Who died this time? It was my big uncle, the one who was making trouble at my doorstep the day before. He went back home that night and had a drink with a group of hoodlums, reportedly drinking until late at night. Perhaps it was because he was stimulated enough during the day, and in the evening, there were signs of overdrinking. In rural areas, the old houses have a stone threshold at the door, about ten centimeters high.

  My big cousin died on this stone threshold, got up at night, drank too much wine, his foot was tripped by the stone threshold, and he fell forward onto an iron rake.

  Farm tools used to be very precious and were all placed at home. Behind the gate, a row of hoes, iron rakes and other things would be placed. This iron rake is also called "three teeth". It has three sharp steel saw blades, similar to Zhu Bajies nail rake in Journey to the West. This thing is used for turning over land. My eldest cousins throat was pierced by this iron rake, and it wasnt until the next morning that his family discovered him, with all the blood drained out. Now, two lives were lost, and people had different opinions about what happened.

  Relatives are still relatives after all, and at least theres no grudge between the older generation. My dad naturally had to go take a look, and he couldnt even wait until the first day of the new year was over before rushing out the door.

  When I met Zhang Wenbin, I didnt expect him to come and pay his respects for the new year. I didnt even know when he had returned. When we met again, he seemed more mature than before, with a hint of melancholy in his eyes. His attire was vastly different from our old single-breasted suits - a long grey robe, cloth shoes, and hair that had grown quite long, tied up in a bun, making him look like someone from ancient times on TV at first glance.

  In the main room, three people didnt speak up first. I think everyone would have a lot of questions: where did you go these years? How was it? When are you coming back? What do you plan to do now?

  I never knew it would be so difficult to face a person, he brought two sugar packets wrapped in grass paper, the white sugar at that time was all packaged with that thing, and even during the New Years visit. I broke the silence of drinking tea: "Wenbin brother, coming to my place still bringing sugar packets isnt being too polite?"

  "Heres some local specialty I brought for your parents."

  Fatso spat out his tea: "White sugar is also a specialty?"

  "Its not sugar." Zhang Wenbin slowly untied the ropes of the big bundle, and I saw that inside were some dark things. He picked one up, and only then did I realize what it was - something I had seen in many calendars.

  "Reishi?" Even though Ive been out and about for so many years, I still have some knowledge. The price of this thing has already exceeded the range that Zhang Wenbin could afford, whether in the past or now. Reishi is a high-end product like an immortal herb, and the ones he took out had a dark red color with a glossy sheen, thick and even caps, obviously not ordinary goods.

  He didnt explain much and just said: "Wild ones, just soak them in tea and drink."

  Fatsos eyeballs almost popped out: "Cha Ye, your move is not a local product, youve got feelings after all these years!"

  Cha Wenbin just smiled and said: "Mountain goods, picking some herbs to make a living."

  "What does it mean?" I listened to his words and took another look at the patches on his clothes, this is the first month of the year, how come Zhang Wenbin was still wearing such a worn-out outfit?

  "Nothing, I should go." He stood up and was about to bid farewell. I pulled him back and said: "Is there something on your mind? How can you not even have a good drink with me after not seeing each other for years? Youre leaving just like that, isnt it purely humiliating me?"

  "Its not time yet, and there are still people waiting for me. This trip back is just to burn incense for Master, cant stay long."

  "Whats taking so long? You still need someone elses approval here?"

  Zha Wenbin paused for a moment and said, "Nothings wrong, I still have half a year left, goodbye!" After that, he bowed to me and turned around to leave. I and Pangzi were stunned for a moment, then chased after him.

  To say that my and Pangzis footsteps werent slow, in just a blink of an eye, Cha Wenbin had already walked to the bridgehead of my house. On the bridgehead, there was a black car emitting puffs of exhaust gas. Before I could catch up with Pangzi, that guy stepped on the accelerator and sped away into the distance.

  "This......" I really cant believe it, and neither can Fatso.

  I and Fatso were both in the south, in a place full of money, this kind of car was rarely seen. At that time, Guangdong people called it "Pingzhi", which is what we now call Mercedes-Benz. At that time, we could hardly see its shadow in our inland areas, that era, it wasnt something you could buy just because you had the money.

  I recall the old clothes with patches that Wenbin wore earlier, and his words about making a living from herbs. I really find it hard to connect these things together. Looking at the receding tail lights, I know that perhaps he has already become someone who is not in the same world as us.

  Some people are destined to perish, while others are destined to be reborn. Only after nirvana can they become dragons and phoenixes. Zhang Wenbin is also like this.

