My enemies became my companions

Chapter 499: Ghostly Death
What is going on?
It all starts from when Chen Yi and Yin Tingxue watched the three ghosts enter the Reincarnation Cave.

Click.

Entering the City God Temple again, the weeds between the cracks in the floor were visible to the naked eye. The dilapidated state inside was almost exactly the same as yesterday. No, it was even worse than yesterday.

Yesterday was the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month, and some people could still come to the City God Temple to burn a few incense sticks. But today, there is not even a single stick of incense.

The incense in the jar had burned out, leaving only two thin layers of ash. The painted on the City God statue had peeled off, revealing a clay face. Yin Tingxue looked at the scene curiously, wondering what Chen Yi was doing here.

She also didn't know why Chen Yi drove people into the reincarnation cave.

Chen Yi turned his head and looked at Yin Tingxue. He seemed to see her confusion and said, "Not many people here worship the City God because he is not powerful. But most people worship any god. Even if the Five Gods are powerful, they should not worship the City God, unless..."

Yin Tingxue understood a little and said, "You mean, praying to the City God is not only ineffective."

"There may still be trouble." Chen Yi threw down these five words lightly.

Yin Tingxue was shocked. It was the first time she heard that praying to gods was not only ineffective, but could also bring disaster.

She couldn't help but continue to ask: "How did you guess?"

Chen Yi was not in a hurry to answer, and in order to show off in front of Yin Tingxue, he deliberately suppressed his emotions.

He walked around the incense burner and went behind the City God. He saw an old talisman stuck on his back with the word "Seal" written on it and a string of copper coins hanging next to it.

The people here actually use talismans to seal the city god as if they were sealing up ghosts.

Chen Yi drew his sword and cut the talisman. The talisman trembled, emitting a little green light, and then it was cut open like paper.

Most of the statues of gods in the world are hollow, and Chen Yi has been a human in two lives and has seen many secret places from all dynasties. He observed that since the Han Dynasty, most of the statues of gods have been hollow, and you can hear an echo if you knock on them gently.

This hollowness is only for placing things inside the statue, and it is called "zhuang zang" and is passed down in Buddhism.

Initially, the decoration of the Buddha only appeared on Buddha statues, and most of the relics were placed inside. According to the Buddhist principles, "follow the Dharma, not the person". Buddha statues are dead objects, and Buddhism is the right way. The purpose of making it convenient to practice the Samadhi of the Boat and the Samadhi of Contemplation of the Buddha. By visualizing the Buddha, one can become one with the Buddha. If one focuses on the image of the Buddha, it is the so-called "attachment to the form". Only by realizing Buddhism through the Buddha statues can one understand the true meaning of Buddhism.

To decorate the Buddha statue is to reveal the Dharma in it. A Buddha statue without decoration is like a dragon without the finishing touch.

Since the Han Dynasty, Buddhism spread throughout the Central Plains and the world. So when the Taoist way of deity arose, many Taoist statues were decorated with internal organs. Gradually, almost all statues of gods in the world had internal organs decorated with internal organs.

After Chen Yi cut open the thin mud skin of the City God, he was stunned when he saw the dirt inside.

It was a piece of yellow paper with the City God in shackles.

The following sentence is added: "Sent to exile in Qiongtai, eight thousand miles away."

Qiongtai is the Hainan in Chen Yi's memory. It is full of miasma and is as hot as an oven in summer. Once an official from the mortal world is exiled here, six or seven out of ten will die in office.

"This is to drive away the City God." Chen Yi touched his chin and said.

The people here seem to be both afraid of and hate the City God.

"Drive away the City God?" Yin Tingxue asked at the right time.

Seeing her curiosity, Chen Yi smiled and said, "Little fox, do you know the legend of chasing away the City God?" Yin Tingxue shook her head.

At this time, even if you know the answer, you have to shake your head. If you really can't, just pretend to know half of it, so that Chen Yi will be interested in talking. And after he finishes talking, it's best to look at him with longing... Yin Tingxue has already mastered these skills, and no one taught her, not to mention that she really doesn't know it this time.

"There is probably a child in the story, who is either a child prodigy, a genius, or a banished immortal, who is like Ma Liang with the magic brush, with some magical powers, and can make his words come true. This child goes to worship the City God, but the City God ignores him out of contempt, so the child gets angry, puts a seal on the City God, writes a date, and sends him into exile thousands of miles away."

Chen Yi picked up the note inside and continued:

“This is the kind of paper that, once posted, the City God will be banished far away, waiting to be taken down and come back. But the people in this town put it directly into the statue… They want the City God to never come back.

It’s not that the City God is ineffective, it’s that they are afraid of the City God’s effectiveness!”

After hearing this, Yin Tingxue was stunned. The City God is a ghost official who protects the land and the people, and judges good and evil. Moreover, most of them are upright gentlemen in their lifetime and can become the City God after death. In this world, there is actually a reason to be afraid of the City God, unless...
"Who would be so afraid of and hate the City God?"

The law in Chen Yi's hand burned without a breeze, and the ashes flew away.

"Damn it."

Yin Tingxue suddenly felt a chill on her spine. She shivered and her legs went weak.

If that's the case,
All the living people I saw when I entered the town turned out to be ghosts!

Subconsciously, she ran to Chen Yi without even realizing it.

"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid." Chen Yi patted her on the back.

Yin Tingxue came back to her senses, her face a little red, but her hands were still grasping his clothes. She thought of something she couldn't figure out, and asked in confusion: "But didn't we see ghost marriages before?"

"That's a dead ghost." Chen Yi said slowly, "When a person dies, he becomes a ghost. When a ghost dies, he becomes a demon. Ghosts are afraid of demons when they see them."

This knowledge was so obscure that Yin Tingxue thought for a long time before she found a story about Zhang Aduan from Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio in the corner of her memory.

After Chen Yi burned the law, he looked at the empty interior of the statue and thought for a moment. In fact, it was no wonder that Yin Tingxue didn't know. If the old saint hadn't enlightened him, he would not have thought of it either.

After death, people become ghosts, enter the underworld and enter the cycle of reincarnation, and are reborn as humans. This has been common sense since the Han Dynasty...since Buddhism was introduced to China during the Han Dynasty.

Before the Han Dynasty, life was treated as death. This was the case with the various tombs seen in the underground palaces. So when a person died, he became a ghost; when a ghost died, he became a demon; when a demon died, he became a ghost; when a demon died, he became a demon; when a demon died, he became a demon; when a demon died, he became a demon; when a demon died, he became a demon; when a demon died, he became a demon; and when a demon died, he became invisible… In this constant death, living beings disappear into thin air and return to the way of heaven. Death is like a downward step rather than a binary reincarnation. Instead, death is more like a circular channel.

The weirdness of this small town lies in the fact that there is no reincarnation. Instead, it is just like in ancient times, where life is truly like death. However, if we trace back to before the Han Dynasty, the reincarnation in today's world is truly weird.

Chen Yi's thoughts gradually stopped. He stared at the empty interior of the statue, curled his lips into a smile, and took out the red gold relic from his arms.

This red-gold relic has been with him for so long that it has infected his spiritual energy and magical power.

A red-gold halo was inserted into it, and the light was bright. This clay statue of the City God glowed with magnificent rays of light from the inside out. Chen Yi's finger slid down along the crack, and the crack of the City God statue slowly closed up as if it was sewing up a wound...

It won't take long.

The clay statue of the City God slowly opened his eyes.

(End of this chapter)