yang Yan's question, Qi Laohan frowned and thought carefully for a while before he said, "Little Brother Wan, I only remembered when you said this, it seems that no one in our more than 20 villages has ever heard the python god speak." It doesn't matter if it speaks or not, it's also a thousand-year-old viper! How? Don't you believe it? ”

Yang Yan didn't fight for this, and asked again: "Then what do you pay tribute to the python god every month?" ”

Qi Laohan said: "What else can there be?" It's all for food, wine, chickens, ducks, cows, sheep, and money, these are all said by the subordinates of the python god, and there is nothing else, everyone can save a little and get together, that is, every month they send a young girl, saying that it is contributed to the python god to eat. What a sin. ”

Xin Huan, who was playing with the little tiger, couldn't help but say, "What, you still want to send a girl?" ”

Qi Laohan said: "But isn't it? Maybe it's because young girls taste better, right? That's why the python god has to eat one every month. Fortunately, I have two sons at home. ”

Yang Yan said in a deep voice: "So, so far, you have contributed thirty or forty girls to him with the scriptures. ”

Qi Laohan smiled bitterly: "Then what is the solution?" It's better than the whole village teaching the python god to eat. ”