no soul

"Ding--"

A pair of cloth shoes walked slowly, stepping on the grass and kicking up the stagnant water on the ground.

"Repeat the way, come back in seven days, and the sky will do it." (Note 1)

The clear voice carried a sigh, echoing in the cold and wet night.

"Ding--"

Holding a bell in his slender hand, it rang every time he walked.

The foot of the mountain is dark, there is no one, unburned candles are flickering by the side of the road, and the ashes of paper ingots are blown away by the wind...

A slender figure walked slowly, with black hair like a waterfall, half of which was fixed with a wooden hairpin, the Taoist robe on his body was loose, and the tassel of the long sword on his back was dangling as he walked.

The gossip compass in his hand was spinning wildly.

In the distance a dog barks.

Under the dim moonlight, a narrow and handsome face with clear and bright eyes could be vaguely seen.

Lin Hong hadn't eaten for a whole day... He chased an evil spirit for more than half of Pingyang City, and now he chased it down the mountain.

This evil spirit did many evils and ate many people. His master asked him to go down the mountain and get rid of it quickly.

But today is the Ghost Festival again, and ghosts are wandering around, so the compass given by Master is useless.

As Lin Hong walked, he looked at the compass spinning wildly in his hand.

In the darkness at the end of the path stood a woman holding an umbrella, "Master, are you going to my house?"

Without squinting, Lin Hong walked straight over.

Although he is a Taoist priest who collects ghosts, he has always only collected evil ghosts. If he encounters ordinary ghosts, he just needs to ignore them.

Although it is July, the mountain night is also a bit cold.

Surrounded by towering trees, dense grass, the night is deep and shallow.

The wind is blowing, and there are faint cries in the mountains...

Suddenly, the bushes on the side moved!

A dark shadow flashed by.

coming.

Lin Hong followed immediately.

He followed the dark figure swiftly through the thick undergrowth.

The rain was hanging on the blades of grass, and it hit him, which was cold and painful.

The ghost in front was like a fuzzy black mist, twisting and rushing forward.

The light was very dim, and Lin Hong couldn't see clearly. After chasing him deeply, he pulled out the sword on his back.

As the distance got closer, Lin Hong took out a talisman, read a sentence, and threw it at the shadow!

When the talisman hit Soi Ying's body, it exploded into golden light!

A sharp and terrifying scream echoed in the dark mountains.

The black figure panted, suddenly turned around and rushed up angrily!

A rotten face, with a bloody mouth and fangs, suddenly moved from far to near!

The accident happened so quickly, Lin Hong Kankan only had time to block its sharp teeth with the sword in his hand, and was slammed to the ground.

A pair of dark green eyes were close at hand, full of resentment and rage.

It was so powerful that Lin Hong couldn't hold it anymore, and the hand holding the sword was shaking.

Lin Hong loosened his grip—the ghost raised his head, and Lin Hong was about to raise his sword, but was held down by its palm.

He bit his shoulder fiercely!

Lin Hong snorted, his scalp numb from the pain.

The suppressed hand finally touched a talisman and threw it on top of it.

With a flash of golden light, the ghost let go of the pain and let out another scream.

It suppressed Lin Hong's fidgeting hand with one palm, and raised its sharp claws to smash it down!

Lin Hong's shoulder hurt so badly that he couldn't move it away.

The claws were getting closer and closer, and Lin Hong's heart went cold.

The ghost's head suddenly exploded in front of him!

Lin Hong was stunned.

Behind the black mist stood a tall and slender figure, with long black clothes sweeping the floor, black hair like waterfalls, and a deep and handsome face.

Lin Hong saw that he slowly withdrew his hand.

He actually crushed that ghost's head with one palm!

Lin Hong:.

It seemed that it was just because they happened to be in the way he was going to go, and he raised his hand to solve the roadblock. Wan Guchuan didn't even look at Lin Hong who was lying on the ground, and continued to walk forward.

Lin Hong gritted his teeth and endured the pain, stood up, pressed his shoulder to stop the bleeding, "Thank you for your help."

Wan Guchuan didn't respond to him, and the slender figure walked towards the depths of the darkness without looking back.

Lin Hong couldn't lift his hand because of shoulder pain, covered in cold sweat, and staggered to keep up with Wan Guchuan, intending to get acquainted, "My name is Lin and my name is Qingquan. I'm from Pingyang."

Wan Guchuan ignored him, and didn't even slow down.

"Excuse me, what is the hero's name? Where does he live? I will thank you very much in the future." Lin Hong followed behind him.

The figure in front is still silent.

