The Wei River flows surgingly, continuously for thousands of years, and runs roughly northward, winding around Lingshou Town on three sides, surrounding this ancient town.
Lingshou Town is under the jurisdiction of Daming County, Zhili Province. It is named after the Lingshou Taoist Temple on the mountainside to the south of the town.
In 1923, the twelfth year of the Republic of China, there was a lot of rain in June in Lingshou Town. It seemed as if a hole had been punched in the sky. The sky was gloomy during the day, and it rained heavily as soon as it got dark.
"It's really unlucky. I haven't seen the sun for more than ten days. The mountain roads are muddy. I haven't been able to go up to the back mountain to collect medicines and sell them for a long time!" At night, a young man in Lingshou Taoist Temple complained softly.
The young man's name is Chen Guan. He is just twenty years old this year. He has a short haircut and no long hair with a hairpin. He is also wearing ordinary shabby clothes instead of Taoist robes. It is obvious that he is not a Taoist monk. Picking medicine is related to his stomach problem.
, no wonder he complained.
Chen Guan was an orphan. He was raised by an old Taoist priest. The old Taoist priest was previously the only Taoist priest at Lingshou Taoist Temple. Unfortunately, he died in the first year of the Republic of China. At that time, Chen Guan was only eight years old and became an orphan again. The old Taoist priest had not formally given Chen Guan's official title.
Acting ordination ceremony.
"You have a strange talent. You will have your own destiny in the future, and you have no relationship with me as a master or disciple!" The old Taoist priest sighed until his death: "However, after I die, you will be the only one in this Lingshou Guan lineage." Then.
He said something strange again: "Hey, I wonder what my luck will be like this time?"
This Lingshou Taoist temple is in dilapidated condition. There are only three halls that can barely be called rooms. In the main hall in the middle is a Taoist statue. The Taoist statue is more than three meters high. It is a tall and independent guest. It is unknown how old it is.
He was dead, his whole body was dusty and lifeless, only Daoxiang's eyes were still very clear and deep, looking indifferently into the distance, as if he was floating away from the world.
To the left of the Taoist temple is the old Taoist priest's living room, which is now empty. Chen Guan lives in the room on the right, with broken windows and leaking roof. However, he has this place to live and settle down, and he has grown up slowly.
In addition to a broken bed in Chen Guan's room, there are hundreds of books left for him by the old Taoist priests, such as "Huang Ting Jing", "Ling Bao Dong Yuan Shen Curse Sutra", "Ling Bao Sutra" and so on.
There are also some Taoist classics dating back to the Han Dynasty, all of which were written in small seal script or official script that is no longer commonly used today.
The old Taoist priest taught him how to speak and read when he was a child. Chen Guan, who has lived alone for more than ten years, has already read these books thousands of times. He has to learn the mantra for purifying the heart, the mantra for the mouth, and the mantra for the body that Taoist priests must learn sooner or later.
He rarely practiced, but the ones he learned best were "Tao Zang Feng Shui", "Baozha Zi", "Behind the Elbow", etc. After all, he had to rely on these to make a living.
The Lingshou Taoist Temple is in a dilapidated state, and the residents of the town have never thought of the existence of this dilapidated Taoist temple alone four or five miles away. The Taoist priest Chen Guan, who has never become a monk, can only ask Chen Guan to find the dragon's acupuncture points and practice Feng Shui on special occasions, or to practice Feng Shui.
When some residents were sick, they asked Chen Guan to give them some herbal medicine. This was something that old Taoist priests were proficient in in the past.
Fortunately, in the five or six years after the death of the old Taoist priest, Chen Guan studied the teachings taught by the old Taoist priest and applied them on his own, and he also understood five or six points. Therefore, when he was fourteen years old, he selected a good Feng Shui Yin Mansion for the Bai family in the east of the town.
