Chen Yang asked: "Who is he? Where is he?"
The two boys stared at him expressionlessly, refusing to answer.
Chen Yang retracted his gaze, guessing that they would not dare to answer. If 'he' was referring to the source of the resentment, then 'he' was the incarnation of Wuliang Yinzhai. It was normal for the ghosts in the Yinzhai to be afraid of him. He guessed so, but underestimated the greed of the ghosts in the Yinzhai.
The two boys looked greedily at each other. They said, "If you can give us blood, your blood—" or "Or your flesh, as long as it's the size of a candy—" They said in unison, "We will tell you."
Chen Yang was silent for a while, then said, "If I complain to your father about you, won't you tell him?"
The two boys trembled when they heard the word "father", but they were not afraid when they heard the complaint. They were confident: "You can't find any fault with us, so you can't complain about us."
"Okay. Then I'll ask it another way. Is there any direct or necessary relationship between the fact that there are the most customers on rainy days and 'he' likes rainy days?" Seeing that they still didn't say anything, Chen Yang smiled greedily and said, "Isn't the human skin of the hostess of Wuming House enough for you to share?"
When the nameless house hostess was mentioned, the two boys immediately whispered to each other. After talking for a while, they looked at Chen Yang with some resentment and hostility. They accused: "Cunning." "Vicious."
Chen Yang: "Answer my question."
They hesitated for a moment, and then said the same thing: "On rainy days, guests come to visit."
Chen Yang frowned, and began to realize that the guest in "visitors" did not only refer to the guests in the Yunchi hot spring bath, but also to others. He could not get any words out of the two boys, so he turned his head to look at the bath, which was empty. "No water?"
"It's not cleaned yet." After saying that, the two boys crawled under the bathtub and lay on the wall to clean it. Chen Yang took a step forward and found that they were cleaning the bathtub with their tongues. He was almost disgusted and vomited. He took several steps back. In this situation, let alone the bathtub, he didn't dare to go down even if there was no problem.
Chen Yang stepped back and leaned against the painting screen. The so-called painting screen is a kind of screen that was introduced to the island country during the Tang Dynasty and is still used in the island country today. Suddenly, he felt a chill on the back of his neck, accompanied by a strange sound as if he was licking something. He looked back and found a ghost standing behind the painting screen. The shadow stretched out its tongue and licked his neck through the painting screen.
Chen Yang was instantly furious, kicked the painting barrier to pieces and kicked the ghost behind him away. He entered the next room and saw that it was a short, dry, and charred old ghost. When the old ghost saw Chen Yang, he immediately showed a covetous and greedy look: "Living soul."
Hearing this, the other dark ghosts without facial features in the bathtub turned their heads to look at Chen Yang. The two boys who were cleaning the bathtub lay on the edge of the bathtub and stared at the scene quietly. The strange feeling of being silently stared at by so many ghosts was not pleasant, but Chen Yang was angry at the moment and was not afraid at all. He also had no intention of revealing his identity to avoid alerting the enemy.
He took off the whole string of ancient copper coins from his wrist and stretched the red rope to form a long whip. As soon as the ancient copper coins with strong yang energy were taken out, the ghosts present screamed in fear. Chen Yang swung the long whip fiercely: "Shut up!"
The ghosts immediately fell silent and huddled in the bath. The old ghost who had attacked Chen Yang was also afraid of the long whip made of copper coins. If it hit him, the strong yang energy would scare him to death.
The old ghost wanted to escape into the ghosts, but the ghosts pushed him out. He couldn't run to the door immediately, but was stopped. He suddenly shouted: "Tianshi! He is Tianshi!" Then he rushed forward, looking extremely greedy.
Chen Yang whipped the old ghost so hard that his soul flew away. Looking back, he saw the ghosts in the bathtub, who were originally terrified, ready to move. It seemed that they restrained their fear of being scared because he was a heavenly master. Although he could not see their facial features, he could feel their greed. They slowly climbed out of the bathtub and rushed towards Chen Yang.
Chen Yang stepped back and approached the door. The door was suddenly opened from the outside, and a pale, thin hand reached out and grabbed him and pulled him out. Just as Chen Yang was about to break free, he heard the boy's voice shouting, "Follow me." He turned around to look at the ghost figure climbing over quickly, and followed the boy to escape without struggling.
The ghosts behind him became even more angry when they saw this, and they all wanted to chase after him. But when they touched the door, the doors on both sides made a 'bang' sound and were closed. The two boys, one on the left and one on the right, held the door handles, looked down at the ghost crawling on the ground, and said in a flat tone: "Fee. White pig."
The ghosts were restless, making a creaking sound. Then they pushed one of the fatter ghosts out. The ghost sensed danger and began to struggle and scream, but his limbs were restrained, and then his mouth was pried open and his tongue was removed. Seeing this, the two boys happily carried the fat black shadow away, shouting as they walked: "Boil water and kill the white pig. Scald it with boiling water and peel off the skin. Cut it with a knife and drain the pig's blood. Fry the pig skin and boil the pork. The pig's eyes will roll around, and stuff the pig's intestines with rock sugar."
