My enemies became my companions

Chapter 503: Thorough Understanding (Two in One)

This family of five, young and old, fled from the south to the north.

Since ancient times, compared with the Central Plains, the South has been a place with a variety of incense and many ghosts and gods. Moreover, the further south you go, the more miasma there is, and the more gods there are. Mountain spirits and lonely ghosts even dare to call themselves gods. In some places, there is even a shrine every two streets.

Throughout the dynasties, the worship of wild gods was always strictly prohibited. However, since the Dayu Dynasty, although it occupied seven parts of the Central Plains, it originated from Chu and Yue, so it was relatively tolerant of the worship of wild gods among the people. As a result, the worship of wild gods is now flourishing in the south, giving the White Lotus Sect an opportunity to take advantage of it.

This family of five, young and old, owned more than 60 acres of fertile land about several decades ago when the late emperor was still alive. Everyone in the family was hardworking and willing to endure hardships. After ten years of hard work, they not only married a wife, but also rented land from a neighbor to farm.

However, things don't always go as planned. A few years later, the previous emperor started a large-scale construction project and wanted to offer sacrifices to the gods on Mount Tai. People from all over the country competed to offer auspicious treasures, and naturally, all kinds of taxes and labor service were imposed on them.

"Under such a heavy burden, we old farmers who work hard all day long, those with less land have to flee from famine, while those with more land have to endure it. But our family has neither too much nor too little land, so after much thought, we have no choice but to donate our land to the temple as 'temple land.'" Gong's father sighed, and there was still a lot of reluctance to part with the land in his voice.

The so-called temple fields refer to the fields under the names of temples, monasteries, and nunneries. These fields do not have to collect taxes, and rarely bear corvee labor. They only need to pay rent. Therefore, many people donate them to temples when taxes are heavy, and redeem them from temples when taxes are light.

The temple they donated was called Po Lian Monastery. The old abbot had just passed away, and the new abbot of Po Lian Monastery was none other than Ji Yuan.

Under Jiyuan's leadership, the Baolian Temple, which originally only worshipped Buddha, had many more gods and Buddhas from unknown places. Various statues of wild gods were transported into the temple, but they were not destroyed. Instead, they were selected and worshipped.

"Just like... the statues in Duan Guan's house?" Chen Yi asked as he thought of the statues all over the floor of Duan Guan's house.

"It seems so..." Gongfu gave a positive answer after a brief recollection, and then said: "It may be that there are too many gods and Buddhas to be worshipped in the temple, and there are not enough incense. The monks will give some statues to the tenants to take back home for worship... and the five statues we were given are the ones."

Chen Yi frowned slightly.

After the death of the five members of the Gong family, they parasitized the statues and became the Five Wild Gods. If that is true, then wouldn't the thousands of miles of temple fields around the Po Lin Monastery be filled with wild gods?
This is not ordinary.

Chen Yi immediately thought of this: both the Po Lian Monastery and the White Lotus Sect have the word "Lotus" in their names. Could there be some connection between them?
Otherwise, how could Longhu Mountain, the leader of the southern Taoist sect, be forced to close the mountain and be almost powerless to fight back against the invasion of the White Lotus Sect, and had to seek help from Taoist sects all over the world?

There were too many thoughts at the moment, and they spread out. Chen Yi stopped them in time and asked the most important question:
"Then how did this Wa City escape the cycle of reincarnation and become a ghost town?"

"The Taoist priest can see that this place... the feng shui of the terrain is prone to attracting yin and expelling yang, and has always been favored by lonely ghosts." Gong's father has followed Duan Guan for a long time and knows more or less about the ghost town. He continued, "When we fled here, this place already had the embryonic form of a ghost town. Otherwise, we would not have been able to avenge our hatred and show our spirits to kill this unfilial son."

Gong Sanniu shuddered, as if feeling embarrassed, and said nothing.

