During the reign of Emperor Zhongzong of the Tang Dynasty, the yellow leaves in Chang'an were rustling in the autumn wind, and it was rainy. After walking for more than nine months from cold to hot, Li Xuan, a boy from the Western Regions, finally came to Chang'an City.This is a distant city that his parents have been talking about in his ears from time to time since he was a child.It seems that in his life, he has a very important mission, which is to come to this mysterious city that is thousands of miles away. I remember that when my father was dying, he put a very old white jade tiger without a tail in his hand, and told him: "When you grow up, you must return to the Central Plains, to Chang'an, where is yours and your home... ..." Now, seven years have passed, and he has grown from an ignorant child to a handsome boy of nineteen years old. However, he still doesn't understand what this sentence means.

Moreover, Li Xuan felt that Chang'an didn't seem to welcome him, a young man from the west of Congling.As soon as we arrived here, it began to rain continuously.This rain curtain is like the scorpion that the ladies of the noble family here wear when they go out, covering Chang'an City with a veil made of water droplets. Water is the most precious thing in deserts and grasslands. Li Xuan never thought that it could also bring so many inconveniences and troubles. Before seeing the majestic and majestic palace, Li Xuan and the old servant Er Zhutuo came to this inn named "Lvyi Pavilion" first.This inn was built in the south of the West City of Chang'an.

Looking around, this inn is worthy of its name.There are not only bamboo beams and bamboo tiles, but even the floor and walls are woven or paved with thick bamboo slices.Walking in, one feels quiet and clean, and it would be an excellent place to live in during the hot summer.It's just that at this time, the autumn rain is continuous and the west wind is cold, which makes people feel chills. Li Xuan has lived in the Western Regions since he was a child, and he has never seen this kind of bamboo house. He was amazed, it looked very fresh, and he didn't sleep until midnight. Sleeping until the fourth watch, Li Xuan only felt the window paper crackling, and suddenly the cool wind outside blew a few drops of cold rain onto his face.He woke up suddenly, and softly called the old servant Erjutuo who was sleeping opposite, but he never heard the answer, nor did he hear Erjutuo's familiar snoring in the past, only a scorching smell filled the air.

Touching the copper candlestick on the table, after lighting it up, in the flickering blue light, he was surprised to find that the body of the old servant turned into a pile of broken bones accompanied by ashes!Wisps of green smoke were still rising and drifting away, Er Zhutuo's robe was only half burned, and a bony hand was still holding the handle of the iron mo knife.Is this a nightmare?Li Xuan shouted loudly, but suddenly flames burst out from all over the house, and everything was reduced to ashes, including Li Xuan's luggage. In the luggage, there were Polu Ointment, Dipterocarp and Gandhara Tree Incense, which they had peddled thousands of miles from Persia in the Western Region.However, compared to these, the inexplicable death of the old servant Er Zhutuo made Li Xuan even more heartbroken. This old servant had been with Li Xuan since he was a child.At this moment, in his heart, he kept recalling the scene of his childhood.

On the grassland full of wild flowers, the old servant Er Zhutuo held him in his arms, looked at the towering snow mountains and the vast sky in the east, and sang in a rough voice: Li Xuan cried: "Is this the Chang'an you've been looking forward to day and night? You tell me how good Chang'an is from time to time, and you bring me here after traveling thousands of miles. Is this the ending?" In grief and indignation, Li Xuan grabbed the chubby shopkeeper with a yellow beard who lived in the inn, and asked him for an explanation.In the end, the shopkeeper insisted that it was Li Xuan and the others who fell under the evil curse on the way from the Western Regions, and even burned down two rooms in the inn.

