Awakening Day Collection

Chapter 1 Preface (1)
fragments of history

一
The road to the west to meet Genghis Khan is long and arduous.

Even though he had recuperated in the great city of Xie Misigan for a period of time, Qiu Chuji's physical condition was still not good.Therefore, when Master Changchun was finally able to take a nap for a while, the disciples consciously kept silent so that Master could have a good rest.

However, less than half an hour after Qiu Chuji fell asleep, there was a burst of hysterical shouting outside the gate of Suan Duan's new palace where the Quanzhen Taoists temporarily lived.Qiu Chuji's disciple Yu Zhike ran back from a distance, shouting frantically as he ran, his hoarse voice wafting in the air.

"Zhike! Shut up! Don't disturb Master's rest!" Yu Zhike's brother Li Zhichang reprimanded angrily.But he soon discovered that something was wrong, Yu Zhike's face was as white as a piece of paper, his mouth was unbelievably wide open, as if he couldn't breathe if he didn't open it so wide, his round eyes were bloodshot, It almost popped out of my eye socket.The most disturbing thing was what Yu Zhike was shouting.

"Monster! Monster!" Yu Zhike seemed to shout out his heart and lungs, "Monster!"

The brothers hurriedly helped him into the palace, and fed him water and medicine in a hurry, but Yu Zhike had already fallen into a state of madness. While struggling with all his strength, he kept shouting out of breath: "Monster! Monster!" !evildoer!"

"Zhi Ke, embrace Yuan Shou Yi, make up your mind, and let the evil go away." A serious voice suddenly sounded, it was the awakened real Changchun real Qiu Chuji.

Under Master's reminder and instruction, Yu Zhike finally calmed down his mind slowly.After sitting quietly for a while, he opened his mouth tremblingly, and said in a hoarse voice: "Master! I...I didn't deliberately lose my composure. But I saw something, something that shouldn't exist in this world."

"Don't be in a hurry, stay calm and start from the beginning slowly." Qiu Chuji sat down on the chair brought by his disciples.

After panting for a while, Yu Zhike said slowly, "I just went to a dilapidated Taoist temple in the north of the city. A few days ago, when I was giving out porridge, I met an old man from Shandong who lingered here..."

Changchun real person Qiu Chuji received an invitation letter from Genghis Khan two years ago. He finally accepted the invitation of the Great Khan of Mongolia and set off for the Western Regions to meet him at the age of 73. Sow the seeds of benevolent government in my heart, so that the common people in the world will suffer less.Two years later, in the winter, he and his accompanying eighteen Quanzhen disciples came to the great city of Xemisgan. Because the road ahead was blocked by snow for more than a hundred miles, they could not go to the southeast of Daxue Mountain to meet Genghis Khan. They will be here After the winter, wait for the spring to melt and move on.

More than a year has passed since the Mongol massacre, but there still seems to be a strong smell of blood floating in the air in the great city of Xiemisigan.This prosperous town on the Silk Road, once praised by Alexander the Great, suffered a catastrophe under the iron heel of Genghis Khan, and never returned to the magnificent and magnificent scene of the past.Although it has been slowly rebuilt, what Quanzhen Taoist priests see today are still large areas of broken walls and ruins covered by snow. On the way into the city, you can even see dead bones that no one buried on the side of the road.The capital of the former Khwarazm Empire has only a quarter of its population left, and it looks deserted and dilapidated, shrouded in a gray tone, just like the numb and hungry eyes of the residents.

"Don't you see, Qinghai head, no one has collected the bones since ancient times..." Qiu Chuji groaned softly, and then sighed, "I hope to see Da Khan soon, and advise him to stop killing and rule the world with benevolence."

