Painted Rakshasa? !
The Painted Rakshasa my master was talking about is Zhiniang?
I do know about Rakshasa, a legendary evil ghost that eats human flesh and blood, flies and hides in the sky, is very fast, and often disguises itself as a beautiful woman to harm people.
But I have never heard of this Painted Rakshasa, and I am full of desire to explore Zhiniang, so I can only ask Lao Bai.
"Of course it is the evil ghost in the painting!"
Lao Bai gave a nearly brain-dead answer without thinking, smacking his lips and smiling, saying: "We fought side by side for so long just now, I didn't expect that the female ghost next to me is a historical celebrity!"
Lao Bai's words "historical celebrity" made me feel moved. Thinking of Zhiniang's strange behavior when she asked her name in a casual chat, I became even more curious. I kept asking questions, and then I understood what the so-called Painted Rakshasa was all about.
Some people who died extremely miserably, their ghosts were too resentful, and they would offend the heavens, which would attract rolling thunder and kill them on the spot. Such evil ghosts would be extremely sensitive when their souls were scattered. If they happened to feel that there were sacrifices of their own in the world, their remaining souls would escape into the sacrifices and retain a glimmer of life. People in later generations would make their remaining souls stronger every time they saw the sacrifices, until the remaining souls escaped and formed ghosts, which were called sacrificial Rakshasa.
The so-called sacrifices refer to things used to mourn the dead, which can be a text praising the merits of the dead, a portrait of the dead, or a statue of the dead, etc.
If the remaining souls of evil ghosts entrust themselves to words, the things formed after reappearing are called word Rakshasa.
When Zhiniang's soul was struck by thunder after her death, she should have felt a painting of herself, so she simply hid in the painting, forming the so-called painting Rakshasa.
My master once said that among the corpse ghosts and demons, the ghosts are unpredictable and the most difficult to deal with. Some ghosts are very special. Even if you have cow tears or willow branches washed with clean water, you may not be able to see them.
Whether it is a word Rakshasa or a painting Rakshasa, they are all types of sacrificial Rakshasa, and they are all invisible to the world unless they want you to see them.
Zhiniang has been following me, but my master, who is so capable, didn't notice it. This is the reason.
"It's rare to see a painted Rakshasa once in a thousand years!"
Lao Bai shrugged and said speechlessly: "It's not easy to have a grudge so big that the sky will strike you with five thunderbolts. Those who are not hard-hearted can't have such a big grudge even if the grievance is scary. For example, Dou E is a typical example of a person with a weak heart. She was so pitiful that even God couldn't bear it, but she didn't become a fierce ghost. Otherwise, she would have been struck by thunder and snowed in June...
Moreover, even if you escape into the painting of yourself, you can only keep your residual soul immortal. If you want to get out, people in the future will talk about you. Tell me, if you are not a very famous character who has a name in history books, who can do it?
It's not easy to leave a name in history books. Among those who have a name, there are even fewer who died so miserably that God dare not let you become a fierce ghost, fearing that you will poison the world. Therefore, the chance of encountering this painted Rakshasa is smaller than winning a 5 million jackpot."
Lao Bai patted my shoulder, as if I was lucky.
I have to say that curiosity can really drive people crazy. I don't even consider my miserable situation now. I just want to know Zhi Niang's real name. Unfortunately, I don't know where she is hiding. I have a feeling that she should be next to me. She even listened to me with a smile when I talked to Lao Bai. But now it seems that I can't see her unless it's absolutely necessary.
I couldn't figure it out, so I simply stopped thinking about it and turned my attention to Lao Bai: "Let's talk about the account between us first. Didn't you follow my master to do something? How come you are selling meat in the ghost market?"
"Hey, it's your master's fault that he abandoned me?"
Lao Bai didn't reflect on himself at all. He slapped his thigh and blackmailed my master. He grinned and said unhappily: "He pulled me out just to ask for directions. He drew something on the yellow paper used for drawing talismans. Whenever he saw insects, birds, etc., he asked me to ask people if they had seen that thing. Such a foolish thing really got him to ask, but that thing was very cunning. When it saw us, it turned around and ran away without saying a word. Finally, it went straight into a cave. Your master chased in with a weapon and asked me to guard outside the cave and prepare to hold it down together.
