The Buddha is actually me

Chapter 149: Mortuary, the coffin keeper

Ruyi Inn.

When the brother and sister knocked on the door of the inn, the flags outside suddenly fluttered, as if a cold wind was blowing, making the woman shiver subconsciously.

"Brother, why has no one opened the door for so long?"

"There's candlelight inside, so there must be someone there..."

Zhang Jiuyang came over and said softly, "Excuse me, guys, this is not a place for living people to live."

His shocking words shocked the brother and sister.

"Look at this flag, it's made of deerskin, shaped like a pennant, and is used to ward off evil spirits. Also, there's lime powder on the ground, which is used to remove the stench of corpses and preserve the body in the coffin. The most important thing is these two lanterns."

The man looked at the lantern and asked in confusion, "What's wrong with the lantern?"

Zhang Jiuyang pointed at the two red lanterns at the door and said, "Although these two lanterns are not white lanterns for the dead, they are lotus-shaped. The petals represent the eight directions, implying the eight trigrams and yin and yang. If I'm not mistaken, there should be words on the red tassels hanging from the lanterns."

The lanterns were hung very high, but the woman used her martial arts skills to leap up like a civet cat, nimbly and agile, and reached out to take down a lantern.

When she got closer, she couldn't help but gasp.

I saw that there were indeed two lines of small words on the ribbon as the man said.

"The golden boy leads the way, and the jade girl leads the way to the west."

At this moment, how could she not know that this lantern was used to guide the dead and liberate the souls of the dead? She quickly threw away the lantern, her face pale with fright.

She was not afraid of evil people at all, as she could protect herself with her superb martial arts, but she could not help but feel terrified when it came to things involving ghosts and gods.

"Longevity, bathing, crown, official, emperor, decline, illness, death, tomb, extinction, fetus, nourishment..."

Zhang Jiuyang picked up the lantern without any disdain, and looked at the small words on the ribbon. After observing it curiously for a long time, he said, "This should be the way the twelve zodiac gods are written. It's interesting. It seems that there are people who know this inn."

These are what Zhang Jiuyang saw in the book of walking in the underworld. He didn't expect to encounter them in reality today. If he guessed correctly, this so-called inn should be...

Squeak~
The door of the inn was suddenly opened, revealing a pale face illuminated by candlelight.

The woman was instantly startled and quickly hid behind her senior brother.

Although the man was also startled, he immediately stood in front of his junior sister and Zhang Jiuyang and subconsciously drew his sword.

Clang!
The sword was unsheathed as fast as lightning, but when it was halfway out of the sheath, a hand pushed it back in.

Zhang Jiuyang patted his shoulder and said, "Don't be afraid, he is not a ghost."

As expected, the person who opened the door was also startled and hurriedly begged for mercy, thinking he had mistaken them for robbers.

The man looked at Zhang Jiuyang deeply.

He was proud of his swift sword, but this time he was pushed back halfway through.

The opponent's hand was like a mountain, and no matter how he mobilized his internal strength, he could not break free.

I was wrong, he turned out to be a master!
But he looked so young, how could he have such powerful martial arts? And Qinggong, just now he didn't even notice when the other party came to him.

Unfathomable!

The man was frightened at this moment, but fortunately his fellow brothers and sisters were kind-hearted and did not bully others based on their martial arts skills. Instead, they had established a good relationship with this master.

After the explanation, the misunderstanding was finally cleared up.

It turns out that this was a charity cemetery.

The so-called charity cemetery is a place used to temporarily store corpses until their relatives find a good feng shui location and then take the coffin back for burial.

Every charity cemetery has a coffin keeper, who is either a brave man or an old man with one foot in the earth.

One has strong yang energy, the other one is open-minded.

When relatives come to pick up the coffin, they usually give the coffin keeper some compensation. But the problem is that not every dead person has relatives willing to claim the body. Some bodies have no one to take them away for years and cannot be buried, so there is a lot of resentment.

Therefore, evil spirits often occurred in the charity cemetery, and all kinds of strange things were reported.

Zhang Jiuyang looked around and saw more than twenty coffins placed in the charity cemetery. They were not placed on the ground, but on wooden boards one foot high, with a lot of lime powder oozing out from underneath.

This is to prevent the coffin from falling to the ground, so as to avoid being exposed to the negative energy of the earth and causing a corpse to transform.

What surprised Zhang Jiuyang was that there were other people in the room, and they were eating and drinking without any hesitation.

