Taoist Association President Chen Qingdai mentioned Wuliang Yinzhai, and after explaining it, he got down to business. It was indeed as Dushuo said, requiring ten young celestial masters to enter Wuliang Yinzhai to exorcise the source of the resentment inside. He said: "The source of resentment is neither human nor ghost. It has no true form and is ever-changing. It has always wanted to escape from Wuliang Yinzhai, and it is cunning. You need to distinguish which is the source."
Someone asked: "How to tell?"
Chen Qingdai said: "There is no way to tell. But it will definitely appear around you, and you need to find it among the strangers around you."
Chen Yang asked Du Shuo quietly: "Is there really no way to tell? In that case, wouldn't the Heavenly Master be in great danger? Or should we be suspicious of everyone who appears around us?"
Du Shuo only said one sentence: "The most normal thing is the biggest problem."
"???" Chen Yang: "What do you mean?"
Du Shuo: "Hint."
Chen Yang thought for a long time but couldn't figure out what kind of hint Du Shuo said. When he looked up, he heard Chen Qingdai reading the list of celestial masters who needed to enter Wuliang Yinzhai. Those who heard the list needed to stand up.
"Director of Dafu Branch, Chen Yang." Chen Yang stepped forward, "The successor of the Northern Tianshi Dao, Kou Xuanling, and the successor of the Tianshi Dao, Zhang Qiudao." Kou Xuanling and Zhang Qiudao stepped forward and stood on both sides of Chen Yang. Chen Qingdai raised his eyes, looked at the three people kindly, and then read: "The successor of Maoshan Sect, Mao Xiaoying, Laoshan—"
Mao Xiaoying is Mao Xiaoli's elder brother. He became enlightened at the age of 30. He is the best among the younger generation of Maoshan Sect's Mao family. He has a calm and reliable personality. Zhang Qiudao thought for a moment and whispered a few words to Chen Yang, and then they exchanged positions. Then he whispered a few words to Kou Xuanling and exchanged positions until he stood beside Mao Xiaoying and greeted him.
Chen Yang: "First, build a good relationship with your brother-in-law, so that it will be easier to seduce his sister in the future." Kou Xuanling commented: "He is very scheming."
Ten young celestial masters quickly came out and stood in the middle of the back hall. The older generation of celestial masters looked at them, those who had been to Wuliang Yinzhai blessed them, and those who were not qualified to go looked at them with a little envy. Chen Qingdai said: "You are all excellent celestial masters. The purpose of this trip is to seal Wuliang Yinzhai, but it is not a task that must be completed. Safety is the most important thing, do it according to your ability. The Taoist Association will give each of you a treasure talisman. If you encounter life-threatening situations, you must crush the treasure talisman and leave Wuliang Yinzhai. Remember."
Chen Yang and the other nine Heavenly Masters responded seriously to Chen Qingdai's earnest instructions, and then Chen Qingdai personally handed the talisman to each Heavenly Master. Before handing the talisman to them, he personally checked it again to prevent any mistakes in the talisman from causing the Heavenly Master's death. Until the talisman was handed over to the young Heavenly Master, he also earnestly reminded him to remember to do it within his ability.
After the talisman was obtained, the celestial masters left. Because entering the Wuliang Yinzhai had to be at midnight, everyone dispersed quickly. Chen Qingdai left with the other vice presidents. He wanted to call Du Shuo over, but seeing that he was with Chen Yang, he didn't want to disturb him. Ma Shanfeng and his wife were old friends of theirs, so old friends naturally gathered together.
When Zhang Qiudao returned home, he had to report to his elders first, and then he was taken away by his brothers and sisters until midnight. Lu Xiuzhi and Kou Xuanling went together, and soon only Chen Yang, Du Shuo, Wei Xuan and Wawa were left.
Wei Xuan held the baby and asked, "Can't I go in with you?"
Chen Yang smiled and said, "Wei Xuan is not a heavenly master, so he can't do that."
"Sneak in?"
"That won't work either."
Wei Xuan sighed: "Then I can only wait for Chen Xiaoyang outside."
