In the evening, the sky was filled with red clouds and there was a gentle breeze.
Jian Jing walked along the alley until she reached Zhang Family Garden. This scenic spot was not very popular, and apart from tourists taking photos, few people stayed until dusk.
She avoided the gatekeeper and the security guard and turned into the side room.
This is the former residence of the daughter of the Zhang family, and also the home of the legendary female ghost. At this moment, an incense table was set up in the small courtyard outside the wing room, and Master Long, who had been talking about leaving before, was preparing the ritual utensils there.
"Master, are you planning to try to exorcise the ghost again?" she asked.
Master Long said: "If you take the money, you have to do the work."
Jian Jing said "Oh" and looked at the empty tourist attraction room. The old man said that although this kind of tourist attraction generally retains the old framework, it has basically been renovated. Some of them are made by good craftsmen and still look old, while some are made by poor craftsmanship and look much newer than grandma's old house.
This is also the former residence of the daughter of the Zhang family. The embroidery building had been destroyed in the war long ago, and no one had ever lived in it since the ancient building was rebuilt.
Why did Master Kelong hold the ceremony here
Jian Jing was puzzled, but did not ask.
The sun was setting, the sky was completely dark, the noise of the tourists was all carried away by the evening breeze, leaving only the quietness of the courtyard. A small light was on in the bushes, but it seemed that the light was not working properly, flickering and making a "hissing" sound from time to time.
Master Long set up the incense table and turned to look at her.
Jian Jing smiled but refused to leave.
Master Long didn't say anything and started the ceremony on his own.
The exorcism process today was exactly the same as the day before, with the same scriptures and the same hand gestures, but compared to that day when the smoke turned into dust and the cinnabar disappeared, nothing happened this time.
Yes, there was no evil wind, no bad smell, no vomiting of blood. It just started normally and ended uneventfully.
Master Long remained calm throughout the whole process.
Jian Jing complained in her heart: So many things happened that day, it must have been a performance, right
"That's right." Master Long suddenly spoke, and he actually saw through her mumbling, "I was not attacked by the female ghost that day, but I staged it myself."
Jian Jing was not disappointed: "Why?"
"I'm just doing the job for money." Master Long still said the same thing.
"I know who paid you that day and what you did. But what about today?" Jian Jing asked, "The previous ghosts were man-made. What ghost are you exorcising now?"
Master Long was calm and composed: "Whatever ghost Li Pei asked me to exorcise, I will exorcise that ghost."
"Is he driven away?"
"If she no longer does evil, then she has been driven away."
Jian Jing: “…”
It is hard to say whether this person has real ability, but his experience in the martial arts world is definitely maxed out.
"What do you mean by saying that I'm still alive?" She didn't bother to figure out whether it was true or not, and went straight to the point, "Don't say you spoke too quickly, you clearly said it specifically for me to hear."
Master Long did not comment, but said quietly: "You are in big trouble."
"so what?"
"Someone wants you dead." He told her clearly, "Based on my experience, you should have died, but I don't know why you are still alive."
After a pause, he added, "But I can feel that it won't last long."
"What?"
Master Long looked at her, his eyes flashing with an unpredictable meaning, and spoke almost prophetically: "Death is closer to you."
Sizzle.
The street lights in the bushes flickered and went out at the same time, and shadows moved closer to the edge.
The sky was pitch black.
Jian Jing looked up Master Long's information and found that he was indeed well-known in the Southeast Asian region, and he had been mentioned in many true and false urban rumors.
Even the last time I attended an auction and met an ugly ox, who turned out to be a wealthy businessman from Southeast Asia, he also said that Master Long was very famous and very effective, and he rarely failed.
He has many legendary experiences, such as catching ghosts, asking fox spirits for advice, and exorcising evil spirits, which could be filmed to make up a ghost film series.
However, Jian Jing was still skeptical, including his latest reminder.
Death is closer to you.
It sounds scary, right? But if you think about it carefully, who isn’t getting closer to death
So she fell into Schrödinger's idealism again.
