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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter 96: Strange Happenings in the Village (6)
To resolve the spirit of the Paper Lion, one must not act forcefully. If it is destroyed violently, the host family will surely suffer, as at this moment the Paper Lion has become one with the Yin Zhai. This is why I stopped the villagers from using hoes to destroy the Paper Lion. After all, while the Paper Lion may harm the villagers, the host family might be unaware and it would not be worth causing casualties.
However, sealing this Paper Lion is not difficult. I first paid my respects at the grave to show my reverence, then called upon the Dragon God Land to perform a ritual. I dipped my brush in ink and covered the eyes of the Paper Lion, which had been opened with Cinnabar, with Black Ink; this is known as sealing the spirit.
As soon as I touched the ink to the Paper Lion's eyes, it suddenly came to life, trembling violently. Its mouth opened wide, emitting a furious roar that shook the entire forest. The Paper Lion struggled to open its eyes, but at that moment, it was sealed by my spell using Black Ink, making it extremely angry and frightening in appearance.
Everyone present was stunned by this scene; all were weak in their legs, even Mr. Zhang, the host of Yin Zhai, feared that the lion might suddenly leap up and tear everyone apart.
Of course, I was also nervous inside, but I did not show it like they did. I saw a stream of hot air escaping from the Paper Lion's mouth; I knew that was Spiritual Energy.
If Spiritual Energy continued to pour out from the lion's mouth for too long, it would inevitably cause the Zhang Family's Yin Zhai Spiritual Energy to dissipate completely. As a person, Mr. Zhang was willing to seal the Paper Lion to prevent it from harming the villagers; naturally, I had to act with integrity and could not deliberately destroy their Yin Zhai. Therefore, I hurriedly took four copper coins and stuffed them into the Paper Lion's mouth while shouting, "Seal its mouth with money; take gold and silver away!"
As soon as the coins were stuffed into its mouth, the Paper Lion calmed down and its angry mouth closed. Seeing this, I finally felt relieved. The Paper Lion was originally meant to roam around seeking food and gathering grains to nourish the spiritual bones in its lair. The copper coins represent wealth and have passed through many hands, carrying significant energy. Thus, by stuffing them into its mouth, it would feel satisfied as if it had gained a great bargain.
With its calmness restored, it would temporarily pose no threat to me. I quickly formed a hand gesture and walked four steps around the Paper Lion to lock down its Spiritual Energy from all directions. With its Spiritual Energy sealed off, the Paper Lion would no longer differ from ordinary paper crafts. At this point, I changed my hand gesture again and pointed two fingers like a sword toward the eyes of the Paper Lion that were sealed with Black Ink and pierced through them, creating two transparent holes!
At that moment when the eyes of the Paper Lion were pierced, a muffled thunder sounded from above in clear skies, startling everyone’s scalp. Hearing this sound of thunder made me realize that the Paper Lion had been broken! That sound was known as breaking law thunder; it shattered its unique spiritual essence.
After the thunder faded away, everyone saw two Paper Lions suddenly emit white smoke before bursting into flames with a loud bang. Finally, with a few clinks, four copper coins fell from its mouth; at this point, they had turned completely black due to having their golden and silver energy absorbed by the lion.
The Paper Lion quickly burned down to ashes and was blown away by the mountain wind. At this moment, Mr. Zhang asked me if that was it.
I nodded. Yes, the trouble with the paper lions was resolved, and the feng shui remained intact. The descendants of the Zhang family could naturally enjoy the blessings of the ancestral tomb.
Subsequently, a pair of stone lions was placed in the original position of the paper lions. Of course, this pair of lions was not consecrated again, as this tomb itself was a living site, and the guardian beasts of the site should not be consecrated.
Speaking of these stone lions, they actually had spiritual connections. I remembered that Master Ma once told a story about a geomancer who discovered a dragon's lair. He said that this lair was suitable for the deceased's spirit, so he recommended it to the family. This lair had water flowing in nine curves sitting at the Gen trigram, collecting primordial water into the hall, facing the Half Moon Deep Pool, and was also a treasure lair surrounded by stars.
