018 “Blessing from Heavenly Official” Chapter 17

☆, Chapter 17: Bodhisattva Temple and Half-Moon Pass

Although the villagers didn’t know which immortal was worshiped in this temple, they all strongly requested to burn incense here. Anyway, no matter what the immortal was, they were all immortals, and there was no harm in paying homage to them.Xie Lian’s original expectation was that the house would be deserted. Not many people came to the door all year round, so he just thought about it and prepared a few small bundles of incense sticks. Unexpectedly, they were all divided up in an instant. The small incense burner was densely packed and filled with fragrance, because it had not been there for a long time.After smelling this smell, Xie Lian choked several times, then choked and said: “Fellow folks, it really can’t bless you to have a lot of money. Really, please don’t ask for money here! The consequences are unpredictable…” “I’m sorry, I don’t care about marriage…” “No, no, no, it can’t bless you to have children.”…

Sanlang didn’t care about his crooked hair, he just sat next to the merit box, resting his chin with one hand and slowly throwing away the Bodhisattva to eat with the other hand.When many village girls saw this young man, their faces turned red and they said to Xie Lian: “Um, have you ever…”

Although he didn’t know what they were going to say, Xie Lian intuitively had to stop immediately and said immediately: “No!”

After all, everyone dispersed, and the offering table was already piled with fruits, vegetables, and even white rice, noodles, and other items.In any case, there was finally a wave of offerings, and Xie Lian swept away the debris thrown by the villagers on the ground.Sanlang followed him out and said, “The incense is good.”

Xie Lian shook his head as he scanned the situation and said, “It’s an unexpected situation. Under normal circumstances, no one would care about it for ten and a half days.”

Sanlang said: “How could it be?”

Xie Lian glanced at him and said with a smile: “I think it may be because of Saburo’s luck.”

As he said this, he thought of changing the door curtain, so he took out a new curtain from his sleeve and hung it on the door.After taking two steps back and looking at it for a moment, Xie Lian suddenly noticed that Sanlang had stopped and turned around and said, “What’s wrong?”

I saw Saburo staring at the door curtain, looking thoughtful.Following his gaze, Xie Lian discovered that he was looking at the spell painted on the curtain.

This talisman was drawn by him before. The talisman on it is layered and imposing. It was originally used to ward off evil spirits and repel the invasion of external evil things.However, since it is Xie Lian’s own handwriting, it is unknown whether it will also have the effect of summoning bad luck.However, since there is no door, it is safer to draw a row of charms like this on the curtain.

Seeing the young man standing motionless in front of the curtain of talismans, Xie Lian’s heart moved slightly and asked: “Sanlang?”

Could it be that after drawing this talisman, he was blocked from the door and couldn’t go in?

Sanlang glanced at him, smiled, and said, “I’ll leave for a moment.”

He said a few words lightly, then turned and left.Logically speaking, Xie Lian should have caught up and asked, but he had a strange feeling. He felt that since the young man had already said that he was leaving for a while, he would not leave for too long and would definitely come back, so he went to observe on his own.

Xie Lian rummaged around in the things he collected while walking around the streets last night. He took out an iron pot with his left hand and a kitchen knife with his right hand. He looked at the pile of fruits and vegetables on the altar table and stood up.

After about a stick of incense, there was indeed a sound of footsteps outside the Bodhisattva Temple.The sound of the footsteps was neither slow nor hasty, and once you hear it, you can imagine the young man walking calmly and leisurely.

At this time, the thing in Xie Lian’s hand had turned into two plates. He looked left and right at the things on the plate, sighed, and didn’t want to look anymore, so he went out to take a look, and sure enough he saw Saburo again.

The young man stood outside the view. Perhaps because of the strong sun, he took off his red coat and tied it casually around his waist. He only wore a white light coat on his upper body with his sleeves rolled up, making him look very clean and neat.He stepped on a rectangular wooden board with his right foot and turned a hatchet in his left hand.The hatchet was probably borrowed from a villager’s house. It looked dull and heavy, but it felt easy in his hand and seemed to be extremely sharp. From time to time, he would make two cuts on the wooden board, like peeling skin.He glanced over and saw Xie Lian coming out and said, “Make something.”

