On the field ridge outside the village, a small temple half as tall as a man was built. It stands to reason that most of the residents of such a small temple are landowners, but that is not the case here. Sitting in the temple is an expressionless Buddha.
A man dressed as a villager squatted in front of the temple, changed fresh tributes to the Buddha, and put incense and candles. His intention was to kneel down and kowtow, but unexpectedly, he stood up straight away.
"Pooh."
A mouthful of spit actually hit the face of the Buddha statue.
After doing this disrespectful act, the man seemed to feel guilty again. He quickly looked at both sides, then bent down and carefully wiped the Buddha statue clean.
He breathed a sigh of relief, stood up, and turned around.
scare!
A huge donkey face almost reached his eyes.
On the back of the donkey, the short-haired Taoist raised his hands and asked:
"Sorry to bother you, may I ask..."
Before he finished speaking, the man screamed, covered his face and rushed into the village.
Hey.
The Taoist smiled.
What are you afraid of?
Is it possible that Niubi will inform the monk?
He shook his head, turned over, led the big green donkey, jingled the bells, and followed the man into the village.
……………………
Outside Yuzhou City, Li Chang'an got advice from a store owner and learned that at the foot of Yeshan Mountain and in front of the century-old Qianfo Temple, there happened to be a zombie eating people everywhere. It was rumored that he was even dressed as a monk.
The Taoist priest thought that the corpse monk was very different from the corpse Buddha, so he came here to try his luck. Now he met this small village, so he came to inquire about something and asked for a bowl of wine.
unexpectedly.
"aunt……"
"ah!"
"My father-in-law..."
"boom!"
…
After receiving several rejections in a row, the Taoist priest was so depressed that he scratched his head. People in this village seemed to have seen a ghost when they saw him.
Fortunately, not long after, an old man came forward.
"Taoist priest, don't be angry. Recently, many people from the world have come to Yuzhou City, and there has been a lot of trouble. Taoist priest, you are tall and equipped with weapons. The common people have little knowledge and will inevitably be afraid. What's more..."
"
The old man pointed at the small temple outside the village and smiled without saying a word. What he meant was self-evident.
Li Changan also inquired in Yuzhou City and knew about the behavior of the monks of Qianfo Temple, but it was also funny.
"If this monk doesn't do good things, what does it have to do with me as a Taoist?"
"They are all monks."
The old man made a fool of himself and led the Taoist priest into the house.
"The villagers shun me like a snake or a scorpion. Why do I dare to bring me in?"
The old man smiled.
"First of all, I think the Taoist priest has a kind face and doesn't look like a bad person; secondly, I am the upright person of this village, so I should step forward; thirdly, I also worshiped the Supreme Lord before."
"It turned out to be the old layman in person."
Li Changan quickly stood up and said, "Infinite Heavenly Lord."
Lao Lizheng returned the salute and called into the house again.
"Nanny, why don't you give Taoist Master a bowl of water?"
Suddenly, a little girl ran in and put down two bowls of water. Without waiting for the Taoist priest to say "thank you", she ran out again and hid behind the door, timidly sticking out her two horns.
The Taoist priest had no choice but to thank Lao Lizheng. Lao Lizheng waved his hand and asked straight to the point:
"But I don't know why I came here?"
Li Changan drank the bowl of water in one gulp and said with a smile:
"You came here specifically to slay demons?"
"Oh." The old man jumped up excitedly, his eyes full of surprise, "Does the Taoist master know magic?"
"Knowing a thing or two, but..."
The Taoist priest wanted to say that he was better at slashing than he had the meager spells at hand. But the old man already had half of his words in his hand and hurried out of the door.
"Come here, everyone, there is a way to solve the weird things in the village!"
………………
After a while, the house was dark and crowded with villagers, and Li Changan was so noisy that Li Changan lost his mind for a moment. As a last resort, Lao Li kicked them all into the yard and lined up to talk one by one.
Just arrived at the yard.
"Taoist! Taoist!"
Behind the crowd, a slovenly man jumped on his feet and shouted loudly.
"Please say."
The man quickly squeezed in.
"My house is at the west end of the village, and there is nothing weird in the past. But since a year ago, a monster always sneaks into the kitchen at night and licks the stove and barrel with its tongue."
Monster? The Taoist priest cheered up after hearing this.
"What does the monster look like?"
"Children aged seven or eight are long and short. They only have one foot to move around, but their tongues are wide and long."
The Taoist priest thought for a while, don't tell me, he really has an impression of this monster.
"It should be 'Gu Ta'." He explained, "It is a little monster that is attracted to the dirt in your home. If you clean your home carefully, it will naturally leave."
"But..."
Li Changan looked at this slovenly man for a few times. Countryside people worked hard for their livelihood all day long and had little time to take care of themselves. It was inevitable that they would be a little unkempt, but the man in front of him was extremely sloppy.
"After cleaning the house, you'd better take a hot bath carefully."
"Why?" The man was puzzled.
