Youbao Chapter 1: Killing the Corpse (1)
Around April last year, I met a strange person.
Why do you say he is a strange man? In fact, he is just a Taoist priest with a sloppy beard and wearing a blue Taoist robe. He stood downstairs of my house for three days.
I don't want anything else, I just want a jade pendant passed down from my ancestors.
This jade pendant was passed down from my ancestors. It was passed to me after my father passed away. It is engraved with the words "Tongming Youbao". The jade is of good quality. I asked someone to identify it. It is said to have a history of more than a thousand years.
I wouldn't bother with antiques like this unless they're worth tens of millions.
But this Taoist priest just took it from me for free.
The reason was that he planned to take me to Xishuangbanna to see the true use of this jade pendant.
I've always loved adventure, and this is much more interesting than writing at home.
The old Taoist priest mortgaged me a large piece of gold, saying that he had dug it from the mountain.
Of course I take this as nonsense. How can you dig out a piece of gold as big as a brick from any mountain?
Knowing that I didn't believe him, the old Taoist priest pinched his hands and cast a spell for me. This spell almost destroyed my family. I won't go into details, but anyway, I believed him.
The next day, he packed his things, took the jade pendant and followed the old Taoist priest on the road.
We went there by train instead of by plane.
The old Taoist priest was afraid of heights. Seeing his spoiled appearance, I suspected that he was a liar. If the effect of the previous spell had not remained in my mind, I would have called the police long ago.
When we arrived at Xishuangbanna, the old Taoist priest took me and we moved around in the mountains on foot.
That stretch of road was so long that both of my legs were swollen.
It was not until the third day that the old Taoist pointed to a small mountain village in front of us and said, "That's where we are going."
It is called a small mountain village, but in fact it only has a few dilapidated houses, thatched huts, and the original ecological flavor is everywhere.
The old Taoist priest must be very familiar with the people here, as he greeted everyone everywhere when he arrived here.
I looked around behind him, took out my camera and wanted to take a picture, but the old Taoist priest slapped me on the hand: Don't take pictures randomly, there are rules here, otherwise there will be trouble later.
Although the old Taoist priest looks frail, he has great strength in his hands. The slap made me grimace in dismay.
I put the camera back into my bag, rubbed my sore hands, and asked him: What are we doing here?
The old Taoist priest, who had been silent all the way, walked on his own and replied to me without turning his head: Help someone.
What help?
Kill the corpse.
Which corpse?
The corpse of the corpse.
Oh… I said this and immediately came to my senses: Wait, what does it mean to kill a corpse? I’ve heard of people killing pigs, chickens, ducks, and fish, but why do they have to kill corpses?
Pigs, sheep, cows, chickens, ducks, fish, and humans are included. The reason why we use the word "kill" is because they are still alive. If they are dead, it is definitely not called "killing". It should be called "whipping the corpse".
Oh. My mind didn't wrap around my head for a moment, and I didn't understand what the old Taoist priest meant by this.
But then I understood that only living things can be called killing, so killing a corpse means killing a living corpse? Can a corpse still be alive? Then it would not be a zombie.
Are we here to kill zombies? I asked hesitantly.
I guess so. Well, this is it, follow me, and don’t talk or look around when you go in, and don’t touch anything. The old Taoist priest said.
I looked forward and realized that we had arrived in front of a thatched house.
The room was pitch black, with no electric lights or candles. I wondered if the owner of the house had any quirks, as there was a pair of black cloth shoes hanging at the door.
I've heard of people hanging peppers at their doorsteps in rural areas, but I've never heard of people hanging cloth shoes. Are they going to pickle them or something?
I took a look at the black cloth shoes and followed the old Taoist priest into the house.
As soon as I entered the room, everything went completely dark, and then I heard a heavy breathing sound coming from inside the room. This sound was very much like the breathing sound of ghosts in horror movies.
At this time, I heard an old man speak: You came early.
The voice was full of energy and obviously different from the breathing sound just now.
The old Taoist nodded and said: I found the thing.
In the darkness, the old man said: Put it on the table. I am feeding the corpse and it is not convenient for me to see people.
The old Taoist didn't say much. He turned to me and said, "Give me the jade pendant."
I hesitated, but still gave the jade pendant to the old Taoist priest. I've come this far, what's there to be afraid of? There's no need to cheat me with a big gold brick. I've asked someone to check that thing, it's pure gold, not a fake.
The old Taoist took the jade pendant and walked a few steps to the side. I heard a slight "click" sound and guessed that he put the jade pendant on the so-called table.
Then the old Taoist priest grabbed my sleeve and pulled me out of the house.
Is that it?
The old Taoist priest walked out of the door, glanced at me and said: Of course it can't be finished, but he is busy, he will talk about it after it is finished.
The old Taoist priest was thin, with half black and half white hair, and if he wasn't wearing a Taoist robe, I would have thought he was just a beggar. But now, seeing him standing at the door with a calm and relaxed look, I felt that he had the demeanor of a master.
Don't keep looking at me. I'm not a girl. What's so good about me? You can walk around, but don't run too far or talk nonsense. Just look, don't move. The old Taoist priest told me.