Xie Lian went over and saw that he was actually making a door leaf.Moreover, the size is just right, neat and beautiful, the shaved surface is very smooth, and the craftsmanship is excellent.Because this young man seems to have a good background, Xie Lian thinks that he is probably the type who does not care about the grain and body, but who knows that he is very efficient in doing things, and said: “Thank you for your hard work, Sanlang.”

Sanlang smiled and didn’t answer.He threw the hatchet casually, put it on for him, knocked on the door, and said to him: “Since I want to draw a talisman, wouldn’t it be better to draw it on the door?”

After saying that, he opened the curtain as if nothing had happened and went in.

It seemed that the strict talisman on the curtain had no deterrent effect on him at all, and Saburo didn’t care at all.

Thanks for closing this new door, I couldn’t help but open it again, close it again, open it again, and close it again, thinking that this door is really well made.After switching it on and off several times, I suddenly woke up and felt that I was really bored.Saburo the other side had already sat down in the room.Xie Lian left the door behind, took out a plate of steamed buns that the villagers had offered in the morning, and placed it on the offering table.

Sanlang looked at the steamed buns and said nothing. He just laughed softly, as if he had seen through something.Xie Lian poured two more bowls of water as if nothing had happened, and was about to sit down when he saw Saburo’s rolled-up sleeves. There was a small row of tattoos on his arms, with very strange words tattooed on them.Sanlang noticed his gaze, put down his sleeves, and said with a smile: “I got it tattooed when I was a kid.”

Since I have lowered my sleeves, I don’t want to say more.Thanks for understanding.He sat, raised his head and glanced at the portrait again, and said, “Sanlang, you are really good at painting, but is there anyone at home who teaches you?”

Sanlang poked the steamed bun a few times with his chopsticks and said, “No one teaches me. I draw it myself to please myself.”

Xie Lian said: “How can you even draw Prince Xianle’s picture of pleasing the gods?”

Saburo smiled and said: “Didn’t you say that I know everything? Of course I also know how to draw.”

Although this was a very shameless answer, his attitude was frank, as if he was not worried about Xie Lian becoming suspicious at all, nor was he afraid of his questioning.Xie Lian smiled and stopped mentioning it.At this moment, there was a burst of noise outside.The two of them raised their heads in unison and looked at each other.

I heard someone knocking on the door fiercely outside, saying: “Great Immortal! This is terrible, Great Immortal, help me!”

Xie Lian opened the door and saw a group of people standing in a circle at the door.When the village chief saw him opening the door, he was overjoyed and said, “Great Immortal! This man seems to be dying! Please save him!”

As soon as Xie Lian heard that the person was about to die, he quickly went up to check.I saw a group of villagers surrounding a Taoist priest. He was unkempt, covered in yellow sand, and his clothes and shoes were in tatters. It seemed that he had been running around for many days. He finally couldn’t support himself and passed out before being carried over.Thanks for the pity: “Don’t panic, he’s not dead.” He leaned down and tapped the man a few times.During the process, he discovered that some of the objects hanging on this Taoist’s body, such as Bagua, iron swords, etc., were all effective magic weapons. It seemed that he was not an ordinary Taoist, and his heart sank.After a while, the Taoist woke up and asked in a hoarse voice: “…where is this place?”

The village chief said: “This is Bochi Village!”

The man murmured: “…I’m out, I’m out, I finally escaped…”

He looked around, suddenly opened his eyes, and said in horror: “Help, help, help!”

Xie Lian had already anticipated this reaction.He said: “Fellow Taoist, what’s going on? Who’s life is being saved? What’s going on? Don’t be impatient and explain it slowly.”

The villagers also said: “Yeah, don’t be afraid, we have a great immortal here, he will definitely settle everything for you!”

Xie Lian: “???”

In fact, these villagers didn’t see him display any magical power, but they really regarded him as a living god. Xie Lian didn’t know what to say, thinking: “Everything will be settled, this is really not guaranteed.” He said to the man: “Where do you come from?”

The man said: “I…I come from Banyueguan!”

Hearing this, everyone looked at each other in confusion: “Where is Banyueguan?” “I’ve never heard of it!”

Xie Lian said: “Ban Yue Pass is in the northwest area, very far away from here. How did you get here?”