"Think about it, if you don't take a shower, and the house is clean but you are not, which one do you think the 'stain' will lick?"
Amid the roar of laughter from the crowd, the slovenly man was pushed aside with a blushing face, and a sixty-year-old man took his place with a hoe. The old man's bare feet were covered with mud, and he must have just come back from the fields.
"The little old man's wife has been dead for many years, but recently she keeps asking me in dreams, saying that her neck is tightened and she can't breathe. I would like to trouble the Taoist priest to help the little old man interpret the dream. Is it a bad omen? Or a good omen?"
"Where does the bad luck come from?" The Taoist priest shook his head and asked. "How long has it been since you visited the grave?"
When the old man heard this, he didn't answer for a while. He just put down the hoe and held it in front of him, sighing quietly.
"To be honest with the Taoist priest, the little old man is not a local. He escaped from a difficult situation in the early years. When he left in a hurry, his wife's bones and the ancestral tablets were all left in his hometown. In recent years, he has finally settled down.
But the road was too chaotic, so I couldn’t go back. Thinking about it carefully, I estimate it’s been seven or eight years.”
The Taoist priest pondered for a while.
"When a person is alive, his soul lives in his body. If he does not return to the underworld after death, his soul will most likely live in his tomb..."
The old man looked anxious.
"My wife..."
Li Changan nodded.
"My dear husband, your late wife often dreams about her neck being strangled and she can't breathe, and it's probably the vines that have strangled the tombstone. If you are interested, ask passers-by to bring a message and ask your relatives and friends in your hometown to help you take care of your grave."
The old man looked in a daze as he thanked and resigned, and the crowd was a little solemn for a moment. It was probably because the villagers were in the same situation and felt a sense of sympathy.
"Taoist Priest, can I also ask?"
At this time, a crisp voice came in. The Taoist priest turned around and saw that it was Lao Lizheng's little granddaughter who was hesitant to speak behind the door.
"Nonsense!"
Lao Li was stern and scolding.
The Taoist priest hurriedly advised: "Children have not lost their spirituality and can easily see dirty things. Old layman, please don't get angry and let me talk."
The old man hesitated for a moment, then finally nodded in agreement, and then the little girl continued.
"When I'm at home, I always find something moving in the corner, but my grandpa always doesn't believe it and says it's a rat, but that thing obviously doesn't have a tail. Where can it be a rat?"
"Is that what you're talking about?"
The Taoist priest suddenly pointed to the eaves of the East Kitchen, and everyone in the room looked over.
Wow!
Suddenly, the whole courtyard was in an uproar.
But at the angle between the green tiles and the brackets, on the wooden beams that were blackened by smoke, there were several little guys clustered together. They were a dark, fluffy ball, with no eyes, ears, mouth and nose to be found. They looked soft.
And fluffy. I was startled by the attention of everyone, and jumped around in a mess, and finally...
puff.
It scattered into a few soft grass ash, falling lightly along the sunlight seeping through the gaps between the tiles.
"That's Yantuanzi, a harmless little goblin. As for the reason for its appearance..."
The Taoist priest smiled and said to Lao Lizheng.
"Old layman, it's time to find someone to clear your chimney."
The old man nodded and thanked her. Then, a thick peasant woman came forward and spoke. People around her called her "Scholar Woman".
"I don't know what kind of plague has hit my poor family recently. He slept for three days and three nights in a row a few days ago. When he woke up, he said that he had become a high official in the Juxiang Kingdom of Mumaozhou and even became a prince-in-law. Now, good.
I no longer read the books, no longer tend the fields, no longer care about the children, and just lie in bed dreaming all day long!"
"Besides lethargy, are there any physical or mental problems?"
She gets angry when she mentions this.
"Hey! He sleeps after he's had enough to eat and drink. He's living a better life than a pig. What's the problem?"
The woman became more and more angry as she talked, and even the neighbors around her started scolding her. The Taoist priest quickly interrupted her chatter.
"Is there a willow tree near your house?"
She patted her thigh flesh.
"There is an old willow tree in the backyard."
"Is there an ant nest next to the willow tree?"
"Yep."
The woman nodded repeatedly.
"There is a nest under the tree."
"That's right."
The Taoist priest picked up a dead branch and scratched it on the ground.
"Mujiamao is the word for willow. The word "Xiang" means "flyfly", which is another name for ants. In my opinion, it is because your husband-in-law occasionally interacted with the willow tree and the essence of ant nests in his dream, and he did whatever he wanted.
I’ve had this sweet dream, but I just can’t let it go.”
Said.
"Ma'am, don't worry."
The Taoist priest took out cinnabar, yellow paper, and a writing brush from the bag on the donkey's back.
"I will write a talisman for you, take it and burn it under the tree, and keep it to put an end to your husband's daydreams."
After a while, the yellow talisman came out, and the woman quickly took it, but suddenly she slapped her forehead.
"Master Taoist, wait a moment."
