hell in disguise

Tan Yangzi's "home" in the world is on a sandbar with dense willow trees on the north bank of Bianhe River outside Bianliang City. There are three small huts surrounded by a circle of bamboo fences.There is a group of chickens and ducks in the garden, and there is a small vegetable field behind the garden. The land is not big, but it is enough for self-sufficiency.On weekdays, when Tan Yangzi was not in the world, Yan Fei took care of the vegetable garden and the chickens and ducks.There aren't many people around here, so Yan Fei doesn't have many friends, and the few acquaintances who happen to be acquainted are also the sons of farmers, and they don't have many common languages.So most of the time, Yan Fei had nothing to do, so he went to study the few books written in hell language left by Tan Yangzi.Unexpectedly, he was so clever by nature that he gradually learned four characters of the Eight Great Hells.

Tan Yangzi stayed in hell for a long time this time, and has not returned here for a month.The yard looked unchanged, it was well cleaned, firewood was neatly piled up by the kitchen wall, and a bunch of corn and garlic hung beside the door.Two big white geese were swinging leisurely in the yard, eating the grains sprinkled on the ground.A luxuriant willow tree across the wall hangs long green silk ribbons, bringing a fresh breath of spring.

As soon as he entered the door, Yan Fei took the whisk and the Zhanye sword from Tan Yangzi's hands thoughtfully and thoughtfully, and skillfully hung them on the special place in the inner room.Then he ran to the kitchen to boil hot water to make tea, looking very excited from the busy schedule.Tan Yangzi sat down on the chair, rested his feet, and beat his sore calf.Although the practice of longevity can make this body age four to five times slower than ordinary people, but after all, nearly 90 years old is still different from the age when he was in his early 20s. The image of Master Yan was also embarrassed to show fatigue in front of Yan Fei. At this time, while Yan Fei was not looking, he was finally able to show a real grinning expression when rubbing the muscles of his legs.

Looking around, everything in the house is as usual, and there is a newly picked peach blossom in the porcelain vase on the table, adding some spring colors to the slightly shabby house.He sneered, thinking that this kid was quite romantic, he picked up Yan Fei's half-read book and flipped through it.

The "Alaya Consciousness 48 Theory" is about how to dig out the eighth consciousness of different levels. Obviously, I have read it more than once, and the pages are wrinkled.

"Master! Drink tea!" Yan Fei excitedly brought the tea tray, picked up an empty porcelain cup that had just been washed, and poured it for him.The tea is not good tea, but the light color of amber is filled with a clear aroma, which smells good.Tan Yangzi took a sip from the tea bowl and heard Yan Fei ask him, "Master, what do you want for lunch today? Shall I make it?"

Tan Yangzi glanced at him, "Didn't you just have breakfast?"

"But you didn't eat a bite?"

"Just get whatever you want."

"Then shall we eat radish noodles and steamed eggplant?"

"can."

Yan Fei ran to the kitchen in a hurry.Looking at his increasingly tall and straight back, Tan Yangzi felt a faint sense of satisfaction in his heart.

When he was picked up at the beginning, he was still so young, like a wolf cub, everyone was on guard, ready to bite at any time.Ten years have passed in a flash, and now that he is more sensible, he can cook for him.

It's just that I can't stay in the human world forever, so I often have to leave him alone in this garden.Fortunately, ten days in hell is one day in the world, and generally he would not leave for too long.It wasn't until Yan Fei grew up in recent years that it took him longer to go back.But Yan Fei didn't seem very happy about it.I still remember that when he was 16 years old, he left the world for the first time for a month. After he came back, Yan Fei didn’t talk to him for three days. He might be intimidated by him.Even if you pull yourself down to buy crisp cheese and candied fruit to coax him, you won't be able to coax him well.For Yan Fei, who has always been obedient and well-behaved, it was simply against the common sense. In the end, Tan Yangzi had nothing to do, so he left in a fit of anger. After catching the ghosts, he went straight back to hell, and came back after about half a month.

As a result, Yan Fei got better for no reason, and was more sensible than before.Tan Yangzi classified it as a rebellion in Yan Fei's adolescence, and didn't mention it anymore.

But it seems that Yan Fei started to become popular and impermanent since that time?