The ghost's tongue was pulled out, and he could only make a "wuwuwu" sound from his throat, which sounded like the cry of a pig waiting to be slaughtered. When he was carried out of the room, he immediately became physical, naked, white and fat, just like a pig waiting to be slaughtered.
The boy suddenly appeared and dragged Chen Yang upstairs. He took him to the attic, closed the door, and carefully checked the outside. He heard some confusion outside, and someone was vaguely shouting "Tianshi!" and "Catch them!" But no one ran upstairs for the time being. The boy breathed a sigh of relief, turned around and ran to Chen Yang, and knelt down.
The attic was very low, so Chen Yang could only bend down and lower his head, so he simply half-crouched and stared at the boy in front of him. Although the boy's clothes were shabby, his face was clean and he looked kind and harmless. Chen Yang remained calm: "Who are you? What's your purpose in pulling me up here?"
The young man smiled with his lips curved, a bright and generous smile. He said: "Are you the Heavenly Master sent by the Taoist Association outside to exorcise the resentment of the Yin House?"
Chen Yang: "You know?"
"The ghosts in the beamless cemetery all know that the heavenly masters outside call this the beamless cemetery. It's a tomb without a beam, where ghosts live. It's really descriptive." The young man amused himself and laughed, but when he saw Chen Yang's expressionless face, he stopped laughing: "Okay, it's not funny. In fact, every once in a while, the cemetery will be full of resentment and negative energy, so the cemetery will appear in the world every few years. The resentment and ghost energy are too heavy, and if they are not relieved in time, innocent passers-by will break in and be eaten by the ghosts inside. If it goes on for a long time, the resentment in the cemetery will become heavier, and more people will be harmed, so the heavenly masters control the whereabouts and time of the cemetery's appearance. When the resentment is full and overflowing, they will send a heavenly master to seal the source of the resentment."
Chen Yang: "So?"
The young man laughed and said, "So the ghosts in the tombs all know that the appearance of the Heavenly Master will seal the source of resentment, causing them to not appear in the world of the living. After not smelling the smell of blood for a long time, they will become restless, and therefore hate the Heavenly Master even more."
Chen Yang was silent for a moment, then smiled and said, "You are right, but that is not the reason why they want to eat me." The young man was silent and waited for him to continue, so he continued, "I am a living soul. For ghosts, it is true that they want to eat me, but I am not a person who accidentally broke in with a flesh and blood body. When they heard that I am a heavenly master, the greed and possessiveness they showed could even make them kill each other." He listened attentively to the movement downstairs. All the ghosts were restless. That restlessness was not fear, anger or hatred, but ecstasy.
“They are very happy,” he said.
The boy said, "How clever! That's right, they don't hate the Heavenly Master. On the contrary, they are very happy that the Heavenly Master appears in the world of the living, because it means that they can use the Heavenly Master's soul to occupy the Heavenly Master's body and return to the world of the living. In the Yin house, they only need to abide by the rules of the Yin house, so as long as the soul breaks into the Yin house, they can take over the soul's body and return to the world of the living without being discovered by the Fengdu ghost."
Chen Yang: "Now let's get back to the original question, who are you? What is your purpose?" He said as he tightened the bronze coin whip in his hand.
Seeing this, the young man knelt and backed away repeatedly, looking particularly funny. He said, "Don't be impulsive, let's talk it over. I won't hurt you, and I will help you. I just hope you can take me with you when you leave. Because I am the incarnation of the City of Wrongful Death, the ghosts inside cannot leave the tomb and cannot be reincarnated. I have been trapped here for more than 20 years. I finally met the Heavenly Master and I rushed to find you."
Chen Yang stared at the boy, who smiled in a flattering and harmless way. He tightened the red string of the ancient bronze coin and tied it back to his wrist: "Speak."
The young man breathed a sigh of relief and quickly introduced himself: "My name is Mao Zhen, the 82nd generation descendant of the Maoshan Sect." When he mentioned this, his tone was quite proud. He said proudly: "I am also a young celestial master. Unlike other members of the Mao family, I became enlightened very early. When I was 18 years old, I entered the beamless Yinzhai to seal the source of the resentment. At that time, the Yinzhai did not have as many as ten houses, but only five buildings, but I was the only one who found the source of the resentment and sealed it."
Chen Yang was a little tired of squatting, so he simply sat down cross-legged and faced Mao Zhen: "But you couldn't leave the Yinzhai either."
Mao Zhen sighed, "If you want to blame someone, blame the source of the resentment for being too cunning. He can spy on your mind and then transform himself into the most important thing in your heart, leading you to become addicted. I almost became addicted at that time, but fortunately I managed to turn the tide at the critical moment. Finally, the other Heavenly Masters left safely." Speaking of the other Heavenly Masters, he asked with great interest, "Have you heard of Ma Shanfeng, Yi Fusheng, Meng Fu, and Yi Wei?"
