Chapter 3: The Snake Temple's Dueling Method

  Only after seeing Nan San treat the big doll well did he sit down on one side with a tired body, and at the same time asked Er Shu to take the person out of the wooden bucket first. It can be said that Nan San is really capable, and the big doll has been crazy for several years, but now it looks calm and relieved.

  Second Uncle was delighted, thinking that this person would be ruined for life, but unexpectedly there's still a clear-headed day. However, the one who's not happy is Old Ba Dao, pushing his glasses frame, looking at Nan San with some gloominess. Previously, Old Ba Dao had ridiculed him, but didn't expect to lose thoroughly and got slapped in the face.

  Nan San took a deep breath, rested for a while, then got up and took out a white paper, wrote a line of words with a pen, and handed it to Er Shu, saying: "Li brothers, this is the medicine for Si Junzi Tang. The eldest child has been invaded by yin energy for many years, and with the evil spirit on his body, yin is prosperous and yang is declining, it's easy to provoke small ghosts. Take it once a day, and you'll see results in a month."

  Si Wu Tang is a type of Chinese medicine that benefits Qi and tonifies the spleen, consisting of four herbs: ginseng, white peony root, poria mushroom, and licorice root. It is used to treat Qi deficiency. Second Uncle naturally followed suit, and he looked at this young man with renewed respect, not only did he know how to drive out evil spirits, but his medical skills were also exquisite.

  Such a folk wonder, Second Uncle wouldn't let go, and forcibly made Nan San stay. After the villagers heard that Dawa had been cured, they trampled on the threshold to see Nan San. The reason was simple: Nan San's medical treatment had three constraints - no charge, no refusal, and no showmanship. In short, it was free, so naturally people were eager to squeeze in.

  Let's talk about Lao Ba Dao, this guy has been restless for days, thinking back and forth, so he gritted his teeth to see Nan San, opening his mouth: "Nan San, I, Lao Ba Dao, admit that you have two skills, but the matter of leveling the grave cannot be delayed, otherwise, can you persuade Li brother?"

  In those years, the idea of reform and enrichment had not yet taken root in people's minds, especially in rural areas, where they still adhered to the teachings of their ancestors. The matter of leveling graves was not mentioned, let alone other things, just public opinion was enough to torment people. Nan San has also discussed this with Second Uncle over the past few days and came to the conclusion that it cannot be done. Why? As the saying goes, "when the wind blows, it disperses; when the water flows, it stops." The ancients gathered to prevent dispersion and moved to have a stop, hence the term "feng shui". Everything in the grave site must conform to the laws of feng shui.

  Although the feng shui location of Lingshou Village is exceptionally good, with many earth tombs scattered around, fortunately these rural people still know how to invite Taoist priests to select auspicious burial sites. If they were to flatten them, it would probably destroy the original layout. This is one reason; another is that the villagers are unwilling, so Old Ding has been hesitant to take action.

  Nan San also understood the reason, smiled and remained silent. He asked Lao to sit down on a chair, brought over a cup of tea, and said: "Believe it or not, this village is located at the dragon's vein of Feng Shui. If major construction takes place, disaster may strike."

  This remark shocked Lao Da, if it were before, he would have sneered at it, but now he couldn't help but believe it, and hurriedly asked what to do. Nan San sipped his tea and said: "Put this matter aside for now, there are more important things to attend to."

  As for what it was, Lao Daobiao wasn't clear, and he only found out the next day when Nan San called on Ershu to invite seven good men. These seven people were all born in the year of the dragon or tiger, and they were all bachelors, which made Ershu very puzzled. Lao Daobiao was also present, and then they went up the mountain in a grand manner. As for what this was all about, Nan San explained the reason.

  It turned out that when treating Dawa that day, Nan San guessed that Dawa was possessed by a little ghost, combined with Ershu's words, and inferred that the source was in She Wang Temple, so he was thinking of going up the mountain.

  When they arrived, Nan San gave each person a red string to tie around their wrists. When they reached the Snake King Temple, he ordered the seven people who came with him to tie themselves together with one red string. Seeing the terrifying Snake King Temple made Second Uncle's heart still racing with fear. The scene of Liu Lao San's tragic death kept flashing in his mind, along with the snakes with their green and white stripes.

  The crowd of people from Nansan stood guard outside the Snake King Temple and said to Ershu, "Li brothers, when it reaches noon, if you hear any water sound, send someone to sprinkle a circle of Huang around the Snake King Temple."

  "Second Uncle wasn't clear about the meaning of this action, and could only follow along, hesitantly saying: 'Nan San, is it safe to go in there?'"

  Look at Second Uncle's worried face, Nan San's expression was calm and composed, nodded slightly, holding the red rope and entering the Snake King Temple. The other end of the rope was tightly tied to a person who could only be given to others. Afterwards, the big door closed, and the crowd outside couldn't know what happened inside, they could only anxiously wait. At that time, Second Uncle was like sitting on pins and needles, stretching his neck to take a peek inside, but was impatiently told by Old Ba Dao: "Just be at ease, wait for news!"

  "What, you're talking nonsense. What happened back then, you didn't experience it yourself. Just look at Big Wa and you'll know what's going on." Second Uncle was somewhat anxious, his tone a bit sharp, which made Old Ba suddenly quiet.

  As for what happened inside, I later heard from Nan San, so let's shift our gaze to the inside.

