Chapter 11: The Art of Borrowing Life

The transaction was completed smoothly. When my master and I returned to the guesthouse exhausted, it was already 4 a.m.

I took out some food that I had prepared for the journey, then bought two bottles of Erguotou and a bag of peanuts at the overnight shop in the guesthouse, and knocked on my master’s door.

Master was indeed awake. When he saw the food I had in my hands, his eyes lit up and he quickly let me in.

I opened the oil paper package, and inside were some braised beef, which I had prepared to eat in between buns on the road, but I didn’t eat it because I wasn’t very hungry. Then I poured the peanuts onto the table, and opened the Erguotou. I and my master each had a bottle.

The master took a piece of beef, chewed it a few times, and then took a sip of the wine. He sighed with satisfaction and said, “Why didn’t you sleep and come find me?”

“You threw up all the food on the way, aren’t you hungry? Besides, it’s already 4 o’clock, and we have to go back to Beijing at 7 o’clock tomorrow, so it’s better not to sleep.”

“Well, you must have a lot of questions to ask, right?” The master had already seen through my thoughts.

I nodded and said, “Well, Master, tell me about that old man. I don’t know why, but I feel uncomfortable when I enter his house, I feel uncomfortable when I see him, and I feel uncomfortable when I see that girl. Also, he’s so dark. Ordinary yellow talismans cost 100 yuan, blue ones cost 500, and purple ones cost 2,000. And after the talisman is made, he takes a quarter of it. Silver talismans have to be exchanged for spirit jade. I think it’s too dark.

The master peeled a peanut and said with squinted eyes, “Black? Not black. There are not many people in this world who can make good, high-quality talismans that can carry and preserve their power. Besides, there are so many swindlers in the world. People don’t know that talismans have special requirements. Those swindlers just make talismans with yellow paper. How many people do you think really buy talismans? Some talismans require a lot of work to make, and some even require years of support. Don’t talk nonsense if you don’t know.”

“But Master, that guy doesn’t seem like a good person. I just don’t feel comfortable.” I took a sip of wine and said to the master, a little excited. After all, I’m young at heart and always judge people based on my own emotional tendencies.

“A good person? He’s not really, but in some ways, he’s a great good person. In the future, you’ll have to deal with him. If he’s not here anymore, you’ll be in trouble. There aren’t many master talisman makers left, and there’s only one in Tianjin, so he’s like a treasure. ” The master kept eating and drinking, and after a few words, he had already eaten half of the large package of beef and half of the small bottle of wine.

“Since you will be in contact with him in the future, Master, tell me about him, huh? Also, Master, why did you buy so many talismans? And why did you have to draw silver talismans?” I laughed, because I had originally planned to ask these questions.

“Him? Don’t look down on him. If he didn’t have a special reason, the talismans he drew would not be worse than mine. He is also a member of the Mountain Talisman School!” The master said lightly.

I was shocked to hear that the old man was actually a member of the Shan Zi school?

“Surprised, aren’t you? Do you know why he looks the way he does? Do you know why you feel uncomfortable when you see his daughter? Because he used the art of borrowing lives to forcibly keep her alive. Her life force has actually been cut off. When you see her, it’s like seeing a dead person still living. Can you feel comfortable?” The master said these things really calmly. Maybe he knew it long ago, so he didn’t think it was a big deal.

The art of borrowing lives! My head ‘buzzed’ as I heard this. This is too much, but the art of changing one’s fate is a little simpler.

The art of changing one’s fate from scratch is to create something out of nothing and give it to people, while the art of borrowing life is to borrow someone else’s life.

On the surface, the life-borrowing technique is even more powerful than the life-changing technique. After all, the life-changing technique can only extend life for a limited time. But in fact, the life-changing technique is even more powerful. At least in this world, it has no side effects. It can change your life, which means that in addition to longevity, there is also good fortune, and all kinds of life.

The art of borrowing life is just borrowing the life of others, but it is difficult to hide the death of oneself, and the scope of activity will also be limited. Once you leave a certain range, you will age rapidly, and if you are a sick person, even if you borrow life, the disease will still torment you. To exaggerate a bit, if the borrowed life reaches a critical point, the flesh on your body will rot.

You can’t borrow life for more than 40 years!

