Mandrills, also known as ghost baboons, are the largest primates of the monkey family in the world. The head is large and long, with a bony protrusion on each side of the nasal bone, on which there are longitudinally arranged ridge-like protrusions, between which are grooves, covered with green skin, and the color between the ridges is bright red. It is because of its strange appearance that it resembles a ghost, so it is named mandrill.

This is the current saying, and in ancient times, there were several different descriptions of mandrills. Jin Gehong's "Hug Puzi" contains: The mountain spirit is shaped like a child, with one foot backwards, and the night is happy to be a prisoner, and the name is Xiao.

It is also mentioned in the scriptures of the Mountains and Seas and the Sea: There are Gan giants in the south, with long human faces, long arms, black bodies with hair, and heels. This description is similar to the description of mandrills today.

Both are descriptions of mandrills, the mandrills recorded in "Hug Puzi" are shaped like children, while the image of mandrills described in "The Classic of Mountains and Seas" is a giant with black hair. Although the two accounts are biased, one thing they agree is that the mandrill is a man-eating monster and likes to attack people at night.

The Taoist priest said that he saw the mandrill, I don't believe it, no matter which image the mandrill is in the book, if it really exists, I don't believe that no one can see so many pairs of eyes under a sunny day?

"Dao Ye swears by Immeasurable Heavenly Venerable, Lao Tzu is definitely not deceiving, near the stone tablet, there are really ghost mandrills, and there is more than one!" The Taoist priest's face was gloomy, and he swore by it, and it didn't look like he was bluffing me.

I was a little skeptical, but at the same time I noticed that he was talking about a ghost mandrill, not a mandrill, so I asked him, "Is there any difference between a ghost mandrill and a mandrill?" ”

The Taoist priest took a deep breath and said: "Of course there is a difference, mandrills are a kind of spirits, a kind of life that lives on the border between hell and the world, neither ghosts nor demons, but because of the special living environment, these mandrills have an extremely evil atmosphere, and their personalities are cruel, much more terrible than ghosts." And the ghost mandrill, which is the spirit body that the mandrill turned into after death, travels between the netherworld and the human world unimpeded, more evil and terrifying, they are spirits, but they are different from ghosts, in short, they are an existence that can never be provoked. ”

I saw that the Taoist priest's brows were all shrunk, and I knew that he was extremely jealous of this kind of ghost mandrill, so I said to him, "No, don't you know how to spell?" Are you still afraid of these dead things? ”

The Taoist priest threw an ignorant expression at me, pointed to the bottom and said, "You know a fart, the ghost mandrill is favored by the below, and if you destroy them, you will be punished!" ”

", you are a cultivator, do you believe in this?"

"Nonsense, it is precisely because the Taoist Master is a cultivator and knows the power of cause and effect in this, so he is even more afraid. Alas, I heard my master say that my ancestor killed a ghost mandrill because he didn't believe in evil, and as a result, he was haunted by evil retribution for a lifetime, and he was chopped into charcoal by thunder when he died, and he didn't get a good death! ”

When the Taoist priest said this, Erhu's face was a little anxious, and he hurriedly asked: "Daoist, are you saying that there are a lot of that kind of terrible ghost mandrill next to the stone tablet?" What about the villagers who are gathered there, will they suffer? ”

I also looked at the Taoist priest, after all, this is my hometown, the villagers, and most of them are my relatives, if there is really danger, I must go and inform them to leave there.

The Taoist priest waved his hand, reassuring us, saying that the ghost mandrill is a nocturnal yin thing, and it is unable to act due to the scorching yang energy during the day, and the reason why he called us back just now is because I have a curse of doom on my body, and he doesn't know if this curse will stimulate the ghost mandrill, because the ghost mandrill also belongs to the yin thing.

I took a deep breath, and after he reminded me, I suddenly remembered the purpose of returning from this trip, and found that I had been delayed for so many days unconsciously, and I didn't even have the opportunity to ask my grandmother questions, which was really unexpected, I made up my mind to pay attention, and when my grandmother came back, I must ask about the curse as soon as possible.

Erhu heard the Taoist priest talk about the curse, and asked me in surprise what was the matter? Erhu is not an outsider, and he also knows about the curse, I smiled bitterly and rolled up my sleeve, revealing the hideous black line on my right arm, and his face suddenly changed: "It's it, the curse of Yeling, it's back?" ”

"The curse of Yerein? You say it's the curse of Jerein, do you know where this thing came from? Erhu's words were like a hammer hitting my heart full of questions, and I hurriedly grabbed him.

