Mysterious Martial Arts: The Record of the Swordsman

Chapter 169

The night wind shook the chill all over the ground, and the thin clothes were even more unstoppable in the middle of the night, so that even the body seemed to be covered with a layer of frost, and I felt indescribably uncomfortable.

Just now the ghostly house was in front of her, Yuan Ziyi no longer had the idea to explore again, and she didn't know why Jiang Wen had to come here in the dark, face to face with these frustrating things.

Bronze boats on the sea, underwater dragon ghosts, strange corpses in the hall, long men in sackcloth, these strange stories from the village linger in her mind, and also lurk and wander in the middle of the night, as if a fluffy thin claw will protrude from the darkness at any time, Pounce on yourself from an invisible corner.

Yuan Ziyi refused to admit that he was frightened, but he couldn't help but have his own thoughts.

At the beginning, she chose to walk at the back, so that she could see the two people in front at any time, which brought a sense of security.But soon, she noticed that there was a rustling sound following behind her. If you are fast, it will be fast, and if you are slow, it will be slow. With malice and insidiousness, it seems to be following her in an invisible manner without stopping. .

So she quickened her pace again, surpassing the two people in front and walking in front of the team. She seemed to lead the way fearlessly, and soon came to the door of the house she was familiar with before.

But this time, she only felt disturbing strange shadows hanging on the rustling branches of the dense trees in the front and back of the house.In the season when the cold insects are dead, there is only the waning moon, which is as light as mist, which seems to be shining but not shining. An unrecognizable residual dream.

Yuan Ziyi ignored the open door and deliberately made a gesture of going to the backyard to investigate, so that he could avoid the appalling black coffin in the hall and avoid the heartfelt disgust brought by death.

"It's a coffin!"

Yuan Ziyi took two steps towards the back of the house, and suddenly backed away quickly with an exclamation, as if bumping into something extremely unexpected, and hid directly behind Yan Yongchun.

When Yan Wingchun heard the sound, he was alerted instantly, his body rose like an electric shock, and he twisted to the left with three joints and nine knuckles. His left arm protruded out like a knife, ready to fight the enemy with fist strength at any time, facing the unpredictable with cold eyes. the dark place.

Jiang Wen went up two steps ahead, and instantly saw the black shadow crouching on the edge of the courtyard wall distorted and dim, like a frightening shadow in a deep pool and deep spring.

"Don't be nervous, you read it wrong. That's not a coffin, it's clearly a wooden plank used on a ship."

In the dark environment, Yuan Ziyi obviously mistook the black lacquered sampan in the backyard for a coffin leaning against the wall of the courtyard, and instantly thought of many disturbing things. Startled.

Jiang Wen stepped forward and knocked on the shell of the ship plank, and found that the keel of the ship plank was hard, the grain was straight, it touched like jade, and the buckle was like iron. It was obviously a high-quality anti-corrosion wood, but the color was not so good auspicious.

Yuan Ziyi poked his head out slowly, and after peeking at the yard, the unnaturalness in his expression gradually subsided, but his tone was still a little bit of disbelief, and he couldn't help but look twice more.

"This... the color is too similar!"

Jiang Wen frowned and thought for a while, then added.

"Well, you may be right about one thing. This ship plank and the coffin in the house may really be made of the same kind of wood that is resistant to decay and decay."

The boats used by the living are made of the same materials and the same color as the coffins of the dead. Zhangqiugang Village does not know why there is such a custom, but it reminds Jiang Wen of the boat coffins in Wuyi Mountains. It feels like going home. .

It's a pity that the faint stench in the room interrupted the association. Obviously, after being stored for several days, the drowned body will inevitably decay and rot even in the cold winter. The burial is already an imminent thing.

"Master Jiang, I think it's better not to act rashly in this house."

Yan Yongchun said with a little worry, "The villagers say that the ghost appeared for the first time from this room, and Ziyi also encountered a ghost here, which means that there must be something wrong inside, and it is not suitable to enter directly."

In order to strengthen persuasion, Yan Wing Chun also deliberately expressed his own experience, "I have checked many times during the day before, and I just feel dizzy."

