Although we have no way of knowing what the secret treasure is and what it looks like, these are just these, which have already shocked the master's face, and he can't calm down for a long time. At the beginning, it was the master and Gu Tan who joined forces to use the dragon hunting magic plate to calculate the clues of the secret knowledge of heaven and earth in the realm of Xiangxi, and this time a secret treasure obtained by Miao Jiang seemed to give us a lot of hope, Master thought about it, and immediately said: "Then we will leave for Miao Jiang tomorrow!" ”

After the skinned living ghost was carefully collected into the soul altar and sealed by the dead wood Dao people, he exhaled and said with a smile: "Brother Yang Dao, don't worry, in fact, it's useless to be anxious, you must know that the great sacrifice that guards the secret treasure of Miao Jiang, but a master who is proficient in the way of witchcraft, the Tao is by no means idle, if it is taken away so easily, I am afraid it will be a joke!" ”

Master nodded: "I also know a thing or two about the Miaojiang Witch Gu, among the witch Gu, led by the five poisons, among the five poisons, they are spiders, scorpions, toads, poisonous snakes, centipedes, etc., the method of making Gu is also very cruel, imprison the selected poisonous insects in a sealed container, let them kill each other in it, about ten days or so, open the container, only the last one remains, that is the Gu!" ”

Immediately afterwards, the master roughly stated what he knew about the way of witchcraft. There are at least eleven types of Gu that I have heard of, such as Snake Gu, Golden Silkworm Gu, Slice Gu, Stone Gu, Loach Gu, Harm God, Change Gu, Swollen Gu, Mad Gu, Yin Snake Gu, Raw Snake Gu, and so on. Of course, the way of Gu art is strange, where is these eleven kinds can be summarized in detail, but among these eleven kinds, there are several that are more commonly used, and they are very poisonous and special, such as mad Gu, legend has it that mad Gu is mostly used by the Zhuang people, and the refining method of mad Gu is to bury the snake in the soil and take the fungus to harm people.

There is also a chancre Gu, which is also called "releasing chancre" and "releasing bees". It is said that the land of the two Guangdong is very good. The method is to take centipedes and small snakes, ants, cicadas, earthworms, worms, hair, etc. on the Dragon Boat Festival day and put them in front of the statue of the five plague gods carved in the room or box, and worship them for a long time, and then they become poison. There are also loach Gu, stone Gu and sliced Gu, this Gu is made by applying Gu medicine to bamboo slices.

"Lingnan Health Prescription" cloud: The method of making Gu is to seal the hundreds of insects and make them cannibalistic. "Expelling Gu Records" said: "Sui Shuzhi Jiangnan counties are often animal Gu, and Yichun is very biased. The method is to gather 100 kinds of insects on May 5, the big ones to the snake, the small ones to the lice, and put them in the device, so that the remaining one kind of survivors can stay, and the snake is called the snake Gu, and the lice are called lice Gu, and the line is to kill. Because it enters the human womb and eats its five internal organs, and when it dies, its property is moved to the Gu master's house, and if it does not kill others for three years, the animal will love its disadvantages and will be passed down from generation to generation. ”

However, Gu magic can not only harm people, but also save people, no matter what the number of secret techniques, there is a debate between good and evil. How to use it depends on whether the user is good or evil.

Hearing this, the Deadwood Daoist nodded slightly, and said: "I didn't expect that Brother Yang Dao had penetrated the Xuanmen Technique, and it was not a false rumor, but these are just the ways of witchcraft, and Brother Yang Dao went to Miao Jiang, so he still had to be more careful, and he must not cause trouble." ”

Master nodded: "That's natural, I don't like to cause trouble, no matter where I am, it's no exception, and if we want to see the style of the secret treasure of Miao Jiang this time, we are in danger, and we must not be careless." At least the customs of Miaojiang, I don't know much about it, since Brother Deadwood Dao walks around in Xiangxi all the year round, he naturally has more contacts with Miaojiang, if it is convenient, can you tell me some details? ”

I hurriedly agreed, and said the same: "Yes, after all, we are newcomers, if we inadvertently collide with any taboos, we can have a support in advance, and it is better to adapt to the situation." ”

