Chapter 18 Ghost Hero
Chapter 18 Ghost Hero
When Lao Wang died, he was all alone. He had no children in his lifetime, and after he came to the underworld, no one burned paper money for him. Ghosts like him could never get on the list of reincarnation because they had no money to bribe the ghosts in the underworld. Every day, they had to do all kinds of hard labor in the underworld to make a living in the underworld. But even though he worked very hard, the salary he earned every day was only enough to make ends meet, and there was no surplus at all. The money to bribe the ghosts was really an astronomical figure for him. As time went by, Lao Wang, as a "ghost", got older and older, and his work became slower and slower. Even when the ghost supervisor whipped him with a whip, he could no longer speed up his pace. The ghosts understood that the time had come, and it was time for him to do that thing.
The ghosts called Lao Wang to them and said to him, "Ghosts like you don't have the chance to reincarnate. But we really pity you and are willing to give you a chance to reincarnate. We hope you can seize this opportunity."
Upon hearing this, Lao Wang could not help but nod and said, "Thank you, all the ghost messengers! I will definitely get the job done."
The ghost officials nodded and said, "The work in the underworld always needs someone to do it. We can let you go back to the world of the living. You can find a substitute to do the work for you, and then you can be reincarnated."
Hearing this, Lao Wang asked in confusion: "I don't know, what is a substitute?"
The ghost said, "Need I say more? It's naturally the person working for you. No matter what method you use, at least bring back a ghost, and you can be reincarnated." As he said that, the ghost handed Lao Wang a booklet with the words "Complete Methods of Finding a Substitute" written on it, and asked Lao Wang to go back and take a good look at it.
Lao Wang took the book and returned to his hut, where he began to read it. At night, the ghost came to ask Lao Wang, "How is it? Did you understand everything?"
Lao Wang hurriedly said, "I see! I see! Don't worry, Master Ghost, I will definitely find a replacement." The ghost nodded with satisfaction and secretly sent Lao Wang to the human world. Lao Wang hid during the day and went out at night, and soon found a place that was very suitable for finding a replacement. This is a quiet river. There is a small town on the riverside here, called Wujiang Town. There are many people on the river taking boats to play and enjoy the scenery along the river bank. If you become a water ghost in the depths of this river, it would be easy to overturn the passing boats and find a replacement. Lao Wang looked at the long-lost streets on the river bank and the fireworks of the human world, and couldn't help but feel emotional and lonely. When he was in the underworld, Lao Wang was tired of the hard work and loneliness in the underworld. He wanted to end such a life as soon as possible, be reincarnated, and be a new person. But when he came to the human world again, looking at everything in front of him, he felt so strange. Obviously that world is now in front of him, but it seems so far away.
Old Wang gradually suppressed his thoughts, sank into the river, and began to look at the boats passing by. Soon, his eyes fell on a small boat with only two children on board. This was undoubtedly the easiest target. The two children were only five or six years old, and there was no adult to look after them. It would be easy to pull one of them into the water. Old Wang thought about it and swam towards the boat carrying the two children.
When we got closer, we saw two children crying over a golden carp in the basin on the boat. One of the children cried, "Little fish, although I don't want to let you go, I still have to let you go. Dad said he would stew you for the New Year." Then he held the golden carp in his hands and slowly put it into the river. The fish entered the water, swam around the boat for a few circles, and poked its head out to spit out a few bubbles, as if saying goodbye to the two children.
Another child said, "Little fish, go away quickly, or you will be caught again!" The little fish seemed to understand and slowly dived into the water.
Seeing this, Old Wang couldn't help feeling ashamed and thought to himself: "These two children cherish the life of a fish so much. And now I have to use their lives to exchange for my life? I have lived to be eighty years old as a human, and have been a ghost for nearly eight hundred years. Am I not as good as these two children?" Thinking this way, Old Wang swam back to the center of the river and began to look for his target again.
