Late at night, in a remote manor, there was a room with a bright light in the window, and a person in the room was reading a book under the lamp.

The man looked at it for a long time, and by this time he felt a little sleepy, so he rubbed his head, and then supported his jaw with his hand to doze off.

In the haze, suddenly a woman's laughter sounded beside him, and when he looked up, he saw that there were many firefly-like things flying around, and the laughter was actually made by these things.

Suddenly, he raised his eyebrows and shouted at those strange things: "Bah! The shout sounded like a thunderclap in the silent night, and in a moment the fireflies around him fled and disappeared without a trace.

When the family heard the shouting, they all rushed over, and his wife pushed open the door of the study and asked, "Master, what happened?" ”

The man stood up from the side of the bookcase, and saw that he was tall, with a black beard around his mouth, and his eyes were very bright. He is Yin Kui, a native of Liaodong, and a famous astronomical.

He put the book in his hand on the bookcase, walked to the wall, took the sword, and said, "Something strange has happened tonight, and I think there may be some omen to be revealed." The banks of the Nanshan River are the best place to watch the heavens, and it is for this reason that I chose to settle here, and it may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me to see what happens. ”

His wife was worried: "Master, it's so late, and it's snowing heavily, not to mention that this area is not peaceful, so don't take any chances." ”

Yin Kui said with a smile: "I have often stayed in the wild at night since I was a child to watch the sky, and I am familiar with dealing with all kinds of dangers, and self-protection is not a problem, so you don't have to worry too much about this, I will come back in the morning." ”

His wife knew his character, and once she had decided, it would be difficult to change it, so she took a thick coat and put it on him, saying, "Be careful on the road." ”

Yin Kui smiled, shook his wife's hand, nodded, and then went out.

The servant brought him his horse from the stable, a horse with a black coat, a fine pedigree and hardy to the cold, and very well adapted to the cold environment of the north.

Yin Kui rode his beloved horse against the wind and snow and headed south. The night was covered with clouds, and the moonlight and stars were obscured by the clouds, which was not suitable for observing the sky at all. But his experience has taught him that everything should not be judged by common sense, not to mention that the heavens are often not easily revealed, and only a few intuitive astrologists can grasp the fleeting moment, and Yin Kui happens to be the best among them.

The snow on the ground was already quite thick, and the road was faintly visible through the reflection of the clouds on the snow. The man rode slowly through the snow, step by step.

On the way, he passed a deserted house, only to see that the fire was burning behind the broken wall, and the smell of meat wafted in the cold wind, Yin Kui was curious, so he wanted to go over to see what was going on, and turned the corner, but he found a cut corpse next to the fire, and next to the corpse was a ragged man chewing on roasted human flesh.

The man noticed movement behind him and turned his head, only to see that he was unkempt, a face so thin that only a withered yellow skin was still clinging to his skull, two large eyeballs in his eye sockets were protruding outward, and he was still holding a meat cleaver in his hand at this time, staring closely at Yin Kui on the horse.

Yin Kui looked at him without saying a word, the man was afraid of Yin Kui's unangry and self-righteous momentum and the sword at his waist, he didn't dare to move forward, and after facing him for a while, he was timid, but he was reluctant to get the food that he had finally arrived, so he dragged the corpse hard and retreated to the woods behind.

Yin Kui couldn't help but think: "Where is this still a person?" It's like a beast that can walk upright! ”

He continued on his journey with mixed feelings, and finally came to the place where he was going.

At this time, he raised his head and looked at the sky, at this time the sky was still full of dark clouds, and the wind and snow were even bigger, so there was no way to observe the stars, but he trusted his instincts, and the signs that had happened over the years had predicted that there would be great changes in the world, but only the heavens knew when this great change would take place and what it would become. Now, if you want to know all this, the time to spy on the heavens is tonight!

Yin Kui looked at the sky around him, and found that there was a faint light in the northeast corner, but he couldn't see the direction he was in very clearly, so he worked tirelessly and went to the high mountain in the distance.

The terrain in this area is open, and the only few mountains are scattered along the river. The highest of these mountains is the sacrificial mountain, which is said to be infested by gods all year round, so the locals go to the mountain every year to worship the gods. Over time, this obscure mountain was originally called a sacrificial mountain by the locals.

