Guanzhong Tomb Robbery Notes

Chapter 169 Xiangxi People, Cat Ghost

"Something big happened?"

Wang Hu shuddered, his face pale as paper: "Should we leave first?"

"Brother, let's leave first." Cui Hao persuaded.

As the saying goes, a gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall.

When faced with danger, hide as far away as possible.

"Don't be anxious, there are still some questions I haven't figured out." I frowned and thought hard.

Who put the poison in Baoer's body?

Did Su Tiansheng knock over the coffin in order to match the person who put the poison in it?

What is the purpose of the person who poisoned Han Gaotian and others?

Taoist Master Zhang is not in the village. Is it because the person who cast the poison is trying to lure the tiger away from the mountain?

Could it be that the person who poisoned the body was also heading for the cave?

Countless questions are tangled into a big ball of wool in my mind.

But too little is known to answer these questions.

My gaze slowly shifted towards Miaowan Village.

The answer may be there.

To go or not to go?

Do you want to take this huge risk to find the answer?

As I was thinking hard, I heard footsteps.

Old Man Su came tremblingly over, pulling his children and grandchildren with him: "Master Chen, what happened just now?"

I looked at them in astonishment.

I didn't expect they still had the guts to stay.

"Someone planted poisonous insects in the corpse. After your brother-in-law knocked over the coffin, the insects erupted and burrowed into Han Gaotian and the others' bodies."

"Gu, Gu insect?!"

Old Man Su's eyes widened: "Could it be that my brother-in-law has also been controlled by the Gu Master?"

I was stunned.

I ignored this possibility.

I used to think out of habit that Su Tiansheng became weird because he entered the cave.

Now after hearing what Old Man Su said.

I think Su Tiansheng is more like being controlled by a Gu Master!

Because his action of banging the coffin was completely in line with the Gu Master's action of releasing the Gu!

"Makes sense."

"Did your eldest brother-in-law have any contact with outsiders before the accident?"

Old Man Su thought about it and shook his head.

Snapped!

Su Meng suddenly slapped his thigh and shouted, "I know!"

"A few days before my uncle got into trouble, a stranger from outside actually came to the village."

"You bastard! Why didn't you ever tell me such a big thing?!" Old Man Su raised his pipe in anger.

Su Meng quickly put his hands on his head and said, "Don't hit my head. The more you hit me, the dumber I become!"

"You coward!"

Old Man Su kicked his son and shouted angrily, "Tell me now! What does that person look like and where did he come from?"

"The man was short and thin, about sixty years old, and was wearing a patchwork of black coarse cloth."

"By the way, he had a few layers of blue cloth wrapped around his head. It was obvious he wasn't from here."

"His accent is strange, and even when he speaks slowly it's hard to understand him, so few people in the village want to talk to him."

"At the time, I was in a hurry to take my kids to work in the fields, so I didn't take the man seriously. Now I think it was quite suspicious."

Old Man Su took a drag from his pipe and said in a deep voice, "He has a blue cloth wrapped around his head. He's from Xiangxi!"

"How do you know you're from Xiangxi?" I asked curiously.

At that time, I had never been out of Shaanxi and knew very little about the customs and people there.

So I didn't hear much useful information from Su Meng's description.

But Old Man Su is old and has worked in a restaurant before, so he has seen all kinds of people coming and going from all over the country.

"I saw it when I was a cook in the shop in my early years."

"People in Xiangxi wrap several layers of cloth around their heads, usually blue, but sometimes black."

"At that time, I heard that there were witches, sorcerers, and corpse drivers in Xiangxi. Anyway, it was very weird."

Xiangxi is a really weird place.

In the past, many people who mastered evil secret techniques had nowhere to go due to suppression by the imperial court, so they would hide in the mountains of western Hunan.

Over time, various strange and mysterious techniques have been integrated and developed in Xiangxi, giving rise to even more bizarre techniques.

For example, the combination of Xiangxi witchcraft culture and Taoist culture has formed a unique school of Taoism and witchcraft - the Meishan School.

The Meishan School's various bizarre witchcraft spells, talismans, and methods of gathering and sending out evil spirits are all extremely mysterious and unique.

"Corpse driver? Can corpses be driven?" Wang Hu asked nervously, his eyes constantly looking towards the coffin.

Obviously, he was afraid that something strange might happen to the body in the coffin.

I also looked into the coffin.

The body had completely turned into corpse fluid, leaving only bones in the coffin.

The skeleton won't cause any more trouble, right?

Old Man Su said in a deep voice: "Of course the corpse can be driven away."

"In the past, people said fallen leaves return to their roots. If someone from Xiangxi died outside, they would ask a corpse driver to take their body back to their hometown."

"Corpse drivers are usually a team of masters and apprentices. They can drive several corpses at a time, and the most skilled can drive more than ten or twenty corpses."

I don't want to hear the story of the corpse chaser.

He beckoned Su Lou and Su Sheng over and asked, "Have you two seen that old man from Xiangxi?"

"Or, have you seen or heard any other strange people or things?"

The reason I asked them is because the children in the village communicate more with each other.

When other children see or hear something strange, they often show off to other children.

Su Lou hesitated for a moment and looked up at his father.

Su Sheng said it directly: "I have heard it."

"My great-aunt's grandson said he saw that strange old man enter our house and even go into my uncle's room."

"What?!" Old Man Su's eyes widened.

Su Sheng was so frightened that he shrank behind me: "He also said that my uncle had a great time chatting with them and was even dancing with joy."

"He thought my uncle looked funny, so he sneaked into our yard and heard them talking about cats."

"Oh right, it seems to be talking about cat ghosts!"

"My uncle jumped up when he heard about the cat ghost and said he wanted to go find the cat ghost with the old man."

"I didn't mean to keep it secret. I just didn't believe what he said. I thought he was plotting against my uncle."

This narrative is crucial.

Especially the word "cat ghost".

But no matter how much I think about it, I still don’t know what the cat ghost is.

Is the cat a ghost?

Or is the cat possessed by a ghost?

Thinking about Su Tiansheng's appearance as if he was possessed by a cat, could it be that he has become a cat ghost?

"Does anyone know what a cat ghost is?" I asked.

Cui Hao, Wang Hu, and Old Man Su's family all shook their heads.

Only Shi Nianzi raised his hand: "I know."

The way he raised his hand looked like a primary school student waiting for the teacher to ask a question.

"Nianzi, tell me in detail."

"My grandfather told me when I was a kid that keeping cat ghosts was popular during the Tang Dynasty."

"To raise a cat ghost, you need to use an old cat. The older the cat, the better the effect. Kill the old cat at 10:00 midnight to obtain its soul."

"That spirit is the cat ghost."

"Those who raise cat ghosts must offer sacrifices daily. Once the ghost becomes obedient and ready to be controlled, it can be released to possess a human..."

It sounds like cat ghosts are a complete witchcraft method.

Did I make a wrong analysis just now?

Could it be that the person who went to Old Man Su’s house was not a Gu Master, but a wizard?

Things are getting more and more complicated.

We don't have the ability to deal with wizards and sorcerers.

Those people lured Taoist Master Zhang away from the mountain, which showed that they were afraid of him.

The only solution now is to find Taoist Master Zhang as soon as possible.

I was just about to take them away and go look for Taoist Master Zhang at daybreak when I heard a cry like a child coming from the bushes.

Su Tiansheng came back and squatted in the woods, shouting at us.