C2 Qingxin monastery

The coffin was still large, and I tried to straighten up and look at my feet, but there was nothing there.

I don't know how much time passed. I tried to push against the coffin, but it only quivered slightly.

Despair was the only feeling left.

Breathing became more and more difficult. The cracks were blocked by sand and stone, making it difficult for air to enter. Sooner or later, I would suffocate to death.

As his perception became more and more blurred, his nose felt as if it was being blocked by a thick, viscous liquid.

I heard the intermittent voice of a woman telling me to hold on, not to die.

I closed my eyes and waited for death.

Someone was calling my name, so clear and so unreal. Am I not dead? Why can I still feel someone tapping my chest?

The eyelids were very heavy and were forced open by me. It was a familiar face. The orange light was a bit dim, but I still recognized this face. It was the Old Master Huang of the village.

"Father and mother of the child, Little Liang is awake." I followed his gaze.

Mom and Dad rushed over crying and laughing, thanking God for not taking me away from them.

"Little Liang, are you hungry? Mom will cook a bowl of noodles for you." I sat up and looked around. This wasn't Uncle Huang's clinic, but his house.

Five minutes later, the noodles were served. I stuffed the noodles into my mouth like a jackal. After a day of hunger, I struggled free from the clutches of death.

Cough, cough, cough.

My father slapped me on the back.

"Don't eat too fast, eat more slowly. After eating, Dad and Grandfather Huang will send you out of the village." I listened to my father's words and stopped.

There was a bit of noodles hanging from his mouth, yet he didn't take it into his mouth. Out of the village? Why?

I didn't ask the questions in my mind. Father would answer them for me.

In this village, I had already married Zhou Ling, and Zhou Ling had already died.

"I don't want to go." That was the first thing I said when I woke up.

Cry, this is the first time in so many days of grievance, so presumptuous cry, my mother holding my body trembling.

"Child, you have to leave. Mom and Dad have let you down. Mom and Dad are useless so they can make you suffer. You have to live on." His father was blaming himself for slapping him across the face, and the sound overshadowed the sound of crying.

It was a hot summer night, and the fields were filled with the croaking of frogs and the chirping of crickets. I put on my down jacket and fur hat and was put in the back of the tricycle by Uncle Huang.

It was terribly hot, but I didn't dare make a sound. There were still a few villagers walking around, and they recognized me.

I was sitting in the back of the car as the road jolted out of the village. At the village entrance, I saw a fire not far away.

This was the home of a mad woman. Rather than calling it a home, it was more like the place where the dog guarding the village entrance used to live. Simple stone huts were covered in thatch.

To my horror, she was holding a brick in her hand, smashing it again and again into the ground. She was beating on something, and each blow reflected a bright red liquid in the firelight.

I was stunned for a long time, and she looked up, as if she had seen me, and her mouth lifted in a scream that echoed around the village entrance.

Because of this yell, Uncle Huang immediately sped up and became more bumpy. The tricycle almost flipped until I couldn't see the sign at the village entrance.

At one in the morning, the car stopped and Mr. Huang told me to get off.

I had a kerosene lamp, and there was nothing in sight but weedy ditches.

"Xiao Liang, did you bring everything?" "Climb over this mountain, next door is Lin An Village. There's a Taoist temple next door, go beg the old Taoist for help, otherwise Yama will not forgive you, a widow who came back from visiting the hall of the underworld."

I nodded, packed my luggage, and headed up the mountain. At the foot of the mountain, Grandpa Huang was watching me.

"Hurry up and go, your parents can be at ease, everything will be over." I didn't turn back as I kept walking up the mountain. There were still a few hours before daybreak, so I had to hurry up and go over this mountain.

After walking for an unknown amount of time, I felt my calves tingling. I looked down the mountainside and couldn't see anything in the dark.

Trees and weeds lined both sides of the road, and from the very beginning I felt as if a biting bug had drilled into my clothes and my heart ached.

I reached in and fiddled with it twice, as if I'd broken something, and felt the sting of it in my heart, and my hands were stained with yellow pus.

The vomiting didn't stop, and suddenly I felt like I was going to vomit all of a sudden. I held the tree for support and kept vomiting, some of the noodles hadn't been digested yet, as if I could eat them again if I spit them out.

I took a sip of water to calm my discomfort before continuing on my journey. It wasn't until dawn that I stood at the peak of the mountain. There were no villages there, but there was indeed a Taoist temple in front of me.

At the door, a child was sweeping the floor. Leaves were falling from the sky as the wind blew.

Pure Heart Monastery. I read the name of the monastery and stood blankly in front of the door.

"Sir, are you here to pay your respects?" The little Daoist stood with one hand in front of his body and bowed to me.

I don't know how to answer that all the people I've known since I was a kid are from the village, and I've hardly ever seen a stranger.

"Please come inside with me." He led me in.

Although the Taoist temple was not big, it was abnormally clean. The air was filled with the scent of incense and no one was willing to kneel or worship it.

As soon as I entered the temple, I knelt on the mat and clasped my hands in front of my chest.

"Little Daoist, I've come to ask for trouble from your Master. I'll trouble you to invite him out." I pulled out the money and tried to put it in his hand, but he winced.

"If Master finds out, I'll be punished. This money can't be collected. Wait here for a moment, I'll go invite him out." After saying this, the little Daoist immediately left me alone in the spacious hall.

After an incense stick of time, the little Daoist came in from outside. "You've been waiting for a long time. Master is cultivating and I can't disturb him, so I waited until he opened the door before seeing him. Master asked me to take you there."

After we passed through a bamboo forest, we passed through a circular door. Inside, there was only a simple little house. The door was tightly shut. I followed him to the door and knocked three times.

"Master, I've brought someone." The little Daoist leaned against the door.

"Come in!" The door was pushed open and a pungent smell assaulted my nostrils. It was slightly unpleasant as I covered my nose with my hands and entered the room.

A thin curtain covered the figure. Presumably, it was the little Daoist's master. He quietly sat there.

Not good! I frowned and couldn't suppress the taste of blood in my mouth. I spat out a mouthful of black blood on the ground.

The movement of the old Taoist was the last thing I saw as he struck me on the top of my head.

Although I didn't faint, I couldn't see anything. I clearly knew that my eyes were open. Am I blind?

An indescribable fear suddenly arose in my heart, causing cold sweat to appear on my hands.

"Disciple, quickly help him to my bed. If I don't force the poison out of his body, he won't live past noon today." I sat on the couch, groping blindly for something.

The Taoist turned around for me. His body was cold and his clothes were taken off. I didn't know what he had done to me, but his eyes had regained their sight.

I was sitting on the edge of the couch, naked, with a broken pus oozing from my chest. Around the pus, about five centimeters of hair had grown and was rapidly spreading.

The next moment, the old Taoist stuck a drawing on my back. I didn't know what he meant, but I could feel the hair on my chest stop growing.

The little Daoist brought me a box of cinders and called out to my master. Then he picked up a handful of cinders and sprinkled it on the pustule on my chest.

When the ashes covered the entire pus, my pain was gone, and I saw that my chest had begun to writhe violently.

Something stuck its head out.

I looked down and saw a bug shove my skin out of my chest with its leg and drop to the ground as if fleeing for its life.

"Where did you get this Gu skill?" The Taoist is still working on it for me.

But I didn't have the strength to tell him the whole story.

What I was puzzled about was that while I was at Grandpa Huang's house and didn't find anything abnormal about me, he also used superstitious reasons to invite me to the Taoist temple.

"Thank you," the gentle female voice said, but no one knew who was speaking.