Lin Hong was in severe pain. He felt a sudden ringing in his ears, his eyes turned black, his brain suddenly became dizzy, and he couldn't hold on and fell forward.

Lin Hong vaguely felt as if he had bumped into the back of the person in front of him, and there seemed to be a bright light shining...

In the middle of the night, Lin Hong woke up in a cave.

He sat up and felt a sharp pain in his shoulder, and the black clothes that covered his body slipped off, revealing the white cloth wrapped around his shoulders.

Lin Hong was stunned for a moment, then turned to look aside.

The tall figure was sitting in the darkness on the other side, staring at him with a pair of handsome eyes.

It seems that I helped myself again.

Lin Hong was about to speak, but the other party spoke first, "When is your birthday?"

A deep voice rang out in this cave, and Lin Hong felt his ears itch... He didn't understand why he asked about his birthday, but after all, this man saved him, so he told him anyway.

"Yin moon, cloudy day, cloudy hour." Wan Guchuan commented.

"Yes," Lin Hong couldn't hold on due to lack of strength, leaned lightly on the stone wall, and smiled, "My master took me as his apprentice just because my birthday horoscope is easy to attract ghosts."

"Why do you ask this?" Lin Hong didn't understand.

Wan Guchuan didn't speak.

"Okay." Feeling frustrated, Lin Hong changed the question again, "Then what is the name of the hero?"

Wan Guchuan answered him, "Wan Guchuan."

Lin Hong regained his energy, "Who is Brother Wan? Why are you here late at night?"

Wan Guchuan was silent again.

Lin Hong thought that he would not answer again, and was about to change the question again, but heard him say, "I don't remember."

Can not remember?

Lin Hong looked at him, "Then do you still remember who you are, where are your relatives, and why you came here?"

"I don't remember." Wan Guchuan shook his head.

"Have you lost your memory?" Lin Hong sighed.

He suddenly remembered that his master had given him a mirror of the past.

The mirror of the past is not very powerful, but it can reproduce even the blurred past events in people's minds in the mirror in detail and concretely, and it can make people miss it again like watching a play.

When the master drove him down the mountain, he said that if he missed him, he could take it out and have a look.

I don't know if it will be useful to Wan Guchuan.

"I have a mirror of the past," Lin Hong frantically searched in his bag, "try to see if you can recall anything."

Lin Hong threw the exquisite little bronze mirror to Wan Guchuan who was opposite.

Lin Hong saw him holding the bronze mirror and looking at it for a long time.

Seems useful?

Wan Guchuan laughed.

When Lin Hong heard this deep laugh, he couldn't help touching his ears...

Wan Guchuan stood up and walked towards him.

Lin Hong was a little nervous when he saw him approaching, "How is it? Do you remember?"

Wan Guchuan knelt down in front of him, looked at him, and returned the bronze mirror to him, "There is nothing."

"Ah? Impossible? Is there always a subconscious mind?" Lin Hong took the bronze mirror and tried it out in disbelief.

He found that the bronze mirror could not reflect the Eternal River.

Lin Hong was stunned.

When he was looking for the mirror of the past just now, he conveniently put the gossip compass by his hand.

But at this moment, he saw the compass spinning crazily from the corner of his eye!The spin was even stronger than when he was among the ghosts.

His master said that the most powerful ghosts can be no different from living people and cannot be seen at all.

Lin Hong looked at the gossip compass, and cold sweat broke out on his back.

Wan Guchuan's hand suddenly reached the wall behind him.

Lin Hong raised his eyes and met a pair of deep eyes, which were very close. Such a handsome face was too powerful.

Lin Hong's heart beat like a drum...

Wan Guchuan looked down at Lin Hong.

He wandered in the human world and in this mountain for 300 years without entering reincarnation, and his memory is blank.

He felt that he should have been a heinous villain during his lifetime, with deep resentment and monstrous ghost power, and all the ghosts in the mountain were afraid of him.

He may not only be evil, but also have deep obsessions, wandering around the world day after day, obviously seeking nothing, finding nothing...

But it seems to be waiting for someone.

Lin Hong wanted to retreat, but his back was already against the stone wall, and there was no way to retreat.

Wan Guchuan leaned down, his long hair slipped and brushed against the back of Lin Hong's hand, itching...

Lin Hong watched him approaching little by little.

The tip of his nose almost slid past his cheek, and stopped on the side of his neck that was injured, as if sniffing lightly.

Lin Hong held his breath, not daring to move.

"But I seem to remember you." Wan Guchuan's lips were close to his neck.

The breath was warm, and when it was blown on his neck, Lin Hong's mind suddenly rang, and half of his body went limp.