The dead wood Taoist immediately stroked his beard with a smile and said: "Naturally it is convenient, I got what I wanted, how can I not try my best to help Brother Yang Dao achieve his wishes, but the terrain of Miaojiang is complex, and the ethnic groups are also very different, speaking of which, it is necessary to start from the front, the existence of Miaojiang can be traced back to the Yanhuang legend era five or six thousand years ago." At that time, in the lower reaches of the Yellow River and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, there was a Jiuli tribal alliance headed by Chiyou, and on the Gansu-Shaanxi Loess Plateau, two other major tribes led by the Yandi Shennong clan and the Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan clan were formed. Emperor Yan and Emperor Huang developed along the Yellow River from west to east, and successively fought with Chiyou in the Zhuolu area. Chi You defeated Emperor Yan first, "Chi You is chasing the emperor, fighting for Zhuolu, and there are nine corners." Later, Emperor Yan and the Yellow Emperor jointly defeated Chiyou, as the old saying goes: when Xuanyuan, Chiyou was the most violent, and he couldn't cut it, so the Yellow Emperor was the prince of the army, and Chiyou fought in the field of Zhuolu, and then killed Chiyou. After Chi You's death, the world was in turmoil, and the Yellow Emperor painted a portrait of Chi You to deter the world, and the world settled down. After the defeat of the Jiuli tribe of Chiyou, most of them migrated southward, and began the migration history of the Miao people. After that, Miao Jiang took root in Xiangxi and Yunnan-Guizhou area, and to this day, the legend of Chiyou is widely spread in Miao Jiang, and they always believe in Chi You as its ancestor. ”

Immediately afterwards, the dead wood Taoist said, "Chiyou Mythology" records, in ancient times, the Miao people lived on the edge of the Yellow River, a total of "eighty-one" villages, their leader is called Chiyou, Chiyou got rid of the "lop-eared demon woman" who endangered the Miao people, so that the people can live and work in peace and contentment, and later the three demon babies of the demon woman invited the red dragon and the yellow dragon to take revenge, and the Miao people led the Miao people to fight bravely, and defeated the red dragon and the yellow dragon two times many times. The two dukes of Chilong and Huanglong united with Lei Lao Wu, flooded the Miao soldiers, captured and killed Chiyou, and burned down the "Eighty-one Village". The remaining Miao people were forced to flee their homeland. That is, today's Miaojiang, speaking of the tragic history of Miaojiang's development, and today's lack of contact with the outside world, it is also somewhat related.

However, with the gradual development of later generations, there are many foreigners integrated into it, in Miaojiang, there are two kinds of Miao saying, one is raw seedlings, the other is mature seedlings, the so-called raw seedlings, but live in the mountains, rarely contact with the outside world, and even do not speak Chinese. Among the seedlings, they are divided into five kinds of seedlings, namely red, white, flower, black, and green, and most of the seedlings in this area of Xiangxi are green seedlings, and the characteristics of green seedlings are cyan. Yunnan is mostly white seedlings, and to Guizhou, there are five kinds of seedlings, and there are five kinds of seedlings in the foreign tribes, and the five surnames of the foreign ethnic groups in the mature Miao are integrated into it, roughly the five surnames of Wu, Long, Shi, Ma and Liao, although these five surnames are also Miao people, but they are not seedlings, but mature seedlings, their ancestors lived with the Miao people at first, and over time they became Miao people, and the Miao people are proficient in Chinese and Miao dialect.

If you encounter mature seedlings, it is much simpler, but if you encounter raw seedlings, it is extremely difficult to communicate, and it is inevitable that you will accidentally violate its taboos, so try to avoid it.

However, the number of seedlings is far less than the number of mature seedlings, and almost all of them live deep in the mountains, and most of them are mature seedlings, but even if they are mature seedlings, they also have the beliefs and living habits of the Miao people, after all, their ancestors have long been integrated with the Miao people, as if they are Miao people.

When it comes to the beliefs of the Miao people, they are roughly divided into two kinds, one is nature worship and the other is ancestor worship.

The so-called nature worship includes the heavens, earth, sun, moon, stars, mountains, stones, seas, lakes, rivers, water, fire, wind, rain, thunder, snow, clouds, rainbows and other things in heaven and earth, as well as the phenomena of natural changes. This belief originated from the belief of primitive humans, who believed that the phenomena that exist between heaven and earth show life, will, emotion, spirituality and strange abilities, and will have various effects on people's survival and destiny, so they worship and pray for them, hoping to be blessed and protected by them.

Due to the deification of the object of worship, later generations developed a more abstract worship of natural gods, forming a variety of natural gods and related worship activities, such as the god of heavenly bodies, the god of all things, the god of the four seasons, and the god of weather.

Another kind of ancestor worship is mostly influenced by Confucianism, worshipping ancestors, in order to bless the ancestors with good weather and abundant harvests, and ancestor worship is mainly based on ripe seedlings. However, it is gradually difficult to distinguish between raw seedlings and mature seedlings, so the sacrificial activities are similar, and in the Miao village, each village has a patriarch and a sacrifice to make decisions, and even some places have greater decision-making power for sacrifices.

