Republic of China

Chapter 111
Jinji Mountain is very large and has many mines, which are as densely packed and intertwined as ant nests.

In a dimly lit mine, there are clanking sounds everywhere. All the working ghosts use tools that are bigger than small hammers. They are not very handy, and the stone walls are so hard that it is unimaginable.

"When the hell is this going to happen?"

In just a few minutes, Zhao Sanyuan gave up completely.

There is no need to try it yourself. Just look at the progress of other ghosts knocking around. You will know that a burly ghost who has been knocking for a long time will only leave a small white spot on the stone wall. According to this progress, it will take at least one hundred and eighty to knock one or two stones. hours.

Yes, rocks.

What he knocked was not a rare ore at all, but purely a useless stone from the underworld.

"You're good enough. The Communist Party only fined you five taels for knocking." Gao Shu held a cigarette in his mouth and showed off his moral character, "I still have more than fifty taels left to knock. Take your time. We'll go together then. Maybe we can become relatives in the Samsara Well. Alas, I thought I saved you in Yaowang Valley, but who knew that you boy didn’t have that kind of luck, so he was killed by evil, right?”

There were so many people just now, but Zhao Sanyuan didn't directly say that he came here through evil spirits.

There was a lot of noise in the mine at the moment, and I can roughly tell what happened.

"I'm not dead, and neither are you. Rabbit and I came here just to get you back."

Gao Shou's expression was extremely dull. He blew out a smoke ring and shook the few strands of hair in a pretentious manner. "Just blow it. I don't know about people who are evil. I have never heard of anyone who can be evil." Cross Yincao to Jinji Mountain, and you said you came with that girl from White Rabbit, where is she?"

Looking at his bad character, Zhao Sanyuan really hit him with an electric cannon, but Gao Shou's body skills were extremely exquisite and he dodged elegantly.

"You damn well know that it's difficult to cross the Yin Cao through the Yin Cao? Because of you, I had to walk in front of the King of Chu Jiang and urinate. Rabbit is temporarily staying in the Ghost Realm Castle to wait for my news. She will follow my instructions later and wait for the Yin Cao to change her shift. Let's sneak out when the time comes."

Gao Shou still couldn't believe it, "That's not right. I burned my last soul in Yaowang Valley and stabbed Dou Hai to death with the Dragon Palace Spear Technique for you. You must be dead. You should go away quickly. Don't worry about it." A dead man like me comes in again!"

As he said this, he pulled Zhao Sanyuan out. He was probably really scared, fearing that this boy and Shangguan White Rabbit would fly into the flames.

"Sure enough, you really thought you were dead." Zhao Sanyuan put his arm around Gaoshou's shoulders and walked to the corner to remind him softly.

"I'm not a mountain cannon, and I won't do anything impossible. After you were stupid and saved me, Lao Kang cast a spell to deprive you of one of your souls. It's not true that you're not dead, but you're not completely dead yet. , as long as you bring your ghost soul in the underworld back to the world of the earth, won't you come back to life? And I looked at the book of life and death in the underworld, and it turns out that your yang life is not over at all, at least you can live for ten or eight years."

Let me ask you, when a person thinks that he is completely dead and has no nostalgia for the world, and suddenly hears that he is not dead, and that there are people who are willing to go through fire and water to lend a helping hand, he must have mixed feelings.

Moved and worried coexisted, surprise and uneasiness intertwined.

There is both hope for survival after the disaster and hesitation about the safety of relatives and friends.

But in the final analysis, his tears were a bit low for a middle-aged man, but this time he did not kneel down and hug his thighs, but turned his back to Zhao Sanyuan and knocked hard on the stone wall.

"You're so shy. Why didn't you see this side of you when we first met at Lao Li's house? Okay, okay, stop knocking. We'll sneak out when the shift manager changes."

"You're so shy, I'm so shy." The master sniffed and said helplessly: "You may not know it when you first come here. If you want to leave Jinji Mountain, you must complete the punishment set by Yin Cao, otherwise you won't be able to get out even if you have three heads and six arms. , the barrier around Jinji Mountain was set up by the Five Ghost Emperors, do you understand?"

