Chapter 44
A few years passed like this, and Zhao Tuhu still hadn't found a suitable zombie as his Taoist partner. Whenever he thought about sacrificing his lifelong marriage to find such a Taoist partner, he felt full of resistance.
Especially after seeing so many people in the Jingling Sect forming Taoist couples with demons and monsters, they rarely went down the mountain, as if their fellow Taoists were the center of their lives from then on. Zhao Tuhu became even more unhappy. In his opinion, if learning Taoist skills was not for showing off and having face, it would be meaningless.
The restlessness of the mind is the biggest problem for Zhao Tuhu and Yu Ming in their cultivation. However, when they were young, the seriousness of this problem did not become apparent.
Later, Zhao Tuhu lost his patience and wanted to find a zombie to deal with the teachers. It would be best if they could make an agreement and pretend to be a Taoist couple, and then they could separate directly later. As long as he could deceive the master into saying what he wanted, everything would be worth it.
Mr. Ziyuan and Yu Ming helped in this matter. They found a zombie that relatively met Zhao Tuhu's requirements. It was a female corpse who died unjustly but was arranged to have a ghost marriage. She was extremely disabled throughout her life, so she couldn't swallow her anger after death, and turned into a zombie as she held it in.
This kind of thing is not uncommon for people in their line of work. When men turn into zombies, they are usually murdered, and when women turn into zombies, they usually die in vain.
When the female zombie was found, she was even wearing a red wedding dress from the Republic of China era. Her mouth had been sewn with seven stitches, and the slightest movement would cause black and red dirty blood to flow out.
Before lifting the veil, Zhao Tuhu didn't expect the other person to be like this. After seeing it, he took a breath of cold air, then carefully put the other person's veil back, and said sorry several times.
When Zhao Tuhu was about to turn around and run, Yu Ming grabbed him and lowered his voice: "What are you doing? Ziyuan and I went to every mass grave and clan tomb to find it according to your requirements. Now you run away, do you still plan to continue to drag it out with Jinglingmen?"
"No, no, why did you choose this?" Zhao Tuhu's mind was full of the seven needle marks on the female zombie's mouth.
"You said you wanted a beautiful, powerful, and preferably obedient female zombie. Female zombies are not easy to find. They are generally more likely to become female ghosts. After all, female zombies are not easy to move around and cannot take revenge quickly. We spent a lot of time and effort to persuade you to find one. If you are still not happy, we really can't do anything about it." Ziyuan Jushi followed suit.
The zombie was indeed hard to come by. It was a family whose fortune had been calculated by Master Ziyuan in his early years. The family said that they were very unlucky, but did not feel that they had done anything wrong. So they asked Master Ziyuan to calculate for them, and found out that it was not this life but the previous life that caused the unlucky family to have bad luck.
My previous life has to be counted back to a hundred years ago. It was the Republic of China at that time, and the status of women had not yet been established. At that time, there was a beautiful girl in the village. Her family originally planned to marry her off to a good family and use the dowry to continue to support the family.
When the girl was fifteen years old, it was almost time to get married. She had already agreed to marry an older young man as his concubine. After all, her family was not well off, and being able to be his concubine was considered high-class.
As a result, on the wedding night, an accident happened on the road and the bride was raped by gangsters. Afterwards, the eldest young master's family refused to recognize the marriage, believing that the girl was unlucky and had a bad reputation, so of course they could not have any relationship with her.
The parents thought about it and felt that they could not let the girl stay in their hands. After all, she was a money-losing item, and they had to return the betrothal gift given by the eldest young master. The parents were unwilling to lose the money, so they sold her for a ghost marriage. Anyway, she was going to be a daughter-in-law, so what difference did she make whether she was alive or dead?
The girl had been raped on her way to her wedding, and when she heard that her parents were planning to arrange a ghost marriage for her, she immediately thought of dying. But wouldn't dying be a good thing for them?
So the girl thought about running away again, but failed. Her parents had expected that she would not agree, so they had drugged her water early on and tied her up, waiting to send her to someone for a ghost marriage.
Although the family that performed the ghost marriage was not wealthy, they had some money. After something happened to their son, the parents were sad that their son had died without ever getting married, so they wanted to buy a woman for their son to be his wife.
The girl was sent to the man's home and married a corpse. Her mouth was even sewn up so that she could not complain about her grievances in the afterlife. In the end, the girl, whose hands and feet were broken, was put into a coffin with her face covered in tears and blood, next to her "husband" who had already started to stink.
