My enemies became my companions

Chapter 333: The Mouse's Wedding (Three-in-One Extra Chapter)

Looking at the headless corpse on the ground, Chen Yi sighed, lifted a cloth from a corner of the Zen temple, and covered the corpse with it.

To be honest, I didn’t have much friendship with Diguan in my previous life. If we hadn’t fought against the late emperor together in the end, we would have been just a chance encounter.

But friendship is friendship after all, and it is reasonable to collect the body.

Chen Yi placed the corpse wrapped in cloth outside the yard, supplemented with dead branches and leaves, took out a tinder from his bosom, lit it, and a faint blue flame burned.

Diguan was a monk, and Buddhism has always advocated cremation and simple burial.

White smoke floated, and slowly the whole body was completely engulfed by flames.

Staring at this scene, Chen Yi couldn't help but think of a question.
Having said that, Diguan entered the underworld as a living person. Once he died, where did his soul go?
Although the physical body is dead, if the soul enters reincarnation, they can still see each other.

After just thinking about it, Chen Yi shook his head and gave up.

There is no meaning in meeting him once. To Diguan, he is just a stranger, and even in the previous life, he was half a stranger.

Facing the raging flames, Yin Weiying recited a few Taoist mantras for salvation, and then came to the shredded paper, clenched a bunch of it with one hand, and the shredded paper fell from his hand like sand.

"It's the finest Bailing paper." Yin Weiying recognized the texture of the paper man.

"White Spirit Paper?" The art of making paper figures has a long history. Chen Yi only has a superficial understanding of it and is unaware of many details.

Yin Weiying hummed softly, "This kind of paper is made of white ginseng, white ganoderma, and white deer antler as the main ingredients, and then it is boiled into a paste, and then dried into paper according to the general steps. Therefore, it is thin and tough, and very easy to be spiritual. It is the best material for papermakers, far better than yellow paper or red paper, let alone ordinary rice paper."

It sounds like this kind of paper is so expensive that even Yin Weiying, the daughter of King Jing, did not dare to use it casually, which proves that the origin of this beautiful woman is definitely noble.

And based on what she said, it’s possible that she has some connection with the Goryeo royal family.

Talking about paper figurines, Yin Weiying became interested and said:
"This kind of paper figurine is the most spiritual. Look at the woman's every smile and frown just now, it's very natural and real, it's because of this paper, and..."

"And what?"

"It is said that the paper figures made of this kind of paper will gather their own souls," the nun paused and said with interest, "They will have their own thoughts and behaviors. If they are not controlled in real time, once the souls are formed, they will be almost the same as ordinary people."

He does not mean that.

Chen Yi narrowed his eyes, thinking of the possibility that King Jing and the Queen were paper figures, and he couldn't help but keep Yin Weiying's words in mind.

On the surface, he remained calm and asked:
"So... does the paper man I killed just now have a soul?"

Yin Weiying shook his head and said, "There is no soul. Only paper figures that have been separated from their masters for a long time can gather souls."

Chen Yi's expression remained unchanged, but there were many ripples in his heart.

In other words, if Prince Jing and the Princess were paper figures, they were paper figures with souls.

Chen Yi's thoughts rose and fell. Yin Weiying turned his head and saw that he didn't say anything, so he didn't know what he was thinking.

She is not Yin Tingxue, she always has no idea what this man is thinking.

But sometimes, she would want to know what Wuming was thinking, maybe because of fear, or because of something else...

When Chen Yi turned around, their eyes made contact and Yin Weiying immediately dropped to the ground and moved away, as if that man was some ferocious beast.

"Where are we going next?" Yin Weiying changed the subject.

After thinking for a while, Chen Yi said, "Let's see what the road is like first."

After saying that, Chen Yi fumbled around in the Zen temple for a while, and finally touched a raised area under the lotus platform of the Buddha statue.

When I pressed hard, a clicking sound was heard, but it stopped after a moment.

Yin Weiying stretched his neck to look and saw a secret door on the ground that was half open and the other half seemed to be stuck by something. He said:
"It's stuck inside."

Chen Yi walked over and chopped down with a knife.

With a loud bang, all the stones blocking the secret door shattered. Chen Yi was the first to walk into the corridor, followed closely by Yin Weiying.

