Gao Yan turned into the alley according to the instructions of passers-by, and found a flag banner with black characters on a white background.
The flag flags hang high under the eaves, and under the black eaves is a wall that is so white that it does not stick to dust, and there is a little moss on the corners of the wall. A little rain remained in the crevices of the stone road, probably because it rained recently.
The white wall stretches forward, as if it can't be seen to the end. I remember what the passer-by said when I asked the question just now, walk a little further when they see the flag banner, and knock on the door when they see the door.
Gao Yan walked for about four minutes, and finally saw a door embedded in the wall. If he didn't pay attention, he might just ignore it.
It was a very ordinary black wooden door, and the pavement on the door knocker was a little special. It was not the usual Jiaotu animal head, but a human figure. The figure looks majestic and extraordinary, and it seems to be a kind of deity that suppresses evil and eliminates evil.
Gao Yan calmed his mind, held the door knocker and knocked three times, but there was no response. He kept knocking until there was a response from behind the door, then stopped and waited for the door to open.
After a long while, the door opened, and a middle-aged man drowsily lit a lantern and looked at Gao Yan through the crack: "Where did you come from? What are you doing?"
Gao Yan was very sure that now the blue sky and the sun can be seen clearly without a lantern, and now is not sleep time, so there is only one possibility, the middle-aged person in front of him has his work and rest day and night upside down.
Seeing that Gao Yan didn't answer, the middle-aged man asked again and again impatiently: "Where are you from? What are you doing here?"
Gao Yan: "I'm here to ask for the tower bone."
The middle-aged man's expression immediately became very unfriendly, staring at Gao Yan and cursing, but Gao Yan was not only indifferent, but also had no intention of leaving. It's no use scolding him until his mouth is dry, the middle-aged man simply stopped scolding, and patiently persuaded him to go somewhere else and not come here to make trouble.
Gao Yan pointed to the flag at the entrance of the alley: "I'm here to ask for the pagoda."
The middle-aged man whispered a few words, and finally came down, but said gloomily: "If you want the tower bone, you have to pay something."
Gao Yan: "I want to stay with you." He raised his eyes and stared straight at the middle-aged man. He said in a low voice, "There is no hostel in the town, so I will stay with you for six days."
The middle-aged man slammed the door, but opened it again after a while, and said with a cold face, "Come in."
Gao Yan walked in, and the middle-aged man closed the door.
The middle-aged man called himself Chen, and everyone in the town called him 'Chen Youshen' and 'Chen Qingshan'. He laughed when he spoke, but his voice was unpleasant, like the gloomy wind blowing through the alley, making people feel cold for no reason, and like a row of fine needles scraping through an iron plate, making people sick and sick.
"I personally prefer the name Chen Qingshan, do you know the reason?"
Gao Yan looked up at Chen Qingshan, pursed his lips and said nothing.
"Those people in town told you something nonsense? Hey, you are so funny that you are afraid that I will hurt you. You are so funny. They are also a bunch of idiots. I like the way they are afraid of me and can't help it." Chen Qingshan spat on the ground, extremely disdainful and full of malice.
"Do you know what a tower bone is? I guess you don't know, it must be that group of foolish people who lied to you. They want a tower bone themselves, and if they don't have the guts to ask for it, they will lie to a foreigner. If you do this kind of thing too much, you won't be afraid of being punished. God's condemnation, hehe, anyway, I was punished by heaven, and I'll wait for them to be punished by heaven as well."
Chen Qingshan turned to look at Gao Yan again, his eyes were straight and bloody, as if he was looking at Gao Yan's bones through his flesh.
"Foolish people, a group of foolish people. You are too, you are all." Chen Qingshan spat fiercely again: "If you want tower bones, you have to find the materials yourself, and you will find them yourself."
Chen Qingshan walked forward with a white lantern. The road was not long. The house behind the door was a three-entry courtyard. It was quite large, but no one was there. It was quiet like a haunted house, and the footsteps of the two were particularly loud under the blue sky and daylight.
Gao Yan never spoke, and Chen Qingshan seemed to be used to it. He talked to himself along the way, scolding him from time to time, as if his spirit was not normal.
After finally reaching a courtyard, Chen Qingshan pushed open one of the wing rooms and let Gao Yan in.
"You have lived here for six days, and found the materials for the tower bone yourself." He handed the white paper lantern in his hand to Gao Yan: "Take it, I don't know if I can survive."
Gao Yan took the white paper lantern and nodded, but didn't say a word.
Chen Qingshan snorted, waved his hand and left.