Zhao Sanyuan's mocking smile froze instantly.

Can't leave until you finish your work?
Not to mention the more than 50 taels left by Gao Shou, it will take at least a year and a half for him to have [-] taels alone. Even if the time in the underworld is much slower than in the world, it will be useless. The Yang body above will never be able to carry it by that time. Rotten flesh and withered bones are inevitable.

Gao Shou sighed, "You and I have been friends for a long time, and you have come to the underworld to save me. However, it's still in vain. Promise me that you will take care of that girl White Rabbit as much as you can when you go back. I have no relatives or heirs in this world." , I have treated her as my daughter for so many years."

no answer.

Zhao Sanyuan sat directly on the stone, his brain running rapidly trying one possibility after another.

The barrier that the Five Directions Ghost Emperor has personally set up around Jinji Mountain is definitely not trivial, and breaking through it will definitely not end well.

Go back alone?

Never give up until the last moment.

There is still time, so we must come up with another solution.

At this time, Zhao Sanyuan glanced at the ghost of an old man.

From the moment he entered the mine, this old ghost has been knocking stones without rest. Judging from his technique, he is the most skilled ghost around. He must have been digging in Jinji Mountain for a long, long time.

After Zhao Sanyuan pondered for a moment, he came to the old Yinhun's side with a hammer and started hammering along with him. However, the effect was not effective, it was just a show.

"What's your surname, uncle? How many years have you been digging here?"

"If it's expensive or not, just call me Lao Zhang. I can't remember the exact year, kid. I think it's been a few decades."

"so long?"

Zhao Sanyuan was greatly surprised, thinking that the ghosts mining in Jinji Mountain were all small evils and small crimes, right?If it really takes so long to dig, why bother distributing Jinji Mountain?It's probably enough to go to a small hell.

"Looking at the sentence, I know you were definitely a ruthless person during your lifetime. I admire you."

Lao Zhang grinned and said, "This kid talks so stupidly. Jinji Mountain doesn't look at the prison term, it only looks at the number of people digging rocks. Besides, I came here to dig mines on my own initiative. It's not a punishment given by the underworld."

The unexpected answer surprised Zhao Sanyuan even more.

Take the initiative to receive the punishment?
Does this old man have any serious illness?
Wouldn’t it be nice to go directly to the well of reincarnation and be reincarnated?
Even if you want to stay in the underworld, there is no need to ask for trouble. It is better to go to Ghost Realm Castle, Fengdu City or even wander outside the Support Pavilion.

"Well, old man, you must be a restless ghost. You are willing to contribute to the underworld. I admire you."

Lao Zhang looked back at Zhao Sanyuan with a strange expression, "There must be something wrong with your kid's head, are you adding to the problem? I'm crazy to be willing to work for nothing. The ghost emperor and the king of hell are not my relatives, can I do it?"

awkward.

Embarrassed toes can't wait to lose two taels of stone.

When Zhao Sanyuan thought about it, this was indeed the case.

Who has nothing to do to work for the underworld?
But I really can’t figure out the reason.

It's better to go find other ghosts to collect information.

Just when Zhao Sanyuan was about to leave, Lao Zhang pointed to the cigarette case exposed in the pocket of his shroud.

"It looks like tobacco, right? I've almost forgotten what it tastes like. Why don't we have a cigarette and we can chat? Ever since we entered the mine, few people have been willing to talk to an old man like me."

The emotional tone full of endless vicissitudes made Zhao Sanyuan gradually stop, and finally took out a cigarette and lit it for Lao Zhang.

"Are you curious why I have been chipping away at the stone here for many years even though I am not guilty?"

Lao Zhang stretched out his finger again, "He, him, and him, many ghosts here took the initiative to stay, even if some have redeemed their sins, they still choose to continue chipping stones, for the sake of their unworthy children and grandchildren. .”

Zhao Sanyuan knew that the stones dug out of Jinji Mountain were of no use, and were simply used to punish the guilty ghosts.

