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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter 94: Strange Happenings in the Village (4)
Having figured this out, I called out, "That wasn't a real lion; it was a paper lion!"
This statement shocked the villagers even more than the real lion would have. They were all stunned and asked me, "A paper lion? How could a paper lion come to life? And why would it come to eat our grain?"
Now that I knew the true identity of the creature, I was clear about everything. I told the villagers, "That lion is definitely a Paper Craft. The reason it came to life might be because someone has blessed it."
Seeing their astonished expressions, I continued, "If I'm not mistaken, that lion must be something from a grave. As for why it was blessed and became spiritual, that's beyond my knowledge."
Although they didn't fully understand, they were still panicking and asked me, "Sir, what should we do now? We can't deal with such a sinister thing!"
Since it was only a blessed paper lion, it wouldn't pose much danger to people. As long as we could find it, dealing with it shouldn't be too difficult. At this point, I felt somewhat confident.
"But where are we supposed to find it?" the villagers complained.
I thought for a moment and said, "Since it's something from a grave, we just need to find the grave where it belongs. After all, as the saying goes, 'A monk can run away, but the temple remains.' No matter where it runs off to, it will eventually return to its grave."
After saying this, I looked in the direction where the lion had fled and noticed that there were bloodstains on the Ground where it had run. Without thinking too much, I told everyone, "The Ground has bloodstains left by the lion; we can follow these bloodstains to find it!"
Upon hearing this, everyone followed me as we traced the bloodstains left by the paper lion. Soon enough, we entered the mountains...
In the mountains, tall trees blocked out what little moonlight there was. Fortunately, we all had flashlights so we could continue following the bloodstains. With so many people together, everyone felt braver. After walking about ten miles into the mountains, gradually the sky began to brighten until we arrived at a grave site where the bloodstains disappeared.
By this time, daylight had broken. Before us stood a newly erected grave that looked quite impressive; it was paved with marble on the outside. In front of the tomb was a large flat area with a stone table and stone stools set up on it. Such an elaborate tomb must have cost a fortune; it likely belonged to a wealthy family.
Looking closer at the front of the grave near the tombstone, there were a pair of paper lions placed beside it. These paper lions were about the same size as adult real lions, glaring fiercely with imposing presence, one standing on each side of the tombstone.
"Sir, look quickly! This paper lion has blood on it, and one of its ears is missing!" At that moment, a villager pointed at one of the paper lions beside the tombstone and exclaimed.
Upon hearing this, I hurriedly looked at the paper lion, and indeed, as the villager said, there were many bloodstains dripping from the white paper body of the lion, and one of its left ears was missing. The blood had dripped onto it from the ear.
Seeing this, I immediately understood that the paper lion I had injured was clearly the one in front of me!
I carefully examined the pair of paper lions and found that their eyes were wide open and full of spirit because both eyes had been painted with cinnabar, which is known as "opening the eyes." It had been mentioned before that in the craft of paper-making, there are rules; for any paper figurines or paper horses, their eyes should not be painted unless they are burned immediately after painting. Otherwise, if the eyes are opened for too long, they may become spiritual and cause some troublesome events. This pair of paper lions was just like that!
Now that it was daytime, the paper lions had calmed down. If it were nighttime, perhaps they would come to life.
At that moment, some villagers stepped forward with hoes, wanting to smash the paper lions to pieces. However, I stopped them because it was clear that these paper lions served a significant purpose here. If they were destroyed like this, the family of the deceased might not agree.
I told everyone to remain calm. Seeing my insistence, they stopped and suppressed their anger.
I then began to examine this burial site to see what significance it held and why a pair of consecrated paper lions was placed in front of the tomb. It is known that it is quite rare to see paper lions erected in front of graves where stone lions are usually placed.
Standing in front of the burial site and looking around, I saw that this place indeed had excellent feng shui—like stars surrounding the moon and water flowing in curves! The burial site faced east and sat south; there was pre-heavenly water flowing through it, gathering in the southwest where there was a deep pool shaped like a half-moon. The Azure Dragon gathered many stars while the White Tiger had a small round hill as its official seal. The open area was spacious enough to accommodate thousands of troops galloping; it truly was an exceptional dragon's den.
After understanding the feng shui of this place, I realized why there was such a pair of paper lions in front of the tomb. This location is a living site with abundant spiritual energy. Normally, burying bones here would be quite good; however, it would be somewhat wasteful for such a living site. If some living spiritual objects were placed in front of the tomb to guard it, then this site would be perfect. The reason for placing two consecrated paper lions at the tomb was that once their eyes were opened, these paper lions would become living lions.
These paper lions would go out every night to seek food, consuming grains to nourish the spiritual bones within the spiritual site so that descendants could enjoy abundant wealth.
Thinking about all this made me realize that these people were certainly not ordinary individuals. Firstly, someone who could recognize this feng shui and pinpoint its location must be extraordinary. Moreover, using paper lions to enhance this feng shui perfectly is no simple feat; one can imagine that this person's skills are quite impressive.
I felt both shocked and amazed—shocked by such a perfect spiritual site existing in this world and amazed by their ability to find dragons and locate graves. However, what is regrettable is that although this burial site can be considered perfect, they did not realize that these two stone lions nearby would trample on farmland extensively, causing significant losses for farmers and creating considerable trouble and resentment among local villagers.
Having understood everything clearly, I glanced at the tombstone of the burial site and saw "Zhang Gong" inscribed on it. I then turned to ask the villagers: "Do you know whose family established this burial site for Zhang Gong?"
At this moment, the Villagers responded, "It's the grave of Old Zhang's Family from Neighboring Village, Qianjing Village."
Since everyone knew the main family of Yin Zhai, it became much easier to handle this matter. I then said to the Villagers, "How about this? Let's head to Qianjing Village and find Old Zhang's Family to demand an explanation!"
At this point, some villagers disagreed and said, "What explanation are we looking for? Old Zhang's Family is a wealthy and powerful household; how can we expect anything good from them? In my opinion, we should just burn this Paper Lion and let it eat our Grain."
Upon hearing that villager's words, some people immediately agreed, saying yes. While his words were indeed satisfying, I knew that the wealthier and more powerful Old Zhang's Family was, the less we could act recklessly. Otherwise, these villagers might really end up worse off; after all, not every wealthy person is easy to deal with.
Seeing their hatred towards each other, I advised, "With me here, do you really need to worry about not getting justice? Don't worry; I guarantee that the Paper Lion will be taken care of, and I will also make sure that Old Zhang's Family compensates everyone for the losses from the Grain Water."
When everyone heard what I said, some skeptically asked if it was true.
I smiled and nodded, saying, "I've already found the Paper Lion for you; do you still not believe me?"
Everyone thought for a moment and hurriedly apologized, perhaps feeling they had misspoken. Then someone said, "In my opinion, we should listen to the gentleman. Whatever he says we should do, let's just follow his lead. No more arguing; we'll leave everything to him!"
Everyone nodded in agreement, and their opinions finally unified.
To be honest, it felt a bit regrettable to destroy such a good Yin Zhai Spirit Mound. However, one person's private interests could not be built on everyone else's losses. So even though this Spirit Mound was quite rare, I still had to help the Villagers settle this matter.
After that, I led everyone down the mountain, and we hurriedly made our way to Neighboring Village's Qianjing Village and Old Zhang's Family...
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