I quickly took out a slightly old bronze compass from my satchel and handed it over.

The master held the compass and looked at it as he walked, the expression on his face became more and more solemn, and the second master Qi, who followed closely beside the master, asked cautiously: "Daoist Mo, is there any trouble?" ”

The master glanced at Second Master Qi, looked around again, and did not answer his question, and after a while, he handed me back the compass, put his hand behind his back, and said, "Let's go and see the corpse first." ”

Under the leadership of Qi Erye, we came to a wooden house located on a hill, the construction pattern of the wooden house seems to be a little special, not like the ordinary houses in this area, looking from a distance, it is a bit like an old Taoist temple, it must have been some years, because its appearance looks very dilapidated.

Qi Erye said: "This house is the old house of our village, it has a history of three hundred years, it was built in the early Qing Dynasty, when it was a war, our Bai family ancestors had seven brothers who fled from Hubei to this chessboard valley, felt that this place is close to the mountains and rivers, the feng shui is good, so they decided to settle down here, they selected seven mountains in the valley to build seven such old houses, seven old houses connected into a Big Dipper, it is said that it was a master of the guidance, a feng shui bureau of cloth, As for what this Feng Shui Bureau has to say, no one can say it clearly now! ”

The master stared at the string of dried spicy seeds hanging on the wall outside the old house, and asked suspiciously, "Since it is an old house with a history of more than 300 years, is there still anyone living in it?" ”

"The old house is basically uninhabited now, and Ma Laoqi lives here! Since he contracted leprosy when he was young, he moved to the old house alone, and he has not had a family, so he has always lived here. Second Master Qi replied.

"What about the other six old houses?" Master seemed to be a little interested in the feng shui bureau mentioned by Second Master Qi, and he turned around to look around, but he didn't see a house with a similar layout to the old house in front of him.

Second Master Qi shook his head, and said with a somewhat gloomy expression: "A few years ago, the four old houses were broken, and the six old houses were demolished as old Taoist temples, and only this old house was preserved because Ma Laoqi lived in it." ”

When the master heard this, a disappointed expression appeared on his face, his mouth squirmed slightly, and he didn't say anything more, and after a long time, he sighed and said, "Let's go inside and have a look!" ”

Ma Laoqi's mourning hall is located in the hall of the old house, standing outside the door and looking in, a wooden coffin that has not yet been painted is erected on three benches, placed in the center of the hall, in front of the wooden coffin is placed an incense ash stove and an incomplete broken tile basin, the incense candle inserted in the incense burner has long been burned, but no one has added it, the broken tile pot is used to burn money paper, and there are some paper ashes and money paper that has not been completely burned inside.

Seeing this, the master frowned and said: "The deceased had to pay attention to a lively scene before the first seven days, how could he make it so lifeless that he didn't even light incense and candles!" ”

Master once told me that the first seven days refer to the seventh day after a person's death, and there is a folk saying that the first seven days of the soul return to the soul, to the effect that the soul of the deceased will return home on the "first seven", and the family should prepare a sumptuous meal for the soul before it returns, and then it should be avoided, because if the soul of the deceased sees the family, it will make him remember it and affect his reincarnation.

Before the first seven days, the soul of the deceased will wander around due to restlessness, so it is necessary to set up a mourning hall, and beat gongs and drums, chant Buddhist sutras, and incense and candles every day to make the soul rest in peace, otherwise, it may cause the wandering soul to not return to the body, thus accumulating resentment.

Second Master Qi glared at Bai Xiaowu and shouted, "How did you behave as a nephew, why don't you hurry up and light the incense candles!" ”

Bai Xiaowu responded, trembling and walking towards the mourning hall, his eyes kept staring at Ma Laoqi's coffin, his legs were still trembling, as if he was worried that Ma Laoqi would sit up again.

Second Master Qi smacked a sip of the dry tobacco pouch, sighed, and said to the master: "Mo Daochang smiled, after the incident last night, everyone didn't dare to come, not to mention that Ma Laoqi has no descendants and grandchildren, so this mourning hall is naturally deserted." ”

Hearing what Second Master Qi said, my heart couldn't help but be cold, and I said secretly: "It seems that you don't want to eat roast chicken, no one has a stove, and it's still a question whether you can eat or not." ”

Thinking of this, my stomach involuntarily screamed again, and Second Master Qi seemed to hear it, and he hurriedly said, "Hey! You haven't eaten all the way here, you must be hungry, go! Let's eat at my place first! ”

I was overjoyed in my heart, and nodded desperately, but the master raised his head and squinted at the scorching sun hanging in the sky, but waved his hand and said, "Don't be in a hurry to eat first, noon is the time when the yang energy is at its peak, let's take advantage of this time to go in and have a look." ”

After speaking, he raised his legs and crossed the threshold about half a foot high, and stepped into the hall, and I and Second Master Qi also hurriedly followed.

