I have a weird dynasty

Chapter 149 Witchcraft (2) (asking for monthly ticket)
Sang Que often watched horror movies with Jiang Zao, and listened to Jiang Zao tell many folk horror stories. She must have heard of the story of standing chopsticks in the bowl.

Seeing Sang Que nod, Yu Da continued to lead the way and said, "This kind of exorcism is called 'sending the head'. It is very effective against ordinary evil spirits and will not hurt people. When performing the ritual, if there is a patient with evil spirits in the house, or he is unconscious, talking nonsense and laughing wildly, or suddenly convulsing, then place a water bowl on the patient's head and pour in clean water."

"Then use a pair of chopsticks, one horizontally placed in the middle of the bowl, and the other standing in the water close to the horizontal chopstick, while calling out the names of various evil spirits. Once the chopsticks stand upright, it is determined that the evil spirit whose name was called is causing trouble. At this time, you should whisper to the evil spirit to forgive you, and agree to the conditions of the sacrifice and vow. Then put away the chopsticks, take the bowl of water out the door, and splash it into the distance, indicating that the evil spirit has been sent out of the house."

Sang Que secretly took note of it. This was similar to what she had learned in modern times. She then asked, "What if I call the wrong evil spirit's name and attract other evil spirits?"

After leaving the west area of ​​the city and walking on the main road to the east of the city, there were gradually more and more pedestrians on the road. Many people knew Yu Da and would greet him when passing by. This included the clerks and shopkeepers in the surrounding shops, who would also come out and wave to Yu Da with a smile.

Sang Que discovered that Yu Da was particularly popular in Wangshan City.

Yu Da kept nodding to everyone along the way, and slowly said to Sang Que, "This is indeed a problem. Some evil spirits will not appear, but if they are called by their names, especially at night, they are more likely to be attracted. At this time, there is also a kind of divination witchcraft that can tell what kind of evil spirit has possessed the body, called 'Guoyinshu'."

"The method and the things you need are still very simple. Take a piece of cloth from the person's clothes and cover your face. Then grab a few grains of rice from his home and chew them dry. When you smell the smell of fireworks, it means the evil spirit who is doing things for you has arrived. Then burn three pieces of paper and light a stick of incense."

"Take a sip of water and hold it in your mouth. Then, chop your feet on the ground and chant witch words. The Yinzi will help you find out what kind of evil spirit is haunting your home. When the incense burns out, spray the water in your mouth on the paper ashes to send the Yinzi away. The general appearance of the evil spirit will be revealed under the paper ashes. In this way, you can accurately know what kind of evil spirit has possessed you, and then use the method of 'sending the petition head' to send it away."

Sang Que listened carefully, and Yu Da was indeed experienced in this area.

Just imagine, for a day traveler with the strength of the second or third level, who can kill people at will, when he encounters a situation where an evil spirit possesses him, the most time-saving and labor-saving way is to kill the evil spirit and the person together with one knife.

There are no complicated rituals, nor is there any need for subsequent sacrifices or vows.

But there are definitely disadvantages. If it is not handled properly, it will only anger the evil spirits and lead to more serious backlash.

Yu Da's method is a little troublesome, but it can save people's lives and gain their gratitude, which can be turned into incense.

Moreover, once the evil spirit is satisfied, it will not retaliate.

Sang Que thought that she could use Yu Da's method to "reason" first. If the evil ghost didn't listen, she also knew a little about "fighting".

Yu Da continued, "Most of the things used in witchcraft to exorcise ghosts are things that can be seen in nature, such as peach wood, reeds, thorns, mulberry wood, white grass, orchid soup, mugwort, dogwood, etc."

"There are also chickens, dogs, cows and sheep among animals. In addition, there are some dirty things, such as dust, stones, fireworks, firecrackers, and even grains, which can also drive away ghosts. Suddenly I remembered a little witchcraft. I wonder if you have ever encountered a kind of hungry ghost begging for food, which will appear at the door of your house on a cloudy day, holding a broken bowl and bringing a foul-smelling wind."

"If you give this hungry ghost food, it will come to your house often. If you don't give it food, it will make you sick with its foul-smelling wind. For ordinary people, there is a simple way to deal with it. Just take off your shoes and throw them into the broken bowl of the hungry ghost, and then use peach wood to disperse it."

"This can be considered a simple witchcraft that can be performed with shoes and peach wood. Unfortunately, in order to prevent evil spirits from becoming stronger through word of mouth, many things cannot be recorded, causing this simple and effective witchcraft to gradually be lost..."

Yu Da used various examples to explain everything, and Sang Que followed him and listened with great interest. This was much more interesting than what they had learned in class, and it was also very practical.

However, after listening to what Yu Da said, Sang Que suddenly became interested in modern history related to witchcraft. He wanted to look it up when he goes back next time to see if the two worlds have anything in common in this regard.

After a while, the sound of firecrackers came from the front, attracting Sangque's attention.

