Chapter 5: The Blazing Fire Outside the Tomb

  I took a look at the person who was speaking, it was Second Egg, one of the village's rascals. The crowd burst out laughing, and someone said: "Second Egg, how about my old sow as your daughter-in-law?"

  "Go away, go away, your family's old sow, you still have to stay and be a daughter-in-law."

  The originally gloomy and terrifying tomb chamber suddenly became much more relaxed after Er Dan's antics, to the point where I couldn't even feel the eeriness of the tomb chamber anymore. Just then, Zhang Daoye arrived, took one look at the woman in the coffin, and was shocked out of his wits. He loudly exclaimed: "Everyone quickly move back a bit! The corpse in this coffin is a blood bubble corpse, with extremely heavy resentment. Quickly move back a bit, don't let the dead person in the coffin borrow any yang energy."

  After Zhang Daoye finished speaking, everyone quickly moved away from the coffin. Someone asked Zhang Daoye: "Master, what's going on with this blood bubble corpse?"

  "Zhang Daoye said, 'This is a bit cruel to say, but the ancients used various evil arts to preserve corpses. This one uses the blood of young boys and girls to nourish the corpse. Because children have strong resentment, they use this resentment and fresh blood to keep the corpse full of resentment, so it won't rot for a thousand years.' Corpses like these are most likely to become jiangshi, also known as xiānguǐ, and must be burned immediately."

  Mr. Zhang said that everyone knew the severity of the matter and did not dare to speak much. Mr. Zhang said: "First lay out the cypress wood on the empty land, the cypress wood is the pure yang fire, which can restrain the drought most."

  Everyone listened and hurriedly set up a wooden frame, Zhang Daoye ordered someone to use ropes to pull the female drought demon out of the coffin and place it on top of the wooden frame. The woman lay on the wooden frame with her eyes closed, slightly raised her chest, thinking that burning this woman was a bit unbearable, but as soon as she thought it was a drought demon that harmed people, she felt that burning it was better.

  Zhang Daoye began to dance with his treasured sword in front of the table, his feet moving in a strange rhythm. He muttered to himself, but no one knew what he was saying. After a while, Zhang Daoye suddenly glared angrily and picked up a brush from the table. On yellow paper, he wrote: "One turn, six spirits hidden; two turns, four evils eliminated; three turns, dynamic power unleashed; four turns, thunderfire shocking; five turns, lightning striking; six turns, mountain ghosts dying; seven turns, reversing heaven's injustice, beheading and burying the unrighteous. Fifteen kinds of evil spirits, all calamities, shall descend to the Five Thunderbolts below, unable to move or act. Hurry, hurry, as if by imperial decree."

  After finishing, he picked up the yellow paper charm in his hand, placed it on the candle flame with the tip of his sword, and shouted loudly: "Heavenly Fire Thunder God, Earthly Fire Thunder God, Five Thunders Descend Spirit, Lock Ghosts and Refine Essence, Hurry as if by Imperial Order."

  Only the fire on the sword tip rushed towards the dry corpse, and as soon as it reached the zombie's body, it started burning. At this moment, dark clouds appeared in the sky from nowhere, and thunderstorm began, even rain poured down. As soon as they saw the rain, everyone cheered up, jumping for joy. This rainwater was a treasure to the villagers.

  Just then, the fire-covered monster suddenly jumped up from the bonfire and started jumping around wildly, scaring the onlookers who were watching the commotion. They quickly ran away crying for their parents. Zhang Daoye held his treasured sword and shouted: "You evil creature, you still want to run? Look at my sword!"

  As soon as the words were spoken, a sword cut the zombie in two. The upper half of the corpse fell to the ground first, while the lower half ran for several steps before also falling into the mud. As we watched this scene with rapt attention, another danger slowly approached us.

  I felt something approaching me, so I quickly turned my head and suddenly saw a male goblin rushing towards me. The goblin was wearing a Qing dynasty official uniform, with deep eye sockets and four fangs in his mouth, making him look particularly ferocious. His fingernails gleamed with a cold light as he charged towards me. Since he was too close, I had no way to dodge, and at that moment, I was so frightened that I didn't know how to escape, just standing there stupidly watching the goblin approach me.

  It wasn't until I felt the pain that I came to, and by then, the goblin had already inserted its sharp fingernails into my body. The pain was heart-wrenching, and I loudly cried out for help. Zhang Daoye saw this situation and loudly shouted: "You wicked beast, how dare you harm people!"

  Then a treasured sword chopped towards the zombie, the zombie was unguarded, and at that time one arm was chopped off. The chopped-off arm was exactly the one that had stabbed me. The arm fell to the ground, but the zombie did not turn around to fight with Zhang Daoye, instead it quickly ran into the rain. The rain grew heavier and heavier, and in a few steps, no human figure could be seen anymore. The zombie disappeared into the rain, and Zhang Daoye stomped his foot saying: "Too careless! Too careless! Letting the zombie escape, I'm afraid this zombie will not be easy to deal with later."