But only now do I realize that this place is more complicated than imagined.

In fact, there were obvious reminders when we were in the support pavilion.The small book that determines how much paper money, ingots and other items should be distributed.

Yinde!

It can be understood as the good deeds done in the human world that can be recorded in the underworld.

But please note that what is looked at in the underworld is not the virtuous character of an individual, but the direct members of the family, based on the three generations, including grandparents, father, mother and children. The virtuous virtues of these three generations are taken together and considered comprehensively. Each family has its own treasury in the underworld, which is dedicated to storing negative virtues.

If you do good deeds, you will save them, if you do bad deeds, they will be eliminated. When the yin virtues in the treasury are exhausted, the family will do unscrupulous things. What will be consumed is the body and fortune of the living person, and disasters will occur without warning. Even serious illness or death.

The wealth replenishment treasury mastered by some folk aliens actually replenishes this treasury. The more the replenishment, the greater the impact on the karma of the caster.

Of course, there are too many such scams in this world. Everything depends on replenishing the treasury. It either means that your treasury is empty or that there is no money in your dark account, and then they try every possible means to trick you into spending a lot of money to replenish it.

In fact, the requirements for this kind of magic are extremely high. First, you can communicate with the local city gods and ask them to help deliver the things.

Secondly, it is necessary to upgrade specific prose, and the beginning of the inscription must be absolutely particular about the cause and effect. Both the City God at the top and the Support Pavilion at the bottom must be recognized.

Finally, and an extension of the second type, the caster's clear and dark seals must be orthodox, otherwise it will be in vain.

From this it can be seen that not just burning anything can replenish the Yin store, and not everyone has the ability to replenish it. The price is pure karma. Scammers don’t care about so much, and they don’t really replenish it anyway. There is no need to worry about karma. , at most, it is responsible for the cause and effect of cheating money, which is almost a drop in the bucket compared with the real tonifying treasury, and the only ones who really suffer are those who have spent a lot of money and have not done anything clearly.

There are countless similar ones.

In addition to the limited help that folk strangers can provide on the Yinku, there is another way.

It is the ghost in the underworld who accumulates virtue for future generations. The method is to chisel stones in Jinji Mountain day after day.

The yin virtue of one or two stones is equivalent to a living person picking up a thrown grain of grain in the human world. The conversion ratio is very small, which shows that it is too difficult for the ghost soul to accumulate yin virtue. The only way to do good deeds while alive is to do more.

But how many living people would understand these truths?

This old ghost surnamed Zhang did countless good deeds from his youth to his last breath. He built bridges and paved roads, gave away his wealth to give charity, saved people in need, and helped people in urgent need. He accumulated a lot of evil deeds, and even if he was cheated out of his family property, he was still in poverty. He still didn't resent anyone, but he was angered to death after learning that his son had become a bandit.

He knew very well that as a bandit, Luocao would not be able to burn, kill, and loot, and his moral virtue would be exhausted in a very short period of time. Therefore, Lao Zhang gave up the opportunity to be reincarnated as a third-class person in the next life, gave up consuming his moral virtue to reincarnate, and went to Jinji Mountain to carve stones for his son. To accumulate negative virtues and repay sins as much as possible.

On the contrary, even if you have done a lot of good deeds, if your ancestors did too many unscrupulous evil deeds and overdrafted the yin virtue in the treasury, the karma will be distributed on you.

This is why sometimes good people don't live long, and disasters last for thousands of years.

It’s not that anyone’s life is better, nor that God is unfair.

But in invisible places, there are many ghosts like Lao Zhang who give up everything and work endlessly in the underworld to atone for the sins of their living children and grandchildren.

Then again, ghosts who stay in the underworld for a long time will produce more and more discomfort and loneliness. Zhao Sanyuan only stayed in the underworld for a short time and became a little unbearable. Why did he react violently after meeting with Prime Minister Gao? Want to smoke?
Smoking is just a way to vent, a breakthrough for slight relief.

This purest feeling of loneliness, discomfort and loneliness will become more and more serious, forcing the ghosts to reincarnate as soon as possible.

