Seventy-two Changes of the Evil Spirits

Tieping Mountain is a large mountain across Huainan Road and Jiangnan Road. The mountains are high and deep and the roads are difficult to navigate.

Legend has it that thousands of years ago, there were two dragons causing chaos in Wu Yue, and Xu Tianshi was ordered to subdue the demon. Because he had the feat of cutting dragons, Jiaolong was afraid of floods and cut off the road. The celestial master summoned the big snake to drive a narrow bridge in the Tieping Mountain, and then entered the southeast, printed the Qiantang River Estuary, and the flood was relieved.

Xia Xing has survived and has become an important link between the Central Plains and Wuyue. It is called "Snake Xing" because of endless business travel and pedestrians; "Snake Creek" is called "Snake River" when the Xing bottom gathers to form a river.

…

By the end of July, the rainy season was still intermittent.

Today, the sky saw it was going to clear up, but in a blink of an eye there was another mountain rain that trapped the passing pedestrians in a tea shed by the Snake Creek.

The tea shed was small, but a thatched shed surrounded by fences and bamboo mats, and placed three long tables, was crowded by a dozen people.

On the table leaning against the gate, seven or eight sturdy country guys were sharing the tea, talking and laughing; near the window, a group of outing scholars pointed to the snake creek winding by the tea shed, shaking their heads; in the middle was The two shopkeepers, both young and old, whispered about the subtle business opportunities in the village; there were two more urchins in the crevices and muddy loaches to play around, the young parents behind spoofed; and the store was talking with The guests turned around in a hurry, their brows and eyes were smiling, like an old farmer welcoming a good harvest.

The smell of soil raised by the rain, the smell of water from the river, the smell of sweat from people, and the smell of tea from the stove are all stirred and fermented in this small space.

One after another annoyed, cursed, and lively.

until-

The curtain opened, Yusi rushed into the new customers.

The visitor was a walking monk. His robe was soaked by rain, but he was not busy entering the house to avoid the rain. Instead, he wiped the mud on his straw sandals first before entering the tea shed. The monks have a complete set of rituals, but they lack care on the outside. The eyebrows, hair, and beards grow wildly like weeds. They still have a rotten smell on their bodies. They are especially pungent in a small shed.

As usual, the owner of the shop should drive people away. However, the monk carried a high crescent spatula in his hand.

The monk lowered his eyebrows, saw the table of the country guys by the door, with a small space in the corner, said "Nagging", and went straight to his seat.

"The store."

The owner hurriedly said: "Eh?!"

"A bowl of tea."

Just as the shop owner was about to answer, a crisp bell rang outside, and the door curtain was opened again.

A man led a big donkey and squeezed into the tea shed.

The donkey fur was shiny, plump and majestic, with a large cloth sack hung on his back, bulging and tightly wrapped, attracting people's attention, but when the man took off his clothes, the house full of eyes immediately turned around—this man Wearing a Taoist robe, the stubble on his head is a bit shorter than that of the monk. More importantly, there is a long sword without ears hanging from the waist of the Taoist.

As early as when the monk was seated, the few country men consciously moved aside and forced out half of the table, just in time for the Taoist to take a seat opposite the monk.

He hung up his clothes, unfastened his sword, and put a few large coins on the table.

"Shopkeeper, go to a jar of good wine."

"Ah? Oh," the owner said in a panic. "The two guests will come soon."

After speaking, he squeezed out a smile, turned his head to work, leaving the other guests worried.

Nowadays, the world is not at peace. These two people are weird looking and blatantly holding weapons. Most of them are not good people.

The country guys huddled together, and they had trouble talking; the scholars no longer shook their heads, they looked nervous and sat downright; the two merchandisers stopped talking, only communicated quietly with their eyes; and the young parents hurriedly took their children. Hold firmly, dare not let go and die.

soon.

Tea and wine are served on the table.

But the monk didn’t even look at it, just put his hands together, closed his eyes and chanted the scripture silently; the Taoist poured a bowl of wine, but only shook it, and threw it aside, untied the water bag on his waist, and leaned against the beam. , Squinted his eyes and sipped his mouth.

One monk, one solemn, one idle, all silent, teaching a weird and tense atmosphere to diffuse among the guests.

As it is for a long time.

"what?!"

A scholar suddenly broke the silence.

"There are people in the river!"

