Ita Era

Chapter 27 Peach Blossom Village (25)

After taking stock, Sun Qi is the only truly honest and reliable person; the others are all troublesome. Does the world of Ita prefer people like Sun Qi? Or do they prefer those who mess around recklessly? Or perhaps someone like myself—wise, meticulous, thoughtful, and who tries to remedy even minor mishaps due to objective reasons?
Hmm? Hearing what Blind Zhao said, he's convinced there's impending doom. That makes sense; Master Baiyun's divination, using his life, indicated a major calamity was imminent, not just an omen of impending doom. So why didn't Master Baiyun insist on evacuating the villagers? Perhaps he harbored a sliver of hope—after 99 years, he was just one step away from averting disaster. Perhaps he believed that his spiritual power could resolve the situation.

Inside the San Niang Temple, Haitang was still kneeling in worship, with Zhang San accompanying her. Daoist Baiyun was also busy, using a brush dipped in cinnabar to paint on the San Niang statue. Because the colors were so similar, onlookers couldn't discern anything special.

Through his conversation with Blind Zhao, Ding Shi learned of Master Baiyun's plan: to suppress San Niang's soul within the wooden carving. After the sacrificial ceremony, San Niang's soul would be trapped for another year. During this year, the villagers would increase their incense offerings, and Master Baiyun would recite scriptures such as the Jade Emperor's Heart Seal Sutra daily to suppress the violent energy of San Niang's soul.

The disaster is imminent; this is the only way to continue the sacrificial rites.

There was a solution, but what worried the village chief and Blind Wang was whether Master Baiyun could suppress the spirit of Third Sister.

"Alright, you can go back now." Master Baiyun had already sensed the resistance from the Third Sister's soul within the statue. It wasn't time for the sacrificial ceremony yet, and the reason the Third Sister was resisting was likely because of Haitang. In other words, the Third Sister not only didn't accept Haitang's repentance, but she didn't even want to see her.

After the bystanders left, Ding Shiying, on the village chief's orders, watched as Master Baiyun drew talismans, and helped him by mixing cinnabar, grinding ink, and so on.

Master Baiyun took the cinnabar jar and went to the back hall. Ding Shi brought over an A-frame ladder. Master Baiyun stood on the ladder, dipped his brush in cinnabar, and began to write scriptures on the wall, chanting as he wrote: "Purifying Mouth Mantra, Cinnabar Mouth God, expel filth and dispel impurities. Tongue God, Zheng Lun, connect life and nourish spirit. Luo Qian Tooth God, ward off evil and protect truth. Throat God, Hu Ben, Qi God, guide saliva. Heart God, Dan Yuan, enable me to attain truth. Thought God, refine elixir, Dao Qi forever remain. Hasten, hasten, as the law commands!"

Master Baiyun descended the A-frame ladder and said, "This is the Purification Mantra, one of the Eight Great Divine Incantations."

The most powerful of the eight divine incantations is the Purifying Heaven and Earth Incantation. Ordinary people can only learn a superficial understanding of it, no matter how much effort they put in. The higher one's cultivation level, the greater the power of this incantation becomes, eventually reaching the point of slaying and pardoning countless ghosts.

Master Baiyun recommended that Ding Shi study the Golden Light Divine Mantra. The Golden Light Divine Mantra is a common one among the eight great divine mantras; its effectiveness depends on individual ability. Perhaps he can comprehend the Golden Light Divine Thunder from it.

Ding Shi asked, "Master, is it enough to just read it?"

Master Baiyun replied, "Read it and memorize it, memorize it and comprehend it, comprehend it and then conserve it before you can use it." First read it and then memorize it to understand the meaning of the entire mantra. Next, you need to break it down and understand it thoroughly. Finally, based on your own situation, you can truly master the Golden Light Mantra.

Ding Shi verbally agreed, but didn't take it to heart. If Master Baiyun could kill the evil ghost San Niang with the Golden Light Divine Thunder tomorrow, then Ding Shi would copy the Golden Light Divine Mantra and study it daily on the island. Otherwise, what was the point of studying it?

With Ding Shi's help, Master Baiyun covered the walls of the San Niang Temple with scriptures, then used a Bagua mirror to set up the array's core. Master Baiyun instructed everyone as he set up the array. Without the core, if San Niang's spirit attacked one wall, that wall would be attacked. With the core, if San Niang's spirit attacked one wall, it was equivalent to attacking all the walls.

