Ghost Blowing Lantern II

At that time, we were in troubled times when dynasties were changing. There were natural and man-made disasters everywhere, and the people suffered from many disasters. The three of them first went to Mangshan, Henan to open a market, and robbed several ancient tombs one after another, taking out the most valuable artifacts from the tombs. , dealt in antiquities, exchanged money for food, and helped the victims. Their business went smoothly. Since then, they have traveled all over Shanxi, Henan, and Shandong provinces, and they have stolen many mountain tombs.

Since ancient times, it has been said that "everything in the world is done in heaven", so in life, no matter whether you are running through water or fire, whether you succeed in the end or not, it always depends on God's will. If you are lucky, everything will be a deal, and the flames will rise, and there is no ancient tomb that cannot be robbed; if the fortune declines, it will be like a tide going down, and everything you encounter will be broken. Yes, the family members always have to stay with them.

Fortune has its ups and downs, and it cannot always be so smooth. One year, the three of them were unlucky because of the golden abacus. The three of them spotted an ancient tomb near Luoyang, so they packed up their food and went into the mountains. Unexpectedly, they ran into a... In the chaos of the war, the defeated army retreated from the battlefield. The defeated army was so large that they drove countless refugees into the mountain, scattering the three brothers Jin Abacus in the mountain.

Liao Chen and Tie Mo Tou rescued a group of victims and hid in the ancient tomb forest in the mountains. Among the refugees, there was a woman who was pregnant and about to give birth. In the chaos, the fetal gas was affected and she was about to give birth. Unexpectedly, the fetus grew sideways and inverted, and she was about to give birth. If it is difficult to give birth, one body and two lives will die in the wilderness.

Liao Chen had always been kind-hearted, but he couldn't bear to watch others die on the spot. He saw that in this ancient tomb forest, there were tombs with trees enclosing them. Liao Chen examined the ground veins and the mountain shape, and concluded that there must be a coffin spring inside the tomb. That is to say, there is a spring in the underground palace. There is a folk saying that boiling the coffin can lead to a smooth birth.

So Liao Chen and Tie Mo Tou discussed that it was more important to save people, so they pulled out the cyclone shovel and dug up the grave soil at a flying speed. How could a mere earthen grave be able to withstand the digging of two gold-touching masters? When they arrived at the coffin lid, they didn't know that there was a pin hidden in the coffin board. The two of them had experienced strong winds and waves, and the boat capsized in the gutter. The iron grinder was hit by a mechanism on the cover door, and died on the spot.

Only then did Liao Chen remember that when he came down the mountain, his master had repeatedly warned him - "If you unite, you will live, if you divide, you will die." Now, he really agreed to what Zhang Sanye said. If there is a golden abacus here, he is the most accurate. Using the Five Elements, Bagua and various numerology techniques, one can definitely see through the mechanism in the coffin, but a mistake in one thought caused a catastrophe, and now it is too late to regret.

Later, Jin Abacus came to look for his two partners and saw that Tie Mo Tou had been lying dead on the spot. His vision went dark and he almost fainted. He could only say that people should not fight for their lives. They followed Chen and sighed for a while, with tears in their eyes. Tie Grindou's body was incinerated and the ashes were put into earthen jars.

Liao Chen and Jin Abacus discussed it and concluded that according to the master's teaching of "if we join together, we will live, if we divide, we will die", if the two of us fight again in the future, there will probably be no good results. It seems that we cannot engage in gold-fishing activities. .

Liao Chen has seen all the suffering of the people over the years, and he believes that no matter how great he is, he can't save hundreds of millions of people in the world. The sea of ​​suffering is boundless, and when he comes back, he plans to put a talisman on it and seal it with gold, and take the iron grinding urn with him to a temple in the south of the Yangtze River. He became a monk and later accompanied the ancient Buddha of the Green Lantern to repent of his past life.