Yuan Ziyi quickly echoed: "Yes, I also think there is nothing to stay in this ghostly place. If you are not willing to be reconciled, head Jiang, you might as well go to the riverside to check."

But Jiang Wen's attitude was extremely firm, and he deliberately said in a relaxed and teasing tone: "Miss Yan, don't worry, you'll be fine, it's okay if you can't go through the main entrance, we can go in in another direction."

Since ancient times, life and death have been separated, and the spring and the soil are not connected, so fear will be born, fear will be born, and pity will be born from fear, and compassion will be born out of desperation.Buddhism also has a method called the practice of the Bone Contemplation, which is one of the five Zen methods of Buddhism. It usually enters the bones from the impurity, and the purpose is to extinguish the lust for the body.But in the eyes of ordinary people, facing the dead body will only have the idea of ​​retreating.

Jiang Wen also thought about it. Compared with the idea of ​​extinguishing deep lust, perhaps the concept of white bones is a way to see through the great horror, and this horror comes from the famous "uncanny valley effect".

Dead bodies were once members of humanity, sufficiently anthropomorphic as entities in the uncanny valley that they could even be mistaken for members of the human species when static.

But when people observe unconsciously, they will find flaws, such as bruised blood vessels, rotting flesh, collapsed skin, and breeding maggots. Then, unintentionally, these abnormal human-like characteristics will appear in the human gene pool A potential shock, sounding a warning to observers.

This is true for corpses, so why is it not true for things like "ghosts"?At least they all look human without being human.

The harsh scratching of fingernails can cause inner revulsion and discomfort, precisely because this sound was once used by ancient apes struggling to survive in dense forests to convey danger signals.

As for the uncanny valley effect on humanoid creatures, this kind of fear deeply embedded in genes is so specific that Buddhism, which is well versed in human nature, has to use methods to restrain it, and will this mean that in the process of human evolution , we had to avoid an existence that looked like a human being but was extremely dangerous...

The three stayed for a while, and finally entered the village house.

Zhangqiugang Village is not barren, and the village is also in the traditional form of "three rooms and two corridors" in Lingnan. The arrangement is very neat. From the plane, it is a symmetrical courtyard layout. And patio, so it is called "three rooms and two corridors".

The history of houses like this can be traced back to the Han tomb artifacts unearthed in the suburbs of Guangzhou, which is obviously the product of the integration of Han culture into Lingnan.

Jiang Wen opened the back door first, and found that the yard in front of him was a single-story structure, with the hall in the center, rooms on both sides, and a kitchen and utility room on both sides of the patio.

But when I opened the firewood door and looked, the things stored inside were empty, and the charcoal ash in the stove was full of moisture, only the pots, pans and pans were left here because they left in a hurry, but they were all covered with a cloud. layer of dust.

A faint stench lingers over Zhangqiugang Village, so that the originally bright moonlight begins to dim, as if separated by a layer of tulle, it is impossible to see clearly. There is no fog at the end of the village road, but there always seems to be fog. Something is wandering around.

Jiang Wen decided to enter through the back door, and Yuan Ziyi followed behind, and the three followed each other into the empty hall. There was nothing to see except the shaking shadow of the oil lamp, but they could already be seen through the door. In the corner of the black lacquered coffin, the sound of dripping water under the feet still sounded slowly throughout the night, dripping on the hard and messy ground.

"The corpse will be poisonous if left for a long time. I'll just go up and have a look. Don't get too close."

Jiang Wen first confessed, then covered his mouth and nose with his hands, and slowly looked at the dead body with bulging eyes in the black lacquered coffin.

It seemed to contain great resentment and anger, so that its eyes were full of anger, and its pale pupils were fixed on the position of the top of the beam, continuously and rigidly maintaining the appearance of exhaling its last breath before death.

"Miss Yan, when were these villagers salvaged?"

Jiang Wen looked intently and asked suddenly.

Yan Yongchun looked at the corpse vigilantly, and whispered: "About five days ago. I couldn't salvage it until five days ago. It was a pity that the body was completely damaged, as if it was bitten by some aquarium..."

The soaked white corpse had already begun to swell, and the exposed skin was broken. Jiang Wen did find that the corpse was covered with scars, and there were even a few deep wounds. The bones were winding on the arms, chest and abdomen, which easily reminded people of minions. The ferocious underwater dragons lurk in the dark seabed, devouring their flesh and blood hungrily.

