The Witch of Xiangxi

Chapter 20 Ghost Gate
Xia Xiangxi turned his head to look at the tung oil trees on both sides. In the furry moonlight, the tung oil trees with dense branches during the day, as thin as the simple outlines of paper-cut trees, lose their three-dimensional sense. When the wind blows by, The branches started to stir uneasily like monsters baring their teeth and waving their claws.

He Xuan felt that Xia Xiangxi was afraid, so he grabbed her hand tightly. Xia Xiangxi began to repel him, but he broke free, He Xuan didn't let go, but told her to stick to him, and she didn't care about such a small matter.Asked how He Xuan found his grandfather, He Xuan said that it would be enough to find a peach tree.

Xia Xiangxi didn't understand and kept asking, but He Xuan didn't answer, but stood still and told Xia Xiangxi to wait.

Xia Xiangxi calmed down, and looked at the place He Xuan was looking at, and there was actually an old peach tree there.

He Xuan said to Xia Xiangxi again, take a closer look and see if this place looks like a house?If so, this is where Ma Po said.

Xia Xiangxi immediately looked at it carefully, and didn't think what He Xuan didn't say, so he went to look carefully, and really saw the ruined walls covered by the weeds.

Seeing that Xia Xiangxi was sure, He Xuan said that he heard from Ma Po that there was a house here a hundred years ago at the foot of the mountain, and it was lived in by a witch of the Han nationality. Later, the witch died accidentally, and the place was desolate, and there were often rumors of hauntings. The terrible thing, and later because it was flattened by explosives during the war before the founding of the People's Republic of China.All the trees in the house were burned down, but the following year, the dead peach tree in the yard took root again, miraculously survived.Ma Po said that the peach tree was brought here by the Han maiden and planted here. It may also suffer from acclimatization like a human being, and it also bloomed and produced peaches, but the peaches were so bitter and astringent that they couldn't be tasted at all.

Xia Xiangxi asked He Xuan why he talked about this?Forgot what they were here for?
He Xuan pointed to the moon in the sky and said: "It's not yet time, when the moonlight is full and the shadow of the whole peach tree is cast on the ground, we will hurry to the shadow under the peach tree!" He took out two more yellow talismans and pasted them near their hearts.

Xia Xiangxi looked nervously at the moon in the sky, and always felt that this round of hairy moon seemed to be against it deliberately, but there was no brightest time.

After a while, He Xuan grabbed Xia Xiangxi's hand tightly, and then shouted "Hurry up and jump into the shadow of the tree!" Xia Xiangxi hurriedly followed He Xuan and jumped into the shadow of the peach tree.I don't know if I was using too much force when I jumped or what?Xia Xiangxi felt dark in front of his eyes, and he couldn't see his fingers when he stretched out his hands.

He Xuan asked in a low voice: "Can you see something clearly?" It seemed that he was the same.

Not only is there a black hole in front of me, but even the wind seems to have become colder. It is like the cold wind in a winter night, but I still can’t describe it. There is also a cold and damp feeling in this coldness, which seems to penetrate into the bones of people. Yes, it hurts like a needle prick!
Knowing that Xia Xiangxi hadn't reacted, He Xuan whispered to her, "This is no longer the world, it's the underworld! We came here to find the grandfather who was captured by the ghost messenger!"

Xia Xiangxi was completely taken aback. If He Xuan hadn't said that she wanted to save her grandfather, she would have been so frightened that she would have collapsed to the ground because of her determination to save her grandfather.

"Let's go! We must go back before dawn, otherwise we will have to stay here forever!" After He Xuan finished speaking, he grabbed Xia Xiangxi's hand tightly again.Xia Xiangxi nodded, and held onto He Xuan tightly, and the two walked forward together.

At this time, Xia Xiangxi didn't know how he got to the underworld, and later found out that peach trees can't be planted in the courtyard.Although peach trees can be used as flower trees and fruit trees, it is quite good to beautify the garden.But grandpa said, "No mulberry in the front, no willow in the back, and no 'executioner' in the yard.".The "executioner" in this sentence is the peach tree. (There is also a saying that no mulberries are planted in the front, no willows are planted in the back, and "ghost clapping hands" are not planted in the courtyard. The "ghost clapping hands" here refers to the rustling of poplar leaves in the wind, like "ghosts" clapping their hands Different folk customs have different sayings, so I won’t go into details here.)
Xia Xiangxi didn't understand why the peach tree that was said to ward off evil became the "executioner" again?Grandpa told her that peach trees are different from peach trees.It is peach wood to ward off evil spirits, not peach trees to ward off evil spirits, because peach blossoms, peach branches, and peach fruits are all blood red, and ghosts and ghosts are willing to live on peach trees, so peach trees are not suitable for planting in courtyards.In particular, it is not suitable to plant within the range of 45 degrees northeast in the yard, because "Ba Zhai Zhou Shu" says: "Gen, 45 degrees northeast and 45 degrees southwest of Kun are the ghost gate lines."

In addition, "Wuyue Chunqiu · Goujian Returning to Foreign Countries" also records that "it is the ancient scriptures that the northwest is the gate of heaven, the southeast is the gate of land, the southwest is the gate of human beings, and the northeast is the gate of ghosts." Later generations of Fengshui used the northeast as the gate of ghosts.

