Chapter 33: The gathering of negative energy

Old man Jiang didn’t notice me, but carefully observed the terrain here. After looking at it for a while, he whispered, “It’s sandwiched between two bamboo forests, no wonder the yin energy is so heavy. It’s next to a small cliff, so even the qi can’t circulate smoothly. The front is a wide road, but I’m afraid the yang energy hasn’t reached here yet, and it’s been dispersed. It’s a coincidence that this cemetery is still in a low-lying area, with the yin energy rushing in. Is this raising ghosts? Or is it a coincidence?”

Old man Jiang took my hand and walked around, stopping at many locations, looking east and west, not knowing what he was doing. After walking around for a long time, he said with emotion, “This is a natural place, without any human traces. Is it a coincidence to be buried here?”

Old Jiang was deep in thought, and I was impatient and couldn’t help but yell, “Master, didn’t you say you were going to solve the problem of the ghost that was haunting my sister?”

“Oh, that’s right, that’s right, let’s talk about this later.” Old Master Jiang came back to his senses and took me to the cemetery.

Because of the experience of reciting the text just now, I wasn’t so scared anymore. I asked along the way, “Master, what were you thinking about just now? You were just staring blankly there.”

“Nothing, I found that this cemetery is a very dark place, and the air is not flowing smoothly, it is very easy to lock the soul, even if the average villager does not understand these things, they will instinctively avoid these places. Hmm, I suspect there is a conspiracy.” Old Master Jiang suddenly said to me in a serious tone that there is a conspiracy.

I was sweating and said, “Master, is it a coincidence?”

“Well, maybe.” Old man Jiang also answered seriously.

I almost fell over. I suddenly felt very insecure. What kind of master am I following?

In the meantime, the two of them had already walked into the graveyard. Even in broad daylight, the cold feeling of the graveyard lingered. I and Old Master Jiang walked among the standing tombs, and suddenly I stopped.

Old man Jiang looked at me in confusion. I was pale and pointed at a tombstone, unable to speak for a long time.

Old man Jiang pulled my hand down and patted my vest twice. I felt a warm current flowing through my vest, and the depression that had just blocked my heart instantly cleared, and my mind and spirit were restored.

“Don’t point at the tombstone. Even if you don’t bump into it, it’s disrespectful. Sanwa, if you are to be my disciple, you must understand that everything in the world is part of nature, so you and I must have a sense of awe for everything in the world.” Old man Jiang said softly next to me.

I came back to my senses and stammered to the old man, “Master… Master, I recognize him.”

I was referring to the person on the tombstone!

At that time, very few people could burn a porcelain figure on a tombstone, let alone people in the countryside, unless they had some power in the family. The tombstone I was referring to was also one of the rare tombstones in this cemetery with a black and white porcelain figure on it.

I really recognized the man on the tombstone. That night, I met a group of “good brothers,” and I was most impressed by three of them. The second was the woman who had been stalking my second sister. The third was the man on the tombstone, the old man, who had warned me to leave quickly.

Now I look at him on the tombstone, and even though I was prepared, I was still scared.

I told the old man Jiang about it. He nodded and looked at the kind-faced photo on the tombstone, then said, “It’s rare, rare, to have a compassionate heart even after becoming a ghost. It’s a blessing for future generations.”

After hearing what the old man said, I no longer felt afraid. I remembered the old man’s reminder that night, and I respectfully bowed twice in front of his grave. I knew that I had to repay my gratitude. This was the greatest education my parents gave me.

Seeing my actions, the old man’s expression also became kind, and he reached out and touched my head a few times. But I couldn’t help but get goosebumps. Although he was my master, he couldn’t hide the fact that he was a wretched old man. When he touched me so “kindly,” I… I… really reacted very instinctively, and getting goosebumps was normal.

“Damn kid.” Old man Jiang looked at me with a “frightened” expression and scolded me with a laugh. He didn’t argue with me, but instead took me around the graveyard.