Yin Kui came to the bottom of the sacrificial mountain, only to see that this mountain was indeed different; The mountains here are generally not high and mostly bare, but the Matsuri Mountain is not only significantly higher than all the mountains in the area, but also has a lot of trees all year round. After the heavy snowfall, the whole mountain stands like a general in silver armor, towering over the river, guarding the secret of the unknown for thousands of years.

The road to the mountain was so narrow and rough that it was impossible to go up on horseback, so he dismounted, patted the horse on the back and said, "Wait for me here." After saying that, he let his horse run freely under the mountain.

Spiritual horses are loyal to their masters, even if they are left alone, they will move around when their owners are not there, and when their owners come back, they will return to their masters, and if strangers try to approach them, they will leave vigilantly, so Yin Kui likes this horse so much.

The difficulty of going up the mountain late at night in the heavy snow can be imagined, because of the trees, the vision has become worse, almost to the point where you can't see your fingers. Yin Kui stumbled and groped between the mountain roads, and couldn't help but feel anxious in his heart, and said to himself: "You can't get to the mountain at dawn if you walk like this." As he spoke, there was a sound of clattering in the dark woods, and a strange cry rang out one after another, and there seemed to be a lot of them, and I didn't know what it was. Yin Kui's heart jumped, a white light flashed in his mind, and he thought, "Isn't it a jackal mandrill?" If that's the case, it's dangerous. Only then did he begin to regret that he was so reckless about the consequences, and he was used to being bold on weekdays, so he didn't take the danger seriously.

He drew his sword and was on full alert, ready to fight to the death, and he had never been more nervous in all these years.

Just as he was nervous and prepared for the worst, he saw a light light in front of him.

Yin Kui was suddenly surprised, only to see that this light illuminated the road, and the strange screams around him also stopped. He only thought that this was the Orion in the mountains who came to help him in danger, and he was very grateful in his heart, so he stepped forward to thank him. But the strange thing is that as soon as he approached forward, the light also moved forward, Yin Kui walked and walked, Yin Kui stopped and stopped, always keeping a certain distance from him, and did not react to Yin Kui's shouts. But the important point is that this light only shines on the way up the mountain, and if he goes down the mountain or everywhere, the light will not follow, so it seems that it is intended to lead him to the top of the mountain.

At this time, Yin Kui couldn't help but think about it, originally the purpose of his coming here was to go to the top of the mountain to watch the sky, and he had experienced the danger just now, and now he thought that giving up halfway was not the husband's doing. So, he put his sword back in its scabbard and walked to the top of the hill with his head held high.

Yin Kui was guided by the light, and the journey up the mountain became less difficult. From time to time, he looked at the light, and gradually understood that it was emitted by a rare pearl of the night. As for how there could be such an exaggerated pearl in the world, Yin Kui's knowledge of these pearls and gems is far less than that of the stars in the sky. Even his wife only used ordinary jewelry, and perhaps only the queen concubines in the inner courtyard of the palace knew whether it was possible for such a big and bright night pearl to exist in this world.

Looking at the bead-bearer again, although he was next to such a bright bead, he could only vaguely see his rickety figure, which looked very short, only about the height of an eight- or nine-year-old child.

I saw that he was holding the pearl high in his right hand, although he walked on the rugged mountain road, his movement was not hindered at all, and the hand holding the pearl did not even shake much, which shows how agile this person is.

When he came to the top of the mountain, the pearl bearer quietly disappeared into the forest, and Yin Kui never saw his face and heard his answer.

The top of the mountain really has a wide field of vision, and in the past, Yin Kui often climbed high to watch the stars, and this high scene is by no means comparable to the plains.

Legend has it that in order to get in touch with the gods, the ancient emperors spent a lot of money to build a high platform. There was Lutai during the Shang Dynasty, and there was Bailiang Tai during the Han Dynasty. There is also a star-picking tower, which is high enough to catch the moon and pick up the stars, which is of course just a metaphor, but it can also be seen that it is reasonable to have this illusion.

