Chapter 6 Chapter 6 The Big Dipper Array

Autumn came late in Beijing this year. It was almost November, and the old Chinese toon trees in Liulichang began to have yellow leaves falling.In the morning mist, I carried a few "secret books" left by my family in my arms, flicked the keys in one hand, and strode towards Zhengtian Zhai.The reason why I rushed to open the store so early was not because old man Joe gave me a raise, but because I felt that reading in a store full of all kinds of antiques and second-hand goods gave me a stronger sense of substitution and a better integration. But on this day, old man Joe arrived earlier than me.

"I'm sorry to let you come to open the shop every day! Hehe..." The old man Qiao's eyes were bloodshot, as if he hadn't slept all night, but he seemed to be in good spirits, because he had a wretched face and a treacherous smile . "What! Did you go out to work again last night?" Putting down the books, I picked up the broom and prepared to sweep away the fallen leaves at the door. I am usually too lazy to do this kind of work. Today the boss is here, so I have to show it. "Don't be so busy, go back and get ready. We're leaving this afternoon. I've bought all the tickets."

"What about the business?" Since I promised to take him back to my hometown, I have been waiting for his words, but now I pretend to evade. "Business! It's not just relying on the storefront. I told Niyue that she won't open the stalls anymore, so just stay at home." "But I'm not ready yet! At least I have to buy some meeting gifts for the folks, right?" "What the fuck, we don't even need to meet each other. Let's go secretly at night and come back as soon as we're done. You think we're going on a trip!" Old man Qiao couldn't help yelling loudly, maybe he felt a little too much, besides, I still have to lead the way on this trip!So he said in a soft tone: "We are going to work, and it is inconvenient to carry things. If we meet folks, wouldn't it be more decent to give them money directly?"

After he finished speaking, he took out a stack of money from his pocket and handed it to me without counting, but he changed his mind immediately and took back several in a row. After thinking about it, he might still feel distressed, so he stretched out his hand in front of me, He said with a rascal face: "Give me that waist card first! You don't know how to use it anyway." ... Another two days and one night of torture!As soon as I got on the train, I felt uncomfortable all over. The sequelae of the last fatigue have not been completely eliminated yet!What's more, the luggage is big and heavy this time.Old man Qiao felt relaxed, he twisted the small army bag and squeezed it in.

"What's in your bag? Is it dry food?" As soon as I sat down, I couldn't wait to ask, just because I almost starved to death on this journey last time. Old man Qiao didn't answer, but quietly closed a gap, I poked my head over to take a look, and shuddered suddenly, the bag contained an extremely ugly little animal. This dog-like, monkey-like thing is curled up in a corner, and the whole body seems to have bloated skin—there is not much hair left, replaced by black spots.What's even more disgusting is that Old Man Qiao even covered his face with a mask, holding it in his arms like a child.

"This...is this stuff edible?" I wiped off my bristling hair, and said something that even I didn't understand. The old man Qiao seemed to be disdainful, but he ignored it and simply moved his head out of the window. "If you hide it in the bag like this, it won't suffocate." "Hey! It won't die even if it's buried in the soil. You'll know later." Old man Qiao made a perfunctory sentence and continued to enjoy the "beautiful scenery" outside the window.I am the person who is most afraid of sitting bored, thinking that there is still a long way to go, I can't help but find some topics about feng shui tombs to chat with him.After flattering and flattering, old man Qiao obviously became interested. He was very reluctant at first, asking and answering every sentence like squeezing toothpaste. Later, he got out of control. Beautiful work, all exposed to the sun.In the end, I brought the topic to the thing in his army bag——

"This is called a dog. It was originally just a very common dog in the mountainous area of ​​Fujian Province, but it is good at digging the soil. The Hakka people often raise it to catch snakes and mice. My ancestor of the Xiangtumen took a fancy to this. After generations of domestication , not only can dig soil and make holes, but also smell the dead body in the deep underground, and most importantly, if you encounter a collapse or get trapped, it can quickly dig out an airway for you, don’t you think it’s a baby? .” "Awesome." I replied, it seems that the identity of this animal is similar to mine, and it is also a product to be used.

