Chapter 32: The Soul-Drawing Lamp

My father lit a cigarette, as if he were comforting my mother and himself: “If you leave at 15, that’s fine. At 15, you’re not young anymore. Boys should be independent. I started working for other people when I was 13. Besides, it’s no fun for a boy to stay with his parents. Look at the eldest son of the old lady next door. He’s doing well. I heard he’s a big official in the city. His eldest son left home early to study, didn’t he? Now he doesn’t have time to come back often. I think it’s a good idea, Sanwa, to be a good apprentice to Master Jiang.

You want to live in this village with your son until he is 15? In the future, you will only be unable to be with your parents all the time. My mother was slightly comforted by these words. She agreed with my father’s point of view. Although she didn’t understand what a Taoist priest could do in the future, Master Jiang was a capable person.

“That’s good. Since Master Jiang has said so, I’m relieved. You know, when a child is young, it leaves me. My heart really hurts more than cutting meat. Sanwa, Master Jiang will be your master in the future. Even if you don’t listen to your parents, you must listen to your master and learn well.” My mother also comforted me with gentle words.

In the end, it was decided that I would be the old man Jiang’s apprentice. It was like a Red Army soldier who was short of breath. I pretended to sigh deeply, which was a tacit agreement. I didn’t feel anything about the separation after the age of 15 because it was too far away.

“Pee-wee.” My father couldn’t help but smack me for pretending to be so serious, but in any case, this thorn in his and my mother’s heart had finally been removed.

“We’ll talk about Sanwa’s apprenticeship in a few days. We’ll need to choose a good day. For now, we need to solve the problem with Ermei. Tomorrow, Sanwa will come with me to the market. Since he’s become an apprentice, he should learn a lot. But I still have something to do.” Old Jiang said simply.

When she heard that I was going to work with Jiang Laoren the next day, my mother was scared to death, but she didn’t dare to disturb Jiang Laoren’s business. Under Jiang Laoren’s repeated instructions, she brought some things for Jiang Laoren.

The old man was busy in the courtyard with these things, and as his apprentice, I had to watch. In the past, if I dared to stay up so late, my father would have beaten me to death, but today, with my master looking out for me, my parents had to let me go.

Gradually, I could see what the old man was making. He was making a lantern!

I must admit that the old man is quite skilled, and the lantern he made is very exquisite, but the style is a bit special. It is the kind of long white lantern that is hung in front of the coffin.

After making the lantern, the old man carefully looked at it, and then he picked up the vermilion brush and started to write and draw on the lantern. I couldn’t help but be curious, so I asked, “Old Master, what are you making the lantern for? For me to play with?”

“You want to play with this? Since you like the soul-drawing lantern, then take it.” Old Master Jiang laughed and was about to hand the lantern to me. I kept backing away. A soul-drawing lantern, it sounds like something bad. I would be crazy to play with this.

“Master, what is this for?” I couldn’t help but be curious after keeping a safe distance.

“This is for your second sister to guide her soul. Your second sister has lost one soul and four spirits, and she has been missing for some time. Without a soul lamp, it is feared that she will not be able to return. Moreover, after being in the wilderness for a long time, her soul is probably weak. With a soul lamp to guide the way, your second sister’s soul will be much easier on the way back.” While explaining to me, the old man was carefully painting the soul lamp with cinnabar, but the things he painted were like hieroglyphics to me, and I couldn’t understand what they were at all.

“Do you want to know what I’m drawing?” The old man turned to me and asked, as if my curiosity about him was a happy thing for him.

Seeing that the old man was asking me, I nodded eagerly. I was actually very curious about why writing and drawing something would give it magical powers.

“Ghosts and the light we see are different. It’s not that if a person carries a lantern with a light, the ghost can see it. What I’m drawing is a transformation rune, which is used to transform the yang fire into the yin fire that ghosts can see. In addition to these runes, some lamp oil also has this effect, but you can’t get it out of your house.” The old man explained in great detail, and I became more and more convinced that the old man’s abilities were too mysterious.

After painting the lantern, Old Master Jiang kicked me in the butt and said, “Go to bed. Tomorrow, you’ll come with me to work in the countryside.”

I was not angry with Old Master Jiang at all, and I went to bed very happily. Going to the market with him tomorrow would mean that I wouldn’t have to go to school tomorrow. After laughing three times, I suddenly felt that being an apprentice to Old Master Jiang was not a bad thing.