If you really believe it, it seems to be true; if you don’t believe it, it may not be true.
[System, why is this happening? Please explain.]
[Sorry, this is beyond the scope of the system, please explore it yourself]
Jian Jing was slightly conflicted.
The countdown of the curse was frozen, and she was not in a hurry. But it was impossible for anyone who carried such a time bomb on his back to not care.
However, there is nothing strange about going out to pray to gods and Buddhas and asking people for help in removing the curse.
After thinking about it, Jian Jing decided to go to Longhu Mountain, where the Taoist priest she had contacted several times before was practicing.
That day, the Taoist priest was broadcasting live.
He is not only a Taoist priest, but also a writer. In the past two years, short videos have become popular, and he has also started shooting videos to explain Taoist literature, making him a well-known Internet celebrity.
"Today I will tell you about the history of Tianshi Mansion in Longhu Mountain..." The Taoist priest talked freely in front of the camera, citing historical allusions and humanities at will, which attracted the attention of many tourists.
Jian Jing followed the crowd and explained the story on the side.
Half an hour later, the live broadcast ended.
The Taoist priest turned around and saw Jian Jing. After recognizing her for a while, he asked hesitantly, "Teacher Jian Jing?"
"Hello, Taoist Priest." Jian Jing smiled slightly.
"I almost didn't recognize you. You look better in person than on the screen." The two had chatted a few times and were considered netizens. The Taoist priest was very familiar with them. "Come to travel?"
"I guess so." Jian Jing looked him up and down and smiled, "I didn't expect you to be so..."
"fashionable?"
“Handsome.”
Jian Jing was not complimenting. The Taoist priest was in his early twenties, with red lips and white teeth. He wore a blue gown and looked elegant and refined. He could directly play a cameo role in a fairy tale drama.
"Thank you, thank you." He gladly accepted the compliment. "Since you are here, Teacher Jian, you must take a good look at the scenery on our mountain. Do you want me to be your tour guide?"
Jian Jing had come here to find him, and she was delighted to hear his words: "I couldn't ask for more."
The Taoist priest adjusted his sleeves and acted as a temporary tour guide, taking her to visit the beautiful scenery of this Sichuan province. In order to avoid tourists, he specially chose an area with fewer tourists, and the two chatted while walking.
Jian Jing asked him if there was anything different about him.
The Taoist priest inquired for a moment and pretended to be surprised: "You have undergone cosmetic surgery?"
Jian Jing: “…”
"A little more metaphysical," she hinted.
The Taoist priest had to explain again that he did not believe in feudal superstition.
Jian Jing said: "I met a master from Nanyang before, and he said that I would be in big trouble."
"So, how much money did I cheat you out of?" The Taoist priest asked in a charming tone.
Jian Jing shrugged: "I didn't spend any money, and I didn't get asked to donate or buy anything."
"If they don't cheat you of money, they are just trying to cheat you of your sex." The Taoist priest said earnestly, "Don't believe these things. If you are really interested in Taoist culture, why don't you come to Longhu Mountain to study for a few days?"
She smiled: "I am here now."
The Taoist priest looked at her with a look of disbelief.
"Okay." Jian Jing admitted readily, "I came here because of the Seven Star Sealing Coffin."
Speaking of this, the Taoist priest was immediately shocked. He had written some books on Feng Shui and metaphysics. Of course, they did not promote inharmonious ideas, but introduced tombs and cultural relics from the perspective of folk customs.
The Seven Star Sealing Coffin technique is extremely rare even in the history of Feng Shui.
"Have you discovered similar tombs again?" he asked with great interest.
"It was the caster." Jian Jing hesitated, but still said, "He cast a curse on me."
The Taoist priest stopped immediately and turned to look at her.
Jian Jing spread her hands.
He looked her up and down, left and right, for three to five minutes before asking, "Have you been particularly unlucky recently?"
Jian Jing: “?”
