"The Meteorological Observatory continues to issue red rainstorm warning signals. Many places have experienced continuous heavy rainfall. Floods, mudslides, landslides and other natural disasters have occurred in Shijing, Tongcheng, Liangshan and other areas. The general public is requested to pay attention to travel safety..."
It's raining heavily.
The living room was dark.
There were dead ghosts crowded around on the sofa, which looked bleak; the news was playing on the TV, which was boring and dull.
Comparing the two sides, they are both boring.
The other end of the room was equally depressing.
Li Changan, who had returned from Xiaoshui, was scratching his head at his desk. He held a brush in his hand, yellow paper under his elbow, and in front of him was a villa design drawing waiting to be copied.
The drawings have many lines and the brush strokes are soft. After a while, people will scratch their heads and become irritable and depressed, just like a primary school student who stays up all night to catch up on summer vacation homework.
Finally, I finished the painting, mixed it with a yellow talisman, lit it and threw it into the clay pot, and waited for the stopper to be closed to complete the "Yin Zhai Ji Altar Technique".
Sudden.
From the pile of dead ghosts, a body suddenly burst out and broke into two pieces.
"Thank you for your hard work, Master Dao! Just leave this rough work to me."
After saying that, he picked up the jar.
The head flies in front and the butt chases behind.
He rushed into the room in a hurry.
The living room suddenly boiled, with a heavy wind blowing and ghosts howling again and again. All the dead ghosts, big and small, stamped their feet and beat their chests. They were a step slower in calling, which allowed the new ghosts to take advantage and take the lead.
But there were only a few howls, and a series of suppressed cries sounded in the room, which was a bit more desolate than the screams of ghosts in the room. The ghosts turned off the noise, looked at each other, and then whispered.
"Why did he cry first?"
"Can you stop crying?"
"A man in his thirties or forties, in order to buy a house and get married, he worked overtime to deliver food, but he was accidentally crushed by a big truck and was crushed into two pieces on the spot."
"I can't afford eighty square meters while I'm alive, but I never thought I'd be able to live in a big villa after I died."
"But now I live in a villa and I don't have a wife."
"You curse again!"
Li Changan swallowed back the rebuke he heard and looked at the ghosts piled up on the sofa with regret written all over his face.
He bid farewell to Xiaoshui and returned to modern times, and found that the house looked like it had been visited by thieves. If his phone hadn't run out of battery, he would have called 110 on the spot.
Later, I calmed down and thought about it, this room is full of ghosts squatting, which thief has such ability?
When I took a closer look, I saw that nothing happened in my two rooms. Only the living room and the bedroom where the jar was kept were in a mess. There were not many things missing. On the contrary, there were more than ten ghosts.
Bring Boss Wu over again and ask.
During the relationship, more than a dozen unlucky ghosts came in one after another. If this new ghost bumps into the old ghost, what else can happen? Let’s fight.
The beatings ended up like this. Fortunately, the house was shabby and the valuable electrical appliances were not damaged. In short, the damage was not big. Even the jars that had been used with the "Yin Zhai Ji Altar Technique" were beaten to pieces.
.
None of this is a problem, the problem is that he was temporarily soft-hearted and couldn't stand the pitiful looks in the eyes of a few kiddies, so he agreed to give them a big villa.
What a hell of a big villa!
The Taoist priest rubbed his sore shoulders, faced the earnest faces in the room, and scratched his head.
What else can be done?
Just draw.
It's never easy to break your promise and gain weight.
He was desperate and pulled out a piece of yellow paper.
At this time.
"Ding dong."
Someone rings the doorbell?
Great!
He quickly threw away the pen, grabbed it in a few steps, and opened the door.
The bright smile quickly disappeared.
Nothing else.
80% of the people outside the door are even more troublesome.
…………
Returning to modern times from Xiaoshui did not last a few days.
The wounds on his body did not recover smoothly, and the sword he sent for recasting was not recovered.
On an afternoon when heavy rain fell and ghosts accompanied him, Li Changan received an unexpected visitor. Zhong Huansu, a Taoist priest in Louguan, or in other words, Zhong Huansu, a person from the relevant department.
The two of them chatted for a while and talked about some casual topics in the world of spiritual practice.
"Recently, the concentration of spiritual energy has increased again. This room may attract more ghosts, which may lead to a group of ghosts eating each other. Taoist friends should make plans in advance."
