Yin Yang Rogue

  The madman chuckled: "It's nothing, after a long time you'll also be infected with this evil habit, your mouth will get bigger and bigger, and no matter how much you eat, it won't be enough. Slowly but surely, you won't even be considered human anymore."

  "Th-then what will it become?"

  The madman nodded towards the direction of the beam and said: "That thing's puppet is almost as monstrous."

  Lin's wife muttered to herself without making a sound, and Lin Bin naturally heard it too. It seemed that in recent days, because of his own father, he had not been scolded by his daughter-in-law, nor had he been blamed. He didn't expect that this matter was not just his father's problem, but also his daughter-in-law's lack of tact, which made things more serious. He couldn't help but glare at his daughter-in-law with anger.

  This time, Lin's wife had fire in her eyes, but she didn't make a sound.

  I looked at the madman with a smile, I knew he was talking nonsense, but I also felt that Lin's wife had gone too far. Filial piety is the most important of all virtues, and since she has married into the family, she should respect and be obedient to her husband's parents.

  Even if the father-in-law is wrong, after all, he raised his son to grow up. He can think of a way to let his husband communicate with him later. The old man is getting older and has fewer days to live. His son grew up, got married, and still doesn't let him have a few good days? Must he scold the father-in-law in person?

  Such a daughter-in-law indeed needs to be warned.

  I and the madman helped Lin Bin move the table over. We also brought several candles and lit them up. The three of us men went up together, keeping a slight distance from that thing, to take a look, and we should be able to see clearly.

  But unexpectedly, the three candles went out one after another, with Crazy's going out first, followed by mine and Lin Bin's. That place was still a blind spot, Crazy came over in anger and also with great force, directly wanting to reach out and take that thing down, but I grabbed hold of him.

  I said to the madman: "Don't mess around, that thing can't be moved casually. Let's take a closer look first."

  The madman finally stopped. The three of us got down from the table. Lin Bin's wife also asked us what to do? I thought for a moment and asked Lin Bin, "Is there a glass cover at home that can be used to shield it so it won't be blown out?"

  Lin Bin thought for a moment, and finally we used a small glass fishbowl to make a simple lamp. We climbed up again to illuminate the beam, and this time the candle in the glass cover didn't go out. We also got a clear look at what that thing looked like.

  On top of the beam is a black stone, with a square base and a carving of a giant mouth ring-eyed gluttonous beast on it. It looks very evil.

  The madman suddenly said: "How is there still a tongue under this?"

  I hastily followed the madman's gaze and saw that under the bottom of the gluttonous town object, there was indeed something attached. However, it wasn't a stone as the madman said, but a red cloth strip.

  I brought the light source closer, and on the red cloth strip was written a birth eight characters. I let Lin Bin go take a look, and as soon as he did, his eyes changed immediately, both shocked and angry.

  "This is Father's birth eight characters. But... it's strange, why are these eight characters written in reverse?"

  The birthdate eight characters written in a strange format, indeed it is the reverse writing of birthdate, the correct writing should be "year month day hour", but the birthdate eight characters on this red cloth strip are "hour day month year".

  I sighed and said, "Indeed, it's this thing that's causing trouble. The character for 'suppressing the living' is written as 'pressing to death' when reversed. Old Master was fine when he was alive, but problems arose after his death, isn't it because of this reversed birth date?"

  Lin Bin was about to get angry and reach out to grab the pastry, but I stopped him again, saying: "No, don't move, Lin Ge."

  "Stop it! Are you going to let it continue to torment my father?" Lin Bin said angrily.

  I continued: "This is an ancient ferocious beast, it's not something you can take down with your bare hands. And there are ways to break this curse. Because the Pi Xie has been sitting on the beam for a long time, if you really want to take it down, the only way is to replace it with a thing of utmost yang energy. If it comes down directly, there will be problems."

  The madman said impatiently: "I'm telling you, brother, stop beating around the bush and just say it."

  I helplessly said: "This substitution requires breaking the law first, Lin Ge, tomorrow during the day, you go prepare five-color golden thread, a total of twenty-two strands. Soak it in toddler's urine for one day and one night, and wrap it in red cloth when soaking."

  Lin's daughter-in-law asked: "Five-color gold thread? What is that thing?"

  I explained to her: "It's just one rope with five colors, a total of twenty-two strands."

  Lin Bin nodded repeatedly, saying he would go prepare at dawn. Since it was already late, Lin Bin asked me and the madman to stay overnight at his house. I looked at the madman and asked for his opinion.

  This madman is naturally reckless, never fearing heaven or earth. His purposefulness is also extremely strong. So the two of us just made do with a night in the old man's house that evening.

  The next day, everything was almost ready, and I went to Babaoshan with Lin Bin and Fengzi. We made a trip to offer sacrifices to the dead, but nothing unexpected happened. However, the place of Babaoshan made me feel somewhat uncomfortable.

