Chapter 2: The Journey

A day and a night passed, and the train passed through countless small stations, and finally came to a stop with a click. Qingcheng Station arrived, and Ed walked out of the small station with the flow of people, and the sky had just brightened. A breath of fresh air is indeed much more comfortable than in a big city. Looking around, there are no tall buildings blocking the view.

Where to go next, I don't know the specific location of Anan's house, I only know that his house is in a place called Po Sazhai Village, so let's just go there. At this time, a taxi driver came to talk to him, and Ed gave the address and got into the car. The car was first driven on the asphalt road, and after about an hour, it was on the potholed dirt road. Ed opened the car window, it was a cold day, it should have just rained, the ground was wet and dustless, and the surrounding buildings still retained a relatively primitive look, with many small wooden buildings.

"Here we are."

When he finally arrived, Ed stepped out of the car and saw a patch of green shade, rows of wooden attics and trees that complemented each other, giving people a sense of being away from home. The so-called village does not have a wall, nor does it have a gate, but it is just a geographical title. Ed walked down the main road. It was early afternoon, and it seemed that people were taking a nap, and there was no one on the way.

is walking, but there is a tall building in the middle of the road, which looks like a bluestone statue, several meters higher than the surrounding attic, this statue has short limbs, a round belly, **plump, presumably a local totem. Ed walked around the statue and continued to walk, just two steps away, suddenly his head and neck were hot, and he touched it with his hands and was full of water, and when he looked back, it turned out that a large piece had been hollowed out behind the statue, and a little boy of five or six years old was standing on it, who was peeing on him.

Ed was angry and said, "Why are you so bad, how did your family teach you?" The child, who was small but agile as a monkey, jumped off the sculpture with a smile and was four or five meters long, landing without making a sound. Ed thought to himself, this child is some kind of elf boy, and after thinking about it, it is absolutely impossible, so he asked, "Child, is this a village?"

The child rolled his eyes and said, "Yes, why haven't I seen you before?"

"Oh, I'm here to find someone, do you know where Sister Anan's home is?"

"Sister Anan?"

The child seemed a little uncomfortable when he heard this, scratched his head, waved his hand, and said, "Come with me." ”

Ed rejoiced in his heart, having a guide helped him a lot after all, and it was worth it to be soaked in pee. Ed followed the child, but he did not expect the child to go faster and faster, and at last he ran and followed, but then he entered the path, and the woods were dense and it was difficult to discern the direction for a while, so he lost the child in three or two strokes. Ed walked around the woods a few times but couldn't find a way out, thinking that he had been tricked by the kid again.

There was a sound of birds, and Ed vaguely saw something moving slowly towards him in the distance, and looked intently, it turned out to be an old cow, and there was a person sitting on it. Ed stepped forward, ready to ask for directions. When he got closer, he looked up and was immediately stunned.

"Anan? Is that you?"

The man sitting on the back of the ox was a woman, dressed in green clothes, and her head was surrounded by colorful cloth and embellished with colorful headdresses. The child was sitting behind her, hugging the woman's waist.

"It's him looking for Sister Anan!" The child shouted to the woman.

"You are?" Ed couldn't believe his eyes, it was clearly Anan's face. The woman looked at Eddard. said, "Who are you?" What's the matter with my sister?"

Only then did Ed realize that Anan had mentioned that there was a twin sister, and the two were very similar, and it was difficult to distinguish them, the difference was that the sister had a black mole on her earlobe. But at this moment, the woman's long hair is shawl, covering her ears, how can she distinguish it. Ed knew that this was Anan's sister Ah Zi, so he thought that she had told her about the purpose of the trip.

Ah Zi heard a trace of displeasure on his face, but he didn't have a seizure, only said: "My sister is dead, it's useless for you to come, let's go." "Then turn the bull's head and leave. Ed hurriedly followed, told his story 1510, and finally said: "Ah Zi, your sister's death is not so simple, as her family, you should also find a truth for her." ”

Ah Zi listened to Ed's words, and was a little hesitant in his heart, and the child behind him blinked, as if he didn't understand, but said, "Sister, help him." ”

Ah Zi heard the child say this, so he said to Ed, "Then you can come with me." ”

Ed didn't expect the child to be so helpful to him, so he stepped forward and patted the child on the shoulder and thanked him. Seeing this, Ah Zi said angrily: "Don't touch him!" Ed followed quietly.