... The time passed so quickly with someone as a companion, and I arrived in Baotou before I knew it. At this time, I had to admire the physical strength of the old man Qiao. Except for a nap, he was giving speeches all the time. Also full of energy.This... is it because he has good physical strength, or is there something he desperately desires in the tomb of the Taoist priest, giving him infinite motivation? "How long is the journey to Dabagou?" "Walk, at least two or three hours." "Then take a rest first, and then go in after dark." Old man Qiao waved his hand and walked straight to the station.

"What? It's all mountain roads, and it's not easy to walk when it's dark." I was a little anxious. "Are you afraid of the dark when doing this job? Alright! People in the mountains go to bed early, so let's go at sunset." Old man Qiao didn't stop, and took me to an alley, where there was a mutton noodle restaurant. After ordering two bowls of noodle soup, he lowered his head and fiddled with the "callous dog". "Seeing that you know the way, have you been here?" "Well! I came here once a few years ago. I have a fellow apprentice who works in Guangjue Temple, and he called him to come to Xiangdi that year." Old man Qiao was still very talkative, but he was very vigilant, and he used all code words. "At that time, he burned wolf smoke for me (reporting the letter) and said that there was a deep bucket (big tomb) nearby. According to his estimation, it was above Chi (prince) level, but he was not sure, so he stubbornly called me Come."

"Oh! Is it clean?" "No, that fight is too evil..." Old man Qiao shuddered unconsciously, and he could see that he still had lingering fears in his heart. After that, he kept silent and let me provoke him.In the end, he became a little angry from embarrassment. "Hey! Let me tell you why you are so talkative like a girl. You like to ask questions all day long. Let me tell you, put it away when you are working. It is the most taboo thing in this line of work." Being robbed by him, I was so bored for a while, and looking at the mangy dog ​​in his arms, I really didn't have the appetite to eat, so I took a casual sip of soup and urged him to go on the road early.