  After all, nothing happened is good. Lin Bin was very attentive to me and the madman, telling me that since we came for these two nights, the old man didn't come at midnight, and in the past, there was no night when he had a good sleep.

  It was finally the third day, and I got up early at Chen time. Along with Crazy, I took the twenty-two strands of five-colored golden thread that had been soaked in Tongzi's urine, and wove them into a whip. Using my Tiantai Step, I whipped the whip forcefully towards the gluttonous creature on the roof beam.

  At that time, everyone heard a loud "slap" sound. Deafening. Lin Bin and his wife were also shocked, the five-color rope was just an ordinary rope after all, not made of leather, it shouldn't have made such a sound, so their eyes looking at me became even more intense.

  But I didn't care about them and looked up at the ridge of the house with the madman, I was surprised to find that the ridge was not moving at all.

  Lin Bin and his wife also saw the confusion between me and the madman, and hurriedly asked us: "Fang Xiaoshifu, what...what to do?"

  I shook my head and said, "It's still not going to work. This guy who defeated your family's champion doesn't look easy to deal with. Alright... you go find some coffin nails and the urine of a twelve-year-old boy."

  Lin Bin looked at me with difficulty: "This, where can I get this coffin nail? Beijing has been cremated long ago."

  Just then, Lin Bin's wife suddenly said: "Right, there is a paper mache shop at the entrance of the alley. Isn't there an old weirdo in that shop? Maybe he has it."

  The madman on the side said: "Selling yellow paper? Where?"

  Lin Bin hesitated for a moment, looked at his wife and said: "That old man is strange, the things in his house have an eerie aura, it's not good to go to his house to buy things?"

  Lin Bin's wife glared at him fiercely: "Afraid? You're not afraid of your dead... your old man coming to disturb me every midnight? Even the living can't take it, and you still want to see me in trouble before you're satisfied?"

  Lin Bin is a typical henpecked husband, and after hearing his daughter-in-law say that, his face turned bright red.

  "I quickly said: 'It's okay, I'll go with the madman. You guys wait here.'"

  Lin Bin listened to me and said with a grateful face: "No no no, how can I let you go? I..."

  Lin Bin's wife grasped him tightly: "Not letting others pass, do you think they're waiting for you? Hurry up and give them some money!"

  Lin Bin hastily pulled out five bright red 100-yuan bills from his pocket and stuffed them into my hands. I didn't decline, but directly accepted them. Who knows if that strange old man had such things, if he did, it wouldn't be something you could easily get anywhere else. Being able to use coffin nails was a trivial matter, let alone 500 yuan, even if he wanted 1,000 yuan per nail, in old Beijing, there would still be plenty of people willing to give it to him.

  Following Lin Bin's daughter-in-law's directions, we turned around in Xiangpiao Alley twice and indeed found a shop selling yellow paper. However, the location of this shop was particularly gloomy.

  Originally, Xiangpiao Hutong was an old hutong. This paper-paved courtyard didn't have a plaque, only a large yellow paper money hanging on the side. The location is also a small corner of the hutong, it should be a small alley here, long and narrow, but with bricks and tiles covering it, turning it into a long corridor house.

  It was already late morning, but the house was still dark and gloomy. There wasn't a single ray of light. Due to its geographical location, sunlight couldn't shine in. The entrance was hung with strings of paper money, and on the floor were some gold and silver ingots made of golden and silver paper.

  I stepped slowly up onto the threshold and entered the pitch-black room. The madman beside me shouted, "Is anyone there?"

  There was no one in the house to answer. The madman used his mobile phone as a flashlight, pressing the screen to illuminate it. Suddenly, I felt that I had tripped over something under my feet, and my whole body lost its balance. The madman quickly grabbed me with his quick hands.

  We both looked down and found it was a paper-made doll with two red cheeks. The pale face had an eerie smile on it. When the light from our mobile phones shone on it, its pitch-black eyes seemed to reflect the light and stared at us.

  Just as the two of us were still in a state of shock, a loud and violent coughing sound suddenly came from the corridor. Immediately afterwards, a thin and short figure emerged from the darkness, holding a candle and staring at us fixedly.

  "What are you buying?" The old man's voice was very low and gloomy, although it was morning, but with the darkness in the house, I still felt a chill.

  I said to the old man: "Excuse me... Do you have coffin nails here?"

  The old man gave me a strange look, chuckled, and the laughter in the dark and terrifying environment seemed to be choked out of his throat, making my hair stand on end.

  "Dolls, coffins, I've had them for many years, but what do you have to exchange?" The old man emphasized strangely.

  I suddenly understood why Lin Bin didn't dare come over; it seemed this old man was notorious for being eccentric in these parts.

  The madman took a step forward: "How much money do you want? Just say it, stop pretending to be mysterious. It's just a broken coffin nail, isn't it?"