Uncle Jiu: I am Chen Yulou, the leader of the Xiangling gang

Chapter 65: The Good or Bad of Magic Depends on the Heart
There is no need to say much about the corpse-driving technique in Xiangxi. After all, the Chen family is in Xiangxi, so they have naturally heard of it.

As for the black magic in the south, it goes without saying that in later generations in Southeast Asia, all witchcraft was generally referred to as black magic, and black magic was known to everyone in Southeast Asia in later generations.

Taoist Simu nodded and continued, "In western Hunan, wizards who can drive corpses all call themselves the Corpse Driving School."

"Since ancient times, transportation in Xiangxi was difficult, and those who went out to make a living and died in a foreign land needed to return home for burial. Therefore, ascetics learned the art of corpse-driving, and the corpse-driving sect came into being."

"Of course, the so-called corpse-driving sect is just like Ye Maoshan. Anyone who knows some corpse-driving techniques can call themselves a corpse-driving sect."

Upon hearing this, Chen Yulou nodded.

Regarding Ye Maoshan, he had heard from his uncle Jiu that some people accidentally obtained some skills to exorcise demons and monsters, and after they had successfully practiced, they called themselves Maoshan Taoist priests.

However, this type of Taoist priests not only have not received the imperial edict, but there is no list of them on Maoshan's list. They call themselves Maoshan Taoist priests mainly because Maoshan represents a sect that captures ghosts and exorcises demons, and these Taoist priests are purely using the Maoshan name to gain an advantage.

Because Maoshan Taoist priests are among the secular world, anyone who knows them will be treated with courtesy.

Therefore, generally speaking, when real Maoshan Taoist priests meet this kind of wild Maoshan Taoist priests, if they are really successful in their practice and have good morals, they will call them senior brother or junior brother to thank them for spreading the good reputation of Maoshan Sect.

But if you encounter a wild Maoshan Taoist priest who cannot distinguish between good and evil and does all kinds of evil, you will naturally have to slay the demons and monsters to defend the reputation of the Maoshan sect.

"But among these corpse-driving sects, some are genuine, while others are fake!"

"Uncle Master, is corpse-driving fake?" Chen Yulou immediately looked at Taoist Simu in surprise.

Taoist Simu looked at Chen Yulou, shook his head and said with a smile: "How can corpse driving be fake?"

“Why did the corpse-driving sect come into being?”

"Because it's wealth!"

"Since there is wealth, there will be people in any industry who are tempted by lust and who are lost in lust."

"Even within the Taoist and Buddhist sects, there are many people who indulge in lustful desires, defrauding people of their money and causing harm to the community."

"That's true!" Chen Yulou nodded in agreement. But how could he fake the corpse-driving?
Perhaps seeing Chen Yulou's confusion, Taoist Simu explained, "I have practiced for decades and have seen many people from the Xiangxi Corpse Driving Sect."

"There are more lies than truth!"

"First, there's the first type. These people pretend to be corpse drivers from western Hunan. They'll dismember the body, leaving only the head and limbs in a backpack, and put money and paper on top to hide their tracks. They'll be followed by someone pretending to be the corpse."

“Once they arrive at their destination, they stick their limbs into the cast, dress it, put it in the coffin, and then let their employer claim it!”

"The person is dead, and there is a stench of corpse. The owner will not take a closer look and will just bury him as soon as possible."

Chen Yulou was stunned. He was thinking, the art of corpse-driving should be a magic, how can a magic be faked?
He really didn't expect that it would be faked like this.

Seeing Chen Yulou's surprised expression, Taoist Simu smiled faintly and continued, "The second method is that they tie the corpse to someone else and have them carry the corpse while walking. They put a large straw hat on their head and cover it with loose clothes. Because it's dark and the vision is blurred, passersby look like walking corpses!"

"There's a third method. They use two bamboo poles, fix a few bodies in the middle, and have people carry them along at both ends!"

"Because real corpse drivers travel at night and rest during the day to avoid pedestrians, this gives these unscrupulous people who come in to make up the numbers an opportunity to take advantage of them."

