Chapter 10 Chapter Nine: Crossing the Spirit Cottage in the Valley of the Dead

Chenzhou Prefecture, Yuanling County. The Valley of the Dead is not a valley, but an unorganized ravine. Seen from the outside, the mountains here are undulating, the ancient trees are towering, and a Qingshui River winds and hugs the mountains. The momentum of Jackie Chan and tigers has attracted generations of Feng Shui masters to explore the dragon's veins.Entering the valley from the outside must pass through a bottleneck where miasma is pervasive. Passing through the neck, it suddenly becomes clear, but there are many knives and stones. Going deeper, there are cliffs and cliffs, intricate, full of frenzied images, chaotic rules, so that many The feng shui master's compass fails here, and he loses his way at least, and some even contract miasma and die of typhoid fever.

The Valley of the Dead is not in vain. The Anshi Rebellion that occurred in the 14th year of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty spread here. The local armed forces who supported Anlu Mountain were hunted down by the court and hid in the valley. In the end, they were all killed by the officers and soldiers. All their heads were cut off as punishment. The corpses piled up like a mountain. To dispose of the corpses, more than a hundred Kongming vehicles were used, and after three days and three nights of cleaning, it was finally turned into a mass grave. It is also said that in the first year of Chongzhen (1628), Zhang Wubao, the leader of the Miao nationality "Flying King", led an uprising near this area, but was suppressed by Chen Yuan's general Deng Zuyu and failed. At that time, blood flowed like a river.

According to another legend, in the 11th year of Xianfeng (1861), more than 500 people from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Ji Wang Shi Dakai's advance team entered Sichuan, where they were besieged by the Qing army. Because of this, the Valley of the Dead is also called "Killing Chong" by the locals. The rumors about the haunting in the valley by the mountain people in the nearby area are quite frustrating.Some people swear by their chests, saying that at night, the sound of wooden carts can be heard in the valley.Some people even said that under the moonlight, they saw a group of wooden carts full of human heads passing by, and the carts were all headless, and the decapitated corpses even leaked a bloody liquid...

Because the rumors of haunting are very fierce, the mountain people here pass it on by word of mouth, leaving many customary taboos.Don't casually talk to strangers pushing Kongming carts at night, they may be ghosts from the spirit world. Strange war horses can be seen in places where accidents occur in the valley. If there is no god to protect them, don't be curious to spy on them, let alone get too close, and be careful not to be taken away by the dead ghosts. It's not raining or sunny, if you see someone holding an umbrella, especially a black umbrella, it's best to ignore it.

When building civil engineering, if you dig out things like bone urns, especially weaponry, you must not throw them away casually.Because you have alarmed them, if you don’t burn incense to invite the gods and throw them away at will, the consequences will be disastrous.You can't take these things home casually, otherwise you will bring disaster back home. You need to find a place to put them and sprinkle a few handfuls of rice. Don't collect antique utensils dug out of the valley. Every ancient utensil may hide an unusual story, which may retain the owner's unfulfilled last wishes and grievances.

If you see a woman or child crying by the side of the road, don’t go forward to comfort them out of compassion, as it may be something unclean. Dreaming about someone talking to you, don't answer casually, every word you say may bring disaster, especially if you ask you to go with him, you should be careful. Time has passed, and although these bloody stories and horror legends have faded somewhat, the dark atmosphere has not dissipated. This place was once a death valley where no one entered or exited. Over time, some people who are not afraid of death come here to settle down and hide.However, most of them are forced to do so. There are important criminals wanted by the government, weird hermits, and more people who are avoiding exorbitant taxes and avoiding military chaos and banditry.

Three teachings and nine streams, good and evil mixed together, I don't know when, this place became an independent village, and the village has an appropriate name-Xiafu Bay.Xiafu Bay is located on the cliffs under the high mountains, surrounded by cliffs, hundreds of meters high, shaped like a barrel, and one or two hundred people live together.Like a village at the bottom of a well, people climb up and down like monkeys. The terrain of the Valley of the Dead is so dangerous that even bandits are reluctant to come here to rob things, and it is difficult to carry them on their backs.Because of this, no one in the yamen came here to collect taxes, and the people who lived here were nothing more than seeking peace.

