Chapter 21: The most fierce hungry ghost

Hearing my question, the old man Jiang snorted and said, “Hungry ghost bugs have a very obvious characteristic, and that is, they are afraid of complete closure. Because they are tormented by hunger all the time, they are generally very anxious. A completely closed environment will ignite this anxiety in them. holes, and that is why. The holes are actually coated with a special wax, a kind of insect wax that is extremely difficult to collect. The hungry ghost bugs are very afraid of this. Coating them with this layer of wax prevents the hatched hungry ghost bugs from accidentally emerging from these small holes.

“Can such tiny holes be drilled out?” I asked in surprise.

“Of course it can. It can enter through all seven holes, let alone this small hole. Its body can stretch and pull into a hair strand without any problem! Unfortunately, the wax is very special. It can’t see any light at all. It melts as soon as it sees light. The same goes for the eggs of the hungry ghost. They can only hatch in a dead silent environment with strong vitality. As soon as they get a little bit of vitality, they will hatch in a rush. Without the wax seal, so… sigh…” Old Jiang sighed.

I also roughly understood the cause and effect. No wonder Jiang said that Lao Du brought this jar from the tomb, and Jiang was so angry.

“Master, this bug is too powerful, isn’t it? It can’t be killed, it can’t be cut, it can stretch, and it’s not afraid of dog blood.” I can’t think of anything else that this hungry ghost bug is afraid of. What should I do if I meet it again? Do I have to bite my tongue every time? Master also forbids me to use the tiger’s claws indiscriminately. Besides, the last time I was able to spray blood on it was only by chance.

“Not all bugs are like this. The one in Guo Er’s stomach is different. It is at least the king of the room where the bug is, so it is so strong. Ordinary bugs can still be killed if you use all your strength to get them.

“And Guo Er and the others poured so much dog blood on that worm, it was like a big boost for the worm.” Hui Jue said angrily.

“What’s going on? Isn’t dog blood supposed to ward off evil spirits?” This is exactly what I can’t figure out.

“Exorcism? Dog blood is effective against some spells, illusions, and things without physical bodies. What’s the use of splashing dog blood on something with a physical body? And the bug didn’t use any spells or illusions, it was just a hungry ghost with a strong soul and natural oppression, and this dog blood can break it? Do you know about zombies? Have you ever heard of splashing a zombie with dog blood?” Old Jiang said angrily.

Huijue also chimed in at this point: “There are many types of hungry ghosts, and this one is a type that likes to eat blood. Any blood-related matter is a great tonic for them. You say that this hungry ghost, which has been hungry for so many years, meets so much dog blood, can it not be mentally healthy?

I sighed in my heart. This is the difference between Jiang Yao’s cat, a layman, and my master Hui Jue, a professional. It’s not that you can use anything you hear about to ward off evil spirits. Sometimes, what I consider to be a good medicine is actually poison to others.

“Master, why do you say that the worm in Guo’er’s stomach is the king of worms?”

“First, let’s talk about the room where the worms are kept. Look at those pipes. They are there on purpose, so that the lucky, hardy worms can climb up the pipes and into the top of the jar! There is a special substance in those tubes, a liquid. I don’t know how it is made, but I am sure that the main ingredient is the blood of the person who raised the worms. You know that wine can be stored in sealed ceramics for thousands of years, and that special liquid is even more… how should I say, more resistant to storage. After the bugs are born, they are attracted to the liquid in the pipes and will try their best to get into the pipes. The pipes are connected to the jars, and there is only a very, very small hole in the middle, almost invisible to the naked eye. The bugs are stretchy, so you can see what happens next, right?” Old Jiang didn’t know how to describe it, so he turned to me directly.

Of course I understand, but I feel sorry for the hungry bugs. It must be difficult to drill such a tiny hole, probably even thinner than a hair.

“Of course, even if the hole is small, the liquid inside will slowly dry up. The liquid that flows into the jar will naturally be absorbed by the eggs. But that liquid has no effect on hatching eggs. It’s just something like a spice. When the liquid dries up and there are no hatched bugs, they are eliminated because they haven’t hatched in such a long time, which only shows that they are not strong enough.

“This is the reason why the hatched bugs all climbed to the top of the pot. The clay of that pot is different from the bottom. The formula for imprisoning the bugs is more potent. Once the bugs get in there, they have no courage to get out, and then they wait for another bug to come up! Hungry ghosts have a characteristic. Because of hunger, they often lose their reason, and siblings eat each other. Those who can survive are the strongest. This is the law of survival for hungry ghosts. Do you understand now?” Hui Jue added,

“I understand that the person who designed the chamber put so much thought into it that he wanted to cultivate the strongest hungry ghost in each chamber.” But what is the purpose of this?

I asked, and only Huijue answered: “Not only does he want to cultivate a hungry ghost in each chamber, he wants to cultivate the strongest hungry ghost in the entire tomb!”

That was all he said, but no one answered me as to the purpose of this.

But no matter what, I was still worried about one thing: “Master, what about the two bugs that escaped?”

“I think they have burrowed into the bodies of the animals, but there are so many animals in this market, domesticated and wild, how can we check? The essence of human blood is much better than that of animals because it contains human aura, but the bugs were hungry and saw the animals and couldn’t resist, so they ran in. Because a person can only contain two hungry ghost bugs at most.” Old Master Jiang said.

“Master, what should we do?” I was a little anxious.

“What can be done? Keep a close eye on any strange deaths of animals in the countryside. I’m afraid they’ve burrowed into the bodies of wild animals, which would be even harder to detect. If they grow into mature forms, it would really be a disaster.” Old Master Jiang sighed.

“Yes, that’s why your master and I don’t dare to go to the Hungry Ghost Tomb easily, because we have to sit here and wait for those two bugs to show up.” Hui Jue also frowned.

“What is a mature body?” I suddenly remembered the worm in Guo Er’s stomach. It was so different, with two branches growing out of it, like hands, and even its tail was split. I felt a little scared.

“Mature body? The mature body is no different from the hungry ghosts in the hungry ghost realm. Look at the relief, that’s what the mature body looks like. At that time, it should have eaten human flesh raw!” Old man Jiang’s expression didn’t look like he was joking at all.

Eating human flesh? I suddenly felt a twitch in my stomach. It wasn’t disgust, it was fear!

I remembered an old legend about little short people and ghosts eating human flesh. No wonder my father had told me that my long-dead grandfather had once seen a hideous little creature lying on a dead horse eating its rotten flesh.

I couldn’t help but tell my father about this story. Old Jiang said, “That’s good. That was a hungry ghost that eats carrion, which is much less dangerous. A hungry ghost that eats blood is a hundred times more ferocious. Your ancestors were blessed to have met a hungry ghost that eats blood, and he couldn’t escape. Where could there be you?”

“Can hungry ghosts eat different things?” I thought that people all eat, but can hungry ghosts eat different things? That’s really new.

Hui Jue looked at me with contempt, his eyes clearly mocking my lack of common sense: “Of course they are different. Some eat incense, some eat filth, such as feces and phlegm, and some eat rotten meat.

“But no matter how different they are, we can’t escape one thing.” The old man sighed, and I didn’t know how many times he had sighed that night.

“What is it?” I asked.

“That is, the hungry ghosts in the tomb are precisely the most fierce kind of hungry ghosts!”