It was just after noon at this time, the old man Joe continued to wander around in a leisurely manner, which was a pain for me, his big bag of luggage weighed dozens of catties, and he walked with a "clang clang clang" sound, tired Needless to say, the strange eyes of others are uncomfortable enough.Fortunately, the sunset came early in autumn, and after walking a few streets, Old Man Qiao rented a bicycle, and the two of them dragged their feet towards the dam ditch. The sometimes winding and sometimes steep mountain road is really difficult to walk, not to mention pushing a bicycle. Old man Qiao is completely stupefied with this trick, but he explained it this way - riding a bicycle into the mountain will not arouse people's speculation, it is as if you are a neighboring village Yes, it's a cover-up. But in fact, I hardly met a single person along the way. When we arrived at Dabagou, the entire valley was already shrouded in darkness.Looking around, the village is so quiet, only a few sporadic lights.Without stopping, I led Old Man Qiao around the side of the village, climbed the top of the dam, and went straight to the ditch where the strange corpse was buried. As soon as he turned around the mountain pass, old man Qiao stopped suddenly, and said in a state of anxiety, "This place is so strange, it has such a strong evil spirit." "What evil spirit? It must be the dark wind blowing from the mountains at night!" I looked around without knowing it, maybe because of the infection, in the darkness, I only felt that the familiar scene in the past became a little hideous. Old man Qiao glared at me with contempt, then squatted down, let the mangy dog ​​out, took off his mask, and chanted something to it, and just as he finished speaking, he saw a black shadow "whoosh" towards the ground. Running to the center of the ditch, and finally stopped at the edge of the collapsed pit... "Ah! That's it, this guy is really good!" I couldn't help admiring from the bottom of my heart. "Put the car down and bring the bag here." At this time, the old man Qiao changed completely, his expression was extremely focused, and his words were much more concise. He untied the backpack, first took out two flashlights, and after giving me one, he took out a few iron rods from inside, fiddled with them, and connected them into a crowbar like a conjuring... Has Cheng Luoyang shoveled it?There are introductions in the book.I watched intently, as if I was taking a tomb robbery practice class. Old man Qiao walked slowly towards the sinkhole with a crowbar, and I followed closely behind, silently paying attention to his every movement and even every detail.He put the mangy dog ​​back into the army bag, took out a compass from his pocket, adjusted it with a flashlight, looked up at the sky for a while, and pinched his fingers for gestures. It turns out that the tomb robbers need to use this thing, so I will get one later.Thinking of this, I leaned over and asked, "Old Joe, where can I buy this thing?" When the old guy was interrupted by me like this, he suddenly became angry, his face was as green as a bitter melon, and his eyes seemed to want to peel me alive.Suddenly, he took out a copper coin out of nowhere and stuffed it into my mouth quickly. "Hold it, don't drop it, or you will be in trouble. Uh! This is the rule of Xiangtumen..." What nonsense rules, you don't include it yourself, you obviously think I talk too much.I was feeling aggrieved when I suddenly heard him say in surprise: "Not good! Geng Shennian's dragon head is against Dui, Li...ah! The scenery of sixty dragons in the sky, the extremely fierce place...how could this happen?" At this time, Joe's head looks like he has Parkinson's disease, and his hands are shaking constantly. What made him so shocked?I really want to know, and even more want to tell him, that strange corpse can take souls, but it suffers from the copper coin in its mouth, and I am afraid that if it falls, it will cause scolding.Uneasy, I saw old man Qiao put away the compass, shined the flashlight into the pit, and then jumped down... I thought it was too late to stop him, knowing that he would definitely come face to face with the dead body, so I waited for him to let out a scream of "wow", and then climbed up in desperation.There was no movement in the material for a long time, but light was shining in the hole instead. I looked up and saw that the old guy was holding a candle in his hand, and he was chanting mantras while burning the amulets. After working for a long time, he covered the head of the monster corpse with a yellow cloth covered with cinnabar spells, turned around and climbed out of the collapsed pit. "That's right, this is a robbery hole, but the back section has collapsed." Old man Qiao said solemnly, "Judging from the traces of digging the hole, it's indeed our Xiangtumen's method." I pointed to my mouth, indicating that I wanted to take out the copper coins, but the old man ignored him, raised his wrist and looked at the luminous watch, and said to me: "Now that you have passed, the ground just broke. Master Ren's body blocked the way, we Go down first and widen the tunnel, and you can watch the wind from above." I was about to see a real tomb robber. I was excited for a while, and quickly pushed the big backpack in front of old man Qiao, thinking that the tools used by this professional master must be very special.Unexpectedly, the next scene left me dumbfounded.Old man Joe quickly opened his backpack, and what he took out was a miner's hat and a gas mask... Pooh!How is this different from