After "cleaning the acupoints with goldfish dew", he officially made his debut. In addition, he collected flowers and herbs from the mountains and sold them to the traditional Chinese medicine hall in the town. He no longer lived on the very small ocean left by the old Taoist priests.
After completing the tasks of finding a ghost house or delivering herbs, the town residents often gave Chen Guan two oceans, as well as a large bag of rice or vegetables. Rich families would also give some meat, so that although Chen Guan lived in
In the shabby Lingshou Taoist Temple, one would not starve to death at the foot of the mountain.
However, Chen Guan often couldn't figure it out: "Lingshou Temple is in tatters. I wonder what the old Taoist wanted to do when he worked hard here all his life."
"What's the use of the old Taoist priest saying that I have extraordinary qualifications? Are these Taoist scriptures the secrets of cultivating Taoism and becoming an immortal? I can't find any tips or tricks for cultivation! I followed what is recorded in these books
After practicing the mantras, I meditated and practiced Qi, but there was no air flow in my body at all."
"Hey, it seems that the legendary practice of cultivating Taoism and overcoming thunder tribulations and becoming a master of Xuanmen is also a fantasy to me!"
Nowadays, the world outside the Republic of China is that warlords from various provinces and factions are fighting each other every month. The Beiyang government in Beijing exists in name only and changes very quickly. He lives a small life in the peaceful Taoist temple at the foot of the mountain. He has no desires and desires, and his mood is originally calm.
However, this month was disrupted.
The residents of the town are complaining that it has rained every day recently, preventing them from going out to the fields, and they are complaining about the old man, but only Chen Guan is surprised: "This rain comes at such a strange time!"
He had heard from an old Taoist priest and read all the records in Taoist scriptures that there were normal procedures for whether it was sunny or rainy. Generally, before it rained, the god of thunder, god of electricity, god of wind, and god of clouds would all come together, and the clouds would be filled with thunder.
Then the rain fell.
However, the rain these days comes suddenly, there is no wind, clouds, thunder or lightning!
"It's June, it rains strangely, and there are masters fighting or evildoers running rampant!" Chen Guanyi thought of the old Taoist priest's mysterious words, and he didn't know whether they were true or not. He got cold all over and stopped thinking about him.
On this day, the weather suddenly cleared up, and there was no rice in Lingshou Temple. Chen Guan went down the mountain to buy rice. When he came back and passed the Wang's tea stall at the south end of the town, he heard Li Zhenbei, the commander of the company stationed in Lingshou Town, and his four officers and soldiers.
While drinking tea, smoking and cursing the weather, he was discussing the current situation with shopkeeper Wang: "I heard the news from Beijing, the little Japan over the sea has been coveting our country, saying that there may not be a war one day!
Little Japan has been very arrogant since it occupied several islands in a naval battle decades ago!"
Shopkeeper Wang hurriedly asked: "We only know that Japanese forces have penetrated into the three northeastern provinces. Are they already trying to pass through Beijing?"
Li Zhenbei was born in Shandong. He was a burly man and a typical tough man. However, he was stationed in Lingshou Town, but he could be regarded as innocuous. The residents in the town said that his marksmanship was extremely accurate. When a hare ran past a hundred meters away, he casually hit him.
A long-barreled Mauser pistol, immediate death.
He was a little impatient, frowned, took two deep puffs of cigarette, and then said: "In recent years, Governor Zhang in the Northeast has been very tough. He has his own way of dealing with the Japanese, and he has not let the Japanese take advantage!
On the surface, the Japanese dare not do anything, but secretly, they are still ready to take action! I heard that last month, the Japanese took advantage of Governor Zhang to focus on attacking Beijing, and suddenly took action to remove the iron brakes on the Jiuding Iron Sha Mountain in the northeast.
It was blown into powder, and all the Taoist priests inside were killed! And I heard that it was not the Japanese army that did it, but some ninja ronin!"