Chen Yang stroked Wei Xuan's hair and said, "I'll be fine." Then he looked up at Du Shuo, "Right?"
Du Shuo: “Yeah.” After getting a positive answer, Chen Yang smiled with relief.
At midnight, the full moon was brighter than last night. Chen Yang, accompanied by Du Shuo, walked to the group of heavenly masters. Chen Qingdai and other heavenly masters led them silently through the long corridor, the medicine garden, the astrology platform and other places to the altar. The altar is a place for worshipping all gods. It has red walls, green tiles, carved railings and jade bricks, and is shaped like a quadrangle. There are three halls, divided into the main hall, the east hall and the west hall, each of which houses nearly two hundred statues of gods and generals.
Chen Qingdai entered the main hall, where there were 130 statues of heavenly soldiers and generals, lifelike and majestic. As soon as he entered the main hall, he held his breath and felt reverence when he saw these statues. He walked through the main hall and around the statues to reach the huge wing room at the back. There was no wooden furniture in the wing room, only dozens of futons neatly placed on the ground.
The only gorgeous decoration is the wall in front of us, which is about five meters long and four meters high. On the wall is a complex relief of a house, which is very realistic. There are ten houses in total, each with five floors. Bridges are built between each house, making these dozen houses form a whole. There are countless houses stacked one on top of another, and there are faint human figures in each house. It is realistic and gorgeous, shocking.
Du Shuo whispered in Chen Yang's ear: "This is the Wuliang Yinzhai."
Chen Yang had already guessed it in his mind. The entire relief was extremely gorgeous but had a kind of creepy coldness. The looming figure inside seemed to be watching the people standing outside through the relief indifferently. As soon as he came in and faced the relief in front of him, he seemed to see a raging fire spreading, and countless black shadows rushed to him. After taking a closer look, he found that it was just a relief.
Chen Qingdai pointed to the house on the relief and said, "This is the Wuliang Yinzhai." He then pointed to an unfinished house at the end of the relief on the front and said, "Originally, there were only three Wuliang Yinzhai houses, but later it increased to ten. Look at the unfinished house at the end, that is the house built by Wuliang Yinzhai itself. The house is full of ghosts with deep resentment. You need to find the source among the ten houses, transcend its resentment, and let it fall into a deep sleep."
Chen Yang looked at the unfinished house. The roof had not been built yet, and the beams were being put up. He was surprised for a moment. The beamless house was called beamless, but they actually put up the beams when building the house. But when he looked more closely, he found that the beams were not wooden pillars, but human corpses. It was weird to embed human corpses as beams in the roof of the house.
"Hold the red rope in your hand and meditate. The soul-guiding lamp and the bronze bell, the former will lead you out, and the latter will allow you to identify your location and identity so that you can find the direction when you leave. But after entering, don't rely on external objects, don't believe the things inside easily, no matter whether it is a face you are familiar with or not, don't believe it easily." Du Shuo warned.
Chen Qingdai's instructions were almost the same as what Du Shuo said, and he quickly asked the ten Heavenly Masters to sit on the cushions and meditate, while the other Heavenly Masters surrounded them and protected them.
When Du Shuo sent Chen Yang in, he squeezed his hand and said, "I will always be by your side, don't worry."
Chen Yang: "I know." After saying that, he walked forward and sat cross-legged on the mat. In front of him was a lit soul-guiding lamp. Chen Qingdai was tying a red rope for a strange Taoist priest. The red rope was tied to his middle finger in a special way to prevent ghosts from occupying the body, indicating that the body had an owner. The other end of the red rope was pulled into the relief, and a bronze bell was tied at the end. There was no core in the bell.
Chen Qingdai squatted in front of Chen Yang and asked kindly, "Are you scared?"
Chen Yang smiled back: "Don't be afraid."
Chen Qingdai smiled, and when he was about to tie the red string for him, Du Shuo came over, squatted down, and said, "I'll do it." Chen Qingdai looked at the two of them, handed the red string to him without saying anything, and moved on to the next Heavenly Master. When it was Kou Xuanling's turn, Lu Xiuzhi also asked to let him do it himself. Chen Qingdai looked at Lu Xiuzhi, with a little surprise in his eyes, then smiled without saying anything, bowed, and moved on to the next one.
