Knife splashing

Chapter 248 Weird things in the village
When common people build houses, the most solemn ceremony is the beam-raising ceremony.

Once the beams are in place, the house is considered completed and usually there are rituals and firecrackers. If the family is wealthy, they will also invite neighbors to a banquet.

This kind of ceremony is usually performed by carpenters.

Of course, most of them are not from the Taoist sect, but just follow the rules passed down from generation to generation for the sake of good luck and celebration.

Unexpectedly, something unexpected actually happened.

"This this…"

The carpenter dropped the inkstone in his hand and stepped back in fear.

The boss sat down on the ground, his face pale, and said in a trembling voice: "How...how could this happen?"

"Why is the beam bleeding?"

"This is a bad omen..."

The people around also exclaimed and were stunned.

"Get out of my way!"

Guan Peide was a little surprised as to why Li Yan and others stopped.

As soon as he saw what was going on, he quickly yelled at everyone to disperse, then turned around and asked anxiously, "Young Master Li, what's going on?"

The matter of the Headless Horseman had not been resolved yet, and now this ominous sign had appeared in the village, making him even more uneasy.

Li Yan went forward to check. He saw that the wooden beam was dark in color and had been there for a long time. He also smelled the smell of corpses emanating from it. He had already made some guesses in his mind and turned around to ask, "Where did you find this thing?"

"this…"

Dongjia's eyes flickered, "It was cut from the mountain."

Wang Daoxuan on the side shook his head and said, "This thing is from the tomb, it is quite evil, something has already happened, don't hide it anymore."

"Wu Laosi!"

Guan Peide, who was standing next to him, was furious when he heard this. "You still dare to hide it after all this. I was wondering why you suddenly had the money to build a house. It turns out you were robbing tombs!"

When the villagers nearby heard this, they also started cursing.

"Well done, Wu Laosi, you dare to be a grave-dweller!"

"I was wondering how come you, a lazy guy, suddenly became rich?"

"Catch him and send him to the authorities!"

Guanjia Village is not far from Guanling. The villagers all regard themselves as tomb keepers. They are reluctant to allow anyone to destroy the trees near the mausoleum and they hate tomb robbery.

"No, no, no, I didn't!"

Seeing this, the owner was frightened and quickly explained: "I picked up these things."

"Picked it up?"

Guan Peide's eyes were filled with anger, "Do you think I will believe it?"

A happy event turned into a disaster. Seeing people around him cursing, his wife and children ran over and burst into tears.

“I really found it!”

The boss was also trembling all over. He knelt on the ground, crying and telling the story.

"A few days ago, I was paying for work I did for someone, and I happened to run into Liu Quezi in the city. We got together and drank some dirty wine. It was already dark when we left the city..."

"We drank a little too much and were halfway there in a daze. Suddenly, we heard someone talking behind us, but when we turned back, we could not see anything. The voice said, please do us a favor, and then we will be rich..."

"We were both scared and wanted to escape, but we couldn't get out of the mountain path. We knew we had run into a ghost wall and could only follow its orders."

"Oh?"

Wang Daoxuan seemed to be thinking, "What do you want to do with that thing?"

Wu Laosi said with a sad face: "We are still a little confused, but we just followed the sound and came to a temple."

"The temple was huge, and there were many people inside. They were all dressed in yellow, and their faces looked like those of dead people. They didn't say anything, but just stared at us."

"We were both scared and didn't dare to ask any more questions. We followed the voice's instructions and pulled down a few flags outside the temple. Then, in a daze, we returned to the mountain path."

“I came out this time, but before I got far, I found a lot of dead bodies, as if they were killed by some wild beasts.”

"Liu Quezi said that this was the wealth sent by the immortal in the mountain, so we searched a lot of money from those people, divided it equally and quickly left the mountain road."

"These people were carrying a few logs. I saw one of them looked good and thought it could be used as a beam, so I turned back and carried the logs back home."

Guan Peide said coldly: "There is clearly something fishy going on here, don't you know to report it to the police right away?"

Wu Laosi said with a sad face: "That Liu Kuizi is an old bachelor, and he has connections with gangs in the city. He threatened that I must not disclose this matter, otherwise he would come to trouble me."

Guan Peide frowned, "Wu Laosi, you are still not honest!"

"I grew up in Guanjia Village and have been around a lot. Apart from Guanling, I have never seen any temples. What is going on?"

"Chief, everything I said is true."

Wu Laosi was anxious and swore, "If I tell even a lie, I will be struck by lightning. It's just that the bodies are gone, so the government doesn't know about it."

"By the way, after the Dullahan showed up, that Cripple Liu came to me again. He gambled away all the silver he had earned, and asked me to lend him some more. He also asked if I remembered the way we took that night."

"He took the silver and left in a hurry. He has been away for a while. Maybe he went to look for the immortal again..."

After hearing these words, the people around were stunned.

An old man shook his head and said, "You are so brave. That thing might be some kind of evil spirit from the mountains. You dare to take the money from the dead, and you are not afraid of bringing disaster to your family."

