Tales of Folk Feng Shui Mysteries

The Guanyin statue's eyes were crying blood, and the overwhelming evil energy made my divine sense go numb. Clearly, I had been affected by the negative energy. If this energy were to destroy my soul, I would probably end up like the few colleagues from Xingshan—eyes turning white and dying.

In that critical moment, I forcefully pressed my finger onto a specific point on my chest, the Dan Zhong acupoint. This acupoint activates Yang energy, and the flow of energy surged instantly, banishing the drowsy feeling. At the same time, I saw the middle-aged man and the waitress's skin begin to bulge with festering sores, yellow pus oozing out, looking grotesque.

Seeing this, I quickly pulled out a jujube pit. Jujube pits are highly effective against the miasma of corpses. According to the ancient text Zi Bu Yu, inserting seven jujube pits into a zombie's spine can kill it. This is because jujubes are Yang in nature, and their thorny tree symbolizes warmth and vitality. Imagine a tree heavy with ripe jujubes—just the sight of it brings a sense of comfort and warmth. That's the power of jujubes.

To prevent the two living corpses from grabbing me, I lined up the jujube pits and bit my tongue to release "blood spirit energy," which effectively blocked their attacks.

Taking a deep breath, I knew that the Miao Shan techniques were strong against ghosts, but not as effective against corpses, especially intelligent ones. Although they hadn't fully lost their life energy, their strength couldn't be underestimated.

Looking around, the restaurant had transformed into what seemed like a shrine. Rotten, moldy food lay on the dining table, and Big Tooth lay unconscious on the floor. The Guanyin statue was embedded in the mud wall, its eerie eyes fixed on me.

Guanyin is supposed to be a compassionate deity, but this temple twisted the balance of Yin and Yang. The goddess had become a malevolent force, nurturing spirits and gathering evil. The surrounding wind howled, the wind chimes in the temple rang, and distant ghostly wails echoed throughout.

While I was contemplating how to escape, I suddenly saw Zhao Dadan rush toward me from the back door of the temple. He leaped and executed a perfect Bruce Lee-style sidekick, knocking the middle-aged man to the ground. He then delivered a fist the size of a clay pot to the girl's face.

Bang Bang—the two living corpses were sent flying. Zhao Dadan, still holding Big Tooth, turned to me and shouted, "Hurry up! We can't beat them today."

Before I could react, we both rushed out of the temple. After catching my breath, I realized how close we had come to falling into their trap. Wang Yi had warned me before that being able to handle ghosts didn't necessarily mean I could handle corpses. Also, mastering physical combat wasn't something that could be done overnight.

Looking back at the dilapidated octagonal temple, it seemed even more decrepit under the moonlight, with spider webs everywhere and beams about to collapse. I let out a sigh.

"Damn, did they think that thing could seduce me? Don't even know how to spell death," Zhao Dadan bragged.

I asked him what happened, and he explained that he had recognized the two women as living corpses the moment he saw them. Their technique was the same as the one used when they handled dead bodies—locking their souls in place, leaving them neither alive nor dead, trapped in a blurry state. As for the three people, they had clearly been controlled in some way, which is why they were trying to harm us.

"Now it's deep into the night, and these dirty things are at their strongest. It's not the right time to deal with them. Even if we subdue them, they could come back as undead," Zhao Dadan said.

I agreed. It was already late, and it would be better to wait until tomorrow. As for Big Tooth, his face was pale, and he hadn't regained consciousness. Regardless, he was still a human life, so I took out a silver needle and pricked the top of his head, his fingers, and his toes, drawing a symbol and forcing some mineral water down his throat.

Not long after, black blood started oozing from the places I had pricked. I asked Zhao Dadan, "Do you know how to drive? Isn't it dangerous staying here?"

"It's fine, they won't dare leave the house for more than 10 meters," he said, pointing to the trees.

He dragged Big Tooth, and we spent the night in the forest, dealing with things as best we could. When we woke up the next morning, I sneezed several times. Just as I was about to check on the temple, I suddenly heard an old shepherd sighing, "What a sin… another death."

I quickly ran over and stopped the old man. He was so scared that he shouted, "Oh my god!" and tried to run. I quickly grabbed his shirt, "Grandfather, don't run. I just want to ask about the temple. From what you said, it seems this isn't the first time someone has died here?"

After struggling for a while, the old shepherd turned around and looked at me. "Are you… a person or a ghost?"

I smiled and said, "Of course I'm human. If you don't believe me, feel for yourself."

He hesitated but then touched me. After feeling me, he let out a relieved sigh. "I've never seen anyone live here before."

I pointed to the dilapidated temple and asked, "What's going on with that temple?"

