Chapter 6 nightmare

Yun Jisang felt that he had fallen into a deep nightmare, and no matter how hard he struggled, he couldn't wake up.In the darkness, something seemed to wrap around his neck slowly.In the cold suffocation, the black god of death was sucking his life soundlessly.Every time he tried to circulate his true energy, his dantian felt a stabbing pain.Unknowingly, the inner jacket was drenched with cold sweat.Panting desperately, he groped forward in the darkness when he tripped suddenly and fell down in embarrassment.That laughter rang wildly in my ears, refusing to disappear, refusing to leave.I don't know when, he became afraid of the dark.In that abyss-like black vortex, there is always a hand stretched out, trying to pull him into it, and fall into eternal sinking together with that boundless sin...

Don't... Yun Jisang muttered to himself.He tried to get up, but his body seemed to be stuck in a swamp, falling heavily, unable to move.He struggled a few times, but found that he couldn't even move a finger. What's wrong with me?He finally gave up and held his breath with the last of his strength.But even so, the breath still gradually weakened, like the candle, slowly, little by little, being swallowed by the darkness. "Junior Brother!" Following this call, the door opened, and a soft light shone in. What a warm light... just like the morning light in early spring, strong and dazzling, with the ardor of breaking the ice and disarming the armor.No matter how deep the darkness is, the bone-piercing Ling Han will melt under such light, right?In a daze, he thought obsessively.The light moved closer in an instant, and Zhuo Anjie's anxious voice sounded in her ear, she reached out to hold his shoulder: "Junior brother, are you okay? Get up!"

Miraculously, the strength returned to the body, and the breathing calmed down.He even suspected that everything just now was just his own hallucination, he replied hoarsely: "I'm fine..." "I heard laughter just now, is it you?" Zhuo Anjie asked, patting the dust off his body. "It's not me, I also came in when I heard laughter." It's not a hallucination.Everything just now was real, and I almost died here.What is wrong with your body?Or is there something weird about this room... "According to you, is there really a ghost in this room?" Zhuo Anjie became interested, and picked up the lantern to shine it everywhere: "These puppets are made just like the real ones." , it seems that the owner here must be a top puppet master. Do you think it will be a long time before these puppets become fine, and then they come out laughing in the middle of the night?"

Yun Jisang smiled slightly: "If this is the case, then the senior sister must be the nemesis of these puppet spirits, otherwise why do they stop laughing when you come?" But Zhuo Anjie smiled freely: "Don't tell me, the laughter stopped when I opened the door, maybe they are really afraid of me. Hey, smile, let me listen..." She said , she pointed at the puppet in front of her.The puppet was obviously not afraid of her, and remained silent. Seeing her resentful look, Yun Jisang couldn't help shaking his head and laughing, and the haze in his heart was swept away.Zhuo Anjie rolled his eyes at him, and continued to shine with the lantern.

"Senior sister, look, if there are words in that puppet's eyes." Yun Jisang suspected that it was his hallucination, so he reminded. "Oh? There are words in the eyes? Let's see... oh, there are really words." She shined a lantern on the seal characters in the eyes of the puppet, and murmured, "The old roots of the rotten tree return to life. Destroy my sins , make me live forever." Frowning, he tilted his head and asked him, "What is this mess? Is it a spell?" Yun Jisang lightly traced the handwriting: "Maybe... look at the meaning of the first sentence, it means that wooden puppets can have life, as for the second sentence..." He shook his head, "I also I don’t understand. Among the classics I’ve read, I don’t remember which one has such a spell.”

Zhuo Anjie didn't take it seriously either: "You're not from the puppet gate, so naturally you don't know the origin of it, I'll ask that mule tomorrow." She looked around and said with a frown: "This place is very sneaky, It's weird and breathless. And the laughter just now is so sharp and thin, it doesn't seem like a human laughing..." Yeah, that laugh is really weird.When she opened the door by herself just now, the laughter also disappeared suddenly, but when the door was closed, it reappeared... Thinking of this, Yun Jisang's heart moved, she raised her head and said, "Senior sister, go and close the door." Zhuo Anjie said oddly : "Close the door? What are you doing?" But she still followed her advice and closed the door.The moment she closed the door, the weird laughter sounded again.Zhuo Anjie's complexion changed slightly, and she suddenly drew her sword.Yun Jisang stretched out his hand to stop her, and then put up a finger between his lips.The two held their breath, followed the laughter, and quietly touched the depths of the warehouse.Turning the corner, the two were stunned.

