I looked into the room, Mazi was already turning over on the bed, there was a palm-shaped hole in his chest, blood was trickling out of the hole, wetting the bed, and his daughter beneath him.
The blood slowly spread out, like a red lotus.
Mazi was already dead, his chest had been hollowed out by the ascetic monk's palm print, his heart, probably shattered in his body.
"You said you wouldn't kill, right? You said if you kill, it's no different from an evil demon? Now look, you, a monk, are pretty good at it. Have you not killed a lot of people before?" I questioned the ascetic monk.
The ascetic monk chuckled, "Some people are incorrigible, unable to be saved once, unable to be saved even a thousand times, should I save him a thousand and one times? Since he can't be saved, we might as well let him cycle through the six realms of existence."
I coldly smiled and said, "Monk, now I understand, you are no Buddha. You are simply a tyrant. You kill when you want to, and not when you want to, the only difference between you and a tyrant is that a tyrant kills without reason, but you, you kill with a justifiable reason! Haha, you've shown me what true hypocrisy is."
"Tsk tsk, so you're just a demigod of Fengmen Village, your character is no different from the people of Fengmen Village!" Dajinya also taunted the ascetic monk.
"Let's go! I spit on doing business with such a tyrant!" Fēng yǐng turned and walked back.
The rest of us also couldn't be bothered with the ascetic monk.
The ascetic monk called out to me as I walked away: "Donor, please stay, and work with me to redeem the sins of Fengmen Village and save the filthiest people in the world together?"
"Sorry, I don't do business with tyrants." I replied coldly. What's the point of talking to such a person?
The ascetic monk raised his voice by eight degrees, saying, "Let me be clear with you, tomorrow... a new divine revelation will be born. Do you think the divine revelation is beneficial or harmful to you?"
There was a strong threat in his words.
To put it simply, he is the demigod of the village, responsible for communicating with the gods. No one in Fengmen Village knows what the divine revelation is, only the ascetic monk knows.
Whether that divine revelation is to kill us or to kill the rest of the people, that is solely in the hands of the ascetic monk.
If we agree to work with the ascetic monk and do what he wants, then the gods will forgive us. And if we don’t agree, the ascetic monk can still use the gods to get rid of us.
I sneered and said, "I would rather die than discuss 'spiritual enlightenment' with someone who feigns nobility."
"Alright, alright, since the donor is so stubborn, the little monk won't waste any more time, the little monk will return to the room to continue deciphering the divine revelation." As the ascetic monk left, the fire of his greed on his back burned even stronger, doubling compared to before.
This flame represents greed, and the sudden increase in flame shows that the greed in the ascetic monk's heart is much greater than the average person's.
Seeing this, Dajinya and I exchanged glances, both of us revealing a look of disdain in our eyes.
Hmph, this ascetic monk, claiming to seal the sins of Fengmen Village and never leave the village, in reality, his inner greed and desire is greater and more terrible than anyone in the village.
The rest of us went back to the room, didn't wait for anything, and prepared to leave. Who knows what might happen tonight? Who knows if the ascetic monk will think that we are "unable to be enlightened even a thousand and one times," and decide to get rid of us directly?
Everything is unpredictable.
The sooner we get out of trouble, the better.
A few of us quickly packed our bags and prepared to leave. From the back of the village, we entered Fengmen Mountain.
Fengmen Mountain is so large and full of poisonous barriers, even if all 1800 villagers of Fengmen Village were involved in chasing us, it would be insignificant, it would not stop our path.
Leaving in a hurry, I accidentally got my trousers caught on a nail on the door frame.
A tearing sound, my trousers were torn, a large piece of it was torn off, and my underwear was exposed.
But I didn't care about that, and I immediately entered Fengmen Mountain with my brothers.
Once inside the mountain, I immediately took off my pants. I had experienced the weirdness of this mountain, poison barriers, venomous insects, and all sorts of strange curses. Once there’s exposed skin, it is akin to seeking death.
I needed to change into long pants.
A habit when I change pants is to search every pocket, to see if there's anything important left in the pants. I searched through several pockets and found a paper ball with seven words written on it: Uncle Er's death was unjust.
"What is this?" Da Jinya looked at a note in a daze, then lowered his head to look at the note in my hand. He asked me, "Isn't your second uncle living well? How did he die!"
"Nonsense! My second uncle is healthier than you, how could he die? As for this note, I don't know when it appeared in my pocket." I shook my head, not knowing who gave me this note.
"Could it be that he walked into your pocket himself? That's not logical," Huang Xin said sarcastically from the side.
I waved my hand, telling her to go away. At a time like this, she still had the mind to mock me.
Duan Guangyi did remind me that since the note was on me, it meant that someone had put it in, and he asked me to recall if anyone had recently touched my pocket.
