On the twenty-fourth day of the first lunar month, the weather turned from sunny to cloudy. As dusk fell, drizzle began to fall in Luojing City again.
Gao Longqing, the young minister of Honglu Temple, has been having nightmares for many days.
Every night, when he closed his eyes and fell asleep, he would see a deserted cemetery.
The sky is dark, the clouds are hanging low, and the sedges with thick stems and leaves are swaying in the strong wind. The tombstone was in dilapidated condition, covered with moss and had clear cracks.
A few green will-o'-the-wisps floated over the cemetery - if you look carefully, you will find that there are vague human figures hidden in these will-o'-the-wisps, with hideous expressions.
Gao Longqing hurriedly walked in this cemetery every night, eager to escape from this eerie and strange area. However, no matter how fast he ran, he would just end up going in circles.
Sometimes, the figures in the green will-o'-the-wisps would surround Gao Longqing, reaching out to him and begging for money. They would only leave if Gao Longqing took out his belongings and handed them to them.
Otherwise, they would have been following Gao Longqing, muttering words he couldn't understand in eerie voices, and even reaching out to strangle him.
Because of this, Gao Longqing often wakes up from his dreams in the middle of the night. He would scream and jump out of bed, covered in cold sweat, his heart pounding, and he would never be able to sleep again.
As time passed, his spirit became increasingly haggard, his complexion became worse and worse, his head felt dizzy every day, and he became more forgetful than the elderly. When his superiors asked him to draft official documents, he went out. Just forget it; when his subordinate reported work to him, he forcefully asked him to repeat it three times.
Fortunately, Honglu Temple is not a busy department.
It is in charge of affairs such as court meetings, national ceremonies, and Buddhist banquets. Since Emperor Tianxing has not been in court for many years, nor has he gone out to meet with ministers, his post in Honglu Temple has almost become a recognized leisure job. Gao Longqing still barely had time to make up for his mistakes in his work.
However, the much-anticipated "Luoshui Conference" is coming.
The workload of Honglu Temple will be doubled.
Gao Longqing was very worried that because of this nightmare problem, he would not be able to keep up with the pace of work and would eventually be demoted.
He has also sought out many famous doctors in Luojing City to help him treat his illness.
But doctors all said that apart from lack of rest, he did not have any other physical problems.
He also wondered if it was caused by ghosts.
But his wife, his children, and his colleagues all said in unison: "How can there be ghosts within the scope of Luojing City's 'Tianlong Formation'?"
The "Tianlong Formation" is an array personally arranged by Emperor Taizu of Daqi, and is integrated with Luojing City. It uses the "Tai'a Sword" as the center of the formation to provide offensive and defensive alerts and can isolate ghosts and ghosts from outside the city.
In the minds of most Daqi people, controlling "Thailand"The emperors of "Ajian" are almost god-like existences. They all have an almost blind worship of him.
They all firmly believe in the efficacy of the "Tianlong Formation".
Gao Longqing thought about it and felt that what they said made sense.
He felt that if there were really ghosts in the capital, the Tianji magic monks of the Exorcism Department should have figured it out long ago. It is even more impossible to escape the eyes of Luo Sishou - the Exorcism Department has definitely sent someone to solve it long ago. The reason why I have nightmares must be my own problem.
Until the twenty-fourth day of the first month. One night, an uninvited guest came to Gao Longqing's residence.
It was a woman wearing black clothes and a hat.
She was of medium height and not pretty. It’s the kind of face that you can’t find in a crowd.
But her eyes are particularly sharp, like an unsheathed sword.
“Mr. Gao. You are haunted by a grave ghost. "She stood at the steps outside the door, looked up at Gao Longqing, and said in a voice without any emotion.
"Grave ghost? "Gao Longqing frowned slightly.
Although it is incorrect to question the effectiveness of the "Tianlong Formation" in Luojing City; he also did not understand the "grave ghost" in the woman's words.
But deep in Gao Longqing's heart, he vaguely felt that what this woman said was correct.
"The tomb ghost is a kind of ghost that often haunts the cemetery." At that time, the woman in black continued to say in a calm tone, "It has the ability to entrust dreams. When it lacks property, it will harass people through dreams, hoping to send them sacrifices.
"There is indeed a loophole in the 'Tianlong Formation'..."
Then she paused for a moment and stretched out her hand towards Gao Longqing: "Master Gao, do you have a pen here? ?”
“Pen?”
Gao Longqing didn’t know what she wanted to do.
But driven by some intuition, he returned to the house and got a writing brush for the woman in black.
"Do you need ink?"
"No need." The woman in black shook her head.
Holding the brush in hand, she climbed the steps and came to the portrait of the door god posted on the gate of Gaofu Mansion.
The goalkeeper in the portrait is tall, wearing a helmet and a fancy jersey.