He was a Taoist priest, with white hair and youthful face, vigorous spirit and extraordinary bearing.

It turned out that what he ate were the offerings of the dead, and he did not mind any meat or fish, eating with relish, looking very happy.

While eating, he flicked his sleeves and talked to the air.

"Don't worry, I will eat your sacrifice and avenge you. I will kill the big beast on Tiger Hill tonight!"

Seeing this scene, the brother and sister couldn't help but feel a chill. This Taoist... is talking to a ghost?

Seeing Zhang Jiuyang and the others, the Taoist laughed and said, "It's rare to see so many living people. Come on, let's eat together!"

As he spoke, he waved his sleeves and made a pushing gesture, as if he was trying to drive away the other people at the table.

But under the dim candlelight, he was clearly the only one there.

Zhang Jiuyang sat down first, along with Ao Ya, and said with a smile: "Master, I won't be polite. My daughter is a bit of a eater, and I hope you don't mind."

The Taoist shook his head and laughed. Just as he was about to speak, he saw Ao Ya open his mouth wide, his cheeks bulging, and swallow a chicken leg whole. He was stunned.

"Your daughter... can indeed eat a little."

Seeing this, others also sat down.

The Taoist took the initiative to introduce himself. It turned out that he was the Taoist Master Jingxing of Wanfu Tower in Yangzhou. He heard that there was a tiger demon here, so he came here to subdue the demon.

"It is said that there is a giant beast in Tiger Hill that is bigger than a cow. Many people have been bitten to death by it. Among the more than 20 coffins, more than 10 were killed by the tiger's mouth!"

The coffin keeper sighed, "This used to be an inn, and the business was pretty good, but after a few years when a giant insect appeared, people often died here, and now it's been turned into a funeral home. I used to be a waiter, but now I'm a coffin keeper."

"Some time ago, this place was haunted, and I got seriously ill and almost died. Thanks to the help of Taoist Master Jingxing, he made a banner to ward off evil spirits and taught me to hang up a lamp for the afterlife. I finally got better."

"Don't worry, I'm here, the big beast won't be able to jump around for long."

Master Jingxing is very confident.

At this moment, a coffin suddenly trembled, as if some evil creature was about to break out of the coffin, and everyone's face changed.

Jing Xing angrily shouted, "I've already said I'll help you get revenge, don't push me any further!"

After saying that, he waved his hand and threw out a yellow talisman, which landed on the shaking coffin. The next moment, the talisman emitted a faint golden light, and the coffin instantly stopped moving, and a faint scream could be heard from the coffin.

The brother and sister were startled and looked at Jingxing with strange eyes.

What a magical method!

They roamed the world with swords, doing justice and chivalrous things. They had also heard of the methods of cultivators and were very envious of them. Now that they saw an extraordinary person, they were naturally happy to make friends with him.

The two took the initiative to introduce themselves. The man's name was Liu Zifeng and the woman's name was Su Lingshan. They were from a martial arts sect in Lingnan and were known as the Lingnan Twin Heroes. They were not only senior and junior brothers and sisters, but also a pair of fairy lovers.

They came to Yangzhou this time because they were invited to attend the birthday banquet of Old Lady Shen.

Hearing this, Zhang Jiuyang's heart moved. Isn't Old Lady Shen Yue Ling's grandmother? She is also the legendary richest person in Yangzhou, and very likely the richest person in Daqian.

"I didn't expect that my junior sister and I would meet two masters at the same time. How disrespectful!"

Two masters?

Taoist Master Jingxing glanced at Zhang Jiuyang.

"I am not a master at all. I just know some internal martial arts and have practiced hard qigong. I have some crude techniques."

Zhang Jiuyang said lightly.

Strictly speaking, the Immortal Golden Body can also be considered as hard Qigong... right?

Su Lingshan looked at him and said, "But you know a lot. You saw at a glance that this place is not for living people..."

Zhang Jiuyang waved his hand and said with a smile: "It's just that I am usually very curious about these ghosts and gods, so I know more about them."

After saying this, he looked at Taoist Master Jingxing and said, "I have heard of the great name of Wanfu Tower for a long time. I heard that your talisman technique is unparalleled in the world. After seeing it today, it is indeed well-deserved!"

Jing Xing was very pleased with the compliment and said, "You are right. We in Wan Fu Lou don't have anything else but a lot of talismans. We also have a sect-suppressing talisman that is said to be able to kill people in the Six Realms!"

