Chapter 3: The Mysterious Case of Xigang

  It turned out that when he arrived, a group of Red Guards made a big fuss, and under the slogan of overthrowing all ox demons and snake spirits, Er Da's life reached its lowest point.

  The temple was destroyed, becoming a hindrance to socialism, all the cow ghosts and snake gods' instigators, the party and people's traitors, every day criticizing and struggling, every day being beaten, even the village head couldn't do anything, the Red Guards were so arrogant that they dared to arrest even the village head. Later, my second uncle was locked up in a cowshed with my father and grandfather, my father is a honest man, he entrusted me to him.

  It's said that on that day, the cowshed was locked with a big lock. Father was afraid that something would happen to me and mother, so he asked Old Daochang for help. In the end, Old Daochang picked up two stalks of hemp, rubbed them into a rope with his hands, pointed at it with his hand, and suddenly turned it into two small snakes. The small snakes crawled into the keyhole, opened the cowshed, and only then did they come out to rescue me and my mother.

  Later on, Second Uncle was herding cattle and feeding pigs every day, doing these chores. I grew up drinking cow's milk in the cowshed, and it wasn't a bad thing that my surname is Niu (Cow).

  When I was 8 years old, **it completely disappeared**, those who should be sentenced to prison were sentenced to prison, and the ordinary ones were ordinary. My biological parents heard that they went into business at sea, anyway, I didn't see them.

  Second Master said the Taoist temple was still usable after repairs, so I followed him there.

  Before I was 18 years old, my second father had never taught me Taoist skills. "The pace of socialism is rapid, the spirit of socialism is that no way is better than any way, we must firmly believe in Marxism, arm ourselves with scientific theory, and all the evil spirits are the hind legs of socialism."

  "Second Master, you're not ill, are you? You're just a Taoist priest, aren't you?"

  "You little scamp, what's wrong with you learning Taoist magic? Come, Second Uncle will teach you arithmetic."

  "It's this multiplication table again, I've long memorized it."

  "Then recite it for me."

  Life with my second grandfather was really happy, he would often play magic tricks for me and I learned a lot from him. Among the children, I was the leader, and my second grandfather was an educated man who taught me cultural lessons whenever we played together. I didn't start formal schooling until I was 11 years old, but by then I already knew most of the primary school curriculum.

  After finishing junior high, I went on to senior high. When I was 18 years old, Second Uncle called me over and said, "Now you're a capable person, I've fulfilled your parents' wishes for them. From now on, be a good person! You want to learn Taoist magic, right? Today I'll teach you; how much you can learn depends on your innate abilities."

  A stack of old books, with all sorts of fonts. "Come on, give me a Tianbao Town House Seal." I drew two strokes and finished it. My second uncle slapped me with his palm, "What are you drawing? You're supposed to draw a Town House Seal, but what's this Ghost Seal you've come up with? Redraw it."

  "Oh." I muttered under my breath.

  Like this, Second Master taught me Taoist skills for half a year, I learned it roughly, and then he left.

  That night, he got drunk and passed by the Ghost Gate. Several little ghosts followed him all the way. Er Da knew that there were evil spirits behind him, so he pretended not to know. There were four little ghosts who came to claim his life. Er Da happened to have a quarrel with a shrewish woman that day and was in a bad mood. He decided to take out his anger on these ghosts. On the way, he pulled out a rattan stick and beat the four little ghosts until they cried out loudly.

  The way home still had a pass, especially going up the mountain. Second Grandfather didn't want to walk, so he let these little ghosts carry him. Second Grandfather drank too much and fell asleep. Just as it was about to dawn, without Second Grandfather's order, the little ghosts didn't dare move. Finally, the rooster crowed, scaring the little ghosts who dropped Second Grandfather and ran away. He rolled down from the cliff, breaking his leg. After limping back, he grabbed my hand and said: "Shan Yun, Second Grandfather's lifespan is only 90 years, but I've exceeded it by 40 years. The underworld told me last night that I have to go down for trial; otherwise, they'll beat me out of the six paths. I'm leaving now, you take care of yourself. If you like this Taoist method, learn it; if not, don't bother learning it. However, I hope our Lengshan Sect will have a successor. If you want to learn, just acknowledge yourself as the leader."

  After finishing speaking, Second Grandfather died peacefully.

  As I flipped through these ancient books, I became a Taoist. Haha, I declared myself the 169th generation leader of the Lushan Sect.

  At 20 years old, I received my first business order.

  Since the death of my second father, the incense money has not been prosperous, but barely enough to make a living. Early in the morning, I just woke up and heard someone knocking on the door outside, "What are you doing? Come back at noon."

  "Big brother, come quickly, save us! We want to invite Daozhang to take a look at our Xichuan Village, it's not peaceful there."

  "My second uncle is dead, you can look for someone else."

  "I heard he still has an apprentice? Just open the door."

  "What's wrong with you, annoying to death."

  In the 1990s, rural areas in northwest China were still quite backward, and many places didn't even have electricity. Of course, this temple didn't have electricity either. I opened the door, and a young man stood before me. "Are you Yang Daxian's disciple?"

  I hesitated for a moment, "En, what's up?"

  "Big brother, I am Ren Guoxiang, the village chief of Xichuan Village. Would you mind going to our village to take a look?"

  "Xigang Village is eight miles and ten li away from me, how did you find this place?"

  "To be honest with you, big brother, it was a relative from Yang Village who told me that Yang Daode's magical powers are incredibly strong and formidable."

  "Has my second uncle died?"

  "It's nothing, aren't you my big brother?"

  I'm a half-baked person, to be honest I don't have confidence in myself at all. I even need to copy the symbols, how can I deal with other people's affairs? But thinking about it, next semester's tuition seems a bit unbearable.

