Chapter 830: Old Clothes
Pure Yang True Fire can destroy evil and bad luck, while Heart Moon Fox Fire can refine the spirit and heart. When the two are used together, they can often achieve remarkable results.
The entire tomb suddenly began to shake. The evil spirit's magic had moved the earth and rocks, and had already shaken the foundation of the tomb.
Zhao Siqi held the child in front of him and called out, "Come back! Come back!"
Some of the essence that had escaped from the evil spirit and had not yet been digested swirled into the child's body, making his almost ashen face turn a little red.
But this back and forth is bound to cause great damage to one's vitality.
There was no time to worry about the child. Zhao Siqi called out and the man and the dog fled in panic. They crawled out of the stone cave in a panic and squeezed into the cold corridor. They only heard the loud sound of collapse behind them, and smoke and dust poured into the narrow passage, choking people and making them cough.
Coming out of the cold corridor, the wind and snow hit me head on, and the cold air penetrated my mouth and nose, almost suffocating me.
A man and a dog crawled out of the archway where the old pine grew. Before they took two steps, they heard a loud rumbling sound behind them. Looking back, they saw the rocks collapsing. Through the old pine, they could see the sunken ground as if it were a mud pond that had just been turned over. A stale fishy smell was coming out from under the soil.
No matter it was once a Feng Shui treasure land where the clan god was buried, or a devil's cave where evil spirits were lurking, it is now buried in the dust in this cave.
Zhao Siqi silently prayed: "May you rest in peace on the road to the underworld."
He had only just finished saying this prayer when he began to shiver violently. The cold wind rushed in through his torn clothes, making it feel as if his breasts were exposed.
Zhao Siqi broke off a few pine needles to fix the clothes that had been torn by the evil spirit, and then carried the child into the wind and snow again.
The lights were on in the distance, and before Zhao Siqi returned the child, he could hear suppressed crying.
Zhao Siqi stood outside the door. The two women were crying. The old man on the bed was breathing more than breathing in. Even though Zhao Siqi had helped him stop the bleeding, the old man was still dying.
In a daze, the old man pointed to the door. The two women looked back, feeling both surprised and sad.
Zhao Siqi held the child over and said, "Old man, the child has been rescued and is safe and sound."
The old man struggled to open his eyes, revealing a happy expression. He looked at the child beside him and said, "Good! Good—"
Before he could finish his words, his movements had slowly frozen, his eyelids closed in relief, and only the joy that had not faded remained on his face.
“Old man!”
"father!"
The two women rushed forward and held the old man's hands, but the old man was already gone.
The two women were grieving, and Zhao Siqi was overwhelmed with emotion. He could only comfort them, saying, "Please accept my condolences. The deceased is gone. You should take care of the children first."
Once the old man left, the old woman had to steel herself. She covered her face with her hands and sobbed a few times before she managed to suppress the grief in her heart. She lowered her hands from covering her face and kowtowed to Zhao Siqi with tears on her face: "Thank you, Taoist priest, for saving me."
Zhao Siqi quickly helped her up and said, "You're so embarrassed."
The old woman picked up the child and looked at his face, which was slightly blue from the cold. She patted the woman who was still crying and said, "Mother, please stop crying. Take the child to the bed and keep him warm. Don't let him get cold."
The old woman wiped her tears and rummaged through her drawers to find a few strings of copper coins to reward Zhao Siqi.
Zhao Siqi didn't dare to accept it. He just pointed at the clothes that were pinned with pine needles and said, "No need for copper coins. But I want to trouble you, mother-in-law, to mend my clothes for me."
The old woman, with tears in her eyes, said, "It should be."
The old woman found a set of winter clothes for Zhao Siqi to change into, saying, "These are my son's clothes. He was conscripted into the army by the county lord and died on the way to suppress bandits. No one has worn them since then. I hope you don't mind, Taoist priest."
Zhao Siqi came here wearing a patchwork quilt. After changing into a new set of clothes, the old woman looked at him and started to cry again.
She turned her face to the side and wiped it, then took Zhao Siqi's clothes and said, "My eyesight is not very good, so I asked my wife to mend it for the Taoist priest."
The young woman put the child to bed and tucked her body against his to keep him warm. Hearing this, she raised her head and said, "I'll be right there."
Zhao Siqi didn't say anything, but helped the old man prepare his remains. The old woman came up to help, her eyes red and she choked up several times, saying, "You left so cruelly, leaving us orphans and widows behind. What will we do?"
The old man said nothing and looked peaceful.
Zhao Siqi recited the Taishan King's precious edict of "great compassion, great vows, great saint, great mercy" and prayed for the old man.
The young Taoist priest wore her son's clothes and performed a ritual for her husband. His low voice echoed in the room. The old woman watched silently, occasionally wiping her tears, and her mood slowly calmed down.
By daybreak, Zhao Siqi's clothes had been mended. The claws had torn them so badly that the young woman used the old man's old clothes as patches to mend Zhao Siqi's clothes.
The snow stopped falling in the middle of the night, and a thick layer of snow covered the ground.
Zhao Siqi helped the two women bury the old man. When he left, he quietly put the small change he had hidden on him into the child's arms. Then he took the Five Red Dog and walked towards the county town, step by step.
The five red dogs barked twice.
Zhao Siqi said, "Let's go to the city and take a look. The clan god in the tomb deserved to die, but if it's true as he said, that after the incense declined, he no longer had the guide to the underworld and became a monster that steals essence, then the local city god will be in big trouble."
Walking through this nearly deserted village, I found only the elderly, the weak, the sick, and the disabled, with no young and strong people left. After a few casual inquiries, I learned that the village was plagued by banditry and was being forced to serve in the government and the military.
After one or two incidents, there was no young and strong man left in the village.
If Wuning is compared to a country of supreme virtue, then outside Wuning, the people can only barely survive, and outside Dongyang, there will be real chaos.
There is chaos in every place, man-made disasters mixed with natural disasters, throwing ordinary people into dire straits, and they have exhausted all their energy just to survive.
Even though Zhao Siqi had many indescribable emotions, he was just a small Taoist priest who was still avoiding being hunted down. He could only do what he could to seek peace of mind.
After this snowfall, the weather was sunny for a long time.
As the weather gets warmer, the New Year feels a lot more relaxing.
Zhao Siqi was still trekking through mountains and rivers, but Wu Ning, whom he was thinking about all the time, was already filled with joy and happiness.
The Master and Fox have both had their day off. Those who have homes have returned home, and those who have no homes have made Fox Court their home.
As usual, Gong Mengbi invited his friends to hold a banquet at Wuhuan Peak to celebrate the New Year's Day.
Fatty Kang and Xiangjun brought little Yier back from Jinhua City to prepare a banquet. Wenxiu, Feixing and Jinyi, three birds, delivered messages, wishing everyone a happy new year and good luck.
I think I've been having trouble sleeping since I caught a cold late last year. At first, I couldn't sleep because of the cough. After returning to work after the Lunar New Year, I often had sleepless nights and felt groggy every day. I recently went to the hospital for treatment, and with some exercise, I'm slowly getting better. I'll slowly resume updating. Sorry for that. I hope everyone is sleeping well and having smooth bowel movements.
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