Increased concentration?
Is there any?
Li Changan scratched his head a little.
For him, who often traveled in the ancient world, the modern world is like a dry pond. Who would notice how moist the dry mud at the bottom of the pond is?
However, I thought about the sudden increase in "tenants" at home.
I roughly understand it again.
Could this be the legendary revival of spiritual energy?
"of course not!"
Zhong Huansu explained skillfully.
"This is just the natural law of the ebb and flow of spiritual energy."
"According to experts' research, the concentration of spiritual energy has been declining as early as the Qin and Han Dynasties, especially during the Sui and Tang Dynasties and the early Ming Dynasty. It dropped sharply. Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, it was almost completely thirsty. Until the 1980s,
The spiritual energy concentration recovered at an extremely slow speed."
"It's just that in recent times, the concentration of spiritual energy has increased abnormally several times, which has created an environment for demons and monsters to breed. The department is also short of manpower, and the monitoring is temporarily inadequate, causing some minor troubles."
"But fellow Taoist, don't worry."
"I heard that the higher-ups are already formulating new policies and guidelines to deal with possible changes in the situation in the future. The expansion of department personnel is certain, but the recruitment of those personnel is still being studied."
"But it is certain that the control over practitioners will be strengthened. The previous attitude of turning a blind eye will no longer exist. After all, the practice world is not a place outside the law."
After saying a lot, Zhong Huansu put on a professional smile like a Taoist priest.
"I have said so much, do fellow Taoists understand?"
It couldn't be more clear.
"You are looking for temporary employment."
“You really don’t want to pay me!”
…………
"Infinite Heavenly Lord, the money issue can be discussed."
After a friendly "negotiation", Zhong Huansu offered a relatively generous salary. It seems that this Taoist priest has become an official and his work style is not very pure.
Li Changan didn't want to agree at first. He was still in the period of fatigue. He just wanted to stay at home, drink happy water, eat takeaways, and happily gain weight and get moldy.
But reality doesn’t allow it.
He often jumped back and forth between the two worlds. He suffered from a strange disease called "seeing money as floating clouds."
After all the miscellaneous expenses, when I came back to my senses, my pocket was cleaner than my face.
"Let's talk about it first."
Li Changan said, "A penny can stump a heroic man."
"What kind of job is it?"
Zhong Huansu took out a folder and handed it over, and said slowly.
"A week ago, a professor named Shao Ye from Jinguan University applied for an archaeological project. The destination was an old village in the mountains of Liangshan County. The village was suspected to be related to a 'Huidaomen' that was active in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China."
"A side door or a demon?"
"In that era, it was difficult to tell whether it was true or false, whether it was a human being or a ghost. Coupled with the turmoil in the current situation, most of the files were lost, and it is no longer clear now."
"Why don't you stop this archeology?"
"As the old saying goes, our country has a vast territory, rich resources, and a long history. There are so many monsters, ghosts, and snake gods throughout the ages, and they are spread all over the place. If we stop them every time they get involved, society will stop functioning. Besides, most of them will become completely dead as their spiritual energy is exhausted.
cultural relics.”
"Since Brother Dao has found me, it means it is not among the majority, right?"
"We're not sure either."
he explained.
"This sect is recorded to have first appeared in the Guangxu period, and its influence spread rapidly thereafter. It is said that some warlords in the southwest had their shadow behind it at that time, but it suddenly disappeared around 1920, along with most official and private records
They disappeared together. During this time, there was something strange about the aura, which caused some trouble. The department searched for clues and dug it out among the scattered files."
Li Changan thought for a moment.
"Anymore?"
"Gone."
Zhong Huansu shook his head helplessly.
"The files are very scattered and lost. I don't know what their internal organization is, the name of their leader, or which gods they worship. There is only one record that is not very reliable, saying that they rely on the same divine object to preach."
"What is it?"
Zhong Huansu suddenly straightened up and his expression became serious, as if the judge from the temple had come to the human world. The ghosts in the room suddenly became silent and did not dare to whisper. Suddenly, there was only the suppressed light and the rumbling sound of rain in the room.
Li Changan was unmoved and continued to look through the documents in his hand.
This page is the old village that Zhong Huansu said.
Not much text attached to a photo.
The photo is a little blurry because of its age, but it can still be seen that it is a village hidden in the valley. The black tile roofs are arranged in a ring, densely connected and clustered together, like a coiled up centipede.