  After Nan San entered the Snake King Temple, he closed the big door. Why did he close the door? Everyone can understand that it's because they didn't want outsiders to see what was happening inside. In fact, that's exactly what it was. As soon as Nan San entered the temple, he felt a significant drop in temperature around him, accompanied by an eerie aura seeping in. The situation here was similar to when his second uncle came in years ago - a turtle-snake stone statue, tattered objects scattered about, the only difference being that Liu Lao San's corpse was no longer hanging from the roof beam.

  Nan San walked around the Snake King Temple and found a large amount of hell money and burnt paper money in a corner. The black wall at the corner indicated that someone had come to worship before. He frowned, staring at the corner, when suddenly everything went black in front of him.

  This sudden scene made Nan San's heart skip a beat, and he whispered: "Ghost hitting the wall."

  They call it "ghost hitting the wall", in simple terms, it's like being blinded by a ghost. But Nan San is an expert in talismanic magic, he took out a clarifying talisman, pinched and burned it, and suddenly heard the sound of clothes tearing in the dark night. Nan San took a swift step forward, then pulled out his ink sword and stabbed, the darkness dissipated, and when he could see clearly again, Nan San's face was stern, because inside the Snake King Temple, there was still no movement.

  Although he couldn't see what the thing was, Nan San fixed his gaze on the turtle-snake stone statue. On it, there was a shallow sword mark. He let out a cold hum and tied the red rope around the statue. Then, he took out seven talismans of different colors, known as the Seven Yuan True Talismans, and recited:

  Please invite Greedy Wolf Star to descend, Ziwen Black Air.

  Please invite Giant Gate Star to descend, Chou Hai Yellow Air.

  Please invite Fortune Storage Star to descend, Yin Xu Green Air.

  Please invite Wen Qu Star to descend, Mao You Green Air.

  Please invite Lian Zhen Star to descend, Chen Shen Green Air.

  Please invite Wu Qu Star to descend, Si Wei Red Air.

  Please invite Broken Army Star to descend, Wu Wen Red Air.

  Only to see the red rope suddenly violently trembling, the seven people who were originally outside seemed to be possessed, their whole body tightened, standing in seven positions. At that time, Second Uncle and Old Blade were both startled, thinking something had happened, and they stared blankly at those seven people.

  Suddenly, Second Uncle heard a series of water sounds by his ear. It's strange to say that there are no mountain streams or creeks around here, where did the sound come from? Turning his head, he and Old Ba looked at each other, both seeing the doubt in each other's hearts. After confirming it was indeed water sounds, they hastily searched for the direction, but couldn't find it in a hurry.

  In the Snake King Temple, Nan San saw the red rope trembling and shouted outwards: "Follow those seven people, dig three feet underground, and sprinkle yellow turmeric."

  Although Second Uncle didn't know what was going on inside, he didn't dare to linger and hastily followed the seven young men. It was quite strange, these seven youngsters seemed to have lost their consciousness, being controlled by the red rope, wandering around randomly, and then stopped at a grass thicket about ten meters outside the Snake King Temple. Nan San inside seemed to have sensed the movement outside, pulled the red rope, opened it up, and Second Uncle immediately shouted: "Everyone hurry up, dig open this soil."

  Seven young men who had not reacted yet joined in, and when the soil was dug up to about one meter, Second Uncle suddenly found that there were many cyan and white small snakes wriggling below, just like what he saw years ago. Everyone was frightened and retreated a few steps, saying nothing and refusing to work anymore. Although Second Uncle was scared, he still sprinkled realgar on the top with trembling hands.

  After all this, everyone looked at each other in dismay, waiting for Nan San inside the Snake King Temple. But Nan San seemed to have relaxed a lot at this moment, raised an eyebrow and then pushed open the door and walked out without caring about any strange things here.

  "Everyone stop standing around and go back!" The first words that came out of Nan San's mouth after he came out left everyone bewildered.

  "What's going on here, why are there so many snakes in this place?" Ershu asked in puzzlement. San'er smiled mysteriously, making it hard for people to see through him: "This Snake King Temple is indeed a habitat for snakes, what's strange about that."

  The words sounded a bit forced, but Nan San didn't say anything, and Second Uncle and the others couldn't continue to ask questions, so they could only lead the crowd down the mountain. Second Uncle and Old Blade Knife walked in front, while Nan San followed behind, glancing back at the Snake King Temple and the snakes in the pit with a faint gaze before also descending the mountain.

  All the way, no one spoke, and they were all puzzled. After returning to the village, Second Uncle sent away those seven young men and took Lao Ba Dao to find Nan San, expressing his doubts in his heart. Nan San did not say a word, but instead took out two talismans and handed them over, saying: "This matter is not over yet. There are evil spirits haunting the Snake King Temple. I'm afraid that several years ago, the big flood washed the snake down the mountain, bringing the evil spirits into the village as well. If my guess is correct, then the evil spirit is the murderer who killed Widow Liu and her daughter, as well as Old Man Liu."

  "What?" Second Uncle's face was filled with surprise, and his heart was stirred up. This matter was indeed unbelievable. Back then, everyone in the village had thought that Liu Lao San was the one who killed them, but Nan San's words overturned all the rumors. After calming down his emotions, Second Uncle said: "Then what should we do?"

  Nan San seemed to have a mature air about him, holding two talismans: "Don't worry, I've calculated that tomorrow is the day of Gou Chen's appearance, which is the best opportunity to deal with this little ghost. You just need to hold onto these two talismans and place them under your pillow when you sleep tonight."

  Why did Nan San give the talisman to Er Shu and Lao Da, but not to others? Later, Er Shu also mentioned that Nan San did so because they were both older and had weak yang energy, fearing that they would be haunted by evil spirits, so he gave them the talisman for protection. Er Shu heard Nan San's words and started to feel a little apprehensive.