The force of "Caker" hitting the door was not light at all. The wooden door in front of me was immediately cracked. This force was almost as strong as the young men!
"This thing is alive? Is it not a ghost?"
Xiao Liuzi, after all, was just a scholar, and his expression became more anxious.
"Alive? This is a earth spirit, a ghost. Understand?"
Laohei shouted without turning his head. While speaking, the wooden door was struck again, and this time the force was even heavier. The crack on the wooden door was hit even longer. There was a gap on it, and through the gap, one could vaguely see the true face of "Caker" - pitch-black skin, ears like spikes, blood-red eyes, just like the monsters in comic books.
"Bam!"
The ghost hit the wooden door for the third time, and the crack on the door's surface was completely opened. Then, "Caker" reached his whole hand through the crack. It was more like a claw rather than a hand, with long, black nails, and a rough palm surface that looked like tree bark.
"Brother Laohei, why aren't you doing anything?"
Fatty exclaimed, holding a shovel in his hand. When he saw "Caker" reaching in, he immediately rushed up and started hitting the black hand with the sharp end of the shovel. Fatty was strong and skilled, and "Caker" was hit a few times, causing him to cry out in pain and withdraw his hand.
"Alright, I'll do it!"
Laohei didn't know what he was fiddling with just now, but at this moment, he finally got ready to take action.
He ran to the wooden door in three quick steps, and with a wave of his hand, he opened the door. "Caker" outside the door was obviously taken aback and mumbled as it backed away. At this moment, Laohei swung his hand, and I, standing behind him, vaguely saw him swing out a black rope with several copper coins strung on it. These copper coins were the sacred objects of the Motan religion recognized by Fatty earlier.
The copper coins flew through the air, pulled by the black rope, and suddenly tied around "Caker's" wrist. "Caker" was about to struggle, but at this moment, Laohei began to mutter something under his breath. As he chanted a spell, black smoke suddenly emanated from "Caker's" whole hand, and his body staggered and fell to the ground, continuously emitting a painful scream. He looked very painful yet unable to resist.
"What spell is he chanting? It sounds different from the one Daba chanted."
Li Qian, curious, saw that "Caker" was subdued by Laohei, and her face also softened a bit, so she asked.
Fatty followed up after hearing her, "He's chanting a spell from the Motan religion, which is different from the Daba religion. The Motan religion places greater emphasis on subduing spirits and ghosts and is a sect with very few believers. It is said that they originated from mountain goblins, but there is no way to verify it now."
"Caker" screamed in pain, and Laohei sneered a few times, with a ruthless look, and said, "You've been eyeing me for days, right? Last time I let you escape, now you want to seek revenge? This time, I won't let you slip away!" Then, he turned to me and shouted, "Daba's young disciple, quickly use the sacred stick to lock it!"
I was stunned. I had seen the sacred stick lock a ghost with my own eyes, but I didn't know how to use it. Fatty had just said that casually, but he didn't expect Laohei to take it for real.
"Hurry up!"
Laohei shouted again. At this moment, I felt as if I were in a difficult position. Slowly, I pulled out the sacred stick that Daba had given me, and gradually walked behind "Caker." I was thinking about how Daba had locked the ghost at that time, but I only remembered feeling a gust of wind pass by, and I didn't recall anything else.
The shaman stick in my hand, Old Black kept urging me on constantly. I furrowed my brows, made up my mind, and struck "Cu'erkul" on the head with the shaman stick. With a dull thud, I fixed my eyes on "Cu'erkul", no use. Old Black, however, looked at me with surprise.
"You little rascal, turns out you don't know anything at all!"
He scolded me, and just as I was about to retort, "Cu'erkul" suddenly attacked, raising its other claw and punching Old Black. Old Black, in pain, fell to the ground, and his hand holding the copper coin rope also loosened. This slip-up caused a complete disaster, "Cu'erkul" broke free from the restraint of the copper coin rope, stood upright and roared angrily. Then it turned and unexpectedly pounced towards me.
I truly got myself into trouble, "Cu'erkul" must have known that Old Black would be difficult to deal with, so it wanted to kill me first. I kept backing away, not realizing that the ground was slippery, and I fell. "Cu'erkul" took advantage of this and pounced on me, completely forcing me down with its paws.
This was one of the most heart-pounding moments of my earlier years. The "Cu'erkul" in front of me bore a striking resemblance to a human, with its head looking more like bones covered in skin. Its eyes were not black, entirely red, resembling light rather than actual objects. It growled low in its mouth. It looked small but felt heavy when pressed against me.
Its mouth opened slowly, no teeth visible, but I knew that if it bit me, I might have been done for. I struggled with all my might, but I was hungry and exhausted, and my strength was no match for this monster pressing on me. Just as its black, gaping mouth drew closer to my neck, "Cu'erkul" sensed something unusual, like a snake getting a whiff of the herb acorus, and jumped off my body suddenly.