External fear is internalized in the heart, and it will become a ghost that cannot be found in the dark.

You must know that the ancients were not so superstitious that they were full of foolish opinions and ghosts and foxes in their hearts. At least Wang Mingqing of the Song Dynasty expressed it very clearly in "Tou Jue Lu": "Thunderbolt, lightning, heavy rain, strong wind, surging waves, dragon It can be said that it is strange to see Jiaoshui! Because they have eyes to read, and they are accustomed to it, it is different. I don’t think it’s the case for Chuanzhi’s biography, do you think so?”

Ordinary things are never seen as strange, and ordinary principles are hard to be called ghosts and gods. When they see things that are completely unexplainable by the knowledge system, they will feel fear and stay away from them, and then respectfully record them on paper.

Song Confucian Wang Mingqing traced the undeniable nature of ghosts from the two dimensions of natural phenomena and historical narratives, while contemporary Zhu Xi sought out the concept of ghosts and gods and the authenticity of ghosts in question-and-answer sessions with students, so as to prevent people from falling into A vicious circle of bottomless suspicion.

But what is interesting is that, on the one hand, Zhu Xi kept persuading the students that "ghosts and gods are the second work, and the invisible ones are hard to understand." The pamphlet says that it is not credible to tell people about it, you have to see it yourself." Zhu Xi retorted, "It's just that you have never seen it."

According to Jiang Wen's conjecture, when Zhu Xi said this, he must still be thinking about those strange things and immortals on Wuyi Mountain.

"Look, the bones and flesh between his upper and lower arms are torn apart, and they are crumbling, with only a few strands of flesh connecting them. They should have been torn apart by the wind and waves in the water. There must have been a strong undercurrent on the bottom of the sea that day."

The corpse is the last words of the dead. If you ignore these clues, you will waste the truth that is right in front of you.Jiang Wen leaned over the side of the coffin, carefully inspecting the traces of the corpse, ignoring the hideous appearance, and slowly ascertained some things.

"This dead body died of drowning. At least he escaped the suspicion of murder. His direct cause of death was drowning. Compared with other disasters at sea, there is nothing unusual about it."

The disenchantment of the dead is itself a very simple matter.

First of all, the cause of death of the corpse was drowning and wind and waves. Although the wounds on the body were horrific, it could still be seen that they were caused by sharp reefs.

Secondly, the time that the corpse was soaked in water did not seem to be as long as Yan Wing Chun said.The shipwreck tragedy was said to have happened ten days ago, and it took five days to salvage it, but this corpse does not seem to have experienced such a long time at all. On the contrary, it is fresh and strange. It is because of this that it is considered to be resentful and stiff. An incorruptible horror.

In the end, Jiang Wen didn't think that such an ordinary corpse had the ability to scare the whole village into a state of panic, let alone make Yan Wing Chun tense up as soon as he entered the house, and his Wing Chun posture never relaxed for a moment. .

"Miss Yan, tell me honestly, have you seen other strange things here?"

Yan Yongchun and Yuan Ziyi were originally standing on the left side of the coffin facing the gate, only one step behind Jiang Wen.At this time, Jiang Wen, who was doing the autopsy carefully, suddenly turned his head and looked in the direction of the two of them. Yuan Ziyi was startled, thinking that something appeared behind him, and looked behind him as if frightened.

"Sect Leader Jiang really has sharp eyes, and things are just as you said..."

Yan Wing Chun sighed slightly, but his expression seemed to let go of some invisible burden, and he finally told what he had seen and heard a few days ago.

"At Zishi three days ago, I ran into a ghoul in the village. I was opening the door to go out, but I felt that it was pitch black outside the door, and I could neither see the road nor the lights. A face that looks like a living person, staring at me uncertainly."

Yan Wing Chun pointed to the main entrance, explaining why he didn't want to go in and out, "The ghost is as bulky as a pile of cotton, and the top almost overflows the courtyard wall. Its abdomen protrudes like a gourd, and it has a vague human face. I swung my palm, but it was just like hitting the air, and it also squirmed, and suddenly disappeared in the next alley, and I couldn't find it anymore."

