The sound of opera singing in the ancestral hall drifted over with the wind, and those mournful and creepy tunes could be vaguely heard. Chen Yang looked at the wall clock, and the moonlight shone in and saw that the hour hand pointed between three and four o'clock, almost four o'clock. At four o'clock, the show ended, and those wandering ghosts who were attracted to watch the show would come out to wander around.
They will wander around for at least an hour, and the ghosts will leave at five o'clock when the cock crows. But there is still half an hour left, so I just need to run back within half an hour to avoid the ghosts parading around. Thinking of this, Chen Yang immediately pushed the door open and ran out, while the mummy behind him crawled out quickly with twisted limbs, which could be said to be flying over the eaves and walls.
When Chen Yang ran to the bridge, he looked back and saw the group of mummies following him, not one was left behind. The dog in the distance sensed something dirty and barked uneasily in this direction. The family got up in the middle of the night thinking they were robbed, opened the door and saw a group of black shadows lying on the ground in the darkness. He walked over and cursed, "Are you going to see ghosts in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?"
The flashlight shone on the face of a mummy. The face, which had no facial features but only three black holes, suddenly screamed at him. The man turned around and went into the house without saying a word, closing and locking the door in one go. The wife got up with her coat on and said, "What's going on?" The husband hurriedly sent her back: "Go back to sleep, you shouldn't be looking at things. Go back quickly."
The wife looked out the window and said, "Why do I see Chen Yang standing at the bridge? Is there something wrong? Why don't we call him in?"
"You are so nosy! You know how evil he is. What day is today? The gates of hell are open and the roadside is full of wild ghosts. Chen Yang can't die, he has a strong life. Don't be so kind and let him kill us!" The husband drove his wife back to the room with a dark face.
Just as the wife was about to turn around, a mummy suddenly crashed into the window. The horrible appearance frightened the wife so much that she screamed, rolled her eyes, and fainted. The husband and the dog were too scared to make a sound and hid in a place where the moonlight could not reach. The mummy stood quietly outside the window for a long time. When he saw nothing, he wanted to go around to the door and go in through the door. But the second door god shouted out of nowhere, and a golden light flashed. The peach wood sword in Shen Tu's hand chopped the mummy under his feet, and it turned into ashes and slowly sank into the cracks in the ground.
Chen Yang saw a rooster stuck on a bamboo pole at the bridgehead from the corner of his eye. The rooster's shiny tail feathers had lost their color due to death, and its bean-sized eyes were dull. There was a pile of firecracker ash at the rooster's feet, which had become dirty after being soaked in water. There were three bowls on top of the firecracker ash, and in the bowls were white rice with incense ash.
This means that someone has recently drowned in the river under the bridge. The rooster is used to summon the soul of the dead, to summon the soul of the dead to attach to the rooster, and then kill the rooster to send the dead to reincarnate. Otherwise, the dead attached to the rooster can only be an animal, and will miss the original reincarnation opportunity after death. Firecrackers and incense are used to intimidate and reward other lonely ghosts, so as not to occupy the soul summoning quota. Three bowls of white rice mixed with incense ash is the last meal before the dead are reincarnated. The meaning is simple, hoping that the dead will be full on the road.
Several people die in the river under the bridge every year. People with money will hire someone to salvage the bodies and then invite a fortune-teller or some Taoist priests who claim to be heavenly masters before they are ordained to pray for the souls of the dead. But some people cannot afford to hire a salvage team or Taoist priests, so a large number of souls still accumulate in the river.
Chen Yang stood in the middle of the bridge and heard the familiar rustling sound, like reptiles crawling around under the bridge, very densely. Along with these sounds was the sound of dripping water. There was no doubt that all the water ghosts in the river had crawled out and were attached to the bottom of the bridge and were about to climb onto the bridge. Without time to think about it, Chen Yang took off the red rope on his wrist, tied the copper coin to the end, and ran forward without looking back after making sure it was tied tightly.
