Coffin stone pressing banner
"Was it a monster? Could it be that Chen Yuefeng has a close friend who is a monster and came to avenge her?"
"According to the report, the Yangmei Village chief actually said something similar. He said that after all, Chen Yuefeng's husband, Chen Abao, was a drowned ghost who had resurrected. It's possible that his deceased husband had resurrected as a demon to avenge his wife. The disciple who recorded the incident asked him what the specific vengeance was, but the village chief avoided telling the truth."
"I suspected at the time that behind Chen Yuefeng's case, there must be many injustices hidden by the villagers of Yangmei Village. How could Chen Yuefeng commit such a heinous crime just because of gossip? If you do nothing wrong in your daily life, you won't be afraid of ghosts knocking on your door in the middle of the night. And now, the village chief himself said it was revenge. He knew very well what kind of man-made suffering Chen Yuefeng had endured."
"Of course it can't be that simple. They are all birds of a feather. However, there really are monsters in Yangmei Village. Are you sure you still want to go?"
Yun Qique proudly patted his chest and said, "Go! I'm a demon catcher who inherited the true teachings of the Lan family's young master! What's there to be afraid of? Master, just watch as I show off my skills and scare the hell out of all the monsters!"
"Yes, yes, as the master's direct disciple, I am not afraid of anything."
As ambitious and tough as Yunqi Que was at the moment, he was just as scared when he arrived outside Yangmei Village in Lynx Town and faced the gloomy deep mountains and old forests.
It was already dark when they arrived. There was only one way up the mountain, and there were many scary traps deliberately set up on the way.
Although these small mechanisms are like waving a sword in front of Guan Gong in front of the demon catcher, they are, after all, the product of hundreds of years of research, and they still have a bit of intimidating atmosphere, so they can easily scare ordinary people.
For example, graves and man-made ghost fires can be seen everywhere in the forest, and paper money is spread all over the ground as if it were free, and when the mountain wind blows, it flies everywhere.
Some graves are decorated with paper Qingming hangings and large paper windmills inscribed with prayers for the deceased. Each rotation of the windmill represents a recitation of the prayer. More affluent families may even hire a paper craftsman to create a pair of golden and jade figures to stand guard over the windmills on either side of the grave.
What's more, a long white cloth was tied to a tree branch on top of the grave, which extended to the ground. On it were written the birth date and name of the deceased. At the very end of the white cloth were many scribbled figures, and above the heads of the figures were written the generations and names of the descendants. The most eye-catching line of words roughly meant: summon the soul to return and rest in peace.
This piece of white cloth is called a "soul-guiding banner". It is only hung on the graves of those who died in a foreign land, or whose heads and bodies were separated, or who had no body, no head, or an incomplete body. As the name suggests, its function is to guide the lost soul to find its own grave, to be buried in peace, and to be reincarnated.
Paper windmills and soul-guiding banners are customs unique to the area around Niu Town. Outsiders don't understand them, and they usually arouse fear of the unknown.
Yunqi Que was so frightened that she kept moving closer to Lanzhuochi. Soon, she was sitting close to him.
A gust of wind blew by, and the forest suddenly echoed with a sound like a woman's sad cry. The birds were frightened and flew away with flapping wings.
"Ah! There's a ghost! Ah Chi, I'm scared!"
Yunqique was so frightened that she threw herself into his arms, tightly grasped his hand, and buried her face in his cloak.
The sudden intimacy and the awkward position in which she was leaning made Lan Zhuochi tense up and dare not move.
She was still moving around with the noise outside the carriage. Lan Zhuochi quickly leaned over, hugged her tightly with one hand and held her ear with the other.
"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid. It's not a monster or ghost. This is a ghost whistle unique to Lynx Town. It's a large whistle mounted on a tree branch. When the wind blows, there's a chance it will sound, making this crying sound. It's often placed in cemeteries to scare off grave robbers."
"Really?"
"Really? I wouldn't dare lie to you. I will protect you. Trust my ability to catch monsters. Don't be afraid."
Upon hearing this, Yunqi Que stopped struggling and pretended to be calm as she sat up, but the strength with which she was holding onto his hand did not lessen at all.
Lan Zhuochi saw through her fear and simply opened his cloak. He held her and made her sit horizontally on his lap, then he pulled the sides of his cloak to wrap her up and hug her.
"You, what are you doing?"
He whispered in my ear, "I see you weren't so scared anymore after you got into my arms. You'll feel more comfortable if I hold you like this."
“…”
The carriage continued to move forward and soon arrived outside the bayberry forest.
The only way to enter Yangmei Village is interrupted at the entrance of the Yangmei forest.
Seeing their carriage stop, the chief of Yangmei Village walked quickly forward with a torch in hand.
"I am the village chief of Yangmei Village, and I have come to greet you, the demon hunters. There are too many trees in the Yangmei Forest, and the paths have been trampled by people, so carriages can't pass through. You will have to walk into the village. You can tie up your carriages here. I will assign villagers to take turns to look after them. Don't worry."
"good."
After simply packing three necessary small bags, Lan Zhuochi helped her out of the carriage.
He unloaded the carriage for the horse and tied it to a tree. He also prepared the food and water he brought with him and placed them next to the horse. He took out a huge net to cover the carriage. Finally, he used a summoning letter to summon the hippopotamus demon that was good at invisibility from last time, and asked it to wrap the carriage and horse to make them invisible. He then summoned a snake demon, and then he followed the village chief and villagers of Yangmei Village into Yangmei Village with confidence.
After seeing this display of skills, the people from Yangmei Village who came to greet them no longer had any doubts and were all respectful and admiring.
As soon as they approached the bayberry forest, Lan Zhuochi and the other two noticed some black figures standing motionless among the bayberries. Most of them had disheveled hair and were dressed in white.
