"Grandma, don't worry. I didn't come here to harm your grandson on purpose. If I'm not mistaken, the so - called 'hysteria' of the villagers is by no means because the well water has been haunted by evil spirits."
Li Ying spoke softly with a firm tone.
After autumn set in, there had been several bouts of autumn rain, and the mushrooms in the mountains grew wildly. The villagers of Dengjia Village lived off the mountains, so they naturally ate these mountain delicacies.
Ordinary mushrooms were fine.
However, the so - called "bluing bolete" must be stir - fried in plenty of oil over high heat for an hour to remove the toxins.
Life in the mountains was tough and poor. Families could hardly afford two taels of cooking oil throughout the year. How could they be willing to use a large amount of oil for stir - frying? They simply boiled the highly poisonous bluing bolete with ordinary mushrooms and gobbled them up. How could they not get poisoned?
That was exactly the reason why every autumn, many villagers died of exhaustion after accidentally eating undercooked bluing bolete and failing to treat the poisoning in time.
But the villagers didn't know the real cause. They believed the one - sided story of the evil Taoist priest. The priest said that on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, the gates of hell opened, and the wandering souls haunted the world. They wouldn't return to the underworld until the Cold Food Festival reluctantly. The strange phenomena in Dengjia Village every autumn were caused by these evil spirits.
Li Ying sneered, "Humph! From the 15th day of the seventh lunar month to the first day of the tenth lunar month, if one were to perform the exorcism rituals, they could earn money for more than two months. This evil Taoist priest has really calculated well!"
She looked at the young man. It seemed that he had just been poisoned. After carefully asking the old woman, it turned out that he had eaten undercooked bluing bolete just the day before. The old woman was old and had a small appetite. She loved her only grandson so much that she left the whole plate of mushrooms for him, and thus barely escaped being poisoned.
She quickly ordered A Man to prepare some saponin and plant ash water to induce vomiting for the young man.
The young man waved his hands and feet and shouted that he saw a huge wild dog coming to bite him. He just refused to drink the emetic potion from the old woman's hand.
Lu Xunguang got impatient. He stepped forward in two strides, pinched the young man's chin, and poured the saponin water into his mouth in one go.
Before long, they heard the young man struggling painfully and vomiting out a lot of filth.
After tossing and turning for half an hour, he finally calmed down a bit. The old woman looked at her grandson's thin and pale face and couldn't help but mutter to herself.
Li Ying comforted her softly, "Grandma, don't worry. He has vomited out a lot of toxins. He'll wake up after sleeping for a while. As long as he drinks some plain porridge for a few days to recuperate, he'll be fine."
She also left a few coconuts for the grandmother and grandson to replenish electrolytes. She repeatedly warned them never to eat undercooked mushrooms again. Then she pulled Lu Xunguang and rushed to the ancestral hall in a hurry.
"The true fire of the Three - Flavored Elixir burns your flesh. Bold demons, show yourselves quickly!"
From afar, Li Ying saw a man in a crane - patterned robe holding a peach - wood sword with a burning yellow talisman on it. He was making grand gestures in the middle of the ancestral hall. She frowned tightly immediately.
"Stop!"
Seeing that the Taoist priest's talisman was about to burn the tied - up villagers, and human lives were no joke!
Li Ying shouted sharply, which made everyone turn to look at her.
Seeing that the evil Taoist priest showed no sign of stopping, Lu Xunguang took a quick step forward. His right hand was like an eagle's claw, tightly clamping the Taoist priest's wrist.
With a crisp "crack", the Taoist priest's face turned ashen. He knelt on one knee and kept screaming. Obviously, his bone had been broken.
"Who are you? How dare you cause trouble in our Dengjia Village!"
The village head stared at them warily, seeing that they came with ill intentions.
Li Ying quickly reported the matter of the bolete in detail.
"You evil woman! How dare you spout such nonsense? What poisonous mushrooms? It's clearly that the evil spirits have contaminated the village well. The villagers ate the well - salt and were thus possessed by evil spirits!"
Although the Taoist priest was in so much pain that his face was distorted, he still insisted that there were ghosts and demons in the village.
Li Ying snorted. A Man had already brought the well water and handed it to her.
Facts spoke louder than words. She was about to raise her head and drink the well water to prove her point.
Lu Xunguang kicked the Taoist priest on his shin, knocking him to the ground. With his other hand, he gently stopped Li Ying and naturally took the ladle from A Man. He frowned and drank the well water in one gulp.
"The so - called 'exorcism' ritual of this evil Taoist priest is not yet completed. If we follow his words, I should be immediately contaminated by the evil aura and go crazy now. But I'm safe and sound. Can you finally believe that the well water is non - toxic?"
He spoke calmly, but his expression was a bit unnatural.
Li Ying knew that since the well water was used for boiling salt, it couldn't taste good. Lu Xunguang drank the well water for her because he didn't want her to suffer the slightest bit of discomfort.
She was deeply touched and tightly held his hand.
The village head sized up Lu Xunguang. Seeing that he was really safe and sound, he finally began to believe.
The Taoist priest still wanted to argue, but Li Ying stepped forward and looked down at him.
"If I'm not mistaken, the matter of the mountain god's wedding in Yunjia Village was also your doing, right?"
"You evil Taoist priest! For your own self - interest, it's okay to cheat and deceive, but you don't even care about human lives. Aren't you afraid of retribution?"
The Taoist priest from Maoshan never expected that Li Ying would know all his deeds clearly. His face turned a mix of green and red.
Lu Xunguang tightened his grip on the Taoist priest's wrist appropriately and said calmly, "This place is remote. Even the emperor's order can't reach here. You've killed so many people. We in the horse caravan live a life on the edge of a knife. We despise most those who play with human lives like you. Even if we were to execute you by slow slicing, no one would say a word."
There was a faint fierce look in his eyes. When the Maoshan Taoist priest heard the words "horse caravan", he clearly knew the power of it. His previous thought of resistance immediately disappeared. He was so scared that he trembled like a sieve.
"I'm a blind fool. I'm just a wandering performer trying to make a living. I dare not offend the heroes of the horse caravan. Please spare my humble life, heroes!"
He knelt on the ground obediently. Without waiting for Li Ying to question further, he confessed all his misdeeds like pouring beans out of a bamboo tube.
Li Ying didn't expect that the horse caravan of Old Zheng had such deterrent power even after being in decline for many years. She couldn't help but be secretly amazed.
The village head of Dengjia Village then realized that he had almost been deceived by the liar. Thinking that the lives of several villagers had almost been lost because of his mistake, and fortunately Li Ying had arrived in time to prevent a great disaster, he couldn't help but feel a sense of relief after a narrow escape.