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People who love reading can never resist the temptation of good books. However, if you read too deeply, once you sink into it and lose yourself, you will inevitably ignore the people and things around you. This is the case for Wang Erlang. He read and devoted himself day and night to studying the several volumes of sages' classics given to him by Huangfu Minghua, so that he neglected his family.
About half a month ago, his mother took her sister to Fuyun Temple in the east end of Yuncheng to pray for her seriously ill father. Fuyun Temple is a Buddhist temple. It is different from Kunlun Temple because it was built in In the city, transportation is convenient, and most people like to go there to burn incense and pray for blessings. The incense is very prosperous.
Normally, Wang Erlang would always accompany his mother and sister, escorting them along the way, but this time he was so obsessed with reading that he had ignored everything. He never thought that his mother and sister would not know what they would encounter when they went there. Due to the sudden change, he disappeared from the world and disappeared!
The news came back, and before Wang Erlang could fully wake up from his addiction, another emergency message came from the other side. His father, who was seriously ill in bed, also received the news. He couldn't bear the huge blow and couldn't breathe. When he came up, he let go just like that.
In one day, his family was destroyed, and Wang Erlang was so grief-stricken that he went crazy and searched everywhere for his mother and sister, but there was no clue at all. His father's body could not stay at home for too long, even with Wang Yi and others. People helped him bury his father, but the whereabouts of his missing mother and sister remained unknown.
Day after day, Wang Erlang did not hesitate to spend all his wealth in an attempt to find his missing mother and sister, but the results made him more and more desperate day by day. Today, his family fortune is gone, his relatives are gone, and he is left alone in this world, like a lonely ghost with no roots.
Grief, despair, self-blame, decadence... In just over half a month, Wang Erlang was no longer the passionate young man who stood up for his friends, and he no longer had the heart to study and pursue fame and fortune. , frustrated, he thought of becoming a monk, so he came to Kunlun Villa in a daze.
"Hey!" After hearing what Wang Erlang had been through these past few months, Jiang Chen couldn't help but sigh. Then, he quickly stretched out his hands to help Wang Erlang up, but reprimanded him: "Second Young Master Wang, you are so confused. ah!"
"Yes, I am confused." Wang Erlang laughed at himself, with tears in the corners of his eyes, crying and laughing, and said crazily: "If I hadn't been confused, how could I have ruined my family for a few books of unknown origin, Zhi Qiudao What you are saying is that I am too confused!"
"Fart!" Jiang Chen gave him a slap in the face, hitting him so hard that he staggered and cursed: "I mean you, since you have encountered a problem that cannot be solved, why don't you want to find someone for help? I don't think so. Weren't you very capable when you helped your friend Liu Xun come to ask me for help? Why did you become so confused when the matter came to you?"
"I..." Wang Erlang was slapped, and after listening to Jiang Chen's curse words, he immediately became much more awake. His face and eyes were full of self-blame and regret, and he raised his hands. , opened his bow left and right, slapped himself more than a dozen times, and with a "pop" sound, he knelt in front of Jiang Chen: "Taoist Master Zhiqiu, please teach me!"
"Don't worry, after all, you and I have met each other. Your family suffered a disaster. I didn't know about it, so it's okay. Now that I know, I will definitely help you." Jiang Chen hurriedly helped him up again, and said in a deep voice: "Go get some of your mother's and sister's common clothes, get a live rooster, and get a drop of blood from your heart. At dusk, when the sun and the moon alternate, I will start a ritual to find your mother for you. , the whereabouts of my sister.”
"This..." Wang Erlang asked with some unconfidence: "Master Zhiqiu, is this possible?"
"Whether it works or not will only be known after you try it." Jiang Chen responded in a deep voice: "If you had come to find me early in the morning, I would have been very sure, but now I am only 70% or 80% sure. After all, if your mother and sister had already If something unexpected happens, even if I open the altar, all I can find are their bones."
"Mother, sister!" Wang Erlang blamed himself, tears filled his eyes and kept falling.
"Why are you crying!" Jiang Chen scolded angrily: "You're a scholar, didn't I tell you what to do now? Go and prepare things. The sooner you prepare everything, the sooner I can start practicing. , if we find the whereabouts of your mother and sister earlier, they will be safer."
