the last priest

No one knows how many floors there are in hell. Some say there are eight floors, others say that there are eighteen floors, and some say that this hell has nineteen floors.In the classics of Taoism, it has never been mentioned how many layers of the underworld, because the world of Taoism is yin and yang.

Taoism believes that Yangjian is the place where the living stay, and the underworld is the place where the dead stay.The Yin world is the opposite of the Yang world, and what the Yang world looks like, the Yin world should also look like.In the underworld, there are yamen for the living, masters who convict, and arresters; therefore, in this underworld, there is also the Hall of Yama, judges, and underworld messengers.

In the traditional Taoist world, the underworld is the place where people go after death. It is the same as our world, except that there are no living people there.

There are too many theories from the folks. No one knows where the [-] hells come from, but there is only one theory.Zha Wenbin is a person who has been to the underworld, and there are not a few people like him who can travel between the yin and yang realms, because there are rules in the underworld: dead people or those who work in the underworld cannot have direct contact with living people.

Although the yin and yang worlds are not related to each other, there are always some lonely ghosts that the living people in the yang world will encounter from time to time, or those who died unjustly need to be sent back to the yang world, so there are such a group of people who shuttle In the two worlds of Yin and Yang, he came to speak for the people in the underworld.

Taoist priests are one of them. Maoshan technique can allow those who practice it to stay in the underworld for a stick of incense.Cha Wenbin wanted to go to that dream place, that lake, that ruined monument more than once.He tried, and without exception, he failed. He even bribed the underworld servants who were active in the underworld, but no one knew where this place was, just like a dream created by himself.

There is a reason for any dream. Although the human brain can imagine any mountains, rivers and lakes, it is because he has seen similar scenes.Cha Wenbin has had this dream for ten years, and that lingering place always comes unexpectedly with him in his dreams, and the crying that tears his heart makes him cry every time Awake.

This place is too familiar. I have seen every plant and tree in front of me countless times, and Cha Wenbin's heart began to float.

Is this the place?That remnant monument, that lake?

He walked this road countless times in his dream, and as he walked, he started to run like the plot in the dream.It's just that the cry that he was afraid of and hoped to hear did not appear.It's better not to show up, what does it mean to show up, it means that this man will immediately fall to the brink of collapse.

The lake did not appear as in the dream, but a "house" appeared instead.

With yellow soil mixed with straw, this kind of adobe house was very common in the countryside before liberation.The house is not big, with a single bay of about eight meters. The roof is not covered with tiles but with stone slabs, which are the most common in Northwest Zhejiang.The house had a single door, but oddly no windows.

The door is half open, judging by the color of the wood, it is a bit old.

When he was still ten steps away from the house, Cha Wenbin stopped.This room is very familiar, through this door, he can imagine the arrangement of the furniture in the room, because this room looks the same as the wedding room when he got married from the outside.

Zha Wenbin lost his parents when he was very young, and it was his master Ma Zhenren who brought him up.

Taoist priests are a poor profession, and they can't save a few dollars in their pockets. Ma Zhenren is good at drinking, and the little incense money he earns from fortune-telling and fortune-telling is only enough for him to buy some wine for himself.

When he was young, Cha Wenbin, like most people in that era, would work in the fields to earn work points. Everyone was poor in that era.His wife was introduced by someone, not far from their village. In the past, most of the houses in the rural areas of northwestern Zhejiang were adobe houses, and only wealthy families could afford brick houses.

They work in the fields during the day, and carry the soil at night. The soil is made of loess that is common in the area.This kind of soil is highly viscous because it is a mountainous area with mixed soil and small stones.The loess brought in should be mixed with water to make it into a mud, and then some straw or the like will be poured into it to make tendons, and then two thick wooden boards will be used to make a mold, and the well-mixed loess mud will be poured in, and then it will be tamped by manpower, and the excess mud will be discharged. moisture.

Most of this kind of houses are built by themselves, which takes a long time, because to build a wall, you have to wait for the soil below to dry before you can continue to build up, and you have to stop working on rainy days.At that time, Cha Wenbin could only rely on his own hands to build his own house with loads of yellow mud.

The roof is made of slate, which is a kind of black stone, which is easy to be layered, about an office cent thick, with different shapes and stacked on top of each other.There were people in the village dedicated to mining stone slabs. At that time, Zha Wenbin couldn't pay the wages, so he opened the stone slabs by himself. His hands were cut countless times. He had a deep memory of this house.