  "Big brother, what are you hesitating about? Let's go, we won't let you lose out in Xichuan Village."

  I rolled my eyes, shrunk my neck, damn it, anyway judging from the situation, there must be many people who didn't succeed in front, that's why they came to ask me, Old Man Er. I just couldn't do it, and they had nothing to say, let's just consider it an extracurricular practice.

  The hand-push tractor in the 90s was a rare treasure, and kids born after 2000 probably haven't seen one. I took the "Yin Fu Liu Ji" and "Luan Shan Secret Method" left by my grandfather and arrived at Xichuan Village with a bumpy ride.

  Along the way, I learned about the situation, and things are roughly like this.

  There was a widow in Xichuan Village, and a few years ago, a drilling team came. The widow got along with the captain of the drilling team, and as a result, she became pregnant. The captain of the drilling team ran away, leaving the pregnant woman at home. In our big Xia country, the remaining feudal forces were still strong, and the widow was ostracized by everyone. On the day the child was born, every villager went to help with the delivery, but she died in childbirth. Finally, everyone hastily buried her, but afterwards, the village was no longer peaceful.

  In this village, someone gets sick every other day. As soon as something happens, people start cursing the villagers, saying they are heartless and worse than pigs and dogs. She and her child died a miserable death. At night, every household closes their doors tightly, even going to the toilet is done within their own homes.

  I've invited countless Taoist priests, either they're just after money or they shake their heads and leave, no concession at all.

  I heard this guy is quite something, anyway I've come all the way here, so I'll grit my teeth and see it through.

  Xichuan Village is a good place, compared with other villages, life is still relatively good, and there are several households with annual incomes of over 10,000 yuan.

  I had just arrived, and the villagers came to greet me. "So this is Yang Daochang, so young!" A few wives made eyes at me, and I smiled wryly.

  "Everyone listen to me, Yang Daochang's closed-door disciple Niu Shanyun brothers, Yang Daochang happens to be a hundred years old, this matter will let big brother Niu Shanyun handle." The village head is very confident in me, the villagers heard this and all dispersed with a "tsk".

  "Big brother, don't bother with them, they're just a bunch of commoners. Let's go to my place for dinner first, we'll have three rounds of drinks and five flavors of dishes, then big brother can set off."

  "Village chief, I'm telling you, he's not reliable. Don't come again and it'll be another scam. Last time our family's four eggs were cheated away by that stinky monk." Old Liu's wife remembered the egg incident at their house again.

  "I'm telling you, you're a spendthrift wife, and now you're making a scene here again. Get back home with me." Old Liu carried his wife back, causing the whole room to erupt in laughter.

  The village head gave me a good meal, it's been a long time since I've had such a feast, roasted chicken, wild rabbit, wild boar, and even a roasted crane. "We don't have much here, just a lot of game, don't be polite."

  "Zhuang's wife, bring me the wine that Old Uncle's family brought over, and fill up Big Brother's cup." This guy is so enthusiastic, if I really can't get this done for him, I'd be too embarrassed to show my face.

  As the saying goes, taking advantage of others is a short-term gain. This meal may smell good but doesn't taste great. However, my internal organs have long stopped listening to me, so I had a big meal, drank some wine, and took a nap. I have a bad habit, I like **. My second uncle taught me that it's good for absorbing the atmosphere.

  The village head's eldest daughter suddenly rushed in, my half butt was still outside, the eldest daughter's face turned red, I was also scared and quickly hid under the quilt, weakly asking "what happened?"

  "Oh no, Dog Egg's mother has been told." After saying that, she ran away with a red face.

  I quickly put on my clothes and followed my eldest daughter in a run to Dog Egg's home.

  Gou Dan's family was not well off, the only valuable thing they had was a big black pig. Just now, Gou Dan's mother went to add hay for the pig in the pen and caught fire.

  Hala Zihu's mouth was full of nonsense, and he cursed randomly.

  The dog egg saw his mother in this state and cried out for her, but unexpectedly she slapped him to the ground.

  "You heartless and ruthless people, I'll haunt you even after I become a ghost! Hahaha... Ren Guoxiang, you old scoundrel, you came to my home and I even cooked for you. You just stood by and watched as my mother died!"

  As soon as he finished speaking, the village head's wife became unhappy, "Ren Guoxiang, you scoundrel, you and the widow still have this trick."

  "Oh dear, mother of the child, mother of the child, listen to me."

  "There's nothing good in Xikou Village." He said, rushing forward and wanting to hit the village chief. The village chief was anxious and helpless, "Hold her down for me, big brother will be here soon."

  "These old women really have great strength."

  Five big men couldn't hold down a woman, and she even managed to leave a scar on the face of Village Chief Ren Guoxiang.

  Gou Dan's father knelt down, "I'm saying, Widow Qian, it's us people from Xichuan Village who owe you an apology. If you have any grievances, take them out on me; Gou Dan's mother can't withstand the turmoil."

  "Make way, make way, big brother is coming." Instantly clear a path for me.

  "Big brother, save me!" Dog Egg's dad knelt down in front of a young guy like me, and I was also confused.

  "Dog egg your dad, get up for me, don't block big brother."

  This dog egg his mother's mouth was slapped, trembling with fear, and at this time he had been tied up by the cow rope. I walked a few steps forward, silent for half a day, and finally squeezed out a few words from between my teeth, "Do you know who I am?"

  "You little brat, I know who you are! You don't look like someone from Xichuan Village."

  "This is Niu Daochang. Today, let Niu Daochang get rid of this scourge except for you." The village chief had the guts now, but I didn't have the guts anymore.