Chapter 22: Breaking the Greed, Xiangshan Temple Exorcises Ghosts
"My lady, save me..."
Luo Qingling hurriedly called for a stop, lifted the curtain and looked out, only to find that the carriage had stopped at the ferry where the female corpse was found this morning. It was already late at night, and there was no one near the ferry, only her carriage.
It was dusk and the river was unusually calm, without a single ripple.
The female voice just now has disappeared.
After the dream last night, Luo Qingling has been uneasy all day. She thought it was just a nightmare, but when she saw the eyeless female corpse lying dead on the boat at the ferry today, her heart was suddenly shocked. She felt more and more that the woman was asking for help in her dream - so much so that she had auditory hallucinations just now. It was really amazing.
He must have been frightened after seeing the female corpse this morning, which is why he thought a woman was talking in his ear. It seems we can't stay here for long, so we should hurry back home.
"What's wrong with you, madam?" Aunt Zhao's voice came from outside, with some worry.
"Nothing, let's continue on our way."
Luo Qingling ordered the carriage to set off. The carriage swayed forward and the curtain swayed slowly. She wanted to retract her hand that had lifted the curtain, but she saw a flickering candlelight in the small house next to the ferry, several black horses stopped outside the door, and a clerk was guarding the door with a knife in one hand.
He is the follower of Song Yutai, the Shaoqing of Dali Temple!
"Uncle Zhao, stop!" Luo Qingling hurriedly jumped out of the car and trotted forward to identify herself. Her intuition told her that something was wrong with the corpse. The voice was definitely not an auditory hallucination. It was the woman who died suddenly and didn't want her to leave!
"It's Madam Luo," Song Yutai opened the door, lowered his eyes slightly to look at the newcomer, and curled his lips. "I was rude today, I hope you can forgive me."
Luo Qingling remained silent, knowing that Song Yutai was talking about how he had teased her and Qin Yanheng in public at the ferry today. Even if he didn't say it, everyone knew that her portrait had been rejected by Qin Yanheng. Besides, she didn't come here to hear Song Yutai's apology.
Luo Qingling looked around. There were three or two chairs placed by the window in the room. A corpse was covered with a white cloth and placed on the ground, with blood faintly visible on its legs.
"The coroner has already checked. The cause of death wasn't excessive blood loss from the amputation of both legs, but..." Song Yutai walked past her to the side of the body, slightly lifting the white cloth to reveal the woman's head. He continued, "The fontanelle was hit by a blunt object, causing instant death."
It seems that her guess today was right. One cannot make a hasty conclusion based on the wound alone. However... she originally thought that the female corpse died because she was turned into a human pig and suffered humiliation. Now it seems that it is not that simple.
Thinking of the woman's dark, empty eye sockets and her cry for help in his dream, Luo Qingling took a deep breath and suddenly pulled off the white cloth covering the corpse's face. The woman's eyes were empty, and the area around her eye sockets was full of dried blood, as if someone had dug out her eyeballs.
It's horrifying.
*
At the same time, Xiangshan Temple.
Abbot Dewang led the four Taoists into the backyard, but suddenly stopped midway. He turned around, clasped his hands together, and said, "Masters, this is where the terracotta warriors were discovered."
After saying this, Abbot Dewang smiled and stood there, quietly stretching his neck to look inside, not daring to move forward.
Ever since a demon transformed several pilgrims into terracotta figurines half a month ago, no one has dared to enter this courtyard. Even though the issue of the figurines has been resolved by Prince Rong'an, the temple remains in a state of panic. Abbot Dewang has no choice but to invite four Taoist priests from the capital to perform a ritual to dispel the evil spirit and appease the people.
"Hasn't the monster been caught now? Why does the abbot want us to come and set up the formation?" A Taoist priest with a face as black as the bottom of a pot walked in and took a look, then spoke.
"I'm worried that other monsters will return and continue to persecute the temple's pilgrims, so I've invited several Taoist priests to come and set up a formation to capture the monsters."
Abbot Dewang replied. He looked cautiously at the two Taoists before him. The black-faced Taoist who had just spoken was called Black as Iron, and his name lived up to his name. Not far away, under a tree, the red-faced Taoist, who was swinging a whisk in his right hand, rolling his eyes upwards, and muttering something, was called Red as Blood. As for the other two Taoists—
"Wasn't the monster subdued by that young prince? What is Xiangshan Temple afraid of?"
"I heard that another female corpse was found dead by the river nearby this morning. Xiangshan Temple must be worried about affecting their incense offerings, so they asked us to perform a ritual to suppress the demon, just to make a show of it."
Taoist priests Bai Ruxue and Qing Rudian followed the abbot, whispering to each other as they walked.
There were rustling sounds behind him. Abbot Dewang could not hear the conversation between the two people. He just thought that the two Taoist priests were discussing how to set up the formation. He hurriedly moved aside and bowed slightly to send Bai Ruxue and Qing Rudin into the yard where the incident happened.
Although the names of these four Taoists are extremely strange, they match their appearance and personality. It seems that all masters should look like this. Fortunately, these four world-famous Taoists happened to be traveling to the capital, otherwise the abbot Dewang would not know who to find to exorcise the evil spirits for a while.
Only the renowned Prince Rong'an, His Highness Qin Xiao, the abbot of Dewang, gasped and shook his head. How could he possibly have the idea of asking the little prince to set up a formation to catch monsters? That was the inestimablely noble Prince Rong'an, adorned with gold and purple. How could a mere abbot like him possibly invite him?
