Chapter 32: The Legend of the Evil Spirit
As soon as I saw Mo Han, my old face had nowhere to put it. I couldn't let Zhen Zhen come out, afraid that she would beat her up. After all, she is my junior sister. But I also couldn't fight back against her. As soon as Mo Han came out, she started punching and kicking me. Cheng Ying was laughing non-stop on the side until three masters came out, then Mo Han let go of Ah Fan, temporarily sparing me. This good-for-nothing Ah Fan immediately hid in a gourd and scolded me non-stop. It wasn't until Zhen Zhen stepped forward that this little brat shut up.
Three masters drove two off-road vehicles, taking us four apprentices, and set off in a mighty manner to Shaanxi. From our Northeast to Shaanxi, we had to pass through Hebei and Henan, and along the way, we walked and stopped, rushing for three days, finally arriving at the Lanzhou Military Region in Shaanxi, where Master Sān met with a chief officer, who issued us a special permit. We followed closely behind and arrived at the Shaanxi History Museum, where we met with archaeologists and the museum director.
There were eight archaeologists who went with us this time, the museum director surnamed Li was in charge of this archaeological team, and there were two reporters from a science channel. Among them, there were two girls, very beautiful, stunning to look at, one was Director Li's daughter, named Li Ting, the other female reporter was called Viola, and there was also a cameraman named Hu Zi, as for his real name I don't know, everyone calls him that, he looked very rugged, with a big beard all over his face, matching well with this name. The other four people included two interns from the museum, and the other two were experts from the archaeological team.
Adding the seven of us, there were fifteen people in total. The military district also sent a company to escort us, which was also fifteen people. Our team had thirty people in total. We added two Dongfeng off-road vehicles and one military truck, and set off towards a remote mountain village in northern Shaanxi with a flourish. All the soldiers in this company were armed with rifles, and Company Commander Chen Hu also carried a Type 92 assault rifle. Each person was equipped with hand grenades and daggers, and there were carbon dioxide fire extinguishers and some TNT explosives on the vehicle, which can be said to be fully equipped.
We arrived at the local town, surrounded by freezing cold, to cross a river, and then we reached that village, the ancient tomb is not far from that village. The surface of the river had already frozen thick ice, we carefully stepped on the ice, finally arriving in the village in the evening. The village has been sealed off by the troops, with a battalion stationed here, there are continuous deaths in the village, the battalion commander is under great pressure, and also killed some livestock and cattle, but it was all in vain, this monster that kills people and animals seems to be deliberately opposing the army, always committing crimes at night, and all of them were unknowingly killed.
Master and two uncles examined the local village for half a day, collecting some exquisite ceramic jars. These jars were all sealed, but one or two had their wax seals opened, revealing nothing inside. The unopened jars seemed to contain something similar. Third Uncle was about to open a jar when my master and Second Uncle hastily stopped him, "Brother Cheng, this contains evil spirit insects that can kill people; once opened, they'll all escape."
"Eldest Martial Sister Mo, do you know what's going on?" Third Master Uncle loosened his grip and carefully looked at the black ceramic jar, asking Second Master Uncle, while Master was solemn-faced, as if something big had happened.
"You should have heard of the evil spirit legend, right? What's inside this jar is probably the long-extinct evil spirit insect. These jars are unique to some master poisoners in the Western Regions who raise Gu insects. Thousands of years ago, during the Tang Dynasty, something happened and these insects almost went extinct. At that time, the evil spirit insect nearly killed everyone in the country. Later, Emperor Taizong of Tang had a strange person named Wei Zheng, who invited the ancestral master to dream-travel three thousand miles and almost exterminated the entire clan of evil spirit insects." Second Master said thoughtfully.
"Are you talking about Wei Zheng, the Dragon King slayer from a dream?" Third Master Uncle was somewhat excited, and our fourth brother's disciple was also very puzzled. Isn't this just a story from myths and legends? Could it be true?
It turned out that Second Master nodded, "Wei Zheng is also estimated to be a yin-yang master, and it's one of the more powerful ones. At that time, it was said that this evil ghost insect was sent by the Western Regions to avenge Tang Taizong Li Shimin, and they dispatched an evil Taoist who could communicate with the six paths, entering the legendary Hungry Ghost Path, using a soul-calling technique to capture 100,000 evil ghosts, preparing to swallow up the Tang Dynasty. However, unexpectedly, Li Shimin was a blessed general, and under him were not only Wei Zheng's talents but also the two great generals Qin Qiong and Jing De, which is why they miscalculated." Second Master continued to analyze.
