What happened was a big bell fifty meters away from us. When I jumped down, I vaguely saw it buckled on the floor. But at that time, all my attention was on the red-haired monster and the black cat, and I didn't pay attention to this bell.
The bell was in his heart. Just now when Monk Xiao was puncturing the living corpse, Hao Wenming had already gone over and saw that the bell had changed.
When a few of us passed by, we saw clearly that it was a copper bell, covered with patina, and it was hard to tell how old it was. Pojun took off an oil lamp from the wall, and used the light of the oil lamp at close range.
, we can see strange characters carved one after another under the patina. Where the bronze bell is facing away from us, a gap of fifteen or six centimeters has been opened. Although the eye is gone, I can still see it.
The scene around the gap began to distort irregularly,
The place where the trouble occurred in Monk Xiao's mouth was the gap that Ba Cheng was referring to. Fatty Sun stopped all the way away. I hesitated for a moment, stood behind Po Jun, and retreated to a place about ten meters away from the bronze bell. Monk Xiao and Hao
Wen Wenming held his breath and stared at the gap for more than half a minute. The two of them took a few steps back. After reaching a safe position, Monk Xiao took a deep breath and said, "I couldn't see the gap just now. How can I see it now?"
Minutes? The hole is so big. His grandma’s, it’s crazy!”
Hao Wenming said beside him: "I was shocked when I saw it just now. That unlucky guy probably got hit here. He must have been standing next to the bell when it cracked, and he was breathed in with the death breath when he was breathing.
"
"Two leaders, what is this bell for? There is still this layer of purple and mist-like gas floating on it, which looks very permeable." Seeing that there seemed to be no danger, Fatty Sun walked over cautiously and stood up.
He said behind me. But why can’t I see the fog he mentioned?
Fatty Sun's words startled Hao Wenming and Monk Xiao. Director Hao didn't believe it. He widened his eyes and said, "Can you see the fog floating outside the Soul-Calming Bell? Great Sage, what else can you see? How many layers of fog are there?
Can you tell?"
"Isn't it just fog? Can it be layered?" Fatty Sun muttered a few words with squinted eyes, looked at the bronze bell for a while, and finally shook his head and said: "Hao Tou, are you really telling the truth?
It would be nice if you can see the flesh invisible. Why can’t I see that this fog can be layered? I’m not telling you, Hao Tou, you’ve made it clear, what’s the layering method?”
"Little fat man, if you can't see it, don't look at it. Apart from this bell, what else can you see?" Monk Xiao also became interested in Fatty Sun. Fatty Sun scratched his scalp and said, "It's the same as before, not much more.
No less." I added for him: "The Great Sage's heavenly eyes seem to have not changed. He can see and hear things that I couldn't see or hear before."
Hao Wenming saw that I didn't seem to be talking nonsense, so he turned to Fatty Sun and said, "Sun Dasheng, you can see why you didn't tell me earlier?" Fatty Sun looked aggrieved and said, "You didn't even ask me? How could I know?
What should I say or shouldn’t I say?”
"Forget it." Monk Xiao waved his hand to Hao Wenming, turned around and said to Fatty Sun: "Little Fatty, it doesn't matter if you can't see how many layers of fog there are. Come over and see the trend of this layer of fog, and tell me the trend.
I can do it too. It's okay, don't worry, you'll be fine if you just stand here and hold your breath." Seeing Fatty Sun lingering and not moving forward, Monk Xiao explained: "The dead breath only goes to the mouth and nose, not the seven orifices.
.As long as you don’t breathe heavily into this opening at close range. Come and see, where is the direction of the fog?”
Fatty Sun hesitated for a moment, but finally walked over, held his breath, and walked around the bell for nearly two or three minutes, until an unhealthy pig blood red appeared on his face. Then he immediately moved back.
After taking a dozen steps back, I felt that I was almost done, so I opened my mouth and gasped.
