In the early morning, Chen Shi woke up early. His grandfather was cooking in the kitchen. His back was turned to Chen Shi, but his sleeves were bloody, and he didn’t know what kind of meat was chopped on the chopping board.
Chen Shi looked around and thought, "As long as it's not human flesh, I can eat anything."
There was noise outside. It was the villagers of Huangpo Village who came to offer incense in front of the ancient tree.
Chen Shi went out and saw people holding incense, candles, fruits, chickens and ducks, coming to the ancient trees in the village.
The ancient tree has gone through many vicissitudes. It has lived for an unknown number of years. Its roots protrude from the ground, coiling like a dragon, and its branches are strange, like twisted pythons. There are not many branches and leaves, and they are not considered lush.
But the trees were hung with red ropes, and wooden signs were tied to them. The wishes of the villagers were written on the wooden signs.
This ancient tree in Huangpo Village has an unknown number of years of history. It is the godmother of most of the villagers. Every year on the first day of the Lunar New Year, villagers come to worship and pray, which is called a moon festival.
There are three days in the Moon Festival. The first day is to offer sacrifices to the Goddess, and the second and third days are to the market.
Old trees are psychic, especially the ancient tree worshiped in Huangpo Village, which is even more efficacious. This tree can drive away evil spirits and protect people after nightfall, so the houses in Huangpo Village are all built with the ancient tree as the center.
If you offer offerings, you can also make a wish to the ancient tree, including marriage, children, wealth, and things for peace, and all of them will come true.
There is a girl sitting on the trunk of the ancient tree. She is twenty-eight years old, beautiful and dignified. She is wearing a light green moonlight skirt, a black dress embroidered with red money on her upper body, and a lotus gold hairpin on her head.
This girl is very quiet and never makes a sound.
No one in the village can see this girl, but Chen Shi can see her every time he goes out.
No matter it’s windy or raining, the girl always sits on the tree.
The girl on the tree once gave Chen Shi a red fruit, but his grandfather discovered it. Grandpa asked Chen Shi to throw it away, saying it was poisonous.
"She is not your godmother, she is someone else's godmother. To her, you are an outsider in this village. If you poison you, everyone in the village will be her godson." Grandpa said.
"Xiao Shi, it's time to eat." Grandpa's voice came from the courtyard.
Chen Shi responded, went home and came to the dining table. The porridge on the dining table contained rice and meat, with a green color and a strange smell.
There are also three dishes, unknown meat stir-fried with medicinal herbs, and some things like worms as thin as a finger. The smell is not very friendly, and some of the worms are even alive and still squirming.
Chen Shi asked cautiously: "Grandpa, is this rice or medicine?"
Grandpa did not look back: "It is rice and medicine. You are sick, you have to finish it."
Chen Shi considered his words and said: "Grandpa, my illness has been cured."
"No, you're not fine."
Grandpa turned his back to him, and his voice was a little indifferent: "You were sick again last night, right? You need to continue taking medicine."
Chen Shi's heart suddenly thought: "Grandpa clearly went out last night, how did he know that I was sick again?"
He didn’t care what the food tasted like, he just stuffed it into his mouth.
Although grandpa's back was turned to him, there was an extra eye on his shoulder at some point. The nerve plexus was like a slender leg and foot, peeking at him and supervising his eating.
Chen Shi finished his meal and felt that his stomach was burning, getting hotter and hotter, as if there was a fire inside his body that was burning his heart.
It was like this every time he ate, but this time the medicine seemed to be too strong, and he felt as if the blood in his heart was about to be boiled!
He quietly activated the Sanguang Zhengqi Jue and tried to introduce the power of the medicine into his limbs and bones, and then he felt better.
Chen Shi's heart moved slightly: "The Three Lights of Righteousness formula is said to induce the three lights of righteousness and refine the holy embryo. I don't have a divine embryo, so I can't gather the magic power, but can I refine my body into a holy embryo without refining the magic power?"
Thinking of this, he removed the part of the Three Lights of Righteousness formula that tempers the true energy, leaving only the body-refining method. After practicing, it works without any hindrance, and it improves the body faster.
After dinner, Chen Shi helped his grandfather bundle up the cart, put all kinds of daily utensils and dry food on the cart, and tied them firmly with ropes.
The cart is made of wooden wheels, and there are many talismans and seals carved on the wheel hubs. The talismans drawn on the wheels are armor and horse talismans, which can make the cart run faster.
Grandpa wore a bamboo hat, which made it difficult to see his face clearly. He also took cinnabar and carefully traced the talismans on the wheel to make them clearer.
Cinnabar is not ground with water, but with black dog blood, giving it a fishy smell. Chen Shi glanced at the black pot and saw that the black dog was limp and his grandfather must have taken blood.