Standing quietly in front of them was a huge statue of Avalokitesvara with Thousand Hands.Avalokitesvara is carved from Gongsun wood, with thousands of hands stretched out behind it, and a slightly opened eye is engraved in the palm of each hand.Avalokitesvara is elegant and quiet, with a solemn treasure face, but for some reason, there seems to be a touch of sadness between her brows.A four-foot-high windmill stands in front of the Guanyin statue.The leaves of the windmill are made of copper foil, and the shaft end is divided into three parts, each of which is connected with a puppet boy.At this moment, the windmill was spinning endlessly, driven by the axle, the three boys were dancing, and the weird laughter came from their mouths. "It turns out that this thing is causing trouble." Yun Jisang looked at it for a while, pointed to the statue of Guanyin above the windmill and said, "Look, senior sister, the mouth of Guanyin is the air port. When the door is closed, the connecting rod drives Guanyin to open the mouth. Turn the windmill, touch the mechanism, and the boy will laugh. When the door is opened, the air inlet will be closed, and the boy will stop laughing." "So simple?" Zhuo Anjie was a little disappointed, what she thought was extremely weird, but when it came to her junior brother But it was easily solved in the mouth.

"Simple?" Yun Jisang smiled slightly, but didn't say much.This mechanism seems simple, but it is difficult to do.It is not only necessary to use gold, stone, silk and bamboo to make the puppets laugh, but also to understand the changes in wind force and even the structure of houses.It can be seen from this that the person who designed this mechanism must be an inexhaustible genius.Who is this person?Could it be that Wuxin? "I don't care about it, I'm sleepy, go back to sleep." After speaking, Zhuo Anjie turned around and walked away. After taking two steps, she turned around again, swung her sword, and cut off the axle. The puppet boy laughed. It stopped suddenly, "Disturbing people's dreams, you should kill..." Zhuo Nvxia muttered, stretched her long waist, stretched her slender waist to the fullest in front of her junior brother, and then went away gracefully.

Yun Jisang looked at the severed windmill, then at her graceful figure, shook his head and smiled wryly. Perhaps it was Zhuo Anjie's sword that cut off the pull of the nightmare, and Yun Jisang slept very soundly that night.Even when Luo Wenkong came to the door the next day, he was still sound asleep. Zhuo Anjie and Ming Huan woke up early.When Luo Yankong entered the room, Ming Huan was sitting obediently, and Ren Zhuo Anjie was braiding her hair.Although Yun Jisang took great care of her, he was a man after all, and some things were not as caring as women's. So since Zhuo Anjie came, this kind of private affairs of the daughter's family were handled by Zhuo Nvxia.Luo Yankong knew her temper, so he didn't dare to disturb her. After saying hello, he put down the food box in his hand, stood aside by himself, and watched with a smile.

Zhuo Anjie combed a double bun for Ming Huan, tied it with a red string, lightly touched her forehead with rouge, pulled her up and turned her head to look, then asked Luo Jiankong: "How is it? Our Ming Huan is beautiful Not yet?" Luo Jiankong hurriedly raised his thumbs high, nodded repeatedly and agreed. Ming Huan sat on the chair, squinted his eyes, and looked at the bronze mirror with a smile.Well, Xigu is so pretty, and Ming Huan is so cute too... The little girl became happier the more she looked at her, she hugged Zhuo Anjie and said coquettishly, "Xigu is so nice, Minghuan likes Xiguwei so much!"