The man said: “I…I managed to escape.”

He spoke incoherently and was extremely emotionally unstable.In this situation, the more people around, the harder it is to talk. People are talking all over the place, making it difficult to speak or hear clearly. He thanked Lian and said, “Let’s talk after we go in.”

He gently lifted the man into the house, turned around and said to the villagers: “Please go back, everyone, and stop watching.”

The villagers were very enthusiastic: “Great Immortal, what happened to him!” “Yes, what happened to him?” “If you have any difficulties, please help me!”

The more enthusiastic they are, the less helpful they may be.Xie Lian had no choice but to lower his voice and said solemnly: “This… may be possessed by evil spirits.”

The villagers were shocked when they heard this.If you’re possessed by evil spirits, that’s okay!It was better not to look at it, and they quickly dispersed.Xie Lian was speechless and closed the door. Sanlang was still sitting at the altar table, playing with chopsticks in his hand.He looked at the Taoist with a very scrutinizing look in his eyes. He thanked him and said, “It’s okay. You can continue to eat.”

He let the Taoist sit down and stood up, saying: “Fellow Taoist, I am the master of the temple here, and I can be regarded as a practitioner. Don’t be nervous. If you have anything to say, I can tell you. If there is anything I can do to help, maybe I can do my best. You just said, what happened to Banyueguan?”

The Taoist took a few breaths, seemed to be in a place with few people, and after listening to his comforting words, he finally calmed down and said, “Haven’t you heard of this place?”

Xie Lian said: “I’ve heard of it. Half Moon is locked in an oasis in the Gobi. The scenery is very beautiful on a Half Moon night, it can be said to be a beautiful scenery, hence the name.”

The man said: “Oasis? Beautiful scenery? That was all a hundred or two hundred years ago. Now, it is almost as if it is half-dead!”

Xie Lian was slightly startled and said, “How do you say that?”

The Taoist’s face turned blue, frighteningly blue, and said: “Because no matter who passes there, at least half of them will disappear without a trace. Isn’t it half-life?”

This is really unheard of.Xie Lian said: “Who said this?”

The man said: “I didn’t listen to anyone’s words, I saw it with my own eyes!” He sat up and said, “A caravan was passing by there. Knowing that this place was evil, we invited our entire division to escort the escort, but…” He said sadly and angrily: “After this trip, I was the only one left!”

Xie Lian raised his hand, motioning for him to sit down and not to get excited, and said: “How many people are there in your group?”

The man said: “There are about sixty people in my entire division, including the caravan!”

More than sixty people.That female ghost Xuan Ji has been causing trouble for a hundred years, and in the end the number of people killed by Lingwen Hall’s count was less than 200.And listening to what this man said, it seemed that this kind of thing had been going on for more than a hundred years. If so many people disappeared every time, it would add up to a big deal.Xie Lian asked: “When did the Half Moon Pass become the Half Life Pass?”

The human said: “About a hundred and fifty years ago, it started after that place became a demon territory.”

Thanks to Xie Lian, he still wanted to ask him carefully about the murders during their trip and the “demon way” in his mouth. However, from the conversation until now, he had always felt that something was wrong in his heart. At this point, he couldn’t hide the weird feeling in his heart, so he stopped talking and frowned slightly.

At this time, Saburo suddenly said something.

He said: “Did you escape all the way back from Banyueguan?”

The man said: “Yes, alas! A narrow escape from death.”

Saburo said “Oh” and stopped talking.However, with just this sentence, Xie Lian already realized that something was wrong.

He turned around and said warmly: “Then you must be thirsty after escaping all the way.”

The Taoist was startled.Xie Lian had already placed a bowl of water in front of him and said, “There is water here. Fellow Taoist, come and take a sip.”

Facing the bowl of water, a look of hesitation flashed across the Taoist’s face for a moment.Xie Lian stood aside, his hands in his sleeves, waiting quietly.

Since this Taoist came from the northwest and fled in a hurry all the way, he must be thirsty and hungry. From the look of him, it doesn’t look like he had time to eat or drink on the way.

However, after he woke up and talked so much, he never made any request for water or food.After he entered the house, he had no desire at all when facing the food and water on the table, and he didn’t even look at them.

This really doesn’t look like a living person.