However, since these two portraits were bought casually in the market, their painting skills are not very exquisite, the lines are relatively stiff, and they lack the charm they should have.
The woman in black pondered for a moment, then picked up the brush and tapped lightly on the door god's eyes.
The eyes of the door gods suddenly took on a look - sharp and majestic, like lions whose territory had been invaded.
Immediately afterwards, the two door gods walked out of the portrait holding their own weapons.
Gao Longqing stood there in shock.
Although as an official of Luojing City, he had witnessed monks fighting or fighting before.In the process of exorcising ghosts, those monks either slashed with swords or muttered curses with paper talismans. They had never seen such mysterious tricks performed in the form of painting.
Blinking his eyes, the two door gods turned into phantoms and floated into Gao Longqing's mind.
His consciousness returned to that terrible cemetery again.
But this time, facing those green will-o'-the-wisps, Gao Longqing no longer felt afraid.
Because beside him, there are two guardians, one on the left and one on the right.
One held a spear and the other held a broadsword, running towards the "grave ghost" in the cemetery, slashing and slashing.
A harsh cry came from the cemetery, and then fell silent.
All the green light went out.
Gao Longqing’s consciousness returned to the real world.
He turned to look at the door of his house and found that the two door gods were still fixed on the portrait, motionless, their brushwork was stiff, and their eyes were dull.
Everything that just happened seemed to be his hallucination.
"From today on, the 'grave ghost' will never come to haunt you at night again." The woman in black said calmly.
"Who are you?" Gao Longqing hesitated for a moment, but couldn't help but ask.
"Tongjifang Zhao Xinran." The woman in black answered briefly.
Then she turned and left, quickly disappearing into the night, and she was never seen again.
"Zhao Xinran? Is she the famous Fu Dao master?" Gao Longqing scratched his head, "I seem to have seen this name in the Di newspaper recently. It seems that she is going there in a few days. Teaching at Longmen Academy..."
However, before Gao Longqing could recall who this "Tongjifang" Zhao Xinran was, he felt that his memory was gradually disappearing.
Soon, he forgot about the "Tomb Ghost", the woman in black, the nightmares that troubled him, and even the fact that there might be loopholes in the "Dragon Formation".
"For you, it is better not to know some things." In the vast night, the woman in black sighed softly, then turned the corner and walked straight towards the southwest suburbs of Luojing City.
…………
The twenty-fifth day of the first lunar month.
This is the day when Gu Xu goes to Longmen Academy to participate in the teaching selection.
At dawn, he finished his all-night practice, straightened his clothes, and went to the Yamen kitchen to have breakfast.
In recent times, through word of mouth among the officials, almost everyone knew that Gu Xu was going to have a face-to-face contest with several famous talisman masters in the capital.
They are looking forward to it.
When Gu Xu was sitting at the dining table eating steamed buns and drinking soy milk, many officials came to him and cheered and blessed him.
Maybe it’s because the aura around Gu Xu is too dazzling.
The monks in the Exorcism Department have great confidence in him.He was already imagining that Gu Xu would defeat all opponents and trample all the talisman masters in the capital under his feet.
"Gu Xu, how are you preparing?" Shi Xiaohan held a large steamer with ten meat buns in his left hand, and a large bowl of beef noodles in his right hand, and sat down in front of Gu Xu.
"It's not bad." Gu Xu smiled.
"I heard that the salary for teaching at Longmen Academy is very good," Shi Xiaohan said while stuffing buns into his mouth, "If you can win, remember to treat me to a few roast mutton meals by the Luo River. "
"No problem."
As a sixth-grade official, the Exorcism Department has a special carriage to take Gu Xu to Longmen Academy.
Shi Xiaohan had not yet officially enrolled in school, nor had he been invited by the academy, so he could only stay in the exorcism department for the time being, quietly waiting for news about him.
…………
When I left the Yamen, there was still light rain in the sky, making the bluestone pavement wet.
At this time, Luo Jing City has not yet awakened from its sleep.
In this peaceful atmosphere, the sound of wheels, horse hooves, and even the sound of rain falling along the eaves sounded particularly clear.
The carriage moved smoothly along the Luo River without any hindrance.
Soon, it passed through the capital, drove out of the city gate, and came to the official road outside the city.
Gu Xu leaned out of the window.
In his field of vision, he could already see buildings with white walls and gray tiles in the distance, nestled against mountains and rivers.
He knew that it was Longmen Academy.
In this continuous rain, it is like an ink painting with thick ink and light colors.
…………
Inside the academy.
Dean Li's cousin Mo Li rubbed his eyes and stood up from the desk.
He read his talisman notes again all night long.
Although he was a little tired physically at this time, he was very excited mentally. He felt confident and felt that no problem related to Talisman would be difficult for him.
PS: There will be another chapter later (should be after midnight).