The swollen corpses that were soaked and white crawled out from the bridge behind him. The water ghosts and the mummies were bound to confront each other when they met. Both sides wanted to monopolize the only chance to return to life, so they began to bite each other. Some water ghosts rolled to the bottom of the river with the mummies, or tore each other's hands and feet. In the end, the water ghosts, who were more numerous, grabbed the mummies, which were more flexible but less numerous. The swollen, white, rotten corpses climbed onto the bridge and made gurgling sounds at Chen Yang who was running over.
Its tongue was lost due to blisters, and its vocal cords were also damaged by blisters, so it could only make gurgling sounds. Its body was swollen like a 200-pound fat man, and wherever it crawled, there were water stains and a foul smell. Chen Yang wrapped the red rope around his palm and used the end with the copper coin tied to it to whip the corpse, burning the water ghost with his yang energy.
But the water ghost had been swollen by the water and had long since become numb to pain, so he was not afraid of being burned by the Yang Qi. Chen Yang did not stop but instead rushed towards the water ghost at a faster speed, and passed through the water ghost's armpits. He nimbly put the red rope around the water ghost's neck and then jumped onto his shoulders and made a hand gesture: "Left support Liujia, right guard Liuding, kill the evil ghost first, then cut off the night light, hurry up and obey the command!"
The water ghost struggled but was killed by the red rope and the killing ghost curse. This temporarily frightened the other water ghosts, causing them to not dare to come forward. Chen Yang took the opportunity to escape, and his face turned pale when he turned around. The killing ghost curse was extremely powerful, and he had not yet fully mastered it. What he did just now was just to scare and frighten the group of water ghosts to buy time and a chance for him to escape. Otherwise, he couldn't even cross the bridge.
Running across the bridge towards the ancestral hall, Chen Yang calculated the time in his mind and found that it was not enough. He needed to go faster. When he was far away from the bridge, he looked back and found that the black and white ghosts on the bridge were crawling towards him. It seemed that they had reacted and caught up with him.
With a bang, Chen Yang pushed open the door of the ancestral hall, panting. The actors on the stage stopped singing and looked over. Chen Yang could see that there were hundreds of chairs on the grounds of the ancestral hall, and each seat was filled with ghosts watching the show. At this moment, the ghosts all looked at him, and there were two ghost messengers standing at the door.
The two ghost officials looked at Chen Yang and thought he was a lonely ghost who had escaped, so they came over to ask for his name so that they could register him. However, the head of the ancestral hall who was guarding the ancestral hall to prevent strangers from entering walked up to Chen Yang and said, "Get out! Living people cannot come in and disturb the ancestors. You young people have no reverence at all. Are you here to die? Get out, get out."
Chen Yang walked past the class leader and said to him, "Let me hide for a while." Then he bowed to the two ghost officers and said, "Please be more accommodating." Then he walked into the center of the courtyard. The ghosts in the courtyard were staring at him, and the two ghost officers were quite surprised. It was the first time they saw a living person with a strong yin aura like a ghost. After looking at each other, they found that the other party could actually see them.
One of the two ghost messengers said, "Looking at the negative energy around him, he should not live long." The other ghost messenger said, "The negative energy blocked his face, so I can't see his fate. Do you think we should do anything about it?"
One of the ghost messengers pondered for a moment and shook his head, "His fate is strange, and his destiny is extraordinary. He either died young, or if he didn't die early, he would have achieved extraordinary things. I'm afraid he will have more contact with us in the underworld in the future. Let's give him face now so that we can have better contact in the future."
After saying that, the two ghost officials really didn't care. If they didn't care, the ghosts present didn't dare to move. Besides, these were all ghosts who died of natural old age and were waiting for the end of their life in the underworld. As long as their life in the underworld was over, they could be reincarnated, so they basically had no resentment. They didn't covet Chen Yang's special physique and were not in a hurry to return to the world of the living. Instead, they stared at him and whispered. After all, they were from the same village, and some were Chen Yang's elders. When they recognized him, they asked him to come over to talk so that they could understand the current situation of their descendants in the world of the living.
