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墨書 Inktalez
He took out his phone and called Second Master, who was working in the fields. I explained the situation, and Second Master readily agreed to come and take a look. My master and I walked over to the Roasting House to wait, and within half an hour, Second Master arrived.
After arriving, Second Master carefully examined the surroundings with his feng shui compass, frowning as he said, "If there really is a Tomb Mound here, it will be difficult. Not to mention how troublesome the owner of this Tomb Mound might be; I don't deal with ghosts and I don't understand that. But just relocating this grave won't be easy either."
My master laughed heartily and replied, "If it were easy, we wouldn't need your help. We know very little about relocating graves; we just need to remove the negative energy inside. As for the new burial site, it doesn't have to be too good."
Second Master looked at my master and said, "If this site has been occupied for three years, it's already useless. No matter how good a new site you find, it won't help. The relocation project is quite large; we need to completely dismantle this unfinished Roasting House. Not a single brick or tile can be left behind. Also, I just calculated the timing roughly; we can't disturb the ground for the next three days." Halfway through his explanation, he pointed at me and continued, "If this kid says that the owner of this grave is a Taoist who sealed himself here, then he definitely has no descendants left. Even if he does, they would have been harmed by this cursed site. My suggestion is to just burn it down."
My master nodded in agreement. "That works too; burning it down is better than leaving it here."
"But the coffin is underground, Second Master. How can we just burn it?" I couldn't understand how burning it would work and asked.
Second Master slapped my head and said, "I taught you this before! How could you forget? We're all your masters; why are you so forgetful about what I've taught you?"
I quickly grinned and said, "It's not like that, Second Master. I only remember you teaching me about forbidden positions and destroying graves; you never taught me how to burn a coffin that's buried underground and sealed with cement."
Second Master rubbed his forehead and said, "Then I misjudged you. What I meant was indeed about forbidden positions and destroying graves. Since you know that, go prepare what you need. By the way, the owner of this Roasting House is surnamed Li; his family lives in that house with red tiles over there. Go tell him to prepare those items for you—just say I sent you." He pointed into the distance.
As a disciple, one must have such awareness; even when wronged, one still has errands to run. I acknowledged him and headed toward that place. Just as I took a couple of steps, Second Master called out again: "Wait a moment, Little Brat! I forgot my cigarettes; leave yours here." I quickly pulled out my cigarettes and respectfully handed him an entire pack. Just as I was about to leave again, Second Master stopped me once more: "Your master and I will chat under the shade of the trees; first move those stones away—the stone pile needs clearing because of the cursed site." I nodded and looked at the pile of stones of various sizes; thankfully, it only needed clearing from the cursed position.
After more than ten minutes of hard work clearing away all those stones, I ran toward the Li Family's house. It was almost mealtime, and my stomach was already growling. There was no time to waste.
When I reached the Li Family's house, their Stove House was already sending up curling smoke from cooking, making me even hungrier. Instead of going to the Main Hall, I headed straight for their Stove House where a man in his fifties was cooking over an open fire. Although this was a rural area, not many people still cooked with firewood anymore; it seemed this family was living quite frugally. I figured this man must be the owner of the Roasting House.
Seeing a stranger suddenly enter the Stove House startled him for a moment. I quickly spoke up: "Li Bo! My master is Zhang Tuozi who came to check on the Tomb Mound. Is there a coffin beneath your Roasting House?"
He was an honest farmer; upon hearing my words, he put down his fire tongs and stood up abruptly before bending his knees and kneeling on the ground.
This sudden act shocked me—I couldn't accept such a grand gesture as a junior; wasn't this shortening my lifespan? Feeling compelled to help him up, I said: "Li Bo, there's no need to worry! The only ones who know about the coffin are me and my master—and of course the deceased Bricklayer. You don't need to feel too guilty; what's done is done. Now that the Bricklayer's spirit is in trouble, can you help?" I lied a little; I'd already sent away the Bricklayer's soul but felt that Li Bo needed to be involved in this matter as a way for him to make amends and alleviate some guilt.
"Sure, sure, tell me how I can help. As long as it's within my means, even if it means losing everything, I will definitely assist," he said without asking too many questions. Farmers are inherently kind-hearted, and at that moment, all he could think about was repaying his debts. In his words, he would go to any lengths.
I explained to him some of the things we needed to prepare. These items could be easy to gather or quite difficult. They mainly consisted of various auspicious materials—chicken blood, dog blood, and half-cooked glutinous rice, among other things. I won't list them all here. The first step in sealing the position and destroying the grave is to dig small holes at several fixed points and then bury some items in those holes. Small ditches connect these holes, and then a layer of uncooked rice mixed with chicken and dog blood is laid down, followed by a layer of gasoline, which is then ignited. Of course, there are many other more complex methods involved. I won't detail them too clearly here to prevent ill-intentioned individuals from imitating and causing harm.
These items were all obtainable in the village. After I finished explaining, he added two pieces of wood to the stove and stood up, saying, "Master, I've noted it down. I'll go out and gather these items right away." He then called out to someone inside the house to keep an eye on the food before quickly heading out.
