My hometown is backed by the Taihang Mountains, and the small mountain village is close to the mountains and rivers. The village is not big, with only more than a thousand people.
Every autumn, when the adults sit down to rest after work on the production team's playing field, they will tell some strange stories about them.
Today I will tell you a story about the God of Xian Dao that I heard when I was a child.
According to folklore, the God of Xiandao is the god who opened the way for the dead in the old days when they were buried. It is also called the God of Ways.
This god is tall and mighty, holding the Fangtian seal in his left hand and the Fangtian painted halberd in his right hand. When the deceased is being held in a funeral, two people will lift him up and walk at the front of the funeral procession to clear the way for those traveling westward and to block ominous objects.
This god appears in the deserted mountains all year round. And it's easy to trick passers-by. If a walker walks well, he will create a cloud of fog for you, and then move a tree for you. It leaves people with nowhere to go. And it keeps you spinning in circles, unable to get out.
Before telling the story of our village. Let me tell you a folk legend first. You can learn about the God of Xian Dao from this legend, and his character can be seen from this.
It is said that there is a manifested god in a certain place who often appears at night, scaring passers-by and blocking them from walking. If you meet someone who is brave, say something nice and give some sacrifices. Xian Dao Shen found it boring and let him go. But if you meet a timid person, the more you say nice things, the more he will make fun of you. He was also kept spinning in circles, unable to get out. A timid person is frightened and frightened, as if he has lost his mind, and spends the whole day talking in a daze, going crazy and being silly.
The frightened person's family and neighbors were filled with hatred, but they had no choice but to keep an eye on each other and avoid walking at night to avoid being frightened by the "Shen Dao God".
This year, a passing old Taoist priest asked for water from Lao Zhao's house in the town. After drinking, the sun was setting in the west. The old Taoist priest thanked Lao Zhao and his family and continued on his way. Lao Zhao hurriedly said to the old Taoist priest: "Master, go slowly. I think you are still at my house. Rest for the night. It won't be too late for you to start your journey again at dawn tomorrow."
After hearing this, the old Taoist priest said: "Donor, you don't know something. My junior brother is the temple owner of Qingfeng Taoist Temple twenty miles away. Three days ago, he went up the mountain to collect medicine and accidentally fell off the cliff, breaking his leg bones. I struggled to crawl to the temple. Because he was usually the only one in the Taoist temple, no one took care of him after he fell. Yesterday morning, a hunter went up to the mountain to hunt. He went to the Taoist temple to ask for water, only to find that my junior brother had broken his leg bone and had already died. The water and rice were gone on the second day. Fortunately, Orion hunted near Qingfeng Guan on weekdays. He often went to Qingfeng Guan to chat with my junior brother. So they were very familiar with each other. At that time, Orion went home and took some cooked food. .Let my junior brother recover some strength after eating.
Orion found my residence at noon today and told me about my junior brother. Because it took me some time to prepare food and medicine, I just walked to your village now. However, I have to get to Qingfeng Temple tonight no matter what. It’s been three days since my junior brother’s injury, so we can’t wait any longer. "
"Donor Zhao, why did you prevent me from traveling at night?"
Seeing this, Old Zhaotou said: "I'm busy saying that the master doesn't know something. When you go to Qingfeng Temple, do you have to pass through Xiejialing? On the mountain road at the foot of Xiejialing Mountain, there are always Taoist gods appearing at night recently. They are more than ten feet tall, with green faces and fangs. Recently, a few young people who walked there at night were so frightened that they went crazy and didn't know what to do day or night. Therefore, the master should not leave until dawn tomorrow, in case he encounters the manifest god on the road and gets frightened."
The old Taoist priest laughed loudly after hearing this: "I thought it was something, but it turned out to be a dangerous Taoist god. Don't worry, donor. People are 30% afraid of ghosts and 70% ghosts are afraid of people. I will go and meet him today."
Seeing that the Taoist priest did not listen to the advice, Old Zhaotou said hurriedly: "Master, to be honest, my son Zhao Dazhuang went to a relative's house last month to have a full-moon wine party. Because he was a bit greedy, it was already night when he came back. The relative's family was worried. Afraid that something might happen to him on the way, we persuaded him to stay for the next day before going home, but Da Zhuang was so cowardly that he insisted on going back. So his relatives gave him a firewood lamp to light up the road."
At first, he was still smelling of alcohol, still singing country songs in his mouth, and strode home quickly. Around midnight, Da Zhuang arrived at Xiejialing. At this time, after several hours of traveling, Da Zhuang felt feverish after drinking. At this time, the mountain wind blew and he woke up from the wine.
As soon as my mind cleared up, I remembered what the villagers said about the presence of the Taoist God here. Da Zhuang became afraid. I regret that I should not have been drunk and walked at night. But having come this far, there is no guarantee that he will be in peace if he goes back, and if he is lucky, he may not be able to run into the evil god.
Da Zhuang thought of this, gritted his teeth, held the firewood lantern and walked forward quickly.
Who would have thought that Da Zhuang had just walked more than a hundred steps when the firewood lamp suddenly went out without any warning. It suddenly became dark in front of him, and Da Zhuang's heart became tense. Fortunately, at midnight, through the treetops above his head, there was still light. A little bit of moonlight can shine through.
Just like that, Da Zhuang was full of energy, humming and singing a tune that he didn't understand in order to embolden himself, and continued to move forward.
But after taking a few steps, Da Zhuang found that the road ahead was suddenly invisible. He rubbed his eyes and took a closer look. There was fog forming on the road ahead, and the fog was getting thicker and thicker.
Not only was the road in front of me unclear, but the trees on both sides of the mountain road were no longer visible.
Seeing this scene, Da Zhuang became even more frightened and wanted to turn around and walk back.
Zhizhi, hahaha, huff, huff, suddenly a gust of cold wind blew up behind Da Zhuang. Along with the cold wind, there was a terrifying sound behind him that made his scalp numb and his teeth chattering.
Da Zhuang trembled and turned his head to look behind him. It's okay not to look at it, but when he saw Da Zhuang, he was so scared that he peed his pants.
Only three feet behind him stood a man more than ten feet tall, with a green face and fangs, a face that could be decorated, holding what looked like a big ax in his hand, and making various strange noises from his mouth.
Oh my god, Da Zhuang let out a howl, threw away the firewood lamp, turned around and ran away. As he ran, a sound of "dong," "dong," "dong" was heard chasing him.
"Help", "Help", no, there are monsters.
Da Zhuang was so frightened that he peed his pants and ran desperately in front of him.
Hahaha, hehehe, a dark wind blew from behind, and I heard a strange voice saying in Da Zhuang's ear: Don't run, you stay, stay with me, ha, ha, ha.
The strong body jumped forward and fainted.
