Ghost Record

  At dinner time, Old Man Huang said that the medicinal herbs were not enough, and asked me to follow him into the mountain early tomorrow morning to pick some more, as we still need to soak in the hot spring for four days. The next day, before dawn, I got up, Old Man Huang took a pot of porridge, brought a pointed hoe, and I brought a snake skin bag and two sickles.

  The mountain we are going to is Xian Dian Ding, the first peak of Zhao Ping, which is about three miles away from Huang Laobo's house. After walking for 20 minutes, we arrived at the foot of the mountain.

  We have eleven kinds of herbs to collect, including camphor leaves, sprout buds, grass roots, and rattan seeds. I only recognize half of these medicinal materials but can't call out their names.

  Some things are easy to pick, such as camphor leaves and spruce buds, we picked five or six kinds at the foot of the mountain. Others are not difficult to find either, but there is a kind of rattan that is extremely hard to find, it's possible that you can't even find it after spending a night in the mountains.

  This vine is called Dragon Blood Vine, as thick as a finger, and when cut, it flows out with a sticky liquid like blood. It's poisonous. The Dragon Blood Vine is rare but not precious because it has no medicinal value, but it can drive away insects. In a large pool of water, just put in a piece of Dragon Blood Vine the length of a finger, and all fish and aquatic insects will die, but the water cannot be used anymore.

  We picked some herbs at the foot of the mountain, and then we headed up the mountain. It was not yet 12 o'clock. I chatted with Old Man Huang all the way, but eventually got tired and breathless, so we stopped talking and just focused on walking.

  The top of the fairy hall is a mud mountain, similar to that in Tibet, with an altitude of about 1200 meters. But if measured from the ground, it's at least two or three thousand meters high. We walked and stopped, taking a whole hour and a half to reach the middle of the mountain. Old Huang picked up his pot and drank a few mouthfuls of porridge, pointing to a small path and saying to me, "Go in from here."

  We left the main road and walked into this small path, and after walking for about twenty minutes, we came to a small flat land. The ground was covered with purple grass, and Old Man Huang said it was called color-changing grass.

  Color-changing grass is a type of fern that grows no more than five centimeters tall, with leaves that generally grow close to the ground. The color-changing grass changes colors according to weather, temperature, humidity and other factors. Now it's purple, but who knows, maybe tomorrow it'll turn blue - it's really magical. Some people might ask, wouldn't selling potted plants like this be a way to get rich?

  This idea is not bad, but the environment in which the color-changing grass grows is constantly changing. Under artificial potted conditions, it will only present one color forever, and that's worthless.

  Old Huang had me pull out dozens of color-changing grasses, and after finishing, I still had to go find the last dragon blood vine. However, just then, a rustling sound came from the shrubs behind me, as if a large python was crawling.

  In this mountain range, which stretches nearly 150 kilometers from Liupu to Wuzhou and nearly 120 kilometers from Zhongshan to Pingnan, there are even mountain goblins, let alone giant pythons. In November, the weather is still very hot, it's not surprising that a giant python would come out to bask in the sun, but this scared both me and Old Man Huang so much that we almost wet our pants.

  Just as we were at a loss and wanted to retreat quietly, a yellow mongoose suddenly ran out of the bushes. This yellow mongoose seemed to have been frightened greatly, and when it saw us, it quickly turned its head and ran in another direction.

  We thought we had encountered a giant python, but it turned out to be a yellow pheasant. This made Old Man Huang extremely happy. The yellow pheasant has poor endurance and will collapse from exhaustion after running for less than five minutes. Old Man Huang shouted loudly, "Quickly chase after it!"

  I and Old Man Huang chased after the yellow weasel, but it was very agile and soon darted into a thick bush. Just when I thought it was a futile chase, Old Man Huang said that the weasel must be exhausted and hiding, and if we found it, we could catch it alive. So we put down our things, each took a sickle and entered the dense bush.

  Here, all kinds of plants grow densely, making it difficult to walk. The most disgusting thing is that there are insects everywhere on the ground and in the trees. I saw a small tree with several caterpillars about the length of chopsticks crawling on it, and I wanted to hurry out, but Huang Laobo refused.

  We were crawling through the bushes, sweating profusely, but still couldn't find that yellow weasel. Just as we were about to give up, there was a commotion in a nearby bush, the small tree was shaking, and the fallen leaves on the ground made crunching sounds as if something was pressing down on them. Old Man Huang raised his sickle and told me to sneak up from the other side, so it wouldn't escape. Old Man Huang and I cautiously approached the quivering bush from different directions, and when we got closer, our faces turned pale with fright.

  All that was seen was a large python as thick as a thigh, with a yellow mongoose in its coils, which was now frothing at the mouth and on the verge of death.

  Luckily this reticulated python has caught its prey, otherwise at such a close distance either I or Old Man Huang would have become its prey.

  The python didn't pounce on us, and we saw it for less than half a second before it darted out of the bamboo forest like its tail was on fire, grabbed the bag and hoe and ran all the way to the main road.

  Old Huang, although over fifty, was still very robust, whereas I was the one who was panting and out of breath. I asked Old Huang if he often encountered large snakes when entering the mountains, and with a lingering fear, he told me that while he did encounter them frequently, this was his first time seeing one so big.