After thinking for a while, I remembered... it was this afternoon, a person touched my pants, and that person was... the one who wrote blood words on their knees.
As he finished writing, dragging his bloody knees, he kneeled in front of me, reaching out and grabbing my leg.
He was definitely the one who left the note.
"Is my second uncle's death unjust?" What does this mean? My head felt like it was going to explode.
Suddenly, I slapped my head: I know!
"What do you know? Don't keep me hanging," Da Jinya asked anxiously.
I asked Da Jinya: Do you remember the story Xia Bao told us before?
"Yes, it's about the villagers of Fengmen Village, who had relatives from the city come to visit, and then all died inside Fengmen Village, right? What about it?"
"There are a few important pieces of information. The death of the city relatives happened thirty-five years ago, at that time, Fengmen Village was not particularly eerie, at least it didn't have the malicious curse it has now," I told Da Jinya.
Duan Guangyi has memories from three lifetimes, and when he arrived at Fengmen Village in 1942, he hadn't heard of any cursed events here, and at that time, the villagers of Fengmen Village were simple and absolutely did not have the curse of "one thousand eight hundred people, not one more, not one less".
I nodded and said, the village chief of Fengmen Village mentioned that the curse happened three years after the "city relatives' deaths" incident, that year, the ascetic monk came.
I felt that the "city relatives' deaths" incident, the curse, and the ascetic monk could all be connected and thought of together.
In the city relatives' deaths incident, there was one person who disappeared at the end, but this person should still be alive. He was the mastermind behind the deaths of all those relatives. This was my deduction after my last trip to Fengmen Mountain.
"You mean to say, the person who didn't die in the end was the ascetic monk, and he planned this curse?" Duan Guangyi asked me.
I nodded, saying that was indeed my intention.
However, there are still many doubts in this matter. Firstly, when the ascetic monk came back, why did no one recognize him?
Secondly, why did the ascetic monk want to curse the villagers? You must know that the villagers and the ascetic monk had no grudges, and the city relatives' incident was entirely their own fault.
Thirdly, if the ascetic monk was indeed the planner of the curse, what was his purpose? Fengmen Village was a poor village, with no money, and there were only one thousand eight hundred people. Among them, there were children, women, and old people. Excluding these three categories, there were only about a thousand strong laborers at the most. What did the ascetic monk want to do with these few people?
"Ah, an unsolved mystery," Da Jinya shook his head.
I said it might not be necessary, since Erzi gave me this note, maybe there were some clues about this matter in Erzi's house.
"You want to go back?" Da Jinya was shocked.
I said, of course not going back now. The ascetic monk and the villagers are probably looking for me all over the world. If we go back, wouldn't it be like offering ourselves up on a platter? Waiting for them to cook us?
"Let's first go find the unearthed location of the Fox Demon Coffin. We'll talk about the rest after we solve the mystery of the Fox Demon Coffin."
I said so.
Da Jinya nodded, saying he also thought the same way.
I kicked Da Jinya in the butt and scolded him as a bootlicker, wise after the event.
Feng Ying smiled and said, "Old Jin, I've been browsing the internet lately and learned a new phrase, 'pre-match analysis is as fierce as a tiger, but in battle, it's zero to five.' It's about people like you who are all talk, it's about the action, not the mouth. Do you think it's about the mouth?"
"You go away, I don't want to talk to you," Da Jinya directly drove her away.
Huang Xin, rarely speaking, interjected: Wind Uncle, Wind Uncle, I know, there's a dirty phrase that comes after that, it goes, 'five to zero, the dog on top, dog on bottom, it works too.'
Da Jinya scolded Huang Xin, saying that she used to be such a pure girl, but after being with Lao Li for how long, she had learned to be bad? Calling me master dog?
"Not a curse, just telling the truth," I pushed Da Jinya.
Da Jinya suddenly turned into a bickering old woman: I was really stupid back then. Why did I leave Harbin to come to Guangzhou? I invited this abuse, why am I so cheap?
We all laughed!
...
Following the map of Xia Bao's family, we found the location of the Fox Demon Coffin. This location was actually a cliff.
Standing on the cliff and looking down, we could see that halfway down the cliff, there were stone coffins hanging or supported by iron chains.
Hanging coffins!
I was shocked.
Feng Ying said from behind, wait, this place can't be easily gone, this is the Qinglong and Baihu's bad luck, whoever goes down there will die!
After he finished speaking, he stomped his foot and said, "Take a look at the mountain under our feet again. The top of the mountain is too large and looks like a tiger's head. Where we are standing, not a single blade of grass grows, it's all limestone, a pure white color."
"This is a white tiger. White tiger opposing the azure dragon is the opposition of azure dragon and white tiger."