What I saw and heard after entering the city was even more unbearable to see and hear.At this moment, Xie Misigan still hasn't come out of the shadow of the country's destruction of the country and the city. The people's livelihood is in a state of desolation. The people are often hungry, and the tragedy of selling children and daughters can be seen everywhere.Qiu Chuji was merciful, and after he settled in the new palace of the Suudan family, he immediately ordered his disciples to use their own rations to give porridge to the residents of the city. For a while, the hungry poor flocked to him, and let the eighteen disciples and the Mongolian entourage sent by Genghis Khan They are busy.

One evening in December, snow began to fall in the leaden gray sky again, and the temperature was so low that it seemed that the blood of humans and animals could be frozen, but there was still a long queue in front of the gate of Suan Duan's Xingong, who was serving porridge.Yu Zhike was sweating profusely holding a spoon to serve porridge for the hungry people when there was a muffled sound from the crowd in front of him. He looked up and saw an old man with gray hair fell to the ground. Unable to hold on, he fainted.

Yu Zhike hastily handed over the spoon to the Mongolian beside him, and helped the old man to the eaves.This is an old man of Han nationality with a disabled right leg, perhaps one of the many Han artisans lingering here. Judging by his withered face and thin body, he should have been tortured by hunger for a long time.

Yu Zhike brought a small bowl of hot porridge and pinched the old man's chest a few times.The old man woke up slowly, seemingly not understanding what happened for a while.Yu Zhike sighed, and carefully fed him half a bowl of porridge, and the old man's face finally turned red.

"Thank you, Daoist," the old man said in a low voice, "I really... have been hungry for a while."

"Come here for porridge these days," Yu Zhike said, "while we're still here. When we leave..."

He shook his head and said no more.

In the next few days, the old man named Wang Qingfu really came every day, every time Yu Zhike would prepare a bowl of hot porridge for him, and the two gradually became acquainted.Wang Qingfu said that he was originally from Shandong, and he made a living by making iron, but he was captured by Mongolian soldiers during the war between Dajin and the Mongols and forced him to go west with the army.A few years ago, the Mongolian soldiers besieged Xiemisigan. He was broken by a flying stone from the Khwarizim army and his right leg was broken. He was abandoned by the Mongols and could only do some odd jobs nearby to make ends meet.

Wang Qingfu asked the reason why the Quanzhen Taoist came to the Western Regions all the way, and Yu Zhike told him Qiu Chuji's ambition.Wang Qingfu was silent after hearing this, and after a long time he said: "Your master is amazing. I thought all the Taoist priests in the world were bad people, so you have been giving porridge for several days, and I couldn't stand it until I was hungry. It’s really scary to come here.”

Yu Zhike was not surprised: "What kind of evil Taoist did you encounter in your hometown in Shandong?"

Wang Qingfu shook his head: "No, it's in this city."

Yu Zhike was slightly surprised: "Just in this city? Xie Misigan? There will also be Taoists here?"

"Yes, Xiemi Sigan," Wang Qingfu said, "There is a Taoist temple in the north of the big city of Xiemi Sigan, and a demon Taoist lives in the temple."

"Demon Dao?"

"Yes, a demon, a demon who knows sorcery. But since the army massacred the city two years ago, no one has seen him again. It is said that he is dead..."

A few days later, the surplus food provided by the Mongols was nearly exhausted, and the porridge distribution could only be suspended temporarily before new supplies arrived, so Yu Zhike had time to go to the north of the city to find the Taoist temple that aroused his curiosity.In this Western Region city far away from Middle-earth, there actually exists a Taoist temple. It should have been an exciting and touching thing, but Wang Qingfu's previous narration cast a shadow over this excitement.

"It was a monster, and it once scared three children to death." Wang Qingfu said, "Although this happened before I came here, many people witnessed it with their own eyes. It is absolutely true."

"Scared three...three children to death? What's going on?" Yu Zhike asked hurriedly.