Chen Yang didn't expect Mao Zhen to mention these familiar names, but when he thought about it, Mao Zhen said that he had been trapped for more than 20 years and was 18 years old when he entered the Yinzhai. If he hadn't died in the Yinzhai, he would probably be in his 40s now. The Yi Fusheng and Yi Wei he mentioned were brother and sister, namely Yi Wuchang and the master of Changdao Temple in Sichuan Province, and Meng Fu was the master of the Fire God Temple in the Imperial Capital. They were all familiar figures in the Tianshi world.
Mao Zhen said, "They are the other four people who entered the tomb with me. Are they still there now?"
Chen Yang nodded: "Yes." Mao Zhen's face showed a nostalgic expression, which was inconsistent with the emotion on such a young face, but it did not make people feel out of place. "Are you the 82nd generation descendant of Maoshan Sect? The brother of the current head of Maoshan Sect?"
"You mean Mao Lan? If I hadn't been trapped in the Yin house and couldn't leave, I would be the leader now." Mao Zhen asked happily: "How is Mao Lan now? Has he become smart? Is he married? Haha, when I left, he was still a short, mentally retarded boy."
Chen Yang let down his guard and alert: "Very good. You have come to your senses, and your nephew is in too." When Mao Xiaoli was still in the police station, she did tell everyone that she had an uncle who died young. He was extremely talented. He became enlightened at the age of fifteen and reached the level of a third-grade Heavenly Master of the Five Thunders at the age of eighteen. He was a rare genius.
"Nephew?" Mao Zhen was stunned for a moment, then he hunched his shoulders in surprise and said, "Nephew?! How old? What's his name?"
Chen Yang: "His name is Mao Xiaoying, and he is older than you look now."
Mao Zhen rubbed his hands together and said excitedly, "I want to go and recognize my relatives." Then he saw Chen Yang and changed the subject, "But first I have to help you find the source of the resentment and seal him."
Chen Yang: "Do you know the source of the resentment?"
Mao Zhen: "Of course. I have been imprisoned for more than 20 years, and have been following the movements of the source of the resentment. He would change into different appearances to get close to the Heavenly Masters and deceive them, and finally lock their souls in the coffins or tombs at the deepest part of the Yin house," he pointed at himself, "I was imprisoned in an underground tomb, and only escaped in recent years."
Chen Yang: "How can you keep track of the movements of the source of resentment while being held underground?"
Mao Zhen crawled behind Chen Yang and looked down through the skylight: "There are many ghosts outside, and the red lanterns in other houses are all lit up. This means that you are not the only Heavenly Master who leaked the whereabouts. The source of the resentment will be sealed every few years, so now as soon as they hear that it is the Heavenly Master, they will order the ghosts to catch you with great hatred. And those ghosts will have the opportunity to return to the world of the living as long as they catch you." He turned around and saw Chen Yang's suspicious eyes. He was stunned for a moment and said seriously: "There are tens of thousands of ghosts in the Yin house. They are trapped here. There is no offering and freedom, so they are very greedy. Sometimes just a piece of candy stained with human blood can do business with them, so I can use them to learn the movement trajectory of the source of resentment."
Chen Yang didn't know Mao Zhen, and the only thing he knew about him was that Mao Xiaoli mentioned him occasionally at the police station. Even Ma Shanfeng hadn't mentioned this person who had been dead for more than 20 years, but now in this situation, he could only learn about the current situation in the tomb from Mao Zhen.
He stood up, bent over, and walked to the skylight to look out. The nameless house not far away and the nine houses connected behind it all lit up red lanterns. From a distance, the scenery in the distance seemed particularly magnificent. But if you get closer, you will find that it is a skeleton covered with gorgeous clothes.
He asked, "What does rainy weather have to do with the source of resentment?"
Mao Zhen: "He likes rainy days. Rainy days mean that the resentment in the cemetery is so strong that it becomes substantial. Once it rains in the cemetery, it means that the resentment has reunited and the source has awakened, and the previous seal of the Heavenly Master has lost its effect. So he likes rainy days very much. He will be in a good mood every time this time comes, and he will regularly release the ghosts imprisoned in the cemetery. That's why the Yunchi Hot Spring Bath only has business on rainy days. Moreover, if he wakes up, it means that the Heavenly Master will come in too."
That’s why there is a saying that “on rainy days, guests come to visit.” For Old Man Yun and the two boys bathing in the Cloud Pool, the “guests” refer to the ghosts released by the Yin house. For the source, the “guests” refer to the Heavenly Master.
Mao Zhen knocked on the wall. It was empty inside. He said to Chen Yang, "Let's leave here first."
The author has something to say: Second update tonight.