  We still haven't found the dragon's blood vine, but we've encountered such a big snake that we don't dare to venture around anymore. I asked Old Man Huang what to do, as we're still missing one dragon's blood vine, and he said to go back to the village and ask people if anyone has it at home.

  We sat on the main road for a while, and after finishing the porridge, we started to go down the mountain. After walking out of the mountain pass, I said let's go to the town to buy some vegetables, and Huang Laobo went back home alone. The town is not far away, you can see the houses in the town with your eyes, and the distance is only one or two kilometers.

  Huang Laobo risked his life to pick herbs for me, I should show some gratitude. When I arrived at the town, I found out that he had gone into the mountains today and didn't bring any money with him, what a muddle! Unfortunately, I could only return home empty-handed.

  Back home, Old Man Huang had already borrowed a small bundle of dragon blood vine. Seeing me return empty-handed, he asked if I didn't bring any money. I could only awkwardly say that today when I went up the mountain, I forgot to bring money on me.

  At night, I used that water to soak in the bath again. The water was still so spicy that the steam made me cough and my eyes tear up. After that, I soaked for three more days in a row. On the last day of soaking, Old Man Huang told me that this would be the last time, and tomorrow we would catch bugs, which made my heart nervous.

  By the second day afternoon when the sun was strongest, Old Man Huang said it's started. He gave me a cup of salty and spicy liquid to drink, then asked me to take off my top and lie down on the ground. He brought over three eggs and rolled them on my belly, one egg for about five minutes. After all three eggs were done, I suddenly felt my stomach churning, my throat itchy, and when I sat up, I couldn't help but vomit.

  Old Huang had long prepared a bucket for me to vomit into, and with this one vomit, I actually spat out a pink leech the size of a banana. It struggled twice before it stopped moving.

  This leech was black and green in color, only the size of a finger, when I swallowed it half a month ago. Now it's grown to this size in just half a month. Seeing such a big leech come out of my mouth made me feel extremely nauseous, and I vomited again, leaving only stomach acid behind.

  After I finished vomiting, Old Man Huang scooped some ash from the bottom of the stove into the bucket and asked me with a smile if I felt better.

  I nodded, and Old Man Huang brought over the three eggs that had rolled across his belly. He cracked them open one by one, and the yolks and whites inside had all turned black - it was really terrifying!

  Is this a Gu? This thing is not just a leech, it's been processed through sorcery. Who knows if the consciousness of the person who raised the Gu has taken over its body? Currently, science can't even explain this thing.

  He stayed at Old Man Huang's home for eight days and considered it for eight days, but in the end he still decided to release this little water ghost, so he went to ask Old Man Huang for advice.

  But Huang Lao Bo is just a witch doctor, he only knows a bit about the ghost god, and he doesn't want me to take risks in his house, so he tactfully tells me to go home and try again!

  I was introduced by Snow Queen's uncle, so I'm also considered half a relative. Old Man Huang didn't take any money, and I couldn't bear not to give him anything. In the end, I insisted on leaving 100 yuan behind, which is a lifesaving favor, plus the food and lodging for these eight days.

  I've caught the insect, but I couldn't bear to continue staying at Old Man Huang's house with a guilty conscience. However, new worries have arisen - should I return to Jiangkou or go to Hunan to find my sister? Returning to Jiangkou is unrealistic, after all, I have nothing there and I don't even know if Zhang the Shaman has returned. As for going to Hunan to find my sister, it's such a big place and I don't have the means to search for her - I might even starve to death on the way. After giving Old Man Huang 100 yuan, I only have 10 yuan left, and I'm really at a loss. If only I had a large sum of money...

  The road is always walked out by people, even if there is no road, walking forward is the road.

  That night after I left Huang Laobo's house, I decided to release the little water ghost. She and I had similar goals - one looking for her sister, the other looking for parents.

  According to her entrustment, as long as the things carved on the pagoda wood board are erased and put into the water, she can come out.

  By dusk, I found a piece of sandstone and squatted by the river to rub against the Sophora japonica tablet. It took almost an hour to erase the inscriptions on it.

  Finally, I put the catalpa wooden board into the shallow water by the river. At this time, a miracle happened. After the catalpa wooden board was put into the water, it began to rotate. Finally, the catalpa wooden board stopped, and at the same time, a fish in the river kept jumping out of the water, splashing waves. At this time, a baby's voice echoed in my mind, telling me to throw that demon egg into the water.

  This demon egg originally belonged to the little water ghost, but was taken away by me and Zhang Sheng. Now it should be returned to its original owner. I took out this demon egg from my bag, pinched it and found it had a good elasticity, then put it into the water, sinking it next to the pagoda tree tablet.

  The monster egg sank into the water and began to melt like a candle, eventually disappearing completely in the water, I still felt a little heartache.

  Just then, a little girl appeared beside me, smiled at me, and jumped into the river. I was startled, but immediately reacted, it's a water ghost.

  I stood by the river, waiting for the little water ghost to reappear. At this time, her voice appeared in my mind. The little water ghost told me that she can only appear on the 1st and 15th of each month at night. Since she is a water ghost, she can't leave the water normally, so I was asked to find a willow tree by the river and carve a small wooden man for her to possess.