Chapter 99 Dragon Bone
Yuantong asked me why the illusion of the village appeared. I shook my head, indicating that I didn't know.
Circular channel: "This village illusion is a bardo realm."
My mouth opened wide and I was stunned for a long time.
Yuantong looked at me and said, "You know what the bardo is, right? Didn't Lao Huang tell you?"
I nodded quickly: "I know. After death, people do not go directly to the underworld, but stay in the bardo realm and undergo seven levels of tests."
"Yes, that's right." Yuan Tong said, "This is it."
"I don't quite understand." I said, "How did the bardo suddenly appear here? Are we going to the underworld?"
Yuan Tongdao: "When we step into the village, we are walking in the Yin. Do you know whose Yin realm we are in front of you?"
I was terrified and tried to say, "Could it be He Qingyou's?"
Yuantong nodded: "You don't know what happened before. I knocked He Qingyou unconscious and brought him to the vicinity of the Yin object. He Qingyou is currently in a state of suspended animation. I used the Yin object mirage to present his bardo state. Do you understand?"
I felt dizzy after listening to it, and seemed to understand something but not sure.
"This kind of magical power is called moving objects and transforming them into scenery." Yuan Tongdao said: "It is to use the magical power of Yin objects to make the scenery of the bardo that can only be seen by walking in the Yin appear. Now it is right in front of you and me."
I swallowed and said, "This is too amazing. As long as one has the ability to create a mirage of the Yin object, one can show anyone's bardo to others?"
"Yes. Theoretically, it is possible." Yuantong nodded.
"Can the underworld also be presented? That be awesome, we can use this to do a lot of things." I asked with a blink.
Yuantong's expression changed, and he looked at me: "Master Lin, having this thought is the beginning of becoming a demon, so stop it!"
I felt a little embarrassed after being rebuked by him for no reason. I thought to myself, what a fool is this monk. He was just talking, but his face was longer than Changbai Mountain.
Yuantong did not explain any more and walked forward with big strides. I followed behind him. We arrived at the entrance of the village one after the other. Yuantong raised his foot and stepped into the village. As he entered, his figure was seen to fluctuate, as if he had entered an invisible water barrier.
I took a deep breath, walked up to it and stepped in. When I entered, I could feel an indescribable barrier, and the air inside was different.
The air outside the village is very humid and my skin feels sticky, but once I get in here, I can feel the air dry instantly, as if I have arrived in a completely different environment.
There is a sense of isolation and time reversal.
Although I don't quite understand it, I subconsciously feel that the village and the outside world are indeed two different worlds.
Yuantong was walking in front, and I was following. The door of a house beside the village road suddenly opened, and an old lady in black clothes came out. I didn't know how old she was, with gray hair. She was holding a small stool and placed it at the door to bask in the sun. Two or three half-grown children ran out of the house laughing and playing. The old lady had no teeth and was mumbling something.
As if by agreement, all the doors on the village road were opened, and many farmers who lived at home came out, greeting each other and chatting. White smoke came out of the chimneys, and the aroma of rice floated in the air.
Yuantong and I walked in the middle of the cobblestone road in the village. Many people passed by us, but no one noticed us, as if we didn't exist.
"What, what's going on?" I asked in surprise.
Yuan Tong said: "This is an illusion, it is the product of He Qingyou's bardo state, it is all fake! Don't listen to it, don't look at it, don't think about it. Our goal is to find him and get a glimpse of his secrets. Don't pay attention to anything else."
My throat gurgled, and I became more and more certain that the Wang Yuantong I met when I entered Chen Jian's bardo was the monk in front of me. Yuantong definitely has great supernatural powers, and they are related to the bardo. He has mastered many magic skills that I have never heard of.
We walked deeper into the village along the road. It should be dinner time. Many people were eating with their doors and windows open, and children were playing with chickens and dogs. However, the hustle and bustle of the village had nothing to do with us.
After walking for an unknown distance, the sky became increasingly darker, with thick clouds floating in the air , dyed the color of urine. The entire village seemed to be covered with a montage effect of an old photo.
Yuantong stopped and looked straight ahead. I came to his side and looked over there. Directly in front of us was a farmyard. Compared with other houses, the yard was quite deserted. There were no children and no chaos. There was only one person standing there, and that was He Qingyou.
He Qingyou walked across the yard, came to the door of the inner room, and pushed it open.
Yuantong walked over and I followed him into the yard together.
