Just like the pattern on the first stone gate that Xu Jianguo had seen before, the old Taoist priest also felt that the pattern on the third stone gate gave him an extremely familiar feeling.
He stared at the pattern for a long time, frowning and thinking.
Suddenly, the old Taoist's eyes lit up, and he finally remembered where he had seen this pattern, the Temple of Impermanence in Death Valley!
That’s right, when Funiu fell into a deep sleep, the old Taoist priest accompanied Xu Jianguo to search for the nine magic weapons. When they were taking the lightning-struck wood from the Wuchang Temple in Death Valley, they saw that the gate, pillars and altar of the Wuchang Temple had patterns similar to those on the third stone gate.
This pattern is very special. In the eyes of the old Taoist priest, it looks somewhat like Taoist runes, but there are some subtle differences. What is certain is that this pattern has a certain meaning, but the old Taoist priest cannot tell what it means specifically, but it should be from the same lineage as the pattern in the Wuchang Temple.
"Could it be that the third stone door is related to the underworld?" the old Taoist thought to himself.
At this moment, a voice suddenly came from not far behind: "Assemble!"
The old Taoist priest quickly gathered his thoughts, turned around and walked towards the back. As he walked, he whispered his discovery to the little Taoist boy beside him, wanting him to inform Xu Jianguo.
By the time the old Taoist priest and the little Taoist boy entered the queue, Xu Jianguo had also received the news.
It was not until then that he understood why he felt so familiar with the pattern on the first stone door. It turned out that he had seen it in the Temple of Impermanence.
"Could it be that the space under Lange Village is related to the Black and White Impermanence?" Xu Jianguo thought to himself.
But on second thought, he felt that something was not right. Although he did not know who built the Temple of Impermanence in Death Valley, judging from the ability of the person who built the temple and the Taoist supreme magic weapon, the Thunder Struck Wood, in the temple, this person was either a Taoist or... came from the underworld!
"How did this matter get to the underworld again!" Xu Jianguo shook his head helplessly and lit a cigarette for himself.
It’s not that he doesn’t believe in the existence of the underworld, he just thinks it’s a little unbelievable.
Thinking of this, Xu Jianguo looked down at his chest again. Under the gaze of the all-seeing eye, the extremely strange tattoo appeared in front of him again.
The tattoo was of an irregular shape, depicting a man in black ancient costume. The man's face was gloomy and ferocious, with only whites in his eyes. There was a hint of evil in his eyes, as if he was a demon from hell.
The man held a large square seal with an ancient shape in his hand. His posture gave people a strong sense of oppression, as if the seal would fall from the sky in the next second.
The ancient seal is engraved with the two words "Youming" written in small seal script. The color of the font is bright red like blood, making it look even more eerie and gloomy.
"Huh?"
As he watched, Xu Jianguo suddenly found something wrong.
He was no longer surprised by the tattoo on his chest. After all, he could see it in the mirror every day when he took a shower.
But today, when I was sitting in the office and looked through his clothes with my all-seeing eyes, I discovered that the man's black ancient costume and ancient seal in the tattoo had the same patterns as those on the Impermanence Temple and the underground stone gate of Lange Village.
What Xu Jianguo could be very sure of was that these patterns had never appeared when he looked through the mirror before.
"The underworld? The wood struck by lightning? The underworld? Taoism?" Xu Jianguo closed his all-seeing eyes and muttered softly.
Suddenly, his eyes lit up and an idea suddenly came into his mind.
"Could the man in this tattoo be a Taoist?"
The moment this idea came up, Xu Jianguo's brain started working involuntarily.
But after just a few minutes of thinking, he gave up completely.
There was no other reason. He simply didn't know much about the Taoist culture of Longxia Country, so it seemed he had to seek external help.
Afterwards, Xu Jianguo sent a message to Fu Bo, asking him to use the computer in the space to look for books about Taoism in the library and find out which Taoist gods have a direct connection with the underworld.
After receiving the message, Fu Bo took action immediately. In less than half an hour, he found the answer and sent it to Xu Jianguo.
When Xu Jianguo saw the content of the message sent by Fu Bo, he immediately became energetic.
According to the information Fu Bo found, there are two Taoist gods who are most closely connected with the underworld. One of them is Hou Tu Niangniang, who is one of the "Four Emperors" of Taoism.
Another deity closely connected with the underworld is Zhong Kui, the Taoist ghost catcher.
Xu Jianguo was naturally familiar with the names of these two great gods.
However, Hou Tu Niangniang is a female deity, and definitely has nothing to do with the tattoo on Xu Jianguo’s chest. So the most likely person should be the god Zhong Kui.
After Xu Jianguo read the message sent by Fu Bo and found the description of Zhong Kui in the book, he was basically certain that the man in ancient costume with a gloomy and ferocious face tattooed on his chest was the Taoist ghost-catching master, Zhong Kui.
The Biography of Zhong Kui found by Fu Bo records it as follows: "Zhong Kui, whose surname is Zhong and given name is Kui, was a native of Zhongnan, Yongzhou in ancient times. He was born and lived in Zhongnan. He was well-versed in both civil and military affairs, with a leopard head, round eyes, an iron face and curly beard. He had a strange appearance, was full of knowledge, was upright and incorruptible, and was not afraid of evil spirits. He treated people with integrity and was loyal to his friends. He was awarded the first place in the imperial examination, but his arguments were futile and he had no way to serve his country. He sacrificed his life for justice and died by hitting a pillar in anger. The emperor buried him with the title of first place in the imperial examination. He sent a dream to drive away ghosts and cured the illness of Emperor Minghuang of Tang. He was then given the title of 'Saint Lord of Blessing and Guarding the House' and an imperial decree was issued to hang up the 'Zhong Kui Blessing and Guarding the House Picture' throughout the country to protect blessings, dispel evil spirits and ensure peace.
The description of "leopard head, round eyes, iron face, curly beard, and strange appearance" exactly corresponds to the appearance of the man in the tattoo.
Seeing this, Xu Jianguo closed the message panel, picked up the teacup on the table and took a sip.
He couldn't understand why the two black and white snakes he accidentally obtained were clearly used to save the Black and White Impermanence.
How come the tattoo I got is of the god Zhong Kui?
I still remember that when I was in the Wuchang Temple, the little black snake crawled towards the Black Wuchang, and the little white snake crawled towards the White Wuchang, and they crawled into the mouths of the Wuchang statues respectively.
Finally, the two little snakes crawled to the dry heart inside the statue of Impermanence, then coiled their entire bodies around the heart and stopped moving.
It was also at that time that black and white rays of light emerged from the four eyes of the two statues of Black and White Impermanence at the same time and shot towards Xu Jianguo's heart. After a burst of pain, this tattoo was left behind.
Xu Jianguo thought about it for a long time but couldn't figure out what was going on. In the end, he just gave up and let things take their own course. The tattoo had no effect on him anyway, and it actually made him look quite handsome.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
