crossing yin and yang

Chapter 1 On the Wedge

The sky gradually dimmed, and a crescent moon floated above the treetops.The moon tonight is different from usual. The color is dark red and the halo is hazy. It is as if the outline cannot be seen clearly through a layer of frosted glass. It is a bit gloomy in the silence.Under the light of the crimson moon, the villages in the countryside looked unusually quiet. Most of the houses had closed their doors, and only a few were still lit. However, these little lights didn’t seem to show any popularity. There was an eerie silence.

A round-headed yellow-spotted civet cat jumped off the courtyard wall, stepped lightly on the stone pavement with its four paws, and ran out of the village along the daily patrol path. This is the path it must pass every day, and it knows the way well. , without the slightest hesitation, but when passing by the single-family courtyard in the west of the village, it suddenly stopped, its hair exploded like an electric shock, its body was half arched, and its throat let out a piercing howl.

The meowing of cats pierced the silence. If it was usual, it would have attracted a barking of dogs. However, there was still no sound in the village, and the night was like a heavy curtain, covering the entire village.The piercing howls continued for a long time, making people feel a deep chill in their hearts. At this moment, a voice suddenly sounded in the distance.

"I'm late."

At the end of the path, two figures ran towards this side quickly.The leader is a man in his 30s, with a refined face and a strong figure, and the huge travel bag on his shoulders does not affect his vigorous walking, followed by a child, about 7 or 8 years old, who has not yet grown up, but The pace was not inferior to the former, and he followed closely behind the man.

As if hearing a human voice, the cat turned its head, its vertical pupils shrunk like a thin line, emitting a green and fierce light, and it rushed up with a bow on its back. The thing landed in the middle of the cat's eyes, and the yellow cat fell from the air like a kite with a broken string, rolled on the spot, seemed to regain consciousness suddenly, fled to the outside of the village with a whimper, and disappeared in an instant.The man didn't care about the wild cat's whereabouts, handed the travel bag to the child behind him, and whispered: "Xiao Qi, you wait outside the door, don't wander around, I'll go in and see the situation."

The boy was running out of breath, but he still took the bag steadily, his upright little face was full of seriousness, and he nodded seriously. The man smiled slightly, touched the top of the other's hair as if to comfort him, and turned and walked into the courtyard.

At this time, the room in the middle of the small courtyard was still lit, the wattage was not high, and the light bulb flickered slightly as if the voltage was insufficient. With the blurred light, the man roughly glanced at the situation in the courtyard. The courtyard was about [-] square meters. , not very big, several half-person-high water tanks are crowded together, many of them are covered with lids, and there is a faint pungent smell of chemicals overflowing from them.In the corner of the wall not far away, there were piles of bronze vessels as large as hills, and several round tripods rolled to the ground. The tripods were covered with thick mottled rust marks, like ancient objects that had just been unearthed.It’s just that compared to the serious antiques, there are obviously too many bronzes in this courtyard, and the shapes are too similar. At a glance, it can be seen that they are mass-produced and old fakes. He drew two talisman seals, held his breath, and pushed open the door in front of him.

The wooden door creaked softly, and a stench of strong wind rushed towards him, so fast that he couldn't see the figure of the person coming. The man raised his hand without hesitation, and two talisman seals flew out, only to hear the bang With a muffled sound, the thing bounced back, and the talisman ignited spontaneously without fire, bursting into crimson flames, the man's figure flickered, and a mahogany short sword that came from nowhere appeared in his palm, he took two steps forward, and he Kneeling down on one knee, he slammed the wooden sword into the floor.Even in the countryside, the floor of this house is solid concrete. However, at this time, the wooden sword is easily inserted into the seven-inch length like cutting tofu. There was a dull thunder, and the light bulb hanging from the ceiling made a crisp sound and exploded.

