hell in disguise

In April, over Bianliang, there is a mist-like light rain, soaking the leaves of the elms and willows planted on the long street to become more and more emerald and jade-like. Rows of green and black eaves tiles and whitewashed white walls In the rain, there is a little more remoteness and loneliness, and the bustle and bustle of the city day and night has also been diluted a lot.

Although it was raining lightly, the gate of the Xiangguo Temple with green tiles and red walls was still densely packed with stalls selling chickens, ducks, cats, dogs and other livestock.There are also two rows of stalls behind the open temple gate, filled with a wide variety of commodities.People hold oil-paper umbrellas and walk back and forth between the stalls, bargaining and chatting with the stall owners, carrying large and small bags in their hands.

Xiangguo Temple is open to the public for five days every month. During these five days, Xiangguo Temple is probably the most lively place in Bianliang.

A Taoist in Tsing Yi without an umbrella walked slowly through the crowd.His face was handsome and deep, he looked about thirty or so, but his hair was already white.There was no crown on the hair, only a green jade hairpin.He was dressed in a blue Taoist uniform, tall and broad-shouldered, carrying a package and a thick and simple bronze sword on his back, and holding a plain whisk in his left hand.

He didn't shop around for goods like other people. He went straight through the three gates and didn't stop until the Daxiong Hall. He advanced three sticks of incense at the majestic Sakyamuni statue, and then walked slowly to the sitting hall. The monk behind the seat at the door.

The monk guarding the temple, named Yuanheng, is a young monk who is about 20 years old.When the Taoist came in just now, he felt that this man had an extraordinary appearance, and he was carrying a sword on his back, which was very novel in his heart.Now seeing that the Taoist came over to him, he quickly stood up.

The Taoist stood still in front of him, clasped his right index finger and thumb in a seal on his chest, and bowed slightly to salute.The little monk hurriedly put his palms together to return the salute, "Where does the real person come from?"

The Taoist said, "The name is Tanyangzi, and it comes from the east."

Hearing his deep and steady voice, the little monk felt an indescribable awe in his heart, "The little monk's name is Yuan Heng. I wonder if the real person is wandering here, or is he here to visit friends?"

"It's not traveling in the clouds, and it's not visiting friends." The Taoist who called himself Tan Yangzi suddenly changed the subject and asked, "Dare to ask, is there anything unusual in the temple within a month?"

When he asked such a question, Yuan Heng's face suddenly changed.But soon he waved his hands with a bit of embarrassment, "Anomaly? Nothing abnormal. How can a real person ask such a question?"

Tan Yangzi said, "The so-called abnormal person is any small thing in life that does not follow the cause and effect. For example, hearing a sound that should not exist, or picking up an object that should not exist, or seeing something that should not exist. The people who were there, or the things or people that were originally there, are gone. Are there any of these situations?"

Yuan Heng muttered.

Seeing his hesitation, the Taoist said patiently again, "If you don't say anything now, the situation will only get worse in the future. If it gets out of hand in the end, I'm afraid Xiangguo Temple, a blessed place of Fengshui, will be wiped out."

When Yuan Heng heard this, his heart trembled.In fact, there were indeed some weird things in the temple these two days.But the abbot didn't allow rumors to spread, saying that it was an ostomy industry, so he didn't dare to talk about it rashly.It's just that this Taoist's eyes were stern and there was a hint of sharpness, and his tone was firm, almost as if he was sure that there was something weird here, so he wondered if the other party was a Maoshan Taoist with some experience in ghost hunting.Although the abbot of their temple is very knowledgeable, he has never bothered to believe the gossip of ghosts, and ignores those strange things. In the end, it is not the low-level monks like them who are unlucky... It is better to let this Taoist listen.

"Actually... there are indeed some strange things..."

To trace the source, these strange things started about a month ago.That night Yuanheng returned to the monk's room after washing, and read the scriptures for a while before getting under the blanket.Yuan Jing, the junior brother in the same room, has already fallen asleep.Nights in monasteries are usually more secluded than elsewhere, even a temple like Xiangguo Temple, which is full of incense, is no exception.Except for the occasional carriages and horses passing by outside the temple, there is no other sound around, so even a little wind and grass can be clearly discerned.

Yuan Heng's bed was facing a window, and the shadow of the ancient locust tree outside the window was reflected in the screen, only swaying gently with the night wind.Yuan Heng watched the tree shadow swaying every day, his eyelids became heavier and he would soon fall into a dream.But that night, he had just slipped to the edge of the dream when he was pulled back into waking consciousness by a rustling sound.

In the darkness, he heard someone chanting sutras.

It's about four o'clock, what's wrong with Yuanjing in the middle of the night?Yuan Heng straightened his body and looked at Yuan Jing's bed, but he saw Yuan Jing sleeping soundly with his head covered. Although he didn't snore, his breathing was long and long, and he didn't show any signs of getting up.

But the sound of chanting is still floating in the dark room like an undercurrent of dark wind, the sound is not loud, but it is blurred and difficult to distinguish the direction, and... as if it is right next to the ear...