Half an hour later, they walked out of the woods and came to a house. Ah Zi shouted, "Mom, Dad, I'm back!"

The house was not big, and an old man walked out, and when he saw the child on the cow, he knelt down with a plop and shouted, "The living Buddha is coming, and he is not far away." The child smiled and said, "Flat." Ed was deeply surprised that there was such a ritual, could this child really be the reincarnation of a living Buddha?

Ah Zi introduced Ed, but the old man just nodded and let him into the house. Ed saw an old woman lying on the bed, and the old man said, "Anan's mother can't stand the blow and falls ill, I don't know if the purpose of your coming is really as pure as you say, but since you are here, I will no longer criticize you." ”

Ed said some reassuring words and couldn't stop thanking him. When Ed wanted to know more about Anan, the old man waved his hand and said, "I don't have time now, I have to entertain the Living Buddha first, and I will send the Living Buddha back to the temple before dark." After entertaining the child and Ed for dinner, the old man asked Ah Zi to take the child and set off. After the two left, Ed finally had a chance to talk to the old man.

Anan's father poured tea, sighed, and said, "I know that Anan has a boyfriend, and she said that you are good to her." But there are some things you shouldn't do. ”

Ed said: "Old man, I know what you said, but I swear, I really haven't had a skin-to-skin relationship with Anan. ”

"Really?" The old man frowned.

Ed nodded and said, "I just wanted to ask if you know when Anan was at home and if you have contacted anyone." ”

The old man thought for a moment and shook his head, and said, "Is this true, she has been recuperating in bed, someone is watching, and no outsiders can see her." ”

Seeing that he couldn't ask anything, Ed changed the topic and asked, "Excuse me, the child just now is a living Buddha, I don't know much about this." ”

The old man smiled and said, "Don't underestimate him, this child is the patron saint of our village." ”

About the Living Buddha, the old man told a story.

The village is not an isolated village, the village is surrounded by four villages, namely Yuanjue Village, Bodhi Zhai, Deva Village, and Manshu Village. And the village is in the center of these four villages, and these five villages work together to resist foreign enemies. The village is in the center and has the least impact, and its status is relatively higher than that of the other four villages.

It is rumored that three hundred years ago, the five villages had not yet been divided, and at that time, there was a trend of obscenity and evil spirits entering the village, and the villagers went crazy and did evil for some reason, and the government sent troops to station, but they were also infected with filth and killed each other. Later, the government found five monks to exorcise the demon, and on the night of the full moon, the five monks joined forces, so that the demon appeared one by one, and came out of the mouth and nose of the villagers. The demon fought with the monk for one night, and fled in defeat. And the eldest brother of the five eminent monks also died of exhaustion.

Afterwards, in order to reward the exorcist monks, the government divided the original village into five small villages, the center is called the Po Zhai Village, built the sculpture of the elder brother, and the remaining four villages are for the four monks to preach the Buddha. This is the origin of the five stockades. In order to commemorate the eminent monks, the government selected the reincarnated spirit child in the village, called "the first living Buddha". Later, after the death of the monks of the four villages, each village also has its own reincarnation system, and now each village has its own living Buddha, as the leader of the village.

The previous generation of "Ancestral Living Buddha" passed away five years ago, and the reincarnated spirit child is the child you saw, although he is a little naughty by nature, but he is the spiritual leader of our village. At first, the five villages were headed by the "First Living Buddha", but gradually became a discussion of the Tao every five years, with the winner as the leader. In a few days, it will be the date of the Tao, and the living Buddhas of the other four villages are all adults, presumably this time the position of the leader of the village will change hands.

Before he knew it, it was getting dark, and Ed only listened to it as folklore, but he also felt that it was interesting. There was a thud, and the door was pushed open! The old and young were shocked, and saw that the person who came in was Ah Zi, her body was covered with mud, and her arm seemed to be injured. Seeing the old man, Ah Zi shouted, "Living Buddha, taken away!"

When the old man heard this, he immediately got up, took out a bamboo tube-shaped thing from the house, lit the fuse in the open space in the courtyard, and slammed into the sky, and a huge firework burst in the air. After a while, the footsteps and chattering were remembered from all directions, and the crowd gathered around the house. Someone in the crowd shouted: "Owner of the village! What do you command?"