Seeing the confused look on the faces of the senior brothers and sisters, Jing Xing shook his head and sighed, "You are just people in the martial arts world, how can you know how powerful the Sixth Realm is?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Zifeng said, "I heard someone say that recently there seems to be a strange person who can attract thunder and kill many robbers who block the road. Is this person the so-called sixth realm?"

To them, manipulating thunder is no different from being a god.

Even if one's martial arts skills have reached the highest level, they will still not be able to withstand a bolt of lightning.

Upon hearing this, Jing Xing smiled and said, "Being able to attract thunder means that this person knows thunder magic and has some skills. He must be from a big sect, but that's all. There is a very powerful talisman in my Wan Fu Tower, called the Thunder Talisman, which also has this effect."

"Master, can you let us see the thunder talisman?"

Su Lingshan said with great longing.

Jingxing coughed and said, "Let's talk about it later. Let's talk about it later."

Afterwards, a few people clinked glasses and the atmosphere gradually became lively.

This pair of senior and junior brothers and sisters were also chivalrous in spirit. They had long since recovered from their initial fear and could talk endlessly about their past experiences of chivalry and justice.

The coffin keeper ate the meal in silence. Although he drank some wine, his face was still pale under the candlelight.

He seldom spoke and kept his eyes downcast most of the time.

Occasionally he looked up and happened to meet the gaze of that handsome man in white clothes and a wooden hairpin on his head. The other's gaze was gentle and deep, as if he saw through everything, and there was a faint smile at the corner of his mouth.

The coffin keeper was startled and quickly lowered his head.

However, when he lowered his head, he saw two pairs of big, black and bright eyes staring at him, their chubby cheeks puffed up high, and their mouths were full of food.

It's that man's daughter!

Zhang Jiuyang quickly carried Ao Ya back. The little guy finished the food in front of him and actually crawled to the coffin keeper.

"Come, eat mine, don't be impatient..."

When Su Lingshan saw Ao Ya was so hungry, her maternal instinct suddenly overwhelmed her. And after the contact just now, she also vaguely discovered that this cute little girl seemed to have some problems with her brain.

Even more lovable.

She held Ao Ya tightly and fed her food on her own initiative.

At this moment, suddenly a large number of coffins began to vibrate, making a thudding sound, which was extremely terrifying.

Jingxing snorted coldly and threw out a large number of talismans again, which fixed on the coffins, and finally intimidated them.

"These are the people who were bitten to death by the giant beast. Their ghosts are still lingering and keep urging me to avenge them... Well, it's time for me to set off."

Su Lingshan was a little surprised and said, "Master, it's dark now. It's not a good idea to go into the mountain at this time."

Jing Xing smiled slightly and said, "It's just a small tiger demon. Why should we wait until daytime?"

After a pause, he said, "Since we get along well, are you willing to go up the mountain with me to subdue the monster? I heard that the tiger monster has a lot of treasures. After the task is completed, I only want the inner elixir, and the rest will be yours."

After a pause, he added: "Tiger meat that has become spirited is full of vitality and can also help you increase your internal strength."

Hearing this, Liu Zifeng and Su Lingshan were both quite excited.

On the one hand, you can witness the methods of the legendary monks, and on the other hand, you can obtain treasures and increase your skills. Why not do it?
What's more, with Master Jingxing here, we are not afraid of the tiger monster.

"Okay, then let's go up the mountain at night and work with the Taoist priest to eliminate the evil for the people!"

"By the way, Brother Zhang, do you want to come with us?"

Zhang Jiuyang drank the wine in his cup, picked up Ao Ya, and said with a faint smile: "Okay, let's go up the mountain together. It's a good opportunity to see the Taoist's methods."

Su Lingshan couldn't bear it and said, "Brother Zhang, your daughter is still so young, why don't you not bring her with you and let her rest in the charity cemetery for a night."

Zhang Jiuyang pinched Ao Ya's little face and said with a smile: "Actually, my daughter is very fierce."

As soon as he finished speaking, Ao Ya cooperated by letting out a howl, but he was not very intimidating because he was missing two front teeth.

Su Lingshan shook her head.

"But she is too greedy. There is still so much meat left. She doesn't want to leave."

Zhang Jiuyang thought about it, whispered something in Ao Ya's ear, and then handed her over to the coffin keeper.

"I'll have to trouble you to take care of her for me."

……

(End of this chapter)