"Old Master, isn't the boatman waiting by the shore?" Wu Xie asked. Why did he wait for the dog to bark before coming out? It's not like we don't want to pay. You should have waited for us in advance.”
The old man explained," There is only one boatman in our village. He can come out to work whenever he wants. He never waits for anyone."”
Shen Xuan furrowed his brows and said," Oh, this boatman is quite arrogant. That's not right, Old Master. From your words, you mean that there are other ways besides the waterway?"”
The old man then said,""Young man, you are right. There is a mountain road. After decades of heavy rain, the mountain road collapsed and revealed a huge cauldron. The villagers said that the heavy rain washed the tomb out. Not long after, the people from the country took the cauldron away. I heard that it was stolen…As for this mountain road, it has never been repaired. It would be fine if you don't bring anything along the mountain road.”
While waiting for the boatman, everyone had nothing to do. The old man told the boatman's story. It was a shortcut to enter the village by boat. On the way, they had to pass through a cave.
Before the village existed, the cave had already existed. This cave was very strange. No matter who went in, they couldn't come out. Every villager had a rumor that there was a snake spirit in this cave that specialized in eating people who went into the cave.
More than 20 years ago, boatmen appeared and came out of the cave with a boat. At that time, the villagers were still surprised. At that time, people were more superstitious. They said that boatmen were transformed from snakes. Seeing that everyone did not go into the water, they came to the village to eat people.
At that time, the villagers were almost burned by the boatman. Fortunately, there was an old man in the village who knew the boatman. He said that he had met the boatman when he was visiting the neighboring village. He said that the boatman was a peddler and had seen the boatman sell rouge and cosmetic powder before, so he survived.
This was strange. For more than 20 years, the cave only recognized the boatman. Only the boatman's people could safely pass through the cave. Everyone else was eaten by the snake spirit.
"Then the dog is fine?" Wu Xie asked straightforwardly.”
The old man took out a tobacco pipe from his pocket, filled it with tobacco leaves, lit it up, and took a deep puff. He replied,"Perhaps the River God knew that Dopey was the boatman's dog, so he let him off.”
The sky was getting darker and darker, and the figure of a boatman could be vaguely seen on the river in the distance.
The sound of running water could be heard nearby. Dopey had already swam back.
Shen Xuan squatted down and clapped his hands,""Erdan, come here."
This mutt wasn't afraid of strangers. When Shen Xuan barked, he wagged his tail and came over. Shen Xuan grabbed Er Dan's front paw and made it stand on two feet. He sniffed Er Dan's body and found that there was a strange smell mixed with the fishy smell of water. It was the smell of a dead person's body rotting!
Wu Xie imitated him and picked up the wet Dopey. He sniffed it and the pungent smell hit his nose, making him choke and tear up.
Fan Zi looked at Wu Xie and laughed loudly. He took Gou 'zi to sniff and his expression changed, he said in surprise,""Why does this dog smell like a corpse?”
Wu Xie's face turned pale and she asked Fan Zi blankly,""It can't be, right? Did you smell wrong?"
"The cave ahead might be a corpse cave."”
"What is a corpse cave?" Wuxie asked innocently.”
Shen Xuan said," As the name suggests, a corpse cave is a place where corpses are piled up. To be able to taint the stream with death energy, there are many people who died. With so many people dead, this cave must be a little strange. Everyone, be careful!”
"It's actually easy to pass through this kind of cave. Even if one out of ten people had eaten dead meat, they would be able to pass through safely.”
"Old Master, is the boatman from Xiangxi?" Shen Xuan asked the old man.”
He had heard that the Xiangxi people had a method to pass through caves, which was to eat dead people's flesh.
An imperceptible change flashed across the old man's face as he said,""I don't know about that."
"Get on the boat!" It was a boatman who spoke. His voice was like a duck's voice, and it was very uncomfortable to hear. For the time being, he could not hear the accent of Xiangxi.
The person who spoke was a middle-aged man dressed in plain clothes. He was dressed like the other farmers and was on a wooden boat with a raft.
"Leave the luggage on the raft." The boatman came down and helped with the luggage.
When Wu Xie heard Fan Zi talk about eating meat, she thought that the boatman might have eaten before. Looking at the boatman, she always felt that the boatman's eyes were dark and deep.
Fan Zi and the others carried their knives with them.
Shen Xuan and the little brother carried the swords on their backs, so it was convenient to take them out.
Wu Xie felt a little uncomfortable. He had only brought a folding knife and a camera with him. The folding knife was stuffed into his bag.
He really didn't know what the innocent little cutie was thinking…
The boatman boarded the boat again and lit the incense. He chanted and kowtowed to the river, as if he was worshipping Mazu to bless the safety of this trip.
By the time everything was done, the sky was already dark. It was unknown whether it was a psychological effect or a normal change in the weather, but the few people on the ship felt a little cold. There was only one oil lamp hanging on the bow of the ship, and the visibility was only three to five meters.
No one spoke as the boat sailed, only the sound of the boatmen paddling.
Everyone took out searchlights from their backpacks and put them on.
The boatman said in a croaky voice," Everyone, the cave is just ahead. Lower your heads and don't hit your foreheads. Don't talk in the cave. Don't curse the mountain gods and river gods. Don't look underwater."”
This book is provided by FunNovel Novel Book | Fan Fiction Novel [Beautiful Free Novel Book]