…

In the "Snake Creek" winding by the foot of the tea shed, a small body undulates in a shallow yellow stream.

The water is surging.

The body turned over, revealing a small black face.

In the tea shed.

The young husband whispered:

"It's a child."

His wife hurriedly covered her child’s eyes and muttered:

"Amitabha Buddha, commit evil, commit evil." When it was over, he quickly glanced at the Taoist priest and added, "Grandpa Jade Emperor, bless you, Immeasurable Heaven."

An old man with gray hair among the merchandisers glanced at it.

"Oh, it's a walker again."

After such a interruption, the atmosphere in the room eased a lot, and the monk's way did not look like a fight or a robbery. Many people couldn't restrain their curiosity and asked what the old man meant.

The old man didn't sell it.

"The river at our feet is called'Snake Creek', a few miles out of the mountain, it merges into a big river called'Qiantang River.' The grandfather of the Dragon King in the river has a name called'Baying Dragon King', which can protect the souls of children. They are not exposed to the wind and sun, nor are they being insulted by spirits and ghosts. Therefore, for the sake of the peace of their little ghosts, the people in the neighborhood will take the baby who died early and can't support the dragon king as a relative and send it to his old man. It's like mortals visiting friends with love, so the common name is "walking relatives"."

The old man spoke euphemistically, but no one in the tea shed could tell it. This was clearly a practice of drowning infants in the name of ghosts and gods.

Some of the scholars shook their heads and sighed:

"Long Wen Wu Yue stays away from war and chaos, he is a rare peaceful and prosperous place in the world, and I don't intend to have such a tragedy in this world."

The accompanying voice echoed: "Where can the jackal be in the lead?"

Unexpectedly, the young husband suddenly retorted:

"Lang Jun is wrong."

"This is not a tragedy, it is a good thing."

"Good thing?!" Hearing this, the scholar was furious, and was about to beat the table to scold him. Yu Guang accidentally glanced at the monk's path and gave up angrily, just glaring at him.

The husband lowered his head and avoided his gaze, but did not shut up.

"Lang Jun calms down his anger, do you know that Henan Province has been hungry last year?"

"Natural." The scholar was indignant. "For years of drought, there is no harvest. I hate that the local officials still levy and conquer, so that the ten rooms are empty and the lives are burnt!"

"So what about Huainan Road?"

"Next to Henan Road, there are refugees everywhere, and thieves are swarming."

"Our family fled from Henan via Huainan."

The young husband's words caused an uproar in the room, but he himself looked calm and calm almost numb.

He continued:

"When I was on Henan Road, there was nothing in the water or on the ground. When I arrived in Huainan, the road was full of hunger and death. There were often hugs of corpses in the water. The whole family is neat and tidy. When entering Wu Yue, only babies are occasionally floating on the river. Isn't that a good thing?"

He said that the voice was very light, but the content was too heavy to be spoken of by anyone.

Everyone was silent, seeing the atmosphere getting more and more stiff.

The store chuckled and turned away.

"The guests have worked hard all the way, but after entering our Jiangnan boundary, there is no need to worry about them."

The husband chuckled and nodded.

"I heard that Yuhang City is rich, I plan to go to my relatives and friends, hoping to find a living and support my family."

The store also nodded and smiled:

"Guests are so insightful. We are the richest people in Yuhang City. Don't say that as long as the living have hands and feet, they can find a living, food and clothing. Some government officials set up the altar to make the ancestors who have no descendants satiated.

Far away, after the Mid-Autumn Festival, it is a good day to watch the tide in Yuhang. Outside the city, there is a great excitement for watching the tide. In the city, there are 72 temples and temples that show their magical powers and worship the tide gods.

Recently, there was Snake Xing, and I heard that a big family would do good deeds and build a new bridge, and the running water table was being put in a lively place! "

The country guys finally found something to say:

"The owner of the shop is extremely saying that some of our fellow villagers came to work outside for the employee through introductions." He said, showing the tools in the luggage, "After finishing this trip, I will also go to Yuhang. , I heard that the wealthy people there are making big mistakes, so we can also earn some wife's money."

Others also opened the narration and echoed them in a word.

At this time, I don't know which one made the store's fun.

"This snake is an important way of communication. You, the tea shed, guard the treasure land. I'm afraid that it won't make money every day?"