Because the priest is a person who communicates with the gods of heaven and earth, what he says is more authoritative and can be trusted by the clansmen.

When the master heard this, he nodded slightly: "In this way, what is more problematic for us is not those Gu masters hidden in Miao Jiang, but the great sacrifice in the village!" ”

"Not bad!" The Dead Wood Daoist immediately agreed: "If you want to get close to the secret treasure in the divine cave, you must pass the sacrifice level, but the sacrifice has always lived in the divine cave, if you want to get close to the divine cave, you also have to pass the levels of the clansmen and the patriarch in the village, so it can be said that you are struggling to go to Miaojiang this time." Speaking of which, I've been dealing with Miao Jiang for a long time, but even I can't go to the Divine Cave to peek at the secret treasure, so you ......."

I thought about it for a moment and said helplessly, "It's going to be even more difficult for us, isn't it?" ”

The Deadwood Daoist nodded and said: "But the matter is man-made, then the Manifest Sect Master Gu Tan can go straight to the Miao Territory, and your master, as the Master of the Tantric Sect, will naturally not show weakness, and with the fierce and domineering of the Maoshan Technique, it must not be difficult to break into the Miao Territory, hehe!" ”

"Alas!" When the master heard this, he shook his head and sighed lightly: "I can only say that things are in the people's words, do your best, and in the end, I'm afraid only God knows." Ergou, we will leave for Miaojiang tomorrow morning. ”

The dead wood Taoist then said: "You go all the way upstream along the Tuojiang River, you will encounter a stone bridge, that stone bridge is called the 'Miao Han Boundary Bridge' in the local area, after that bridge, it is the scope of Miao Jiang, Brother Yang Dao, I will not accompany you to go, I can only wish you a smooth journey here, and become a big event as soon as possible!" ”

The master returned the salute with his fists, his eyes looked deeply at the dead wood Taoist, and for a long time, he didn't say a word. Not only does Master know, but I also know that this time we have come to Xiangxi, our real journey has just begun.

The next morning, Old Man Shi sent us out and brought us some dry food. I glanced around and asked curiously, "Why didn't the Deadwood Daoist come out?" ”

Old man Shi waved his hand and quipped: "That old guy, he left before dawn, he is an impatient person, and he is in a hurry, otherwise there would not be the last time the customer was lost, hehe, don't worry about him, you go yours." Ergou, if the future is difficult and I want to come back, I will be in this Yizhuang, I will not go anywhere, nothing else, we still have hot soup and hot rice. ”

Looking at the kindness and concern on Old Man Shi's face, I inexplicably remembered my grandfather...... And Old Man Shi lives here alone, it may be difficult to encounter such a lively and warm time, this separation, he is not a person in the Taoist sect after all, after all, he is not so free and easy, it is still a little difficult to give up. My nose was sour, and I said, "Grandpa Shi, if I still have a chance to come here, I will definitely visit you, take care of your body!" ”

"Oops!" When Old Man Shi heard me shout the title of Grandpa Shi, his eyes were slightly ruddy, and he nodded again and again, watching me and Master leave.

Master and I followed the guidance of the Deadwood Daoist and marched all the way up the Tuojiang River, first on an easier path, but gradually, mountains appeared on both sides, and the road became rugged and difficult to navigate, until in the afternoon, when we saw the stone bridge. A slightly quaint stone bridge, seeing this stone bridge, I hurriedly said: "Master, after crossing this stone bridge, it is the boundary of Miaojiang." ”

Master looked up at the sky, nodded and said, "There are many fog barriers in the mountains, and there are many poisonous insects, we have to find a place to rest before it gets dark, Ergou, let's go quickly." ”

Hearing this, I hurriedly agreed, and followed Master across the stone bridge, and in front of me was a steep canyon, and when I walked into the canyon, a pale white mist rose and shrouded it. It stands to reason that in this season, the barren grass on the mountain has gradually withered and decayed, but the Miao Jiang is a lush scene, green vegetation, tall trees, people can't help but think of a word...... Deep mountains and old forests!

Master and I didn't plan to find a Miao village to spend the night in, but wanted to see if there were any villages in the nearest place to rest first, and then learn more about the situation here.

A strange sound of "poof" suddenly came from the woods not far away, my heart tightened, and I hurriedly looked at the master, obviously the master also heard it, and was frowning at the moment, but soon, the master whispered: "Don't meddle in things, let's continue to move forward!" ”

I looked at it again in surprise, and I didn't understand what Master meant, but I had no choice but to follow Master on the road, but I wanted to know what was in the woods with that rapid shuttling sound just now. Is it a beast? Or some monster like a mandrill?!