"Do you feel like someone is watching you? Or someone is calling your name? Do you feel uneasy and palpitating for no reason?"
She: “…No.”
The Taoist priest was surprised: "No?"
"I don't have any special feelings." She said with a calm face, "So it's not a psychological effect, don't worry."
The Taoist priest smiled awkwardly.
"Of course, you can say that I want to seek psychological comfort." Jian Jing thought, "I want to perform a ritual."
Performing rituals is a basic skill for Taoist priests, and the Taoist priest agreed immediately: "No problem."
The fasting and offering ceremony at Tianshi Mansion is naturally completely different from Master Long's exorcism and demon-catching ceremony, and the word "formal" is written all over it.
The venue is a special one, the high priests are certified, the incense and incense burners are special supplies, and the speeches are either poetry or classical Chinese, which sounds completely incomprehensible at first.
What impressed Jian Jing the most was Bu Xu's voice. Although she couldn't understand the words, the melody was so beautiful that it sounded like heavenly music to her ears and she enjoyed it very much.
Of course, the system went online quietly.
[Status bar: Heaven's Curse (Countdown: 10)]
Jian Jing: “…”
When the ritual was over, the Taoist priest asked her, "How do you feel?"
She said, “Much better.”
He couldn't help laughing: "That's good, that's good." As he said this, he nodded seriously, as if it was a matter of fact.
Jian Jing waited until he had laughed enough before saying, "But the curse hasn't disappeared."
The Taoist priest's muffled laughter suddenly stopped and he looked at her in surprise.
"Since rituals cannot touch curses, what should I do?" she asked.
The Taoist priest blinked rapidly, his brows slightly furrowed.
In fact, he never felt that the curse that Jian Jing talked about was that serious. Firstly, he didn't believe it, and secondly, she herself was very calm, as if she was not afraid. She would rather believe it than not believe it, and just do a ritual to seek peace of mind.
But at this moment, her attitude made him realize that things didn't seem that simple.
He had to think about it seriously. After a while, he said seriously, "You said a curse, but it is actually witchcraft. Although I don't know much about this, but generally speaking - well, pay attention, it's just generally speaking."
Jian Jing seemed to be listening attentively.
"In history, witchcraft is more about disease or poisoning than supernatural power. Gu is actually a bug, and the so-called Gu is actually a parasitic disease, the most famous of which is schistosomiasis." The Taoist priest said, "This is an objective existence. The ancients did not understand it and called it Gu. You cannot deny it."
Jian Jing nodded in agreement.
He went on to say: "But if we talk about the art of warding off evil with puppets, I think psychological suggestion is more important. Because of emotional instability, anxiety and depression, it indirectly leads to psychological illness."
"What you said makes a lot of sense. To sum it up in one sentence, believe in science." She sighed.
The Taoist priest scratched his head: "Then what do you want to hear?"
"If there really is an unscientific curse, how do we solve it?" Jian Jing went straight to the point, "Just think of me as someone I'm collecting material for a novel. The setting is everything."
"If you put it that way," the Taoist priest thought for a while, "either destroy the carrier of the curse, that is, the dolls, paper figures and the like used to cast the curse, or get rid of the person who cast the curse."
Jian Jing said "Oh", and her voice suddenly became happy: "I knew it, it would be fine if he died."
"Yes." The Taoist priest nodded before he realized something was wrong. He looked at her in shock and spoke incoherently, "Wait, what do you mean by just dying is fine?"
Jian Jing turned his head as if nothing had happened and sighed: "The scenery in your Longhu Mountain is really nice."
Taoist Priest: "Teacher Jian, this is a crime..."
"Let me take a call." Jian Jing took out her cell phone. "Hello, Mr. Kang, I'm going to travel for two days. I'll be back soon and go home tomorrow."
She looked apologetic: "I'm sorry, Taoist priest. Mr. Kang urged me to come back and finish the manuscript. Thank you for this. I'll put the fee on your card. See you next time."
Taoist Priest: “…”