Without the light, the man didn't panic, he just took a breath, stood up, and looked at the room with the hazy moonlight, he walked quickly to the desk and pressed the switch, the snow-white light overflowed from the desk lamp, It finally illuminated the situation inside the house.There were two people lying in the living room, a man and a woman. The woman's body was covered with bloodstains, and there were two black and blue handprints on her pale neck. her neck.The man huddled in the corner of the wall, his limbs twisted, his facial features shifted, the corners of his eyes were too wide open and burst, and a few streams of dirty blood dripped down his earholes.

With just one glance, the man understood that this was a fierce dead end, he shook his head lightly, walked quickly to the mahogany sword, and slapped a yellow talisman on the floor.After a while, several distorted marks appeared on the blank beige talisman paper, as if something had been smeared out of thin air. Seeing that the talisman seal was formed, the man pulled out the wooden sword and swiped on the talisman. The fire spontaneously ignited and turned into a pinch of fine ash in an instant.Along with this small flame, something burned in the room, and the stale air that contained a smell was burned away, and the trembling male corpse also calmed down, leaving only the thick bloody smell. smell.

After dealing with everything, the man stood up, and was just about to find out the cause of this disaster, when there was a sudden exclamation from the courtyard.With a thud in his heart, the man rushed out, only to see that the boy who was standing outside the courtyard just now had already entered the courtyard, and was squatting in front of a crooked water tank, looking at something, he couldn't help feeling anxious: "Xiao Qi, didn't I tell you to wait outside...Huh? Where did this kid come from?"

I saw a child in the small water tank in front of me. He was very young, probably only 3 or 4 years old. He looked very cute, but at the moment he was nestling at the bottom of the tank with his hands on his knees, his eyes wide open. , Hei Swan didn't have any looks, just looked at the two people outside the tank in a daze, not knowing whether he was frightened or lost his soul.

The boy quickly replied: "I just took a hang, and it was found that there was anger here, and he was not rushed!"

"How can divination be done in such a ferocious place, aren't you afraid of attracting evil spirits!" I didn't expect this kid to make his own way, the man couldn't help scolding, and frowned again, "I guess it's the son of those two, I don't know how much I've seen. "

After all, it was a tragedy in which the parents met evil and killed each other. Seeing the child cowering and shrinking, the man couldn't bear it in his heart. He stretched out his hand to pull him out of the water tank, but the little child shrank in unconsciously. She flinched, avoiding his outstretched arms.Although the movement was small, the man's frowning eyebrows were slightly relaxed: "I didn't lose my soul, but I was too scared. Xiao Qi, can you give it a try?"

The boy stretched out his hand without hesitation, and whispered to the child, "Don't be afraid, we are here to save you! You can come out now..."

This time the child didn't hide, but just looked back stupidly.Just as the man was about to say something, he stood up suddenly: "Someone is coming this way, you stay here and watch this child, you can't run around this time."

Before the boy could answer, he walked out of the courtyard.There was indeed a lot of commotion when we cleaned up the evil just now, but no one from the nearby village went out to watch. Instead, a few people came from the country road, as if they came from the neighboring village. What's more rare is that this group of people did not use flashlights, Tools such as emergency lights are used for lighting, but a few torches are held up instead, which seems to be quite motivating.The leader was an elderly man, dressed neatly and neatly, with a gray beard under his chin. He should have been a bit of a gentleman, but he ran too fast at this time, his head was covered with sweat, and he saw standing outside the courtyard. He seemed to be taken aback, but he only took a look, stopped the team behind him, and shouted loudly: "My surname is Wei, and I live in Weijia Village next door. Dare I ask which road this friend is on and why?" Ghost day coming to the door?"

Today is the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, Ghost Festival.In the eyes of people in the city, this day may not be a big deal, but there are still a lot of taboos in the countryside, not to mention ordinary days, this kind of day when the moon is in the sky, or a bloody moon, no one will go out late at night.But this pedestrian ran over, holding a torch to avoid the road, and leading a black dog to guard against evil spirits. Obviously, he came here specially for the evil spirits in the courtyard. He could tell at a glance that he was not an ordinary person, and the old man seemed to have some skills.The man looked him up and down, and said: "The Zhang family of Longhushan, passing by here by chance, found a fierce evil spirit, and came here to eliminate the evil spirit."