The coffin lid closed slowly, and the last thing the girl saw was a few distorted and hideous faces. They were even smiling.
Later, the girl starved to death in the coffin. Her hands and feet were broken and she could not eat. No one cared whether she ate or not. She was going to die anyway, so she starved to death just two days after being buried.
The resentment lingered after death and slowly turned into a zombie. She began to come back for revenge. Her parents, the matchmaker who sewed her mouth, and the family who bought her for a ghost marriage all had to pay the price.
Such a female zombie who died unjustly can have a chance for revenge from the King of Hell. The enemies she killed will be taken away immediately by the ghost catcher to settle their sins in this life. There will be no situation where both parties become ghosts and then the winner is determined by their own ability.
The fact that she died in such a way proves that the female zombie was indeed very beautiful. She has lived for so many years and her abilities are unquestionable. It’s just that her identity makes people feel a little bit scary.
Zhao Tuhu felt that the female zombie was quite pitiful, but he felt uncomfortable when he thought that this female zombie would become his Taoist partner in the future: "Why is she still here after she got her revenge? And how did you convince her to come here?"
"After she took revenge, her resentment was not dissipated. In addition, her enemies did not do anything good during the time she was in corpse form, so her merits were all negative. Therefore, the King of Hell did not care and let her wait. When those enemies are reincarnated in the future, she can continue to take revenge. As for how I persuaded her to do this, I told her that if she was willing to help, I could calculate the current location of her enemies." Mr. Ziyuan did not hide anything.
The female zombie only wants revenge in the world, and it is troublesome to find it by herself. If Master Ziyuan can provide the exact location, she won't have to look for it herself.
It was not a difficult task for Mr. Ziyuan to calculate the locations of several people in this life. The reward he gave was not expensive, but the main thing was that it touched people's hearts, so they were willing to help.
Now it depends on whether Zhao Tuhu is willing to take the other party back to Jinglingmen.
Zhao Tuhu hesitated for three days and finally compromised. He told the female zombie about his situation and how he needed her help to deceive the master and teachers of Jingling Sect. It would be best if the female zombie could make the master happy a little, so that the master might be willing to say a few more words.
The female zombie was silent for a while, then she slightly lifted her veil and pointed to the red line on her mouth, indicating that she couldn't speak.
Seeing this action, Zhao Tuhu was stunned. He grabbed a handful of hair and said resignedly: "Okay, it's okay if you can't talk. Just think of it as my liking. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder."
The arrangements were almost complete, and Zhao Tuhu made a special trip to the female zombie's hometown, pretending that he was just passing by and fell in love with her at first sight, just like his stupid and idiotic senior brother.
On the day when he brought the female zombie back to the sect, Zhao Tuhu met a junior fellow apprentice. The other party was a fool who only cared about studying - in Zhao Tuhu's opinion.
When the junior fellow saw Zhao Tuhu with his bride, he became curious and asked Zhao Tuhu if he was going to have a Taoist partner. Zhao Tuhu acted very well and directly grabbed the female zombie's hand and said yes, looking like a worthless man who was in love.
When a disciple meets someone he likes, he has to inform his master and teacher, and Zhao Tuhu is no exception.
Zhao Tuhu took the female zombie to see the master. After entering the door, before he even paid his respects, he was persuaded to talk to him alone and hoped that the female zombie would go to rest first.
This behavior was very strange. Zhao Tuhu felt that something was not right, but he still asked his junior brother to take the female zombie to his dormitory to rest. He also asked his junior brother to help take care of the female zombie. After all, the other party was a collaborator, not his real wife, and he could not neglect her.
The junior fellow disciple obediently took the female zombie to rest. Zhao Tuhu went to see the master and teachers again. After paying his respects, he waited for the master to ask questions, but he waited for no time.
Zhao Tuhu felt more and more that something was wrong, and he felt uneasy, wondering if his master had discovered that the female zombie was someone he had sent for.
Mr. Ziyuan mentioned this issue. He told Zhao Tuhu that if the master and teacher of Jingling Sect found out that the female zombie was fake, he should tell Zhao Tuhu that he was attracted to her and wanted to spend some time with her. Regardless of whether it succeeded in the end, it was a fate.
However, the master and the teacher never spoke. The silence in the room was so great that Zhao Tuhu's back was almost wet with sweat. If the other party had spoken, he would have been able to say something. Instead, the silence frightened him.