Soon, Lao Wang fixed his sights on a small boat carrying an old woman and a middle-aged man. The old woman looked to be nearly 70 years old, and seemed to be suffering from illness and had little energy, making her a good target. Lao Wang swam to the old woman's boat and was about to attack her when he heard the middle-aged man on the boat say, "Mom, you feel better after having some fun. Are you still upset?"
The old woman said, "Much better, much better. My son is really thoughtful and took me out to relax. It's just hard for you to always stay with an old woman like me, but it won't affect your future."
The middle-aged man said, "What are you talking about, mother? Serving you is a natural thing to do. There is no such thing as involvement between mother and son. Don't think too much about it, mother. After a while, when I have saved enough money, I will ask someone to invite Doctor Xue from Jianglin Town. He will definitely be able to cure your illness. You can rest assured." As the man spoke, he took off his clothes and covered the old woman's legs.
Seeing this, Old Wang felt reluctant and thought to himself, "This is truly what is called a loving mother and a filial son. Now, for my own selfish gain, I want to harm the mother of a filial son. Isn't this against the will of heaven?" Thinking this way, Old Wang returned to the center of the river and started looking for his target again.
This time, he set his sights on a small boat carrying a young couple. The girl looked fragile and it would be easy to get her. When Lao Wang swam to the side of the boat, he heard the man on the boat say to the girl, "It's really hard for you, my lady, to live such a hard life with me."
The woman said, "My husband, what are you talking about? Living a normal life like this is what I want most. If I follow my parents' orders and marry that rich boy from an official family, I will have no desire to live. We are free and at ease now, and it is good enough. Why should we be dissatisfied?"
The man and the woman sat in the boat, leaning against each other, with the moonlight shining on them, adding a bit of sadness and desolation.
Old Wang thought to himself, "This might be a pair of star-crossed mandarin ducks who eloped here. They must have gone through many twists and turns to get together. If I harm that girl, wouldn't I be a wicked woman who breaks up a pair of lovebirds? As the saying goes, it is better to tear down ten temples than to ruin a marriage. This girl is willing to give up the wealth and glory of an official family and live an ordinary life with this scholar. How can I destroy other people's beautiful karma for my own selfish interests?" Old Wang pondered like this, and swam absent-mindedly towards the center of the river.
Looking at the boats on the river, Lao Wang couldn't help but smile bitterly and joked to himself, "If this continues, I'm afraid I won't be able to find a substitute. Every time I hear the conversations of those people on the boat, something bad will happen. Why don't I plug my ears? That way, I won't be able to hear anything they say. Once I get to the boat, I'll take action immediately without hesitation, and there shouldn't be any problem."
Lao Wang thought about it, and then he dived to the bottom of the river, found some water plants, and plugged his ears. Just then, a boat slowly sailed towards Lao Wang, and Lao Wang said, "This is just right, I don't have to go through the trouble of looking for it anymore, this is it!" Then he swam towards the boat.
On the boat, there was a man, a woman and a child. There was a guqin on the table in the boat, and the man was playing it with great pleasure. The woman was dancing to the music, and the little girl was clapping and laughing. The family was talking and laughing, and everyone's face was filled with happy smiles. It was strange to say that although Lao Wang had blocked his ears, he still felt that he could hear the music played by the guqin and the laughter of the little girl. But he felt as if he didn't hear it, and it was just an illusion in his mind. But those sounds were so real that in the end, Lao Wang didn't know whether he heard it or not.
But when he saw the smiles on the family's faces, he thought to himself, "Even if I suffer, I will be alone. But if I harm one of the people on this boat today, I don't know how sad the other two will be. Wouldn't this good family be separated? Can I destroy other people's families just for my own selfish interests? Forget it, forget it!" Old Wang thought so and returned to the center of the river.
Lao Wang was aimlessly staring at the center of the river when he heard a voice from underwater saying, "Interesting, interesting! I've been here for more than a thousand years, but this is the first time I've seen a water ghost like you. You don't look like you're here to find a substitute, but rather like you're here to swim."