As soon as I walked in, I immediately felt a cool breeze blowing on my face, and after a morning of driving on this hot day, my whole body was already sweating, and I was blown by this cool breeze, and I suddenly felt a burst of refreshment, and I didn't think about the cool breeze that there was no window in this house, but where did it come from? The master seemed to notice something abnormal, and he frowned slightly, but he didn't say much.

Bai Xiaowu was squatting next to Ma Laoqi's coffin and striking a match, perhaps because of fear, he couldn't burn several sticks, and when Second Master Qi saw this, he stepped forward, raised his leg and kicked him on the calf, and scolded: "You useless guy, it's your uncle who is lying in the coffin, and you're still afraid of being like this!" Let me! ”

After speaking, he snatched the match from Bai Xiaowu's hand, just lightly stroked, with a "hiss" sound, a red flame scurried up, Qi Erye carefully lit the incense candle, and inserted it into the incense burner, and then bowed towards the wooden coffin, bowing and muttering in his mouth: "Old Seven, what do you have any wishes to fulfill, just give me a dream, you don't close your eyes like this, I feel uncomfortable when I look at it!" ”

After Second Master Qi finished bowing, Master also led me forward and bowed three times, which is a necessary etiquette to show respect for the deceased.

After worshipping, the master walked straight to Ma Laoqi's coffin, bent down and examined it carefully.

The lid of the wooden coffin had been closed, and the master wanted to open the coffin to take a look, so he held the lid of the coffin and lifted it vigorously, but he did not move at all, and when he took a closer look, the lid of the coffin had been nailed dead with several long iron nails.

"What's going on?" Master asked, turning his head.

Second Master Qi explained: "Although it is generally necessary to wait until after the first seven days to seal the coffin and bury it, but what happened last night, everyone was scared, so the coffin was sealed early this morning." ”

"Shoucai should not enter the iron gas, otherwise future generations may have a bloody disaster! So if you want to seal it, you should use a wooden nail instead of an iron nail! Master said with a frown.

Second Master Qi was stunned: "That...... Is it okay to change it now? Why don't I have someone cut some wooden nails? ”

The master waved his hand: "Forget it, Ma Laoqi has no queen anyway, so there is no need to worry about these...... Wait......" As soon as he said this, the master seemed to have discovered something, his eyes suddenly widened, his face sank, and he suddenly raised his head and asked, "Who made this longevity material for Ma Laoqi!?" ”

"He did it himself! About half a year ago, he said that he had no descendants, and he was afraid that no one would bury him after he died, so he was ready to build a longevity material for himself. Second Master Qi replied.

After listening to Second Master Qi's words, the master did not make a sound, but his expression became more and more solemn.

"Daoist Mo, is there any problem?" Second Master Qi asked with some uneasiness.

Master sighed and replied slowly, "This Ma Lao Qi is really taboo-free! His longevity wood is actually made of locust wood! ”

"What's wrong with the locust wood?"

"The materials used to create the coffin are quite particular, the most advanced materials are catalpa wood, nanmu and so on, this kind of wood is resistant to corrosion and insects, buried in the ground can be kept for thousands of years without rotting, most of the coffins of the ancient emperors are made of extremely precious golden silk nanmu. The average people mostly use fir wood, and fir wood is also the most common coffin wood today. As for this locust wood...... "Master wanted to speak and stopped."

"How's the locust wood?" Second Master Qi hurriedly asked.

The master glanced at Second Master Qi meaningfully, and replied: "Huaimu is also known as ghost wood, the most gathering of the yin qi of the earth, and the coffin made from it is called a ghost wood coffin, which is a taboo thing!" ”

"Ah......" Second Master Qi was stunned for a long time before he said slowly: "In other words, the old seven deceitful corpses have something to do with this longevity material made of locust wood?" ”

Master nodded: "I'm afraid it's okay!" He bent down to look at it for a while, and then said: "And the locust wood used to create this longevity wood must have been hundreds of years old, you see this coffin, there is no trace of the coffin, it is completely made of a whole material, such a big locust tree is afraid that it will become fine!" Where did Ma Laoqi get such a big piece of locust wood? ”

"I don't know where he got it! However, half a year ago, there was a wild hundred-year-old acacia tree in the ravine that was split in half by a dry day thunder. ”

When the master heard this, his face suddenly changed greatly, and he exclaimed, "What! This...... Is this still a lightning strike!? ”