When he said this, Li Xuan couldn't help becoming suspicious: Although the old servant Er Zhutuo was old, he was still supernaturally powerful and alert.Li Xuan can use stones to knock down low-flying vultures, and he personally taught him this unique skill.On the way from the Western Regions to Chang'an, I don't know how many gangs of thieves I met, robbing and stealing their property, but Er Zhutuo easily subdued them.How could he be plotted against without anyone noticing?How could it suddenly become a broken bone in the ashes? Li Xuan suddenly remembered that at dusk yesterday, Chang'an City, which he had been looking forward to day and night, appeared in front of him unexpectedly so quickly.They were smiling happily, and walking on the Weishui Bridge in the setting sun, they saw a sloppy Taoist with white hair and sackcloth sitting beside the stone railing at the head of the bridge, looking at them with a strange smile, and then they didn't know where to pick them up. He took out a piece of white cloth and slowly unfolded it towards them.

I saw a hideous and ferocious god painted with cinnabar on the cloth, wearing armor and a crown, holding a stick in his right hand and holding a tower in his left.Strange to say, Li Xuan had a feeling of deja vu on the face of this god.At that time, the old servant Er Zhutuo's face turned pale, and his eyes seemed to have seen the most terrifying thing in his life, showing a kind of fear that he had never experienced before. Ever since Li Xuan was a child, he had never seen Er Zhutuo look so terrified. He just wanted to ask, but Er Zhutuo quickly covered his mouth with his hand, and hurried away with his hand as if fleeing for his life.He had never been so afraid when they encountered wolves on the grassland.

Could it be that this Taoist is an evil spirit who deceives people's hearts and kills people's lives? At this time, the sky was already bright, and a large group of people gathered from nowhere, chatting at the door of the inn about all kinds of strange and mysterious things that happened in Chang'an City in the past year. A middle-aged man dressed as a merchant said: "A few months ago, there was a rain of blood in Fengxiang, a hundred miles away, and there were many corpses of birds and beasts, as well as human heads and severed limbs. A big stone lion weighing a thousand catties fell down, good guy, it fell into the yard of old man Zhang, and knocked down three mud houses at home." Then, the man lowered his voice, "The government is jealous of this disaster, Let everyone not pass it on, and hastily bury it with soil..."

Another long-bearded old man said: "Late at night a few days ago, ghosts were heard singing poems loudly in more than a dozen houses in the south of Chang'an City. There is a moon in the vast room." Then another ghost answered: "Jiuqu is born, why bother, the soil in Chang'an is as high as the locust tree roots." The voice is not to mention how scary. Some people said that they saw two tall people. A ten-foot-long white-robed ghost flew over the roof. I heard people say that there are many demons living under Chang'an City. The leader is a female monster called Mrs. Dimu, who drinks the fresh brains of living people every day. What a ghost..."

A fortune teller slowly picked up the teacup and said: "In my opinion, the most terrifying thing is that comets and meteors often appear in the night sky this year to invade Ziwei Palace. I'm afraid there will be a bloody storm!" Li Xuan walked up to the fortune-teller and asked eagerly: "On the Weishui bridge, that scruffy Taoist with white hair in sackcloth, do you know his whereabouts?" The fortune-teller rolled his eyes: "He lives in a ghost house in Anyi. Do you dare to go?" The crowd was in an uproar again.This old house is one of the three legendary ghost houses in Chang'an City. It is said that in this old house, there used to be a founding hero named Fang who lived in this old house. cut.Afterwards, the house was also rewarded to others. However, the people who lived in this house later suffered bad luck, died of strange diseases, or died violently in prison.So this place has become a deserted and empty house.