I heaved a sigh of relief, slowly got up from the ground, and felt my neck, only then did I realize the real reason I escaped death. It was the talisman given by Daba. It had been with me all along and proved to be very effective in this critical moment.
As "Cu'erkul" retreated, Old Black, who had already gotten up from the ground, raised the small horn in his hand and blew it loudly. I had expected the horn to produce a dull sound, but instead, it emitted a roar. Resembling the roar of a tiger, only much louder.
The roar shook my eardrums, and soon I couldn't hear the sound clearly. Ancient hunters often used a tactic of imitating the calls of their prey to attract them or imitating the roars of wild beasts to scare them away. This horn utilized the same principle, but I couldn't imagine what savage beast this roar originated from.
The deafening roar frightened "Cu'erkul", and it retreated while covering its ears. Old Black, with a cold look on his face, took out the bone dagger and charged forward. Despite appearing weak, he was extremely skillful. He grabbed "Cu'erkul" and then raised the dagger, thrusting it toward its eyes.
"Cu'erkul" struggled in agony, trying to throw Old Black off, but he held onto the dagger with all his might. A large amount of black mist emanated from the stabbed eye, resembling the mist I had seen on "Cu'erkul's" hand before. The mist floated in the air and dissipated in the downpour. After losing a significant amount of the mist, "Cu'erkul" seemed to weaken, eventually collapsed on the ground like an injured little beast, struggling in the mud. Its face now appeared somewhat pitiful.
My hearing finally returned to normal, and I hurried over, only to see Old Black pick up the copper coins again and string them around "Cu'erkul's" injured neck. Surrounded by the copper coins, "Cu'erkul" eventually transformed completely into black mist. I noticed that one of the coins had turned completely black, perhaps locking it within.
"Old Black, you're amazing."
Fatty said with a smile. We all felt like we had a new lease on life. Unexpectedly, Old Black turned to me, his eyes unfriendly, and said in a low voice, "You little rascals, you're not honest. You dare deceive me!"
I was actually a bit puzzled at the time. Firstly, why did the candle in the house go out by itself? Secondly, if Old Black could lock this monster by himself, why did he make me use the shaman stick to lock it?
But since we were the ones who deceived first, with Old Black now scolding us like this, we guys felt ashamed.
"Sorry, Old Black, we were afraid you wouldn't let us stay, so we made up some lies. Please calm down. I still have a pack of peony brand cigarettes. If you want, take it."
Fatty quickly tried to smooth things over. Old Black turned to me and shook his head, "I don't want your cigarettes. How about this, you give me your stick, and we'll call it even."
Fatty glanced at me, signaling to give up the stick. But for some reason, I shook my head, "The stick, I have to keep it."
"Today, we accidentally trespassed into your house, and we should apologize to you. We are not bad people either. When we helped you catch that thing just now, didn't we also lend a hand? How about letting bygones be bygones and not holding grudges against us?"
Fatty tried to smooth things over, and Lao Hei glanced at him and said, "I want that stick."
His tone was like that of a rude bandit, forcibly silencing Fatty.
Helpless, Fatty could only turn to look at me. I shook my head at him, indicating that the matter couldn't be resolved. Fatty stood up and pulled me aside, whispering, "Let's go, we'll talk outside."
The two of us went to the next room, and Fatty started to speak, "Xiaoshan, what's wrong with you? I've never seen you so stubborn before. Do you really like the female ghost inside that stick?"
I shook my head slightly and after pondering for a moment, I said, "Fatty, I feel like this stick might be an opportunity for me."
Fatty immediately looked puzzled, not understanding my meaning for a moment.
Knowing that he didn't understand, I organized my words a bit and continued, "Do you remember the old man we met when we were kids?"
"The one who sold old books at the north gate of the school? My dear Shan, do you still believe what that old man said today? That's all nonsense!"
Fatty exclaimed.
The old man we mentioned to Fatty was someone we encountered when we were in primary school. At that time, our primary school had two gates, the main gate was usually for students, and the back gate was usually for teachers and staff. Exiting through the back gate led to a bustling commercial street. Fatty and I often played at the youth center on the commercial street, so we always took shortcuts through the back gate.
In the fourth grade, a old man who sold old books appeared at the back gate. His stall was very small, only about the size of four desks put together. The old man appeared to be in his 70s, with an energetic appearance but with a face full of wrinkles and creases. He rarely spoke to anyone. When selling books, he wouldn't talk much and there was a small jar next to him where buyers could put in the money themselves.
One day, as we passed in front of the old man, he suddenly stopped us.
To this day, I remember looking at his face, weathered and carved like a statue. He looked at me and suddenly grinned. I asked him if there was something he wanted. He said that in the future, I would have dealings with ghosts. At that time, I was eager to play and didn't have time for idle talk, so I grabbed Fatty and left. Little did I know, the old man never appeared again after that day, and vanished without a trace.
"I don't think it's nonsense. Maybe this trip to Yunnan is arranged by fate."