The ghost shouted: "The living are not allowed to communicate too much with the dead." But that was all he did. He turned a blind eye and did not interfere too much.
As for the troupe owner, he felt a chill. He shrank his shoulders, shut his mouth, and stopped trying to stop Chen Yang. The stage was the place where strange things were most likely to happen, especially when singing for ghosts. The troupe owner had been singing for decades, so he had naturally encountered strange things. So he knew that if he encountered something strange, he should just shut his mouth. He couldn't participate, so he gestured for the male and female actors on the stage to continue singing.
Then the class owner looked at Chen Yang in the open space, and saw a chair automatically pulled open without anyone in it, and Chen Yang seemed to be pulled to sit on the chair by something. Many fruit tributes on the table also floated in the air and piled in front of Chen Yang. The class owner closed the door, shut his mouth and walked to the corner, trying not to hear anything.
Chen Yang is receiving the cordial condolences from the long-dead grandparents of the same village. These people have watched his parents grow up and are good friends with his grandfather. At this moment, he is sitting next to his grandfather, holding his clothes and smiling obediently.
Suddenly, there was a hurried knock on the door of the ancestral hall. The troupe leader frowned and shouted, "This is the ancestral hall stage, no strangers are allowed to approach." But the knock on the door became more urgent, as if the door would be knocked open in the next second.
The class owner stood up and was about to open the door, but Chen Yang shouted at him, "Don't open it." The class owner turned around in surprise and was about to ask something when he saw him looking at the door with a serious face. The knocking sound on the door gradually turned into a crashing sound, and the wooden bolt behind the door trembled several times. Under such circumstances, the class owner guessed in his heart that the person knocking on the door was probably not a stranger. He stepped back a few steps and huddled in the corner.
Chen Yang stood up with a gloomy face, but was stopped by his grandfather. He looked down in surprise and saw his grandfather smiling at other fans, who waved at him. Then his grandfather pulled him up and ran to the back of the stage. The ghost wanted to chase him but was stopped by the ghost. Then the wooden bolt was shaken open, and the door opened wide, and a large number of mummies and water ghosts crawled in.
The ghost messenger was busy catching evil ghosts and stabilizing the ghosts that came out of the underworld, so he had no time to take care of the escaped ghosts. The troupe owner and the actors on the stage were startled by the door that was knocked open, and then a huge cold wind blew over, overturning all the tables, chairs, and tributes under the stage. They knew something was wrong, and hurriedly hid behind the stage to invite Huaguang Zushi out.
Huaguang Zushi is the god of drama worshipped by the opera troupe, also known as the God of Fire. When Huaguang Zushi saw the evil spirits causing chaos in the world and almost burning down the stage, he appeared to help the two ghost officials who were unable to defeat the evil spirits to suppress them at their request.
Grandpa Chen took Chen Yang to the small door of the ancestral hall, opened the small door and sent him away. Chen Yang heard the chaotic noise coming from the stage and was a little worried: "I thought the ancestral hall could resist those evil spirits."
"Evil ghosts are greedy and will not retreat just because of a door. Hurry up, it's almost dawn. At the fourth watch, the Ghost Gate will close and all ghosts will be taken back to the underworld, but you still have to be careful of the evil ghosts that haven't reported back to the underworld." Grandpa Chen pushed his grandson out the door and said, "Don't worry about the situation at the stage. The two ghost officers were specially responsible for guarding the evil ghosts before, and they have their own ways to deal with them. Besides, there is Master Huaguang on the stage. The owner of the troupe is also a Taoist. Although his cultivation is not deep, he has a connection with the master. If he invites Master Huaguang out, the evil ghosts will not be afraid."
Chen Yang's eyes welled up with tears, and he was reluctant to leave. Grandpa Chen closed the door and said with a kind smile: "Let's go. The Taoist principle is to respect life. Yangyang, live well." After that, the door was closed.