Wan Guchuan licked the side of his neck lightly - there was a small blood clot there, and the blood clot melted on his tongue.

Lin Hong's whole body froze, and a burst of numbness went straight to his lower abdomen... The reaction was not quite right...

However, Wan Guchuan didn't do anything else, stepped back a little distance, and stared at him with a pair of handsome eyes.

Lin Hong's mind went blank, he didn't know what Wan Guchuan was going to do, he didn't even know what he was going to do...

After watching him for a while, Wan Guchuan suddenly smiled.

There was another ringing in Lin Hong's head, his face began to feel hot, and he felt dizzy...Laughing, what are you laughing...Suddenly he smiled so softly...

"I remembered." Wan Guchuan said.

"W-what...you just remembered?" Lin Hong lost his mind, "Then, that's good..."

Wan Guchuan pointed to his injured shoulder, "The fire on your shoulder was eaten by that ghost."

"What fire?" Lin Hong touched his shoulder with one hand, and cast his eyes that had no place to rest into the distance, so that he felt a little slowed down... "Sanmai real fire?"

"Correct."

There is a lamp on the top of the person's head and on each shoulder. Taoists call it "Samadhi True Fire" to prevent ghosts.

"That's over...my master will scold me to death..." Lin Hong felt his shoulder hurt even more...

Wan Guchuan heard some movement and looked towards the forest outside the cave.Today's mountains and forests are not peaceful..."Let's go, I'll take you out."

"Now?" Lin Hong looked at him, "Shall we leave after dawn?"

"Go now."

Lin Hong had no choice but to pack up his things and follow Wan Guchuan.

His master warned him not to trust others easily, but he somehow believed in Wan Guchuan, even if he had just met him, even if he knew that he was a ghost, he couldn't explain why.

Lin Hong suffered from shoulder pain and poor vision at night, which made it very difficult for him to walk.

There were tall and low bushes growing on the ground, which looked black and gray. Lin Hong stared at the ground, struggling to get down.

Suddenly, someone took his hand.

The hand was dry, warm and strong.

Lin Hong was startled, and looked at Wan Guchuan beside him.

"Be careful." Wan Guchuan pulled him a little tighter, guiding him.

"Oh..." Lin Hong felt that he was about to cook, what was the matter...

The mountains and forests at night were already quiet, but they seemed even more gloomy amidst the hazy cries in the distance.

"I want to live...I want to live..." A weak voice suddenly sounded, "There are people alive! There are people alive!"

A black shadow suddenly rushed towards Lin Hong from the bushes! "Give me your body!"

Wan Guchuan grabbed his neck, and with a crisp sound, the human speech stopped abruptly.

Before Lin Hong could see the black shadow clearly, it had already dissipated into black mist...

Wan Guchuan dragged Lin Hong to continue walking as if nothing had happened.

Lin Hong glanced at him.This ghost is very strong, a ghost that I can never defeat... Either he has deep resentment or deep obsession...

Although a bit presumptuous, Lin Hong really wanted to know, "What do you remember?"

Wan Guchuan looked sideways at him, smiled, then turned his head and continued to look forward, "It's a very important thing, a very important person."

Lin Hong felt chilled when he heard "very important person", and said awkwardly, "Oh...that's really good..."

"Then what are your plans for the future?" Lin Hong looked at him, "Are you going to die?"

Wan Guchuan shook his head, "Follow him, I promised him."

Lin Hong knew that ghosts could indeed become human guardians.

"Okay." Lin Hong's heart felt cold, and he wanted to withdraw his hand, but Wan Guchuan grabbed it.

"Take safety." Wan Guchuan tightened his grip.

"Okay..." Lin Hong pursed his lips and sucked his nose.

One person and one ghost walked out of the forest. On the edge of the city, Lin Hong saw a shining river.

Thousands of river lanterns slowly drift along the river and gather here. A piece of lights in the night is like a piece of flowing moonlight, which is a road leading to the dark.

Every bright lamp carries the thoughts of the living on the dead, and in this yearning, the dead are eternal.

A few ghosts squatted by the river and rummaged through them.

"I found it, I found it! Mine!"

"Show me! I didn't even woo woo!"

"..."

Lin Hong suddenly wondered, is there a lamp for Wan Guchuan in here?

Anyway, there will be next time.

Outside the city gate, Wan Guchuan let go of his hand.

"Thank you." Lin Hong glanced at him, "Next time... can I see you again?"

"Anytime." Wan Guchuan said.

"Okay." Lin Hong smiled, his clear eyes filled with moonlight, "Then goodbye."