Chen Guan had heard Li Zhenbei talk about Governor Zhang many times and knew that he was a fierce bandit in the Northeast. He heard that he was extremely arrogant and clamored to capture Beijing within a few years and become the army and navy commander of the Beiyang government.
Marshal, we want to abolish the nominally short-lived President of the Republic of China and actually become the truly powerful President of the Republic of China. But we just don’t know how long he will be able to sit on the throne even if he takes the throne?
However, he is not boasting at all. Within this year, he has appointed himself commander-in-chief twice and led hundreds of millions of soldiers to launch general attacks against the Beijing-controlled armies. At least now in the three northeastern provinces, Governor Zhang is completely responsible for what he says.
Already.
A town resident who was drinking tea asked strangely: "I once followed Mr. Zhang from the county's traditional Chinese medicine hall to buy ginseng at the foot of Jiuding Tiesha Mountain. The Tiesha Temple was the most shabby and ordinary, with only four or five houses and a few Taoist priests."
If the Japanese want to steal money, why would they choose Lotus Temple?"
What Li Zhenbei is worried about is: "I heard that Japanese ninjas are the most weird. They can escape from heaven and earth and are omnipotent. However, they have always been practitioners and most of them are in the world. How come they are now collaborating with the soldiers! I am not afraid of really being with the Japanese soldiers.
I can do it with real swords and guns, but I'm really a bit scared of the elusive ninja!"
Chen Guan was listening outside, but he was moved in his heart: "Tiesha Temple is named after Jiuding Tiesha Mountain. I'm afraid it is where the pulse eye of the entire mountain range is located. It is not necessarily true that Tiesha Temple hides the entire Jiuding Tiesha Mountain."
Those Japanese ninjas were the ones who robbed all the treasures of Dingtiesha Mountain without anyone noticing!"
"I just don't know what treasures the Japanese ninjas stole and whether they left China!"
As he was thinking, his eyes looked at the ground, and suddenly he found that his shadow on the ground was covered by a shadow, and the shadow was still moving slowly.
"It's a beautiful sunny day. There are no dark clouds. What is it?" Chen Guan raised his head hurriedly. The sun was a bit dazzling, and there was a black unknown object flying slowly in the distance about three or four miles high in the sky.
When the shadow passed over Li Zhenbei at the tea stall, Li Zhenbei also saw it and couldn't help but raise his head: "What the hell is this?"
"Is it an airplane?" Shopkeeper Wang raised his head and rubbed his hands excitedly and asked, "What is an airplane? I've only heard you talk about it, but I've never seen it before."
Li Zhenbei spit out the cigarette butt in his mouth and shook his head: "Planes make noises when flying! This is not a plane! Our town is not the flight path of the plane!" He saw Chen Guan standing by and couldn't help but ask: "Little Taoist Priest"
, you are young and have good eyesight, what is that?"
"I don't know it either, but it looks like a bird!" Chen Guan said slowly.
Li Zhenbei disagreed: "How can it be a bird when it flies so high and is so big? Even the biggest eagle in our Lingshou Town cannot fly so high! And if it flies so high, it looks like
It’s only about the size of a grain of rice!”
Chen Guan nodded at this point. He understood that if it was really a bird, at least when its wings are spread out and flying, this bird must be more than two feet wide!
The townspeople were all talking about it. Seeing that it had nothing to do with him, Chen Guan returned to Lingshou Taoist Temple, which happened to be in the same direction as the bird was flying.
After more than ten minutes, the sun was obscured by dark clouds, and the shadow of the bird disappeared. When Chen Guan climbed halfway up the mountain and looked up again, he could see much more clearly. He could vaguely see the giant bird sitting on top of it.
A person's appearance is just so far away that it's completely hard to see clearly.
Chen Guan couldn't help but smile bitterly: "The ancients recorded that a master of Taoism flew away on a bird. Is this really true?"
The giant bird kept flying and soon disappeared without a trace.
The country is about to be in chaos, and strange beasts will appear!