When Yan Yongchun said this, his body trembled a little unnaturally, he had already doubted his own beliefs, and he was even more confused about the idea that he had been looking forward to creating boxing techniques and saving the weak from danger.

Others may not understand, but Jiang Wen is very aware of this feeling, this kind of martial arts, swordsmanship like a god, facing barbarians, Xi Zhi can only rely on the lonely courage in his chest to move forward and walk alone Walking on eggshells.

"Miss Yan, martial arts can't solve all problems, but martial arts is your own path. If you don't go, no one can help you go on."

Jiang Wen looked at Yan Wing Chun's haggard face, his eyes were full of firmness and encouragement.

No wonder he always felt that Yan Wing Chun's demeanor was a bit weird.Yan Yongchun is smart enough and firm enough, so she has already touched the boundary of martial arts in advance. This can't be said to be a good thing, but it can't be said to be a bad thing either. What she lacks is the will to swing desperately.

Ever since he entered the ancient temple of the South China Sea, Jiang Wen noticed that the atmosphere inside it was abnormal. Some kind of extremely depressive and extremely sensitive factors were affecting people's perception, so that even Yuan Ziyi, who had just arrived, would have hallucinations under the influence , Saw something strange in Zhangqiugang Village.

The eerie atmosphere is so pervasive that even relying on the protection of the gods of the ancient temple, the villagers still cannot get relief from it.Their hearts at this moment should be mixed with the anxiety of the death of their relatives and the attack of nightmares. They are huddled in the deserted ancient temple in the middle of the night. Even Yan Yongchun is on the verge of the limit and may fall into the same collapse at any time.

The current situation can still be controlled by Yan Yongchun's force, but if this continues, the future situation can be foreseen.This phenomenon often appeared in ancient wars. Although the frequency of occurrence is not high, once it occurs, it will affect the entire battle situation
That is Yingxiao.

The so-called battalion roar refers to the nervousness of the sergeants, and the whole battalion suddenly becomes excited, collapses, and collapses thousands of miles away.In severe cases, people will kill each other in a dazed way until they die. Because they do not distinguish between friends and foes at night, and it is easy to have jittery situations, camp screams often occur at night, which can also be called night terrors.

Sometimes, it is not true that the more people, the better.

Judging from Jiang Wen's conversation just now, even the most knowledgeable and experienced elders in this village are still full of weird superstitions and taboos in Jiangwan Ancient Village, and they maintain a very fearful attitude towards the strange things in front of them. manner.

Whether the ghosts they saw was the fear of sudden death or the longing for their loved ones is hard to say, but there is no doubt that they all think that as the person who sent them to the dragon boat, they themselves have burdens. inescapable guilt.

Jiang Wen didn't know how to resolve it. After all, prejudice is a mountain, and the understanding formed over decades is even more deeply rooted. It is definitely not someone's unique words that can discipline everyone to wake up.

The same pressure, the same confusion, and the same bewilderment, incidents like Yingxiao not only happened in Zhangqiugang Village, a place where there is no news and weird rumors, but it is not uncommon even in real life hundreds of years later. .

Take 2012, which is not far away, there are not a few people in the world's religions chanting slogans about the end of the world and deceiving themselves.To a certain extent, is this just a spontaneous, self-reliant, self-reinforcing "campaign"?

Guiding emotions to vent effectively may also be a means of solving problems.

"I know! The house is in the shadows, and the method of the gods and men guarding the house is a trick someone came up with after the stickers were invalid. He wanted to use magic to defeat magic, and superstition to defeat superstition. Once the villagers became accustomed to dead bodies and the dead turned into bones After that, all fears naturally dissipated."

Jiang Wen sighed slowly, "This man's morality is so deep, but he understands human nature so well, but he shouldn't be unable to see that, Miss Yan, you may not be able to survive the matter, right..."

The god-man on the red paper still has wide-eyed eyes and long beards, silently and alone in the hall, as if a circle of divine light transformed from anger shrouded the place, suppressing the desolate wind and cold rain that filled the venue with anger. Ghostly.