This corridor was carved out of the stone wall and connected to the extended stone cliff, forming a stone bridge. The road is not long and the light can be seen after a few steps.

Walking on the road, Chen Yi recalled his experiences in his previous life and calculated who he would meet and what would happen in the future.

For example, Qu Yuan who traveled under the old walls of Yingdu, or Tang Xianzu who wrote The Peony Pavilion...

Then... Chen Yi saw,

The stone bridge not far away broke.

Gusts of cold wind blew upwards from the bottom, and the broken gaps were like canine teeth, grinning and extremely hideous, like a huge crack that was split open alive, and the abyss under the feet was bottomless.

Chen Yi frowned.

I thought Diguan was dead, but the road should still be there.

But I didn’t expect that Diguan died and the road was gone.

The stone bridge was not simply broken in half, but three quarters of it disappeared, as if it had fallen into the abyss, while the valley was blew with cold winds, with strong gusts blowing from time to time, blowing away people's souls. Even if they could fly, they could not fly over.

Was this done by that woman?
Not too possible.

It must be someone else. That woman's ability is not enough to destroy almost the entire stone bridge.

As a result, this road can no longer be taken.

The only thing to be thankful for is...

To be on the safe side, I deliberately let the cannibal Liu Ting go.

Chen Yi turned around and walked out of the corridor with Yin Weiying.
“We have to go another way.”

"Another way?"

"Well, we have to go back there and ask the woman selling Meng Po soup for directions."

....................................

From a distance, the ghost woman saw the two living people coming.

"Meng Po Soup, do you want to buy Meng Po Soup?"

As they approached, the ghost woman came up to them and asked warmly.

So many years have passed, and she has been here for an unknown amount of time. After selling ninety-nine bowls of Mengpo soup, finally only two bowls were left.

I thought I could sell them all at once after I had two living people, but I didn't expect that they had no such idea at all.

Now that they have returned again, the ghost woman naturally thinks that they came for Meng Po soup.

But this time, she was disappointed again.

Chen Yi waved his hand and said, "We don't want Meng Po soup, we just want you to help point the way again."

The ghost woman was discouraged and complained, "You don't want Meng Po soup, but you want me to show you the way. You living people are really calculating."

The nun glanced at her with a cold expression.

Seeing her Taoist appearance, the ghost woman stepped back in panic and said hurriedly:

“I didn’t force a sale.”

"Then please show me the way." The nun said in a cold and slow voice, "There will be a great reward at Mount Taihua."

Hearing the words "Taihua Mountain", the ghost woman almost dropped her jaw and nodded hurriedly with more respect in her eyes.

Yin Weiying still looked calm and glanced at Chen Yi out of the corner of his eye.

In this underworld, her identity as the Goddess Taihua is still more prominent.

The martial arts world is not all about fighting and killing, and the same is true for the underworld. What happened to the cannibal ghost just now was an accident. For this trip to the underworld, he will have to rely on himself and benefit more from himself.

There's nothing wrong in showing him some favor and letting him remember it.

Chen Yi did not look at Yin Weiying, and had no idea what she was thinking. His eyes were still on the ghost woman:

"The location of the First Yama Palace, just point in the direction."

The First Yama Palace and the Second Yama Palace are not far apart, so you can take the road to the First Yama Palace and change your route to your destination.

The ghost woman pointed them in a direction.

Chen Yi started to leave.

Touching the bucket of Meng Po soup in her hand, she said unwillingly:

"Actually, you don't have to drink it. You just need to buy it and give it to others. I only have two bowls left. After I sell them all..."

The woman paused here and pondered for a long time.

Seeing that she was so determined to sell Meng Po soup, Yin Weiying asked, "After selling it, can you enter reincarnation?"

The nun had heard that some souls in the underworld did not commit any evil deeds in their previous lives, but they did not do any good deeds either. So they would take on some tasks that were neither light nor heavy, such as holding lamps or watching fires. After completing these tasks, they would be able to enter the cycle of reincarnation.

"Reincarnation? No... I don't want to be reincarnated."

The ghost woman shook her head, which surprised Chen Yi.