Jin Abacus didn't want to become a monk, and he didn't want to pick up talismans. Since he couldn't do the business of fighting, he could still do his old job and continue to be a businessman selling goods for profit. After making money, he could also help the poor and the poor, so he told Chen : "A leaf of duckweed returns to the sea, and we meet again everywhere in life. We say goodbye today, and we will definitely see each other again in the future. If you encounter any trouble and need help, just come to the Yellow River Boat Gang to find me."

After saying goodbye in the ancient tomb forest, Jin Abacus really only bought and sold goods in the Yellow River Basin. He was originally from a merchant family, and he was very familiar with the business of selling goods. However, natural disasters continued, and business was not very easy. A habitual thief must be addicted. Besides, what kind of business in the world can make money quickly by fighting? Relying on his extreme intelligence, Jin Abacus saw that the Yellow River was overflowing with water and hungry people were everywhere, so he still did some fighting in secret. He knew that this was a life-threatening act, and he did it knowing that he couldn't do it, and he felt guilty, so every time It's all planned carefully, and we will never make a move without complete assurance.

One year, Jin Abacus sold a batch of goods and took a boat to go downstream. At that time, the water in the Yellow River was rising, and the huge current was rolling down. Jin Abacus was chatting with several merchants on the deck. Suddenly, the color of the sky and the earth changed, and the sun in the sky looked like Without the soul, there was only a shadow left in the white mist. Soon even the sun disappeared, black clouds gathered between the sky and the earth, and the river was filled with mist, mixed with raindrops and hail as big as peas.

The owner of the ship Dalian couldn't scream, and the sky and the earth turned pale, indicating that there was an old dragon in Shuifu who was frightened. This was a sign of the Yellow River's surge. He quickly sailed the ship to a nearby dock. The cargo ship had just stopped despite the heavy rain, and the flood behind it arrived. The turbid waves in the upper reaches of the Yellow River are empty, and the water is almost connected to the sky. It is impossible to distinguish where is the big water and which is the sky and the earth. Heavy rain and hail in the strong wind, wrapped in the mud and sand at the bottom of the river, pour down in one fell swoop, and the whole world is trapped. In a twilight that is almost dark, it is really like "the Yellow River is overflowing, the universe is dark, and the waves are rolling in."

Jin Abacus saw the heavy rain and the surrounding area getting darker and darker. He knew that this was going to be a disaster. At this time, no matter how powerful he was, he couldn't resist the power of the Yellow River. He couldn't take care of the cargo in the boat. , as everyone jumped out of the boat and ran to the high ground, those who were fleeing, including those with slow legs and feet, were immediately swept away by the turbid water, and even the corpses of those who died in the water could not be recovered.

In the past Mr. Zhang once said that his gold abacus skills were not good, but that was to compare with who he was comparing to. Compared with dust and iron grinding heads, he was much inferior. But after all, he was a veteran who had been doing gold-touching for many years. Compared with ordinary people, , his legs and feet were extremely agile, and he was forced by the flood to run all the way in the heavy rain, and finally risked his life to reach a high hill.

Jin Abacus fled to the high ground, lay down on the ground and looked down. He saw that the black clouds had gradually subsided. The distant sky was like a piece of black-yellow mud, with dark red light floating in it. The overflowing Yellow River was moving with unstoppable force. , swallowing up the villages and boats on the shore. The people caught up in the Yellow River flood struggled with the current along with their cattle, sheep and livestock, and all fed to the shrimp soldiers and crab generals in the water house. The common people who were lucky enough to escape to higher places had earth-colored faces and could not hold their tongues. The ground was crying for father and son, but all the sounds in the world were covered by the rumbling water, and the scene was indescribably miserable.

The flood came very quickly, but it took two hours for the turbid river water to clear up. Jin Abacus came back with his life. After recovering from the shock, he touched what he was wearing and found that the gold steel umbrella on his back was gone. .