"However, when we came, the ghosts here also knew that they were ghosts. They were brought here by a monk. The monk was dressed in rags, but he had a very kind heart. He gave us food and drink along the way. The city god here did not accept them, so he drove him away."

Chen Yi thought for a moment and thought that since he was able to drive away the City God, his cultivation must not be too bad. At least he should have reached the level of a crazy sutra master.

"But without the City God, there is no one to take care of it, and there is no way to lead people to the underworld for reincarnation, so the monk told everyone that he would open a hole in the ground, and whoever was tired of staying there and wished to reincarnate could walk into the hole, and that would lead to reincarnation."

Gongfu's words were very simple and easy to understand. I don't know if it was intentional on the part of the monk or if it became easier to understand after the ghosts repeated them over and over again.

Although the words were simple, Chen Yi's pupils shrank unconsciously after listening to them.

If you drill a hole in the ground and let a ghost walk in, will it be able to reincarnate?
Those ghosts didn’t know, but Chen Yi had been to the underworld and knew that reincarnation was carried out by Huangquan. So if the monk dug a hole, could it lead directly to the depths of the underworld?
"Who is this monk you are talking about?"

"Bodhisattva...Bodhisattva or something..."

“Is it a Bodhisattva?”

Gongfu shook his head and said, "He is not a real Bodhisattva... Some people call him Bodhisattva or something, but he is definitely not a real Bodhisattva."

Chen Yi couldn't think of who it was for a moment. He was not familiar with Buddhism, and was even more clueless about Buddhist monks, so he glanced at Yin Tingxue.

Yin Tingxue also shook her head. Although she knew many Buddhist monks by heart and could even recite their Zen poems, it was hard to guess who he was just by looking at the two words.

It’s just... being able to open up the reincarnation cave is quite remarkable... even if one calls himself a bodhisattva, there is nothing wrong with that.

Chen Yi immediately asked: "What's next?"

Gongfu turned his head and said, "Later, the monk left without saying goodbye for some reason. It seemed that he was going somewhere. The town suddenly became leaderless and there was no city god. We are wild gods and have the most magical powers among these lonely ghosts. So we were coerced and induced by them to worship us. They have so many people, we dare not fail to make our gods effective..."

"Then how come the ghosts here don't know they are ghosts?"

Gongfu looked at Duan Guan's corpse on the ground and said, "It's all the work of this weasel demon. She is a subordinate of Jiyuan and secretly worships the statue of the Ghost Mother Goddess. The weasel demon is the most cunning. The people in the town accepted her, and she pretended to be an outsider who didn't know about it. She turned around and asked the townspeople whether she was a human or a ghost. The townspeople didn't dare to reveal that they were ghosts, so they said they were human...so no one knew that they were a ghost."

It turned out that the weasel was asking for a title, making the ghosts here think that they were human.

The truth was finally revealed and many doubts were resolved. Chen Yi should have been relieved, but for some reason his brows were still furrowed.

It’s good that the doubts have become less, but they have also become deeper.

The origin of this town sounds so simple, but there seems to be an invisible thread behind it, connecting many insignificant things together, and finally turning it into a foggy mystery.

But I am in the fog.

Chen Yi smiled bitterly and let out a breath.

We can only take one step at a time.

Then, he looked at Duan Guan's body again.

"I believe they... should have found Duan Guanshi's soul."

…………

"Damn it, we were almost scared to death!"

Inside the City God Temple, the three ghosts Li Xian, Li Chengxing and Duan Zeng looked dejected. Among them, Li Chengxing shouted loudly without caring about his manners.

"Alright, I'll let you return to your bodies later."

Before the three ghosts, there was a ghost being held in front of the City God statue, and that ghost was Duan Guanshi.

At this moment, she was just a soul left, and finally revealed her true face as a weasel, with her long mouth drooping and her face as pale as death.

