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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter Eleven: A Few Stories from Northeast Strange Tales (Three)
Northeast Strange Tales (Five)!
Let me share two stories related to graves. In Feng Shui, graves occupy a significant portion of the discussion. The practices of relocating graves, opening graves, and merging graves are extensive. A poorly maintained grave can bring misfortune for three generations, and issues with a grave can lead to disasters for descendants, even resulting in bloodshed. This is not an exaggeration. Here are two stories related to graves.
My friend is from Liaoyuan, named Lin Xiaojun. He is a few years older than me and came to visit me one day. I asked him what was wrong, and he said, "I haven't been sleeping well these past few days; I've been having the same dream." I asked, "What did you dream about?" Lin Xiaojun replied, "My father passed away many years ago, but I dreamt that he was in a house on a rainy day. Suddenly, lightning struck and created a hole in the roof. Then a group of people dressed in gray came; they first crouched by the window to look inside, then crawled through the hole in the roof. It seemed like they were a family with both old and young members. Seeing that there were so many of them, my father didn't chase them away. This group kept bullying my dad, and he endured it. But after a few days, another big man came in black and greenish-yellow clothes—strong and fierce—who jumped through the hole in the roof and grabbed one of the gray-clothed men, biting him to death and swallowing him whole. My father was terrified and crouched in a corner of the room trembling. When he saw me, he grabbed my hand and said, 'Help me! Help me!'"
I told him that dreams reflect one's thoughts. I even took out Freud's "The Interpretation of Dreams," but he insisted that this time it felt very real, especially since I would see my dad pleading for help during my ten-minute nap. So, I took him to see Master. As usual, we started with divination using six lines, and surprisingly all six were single lines. Master then told him to go home immediately and check on his father's coffin. He quickly called his cousin back home and asked him to check on his father's grave on their mountain. After making the call, his cousin reported that there was nothing wrong with the grave. Lin Xiaojun insisted that they must open the grave and shared his dream with his cousin. His cousin gathered family members to discuss it and decided to open the coffin for inspection. When they dug it up, they were nearly scared to death.
They found a large tree root growing horizontally that had pushed up against the coffin lid, creating a large hole. Inside were a nest of rats along with plenty of rat droppings. A local black grass snake had entered through the hole made by the rats and had bitten and eaten some of them; there were several rat bones inside as well. The remains lay among this mess—it was truly terrifying; when they opened the coffin lid, the snake's head was thrashing around wildly. This frightened Lin Xiaojun's family so much that they sat on the ground in shock. It was indeed quite scary; they killed the snake, cleaned out the coffin, bought a new one, cut down the surrounding tree, and reburied him.
This incident is true; however, when I share it with many people, they often think it's nonsense or that I'm making it up. I won't provide further explanation on this matter. But one thing to remember is that if you are a civil servant, military personnel, or work in an office job, you must remember to pay respects at your ancestors' graves every year. Such incidents involving tree roots penetrating coffins are not uncommon.
Northeast Strange Tales (Six)!
People who can resolve issues often have encountered supernatural beings at some point in their lives. These individuals tend to be fearless when young but become cautious as they age. Master Zhao is one such person. Master Zhao is quite remarkable; I have personally witnessed him resolve issues before—yet within a month after resolving one case, he suffered from a cerebral thrombosis that left him partially paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair. In his own words: if you provoke someone supernatural, they will eventually seek revenge on you; even if they cannot get back at you directly, they will take it out on your children.
Mr. Zhao was already sixty-seven years old in 2009 when I visited his home; at that time, Old Man Zhao's eyesight had become blurry due to cataracts. Following his instructions that day, I moved a long bench in his living room aside and placed a piece of paper on the ground before scattering some rice as directed by Mr. Zhao. He handed me a small jar containing yellow sand—grains similar in size to rice—and poured it over the rice. The old gentleman then gave me a small booklet filled with strange symbols and shapes drawn on it. First, he took out a ladle soaked in red ink and added some water to dissolve it before using a brush according to Mr. Zhao's instructions to copy onto red paper for Xiao Zhang—drawing two pieces in total: one depicted a large ram's head with horns labeled "Supreme Elder Lord" and "Urgent Order," while the other illustrated an oddly shaped large tree which was then dried and stored away properly before placing a bowl over the rice-sand mixture and returning the long bench to its original position.