"It does have some demonic aura."
Qing Rudian interrupted Abbot Dewang's thoughts. He straightened his skinny belly, took out a few yellow talismans from his sleeve, licked his index finger with his tongue, and then put his fingerprint on the talisman paper.
The movements were so shocking that no one knew which school of magic it was.
Hei Rutie, who was standing beside him, nodded after hearing this. He took out a bundle of red thread from somewhere, glanced at the roof sideways, shouted, and threw the red thread in his hand towards the roof beast above.
Upon seeing this, Abbot Dewang immediately took two steps back and let the four Taoists perform. Just as he was about to leave the courtyard, he saw a red line flying into the air and then falling down.
The red line didn't go up, only reaching a short distance from Hei Ru Tie's head, and was still several meters away from the roof beast...
"Hehe, I drank a little on the road last night, so I'm feeling soft today," Hei Rutie said with a wry smile as he retracted the red string, the wine gourd at his waist swaying. He looked up and estimated the distance between himself and the roof for a long while, then turned back to Chi Ruxue who was still waving his whisk under the tree and shouted, "Old Chi, come and give me a hand!"
Chi Ruxue stopped muttering when his "practices" were interrupted, and hurried to Hei Rutie. Without saying a word, he squatted down, grabbed his legs, and took a deep breath into his dantian.
“Huh!”
"Hey hey hey, left, left—"
Chi Ruxue suddenly grabbed Hei Rutie's legs and lifted him up. The latter reached out and tried to tie the red line to the roof beast. One black and one red, one up and one down, kept shaking aside, and Hei Rutie couldn't put the red line on it no matter what.
Abbot Dewang closed his eyes at the door. Someone beside him sighed, his face expressionless, yet his inner thoughts were clear. Are these four legendary Taoist priests truly reliable?
"Why is this talisman paper still stuck together?"
The voice was so loud that it attracted Abbot Dewang and others standing by the door to look sideways, and what they saw was even more shocking.
There were eight bronze statues displayed in the open air in the courtyard. Taoist Qing Rudian was standing in front of one of the bronze statues, standing on tiptoe and reaching out to tear off the talisman papers stuck on the bronze statue one by one.
That is the bronze man left by Qin Shi Huang!
Abbot Dewang felt dizzy, as if he had walked in a group of ruffians. He was thinking about how to call for a stop, but he heard a loud roar.
"Set up the formation—"
At some point, the four Taoist priests had already established themselves, their smiles completely gone. Their serious demeanor was a bit of a shock. The red lines tied to the horns on the roof formed a triangle. Bai Ruxue stood in the center of the formation, one hand behind her back, the other forming a seal, her lips moving slightly as she chanted a spell.
Upon seeing this, Abbot Dewang and others held their breath, stared at the four Taoists with wide eyes, and dared not say a word.
"Above to the heavens, below to the earth, slay all the monsters you meet, capture all the ghosts you encounter, hurry up and obey the command—"
A strong wind suddenly arose, sweeping the fallen leaves all over the ground. Bai Ruxue and the others stood in the courtyard, their Taoist robes fluttering, with serious expressions on their faces. Suddenly, the red rope that bound them began to shake violently, as if attracting something.
Qing Rudian, who was standing aside to guard the formation, suddenly opened his eyes and threw a piece of talisman paper into the air. There was a loud bang and a black gas appeared in the formation.
“There really is a demonic aura!”
Bai Ruxue shouted coldly and switched hands to form a seal, attempting to suppress the sudden onslaught of demonic energy. However, not only was it ineffective, the demonic energy grew even thicker, nearly enveloping him in the formation.
"The talisman paper used to set up the formation is rotten!" Hei Rutie shouted loudly. His face turned pale instantly. He turned around and shouted at Qing Rudin, "Didn't you see clearly when you tore the talisman paper off the bronze man just now?"
The talisman paper was damaged, and the formation was ineffective from the beginning. In other words, they didn't know what would happen when they set up the formation after the talisman paper was damaged - for example, at this moment, the evil spirit that was hidden somewhere was summoned out.
I saw the thick black light circling over everyone's heads and then flying straight towards one place.
"Hurry up and follow him! Don't let him escape!"
The temple was in chaos, and the four Taoists picked up their magic tools and chased after them.
*
A small house next to the ferry.
Luo Qingling was so frightened by the appearance of the female corpse that she took a few steps back, clutching her chest to try to calm her pounding heart. The creature with a human body and a fish tail in her dream had exactly this face!
"Madam Luo, you'd better leave quickly. If this corpse energy is accidentally passed on to you, you will probably get sick when you go back." Song Yutai spoke suddenly while standing behind her.
Perhaps because of what happened during the day, Luo Qingling didn't have a very good impression of Song Yutai. He didn't say anything earlier or remind her later, but only said such a caring word after she lifted the white cloth and saw the tragic face of the corpse. I don't know if he had any ulterior motives.
But I heard that Song Yutai and Qin Yanheng are cousins who grew up together, so their character shouldn't be too bad. Maybe he's just a little stupid and speaks his mind.
But what Song Yutai said was not without reason. If a living person and a dead person stayed in the same room for a long time, they would inevitably be infected with some of the dead spirit. Luo Qingling wanted to leave, but the woman's cries for help in her dream made her unable to bear to leave.
"Where to escape—"
There was chaos outside the door. Suddenly, there was a "bang" behind me and the door was kicked open.
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