Every child is curious, especially those areas that adults don't allow to touch, which are almost regarded as mysterious.
This mystery flows in the blood. If the mystery is not solved one day, it will probably be longed for for a lifetime.
In my eyes, the ancestral temple is such a place, almost covered with a sacred veil, so that I have to dress up before going there. Unfortunately, Zhang Xinya's bandaging skills are really poor. After a few rounds of gauze, I look like a Japanese ronin. Coupled with the serious look, I am no different from the funny invaders in some dramas.
In fact, when my father took me to the mysterious area, it was a little different from what I imagined.
This is a small house. Because it has been too long, it is damp and dilapidated. Even the air is dirty, and the smell of mold and decay is everywhere.
In the center of the ancestral hall, there is a huge statue sitting cross-legged, which is similar to the Buddha statue in the temple, but I can't recognize which god it is. Neither Buddhism nor Taoism has such a god.
This is a rather tall and majestic man. He wears a Confucian robe and holds a hu in one hand. At first glance, he seems to be a civil official, but he has no hat, his hair is disheveled, his eyes are fascinating, and his other hand is on the long sword at his waist. His posture is extremely majestic, and he looks like a military officer.
I have poor eyesight and really can't tell what kind of existence this is.
Below the statue, the offering tables are arranged like steps, almost filling the entire ancestral hall, so that the only place in the ancestral hall that can be settled is a narrow area in front of the door. Those offering tables are filled with densely packed spirit tablets, which are hard to take in at a glance!
"Is this probably the last statue of Shengwu Tianguan in the world?"
Zhang Daoxuan looked solemn, and he bowed to the statue in the middle again and again, sighing with regret: "It's so unbecoming that the incense is so cold!"
"You are probably the last person in the world who dares to call him Shengwu?"
My father looked at Zhang Daoxuan with a smile, and said: "In fact, there is nothing right or wrong. This is a chaotic world. It's too extravagant to talk about right and wrong. This statue is placed here, and it is also the last thought of us lonely ghosts!"
After saying that, my father shook his head. Although he was still smiling, he had a bit of bleak meaning. He took my hand and knelt down on the futon very solemnly. After kowtowed three times respectfully, he stood up and said to me: "Jingzhe, I didn't bring you here before because you couldn't change anything. I brought you here today because you need to get to know us again!"
At this point, my dad pointed at the statue, with a rather disrespectful tone, but his words were very passionate: "Remember, we are not worshipping the Jade Emperor, nor the Buddha in the West, but the one in front of us, his surname is Wei, he is our ancestor. In his time, the ritual official was not a puppet who looked at the time, nor was he a yin and yang master who looked at feng shui and chose a tomb. At that time, people called the ritual official the heavenly official, the divine official, the heavenly master, and the holy master! So, our ancestor, people called him the Holy Martial Heavenly Official, some people called him the Demon-Suppressing Heavenly Master, of course, the most popular name is... the Humane Holy Master!"
My dad almost shouted these titles, which were deafening.
I was also a little dizzy, but I also felt a kind of blood boiling. These titles were more powerful than each other, and they were so domineering and scary.
According to my father, the age of my ancestor is no longer in the currently traceable history. It is so long ago that even he can't tell clearly...
"Is it reliable?"
Zhang Xinya muttered: "Currently, the only confirmed traceable period is the Shang Dynasty. There is no definite archaeological evidence for the Xia Dynasty before that. To put it bluntly, the Xia Dynasty may not exist. Anything before that is legendary. It's so mysterious..."
However, before she finished speaking, she was glared at by Zhang Daoxuan. She stuck out her tongue and dared not say anything.
But these words really hit the nail on the head. My dad used to tell me that his ancestors were ceremonial officials, which was somewhat believable. But now it's getting further and further away, and it sounds really outrageous. As for the credibility, since it involves my own family, I can only say... It's hard to say, my heart is very complicated...
"Legend has it that the Heavenly Official Blade... was left by the Holy Martial Heavenly Official!"
My dad tried hard to cite some evidence to prove his words, but when he said it, he was a little scared and could only use the word "legend". Probably because he felt embarrassed, he glared at me fiercely and touched the butcher knife on his waist. The warning was obvious. What else could I say? Of course, he put on a face of a devout and worshipful fanatic...
"Don't interrupt!"
Finally, my father made this summary, stroking a spirit tablet near the front of the altar, and whispered: "This is my grandfather's spirit tablet. Do you know how he died? He was walking on a mountain road at night, and a little ghost climbed on his back and covered his eyes, and fell into a ditch and died..."