"That's why it's rumored that the corpse-driving sect requires ugly appearances as their disciples, because ugly people are not welcomed and can't find good jobs, so they have to rely on this to make a living."

"Secondly, they need to be strong and healthy, because they don't know magic and need to carry corpses."

"Another requirement is courage, as they deal with the dead every day. Finally, they need a good memory, as they have to learn to transport corpses along rarely traveled routes, just like real corpse drivers."

Upon hearing this, Chen Yulou immediately revealed a look of sudden enlightenment and said, "Uncle Master, Yulou has broadened his horizons." "Although these people were motivated by money and lust, they did a good deed after all."

"You are right!"

Taoist Simu laughed in agreement and said, "After all, the art of corpse-driving is difficult to learn, and most people don't have the opportunity to truly learn it. Therefore, there are only a limited number of corpse-driving masters who can truly perform the technique, and most of them only transport corpses for high-ranking officials and nobles."

Chen Yulou nodded.

Indeed, it is impossible to earn much hard-earned money by transporting corpses for ordinary people. Only with these fake corpse drivers can ordinary people have the possibility of returning home after dying in a foreign land.

"Secondly, it's the Southern Black Magic."

"It is prevalent in Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi and other regions."

"This type of black magic uses an object on a person's body to perform a ritual, using certain materials to perform a black magic on a person."

"This is similar to the puppetry in our Maoshan corpse-controlling technique, but it is much more complicated than our puppetry." Taoist Simu looked at Chen Yulou and said.

After hearing this, Chen Yulou thought for a moment and asked, "Master, is black magic a sorcery?"

After all, the black magic in later generations is basically something that harms people, and it feels like pure evil magic.

Taoist Simu nodded upon hearing this and said, "This is indeed one of the evil spells."

"But Yulou, you have to understand that whether it's a righteous magic or a purely evil magic, it all depends on who holds it."

"Evil arts in the hands of evildoers may harm people, but in the hands of righteous people, evil arts can be used to eliminate evildoers and rid the people of harm."

"The same is true of black magic. It can be used against enemies to cause them illness, bad luck, or even death, but it can also be used to protect yourself and your family and attract wealth and good luck."

"Even in our Maoshan, there are many sorcerous and forbidden techniques. Once you have achieved success in your cultivation, you can go to Maoshan and the sect will release these techniques for you to learn."

"So there is no good or bad in magic; good or bad lies in the human heart!"

Chen Yulou glanced at Taoist Simu, nodded and said, "Uncle Master, I am grateful for your guidance!"

"Finally, there's the Tibetan practice of raising corpses. This is a purely sorcerous practice, primarily involving evil sorcerers raising corpses to harm people. Because of this, there's a tradition of sky burials in Tibet. This is to prevent corpses from falling into the hands of these evil sorcerers, who might then raise them and harm people. That's why the sky burial system was created."

Chen Yulou immediately showed a look of sudden enlightenment.

He had indeed never heard of the Tibetan practice of resurrecting corpses, but he knew about sky burials. After a person died, the sky burial master would strip the corpse of its clothes, dismember the body according to a certain procedure, and separate the flesh and bones.

The bones are crushed with stones and mixed with tsampa, and the meat is cut into small pieces and set aside.

Finally, a whistle is used to call the vulture over, and the bones and meat are fed to it in order until it has eaten everything.

The sky burial master would then dry up the remaining blood and throw it to the vultures until nothing was left.

After doing all this, the sky burial master went down the mountain to wash his hands and knives, and the entire sky burial process was completed.

It can be said that just hearing it is both weird and creepy.

"But whether it's the corpse-driving techniques of western Hunan, the black magic techniques of the south, the corpse-raising techniques of Tibet, or even our Maoshan corpse-controlling techniques, they all originate from the witchcraft techniques of the Central Plains during the Qin and Han dynasties."

"However, the corpse-driving techniques of Xiangxi and the corpse-raising techniques of Tibet only target corpses, while the black magic techniques of the south only target living people. But our Maoshan corpse-controlling techniques include corpse-raising techniques, puppetry techniques for controlling living people, beast-taming techniques for controlling demons and livestock, and even techniques for creating paper figures by drawing on paper."

(End of this chapter)