Just when Zhao Tuhu was about to give up, the teacher who had taught Zhao Tuhu before spoke up: "Xiao Zhao, what's the name of the female zombie you brought back?"
Zhao Tuhu was stunned for a moment, then quickly said: "Oh, her name is Fangdie. She didn't tell me her last name. She said that she had no last name since she died, so she was just called Fangdie."
After waiting for such a long time, Zhao Tuhu was asked about his name. He was so nervous that he almost forgot it. He wondered if his pause aroused the teacher's suspicion.
"Then did you bring her back because you thought she was strong enough or because you were pitiful?" The master asked immediately without giving Zhao Tuhu time to think.
"..." Zhao Tuhu was dumbfounded, he had not thought about this problem at all. When discussing with Ziyuan Jushi and the others, they all felt that Jingling Sect would definitely ask questions like whether it was sincere, so they wrote various mental journeys, even the lines of the female zombie, although the female zombie could not speak.
But what Zhao Tuhu never expected was that his master asked him whether he brought the female zombie back for strength or for pity. Zhao Tuhu had never thought about this question. Even Ziyuan Jushi and Yu Ming felt that they should avoid the question of strength or not, lest it be discovered that Zhao Tuhu went there for strength. Then his master would not tell him the secret of the Jingling Sect's exercises.
As a result, the master asked the question himself just at the beginning, and Zhao Tuhu was not prepared at all.
After being stunned for a few seconds, Zhao Tu suddenly remembered that he could still follow the script, but before he could open his mouth, his master waved his hand.
The master said, "Don't worry, go back first and take them to have fun in Jingling Gate. Guests are welcome. Of course, if it's inconvenient for you, you can let your junior brother go."
Zhao Tuhu couldn't figure out what his master and teachers were thinking, so he could only go back and prepare to discuss it with Master Ziyuan.
This incident gave Mr. Ziyuan a reminder that choosing a Taoist partner is probably a matter of fate and destiny, not just compatibility.
Mr. Ziyuan's suggestion was that since the female zombie was there, he might as well take advantage of this time to find a way to create a false marriage story between Zhao Tuhu and the female zombie, in order to deceive the group of old immortals from the Jingling Sect first.
However, after Master Ziyuan had finished weaving the red thread, Zhao Tuhu's junior brother was already together with the female zombie. The female zombie took the initiative to find Zhao Tuhu and said that she could not cooperate with him in acting because she wanted to be with her junior brother.
When Zhao Tuhu heard about this, he just wanted to ask if they were sick. Although the female zombie was not Zhao Tuhu's partner, he was the one who asked her to help. But the female zombie fell in love with another person. What did he think of her?
Matchmaker?
Zhao Tuhu was so angry that he wanted to beat the female zombie down the mountain. As a result, he lifted up her veil. Unlike the horrible appearance he had seen before, the girl under the veil was very beautiful, with skin as white as snow and almond-shaped eyes. She looked so beautiful that people couldn't bear to kill her.
"No, who are you?" Zhao Tuhu was stunned.
The female zombie named Fangdie touched her face and said, "He asked the master to remove it for me because I don't like it."
Zhao Tuhu didn't know what to say. He felt like a passing dog that got kicked. He wanted to say something but stopped himself. After all, he didn't know what to say. Marriage is not about first come first served.
Later, the junior brother really became a Taoist couple with Fang Die. Even so, Fang Die still wore her veil every day. It was a new one, made for her by the junior brother. It had a protective formation on it that could protect Fang Die. Although Fang Die did not need such protection with her cultivation level, it was important to have this intention.
After hearing about this, Mr. Ziyuan secretly came to Jingling Gate and calculated the fortune for Fangdie and her junior brother. He found that the two of them had no marriage relationship at all, and that they were together completely by force. But for some reason, the more he calculated, the more inseparable the two were. It was very strange.
Since it cannot be calculated, then it must be a problem with the Jingling Sect’s practice.
Yu Ming gave Zhao Tuhu an idea, asking him to ask his junior brother in the identity of a matchmaker what the master said to him. Considering that Zhao Tuhu sent Fangdie, he could not remain indifferent.
What they didn't expect was that the junior brother seemed to have known that Zhao Tuhu would come, and said: "Fang Die has told me your idea, but if your goal is to rely on the Jingling Sect's skills to change the skills, there is a condition that cannot be overcome, that is, to find a Taoist partner that you like, someone you really like, someone you are willing to do everything you can to give her the best life."
