Chapter 36 Yang Bird, Fire
Chapter 36 Yang Bird, Fire
"There are too many evils in this land, and it's not easy for the Miao people to survive."
Yunqi nodded when he heard this. If poisonous insects and ghosts became a part of life, it would be really not easy to survive. He grew up in a rich land and could not imagine such a life at all.
"Our ancestors thought of many ways to survive. Look, we hung our houses to avoid moisture, insects and snakes."
The old village chief said with a smile.
The clouds didn't smile.
"At that time, our ancestors also did a lot of foolish things. Some people regarded ghosts, monsters, insects and snakes as gods, worshipped them, and even tied up boys and girls and offered them to them in order to pray for peace. Of course, blood and tears proved that this was useless.
"Some people also search for insect eggs and baby animals in the mountains, raise them, and then use them to fight insects and animals. Some even raise ghosts and drive away corpses. These are useful, but they themselves become monsters."
The old village chief said quietly.
"There are some people like us who can't do the above things, so we look for Yang energy to restrain these evil spirits. We go to higher places, live in the mountains, drink running water, make torches to drive away evil beasts, and use sulfur powder to drive away poisonous insects.
We thought of many ways, and in the process, we found that the white dogs in the mountains are very sensitive. They can detect living things or evil spirits from a very far distance. They are not afraid of poisonous insect bites or loss of souls, so we raised white dogs to guard our house.
In addition, our biggest discovery is the rooster.”
The old village chief laughed very happily.
"We first discovered that the big red-crowned golden-clawed rooster in the mountains was the most special. It could eat poisonous insects alive and fight against evil beasts. It crowed every day before the sun came out. The sound of the rooster's crowing could actually disperse fog monsters and suppress howling ghosts. It was truly a yang bird sent by heaven.
So we started raising chickens, and everything changed.”
Yunqi could feel the old village chief's joy. Mu Naigong looked at the rooster looking for poisonous insects to eat in every corner of the village, and his face was as smiling as a flower.
Yunqi was also very happy. Before, he had consulted a lot of information and legends in order to visualize the Pleiades Star God, but those legends were too lofty and focused on the starry sky, which made his visualization always a castle in the air and could not be put into practice or on earth.
Now, hearing the Miao people talk about the power of the rooster, he was very happy. With these stories, his visualization had a core. He even thought of a solution at this moment. He wanted to write these stories into sutras and engrave them on the pillars of the Palace of Light in his mind.
“After we started raising chickens, we discovered that roosters are even more capable than we thought!”
The old village chief spoke fiercely.
"One day, a man lost his soul outside. When he came back, he was confused and could not recognize anyone. He soon passed out. According to the past, this person was dead.
“But at that moment, the village rooster suddenly crowed three times, and the man’s soul was called back!
"Also! As long as it is a chicken-raising village, they will drink chicken blood to swear an oath to each other, which is the most unbreakable oath! Anyone who drinks chicken blood and disobeys will bleed to death, without exception! It is precisely because of this that our Hongjiang 14 Creek villages drank chicken blood and swore an oath. If one village suffers, the other villages must help. That's why we can survive to this day!"
"The rooster can tell time. Even if there is black fog and it is dark for months without distinguishing day from night, the rooster can still tell time accurately every day and never break its promise. This is how we can have a normal life. In the past, when the black fog came, countless people would have gone crazy in the endless darkness!"
"Rooster blood can subdue the dead!"
"A chicken feather crown can prevent your soul from being called away!"
"And more! And more! As long as chickens are raised in the village, more boys will be born!"
"..."
The village chief told the story one by one, and Yunqi wrote it all down. He even asked the old village chief to tell him in more detail, such as when and who happened.
The old village chief was very happy to see Yunqi so interested, and spoke in detail. Some things were too far away, so the old village chief added some of his own imagination when he spoke and exaggerated some of the deeds, but it didn't matter.
No, maybe better.
One old and one young, one talking and the other taking notes, the speaker was happy and the listener was happy. After a long while, the two aunts came out and indicated that the house was ready.
Mu Naigong stopped talking and said to Yunqi with a smile, "Master Yun, you have come from a far distance. Please take a rest first. We will have a bonfire party to welcome you in the evening."
Yunqi thanked them, took out two copper coins from his pocket and handed them to the two aunts, and handed a silver coin to the old village chief.
The three refused to take it, but Yunqi forced it on them.
He took a look at the house. It was clean and the windows were open. The sun was setting and the setting sun shone in, giving the wooden house a layer of gold.
After watching the three people leave, Yunqi looked at the Miao village, the stream, the terraced fields, and the roosters pacing around. He was so happy that he didn't even go into the house. Instead, he sat down on the beauty's back and entered into a state of meditation.
----
The golden crow falls in the west, and night falls.
It was September, the days were short and the nights were long, the weather was turning cooler, the nights in the mountains were extremely dark, a light cold fog rose, and even the starry sky was invisible.
Every household in the village lit up a lamp, which was extremely dim yet conspicuous in the deep mountains.
Yunqi stood on a high place, watching people coming out of every household, holding firewood in their hands, and gathering in the center of the village. People piled up the firewood neatly, until it was half a person's height.
The old village chief took out a black jar, dipped a brush into it and scooped something out, then threw it onto the woodpile. Yunqi looked at the shiny liquid droplets, which looked like some kind of oil.
The old village chief took out something like a tinderbox from his arms, and when he blew it with his mouth, a wave of fire spurted out from the top of the tinderbox, shooting out ten feet away and falling on the wood pile in the direction of the old village chief's blow. This was completely different from an ordinary tinderbox and was more like a weapon.
"boom!"
A woodpile half a person's height, made up of hundreds of pieces of firewood, was ignited in an instant. The huge fire illuminated the village immediately, and the leaping flames instantly dispersed the cold fog lingering in the village.
The people in this village used fire far beyond Yunqi's imagination.
The villagers sat around the campfire, the fire reflected on everyone's face and in their pupils, clearly illuminating their joy.
Yunqi looked at the lights in every household and the flames that brought light, and he gained a deeper and clearer understanding of the meaning of fire.
Fire is never just fire in the air.
The sun is infinitely bright, but the worldly fireworks can also drive away the darkness. The most important thing is that the sun is high in the sky, while the worldly fireworks are in the hands of humans.
"Master Yun! Come quickly!"
The old village chief stood beside the campfire, calling out loudly. The villagers also waved at Yunqi and said words that Yunqi could not understand.
The white dragons were happier, chasing and playing around the bonfire. But the roosters were too majestic and did not participate in the bonfire party. They were scattered around the village, standing on high places and looking into the distance, like guardian gods.
Two chapters published at the same time, Chapter 2.
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(End of this chapter)