Chen Yang looked at Du Shuo's eyes, who was carefully tying the red string for him. He said, "Why do I feel like you are worried about me? That's not like you, Brother Du."
Du Shuo glanced at him, then continued to tie the red string around him: "When have I not worried about you? And you still say that you are not like me... You have only been with me for a few years, and you can see through me completely?"
Chen Yang held his cheek and said, "I said I can see through it, so I can see through it. Are you nervous?"
Du Shuo tied the red string and stared at Chen Yang: "Yang Yang has grown up and will no longer need me." He sighed: "I feel lost."
Chen Yang glanced at him sideways and said, "Give up, I won't call you dad." The way he said it made him look like an old father. If he didn't know Du Shuo's character well, he would have been tricked into crying.
Mao Xiaoying, who was standing next to him, was slightly surprised. Was it such a big deal? It seemed to be quite different from what Xiaoli had described.
When Chen Qingdai announced that they could start meditating, Du Shuo had just finished what he was going to say, so he stood up and stepped aside to stare at Chen Yang who was meditating with his eyes closed. The next moment, the red ropes tied to the middle fingers of the ten young celestial masters trembled violently, and the bronze bells rang for a while, and then stopped. This meant that the ten celestial masters had entered the Wuliang Yinzhai.
The celestial masters outside subconsciously looked at the relief, which began to fog up at this moment and was gradually covered by thick fog. Countless strange shadows were dancing in the fog. Du Shuo frowned slightly.
When Chen Yang opened his eyes, he found himself standing on a dark road, holding an unopened umbrella in his hand. The sky was drizzling with rain, which pierced his skin and was freezing cold.
Without any hesitation, Chen Yang opened his umbrella and looked around. He found that the road he was standing on was empty and foggy on both sides. The end of the road behind him seemed to be swallowed by the fog. However, he could see a faint light in front of him. After thinking about it, Chen Yang walked forward. Passing by a stone tablet, he subconsciously glanced at the words on it: Road of No Return.
Chen Yang paused, and continued to walk forward. He saw a dark figure standing in front of him from a distance. As he got closer, he found that the dark figure was a woman in a black dress, holding a black umbrella. The black umbrella had a deep arc, covering the woman's head. When he walked over, he could only see her white neck and long black hair. He heard chewing sounds coming from inside, as if she was eating something.
After walking a dozen steps past the woman in black, he suddenly remembered this scene, which was particularly familiar. This scene seemed to have happened in his childhood memories. On a rainy day, he hurried along a path in the suburbs and met a woman in black with a black umbrella on the roadside. He was still young at that time and could not recognize ghosts but was already afraid of them. He was afraid of the woman so he hurried past and then heard the woman calling his name.
Grandpa said that if you hear a stranger calling his face on the road, you must never respond. So Chen Yang hurried on his way with his head down, not daring to look back or respond. Then he heard the voice getting more and more anxious, more and more angry, getting closer and closer, and sticking to his back. At that time, little Chen Yang ran and felt that something behind him was chasing him. He accidentally fell and turned around to see the woman in black clothes and black umbrella standing behind him. She raised the umbrella, revealing the woman under the umbrella. The woman had no head, and there was a terrifying mouth in the umbrella.
Chen Yang woke up from his memories and looked up suddenly. As expected, he saw a tightly closed mouth on the black umbrella. In ancient customs, black umbrellas were a bad omen. If there was a funeral, a black umbrella would be placed at the door of the deceased's home. Over time, evil spirits would live in the black umbrellas used to announce funerals, waiting for an opportunity to eat people. But this custom has faded away in the torrent of history.
It was rainy and freezing cold. After thinking for a while, Chen Yang continued to move forward with his black umbrella. After breaking through the fog, he saw an exquisite and beautiful house not far ahead. If you stand at a certain angle to see the whole view, you will be amazed at the grand scale of the house. After walking for a long time, you arrived at a bluestone alley. There was no light in the alley, and you couldn't see your hand in front of you.