Chen Yang wiped away his tears and turned to run towards home. When passing by the bridge and the street corner, he found that a large number of ghosts were taken to the underworld. It was the fourth watch and the gate of hell was about to close. But this was the most dangerous moment for Chen Yang, because not only did the ghosts want to kill him, but even the ghost catchers thought he was a ghost and wanted to take him back to the underworld.
Chen Yang could only hide and run towards home. At the entrance of the alley, he met a yaksha who specialized in catching evil spirits. The yaksha had poor eyesight and thought Chen Yang was an evil spirit trying to escape. He chased after him with an iron chain. The yaksha was about two meters tall, and one step of his was equivalent to two steps of Chen Yang. He quickly approached him. The yaksha was also an evil spirit, but a ghost from the underworld.
When Chen Yang used the red rope and copper coins to block, Yaksha recognized him as the Heavenly Master, which made Yaksha even more angry: "The Heavenly Master who practices Taoism still breaks the law and uses Taoism to escape reincarnation! His crime is even more serious!"
Years of experience have taught Chen Yang that even if he stops to argue that he is a human being and not a ghost, it will be useless. The Yaksha will still nail his soul-catching iron chains into his limbs and drag him into the underworld. In this way, even if they find that they are wrong, the underworld will make the best of it. Because of his special physique, even the Fengdu underworld will not allow people with this fate to grow up safely in the world of the living.
Chen Yang took a shortcut back home and met Yaksha at the door. He ran into the house faster than Yaksha, who couldn't get in, so he wandered outside, looked through the window to see Chen Yang inside and tried to drag him away from the window.
At this time, the cock crowed three times, and the sky was about to turn pale. The Yaksha rushed into the house without paying attention to the taboo. Chen Yang held up the red rope and copper coins and waited for him. When the two sides were about to fight, Grandpa Wu came back with a bottle of wine. He didn't show any surprise when he saw the ferocious Yaksha in the house. He just asked Chen Yang to put away the red rope and copper coins, and handed him the bottle of wine: "Take it to the kitchen and put it away."
Chen Yang didn't object, picked up the bottle and walked towards the kitchen. Yaksha threw the chain suddenly, and the thick iron chain collided and rubbed to produce sparks, but was blocked by a copper coin sword when it touched Chen Yang. Chen Yang paused, went into the kitchen and put the bottle away. He heard the fighting outside, which soon subsided. When he walked out, he saw Grandpa Wu sitting on the sofa, looking tired.
Chen Yang walked over and asked in a low voice: "Grandpa Wu, are you okay?"
Grandpa Wu waved for him to sit down, then opened his eyes and said, "Yangyang, Grandpa's time is coming."
Chen Yang was shocked, his face full of sadness: "Is it because of me?"
"No, no, don't talk nonsense. I'm not your master, we have nothing to do with each other, how can you kill me? No, who said you can kill people? Your fate is not that you will kill your relatives and friends, but you don't believe it no matter what I say." Grandpa Wu stared at him and said, "I've said that your father, mother and grandfather were killed by ghosts, not by you. I'm going to die because my life span has come to an end. My life span is written in the Book of Life and Death, and it ends this year. It has nothing to do with you."
Chen Yang pursed his lips, feeling extremely sad. After a long while, he suppressed his anger and asked, "When this year?"
"Winter." Grandpa Wu put his rough hand on Chen Yang's head. He was worried about this child, so he used his many years of connections and asked the one in the ancient tomb to finally get a great opportunity for Chen Yang. But opportunities are also dangerous. On one side is a flat road, and on the other side is full of blades. If he fails, Chen Yang will be killed immediately and no one can save him. But if he succeeds, he will no longer be disturbed by ghosts and can live well.
He said earnestly: "You have found your chance."
Chen Yang was stunned: "Found it? What is it?"
"A Yin marriage." Grandpa Wu said, "I'll arrange a Yin marriage for you."