The Living Buddha was taken captive, and the news shocked everyone in the village. This is the first time this has happened in hundreds of years. Several elders in the village gathered around the round table of the village to discuss countermeasures. Ah Zi told the story of the living Buddha's abduction in detail.

Ah Zi is a famous figure in the village, completely different from her sister Ah Nan. A Nan is a shy and weak woman, but A Zi has followed the hunters in the village to hunt since she was a child, and she has a very agile skill. And in terms of learning, Ah Zi did not delay at all, if there are any problems in the village that cannot be solved, Ah Zi always has the opportunity to offer good ideas. Therefore, if you want to take away the Living Buddha from Ah Zi's hands, the difficulty is quite huge, and it must not be done by the people in the village. If Ed hadn't been by the side of the village owner, he would have been the biggest suspect. Even so, Ed was kicked out of the house and guarded by several young strong men.

Ah Zi said to the elders: "I took the Living Buddha to the woods, suddenly there was a light in front of me, a big bird covered in green light pounced on me, I was caught off guard, was carried to the ground by the great wind, when I looked back, the Living Buddha had been caught by the big bird with its claws. I followed the green light all the way along, but the bird flew higher and higher, I chased desperately, and suddenly a river flashed in front of me, and the bird flew across the river and flew into Nirvana Mountain, I only listened to the shouts of the living Buddha but could not do anything. ”

Several elders were stunned when they heard how the Living Buddha was arrested. Thinking that Nirvana Mountain has only been a lonely mountain for more than a hundred years, and no one has ever entered, could it be that this big bird is the monster that appeared again.

Nirvana Mountain is the place where the monks banned demons when Wuzhai was first founded. This mountain rises from the ground, is a hundred feet high, does not grow an inch of grass all year round, and is also rare living creatures. So the hunters never went to the mountain, just because the mountain was too heavy, and it was rumored that there were villagers who went up the mountain and never returned.

After years of circulation, Nirvana Mountain has become a veritable land of ghosts. Only because of this mountain and the village is the closest, the villagers twice a year to carry out construction, around the mountain to dig a pit, several generations of accumulation, the tunnel is wider and wider, deeper and deeper, actually dig out the water, until it is connected into a circle, become a river, Nirvana Mountain has become an island since then.

The reason why it is called a river is that the water in this pit flows on its own, without beginning and end, and it is clear all year round, and there are often fish playing. The locals couldn't find the source of the water, and no one dared to go into the water to find out, so it was named "Xiaoyao River". Every year, the river is getting wider and wider, and the surface of the cash river is nearly 50 meters wide. In order to block the demonic spirit, the Xiaoyao River never built a bridge, let alone a ferry, and in people's hearts, this is a mysterious place. This time, the living Buddha was taken away by a big green bird, which is really quite tricky.

After discussion, it was finally decided that everyone would go to Nirvana Mountain overnight to see if the big bird was still there. At the sound of an order, hundreds of people lit torches and rushed to the banks of the Xiaoyao River. Ed followed the crowd as well. Running all the way, the owner of the village ordered everyone to live around Nirvana Mountain and stand guard. I could see a green glow on the mountainside.

"Right there!"

The young people of the village brought binoculars, but it was late at night and the light was too weak to tell the difference. The owner of the village said: "Now we just need to wait and see what happens, and immediately send people to the other four villages to find the four living Buddhas for help!"

The soldiers were divided into four ways to move the troops. As soon as it was dawn, Ed was awakened by a commotion.

The "Jinguan Living Buddha" of Yuanjue Village arrived. There were about twenty people in this group. All of them are wearing golden cloth clothes, and the Jinguan Living Buddha headed by them is wearing golden silk. This monk is a strong man, with a round face and big ears, and a smile on his face, and he walks so amiably among the crowds. Jinguan Living Buddha is more than 50 years old, is the oldest living Buddha in Sizhai today, in fact, is also the most respected, the actual spiritual leader of Wuzhai.

Soon after, the second group of people also arrived. This way is the "Shengtian Living Buddha" of Deva Village, compared to Jinguan, Shengtian's team is huge, which can be described as spectacular. At a glance, there were hundreds of people, all dressed in black, and surrounded by the holy heaven in black robes.

This Shengtian looked close to forty years old, with a grim face, a resolute expression, and long hair draped behind him, giving people a sense of superiority.

