Where the wind chimes sound, there is a god

Chapter 3: Green Snake Blocks the Road
Li Yunhuai was walking in the front and even if he was slow, he could sense something was wrong. Yunzhu Mountain has a mild climate and is rich in insects, grasses, birds and animals. How could it be so dead quiet in early spring?

Apparently, he was not the only one who noticed something was wrong. The oldest person in the funeral procession, Old Man Wang, came to the front of the procession and whispered, "Da Huai, this mountain road is unusual. I'm afraid there are some ferocious insects and beasts that have scared away the birds and insects in the mountains."

After hearing this, Li Yunhuai couldn't help but turn his head to look at his junior brother. Their master was a refugee from Beiguan. Judging from his knowledge and some of his behaviors, he was definitely not an ordinary person. Most of them were from a big family. Beiguan mostly worshipped the legendary Five Family Immortals, while the master's family mostly worshipped the Willow Immortal, which was the legendary Snake Immortal. Therefore, he thought it was normal for his junior brother to raise snakes.

On these matters, Li Yunhuai still trusts his junior brother more.

Chen Beimo hesitated, but whispered, "There's a big snake!"

There were only three people at the front of the team. He did not avoid Old Man Wang when he said this. If he and Grandma Wang San had not had the support of Master Wang, they would have died in the war. Moreover, only Old Man Wang's family knew about the extraordinary origin of the master.

"How could there be a big snake?" Li Yunhuai frowned and asked, "How big is it? It's big enough to make you feel extraordinary."

"At least it's bigger than Xiao Hei, and this snake is not an ordinary snake." Chen Beimo said in a lower voice so as not to scare others.

In his perception, there were many snakes hidden nearby. Among them, the shadow of a snake with the biggest and strongest aura appeared in his mind. It was so powerful that it could actively convey its will to him.

When Old Man Wang heard this, he understood that Wang Xian had passed on the truth to his young apprentice. "It's only been a few days since the Waking of Insects, and it's common for snakes and insects in the mountains to come out to look for food."

For some reason, the people behind looked up and saw a shadow blocking the road on the foggy mountain road.

The shadow gradually came closer until someone could see its appearance clearly.

"Snake! What a huge snake!"

Chen Beimo couldn't help but look up, and saw a dark green giant python ten feet in front of him twisting its body, passing by his senior brother and swimming straight towards him.

Until it was less than a foot away from him, a pair of golden vertical pupils, a thick emerald green snake body, and the terrifying snake head stood up, and the snake tongue almost touched Chen Beimo's forehead.

"Snake Immortal! Snake Immortal!"

Old man Wang knelt down before the terrifying green python, trembling, and kept calling out, "An old man in my family passed away, and I buried him in the precious land on the mountain. I disturbed the immortal, please don't blame me!"

As soon as he opened his mouth, a group of people knelt down and kowtowed continuously. Only Li Yunhuai saw his junior brother gently pat the giant python's forehead with his hand, and countless snake calls were heard in the surrounding grass.

Then the green python flew past him and coiled around the coffin, then slowly left amid the shocked shouts of the crowd.

Everyone was awakened by Li Yunhuai's voice and only then did they slowly raise their heads to look at the snake traces that had disappeared around them before they dared to get up.

"This is a good omen! A good omen!" Old man Wang pulled Li Yunhuai's arm and explained to everyone.

There is a folk legend that if you encounter a snake on the way to a burial, wealth will come from heaven. There are countless giant snakes and beasts hidden in the 800-li Yunzhu Mountain, so encountering a green python on the way is considered a good omen.

But this auspicious sign was a little too horrifying, as it was the first time anyone had seen such a large python.

With the comfort of Old Man Wang, everyone's emotions gradually stabilized and they even began to discuss the strange things that had just happened.

The funeral procession then arrived at the golden well that had been dug in advance without any problems. The coffin was lowered into the pit under the unanimous shouts. Chen Beimo opened an umbrella to block out the daylight. The master's coffin was opened for the last time to let relatives and friends take one last look at it.

Afterwards, Li Yunhuai stepped forward and took the shovel to bury the first shovel of soil, and Chen Beimo took over and buried the second shovel of soil. The young and strong men scattered the soil to build the grave. After filling the pit, they piled up a grave like an oil leak. Then they placed the stone tablet made in advance by the master engraver in front of the grave, and burned all the paper money, paper horses, small paper figures and other things.

Chen Beimo stood in front of a huge fire that was about ten feet high and threw the spirit tablet and West Lake silk umbrella in his arms into the blazing flames.

His master will rest here forever, the only grave in this mountain field stands quietly in the forest, maybe decades later his senior brother and himself will also rest here to accompany the master. But he doesn't want to live a mediocre life like this, Chen Beimo secretly clenched his fists.

On the way back, Chen Beimo unknowingly fell behind the team. The others were gathered in groups of three or five, chatting about family matters and various legends about mountain goblins and monsters.

