On the way back, I kept looking behind me with my peripheral vision, but there was not a single shadow in sight. The master and apprentice braved the cold wind and rode an electric car back to the small courtyard of the master's house.

At this point, I have time to ask Master, what the hell we met tonight?

Master said, "That should be one of the shadow ghosts, also called soul eaters!" ”

Shadow ghosts are easy to understand, but what does a soul eater mean?

Master explained, "Then we have to start with what is the soul and what is the spirit. The soul and the spirit are actually different. The history book "Zuo Biography. In the seventh year of Zhao Gong", he said: 'The beginning of life is called the soul, that is, the soul of life, and the soul of the yang; The spirit of possession is the spirit, and the god of the possession is the soul. ’”

"'The spirit of the form, when it is first born, the ears, eyes, mind, hands and feet, and the cry are the sounds, and this is the spirit of the spirit; Those who possess the god of qi are said to have gradually known their spiritual consciousness, and this is also the god of qi. That is to say, the soul is in charge of the spiritual intellect of the person, and the spirit is in charge of the physical physiology of the person. "Master memorized an ancient passage from the elder, and I could hear it all in a fog, and only the last two sentences of explanation could be understood.

"Man has three souls and seven spirits. The Taoist classic "The Seven Signatures of the Cloud Pipe" records: "There are three souls, one is the heavenly soul, the second is the earth soul, and the third is the life soul." There are seven spirits, one is the sky, two are the wisdom, three are the qi, four are the force, five are the center, six are the essence, and the seven are the Ying. 'There are three souls and seven souls, and if one of the living is missing, they will get sick or even die!' ”

"Huh? So much? "The more I listened, the more confused I became.

Master said, "More and less are innate. But the soul of ordinary people, whether they are alive or dead, should be one. After a person dies, the soul should go to the underworld to report for reincarnation. Those who have not gone cannot leave their bodies or graves without permission, because the soul cannot run around, but the soul can. When a ghost lacks spirit, it is like a man who lacks a limb and affects his actions. If you lack a soul, you will lose your mind and memory. ”

When Master said this, I suddenly remembered the father of Mr. Wang, who had traveled thousands of miles to fly back to his hometown with his ashes. When the old ghost first arrived, he was like a fool, and he couldn't even speak. But after Master's "treatment", he quickly recovered.

I asked Master, "Is the father of Mr. Wang, who was buried in Baihualing last time, missing his soul or soul?" ”

Master said, "It was a wounded ghost, and the soul was not lost, but the soul was seriously damaged. ”

"Master, how did you heal him?"

The master waved his hand and said, "It can't be considered a complete cure, I just helped him recover two souls, so he can barely talk and move around now." ”

"Can you get your soul back if you lose it?"

"Where to look? Maybe it's long gone! Master shook his head resolutely and said, "If the soul is left for too long, it will gradually dissipate. Just like the ghost you saw in the cave of Wind Valley Ridge, all three souls were lost, and they all forgot who they were? What is it? What is the purpose of staying in this world? Better than a beast! The soul dominates, and the ghost that lacks the soul is called the soulless ghost, and the mind has been lost, at most he only remembers his obsession with being stranded in the yang world. However, the soulless ghost can still be reincarnated, and if the seven spirits are lost, the soul will also dissipate, and there will be no ** return. ”

Oh! I nodded in understanding. No wonder these ghosts who run out to disturb people are not the same as the normal ghosts I see in the ghost market, to put it bluntly, they are similar to crazy people in the world, so they have to be taken care of.

The master stuffed his bag, various talismans, and a bag of glutinous rice into his signature old-style backpack, which were only for showmanship, and the mahogany sword was not there. It seems that he still attaches great importance to this ghost, and has made up his mind that he must catch it tonight. Afterwards, we rushed to Kang'an Fang overnight.

When I got to the outside of the alley, Master asked me to park the electric car in the distance, and then said to me, "My Yin Gong cultivation is higher, and ghosts don't dare to approach me easily, so I have to use you as bait to lure it out this time." You put the glutinous rice bag in your pocket and your hands are also in it, ready to use. Although this glutinous rice grain can't control it, as long as you delay it, I'll take it again. ”

I nodded, and understood. Then I took out the talisman dart again and asked the master, "Can I use this talisman dart?" ”

Recently, when I had nothing to do, I was practicing poker in my room, and now I'm a little bit on point. I also wanted to take this opportunity to try out the actual results.

"Yes, you can bring both glutinous rice grains and talisman darts, and you can use whichever is easy to use." Master nodded in agreement.

After the master finished speaking, he walked into the alley first, and as usual, he hid on the second floor of Boss Tang's house to peek. I waited a little for ten minutes before walking slowly down the alley. I've already walked through it once, and I almost exposed the "ghost shadow" on the spot, I wonder if it will recognize me, what if it doesn't dare to come out? Of course, it's also possible that it will hold a grudge and want to eat my "shadow ears" as well.

I walked to the street lamp in the middle of the alley and stopped, standing in the same position where Boss Tang had been standing before. I don't smoke, so I take out my phone and pretend to swipe WeChat under the lamp. I held my phone in my left hand and my right hand in my pocket, and I couldn't help but look back, but in fact my attention was always on Master's side, waiting for him to send a signal.

