As Haishi was approaching, the originally lively Lantern Festival Lantern Festival slowly turned from noisy and lively to quiet and deserted, and the various attendees gradually disappeared. Xiao Zhuo and the other three looked at each other, and Xiong Kuohai sent a few of his men to go ahead.

After returning to the inn, he followed Xiao Zhuo and Jingyi towards the stage.

As usual, Beiping Mansion does not end so quickly during festive seasons, let alone the Lantern Festival Lantern Festival. However, there is indeed some unrest in Beiping Mansion recently. There were several bizarre murder cases in the past few days. In order to

For the safety of the people, we had to order people to go home before Haishi.

As soon as Xiao Zhuo and the others walked to the stage, the person announcing the curtain came up and asked, "Three guests are here, are you busy?"

"Hey! We weren't satisfied with what we were looking at down there just now, so we just wanted to come up and see what these things are like, boss. Boss, can you let us go in and have a look?" Xiong Kuohai stood at the front and spoke very straightforwardly.

It was Xiao Zhuo who said these puppets didn't harm anyone, otherwise he wouldn't be so angry talking to these people.

"This guest is joking. I am the announcer. The boss is backstage. If the three guests want to see him, I will go and ask him. Wait a minute." After the announcer finished speaking, he turned and walked into the backstage. After a while, a year

The eldest old man came out, but the old man just glanced at the three of them, said nothing, and guided the three of them to the backstage.

As soon as he entered the backstage, Xiao Zhuo smelled an aroma that lingered throughout the entire backstage. This kind of incense is often used in Taoist temples. It is usually used by ordinary people to pray for blessings, convey their feelings, and show their piety, but now it appears in the theater troupe.

Backstage, it seemed a little out of place. Looking at the puppets around him, they were all lifelike, with all five senses, happy or sad, angry or sad. Xiao Zhuo felt as if he was being watched by countless people. Every step he took,

He couldn't help but look around him, fearing that a puppet would suddenly fly towards him. The people in the background were busy taking back the puppets. Before each puppet was picked up, they all bowed in front of the puppet with great care.

, and then slowly picked it up and put it back into the box. Every move and every move was very different from the troupe Xiao Zhuo had seen before.

"Girl! You can't touch the things here!" When the old man saw that Jingyi was about to touch the puppet, he quickly stopped him. After Jingyi heard this, he retracted his hand obediently. She had no intention of touching these things in the first place.

Because from the moment she came in, she roughly guessed what these puppets were. However, she had never heard of them before and didn't understand the properties of these things, so she wanted to reach out and try them.

"The art of subduing spirits!" Jingyi retracted her hand and revealed the secrets of these puppets.

The art of subduing spirits! Xiao Zhuo thought about what he had learned in the past, but he remembered what happened. It is said that there are five spirits in the world, immortals, demons, humans, ghosts, and spirits. Immortals gather the aura of heaven and earth, or enjoy the world

The incense is used to escape from the mortal body, transcend the ordinary and transform into saints, and thus become immortals; demons are the ultimate in the five phases of the human world. Greed, anger, resentment, hatred, and ignorance are all difficult to let go, and become inner demons, and they may fall into the devil's way.

, even immortals can become demons with a single thought; ghosts are invisible and formless, and cannot be seen by the world, but are transformed after death. If ordinary people die, their souls leave the body, and if there are five-phase inner demons as obstacles, they do not want to be reborn.

, they may turn into ghosts and cause harm to the world; spirits are the predecessors of immortals and demons. Those who absorb the aura of heaven and earth and escape their true form are true spirits, trapped spirits, and souls. Those who practice against the way of heaven and practice are monsters and spirits.

What you get is a blessing, but what you get is a disaster! Human beings are the most special spirit among the five spirits. They can become spirits and immortals through practice while alive. They can also turn into ghosts and demons after death. It can be said that they are the five spirits.

Source of spirit.

The art of subduing spirits uses spirit-gathering objects as carriers to keep the souls of people after death. These souls are neither spirits nor evil, but they do not want to die because they are attached to them after death.

The land is wandering. Youdao is the reincarnation of heaven. In order to maintain the order of reincarnation, heaven will grant special abilities to some people to help those souls get rid of their mortal thoughts. These people are called soul-reamers.

It's just that these requiem people, if Xiao Zhuo remembers it well, should only appear in certain specific periods, such as wars, plagues and other times when large-scale deaths occur, especially during times of war, ranging from hundreds to thousands to large ones.

It is normal for thousands or even hundreds of thousands of souls to have no home. He remembered that it was recorded in the Four Celestial Hexagrams that during the Warring States Period, Qin general Wu Anjun Bai Qi killed 400,000 Zhao soldiers in one night.

It took a full five years to complete the mission. But then again, why do requiem people appear now?

"Old man, can I take a look at these puppets?" Xiao Zhuo wanted to know the secret of these puppets, so he asked. Fu Ling puppets are also divided into two types, yin and yang. One is female, which has a female soul and is not allowed to be touched by men.

