The more I thought about it, the more hairy I got.
Longming Mountain is famous for its rich species. When I was a child and I would not sleep at night, my grandma would say, "If you don't give up, a big tiger will come down from the mountain and eat disobedient children like you."
Although as I grow older, I know this is a lie to children. But in Longming Mountain, it is true that people disappear there every year, and there are also reports of people being bitten and eaten by wild beasts. To say that they are not afraid is to brag.
This time, a few wild monkeys came, and the three of us had no idea what to do with them. If it were a group of wolves and a tiger, it would be okay.
At this time, Liu Ruxiang suddenly took out two pieces of yellow talisman paper from his pocket, held them tightly in his hands, and said to us: "I was really unprepared just now. I thought the person holding the knife was just an ordinary wild monkey, but I didn't expect it. It has become a spirit, otherwise I wouldn’t fight with it.”
The confident look of the cook gave us enough encouragement, but her change of subject made us nervous again: "If it's just an animal spirit, that's easy to deal with, but I'm afraid it will drive some dirty things away." , or deal with us personally. Just like the corpse dog last time, this kind of thing is very weird."
The group of people were on tenterhooks and also heightened their vigilance.
Maybe it was really good luck, but our group didn't encounter any danger during the rest of the journey. It wasn't until the sun was about to set that we reached the highest peak of the mountain safely.
"Master, where should we do this? Are we going to the mandrill's cave?"
Liu Ruxiang shook his head: "This will further irritate it. As I said, this mandrill belongs to a small mountain god. It can naturally sense it when it performs magic on the top of the mountain. You can understand that someone gives you a dream at night, and he can know us. means, and even knows what we are doing.”
I nodded in understanding.
Meng Laoer put the woman down on his back at this time. It may be that the wound opened again due to climbing the mountain, and the clothes on his back were stained with a few drops of fresh blood.
He tilted his mouth at this time, looking like he was lost and regretful, and then he cried and slapped himself: "I'm so stupid, I'm so superstitious, why do I have to listen to this folk remedy? I even killed the child of the mandrill fairy , Damn it, I’m so stupid!”
I watched him confess, and I didn’t know if the mandrill could hear it. He himself said that he “destined to die.” If the mandrill was rude then, he would really feast on him.
Seeing his desperate look, Liu Ruxiang was furious: "Don't say such nonsense. You can just go down the mountain and die on your own. Don't die next to me."
Meng Laoer was speechless.
The cook took out a compass from the basket behind me and watched the pointer slowly move around, leading us to move.
"Ask the gods where is the treasure land, bless my master's practice place, there is no water and no wind, the five immortals gather to form a dark pond..."
Liu Ruxiang moved gently on her steps, finally stopped, and put the compass in her hand by her feet.
She called me over and said, "There are not many details on how to do it in a family home. Generally, as long as you determine the orientation and have a rough and accurate position, you'll be fine. But it's not that simple in the mountains. What you do when opening an altar is not that simple." Where should the altar be placed? Where should it be facing? How should the offerings and ritual objects on it be placed? What is the order? Where should they be facing? This is all very particular, otherwise it will be a waste of money to put out the fire. You should watch it carefully."
I listened attentively and immediately realized the importance of this matter. I pricked up my ears and secretly recorded every step of the cook's actions.
She took out a few wooden wedges and inserted them into the ground at the center of the compass. Then she determined four points, inserted the wooden wedges in sequence, and finally tied them with red rope to form a square shape.
Then he took out a mat from his backpack and covered it with the square knot. This was the basic surface of an outdoor altar.
Her hands kept moving, picking up a piece of white cloth, moistening it with sesame oil, polishing the bamboo mat until it was shiny, and then placed dried fish, live roosters, bacon, incense burners and other items in sequence, as well as items symbolizing the thirty-six joints of the human body. Three sixty-cent coins.
All the offerings were prepared. Liu Ruxiang, wearing a robe and a mask, holding a dagger in his hand, shouted: "Heaven is always perfect, virtue is manifest on earth, good fortune brings benevolence, and evil deeds are at peace..."
The speed of her speech slowly increased, and her steps and arms began to dance, as if there was a magical rhythm in her movements.
"Ding-dang-dang——"
The bell swayed, and a breeze suddenly floated in the silent mountain forest.
With the hem of her clothes fluttering, Liu Ruxiang grabbed a handful of incense ash from the bowl, then slowly bent down and put her hand close to the ground. The incense ashes emerged from between her fingers and fell to the ground, like a pen, drawing a rather magical character.
The remaining incense ashes were thrown into the air, and then the wind became even colder, and it seemed to be blowing with a purpose, specifically towards the altar on the ground.
Among the three incense sticks in the incense burner, one was strange. It burned faster than the other two. The head of the incense stick turned into red dots and became shorter quickly.
I stared at the fragrance blankly, wondering what it meant.
Liu Ruxiang, on the other hand, took a breath of cold air, stared at the incense and said, "In ancient times, people burned incense for divination. Three incense sticks were lit at the same time. Two of them, one long and one short, represented great misfortune. This phenomenon was caused by the mandrill, but this method still failed."
I sighed and glanced at Meng Laoer next to me. His expression became more and more nervous.
"Is there any other method, or a new approach?"
"If you can't do it again, I will immediately act as a 'golden rooster' to ask for forgiveness, otherwise the result will remain the same."
The master turned around and ordered: "Meng Laoer, cut off a strand of your wife's hair and give it to me."
As she said that, Liu Ruxiang untied the big rooster and put it on the ground so that the chicken's head was close to the ground. With her other hand, she grabbed a handful of incense ash and drew a straight line on the ground. The rooster then He was frozen in place, motionless.
She took Fang Xiaomei's long hair, tied it in a knot around the cock's neck.
"That Fang Xiaomei, come over and spit on this chicken."
Fang Xiaomei was helped up by her husband again, her head lowered, and it seemed that she had used all her strength to spit out two drops of white spit.
"That's it. Just wait and see."
Liu Ruxiang pinched the red rooster's comb with her fingertips. The rooster immediately stood up, looked like a lively bird, flapped its wings and flew out, disappeared into the woods.
"Okay, let's die for the golden rooster. As long as the rooster dies naturally in the mountains and is not eaten by wild beasts, it will be safe this time."
Liu Ruxiang breathed a sigh of relief, and the tired look on Meng Laoer's face also faded a lot.