Master Zhao mentioned that someone had already scheduled an appointment for later that day to have their fortune told based on their birth date. Soon after, a dark-skinned middle-aged man arrived and sat down on the long bench while Master Zhao began discussing their birth dates with him for about half an hour amidst laughter.
Finally, after the person left, Master Zhao had me recite the purification mantra. Then Master Zhao had me stack the two talismans I had just made and place them on the back of the bowl, burning those two pieces of paper. When I lifted the bowl, I saw that the rice and sand inside had already separated; the sand formed a small pile in the middle while the rice surrounded it, clearly divided into two distinct items. Mr. Zhao instructed me to take the paper containing the sand and rice out to the balcony, letting it be exposed to sunlight as Master Zhao said, to let this pile of rice and sand dry in the sun. A strange thing happened; a large swarm of flies appeared, crawling over the rice as if they were on a pile of rotten food, buzzing loudly. After two days of sun exposure, both the rice and sand were overturned.
Not long after, within half a month, Master Zhao suffered a stroke and was unable to move half of his body, relying on others for basic needs. That day, I asked Master Zhao what that talisman was for and what it was meant to break. Master Zhao replied, "Xiao Zhang, you haven't started a family yet, so don't ask." Later, I learned that it was a powerful talisman known as "Mao," which is said to help drive away evil spirits.
However, I had no interest in learning; seeing Master Zhao's condition made me abandon any such thoughts.
Northeast Strange Tales (Part Seven)!
Let me tell a story about saving someone. One night, a person was out running errands when he encountered Black and White Impermanence coming to collect souls. He walked along a small path by a wall and saw two shadows approaching him. Suddenly, two black figures flashed by and collided with him before he could react, knocking him down under the wall. After falling, he couldn't move and shouted for quite some time without anyone responding. Eventually, someone happened to pass by on their way home and saw him, rescuing him.
After bringing him back home, his family noticed something was off; his face was pale and his forehead darkened. They went to invite a Great Master. When the Great Master arrived, he asked for a bowl of rice and an article of clothing worn by the person involved. He wrapped the bowl of rice in the clothing and placed it on the person's head and palms while chanting spells.
After finishing the incantation, he opened the clothing to check the rice. It showed that the person's soul was missing; if nothing was done tonight, he would die. The Great Master said: "Quickly go to my uncle's house; I'm afraid my powers aren't enough." A group of people carried him there. Upon arrival, they explained what had happened and opened a water bowl to check the situation. Inside the bowl appeared that Black and White Impermanence had collided with this person on his way.
Black and White Impermanence comes to collect souls listed in the Book of Life and Death; upon colliding with this person, they checked his name and found it matched exactly—his soul was directly taken away by them. Now Black and White Impermanence was on their way back to Fengdu City. The Great Master immediately said they needed to summon Yama but couldn't get through; instead, he asked his Master—who was also his uncle—to intervene.
The Master came to handle it and said: "Yama and Judge Bao are invited to come forth; ask Judge Bao to open the Book of Life and Death for clarification on whether this person's lifespan has truly ended." Judge Bao opened the Book of Life and Death for inspection; it turned out this person's lifespan had not expired—another person with the same name had reached their end instead—Black and White Impermanence had made a mistake in capturing him. They then asked where this other person lived; the bowl indicated that this other individual resided near where our protagonist had encountered Black and White Impermanence.
Judge Bao ordered that Black and White Impermanence must return this person's soul immediately. The Earth God received orders to pursue Black and White Impermanence; once caught up with them, they promptly returned the soul.
Judge Bao commanded Divine Weapon to first restore this person's soul before issuing punishment with sixty strikes against Black and White Impermanence for their error. They were then ordered to swiftly capture that individual whose lifespan had ended for transport to the Underworld. With one soul restored here, another was captured there. This matter concerning our protagonist was resolved; however, that night he died due to having his soul taken away, leaving him severely weakened—he only fully recovered six months later.
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