After saying that, Fengfenghuohuo rushed out, and not long after, Fengfenghuohuo rushed back again, but there was half a basket of eggs in his hand.
"If the family has no money, the Taoist priest should not despise him."
Now the villagers learned the lesson and brought various thank-you gifts.
Li Changan picked out some rice, grains, vegetables and fruits, and asked Lao Lizheng to cook him a meal, but declined the rest.
………………
A few more questions and answers passed.
Li Changan discovered that most of the strange things mentioned by the villagers were just random thoughts, and most of the rest were little monsters and monsters. The last few were more troublesome, but they were nothing more than a yellow talisman.
Usually, these little troubles can be solved by folk witches and goddesses. Even if it doesn't work, worshiping the kitchen god, door god, and earth god diligently can drive away the evil spirits to a certain extent. What's more, this village is still at the gate of Jialanbao Land, where the Buddha
Are they just going to take care of it?
The Taoist priest put this question into his mouth.
Someone answered immediately.
"The monks only ask for tributes, why do they care about these 'little things' like mine?"
"A few years ago, there was a goddess in this nearby village, but a while ago, the monks said she was an evil spirit and beat her away with sticks."
"The monks also said that our place is their dojo, and they are not allowed to have statues of other gods except Bodhisattvas. Even the door gods won't let us put them up."
Everyone was talking to each other, and the mood gradually became more intense. Even words like "bald donkey" and "ghost music official" popped up.
I'm about to lose control.
"Shut up!"
Lao Li was sullen and cursed.
"Don't cause trouble for the Taoist priest."
The Taoist priest waved his hands repeatedly and said with a smile:
"It's okay. I'm here because I want to ask you something. I've been chasing a demon. I wonder if you have any news?"
As he spoke, he took out the yellow-covered book and turned to the page about the Corpse Buddha. But on the page, the monster with three heads and six arms was so vivid that it almost seemed to come out of the paper.
Suddenly, there was an audible silence in the field.
After a long time, someone hesitated and said: "This is not..."
"Be careful what you say."
Lao Li was getting excited.
"After asking a lot of questions, the Taoist Master is tired, so let's leave."
As he said that, he actually drove away the villagers.
The Taoist priest was not angry, but quietly waited for Lao Lizheng to give him an answer.
"well."
The old man sighed.
"Does the Taoist Master know the origins of the three founders of Thousand Buddha Temple?"
The Taoist priest nodded. Yan Xinglie had also mentioned the story of Thousand Buddha Temple before.
"The three divine monks, Kong Jian, Kong Xing, and Kong Yan, sacrificed their lives to suppress the demons. Even the poor Taoist admires them very much."
"As the Taoist priest knows, it is said that after the death of the three divine monks, their golden bodies merged into one, and they looked like this, with three heads and six arms sitting on the lotus platform..." Lao Li was pointing at the yellow shell book and said solemnly, "If this makes the people in the temple
When the masters see this, I'm afraid they won't let it go."
Although the Taoist priest didn't take it seriously, he also knew that the other person was trying to persuade him with good intentions, so he just nodded and put the book away.
"But he is a poor man named Meng Lang."
Seeing this, Lao Li was relieved, but then he frowned and asked, "Is this the monster with three heads and six arms that the Taoist Master wants to inquire about?"
"That's not true." The Taoist priest smiled, "It's just a temporary idea."
He told Li Zheng about the corpse monk he had discovered in Yuzhou City. The old man thought for a moment and said:
"There was such a rumor before, which made people in the village panic, but recently there was suddenly no news."
Lao Lizheng wandered in place for a few steps and suddenly spoke.
"If Taoist Master really wants to look for it, maybe he can go there..."
……………………
"Is this right here?"
Li Changan led the big green donkey and stood in front of the ruins burned by the fire.
Lao Jia was saying that it was rumored that everyone in the village was killed by the corpse monk. The victims' bodies were infected with evil spirits and transformed into corpses. The monks imprisoned them in the temple and used fire to save them.
At this time, the setting sun was bright red.
The dusk wind passed through the empty door and sounded some sad cries.
Li Changan's eyes were as cold as lightning, and several wild dogs whimpered and fled away with their tails tucked.
Only then did he lean down and look at the corpses dug out of the rubble by wild dogs at his feet.
The corpse was charred black, its limbs were curled up, and its face could not be distinguished.
One had a dented head, which must have been caused by a blunt object crushing the skull; the other had a head that was separated and the fracture was flat, which must have been decapitated with a knife... The Taoist priest offered the Chonglong Jade, but his nose was filled with the smell of burning, but there was nothing.
A little evil.
Killed by a demon?
evil Dead?
Ah.
The Taoist priest sneered and raised his head.
On the charred ruins, three broken Buddha statues were nestled together, as if they had three heads and six arms. The setting sun coated them with a layer of blood, and the miserable wind seemed to whisper them.
Three bodies...Buddha?
Li Changan stood with his sword in his hand and felt something in his heart.
It seems that the Devil's Cave is going to have to be visited again.