Gao Yan is cautious, knowing that Chen Qingshan is not malicious at present, but also guesses that he wants to arouse his curiosity and ask questions along the way.
Chen Qingshan slandered the townspeople in front of him, trying to create a excluded and discriminated image of himself. Inside and outside the words, the townspeople could not be trusted, and there were secrets hidden in the ancient town. Even asking him to ask for the tower bone meant that Gao Yan stepped into the trap of the townspeople.
If it was a different person, I'm afraid I would have to ask questions without being able to hold back my curiosity.
Who told Chen Qingshan to reveal a lot of information, and all of them said half a sentence and left a sentence, which made people itch. I can't wait to tell more secrets quickly, it's like knowing the identity and purpose of the player, and it's like a specially set trap.
Gao Yan didn't know who was lying to him, but if it was true as Chen Qingshan said, the townspeople wanted to use him to get the tower bones, then at least they wouldn't hurt him in a short time. Therefore, the only way to save his life in a short period of time is to ignore Chen Qingshan. Except for the two key words, don't say anything else.
After closing the door and entering the room, Gao Yan placed the white paper lantern on the table, then pulled out a chair and sat down, staring at the white paper lantern for a while, then suddenly reached out and lifted the white paper cover outside the lantern.
The hood was removed, and instead of a candle, there was an incense oil lamp inside. The wick was burned a little short, and the fire also began to become smaller. Under Gao Yan's gaze, it slowly extinguished.
Gao Yan lowered his eyes, thinking about the six rural songs in the reminder, which mentioned Qingshan and Youshenhui.
Chen Qingshan's name is the nickname given to him by the people in the town. His real name is not Qingshan, so the 'Qingshan' here should be the same 'Qingshan' as the 'Wai Qingshan' in the folk songs.
The reason why Gao Yan made this judgment is because of the Youshenhui and the tower bone. If he guessed correctly, Chen Qingshan should be the best at making 'Qingshan tower bone', so he was called 'Chen Qingshan'.
This game field is called 'You Bodhisattva', a popular culture in Mindu area, also known as Youshenhui, and carrying god statues.
As the name suggests, it is to invite the gods from various temples and temples at the grand event and walk around ten miles and eight villages, beating gongs and drums. It is called Youshen, which is actually asking gods to exorcise evil spirits and protect the local people. In modern times, it has developed into A special folk culture festival.
There are other programs on the way of wandering the gods, such as lion dance, dragon dance, gongs and drums, acrobatics and bands, etc. Among them, raising the gods is the most important part of the program. God dolls are dolls made of mythical figures in folklore, and the corresponding one is the tower bone.
The so-called tower bone, that is, the statue. They are just low-level idols, and most of them are ghost soldiers, like black and white impermanence.
The tower bone statue is divided into the head tube and skeleton of the giant puppet. After being made by a special craftsman, people will get into the skeleton and carry the head tube to travel with the team.
In that folk song, it is mentioned that You Bodhisattva and You Shenhui actually mean the same thing.
In some areas of Mindu, a wandering spirit will be held on the 15th or 20th of the first lunar month. The main purpose of worshiping evil spirits and worshipping Qingshan in folk songs is to pray for peace and to exorcise the evil spirits. As for Qingshan... If you guessed correctly, it should be the King of Qingshan Ling'an, a Taoist god of traditional folk beliefs.
The abbreviation is Qingshan King.
There is another sentence, "lifting the gods, lifts the Buddha and lifts the empress". The wandering spirits will carry the statues around the street. The Buddha statues have never been lifted, and the main worshippers are the gods of the folk beliefs in Mindu.
For example, the goddess in 'lifting the goddess' may refer to the goddess Mazu, or the goddess of Shuntian or the goddess of pearl. These are gods of local folk beliefs, not very popular gods.
In the next few sentences, the gods such as Erzai, Daxian, Diaozaiye, and Wengzai are all gods of regional beliefs, but the names are different, and the meanings are probably the same.
But it involves the gods of the local beliefs, and the content of the folk songs is quite strange, either dying or breaking the neck, it feels scary to listen to.
wrong.
Gao Yan realized that his guess about the nickname 'Chen Qingshan' was wrong. He should not be called 'Chen Qingshan' because he was good at making 'Qingshan Tower Bones'.
Because Qingshan Linganzun Wang Mingming is the city god of Mindu, he is a guardian god, a mountain god and a justice god, and his status is extraordinary. Identity is not something that can be compared to lower-level gods such as yinba.
Tower bones are low-level gods.
It is absolutely impossible for Chen Qingshan to make the 'Qingshan King Tower Bone', which is a blasphemy for the Qingshan King.