After standing for almost twenty minutes, there was suddenly a faint light on the balcony on the second floor of Boss Tang's house. I looked up and saw that the porch light on the balcony was on, which was the signal that I had made an appointment with Master, and he should have run downstairs. It was too late, but it was too soon, and I reacted immediately the moment I saw the light come on, pulled out my right hand from my pocket, and sprinkled a large handful of glutinous rice grains on the two shadows behind me.

This time, the shadow on the right trembled obviously, and it was right!

I pulled out another talisman dart and threw it at it, trying to hit the shadow on the right. It knew it couldn't hold it anymore, so it quickly dodged to the side and dodged. I threw another one, but it dodged me. The false shadow was very ghostly, one moment on the ground, the next it ran to the wall, and even stuck upside down under the eaves of a house. But the shape of the ghost shadow is still the same as the outline of my body, which always gives me the illusion that one "me" is chasing another "me". I've never seen myself so flexible, it's a wicked scene!

At this time, the master had already run out of the door of Boss Tang's house. I saw that the Fu Dart never hit the ghost, and I thought that the killing area of the glutinous rice grain was larger, as long as I dragged it a little longer, the master would arrive. So, I reached into my bag and grabbed a handful, and with a wave of my hand, I threw out a rain of glutinous rice. The ghost shadow was really fast, kicked on the wall, and ran away, but it was still dodged by it!

I hurried after him. But the ghost shadow was already frightened, and did not dare to stay for a moment, and after a few flashes from side to side, he disappeared into a sewer. I ran to the manhole cover at the mouth of the sewer, and for a moment I didn't know what to do.

The master ran up from behind, lay down again, looked at it, smelled it, but relieved himself and said, "It's okay!" Its nest is in here, and I'll come back tomorrow during the day and turn it out. After speaking, the master took out a talisman and pasted it on the manhole cover, and found half a brick to press it.

Afterwards, the master went back to tell Boss Tang that the matter had been clarified, and the dirty thing was in the sewer. He asked Boss Tang to invite two workers to come over tomorrow to clean the sewer. Boss Tang couldn't understand how his numb hands could have something to do with the sewer, but he still agreed, saying that he would call my master after finding a worker.

The next day, I didn't go to Kang'an Fang again because I had class, and I went to Master's house to ask the results after school in the afternoon. Master casually picked up a plastic bag from the foot of the bed and handed it to me for me to see. I opened the plastic bag, and a foul smell filled the air, full of the smell of stinking gutters.

But curiosity beat my nausea feeling anyway. I pinched my nose and poured out the contents of the bag, which looked like a dirty, torn rag. I carefully spread the cloth with one finger, and it turned out that it was not cloth, but more like cowhide. The piece of skin was in the shape of a human, composed of eleven small pieces, and the joints could still be moved, but the pattern on the skin figure had been washed dirty by the sewage, and it was not recognizable at all.

"What is this?" I looked at Master suspiciously.

"It's a shadow puppet." Master said.

"Shadow puppetry? Is it the prop used in the north to play shadow puppetry? "I was even more surprised. I've only seen it on TV, I've never seen it in real life.

"Well, that's what this stuff does." Master nodded and said, "It's just under the manhole cover." We couldn't see clearly last night, but in the daytime we saw it as soon as we lifted the manhole cover. The shadow ghost is attached to it during the day, and it comes out at night to harm people. It gnaws at the shadow of people, in fact, it is gnawing at people's spirits, so those people are numb. The eighty-year-old man probably gnawed directly on his head. ”

"What about the ghost?"

"It's been handed over to Master Zhou to be sent to reincarnation."

At this point, it seems that this matter should be over, but my master still looks frowning. I thought about it carefully, and I felt that there were indeed a lot of doubts left.

"Master, isn't there something strange about this?" I asked, "No one in our south can play with this stuff." And how can it be pressed under the manhole cover? ”

Master sighed and said, "Yes! You're right, I think there's a problem too. Probably someone put it there on purpose! ”

"Deliberately put? Who would do such an immoral thing? "I was taken aback.

"I don't know." Master shook his head slightly, his face very serious. Ordinary people don't understand this kind of thing, and it's probably also a person who often deals with ghosts such as Yin Cultivator or Taoist Cultivator, only to know that there is a shadow ghost attached to the shadow puppet.

This is no ordinary prank! There were eight people in that alley, and all of them had strokes. It's a good thing that we found us, so we were disposed of, otherwise someone would have suffered in the future.

But even if this kind of thing is called to the police, no one will definitely take care of it, who will believe our statement? It's good not to think of us as neurotics!

And if we have to investigate it ourselves, we can't do it. It's been two or three months since the shadow was tucked under the manhole cover, and who remembers if anyone ever reached in? Even if someone has seen the suspect, it is not easy to find a stranger in this huge county. Besides, maybe the man had already left.

After thinking about it, the matter had to be stopped. After a few days, I almost forgot about it. After all, cultivating Yin Gong, remediating homework, and developing a new relationship are the three most important things that currently occupy my main energy and time.