After sitting and resting again, Hu Zongren and I stood up, and I took out the compass and slowly walked towards the red thing that had fallen to the ground. Because we weren't sure what was inside, everyone just gathered around since it fell, and no one went up to pick it up.

This is also a boxy bag folded with red cloth, which looks very similar to the medicine bag seen in a TV series or movie, where the medicine master of the Chinese medicine shop makes a good medicine bag. The size is about the size of a palm, and unlike the red cloth we found the first time, the one we found in Hongya Cave was more like a hijab, but this one was tied around the sides with grass-yellow hemp rope. I held the compass, and when no one was passing by, I quickly squatted down and approached the red cloth bag on the ground, and there was no reaction on the compass, so I was about to reach out and pick it up when Master Tie Songzi suddenly stopped me and said, don't worry, let me try again.

So I stepped aside, and Master Tie Songzi reached into the arms of his robe, and touched a small handful of rice grains, although his rice grains are not the same as the ones I usually use, but they are all used for the same purpose. It's just that Master Tie Songzi is a low-key person with a low appearance and a luxurious heart, so he chose the more expensive glutinous rice, while I am the cheapest local brown rice. Master Tie Songzi stretched out his hand holding the rice to about a foot away from the red cloth bag, and began to slowly let the rice grains slide out of his hand and fall on the red cloth bag, but at such a close distance, there was still not a grain of rice left on the red cloth bag.

This technique is not only Master Tie Songzi, but many Taoists and even Buddhists have the habit of asking rice, even including myself. The grains of rice we choose are considered to have been offered to the Bodhisattva Heavenly Venerable or the Ancestral Master, and in our opinion, these rice have a certain ability to perceive ghosts. So in the same way, when the ghost touches these rice, it will instinctively resist, just like if a spark flies on us, we will completely instinctively avoid it. On the red cloth in Hongya Cave before, I found mud marks hidden in the cracks of the cloth, which were used to temporarily seal off the movement of ghosts, but when I was about to pick up the red cloth bag on the ground, I completely forgot about this. And the handful of rice sprinkled by Master Tie Songzi didn't even stay on the red cloth, which shows that the things in this red cloth bag still have ghosts. My compass can't detect it, it's just because the other party has also done something on this red cloth.

Master Tie Songzi shook his head and said, "It's insidious, I want you to find it, and if you find it, you will have a trick, it's too bad." I asked Master Tie Songzi, what should I do with this thing now? Master Tie Songzi didn't answer, just bent down and picked up the red cloth bag on the ground, although he didn't move fast, but none of us expected him to take it directly with his bare hands, and before we could stop him, he had already held the red cloth bag in the palm of his hand.

He laughed when he saw us all so surprised. Master Tie Songzi said, don't worry, there must be a ghost in this red cloth bag, but you can't get out. He pointed to the grass-yellow rope that tied the red cloth bag and said, you look at this rope carefully, this is not an ordinary hemp rope, there is a gold thread embedded here, in our Taoism, there are several sects that have such a thing, its function is probably similar to the red rope you commonly use, and it is also used to bind the spirit, but this kind of rope is generally used in the rituals, such as binding the hands and feet of the corpse, or the countryside needs to move the grave, when the coffin is lifted and lowered, the rope must be tied around the coffin, the purpose is to prevent the yin soul from leaking.

Hu Zongren asked Master Tie Songzi, what should I do now, I am sure that a few of us can't easily disassemble it, but how can we know what is inside if we don't open it? Tie Songzi waved his hand, and then said, don't worry, let me take a look first. Although I didn't have much contact with Master Tie Songzi, because of Master Situ's relationship, we still wouldn't have a strangeness when we got along. Moreover, Hu Zongren and I both know that Master Tie Songzi's craftsmanship may be slightly inferior to Master Situ, but it is probably more powerful than me and Hu Zongren and Fu Yunni. Because the threshold of this line is low, as long as you have a heart, you can learn it when you meet a good master. The quality of the master's craftsmanship directly determines the level of the apprentice's starting level after leaving the school. The rest is based on the accumulation and comprehension year after year. We are not like those martial arts novels depicted, because of continuous practice will lead to deep internal strength or something, I am not much different from me 10 years ago, but the craft is more proficient, learning more things, and the perception of many things is more profound.

The Tie Songzi master turned the cloth bag over, revealing a small red nylon rope at the seam, which is usually used for bookmarks. Tie Songzi brought his eyes closer and looked at it carefully, and said, this rope is tied to a card, why don't we take it out and take a look? Hu Zongren asked Tie Songzi and said, will you release the ghost inside if you pull it out like this? It seems that after the thrilling incident a few days ago, Hu Zongren has also begun to become a little more cautious. Master Tie Songzi said, no, this card is for us to see. With that, he took the card out of the gap in the seam of the red cloth bag at once.