At most, Gao Yan can only analyze it here, although he has carefully studied the folk customs of Mindu, especially about the wandering spirits.
However, when the information obtained is not specific enough and the clues are not enough to support the background reasoning of the entire game field, it should not be over-analyzed, otherwise it is easy to enter a misunderstanding.
So at this point, Gao Yan didn't think about it anymore.
He stood up, picked up the white paper lantern cover and put it back, then walked towards the bed.
The age of this playground is a bit old, and it seems to have returned to a remote and closed town in the Republic of China. Quaint streets, houses, vendors, and various ancient and backward means of transportation.
Chen Qingshan's mansion, including the interior decoration, is also a feature of the Republic of China. The decoration of the door is relatively simple, with the Eight Immortals table, Taishi chair and a simple wooden bed, not even a painting or a vase, making the room very empty.
Gao Yan lifted the quilt and smelled it. The quilt was filled with the scent of trees and sunlight, and it was fairly clean. He took off his shoes and lay on the bed, and when he closed his eyes, he suddenly missed Chu Suibi a little.
Since he entered the game field, Chu Suibi has been following him, and even he was secretly guarding the first game field. It is the first time that a game field that really enters alone is present.
Moreover, in the primary field, the player goes straight to the destination and gathers with other players on the first day. The number of ghosts is also very small, and the boss can be quickly screened out. The intermediate field is the opposite. The more special character so far is Chen Qingshan.
But there is no way to judge whether Chen Qingshan is an NPC or a boss, he is too normal.
If it is in reality, whether it is Chen Qingshan's behavior, words or the ulterior motives of passers-by are abnormal. But in a game field that is not normal in itself, when the player knows that the background is not normal, the behavior of Chen Qingshan and passers-by seems to be normal—
It's normal to follow the script.
There are also many characters, too many to find the boss. Perhaps because of this situation, this game field is not particularly difficult, and it does not make things difficult for players, but only requires players to survive.
Gao Yan made a comparison between the intermediate field and the junior field, but analyzed, and finally had to admit that the junior field was really easy.
First, the location where the primary field occurs is usually in a fixed location.
For example, buildings, villas and main houses, etc., the places are fixed, and clues and information are easy to obtain.
Question stems and gods' prompts are very friendly. Sometimes it is easy to understand. Just relying on question stems and gods prompts can infer the background of the game field, and then find clues to clear the level smoothly.
The second point is that there are very few characters that appear in sequence, and basically the boss personally fights the players.
NPCs are rarely seen in the first few game fields, and the boss can be easily identified. What is more difficult to identify is the first game field with advanced gods and the promotion field.
On the other hand, in the intermediate field, the question stems and the gods' prompts are all inexplicable. If you want to get an excellent A-level evaluation, you have to grope for yourself.
trouble.
The place is fixed in an ancient town with thousands of residents, and the boss is hidden in it and cannot be easily found.
Another hassle.
Gao Yan rolled over, opened his eyes and stared at the ground and muttered to himself, "Bodhisattva! Bodhisattva! What do you mean?"
As night gradually fell, Gao Yan fell asleep unconsciously, without even having dinner. In the deep sleep, he was suddenly awakened by the sound of gongs and drums resounding in the sky. He suddenly rolled over to the ground, followed the source of the sound to the window, and heard the sound of gongs and drums behind the wall.
After frowning and thinking for a few seconds, Gao Yan returned to the Eight Immortals table, grabbed a white paper lantern and walked out the door. He took a lantern under the corridor to set it on fire, and after lighting it, he walked out of the courtyard with the lantern.
After walking out of the courtyard, Gao Yan realized that the outside of the courtyard was completely shrouded in darkness, and he could not see any light. Fortunately, he was carrying a white paper lantern in his hand. Although the light was dim, he could see the road within half a meter.
A faint light moved forward in the darkness, looming, as if it was gradually being swallowed up.
too dark.
Gao Yan frowned, carrying a white paper lantern and following the sound of gongs and drums to a wall. Across the wall, he heard the louder and louder sounds of gongs, drums and firecrackers outside. It was very lively, but it was eerily quiet.
Generally speaking, the loud and lively gongs, drums and firecrackers should be accompanied by noisy human voices and footsteps, but they were not.
I can't hear the voices and footsteps of people, so it looks weird.
Gao Yan lifted the white paper lantern to shine on the wall, found a small slit two centimeters wide, stepped on it with one foot and quickly climbed up the wall. people.
