July 15, the Midyear Festival, can be regarded as a special day of the year.

This day is called the "Ghost Festival" by folks, Obon Festival in Buddhism, and Zhongyuan Festival by Taoists. It can be said that he is a lay monk, and the three families spend together.

The three great gods who dominate the world's blessings and misfortunes described in the Taoist classics: heavenly officials, earth officials, and water officials, have birthdays on the fifteenth day of the first month of the first month, the fifteenth day of the seventh month of the middle yuan, and the fifteenth day of the tenth month of the lower yuan. On these three full moon nights, in the first month, the heavenly officials blessed people, in July, the local officials forgave people's sins, and in October, the water officials relieved people's misfortunes.

The local official, the one who passes through the underworld is the Emperor of Pure Void. He forgives not the sins of mortals, but the ghosts and ghosts, the lonely and the dead. All the souls of the dead who cannot be liberated in time are obsessed before death, and they will not be at peace after death. The forgiveness of sin does not give them peace, but it saves them from too much suffering.

Every year on July 15, Mr. Pang holds a puja, rain or shine. This festival is not held for profit, but for the sake of caring for the souls of the ownerless. Those who have descendants in their own families will naturally burn paper and incense, and the souls of the ownerless and the soldiers who died on the battlefield must always have someone to pay tribute to them.

According to Mr. Peng's words, "It is so pitiful that people have become ghosts, and they still have to wander the world alone, and if we monks don't pay tribute to them, there should be no one to pay tribute to them."

In previous years, it was Mr. Peng who took the tiger and the master and apprentice to open the altar. However, this year is different from the past, and it is more lively. Li Lintang didn't need to say that Zhao Yueyue also came here to join in the fun, according to the meaning of the sect leader of their family. Mrs. Huang said: "This is a good deed, a merit, and it is beneficial to the immortal family and the younger brothers, and it should be to incense." ”

There was only one outsider - Ann Jien.

Since the daughter of the prefect's family has seen Hu Chuanwen, it seems to be a demon, and she is very curious about these gods and ghosts. is also a character who is not afraid of heaven and earth - otherwise he can't go across the ocean to study for many years alone - and regardless of the persuasion of others at home, he didn't bring a promise or anything, so he came to Sun Mountain and said that he wanted to watch the ceremony.

It has to be said that Huzi is unlucky, he is not afraid of heaven and earth, and he met such a nemesis as An Xien. "Brine tofu is one thing and one thing is down", that day in the private school, An Jien took a copy of "Liao Zhai" and asked Huzi to be dizzy, Huzi also turned his heart sideways, and said to the eldest lady: "Seeing that it is July 15, our ghost family is giving evil ghosts and lonely souls, if you are bold enough, you want to see the serious Xuanmen Puja, come up the mountain, and watch the ceremony on the sidelines." ”

Huzi originally wanted to scare and scare this eldest lady, but there are too many folk taboos on July 15, and this girl really has the guts to stay in any place until midnight? He underestimated Ann Jien. I don't know how this woman's courage was trained, Huzi said, she readily agreed, on the fifteenth day of July, just after noon, she rode a horse alone to the Sun Temple, and waited until dark.

As a joke, the Temple of the Sun was originally a Buddhist temple, but now it is used as a Taoist puja. It can be seen that between this world, there is a chance meeting, and nothing is impossible to talk about death.

The fifteenth moon is full, and the moonlight is sprinkled, and the things in the yard look real.

The courtyard in front of the hall was not as empty as it used to be. There is an offering table in the center, and on the table is an incense burner and red candle, a peachwood sword, a soul bell, and a stack of rune paper. On both sides of the offering table, there is a big banner on one side, one side is painted with the image of the emperor who forgives the sins of the local official, and on the other side is a charm, which is the local official's forgiveness charm. On the ground near the gate, there is a copper basin, and next to it is paper money ready for incineration. Further on, there are many tributes placed on the offering plate, mostly melons, fruits, pears and peaches, all of which are seasonal fruits and vegetables. The largest serving plate was stacked with cut cooked pork, estimated to weigh more than ten catties. Each offering plate is preceded by three pillars of fragrance and a cup of water.

The three people of the ghost family are all dressed neatly, and now they have worshiped three tablets in the main hall, and then walked out of the main hall to prepare to open the altar.

Li Lintang didn't wear clothes today, but dressed up as a layman - the rules of the ghost family, not a disciple of the sect, after all, it is not true. On the other hand, Mr. Peng and Huzi each wore a robe with a flowered robe, broke the braids and coiled them on the top of their heads, and pressed them under the crown of the five elders. Mr. Peng's robe has a yellow base, embroidered with stars, sun and moon on it, and pagodas and unicorns on the bottom. The Taoist robe on Huzi's body is purple with a purple base, with Yin and Yang Pisces painted on it, and the left cuff is embroidered with gossip, and the right cuff is embroidered with five elements.

Although Li Lintang is a disciple of the ghost family, he still stands with Zhao Yueyue and An Xien, who are watching the ceremony, and only the master and apprentice surnamed Peng are left in front of the offering table, Mr. Peng is in front, and Huzi is in the back.