Before Fatty Sun could catch his breath, Monk Xiao said: "Little Fatty, what's going on, do you understand? What's the trend of the fog?" "The trend of the fog... the trend of the fog... I can't tell."
Fatty Sun said breathlessly. Before Monk Xiao and Hao Wenming changed their faces, he added: "However, I saw a swirl in the fog here." While speaking, Fatty Sun had already reached out and pointed to a position on the side of the gap.
.
"Is there Xuan'er here?" Monk Xiao pointed to the position where Fatty Sun pointed and said, "Is the center of Xuan'er here?" "One centimeter to the left, don't move, it's right here" and followed Fatty Sun's guidance.
, Monk Xiao pointed at a point, already took out the 'sweater needle' with one hand, pointed the tip of the needle towards the position pointed by his finger and started to drill it in.
This action was much more difficult than puncturing the skull of a living corpse just now. When Monk Xiao exerted his strength, the 'sweater needle' had already begun to bend. Fortunately, it was tough enough. When Monk Xiao relieved his force, the 'sweater needle' began to bend.
It has to be straight. After several attempts, let alone piercing the bell, it didn't even leave a mark.
Monk Xiao patted the bronze bell and said: "Good copper, this is really not a fake, the Soul-Calming Bell is the Soul-Calming Bell." After saying that, he bit his thumb holding the 'sweater needle' and found it on the tip of the needle.
There was some blood on his head, and he sucked the wound in his mouth for a long time. Then he opened his mouth to the position of "Xuan'er" and spat out a mouthful of blood mixed with saliva.
The moment the blood sprayed onto the bronze bell, the area where the blood was splashed showed a tendency to become more rusty. With this mouthful of blood, the 'sweater needle' in Monk Xiao's hand drilled into the bronze bell again. He heard "Zizzizi..."
...." There was a harsh sound, and the 'sweater needle' actually got into the copper bell, and more than half of it went in.
"You all step back!" Monk Xiao turned around and shouted to us. When he saw us retreating to the corner, Monk Xiao took a breath and fiercely pulled out the 'sweater needle' from the bronze bell. In the 'sweater needle'
'The moment he pulled out the bronze bell, Monk Xiao had already turned around and ran back, until he ran to our side before he dared to breathe again.
I just wanted to ask Monk Xiao what he was doing. Before I could say anything, I felt a stream of pungent air rushing out from my mouth, nose, ears and eyes. As soon as I stretched my neck, I felt...
It’s like the feeling that happens instantly after a big bowl of Japanese wasabi is poured into your mouth and swallowed.
Except for Fatty Sun, everyone else had the same reaction as me. Po Jun's feeling seemed to be stronger. He had already squatted on the ground with his face covered, and his hair stood up one by one.
But when this uncomfortable feeling disappeared, when I looked at the surrounding scenery, the originally hazy scene had now become clear. I looked back at Monk Xiao, who was still rubbing his face and combing his hair, and said, "Old Xiao
Master, is this the restriction you mentioned before? Where does this bell come from? The death energy also comes from it, and is there a restriction that can cover our heavenly eye?"
"Please lower your voice, it hurts my ears." Monk Xiao took out his ears and said to me, "This is too strong, my old bones are still a little uncomfortable. Little spicy guy, please speak slowly." Look.
Seeing him like this, I had no choice but to lower my voice and keep the story short: "Master Xiao, what's going on with this bell?"
Monk Xiao nodded and said, "If I had said that earlier, it would have been over." As he said that, he turned back and raised his chin towards the bronze bell and said, "Have you ever heard of the Soul-Calming Bell?" Seeing me shaking my head, he added: "
That big guy. Do you know what bells were used for in ancient times?" I thought about it for a moment, but I was still not sure: "A musical instrument?"
"It's a kind of punishment," said Monk Xiao, "but have you ever heard of a punishment called killing by a bell?" I was too lazy to think about it, so I sighed and said, "Old Master Xiao, I'm not Baidu, I know everything.