Master Xiang Tianshi is a weirdo in the Valley of the Dead. He lives alone and never interacts with others.When I first came here as a teacher, he refused to agree to it. Later, he saw me kneeling at the door for three days, so he accepted me as a disciple. After crossing the Xiafu Bay, go another seven or eight miles, the cold air is getting stronger, go up a steep slope, walk along the cliff, turn around three slopes, turn five bends, and enter a small rare basin, a place formed by piled up rocks. The house is suddenly visible, the roof is made of thatched pine branches, and the rocks on the outer wall are like sharp knives stretched out, and like the arrow hairs of a hedgehog.Fifty steps away from the left side of the stone house, a mountain stream flew down in the shape of a waterfall, sacrificing its life, hitting the rocks in the basin with its head, splashing strings of jade beads, and puffs of water mist rose into the air, and then Then jump off the cliff and die.Between the waterfall and the stone house, there is a vegetable garden surrounded by fences, which is lush and green, adding a little vitality to the lore in front of you.

Only ten steps away from the right side of the stone house, there is a wooden pavilion. The top of the pavilion is covered with bark. On the beams of the pavilion, there are four big characters "Du Ling Xiaolu", and a couplet is engraved on the two pillars: "Don't ask about the world. , only attracts the soul of Yin Cao".The name of the house and the couplets are made in running script, which is the treasure of calligraphy written by my master to the heavenly master. When Tian Gudao and Gui Zaiyao and I approached Duling Xiaolu, we could hear the sound of guzheng from afar.

The melody of "Ambush from Ten Sides" is clanging, the sonorous and powerful rhythm is like the thrilling sound of war drums, and the passionate and high-pitched long sound is like the sound of horns, shaking the valley... It's like being on the scene with the overlord of Chu, as if seeing the decisive battle between the two armies , The sound moved the world.The sound of golden drums, the sound of swords and crossbows, the sound of people and horses... I was excited when I first heard it, and then I was terrified, unable to cry... The guzheng sound of "House of Flying Daggers" by the master reverberated in the valley, lingering for a long time, it was shocking and weeping ghosts and gods!