In ancient times, floods were raging, and Dayu was able to take over the throne of Shun with his meritorious work in controlling the water. After Dayu established the Xia Dynasty, divided the world into Kyushu, and Yizhou is the imperial capital, so since ancient times there has been a royal spirit around, the so-called want to become a king, must take Yizhou as the foundation, the relationship between the two is inseparable.

There is the king's spirit, you can reach the heavenly court, in ancient times, the emperor in order to seek peace in all directions, build a high platform to worship the sky, the location is on this sacrificial mountain, but because of the age, the platform collapses, only the stone outline remains.

Yin Kui came to pray in front of the ruins of the altar, and secretly blessed in his heart: "May the heavens appear as an omen to tell the world." ”

After a while, I saw the clouds turning, and a cloud hole appeared in the eastern sky, and the surrounding clouds seemed to be sucked by a huge mouth, rolling into the cloud hole, and a clear night sky appeared where the clouds disappeared, and the moon was really high and the stars were shining.

Yin Kui was overjoyed, and bowed to the sky three times, only to see that the star position in the night sky at this time was easier, and there were many stars that had never existed.

Suddenly, a star turned into a meteor and fell to the ground, and after a while, more stars fell in different directions. These meteors vary in size and light and dark.

Yin Kui was amazed, the clouds began to gather again, in the hazy night sky, a faint yellow giant star, this giant star gradually approached the moon, and finally completely blocked the moon, the moonlight through the giant star, turned into a red blood-like color, indescribably weird and terrifying, this strange color appeared not long after the heaven and earth became dark, this situation is like a tengu eating the moon.

After a while, everything returned to its original state, and the clouds completely covered the night sky, and nothing could be seen.

Yin Kui closed his eyes and pondered, speechless for a long time.

Then he suddenly heard a soft voice behind him, and several people were sneakily hiding behind a tree and talking about something. He thought it was one of those hungry wanderers again, so he shouted at the place, "Who is it?" Come out! ”

I saw a few people walking out trembling under his shouts, and they were all old men of about seventy. Yin Kui asked them, "How old are you, why are you still in this barren mountain late at night?" The old people replied: "I can't hide it, I am a villager in the vicinity, these years the people have no peace, like me and the old people can't do much work, in the family is a burden, so I and a few people discussed, rather than dragging the whole family down, it is better to hide in the mountains and resign themselves to fate." Fortunately, there are endless roads, and there are still a lot of wild mushrooms and wild fruits in the mountains, and we didn't starve to death, but it was just a little difficult to endure when it was cold. ”

Yin Kui looked at their clothes, a thin and torn clothes could not keep out the cold at all, and realized that those simple words actually contained countless bitterness and suffering.

So he took off his coat and handed it to the old man, and said, "Put this dress on first, and I will ask someone to bring some clothes after dawn." The old man said in a panic: "No, no, no, how can you accept these things plainly." Yin Kui said solemnly: "Several people are older than me, and they can still do such a righteous thing, and a little clothing is really not enough to express the shame in my heart." ”

The old man accepted his clothes very gratefully and knelt down in front of Yin Kui, who hurriedly helped him up. Suddenly, he remembered something and asked the old people, "When I was trapped in the mountains, but the old people helped me?" The old people glanced at each other and exclaimed in unison, "Isn't it the spirit of Qiu Yue!" "The Spirit of the Hill?" Yin Kui was puzzled. One of the old men explained to him: "The spirit of this hill is the mountain demon of this mountain, and it is commanded by the mountain god to guard this mountain, but if there is a forest cutter who enters the mountain, he will be bewitched by this spirit, and he will be trapped in the mountain and attacked by wild beasts." Gong can go up the mountain safely tonight, but it is the blessing of the mountain god and the spirit of the mountain to guide the way, it can be seen that Gong must be an extraordinary person! After saying that, everyone bowed down again like seeing a stranger, Yin Kui hurriedly helped them up one by one, and said: "The young and the old are orderly, there is a difference between respect and inferiority, and a few people have repeatedly given this great gift to the juniors, how can the juniors bear it." ”

After Yin Kui chatted with several old men on the mountain for a while, and then the old man led the way to the place where they lived, which was a cave, where they had lit fires at night to prevent wild beasts from approaching, and finally had a fixed place to close the wind. Yin Kui rested in the cave for a few hours before dawn, so he said goodbye to the old men and went down the mountain.