Guan Peide's face was gloomy and he looked at the wooden beam again.

The wooden beams were no longer oozing blood, but they still exuded an eerie aura, and standing next to them made people feel uncomfortable.

He bowed to Li Yan and said, "Young Master Li, how should we deal with this?"

Li Yan didn't understand and quickly looked at Wang Daoxuan.

Wang Daoxuan stroked his beard and said, "This thing is the 'Grave Blood Beam'. Originally, the evil spirit was restrained and not obvious, but it was only because of the yang energy of the rooster's comb blood that the evil spirit was drawn out."

"Now that the evil spirit is revealed, if nothing unexpected happens, it will surely attract ghosts to haunt it at night."

"Find some rooster comb blood and sprinkle it. When it stops bleeding, pile it up with peach wood and burn it. Also, sprinkle the dried wood ash around the village and don't go out at night."

"If nothing happens in three days, you'll be safe."

"Just listen to the Taoist priest. There is no time to lose. Hurry up and do it!"

When Guan Peide heard this, he dared not delay any longer and immediately led the villagers to catch big roosters from each household and collect dry peach wood firewood.

The ancestors of the Chu people worshipped the phoenix and believed that the chicken had five virtues and was the little phoenix. Therefore, every family raised chickens, killed and ate chickens, and even many local witchcraft and folk customs used chickens.

There is also peach wood, which has the power to ward off evil spirits, but there is a taboo against it, so it is all planted on the hillside outside the village, which is the so-called "don't plant mulberry trees in front, don't plant willow trees behind, and don't plant executioners in the yard."

The executioner refers to peach wood.

These two things were never in short supply in the village and were quickly found.

The blood from the cockscomb splashed down, and the wooden beam began to bleed again. This time, everyone could smell a disgusting corpse stench.

When Wang Daoxuan saw this, his expression turned serious.

After splashing it more than ten times, the wooden beam stopped oozing blood.

The villagers built a pile of peach wood and burned it. Suddenly, thick smoke and a pungent odor filled the entire village.

I was busy until the afternoon before I completely burned this thing to ashes.

Guan Depei personally brought his son and clan members to collect the wood ashes and sprinkle them around the village little by little.

After a busy period, he asked anxiously, "Is it ok?"

"can."

Wang Daoxuan checked again and saw Li Yan nod, indicating that the evil spirit of the wood had dissipated. Then he said, "Tell the people not to leave the village at night, hang peach charms at the door, and do not leave the yard if they hear any noise."

Without him saying anything, no one in the village dared to be careless. After all, this kind of weird thing scared everyone.

Guan Peide was also furious and cursed: "Wu Laosi, you are greedy and have brought disaster to the village. This matter cannot be forgiven lightly."

"Tomorrow morning, go to the county government office and explain the matter clearly. After that, go to the ancestral temple to be punished. You have to pay the money. I will collect some more and repair the land temple. Do you accept the punishment?"

"Accept the punishment!"

Wu Laosi nodded quickly, not daring to say anything else.

Li Yan and others saw it but didn't say anything.

During this era, the imperial power did not extend to the countryside, and the county government had limited staff. Local governments were governed by either clan rules or village rules and regulations.

There are many landlords and gentry who use clan rules to oppress others.

But this thing is indispensable.

Just like Zhujiabao before, the village chief was too lazy to manage it, and as a result, the atmosphere was corrupted, and the younger generations became river pirates, which not only brought disaster upon themselves, but also brought destruction to the village.

If this kind of thing is not dealt with strictly, some people are bound to be tempted to do it, and eventually everyone will follow suit, which will corrupt the atmosphere.

After handling the matter, Guan Peide said with gratitude: "Thank you for your hard work. I have to trouble you before I even enter the door."

"Please come to my house quickly. I have already ordered people to prepare a banquet to welcome you all."

After saying that, he took a few people and left Wu Laosi's house.

Guanjia Village is a typical clan residential building in Ezhou. An ancestral hall was built with the old house as the center, and descendants expanded it around it.

Of course, no house can be built in front of the ancestral hall.

Not long after we walked, we saw a huge archway.

The upper couplet of the archway reads "The family's valor will be praised for thousands of years", the lower couplet reads "The loyal soul will protect the world and be respected for generations", and the horizontal banner reads "The Guan Family's Legacy".

Merchants on the road said that the Guan family was a wealthy family in Dangyang, which was true, and their house was also quite grand.

There are more than a dozen courtyards alone, with more than fifty main rooms and side rooms in total, as well as ancestral halls, family schools, stables, mills and other buildings.

Of course, this mansion is not occupied by just one family. Several branches of the Guan family’s direct lineage live in different parts of the house.

The story of Li Yan and others had already spread, and since they had just entered the village and had escaped a disaster, the Guan family naturally wanted to do their best to entertain them.

Even the banquet presentation is very particular.

"Everyone, this is called Dangyangtoucai..."

Although old man Guan Peide also practiced martial arts, he mixed with scholars. All the disciples in his family read the Spring and Autumn Annals. He spoke and acted like a scholar and could explain the origins of banquets in great detail.