The crowd lined up in long strips, with no heads or tails in sight. Adults, children, men, women, old people and young people, innumerable, lined up to move forward, and there were also children chasing and running around the crowd.
- but no sound.
The children ran happily with strangely big smiles on their faces, and the adults and the elderly also had smiles on their faces, but it was as if they were all mute, and it was like a very incongruous and ridiculous silent film, the voices were all overwhelmed. Take away the general.
There are still the sound of gongs and drums and firecrackers.
The people in the middle carried a lot of gods, probably local gods such as the King of Green Mountain, the Third Prince, and some empresses. There are also people wearing tower bones leading the way, and those tower bone statues include Dwarf God and Weng Ziye.
Weng Zai is a doll, and Dwarf God refers to large and small ghosts, black and white impermanence, etc.
The stream of people rushed forward one after another, each carrying a white paper lantern in their hands. If it weren't for the slightest sound of voices and footsteps, and it's late at night, I'm afraid this would be a grand wandering party.
Gao Yan put the white paper lantern in his hand above the fence, and was about to climb up against the fence with his palms, when he suddenly felt that something was wrong, he raised his head suddenly and almost dropped the whole person.
- The crowd who were originally focused on the front suddenly stopped, turned their heads one after another, and stared at him with cold eyes, like a group of puppets whose pause button was pressed.
In the middle of the night, there is no moonlight or starlight, and even the lights are very dim and faint firelight, and there is an extremely strange wandering spirit outside the wall. The scene of lying on the wall and peeking and being discovered suddenly is enough to make people turn their backs.
Gao Yan held his breath and stayed there for a while, slowly realizing that the crowd hadn't found him.
It turned out that the light from the white paper lantern was so dim that it couldn't even light up within half a meter. Gao Yan happened to be out of the illuminated range, and he hid in the darkness.
The fire did not go out, and the crowd remained motionless.
Gao Yan was so nervous that cold sweat dripped from his forehead, the cold sweat the size of a bean dripped down the tip of his nose, and landed on the tile with a 'click', which was especially clear in the dead silence.
Gao Yan's pupils shrank suddenly, and there was a commotion in the still crowd. They seemed to be around, but in the next second, a black cat rushed over and hit the white paper lantern.
The fire went out, and the cover of the white paper lantern was also fireproof and not burned.
The black cat lingered on the wall for a while, then jumped into the crowd with two meows, and was torn to pieces in less than two seconds.
The dissonance disappeared, and the crowd moved on.
The gongs and drums were beaten and the firecrackers sounded, lively and quiet, strange and terrifying.
It wasn't until the crowd was almost gone that Gao Yan took the white paper lantern and jumped down, holding down his sore arm and rubbing it while saying, "Come out."
There was no movement in the darkness, and Gao Yan couldn't really see anything.
The darkness here is so unusual that you can't really see without light. Even if there is light, darkness eats up light.
Gao Yan tilted his head and waited for a while, but there was no sound. He spoke again: "The black cat that was torn apart just now had no blood, and ten minutes later it turned into a puddle of shredded paper. It should be onmyoji or Qimen Dunjia. The only normal people in the game field are players. Not only normal, but also shooting The nosy players should know me, but I don't know the players who know Qimen Dunjia. The only ones who know are the witches from the Juli faction who happen to know onmyoji."
"Chrysanthemum bell, long time no see."
As soon as the voice fell, there was a firelight in the darkness. The white and cold firelight trembled in the dark and was extremely fragile, but it was enough for Gao Yan to see the girl with the lantern clearly.
- Chrysanthemum bells.
Chrysanthemum Hualing was wearing a light purple cherry blossom silk kimono, her long black hair was scattered behind her back, and she was as quiet and elegant as a fairy haunted in the night.
She came alone, and was not accompanied by the man in black that she saw in the promotion field.
Chrysanthemum bell: "What a coincidence, Gao Yan."
Gao Yan: "I don't really believe in coincidences."
Chrysanthemum Flower Bell: "Are we going together?"
Gao Yan: "When did you come in this house?"
Chrysanthemum Flower Bell: "Probably not long after you came in, the time difference is no more than an hour - don't get me wrong, I didn't follow you."
"On the first day, you don't have time to follow me." Gao Yan said in a low voice, and turned to ask: "You already knew that I would come to this intermediate field."
Chrysanthemum Flower Bell: "Guess, I guessed it. You may not believe it, but I know you very well. I have been paying attention to you since a long time ago, analyzing your personality, and understanding some of your choices."
Gao Yan's heart skipped a beat: "Just for your eldest sister?"
Chrysanthemum Bell: "Yes."
