One Qi Chaoyang

Chapter 274: Old Spearhead, Beast Fire Pit

Zhao Fuyun is willing to call the scenery here the best in the world.

Once, he saw the majestic Qiyun Mountain, but it was covered with rosy clouds in the sunshine, with a strange beauty like a strong man in red makeup.

And here, he saw a line, a very long dividing line between black and white. The white was certainly not real white, but a gray color, as if it had been infected by black.

What Zhao Fuyun saw was a silence, like lines drawn by an invisible hand.

The south was black, getting thicker as one went south, and behind the dotted lines formed by the pinpricks of fire, it was gray and shrouded in fog.

Zhao Fuyun entered the gray mist and walked down along the ridge. There was no vegetation on the ridge, only black stones. He floated down like a robe falling in the wind.

There happened to be a small hut at the foot of the mountain, with firelight coming from inside.

Floating outside the cottage and looking in through the window, he saw that the layout of this house was very similar to that of his own Lihuo Palace.

There is a square pond in the middle of the Lihuo Palace, with flames burning in it.

But this house is much smaller, and the fire pit inside is also much smaller. There are only some basic ceramic utensils next to the fire pit, and traces of human activities can be seen. There seems to be some blood mixed in the soil next to the fire pit, as if someone slaughtered livestock here and then roasted them and ate them.

He imagined that a man who had been away from human habitation for a long time came back from hunting, gutted and skinned the prey, and then took it to the fire here to roast and eat it.

Alone, facing the darkness, guarding the fire pit, blocking out the darkness.

He walked around the hut and came to the front.

The hut was built with mud to create a low courtyard, and there was a high wall in the courtyard to prevent the wind from blowing directly into the house and to prevent others from looking directly into the house.

Just as he was wondering whether to go in, he heard footsteps. Turning back, he saw a person walking out of the dark fog.

As we got closer, we could see clearly that this was an old man wearing a fur coat. He was tall and had a long spear on his shoulder, with a yellow-furred beast on the spear shaft.

The old man looked at Zhao Fuyun, sizing him up, without much surprise in his eyes. Zhao Fuyun felt that he was judging whether he was a human being or not.

"Father-in-law, are you going hunting in the dark?" Zhao Fuyun asked.

"Well, you figured it out." The old man replied.

"I heard that this dark place is dangerous, but you can go in and out of it as if it were flat ground. You are really amazing." Zhao Fuyun said praisingly.

"You have been here for a long time and have seen a lot, so you will definitely learn something." The old man said, "You are new here, right? Come on, I will treat you to some roasted yellow muntjac meat."

The old man probably hasn't seen outsiders for a long time, or it may be that this is the local custom, and people are more welcoming to outsiders. Of course, it may also be that the old man himself has a generous personality.

Zhao Fuyun followed him into the mud yard of the house, and saw him hang the yellow muntjac, then take out a skinning knife and start skinning it. After peeling off the whole skin, he put it aside, then began to cut open the belly, took out all the internal organs, and packed them into different categories.

Zhao Fuyun was helping him, handing him a clay basin and a jar, the jar being used to hold feces.

He didn't know what any of this was for, but he didn't ask.

Afterwards, the old man took his iron spear, skewered the deer meat, came into the house, and laid it across the fire pit on the ground.

He sat on the ground, so Zhao Fuyun also squatted on the ground. The old man had some free time to look at Zhao Fuyun again. Seeing that Zhao Fuyun was just squatting and not sitting on the ground, he asked, "Young man, where are you from?"

"Where are you from, father-in-law?" Zhao Fuyun asked back.

"It doesn't matter if you don't tell me. I grew up in this area. As long as I come here to guard at night, my past identity is not important." said the old man.

"It's not that I want to hide anything, but I have some concerns. I come from Tiandu Mountain." Zhao Fuyun said.

"Tiandu Mountain, the people of Tiandu Mountain are at the pass over there." The old man pointed and said.

Zhao Fuyun didn't see any other emotions on his face.

"Are there many disciples coming here from Tiandu Mountain?" Zhao Fuyun asked.

"Faced with this entire darkness, there aren't many people. There's a Taoist priest named Zifu from Tiandu Mountain at that pass. He's been there for many years, so some disciples from Tiandu Mountain come here to practice, or to look for treasures and refine treasures. For safety, they gather there."

Zhao Fuyun nodded to show that he understood.

The old man took out salt and seasonings from his treasure bag and sprinkled them on the deer meat.

"I haven't asked for your name yet." Zhao Fuyun said a little embarrassedly.

"Everyone calls me Old Gunhead, you can call me Old Gunhead too." The old man said his name nonchalantly, as if he was saying the name of a cat or dog. "Also, don't call me old man, it sounds awkward, just call me old man, and you have practiced Taoism and have the skills to keep your youth, so you may not be younger than me."

Zhao Fuyun thought about it and felt that it was possible, because he could sense that the old man in front of him was at the foundation-building stage.

But he still decided to ask the other person's age.

"I wonder how old you are this year?" Zhao Fuyun asked.