"Azure dragon and white tiger are naturally opposed to each other. The area in between is the battlefield. In the cliffs, the aura is heavy. Once we go down to inspect the hanging coffin, whether people can survive is a question."
I asked Wind Shadow, "Is it true?"
Wind Shadow said, "It is indeed true. If you don't believe it, find a live creature to try it out."
We caught a plump wild rabbit that was lying in hibernation in a hole in the woods.
I lifted the rabbit's ears and walked to the edge of the cliff, silently saying in my heart, "I apologize to you, little rabbit, for sacrificing you."
"Let's go," I shouted and threw the rabbit into the mountain stream.
As the rabbit fell from the cliff and neared the hanging coffin, its fat body suddenly transformed into a mist of blood.
With a splattering sound, the rabbit was torn apart.
"Good heavens, is there really a mystery? How did Xia Bao and the others go down at that time?" I asked Wind Shadow.
Wind Shadow said, "Don't you remember? Xia Bao's mother is a necromancer of the Yellow River. This aura, to put it bluntly, is a kind of Feng Shui formation, using the cryptic art of nature as a tactic. It can only detect living things. With a necromancer leading the way, descending the formation would naturally be safe."
"How do we go down then? Old Wind, do you have any ideas?" I asked Wind Shadow.
Wind Shadow patted his chest and said, "Who am I? I am Master Seeker of the Dragon. Can't I break through the opposition of the Azure Dragon and the White Tiger?"
After saying that, he looked around and found a large rock on the edge of the cliff.
This rock and the dragon head of Qinglong Mountain faced each other from a distance, resembling a white tiger's head.
Wind Shadow jumped onto it in two or three steps and said to me, "Xiao Li, you are a Yin person. When the aura comes out later, you should be able to sense it. Accurately tell me where the aura is. You cannot make any mistake. My life is in your hands."
"Okay," I nodded.
Seeing that I agreed, Wind Shadow began to walk on the stone. He took two or three steps to reach the edge of the rock. If he took another step forward, he would fall off the cliff and shatter his bones.
He stopped and loudly shouted, "Stone dragon against the stone tiger, the aura must be strong. Feng Shui changes destiny, and the heavens and earth all submit."
After that, he shouted again, "Open!"
After a resounding "open," a gust of wind suddenly rose from the mountain stream, almost knocking us over.
I quickly shouted to Da Jinya, Duan Guangyi, Cheng Yan, and Huang Xin, "Get down, get down for safety."
Although the human body is heavy, if the wind is strong enough, it can lift people up. The only way is to lie on the ground, which reduces the wind-exposed area and makes it less likely to be blown away.
We were facing a bottomless abyss, and standing at this time was obviously not a wise move.
But now the strong wind was blowing. If we lay down, we would have to change positions. We had no time, and everyone lay down on the ground.
I also lay down and looked at Wind Shadow on the stone.
Wind Shadow seemed unaffected, standing very stable. He yelled at me, "Xiao Li, the wind is the aura. I ask you, do you sense where the wind is in front of me?"
"The wind is a foot to the right of your body. I feel that the wind has a width of two feet," I said after closing my eyes and sensing for a while.
"Good!"
Without a second word, Wind Shadow stepped forward.
Now he was standing on the edge of the thousand-foot cliff. This footstep made it seem like he would fall from the cliff.
Huang Xin immediately shouted, "Uncle Feng, are you going to fall?"
"If I fall? If Xiao Li guides me, can I fall?" After saying that, he was even floating in mid-air.
Yes, he was really floating in mid-air, as if the aura, which was invisible and intangible, was supporting his body, preventing him from falling.
Seeing this, Da Jinya cursed, "Xiao Li, what route did you guide Old Feng on? Let him move another two feet to the side and let the old guy fall and die."
"Hey, you, at this point, don't curse Old Wind. Besides, I figured it out. You, Old Jin, can't live without Old Wind for the rest of your life," I said with a smile.
Now the position where Wind Shadow was standing was actually the aura.
The aura was transparent and invisible, but it seemed substantial. That's why Wind Shadow seemed to be floating in mid-air.
"Xiao Li, which way do I take the next step?" Wind Shadow asked me again.
I closed my eyes and sensed for a while: "Next step, two feet to the left. Next step, one foot to the right. Next step, straight ahead ... "
I gave Wind Shadow the position of the aura nine times in a row. By now, Wind Shadow had reached the center of Qinglong Mountain and Baihushan. After that, Wind Shadow did not ask me for the location anymore. He shouted loudly, "When the dragon and tiger fight, one will surely lose. Instead of fighting, we stop here and have nothing more to do with each other. What do you say?"
He was talking to the mountains.
This conversation was quite effective. After Wind Shadow finished speaking, the stones of Qinglong Mountain and Baihushan began to slowly turn.