She lowered her head, glanced at the remaining Meng Po soup in the bucket and said:
"I want to go out for a while." "Go out for a while?"

"Yes, King Chu Jiang said that if I sell ninety-nine bowls of Meng Po soup, I can go out and take a look."

"Go out and take a look?"

"Take a look at the sunshine."

The woman said this half seriously and half jokingly.

Chen Yi and Yin Weiying looked at each other.

Because he really couldn't figure it out, Yin Weiying couldn't help but ask:

"Why do you want to see the sun?"

"Why? You want to see it."

The woman paused, perhaps because she hadn't had anyone to talk to for a long time, and then she said:
“There are many things I want to do, but this is the only thing I want to do most.”

Yin Weiying shook her head. She just felt that this woman was missing a nerve and she didn’t know if her soul was defective.

Chen Yi thought for a moment and asked:
"You go out and see it, then why don't you enter the reincarnation?"

"But after I entered the cycle of reincarnation, I forgot what I wanted to do most, which was to look at the sunshine."

The woman was a little embarrassed, she let out a breath and sighed:

"Reincarnation requires separation."

..............................

After walking in the direction pointed by the ghost woman for a while, I could see lingering traces of evil spirits along the way.

There is no doubt that this was left behind by the cannibal ghost Liu Ting. He fled this time, probably to the territory of the First Yama Palace to seek refuge with some ghost lord.

But this has little to do with Chen Yi. Letting Liu Ting go is just to have more insurance and more options.

Holding his clothes, Yin Weiying followed him and walked up a mountain road with him. He kept his head down, looking at something as if he was looking for something.

After walking for more than an hour, Chen Yi seemed to have not found what he was looking for, and his brows furrowed.

Yin Weiying couldn't help but ask, "What are you looking for?"

"Rice."

"Rice?"

It's strange that the nun is looking for rice in this underworld where there are heartbreak grass and red spider lilies.
However, even though he was full of confusion, Yin Weiying still followed Chen Yi carefully and held onto the hem of his clothes.

She didn't really want to do it, but the underworld was naturally gloomy and everything was bizarre. She never knew where she would get into trouble and end up capsizing in the gutter.

And... when I hold onto the hem of his clothes, I always feel a strange sense of security.

It’s like... the thing you are always afraid of is actually protecting you.

After walking for an unknown amount of time, Chen Yi stopped again.

Yin Weiying looked over curiously, only to see him bending down and picking up a crystal clear rice grain on the ground.

The nun asked, "You have been looking for rice. Now that you have found it, what does it matter?"

Chen Yi said: "Do you know what day it is today?"

"The 28th day of the twelfth lunar month... No, you are asking about the almanac of the underworld." Yin Weiying paused, counted with his fingers, and then muttered to himself, "The seventh day of the first lunar month? The rat's daughter's wedding?"

"Yes."

Chen Yi looked at the string of rice stretching out on the ground and knew that he had found the right path. He clapped his hands and said:

"Let's change our shape and become mice."

Yin Weiying looked stunned, but after some hesitation, she still believed Chen Yi. She took out a talisman from her arms and stuck it on Chen Yi first.

"Change."

As the spell was chanted, smoke surged up and boiled. After the white smoke dissipated, a male mouse in clothes appeared on the ground.

Seeing his appearance, Yin Weiying was surprised and looked at him for a long time.

Chen Yi raised his head and looked at the female priest. She had become a huge monster now, looking at him with curiosity. Worried about delaying him, he couldn't help but urge him:

"Squeak!"

The nun finally couldn't hold back her laughter.

Little Mouse is kind of... cute.

However, meeting his sharp gaze, even though he had turned into a rat, Yin Weiying still shrank back in fear. Finally, a talisman was attached to his body, and white smoke emerged. After the white smoke dissipated, a female rat in a Taoist robe appeared.

"Why is it so slow?" Chen Yi complained.

The nun chuckled, and then she finally understood Chen Yi's squeaking.

Chen Yi was also surprised by the rat-like laughter. He turned around and met her eyes.

Shu Shu looked at Shu Shu for a long time. At this time, she was not so afraid of him. Instead, she felt that he was a little... cute.