Lao Wang looked towards the bottom of the water in the direction of the sound, and saw a ghost with a patch of green water plants on its head swimming towards him quickly.
Lao Wang was surprised and asked, "Are you a water ghost?" The ghost said, "I guess so. I have been here since I became a ghost."
"Are you here to find a replacement as well?"
"I don't look for a substitute, but I have seen many ghosts who come here to look for a substitute, and they all succeeded in the end. But you are an exception. You have never been willing to overturn even a ship until now."
Lao Wang asked in confusion: "Since you are not looking for a replacement, what are you doing here?"
"I am special. I can no longer enter the cycle of reincarnation, and I don't want to live in the underworld and be enslaved, so I stay here."
The old king asked, "Why can't you enter the reincarnation cycle? You have been here for such a long time, haven't the ghosts come to take you back?"
"The book that recorded my name has been destroyed, so I am now a lonely ghost. No one knows of my existence, so I can no longer reincarnate, and naturally there is no ghost to catch me."
Lao Wang said, "Oh, this is very interesting. I have long had enough of the life in the underworld. How did you destroy your book? I want to try it too."
"It's not that easy. It's a long story, and I owe it to others. But if you're interested, I can tell you about it."
The ghost with the waterweed on his head relaxed his limbs, floated on the river, and slowly said: "At that time, I had just died, and my soul was taken to the underworld by the Black and White Impermanence. Like other ghosts, I lined up to enter the Ghost Gate, waiting for the Ten Kings of Hell to decide my fate. Ghosts who have relatives in the world often prepare money for the passage early, so they can naturally line up at the front. Those who have no money naturally line up at the end. The ghosts hate those who can't make money the most, and they often have to whip them. I and several other ghosts were so frightened that we kept begging for mercy. Only the strong man ghost walking in front of me didn't say a word. The two ghosts were even more annoyed when they saw that he refused to beg for mercy, and they waved the whip at him with greater strength. Unexpectedly, the strong man Suddenly he stretched out a hand and tightly grasped the whip of the ghost. Seeing this, the ghost was so angry that he pulled and tugged, and he couldn't break free even with all his strength. But the strong man pulled him lightly, and he fell to the ground at the feet of the strong man. The ghost stood up, still unconvinced, and raised the whip to whip the strong man, but the strong man's angry eyes made him tremble all over, and he dared not to be presumptuous again. He had to leave in anger and ran to find other ghosts. I don't know what he said. After waiting for two days and nights, it was finally our turn to go to the hall. The strong man was originally in front of me, but because those few were timid and hid behind one by one, he became the first. When the strong man arrived at the hall, the ghost asked him to kneel down, but he refused. The King of Hell was furious and asked him what his name was.
The sturdy man said: "Overlord".
The King of Hell and the little ghosts were shocked when they heard this, and it took them a long time to recover.
The King of Hell pretended to be calm and said, "Since ancient times, the victors have been kings and the losers have been bandits. Moreover, in the underworld, there is only me, the King of Hell, and I have never heard of any other kings."
The King of Hell called a group of little ghosts, some pressed his legs, some pressed his shoulders, trying to force him to submit. But no matter how the little ghosts tossed, the strong man did not move at all, and the King of Hell became more and more angry. The little ghost who had previously whipped the strong man with a whip saw the opportunity and ran to the King of Hell again, whispering something. The King of Hell ordered the little ghosts to carry out a three-legged tripod filled with oil, and used ghost fire to burn the oil in the tripod. The Black and White Impermanence hooked the strong man with a soul-catching lock, and countless little ghosts rushed over and dragged him to the oil pan. The strong man's hands and feet were tied, and he was about to be carried by the little ghosts and thrown into the oil pan, but suddenly he let out a loud shout and broke the soul-catching lock. He stood up and beat the little ghosts to hide everywhere, and even the Black and White Impermanence was no match for him. After dealing with all the little ghosts, he walked to the tripod, grasped the legs of the tripod with both hands, lifted the whole tripod high, and smashed it onto the table of the King of Hell. The King of Hell saw the tripod flying towards him and quickly dodged it, but smashed the table in front of him into pieces. The boiling oil in the tripod flowed out, staining the Book of Life and Death on the broken table, and the words could no longer be seen. The strong man made a big fuss in the Hall of Hell, and no one in the underworld could stop him. Then he walked out of the hall alone and disappeared. I and several other ghosts have been unable to reincarnate because the Book of Life and Death that recorded our names was destroyed, so we have to do odd jobs in the underworld to make a living. As for me, I took advantage of the fourteenth day of the seventh month when the gates of hell were wide open and sneaked here. It should have been fifteen hundred years ago."