But changing your life span is different. Once you change your life span, you can immediately live a pain-free life without illness, just like an ordinary person.

But no matter what, for me, these are all methods that are completely out of reach. I can’t do them at all. I only know that one of the methods of borrowing life is that blood is the essence of the body. As long as you can extract the essence of the blood, you can borrow life.

This is what I learned from reading the classics. I can’t read it in detail, and this must be taught by a master. Unfortunately, at my current level, the master can’t teach me.

Seeing my expression, the master smiled indifferently and said, “He loves his daughter very much. Do you think he is old? He is only 50 years old. His daughter was supposed to die when she was 7 years old, but she has now lived to be 24 years old. He has lent his life to his daughter. He is doing this business in exchange for some resources to improve himself, so that his body can be as strong as possible and he can lend more lives to his daughter.”

Is this what fatherly love is? I thought about it carefully. If I were to die at the age of seven, and my father happened to know the art of borrowing lives… I couldn’t bear to think about it.

Maybe this person is harsh to others, calculating and calculating, but he is really a good person to his daughter, a real good father.

As if I wasn’t shocked enough, the master continued, “He would have had the opportunity to work in the same department as me. He would have had a better life, but he refused for his daughter’s sake. He started a business in the Underworld Market because people who come to the Underworld Market are all knowledgeable. Every two months, the Underworld Market opens, and his business naturally won’t be bad. The Underworld Market is a very risky act. The ghosts may bite back, and perhaps at a certain level, I can’t avoid it either. It is necessary to ask him for a few life-saving items. His learning is different from mine. I focus more on magic, while he focuses more on cultivating and practicing various instruments. Even if they are in the same school, they are actually worlds apart.

“Master, but you often say that the way of Tao is natural. If his daughter wants to go, why should she be forced to stay?” I think the price is too high. And is his daughter really willing to live like this?

“It’s easy to say that the Tao is natural, but it’s not easy to live it. It’s easy to say that you can break through the myriad of worldly desires and only retain a pure heart, but do you really understand that cultivating the heart is difficult, because it’s difficult to abandon, and that a pure heart is difficult because it’s difficult to be pure? Some people can’t abandon money or power, and some people can’t abandon the myriad of emotions in the world. How can a pure heart be pure after experiencing the world?” Master said.

I looked at the master blankly, and he looked at me with raised eyebrows and said, “Don’t think it’s easy. I can’t do it either. It’s very simple. You are the difficulty that I can’t abandon. In this world, there are always shackles. I originally wanted to be noble, but I didn’t integrate into the multitude of people. How can I practice my heart in the secular world? But once I integrate into the secular world, I find that I am already entangled in karma, but I always close my eyes and can’t abandon it. The difficulty of the Taoist path lies in the fact that you think it’s ordinary, or even sweet.

I took a sip of wine and realized that I probably wouldn’t be able to practice my heart without the world, and I wouldn’t be able to complete the so-called perfection of the heart. It’s just like I absolutely can’t give up my family, my friends, and my master!

But I wanted to be a little more relaxed, so I casually said, “Sweet things? Like love?”

“Love? Chengyi, don’t look down on it. This is the real test that will make you truly sad.” The master sighed and took another sip of wine.

A difficult hurdle? I don’t think so. I don’t think I have any strong feelings for anyone. I’ve had girlfriends before, but I can’t say that they’re something I can’t let go of. I think Master is exaggerating.

I changed the subject and asked the master, “Master, you haven’t told me what you bought these talismans for.”

Yes, besides the yellow talismans, the master bought five blue talismans, three purple talismans, and one silver talisman.

I think this is wholesale?

I have been with Master for so many years, and I have never seen him use the blue and purple talismans more than a few times. As for the silver talisman, he used it once when sealing the tomb of the hungry ghost, but it was accidentally broken by Guo Er and the others.

In fact, I really don’t believe in the efficacy of silver talismans. Of course, I was stupid at the time!

“The blue and purple talismans are for the trip to Sichuan. This matter is not so simple,” Master said lightly.

“What about the silver ones?”

“Oh, I want to draw a safety charm for you, Uncle Li.”

I spat out a mouthful of wine. A silver talisman was used to draw a talisman of peace, which is such a low-level talisman. You should know that the cinnabar used to draw the talisman is also ground with ruby powder!