After we arrived home, we didn't tell anyone about what happened and quietly waited for nightfall.
At the hour of the dog (7-9 pm), we arrived at Grandpa Li's house. As soon as we entered, we saw Grandpa Li arranging some items on the table.
Wooden swords, bells, hemp ropes, candles, yellow paper, cinnabar, and some other unnamable things were laid out. The most eye-catching was the yellow paper with strange patterns drawn on it.
"Grandpa Li, is this the legendary talisman?" I pointed to the yellow paper on the table and asked.
Grandpa Li said, "You know quite a bit, indeed, this is a talisman. It's been a long time since I last drew one!"
Iron Pillar picked up one and asked, "What are talismans? My teacher says these are all superstitions, just deceiving people."
Grandpa Li burst into laughter after hearing this, then said, "That's because they don't understand. Talismans represent the official documents and regulations of the spirit world, while spells represent the passwords and commands of the spirit world. Talismans and spells are not superstitions but records of profound experiences of the universe's energy field by ancient people. It's hard to explain it clearly to you now, but you'll learn gradually in the future."
"Okay, then I'll learn from you in the future," I immediately replied.
Grandpa Li patted my head with his hand and said, "You little guy, so clever, always finding loopholes."
"What do the patterns you draw on them mean? Why are the words all curved?" Iron Pillar also picked up a talisman and examined it carefully.
Grandpa Li walked over, nodded, and said, "Alright, since there's still time, I'll briefly explain what talismans are to you two. Talismans are the foundation of divination, medicine, fortune-telling, destiny, and physiognomy. They are composed of circles, spirals, horizontal and vertical lines, diagonal lines, and some profound Chinese characters and sentences."
"A talisman is divided into five parts. The first is the head of the talisman, which is the most important part of the talisman, just like the eyes. Below that is the talisman spirit, which means invoking different gods for different purposes. The third part is the talisman body, which is used to explain what the talisman is used for, such as exorcism or warding off evil. The next part is the most important part of the entire talisman, which is the talisman core. Finally, there's the talisman foot, which is more complex in variation. I'll explain it to you slowly in the future."
"In the process of using talismans, you also need spells to cooperate to make them effective. Each type of talisman has its own unique spell. Of course, not everyone's spell chanting will work. The person chanting the spell must first practice mental techniques so that the spell can generate powerful mental force to activate the talisman. Talismans can be used for minor purposes like healing and calming the mind, or major purposes like averting disasters and solving difficulties."
After listening to Grandpa Li's explanation, both of us were dumbfounded and our minds were blown away. Undoubtedly, these words completely overturned our ideological views. Talismans, spells, souls—things that only appeared in movies—were now vividly presented before our eyes. Nevertheless, my eyes still showed immense excitement.
"Can you really teach us these things?" Iron Pillar asked excitedly.
Grandpa Li took a sip of tea and slowly said, "These things are not easily passed on. If they are learned by bad people, they will bring disaster to the world!"
Upon hearing this, I anxiously said, "You just said that you would teach us slowly. That means you can teach us, right? You can't go back on your word. Otherwise, I won't give you a back rub in the future, hmph..."
"Oh, now you're threatening me. Alright, I'll teach you in the future. Actually, I've had my eye on you two for a long time. You both have good aptitude and kind hearts. You will definitely carry forward our tradition in the future, hehe..." Grandpa Li said with a smile.
"Really? That's great! So, what should we do when we go to the tomb later? Please instruct us, Grandpa Li," Iron Pillar said, feeling spirited now that Grandpa Li agreed to teach them.
"Well, I originally planned to directly open the altar in the tomb, break the soul-sealing talisman, and directly capture the soul, solving the problem in the simplest way possible. But seeing how interested you both are, I'll let you broaden your horizons and relive what happened the night before yesterday. You'll get to see the ghost claws with your own eyes, hehe," Grandpa Li said mysteriously.
The more we listened, the more excited we became. After Grandpa Li arranged each person's task, the clock on the wall was about to point to eleven o'clock, and midnight was about to arrive.
Inside the tomb, a small table was brought in and placed directly in front of the stone coffin. Two white candles were lit on it, with a brass incense burner in the middle and three incense sticks placed next to it. In the lower left corner of the table, there was also a bowl of clear water.
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Grandpa Li instructed that the torches could only be lit after the soul-sealing talisman was broken. So, under the flickering candlelight, the whole tomb appeared very dark, with only the front half of the stone coffin clearly visible, while the back half gradually disappeared into the darkness.
When the time came, Grandpa Li used a wooden sword to pierce a yellow talisman, lit it on the candle, chanted incantations, and waved the wooden sword in the air as if writing something. When the yellow talisman was about to burn out, he suddenly extended the wooden sword towards the incense burner, put the ashes into it, then put down the wooden sword, picked up the three incense sticks on the table, lit them on the candle, and after bowing three times towards the direction of the incense burner, he placed the incense sticks inside.
Then he took out another yellow talisman, pierced it with the wooden sword, lit it, and silently chanted a spell. I could tell that this time it was different from the last one. When the yellow talisman was about to burn out, he used the wooden sword to put the ashes into the bowl of clear water, stirred it, then put down the wooden sword, picked up the bowl of water and drank it. Then he walked to the front of the stone coffin and poured the talisman water onto the bones.