At home, his wife was anxious all night, and finally saw her husband return safely, and greeted him happily, saying, "Master, you are back." Yin Kui smiled and said, "I said it's okay, look at what you're fuss about." "Not a word about the dangers of the night.

At this time he was thinking about something, he asked his wife to take the servants of the house to count and put in order all the belongings, and then he went into the study, closed the door, and wrote a letter with a heavy heart.

When she opened the door, his wife was already waiting outside the door, she knew that today's event was anything unusual, something must have happened, but Yin Kui didn't say that she didn't ask, just silently obeyed his arrangement.

Yin Kui was very grateful to this virtuous wife, stroked her shoulder, and said: "Since following me, I have often traveled around the world over the years, and there are not many comfortable days, and I am very guilty of making you frightened from time to time. His wife smiled and said, "Don't say that, sir, it is my blessing to be by your side, and I will always follow you even if I go to the ends of the earth in the future." There is no need for too many words between the two, a move, a look, and a tacit understanding has been reached.

After the housework was handled, Yin Kui took people to Yuxiang, found the family members of the old people and explained the situation of the old people and their own intentions, he took out the family resources to help the poor people here, and touched them with righteous words, everyone was convinced, the old man's family was even more conscience found that they cried bitterly, and then went up the mountain together to welcome the old people back.

On that day, there was a lot of jubilation in the township, and Yin Kui couldn't say goodbye to everyone's enthusiasm, so he agreed to stay and celebrate with the villagers.

This celebration lasted until late at night, and the simple countryman did not have a high pursuit of happiness, as long as he had three meals and clothing, the family would be happy, but even this is the minimum requirement of the people in today's world.

Several old people came to Yin Kui to thank him repeatedly, but Yin Kui was still humble and relentless. Chatting with everyone about the situation that night, Yin Kui said: "Looking at the stars at night that night, I saw a yellow star as big as a bucket, and the light shines here. The crowd was amazed.

After spending the night in the village, Yin Kui said goodbye to the villagers and went home the next day, and he distributed the rest of the money and goods to the servants of the family for a living, and then dismissed them all.

And the servant of the stables had always taken good care of his beloved horse, and he knew that this man was fond of astronomy, and he had come to him because he admired him. In the past, Yin Kui would occasionally tell him about astronomy, but in general there were not many of them. Now that he was about to leave, Yin Kuinian gave him a book containing astronomical mysteries for the sake of his hard work for the family over the years, let him learn by himself, and encourage him.

In this way, Yin Kui and his wife mounted their horses and set out on a long journey, not knowing where their next place would be, for Yin Kui had lived incognito since then, and the reason for this was the vision he had seen that night and the letter he later presented to the court.

Soon, the local government sent a team of soldiers to threaten to arrest those who deceived the people, but when they arrived at the place where Yin Kui lived, they saw that the house had been burned to ruins, and the nearby residents said that a fire fell a few days ago and burned the house, and the life and death of the people in the house were unknown, and the bones were probably gone, so the matter was over.

In fact, this was all arranged by Yin Kui in advance, he knew that the emperor of the current court was a mediocre and traitorous minister, and his upright words would attract disaster, but he was alive but wanted to be worthy of his heart, what he could do was to tell the truth, as for not being able to get a warning, he couldn't care so much, after all, his identity was just a common man.

He instructed the servants to burn down the house with fire after everyone had left, and then spread rumors to some good deeds that this was the work of the heavenly fire, and that as soon as the matter passed through the mouths of several people, it was difficult to know the original truth, and this was Yin Kui's purpose.

The horse's maid's name was Jiao Bing, and he wanted to follow Yin Kui after finishing his errand, but he couldn't find any trace of the couple, so he had to make another plan. After thinking about it, he had nothing to rely on here, so he could only go to a distant relative, although he didn't have much contact, but for the sake of the same Jiao family, he should take him in, so he cheered up and left. (End of preface)