The geomancer told the family that if they buried their loved one in this lair, three years later their red cow would give birth to two lion cubs. Moreover, if they fed them grains, their droppings would turn into gold; if they fed them soybeans, their droppings would turn into silver. However, there was one condition: he wanted one of the cubs!
Upon hearing this, the family was half-convinced but readily agreed. After the burial, the Earth Immortal cast a spell to lock in the dragon's foundation, and with the Heavenly stars surrounding it above and below, once the talisman was activated, a spiritual lion would descend to the mortal realm.
After performing the ritual, the Earth Immortal told the family: "Three years later, your red cow will become pregnant and will definitely give birth to two lions. I will come back in three years to claim one of the cubs."
Three years soon passed...
The family's cow became pregnant! Just as predicted by the geomancer, it gave birth to two lion cubs. The family was overjoyed and followed the geomancer's advice to feed grains to the lions. Upon checking their droppings, it truly was gold; when they fed them soybeans, it indeed turned into silver. Just as they were celebrating, the geomancer came to visit!
The family's greed kicked in; they thought to themselves that how could they give away one of these spiritual beasts? So they instructed a family member to take one away and hide it. Then they deceived the geomancer by saying only one cub was born and thus could not give him this sole cub.
The geomancer was furious but kept his composure and silently left. He went to the family's grave and performed a series of spells before departing on a bamboo raft.
As a result, both lions fell ill overnight and died. The family wanted to confront the geomancer for retribution, but he had already left. From then on, the family fell into ruin and eventually moved away from their homeland; it is said that they perished in a foreign land!
Of course, at this point, someone might ask how could a cow give birth to lions? Yes, whether this story is true or false cannot be verified; however, it is said that the reason why that geomancer approached them was mainly because he calculated that this family would have great wealth within three years. Thus he exploited them by using his magic to make their cow produce lions that could defecate gold and silver when fed grains.
However, due to their greed, they provoked the geomancer's wrath and were ultimately harmed by him. In the end, not only did they lose their wealth but also paid with their lives. As it is said: wealth and poverty are predetermined by fate; greed can lead to loss without compensation. Sometimes life must follow its natural course; if wealth is not meant for you, even if you obtain it, you will have no fortune to enjoy it.
It was a bit of a digression, but back to the point. After the incident, Mr. Zhang, realizing his family's wrongdoing regarding the Paper Lion's damage to the Ancient Village villagers' crops, took the initiative to compensate everyone for their losses. Seeing this outcome made me feel relieved; at least my efforts over the past two days were not in vain.
After descending the mountain, the villagers of Ancient Village invited me to stay in the Village and warmly hosted me. That night, I couldn't resist their repeated toasts and ended up drinking until I collapsed.
I originally planned to return to the city that day, but since I got drunk, I had no choice but to stay in Ancient Village and leave the next day. After all, my business here was done, and there was no need to keep bothering them. However, what I didn't expect was that before I could leave, someone came looking for me.
Here’s how it happened: that night, I got very drunk, and the next morning while I was still feeling dizzy, I heard someone outside asking the villagers if a gentleman had come to Village in the past couple of days.
Hearing this, I knew they must be looking for me, so I hurriedly put on my clothes and got up. When I stepped outside, I saw a middle-aged man in his forties asking the villagers about me.
At that moment, when the villagers spotted me, they pointed me out to the man. As soon as he saw me, he quickly approached and shook my hand while greeting me.
I looked at him and noticed a dullness in his expression; he must have been having a rough time in recent years. I smiled and asked him if he had something to discuss.
He nodded and said, "Sir, I'm a villager from Qianjing Village. Yesterday, our Mr. Zhang mentioned you and said you were quite capable. So I inquired about you and learned you were here in Ancient Village. That's why I've come today; I'd like to ask you to take a look at my family's Yin Zhai."
"Look at Yin Zhai? Is there something wrong with your family's Yin Zhai?" I asked curiously.
He nodded and replied, "My father's Yin Zhai was relocated once, but it never felt quite right since then. So I'd like to ask you to take a look. What do you think?"
I thought about it; after all, Qianjing Village wasn't far from Ancient Village. Since he had come all this way, it wouldn't hurt to help him out. So I agreed. After having breakfast in Ancient Village and bidding farewell to everyone, I left Ancient Village with that man and headed back to Qianjing Village.
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