"Alright, light the torches. The ritual is completed!" Grandpa Li placed the wooden sword on the table and said loudly.
We both breathed a sigh of relief and lit the three torches, illuminating the entire tomb, and our nervousness eased a lot.
"Alright, the ghost claws you've been eagerly waiting for will be here soon," Grandpa Li said to us.
"Okay, then I'll go up!" After saying that, I grabbed the torch and was about to go out.
"
Wait, take this talisman with you. It's called the Concealing Spirit Talisman, which makes spirits from another world, what you call ghosts, unable to sense you. So, it's also called the Ghost-Avoiding Talisman. With it, you can prevent the ghost claws from grabbing you," Grandpa Li said, folding a talisman into an octagonal shape and giving it to me.
"Little brother, be careful, and if anything goes wrong, call us!" Seeing my younger brother about to go up, Iron Pillar was worried.
"Don't worry, brother, I'll be fine!" I turned back and smiled at Iron Pillar.
"Well, Iron Pillar, don't worry, your little brother is clever, he won't have any problems, and besides, he has my talisman," Grandpa Li reassured Iron Pillar, then took out a few Emperor's coins from his pocket and laid them out in a straight line on the ground. Then he chanted something, and finally, he tapped the ground with a peach wood sword before turning to Iron Pillar and saying, "This is a barrier. The spirits on the other side won't feel the energy on this side. Otherwise, when the candles by the coffin are lit later, the first one to attack us will be the guy in the coffin!"
Iron Pillar shivered after hearing this.
The Li family next door was very quiet, and the two long-lasting lamps in front of the coffin were still lit. Li Aunt, who hadn't slept for a day and night, was persuaded by her family to go to bed at this time. Suddenly, a black shadow appeared on the southwest corner of the wall, holding a son. After climbing over the wall, the shadow quietly slipped into the outhouse, and then, a faint candlelight emanated from the outhouse.
That shadow was me. After entering the outhouse, I hung Grandpa's big mother on a hook and lit a candle, placing it in the upper left corner of the outhouse, which was the living door according to Grandpa Li.
Immediately after, I walked out and squatted at the door of the outhouse, using the hook from inside to subtly move the big mother, causing it to swing above the outhouse.
Time passed by minute by minute. Inside the tomb, Grandpa Li and Iron Pillar were staring at the stone coffin intently. Creak, a faint sound came from the stone coffin, and the atmosphere suddenly became tense.
Then, the white skeletal frame slowly stood up from the coffin, the two black holes on the skull seemed like eyes, staring straight at Wang Tie Zhu, and suddenly, Tie Zhu felt a chill creeping up from the back of his neck, his hands involuntarily grabbing onto Grandpa Li's arm tightly.
This set of bones, roasted by red saltpeter for more than two thousand years, was probably about the same height as me. Standing in the stone coffin, its head almost touched the top layer of soil in the tomb. It slowly turned around in place, then raised its twig-like hands slowly, inch by inch, and began to push into the soil on top of the tomb, then its head followed suit, burrowing into the hard soil, its entire body slowly moving upwards, as if someone above was pulling it up, and the resistance of the soil was no use to it at all, as if wherever it went, the soil would automatically make way...
At the same time, in the middle of the door of the Li family's outhouse, a pair of bright eyes were staring intently at the top of the outhouse, and the innocent big mother, hanging from my hand at the other end, was swaying left and right, like a worm waiting for a fish to take the bait, waiting for the arrival of the grim reaper.
I was now in a state of extreme tension, feeling both excited and afraid. Suddenly, a white, withered hand silently emerged from between two wooden boards, reaching out towards the big mother.
"Crack!" Without making any sound, the big mother was killed by the ghost claws, blood immediately flowing out from where it was grabbed, and the white hand slowly turned white again. I was petrified by the scene before me, sitting motionless on the ground, not daring to make a sound, and finally, I understood why it was called the ghost claws.
After the big mother was released by the white, withered hand, it slowly sank down again. I sat on the ground, my eyes staring blankly.
"Grandpa Li, if that guy grabs the soul of the big mother, will it immediately dissipate?" Iron Pillar asked softly.
Grandpa Li looked at the two withered feet that were still outside and answered, "No, he will put his own bones back in the coffin before he goes to the afterlife. After all, it's his own body. He can't be buried outside."
Sure enough, as the two withered feet slowly descended, the whole skeleton crawled out of the tomb soil again, still as white as before without a trace of soil, only the white mark on its right hand was deeper.
After lying down in the stone coffin, Grandpa Li said to me, "Alright, his soul has already departed, let's call it a day!"
Iron Pillar also breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from his face, saying, "That was too scary just now, I never thought such things existed." After speaking, he took a step forward to get the iron shovel Grandpa Li used to scrape red saltpeter powder next to the stone coffin.
At this moment, something unexpected happened. Just as Iron Pillar bent down to pick up the iron shovel, the white skeleton quickly stood up again, its hands silently reaching out towards Iron Pillar.