Chapter 34: Departing from Gui and Kun Ghosts

  The villagers were all stunned by this scene. Now, all the villagers present turned their eyes to Zhangshan Old Road.

  It is known that Zhang San's body was put into the coffin by the villagers themselves and then buried. In other words, Zhang San's body went missing, it must have been dug up by someone.

  But if the body was really dug up, then whether it's Zhang San's grave or the coffin where Zhang San's body is placed, there will definitely be signs of being disturbed.

  However, Zhang San's tomb, before the villagers excavated it, did not seem to have been disturbed. The villagers had also doubted this before opening the tomb, but since Zhang San's tomb was a new one, even if someone had dug it up and then restored it, there might be no visible flaws on the tomb.

  Zhang San's grave didn't show any signs of being disturbed, so that could barely be explained away. But what was even more inexplicable was that there were no signs of the coffin having been pried open at all, which left the villagers completely baffled.

  Zhang San's coffin was bought with money from Qian Yongfu. Because Qian Yongfu was kind and helped out, Zhang San's coffin was relatively cheap, but the quality wasn't very good. To put it bluntly, the plank of Zhang San's coffin was very thin, and once it was pried open, it would be impossible to restore it to its original state.

  But before the villagers pried open the coffin lid, Zhang San's coffin can be said to be intact, that is, Zhang San's coffin was not tampered with.

  Besides, everyone knows that Zhang San is a poor devil, even his coffin was bought with money collected from others, so it's absolutely impossible for him to have any burial objects. In other words, it's generally impossible for people to rob Zhang San's grave.

  And even if there were tomb raiders, it's impossible to steal the corpse! What's the use of stealing Zhang San's corpse?

  From the villagers' expectant eyes, Zhangshan Old Dao had already seen that the villagers were now waiting for him to reveal the mystery. Zhangshan Old Dao had been traveling in Jianghu for so many years, and he knew that his opportunity to make a fortune had finally arrived.

  Bamboo Mountain Taoist remained silent, only quietly looking at Zhang San's empty coffin. The meaning of Bamboo Mountain Taoist was understood by the villagers. However, although the villagers were eager to know what had happened, they still didn't want to spend money.

  After all, no matter how you say it, this thing is not a family affair, but the whole village's affair. Therefore, nobody wants to take on this responsibility themselves.

  When it comes to doing business, especially big deals like this one, Zhangshan Old Dao has always been very patient. Zhangshan Old Dao never thought that he could immediately get money from the villagers. In Zhangshan Old Dao's view, helping people resolve their difficulties is entirely voluntary, and he never forces anyone. However, the price Zhangshan Old Dao quotes will not be reduced by a single cent.

  Therefore, Zhangshan Laodao decided to first tell the villagers about the severity of this matter and the price he opened, so that the villagers could also calculate for themselves whether Zhangshan Laodao was worth it or not.

  "Zhang San's tomb was not stolen by humans." Bamboo Mountain Old Dao stroked his white beard with his hand, putting on an air of a transcendent being, and said.

  As soon as Bamboo Mountain Old Dao finished speaking, the villagers nodded their heads unconsciously. In the eyes of the villagers, what Bamboo Mountain Old Dao said was extremely correct. If this grave was dug by humans, there must be some clues left behind. Therefore, before Bamboo Mountain Old Dao spoke up, the villagers also had some doubts that this matter was not done by humans.

  The theft of Zhang San's tomb, if it wasn't done by a human, then who would have done it? Since the old Taoist priest on Bamboo Mountain has already said that it wasn't done by a human, it undoubtedly shows that he already knows who did it.

  "Who did that?" Xie Erniang asked Zhu Shan Lao Dao.

  Xie Erniu finished asking, and the villagers one by one again cast their eyes towards Zhangshan Old Dao.

  "It's not human, but ghostly." The old Taoist of Zhushan waved his hand with the feather duster and said to the villagers: "The ones who stole Zhang San's corpse are eight wild ghosts. Those eight wild ghosts were raised by Mie Men Po. These eight wild ghosts originated from the Eight Trigrams, namely Qian Ghost, Kun Ghost, Kan Ghost, Li Ghost, Zhen Ghost, Gen Ghost, Xun Ghost and Dui Ghost."

  The eight wild ghosts raised by Mie Men Po, Zhushan Old Dao simply explained to the villagers one by one. The Qian ghost represents heaven, the Kun ghost represents earth, the Kan ghost represents water, the Li ghost represents fire, the Zhen ghost represents thunder, the Gen ghost represents mountain, the Xun ghost represents wind, and the Dui ghost represents swamp.

  At the same time, Zhangshan Lao Dao also revealed a secret to the villagers. He said that the eight wild ghosts of the exterminated witch had not all been successfully domesticated, and only Li Gui and Kun Gui had a little bit of talent. The other six wild ghosts were just empty shells with no ability or skill.

  Therefore, although Zhang San's tomb was robbed by those eight wild ghosts together, the ones that really worked were Li Gui and Kun Gui. As for how Li Gui and Kun Gui stole Zhang San's corpse from the coffin, Zhu Shan Lao Dao didn't rush to say it, he was waiting for the villagers to ask.