While no one was paying attention, he came to a corner of the mountain road, lowered his voice and let out a low roar. After only two or three breaths, he saw clouds and mist, and a giant green python suddenly poked out from the bushes by the roadside.

Chen Beimo was not afraid because he could feel the intimacy of the giant python in front of him, just like a young child feeling the breath of an elder and rubbing his palm affectionately.

Although he could not communicate, he could control snakes. The green python in front of him had already transformed a little into the legendary snake demon. It liked to get close to the master's coffin because it felt comfortable there.

Chen Beimo smiled and said, "Then you will guard the coffin from now on, and when someone tries to dig it up, you will come out and scare them."

The green python nodded in confusion, and was about to move closer to the snake head to lick the good thing in front of him, but suddenly he heard a surprised voice from not far away: "Who, who is there!"

Chen Beimo slapped the green python and it disappeared from his sight. He turned around calmly and slowly to see who it was before saying, "It turned out to be Second Brother Zhang. I lost a small amount of money so I came back to look for it."

Zhang Erge immediately perked up after hearing this, "Where did you lose it? I'll help you find it."

"It's right here, but I just got new money from Huiguang Bank not long ago." Chen Beimo sifted through the grass with regret, then said helplessly, "Forget it, let's look for it next time. It will be troublesome if I lose track of my brothers and get lost."

"Then go back first, I'll help you look for it, and I'll send it to you when I find it." Brother Zhang smiled and pulled away the grass, thinking in his heart that a small half-hang of money could have a hundred coins! This kid doesn't know how to manage the household, and he can actually lose more than a hundred coins.

Seeing how money-obsessed he was, Chen Beimo could only thank him and leave.

After he left, Brother Zhang, who was rummaging through the grass, suddenly saw a huge mark in the earth, as if it had been crushed by some thick round object.

Brother Zhang immediately remembered the green python he encountered when he came here, and shuddered with fear. At the same time, he realized that he had vaguely seen two shadows in the mist when he was relieving himself just now, and when he came over, only Ermo was left.

Is it possible…

Thinking of this, he shuddered and immediately followed the main group without looking back. However, after returning to the main group, he did not dare to look at Chen Beimo for even a second.

……

In the misty drizzle, the news of the legendary Master Wang's burial quickly spread throughout the Twelve Streets of Xifang. Many people who knew Master Wang said that this was because Master Wang had accumulated good deeds during his lifetime and was blessed after his death.

The incident of the black snake guarding the spirit in front of the hall and the green snake blocking the road to the funeral was also recorded in the Jincheng County Chronicles, becoming a strange and interesting story for everyone to talk about after dinner. In the Tingyu Pavilion, the mourning color was gone, but the umbrella shop was still closed. In addition to the three large houses in the attic, there was a large courtyard with a radius of three meters behind it. The courtyard was connected to the back alley with a back door, connected to the back door of Xishui Street and next to the alley of Baihui Street in the south, where some families who were not on the main street lived.

Chen Beimo was walking in the alley holding a light yellow half-open paper umbrella. The drizzle fell on the eaves and then fell down. Some rainwater accumulated in the corners of the light green moss. He was wearing a light ink-colored long pleated shirt with a wide collar and walked in the rain with an umbrella. The quiet spring rain made people intoxicated. The water charm of the south of the Yangtze River also nurtured a beautiful hometown with the soft Wu dialect.

After passing through several small doors, he came to the gate of his own backyard and pushed open the wooden door painted copper. His senior brother was sitting on a wooden stool under the eaves, threading a fully-woven oil-paper umbrella with needle and thread in his hands.

"Brother, I'm back."

Chen Beimo closed the wooden door behind him, and when he dropped his right hand, a large amount of copper coins fell out of his sleeve. He handed it to him with a smile and said, "That Zhao Pola family saw that I was delivering an umbrella and was not stingy. He gave me this eighty-cent Tongbao."

Li Yunhuai glanced at the copper coin and said with a smile: "No matter how fierce Zhao Pola is, she is just a woman. I, your senior brother, will be a martial arts figure in the future. How dare she offend me?

Although this umbrella costs one or two hundred coins, it is a fully-studded oil umbrella that the master had made most of before his death. If it were put on the shop now, it would cost at least three hundred coins."

Oil-paper umbrellas were one of the main items used by ancient people to shelter themselves from wind and rain, and straw raincoats and hats were also one of them, but the two had very different values.

A simple raincoat can be bought for 30 or 50 wen, but the simplest oil-paper umbrella with no painting can cost 80 or 90 wen. Oil-paper umbrellas are not only light and simple, easy to carry, but also can be painted or even poems are added on them. They are beautiful and elegant and are loved by the nobles.

Moreover, each oil-paper umbrella is made of aged bamboo, and each finished oil-paper umbrella has to go through hundreds or even thousands of processes. Its complexity is by no means something that an amateur can make.