"And this spirit tablet, this is my grandfather's grandfather. He was possessed by a ghost, but he had no good way to save himself. Fortunately, he was strong-willed and occasionally sober in that situation. He told his family that the ghost had to be beaten and beaten out. I don't know where he heard this wild way. Unfortunately, he was unlucky and met a fool who hit him on the head... He..."
"And this spirit tablet... This is probably... your distant ancestor? When he was going to the toilet, he was pulled into a cesspool by a fierce ghost by his ankle. It was summer, and the cesspool was clear and watery. He was old and couldn't climb out..."
"..."
My father described the life stories of the ancestors on each ancestral tablet one by one, as if he knew them all by heart.
As for my feelings, it's still the same sentence - it's hard to say, my heart is very complicated...
"Wait!"
Zhang Xinya probably couldn't hold it in any longer. She ignored her uncle's warning and interrupted: "Why does every generation die at the hands of evil spirits?"
"You don't have the ability but don't want to give up your ancestors' business. You force yourself to stand out, and this is the only outcome."
My father shook his head, a little bitter: "This is what I want to say. Our ancestors were so powerful, why are our descendants so unbearable?"
I looked at my father steadily. Speaking of this, he seemed a little anxious. He paced back and forth in front of the altar, and stopped after a while. His eyes wandered among a large number of spirit tablets, and finally pointed directly at one of them and said: "Because we lost something. It was from the time of this ancestor that we began to decline. After that, everyone was mediocre!"
My father's mood became low, and he had no choice but to tell me some unknown secrets.
The reason why the ceremonial officer fell to this point is because he lost two things!
One is called the Heavenly Master Blade, which is the weapon of the ceremonial officer, and the other is called the Earth Spirit Pearl, which is the power of the ceremonial officer!
With these two things, the ceremonial officer can fight those ghosts and monsters, and many methods mentioned in the "Ten Thousand Burial Scriptures" will be useful, otherwise, it is just a decoration!
Needless to say, the Heavenly Master Blade is the black fire stick, which is passed down from ancestors.
And the Earth Spirit Pearl, this is the most important thing!
Ghosts are powerful because they swallow the essence of the sun and the moon, and they are also violent because they eat resentment, filth and hatred. After all, the ceremonial officer is a mortal body. If he wants to fight these things, he naturally needs strength.
My father's gossip passed down from generation to generation pointed out that the power of the ceremonial officer comes from the dragon vein.
The dragon vein is the earth vein. It is rumored that the dragon vein forms a cave and the power condenses into a bead, which is the most powerful. The bead is called the Earth Spirit Pearl!
The ritual officer knows the Five Elements and Eight Diagrams, and is well versed in Feng Shui. So one ritual officer picked up the Earth Spirit Pearl and buried it in his body. In this way, he could borrow the power of the Earth Spirit Pearl and combine it with the Heavenly Master Blade, which is quite domineering!
"This ancestor was born in the era of the Five Barbarians' Invasion of China."
My father pointed at the blank memorial tablet and sighed, "In the troubled times, demons and ghosts were rampant. It is said that this ancestor was very powerful, but unfortunately, human power is limited and it was ultimately unable to stop the flood. The Heavenly Master Blade was also lost, and even he himself had no name or surname. Only a baby boy still in swaddling clothes and a large number of handwritten scriptures were taken away by servants, otherwise our lineage would have been finished at that time.
The Five Barbarians' Invasion of China, the people of clothing and clothing moved south. Since that historical event, the dragon veins collapsed, and the separated dragon veins were all small tributaries, which were difficult to form a cave and pearls. Our ritual officials no longer had the opportunity to collect the earth spirit pearls. Some people said that the dragon veins might form pearls again during the prosperous Tang and Ming dynasties, but the Tang and Ming dynasties lasted for more than 700 years, and many generations had been running around, but they never found the earth spirit pearls.
Our lineage slowly became a charlatan..."
"It's really a pity..."
Zhang Xinya said embarrassedly: "But what do these things have to do with Wei Jingzhe? I think the most urgent thing is to save his life first!"
I stroked the Tianshi Blade in my hand, and then touched my lower abdomen, and I had a vague guess in my heart.
As expected, my father then said: "Of course it is related. Whether it is the Yumin you mentioned or the so-called ghost makeup, it is related to the loss of the Tianshi Blade!!"