"That happened seven or eight years ago." Wang Qingfu recalled, "The Taoist priest came to Xiemisi to work about ten years ago. It's very strange. A Taoist priest is very different. He never socializes with people, let alone accepting disciples. However, he has a lot of money and can hire craftsmen to build a Taoist temple for him in the north of the city. After the Taoist temple is completed, he is alone. The door is closed in the temple, no outsiders are allowed to enter the temple, and he rarely shows up in the city. People have speculated about the reason why he traveled all the way to the big city of Xemisgan, but they have never been able to get an answer.

"It wasn't until two years later that someone inadvertently discovered that Prince Zalandin came out of the Taoist temple in the middle of the night, and everyone realized that the prince was behind this strange Taoist priest. When the matter involved the prince, naturally no one dared to ask more questions Now, you have to know that if it involves major events such as treason and usurpation, the more you know, the risk of losing your head. Fortunately, although this Taoist priest is weird, he didn't disturb other people's lives. After a long time, No one cared about it. But no one thought that after a few months, something big would happen.

"At that time, although no one dared to investigate, all kinds of absurd rumors about the Taoist priest were still circulating among the people. Four mischievous children became curious and wanted to sneak into the Taoist temple to have a look. They really But after arriving outside the Taoist temple, a child suddenly became frightened, and instead of going over the wall, he ran home and told the adults about it. The adults were very nervous and rushed to the Taoist temple. , and witnessed a tragedy.”

Wang Qingfu had a look of unbearable expression on his face, but there was an indelible fear in his eyes: "As soon as they arrived at the entrance of the Taoist temple, the closed door of the Taoist temple opened suddenly, and the three children rolled and crawled from inside. They rushed out. Their faces were pale, and their entire faces were distorted due to extreme panic, and even breathing became difficult. The adults were also frightened, and hurriedly massaged their chests, but it didn't seem to help. The children seemed to be possessed by evil spirits, they just breathed a little easier, and when they were finally able to make a sound, they began to scream continuously, almost screaming blood from their throats."

"What... are they shouting?" Yu Zhike swallowed, his voice trembling slightly.

Wang Qingfu had a sullen face: "In fact, they just kept shouting two words repeatedly: Monster! Monster!"

"Monster?" Yu Zhike pondered, "What kind of monster?"

"I don't know. Except for these two words, the three children couldn't say anything else. They kept screaming like this until they stopped breathing." Wang Qingfu said, "And that demon, who knows what? Shi Shi stood at the door, staring at everything in front of him coldly, without saying a word. After the three children died, he turned around and closed the door silently, as if nothing had happened. "

"What happened later? Did no one bother that Taoist priest?" Yu Zhike asked.

Wang Qingfu smiled wryly: "The parents of the dead children went to sue the magistrate, but what would be the use? The Taoist priest has something to do with Prince Zalandin, who would dare to touch him easily? What's more, the three children were scared to death by themselves. People saw the Taoist priest attack with their own eyes, and the autopsy could not find any evidence, so the matter had to be left alone. But after that, the parents in the entire Xiemisigan city strictly prohibited their children from approaching the Taoist temple. Even the profuse Khan After the city was broken, Prince Zalandin had fled long ago, and the demon path was nowhere to be found, and no one dared to enter the Taoist temple. So the Taoist temple is still there, even though it is dilapidated."

The three children were frightened to death, screaming "monster" desperately before dying, not entering the pilgrim's Taoist temple and the mysterious demon way... Yu Zhike felt that this was unusual as he walked. "There must be some secret hidden behind this Taoist priest," he thought, "In any case, even if it is to maintain the reputation of the orthodox Taoist sect, I should find a way to find out."

He soon came to the north of the city, and found the Taoist temple after a little searching.As Wang Qingfu said, the Taoist temple was dilapidated. When Genghis Khan entered the city, the soldiers set fire to it and killed half of the Taoist temple. The remaining broken parts were left unattended.In the fluttering snowflakes, the Taoist temple with its gate collapsed is almost like a ruin. The big black hole at the entrance reveals a disturbing and cold atmosphere.