Hearing this, the old man surnamed Wei's complexion changed drastically, and he couldn't help but stepped forward and hurriedly asked: "Where are the people in the courtyard? How are they doing!"

"The evil ghost is too fierce, I am one step late."

This remark caused a commotion in the crowd. Although everyone knows the name of Longhushan, it is so old. Not many people believe that Taoist priests can catch ghosts, not to mention that this man is not dressed as a Taoist priest at all, but looks like A young professor with airs suddenly became chaotic in the team. Someone stepped forward to say something, but the old man yelled: "Shut up!"

This roar was more effective than others, and there was no sound behind him. Old man Wei took a deep breath: "Dare to ask this gentleman, can you still enter the hospital now? My son and daughter-in-law live here..."

His voice was choked and trembling. Although he was in grief, he still tried to maintain his composure. Looking at the scene where the white-haired man sent the black-haired man, the man sighed softly: "The evil spirit has been removed, come with me."

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"Come out, what's the use of staying here? My father is amazing, and I can also divination, so I won't hurt you!" After spending a long time squatting in front of the water tank, the child inside remained silent, and the boy frowned. He raised his eyebrows, thought for a while, took out half a piece of nougat with wrapping paper from the travel bag beside him, and handed it in front of the little doll, "Do you want to eat it? Peanut milk flavor."

The candies in his collection failed to arouse the little guy's interest, and the boy's serious little face suddenly showed a bit of frustration. He rarely came into contact with such a young child, and he didn't know how to coax people, but this little guy obviously I found it myself, and I should be responsible for it myself.Squatting on the ground and looking at the little guy like the porcelain doll for a long time, he sighed in distress, and wanted to get up and dig something out of the travel bag, but a weak force grabbed him, the boy was startled, and lowered his head Turning his head, he saw that the child had pulled his trouser legs at some point, as if he didn't want him to leave.

A little smile appeared on the boy's face, he squatted back immediately, and stretched out his little hand: "I won't go, can you come out? Don't be afraid, I will protect you..."

This time he did not spend much effort, the child finally held his hand and slowly climbed out of the water tank, only then did the boy realize that the clothes on the baby's body were still stained with blood. There are a few fleshy little nests, trembling like a little milk dog, and there is some mist in the big eyes, which seem to be filled with tears.

Being grabbed by that soft little hand, the boy's heart softened, and he pulled him two steps towards the light, and sat together next to the travel bag.The night in the country was a bit cold, he stretched out his arms and half hugged the child beside him, trying to warm him with his own body temperature, while racking his brains, he said, "Don't be afraid, my father is the true descendant of Longhu Mountain, and he is not afraid of any monsters and ghosts! Wait for me After returning to the mountain, I can learn Taoism, and I want to be a real celestial master...do you know what a celestial master is?"

The little doll didn't answer, but just clenched her little hands and yelled in a low voice: "Mom... Mom was beaten by dad..."

The boy became quiet immediately. Although he didn't know what happened in the room, the hexagrams couldn't deceive anyone. It is estimated that the person who was washed away was dead.After a moment of silence, he whispered: "That's a monster, not your father. Don't be afraid, the monster has been taken by my father..."

He seemed to feel that his words were not convincing, so he thought about it again, stretched out his hand and pulled out a red rope from his collar, and saw a white jade plaque hanging on the rope, which was different from the zodiac statues worn by ordinary people or jade carvings of Buddha and Bodhisattva. The tablet was engraved with a strange pattern, which looked like a Yangwen talisman, but after hesitating for a moment, he took off the jade tablet and hung it around the child's neck.

"This is the jade talisman my father gave me. It can protect me. If you wear it, no monsters will come to catch you." After thinking for a while, he added, "It's okay, my father can carve another piece for you." Me, you can keep this piece."

Sitting in the corner of the courtyard wall, the boy spoke slowly and in a rambunctious manner, with a pretentious childishness in his voice, a faint halo shone on the two of them, separating the shadow behind them.