There is also a book "Good Auspicious Good Home": "From the center of the house or house, the range of 45 degrees to the northeast is called "Biaoguimen" or "Nanguimen", and the opposite range of 45 degrees to the southwest is called "" "Wrapping ghost gate" or "female ghost gate". Passing through the watch ghost gate, the line in the center of the ghost gate is called "ghost gate line."

The shadow of the peach tree is originally the place with the most yin energy, and if the peach tree is planted on the line of the ghost gate in the courtyard, it will become a door that opens the world between the world and the ghost world.Ordinary people who don't understand "passing over the underworld" can enter the underworld through this door at the right time.

In order to save Grandpa, Xia Xiangxi really gritted her teeth.She thought in her heart that whatever it was, she dared to break into it for the sake of her grandpa.Although this underworld is not a place for mortals to come to, wouldn't everyone have to come to this place after a hundred years?Come early or late, so she should take a look at Xian'er early!

At first, Xia Xiangxi was worried that the newcomers in this underworld would not be able to distinguish the boundaries, so they would wander around again.After a while, she realized that her worries were unnecessary.She said why He Xuan was so calm and not at a loss, it turned out that there was a rooster leading the way in front of them.

Xia Xiangxi knew that the rooster was Qi Hao.Qi Hao is a justifiable ghost, just because the matter of Huanhuan is not over yet, Grandpa used a method to keep Qi Hao's soul in the world and avoid ghosts. He will be punished by Hades until he orders ghost messengers to catch him to the underworld.Grandpa asked Mapo to paste a paper rooster, just like the paper money burned for the undead. After the paper rooster was burned, it became a living creature in the underworld. There is a paper rooster, so even if the ghost hunters in charge of catching ghosts see the paper rooster, they will not pay attention to it. In this way, Qi Hao's soul can be attached to the paper rooster, and he can avoid the ghost eyes of the ghost messenger and can swagger in and out of hell.

After walking a little further, clouds of fog appeared in front of Xia Xiangxi's eyes.The fog was still very thick, and at most they could see things five meters away, as if they were walking in rice soup.Xia Xiangxi couldn't help thinking that the scene of the underworld shown on TV was really realistic, and everything in front of him was really the same as what was shown on TV!
Both ends of the road under his feet were covered by thick fog, and Xia Xiangxi couldn't see the road clearly. He felt like walking on flat ground for a while, climbing a mountain for a while, and crossing a mountain for a while. With that, his mind also became unclear.

After walking like this for a while, Xia Xiangxi found that the white mist around him finally disappeared gradually, and it became dark in front of him. The feeling of darkness made Xia Xiangxi feel that his chest was stuffy, and he couldn't breathe out of depression.Seeing that the road under his feet was also covered with a layer of black mist, He Xuan said that this is Huangquan Road, and Ma Po told him that he could find grandpa here.

When Xia Xiangxi heard the words "Huangquan Road", she couldn't help trembling in her heart, thinking that she had already set foot on Huangquan Road, and everyone said that there was no return to Huangquan Road, did she become a ghost here?
In fact, it was only later that Xia Xiangxi realized that the ghosts on the Huangquan Road could not be called ghosts, and only after entering Fengdu City could they be called real ghosts.In the folklore, some terminally ill people call their souls, that is, they use the ghosts to wander on Huangquan Road. When they have not entered Fengdu City, they use some alchemy methods to try to recall the ghosts on Huangquan Road back to the world. In the city, no matter how powerful an onmyoji or witch is, they can only be powerless.

After walking for a while, Xia Xiangxi saw two evil spirits in black, chaining an old man in white. That was Grandpa.

Xia Xiangxi was both surprised and happy. It was a good thing to find grandpa, but she didn't understand how to rescue grandpa from those two evil spirits.

He Xuan quietly told her that according to what Ma Po said, those two evil spirits should be the messengers who caught Grandpa.

The moment Xia Xiangxi saw his grandfather, he was in a state of confusion. He grabbed He Xuan's hand nervously and asked, "Then how can we save Grandpa? Did Mama tell you?"

He Xuan took out two yellow talismans different from the ones they had pressed on their chests before, and said to Xia Xiangxi, "This is the 'soul-fixing talisman' given by Ma Po. We have the yellow talismans given by Ma Po on our bodies. Those two Even the ghost messengers couldn't see us, so we took a piece of 'Soul Fixation Talisman' one by one, and after getting close to the two ghost messengers, we stuck them on them. "

He Xuan told Xia Xiangxi again, don't panic, and don't be intimidated by the appearance of the ghost messenger. You want to save grandpa in your heart, and you can save grandpa no matter what!
Xia Xiangxi nodded vigorously. It's not the first time she saw a ghost. Wasn't that female zombie scary?
He Xuan quickly pulled Xia Xiangxi closer to the ghost messenger, and the two counted down "three, two, one" with hand gestures, and then stuck the soul-fixing talisman on the two ghost messengers together.As soon as the soul-fixing talisman was pasted on the ghost messenger, it really took effect, and the two ghost messengers stopped moving. Xia Xiangxi hurriedly called for Grandpa.Grandpa was walking forward with his head down and was bound by the soul chain, when he heard Xia Xiangxi's voice, he exclaimed, "Ni'er, why are you here?"

Xia Xiangxi didn't even have time to answer, so He Xuan took the conversation away. He said to his grandfather, "Let's talk about it when we go back, old man, let me carry you back!" , the three of them ran back along the way they came from.

After running for a while, Grandpa suddenly yelled: "It's broken, the soul-fixing talisman has failed, and the ghost messenger is catching up!"

(End of this chapter)