Sure enough, the master said, you guessed it, it is the big snake inside. According to Qin Bukong himself, when the villagers saw a burst of black smoke rising from the mountain, he was actually looking for a snake, and what he was looking for was the poisonous snake that hurt people.
So I asked the master, why was Ganmu found? It was not the snake that bit people. Moreover, there is such a powerful magic that can accurately find which snake bit people in a mountain. This is incredible. Master said yes. When he heard it, he found it unbelievable. But later I learned that Qin Bukong, in addition to witchcraft and Miao Gu skills, was also quite accomplished in Taoist folk magic, and magic was somewhere between witchcraft and Taoism. Everything in between, in the final analysis, all comes from the ancient Fuxi culture, but while it was carried forward, it chose to develop among the people. For the people, many rules and regulations are not so important. After all, people seek Dharma and only seek quick results. This has formed Dharma sects with many different names. They call themselves branches of Taoism, but in fact, many They just borrowed the name of Taoism, but they were doing things that were taught by the Dharma.
As for the techniques used by Qin Bukong, according to his own words, they actually came from our Zhengyi Yuanhuang Sect of Taoism. As mentioned just now, they have the name of Taoism, but they are more focused on magic. This set of spells is called the "Encircling Mountain Method". In the Jiangnan area, it is also called the "Hoop Mountain Method" due to the dialect.
Master said that the so-called "hoop" literally means to tighten or bind. In the southern dialect, it also means "to restrain and make it immobile". Qin Bukong originally used the mountain as the scope. Within this scope, he cast the spell on the mountain, and then tightened it from the four sides toward the center. It felt like squeezing out toothpaste. He hid those in the mountain that he wanted to capture. Something is forced in front of him, and then he surrenders to him.
However, when Qin Bukong was encircling the mountain, all the snakes in the entire array gathered in front of him. According to his own words, there were probably hundreds of them at that time, and every one of them was in front of him. He folded his body and put his head on the ground, in a posture of submission. But Qin Bukong will not kill innocent people indiscriminately. He only needs to find the source of this incident, and the rest will be released into the mountains and forests. When he gave the order to let the biting snake stay and the others dispersed, he discovered that in addition to the poisonous snake, there was also a big yellow and white snake.
Master said that Ganmu at that time was not as big as it is now, but was almost one-third smaller. Generally speaking, snakes that are very thick will be regarded as pythons. But in fact, pythons and anacondas are the same. They are two subcategories within the large category of snakes. The biggest difference between them is that the first two are very large in size. There is also the fact that pythons and anacondas are both non-venomous. Snakes rely on their huge body strength to strangle their prey rather than killing them with venom.
So Qin Bukong didn't understand at that moment. He thought that the poisonous snake he surrounded the mountain was, so why did he leave a non-venomous "python"? So out of curiosity, I took a closer look and discovered that Ganmu was not a python, but a snake. It's just that it's huge, almost as big as a python.
I asked Master, why did Qin Bukong make such a judgment? How did he recognize it? If it was really a python, it would be such a humiliating thing to be regarded as a snake. Master said, I see that you and Gan Mu have become much more harmonious recently. Haven't you noticed that although the patterns on Gan Mu's back are light, they can distinguish between yellow and white. But judging from the pattern and the shape of the snake's head, it was obviously a highly venomous red snake.
I couldn't believe it, because although I haven't seen many snakes with my own eyes, I learned from some books that the colors of the Red Snake are red and black, or black and maroon. How can there be any reason for the separation of white and yellow? . The master said that this is why Qin Bukong thought it was a python instead of a snake at the time, but after careful counting, the spots on the body were divided into forty-eight sections, and the red snake's alias was called "forty-eight sections." Ganmu, it is likely to be discolored due to individual mutation or other reasons, so the color is different from the same kind, and the size is also much larger.
Only then did I believe it. Recalling the countless times I had been attacked by Ganmu earlier, from that wide mouth, although there were sharp fangs up and down, they were not poisonous fangs. Instead, there were two similar ones on both sides of it. It's like a nozzle, so it's definitely a red snake.
The master went on to say that Ganmu was also coiled there and would not move away. Qin Bukong had seen the wounds of the bitten person before going up the mountain. There was only one wound, and the size was not that of a big snake bite, so he immediately concluded that this was not Ganmu. do. So he walked to Ganmu and asked it to leave on its own. He also said that it was not easy to cultivate such a giant. From now on, he must live carefully and not be seen or taken away by others.
