Chapter 17: An Unexpected Appearance in the Tomb

  As soon as the master was gone, Skinny Monkey said: "Master won't have gone back to sleep, will he? He promised to wait for us a hundred steps away. This is great, Master has actually gone back."

  The silly egg said: "Yes, our master is like this, every day... Ah? Who's hitting me?"

  The thin monkey also covered his head and said "ai yo", at this time the master said: "You two stinky little ones, talking about Master behind his back."

  I took a look and it was Master, I don't know when Master arrived behind us, without making any sound. I said: "Master, when did you come? How could you be so quiet?"

  The master smiled and said, "Just now I was lying on the stone slab drinking wine and sleeping. When I was half asleep, I felt that there were bugs biting me, so I changed places to sleep. Unexpectedly, just as I was about to fall asleep, those two little rascals, Dumb Egg and Skinny Monkey, were talking about me behind my back."

  The thin monkey covered his head and said: "Master, you are really a godly person, I dare not anymore."

  "Master said: 'It doesn't matter as long as you don't let me hear it. Go back to sleep, and when the sky brightens up, you still have to recite your mantra.'"

  Then we followed the master back, and the next morning, still chanting, eating, and then continuing to chant. By nightfall, we went to touch the cards again. The master slept on a stone board, and after the first night's fear, we deliberately held in our urine, planning to pee on the persimmon tree forest road. Unexpectedly, when we passed by the persimmon tree forest at night, nothing happened. The moonlight shone on those stone towers, making them look particularly eerie. Dumb Egg asked me: "Brother, do you want to pee?"

  I said: "You're stupid, why are you urinating without making a sound? Save it and use it when we get back."

  With the experience of the first night, we found the tomb of Dumb Egg II much easier to find. When we arrived at Woniushi, we turned directly to the tomb. This time it was Dumb Egg who touched the wooden sign. According to Master's words, we had to take turns touching the wooden sign, so that we could get the dead air, because if we couldn't get the dead air, we wouldn't be able to learn the yin-yang eyes.

  On the way back after touching the wooden board, Skinny Monkey was always walking at the end with a dawdling pace. His posture was a bit awkward, with his legs bent and walking slowly. When we arrived at the persimmon forest, I said to Skinny Monkey: "We've reached the persimmon forest, why don't you pee? You're walking so strangely."

  Skinny monkey said: "Big brother, no need, I've got something on the way."

  I burst out laughing and said: "Qiu Hou, you must have peed your pants."

  The thin monkey said: "I... I can't hold on anymore, just..."

  "Alright, alright, let's not talk about this anymore. Luckily it's summer and it'll dry quickly. Come on, let's hurry back. We still have to recite those spells tomorrow."

  We've been learning for 48 days, to be honest, in these 48 days, we feel like we've changed a lot, especially our eyes, we can see things clearly at night even without the moon. Our bodies have also become much lighter. Master often says that after completing the 49-day training, we won't need to practice like this anymore. He also said that in these chaotic times, it's necessary to learn some martial arts skills so that we can protect ourselves.

  The last night, the master called us to his side and said: "Today is your last day of opening the eyes of yin and yang. After you finish digging the wooden sign, just recite the incantation to open the heavenly eye. Remember, the incantation is 'Tian Dao Qing Jing, Di Dao An Ning, Ren Dao Xu Ling, San Cai Yi Ti, Hun Xiang Qian Kun, Yin Yang Han Yu, Shui Huo Tong Rong, Kai Tian Yan, Dong Cha Shen Ming, Ji Ji Ru Lu Ling'."

  "I said: 'Master, you taught me this incantation.'"

  Master said, "Yes, I taught you, but unfortunately at that time, you didn't cultivate, just an ordinary person, could only rely on Cow's Tears to practice. Now you've cultivated for 49 days, leaving the Heavenly Eye is still one step away."

  "I said: 'Master, after opening the heavenly eye, can one still see a person's past life?'"

  "Shaking his head, the master said: 'You can't see it. The heavenly eye you opened can only see the Netherworld Path. To see past lives and present lives, a longer cultivation is needed. I'm afraid that in this chaotic world, it's not something you can cultivate just because you want to.'"

  "Alright then."