Visiting cemeteries! What a strange thing to do. Usually, my mother and sister take me to the market or to town occasionally. After I followed my master, I immediately improved my realm and changed to visiting cemeteries.

The biggest problem is that I got used to it after a while, I wasn’t afraid anymore, and I was in a peaceful mood. It was just that I got up too early in the morning and was a little sleepy.

After ten minutes or so, the old man stopped in front of a tomb and said, “There are two tombs with a lot of resentment. The one that is haunting your second sister must be her.”

Hearing what the old man said, I immediately woke up from my drowsiness. Looking up, I could barely recognize the name on the tombstone, Li Fengxian, from my second-grade level.

Seeing that the name was a woman, it should be the ghost that was haunting my second sister. I don’t know why, but I thought of the man that night, and couldn’t help but look up at the old man and say, “Master, that man that night, I don’t think he’s a good person. Do you want to collect him?”

“What the hell, I’ve only heard of collecting demons, not ghosts. But breaking this natural feng shui is a good thing. When the time comes, I will naturally understand.” Old Jiang answered me two sentences, then looked at the tombstone and pondered for a while, then took me straight out of the graveyard and walked straight to the town square.

When I reached the only road, I couldn’t help but look back. I didn’t know if it was an illusion, but I suddenly saw the man who had hurt me that night appear in the graveyard again, staring at me viciously.

I couldn’t help but tremble. The old man seemed to sense it, stopped for a moment, turned around and “hummed” a sound. I shuddered and took a closer look. Where was anyone? I was already confused anyway, so maybe it was really my illusion.

“It’s a bit of a hassle that you can’t control your spiritual senses right now. If you see something by accident, remember these four mantras and chant them repeatedly to immediately clear your mind and focus your attention.” After saying that, the old man really recited the four mantras for me. He was afraid that I wouldn’t remember, so he repeated them more than ten times until I remembered them word for word and even pronounced them correctly.

At that time, I had no idea what those four lines meant. They were obscure and difficult to understand, and the pronunciation was even more peculiar. However, my master didn’t explain anything to me, and I didn’t ask him. After all, I was just a child who was new to the metaphysical world, and I wasn’t that motivated.

I just trusted the old man Jiang instinctively and memorized the four-line mantra.

As we walked along the streets, the old man would stop to chat with people he met. People were warm-hearted back then, and there were fewer scammers. Generally, the old man would get a positive response when he stopped to chat.

Old man Jiang could sing, especially with the elderly, and he would always make others happy with a few words. After a while, we would get into a lively conversation, and some people even invited us to have lunch with them. But strangely, Old man Jiang refused one by one.

I didn’t know at the time that Jiang Laoren had a sweet nature. If my parents had been there, they would have been shocked by Jiang Laoren’s refusal to eat.

So I didn’t know what the old man was going to do. I just wandered around with him until it was one or two o’clock in the afternoon. I was so hungry that I was rubbing my stomach against my back, but the old man didn’t seem to be in a hurry.

“Master, I’m hungry.” How could a little boy go hungry? Finally, I refused to go.

The old man didn’t seem to mind. He took me by the hand and said, “Let’s go to that house over there. We’ll ask for a bowl of water and some leftover food.”

“Master, leftovers?” I was a little distressed.

“Nonsense! You have no reason to bear the fruit of your own actions. Simply put, if you have not given anything to others, why should you expect others to treat you well? If you are given leftovers, you should be grateful and show your appreciation. This is the best way to avoid harming your own fortune. This is the way you should think about the things of ordinary people. Old Jiang scolded me, but I didn’t quite understand at the time. I vaguely knew that there was some truth to it. In this world, there is nothing you can take for free and still feel at ease.

“Hey, fellow villager, can I have a drink of water?” Old Jiang entered the courtyard and shouted.

Soon, we got a response, and a middle-aged woman came out of the house.