Chapter 510: Twenty-four-character mantra
There are many customs and rules for the Ghost Festival.
It is said that at night the yin energy is very strong, the gates of hell open wide, thousands of ghosts come out, and the living need to avoid them.
The night of the Ghost Festival is also known as the Night of Ten Thousand Ghosts.
Just hearing the name is a bit scary, and the ghost stories that Yu Lingye told Xie Yingmian are even scarier.
On the Ghost Festival, try to do things during the day. At the hour of You, which is 5 pm, you should hide indoors and stick yellow paper talismans on the door to ward off evil spirits in order to spend the day safely.
Therefore.
On the day of the Ghost Festival, shops on the street close very early.
By two or three o'clock in the afternoon, almost half of the stores are closed, and by around four o'clock they will all be closed.
After five in the afternoon, there were almost no people on the streets.
The Ghost Festival is not a suitable day to visit relatives or friends, and it is not suitable to invite others to visit.
Xie Yingmian asked, "Did the Grand Princess say anything?"
Fu Mo shook his head: "The visitor didn't say anything, just said you go over and take a look and you'll know."
Xie Yingmian had no taboos, but those ghost stories had left some psychological trauma on her.
She felt somewhat regretful.
"I shouldn't have asked you to tell me ghost stories. I'm an atheist, but during a festival like the Ghost Festival, I inexplicably felt a sense of spookiness."
Yu Lingye: "Are you scared?"
Xie Yingmian: "I have a twenty-four-word mantra. Once it's spoken, all ghosts and monsters will automatically avoid me. Don't be afraid."
Xie Yingmian said, "The Grand Princess is a person with a sense of boundaries. She called us over anxiously, perhaps something happened."
It was only three o'clock in the afternoon, and there were already fewer people on the streets.
Every household hung white lanterns.
There is a yellow paper talisman on the door to ward off evil spirits.
There are also many people who burn paper money before it gets dark, and while burning the paper they chant something like "the great gods passing by should not come to my house after taking the tribute money".
This was the first time Xie Yingmian saw such a scene.
The whole city was covered in white, and every household stayed indoors. It was quite spectacular.
"Is there any saying about hanging white lanterns?"
Before Yu Lingye could answer, Fu Mo said, "Princess, I know this. It's said that white lanterns can light the way home."
"The Ghost Festival is not about letting ghosts come out to play, but about letting the ghosts who miss their families come back to visit."
"Ghosts who have been in the underworld for too long may forget the way home. Some may also move or experience family misfortunes. Therefore, on the Ghost Festival, every household will hang a white lantern at the door with the name of the deceased written on it to guide the soul of the loved one back home."
Xie Yingmian: "On the one hand, you're sticking talismans on the door, and on the other hand, you're hanging white lanterns. Isn't that contradictory?"
Fu Mo smiled and said, "The white lanterns only clear the way for the souls of loved ones, and the talismans are used to block the wandering ghosts. They each take care of their own affairs and do not affect each other."
Xie Yingmian: ...
Quite smart.
Prince Ling's Mansion is not far from the Grand Princess's Mansion.
When we arrived at the princess's mansion, the eldest princess was anxiously wandering at the gate.
After seeing the carriage from Prince Ling's mansion, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
She came forward and said, "I'm really sorry to call you over on a day like this. It happened so suddenly that I can't be polite to you. Come on, follow me."
Xie Yingmian jumped down from the carriage and held the Grand Princess's hand.
The eldest princess used to be very, very thin, as thin as a skeleton.
After several months of treatment, the eldest princess gained some weight and her complexion improved a lot.
Although he still looked frail, he at least looked like a normal person.
"Don't worry, what happened?" Xie Yingmian asked.
The eldest princess said, "Let's go back to the house and talk."
Xie Yingmian and Yu Lingye followed the Grand Princess into the house.
In the middle of the room stood a pitch-black coffin.
The coffin was covered with a thick lid.
There is the scent of the Stone of Immortality in the coffin.
"This is..." Xie Yingmian looked at the Grand Princess, "Whose coffin is this?"
The eldest princess ordered the coffin lid to be opened.
Xie Yingmian saw the person in the coffin - barely a human.
The person in the coffin was very, very thin, with only a little more skin than a skeleton.
This person's condition was even worse than when she first met the Grand Princess in Huangyun Temple.
She couldn't even feel the man's breath.
If the energy of the Longevity Stone had not been continuously released, she would have thought that there was a corpse in the coffin.
"General Chu Xiao?" Yu Lingye said.
The eldest princess nodded heavily with tears in her eyes: "Yes, it's Chu Xiao."
Xie Yingmian was surprised.
Chu Xiao’s coffin should be in Feiyang County, why was it suddenly moved to Shangjing?
The Grand Princess said, "Back then, when my people found Chu Xiao, his heart and veins were completely severed, and he was only breathing his last breath."
"I used the Immortality Stone to hold on to Chu Xiao's last breath. I didn't want him to die."
"Because Chu Xiao's heart meridians were broken, he only had the glimmer of life hanging on by the stone of immortality. I dared not move him arbitrarily, so I could only place the coffin in Feiyang County."
"But, just last night, the coffin far away in Feiyang County was suddenly moved to the Grand Princess's Mansion."
"I just found the coffin this morning. At first I thought it was a prank, but when I asked someone to investigate, I found a letter on the coffin."
"There's nothing in the letter, just the two words 'Chu Xiao'."
"I had someone open the coffin, and sure enough, I saw Chu Xiao."
The eldest princess trembled and burst into tears: "He is so thin, so thin that skin and bones are visible, he looks like a dead person."
"He used to be so tall and mighty, but because of me, he's become this emaciated skeleton."
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