. Just say it directly, don’t be too pretentious.”
Monk Xiao curled his lips, snorted, and said: "Baidu? It also needs to know..." In this way, Consultant Xiao officially talked about the origin of the Soul Calming Bell.
During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, the spread of Buddhism in China reached its peak. There were hundreds of thousands of Buddhist temples across the country. Because Buddhism has the theory of reincarnation, a considerable number of dignitaries at that time wanted to reincarnate in the next life and enjoy glory and wealth again.
, he donated a huge amount of money and land to temples during his lifetime. For a period of time, this trend was quite popular. Until the founding of the People's Republic of China in the later Zhou Dynasty, Buddhist temples accounted for three or four out of ten of the land in the country.
Because at that time, temple property had the privilege of being exempted from paying taxes, which made the Later Zhou Dynasty, which had just founded the country and was financially strapped, a bit jealous. Not to mention, when a dynasty changed, new money had to be minted, but the copper used to cast the money was not.
It took a long time to collect it. After investigation, it was discovered that the brass originally used to cast money was sent to ancestral temples in various places to cast bronze Buddhas and various magical instruments.
Chai Rong, Emperor Shizong of the Later Zhou Dynasty, was furious when he learned about this incident. He issued nine imperial edicts in one night, and a vigorous campaign to destroy Buddhism began. Since then, all monks and nuns were ordered to return to secular life, temple properties were confiscated, and all kinds of brass were confiscated.
The ritual instruments and the bronze Buddha were destroyed and coins were cast. In the later Zhou Dynasty, all 30,336 Buddhist temples under his jurisdiction were demolished or used for other purposes.
Under the constant suppression by the imperial power, although most monks and nuns have returned to secular life, there are still some loyal believers of Buddhism who have fled to various places under the jurisdiction of the Later Zhou Dynasty and continue to preach secretly. What's more, some monks and nuns have begun to preach in the deep mountains and old forests.
Temples were rebuilt there. At that time, in order to deal with these people, some bizarre punishments were also created. One of the capital punishments was the bell punishment.
Because during the Five Dynasties, the status of monks was transcendent, there were few punishments for monks and other monks, and later Zhou Dynasty did not dare to go too far. The officials in charge of punishment at that time came up with a capital punishment specifically for monks and nuns. At that time,
When destroying the ritual implements, a huge copper bell was left behind as a torture instrument. Later, whenever a fleeing monk or nun who refused to return to secular life was captured and escorted to Beijing, he would be tied up and stuffed into a bronze bell.
The bronze bells were struck ninety-nine times with bell hammers from all around. Basically, the monks and nuns inside were shocked to the point of bleeding to death in about fifty times.
From the time of the bell punishment until the death of Emperor Shizong of the Later Zhou Dynasty, Chai Rong, half a year later, when this punishment was abolished, 1,019 monks and nuns had died under the bronze bell. Soon after, Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin usurped the world of the Later Zhou Dynasty.
, Buddhism flourished again. Song Taizu regarded this bronze bell as a very ominous object and sent it to Daxiangguo Temple in Kaifeng Prefecture for sealing.
Until the Zhenzong period of the Song Dynasty, Xiao Keye, a monk from Tianzhu, preached to Kaifeng, the capital of the country. He stayed in the Daxiangguo Temple. I don’t know if it was because the Buddha did not bless him. That afternoon, the Zen room where he lived was flooded and caught fire. Fortunately, it was discovered early.
The fire was not big, but the Zen room could no longer accommodate anyone. Xiao Keye was temporarily moved to the warehouse.
The first half of the night was fine, but something happened in the second half of the night. When Xiao Keye was drowsily sleeping, he was awakened by a strange sound. When he opened his eyes, he almost fainted again due to the scene.
His warehouse alone was filled with countless people at some point.