"You're saying this again. What if I can't find it in my lifetime?" Zhao Tuhu said impatiently.
"If you don't want to look for monsters or demons, you can always find people, right?" the junior brother asked hesitantly.
Zhao Tuhu thought that his junior brother didn't want to say it, so he sneered: "If you don't want to say it, you don't have to say it. You don't have to perfunctorily treat me like this, but don't forget that you stole the Taoist partner I prepared. Isn't that stealing someone's love? What's the difference between you and Cao the thief?"
Junior Brother: "... Senior Brother, calm down. Fang Die is not your partner. She is just your collaborator. So I am not a thief. Even if I am, you two have not yet married and formed a covenant. What's wrong with me chasing after you?"
Zhao Tuhu was stunned that this usually quiet person could say such words. He moved his mouth for a long time but couldn't say anything to refute.
Zhao Tuhu was so angry that he wanted to yell at her, but his cultivation made him just turn around and leave with a cold face. When he was about to leave, he heard his junior brother say, "Brother, really, Jingling Sect changes one's fate not by practicing, but by finding the one you love. This is the difference between us and Quanzhen Sect. They cannot marry and have children, but we can. Naturally, the direction of cultivation is different."
"Oh, so according to what you mean, if I don't find the one I love, I am not worthy of having my fate changed by the Jingling Sect, right?" Zhao Tuhu turned around and asked angrily.
"Then at least love yourself. Aren't you willing to do it for yourself?" the junior fellow asked suggestively.
However, Zhao Tuhu did not understand what he said, and even thought that he was sick. Even if he was not sick, he would not do such a thing as being with a corpse that had been dead for a hundred years.
Zhao Tuhu still told the entire conversation to Ziyuan Jushi and Yu Ming. They couldn't figure it out, but instead thought that it was not normal to form a Taoist couple in Jingling Sect.
After thinking for a long time, Mr. Ziyuan decided to persuade Zhao Tuhu to find a lover. This time, he should really find someone he likes. Last time, it must be because the master of Jingling Sect found out that he did not really like Fang Die, so he asked him to wait. As a result, this wait benefited that stupid junior brother who only knew how to practice.
At this point, Zhao Tuhu didn't want to really look for a Taoist partner. He said to Ziyuan Jushi and the others with lingering fear: "Don't you find it strange? It seems that in Jingling Sect, as long as they find a Taoist partner, they become weird and their temperaments change drastically. Could it be that Jingling Sect is controlling its disciples with their skills? Otherwise, what is there to hide?"
In the final analysis, Zhao Tu was just a coward. He didn't want to be controlled by others. Whenever he thought about becoming like his junior brother in the future, he was filled with fear.
Seeing that Zhao Tuhu was indeed very scared, Ziyuan Jushi and Yu Ming didn't know what to say. They asked him to pay more attention to the people of Jingling Sect and see if he could find a disciple who was willing to talk. After all, there were many disciples in Jingling Sect who formed Taoist couples, so at worst they could just ask a few who couldn't control their mouths.
But I don’t know what’s going on. No matter how I ask, I get the same answer - if you want to change your destiny, find a partner you truly love and who you are mutually attracted to. Even if you don’t have one, at least you have to love yourself.
It's like a cult, and Zhao Tuhu can't stand staying in Jingling Sect anymore. He came here to practice and become a master, not to be a cult leader!
Because Zhao Tuhu really couldn't accept the atmosphere of Jingling Sect, he discussed with Ziyuan Jushi and decided that if that didn't work, he should try to break into the forbidden area. There was a forbidden area in Jingling Sect that no one could enter at will.
In fact, all the disciples knew about this forbidden area. It contained the remains of all the ancestors of the Jingling Sect and their wives. They lived in the forbidden area and guarded the Jingling Sect from generation to generation.
Zhao Tuhu thought, "There must be something important in this forbidden area that cannot be seen by others. Otherwise, why is it called a forbidden area? Maybe there are other secrets of Jingling Sect in it. Such an important place can't be just a pile of bones, right?"
So they made a plan, letting Zhao Tuhu sneak into the forbidden area. As for the formation, it would be solved by Ziyuan Jushi, and a certain number of corpses of the sect leaders would be released. The Jingling Sect would definitely chase after the corpses of the sect leaders with high cultivation first, and would not care about what they were doing.
