"You're awake now. What were you talking about in your sleep just now? Red and east wind?"
"Fengzi, did you dream about playing mahjong?"
As the morning sun rose, I woke up and ignored Dou Sprout. Instead, I asked in a low voice: "Brother Yu, after we came back from Guan Luoyin yesterday, did you have any dreams?"
"For example...meeting Xiaoqian or someone?"
"That's not true. I slept very soundly when I came back yesterday."
So it's just me?
"Why, I think you don't look good. You haven't had a good rest?" Brother Yu asked.
"No, it's nothing."
I told the boss what I had learned from Grandma Xiao Tang, so that there would be clues to connect the two.
In 1996, the Dao County Cultural Relics Bureau discovered stone sculptures that were suspected to be Taoist priests.
In 1895, a woman named Chen Meiqing sent by Coastal Lushan came to Guizailing, and the Guizai Temple in the village was also established at that time.
The Gui Zai Temple behind the big tree is more than one meter high and one meter wide. Grandma Xiao Tang said there was a hole under the brick, which aroused our interest.
After the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, many people went out to work, and the streets in the village suddenly became deserted.
We didn't dare to go during the day, so when it was late at night, a group of us changed our clothes and entered Guizailing with our big bags.
The clay statues in the temple are still there, but they have more cracks than in the past few days, probably due to water damage.
"Is there anyone?" he asked.
In the dead of night, Dou Sprout turned around and looked around, "There's no one there, not even a ghost."
The Gui Zai Temple has no door, and the underground is neatly paved with a layer of blue bricks, which were made more than a hundred years ago.
"Pry it open." He pointed his head at the brick and said.
Dou Sprout took out a short crowbar and pointed it at the crack between the bricks.
I randomly picked up a stone and used it as a hammer, then smashed the crowbar down.
"Look carefully, don't hit my hand."
I said take it.
The crowbar was smashed down along the seam of the green bricks. Douyazai pressed the crowbar hard and a brick was lifted up.
Seeing that there was a layer of soil under the bricks, he raised his head and said, "Continue."
Just like laying floor tiles, as long as you pick up one piece, it will be easier to do other things.
"It's nothing, it's all dirt, where are the holes?" Dou Sprout said, shaking the flashlight after prying all the bricks apart.
Just like what Bean Sprouts said, take away all the bricks and what is exposed will be the soil layer with the same color as the surroundings. There are no holes in the ground.
It's been a long time. Could it be that Grandma Xiao Tang remembered it wrong?
Or, she lied to me?
I don't think so, because her biggest secret is in my hands, and she is afraid that I will tell Xiao Tang what kind of person my grandma is, so she shouldn't lie to me.
But... everything in front of me is flat soil, where is the hole?
At this time, Xiaoxuan said: "Can you move the clay figurine away? It's a bit invasive."
I looked up.
The Taoist statue in the temple is facing forward and looking at all of us.
The craftsmen who made the clay statues in the past had good skills. From our perspective, the clay statues happened to be looking at us sideways.
The clay figure seemed angry, so Xiaoxuan said she was scared. After all, we had pried off all the floor tiles in its temple.
Uncle Xue stood closest to the statue. He smiled, pushed the statue back a little, and turned it over so that his back was facing us.
"Huh? That's not right..."
My head suddenly made a sound of surprise, and I quickly asked what was wrong.
Point your head to the ground and let us see.
Because it is winter, the trees here in Guizailing have no leaves. There is a moon that night. Because Uncle Xue just pushed back, the moonlight entering the small temple was blocked by the clay statues, leaving a patch of light on the ground just in front of us.
Square shadow.
This square shadow area is not large, and it is square and similar to a window.
The specific reason should be that the square Taoist crown worn on the head of the clay statue blocked the moonlight and left a shadow. To put it bluntly, it is a Taoist hat.
He stared at the square shadow on the ground for a few seconds, then suddenly said: "Yunfeng, dig down from here."
I nodded and started digging directly.
After digging down for more than thirty centimeters, suddenly, the flat shovel in my hand hit an obstacle and I couldn't go down further.
After the soil was cleared, everyone could see clearly.
In front of me is a small square bluestone slab, less than twenty centimeters wide.
Using a flashlight, I wiped the dirt with my sleeve, and two vertical rows of words carved with a knife appeared on the bluestone.
After carefully identifying the words, he raised his head and read softly:
"Kun...Kun's refining master Chen went to Suidao County to search for the blue and yellow springs, and finally found the seven-way Vajra Gate. However, he knew that the deadline had come. Hu and Chen in the world were from the same sect, and after Shun and Yu, the refining master Chen also followed Chen's example.
The Great Master, with the underworld under his head and his body as a temple, is not in vain to come to this world."
"In the 21st year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu, at the end of Year Yi, winter, Kun Lian master Chen and his disciples left an engraving."
"What...what does this mean?" Dou Sprout stammered a bit.