The shock on Erhu's face immediately turned into an unnatural flush, and he hurriedly waved his hand: "No, I don't know, I guessed!" ”

I looked at Erhu, mixed up with the little guy, I am very familiar with him, this guy is not good at lying, every time he lies, his face will rise to the color of pig liver. I remember one time the two of us peeked at a girl from a neighboring village bathing in a mountain stream, and we were caught. I had already fooled this matter with my three-inch incorruptible tongue, but when I asked him, he followed my words, but his face was so red that he clearly told people that he was lying, and as a result, I was beaten half to death by my father.

"Erhu, I couldn't be clearer about what you are lying, I thought that our friendship would never fade for the rest of my life, but how long has it been, and you have begun to lie to me, don't you treat me as a brother anymore?" I stared into Erhu's eyes and said in a calm tone.

Erhu's face turned white, and he looked at me: "Xiaoyi, I have always regarded you as a brother, this has never changed, but I really can't say this matter, it will hurt you if I say it, so don't ask more, when I can say it, I will naturally tell you." ”

Erhu's face didn't blush when he said this, proving that what he said was true, but if this was the case, if he told me the secret of the curse, could it be true and hurt me?

After Erhu finished speaking, he stood up and said that even if the ghost mandrill couldn't do evil during the day, he could prevent it, he still had to warn the villagers, and left after speaking.

I knew that what I had just said was too much, and I immediately felt a little guilty of myself. After the second tiger left, the Taoist priest immediately patted me and asked, "Hey, I said, why are all these people in your hometown nervous, your grandmother is nervous, and your brother is also nervous, what can't be said about this?" ”

I'll tell him to get out, your grandma is nervous! The Taoist priest was happy when he heard it, and said that he had a grandmother, and if he had a grandmother, even if it was a nervous one, he would admit it. I was so choked by him that I couldn't say anything, so I didn't bother to talk to him anymore, and asked him what the ghost mandrill he saw looked like.

The ghost mandrill described by the Taoist priest is like this: the head of a human lizard body, the upper lip is rolled up to the two ghost eyes, the mouth is like a sea bowl, the teeth are like a hacksaw, and it walks on all fours.

After listening to the Taoist priest's description, I said in my heart that this mandrill was really good, but I saw that the Taoist priest's eyes shrunk, as if he was thinking about something, so I asked him: "Hey, what do you want?" ”

He glanced at me, was a little dissatisfied with me interrupting him, and said, "I don't know if you have a feeling, since you came to this village, Dao Ye always feels as if he has entered a wolf's den!" ”

"Huh? Why? ”

The Taoist priest took a deep breath and said, "Don't you think it's too coincidental to see the appearance of mountain ghosts, mandrills, monsters caught that night, and vamphivorous vines?" ”

I was stunned, I didn't expect him to say this, but after he reminded him, I found that it was really the case, to say that the appearance of the mountain ghost was a coincidence, and the monster caught that night was also a coincidence, then the mandrill that appeared now and the vamphivorous vine that the Taoist priest encountered, it can't be a coincidence, right?

"This feeling is difficult to describe, let's put it this way, the moment we stepped into the village that night, I felt as if I had suddenly entered an iron cage, and the cage was surrounded by some fierce birds and beasts, and we were surrounded by these man-eating beasts all the time."

This metaphor is not very appropriate, but it made me shudder, and hurriedly asked: "You mean, the entire Dingyan Village is the cage, those terrifying things that appear one after another, mountain ghosts or ghost vines, are those fierce beasts that are around the cage?" ”

The Taoist priest nodded, and my mentality immediately exploded, saying how is this possible, I have lived in the village for more than ten years, and the mountains and forests around the village are our amusement parks, if it is really like what he said, how can we grow up safely, and the village is afraid that there will be two dead people in three days.

Seeing that I didn't believe it, the Taoist priest continued: "Dao Master, this is just a guess, but in the past five days, the yin qi around the village has been inexplicably much stronger, and the mandrill has also appeared to harm people at this time, there must be a reason for this!" ”

It seems that the impact on me is not strong enough, and the Taoist priest continued to make a fierce announcement: "The second tiger was here just now, and the Taoist took care of you without saying it, and the Taoist suspected that the appearance of these shady things was related to you!" ”