  Then he came up to me and asked: "Are you okay?"

  At that time all the kids were mischievous, and I was also mischievous. Just now the zombie's fingernail only scratched my skin, no big deal, so I said: "Master Dao, I'm fine."

  Mr. Zhang said: "It's okay if nothing happens, it's okay if nothing happens, the rain is too heavy, let's go to that tomb to avoid the rain first, and talk about it after the rain stops."

  As he spoke, Zhang Daoye took me to the tomb chamber with his hand. The tomb chamber was also leaking rain, but it was much better than outside. When Zhang Daoye arrived at the tomb chamber, he stared blankly at another coffin and the stone that held the coffin. I said: "Master Dao, what are you looking at?"

  "Alas, it was all my carelessness at the time. I didn't examine this place carefully back then. This is a burial ground for corpses. The coffins were placed on top of stone pedestals to isolate the earth's energy and prevent it from coming into contact with the corpse. With blood and water inside both coffins, they couldn't become malevolent zombies that harm people, and the bodies wouldn't rot either. However, later tomb raiders opened the coffins, and the zombies inside used human energy to transform into malevolent zombies that harm people."

  I heard about the "nourishing corpse land", it's very strange. I said: "Master Dao, what is nourishing corpse land?"

  Mr. Zhang said: "Yes, after a person dies, finding a good Feng Shui location is mainly about the technique of selecting a auspicious spot. If buried in a good Feng Shui location, it can ensure that future generations will be safe and prosperous. On the other hand, if buried in a location with bad energy, it will be unfavorable to future generations. The key to Feng Shui for the afterlife is the energy of the grave site. If the grave site where the deceased is buried has bad energy, such as being a "nourishing corpse" land, "yin evil" land, "ant nest" land, or "wasp nest" land, especially "nourishing corpse" land, the chances of the body changing (i.e. becoming a zombie) are 100%."

  "This place is the coldest and most yin burial ground, look at the soil underground here, it's all black earth, which represents water and cold in the five elements. Although there are rocks on top to separate them, they can't stop the chill from rising up from the ground. It's normal for corpses to change here. That zombie may have escaped, but I cut off one of its arms, so it won't be able to harm anyone for a while. Later, we'll need to find a way to get rid of this scourge."

  I couldn't help but shiver at the thought, a strange chill that seemed to emanate from the wound where I was bitten by the zombie. It was as if an icy draft had entered my body through the injury. Perhaps it was just the cold, but I didn't think much of it at the time. That day's rain lasted all day until evening, when the skies finally cleared. The heavy downpour brought hope for a bountiful harvest, and the long-awaited rain after a drought was certainly something to be excited about.

  But I couldn't be happy, because as soon as I got home, I fell ill with a cold and fever, which came in waves. Poor people can't afford to get sick, and the medicines are all very expensive. We couldn't afford to hire a doctor, so we had to rely on the folk remedies of rural households. In our area of southern Shandong, we mainly eat pancakes made from millet flour, which are cooked on an iron griddle. The original griddles were three-legged and stood on the ground, and when you cooked pancakes on them for half a day, the temperature on the ground would become extremely hot. At that point, you'd pour two ladles of water onto the ground, creating a burst of steam, then cover yourself with a quilt to sweat out your illness. Usually, this would cure a cold.

  But that time it didn't work, and I, who was already weak, was steamed by the hot air and became dizzy. I was in a daze, not knowing whether it was day or night, nor how much time had passed. One day, I felt extremely uncomfortable, as if my soul was leaving my body, but eventually, my whole body relaxed, and I didn't know what to do, so I just walked aimlessly towards the door. As soon as I reached the door, I saw a small child standing at the door, leaning against the door frame looking into my house. I went over to take a look, and this child was someone I had never seen before. He looked about the same age as me, but his clothes seemed like something only the dead would wear, and no matter how I looked at him, he seemed out of place.

  At that time, my brain seemed to be unable to think, as if a bucket of paste had been poured into it. I couldn't remember who the child was. I wanted to use my brain to think about it, but as soon as I thought about it, my whole brain felt like it was going to explode. I asked the child: "What are you looking at in front of my house?"

  That little kid said to me: "Are you Big Brother?"

  I nodded and said: "Yes, how did you know my name?"

  That kid said: "I know your great name all too well, you're so bold, dare to go to a place? That place has meat and white steamed buns to eat as much as you want, and money to take as much as you want."

  As soon as I heard there was meat to eat, my eyes sparkled with excitement. I wolfed down the buns and meat, something I wouldn't have dared dream of. So I said, "Why not dare go? Even if it's climbing a mountain of knives or diving into a sea of fire, I'm not afraid."

  That little kid smiled slyly and said, "Indeed it's Big Brother Daring, but let me tell you first, that place isn't somewhere you can just go to, they're all famous." After saying that, he deliberately didn't look at me and muttered to himself, "Oh my, the meat was so delicious, not only pork, but also beef and mutton, I ate until I couldn't eat anymore that day, now I'm full."