Thinking of this, Yuan Heng fought a cold war.

Is there... another person in this room?

He quickly got up and looked around the room carefully.Their monk's dormitory is not big, basically only squeezed two beds, a wooden wardrobe, and a wooden shelf for washing and hanging clothes.He gently opened the door of the closet, and it was full of monk clothes, bedding, mosquito nets and the like. There was no room for Tibetans.

Relieved, he lay back on the bed again, his eyelids became heavy again.Even the muffled and indistinct sound of chanting sutras seemed a little far away.

"Let me in."

Yuan Heng suddenly woke up.

The sentence just now seemed to be whispered in his ear.The fluff on his ears can even sense breathing.

Yuan Heng turned his head suddenly, and through the faint moonlight, he saw Yuan Jing facing him on the opposite bed, kneeling and sitting upright on the bed, with his eyes wide open, staring at him expressionlessly.

Yuan Heng backed away in fright, stuck to the wall behind him, and cursed, "Why are you so crazy if you don't sleep in the middle of the night!"

But Yuanjing didn't speak, and still looked at him with that expressionless expression for a while, then suddenly lay down again, and after a while, let out a faint snoring sound again.

Is it sleepwalking?

Did Yuan Jing say that sentence just now?But Yuan Jingming sat on the bed, but those words seemed to be in his ears...

After being woken up twice like this, Yuan Heng couldn't fall asleep anyway, and kept his eyes open until dawn.I thought it might be that night, but I didn't expect that three days later, Yuan Heng woke up again around midnight.

The moonlight was dim that night, and the darkness was thicker than before. The wind was blowing outside the window, but I could still hear the rustling sound of chanting that I heard three days ago.

The shadow of the tree outside the window is still shaking, but when I look at it, I always feel that it is different from the past... It seems that there are more branches?

And the way those twigs sway is also a little bit of a concern.At first I couldn't tell what was wrong, but after watching it for a long time, I gradually discovered something creepy...

The way those branches swayed was too deliberate, not as if they were being blown by the wind, but rather... something very thin and long was deliberately swinging and twisting its limbs, imitating the branches...

Inexplicable fear surged, Yuan Heng covered his head with the quilt.In the darkness, he could only hear his own breathing and heartbeat, but the fast heartbeat still couldn't calm him down.

In the room, there is a strange atmosphere, and there is also a faint smell.

Yuan Heng thought it was Yuan Jing farting at first, but the smell was too strange, it was like the stench of rotting food that had been left for a long time.

Before dawn, Yuan Heng finally started to feel sleepy.But at this moment, he heard that whisper again.

"Let me in."

After a few days like this, Yuan Heng's spirit became worse and worse, so he told his master Master Guan Yi about this matter.Only then did he realize that there were several other seniors who also heard the sound of chanting sutras and saw strange shadows, but after asking around, no one had chanted sutras in the middle of the night.One or two brothers who were physically weak even fell ill because of this, and the spirits of the others were getting worse day by day.

Master Guanyi told the abbot Master Guanyun about this matter, but the abbot didn't take it seriously, thinking that some good monks deliberately caused trouble, and forbade the monks to spread the matter in private.Everyone had no choice but to keep silent.However, the situation did not improve. In the middle of the month, one night Yuanjing suddenly got up in the middle of the night, opened the door, but didn't go out, just stood at the door and looked out.Yuan Heng, who was in a drowsy sleep, asked him what he was watching in the middle of the night, but Yuan Jing asked him back, "Didn't you hear someone knock on the door just now?"

Yuan Heng was puzzled, "No?"

Yuanjing let out an oh, and then went back to sleep.But since that night, Yuanjing's whole person has become very strange, he doesn't talk to him very much, and when he speaks, he becomes eccentric.He even heard that Yuan Jing was arranging his bad news with another monk behind his back.Yuanjing had the best relationship with him in the past, but now it seems like he has been possessed by a demon, and they will quarrel after a few words.And it's not just Yuanjing. In the past half month, there have been frequent troubles in the temple, frequent disputes between monks, and three or four incidents of mobilizing hands in a row, more frequent than the past two years combined, and all because of some Trifles.The host seemed to be very angry and severely punished those monks who did it.But even so, the atmosphere in Xiangguo Temple has been depressed recently, and it seems that an invisible string is tense among the monks, as if it will break at any time.

In addition, there is also the rotten smell that follows everywhere, like tarsal maggots, floating in the nose all the time.There are huts, scripture halls, and meditation rooms.Yuan Heng heard from Yuan Qing, a young monk who works in the kitchen, that the vegetables in the kitchen are rotting very quickly these days. Sometimes the cabbage that was bought the day before has already grown thick green hairs the next day. There were also maggots, and they were covered with spots of mildew.

Tan Yangzi listened to Yuan Heng's eloquent account of all this, and snorted softly, looking at the compassionate face of the Buddha statue, "The ghost is indeed here."