The Great Way to Truth, Starting from Jiazi Laodao

Chapter 103: The Tiger King Who Greed for Incense and the Scholar Who Released Tiger Blood

On the official road, Xuanming watched silently.

The dark-skinned man waved his hands hurriedly, saying that it was impossible and repeatedly refused. At the same time, he instructed his wife to take out some pickled vegetables from the earthenware jar and give them directly to the scholar.

"These are homemade pickled wild vegetables, they are not worth much. It's a good thing that you don't mind them, sir. I can't accept such a valuable gift."

After taking the pickled vegetables, the scholar thanked him and put the osmanthus cake and steamed buns into his book box. He tasted the pickled vegetables carefully with an expression of enjoyment, as if he had eaten the most delicious thing in the world.

After using it, he stood up and said goodbye.

After he left, Youhei Village Khan packed up his bag and prepared to set off, but he suddenly found a bag of osmanthus cake and a few steamed buns in his bag. He was surprised and happy, and suddenly remembered something. He stood up and chased after the official road, but found that the young scholar in plain clothes had disappeared. He had just left, but now he was nowhere to be found.

The man bowed and saluted towards the main road.

"Thank you sir!"

After returning to his wife and daughter, he opened the paper bag, took out two osmanthus candies, gave them to each, and carefully put away the other things.

When they were on the road again, the little girl's pale complexion had improved a lot, and this discovery made the village couple very happy.

Xuanming followed behind the donkey, taking the opportunity to strike up a conversation with the dark-skinned man. He learned that he was a villager near Fengyang County named Qiao Da, and that he was going to a place with his wife and daughter to seek medical treatment. After getting acquainted with the place, Xuanming asked the little girl to ride on the donkey. The dark-skinned man did not refuse, and after sincerely thanking him, he put his daughter on the donkey.

After walking and chatting for about half an hour, Qiao Da and some passers-by stopped and turned into a small path. These villagers were either sick themselves or had sick family members, and they all had to go to a place to see a doctor.

Xuanming was curious and also said that he was not feeling well and was going to seek medical treatment, so he followed. Qiao was surprised and very happy. This Taoist priest had extraordinary manners and speech, and it was obvious that he had seen the world. With him accompanying him, he felt at ease.

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The path became narrower and narrower, and more and more remote. The surrounding vegetation became thicker and thicker, and the place where we could seek medical treatment turned out to be deep in the mountains.

The passers-by became more and more afraid as they walked, but they still plucked up their courage and continued walking because there were so many people.

About half an hour later, thick fog gradually rose all around, and when we passed through the fog, a village came into view.

The terraced fields are vast, the paths are interconnected, the houses are scattered in an orderly manner, tiled houses and adobe houses are mixed together, the villagers all have smiles on their faces, the children are chasing and playing, and when they see outsiders coming, they laugh and notify the adults.

People from every household came out to check on the visitors, and they surrounded them with a warm attitude, inviting them to their homes.

"The village chief is here!"

The young man in the village shouted, and the villagers immediately made way for him. An old man with gray hair but a vigorous spirit came out and said, "I am the head of Wohu Village. Are you here to seek medical advice?"

"That's right, please help me, village chief."

"Can the village chief please tell us what to do?"

Passersby were talking about it.

Upon learning the purpose of the visit, the village chief raised his hand slightly, and the passers-by stopped talking. He looked at the setting sun and said slowly:

"Since you have come to Crouching Tiger Village, I'm sure you will be cured. It's getting late now, so please go to the village guesthouse to rest for a while and eat some hot soup and noodles. I will send someone to invite you later."

Since they had something to ask of them and were really exhausted from the journey, they followed the local customs and obeyed the arrangements of the village chief.

After eating a mouthful of hot porridge, everyone went to rest in the room, talked in the yard, or chatted with the villagers in charge of the guesthouse to inquire about the news. After eating, Xuanming did not leave rashly, but his eyes became more and more interested. This Wolong Village was built in the deep mountains and old forests, and was covered by a fog with trapping attributes. Only mortals were allowed to enter. The villagers had a little bit of demonic aura, but they lived a rich life and were full of energy. They did not look like they were being fed by demons. It was really interesting.

At dusk, when the night was dim and the moon was above the willows, some villagers came to the guest house and invited them to go to the village temple.

Everyone followed behind him, crossed half of the village, and came to an open space. At this time, the place was full of villagers, men, women, young and old. Led by the old village chief, they bowed to a temple in front of them. Their expressions were serious and pious under the light of the fire.

The temple is as big as an ordinary farmyard, with an average area. It is clean and tidy inside. There is a large earthen incense burner in front of the door, with bright candlelight and the smell of burning incense.

After worshiping the god respectfully, the old village chief led the villagers to stand up and asked the people who came to seek medical treatment to come forward. He explained: "The mountain god has great magical powers and can cure various difficult diseases. If you want to worship the god sincerely every night in the village, you will be able to pray to the mountain god in three days to show his magical powers and eliminate the disease."