  Master said: "There's one thing I want to tell you, the higher your cultivation is, the more tenuous your marriage destiny will be. What you three brothers have experienced today is absolutely legendary. Alright, that's all, go rest now, and tonight we'll complete the great task."

  We listened to Master's words and didn't think much, so we went to sleep. After all, I was only thirteen years old at that time. At midnight, Master called us up, and we followed him, heading towards the North Ridge. The moon of the fourth day hung in the west sky, with a bit of fog, this kind of foggy moon, according to rural legend, is the most likely to see ghosts, it's said that it's also easy to fake death, especially for those who have drunk wine and ride donkeys, the probability of seeing ghosts is ninety percent.

  Actually, horses and cows all know to avoid ghosts, but donkeys are different. Once they see little ghosts or small judges, not only do they not avoid them, but they also rush towards them. Our village's Second Master was once riding a donkey in a hurry, had a few drinks, and came back late at night. On the road, there were some kids blocking his way, but a tall guy scared them off, then silently led the donkey away. Second Master was drunk and didn't pay attention to what happened, so he just sat on the donkey as it walked all night until the rooster crowed the next morning. When he sobered up, he saw that he had been circling his family's ancestral tomb all night. The villagers all said that fortunately, their ancestors were protecting him, or else who knows where he would have been led to.

  We walked to the dry riverbed, Master lay down on a stone slab and started drinking wine by himself. The three of us had no choice but to pretend to be interested in playing cards. As we walked further, we arrived at the persimmon forest. At this time, our eyes could vaguely see the stone pagodas inside the forest, one connected to another, the entire forest was like that, full of desolation. This place was completely a world for the dead, perhaps as living people, we shouldn't have appeared here in the first place.

  However, we didn't encounter any crying or anything, and arrived at the Woniushi very smoothly. We turned into the Luanyanggangzi, and the winding road led directly to the tomb of Sha Dan Er Da Ye. When we arrived in front of the tomb, we were shocked and didn't know what had happened. The tomb of Sha Dan Er Da Ye was in a mess, with dirt dug up all over the place. We three thought of the wooden sign at the same time, so we quickly went to look for it in the messy soil. This is the last day, and we've already made 72 bows. We can't let this last bit be ruined.

  After searching for a long time, I couldn't find the wooden sign. I was so anxious that I was sweating all over my head. The thin monkey said: "Brother, let's not look anymore, maybe someone took it away, just look at this place being messed up."

  I said: "No way, we must find it out, otherwise our hard work for 48 days will be in vain."

  I was talking and digging, my hands were scratched by the stones in the soil, but I didn't care about that, I just kept searching hard in the soil. My hand was bleeding, and the blood mixed with the mud formed a lump. Just when I was completely disappointed, on the edge of the soil, it seemed like I touched something. I quickly picked it up with my hands and took a look. At that moment, I was so excited that I almost jumped up. This was exactly the 49th wooden sign we were looking for.

  I held up the wooden sign excitedly and said: "Silly egg, skinny monkey, I found the wooden sign, come quick and take a look."

  The silly egg and skinny monkey came over, snatched the wooden sign from my hand in one go, and the three of them were so excited that it's hard to describe. I rubbed the dirt on my hands, then pinched a few leaves, and squeezed out some juice to roughly treat the wound. At that time, people who were poor and had low social status didn't have the luxury of being delicate, those who couldn't withstand hardships were naturally eliminated, and the remaining ones all had very strong resistance. I didn't believe it would get infected at that time.

  Holding the wooden sign, we took a break there. As we were about to leave, I suddenly remembered Master's words: after holding the wooden sign, we must recite the incantation to open our heavenly eyes. So I said, "Hey, stupid egg and skinny monkey, don't go first! You guys forgot, we need to recite the incantation to open our heavenly eyes before we can leave." Stupid Egg and Skinny Monkey stopped in their tracks upon hearing this. The three of us began reciting in the midst of the chaotic tombstones: "The Heavenly Way is clear and pure, the Earthly Way is peaceful and tranquil, the Human Way is void and spiritual, the Three Talents are united as one, blending the universe, embracing yin and yang, water and fire harmonize, opening our heavenly eyes, perceiving the divine, urgent and swift like a command."

  As soon as we finished reciting the incantation, a change appeared before our eyes, and we were almost scared to death by this change.