And here is called the haunted house, which began in the winter of a certain year. A group of children were playing football. Accidentally, the ball flew into the abandoned house with the gate closed.The children went over the wall to find the ball, and walked into the main hall of the lobby by accident.It was here that they saw an incredible scene.On the ground in the main hall, a very huge strange face suddenly appeared. This face was very terrifying, glowing with blue light, and rolled its eyes at them.The children ran away screaming and soon became seriously ill, and people have called it the haunted house ever since. Later, many more sensational and strange things happened here. These rumors can last for several hours. Li Xuan heard that the most recent thing happened in the winter five years ago. There was a butcher who slaughtered pigs. He was usually very courageous and very strong. He could lift two big fat pigs that had been slaughtered at once.He was drunk that day and made a bet with others, saying that if he dared to sleep in this ghost house for one night, everyone would give him a thousand copper coins.That day, it was snowing heavily, the stars and the moon were dark, and after the burly butcher let his temper go, he didn't come out again. A few people had the courage to go in at noon when the day was hanging high, and saw a hemp rope stained with old blood on the beam in the lobby hanging around the neck of the butcher. Laughter is not a smile, so scary.The strangest thing was that although the room was spacious, it was empty. This man's feet were half a person's height above the ground. How did he hang himself?Moreover, in the yard after Xuehou, there were only footprints left by himself, and there was no trace of anyone else. The matter was not over yet, and the three people who entered the house later died within seven days.The method of death was exactly the same as that of the butcher, they both died by hanging themselves.It's just that some were hanged on the beams at home, and some were hanged on locust trees outside the city. Since then, everyone has been afraid to avoid this old Fang family's house, and no one has ever entered it again. Although he heard all these horrible things from everyone, at dusk, the helpless Li Xuan led his snow-capped white camel and stood in front of Fang's old house in Anyifang. The rain in Chang'an has been falling, making Li Xuan very upset.In the Western Regions, the blue sky is always so blue, and the white clouds are always so white, which makes people open-minded and refreshing.But at this time, the rain curtain like turbulent fluff and silk hit his whole body and mind cold and sticky. Finally, after gusts of cold wind blew, the rain that had lasted for several days suddenly stopped, and a crescent moon appeared in the clouds.There is still a piece of bluestone embedded on the forehead of Fang's old house, and the inscription "Edict to build Liang Guogong Fang's house", it seems that this is the mansion bestowed by the emperor back then.Although some of the handwriting is a bit blurred after years of weathering, it is still full of vigor and elegance. On the Zhumen, the thick red paint has long been mottled and peeled off. There are incomplete and scattered paper strips crossed on the cracks of the door. I don’t know whether they are seals from the government or talismans from the temple. These paper strips, which were originally red, have been washed away by long-term rain. It turned pale white, and it looked like a spiritual lottery from a funeral. The snow-capped white camel that Li Xuan was holding in his hand suddenly backed away in fear for some reason, and let out a cry of "Wow".Li Xuan's heart tightened: Could it be that there is something weird in it?Holding his beloved snow-capped white camel, Li Xuan gently stroked the soft fur under its neck with his hands to calm it down.However, Fang's old house had to be entered, because he had heard people say that the sloppy Taoist priest in sackcloth and white hair often walked into this house. This is the only clue to solve the mystery in his heart. There was silence all around, and the corners of the eaves were still dripping with rain, making a clear sound.The thick house door was not locked, but was tied by a half-rotten grass rope. Li Xuan broke it with a little force, and the stagnant door hinge made a dull sound, as if it was a hoarse voice from the chest of an old man.Li Xuan was a little nervous, and took out the Pansteel Yuchang Sword from his bosom, and a cold light flashed under the moonlight. When I entered the door, I saw broken bricks and tiles all over the ground, and weeds up to my knees.Facing the gate, there is a brick screen wall, covered with dead vines and wild vines, and covered with dirt. For