According to the three ghosts, Duan Guan tried every possible means in the Samsara Cave to scare them away, but there were wolves in front and tigers behind. The three ghosts were afraid that they would not be able to explain to Taoist Chen Yi after escaping, so they had to go deeper and deeper, and finally they really caught Duan Guan's soul.

Five groups of black air stood in the hall, and their eyes seemed to want to tear Duan Guan into pieces.

In the hall, the gavel struck, and then two words were heard: "The court is open."

Duan Guan raised his head slightly.

I saw that the desk was wide and there was a person shining with golden light, just like the city god who was canonized in the stories of strange things.

"My humble daughter, Duan Guanshi, have you ever worked for Ji Yuan?"

"Yes…"

"Jiyuan asked you to worship the Ghost Mother Goddess, just to wait for the day when you will succeed and become a god?"

"Yes…"

"You escaped into the reincarnation cave, are you trying to take advantage of the enemy's trick and escape?"

"Yes..." "You have compassion for your son and don't want Duan Siyuan to know the truth and become a wild god at the mercy of the Po Lin Monastery?"

"Yes…"

…………

Duan Guan's death was a calculated attempt to escape. Even without a trial, Chen Yi could connect the clues and guess most of it.

After their death, the five members of the Gong family turned into the Five Impermanent Gods, and Duan Guanshi and Duan Siyuan would naturally turn into the Guizi Mother Goddess.

The reason why her house was filled with statues of gods was because Ji Yuan had once instructed her to find someone to worship them.

However, Duan Guan learned about the Wacheng area on the way, heard about the five people of the Gong family, and learned about this small town from Li Xian, so he had the idea of ​​breaking free from the shackles.

When Jiyuan learned that there had been no news from her for a long time, he sent Fankong to capture her, hoping to return the Demon Mother Goddess to her place.

Although Duan Guanshi repelled Fankong, he realized that this was not a solution, so he deliberately guided Duan Siyuan to kill him to cut off Duan Siyuan's thoughts, and waited until the seventh day before entering reincarnation to escape.

Since no one sells Meng Po soup in this reincarnation cave, one can retain one's memory even after reincarnation, as is the case with Li Xian.

Duan Guan also had the same idea, hoping to meet Duan Siyuan one day.

A mother’s plan for her son is always long-term.

In the hall, after Chen Yi finished the trial, five groups of black air were approaching step by step. It looked like they were planning to eat alive Duan Guan, who had been at odds with them for a long time.

Over the years, in order to conceal her own identity, Duan Guan enslaved the Wuchang God. She seemed to be a temple keeper, but in fact she was the master of the Wuchang God.

Just wait for Chen Yi to nod and speak.

"You want to kill her?"

“Lord City God, revenge is only natural,” they responded. “And Lord City God, you promised us… to kill the ringleader.”

Chen Yi did not respond directly, but said:
"She is already a ghost, with deep resentment. When a person dies, he becomes a ghost, and when a ghost dies, he becomes a ghost. Can you handle it?"

After he finished speaking, Wuchangshen fell silent.

When a ghost dies, it becomes a ghost, and ghosts themselves are afraid of it.

Although the Five Gods are gods, Duan Guan had great magical powers when he was alive, and it is hard to guarantee that he would not have deep resentment after his death. Once Chen Yi leaves, he will backfire and none of them will have a good ending.

"City God...what should we do?"

Chen Yi looked at the ghosts in the hall and said slowly:

"It's simple. Just take revenge for as much hatred as you have. She enslaved you for more than ten years, so you have to oppress her for more than ten years."

Are they just going to let go of their hatred so easily? The Five Gods looked at each other, somewhat unwillingly.

At this time, the City God in the hall said again:
"In consideration of your contributions in protecting the town over the years, my City God Temple is missing the Ox-Headed and Horse-Faced Gods, Black and White Impermanence. Are you interested?"

Wuchangshen was stunned for a moment, and then black mist surged up, and he couldn't suppress his ecstasy.