I was also surprised that this small bluestone slab might be something like an epitaph.
There is a lot of information, some I don't understand, but some I know.
Let me tell you what I know first.
Master Kun Chen, if you break it down, it should be Kun, Master Chen.
Refiners are a category of Taoist priests that still exist today. They refer to Taoist priests who refine elixirs and play with medicinal materials.
There are other titles on the Tao, such as Huang Guan, Immortal Chief, Dao Gong, Nan Mo Lao, Du Shi, etc. Lian Shi is just one of them.
The Taoist Book of Changes says that Qian is heaven, Yang and male.
Kun is earth, yin, and female.
Kun Lianshi Chen means a female Taoist priest who makes alchemy.
Read these two paragraphs written on the slate.
"Master Refiner Chen Yi imitated Chen Dazhen."
According to this passage, there are two Taoist priests surnamed Chen, and the other one has a very high status and can be called "Da Zhenren". They are very powerful Taoist priests. We don't know who this person is at the moment.
I suddenly remembered what Tang Gui's wife said before she went crazy.
As a local who grew up in Tianguangdong, she said at that time that a Taoist priest died in Guizailing. The Taoist apprentice cut off the Taoist priest's head and took it away. Later, he made a head out of straw and sewed it on the head.
A piece of the corpse was burned, and finally a clay statue was made from the burned ashes, and the Gui Zai Temple was built based on the clay statue.
This rumor passed down in the village seems to match the words left on the stone slab.
"With the underworld under your head and your body as a temple, it's not a waste of time to come to this world."
There are still many things that I don’t understand at all.
The head went to hell, where did the head go?
"In Suidao County, I searched for the blue and falling yellow springs, and finally found the Seven Vajra Gates."
What is Biluo Huangquan? Is it a cave or a place? Is it the same thing as the cave heaven and paradise mentioned by the previous generation Yapo?
"Seven Paths Vajra Gate", is it the kind of Vajra Wall with three combined earth and five combined earth that I know is used in tombs to prevent theft? But I have never heard of the Seven Paths.
look in.
"Chen and Hu in the world are from the same ancestral lineage and are all descendants of Shun and Yu." I don't understand this either. What does Chen and Hu mean?
"The head? The head?"
When he came back to his senses, he didn't know if he knew something. There was a flash of shock in his eyes.
The head immediately ordered: "Move this stone slab and put it away."
The stone slab was removed, revealing a small hole.
The hole is about twenty centimeters in diameter and looks very deep, like a mouse hole.
Dou Sprout looked down with his flashlight, turned around and said, "Let me go, this is a weasel's den, right? Even a strong flashlight can't reach the bottom."
Xiaoxuan whispered: "You haven't gone to school. If you don't understand, don't talk nonsense. Weasels are from the Northeast. How can there be weasels in Hunan?"
Dou Sprout said: "You are just talking nonsense, you are the only one who has gone to school!"
"Who told you that weasels are only found in the Northeast? I saw them on my hometown mountain when I was a child, and the cave was just this big. Yunfeng, you are from the Northeast, tell me about it."
Looking at the small hole in front of me, I frowned and said, "You're right what Douya said, yellow skins can be found everywhere, but the evil nature is spread in our place, but... I don't think this hole looks like a weasel's den.
I asked: "Basically, according to what Grandma Xiao Tang said, this hole was accidentally discovered by the third grandmother. It was a heavy rainy day, and it rains all year round here in Yongzhou. Could it be caused by natural collapse?"
Without saying anything, he picked up a pebble and threw it into the hole.
An echo soon came.
And the echoes continue until human ears can no longer hear them.
"So deep?"
He thought for a moment and asked: "Wen Bin, have you brought our duck?"
Brother Yu nodded.
He raised his head and said, "Well, this thing has been trained to be humane, tie it with a rope, and send it down to have a look."
Unzipping the zipper, Brother Yu caught the duck and put it on the ground. He gently touched the down on the duck's head. The duck didn't run away. He squinted and enjoyed it a little.
When Dou Sprout saw this, he said, "Is this okay? Don't worry, there is a weasel down there. If we eat it, then when we pull it out, we will be left with a duck neck. A duck neck that costs 100,000 yuan."
"Shut your mouth and say something lucky."
"Brother Yu, why don't you give it a try? I think you can try the method of talking to the head. If nothing happens, we can just pull the duck up."
Brother Yu thought for a while and agreed.
Tie the rope into a small loop, put it around the duck's neck, tighten it, and Brother Yu slowly brings the duck into the hole.
"Gah...gah..."
At first, I could hear the duck quacking twice, but then I couldn't see the duck soon.
A rope nearly 60 meters long was being led into the hole by the duck.
The rope was still loosening in circles, which meant that the Echo Duck was still crawling deeper, and everyone was very nervous.
Seeing that the length has dropped to more than thirty meters,