Before noon, Yan Fei set up a table of dishes, all of which were vegetarian.In order to maintain this body for a longer time, Tan Yangzi practiced the longevity technique, so he needed Su Su, but he never asked Yan Fei to be with him.But Yan Fei didn't seem to mind at all, he ate the same thing as him every time, and even made the vegetarian dishes as delicious as the meat dishes in different ways.

Tan Yangzi tasted the pickled bamboo shoots with a chopstick, and the taste was unusually delicious, and the corners of his mouth curved slightly in satisfaction.Seeing that he seemed to like it very much, Yan Fei became happier and picked up his bowl and chopsticks.The two ate quietly for a while, and Yan Fei asked, "Master, is the sandalwood jade we saw in your illusion earlier, your senior brother when you were young?"

Tan Yangzi glanced at him, feeling a little unhappy.He knew that Yan Fei would definitely ask about what he saw in his fantasy...

"Ah."

"You have a good relationship with him?"

Tan Yangzi raised his eyebrows, "The thorny heart ghosts are all people who I feel more or less jealous in my heart, why do you think I have a good relationship with him?"

"Because when you saw him, the surrounding light became softer. And if you had a bad relationship with him, I'm afraid you would have left that illusion long ago. After all, you said at the time that he was very nice to you in the illusion. Well, it means that you have many chances to kill him, so there is no need for me to help you. But you didn't do it, which means that you knew that it was an illusion, and that he was most likely to be the Thorny Ghost, but you still couldn't bear to kill him. Presumably that Spicy Heart Ghost took a liking to this, so he became like him."

Tan Yangzi didn't like that Yan Fei practiced Hong Wuchang's tricks of analyzing his heart on him, so he turned cold, "If you have time to think about this, don't you have time to spend more time in Guanyi's head? If Guanyi is crazy Now, do you know how much trouble I'm going to get into?"

Yan Fei pursed his mouth in embarrassment, and lowered his head to pick rice into his mouth.Seeing his grievance, Tan Yangzi felt that there was nothing to hide, so he ate a piece of bamboo shoots and said lightly, "It's just that I admired him more before I recovered my memory when I was a child. Later, when I grew up, I grew up. separated."

"Why are you divided when you grow up?" Yan Fei raised his head in confusion.

Tan Yangzi sighed, and said, "Maybe my personality was not very good at that time, which made him uncomfortable."

Speaking of which, is Tan Yu his first love in this life?To be treated by the first love as a gloomy and wretched weirdo secretly lusting after him is really a failure experience...

That's right, Tan Yangzi prefers men to women.It's just that he didn't understand what kind of emotion it was before he recovered his memory, and later he understood what the dull pain like being torn from the heart after overhearing Tan Yu's words and the bitterness that made it difficult to sleep that night were all about.

It is not uncommon for men to fall in love with men, but it is deviant after all in the world.But since Tan Yangzi is a ghost messenger from hell, he naturally doesn't care about the rules of the world.

"Nonsense!" Yan Fei said angrily, "Master, although you look fierce, you are so gentle and cute and tall and handsome, why should he be uncomfortable!"

Tan Yangzi almost spat out a mouthful of noodles... Gentle? !cute? !

"You're getting more and more young, kid." Tan Yangzi said seriously, "No wonder the school came back after less than a year. How can a gentleman suppress you..."

"I didn't go by myself." Yan Fei said disdainfully, "That old man doesn't understand anything, he just knows some big principles. If you ask him why one way is right or the other is wrong, he will just tell you Some ancient sages said so. Is it true that what the sages said must be right? A sage is also a human being, so he won’t make mistakes?”

Seeing Yan Fei's righteous expression, Tan Yangzi sneered.I think that old gentleman who is very famous in the whole Xibianliang would be very angry if he heard Yan Fei judge him like this...

After lunch, Yan Fei packed up the dishes and came back, and saw Tan Yangzi put a black candle, a worn-out porcelain bowl, and three chopsticks on the table.Yan Fei knew what it was for at a glance. After all, he had read about elementary formations such as Corpse Candle Formation in the introductory textbooks that Hongwuchang practiced, and he had seen Tan Yangzi use that kind of formation more than once. The strange-smelling black candle was kept in a locked cupboard in the study.

In fact, Yan Fei could have quietly picked the lock and secretly used the candle to practice the arrangement of the corpse candle array. For him who can even learn the dream technique, this basic spell could not be easier.

