The villagers looked at the black bear's corpse with its head blown off, and their expressions varied. Some were terrified, while others were puzzled...
Some people are still angry. They spent a lot of money to hire someone to kill a bear, but the money was paid and the bear was returned. Isn't it a waste?
If I hadn't met a divine figure today, who knows what kind of trouble would have happened!
At this time, the bearded man beside him recovered a little from his injuries and came over and said:
"Legend has it that some blind bears turn into monsters if they eat too many humans. This blind bear is probably one of those. The swordsman you hired definitely didn't kill it."
"I've been around for many years and have some pretty good martial arts skills. In my eyes, an ordinary blind bear is just... just like that!"
"But this bear is unusual. I have no leverage when I chop it with my knife, so I can't hurt it. Only a master like the Taoist priest can kill it..."
While the bearded man was flattering Zhang Zhiwei, he secretly went to see Zhang Zhiwei. Seeing that Zhang Zhiwei didn't react at all, he was suddenly disappointed. This was almost impossible to trick.
After hearing what the bearded man said, the old man in the village was surprised and asked, "Could it be that the blind bear has become a spirit?"
"Of course it's possible. Legend has it that when a country is about to fall, there will be evil spirits. Even before the country is about to fall, there will be evil spirits causing chaos. The previous dynasty has been gone for many years. Aren't these evil spirits everywhere?"
The bearded man was indeed a wanderer, and had heard a lot of all sorts of messy rumors. He said in a serious tone:
"It's not just bears, there's a monster going on around here."
The villagers quickly said, "Please tell us quickly, sir, so we can avoid it in the future."
The bearded man said, "I heard there's a monster on the river near Huangcun. It's the size of a human, over ten feet tall, covered in scales. It's invulnerable to swords and can tear tigers and leopards apart and chase galloping horses."
"It is also cruel by nature. It likes to catch passers-by on the river bank and eat them. If it catches someone, and they are unlucky and hungry, it will eat them on the spot.
"As for how to eat it, they say they twist off the head, then open their mouths wide and suck hard from the neck, sucking out all the internal organs and blood, just like eating snail meat."
The group was terrified when they heard this. One of the villagers asked:
"What if we're not hungry? Can we escape this disaster?"
He expected that if this matter could be spread, it must mean that someone was lucky enough to escape.
"You wish!" the bearded man asked the villagers, "If you go out hunting and catch extra prey, would you let it go?"
The villagers subconsciously said: "No, I will take it back and make it into jerky!"
"That's right! It's the same with monsters. If you meet a monster that is not hungry, it will string you up and take you back as food reserves." said the bearded man.
A villager asked: "How do you string them together?"
The bearded man laughed and said, "If you want to ask that, hey, have you ever seen how fishermen collect live fish?
Just take a piece of straw or a young branch, pass it through the fish's gills, tie a knot, and then lift it up. Even the most noisy fish will become submissive.
And the fish won't die. If you take it home and put it in a water tank, it will still be alive and kicking. Just as people can seduce fish, the monster can seduce people just like that!"
"Fuck, this is too cruel!"
After hearing this, the group couldn't help but touch their cheeks, feeling their teeth aching. It hurt just thinking about passing through here.
In front of the campfire, a group of people listened with great interest to the strange stories that the bearded man had heard from somewhere.
Even Zhang Zhiwei, who was meditating, listened with great interest.
However, he couldn't tell whether these words were hearsay or random fabrications made up by the bearded man, or whether they were true.
After sharing a few strange stories and getting to know each other better, the bearded man said:
"My fellow villagers, it's not easy for us to travel the world. My brother was killed by a bear while trying to protect everyone. He had a 70-year-old mother and a crying child to feed..."
"As the eldest brother, I can't just ignore it. How about this? Let me take the bear's body away as compensation for my brother!"
The bearded man smiled and spoke in a friendly manner.
He was thinking in his heart, if it weren't for those two Taoists, with his temper, he wouldn't have wasted time talking to these peasants and would have just robbed them.
"this"
The villagers looked at the bear's carcass with eager eyes.
They want it too!
This bear carcass is conservatively estimated to weigh several thousand kilograms, all meat. If we take it back, we can't finish it in a whole winter.
Besides, the fur can be sold, and the money it gets may be enough to live a good life for several years. How can you just give it away like this?
The old man among the villagers looked at the bearded man and his group, then looked at Zhang Zhiwei and said:
"Sir, it's no use telling us this. This bear was killed by this Taoist priest. In my opinion, it's up to the Taoist priest to deal with it!"
He felt that he had been close to Zhang Jingqing and Zhang Zhiwei for so long, and the bear's body had to be returned to the village no matter what.
Hearing this, the bearded man also looked at Zhang Zhiwei. According to him, such a master should not care about such a corpse.
Zhang Zhiwei looked at Zhang Jingqing and said, "Just follow your master out, you don't have to think too much."
Seeing this, Zhang Jingqing sighed and said, "This bear has eaten too many people. The resentment has entered its body. If it eats, it will die on the spot!"
This is true. This is a ghost bear, how can it be eaten?
"What?"
"People who eat too many!"
"Died instantly!"
Everyone was shocked and stared at the bear's corpse with complicated expressions, including fear, regret, and greed...
"Is it really inedible? There's so much meat, a bear would eat people."
Several young men in the village looked unwilling and kept muttering things like "bears eat people, why can't people eat bears?"
One of them even wanted to say that in this chaotic world, people can eat people, so why can't bears that have eaten people be eaten?
But before he could finish his words, he was stopped by the old man next to him.
"Master, don't worry, we absolutely won't eat it, absolutely not!"
After all, the old man had more experience, and he did not doubt the truthfulness of Zhang Jingqing's words.
Because there was no need. If Zhang Jingqing wanted the bear, he could just ask directly, and no one present would dare to say no.
He said it was poisonous and that if you ate it you would die instantly, so it was probably really poisonous.
At this time, the bearded man with a gloomy expression rolled his eyes, folded his hands and said:
"Thank you for your reminder, Master. You saved my life. Don't worry, Master. I will dispose of the bear's corpse tomorrow morning and will never let it harm anyone again."
He was thinking, whether the bear carcass was poisonous or not, what did it have to do with him? He would just not eat it.
I'll take it to the butcher's shop and exchange it for cash. As for who dies from eating it, it's none of my business.
Zhang Zhiwei only took one look at him and knew what he was thinking. He looked at his master, wanting to know how he would deal with it.