Old Wang was so absorbed in listening that it took him a long time to come back to his senses. He could not help but say with emotion, "Since he is brave and also martial, he is strong and cannot be bullied. After his body dies, his spirit becomes a spirit, and his soul becomes a ghost hero. If I compare myself with such a person, my life is really too sad. He was a hero when he was alive, and he is also a ghost hero after his death. And what about me? I was a coward when I was alive, and I am still a coward after my death. Now that I can't find a substitute, I can't enter the reincarnation. When I return to the underworld, I will be bullied by those ghost officials. What can I do?"
The water ghost said to Lao Wang, "The key is still the book of life and death that records your name. As long as you can destroy it, the ghost will not know where you are and will naturally not be able to catch you. Then find a chance to escape from the underworld, just like a bird flying into the forest, free and unfettered."
The old king said, "If I can do this, I will be as free as you. Even if I cannot reincarnate, it doesn't matter. But I don't know who is in charge of the Book of Life and Death? Where can I find it?"
The water ghost said, "He is the chief of the four judges of the underworld, Judge Cui, and his residence is in his house."
Lao Wang took note of it secretly, said goodbye to the water ghost, and returned to the underworld.
Seeing that Lao Wang returned empty-handed, the ghosts in the underworld naturally couldn't help but ridicule him. Fortunately, the ghosts were gathering together to drink and have fun, and they had no time to pay attention to Lao Wang, so Lao Wang didn't suffer a lot of physical pain. That night, all the ghosts had gone to bed. Lao Wang secretly got up and went to Judge Cui's mansion. When Judge Cui's mansion was expanded, Lao Wang had worked there, so he knew the path and was familiar with the layout of the house. Lao Wang bypassed the ghost guarding the gate, climbed over the wall from the other side, and went straight to the study. Sure enough, he saw the life and death books of all living beings on the shelf in the study. Lao Wang was overjoyed, and just as he stepped into the door of the study, the door suddenly shone with golden light. Lao Wang felt as if his whole body was hit by a huge wave and flew out directly.
When the ghosts heard the noise in the house, they rushed in and caught Lao Wang. Without giving him time to explain, they all pulled out their soul-chasing whips and beat Lao Wang. Lao Wang rolled on the ground in pain, but he gritted his teeth and suddenly jumped up, grabbed one of the soul-chasing whips and pulled it hard, knocking a ghost to the ground. Lao Wang picked up the soul-chasing whip that the ghost dropped and kept swinging it in the air, accidentally injuring several ghosts. Seeing this, the ghosts became more ferocious, waving the soul-chasing whips in their hands and whipping Lao Wang with all their strength. The pain from the bruises all over his body made Lao Wang's vision gradually blurred, and his legs could no longer support the weight of his body, and he fell to the ground with a bang. The ghosts came forward one after another and surrounded the fallen Lao Wang and continued to whip him.
The soul of Old Wang who fell to the ground gradually dimmed, but he still held the stolen Soul Chasing Whip tightly in his hand, and murmured with a smile: "I was tough for once!"
Under the crazy beating of the ghosts, Lao Wang's soul finally disappeared like steam into the endless dark abyss of the underworld, leaving only the soul-chasing whip lying quietly on the ground...
(End of this chapter)