The next morning, I got up early. Children are always inexplicably curious about the unknown, and they are less fearful.

This is why I was only weak and not lost my soul when I was possessed by a hundred ghosts that day. It was because I was still young, and I was not afraid of anything except for some very special things.

Without fear, the mind is calm, and the aura is positive. Those lonely ghosts and wild spirits can’t do anything to me for a while.

My second sister was different. She was very afraid of the female ghost, so she was pushed out of her body. It was all down to her willpower. So there is some truth in the saying that being frightened can cause you to lose your soul. This is because fear can make your soul unstable. To put it more simply, it can make you want to run away.

Let’s cut to the chase. I got up with excitement, but I found that the old man was already in the courtyard. At that time, he was practicing boxing. I didn’t know that he was practicing Tai Chi, but I couldn’t help but be attracted by his mind when I saw him practicing in the courtyard.

After a while, the old man opened his eyes and saw me. He wasn’t surprised and wiped his sweat off with his hand, saying, “I was just practicing Tai Chi. Was it good?”

“Well, it looked limp and weak.”

“Haha, Tai Chi emphasizes both hardness and softness. The pauses and stops in the movements are very profound. You can spend your whole life practicing and still not know if you can do Tai Chi well. What do you know, little boy?” The old man was not angry. What did he care about a child who didn’t understand anything?

After breakfast, Jiang took me with him. Whenever he met curious people in the village, he would tell them that I was his adopted son. As for the reason, he told them to ask my parents.

After all, I was going to stay here until I was 15, so I couldn’t just go without a name. But the old man didn’t even bother to think of a reason, and he just passed the buck to my innocent parents, asking them to satisfy the curiosity of the villagers.

In October, the mountain village is often shrouded in dense fog in the morning, but when I and the old man Jiang walked to the village square, the fog had already dispersed. Walking along the country road, the old man Jiang, who had been paying attention to the fields and the occasional young girls, finally looked at me for the first time.

He said quite seriously, “Sanwa, I know that the ghost is here because of you, but I don’t know the details. Now you have to take me to the place where you first encountered the ghost, and then you must tell me everything that happened that night.”

Seeing that old man Jiang was so serious, I dared not be negligent, and quickly told him everything that had happened that night, including the dreams I had had.

After listening to my story, the old man was very surprised and said “huh” several times in a row. Then he pulled me over, opened my collar and looked closely at the back of my head.

In fact, I always knew that I had a birthmark on the back of my head, a bright red one, like an eye, but as I grew up, the birthmark has become less and less visible. Now, I’m afraid it’s just a circle of shadows.

“Damn kid, you actually opened your third eye in a daze. This spiritual awareness is rare.” At this point, Old Master Jiang couldn’t help but sigh.

I looked at the old man very confusedly, but this time, the old man didn’t seem to want to explain to me, but instead, he just told me to take him directly to the graveyard.

With my vague memory, I led the old man around in circles to the place where I had hit the road that night. Unfortunately, it was too late that day, and I was just wandering around, so it took a while to find it.

After seeing the familiar bamboo forest and the cemetery not far from it again, I felt a chill in my heart, even though it was broad daylight.

“Sanwa, listen carefully. You may think this is just a normal scene, or you may feel pity for the dead, or you may recite the text you have learned, but you must not show any fear. Even if the mountains collapse and the earth splits, you must just treat it as normal.” Seeing my scared look, Old Master Jiang said to me in a serious tone.

But at this time, I was extremely sensitive and couldn’t help but grab the corner of the old man’s robe and sincerely shouted for the first time, “Master, is there any danger? Are you telling me this?”

“What danger could there be? I’m telling you this so that you remember that in any situation, you must not easily give in to fear, and you must guard your own clarity. Do you understand?” After giving me this piece of advice, Old Master Jiang took my hand and walked straight towards the bamboo forest.

That night, it was too late for me to see clearly. Today, I realized that the bamboo forest I entered that day was on a gentle slope, and the cemetery was just below it. At the other end of the cemetery was also a bamboo forest, and behind it was a steep cliff. There was only one road leading directly to the cemetery from the front.

There were no fields around the cemetery either. I was at the edge of the bamboo forest that day, right next to the road leading to the cemetery. My father and the others found me on that road. If I had walked through the bamboo forest,

Thinking about this, I couldn’t help but break out in a cold sweat, but when I thought about the fear of the old man Jiang, I quickly diverted my attention and desperately memorized the text. Under full concentration, I gradually calmed down.