Zhuo Anjie jokingly said, "Which one is the best, Xigu or Xifu?" One question caused Ming Huan to fall into a little trouble, and she had to support her little chin with her little finger , Hurt a little thought. "It's so early in the morning, what's the rush?" Zhuo Anjie casually pulled her long hair, inserted it with an ebony hairpin at an angle, dipped the towel into the cold water in the basin, wrung it dry, and asked while wiping her face road. Luo Yankong was staring at her hibiscus-like face in a daze, and hurriedly explained.It turned out that Wang Biyan had informed the sect master Cao Zhong about their visit yesterday.This time he came to lead them to meet the Cao sect master. Since it's at someone's door, this is what it should be.But Yun Jisang is not in good health, these days he has been restless and sleepless all night, it is rare to sleep well today, how could Zhuo Anjie have the heart to wake him up?Thinking of this, she frowned and said, "Junior brother hasn't woken up yet, and we haven't even had breakfast yet. Please tell Sect Master Cao, we will come to see you in an hour." "This..." Luo Jiankong said hesitantly, "How about I go say hello to Brother Yun?" Zhuo Anjie didn't say much, raised the water basin and poured it towards the door.Luo Yankong was startled, stepped back on tiptoe, and hurriedly said: "Okay, brother, I will retire first, hurry up, hurry up..." He didn't dare to talk, and left in embarrassment. Holding the basin between her hands, Zhuo Anjie flicked the wet towel loosely on her shoulders, her posture extremely free and easy.When Ming Huan saw her, she couldn't help being very envious, and thought: Xi Gu looks good, no wonder Xi Fu likes Xi Gu so much... Here, Zhuo Anjie has already lit a fire under the stove, put the breakfast brought by Luo Hankong in the cage to warm it, and called Ming Huan: "Ming Huan, watch the fire for me, call me when the water boils One sound." Seeing that Ming Huan responded sweetly, she came to the front of the dormitory, gently pushed the door open, and took a look with her head.In the tent, there was the sound of Yun Jisang's even breathing. The voice was shallow, like the oars beside me when I was swimming on the Qinhuai River at night, so gently, they slid across the glazed river water, leaving silent ripples... For some reason, she suddenly had a feeling of looking at him. A strong desire at a glance.Looking back at Ming Huan, he saw that the little girl was staring at the stove seriously.Her figure flickered slightly, and she had escaped into the house.She tiptoed to the bed, gently opened the curtain, and stared at him in deep sleep. That delicate face was still a bit haggard, but his expression was serene.There was even a slight smile on the corner of his lips... I don't know what he was dreaming of right now, but seeing his gentle appearance, it must be a good dream, right?But who is the person in the dream? The wind, the strong wind.Countless feathers are flying all over the sky, like white elves, descending silently... Every feather will melt like snowflakes and disappear when it falls to the ground.And Yunjisang stands in this snow-like whiteness, wandering freely. However, this beautiful silence was broken by a strange sound, a harsh, monotonous cacophony.Like the noise of the spinning wheel, like the nails of the dead in the tomb scraping the coffin and praying for the incantation in the quiet night, sad and desperate... This lifeless sound continued, attracting him to move forward, forward... The white feathers in front of his eyes became even more chaotic, and the vast white fluff was misty in front of his eyes. He seemed to see something, but it was blurry.So he continued on.Step by step, the white shattered under his feet, and when he took the last step, he finally saw it. A man in white with a vague face was sitting on a chair, silently carving a wooden puppet.The wind blew his white clothes, like a white spiritual banner, swaying with the wind.The carving knife is like a living thing in his hand, peeling, cutting, gouging, picking, spinning, and pressing. Among the sawdust flying like snowflakes, the puppet's muscles, bones, joints, fur, and teeth are all complete, and every place is fine. After all, it is a wonderful workmanship.Then, the man in white began to engrave words in the eyes of the puppet. The man in white carved carefully, stroke by stroke, all so pious, it seemed that he was not carving words, but creating a life.After engraving the last stroke, the puppet's eyeballs turned around slowly, then glanced at him strangely, and made a rustling noise in his mouth: "I...alive..." Yun Jisang opened his eyes suddenly.When he saw Zhuo Anjie's familiar face, he took a long breath, wiped off the cold sweat from his forehead, and asked hoarsely, "Senior Sister... what time is it?" "It's already time, you've been sleeping for a long time..." Zhuo Anjie hesitated, and asked in a low voice, "Have you had a nightmare again?" Yun Jisang shook her head.It must be that what I saw last night left a shadow in my heart, that's why I had such a weird dream, so I don't need to worry my senior sister. Zhuo Anjie didn't ask any more questions, and patted the quilt