digging coal? Old man Joe noticed my disappointed expression, he smiled wretchedly, and pulled out a bundle of iron tools from his bag pretending to be mysterious, and after a burst of dazzling patchwork, a tool in the shape of a lotus flower appeared in his hand. Isn't this the "lotus shovel" introduced in the book?It was the one that eliminated the "Kaishan Drill", and it was indeed much more dexterous.I suddenly remembered the introduction of the tomb-robbing tools. It seems that this thing is really magical, otherwise it would not have been handed down for hundreds of years. Old man Qiao played with himself intoxicated for a while, and suddenly his face tightened, and he turned over and jumped down the sinkhole. Then, there was a sound of digging in the hole. At this time, the night was dark and the wind was high, and the whole valley was dead silent. The insects that had been singing one after another in the past disappeared for some reason, which made the monotonous sound of digging even more piercing.I spat out the copper coins in my mouth, and squatted by the pit with my arms around my knees, saying that this was the first time I was a thief in my life, so I felt a little uneasy and confused.But this was done out of helplessness. If they did not learn the tomb-robbing technique, they would not be able to find the golden coffin of the Xiongnu, and the Geng family would continue to suffer from the wolf curse... This relief made me feel a lot better. After about a cigarette, the sound of digging suddenly stopped. I moved my head and pricked up my ears holding my breath, but there was no movement below for a long time, only the faint candle flame flickering. It must have opened up the tomb, maybe the old man Qiao is full of enthusiasm for the ghost weapon!Unable to restrain myself, I put the copper coins back in my mouth, grabbed the large shriveled backpack on the ground and jumped down. Who would have thought that this reckless move would bring about a gust of wind, and "suddenly" flip the yellow cloth covering the monster's head to the ground, so I came face to face with it again.With the experience and lessons from last time, I quickly looked away, and I was blaming myself when I heard old man Qiao scolding from the depths of the cave, "What are you doing down here!" I tilted my head, and saw five or six meters away, old man Qiao was holding a few candles in his hand, and was staring at me with angry eyes.Fortunately, he didn't notice the fall of the yellow cloth, and I covered it with my body as a matter of course, spat out the copper coins and said, "Seeing that you haven't moved, people are worried that something will happen to you!" "If something happened to me, you shouldn't come down, and don't look at what you are." Although the old man Qiao was still blaming, his face was obviously much better, and he said softly: "Come here!" At this time, the pit was not as smelly as last time. Walking four or five meters into the newly dug hole, the line of sight suddenly became deep. Looking carefully, it turned out that I was in a gloomy and empty tomb.I saw old man Qiao erecting candles on the four sides of the tomb. Even so, the surrounding area was still dark, which made people feel very guilty. I shivered and turned on the flashlight, and slowly took care of it from far to near. This is an extremely simple tomb chamber, square in shape and less than thirty square meters in size, similar in appearance to the air-raid shelter in the alley of Nanliu Street. It's a khaki color. "Ah..." Suddenly, I saw an impossible thing on the wall of the tomb - a window. "It was painted on. Taoist tombs like to fix this." Old man Qiao explained slowly, with a rather disdainful tone. Although I knew it was just a mural, it still gave me an extremely uncomfortable feeling, as if I was in a stranger's house, and the owner was hiding in a corner and peeping at me... "It really is Li Zhi's tomb." Old man Qiao stood in front of me at some point, lowering his head and talking to himself.I slowly touched it, and my heart was shocked again. It turned out that there was a large coffin lying horizontally in the center of the tomb, and old man Qiao was looking at it intently. Because the top of the coffin was also coated with a layer of white plaster, the same color as the cave wall, so I never noticed it. At this time, under the flickering candlelight, it flickered and flickered, which looked very strange. "It seems that Master Ren didn't come in back then." "You... how do you know?" I said it out of the mouth, in fact, I wanted to stabilize my uneasy emotions by talking non-stop. "Don't ask such a stupid question, okay? Look, the coffin is intact, without any trace of being touched. Besides, the robbery hole has not been pierced." The old guy is really unreasonable, how did I know that the robbery hole was not opened!But I didn't want to argue with him, so I pretended to turn my eyes to the coffin.Upon closer inspection, there were actually three characters written in cinnabar on it—Yuhua, Li.I know Taoists call death "emergence". Maybe old man Qiao deduced from this that Li Zhi was lying in the coffin. It seems that in order to become a master of tomb robbers, in addition to rich experience and knowledge, reasoning ability is also very important!With emotion, the old man Qiao had already started to act. He first scattered talisman papers everywhere to make the atmosphere even more eerie, and then put on the mask, looking like he was facing an enemy.I quickly retreated to the side, only to see him take out a hammer and a