It was his wedding room, and there was still a faded "囍" on the door, which was cut by Mrs. Dong from the village head.

They lived in that house until Chao Zi and the others came to build a new house. The house had already been demolished, so how could it be here?

He wanted to go in, although there was a voice in his heart that kept reminding himself: This is fake.

But he still wanted to go in, it was home, because he heard it.

He heard a woman's voice in the room, a very familiar voice, and a boy talking to her.

"When will daddy come back?" "Your daddy will be here soon."

At this time, a young girl's voice sounded: "Liar! Daddy doesn't want us anymore."

"Nizi is good. Daddy is busy. When he finishes his work, he will take Nizi and brother to the street to buy sweets and buy new clothes for you."

With a "plop", Zha Wenbin knelt down in front of this room, tears streaming down his face.How could he control it again, he got up and was about to push the door in, when a voice behind him sounded again: "Slow down!"

Cha Wenbin turned his head, not far from him, a dirty old man was grinning at him with a gourd in his hand.He was stunned, isn't this his master Ma Zhenren?

The tears on his face were still there, and he could clearly feel the wet corners of his eyes. He shouted, "Master, is that you? Is it really you?"

The old man didn't answer, but waved to him and said, "Wen Bin, come here, come to me."

This voice, this appearance, this jug, yes, he is Ma Sufeng!

The conversation between the woman and the children in the room was still going on, and the old man behind him was waving to him, where should he go first?

After hesitating for a moment, he still chose to go to the master, because Ma Zhenren had been kind to him in nurturing him since he was a child. In his world, half of the old man is the master, and the other half is the father.

As soon as he took the steps under his feet, he heard a girl's cry coming from the room again. The cry was so miserable: "Daddy, I'm in pain, come and save my dad, come and save me!"

Cha Wenbin turned around immediately, it was his daughter calling for help, the voice that appeared countless times in the dream!

"Stop!" It was Master Ma sternly yelling, "Wen Bin, come here, just come here, I have something to tell you."

Cha Wenbin wondered anxiously: "But master, Nizi is inside, she is asking for help." At this time, he was only one step away from the half-open door, and he could enter with a push.

"Come here!" Ma Zhenren was a little angry. Although he seldom asked about this apprentice, as long as he spoke, Zha Wenbin never stopped listening since he was a child. "If you don't come, I will no longer be your master!"

"Hey!" Cha Wenbin sighed and turned his head. He strode towards Ma Zhenren, and the cries in his ears became louder.

Walking to the old man's side, Zha Wenbin asked anxiously, "What's the matter?"

After calling him over, the old man gave him a playful look, then raised his neck and took a sip of wine, smacked his mouth, wiped his dirty sleeve, and said, "Wen Bin, when I'm not around you Where are all the things going?"

Seeing his expression, Zha Wenbin couldn't get angry, so he could only bite the bullet and reply: "When the master is not around, the disciples didn't dare to stop their homework, and they have to do it sooner or later."

"Then do you still remember what I taught you?"

Cha Wenbin lowered his head and replied, "I dare not forget."

"Well, let me ask you, how are the beams on the roof arranged?"

"East-west frame, the east side is one inch higher than the west side." Most of the Chinese folk houses choose to face north and south, while the beams of the house are placed horizontally, with the east side higher than the west side, which symbolizes the sunrise and sunset. If the west side of the beam of the house is high, it is unlucky.

The old man took another sip of wine and said: "Oh, it seems that you haven't forgotten, so let me ask you again, who lives in a house where windows cannot be opened?"

Cha Wenbin turned his head and replied: "The house where the dead live does not open the windows."

"Well, I haven't forgotten this, so why don't you look up at the room in front of you?"

After hearing this, Zha Wenbin was startled, took out the compass in his hand, and looked up again, there was indeed a problem with the roof of the house!

The roof of this house does not run from east to west, but from north to south. This house faces east to west!The house of a living person will never open the door to the west. West means sunset and a symbol of death!Looking at it again, apart from being very similar to my own home, this house has no windows, while my small home back then had two windows.

Zha Wenbin woke up in an instant. He hurriedly wanted to ask the master what was going on, but when he turned his head, the master behind him had disappeared without a trace...