He turned and walked towards the city gate.

"Lin Hong." Wan Guchuan suddenly called him from behind.

Lin Hong was taken aback and stopped in his tracks.

The compass in his arms was spinning wildly.

Someone behind him is calling him.

No, a ghost is calling him.

Lin Hong rubbed his cuffs with his fingers.

Lin Hong closed his eyes, turned around, "Why..."

A kiss stopped him from speaking.

Lin Hong froze in place.

Wan Guchuan held his face, lowered his head and kissed his lips.

This kiss is very gentle and precious...

Lips parted.

With a smile in his eyes, Wan Guchuan stared down at him, "If you lose a fire, then I will guard you."

Lin Hong suddenly opened his eyes.

"Oh! My good apprentice! What's wrong with you!" He just opened his eyes when his master shouted away.

"Didn't I tell you?! During the Ghost Festival, don't touch ghosts casually! Don't touch them!" His master yelled frantically, "Why don't you listen! Ah? It's good now! I met a ghost with the same birthday, life and death Let's tie it together! What luck are you doing! I really admire you!"

"What?" Lin Hong just woke up in a daze, "Master, why are you here? - I didn't touch anyone? What is tied together?"

Lin Hong didn't know why his master was here, he seemed to be in an inn now, Wan Guchuan...Where is Wan Guchuan?

He suddenly remembered that kiss, and his face turned red...

What happened after that?

Why are you here?

"Master, why are you here?" Lin Hong looked at the only living person in the room besides himself.

"Don't worry about why I'm here!" His master blew his beard and stared in anger, "Say! Who did you touch? Who is life and death tied to!"

"What... tied together?" Lin Hong had indeed heard that during the Ghost Festival, ghosts are very powerful. If people and ghosts have the same birth date, they will be tied together when they meet life and death. .

Lin Hong was stunned for a moment, and suddenly remembered that he bumped into Wan Guchuan's back when he fainted, and there was a flash of light?

! !

This... so sloppy? ?

Thinking about it this way, no wonder Wan Guchuan wanted to save him... No wonder he asked his birthday when he woke up...

Uh, is this the reason... Then, that, why did you kiss him...

Lin Hong burst into tears, "Master, I lost one of my Samadhi True Fires, I am so miserable..."

His master glanced at him, "Where did you lose it? Didn't you lose it?"

"Ah?" Lin Hong pointed to his injured shoulder, "Are you sure you didn't lose it?"

The master looked at it for a while, then shook his head, "I haven't lost it."

Lin Hong couldn't figure it out, could it be that Wan Guchuan lied to him?

"But your fire is more intense than your other two fires." Master said.

Lin Hong didn't understand...why not only did he not throw it away, but it burned even more...

"I'm telling you!" The master pointed at him and roared angrily, "You'd better bring me back the ghost you bound with! If he passes away or is killed by another ghost, you are finished! I tell you!"

Lin Hong rubbed his ears.

On this day, Lin Hong did not find Wan Guchuan.

He didn't know what was going on.

too weird.

Life and death were tied to him.

He kisses himself.

The samadhi fire on his shoulders came back.

He is gone.

By myself at the inn.

Master is here.

"Alas..." Lin Hong sat on the balcony, looked at the night outside, and sighed deeply.

"Why are you sighing?" A deep voice suddenly sounded.

Lin Hong was startled.

The blue flames on his shoulders flashed and flew out, a tall and slender figure suddenly stood in front of him, handsome and impeccable.

Wan Guchuan raised an eyebrow at him.

The author has something to say:

This episode does not affect the plot of the main text~

Hungry Ghost Festival is the name of Taoism. It is called July Half, July [-], and Ancestor Worship Festival in folklore, and it is called Ulan Basin Festival in Buddhism.

Festival customs mainly include offering sacrifices to ancestors, releasing river lanterns, offering sacrifices to dead souls, burning paper ingots, offering sacrifices to the land, etc.

This festival is a cultural and traditional festival to remember the ancestors, and its cultural core is to respect ancestors and do filial piety.

Here we set Lin Hong as a Taoist priest and Wan Guchuan as a ghost

Note 1:

Repeat the same way, come and go in seven days, and the sky will go: "Zhouyi · Shangjing · Fu".

"Seven" is a changing number, the number of resurrection.Seven is the number of yang and the number of days. After the yang energy between heaven and earth is extinct, it can be resurrected after seven days. This is the way of heaven and earth, and the principle of the cycle of yin and yang. Seven" is related to the resurrection number.The Taoist Zhongyuan Festival and the Buddhist Obon Festival are set on July [-]th.