Many ordinary families may even use one umbrella for a lifetime. It is a valuable item in the home. When an ordinary girl gets married, her parents' home must prepare an exquisite oil-paper umbrella for her, in the hope that she will be able to shelter from the wind and rain without relying on others in her husband's home.

That's why Chen Beimo understood why there was the story of returning the umbrella in the thousand-year-old love story between a human and a snake.

Chen Beimo lifted the hem of his long pleated dress, sat under the eaves, picked up a needle and thread and started to thread the oil-paper umbrella. The most complicated part of the process of making an oil-paper umbrella is threading the needle. It may even take thousands of stitches to fully thread an oil-paper umbrella. It takes time to make a good umbrella.

He skillfully threaded the needle through the small hole of the umbrella rib, and heard his senior brother speak with a heavy voice: "In three days, the guardian of the Thunderbolt Hall will come to pick me up."

"So fast?" Chen Beimo couldn't help but be stunned. The three masters and apprentices who once laughed and had fun together were all changed in the blink of an eye, leaving only him alone.

"Junior brother, you have grown up. The shop left by our master can only be inherited by you! I have wanted to roam the world since I was young, and now the opportunity is right in front of me, I have to give it a try." Li Yunhuai said with some guilt.

Chen Beimo glanced at the attic and said with a smile, "How much money does such a large courtyard and attic cost? And this courtyard and the attic are the inherited umbrella art. After you leave, I will be the boss here. The apprentice will become the boss overnight!"

"You little brat, you're not worried at all." Li Yunhuai couldn't help but shake his head and said, "When my senior brother is not around, you must be careful and cautious, keep a low profile, and don't show off your wealth..."

Chen Beimo listened to his nagging with a smile, then said, "Don't worry, Brother.

"My master always said that Xiaoman means good fortune, while Daman means bad luck. After I finish my mourning period at home, I will find a matchmaker to find me a beautiful woman to be my wife. Won't I be happy in the future?"

Hearing his junior brother say this, Li Yunhuai felt less guilty. He put down his needle and thread and wooden awl, patted his gown, put his hand on Chen Beimo's shoulder, and stood under the two persimmon trees in front of the yard and said proudly: "Junior brother, don't worry! From now on, I will protect you when you travel around the world, so you don't have to be afraid of that useless man."

……

That night, Chen Beimo was sitting on the couch in the small attic. The dim light in the room was occasionally blown by the breeze coming in through the small window, and the golden bell hanging on the head of the bed occasionally rang softly.

The master used to sleep in the east wing downstairs, and his senior brother slept in the west wing. He had always lived in the small attic upstairs, which was about ten feet in diameter.

In the bamboo basket, Xiao Hei was slowly crawling out from the edge of the basket, spitting out his forked snake tongue, sensing the smell, and then crawling down along the wooden building. He sensed the smell of food.

Chen Beimo glanced at Xiao Hei and disagreed. Snakes are mostly active at night, and Jincheng is close to the south of the Yangtze River where the moisture is humid and the temperature at night is not low, which is more suitable for snakes to move around.

He slowly opened a package, which was a thick ancient book wrapped in oil leather.

When he opened the scroll, he saw six big characters written on it: "Secret Transmission of the Qishan Wang Family".

"Boom~"

A spring thunder suddenly flashed, and a sudden bright white light shone on the old and damaged book, illuminating the ink on every word.

Chen Beimo flipped through the pages and roughly read them, and was extremely shocked. This was because the secret book recorded a set of skills and the secret history of the Wang family. Not to mention the skills, the secret book recorded the last words of the heads of the Qishan Wang family for hundreds of generations.

"Wang Huaiyuan, the 72nd generation of the Wang family, the head of the unworthy descendants, reached the first level at the age of 57 and passed it on."

...

"The 82nd generation of the Wang family, Prince Jin, the head of the unworthy descendants, has reached the first level of cultivation at the age of 38 and passed it on."

...

"The unworthy descendants, the 377th generation of the Wang family, the head of the Wang family, Wang Xunqi, cultivated to the first level at the age of 28, and passed it on."

...

"The unworthy descendant, the 532nd generation of the Wang family, Zhao Jun, has reached the first level of cultivation at the age of fifty and passed it on."

……

"Wang Xian, the 715th generation of the Wang family, the head of the unworthy descendants, has reached the first level of cultivation at the age of 38 and passed it on."

From this ancient clan secret book spanning hundreds of generations, we can see that even though the Wang family has experienced many ups and downs, and even though the family was extinct and someone from another family became the clan leader, they still inherited the secret tradition of this ancient book.

For many generations, the clan members could only cultivate the first level of the technique. Could it be a magical technique of the immortals? Thinking of this, he opened the article on the technique and saw a long and fluent content of more than 3,000 words.

(End of this chapter)