I snorted coldly in my heart. I always felt that these words were added by Qin Bukong when he told my master. According to my understanding of him, although this person is not a treacherous person, he does not really look like one. So kind. However, I have heard what he said from other places. It is said that the unique growth environment of some animals will lead to some individual mutations, and this part happens to be easier to achieve enlightenment, but it will have to go through more hardships than similar animals. This is what ordinary people often call "becoming a spirit".
Over the years, we have often heard people say strange things, such as heavy rains and thunder that killed a big snake. Another example is that there was an earthquake somewhere, and a giant rat was crushed to death underground. Another example is that a wall collapsed somewhere, and a dead giant centipede was found inside. Old people often sigh and say that they have failed to overcome the calamity and cannot be ranked among the immortals. It is not difficult to find that all these rumors have one thing in common, that is, the animals found are very huge.
Therefore, for a long time, everyone has been accustomed to regard such huge animals as having spiritual practice and being more advanced than similar animals. What Qin Bukong said back then, assuming he really said it, must have been based on such considerations.
The master continued, but after Qin Bukong said this, Ganmu just looked up at him, but still did not leave. Qin Bukong was very surprised by the scene in front of him, so he looked at Gan Mu carefully, but for some reason, Gan Mu also raised his head to look at him, tilting his head from time to time. In the end, Qin Bukong felt that maybe it was because Ganmu was much larger than his own kind, so he couldn't integrate into his own group, but he was not a python, and he couldn't integrate into it, so he could only survive alone, always alone. Aren't these situations a true reflection of myself?
I stopped talking, vaguely guessing that there would be such a layer. Qin Bukong probably did not have such a big beard thirty years ago. In other words, his weird mouth should have brought a lot of inconvenience to his life. At least most people in the village would not regard him as As a kindred spirit, even if others respect him on face, they still treat him as a monster secretly. From this perspective, Qin Bukong is indeed the same as Gan Mu. Although he is in his own ethnic group, he is always excluded.
The master said that at that time Qin Bukong pointed towards his bamboo basket, then patted the edge of the bamboo basket, and used some sounds to guide Ganmu, meaning to ask if it would like to enter the bamboo basket and follow him. , Originally he was doing this just tentatively, and he didn't plan to try it a few more times, but Ganmu unexpectedly climbed into the bamboo basket obediently.
This can be regarded as a kind of fate. It seems to be such a coincidence and yet so strange. From then on, Gan Mu has been following Qin Bukong, becoming more and more understanding of human nature. Thirty years have passed and he has been getting along with people day and night. Except that he can't speak and his brain is like a snake after all, the rest are superior to his peers. How many times. Qin Bukong believes that letting him follow him through the world can be regarded as accumulating practice. If he really becomes an immortal in the future, it will also be a meritorious deed.
Later, he named the big snake "Ganmu". In their local area, two adjacent Miao villages may have slightly different languages. According to the Miao language in his own village, "Ganmu" means "partner".
It wasn't until today that I learned about Gan Mu's life experience, and I didn't learn it from Qin Bukong, but from my master. This story does make people feel unspeakably sad when I hear it, but what Qin Bukong did to Gan Mu today really didn't mean to treat him as a partner.
So I asked Master, what about the bitten villager? What happened next? The master said that Qin Bukong told him that the next morning, the poisonous snake whose tongue was cut off turned into a pool of blood, leaving only a layer of snake skin hanging on the snake bones. The person who was bitten also started to recover very obviously. His legs were no longer swollen, and what was flowing out was no longer black blood, but a yellowish-white liquid that was recovering. If he continued the treatment, he would be healed in a few days. All good. After Qin Bukong rescued people, he removed the seven-inch bone of the poisonous snake and used it for spells.
I asked Master, what kind of magic requires seven inches of snake bones? The master said that he didn't know this. Qin Bukong didn't say it himself, and he didn't have the nerve to continue asking. However, after secretly observing Qin Bukong's techniques, he found that many of them were related to snakes, so he guessed, That seven-inch bone was probably used by Qin Bukong to refine snake poison. It was most likely what he put in the poison bell.