"I face polar night every day, there are no four seasons, and the yin and yang are reversed. How can I know how many years have passed, let alone how old I am." The old spearhead's words made Zhao Fuyun want to scratch his head.

"Then I'll call you brother." Zhao Fuyun felt that he might be older than him, and even if he was much older, it wouldn't be wrong to call him brother.

"Okay, it's up to you." The old gunman grinned, revealing his yellow teeth with a missing front tooth.

"Brother, you said you grew up in this area? Then you must be very familiar with this polar night sky. I'm new here and will be staying here for a while. Is there anything I should be careful of?"

"From your address, I know that this is indeed your first time here. Here, everyone does not call you Ji Ye Tian, but Lao Hei. You have to remember one thing: Lao Hei is at his most dangerous when you are the most afraid. If you keep letting your imagination run wild, Lao Hei will target you."

"Look at this fire?" Old Gunhead pointed at the fire in the fire pit.

Of course, Zhao Fuyun had noticed long ago that this fire was not ordinary fire, but a sacrificial fire.

"Each of these fire pits is a sacrificial pit. We are guarding Old Black as well as the fire pits. As long as the fire pits are not extinguished, we can protect ourselves. The key is not to be afraid. If you are afraid, you will find that Old Black is surging and terrifying."

Zhao Fuyun looked at the flames in the fire pit and saw that the firewood in the fire pit was all bones.

"My fire pit is called the Beast Fire Pit. The first fire was lit with the bones of a tiger that was about to turn into a monster." said Old Gunhead.

"You are here to guard the night. The first thing you need to do is to light a fire. If you don't know how to light a fire pit, I can teach you how to light a beast fire pit." said the old spearhead.

Zhao Fuyun was very curious. It was not that he didn't know how to light the fire pit, he had a Red Flame Divine Lamp which was enough. He just wanted to know how to light the beast fire pit.

So he asked him for advice, and he did not hide anything from him. He told him how to light the fire pit while grilling the meat.

"This fire pit cannot be built in one step, but needs to be divided into several steps." The old spearhead said: "The first step is to choose a site."

"We can't set up camp in Tiandu Mountain to block the wind from Lao Hei. We must choose a place that is sheltered from the wind."

"Then we need to burn the ground. We need to burn the place where we will build the fire house first to burn away the Yin energy on the ground. This place is nourished by Yin energy. If we don't burn it, it won't be ignited at all. Then we need to circle the burned area and offer incense to the four gods to form the Yang house pattern."

Zhao Fuyun listened in his heart, but he was a little confused about these four gods, but he did not interrupt them.

"The next step is to dig a pit. Once you dig a pit here, it will be like digging a well. Soon, negative energy will surge out. At this time, you need to put the tiger bones you have prepared in the offering into the pit."

"Tiger bones are yang, and the fire pit is full of yin energy, thus forming a situation where yin embraces yang. We need to perform a hundred animal sacrifices before the yang energy of the tiger bones is extinguished by the yin energy, so that the yin and yang are entangled together. From then on, the yin energy in the well will be like oil in a lamp. Then, we will invite a heavenly fire to fall into it and ignite the fire pit, and then it will be done."

What he said was the outline of the steps. As for how to perform the sacrifice of a hundred beasts and how to call upon the heavenly fire, these were not explained in detail.

"It is true that reading ten thousand books is not as good as traveling ten thousand miles. If I hadn't come here, how would I know that there are such hells in the world." Zhao Fuyun sighed.

"They are just some unorthodox skills, which cannot compare with the Taoist magic of Tiandu Mountain." said the old spearhead.

As he spoke, the oil from the deer meat on the iron spear dripped into the fire pit below, and flames rose. Zhao Fuyun actually felt that the flames were like invisible wild beasts, with tongues of fire shooting out and biting the oil dripping from the meat.

It also seemed like it was pounceing on the fragrance that was emanating from it.

Zhao Fuyun closed his eyes and sensed with his mind, only to feel that a beast roar appeared in the originally quiet and empty flames.

The roar of the beasts was faint at first, but after listening to it a few more times, he could tell that it was the roar of hundreds of beasts. There was a sense of intimidation coming from it. As he listened to it, he felt his thoughts slow down and an inexplicable fear arose.

However, when he opened his eyes, the mind-calming technique had already suppressed those thoughts.

At this time, the old spearman was also looking at him, and Zhao Fuyun couldn't help but say: "This beast pit really has the meaning of hundreds of beasts roaring together. The flames are like the roars of beasts, which can drive away evil spirits and monsters."

The old man smiled, opened the lid of a black jar next to him, took down the wine bucket hanging on the wall, opened it up, and started drinking.

After he finished drinking, he said, "Would you like to have a sip?"

Zhao Fuyun quickly shook his head and said, "I don't like drinking. Thank you very much."

"Wine is a good thing. It would be a pity not to drink it." After saying this, the old spearhead looked at the dark night outside and said, "The south wind has been blowing all night. Old Black is going to be restless tonight."

(End of this chapter)