a moment, he couldn't see what was originally carved. Li Xuan was only surprised that there was a table-sized stone on the screen wall. The tortoise was broken into two pieces, and a corner of the screen wall was crushed.As if someone got angry, picked up the big stone turtle and threw it on it.But this stone turtle weighs at least a thousand catties, who can have such great strength? What's even more strange is that the eyes of this big stone turtle seem to be made of some gemstones. The turtle's body is covered with mud and moss, but only these two eyes are shining brightly, as if it is a hidden spiritual creature, secretly watching everything Uninvited guests who trespass. At this moment, the Snow Mountain White Camel seemed to smell something, and neighed uncomfortably.A gust of cold wind came in from the half-covered house door, blowing the weeds and vines all over the yard to rustle. Li Xuan felt his hair stand on end. In the darkness, there seemed to be countless ghosts whispering and sneering. Li Xuan made up his mind, gritted his teeth, closed the door of the house, and tied the reins of the snow-capped white camel to the horse tethering stone on the east wall.On the top of the horse tethering stone, there is a sculpture of a barbarian with a protruding nose, deep eyes and bearded cheeks. This image is somewhat similar to Er Zhutuo. Li Xuan felt sour and could not help but burst into tears. Thinking of Er Zhutuo, a cloud of vengeful anger rose in Li Xuan's heart, and most of the fear was burned away. He grasped the Pan Steel Fish Intestine Sword tightly, stepped across the chaotic grass, then picked up the steps, and went straight to the middle hall. There are three bluestone steps in front of the middle hall, which have been crooked and crooked. However, although it is withered and dilapidated, covered with dust and vines, you can still see the grandeur of the house at that time. A plaque hangs high on the main hall, which reads "Yun Huitang" three big characters.The nave has a temple structure, with flying eaves and bucket arches, lion-headed columns, white jade railings, and fans with lattices to the sky.The hollow wood carvings on it are extremely exquisite, seeming to be patterns of wealth and auspiciousness, without any decay or damage, which shows that the wood is fine and precious. Li Xuan didn't care to look at it at this time.The door of the main hall was ajar, and the door knocker was covered with a strand of hair stained with blood. There was a white mark on the door that seemed to be left after scraping off the red paint with a knife. It was more than three feet long, and it read There are four black characters: "Whoever opens it dies!" Li Xuan was stunned for a while, he was not frightened by these words, but because he knew a monk from Tianzhu when he was in the Western Regions, he was proficient in magic tricks, he saw that Li Xuan was smart and eager to learn, so he told him some tricks People's mechanisms are ingenious, like dark crossbows, flying arrows and so on.Therefore, Li Xuan paid attention and did not dare to enter rashly. Li Xuan had an idea, thinking that there is something weird about the door, I might as well go in through the window, this is a haunted house, what etiquette do I have to say, I am not allowed to open the door, I can just jump in through the window. Thinking of this, he smiled dumbly, and turned to the side window sill, only to see that the window sill was covered with cobwebs, and there was a black thing the size of a bowl in the middle.Li Xuan folded it up with a fire to take a picture, and was so scared that he gasped again! It turned out that on the cobweb of the window sill, there was a huge spider with blue-green spots lying on its body. This spider was more than a hundred times bigger than ordinary spiders. It was almost the size of a soft-shelled turtle. Li Xuan stepped back subconsciously and stared at the poisonous spider carefully. However, the poisonous spider remained motionless. Is this guy sleeping?Still ready to go?Li Xuan couldn't figure it out either. He gritted his teeth, picked up a piece of watermelon-sized gravel from the ground, and slowly lifted it up, trying to give the poisonous spider a hard blow. Suddenly, there was a rustling sound behind him, and Li Xuan roared: "Who is it?" When he turned around to look, he saw that the grass was turning like a wave of water, and he vaguely saw something running towards the northwest corner at high speed.Li Xuan quickly ran a few steps, and suddenly thought, this thing must not be leading me to an ambush in some mechanism, so he slowed down, but after hesitating, the thing disappeared. In the northwest corner of the yard, it seems that it used to be a lotus fish pond, but now it is covered with mud and