In order to bind the soul of the Third Sister, Master Baiyun not only drew talismans on the wooden carvings, but also set up formations in the Third Sister Temple.

Ding Shi asked a question: "Why didn't that Taoist priest from a hundred years ago destroy Third Sister, but only suppressed her?"

Master Baiyun replied, "There is nothing we can do. Third Sister was driven by hatred and willingly became a zombie. She was tempered by the moonlight and was born as a black zombie."

The zombie levels are ranked as follows: Purple, White, Black, Hairy, Flying, and Demon. The next level up are intelligent zombies who live alongside humans and are almost indistinguishable from them.

Black zombies are extremely stiff and afraid of sunlight. Unlike white and purple zombies, they are not only unafraid of humans, but will also attack them.

The hairy zombie is agile and incredibly fast, with a head of bronze and arms of iron, impervious to fire and sunlight, and its claws are highly venomous. Compared to the black zombie, the hairy zombie's combat ability is a qualitative leap. Master Baiyun's master is very powerful, but his strength lies in exorcising ghosts and evil spirits, not eliminating zombies. Faced with San Niang, who has become a black zombie, Master Baiyun is helpless. But where there's a will, there's a way. So Master Baiyun first finds San Niang's soul and infuses it into her body, thus controlling her. After suppressing San Niang, he then uses magic to separate her soul from her body.

As Ding Shi listened with great interest, the village chief called out, "Little Ding, come here."

Ding Shi trotted over to the village chief, perfectly embodying the role of a dog assistant. Currently, his satisfaction level is 90 points, just 10 points short.

The village chief said, "Because of the heavy fog that has sealed off the village, many villagers are unable to return in time. Please do a survey."

Ding Shi's heart skipped a beat: "Statistics on the villagers?"

Village chief: "Yes."

Ding Shi said, "Village chief, there are over a hundred households and two natural villages. You can't possibly visit them all in one day, can you?"

The village chief took out a notebook and said, "There are a total of twenty-one people working outside. You just need to go and see if they have returned."

Alright! Ding Shi picked up his notebook, glanced through it, and then got on his bicycle to begin the statistics work. Some people came back, some didn't, and the task was completed smoothly without any incident, until Ding Shi went to the last house.

The last family to stay was a brother and sister, performers from a circus troupe who had returned to Peach Blossom Village the previous night. The brother's name was Xiao Suan, and the sister's name was Xiao Jian. During their polite conversation, Ding Shi learned that Xiao Jian had once been a sacrificial bride. To learn more about San Niang, Ding Shi sat down to drink tea and chat with the brother and sister.

The content of the conversation wasn't important; Ding Shi possessed more information than his siblings. What mattered was that Ding Shi had spotted a set of willow-leaf darts.

Throwing weapons appeared as early as the late Eastern Han Dynasty. During the Song Dynasty's foreign wars, both sides used various types of concealed weapons, such as the javelins favored by the Mongols.

Concealed weapons used on the battlefield are generally quite large, while those used by镖师 (bodyguards/escorts) are often small and poisoned, primarily for surprise attacks. It is said that the most prevalent poison wasn't something like arsenic, but rather excrement. If struck by a weapon soaked in excrement, one had to quickly remove the flesh near the wound to prevent the rotting flesh from spreading. Excrement poison wasn't limited to the martial arts world; it wasn't uncommon in ancient warfare either.

Of course, the willow leaf throwing knife used in acrobatics wouldn't be poisoned.

The siblings' performance was traditional: the sister was tied up while the brother, blindfolded, threw knives. Now, the sister is tied to a spinning wheel, which she spins, while the brother, blindfolded, throws the knives. This performance is less like acrobatics and more like magic.

This set of willow-leaf darts has six pieces in total, stored in a leather dart bag. Ding Shi liked it very much and asked about the price. At first, both brother and sister refused to bid, but Ding Shi slapped on a ten-dollar bill, which tempted his sister. Ding Shi then added a five-dollar bill, finally persuading his brother to take the set of willow-leaf darts.

The willow leaf throwing knife is shaped like a willow leaf, with a very thin blade, making it unsuitable for close combat as it breaks easily.

The siblings were overjoyed to receive this large sum of money, but also felt a little guilty. They invited Ding Shi to stay for dinner, and Ding Shi accepted. The reason: he wanted to learn how to throw knives.

(End of this chapter)