I had long been fed up with standing there like a trapped duck, so when I heard this, I just hummed and walked away.
The small mountain village is not big, with only about a dozen houses. Occasionally you can see a few people, who all nod at you expressionlessly and then walk away, without any human touch at all.
I felt bored after walking for just a while. What to see? There are mountains and trees everywhere. If I want to see it, can't I just go to a mountain by myself?
I wanted to find someone to chat with to pass the time, but suddenly there was no one there.
At this moment, I heard an extremely shrill roar coming from behind.
It’s hard to describe what this sound sounds like, but it’s definitely not something a human can make.
When I turned around , I saw the old Taoist priest rushing into the dark room as if his butt was on fire.
What happened?
I quickly ran back and heard the sound of doors slamming everywhere. I turned around and saw that the doors of the houses I had just passed were all closed, leaving no gaps at all.
What kind of situation is this? It looks like a monster is coming and every household is closing their doors and windows to hide.
When I ran to the dark room, I heard a lot of fighting sounds coming from inside, as if someone was fighting inside.
Is this a fight?
My jade pendant!
Regardless of the darkness in the room, I rushed in and heard the old Taoist priest shouting: Evil creature!
Then, I felt a gust of fishy wind in my nose, and my vision suddenly became darker. A stream of hot air that seemed to be sprayed from a person's mouth rushed towards my face. The stench was so strong that I felt dizzy and my legs began to weaken. I almost collapsed to the ground.
Before I could react, the heat disappeared and there was another chaotic noise in front of me.
I couldn't tell what the sound was because my mind was blank and I felt nauseous and wanted to vomit. My stomach felt like countless bugs were churning and something was rushing up my throat.
The world was spinning, and I was grabbing at something with my hands, trying to hold onto the wall or something, but there was nothing to hold onto.
Just then, I felt someone grabbing my arm, and that person exerted force and pulled me out of the house.
It was bright outside, but I found it very dazzling. My vision was a little blurry, but I could vaguely see that the person standing there seemed to be an old Taoist priest.
I told you not to come in, but you didn't listen! The old Taoist priest looked a little exasperated.
I still had the energy to mutter: When did you tell me not to come in?
But then, I felt my forehead burning hot, as if someone had hit it with a red-hot iron.
I cried out in pain and tried to touch my forehead with my hand, but someone grabbed my arm and I couldn't move.
The voice of the old Taoist priest came to my ears: Don’t move, you have absorbed the corpse’s qi. If you don’t get rid of it now, your life will be over!
Dampness? Rheumatism?
A hand suddenly pinched my mouth, and then I didn't know whether it was a pill or something else, anyway, something round was stuffed into my mouth and patted on my mouth, and I swallowed it subconsciously.
Then within a few seconds, I vomited.
Even though I was still dizzy, I could still smell the stench, like a rotting corpse.
I vomited for a long time, and the more I vomited, the more awake I became. The awakener I became, the stronger the smell in front of my nose became, and the stronger it became, the more I wanted to vomit.
It’s a vicious cycle and I almost vomited the blood in my throat.
After a long time, until there was nothing left in my stomach to vomit out of my throat, the old Taoist priest handed me a bowl of water and said: Drink it, don't spit it out, otherwise your life will be in danger.
I really wanted to rinse my mouth with water, but after hearing what he said was so scary, I didn't care whether it was clean or not. I tilted my head back and drank the whole bowl of water.
I don’t know if sugar was added to this water, but it tastes so sweet that it’s sickening.
Seeing that I had finished drinking the water, the old Taoist priest pulled my arm and moved me away from the pile of smelly things, and handed me a handful of rice: Hold it with both hands and don't move. Throw away the rice when you feel hot.
I said "oh", grabbed the rice in my hand, and stood there obediently.
What happened just now? What kind of dampness could make someone vomit like that?
Corpse Qi is the Qi of the copper-armored corpse. If ordinary people smell it for three days, they will fester and die. The old Taoist priest gave a brief answer.
What the hell? Bronze-armored corpse? Zombies? I rolled my eyes. Is this a movie? But just now, a gust of air did blow into my face, and then I vomited like I was poisoned.
Don't disbelieve it, there are too many things in this world that you can't believe. If it weren't for your ancestors, I wouldn't bring you here, said the old Taoist priest.
You know my ancestors? As soon as I said this, I knew I was asking the wrong question. The old Taoist priest could even calculate my trivial matters, so it was normal for him to know who my ancestors were.
I don't know him, but I've heard of him. You are just an ordinary person. I brought you here just to end a relationship with your ancestors. The old Taoist said: In order to prevent you from getting into trouble , you can ask whatever you want now.
I held the rice in my hand, looked at the pile of smelly stuff not far away, and asked: What are we doing here?
Don't ask me the same question again, the old Taoist priest replied.
If I could use a QQ emoticon to describe this moment, I think I would send a sweating emoticon.
But apart from this question, I really can't think of anything else to ask.
The old Taoist priest didn't say anything, just stood beside me like a pillar. I thought for a long time, and finally thought of a question: What was in the room just now?
The old Taoist said: There is also a bronze-armored corpse.