Many years ago, there was an earthquake in the mountains here, landslides and ground cracks, rocks flying across the river, snakes, rats, roe and leopards and other ferocious animals rushed to take refuge in the small basin in front of Duling Xiaohu, overwhelming the sky and covering the earth, wanting to compete with the master for the hiding house.My master sealed the hut to the Tianpu divine talisman, played the zither, and after hearing the sound, the beasts killed each other. Before the song "House of Flying Daggers" was played, all the beasts had already laid their dead bodies on the ground, and none of them survived.The last few animals that died were picked up by a local old woman and used as introductions for Miao Gu. Since then, except for Xiang Tianpu, it is difficult to see signs of other living beings here. I have expressed my feelings many times, if the master is to sit in front of the celestial master, he will be an unstoppable and ever-victorious general. Although he is calm and calm on the way to chase the corpse, it is just a small skill after all, it is really overkill. When we came to the door, the sound of the guzheng stopped abruptly. Entering the stone house, the master is already sitting upright, it seems that he has already known about our return. I was about to introduce the ghost to the old man when he interrupted me, obviously he knew everything. The ghost cub is very new to everything here, jumping around.Master told us to take a break, and went out without saying much... The taciturn Xiang Tianshi is like a weather-beaten pine, silently guarding Duling Xiaohu. His state of being indifferent to wind and clouds and not being surprised by favor or humiliation is very human. Since I started learning art, I have known fragments of the experience of the master in bits and pieces, and the string is roughly like this: In the early years of Tongzhi, Xiang Tianpu was born in a prominent merchant family in Qianzhou. Although his family business was not wealthy, it was quite prosperous. Since childhood, his parents married a local salt treasurer and his wife named Bu.Later, Mrs. Bu gave birth to a thousand pieces of gold, and the two families have been in communication with each other, and they are very harmonious.Xiang Tianpu has been intelligent since he was a child, he can read and write, he knows how to write, and he knows everything about piano, chess, calligraphy and painting.Xiang Tianpu and Ms. Bu are childhood sweethearts who share similar interests. When the two reach the age to discuss marriage, the parents of both parties plan to give them a wedding ceremony. At this juncture, Cheng Yaojin came out halfway, and the son of a certain soldier also fell in love with the beautiful and beautiful Miss Bu, and promised Bu's father that once he got married, he would facilitate his promotion.Lured by fame and fortune, Bu Fu, who had been the treasurer ambassador of the salt transportation industry all his life, decided to regret the marriage. He unilaterally tore up the marriage contract with Xiang's family and forced his daughter to marry the son of Zong Bing. Miss Bu was very dissatisfied with her father's clinging to the powerful and powerful, and she had a deep relationship with Xiang Tianpu. In desperation, she jumped into the rushing Dong River on a windy autumn evening.Her body drifted down the river and was never found. In desperation, Xiang Tianpu walked downstream along the Donghe River, inquired everywhere, and searched hard for more than a month, until the Donghe River merged into Yuanshui, but still did not find Miss Bu's body.When he was disheartened, he shouted Miss Bu's name heartbreakingly on a cliff by the Yuanjiang River, then jumped off and died in love... When Xiang Tianpu woke up, he found an old man with white beard applying herbal medicine to himself.It turned out that when he jumped off the cliff, he was supported by the branches below. Although he saved his life, his body was covered with cuts and bruises, his face was also slashed with blood, and his flesh was turned out, which was terrible.Just happened to meet the white-bearded old man driving the corpse through the cliff valley, rescued him, enlightened him, and took him back to his residence to heal his injuries. After Xiang Tianpu recovered from his injuries, he was already tired of the warmth and coldness of the world. Thinking about not being able to keep his beloved woman, and even finding her dead body, and letting her wander around like a lonely ghost, he couldn't help feeling sad.He also thought that it would be a good deed to help those wandering souls return to their hometowns, so he stayed with the old man with white beards to learn how to drive corpses. Originally, Xiang Tianpu's surname was not Xiang, but his surname was Mu. The name Xiang Tianpu was newly created for himself after he learned how to exorcise corpses. As for what it means, no one knows.I guess this is to miss Miss Bu. In the dialect of my hometown in Xiangxi, Pu and Bu are pronounced the same. He named his residence "Du Ling Xiaolu", and I think he must have spent his whole life doing salvation for Miss Bu.The couplets engraved on the two pillars of Duling Xiaolu, "Don't ask about the world, only draw the soul of Yin Cao" is a portrayal of his heart like stagnant water. Only when he plays the zither can he feel the waves in the depths of the stagnant water. In less than an hour, the corpse man who fled to the bay limped behind the master, driving the two piglets back. The dead man named Feng Shiwen, lame, is a widower who escaped to the bay, and knows some medical skills and Jianghu alchemy.It is said that the lame foot was not born, but it fell when he was walking in the rivers and lakes and fighting with others.After he got old, he stopped wandering around, and set up a doctor's shop in Xiazhui Bay, which specialized in prescribing medicines for people's injuries. The general bruises, knife wounds, and colds and ailments can be cured by medicine.Probably because he also knows some alchemy, he has some contact with the master on weekdays, and when the master is busy with the corpse business, he will also call him to help. Perhaps because of this reason, everyone took the homonym of Feng Shiwen and called him Fengshiweng.Because the master lived in a secluded place and lived in a quiet place, and he didn't want others to disturb him, he set up the business liaison office in the doctor's shop of the corpse man. If the dead family needs to remove the corpse, they only need to go to the doctor's shop of the corpse man to inform them. Then he will pass it on to the master.The corpse sealer simply put up another apricot-yellow flag with the words "Zhu Youke" next to the big banner with the word "diagnosis" on the top of the doctor's shop.There is a couplet pasted in his gate: Upper couplet: Traumatic injuries, wind-cold pain and pain medicine can cure the disease The next couplet: There is no mistake in moving the soul and threading the needle Hengpi: A matter of life and death This pair of couplets was written by master Xiang Tianpu.It is said that the corpse sealer saw the couplets written by his former master in Duling Xiaolu, and wanted to be arty, so he pestered his master to write one for him too. In his spare time, the corpse-hunter likes to look up at the flags waving in the wind on both sides of his roof. At this time, there is always an incomparable sense of pride on his face, and a happy smile blooms on his twisted old face.Sometimes I would stare at the words "concerning life and death" without moving for a long time, as if I was an important person in charge of life and death. The unique shop of Fengshiweng did not affect his business, but instead attracted many chatterers in the bay.The boldness of these chatters may have something to do with the wildness flowing in their ancestors’ blood. They would brag and talk nonsense together in different places when they had nothing to do. The chats usually ended with the famous saying of the corpse sealer, "Lao Tzu is the one who manages life and death". Everyone broke up laughing...