Gao Yan: "Last June was the first time I entered the game field, but before that, I didn't even know I would enter the game field. Also, even if I would enter the game field, how can you be sure that I will have Guanyin? God's mark? How can I be sure that I'm walking the same way as your elder sister?"
"Because, you are a player who has inherited the will of the elder sister. The elder sister made a divination ten years ago." Juli Hualing said softly: "Actually, the owner of the god's mark is limited. The less. And the more advanced the gods, the less they have."
Gao Yan frowned, this was different from what Xiao Guanyin said.
"Most of them died in the first game field." Chrysanthemum Hualing's tone brought pity: "It was originally a field of elimination for the weak, and if you have treasures but are unable to protect them, you can only die. Players die. After that, the imprint of the gods on them became ownerless and could be re-marked and owned. In fact, many people wanted the imprint of the eldest sister, including the long braid and the king of Asura."
Gao Yan: "Your eldest sister must have done something to keep them from getting it."
Chrysanthemum flower bell: "Yes. The elder sister forcibly stripped off the god's mark before the customs clearance failed. The god's mark that was actively discarded will go back to the original game field to sleep until the next player has it. And the god's mark of a high-level god can be Appearing in reality can also be gifted—"
"Gao Yan, haven't you ever wondered who sent the eight-armed Guanyin statue to you?"
Gao Yan frowned: "It's you?!"
"Yes, it's me." Juli Hualing nodded generously: "My eldest sister and I handed you the divine imprint of Guanyin, so Gao Yan, your causal relationship with my eldest sister is deeply entangled. She is yours. Because, one day, you must understand her fruit."
Gao Yan: "You plot against me and make me owe you?"
Chrysanthemum Flower Bell: "We just follow fate."
"Hey." Gao Yan sneered, his eyes getting colder.
Chrysanthemum Hualing: "One day, you will understand that all of us, all the ghosts, gods, and players involved in the game field, are karmic destiny. There is no escape, without me and my eldest sister, there will still be Other sisters and brothers are counting on you."
Gao Yan knew that Juli Hualing might not have lied, but he was still unhappy about being manipulated and calculated.
Whether it was Chrysanthemum Hualing and her eldest sister, or the calculations of gods and games, he was particularly unhappy. But he couldn't resist, and when he came, there was no way for him temporarily.
Gao Yan could only dormant.
Chrysanthemum Hualing: "The first intermediate field, why don't we cooperate."
Gao Yan: "What do you get in exchange?"
Chrysanthemum Bell: "What?"
Gao Yan: "I know the folk customs of the game field, and I know what the six folk songs refer to. But you should not understand. You may understand the mythology system of China, but you may not understand the folk customs of the Canton and Mindu areas. and local mythological figures."
Chrysanthemum Hualing was silent for a long time, and then asked, "Are you sure I don't understand?"
Gao Yan: "I wasn't sure before, but now I'm sure."
Otherwise, she wouldn't be silent for too long, and she wouldn't ask questions.
In fact, Gao Yan was not sure before, because the folk customs of Mindu are very similar to Ryukyu Island. The island scholars happened to have studied the folk customs and mythological beliefs of Ryukyu Island, and even analyzed customs such as the wandering gods.
Gao Yan wasn't sure if Juli Hualing had seen it, so he just cheated her.
Fortunately, Chrysanthemum Hualing has not seen it. She has studied many mythological systems and the mythological systems of small countries. She has studied too much and the Chinese mythological system is too large. She only understands the main trunk and does not know its branches.
Chrysanthemum Flower Bell sighed: "Okay, I will give something of equal value in exchange."
The author has something to say: Youshen clubs are usually in Fujian, Taiwan, Chaozhou and other places. Some special festivals will carry god statues to tour the village, many people will line up in long queues, and some places will have tower bones (that is, wearing god statues and dolls). Running, jumping, jumping), for example, the third prince in Taiwan, is now converted into an electronic music third prince in order to attract young blood, which is quite interesting.
Can you say that it is a superstition, it has become a special folk culture. However, many young people don't like it very much now, so it may be slowly lost in the long run. Including the craftsmanship of making tower bones.
There is still a tour of the gods in my house every year, but it is not very lively now, and the scale is gradually getting smaller. Some old people insist on it, and young people are not willing to go.
The Wandering Club at my house is not that big. My former high school classmates told me about her Wandering Club. They have to get up at four o'clock in the morning, and the girls wear cheongsam and follow the procession and idols around ten places. Like the township, it was very lively until the evening.
But still the same sentence, there will be no such large-scale and lively wandering spirits now.