At the end of the alley was a bathhouse. Outside the bathhouse was a piece of white cloth with a few large characters written in brush: "Yunchi Tangyu". There was also a red lantern hanging next to the white cloth, which made a creaking sound when the wind blew.
As soon as Chen Yang stepped into the alley, he felt something approaching behind him. He turned around and saw nothing. So he continued to walk forward and arrived at the bathhouse. Under the red light of the lanterns, he could see more clearly. Suddenly, he heard someone breathing in his ear. Chen Yang turned his head sharply, his pupils constricted, and a terrifying ghost face appeared in front of him, tightly pressed against his face.
Chen Yang calmly took two steps back, and water dripped onto his nose. He looked up and saw that the mouth in the umbrella had cracked, and sticky saliva was dripping down. The umbrella handle was shortening, and the mouth in the umbrella was gradually approaching his head. Chen Yang closed the umbrella, folded it up and held it in his palm, and looked up at the old man with a scary face that appeared in front of him.
The old man chuckled, his smile was eerie: "This is the first time I've seen someone hold up this magic umbrella and not be eaten. You are so lucky."
Chen Yang: "Who are you?"
The old man: "They all call me Old Man Yun. I own this bathhouse and I can barely make ends meet." He looked up at the rainy sky: "Business is best on rainy days. The hot springs are full, and there's only one left. Do you want one?"
Chen Yang looked at the door of the house not far away, and there were two ferocious beasts at the door. He rejected the old man's invitation: "I don't want it." After saying that, he turned around and left. The old man did not stop him, but only shouted: "You want to go to the nameless house? I advise you not to go in, you can never come out again if you go in."
Nameless house? It should be a beamless grave. Chen Yang walked past the door of the bathhouse, felt the hot temperature, and smelled the burnt smell. He subconsciously looked back, and the old man stared at him viciously, with horrible scars on his face like burns. He said that the bathhouse had good business, but it was very quiet, so quiet that only the sound of running water could be heard.
Chen Yang walked to the door of the nameless house and passed by two ferocious beasts at the door. After he walked past, the beasts' eyes suddenly moved inward, as if they were coveting this living soul, and salivating saliva flowed from their mouths and dripped to the ground.
Knock knock.
Chen Yang knocked on the door, and soon the door opened, and a beautiful girl walked out. The girl did not show the same expression when she saw him, but bowed with a smile on her face to welcome him in, and naturally took the black umbrella from his hand. When closing the door, she placed the black umbrella upside down at the door.
As you step through the door, there is a bottomless corridor with densely packed houses on both sides. The door of each house is reinforced with several locks, firmly locked.
The girl smiled and said, "If you want to stay in the nameless house, you need to ask the owner. Now I will take you to see the owner."
Chen Yang: "Who is the owner of the Nameless House?"
"You'll know once you see it." The girl led him forward, and when they passed a door, the door suddenly made a violent banging sound. Chen Yang's heart skipped a beat, and he looked at the door. Then all the other doors made violent banging sounds, and the doors trembled slightly, but the door locks did not move at all.
The girl still looked at him with a smile on her face. Chen Yang found that the arc of the girl's smile had not changed from beginning to end, which made the girl look like a fake person. The girl led him to the end of the corridor, where there was an elevator. The elevator went up to the fifth floor, and in the restaurant on the fifth floor, he saw the master the girl mentioned, the so-called owner of the nameless house.
The owner of the Nameless House was a middle-aged woman with very elegant manners, but she wore a black veil on her head. The owner of the Nameless House invited Chen Yang to have dinner with her. Chen Yang did not touch the food, but she did not care. She just said, "Do you want to live in the Nameless House?"
Chen Yang refused bluntly: "I don't want to."
The owner of the nameless house paused, and through the black veil one could see that her expression had changed. She said, "You can stay here."
Chen Yang: "I don't want to."
"Stay here. There is thick fog and continuous rain outside, and there are countless monsters. But here there is food and drink, and a place for you to sleep. Stay here."
Chen Yang remained silent. The owner of the nameless house softened his attitude, begging and compromising: "Okay, you can stay for one night. If you think it's okay, please tell me. Now I will invite you to live in the best house, hoping you can change your mind."