There were two "gold steel umbrellas" left by Mr. Zhang to them. One of them was a thousand-year-old ancient artifact passed down by Captain Jin. This handle was in Chen's hands. The one the Jin Abacus carried with him was made in the Ming Dynasty and was made of the same material. The craftsmanship is as good as that of ancient umbrellas, and it is also an extremely rare self-defense device. He must have lost the gold steel umbrella when he was running away just now. Now it has probably been swept away by the flood. There is no way to get it back, so I have to try to find another way. A skilled craftsman remade the handle.

Jin Abacus made up his mind and walked down the hillside, wanting to buy something to eat with the local fellow villagers. However, after the disaster, hungry people were everywhere, and most of the farmhouses and villages were lost. Even if he had money, he could not buy food. He was so hungry. He was suffering from a moderate fever, and when he was so hungry that his heart was pressed against his back, he saw many people walking towards the river, saying they wanted to see the Dragon King. He felt strange, so he followed the crowd and walked over.

When I got to the river, I saw that even though Jin Abacus was well-informed, he was secretly surprised. He saw a big fish stranded on the slope of the bend of the river. It was still alive. The fish's head was bigger than an ordinary house, and its body was covered with giant scales. They are all similar to iron leaves. The areas without silt are glowing with a black and blue luster. The fish's eyes are wide open, its head and tail are swinging, and the black fish mouth is opening and closing, and the smell is smelly. Judging from the size of its mouth, it is probably even a thousand fish. A hundred kilograms of big oxen is not enough for it to swallow in one gulp.

The local people were all frightened. They knelt down in front of the fish tremblingly, burned incense and kowtowed, and asked the Dragon Prince to calm down and return to the water house. Many people immediately stepped forward to push the "Dragon Prince" back to the Yellow River, but they failed. Like a dragonfly shaking a pillar, it couldn't push it even an inch, and there was no place to find cattle or horses to drag it. He watched as the Dragon King took in too little air and let out too much air, and died on the shore with fish eyes.

Jin Abacus looked at it for a long time, then asked the people who were worshiping the Dragon King, and found a way into the county town to have a meal. He heard from the locals that this was a flood that had never happened in a century. Although he had time to retreat quickly, the damage caused was very heavy, and The Dragon Prince in the Yellow River Water Palace died on the bank. This is by no means a good sign. There will definitely be a big disaster later. Now the Yellow River is overflowing and countless people and animals have been drowned. The people here are already poor and it will be difficult to recover within ten years. , I don’t know how many poor people will starve to death.

Hearing these words, Jin Abacus moved his heart with compassion. Seeing the merciless natural disasters and the suffering of the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, he thought: "After such a disaster, people will be hungry everywhere. Now the world is decayed and the government is incompetent. Except for I, who is willing to take care of it?" He immediately wanted to buy food for disaster relief, but his goods were lost in the river and his capital was lost. Although he still had some money, it was undoubtedly a drop in the bucket in the face of thousands of victims, so I had the idea of ​​fighting back and thinking about making a big deal.

Jin Abacus remembered an incident a few years ago. At that time, he learned from a merchant that there was a Tang Dynasty imperial mausoleum in Longling not far away, hidden in the rugged snake slope. If he could steal something from it, With one or two royal treasures, he wouldn't have to worry about raising money. However, he was familiar with the mausoleum genealogy, but he couldn't figure out which imperial mausoleum in the Tang Dynasty was built here.

He picked up a few "tongu leaks" in the inn, caught a glimpse of some people, and after asking about the path to Longling, he went into the mountain to look for ancient tombs. Sure enough, he saw that the situation in the mountain was good. Although the mountain was fragmented, it could not be covered up. The scene of flying dragons and phoenixes is supposed to be the location of an imperial mausoleum, but there are a few scattered villages nearby. Sheep and cattle herders often wander around. It is easy to dig a hole to dig into the ancient cemetery, but it is difficult to hide it from others.