These people, both men and women, were all in the same posture, kneeling on the ground with their hands clasped together, and chanting to a huge copper bell in the corner of the warehouse. Looking at the backs of these people, they were all dressed as monks and nuns. Xiao Keye's Chinese was still at the peak of its development
Although he couldn't hear what they were saying specifically at the beginning, he could vaguely hear a few Buddhist chants. Xiao Keye was still a beginner in Taoism, but just like that, he could tell that the monks and nuns kneeling all over the ground were all confused.
It's not a living person, so he can only watch it, not even daring to express his anger.
Until the fish belly white lights up outside the window, there is a sound of ringing bells in the temple. Just as Xiao Keye was stunned, all the monks and nuns in the room disappeared at the same time. Even if the sky was bright, Xiao Keye did not dare to go back.
He stayed in this warehouse. He rushed out of the warehouse in a few steps. He ran to the Main Hall before he breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed on the floor on the spot.
I heard that there was a monk ghost in the warehouse, and it scared the foreign monks. Several great monks from Xiangguo Temple also arrived. Some of them were talking nonsense, and the incident from that year was mentioned again.
, this incident also alarmed the abbot of Daxiangguo Temple. He personally led all the monks in the temple to perform a hundred-day salvation for the bronze bell. At the same time, he suppressed the dead ghost inside the bronze bell. At that time, he also gave the bronze bell a
Name——Soul Bell.
After being transcended for a hundred days, the bronze bell had never been haunted again. Later, due to the war, the soul-suppressing bell was lost again. Unexpectedly, when it appeared again, it turned out to be on a ghost ship. Just now, Monk Xiao and the others arrived.
, they saw the origin of the soul-suppressing bell, and also discovered that someone had added a new layer of restrictions on the bronze bell. It was this layer of restrictions that covered the eyes of everyone on the ship.
After Monk Xiao finished speaking, I thought of another question: "Old Master Xiao, the eyes of all of us are covered. Why doesn't Sun Dasheng have any influence at all?
This question made Monk Xiao scratch his head and couldn't figure it out. He looked at Fatty Sun and said, "Little Fatty, you didn't encounter anything when you were with Little Lazi just now, right?"
Fatty Sun raised his face and thought for a while, then shook his head and said: "I didn't encounter anything special... Lazi, help me think about it, is there anything wrong?" I also helped him recall it.
, from the moment we boarded the ship to now, Fatty Sun has almost always acted with me. Even if something happened on the way, it is impossible for me not to know about it. It’s just that Fatty Sun and I thought about it over and over again, and we couldn’t think of anything special.
"Consultant Xiao, we will talk about the Great Sage's affairs when we have a chance. Let's focus on the present first." When Monk Xiao was telling the origin of the Soul-Calming Bell just now, Hao Wenming remained silent. He circled around the Soul-Calming Bell several times from a distance.
His face became more and more solemn: "The hole is getting bigger and bigger, and the death energy is rushing out. I am not afraid that the soul-suppressing bell will not be able to hold it for a while."
Director Hao said in a very serious tone. He had just been busy listening to Monk Xiao telling the origin of the soul-suppressing bell, but he had neglected the real soul-suppressing bell. After being reminded by him, when he looked over again, a layer of purple-black mist floated from the gap.
It came out and was already shrouded in the Soul-Calming Bell. From what I could see, the Soul-Calming Bell had begun to vibrate slightly, as if there was a powerful energy inside the bell that was about to burst out.
"Hao Tou, isn't this bell going to explode?" I said to Hao Wenming. Director Hao stared at the Soul Calming Bell and replied: "It won't happen now, but there is a gap in the Soul Calming Bell.
I'm afraid it won't be able to hold on for a while." After saying that, he turned to Monk Xiao and said, "Consultant Xiao, make plans in advance. If something happens to the soul-suppressing bell, no one, whether human or ghost, will be able to escape on the ship."
