Chapter 111 The clever half-immortal
Later, the village chief had a wife and children. He brought them to the tree and told them his past thoughts.
At that time, the shade provided by the banyan tree was enough to benefit the family of three.
Later, when the village chief grew old, reports emerged that the village's original cemetery was haunted.
The village chief is educated and does not believe in ghosts and gods, but the villagers do, so as the village chief he must solve this matter. So he went to the cemetery late one night with a few brave villagers, intending to see what the commotion was.
They literally saw ghosts in the cemetery.
At this time, a master who was passing by showed up. He called himself Qiao Banxian, had a childlike face and white hair, and looked like an immortal in the legends. He proposed to the village chief to move the cemetery to a flooded area.
The village chief agreed.
On the day of the unified relocation of tombs, all the members of every household went out to the field. Some carried coffins, while others held black umbrellas to block out the sunlight and prevent it from shining directly on the coffins and offending the ancestors. One coffin after another, and a handful of black umbrellas floated past the village chief's eyes.
He thought that he would never live to see the day when the banyan trees would be as tall as clouds and block out the sunlight for the entire village. After all, no one would go to the cemetery to enjoy the cool air, just like no one would go to the toilet in the kitchen.
That day, he stroked the branches of the banyan tree. The wind rustled, and he even felt that the banyan tree was as sad as he was, sobbing softly in the wind.
After the grave was moved to a flooded area, everything became calm.
Only one villager said that he saw a "snake" at night, a very tall snake standing upright.
Of course there are snakes in the village, but no one takes it seriously.
After that, except for the accidental deaths of several villagers after Qiao Banxian "left", nothing major happened. The village chief died of old age, and because of his prestige, his son Xiao Xu naturally took over his position and became the next village chief.
It was a long, long time, even after his death, that the village chief realized what the day of the grave relocation meant to the banyan tree.
The banyan tree is not just a tree. It grew up in the village chief's earnest expectations and love for the villagers, and those strong emotions gave birth to its own mind and soul.
Every time the village chief visited it, it would think, I want to grow up as soon as possible.
It looks like it can bring shade to everyone.
It watched as the village chief became smaller and smaller every time he came. In this comparison, it knew that it had become a big tree.
The village chief was no longer alone. As he became smaller, he also became older and more hunched, and the leaves above his head turned white.
The banyan tree knows that when humans’ leaves turn white, it means they are about to leave.
It thought that it would inherit the village chief's wish and continue walking, walking very far and for a long time. In fact, now there are already many people willing to come under its shade to enjoy the cool and chat.
The banyan tree feels happy watching them enjoying the coolness under its shade, as if its trunk is filled with countless nutrients and every leaf becomes full.
Until that day, the village chief stroked its trunk and said that this place would become a cemetery.
No one will chatter or joke under its shade anymore. All that will accompany it from now on are corpses and cold tombstones.
The banyan tree was sad all night. When the sun came out the next day, it thought again that the people buried in the cemetery were also villagers, and they were the people he wanted to bring shade to.
Among the villagers who died were those who had once enjoyed the shade of his tree.
Regardless of whether the flooded area will become a cemetery, it is still protecting its villagers, the banyan tree thought.
So when the villagers carried the coffin to the flooded area, the banyan tree stretched out its branches and leaves hard, wanting to provide the villagers with maximum shade, because this would be the last time it would see so many villagers.
But...soon after the villagers completed the grave relocation ceremony, a ghostly man called Qiao Banxian came here and performed some weird rituals on the waterlogged area. The banyan tree had been in cultivation for less than a hundred years and could not leave its tree form, so it could only attack him with its leaves.
He looked at the banyan tree and smiled coldly: "So, there is actually a little monster here. In this case, I don't have to catch any other monsters. I'll just use you."
He used his flesh and blood palm to dig a hole through the tree trunk, and stuffed a green bone into the hole.
The banyan tree was in so much pain that it was about to faint, if trees could faint.
When it woke up from the pain, it found that it had become ugly and strange, with many vines growing on its body. Those vines were out of its control and would even stand up like snakes and try to attack passing villagers.
The banyan tree worked hard to control the vines and saved a villager.
Later, gradually, it found itself becoming more and more strange. Its vines quietly drilled into the coffins, entangled the corpses inside, and poured strange mucus into them. After that, the corpses seemed to have self-awareness, lying on the puddles and sucking the dirty water inside in big gulps.
It wanted to struggle, and vaguely guessed that all these changes were definitely not good things for the villagers.
Just half a year later, when the banyan tree felt that things were about to get out of control, the evil ghost named Qiao Banxian came here again. This time he looked very embarrassed, with wounds all over his body, as if he was being chased by some extremely terrifying creature. He ruthlessly dug up the healed hole of the banyan tree, took out the bone inside, and then left.
The banyan tree found that it could control itself again.
Although its body became strange and ugly, and its wounds were extremely painful, it felt happy from the bottom of its heart.
That would be great because it would no longer be controlled to harm the villagers it loves. It stuffed the villagers back into the coffin with a guilty conscience and apologized to each of them.
Later, the village chief died and was carried here in a coffin by his son.
Logically speaking, after the seventh day since the death of the village chief, his soul should have left his body and been reincarnated, but he was still thinking about the banyan tree and wanted to take one more look at it.
But at this glance, he saw a banyan tree that was completely different from the one he had seen when he was alive.
The village chief watched in horror as strange vines stretched out from the banyan tree, baring their fangs and claws. Then he heard the banyan tree, which had accompanied him for almost his entire life, say to him, "Are you finally here to see me again? It seems like a long time has passed since last time."
This was the first time that it spoke to the village chief and was heard.
The village chief was surprised for a long time and asked how the banyan tree could speak.
"Because of your careful watering and your love for the villagers." said the banyan tree.
When the village chief realized that the banyan tree had its own consciousness, he quickly realized how cruel it was to turn the waterlogged area into a cemetery: "I'm sorry... I was sick and stayed in the hospital for a long time."
The banyan tree shook its leaves to show its understanding.
"You are dead." said the banyan tree.
"Yes, I thought I had to see you again before leaving so that I could feel at ease."
Under the huge and strangely twisted banyan tree, the old village chief tried to raise his neck, which was bent due to old age, to see how tall it had grown now.
The banyan tree looked down at the village chief from high above, as if it was looking at a tiny sapling, just as it did when the village chief planted itself here.
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