This is to be a Yin official as a companion to the sacrifice!
Before Chen Yi could continue speaking, the five groups of black energy knelt down and shouted:
"Master Qingtian!"

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Although it is the Chinese New Year, the customs vary from place to place. In some places, the Chinese New Year is over after the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, but in some places, it has to wait until the sixteenth day of the first lunar month.

This is because in some places the Lantern Festival is on the 15th, and in some places it is on the 16th. People celebrate the Lantern Festival by walking around, running away from diseases, dancing with flags and flowers, climbing the city walls, sending cattle posts, marrying off rat girls, and visiting temple fairs... In the towns and cities near Mount Taihua, everything reaches its climax when the 16th arrives.

The sixteenth day of the first lunar month is also the day for beautiful women to meet.

But in the city, cars are flowing like water and horses are like dragons, and the flowers and the moon are in the spring breeze.

Yin Weiying sat in the tea room, sipping tea and leaning on the railing to gaze into the distance. In the past, she looked down upon Li Yu's poems. Although it was said that "poems became famous only after Li Houzhu", poems written by a king who lost his country were not considered auspicious. If she, a nun, often recited Li Yu's poems, she was afraid that it would ruin her fortune.

But when I savored his poems again recently, I found that Li Yu's poems are unique. There are infinite emotions in his poems. With so many thoughts in mind, good or bad luck no longer matters.

After looking at the scene outside the window for a long time, the nun took a sip of tea and asked softly:

"There's a White Lotus incident in the south, and Longhu Mountain is asking for help from all the Taoist sects in the world. Has this alarmed Master?"

Yu Zhen Yuan Jun was sitting opposite her, also sipping tea, and responded, "That's right. I'm afraid Master can't stay out of this matter. The situation in the south... is in full swing and getting worse."

Yin Weiying pondered for a moment.

It was extremely rare for the Taoists who practiced the Great Forgetfulness in Mount Taihua to travel down Mount Taihua, and it was even more rare that the master invited me to go with him this time.

"This time I can also be considered to be traveling in the mortal world... I just don't know if I will pass by Yinjian Mountain?"

She remained calm, shook the tea bowl lightly, and said:

"I've often heard that Yinjian Mountain has both sword and Taoism. 'Two volumes of Taoist scriptures and three feet of sword'. The higher the Tao, the higher the sword. Although I don't practice sword, I want to see the Tao of Yinjian Mountain."

Yu Zhen Yuan Jun thought for a moment and said, "Probably not."

A glimmer of light flashed in Yin Weiying's eyes, and he said calmly: "Then it is better for this disciple to practice in seclusion."

Just then the tea bowl was empty, and Wan'er brought new tea over. Yin Weiying took it casually, neither hurried nor slow. She was neither disappointed nor overly concerned about not seeing Chen Yi.

Yu Zhen Yuan Jun also sipped his tea, and after a while he said, "Speaking of which, this time when I go south, I have to go see Chen Yi."

“…I suddenly feel that I am not talented enough and have little knowledge. I think that I can only achieve immortality after traveling through the mortal world.”

Yin Weiying remained calm in the face of adversity, and even more so, he kept his integrity secret.

Even so, Yu Zhenyuanjun couldn't help but shake his head and laugh. Who could he hide his disciple's thoughts from?

Since there were no outsiders present, Yu Zhen Yuan Jun jokingly said, "Wei Ying, why do you keep changing your mind?"

"Do as you please, follow the will of nature."

After Yu Zhen Yuan Jun laughed, he sighed in his heart.

Her disciple has always been extremely talented. Not only was her response impeccable, but it also contained some truth.

The Supreme One forgets all emotions, and Yin Weiying has already understood everything.

When Yu Zhen Yuanjun thought of this, his smile gradually faded and his brows slightly furrowed.

But her origins are too confusing.

Yu Zhen Yuanjun did not tell Yin Weiying why she wanted to meet Chen Yi - she found out the origin of the corpse in Prince Jing's mansion.

(End of this chapter)