We came to the window of the inner room and leaned against the glass to look out. I felt a little scared because the scene in the room had a weird atmosphere.
There was an earthen kang against the wall, and on it lay an old man, covered with a thin quilt. He looked like he was terminally ill, with only exhalation but no intake of air.
Next to the bed was a short bedside table, on which was a statue of the Buddha and an incense burner filled with incense ash. The red candles on both sides were half-burned, and the table was dotted with dried red wax. In front of the statue of the Buddha, there was a small plate with a dark object in it, about the length of an adult's little finger, shaped like a claw, and no one knew what it was.
As soon as I saw this thing, the hairs on my body stood up. I felt like I had seen this thing before.
I remembered that I once sold something in an antique shop. It was a dragon scale I brought from the Bardo Realm. I sold it for 120,000. It looked very similar to the thing in front of me.
He Qingyou walked up to the old man, moved a chair and sat next to him, "Grandpa."
The old man slowly opened his eyes, as if using all his strength, and tilted his head to look at He Qingyou.
"Qingyou... bring the keel on the cabinet here..." the old man said vaguely.
He Qingyou didn't do so, but crossed his legs and said, "Grandpa, you haven't told me the secret yet, how can I give it to you?"
The old man stared at He Qingyou with the last bit of strength in his life, and after a long while he said, "You...are really my grandfather's...good grandson . Okay, I'll tell you."
He Qingyou made a gesture.
老头断断续续地说了几句话,说完之后我和圆通互相看看,脸色都阴晴不定。
The old man coughed and said that as long as one offered dragon bones or dragon scales to the Bodhisattva and made a wish with a top-secret mantra, one could be guaranteed prosperity, wealth and longevity. However, the dragon objects offered had a time limit, and when the time came, they would become ineffective and everything would backfire violently.
"What is the spell?" He Qingyou asked.
The old man was breathing rapidly and was about to die. He Qingyou saw that it was not good, so he took the dark thing from the cabinet and put it on the old man's nose. The old man took a deep breath and instantly became energetic. He sighed deeply, felt comfortable, and his face turned rosy.
He Qingyou took the thing away. The old man regained his spirits, and suddenly a very strange smile appeared on his face.
"Grandpa, please tell me." He Qingyou urged.
The old man squinted his eyes, seeming to enjoy the last pleasure of life. He was lost in memories and spoke without stuttering. "I was still young at that time, and I saw the fallen dragon in Yingkou. The Japanese were still there at that time. When they heard about this, they surrounded the whole village and even set up sentries at the intersections. They were just waiting for the dragon to die, and then they would pack it up and take it back to Japan across the ocean. That night, a strange man suddenly appeared in the village."
The old man said that the village was under martial law and a curfew was imposed. There were artillery towers and sentry posts outside, and the Japanese's big leather shoes were still making the "click-click-click" patrolling sounds in the middle of the night. The whole village was so scared that they couldn't sleep at night. Many villagers even hoped that Long would die quickly and be taken away by the Japanese so that the village could live in peace.
That very night, a man came to the village, and no one knew how this man got in.
At that time, before dinner, the children in the village gathered in the ancestral hall to receive education from the Japanese. The ancestral hall was temporarily converted into a classroom. After the Japanese teacher finished the class, the children did not rush home, but played in the backyard. The Japanese did not take care of them much, because children were children after all.
None of the children knew how that person appeared, but he avoided the Japanese's eyes, entered the backyard, and gathered the children together.
The man's words were very persuasive. It has been so long that the old man can't remember exactly what he said. But he knew that he was a master. He persuaded these children to pass through the Japanese sentry post, enter the place where the dragon fell, and steal the dragon bones and scales. Whoever could produce them would be given a silver dollar by him, and he also taught these children how to become rich and live a long life.
Some of the dozen children listened, while others did not. At that time, He Qingyou's grandfather was considered the leader of the children. He thought this was exciting, so he gathered eight of the bravest children and went on the adventure together.
The process was very exciting. The old man didn't explain in detail, but these mountain kids all knew a secret path in the mountains. No matter how smart the Japanese were, they could never compare to the local natives in these matters.
In the middle of the night when the wind was strong, these children really arrived at the place where the dragon fell.
The old man was really old, even now he had a temporary moment of revival, he could not speak clearly and was drooling. He said that he was the only one among the children who successfully brought back the dragon bone.
He Qingyou picked up the dark object and asked, "Is this it?"
The old man looked at it with his cloudy eyes, nodded, and sighed: "You have been with me for fifty years."