  The villagers were getting excited, but the old Taoist of Bamboo Mountain stopped talking halfway through, and the villagers naturally became a bit anxious.

  "How did those two ghosts steal Zhang San's corpse?"

  "Even if it's secretly done, a corpse is still a corpse after all. It can't possibly squeeze out from the seams like a ghost, right?"

  The villagers started talking one after another.

  Seeing the villagers' enthusiasm, Zhangshan Lao Dao also began to show off his skills. Zhangshan Lao Dao was well aware that only by letting the villagers see his true abilities would they be willing to pay him willingly.

  All of a sudden, the old Taoist from Bamboo Mountain took out an orange-colored medicine and poured it onto Zhang San's coffin lid that had been pried open. As soon as the medicine was poured on, a wisp of green smoke rose up from the coffin lid.

  As the blue smoke rose, the coffin lid made a cracking sound. After a series of cracks, a round hole suddenly appeared in the middle of the coffin lid. What was strange was that inside Zhang San's coffin, everyone did not see the fallen circular wooden board, but instead saw a circular mud block.

  The villagers were thoroughly shocked after seeing this.

  Seeing the villagers' astonished eyes, Zhu Shan Lao Dao slowly began to dispel their doubts.

  "Everyone take a look at this edge, is there any scorching marks." Zhangshan Old Dao pointed to the edge of the large circular hole on the coffin lid and said.

  The edge over there is now black, very much like the marks left after wood has been burned. Villagers usually use branches to make fire for cooking, so they are quite familiar with the appearance of wood that has been burned by fire. So, after Bamboo Mountain Old Way finished speaking, the villagers nodded unconsciously.

  "I've already said that the Li Gui represents fire. Since it represents fire, it can use fire. Therefore, this hole on Zhang San's coffin was burned by the Li Gui," said Zhu Shan Lao Dao.

  After finishing speaking, Zhangshan Lao Dao pointed at the mud in the coffin again.

  "Look at that mud, it was done by the Kun ghost. As I said earlier, the Kun ghost represents the earth, so he is good at using soil. He not only can use soil to block the hole on the coffin lid but also make the color of the soil look like the wood on the coffin, making it impossible for people to notice that the coffin has been dug up." said Zhangshan Lao Dao.

  Facts speak louder than words, this sentence is true in any era. Therefore, in the face of facts, Zhangshan Lao Dao does not need to make too many explanations, he just needs to state the facts and that's enough.

  "What does the exterminating witch want to do?" Zhang Mangzi asked impatiently.

  "I don't know." Zhangshan Lao Dao looked up and sighed, then said: "Shi Ma Village bullied Li Tianzhen, and now that the Exterminating Grandma has done this, perhaps she wants to avenge Li Tianzhen!"

  "What's to be done?" said Zhang Mangzi.

  "The power of the exterminating grandma is profound, she wants to find trouble in Shimayuan village, and no one can stop her." Zhushan old Tao stroked his beard and said: "However, there are ways, but it's a bit difficult to do."

  "What's so difficult about it?" Zhang Mangzi asked. In Zhang Mangzi's view, Zhushan Laodao said it was hard to handle, but it was just a matter of money.

  "The exterminator harms people, but uses ghosts. And what ghosts fear most is cats. The tiger is the king of cats, if you want to make the ghosts under the exterminator's command not dare to approach Shimǎ Village, there is only one way, that is to raise a tiger in Shimǎ Village," said Zhúshān Old Dao.

  Raising a tiger? After Bamboo Mountain Old Dao finished speaking, the people present were stunned again. What is a tiger? That's a wild beast! Who has the guts to raise one? Moreover, even if someone dared to raise it, where would they get the tiger from? Although it was still the 1980s at that time, wild animals were not something that could be bought and sold casually.

  "Raise a tiger? How to raise it? Where to raise it?" She asked a bunch of questions in one breath.

  "If it's a case of raising a tiger to drive away ghosts, then the tiger can't be kept in a cage. Even if the caged tiger is fierce, it can only roam inside the cage. Therefore, it can't scare away the ghosts outside the cage." said Bamboo Mountain Old Dao.

  It can't be locked in a cage, that is to say it can only be released. In the village, releasing a chicken, a pig, or a dog is fine! But releasing a tiger? Can that work? You know, this tiger is a man-eater, and releasing it in the village would be even more terrifying than a ghost haunting the place.

  "Raise a tiger? What a joke! That way, even if we won't be killed by the exterminator, we'll still be bitten to death by the tiger." Zhang Mangzi said with a terrified face.

  "If everyone is unwilling to let go of the old tiger in the village, then there's only one last resort left." said Bamboo Mountain Old Dao.

  "What else can be done?" Zhang Mangzi asked.

  "Real gold is not afraid of fire, but it's hard to raise a real tiger. So we can only raise a golden tiger instead. Gold is a sacred object that can ward off evil spirits and ghosts, and it has a strong spiritual energy. Ghosts are also afraid of tigers. Therefore, as long as we bury the golden tiger under the ancestral hall of Stone Horse Village and cast a spell to make it run, Stone Horse Village will be just like having a real old tiger. In that case, the ghosts raised by the witch will not be able to get close to Stone Horse Village again." said Bamboo Mountain Old Dao.