covered with reeds half the height of a person, and there is still a branch of white lotus timidly blooming in the corner of the pond.According to Li Xuan's feeling, it seems that the thing has gone to the octagonal glazed well by the pool. This well is surrounded by jade railings carved with chilongs, but it has long been crumbling, damaged and broken.The mouth of the well is octagonal, inlaid with green glazed tiles, and there is a chill in the moonlight.Inoue's potter's wheel seemed to be in good condition, but when Li Xuan touched it, it looked like a lump of clay powder, and the shaft was all broken. Because of the hazy night, the well couldn't be seen how deep it was. Li Xuan could only smell blood and rancid smell from the bottom of the well, which was disgusting.He picked up a small stone and dropped it gently from the mouth of the well, trying to judge the depth of the well from the sound of the water. Li Xuan was listening attentively, when suddenly there were bursts of baby crying from the well. The crying was so horrific that one really wanted to jump into the well to save the baby, but after thinking about it, no one has come into this house for many years, why? Will there be babies in the well?Still alive?And this "baby" hasn't cried all the time, so why did he start crying when I came to the well?This baby must be a ghost who died long ago. Perhaps he was thrown into this well when he was still in his infancy during the catastrophe of destroying his family, so his ghost has lingered to this day. Although Li Xuan is usually quite courageous, at this moment, the more he thinks about it, the more afraid he becomes. Look around carefully, if there is no trace of this person, I will leave. Thinking of this, Li Xuan smiled wryly and shook his head: Li Xuan, Li Xuan, you are still scared, you should find a reason to comfort yourself!However, while staring at the mouth of the well, he backed away and returned to the main hall. Li Xuan remembered that there was still a giant spider waiting on the window lattice, so he came to the main entrance again.At this time, the moonlight was like water, and the ground was covered with silver frost.Thinking of the self-comforting words just now, Li Xuan had another idea in his heart. He thought: Anyway, I am here to search for the trace of that mad Taoist. It is neither hunting ghosts nor stealing treasure. I don’t have to open this door. Just dig a small hole in the door and peek at what's inside.Thinking of this, Li Xuan was very proud. He held a sharp pan-steel fish intestine sword, and with a little force, he dug a small hole the size of a copper coin on the door. Li Xuan put his eyes on the door opening, it was dark inside, and he couldn't see anything, only the moonlight shining through the window.Li Xuan thought to himself, if I don’t do it, I won’t stop. Anyway, it’s digging holes, small ones, and big ones, so I might as well dig bigger ones.He swung his dagger and poked it hard, only to hear a "squeak", the door on the left had been pierced open by him. It turned out that the two hall doors were only tied by a strand of blood-stained hair. Li Xuan only tried to dig the hole, but he didn't expect the strand of hair to be torn off by him because of its limited endurance.Li Xuan was startled, subconsciously took two steps back, afraid that something weird would happen. However, he stood there for a full stick of incense, but did not see any changes.Whether the incantation of "open is dead" is effective or not, anyway, the door is opened, Li Xuan no longer has any scruples at this time, he lit a pine branch with fire, and walked in. The interior is very different from the yard. The yard is messy, but the interior is extremely empty, without any debris, but the ground is covered with dust, and half of a black hemp rope hangs from the huge beam in the middle.Li Xuan immediately realized that this was the place where the butcher who trespassed five years ago was in a strange place! When he was panicking, Li Xuan smelled a faint fragrance and was startled. He had heard people say that there are many masters who use poison in the rivers and lakes. people, and even take their lives directly.Li Xuan was so frightened that he held his breath and jumped out of the door.He calmed down, but fortunately, there was nothing unusual in his whole body. Bypassing the lobby and turning around a rocky rockery, what appears in front of you is the back hall in the courtyard.I saw half of the door of the back hall folded down on the stone steps, and the inside was also empty.The east side of the back hall looks like a Buddhist hall. Li Xuan was stunned when he walked in holding a torch. I saw that on the throne in the middle of the Buddhist hall, what is enshrined is not the common Buddha or