"Yes, yes, I'll go right away, I'll go right away..." Wang Erlang was confused for a moment, but after hearing Jiang Chen's words, he hurriedly responded.
"Hey..." Watching him hurried away, Jiang Chen couldn't help but sigh again. He never thought that in just a few months, something like this would happen to Wang Erlang's family. Suddenly, he quickly started to make preparations: long table, yellow cloth, talisman paper, cinnabar, French ink, incense candles, wooden sword, Taoist robes... Without apprentices, Honghou and Xiaoyu were temporarily unavailable. Unable to show up to help, he had to prepare everything by himself for opening the forum.
Because he was concerned about the safety of his mother and sister, Wang Erlang left as quickly as possible and came back quickly, bringing with him a live chicken, a bracelet from his mother and a hairpin from his sister, and asked repeatedly: "What's in my heart?" How should the essence and blood be taken out? Could you please tell me, Taoist Master Qiu?"
"Don't worry!" Jiang Chen suppressed the anxious Wang Erlang, looked at the many faithful men and women gathered around him out of curiosity, frowned slightly, and then raised his voice: "Everyone, there is a ritual to be performed in the temple today. We also ask everyone to leave on their own after finishing the incense, and don’t stay too long to avoid bringing bad luck to yourself!”
"Bad luck?!" Hearing this, the onlookers around them couldn't help but change their expressions. The reason why they came all the way to the Taoist temple in the mountains to offer incense and worship the gods is that they are naturally people who believe in fate. Fu is very important, but now when I hear that there will be bad luck, everyone turns around and withdraws without even daring to stay longer. Some onlookers even leave in a hurry without even offering incense.
Not long after, everyone in the courtyard had dispersed. Jiang Chen calculated the best time to open the altar, and asked Wang Erlang to arrange the altar, while he went to a quiet room in the side hall to bathe and change clothes.
For Taoist monks, opening an altar is a very solemn matter. In many cases, the person doing it even needs to fast and bathe for three to seven days. But now that something happened suddenly, Jiang Chen could not take care of this. Changing it to three hours has already streamlined a lot of processes.
After bathing, Jiang Chen changed into an apricot-yellow Taoist robe and stepped out of the quiet room with a fly whisk. In the yard, Wang Erlang had already arranged the altar as instructed. The long table was covered with yellow cloth, with flags and flags erected around it. The incense burner is filled with cinnabar, and three thick yellow incense sticks are inserted in the inner compartment. In front of the burner, there are items such as French ink, talisman paper, writing brush, wooden sword, compass, and porcelain bowl filled with water.
"Taoist Master Zhiqiu." Seeing Jiang Chen come out, Wang Erlang hurriedly greeted him.
"Yes." Jiang Chen responded lightly, and then said: "I will open the forum later. During this period, no matter what vision you see, you are not allowed to make the slightest sound, let alone the slightest move. , otherwise the method fails and it will be difficult to find your mother and sister using the same method again."
"Yes!" At this moment, Wang Erlang was like a drowning man grabbing the last life-saving straw. He didn't dare to have the slightest objection to Jiang Chen's words, and he nodded quickly in response.
Jiang Chen stepped forward and came to the altar. He swept the dust with a whisk, and immediately three large incense sticks were lit together. Wisps of smoke rose up. It was only a little bit, but in the blink of an eye, it turned into three regular smoke dragons. , circling and flying, sealing off the entire courtyard, leaving only the clear sky above.
Above the sky, the sun has not yet set, but the bright moon has risen. It is the vision of the sun and the moon in the same sky. However, the brilliance of the sun and the moon are gathered together, blending like water, forming a magnificent seven-color brilliance, surging in the vastness, and rolling into something as solid as a substance. The beam of light suddenly fell from the sky and enveloped the entire altar.
"The heavens and the earth rotate, the universe changes its position, all the gods in the sky, listen to my orders!"
Reciting strange mantras, Jiang Chen stepped on the Tiangang, walked on the Eight Trigrams, and walked around the altar. Then he suddenly picked up his pen and dipped it in ink. At the same time, a piece of talisman paper jumped up on the table and hung in the air. As he stroked his pen, mysterious runes suddenly formed, and as soon as the pen fell, a strange light bloomed!