This is a card with a white background on both sides, one of which is painted with an eight-pole seal, and its various poles and the way of connecting the lines are exactly the same as the one on Hu Zongren's current back, when he saw this pattern, Hu Zongren couldn't help but touch his back. Master Tie Songzi glanced at Hu Zongren, meaning don't be nervous, it's like this anyway, and it's the worst. Then I flipped the card over, and there were a few lines of words on it, red calligraphy, judging by the color and taste, this is cinnabar.

Cinnabar is an indispensable thing for the Taoist family, especially the Taoist who has the art of talismans. Cinnabar is often used as a pigment for writing spells. Cinnabar is a mineral with a dark red color, and cinnabar has always been loved by many calligraphers and painters for its long preservation of color, especially for Taoist priests who wrote calligraphy. The essence of the Taoist symbol is the drawing of the symbol itself, for example, if a symbol is pasted in one place, if the paint used fades, then the effectiveness will be reduced. The cinnabar itself is a mineral with the property of warding off evil spirits, which can be used as ink after being melted with wine, and the amount of power is greatly increased. Cinnabar is poisonous, so non-professionals generally rarely use it, remember when we were children, during the New Year's holidays or family reunions, parents always liked to use lipstick to put a red dot on our forehead, most people think that this is to make children look more cute and cute, but in fact this is a tradition since ancient times. The composition of lipstick contains a small amount of cinnabar, so cinnabar dots also have a certain effect of driving away evil spirits and repelling ghosts.

I don't have much research on calligraphy, just from the words, the person who left this card and the red cloth bag, the writing is really good, he is clear, sharp and angular, obviously it was put on not long ago, it is very likely that I and Hu Zongren were in distress at Chaotianmen, the card is about the size of half a playing card, and it is written:

"The two poles are connected between heaven and earth, and ten years of life and disaster continue. Surrounded by singing on the way home, the filial son is empty in front of the grave. ”

When I saw this poem, my mind was suddenly filled with irritability, and I knew that although my Chinese grades were good when I was studying, what I hated the most was poetry. Hu Zongren really couldn't help it, he shouted, Damn, what the does this mean? Every time I write poems to take the test, are these poor old Taoist priests all this virtue! Hu Zongren scolded and couldn't hold it back, he even said to Yunni in a way of looking for death, your father too, he left us a poem in every place, how can he love poetry so much, and it's not Li Bai...

Because of this sentence, the price Hu Zongren paid was a hard kick on the ass by Fu Yunni.

Master Tie Songzi frowned and pondered this poem, and I was also thinking about it. Literally, this is a more tragic and full of negative resentment of the poem, the so-called two poles are connected, the sky and the earth are originally half and never connected, according to the legend, it was Pangu who opened up the world, but before that, the heaven and the earth were indeed connected. And the result of the connection is that the world world at that time was a chaotic world, so this sentence should be talking about the chaotic scene between heaven and earth. In the second sentence, ten years of life and gathering, I probably know the meaning of the word Lu Dao, which is almost talking about the meaning of Yue Wang Goujian's lying down salary and tasting courage, enduring humiliation and burden, and spending many years to recuperate and then take revenge. So it's easier to understand the word followed by "woe", war, it must only be a disaster, but I don't understand whether the first two sentences are used in the moment is insinuating something, although many people are now full of complaints about life, but it will never reach the point where the disaster continues. And the next sentence is even more miserable, embattled means that they are surrounded, thus blocking the way home, because of the troubled times, filial piety can not fulfill filial piety, and can only be reluctant to walk in front of the grave of his parents, but he doesn't know what to do.

The whole poem gives me a very bad feeling, too depressing, I think Lu You wrote poems at the time of troubled times, and everyone was quite inspirational, but why does this poem sound so desperate? So I told Master Tie Songzi my understanding and thoughts about this poem, and it is estimated that Master Tie Songzi and I are 108,000 miles apart, so when I say it, it is completely a gesture of asking for advice. After listening to my analysis, Tie Songzi actually silently praised it, which made me a little proud and proved that the general direction of my thinking was good. But Master Tie Songzi said, I don't think like you in this first sentence, but I think that the two poles here refer to the two poles of Hu Zongren's back in the Eight Poles Seal, Gen and Kun.

After Tie Songzi finished speaking, he turned over the card, pointed to the eight-pole seal on the top and said to me, this is the meaning of drawing the eight-pole seal here.