"You're saying that these jars contain the evil spirits that the wicked Taoist has captured?" The Third Master's heart was also filled with apprehension at this moment, after all, he had only heard of such things in legends, and it was said that only someone as capable as Wei Zheng could deal with them. Now, after several thousand years, who knew who could still handle these things?
"I'm 80% sure that this is the evil spirit worm." The master said calmly, "Our mountain sect's ancestor is Jiang Taigong, and further up are the Three Pure Ones and the founder of Taoism. This evil spirit worm is formidable, but there are still some methods to control it, it's just a bit troublesome. This worm is like an earthworm, but inside its body is a human soul, with a head that looks like a person, ferocious and terrifying, born extremely hungry, needing to constantly eat things to fill the emptiness in its heart."
"This thing can't be killed directly, it must be transformed and reincarnated. These evil ghosts enter the hungry ghost realm and are tormented by hunger for thousands of years, they are quite pitiful. If they die, they will be reincarnated and reborn in a good place." The master continued: "At that time, Wei Zheng eliminated nearly 100,000 evil ghosts, they didn't even have the chance to be reborn, so later there was the disaster star Huo Hua, confusing the world, and then there was the female emperor Wu Zetian."
"The emergence of Wu Zetian was also the revenge of the Hungry Ghost Way on Li Shimin. After Li Shimin's death, none of his sons had a good ending, and Wu Zetian ultimately met a bad end as well. I think that in the end, those remaining evil spirits were also sealed within Wu Zetian's tomb. As for this jar, it was probably brought back from the Western Regions by Wei Zheng, who was not as skilled in the Tao of Yin and Yang. These evil spirits devour each other inside the jar, and will die after at most 1,200 years, then be reborn. According to historical records, over 1,100 years have passed now, and in another hundred years, these things should return to another world." The master said calmly.
"Now these evil spirit insects have been brought back by the villagers, and after eating blood and flesh, they have extended their lives again. I don't know how many such jars there are, each jar is filled with sesame oil by the yin-yang master and sealed with wax, inside there are probably nearly a hundred evil spirit insects. After thousands of years of devouring, only one insect king can be left to live for 1,200 years. If these insect kings devour each other again, they may be able to live even longer, maybe even ten thousand years." Second Master also furrowed his brow.
"What do we do now?" Third Master finally understood the severity of the situation and asked directly. The few of us, along with the archaeological team, were staring straight at the two masters. Mo Han was still giving me the cold shoulder, while Cheng Ying was still pinching him. I could only silently recite the Mao Shan secret technique in my heart, as it was my habit. There were too many things in this book, and I could only memorize them bit by bit, learning slowly.
"These evil spirit insects were formed by the evil Taoist priest using the body of a parasitic worm to capture the soul of an evil spirit, and since they cannot adapt to the yang energy of the human world, they can only exist in the body of the parasitic worm. They come out at night to harm people, and these evil spirit insects eat human flesh and drink human blood, and can also devour each other. If we hide them, it will be difficult for us to find them, so we can only conduct a thorough investigation, and once discovered, seal them up and gather them together to burn them to death. I will personally perform the ritual to transcend their souls." The master said with an air of dignity, "Currently, there should be over a hundred of these jars, as Taoist practitioners pay attention to direction and numbers, so there should be 108 jars in total. Let's have our troops collect all these jars, then we'll know how many evil spirit insects have escaped, and make further plans."
"It can only be like this, I'll instruct them to gather these things up. You two take these few disciples to see the people and livestock that were harmed, and also look for clues. I have a premonition that these things will appear soon." Third Master heard the words of the two masters, at this time he was also paying attention, after all, he was the successor of the fate family, and had some premonitions about mysterious matters. Generally, actions were arranged by Third Master.
Master and Second Master didn't say a word, took us and left, the archaeological team couldn't help, their minds were no longer here. It was that female journalist and cameraman who insisted on following us, they were also enthusiastic about this strange thing. Master just glanced at the female journalist and didn't refuse, so seven or eight of us entered the village.