After a while, Chen Yi turned around and saw the rice all over the ground. He didn't know how much time had been wasted, nor how far the rat wedding team had gone. He secretly criticized himself:
"Why am I so slow?"

With this in mind, Chen Yi did not delay any longer and followed the scattered rice along the way.

Yin Weiying followed closely behind, and grabbed the back of Chen Yi's clothes, which was only three or four inches long, with his rat claws.

A faint smell of fireworks lingered above the rice, like an offering in a cemetery.

It is believed that these mice are Yin mice, and they specialize in stealing tributes from the human world. These tributes are for the dead. After eating them, the Yin and Yang of these mice gradually become confused. In places where Yin and Yang are extremely serious, they have the ability to travel back and forth between the two worlds of Yin and Yang.

This is also why in many places, rats cannot be completely eradicated even if everyone tries their best.

Rice stretched out all the way and finally saw a large group of rats in the distance. Each rat was wearing clothes in a certain style and looked very funny.

Paper money, paper houses and paper beauties are often burned together on graves, so it is normal for rats to wear clothes following suit.

Rice keeps falling from the huge rice bag. This is the custom of mice marrying off their daughters, to show that there is plenty of food at home, and they also welcome mice along the way to celebrate together.

The bright red sedan was carried at the front of the wedding procession. The mice clenched their heads and banged on the iron sheets and pounded on the porcelain cups. The strong mice carried loads of rice and sang wedding songs in unison.

"Good mouse~good mouse~, today~you are getting married! Who are you marrying to?"

The singing was full of joy from beginning to end, and the two mice, Chen Yi and Yin Weiying, followed behind.

They mingled among them, and although they were reserved at first, they eventually calmed down.

The road ahead is too rough for living people, but it is a smooth and sunny road for mice.

Suddenly, a voice came from beside them.

"My dear brothers and sisters, your clothes are so exquisite."

Not far in front of Chen Yi, an elderly mouse looked around and said in amazement:

“It looks like clothes that people wear.”

The rats are like the elders here. These rats travel among the graves, and the clothes they wear are mostly made of paper money, yellow paper, and paper ingots.

Yin Weiying became a little nervous, but Chen Yi said calmly:

"Rich families use silk to worship their ancestors and make small clothes for those little paper figures. Each one is very exquisite."

"Wow, rich families are different. They have so many rules even when they die." Lao Shu said with a sigh, without any doubt, "When I was stealing incense oil from the temple, I heard the monks say that they came naked and left naked, and it was all the same when they died. How is that different? From birth to death, they are all different. They are not even as good as us mice..."

So Chen Yi started chatting with the little mouse casually, exchanging some of his experiences on earth, and also got a lot of information from the little mouse.

The mice also learned from humans. Following the orders of their parents and the words of the matchmaker, they arranged a grand marriage for the little mouse girl.

The little mouse girl is going to marry the God of Impermanence on the other side of the mountain. Although he is called the God of Impermanence, he is actually the ghost messenger who begs for bones from the position of the Black and White Impermanence. But to these evil rats, he is still a very important relative, even if the little mouse girl is going to marry him as a concubine.

This time, Chen Yi followed this group of mice who were getting married just to find this so-called Lord Wuchang.

Yin Weiying listened with great interest, he had been practicing Taoism at home for so many years, and all he did was stay within the area around the cushion. Even though he moved around a lot during the year, he never left the capital. It was unprecedented for him to participate in a mouse wedding.

If it weren’t for Chen Yi, she would probably only know the facts but not the reasons behind them.

Gazing from afar, she saw a little mouse girl wearing a bright red bridal robe poking her head out of the bright red sedan chair from time to time, as if she was looking forward to something.

The large procession of mice marrying off their daughters climbed over this hill and walked across that bridge, with crystal white rice grains falling along the way, making the scene so joyous and lively.

Suddenly, a huge figure blocked the dim light ahead.

A large group of rats, at this moment, seemed to have seen a ghost and stood still.

The blue eyes in the distance emerged from the darkness, shrinking and rolling, looking extremely frightening.
It stands there like an ancient ferocious beast.

A large group of rats stood there in a stalemate for a long time, until someone let out a sharp scream:
“There’s a cat!”

(End of this chapter)