; One is yang, which is reserved for male souls, and women are not allowed to touch it. Once the yin and yang come into contact, and life and death are connected, the lingering thoughts of the soul in the puppet may turn the soul into a ghost, and it is a crime to go away and settle the grudges in the world.

It was a taboo of heaven. And when Xiao Zhuo saw that the old man wouldn't let Jingyi touch him, he must have thought that the puppets here were all male spirits.

"Young master, please." The old man raised his hand slightly, agreeing to Xiao Zhuo's request, but his eyes were still fixed on Jingyi and did not move away for a moment.

"I'm going out to the head office!" Jingyi couldn't stand the old man's eyes, which looked like he was guarding against thieves, so she complained and walked out.

Xiao Zhuo walked up to a puppet, picked it up and looked at it carefully. It was just as he thought. The puppet was made of peach wood, which not only consolidated the soul but also prevented evil spirits from corroding. The innermost layer of the peach wood surface was made of yellow paper.

A layer of strips was tightly pasted on the puppet to form a golden body to protect the soul. The seams of each yellow paper were sealed with red pen to prevent the soul's spiritual power from leaking out and attracting evil spirits. The outermost part was

It is wrapped in drawing paper, with portraits of various people drawn on it, and even various makeups, old students, junior students, martial students, etc., and finally some external body props are added, and the puppet is complete. And the silk threads on the puppet are basically

During rehearsals, the choreographers use it to help the puppets make movements. During performances, the puppets act entirely, as long as the troupe sings behind the scenes.

"Old man, I dare to ask Gao, when did you start doing this? What you have done makes me ashamed to be born later!" Xiao Zhuo quickly bowed and saluted. Although Xiong Kuohai didn't understand, he understood.

Xiao Zhuo saluted and followed up with a fist hug.

This is not because Xiao Zhuo is pretending to be respectful, but because he understands the truth, he can't help but admire the old man. Although transporting souls with spirits is a matter of immeasurable merit and benefit for future generations, the dangers involved are not something ordinary people can overcome. Have a safe journey

It would be good to have nothing to do. If a spirit body turns evil and turns into a ghost, death of the body is light, but the soul is more likely to be swallowed up and unable to pass away. The old man has been doing this for I don’t know how many years, but he is safe and sound, which makes people awe-inspiring.

respect.

"Young Master is overly praised. My surname is Ke. I am fifty-six years old this year. I started this profession four years ago. I was just a painter at first, and I did not make any great achievements in my life. Later, I had to meet an immortal to guide me.

Bo Ji added some features to these puppets. In this way, four years have passed and the customers on both sides of the canal are almost finished. By then, the old man can go home and reunite with his son." When Mr. Ke said this, he seemed to remember something.

The old memories also revealed a trace of sadness in his dancing eyes. "Hey! It's a pity that the old boss passed away while transporting customers, otherwise I could have enjoyed my old age. I hope I can still go home safely! I came here this time when I went north.

I stayed for a few days and it’s time to leave tomorrow.”

Xiao Zhuo heard what Old Ke said, and quickly calculated what Old Ke would do in this life based on his birth and surname. Sure enough, as Old Ke himself said, before the age of fifty-six, he had no talent for calligraphy and painting, but

Nothing has been accomplished. The wife he married when he was young also left him, leaving only one son. Now he is living a good life. This must be due to the blessings that Mr. Ke has experienced in recent years. But when Xiao Zhuo went to

When I counted down, I found that Old Man Ke’s life span had actually stopped at the age of fifty-six!

How could this be? Since this was the first time Xiao Zhuo had used the Heavenly Gua to make fortunes for others since he came out of the mountain, and he had not been able to tell that these puppets were Fu Ling puppets before, he was afraid that he would make another mistake in his calculations, so he made another calculation, but still stopped.

On the fifty-sixth day, even this time he knew clearly that it was tonight.

"Old Man Ke, do you have anything else to do tonight?" Xiao Zhuo held back his grief and looked at Old Man Ke. As early as when he entered Taoism, Master Taibai warned him several times: The way of heaven is beneficial but not harmful.

; The way of man is to work without fighting, and never do anything against nature! He finally understood why Master Taibai warned him repeatedly!

"Tonight we have the last batch of customers to send off. Young master, do you want to go with me? I think you and that girl are extraordinary people, so it doesn't matter if you go." Old man Ke is worthy of being a member of the older generation.

It was from Xiao Zhuo's tone that he could tell what Xiao Zhuo wanted to do. At this time, the puppets in the backstage were almost cleared away, and two boxes were packed away and left alone. They must be the customers that Uncle Ke mentioned.

"Thanks to Old Man Ke for not giving up, Xiao Zhuo will definitely go." Xiao Zhuo felt grateful for Old Man Ke's meritorious deeds for the world, and sincerely wanted to go with him. It was also a farewell to the old man who was about to pass away.
Chapter completed!