The old shepherd told me that every 5th of the month, someone would die. The temple was very sinister, and several times the villagers had tried to demolish it, but the construction workers had met with accidents.

The first time they tried to demolish it, the bulldozer driver fell unconscious before he even got close to the temple. He was checked in the hospital, but there was no apparent illness. After recovering, he refused to go back to work.

At first, people thought it was just an accident. However, the same thing happened when a second bulldozer driver tried to remove the temple. After four or five incidents, the temple's sinister reputation spread.

"A while ago, some young people from the village went to the neighboring village. On their way back, they passed this place and said they saw some beautiful women. They went into the temple, and that day, four of them died, and one ended up going mad. The survivors could only mumble a few words, and we could only guess what had happened," the old shepherd sighed.

When I asked about the temple's history, the old shepherd said it had existed when he was a child. He didn't know when it was built, but it was once a very effective place for people to come and pray. After a heavy rain, the roof beams collapsed, and since then, bad things started happening. Anyone who came to worship the deity would fall ill and never recover, and eventually, no one came anymore.

This made me wonder. Could this shadow temple be something more than ordinary?

"Grandfather, do you know about shadow temples? You know, places where people worship gods and have their wishes granted," I asked.

The shepherd thought for a long time before answering, "I don't know what you mean by shadow temple, but a few years ago, an old Taoist priest came here. He said that anyone who came at noon would have their wishes fulfilled."

I immediately understood. The old Taoist priest the shepherd mentioned must have been the owner of the restaurant. He was trying to lure people into the temple to make a deal with them.

As we were talking, Zhao Dadan appeared, dragging Big Tooth back onto the main road. But when the old shepherd saw Big Tooth, he was shocked and yelled, "You bastard! You have the nerve to come back! I'll kill you!"

I froze for a moment, but Big Tooth shouted while running, "Dad, I'm sorry! I only stole some money from the village chief's house. Once I finish this delivery, I'll pay it back!"

"Dad?" This was too much of a coincidence. Could it be that this scoundrel had lied to us and never went to Jilin?

"Where did you get this car?" The old shepherd was furious, swinging a whip at him.

"I won it in a lottery! Really, I won two second prizes and used the money to buy it," Big Tooth shouted while dodging.

"A lottery?" The old shepherd trembled with rage, chasing after him with the whip. "I'll kill you for your lottery! Why don't you just say you found it?"

I exchanged glances with Zhao Dadan. It was clear that the living corpses, the shadow temple, the shepherd, and Big Tooth were all interconnected.

Last night, the middle-aged man had mentioned that Big Tooth had made a deal, which is why he won the lottery and bought a car. In exchange, Big Tooth had to regularly offer living people to the shadow temple.

I lit a cigarette and sat down by the road, quietly reflecting on everything. The temple seemed to have no problem with its feng shui, but the broken bridge nearby felt off. According to feng shui, it was a corpse bridge. But even if the bridge was problematic, it didn't seem to have anything to do with the temple.

Big Tooth's father yelled at him for a long time before accepting his son's lottery story. Zhao Dadan and I, in Big Tooth's words, had become the owners of the car.

His father led us to their home, and along the way, he scolded his son. From what I heard, Big Tooth had broken into the village chief's house, stolen some money, and even harmed the chief's daughter. To escape punishment, he had been drifting around ever since.

Their house was about 500 meters from the temple. It was a large yard, but also quite dilapidated. Being far from the village made it feel isolated.

The shepherd seemed genuinely happy to see his son, though he didn't show it outwardly. It was clear that he was a lonely old man. "Since it's noon, why not stay here for lunch? I'll kill a sheep."

The shepherd went out with a knife to slaughter a sheep. I had a strange feeling, so I couldn't sit still. I went out to the yard to get some fresh air.

As I lit my cigarette, I noticed a pregnant ewe in the pen. The shepherd saw me and smiled, "Aren't you going back inside? It's nothing special, watching a sheep being killed."

I sighed, thinking that all creatures have a life. Even though Taoists don't have to follow all the rules, it's important to avoid unnecessary killing. So I told him not to kill the sheep yet. I walked up to their house, took down the curtain, and went to the ewe's pen to cover it with the cloth.

"Since you're going to kill it, it's better to block it off. It's too cruel to let the sheep see one of their own die," I said.

The shepherd laughed heartily, "It's fine. What does an animal understand? This ewe has been with me for years. She always has triplets, and I've had to kill her lambs every year. She's probably used to it by now."

I didn't know what to say to that. For a butcher, killing is just a part of life. But killing a lamb in front of its mother seemed unnecessarily cruel.

Just as we were talking, a group of people arrived at the shepherd's house.