During this time, they can search the forbidden area carefully, and perhaps find some key clues.
The plan was executed ten years ago. At that time, Zhao Tuhu had delayed finding a Taoist partner, so his cultivation was not very high. However, he had an advantage that he was very smart, so he avoided everyone and successfully entered the forbidden area.
The forbidden area was just as the teachers said, full of coffins, and the environment looked very ordinary, just an ordinary place with beautiful mountains and rivers. Any place with mountains and rivers would be like this, nothing surprising.
There were tablets placed outside the coffins. Zhao Tuhu directly selected the coffins with the oldest years, opened the coffin lids, and then hid far away to provoke the sect leaders inside to run out. As a result, the first one he ran into was beaten and his ribs were all broken.
The ancestor was wearing a Taoist robe, his eyes were red, and when he saw Zhao Tuhu lying on the ground, he slowly raised his hand and said, "Anyone who breaks into the forbidden area of Jinglingmen will die."
"Grandmaster, wait a minute! I'm Zhao Tuhu, a disciple of the Jingling Sect. I came to ask for your help because I was coerced by someone. The other party called himself Ziyuan Jushi, and wanted to explore the secrets of the Jingling Sect's skills. I really didn't know what to do, so I hid in the forbidden area. I beg you to save my life!" Zhao Tuhu knelt on the ground without saying a word, supporting himself with his broken ribs, not daring to breathe.
This was almost the time when his brain was working the fastest. He was not this nervous when he brought Fang Die back to face a bunch of masters and teachers. He was so nervous that his brain seemed to work much better all of a sudden.
When the ancestor saw the Taoist robe on him, he narrowed his eyes slightly, suddenly turned around and ran away without saying anything.
The moment he realized that his master's breath had left him, Zhao Tuhu instantly fell to the ground, gasping for breath, not caring about his aching ribs. But he also didn't care about enjoying the joy of surviving the disaster, and immediately contacted Yu Ming for help.
In fact, Mr. Ziyuan and Yu Ming were at the foot of Jinglingmen Mountain. They were waiting for Zhao Tuhu's signal. As long as Jinglingmen took action, they could enter the Jinglingmen forbidden area.
As a result, after receiving the news from Zhao Tuhu, Ziyuan Jushi cursed inwardly, turned around and ran away, and did not forget to remind Yu Ming to go to the forbidden area quickly.
After Monk Ziyuan ran far away and the people from Jingling Sect went to chase their founder, Yu Ming quietly entered the forbidden area of Jingling Sect, found the dying Zhao Tuhu, gave him two life-saving pills, and began to look for clues in the forbidden area.
However, in such a huge forbidden area, apart from the coffins and tablets, there are some precious plant medicinal materials, such as the thousand-year-old Ganoderma lucidum growing on the coffins, which look very expensive at first glance.
Yu Ming looked around and finally came back to Zhao Tuhu and helped him up: "Our efforts have been in vain. There is nothing here. The same is true for Jingling Gate. There are only these few things, and it is called a forbidden area. It is more like a cemetery."
"Damn, are they crazy? I've been beaten like this, what's going on? Is there some formation that we don't know about? Maybe there are good things hidden here?" Zhao Tuhu was not giving up. He was almost going crazy from the pain, but when he thought about returning empty-handed and being expelled by the Jingling Sect, he wanted to spit out blood.
"There is indeed a formation, but this formation is a protective formation, protecting the Jingling Sect. Perhaps... the secret of the Jingling Sect can only be known by choosing a Taoist companion. Alas..." Yu Ming sighed, feeling helpless but also feeling that it was expected.
If the secret of Jingling Sect could be discovered so easily, it would not have been hidden for so many years.
This was the entire process of Yu Ming following Master Ziyuan. In the next ten years, he rarely followed Master Ziyuan. He began to get anxious, thinking that Master Ziyuan could not save him. But without Master Ziyuan, he didn’t know who could save him.
Su Yun gently stroked his folding fan while listening to Yu Ming's complaints. He asked thoughtfully, "So, you don't know much about my death, but are you sure that the executor was Monk Ziyuan?"
Yu Ming nodded: "Yes, in addition to the fact that you have been followed and monitored by us for so many years, the method is exactly the same as his research, and I know that Zhao Tuhu has accepted orders related to you."
[End of this chapter]
Su Yun: You guys also look like Crouching Dragon and Phoenix Chick O(∩_∩)O
Thanks for watching, happy reading.
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