I followed behind him and said, "Li Bo, once you have everything ready, head over to your Roasting House. We'll be waiting for you there. Make it quick; we need to start before five o'clock. Otherwise, we'll have to wait until tomorrow. I've taken your hoe for a bit."
Li Bo nodded and dashed next door; he was likely going to find someone for help. After he left, I drew a large ladle of well water from the nearby well and gulped down most of it in one go. I also grabbed a plastic bottle from his windowsill, cleaned it out, filled it with water, and set off towards the Roasting House with the hoe in one hand and the water in the other.
As I walked under the shade of a tree, I noticed two old men had fallen asleep against it. They leaned against the tree on either side while several cigarette butts lay scattered on the ground around them. They slept soundly; Master had beads of sweat forming on his forehead under the blazing sun, making the wrinkles carved by time on his face even more pronounced. The Second Master had his head bowed; his already hunched back made him appear even more stooped like a withered tree stump. It was a sight that tugged at one's heartstrings. Life is but a dream; time is relentless. Is it time that ages life or life that wears down time? Regardless of who you are or what experiences you have had, in the end, we all become mere bones—a cup of loess.
I didn't disturb them; I had only briefly mentioned sealing positions and destroying souls to the Second Master since this wasn't exactly a good ritual—something rarely used; at least I had never seen or used it myself. Based on what the Second Master told me, I began preparing: determining positions, measuring angles, checking levels, marking points, stretching lines, digging pits.
About half an hour later, both old men woke up one after another. They didn't come over immediately but leisurely enjoyed their cigarettes under the tree while occasionally offering advice: "Hurry up! To the right! Don't dig too deep; you'll need to find a way to break that cement." It seemed they wanted to seize this rare opportunity to direct me; naturally, I was happy to oblige since such chances were not common.
After more than an hour of work, I was exhausted and nearly finished with my preparations. I walked over to the shade of the tree and seriously said to the two old men, "You really have no heart; is it really okay to leave such a clean apprentice out in this blazing sun?"
The Second Master chuckled and replied, "What's wrong with that? Didn't you just graduate? Getting tanned is good! The village girls want strong men who can work in the fields; now that you're so pale, I'm not sure how I'd introduce you to a wife."
"I never said I wanted you to introduce me to a wife," I started to say when the Second Master stood up and looked behind me saying, "Old Li is here." The Master also got up and brushed off the dirt from his pants as he walked towards the newcomer.
The person who arrived was not only Li Bo but also another burly man with his shirt off. They each carried a basket on their backs and held a rooster in their hands. One of the baskets contained three bowls filled with rice topped with a thick layer of vegetables—presumably prepared by their families for us.
He arrived earlier than I expected; there was still some time before dark. Since most preparations were already done, we didn't immediately proceed with sealing positions and destroying graves but instead began eating.
After we had our fill and as the sun began to set behind the mountains, it was indeed an opportune moment to start working. The Second Master held authority in this matter. When we began the ritual, we silently observed from the side. The Master instructed me: "Stand next to your Second Master; if anything stirs or moves around here, protect him well. I suspect that White Shirt Spirit won't just sit idly by while its grave is destroyed."
I nodded and took my compass over to stand beside the Second Master as he burned paper while continuously chanting incantations that I couldn't understand at all. After more than ten minutes of this effort, he finally stopped and prepared to light incense. He told me this part was quite important; generally speaking, when relocating graves one must light incense—only one stick should be placed directly in front of the grave marker. If there’s no reaction from it after lighting it up, it means that the owner of the grave agrees with moving it; if it sways left or right instead—that indicates opposition from the grave's owner—and that would complicate matters significantly.
I said, "Second Master, are we really going to destroy the grave without seeking its consent?"
"Destroying a grave means destroying the grave itself; the owner of the grave is merely a corpse or a pile of bones. Unlike the ghosts you capture, what we are doing only requires the opinion of the corpse, not that of its soul," Second Master explained. By the time he finished speaking, all the incense had been lit. He did not continue but took one stick, walked a few steps, and measured a few times with his hand as if determining a position. That position was right on the muddy ground. Without hesitation, he inserted the incense into it.
After placing the incense, he did not move but stared intently at the stick.
Suddenly, with a "crack," astonishingly, the stick broke in half after just ten seconds without swaying at all. A stick of incense had mysteriously snapped without anyone touching it and without any wind.
I felt a surge of tension; I had never seen anything like this before. While I had witnessed candles flickering for no reason many times, I had rarely seen one break like this. I nervously glanced around and looked at the compass, but there was no sign of movement.
Second Master frowned but remained silent. He extinguished the broken incense and said, "Since that's the case, I can't worry about it anymore. You go seal the positions." After saying this, he handed me the remaining incense.
Sealing meant inserting three sticks of incense next to each pit, similar to activating a formation. However, these pits were connected to the destruction circle and that tomb by a small ditch. Both sides of this connecting ditch also needed to have incense lit—three inches apart—leading all the way to the tomb's location. Although it was called a ditch, it was essentially just a small groove about three inches wide.
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