Chen Shi said to himself while helping to trace the talisman and seal: "The black dog's blood on the front of the neck has the best effect, as it has the highest yang energy and will not fade easily when applied. The neck should be stabbed once and for all."
He is petty and still resents the dog for adding firewood.
Kaiguo shuddered and glanced up at him with a resentful look.
The grandfather and grandson were ready and boarded the wooden cart. The armor and horse talismans on the four wheels of the wooden cart gradually lit up. The wheels were unmanned and drove them out of the village.
Black Guo stepped forward and followed behind the wooden cart.
Grandpa holds a bronze compass in his hand. The pointer on the compass shakes slightly. Every time the pointer changes direction, the wooden cart also changes direction.
When the car drove to the outside of the village, Chen Shi jumped out of the car, took the incense candle paper money, and ran uphill to the old tree outside the village.
Grandpa did not stop him or stop the car.
Chen Shi burned incense on paper to Shitou Godmother, offered fruits, kowtowed a few times, and then offered a few sticks of incense to the scholar ghost hanging on the tree, then ran back and caught up with the wooden cart.
On the first day of every month, my grandfather and grandson always go out.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, every village holds a moon festival. In addition to worshiping the godmother, it is also a lively market where you can buy a variety of goods.
He Chen Shi sat on the wooden cart and continued to practice the Three Lights Righteousness Technique. Starlight fell down one after another and merged into his body.
Grandpa looked him over and said, "You can take more medicine."
Chen Shi heard this and almost lost his temper, so he quickly abandoned his mind and concentrated on practicing.
Oddly enough, after eating the "meal" cooked by his grandfather, he felt that the speed of practicing the Sanguang Zhengqi Jue was inexplicably faster. His body became stronger and stronger, and his limbs were full of strength!
"Even if I don't take anything like preserved spirits, I can enter the true king's tomb again and walk such a long distance!" He thought to himself.
However, this is far from enough.
His goal is to obtain the complete Three Lights Righteousness Technique!
The wooden cart traveled more than ten miles and arrived at Shanyang Village next door.
This village is built around an ancient pagoda. The ancient pagoda has thirteen floors and is seven or eight feet high. The bricks and stones are old and clumsy, and they are carved with patterns from an unknown age.
Chen Shi looked up and saw a handsome monk sitting on the second floor of the ancient pagoda. While receiving the incense, he slowly turned his head and watched the wooden cart of his grandfather and grandson passing by in front of the pagoda.
This little monk is the godmother of Shanyang Village.
The godmother does not have to be a tree. Anyone with extraordinary power can be worshiped by the world, protect one side, and be worshiped as the godmother.
The real godmother of Shanyang Village is actually the ancient pagoda, and the young monk is just the image formed by the extraordinary power of the villagers' sacrifices.
“This monk is not a good person either.” Chen Shi said sincerely.
The first time he came here, he entered the tower rashly and was almost eaten by the young monk as a sacrifice.
He still shudders as he still remembers the moment when the little monk changed from kind-faced and kind-hearted to a ferocious giant Buddha.
The wooden cart stopped, Chen Shi got out of the car, and helped his grandfather set up the stall and put on various talismans.
The grandfather and grandson mainly make a living by selling talismans. There are talismans for communicating with relatives in other places, peach talismans to ward off evil spirits, armor and horse talismans for traveling, water-bending talismans for boating, and rain master talismans for praying for rain.
Those who can draw talismans must cultivate themselves into divine bodies and have divine power. However, such people are often promoted and hold official positions in the city. Where can they come out to sell talismans?
“Old Chen, are you out selling talismans again?” Someone recognized the grandfather and grandson and greeted them.
At this time, two young girls came over playfully. They were both dressed in clothes that they were reluctant to wear on weekdays, but they showed their slender pink-white legs and arms like chopsticks. Their faces were lightly painted with pink and white, and they were bright and sunny.
"Two peach blossom charms." One of the girls was more courageous and handed over two pieces of broken silver and said with a smile.
Her palm touched Chen Shi's palm, it was soft and smooth, which made the young man's heart tremble.
Chen Shi quickly fetched the peach blossom charm and handed it to them. The two girls walked away laughing. The bolder girl glanced back at Chen Shi twice and smiled twice.
Chen Shi's heart was beating rapidly. He pinched a peach blossom charm and quietly stuffed it into his sleeve.
"Take it out." Grandpa said without raising his head.
"What did you bring out?" Chen Shi pretended to be stupid.
Chen Shi's face turned red.
"And you are still sick." Grandpa added.
Chen Shi practiced Sanguang Zhengqi honestly and strived to recover from the disease as soon as possible, but he still had a question: "Grandpa, what kind of disease do I have?"