Mr. Peng lit the three pillars of incense, inserted them into the incense burner, held the soul bells in one hand and the peach wood sword in the other, and picked up the stack of rune papers, and shouted "up"! I saw that the rune paper seemed to be blown by the wind, scattered and flew to all parts of the courtyard, spontaneously combusted without fire, and all of them turned into paper ashes in a short time.

Then the master and apprentice co-chanted the soul bell:

"Heaven and earth are natural, the filth is scattered, the cave is mysterious, and the sun is too yuan. The mighty gods of the eight directions, make me natural, Lingbao talisman, proclaim for nine days. Qianluo Tana, Donggang Taixuan, slashing demons and binding evil, saving thousands of people. Zhongshan mantra, the beginning of the jade text, recited once, but the illness prolonged. According to the line of the five mountains, the eight seas know the news, the demon king beam, and the guard I Xuan. The ferocity dissipates, and the Tao Qi endures. ”

This mantra is called "The Divine Mantra of Pure Heaven and Earth", and Taoists will also chant it in their morning classes. It is to cultivate the original mind and to appease the souls of the dead. Now the banner is erected, the rune paper is sprinkled all over, and it is the night of the Midyear Festival, so naturally there are lonely souls and wild ghosts who come to listen to the scriptures.

The wind in the small courtyard was cloudy for a while, and the surroundings were darkened, and the moonlight was not very bright. Mr. Peng was reciting the scriptures over and over again, and Huzi had already walked out from behind the offering table, picked up the thick wad of paper money on the ground, and threw them into the copper basin one by one. I didn't see him take out the fire fold, and the paper money that fell in the copper basin ignited on its own. The light of the fire did not look like ordinary burning paper, but was slightly blue.

An Xien was a little disdainful in her heart. She thought that Huzi had just called a ghost out that day, and this festival of the Jiao ceremony should be a scene of a hundred ghosts walking at night, so it would be good for her to open her eyes. How can you think it's so boring?

An Jien was slandering here, and suddenly the bell on the old locust tree at the door rang a few times, the sound was crisp and tight, not big, but it could be heard by people really.

As the bell rang, wisps of black smoke drifted into the courtyard along the open gate, layer upon layer, like a very transparent human form! These figures gathered more and more, and they actually stood in front of the offering table!

An Xi'en was startled, rubbing her eyes and looking closely, the black shadows were here, but sometimes real, sometimes vague, so that people couldn't believe their real existence.

In Huzi's eyes, this is not the case, these fierce and vicious ghosts, at the door, they faded away from their evil deeds, changed their appearance before their lives, knelt down in front of the offering table, and kowtowed again and again. These ghosts are transformed by souls, obsessions, and yin energy, and they are formless and substantial, so they are a layer of shadows stacked on top of each other, and the small courtyard must be filled with three or five hundred evil ghosts who have come to beg for food, and they can't be counted for a while.

This evil ghost bows down, and he does not worship the monks of the ghost family, but worships the scriptures and spells, and worships the emperor of the earth.

When the thick stack of paper money in Huzi's arms burned clean, Mr. Peng also stopped the incantation, and just recited it nine times, no more, no less. Then Mr. Peng waved the sleeves of his robe and said, "Everyone, Shang Fang." ”

At this point, all the evil spirits got up one after another and sat down in front of the tribute to share the food. The appearance of these tributes has not changed in the slightest, and it can indeed be seen that a trace of breath has been extracted from it and entered the mouth of the evil spirit.

What these demons share is not the food itself, but the "qi" of the food. Many legends say that the tribute has no taste when it is eaten again, and even the wine turns into white water after a short time, which is because the "qi" in the tribute is enjoyed by the enshrined elves and gods.

Seeing that this puja was at the end, Li Lintang dared to speak. He smiled at Ann and said, "How is it?" Does the little girl still find it interesting? The pujas are all boring and boring, and the ghosts are not necessarily evil, but they are mostly pitiful. ”

An Jien didn't reply, still looking at the offering table and the plate, as if she had lost her mind in her eyes. Zhao Yueyue called twice: "Sister An...... Sister Ann! ”

When An Xien heard Zhao Yueyue call her, she could be considered to have a reaction, turned her head and smiled at Zhao Yueyue: "What a lovely little girl, it must taste very delicious." ”

As soon as these words came out, An Xien's eyes turned red, and with a scream, she pounced on Zhao Yueyue!

Li Lintang's heart is not good, and he is also quick with his hands and eyes, so he grabbed An Xien's belt and dragged it backwards, which can be regarded as saving Zhao Yueyue's life!

Huang Yatou is still a child, but she is also a disciple of the horse, here is not far from her house, how can the fairy family sit and watch the accident of the younger brother, after a while, several foxes and yellow skins rushed into the yard, protecting Zhao Yueyue in the middle, and a big python with the thickness of an adult's calf climbed on the wall, spitting a letter at An Xien!

It was just such a moment of hard work, and Mr. Peng and Huzi had already put aside the evil ghosts who were enjoying the tribute over there, and one after the other, sandwiched An Jien in the middle.

"Today is the Midyear Festival, if you leave quickly, or go to enjoy the tribute, and don't hurt this child's life, I will spare you this time." Mr. Peng pointed at An Jien with a peachwood sword and said with a cold face.

An Ji Enjiao laughed and said, "Yo! There are so many Taoist monks...... What a battle! But then again, if I dare to come to your dojo, I will be sure to go. Can you ignore this little girl's life? ”