With every turn, they made a rumbling sound, just like two fighting cocks listening to their master's persuasion and beginning to turn and leave the battlefield.
After turning for half an hour, both stones completely changed direction, and the malevolent energy vanished, as did the huge wind in the ravine.
Without the malevolent energy, the Wind Shadow had no place to land, stumbled, and actually started to fall.
Luckily, I had already prepared and directly flung out a rope, hooked onto the Wind Shadow's waist, and pulled him back.
However, pulling someone from a cliff was very risky; with one misstep, due to the lack of adhesion, I could have been swept down by the impact of the Wind Shadow.
Fortunately, with the unity of our brothers, Duan Guangyi held onto me, Da Jinya also held onto me, Cheng Yan and Huang Xin directly pressed against my back, clutching at my neck and leaning backward.
The five of us were like a giant cornerstone, completely catching the Wind Shadow.
After great effort, we finally managed to pull the Wind Shadow up.
Once I pulled him up, I began to criticize him: "Old Wind, it's time for you to lose some weight."
"Lose weight? I'm thin enough. We, the noble people of the Qing Dynasty, value appearances, and when going out, we need to look dignified, with very symmetrical figures, unlike Da Jinya who is a dead fatso." The Wind Shadow's face turned pale, indicating that he had been very nervous just now.
But even at that moment, he didn't forget to criticize Da Jinya.
Da Jinya was so angry that he cursed: "Your grandmother's mouth! If it weren't for me, this big fat guy as the cornerstone, you would have fallen off the cliff by now."
Haha!
We laughed again.
The Wind Shadow smugly slapped his thighs and said to me, "Xiao Li, if you have any trouble recruiting Yin, look for me in the future."
I smiled and asked the Wind Shadow if he, as a nobleman, had finally realized the importance of family planning. "Are you planning to earn more and prepare to get married and have children in the future?"
"Have children? Wind is quite old. Does he still have bullets in his gun downstairs? The problem is whether the gun itself can still be used." Da Jinya poked the Wind Shadow in the teeth.
The Wind Shadow glared at Da Jinya and said, "I will deal with you later, I have to talk to Xiao Li first."
He took my hand and said, "Xiao Li, do you know why I didn't agree to help you recruit Yin at first?"
"Why? Because I have bad social connections?" I handed the Wind Shadow a cigarette.
The Wind Shadow took the cigarette and smoked, "It's because of your father. Your father loves money more than you do."
Indeed, my father and Da Jinya were a bit obsessed with money, sometimes they even thought about paying less to Yin.
My grandfather used to criticize my father, saying that Yin brothers are not your slaves, and you are not a landlord. If you are too greedy, the stall will only get smaller.
Indeed, this was the case. After my father recruited Yin followers, he lost contact with a lot of them, and some of them bore a grudge against my father.
This situation only improved when I started recruiting Yin followers.
The Wind Shadow said, "When I was fifteen, I worked with your grandfather. At that time, we were really affectionate when doing things, and there was a feeling of working together. Your grandfather and I were comrades, and we could trust each other any time. This feeling made me very happy, but your father was mean and stingy, and I had no good feelings for him. When you asked me to take the job, I thought 'like father, like son,' are you also a money bag like your father?"
After saying this, he slapped his thigh, "But after so many experiences, I really feel it now. Xiao Li, you are an open-minded person. Just now, I really felt the feeling of a 'comrade' with you. So Xiao Li, you are my brother, and when Xiao Li wants me to work, I, Old Wind, will not refuse, I will do it!"
"Okay! Old Wind, you take my job, and we'll play rock-paper-scissors. I'll be one, and you'll be nine." I patted the Wind Shadow's shoulder.
At this time, Da Jinya sneaked up to me in a sly manner and said, "Hey, Xiao Li, shall we share the money?"
"Get out of here, it's none of your business." I pushed Da Jinya away.
Hahaha! Everyone was amused by Da Jinya's mischievousness.
After laughing and chatting, it was time to get back to business. We didn't know if the ascetic monks of Fengmen Village had mobilized the villagers to come and find us, but at least we were in a hurry and needed to go down the cliff quickly to check the hanging coffins and see if they were related to the fox spirit coffins.
In my backpack, there was an iron rope and a thick cable, most likely used by the seven brothers, including Xia Bao, to steal the hanging coffins.
I tied one end of the iron rope to an anchor, wedged it on the edge of the Baihutou boulder, and then attached the end of the iron rope with a hundred meters of cable to prepare for the descent.
At this point, Duan Guangyi, who rarely spoke, spoke up, asking me a question, "Xiao Li, I have a question."
"Go ahead."
"You see, all over the Fengmen mountain, there are coffins everywhere. If they only wanted to steal the coffins to make money, why did Xia Bao and the others need to steal the hanging coffins? This is asking for trouble."