The store immediately waved his hands and shook his head familiarly, looking sad.

"Where is a small business good?"

He was bitter.

"Snake Xing is good here or there, but it just happens to be a little bad."

"There is too much meat, recruit wolves!"

"In recent years, there have been more and more people fleeing from the north, like this kind of people, who still have some surplus money on them, of course they attracted the culprits. Last year, a group of strong men took over a place in the mountain called Kulongling. Taoist temple, began to block the road and robbery. The government has repeatedly suppressed the bandits, and they have all come back. It is said that the leader of the strongman is called Guangming. He was originally a monk. His arms are big and round, his arms are powerful, he doesn't have to pant up and down the mountain, his voice is loud and loud, and his throat can shake the river back!"

Someone booed underneath: "You mean Zhang Fei, right?"

The store waved his hand: "Rumor, rumor."

He continued:

"The little old man heard people say that Guangming originally fled from the north. There was no temple to take in, and he could not farm, and refused to work. So he relied on his strength to be a thief because he felt sorry for the Buddha. Every time he robbed him, he Dress up as a Taoist..."

Here, the store's words are getting more and more vigorous; over there, the expressions of the customers are getting more subtle. His eyes turned to the Taoist priest involuntarily.

A monk dressed as a Taoist, isn’t it just...

"what!"

A sharp scream sounded abruptly.

Everyone was taken aback, and hurriedly looked around.

But seeing the ground next to the door, one of the bear children slipped to the big donkey at some point, and was sitting paralyzed on the ground, his horrified eyes were directed at the big donkey.

This is strange.

This donkey is surprisingly big, but what is there to fear?

Some people are curious and want to see what is going on; some are impatient and ready to scold them. Unexpectedly, the donkey, facing the crowd's gaze, gave a disdainful look like a human, turned around, and stretched out his head to chew the bamboo curtain on the door.

The cloth pouch on the donkey's back was originally wrapped tightly, but now it was unknowingly opened by which hand. Following the donkey's movements, a chubby thing fell out and fell to the ground.

Everyone took a closer look.

It's a personal head.

Wow!

The country guys leaped up from their seats, all horrified, and grasped the tools in the salute; the scholars knocked over the tables and stools in a panic, and the dishes broke to the ground; the two merchandisers were calmer, but both quietly Grabbing the sharp knife hidden in the cargo box; after a brief shock, the mother hissed and wanted to rush over, but was hugged tightly by her husband...

All in a mess.

Taoist finally opened his eyes and looked at the movements of the crowd, which seemed to be very interesting. He watched for a long time and laughed.

"Don't panic, don't be afraid."

He stood up sharply and picked up the bear child from the ground in the eyes of his mother's pleading. Seeing that the little baby was scared of his soul, he did not move, and raised his hand to give the baby a big slap on the butt.

"go with."

The bear child shuddered twice, and immediately cried loudly, then crawled back to his mother's embrace, and sobbed.

The Taoist priest Shi Shiran picked up the head and showed the naked forehead to the crowd.

"He is the thief monk you just talked about-Guangming the plaguer."

After all, he stuffed the head back into the parcel.

"My package is nothing else. The second and third masters under him, um~Pan Dao also forgot what their names are. In short, the thirteen bandits with rewards on Kulongling are all there. This donkey is on its back!"

No one knows whether what the Taoist said is true or false.

Even if it were true, it would be frightening to be in the same room with such a murderous man.

Outside the house, the rain had almost stopped, and everyone hurriedly agreed to keep things away.

Only the owner of the shop was pitiful and had no time to run, so I had to deal with it reluctantly:

"The little old man has eyes but no knowledge of Mount Tai, but he doesn't recognize that Dao is originally an anti-violent warrior."

"Don't do it. I have a tight hand, just make some entanglements."

The shop owner laughed and complimented a few words, and suddenly appeared puzzled:

"It's just that the little old man remembers that the Hezhou governor of Kulongling returned to the north of the mountain. The reward is from the Hezhou government, and the reward should also be in Hezhou. But my tea shed is already under the jurisdiction of Shannan Xuanzhou. I am afraid that the Taoist will leave The direction is reversed."

"No. It's just that I took a business trip because I was poor."

"I don't know which fleeting year is unfavorable, but he has entered the eyes of the Taoist law."

"Coincident."

The Taoist put his smile away.

"It's in this tea shed."