Lan Zhuochi said, "You have made this bayberry forest really lively."
"Are you talking about those black figures? We had no other choice but to resort to this desperate measure. We carved some wooden figures, disguised them as humans, and set them out at night to scare outsiders. I believe you must have heard the legend about the boy Bodhisattva in our village. It is inevitable that many outsiders will enter the village and disturb the boy Bodhisattva's peace."
"I understand. I've heard of child gods, but not much. I've never heard of child bodhisattvas."
"The Child Bodhisattva is the Child God you mentioned, but we in our village respectfully call him the Child Bodhisattva. Be careful where you step, there are many potholes on the ground, be careful not to slip."
In addition, each tree was tied with a red rope and covered with cinnabar and yellow talisman paper to suppress souls, and the branches were tied with long white cloth similar to the soul-guiding banners in the woods.
The tail of the white cloth dragged on the ground. The place where the little man representing the descendants should have been painted was buried in the ground and weighed down with a stone about the size of an adult man's head.
Using torches to illuminate the stones, they could see that the suppression stones were carved into the shape of coffins.
"What are these? Who taught you?"
"These white cloths represent a unique custom in Lynx Town. They're soul-guiding banners, held down by a stone to prevent the mountain's strong winds from blowing them away. They're carved into the shape of a coffin to mark the location of a body buried underground. As for why the body is buried here, and why it's buried this way, it's related to a murder case hundreds of years ago, which in turn is related to this recent haunting of demons and deaths. I'll tell you the details once we get into the village. I'm too scared to explain it here, and I'm afraid I won't be able to explain the details clearly."
"Okay. But you haven't told me who taught you. Is it inconvenient for you to tell me?"
"No, no, I'm old, and I was nervous and scared, so it's inevitable that I missed some answers. Please don't take it to heart. The older generation said that everything arranged in this Yangmei Forest was taught to us by the Boy Bodhisattva. After all, the people buried here died tragically, and it's inevitable that their souls have resentment. It is said that a Taoist priest passed by that year and said that the corpses here showed signs of turning into evil corpses. He said that he could not do anything, and told everyone in Yangmei Village to run away quickly. At first, the villagers were skeptical, but in the end, within half a year, an evil corpse really appeared and haunted the place. We invited many Taoist priests to come, but it was useless. It was only then that the village chief prayed to the Boy Bodhisattva, who appeared and gave us the Dharma, which suppressed the evil corpse and turned it into a resentful one."
"How could the Bodhisattva Boy be so powerful? Didn't the village chief say that the demon causing trouble was in the bayberry forest? How dare he stand in front of the bayberry forest at night to greet us? He even had the audacity to send villagers to take turns guarding our carriage?"
"Whether it works or not depends on the luck of the worshiper. We are afraid of death, but there is no way around it. I brought here those chosen by the village who are willing to die. Please don't be offended. We are ignorant country folk and are making a fuss. We are ordinary mortals with no abilities. Who wouldn't be afraid of monsters? But we all have elderly parents and young children to support. We are afraid that we will not be treated well enough. If you don't help us catch the monster, then we will really be desperate. So, we have to come even though we dare not."
"Don't worry, as long as we at Canghua Mountain take on this monster hunting case, we will definitely take responsibility to the end."
"Oh my, that's great! Cang Huashan is worthy of being the leader of demon hunters. We are saved."
The head of Yangmei Village looked like an honest and simple man. He walked in front of them very considerately and carefully, and tried his best to shine the torch at their feet.
Whenever there was a slight movement in the forest or a bird chirping, he would quickly say, "We're almost there, just ahead."
After following the village chief through the bayberry forest for a while, we finally managed to enter the village.
The village looks much more normal, no different from other villages, except... it is a village deep in the mountains, far away from the downtown area, but the houses of every household are well-maintained, spacious and well-maintained, with small courtyards and various beautiful flowers and plants planted in the open spaces of the courtyards.
These are all varieties of flowers and plants that look good but cannot be sold at a high price.
Most villagers who make a living by farming will seize every available piece of land to grow vegetables and crops, and their own yard is the most convenient place and is not easy to be stolen.
But in this village, almost all the flowers and plants planted are for ornamental purposes.
The driver, Uncle Lan Qu, casually asked, "What does your village do for a living? It seems like everyone is quite well-off."
"There's not much to do for a living. Our village is far from the downtown area. Even if we go out to sell vegetables, the mountains are high and the roads are long, so it's not worth it. We all make a living by growing vegetables and just trying to avoid starvation. Occasionally, there are pilgrims from outside who come to pay their respects with sincerity and give us some money to stay overnight. It's enough for important matters like illness and marriage, and we don't spend much money on ordinary days. In the beginning, our ancestors were so poor that they lived in thatched huts and mud houses. Later, it was not because of the money given by pilgrims who let us stay overnight that we could live in such nice houses. Besides, the better the house, the more pilgrims will choose it, and the more opportunities to earn money there are. Most of our ancestors' savings have been spent on improving our living conditions."
As the village chief spoke, he led them to a house that was considered one of the best in the village. When they pushed open the door, the aroma of food wafted out.
"My wife prepared some food for you. It's all freshly killed chickens and freshly picked vegetables. If you don't mind, you can eat some before going to sleep."
"It smells good. If you don't mind, we'll be happy to serve you. Thank you, Village Chief."
"Then I won't bother you any more. You can live in any room in this house. They are all clean."
Yunqi Que asked, "Where is the owner of this house? After all, we're borrowing their house, so we should thank them in person."
"We should be the ones thanking you. This family's house is the newest, so we asked them to vacate it temporarily and move in with me. There are only women and children left in this house, and they are afraid to go out at night. You will see them tomorrow."
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