Yu Zhike came to the gate of the temple, picked up the plaque that had been broken in two from the ground, and barely recognized the name of the Taoist temple "Moyun Temple".Looking up, the inside of the door was pitch black, and nothing could be seen clearly.He hesitated for a moment, but went in anyway.

After entering, he found that although the Taoist temple looked inconspicuous from the outside, it was bigger than he had imagined inside. The Lingguan Hall, the Sanqing Hall, and the Siyu Hall were all there, especially Zhang Tianshi, who was enshrined in the Sanqing Hall. Like, it can show that this Taoist temple belongs to the righteous school.Yu Zhi was a little surprised, as a big sect on the same level as the Quanzhen sect, how could there be disciples who were "demons"?In other words, this so-called evil way is just a fake name of decency, with hidden secrets hidden inside?
He continued to walk deep into the Taoist temple.Dust and cobwebs were all over the Taoist temple, and the paint on the walls and beams was peeling off. It seemed that no one had been active here for two years.Suddenly, his eyes swept over a corner of Wenchang Hall, and found that the ground there was of a different color. He walked over and saw a two-foot-square floor, and a few floor tiles were obviously cleaner than the surrounding ones.Looking around along these few floor tiles, one can find a very narrow path leading to a certain gap in the wall, which looks like it was stepped on by people.

He hurried to the side of those few floor tiles, stretched out his feet and stepped on them, and sure enough they were loose.Yu Zhike was secretly delighted, and after searching around for a while, he finally found a hidden button under the left foot of the statue of Emperor Wenchang.He pressed the button hard, and after a sound of the mechanism, the few floor tiles sank, revealing a large hole on the ground, and there were stone steps leading to the depth of the hole.

He stood at the entrance of the cave, trying to look inside, but he couldn't see anything clearly in the darkness. If he wanted to figure out what was in the cave, he had to go down.After hesitating for a moment, Yu Zhike grasped the saber bestowed by his master on his waist, as if he had drawn courage from it.He walked down the stone steps.

The stone steps are very long, leading to a long and dark corridor, and it is full of choking dust and a musty smell of something.Yu Zhike held a lighted torch in his left hand and a long sword in his right hand, walking carefully and slowly.After walking for an unknown amount of time, a faint stench suddenly came from the end of his nose, and the further he walked, the stronger the stench became.

It was the stench of rotting corpses!During these years of endless wars, he was all too familiar with the smell of corpses, so he couldn't help becoming more vigilant.At this time, he touched something hard under his feet, and when he looked down, it was a long white bone, which should be the thigh bone of an adult.

This Taoist temple is really strange, Yu Zhike thought, slowly drew his sword out of its sheath, and decisively blew out the fire.

Going forward, you can still distinguish the smell of blood in the strong rancid smell, which makes Yu Zhike even more nervous.He felt a little bit regretful, he shouldn't have taken risks alone like this, but he had already come here, and it was a pity to look back, so he finally gritted his teeth and continued walking.

He supported the stone wall of the corridor with his hands, and moved forward lightly, and found some scattered bones along the way.There are still two turns in this long corridor. After the second turn, a little light gradually appeared in front of my eyes.Continue to walk forward, the light is getting more and more bright, you can see that there is an iron fence in front of you, and there seems to be a patio separated by the fence, and the sunlight is shining from the top of the patio.From a distance of several feet, one could vaguely see some dark shadow wriggling in the courtyard.

An ominous premonition rose in Yu Zhike's heart.Holding the long sword flat, he came to the iron fence step by step, peeping in from the gap in the fence.Seeing this, his heart almost stopped beating because of the sudden great fear.

monster!

At that moment, he thought of the cry signs of the three children before they died.A monster, indeed there is a monster imprisoned in the Taoist temple.In other words, apart from the word "monster", it is difficult to describe it with other words.

(End of this chapter)