Therefore, there will be fewer and fewer people like Lao Zhang who insist on cutting rocks in the Jinjishan Mine, and few of them can truly withstand dozens or hundreds of years.

"Old man, since you have been digging here for many years, is there any way to quickly chip away at the stone? For example, you can cut off ten or eight kilograms of stone with one hammer."

"I told you so much but you didn't listen at all. If you can hit someone with a hammer, what's the point of Yin De's judgment?"

Zhao Sanyuan smiled awkwardly.

Normally I wouldn't ask such stupid questions. Time waits for no one. Not to mention trying to get the boss out, I am also in a crisis. I have to dig out five liang of stones, even if I risk my life to do it. It’s too late to finish.

Lao Zhang has been observing the young ghost in front of him. With his rich experience, it is not difficult for him to see that Zhao Sanyuan is obviously different from other ghosts. There is light in this kid's eyes, a light of ties and hope, rather than the dead wood after death. indifferent.

“How much stone do you need to chisel?”

"Well, it's actually not much, only five taels, but I don't have time to waste here."

"It's not much. I have been chiseling stones for so long and I have never seen a punishment of only five taels. It seems that you were a good person during your lifetime."

"Old man, please stop boasting. Good people have gone directly through Jinji Mountain to Naihe Bridge. Who will suffer here?"

Seeing that Lao Zhang's cigarette was burned out, Zhao Sanyuan lit another one for him.

There are only two choices before you.

Either bite the bullet and rush out of Jinji Mountain, no matter life or death, you will be reckless.

Or use a lotus bag to inform Shangguan White Rabbit, tell her not to wait any longer, and find a way to go back to the underworld alone, and every one of them can escape.

After thinking for a moment, Lao Zhang said: "Let me tell you about the solution. I've actually heard of it. I don't know if it's true or not."

"What do you care about whether it's true or not? You can just make it up, old man!" Zhao Sanyuan suddenly became energetic.

The old man is old and the rabbit is old, so it is indeed right to find an old ghost to collect information.

"When I first came to Jinji Mountain, I met an old ghost who had been digging for hundreds of years. He said that he once met an expert who came from the underworld. He simply came to Jinji Mountain to have fun. After digging for a few days, he felt boring. Then I wanted to leave.”

"You also know that if you don't dig out the amount of underworld that you have been sentenced to, the undercover person in charge will not be able to stamp the certificate and let the ghost go away. But the expert took out the paper money sword and slashed it at the stone wall. Miraculously, The stone wall was as hard as steel and was like tofu. It was not long before dozens of kilograms were chopped off. But for some reason, the moment he pulled out the paper money sword, he was sensed by countless evil spirits, including Master Wu Chang. What happened next? I don’t even know what the old ghost is."

Zhao Sanyuan was overjoyed, "This is it!"

There is hope for survival in a desperate situation.

Lao Zhang's words sounded like a joke to other ghosts, but Zhao Sanyuan immediately understood the reason.

The paper money sword must have been bundled with the real copper money sword before it was burned, so it must have been contaminated with the purest tacky yang energy.

Because there is absolutely no chance for tacky Yang Qi to appear in the underworld, the hard stones of Jinji Mountain are as fragile as tofu.

Gamble or not?
Of course bet!

Zhao Sanyuan gave almost all the Dachongjiu cigarettes to Lao Zhang and said gratefully: "Old man, I can't thank you enough for your kindness. These things should be treated as filial piety to you. I won't hide it from you. I came from the underworld and didn't die. It's true." If you are destined to return to the earth, I will definitely burn paper and incense for you. What is your birth date?"

Lao Zhang was just slightly surprised, then waved his hand and said with a smile: "I am a dead person and you don't need to care about it."

No longer insisting, Zhao Sanyuan nodded and rushed towards Gao Shou who was still chipping away at the stone. As he ran, he took out the paper ring knife and paper scale rod from his arms.

"Old Gao!"

"The wind is screaming!"

"Let's go home for the New Year!"

(End of this chapter)