chisel... What kind of skill is this?Forced demolition? It is said that these two things are really effective. With a little bit of effort, the mud on the coffin was removed in sevens and eights, revealing the bright yellow coffin boards.Old man Qiao took out my waist card, the so-called "opening acupuncture points to ward off evil spirits like a law", I immediately cheered up and paid close attention to his every movement. I saw him put the side engraved with the word "Open" face up on the coffin lid, then kept beating around it, and finally stopped on the side of the coffin, shouting "Open"... At this moment, an incredible scene appeared Yes, with a "pop", the coffin lid actually slipped to one side, kicking up a big cloud of dust, and immediately filled the tomb with a very special smell.I subconsciously covered my nose, but I saw old man Qiao looked at the candles at the four corners, then grabbed one side of the coffin and pushed it down hard. There was a harsh "squeak" sound, and the whole coffin turned outwards on all sides. Then, I saw a creepy picture—— On a rotten quilt, there was a black and swarthy mummy. I really don’t know how to describe his posture—neither lying flat, nor lying on his side, nor lying on his back, but as if he was dancing—facing to one side , the right arm is bent upward, around the top of the head and stretched to the left.The left arm is drooping, slightly bent towards the abdomen, and the dagger and whisk are held in both hands.And the posture of his legs is even more weird - the left leg is folded on the right leg, bent at a hundred degrees, stretching straight to the right corner of the coffin... "This action is so strange, was he buried alive, or a fake corpse?" "No! This is an array of corpses. Take a closer look at his shape, does it look like the arrangement of the Big Dipper?" Old man Qiao quickly picked up the two utensils in the hands of the mummy, and said in a tone full of admiration: "The seven-star array is the housekeeping skill of Quanzhen Sect. Back then, Wang Chongyang combined the celestial phenomena, using Tianshu, Tianxuan, Tianji, Tianquan , Yuheng, Kaiyang, and Yaoguang are arranged in seven directions, which can be flexibly switched and complement each other to form an endless murderous aura... From the perspective of Fengshui, this formation is arranged in a "hook" shape, which is the most important in the funeral ceremony. Among them, it is the most able to gather Qi and has the effect of avoiding evil and charging evil spirits." Old man Joe pondered for a while, then suddenly picked up a crowbar and fiddled with the mummy, picking out copper coins one by one from underneath.Good guy!Each one was as big as the mouth of a cup. I counted them secretly, and there were as many as seven of them, and their positions happened to form the shape of the Big Dipper. "What kind of spell is this?" I asked without losing the opportunity.Since old man Qiao knew that there were copper coins under the corpse, he must understand its function, and these are rare learning experiences. "It's a seven-star burial with copper coins. The principle is the same as the seven-star array. The body is protected by the stars to provide double protection. It is generally used to deal with extremely powerful evil things. However, this is too extreme and will affect future generations." "Taoists don't cultivate their hearts and minds all their lives. They are similar to monks. How can there be any descendants?" Old man Qiao didn't answer my question, but showed an ambiguous smirk, and then played with the two magic weapons he had just obtained like no one else.I was suddenly a little annoyed, and really wanted to raise my hand and slap him. "Hehe! It's the evil sword, the real evil sword." Suddenly, he yelled with ecstasy, and his excited appearance made me suspect that this dagger and whisk were the goals of his trip. "Do you know that this Li Zhi is one of the Seven Sons of Quanzhen——Qiu Chuji's beloved disciple. When Qiu Chuji was called to the Western Regions to meet Genghis Khan, Li Zhi was only a teenager at that time. He is the youngest among the cavalry, which shows his status in Qiu Chuji's heart. So! I have always guessed that the real evil sword will definitely be passed on to him..." Old man Qiao danced and narrated, and suddenly noticed that I was in a daze, and couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. He carefully put away the dagger and whisk, and meditated again on the mummy. "Strange! Why did Li Zhi put up such a posture recklessly? What is he dealing with?" "I'm not afraid that your master Ren will come to rob the tomb." I took the opportunity to embarrass him. "No! You don't understand, this seven-star array is of little use to living people. We just broke it up! In my opinion, Li Zhi must have had grudges with many evil things because he has been spreading the Dharma all year round. The reason for doing this is either to take precautions to protect the body from being violated, or to trap some evil thing." Speaking of this, Old Man Qiao seemed to have suddenly realized something, and his face became extremely ugly. After looking around for a while, he turned his eyes to the entrance of the cave, staring at the Master Ren who had turned into a strange corpse. I vaguely understood why he was so disturbed, and based on what I saw, I speculated that Li Zhi was resisting the entanglement of evil things, but Master Ren didn't know the inside story. What is this terrible thing?Does it still linger around the burial chamber?This is why old man Joe is afraid.