Jin Abacus thought of an idea and returned to the bank of the Yellow River. Seeing that the carcass of the big fish was still parked by the river, he told the local people that he was willing to pay to build a Dragon King Temple to enshrine the fish bones in order to ask the river god to bless the local good weather. , and made up some excuses to make everyone believe that the location of the Fish Bone Temple must be built in the mountains, otherwise flooding will occur.

Pretending to rob and excavate ancient tombs by "building temples, building houses, and growing crops" is a common method used by gold school captains. The villagers did not know the details, so they naturally believed it to be true. Even though the gold abacus provided the money, the common people contributed their efforts to rob the tombs. The bones of the big fish were transported into the mountains and a Dragon King temple was built.

Jin Abacus took advantage of the time when the temple was being built to start preparing for an inverted fight. Judging from his experience, the Longling Ancient Tomb was not small in scale. The local legends about that ancient tomb were extremely mysterious and strange. It was not a peaceful place. Without the gold steel umbrella to protect me, I always felt uneasy in my heart, but the other gold steel umbrella was left in Chen's hands. After many years of separation, there was still no news, and I didn't know the whereabouts of my companion back then, so I had to take a boat to arrive. Baoding, Hebei, looking for the famous concealed weapon "Pin Qi Li" to make a new one.

Napinqi Li is a bee-head in the Honeycomb Mountain. He has outstanding craftsmanship and can make various instruments. However, when he saw the map and formula of the golden abacus, he felt very embarrassed because the "gold steel umbrella" was very ordinary and some of the materials were not suitable for it. It's too easy to put together, and the craftsmanship and heat required are extremely complicated. It would take at least a year to create it.

Jin Abacus was in a hurry to steal the Longling Ancient Tomb and could not wait for a year and a half. In addition, because of the passage of many years, he had forgotten the instructions given by Mr. Zhang back then. He thought that after the death of the iron grinder, I have also robbed many large tombs on my own, and I have never made any mistakes. As long as I am more careful when fighting, and with my knowledge, even if there are some hidden traps, I have enough information to deal with them, and I won't make any big mistakes. What a coincidence that it's really folded inside?

But at this time, his inseparable pure gold abacus suddenly cracked and shattered, and the golden abacus fell to the ground. This abacus was his family heirloom, and it was very distressing to have it destroyed for no reason. He vaguely felt that this was probably not a good sign, and he had a premonition that the Lord of Hell was going to take his life.

Jin Abacus is smart all his life and thinks deeply about everything he encounters, but this time it can be regarded as a "visitor coming to the door with a black star at his head", just like a ghost obsessed with his mind. Even if Guanyin Bodhisattva appeared in the west, he could not be persuaded to look back. I simply turned my mind and thought, "Is it a blessing or a curse? I can't avoid the curse." If he really wanted to die, he would die in vain just sitting behind closed doors at home; if he didn't deserve to die, even if he walked back and forth in the mountains of swords and seas of fire, his whole body would be damaged. Also intact. Instead of burning incense and praying to the Bodhisattva fearfully, it is better to do whatever is necessary. He also thought, "If you steal the treasures from the Longling Ancient Tomb and provide disaster relief to the people, you will definitely accumulate a lot of merit. If you really want to accomplish this great charity, you must secretly do it." With the blessings of ghosts and gods, maybe you can live another century longer."

He felt that although the Tang tomb was large in scale, he could deduce the internal terrain structure and was confident that he could steal the treasures in the tomb alone. However, he also thought that something unexpected might happen in the ancient tomb. If something went wrong, wouldn't it be a quiet death? Silent? In the traditional concept, reputation is often more important than life. As the saying goes, "The passing geese leave their voices, and the passing people leave their names." So he wrote all his life experiences in the sales account, together with the destroyed pure gold abacus, They were sealed together in a box and temporarily stored on the cabinet of "Pin Li", and they agreed to take them back together when they got the "Golden Steel Umbrella".

(Full text ends)