Bodhisattva, but a ferocious god. This god wears armor and a crown, holds a stick in his right hand, and holds a pagoda in his left.It was the picture on the white cloth that the mad Taoist showed them that day on the Weishui Bridge! Li Xuan suddenly remembered why this god seemed so familiar to him.When he was in the Western Regions, he was about five or six years old. His father was still alive at that time. One day his father carried him on a tall horse and ran for a long time on the gravel of the Gobi. He came to the edge of a majestic red stone cliff. There is a god engraved impressively. Although it is bigger and more majestic, its appearance is almost the same as this statue. His father looked dignified, and he knelt down in front of the statue of the god with him. When he was young, he saw the ferocious appearance of the god, and said timidly, "Father, the appearance of the god is so scary!" His father stroked his head gently. Say, "Don't be afraid, he is the god of our house." He is the god of our house?How did it appear here?But why did strange things happen after meeting him, and the old servant Erjutuo lost his life?Did we offend this god when we came to Chang'an? Li Xuan carefully looked around this statue taller than a human being, and found that the statue was made of bronze, which was strong and heavy. Under the altar was a large bluestone slab. Could there be any secrets under it? ?Li Xuan thought about it, this statue is too heavy, even if there is something hidden underneath, he can't do anything about it, so let's look elsewhere. In the northeast corner of the yard is a small two-story building. Although compared with the front hall and the back hall, it looks small and exquisite, but the cornices are high and the carvings are exquisite. A lot of thought and money. Although it was the first time for Li Xuan to set foot in Zhongtu, his family had told him the customs and anecdotes of the Tang Dynasty since he was a child, so he suddenly thought: This is an embroidery building, where the young lady of the mansion lived. Walking up the stairs built of fragrant nanmu boards, where the torches illuminated, I saw a messy scene upstairs: a sea animal grape mirror was broken into two pieces on the floor, and a piece of rhinoceros jade was placed on the desk. Jincai Yaoqin, the strings have long been broken and scattered, and it is also covered with bird droppings.On the large embroidered frame in front of the window, a beautiful picture of a mandarin duck is only half-embroidered, a male mandarin duck is floating alone, the water plants and lotus are not finished, and there are more than a dozen holes eaten by insects. Beside the ivory bed, a pair of placket tulle with large sleeves lay on the floor, stained with blood.On the whitewashed wall covered with dust and cobwebs, there were faintly two lines of writing. Li Xuan moved the torch closer, and saw that it seemed to be a poem, the first half of which was blurred. The roots, □□Qingfeng fell down several times. At that time, the hand-stitched clothes were covered with flowers, but today they are dusty." The handwriting is beautiful and neat, and it seems to be the daughter's handwriting. "At that time, the hand-embroidered clothes were covered with flowers, but today they are ashamed." Li Xuan thought for a while, no, this tone is clearly full of ghosts, this is feeling the current situation, if it is the lady in this embroidered building The question that was asked back then, could she have predicted all this now?If this is the case, then she must have returned here after turning into a ghost! Li Xuan was concentrating on daydreaming when he suddenly felt a burning smell coming to his nostrils.He turned his head and couldn't help being startled. It turned out that he was only thinking about the strange poems in this building, but he didn't expect that the torch in his hand accidentally ignited the pomegranate red curtain on the ivory bed. Pull down the curtain to put out the fire.Li Xuan was in a hurry, and managed to stamp out the fire on the curtain, and was about to breathe a sigh of relief, but suddenly turned his head, and was so frightened that he was drenched in cold sweat. On the ivory bed, there was a pure white fox lying on a honey-colored gold-threaded begonia silk quilt. Although this fox looked like An Tian was sleeping soundly, this scene was really weird. A vixen's lair? Just thinking of this, suddenly there are flowers scattered above the head like a goddess, and golden petals fall like rain.Li Xuan smelled a fragrance similar to that of chrysanthemums. Immediately afterwards, the scene in front of him gradually became blurred, and the bones in his entire body seemed to be penetrated and melted by the fragrance.He collapsed to the ground, unconscious.