vigorously: "Get up and eat, Cao Zhong is waiting to see us, if you don't hurry up, that mule will talk again." After a night's rest, Ming Huan was alive and kicking again and ate three bowls of rice.Yun Jisang still had no appetite, he only ate half a bowl of rice, and he put down his chopsticks. "Eat more." Zhuo Anjie tapped the edge of his bowl with chopsticks. "Senior Sister, I..." "Do you want me to feed you myself?" Zhuo Anjie gave him a sideways look. Yun Jisang had no choice but to pick up the bowl, bit the bullet and ate the remaining half bowl of rice.Seeing him eating like medicine, Zhuo Anjie felt relieved and bitter at the same time. After breakfast, the three of them went out to Qiansi Hall. The architectural layout of the puppet gate is like a huge "meter" character, with the puppet shape at the far left end of the "meter" character, and Qiansi hall is located in the center of the "meter" character.The moment Yun Jisang stepped into the gate of the palace, a cold air emerged spontaneously.The hall is tall and deep, and between the beams, hundreds of human bodies of various shapes are quietly suspended in the air.Among them are great sages and hermits, sages and masters, more demons, ghosts, Buddhas and gods.These people are all detailed and lifelike, but the drooping limbs show their identities -- lifeless puppets. "These are the puppets of the patriarch of our family." A loud voice rang in his ears.Yun Jisang looked at the reputation, a middle-aged man in green clothes and a cloud crown stood in the lobby, looking at him with a calm expression, and Luo Yankong was standing by the side with his head bowed. Presumably, this is Cao Zhong, the master of the puppet sect.Cao Zhong is only in his forties this year, and he is in the prime of his life. Although he is middle-aged, he is tall, with fair skin and eyebrows like ink knives. He can be called a handsome man, but his hooked nose is slightly Shady prey.Destroyed the temperament of the whole person.Unexpectedly, the contemporary owner of the Puppet Sect was dressed very plainly. Not only was he wearing a half-new coarse cloth Tsing Yi, but the boots on his feet were worn down to a thin layer. Yun Jisang took a step forward and bowed his head as a salute: "Yun Jisang has met Master Cao. Jisang has a disability, so he cannot fully salute. If he is impolite, please forgive him." "Where, Yun Shaoxia is the pillar of the country. He broke his arm to serve the country, and he is so noble and righteous. How can he be rude? Please take a seat!" Cao Zhonglang said, and saluted Zhuo Anjie again. After exchanging pleasantries, several people took their seats one after another.Yun Jisang looked around the lobby, and found that the furnishings in the hall were very simple, and the tables and chairs were all ordinary things. Thinking of the rumors that the Puppet Gate was rich, he was slightly surprised.And Zhuo Anjie looked at those dangling puppets with great interest, obviously very interested in it. Cao Zhong smiled slightly, took a long pole from the wooden frame beside the pillar, picked out a puppet, and handed it to Zhuo Anjie.This puppet is in the image of a monkey king, and it is extremely exquisitely made, but there are silk threads on its hands and feet, so it is obviously not a hair-shaking puppet.Zhuo Anjie asked casually: "Is this a Xuansi puppet?" "Exactly, does Xia Zhuo also like puppets?" Zhuo Anjie smiled and said: "When I was playing in Sichuan, I saw the puppet show of 'Splitting the Mountain to Save My Mother'. Although those puppets are not as delicate as your puppets, they are all very big. They can also dress, light fire, drink tea, Kowtowing and dancing with knives are really interesting..." "What Zhuo Nv Xia saw must be a stick-head puppet, which is the favorite of Sichuan people. It is as famous as Longxi's puppet show, Heyang's thread cavity show, and Chaozhou's iron branch puppet." Cao Zhong said. He picked another puppet with connecting rods under his body, held it in his hand, and explained, "Look, this is a stick puppet. Its head is connected by a life rod, and its hands and elbows are connected by hand rods. Next, the artist manipulates the life pole and two hand poles below to make the puppet perform various actions. This kind of puppet has a fixed right fist and a hollow center, which can be used to insert props, dance knives and guns, so it is also called One is the martial hand, while the other is the writing hand, and the writing hand is further divided into the writing hand, the tentacle hand, the flower girl's hand, and the object lifting hand." Ming Huan also came over, stared at it for a while, and asked curiously: "Xi Gu, why does it have no feet?" Only then did Zhuo Anjie realize that the lower body of the puppet was hollow, and it really had no feet. "Most of the stick-headed puppets have no feet. If necessary, they need additional feet, which are also called beating feet. If they need one foot, they are called beating feet. If they want two feet, they are called beating feet. If the puppet does not wear shoes, Then it will be called..." "Barefoot." Zhuo Anjie said. "Bie Yuejian is indeed extremely intelligent." The two looked at each other and smiled.