Jiang Wen tried to get close to the other party with his thoughts, searching for clues, but the environment that had been suppressed for a long time in his heart was loosened because of this, and it seemed to tell him directly that something not so good appeared in the darkness.

Jiang Wen took a step slowly, looking thoughtfully at the night outside the house, the sound of water dripping from the bottom of the black lacquered coffin suddenly accelerated at this moment, resounding clearly and loudly throughout the house, and behind the door came the constant knocking on the door panel , The violent sound of objects colliding, as if something invisible surrounded the place, waiting for an opportunity to attack.

"Don't be afraid, it's just trouble."

Jiang Wen raised his head calmly, and the ancient bronze sword slashed at the divine table in the hall, chopping off a piece of wood with one strike, and the flying sawdust caused a loud noise, which instantly overwhelmed the knocking sound from the kitchen. Wan Lai was silent again.

Yuan Ziyi and Yan Yongchun bowed their heads in silence at this time, as if they were unaware of the strange sound, their eyes were full of confusion, and even Jiang Wen, who was close at hand, could not detect it.

But at this moment, the open door was suddenly blown by a strong wind, and the mildew-like white talismans rattled like thousands of moths about to fly. On the tall cypress tree outside the door, suddenly Two red eyes, like lanterns, lit up, and a shadow deeper than darkness sat on the branch.

The shadow was like a human figure with broad shoulders but no head, like a severed head directly connected to a huge wheel-like body, with a pair of huge wings folded, the huge red light shining dangerously, staring at the Jiang Wen and the three of them.

Jiang Wen was shocked, not only by the inhuman appearance of the other party, but also by the fact that the other party was extremely similar to the terrifying figure in his impression-but this description should have been on November 1966, 11, near West Virginia, USA. It was only witnessed in the local cemetery of the

"It's just in time, look at the sword!"

Bai Yu's Snake Slashing Sword turned into a rainbow, and Jiang Wen leaped like a dragon out of the water, leveling with a tree branch more than ten feet away, and the mysterious and mysterious sword moves rushed towards the headless figure from all directions, killing the opponent's every possibility of escape.

But the sword move, which was all-important, seemed to fall on the air that had no place to rest. The strange figure on the tree suddenly stood up, and then split into countless star points. , corpses, and the air were pulled away in an instant, and they gathered into an indescribable dark object and went straight to the sky!

Jiang Wen's Qinggong strength dissipated and fell back to the ground. Suddenly, he found that the strangeness in his vision had disappeared. The eyes of Yuan Ziyi and Yan Yongchun also slowly regained their spirits. gas.

"The ghoul they mentioned turned out to be this thing!"

Jiang Wen watched the black shadows scattered all over the sky mixed into the night sky, and immediately thought of something that was recorded in ancient books, called 眚.

"眚" is something that most people may have never heard of, and even this word is a rare word.However, there are many records about it in ancient books, but usually there are only a few words in Song history and Sui books, or they are scattered in county annals in various places.

"History of Ming Dynasty" records Renyin Shuo in May of the sixth year of Apocalypse, "The red ball rolled out of the Houzaimen Fire Temple. There are thousands of fireflies at the corners of the Qianmen tower, which are like wheels." In March of the fourth year of Heqing, "something fell in the palace, red in color, shaped like a number of buckets, and followed by stars like small bells."

In the "Puning County Chronicles", it is more specific, and its name is also written down: "In the 16th year of Chongzhen in Guiweixia, there were horses and demons who were worshiped like flying fireflies, and Bozhi was scattered like countless fireflies. Then the light is like a bucket.”

This thing confuses people's eyes and ears on weekdays, and there are occasional incidents of plundering and looting, which often appear after fatalities and injuries in catastrophes. In foreign countries, there are actually some more famous incidents, such as George Washington encountered strange green monsters during the American Revolutionary War.眚; During World War II, when the British and American Air Forces carried out air strikes on Germany, they encountered a large number of scorpions. At first, they thought it was some kind of secret air force weapon or aircraft of the German army...

Hun, this may be the most harmless monster in the world, and it may also be the most dangerous thing in the world, because it means that people can create with their own hands what they fear most.

And it is always watching with cold eyes, all it needs to do is to gently push us standing on the edge of the abyss when all the fears start to ferment...

(End of this chapter)