The girl led Chen Yang out of the restaurant, turned a few corners and came to the door of a room. When they opened the door, they saw antique decorations inside and a red lantern hanging outside the window. The girl walked over, took down the red lantern, lit a candle and hung it outside the window. She said, "Light the lantern and tell the things outside that there is a distinguished guest living in this room. Don't sneak in and disturb the distinguished guest."
Chen Yang looked over and saw a fiery red lantern hanging high outside the window. He didn't know that if he looked from another angle, he would find a ghost face on the other side of the fiery red lantern, with a candle inserted into the ghost face's mouth. The fire was burning and could not be extinguished even by rain. Fear and terror were revealed in the ghost face's eyes, and the fat on its face was gradually decreasing.
The girl closed the window when she left. Chen Yang sat on a chair and observed the layout of the whole house. After closing the door, the girl did not leave, but stood outside the door and listened quietly for a while. When she heard no other sounds, she slowly left. When passing by another room, she pulled out the sharp hairpin on her head and thrust it into the cat's eye. After hearing a faint scream from inside, she stirred it twice and pulled it out. The hairpin was covered with blood.
The girl wiped it and put it back on her head. The smile on her lips never changed.
As soon as the girl left, Chen Yang immediately stood up, opened the window, and took down the lantern hanging outside to have a look. Once the lantern was brought into the house, it became an ordinary lantern, with nothing unusual to see. After checking it once, he hung the lantern back. The girl just said that hanging the lantern outside can prevent certain things from coming in.
If the owner of the nameless house wanted to keep him, he would not let anything else in to drive him away, so there would be no big problem with the lanterns hanging outside. When Chen Yang closed the window, he looked up and saw countless fiery red lanterns opposite him, all of which were human heads. Some of those heads were thin, some were fat, and their expressions were terrified.
Chen Yang looked at the lantern in front of him and immediately realized that it was a lantern lit with corpse oil. He closed the door and thought about the source of the resentment in the beamless tomb. There were countless wandering ghosts imprisoned in it. From the countless small rooms seen at the entrance and the small rooms in other houses, it can be guessed that there should be evil ghosts imprisoned in it.
Du Shuo said that the source of the resentment in the Wuliang Yinzhai, that is, the Wuming House, was very cunning and would not be easily guessed. The identity of the mistress of the Wuming House was too obvious, and her attitude was a bit weak.
Of course, this may also be a mystery to the source of the resentment. There are ten beamless tombs in total. If each of them has an owner, then who is the source of the resentment
It was indeed a difficult problem. It was not easy to find one of the ghosts among the thousands.
Chen Yang had just entered the nameless house, and Kou Xuanling and Zhang Qiudao also entered different beamless tombs from different entrances. The house Zhang Qiudao entered was called Wubeiling, and there were no beams in the house, all in an arched shape, like a tomb. He did not meet the girl and the hostess in Wubeiling, but when he entered, he was pushed into a tomb by something behind him, and was trapped in the tomb and could not get out.
Kou Xuanling's experience was similar to Chen Yang's, except that he met a housekeeper instead of a girl and a hostess. After rejecting the housekeeper's invitation, he was driven out of the Wuliang Yinzhai. He turned around and climbed over the wall from the outside to get in. As soon as he climbed in, the lanterns in all the windows of the houses outside lit up instantly, and all the lanterns were whispering.
Buzz buzz buzz!
Chen Yang closed his eyes for a while and was awakened by the sound. He stood up and followed the sound to a wall. He listened to the sound from the wall and it seemed that someone was chiseling the wall next door. He saw a few holes next to it, so he leaned over and used his left eye to look at the house next door. But the house next door was pitch black and he could not see anything.
Just as he was about to leave, he saw the opposite side suddenly light up. He was stunned for a moment, then suddenly reacted and quickly stepped back. The next moment, a sharp long thorn pierced into the hole, stirred it several times and found that it did not work, so it was withdrawn in dismay. Chen Yang vaguely heard someone muttering next door: "Failed."