As a result, he went in for more than half an hour. I was so bored waiting. Just then, a fiery red little fox appeared. I didn't recognize it as a demon, so I chatted with it for a while, and then..."
"Did you pinch her butt again after chatting?"
I probably guessed the result, and my face turned black: "What's wrong with you?"
"You don't understand, those little things are all talented, and they speak well. I like them very much, especially when they are bullied and they are obviously very angry but can't do anything to me, it feels inexplicably good..."
Lao Bai sighed with his head down: "I didn't expect to kick the iron plate this time. It's obviously a cute little fox, but it turned into an old woman in a flash, and threw bloody mantis at me. I was also desperate..."
What's this?
I was speechless. This grandson was just suffering from too much oppression and had a twisted mentality. He was just about to run to the kindergarten to beat up other kids to make himself feel important. But at this point, I became interested in what my master was going to do, and couldn't help asking, "What on earth did my master chase?"
"The one who put on makeup for you!"
Lao Bai said, "Your master said that when you came here, your face showed a strange gray color, and it was a little glowing under the sun. At that time, he knew that the one who put on makeup for you must have come here. After all, there is a ghost market here, and it is not far from the tomb. It is normal for it to appear here. But your master was not sure that he could find it in such a large area. He was afraid of giving you hope and disappointing you, so he simply didn't say it!"
Huge pale face, thin body...
I thought of the thing that was lying on me that day, and I shuddered. That thing can be said to be the first dirty thing I saw, and the psychological shadow it left on me is still lingering!
When it comes to that thing, I am also a little bored. I don't say anything anymore, staring at the distant mountains in the dark.
Time passed by one minute and one second.
When the sky was about to dawn and the night was not over, my master came back, and behind him, it was Brother Yaozi and Zhang Xinya!
Fortunately, the two of them were fine, but Brother Yaozi was seriously injured, with many bloodstains and scars on his body, and he was already wrapped in gauze.
After chatting with him for a while, I learned that when he pounced on the big snake, the other party was very cunning and ran away directly, and quietly touched me. Fortunately, I was rescued by Zhiniang at the critical moment, and Brother Yaozi followed the sound to find the snake and killed it.
However, this delay back and forth has wasted too much time. Those ghost soldiers have already killed him, and he fought and fled. A night of work has passed, and all the wounds on his body were left by those ghost soldiers.
As for Zhang Xinya...
She was completely alone. Before my master found Brother Yaozi, Brother Yaozi had always thought that Zhang Xinya was with me.
The barren mountains were full of ghost soldiers, and the gullies were full of ghosts...
I don't know how Zhang Xinya survived alone. There was no Painted Rakshasa named Zhiniang to save her. But except for the bruises on her face, which should have been left by hitting a big tree, her body was intact!
What happened to her?
When I asked, this originally cheerful girl was surprisingly silent, with her arms folded across her chest, looking very depressed, and refused to mention what happened tonight.
Neither my master nor Brother Yaozi said a word, and even Lao Bai had a meaningful look on his face.
I thought of what Zhiniang said to me again. This girl is not simple. What secrets does she have?
Seeing that she didn't want to talk, I didn't ask any more. At least she was fine, which was probably the only thing to be thankful for. As for the things we left on the mountain, even my master didn't find them when he went back. They might have been taken away by some mountain spirits and ghosts in the chaos. Fortunately, most of them were dry food, and the important objects were not lost.
We counted the things we rescued. If we saved the rations, we could eat for seven or eight days. We wouldn't be hungry anyway, which made us feel relieved.
We stayed here for a while and rested. When the chaos here completely dissipated at dawn, we turned back to find the car and set off again.
This place is very close to the tomb. We arrived in less than an hour.
After not seeing it for a while, the tomb has become more and more enchanting and weird.
Under the bright sunshine, the grave was covered with blood, which was particularly dazzling, and even emitted curling green smoke.
"The covered soil is bleeding, there is a rebellious person in the tomb..."
Seeing this, Brother Yaozi looked solemn and said slowly: "The owner of this tomb has already turned into a corpse. I'm afraid there is no need to open the coffin. He is now sitting in the tomb waiting for us to come!!"