"Fall into the water and freeze to death, only a slight breath, do not burn with fire, use a cloth bag to hold hot ashes, put it in your heart, change it when it is cold, wait for your eyes to open, and warm wine with it. The ancient prescription of drowning people, buried with a stone in the stove, from head to foot, only seven holes were exposed, and it was Su for a long time. If a fly drowns and dies, try to bury it with ashes, and even if it is alive, it will be tested. The cover is warm and can pull water. ”

My mouth and nose were full of incense ashes, and I couldn't open my eyes, and while I quickly retreated to make a defensive gesture, a description of incense ashes in "Puji Fang" appeared in my mind.

The eyes were penetrated by the fine dust of incense ash, and it felt like staying up all night, and I was awakened after just ten minutes of sleep, and I tried to open my eyes only but felt as if my eyelids were being tied by a downward weight, and I couldn't open them at all.

I pulled the dagger out of my wide trouser pocket, and after I had ruled out the danger, the flashlight was taken into my backpack, and the dagger was placed directly in my trouser pocket. I didn't expect to use it so quickly.

I clenched the dagger in my right hand and swiped forward, and with my left hand hurriedly cleaned my eyes and face of incense ash. I think that under my defense, even if the "yin" mountain keeper is not an old man in his seventies, it will be difficult to hurt me.

To my surprise, I didn't wait until I could see with my eyes and didn't wait for a second attack. The old man guarding the mountain didn't move anymore after raising the incense ash, as if he hadn't even moved where he was standing.

The sunlight fell through the gaps between the leaves and fell on his wrinkled face, not showing any "sinister villain" appearance, but a hint of kindness. The atmosphere suddenly fell silent, so quiet that even the sound of the stream flowing under the mountain range could be heard clearly.

"You are in the way of the Yin soldiers, and you need to wipe off the breath with incense ash so as not to be confiscated ......"

The old man explained Fang Cai's actions lightly in a hoarse voice, and that kind face was easily convincing.

Still defensive with a dagger in my hand, I watched him warily, and spat hard a few times in my mouth, trying to spit the remaining incense dust onto the ground.

This artificial flavor contains a chemical called benzal, if the incense is not burned out, there will be benzal in the ash, and people will be poisoned after taking a large amount. Although only a small amount of incense ash mixed with saliva was swallowed into my throat, this feeling of discomfort in my heart still drove my behavior.

The sun has broken away from the mountain where it had been hidden, and is moving towards the west at a slight speed. In the cool season of early autumn, the slightest heat of late summer is completely isolated from this mountain range.

My tense nerves gradually relaxed as the old man Shouling's slow tone of narration eased, and he sat down on a polished shiny stone beside him, the light of which had been precipitated by the years.

After listening to the old man's account, I understood the reason why he sprinkled incense ashes.

"In the twenty-ninth year of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty, a tribute priest passed by here to play and stayed overnight in the Ghost Cub Ridge. I slept late at night when it suddenly rained. In the surrounding forests, black shadows are building, swords are shining, there are galloping horses' hooves, mourning horns, and some people are earnest and crying, which is the state of the Yin soldiers crossing the border. Gongshi was afraid to hide behind a tree and peek, and suddenly found a Yin soldier beckoning to him, and after seeing it, he happily got up and prepared to join the Yin soldier queue. Fortunately, a priest passed by and sprinkled incense ash on him, erasing his breath so that his soul was not hooked. After that, Gongshi erected an inscription under the mountain. ‘’

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At the foot of the mountain of "Ghost Cub Ridge", there is a Tan stream called "Ghost Cub Well", which is said to be the dividing line between the underworld and the yang, and every night the Yin soldiers appear from here, and Shi Yong will also be resurrected into Yin soldiers with them......

I was completely unconvinced of the series of stories told to me by the old man, including the "ghost well", and at the moment my materialistic spirit took over.

Following the old man's day's patrol of the mountains, I had a general understanding of the strange reason for this mountain. The entire "Yin Soldier" ghost cubs all over the mountains and forests come from various dynasties, and the oldest ones can even be traced back to ancient times. It is usually chiseled from local materials. From the perspective of archaeology, this "Ghost Cub Ridge" is a sacrificial mountain, and I don't know why this was chosen as a sacrificial mountain. Judging by the incense burner on the top of the mountain, this ritual continues to this day.

However, the "ghost cub well" of the yin and yang boundary mentioned by the old man guarding the mountain made me see its magic.

According to the old man's method, I yelled at the strange quiet stream, and the pool of water responded by spitting bubbles. The louder the roar, the more bubbles will be spit out, as if there is life.

It's hard to figure out why it's a supernatural phenomenon. Maybe it's really the boundary that separates yin and yang?

In the package that Aunt Ming gave me, the second uncle just set my location at "Ghost Cub Ridge", as for why I came here and what my intentions were, I had to wait for the next news.

Through a whole day of getting along, this old man guarding the mountain dispelled all my doubts, he is completely a kind old man, a duty old man guarding the mountain. Of course, to be qualified for such a position, in the words of the old man, he was born with a hard character, and Yin soldiers don't need people like him.

It can be seen that because of his eccentricity, the nearby villagers rarely have contact with him, and seeing that I don't regard him as a weirdo (in fact, he does), they are willing to talk to him. Therefore, the old man asked me to stay and eat and leave tomorrow. At this time, it was getting dark, and in order to find out the second uncle's motive for letting me come to Ghost Cub Ridge, as a "puppet", I agreed to the old man's retention.

Even though I was resistant to this mysterious mountain, I stayed.

Although the wooden house in the gentle area at the bottom of the hill looks a little dilapidated from the outside, the interior is very clean, and there is a wooden bed and some simple daily necessities in a space of about 20 square meters.

As night fell, the sound of birdsong was replaced by the rustling of leaves in the wind, and I had become completely accustomed to the sound of the last night. According to the old man's advice, try not to go out at night, and if you have to go out, you must change into a white dress hanging behind the door, which is for the dead (a local custom to ward off ghosts).

As night approached, I had solved all my physical problems and refused the tea that the old man had handed me. The reason was that I didn't want to wear that white dress in the middle of the night because of the urgency to urinate.

During the small talk, I learned that the old man had no children and no daughters, and in order to make ends meet, he chose to be a mountain guard, so that he could get some subsidies. Although this mountain range does not have much archaeological value, the local government still lists it as a protected object, after all, there is an ancient ethnic group here for the inheritance of sacrificial culture.

In the quiet atmosphere, I finally fell asleep, and the whole night and day were continuous, which made my sleepiness strong at the moment.

I don't know when I woke up again, the watch was in my backpack hanging on a nail behind a spring door. The moonlight shone through the relatively clean glass windows of the wooden house and onto the only wooden bed in the house. The old man who I thought was kind was sitting on the bed with his back against the wall, the quilt down to his ankles. The mouth was chewing and making a crisp crunching sound, which was so clear in the still, terrible night, clear enough to wake me up from my sleep.

The sight gave me goosebumps all over my body, and I will never forget that feeling for the rest of my life. I saw that the old man's mouth was chewing on a black living creature that was constantly moving, and judging from the exposed tail, it was clearly a scorpion, a live scorpion!