I saw a big house on the side of the road decorated with lights and firecrackers, and many people gathered on the roadside. The housekeeper of the house brought his servants and happily distributed red envelopes to passers-by.

The butler saw Yu Da from afar and hurriedly pushed through the crowd to greet him.

"Old Yu, you came at the right time. Come, come, come and have a good time."

The housekeeper took out two red envelopes and gave one to Yu Da and one to Sang Que.

"Old Yu, who is this?"

"I took in a little apprentice."

"Oh, congratulations."

After Sang Que took it, she saw that passers-by opened the red envelope directly after receiving it, so she also opened it to take a look.

Inside was a copper coin, but it was different from the normal copper coins in circulation. On one side of the coin was a pattern of a star, a sword, a tortoise and a snake, and on the other side was the words "Exorcise evil spirits and ward off evil". "... Hurry up, we still have to patrol the streets."

The housekeeper nodded and left. Yu Da glanced at the money in Sang Que's hand and explained, "This is evil-averting money."

Sang Que's heart skipped a beat and the copper coins in his hand almost fell to the ground.

"Money can communicate with gods and ghosts. Daoists often use copper coins as magic tools. In witchcraft, there is also the practice of casting evil-repelling coins as objects for praying for blessings and suppressing evil spirits. Every wealthy family that has a happy event will specially cast this kind of coins and distribute them to passers-by for blessing. These evil-repelling coins can also be kept until New Year's Eve and given to children as lucky money."

"Oh, there is another trick to ward off disasters. Use 28 coins collected from various places to press down the four corners of your bedroom. It will ward off disasters. It is said that someone once did this. Later, the alley where he lived caught fire. The whole alley was burned down, but when the fire reached his bedroom, it suddenly started to rain and saved him from the disaster."

Sang Que put away the copper coins in his hand and said, "Can I ask them for another twenty-seven coins?"

Yu Da snorted and laughed, "It's only effective if someone gives it to you voluntarily. It's meaningless if you ask for it. Let's go and watch the child-bearing ceremony."

Yu Da took Sang Que to the main entrance of Mr. Zhang's house. Sang Que saw a bow and six arrows tied with a red rope hanging on the left side of the gate.

After the butler and the servants had distributed the red envelopes, a clerk with a mustache came out from the side alley on horseback, went around the main gate and dismounted.

Inside the main entrance of the house, there was a woman in luxurious clothes, with a windproof headband on her head, and she still looked plump after giving birth. Behind her was a wet nurse holding a baby in her arms.

At this time, Sangque felt some dark shadows around the child in the cradle. It was not particularly clear, but it made people feel very bad.

Mr. Zhang walked to the left side of the main entrance of the house, took out his bow and arrows, and shot them towards the four directions of the sky and earth.

"The mulberry bow and arrow are from ancient times. They represent the four directions of heaven and earth, and are all that men need. I hope my son will be protected by the gods and ghosts of the four directions!"

As the arrow was shot out, the baby in the cradle suddenly cried out, and the dark shadows around him disappeared into thin air.

Mr. Zhang handed the bow to the housekeeper and went forward to pick up the baby in the cradle.

Yu Da and Sang Que stood at the back of the crowd. Yu Da explained, "The bow is made of mulberry wood and the arrows are made of pampas grass. The child-bearing ceremony is when the child is just born. The bow and arrow are hung on the left side of the gate. When the child is three days old, the father shoots arrows to dispel the evil spirits from all directions."

"Compared to just writing a horoscope, a grand ceremony of childbirth will provide the child with more blessings, and the child will grow up more smoothly, with a lower chance of being disturbed by evil spirits."

"Ghosts are also people who bully the weak and fear the strong, bully the good and fear the evil. The more grand the ceremonies and sacrifices are, the less likely the ghosts will dare to show up."

Sang Que suddenly wanted to take out her scratch paper to take notes. In just a short while this morning, the amount of knowledge that Lao Yu had given her was a bit beyond her brain capacity, and she was really afraid that she would not be able to remember it.

"Lao Yu! Lao Yu! I finally found you!"

A white servant came running over, panting.

"Something happened in Horseshoe Lane. Everyone in the lane is unconscious in their homes. We can't find out what caused it. You should go and take a look."

Some of the sayings and examples about 'witchcraft' in the chapter are taken from:

① "Chinese Witchcraft" written by Zhang Zichen, published by Shanghai Joint Publishing Company in 1990.

② "Ancient Chinese Witchcraft", written by Hu Xinsheng, Shandong People's Publishing House, 1998.

*
"Sending a petition" is a folk custom in Northeast China.

"Guoyinshu" is a folk custom of the Miao ethnic group.

"桑弧蓬箭" is an idiom.

I have made some changes and modifications to suit the story, but the above are all feudal superstitions, just simple folk culture, and do not have any strange effects. Please believe in science, believe in science!!

*
I don't have any debts at the moment. I'm going to take a short break. See you tomorrow~