But Tan Yangzi told him not to open the cabinet, so he really never opened it.

Tan Yangzi said to him, "On the first day, I will teach you something simple. You should already know the corpse candle array."

Yan Fei couldn't restrain the excitement in his expression, and nodded vigorously, "Before the sun sets, the yang energy in the human world is too strong, and the ghosts can't see the evil spirits hidden in the mortal body, so use the corpse candle array to let your five senses enter the bardo world Let's investigate. Ordinary corpse candle arrays can last half an hour to an hour, but candles made of corpse oil extracted from ancient corpses over a century can last eight to twelve hours."

Tan Yangzi nodded in satisfaction, "Very well, then do you know why in the bardo realm you can see creatures from hell and the human world at the same time?"

"Because among the six realms, the human realm where human beings live, the bardo realm where little ghosts live, and the hell realm where evil spirits live are almost completely coincident. Therefore, it is the easiest one to enter, but also the most unstable one.”

Tan Yangzi handed the porcelain bowl to Yan Fei, "Go and fill a bowl of uncooked rice."

Yan Fei did as he did, and when he came back, he saw that Tan Yangzi had already held the Zhanye Sword in his hand.

"In addition to the corpse candle, this bowl of rice and the three chopsticks are used to worship the little ghosts in the bardo, so that they will not hinder us when we do things. This is the way of hell and the middle world. Before lighting the candles, prepare the rice, and insert the three chopsticks vertically without any skew. At the same time, recite the mantra of passing away three times.” Tan Yangzi said, and handed him the three chopsticks , "The attitude should be respectful, what attitude you have when you go to the temple to offer incense to Sanqing, and what attitude you should have at this time. After you finish these, light the candles."

Yan Fei followed suit one by one, and finally, with great excitement, blew on the torch and carefully lit the black candle.

However nothing happened.

Tan Yangzi was not angry either, and directly blew out the black candle and threw it aside, then took out another candle from his sleeve and handed it to Yan Fei, "Come again."

After coming three times in a row, Yan Fei chanted the reincarnation mantra until his voice became hoarse, but he still couldn't get the point.Obviously there is nothing wrong with every step, why?Shouldn't such a simple spell really be right?

Seeing that Yan Fei was annoyed about his duties, Tan Yangzi said, "Don't worry, this kind of thing is like learning to swim. Even if you know all the movements, you still need to find the feeling to learn."

Yan Fei let out an ah, and asked again, "How long will it take to find the feeling?"

"Everyone is different." Tan Yangzi said in a low and flat voice, "Some impermanent candidates can't find the feeling for a lifetime, so they can only be an alternate forever. You are human, and your yang energy is stronger than those impermanent candidates. Much heavier, don't be too optimistic."

"...Master, you are not comforting me at all..."

"Well, not at all."

"..." Yan Fei secretly rolled his eyes, his father was indeed looking for various opportunities to discourage his enthusiasm for becoming Hong Wuchang.But after all, he has been with Tan Yangzi for ten years. If he can't pass this little test, how can he be a man that Master can rely on in the future? !

Adhering to this spirit of not admitting defeat, Yan Fei tried again and again, changing more than a dozen bowls of rice, and his voice became hoarse.Tan Yangzi sat on the side and mended a pair of Yan Fei's ripped trousers, then played chess with himself for a while, and then looked for a book from the study.Before the sun set, a strange and strong fragrance finally released from the unpleasant smell of corpses in the room, and the rose-colored sunset glow that was scattered in the yard suddenly cooled down, and a faint mist shrouded in from all directions, and the water in the distance The sound of the dogs, the barking of dogs in the village, and the grunting of chickens and ducks in the yard all stopped abruptly.

Yan Fei let out a cheer, almost jumped up, and shouted childishly: "It's done!!!!"

Tan Yangzi glanced at the dozen or so wasted candles on the ground next to him, feeling a little distressed.He sighed, put down the book in his hand and picked up the sword, "Let's go, go outside and have a look. I remind you in advance that some people may have some adverse reactions when they see the scene outside."

"Adverse reactions?"

As Tan Yangzi spoke, the corners of his mouth twitched faintly, and his expression narrowed, "Well, mild symptoms include nausea, vomiting, and loss of appetite, and severe symptoms include fainting or going crazy."