"Get out, we can't stay here... Little fat man, what's that thing on your neck?" Monk Xiao was halfway through his words when he accidentally saw a white jade sign hanging from a red rope around Sun Dasheng's neck.
came out. This jade medal, Monk Xiao, looked familiar, but I couldn’t remember where I had seen it.
Monk Xiao couldn't remember the origin of the jade plaque, but I could see it clearly. I had seen this jade plaque not long ago and kept it for a while. It was the one that Wu Rendi gave to Shao Yiyi, but I remembered that Shao Yiyi had already
After only a few days of collecting the jade token, why did the jade token fall into Fatty Sun's hands again?
"It's a small token, it's not a good thing." Fatty Sun had no intention of showing the jade token, but instead tucked it into his clothes. Monk Xiao ignored this, and left in no hurry, facing Fatty Sun.
He stretched out his hand and said, "Take it off and let me see."
Monk Xiao stretched out his hand, and Fatty Sun reluctantly took off the jade plaque, handed it to Monk Xiao, and said: "Old Master Xiao, just look at it, be careful not to drop it on the ground. What...
Return it to me after you finish reading it.”
Monk Xiao ignored Fatty Sun. He held the jade pendant in his hand and only glanced at it. His expression became a little stunned. He looked up at Fatty Sun, as if he wanted to ask him a question. But in the end he refrained from asking.
.Just when Fatty Sun also reached out to take back the jade token, Monk Xiao, holding the jade token in his hand, suddenly turned around and walked quickly towards the Soul Calming Bell.
The death energy in the soul-suppressing bell was almost boiling, and not long ago, he saw with his own eyes a living corpse that had been filled with death energy. The soul-suppressing bell had a shadow on Fatty Sun, so he hesitated for a moment, but still did not dare to follow
Go up. I can only watch helplessly as Monk Xiao walks to the side of the Soul-Calming Bell and hangs the red rope with the jade plaque on the Soul-Calming Bell.
At the moment when the jade plaque was hung on the soul-suppressing bell, the purple-black mist that had shrouded the surface of the bronze bell began to slowly dissipate. The soul-suppressing bell stopped shaking and returned to normal. At this time, Hao Wenming and Po Jun also
Carefully walked to the soul-crushing bell. Director Hao was surprised when he saw the jade plaque. He looked up at Monk Xiao again and said nothing. He just made a 'six' sign with his right hand. Monk Xiao nodded slightly and then said nothing.
Pay attention to Director Hao again.
"Let me tell you, our Heavenly Eyes are all deceived. Little Fatty, you are the only one with a good Heavenly Eye. You must have some tricks inside. Who would have thought that this little card can restrain the death energy in the Soul-Calming Bell?" Monk Xiao
Standing next to the soul-suppressing bell, he did not shy away from being angry and said to Fatty Sun with a smile.
But Fatty Sun couldn't laugh. He said with a grimace: "Master Xiao, can I still get my Xiaoyu card? The card is not mine. What will I do if he comes to me in the future?"
"You let him get it by himself." Monk Xiao said with a half-smile: "Anyway, that man is very capable, and he didn't pay attention to the soul-suppressing bell." Monk Xiao seemed to already know the meaning of these words.
The origin of the jade plaque. Fatty Sun smiled bitterly again. He could see that the jade plaque would probably never come out. However, Fatty Sun was not sure whether the jade plaque could completely suppress the death energy of the Soul Calming Bell.
He changed the topic and said: "Old Master Xiao, Hao Tou, what should we do now? Should we continue going down, or should we go up and wait for Director Gao and others to come for reinforcements?" After Fatty Sun finished speaking, Master Xiao and Hao Wenming looked at each other.
After a quick glance, Monk Xiao finally said: "We've already reached here, and we don't need to go to the lower level anymore. Let's go down and have a look, so as not to regret it later."
When Monk Xiao said this, the money rat in Fatty Sun's jacket pocket suddenly showed its head and barked at Monk Xiao, as if agreeing with his idea. This rare scene made Monk Xiao smile slightly,