  I am Zhang Wenbin, a northwest Zhejiang native. I dont have parents, Im an orphan, and it was my master who took me in. My master is a Taoist priest, so I also became a young Taoist priest. We didnt have a temple or any rules, we could eat meat, drink wine, and even get married. At the age of seven, my textbooks were changed to thick thread-bound books with complex characters that nobody could understand, which I had to recite 100 times every day.

  I am the heir, the last generation of Tianzhengdaos leader. This small sect has only me left, I couldnt change this era, but this era changed me.

  Several years ago, in the hometown of the educated youth where I was sent to the countryside, I was taken away by a group of people. I couldnt refuse their proposal: release my three friends and just follow them for three years. I knew they had the ability to take my friends lives at any time because I saw that person.

  My master had always instructed me before his death that if I saw that person, I must pretend to know nothing. He told me that the person would be a nightmare and as long as I didnt open it, it wouldnt start. The person wore a pair of black sunglasses every day, but there was a smell of death on him, no, it was the smell of decay, the taste of death.

  They found a bronze disk in the house where someone had hanged himself, which was built on the wrong foundation. Unfortunately, it was built on top of a tomb, with the entrance just below, making the house an unlucky place where anyone who entered would not have a good outcome, because in Feng Shui, this house was precisely a "tomb pit".

  To open the tomb, a priest is necessary. A virgin would be the best choice. They chose Yuan Xiaobai, and the girl who was trembling like a lamb about to be slaughtered at this moment was curled up in the corner of the wall. I saw that her eyes were dull and her body was stiff, obviously she had been given a hypnotic drug. What they needed was an obedient sacrifice.

  That so-called boss was always in the dark, he deliberately hid himself there, I couldnt see his face. He said that as long as I was willing to follow him, then he could spare her life. Me, no choice!

  The ceremony is about to begin, this is the first time Ive seen such a custom, a group of women old enough to be my grandmother with long feathers stuck on their heads, their faces smeared with thick paint: black, red, white...

  Those old women were barefoot, holding bone-made ritual instruments and dancing around Yuan Xiaobai. A man with a mask on his face sat on the ground, holding a scoop-shaped bone instrument and muttering to himself. His body began to shake, and I felt that his soul had left his body, leaving only an empty shell behind. His language was completely unintelligible to me, but the words were similar to some of the spells my master had taught me, yet not in the same rhythm. The masked man kept stuffing something into his mouth, black and shiny things, and spitting out white foamy residue nonstop.

  Those residual drops are in order, and soon I found that these residual drops actually hide the sequence of Qimen Dunjia. The black-rimmed glasses had already taken a step ahead and said to the person in the dark: "Found it!"

  They soon cut open Yuan Xiaobais veins, and it wasnt until the third bowl was filled with fresh blood that they finally stopped the bleeding.

  That black sunglasses man painted a huge resurrection symbol on the ground with a brush dipped in human blood, but he was different from the painting. He painted it upside down and added a half-meter-wide door at the top of the symbol. Then, the masked man jumped into the door with Yuan Xiaobai on his back, let out a strange cry, and fell to the ground with a "thud". He then began spitting white foam and convulsing uncontrollably on the ground.

  "Shaman!" He was a shaman! I am absolutely certain, this almost lost magic has once again appeared before my eyes, it is different from any religious school, this is an independent system and there are no written records of its transmission. Real shamans rely solely on oral tradition, the previous generations shaman will identify their next-generation shaman before they die, and after they pass away, they will transfer their abilities to the next-generation shaman, this is similar to the Tibetan Living Buddha reincarnation.

  I stared at Yuan Xiaobai, I could still feel her breathing, her rhythm was still even, and her eyes were also open. Fortunately, she was still alive.

  This door is the entrance to the burial chamber, and the shaman who just passed by was making an offering. He presented a perfect sacrifice to the master of this place, but what about that resurrection talisman?

  Are they trying to summon the master of the house? As I was pondering, a loud "thud" sound came from outside, and I looked up to see that several tiles on the roof had been flipped over, and a beam of light shot through the hole and into the room, shining directly onto the bloody door frame.

  Only to see the man wearing sunglasses shaking a soul flag in his hand, four or five big men rushed over instantly. Yuan Xiaobai and the sorcerer were lifted out, those big men started waving their iron hoes and shovels, when they hit about two meters down, someone shouted: "Found it!"

  Then, I saw a bronze coffin bound with iron chains being lifted by a pulley, and the coffin was covered in verdigris, with carvings of auspicious clouds and beasts all over it. Could this be the real master?

  "Its on fire!" said the person in the darkness...