Immediately afterwards, the "Xuanxiu Living Buddha" of Manshu Village also came. There are only a dozen entourages around Xuanxiu, Xuanxiu is very tall, but he looks quite thin, wearing a robe, which is the dress of an ordinary monk. The clothes of the entourage are also dressed as ordinary villagers, and there is nothing special. What is surprising is that Hyun Xiu is just a young man in his twenties, as if he is still a little young, wearing a pair of short-sighted glasses, like a student.

The soldiers of the four roads have arrived at the third road, and everyone is waiting for the arrival of Bodhi Zhai, so they can discuss the strategy of saving the living Buddha of Xianzun.

But when the sun was on the third pole, the people and horses of Bodhi Village still had not arrived. It was noon, and everyone was anxiously waiting. Suddenly, someone shouted, "It's coming!"

However, only two people returned.

One was a messenger sent, and the other was a man who was seriously wounded. The messenger, looking tired, gulped down several bowls of water and told everyone about his journey. Bodhi Zhai is in the northeast direction of Bosa Village, due to convenient transportation, today's population and area are the first among the five villages. And when the messenger rushed to the stockade, he felt that something was wrong.

There was not a single person on the avenue of the stockade, and there was no one inside and outside all the houses. The village is surprisingly quiet. The messenger rushed to the owner's house, and the room was empty. Where have all the people gone? The messenger searched the house and found all the houses as usual, but there was no one in them. Just go straight to the Living Buddha.

When I arrived at the temple, I called for a long time and no one answered the temple gate, so the messenger had to climb over the wall and shout a few times, but still no one responded. I found the back door from the front door, and finally found an old man half-lying in the back door. It turned out to be the old janitor of the temple, and under the messenger's questioning, the old man said with difficulty: "The demon is back, back!" Seeing that the old man was in a trance, the messenger had no choice but to take the injured old man back to the village first.

When the leaders heard the messenger's account, their hearts became heavy. Could it really be that the demon has returned to the stockade? At this time, the old janitor who was brought back had regained his consciousness and insisted on visiting the living Buddhas from all walks of life.

The old janitor was quite old, his face was wrinkled, and there were only a dozen hairs left, but they were all completely white. He knelt on the ground to greet the living Buddhas from all walks of life, and the owner of the village hurriedly stepped forward to help him, and said: "Old man, you are also an old man in the village, why are you so formal?"

When the old man heard this, he cried bitterly, and the cry was so miserable that everyone was also moved. The janitor's voice trembled: "I'm sorry for the Living Buddha, I'm sorry for the people in the village!"

The owner of the village said: "Why do you say this, you are also a victim!"

The old janitor couldn't stop crying, but his eyes kept looking around for something. Finally, he locked onto his target, and randomly raised the volume of pain. He knelt on his legs and slowly crawled to the feet of the Jinguan Living Buddha, and said bitterly: "Master Jinguan, I am a sinner!" Then he threw himself on his thighs and twitched.

Jin Guan's two big hands gently held the old man's shoulders, and he read a scripture in his mouth, still with a warm smile on his face. The smile lasted about fifteen seconds, but gradually turned into a pained expression.

"What are you doing?"

I saw that the old janitor quickly flew up from Master Jinguan, and his miserable cry instantly turned into a sinister laughter. And Master Jinguan has a golden dagger stuck in his stomach!

Seeing this scene, the master of the village flew forward and shouted, "Protect Master Jinguan!"

The old janitor turned around and wanted to escape, but the owner of the village had already blocked the way in advance. The old janitor sneered twice, stretched out his hand and grabbed the face of the owner of the village. The owner of the village dodged to the left, and his right hand clamped the janitor's wrist upward. Unexpectedly, the janitor turned his wrist and gave birth to dozens of steel needles from his wrist. The owner of the village was caught off guard, so he had to let go of his right hand, and the janitor took the opportunity to jump into the woods and disappeared.

The owner of the village felt that his right hand was as hard as fire, and black and purple blood gushed out from the eye pierced by the steel needle. The owner of the village knew that this poison was powerful, so he turned his heart sideways, and cut off his right arm with a knife in his left hand. Ah Zi on the side screamed and fainted in a hurry.

"Master Jinguan!"

The uneasy atmosphere spread among the crowd, and it turned out that the dagger in Master Jinguan was also carrying the same poison!

At this moment, Master Jin Guan relied on years of skill to barely maintain his consciousness, and said: "It seems that today is my deadline, exorcism, exorcism!" If I don't go to hell, who will?"