The dish he was talking about is also called "Three Yangs Bring Good Fortune", which is made of meat cake, egg rolls and dumplings.

In the center are eight pearl balls, surrounded by a circle of egg rolls, and under the egg rolls is another circle of cut meat cakes, garnished with shredded lean meat, black fungus, day lily, etc.

They are neatly stacked and look quite exquisite.

In addition, there are also the "four big and six small" considerations.

There are four large bowls of meat cake dumplings, stir-fried meat with magnolia slices, braised pork belly, and stewed pork shank, and the "six smalls" are roast chicken, braised fish, pork liver, lean meat, beef or mutton, and pork tripe.

Li Yan and his companions had not eaten in the morning and had been busy until now. They were already starving and did not care about any other rules. They ate until they were sweating profusely.

Guan Peide was also very patient. Seeing this, he just urged people to drink and didn't say much else. Seeing that Sharifei liked roast chicken, he had someone bring two more.

After eating and drinking, they felt relaxed after drinking tea.

Guan Peide poured them another round of tea, then sighed: "Young Master Li, you guys are really capable. This matter has made me lose my appetite day and night. I hope..."

"Don't worry, Master Guan!"

Sharifei patted his chest and said, "That demon is really bold. He dared to tarnish the reputation of Brother Guan. I will definitely not let them go!"

"That's fine, that's fine."

When Guan Peide heard this, a look of joy appeared on his face.

But Li Yan and Wang Daoxuan were not so optimistic.

Li Yan pondered for a moment and said, "This matter is probably not that simple. There were so many people watching before that I didn't dare to say too much, so as not to scare the people."

"The person that Wu Laosi encountered was definitely not a good person!"

"Oh?"

Guan Peide's heart skipped a beat. "What do you mean?"

Wang Daoxuan stroked his beard and said, "According to what Guan Jushi said, there is no temple nearby, but Wu Laosi was able to see it with his own eyes. It is clear that he has been trapped by an illusion. Maybe he has drilled into a cave or a grave."

"This kind of method can only be used by mountain monsters with great power."

"There are fox demons who have taken the evil path. They confuse passers-by into thinking they have entered a wealthy family and are enjoying all the pleasures of life. They die without even realizing that they are lying in a grave."

"That monster showed a temple, and its Taoism is even more extraordinary. Those people in yellow might be the ghosts it drives."

"Also, the Dullahan who pretended to be Saint Guandi might be another group of people causing trouble."

Guan Peide's forehead was covered with cold sweat. "When did so many demons and monsters come to Dangyang County? What is their intention in causing such trouble?"

“That’s the key.”

Li Yan said in a deep voice: "Most of the dead bodies that Wu Laosi encountered were related to this matter, and the wooden beams dug out were obtained by tomb robbers."

"Also, the flags around the monster temple were clearly under a ban, which was used to lure Wu Laosi and others to help remove it, and then they killed those people."

"If we find out the identities of these people, the truth will be revealed. Unfortunately, Wu Laosi concealed this matter, and the bodies of those people are nowhere to be found."

"There is also Guan Ling, who has been struck by lightning continuously. If it is really related to these people, then their methods must be extraordinary!"

Guan Peide was stunned.

He thought it was an ordinary evil spirit causing trouble, wanting to tarnish the reputation of Saint Guandi and bring trouble to their Guan family, so he was anxious.

Now it seems that things may be even bigger than we thought.

"Here, what should I do?"

Guan Peide suddenly became a little anxious.

"Don't panic, Master Guan."

Li Yan stood up and said, "That Mi Po must have discovered something, so she was harmed by someone."

"As long as we wake him up, we can find out the truth."

"Okay, everyone please follow me."

Guan Peide quickly stood up and led everyone to a small courtyard.

In the courtyard room, I saw an old woman in black lying on the bed, her eyes closed, her teeth clenched, and her dry fists clenched.

Fortunately, he had only a few teeth left. A maid was holding a bamboo tube, sipped a mouthful of porridge, and blew it back into the tube.

"Mr. Guan is thoughtful."

When Wang Daoxuan saw it, he couldn't help but nod in appreciation.

Guan Peide sighed, "Although my Guan family is mainly engaged in farming and studying, we dare not forget the loyalty of the martial arts world. How can we just abandon people and leave them alone?"

"But we called several doctors, but none of them could save him. We could only use this method to keep him alive."

Wang Daoxuan nodded, took out a coin for exorcising evil spirits and bringing good fortune from his bosom, placed it on the forehead of the old woman in black, then took out a yellow paper talisman, circled it three times up and down, and lit it to make talisman water.

He made hand gestures with his left hand, dipped his right hand in the talisman water, put it in his mouth and tasted it carefully, then frowned and said, "Sure enough, he has lost his soul."

"Master Guan, please help me find a chicken so that I can summon the soul of this Taoist friend tonight. If we can find it, this matter will be easy to handle."

Sharifei asked curiously, "What if we can't find it back?"

Li Yan said coldly: "It must be something pressing on it. I'll go and get it back!"

(End of this chapter)