I got a little excited, and my voice raised along with it. Fatty frowned at me, he knew my temper, obstinate. Although he appeared easy-going, he had his own ideas, and once he made up his mind, not even a hundred oxen could pull him back.
"If Lao Hei wants your stick, will you give it to him or not? If not, figure out a way." Fatty said impatiently.
After thinking for a moment, I took out an object from my pocket, it was a piece of jade, about the size of a thumbnail, tied with a red string, and carved with an image of Guanyin on the surface, smooth on the back.
"How about giving him this?"
I said softly.
"Are you out of your mind? This is an heirloom left to you by your grandmother! It would be unfilial to give it away. Put it away quickly!"
Fatty shouted anxiously, pushing my hand back. I furrowed my brow and asked softly, "Then what do we do?"
Fatty let out a sigh and took off his wristwatch, an authentic Rolex given to his father by his uncle, and then passed down to him. The watch was worth a lot of money at the time, and whenever Fatty showed it off while we're out, girls would flock to us.
"What are you doing?" I felt nervous and asked in a low voice.
"Don't worry about it. You keep the jade, and I'll give him the watch. My uncle won't mind, and I'll buy a new one when I have the money."
Fatty left as he spoke, and I watched him while holding the stick, feeling full of guilt.
Sure enough, the watch exchanged by Big Black enabled us to shelter from the rain here for the night. Don't talk about Big Black being grateful, that's just how the world works.
After a busy half day, the crowd gradually fell asleep, leaving only me and Big Black. I didn't sleep because I was afraid that if I fell asleep, Big Black would touch my stick. He sat across from me, playing with the dark copper coin. After some thought, I said, "You could lock up that creature yourself, so why did you want me to use the stick? Is it because you wanted to take my stick away once it was locked?"
Big Black grinned coldly and said, "You're not dumb."
I frowned and didn't answer. He turned to look at me, examined me up and down, then said, "Do you know what business I'm in?"
This question caught me off guard, so I shook my head. But Big Black laughed again, even more exaggerated this time, and said, "These days, old items are valuable. Especially antiques, a vase is worth more than a box of gold. Do you know what is worth more than antiques?"
Once again, I shook my head, but I saw Big Black raise the dark copper coin in his hand and wave it in front of me, saying, "It's these unique antiques."
"What does that mean?"
I still didn't understand.
Big Black gave a cold laugh and said something thought-provoking, "People always want to get things they can't have. Beautiful women, endless money, and eternal youth. There are some things that ordinary people can't come across. If you can sell these things to them, you will certainly make a lot of money. I'm in that business..."
After he finished speaking, he put the coin in his pocket. I wanted to ask more, but he closed his eyes, put his hands behind his head, and fell asleep.
It was still pouring rain outside, and at that moment, I held the magic stick against the wall, feeling like all the experiences with the Mosuo tribe were a baptism in my life, making me start to believe that some unseen things really exist.
The next day, the heavy rain had passed, and under the bright sunshine, we resumed our journey. Big Black stood at the door, wearing Fatty's watch and smiling as he shouted, "Let's meet up again in the future."
"Meet for what?"
I cursed inwardly and we all returned to the mountain path, then walked towards the town. After arriving at the town, we finally met up with the others, but we made an agreement among ourselves not to mention what had happened last night, just saying we found a place to shelter from the rain.
The town has a bus that goes to the city every two days, so when we arrived in the city, we could find a way to return to Shanghai from the train station. The bus wouldn't depart until tomorrow, and it happened to be fair time in the town these days. Everyone was young, and in Shanghai, such fairs were not common, so it was quite fascinating for us.
The market of the ethnic minorities was very lively, with completely different things being sold at each stall, including food, mountain goods, and specialty products. Of course, there were also clothes and even children's toys for sale.
After finding a cheap place to stay in an inn, we went to the fair. There were a lot of people, and after wandering around with Fatty for a while, he said, "Do you know what the most fun thing at the fair is?"
He left us in suspense for a moment, and when no one knew, he laughed and said, "It must be the sale of livestock! There are people here selling horses, do you want to take a look? Let's go and see..."
In Shanghai, especially for those living in the city, it was rare to see horses and other large livestock. Upon hearing this, the few of us became excited and hurried over. I followed behind, only to hear someone calling me from behind.
"Hey, young man, young man..."
The voice was sharp, like that of a child. At first, I didn't pay attention until someone tugged at my sleeve from behind. When I turned around, I didn't see anyone.
"Here, here!"
Someone called out again, and I was taken aback. Following the voice and looking down, I saw a little person standing in front of me. He was about the height of my thigh, a condition generally referred to as dwarfism. This dwarf was a man, with the body of a child and the face of an adult, wearing a khaki shirt and sporting a rock'n'roll hairstyle reminiscent of the American 1970s.
"Are you calling me?"
I asked strangely.
"Yeah, buddy, are you selling that stick around your waist?" The dwarf in front of me spoke, immediately mentioning my stick, which surprised me.