Gazing at the incense, divine power and demonic aura hovering above the temple, Xuanming's many doubts were resolved. It turned out that a tiger spirit was gathering people here to pray for blessings, set up wild sacrifices, eliminate disasters and resolve doubts, and collect incense. As there was no black air such as karma above the temple, and instead there was a hint of merit, he also burned incense and said that he was an outsider and would not kowtow.

Qiao Da brought his wife and daughter to kowtow respectfully, hoping that the tiger could cure his daughter's illness and help her grow up healthily.

On the way back to the inn, perhaps seeing hope for recovery, Qiao Da opened his heart to Xuanming:

His daughter was born prematurely and has been sickly since childhood. In the past, when the family had some savings, they used rice porridge and some medicinal herbs to nourish their daughter. She was sensible and obedient, and tried not to worry her parents. She could swallow any bitter medicine, and knew the situation at home. She never asked for this or that like other children. Instead, she felt very sorry for him and his wife.

The family is now penniless and the daughter is weak. She almost died of a cold not long ago. They sold everything they had to scrape together money for medicine. After their daughter recovered, the dark-skinned man asked the village witch about Wohu Village and brought his daughter here to try it out.

At the same time, as the villagers prayed and offered sacrifices to the gods, thirty miles away from Wohu Village, deeper in the mountains, in the mountain tiger cave, a silly-looking fat tiger with drooping eyes and a white forehead was twitching his nose, absorbing the incense with all his might, his expression intoxicated, his tail swinging unconsciously, looking comfortable and at ease.

Suddenly, it felt a hint of special incense, which was pure and clean. After inhaling it into its nose, it felt refreshed. It subconsciously shuddered and let out a comfortable snoring sound. The effect was shocking and stronger than inhaling incense for a month.

It suddenly opened its eyes, its amber pupils filled with confusion and curiosity, it stood up and crawled out of the cave, and was about to ride the wind away to check the situation personally, when it suddenly stopped, turned its head and growled in one direction, slightly bending its limbs and exerting force, tensing its muscles, ready to attack as if facing a formidable enemy.

A breeze blew by, and the sound of rustling footsteps was heard. A figure walked out of the night. He was wearing a cloth shirt, had a fair complexion, a gentle face, and was carrying a book box on his back.

If Qiao Da was here, he would definitely be surprised, because this Confucian scholar was the one he met by chance on the road during the day.

Seeing the tiger suddenly pounce on him, stirring up an evil wind, the scholar was not in a hurry and uttered a word calmly: "Determined!"

The tiger stopped in mid-air, its amber pupils filled with fear. The scholar in plain clothes walked around the tiger twice and shook his head helplessly: "Girl, you are still as irritable and fat as before. I have told you many times to diet, otherwise it will be difficult for you to transform in the future, but you just won't listen. So I will do a good deed and let you bleed."

After he finished speaking, the scholar took out a small knife from his arms and easily broke the tiger demon's body that had been tempered for a hundred years. He then took out a gourd and collected the blood. After a moment, he put away the gourd and touched the wound with his finger. In an instant, the injury was healed.

After doing all this, the scholar waved his sleeves and untied the restraints. The tiger demon fell to the ground and moved its four limbs together, immediately distanced itself from him. It growled in dissatisfaction and grievance, and spoke in human language:
"You stinky scholar, my mother asked you to look after me before she died, and this is how you look after her? Are you worthy of my mother? You haven't been home for three years, and when you come back you bleed your own daughter? You dislike your daughter's fatness? Am I your biological child? Or have you become pedantic because of your studies? You are blind and have completely accepted the human race's ideas? Do you think that females should be thin to be beautiful?

My hair is soft and smooth, and I am plump and beautiful. I am a top-notch beauty of the demon tribe. In human terms, I am as round and plump as pearls and good at giving birth. I don’t know how many tiger tribe boys have been courting me…”

The scholar rolled his eyes when he heard this.

Inside the guest house, Xuanming smiled when he heard this.

interesting!

I never thought that this scholar had a connection with this tiger monster, and I never thought that this tiger monster was so...

Fresh, refined and unique!
More importantly, it seems that this father and daughter have extraordinary blood. Xuanming withdrew his spiritual sense and resisted the urge to deduce. He remembered that he was an ordinary mortal now. He sealed his spiritual sense and knew that the tiger demon probably could not come to Wohu Village tonight. He admired the moonlight and went into the house to rest.

The guest houses in the mountain village all had large bunk beds, with men and women separated. Qiao Da was snoring loudly next to him. After Xuanming lay down, he also relaxed his mind. When he snored, all the dogs in the village started barking. Everyone on the bed woke up and looked at the Taoist priest with the strange snoring. Qiao Da and the others looked at each other, stuffed straw into their ears, and continued to sleep in a daze.

(End of this chapter)