Grandpa did not answer.
By noon, the grandfather and grandson had sold out all the talismans, packed up the stall, got on the wooden cart, and drove out of Shanyang Village.
The wooden cart was running very smoothly. Chen Shi ate some dry food in the cart. Grandpa didn't eat anything. Instead, he took out a few sticks of incense and lit them, holding them in his hands to inhale the aroma.
Chen Shi saw this scene and was silent for a long time, then said: "Grandpa, will you become the godmother of the village after your death? Then I can see you every day."
Grandpa was silent for a moment. I don’t know if he was a little sentimental. He shook his head and said, "No. After I die, I will probably be pulled away by the power of the netherworld and fall into the underworld."
There was another silence.
"Grandpa, can you not die?"
Chen Shi lowered his head and looked at the road in front of the car, the road gradually blurred, "I don't want grandpa to die."
Grandpa passed a long time, stretched out his rough hand and touched his head.
"Silly boy, how can a person not die?" Grandpa said with a smile.
In the past ten days, Chen Shi felt the tenderness of his elders and relatives for the first time.
The wooden cart trudged forward, with a giant tree standing in front of it. Unfortunately, it was a dead tree. Its branches were like sharp claws of a monster, piercing the sky.
There are hundreds of houses surrounding the giant tree, also in a ring, but there is no one living in this village.
The godmother of this village is dead.
The day the giant tree died, the village lost its protection and was invaded by external evil spirits, and many people died.
When the wooden cart passed by, Chen Shi saw people swaying in the village, about a hundred or so people. They were smiling and dressed in costumes, and the children were playing.
They are also celebrating the Moon Festival.
It's just that they have been dead for a long time.
"Why didn't the power of the netherworld pull them into the underworld?" Chen Shi asked doubtfully.
Grandpa couldn’t answer either.
The wooden cart arrived at the next village, which was called Fangdian Village. The Yudai River made a bend like a rope loop here, and Fangdian Village was built on the bend of the river. There were luxuriant grasses everywhere, and the grass was long and beautiful.
The godmother of Fangdian Village is an old tree, probably an elm tree. The tree is extremely strong and has many red ropes and wishing cards tied to it. Chen Shi looked towards the tree and was startled when he didn't see the tree spirit formed by the extraordinary power.
When he came to the tree, he discovered that there was a small temple under the tree. Incense was curling in front of the shrine in the temple. There was a girl about his own age sitting there, wearing a pink dress and two long ponytails, eating sacrifices and checking the villagers' prayers.
"So it's here." Chen Shi said heartily.
The grandfather and grandson had just left the talisman stall when they heard the noise coming from the market. The market that was bustling just now suddenly lost many people.
The woman held the child in her arms and hurried home. The man quickly picked up something he could find, such as an ax or kitchen knife, and stuck it on his waist. All the people who were eating just now ran away with a roar, leaving only the shopkeeper who was crying without tears.
"Six doors are coming!" someone shouted.
The so-called six doors refer to the Yamen. The main entrance of the county government generally has six door panels, so people who work in the county government are jokingly called six doors.
Chen Shi looked up and saw dozens of government servants filing in, smashing and destroying stalls and shops along the way.
"According to the law of the Ming Dynasty, anyone who fails to pay taxes in arrears will be punished with a hundred rods! You are all citizens of the Ming Dynasty, don't make it difficult for us errands!"
The first yamen leader looked around, opened the account book, and said loudly, "Liu Zexi, Liu Zexi! You have paid your land tax, but you still have household tax and commercial tax unpaid! Come out!"
A man from Fangdian Village boldly said: "Shangguan, Liu Zexi is dead."
The head of the government office pulled up a stool, sat down with a big horse and a golden sword, and said in surprise: "Dead? When? "Dead?"
"Last time the Shangguan came to collect taxes, he didn't receive it and died the next day."
The man said carefully, "It was hung on my godmother's tree. It was already hard when I found it."
衙役头目唔了一声，目光如电，向芳甸村中心的那株古树看去，冷笑道：「你是说他把自己当成了祭品，献给你们村的干娘？刘泽喜，你以身为祭，向你干娘许愿， So... what is your wish? 」
———— Dear book friends, have a healthy Dragon Boat Festival~
Thank you Duan Tianzun zhu for the silver reward, thank you for your love! Thanks to the leaders of Piaoyao Xiaowei, Yu_Du_chen, Shenchao_Qing'er, Shenchao_Junxun for the reward. And Mr. Xueliu, after supporting the new book, added a new leader to "Lin Yuan Xing". If the new book is updated twice a day and it is not enough, then now I have to recommend Lin Yuan Xing!