Chapter 2: Tianjin Yellow Tiger
After the Grand Canal was no longer used for water transport, the speed of shipping was still quite fast. After one day, the speedboat that Ding Hai and his companions were riding on reached the middle section of the South Grand Canal.

As the sun sets, two cash-strapped brothers are gnawing on the steamed bread they brought with them.

Just when Ding Hai was secretly wondering whether he should ask the captain for some hot water to soften the steamed bread and make it easier to eat, the captain came to him first.

"Two young masters, we are going to pass by Jiulianhuan tonight. This place has many bays and fast-flowing water, which is a bit unlucky. You two should just sleep tight and don't leave the cabin.

If someone calls out to you, just pretend you didn't hear anything. Otherwise, you'll probably be bewitched by the water ghost and dragged to the bottom of the river to be his substitute."

After a brief explanation, the captain turned and left.

Although he is proficient in Maoshan Taoism, Ding Hai does not dare to be arrogant, because he knows that these old masters will never do anything without a purpose.

Jiulianhuan is the section with the most turbulent currents and the strongest waves in the South Canal section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.

Even Ding Hai, who had never been here before, had heard the legend about this section of the river from his master.

In the early Yuan Dynasty, although there was a river connecting the two ends of the Nine-Linked Rings, the river was narrow and small, and the coast was full of mudflats, making it difficult for even a hundred-ton boat to pass.

At that time, the Yuan Dynasty had just entered the Central Plains, and its ruling foundation in the south was extremely unstable.

In order to open up the Grand Canal as soon as possible and use the power of water transportation to ensure the logistics of the southern army, the then reigning Emperor Yuan recruited 300,000 young and strong men to build this section of the river.

In order to please the emperor and build the canal as soon as possible, the river ambassadors sent by the Yuan Dynasty abused the people's labor when building this section of the canal and did not treat the 300,000 river workers as human beings at all.

It is said that when this section of the canal was opened to navigation, only 100,000 of the 300,000 river workers returned home intact, and the rest all died on this section of the canal.

To this day, there are still several villages named after tombs and doorways along the canal.

According to unofficial historical records, although many strange things happened during the construction of this section of the canal, most of them were suppressed safely by the joint efforts of the shamans accompanying the army and the Yuan Dynasty army.

But after the water was diverted and the canal was opened, this section of the canal was stirred by the mysterious evil in the rushing water, and immediately a terrible incident occurred.

According to the old canal workers who make a living on this section of the canal, when the canal was completed and water was diverted to open to navigation, the river ambassador at that time asked the shaman Changshengtian who was accompanying the army for divination because many strange things happened along the way. He chose a sunny and cloudless day for the trial voyage.

We are preparing to use the bright sun to suppress those invisible and intangible monsters in the canal to ensure smooth navigation.

But on the day of the maiden voyage, although the scorching sun frightened away the ghosts and spirits and they dared not show up, many generals led by the river ambassador and the shaman who accompanied the army disappeared in the middle of the canal in broad daylight while they were on a trial voyage. Not only did no one see their lives, but also no one saw their bodies.

Even the thousand-ton yawl ship that the canal ambassador specially dispatched to show off disappeared without a trace in broad daylight.

When Emperor Yuan, who was sitting high on the dragon throne, learned about this, he became furious and issued an order to summon two great shamans from the grassland and three great lamas of the Tantric Buddhism.

They were ordered to quell the evil activities on the South Grand Canal within seven days and ensure the logistical lifeline of the Yuan army as it marched south.

As a result, the five outside masters who could compete with the Taoist Yin Shen Zhenren disappeared on this section of the canal in less than three days, just like the river transport ambassador, and there was no news of them ever again.

When this incident happened, the entire northern spiritual world was shocked.

Five external masters at the level of Yin God died silently without even making a splash. What kind of concept is this!
In Taoism, the Yin spirit can be called a true person.

In Buddhism, the Yin spirit is called a bhikkhu, and he is only one step away from achieving the status of an arhat.

In the side sects and external ways, the Yin spirits can establish their own lineage and rule a region, calling themselves the patriarch.

Looking at the entire northern spiritual world, there are only a dozen or so masters like this.

Even the Yuan Emperor who was in seclusion in Dadu was shocked by this result. The Great Shaman and the Great Lama were second only to the chief priest and the living Buddha in Changshengtian and Tantric Buddhism.

If any one of them had malicious intentions to assassinate the king, even a ruler like him would have a headache, but in the end they died quietly!

The matter became so serious that even the Yuan court felt it was difficult to handle, but the Yuan court's strategy of invading the south would never stop there.

But no matter how the Yuan court struggled, this section of the canal was like a black hole, swallowing up everyone who approached it.

It was not until a living Buddha walked out of an ancient temple on the border of Tibet and drowned himself in the South Grand Canal, making a great wish to use his nearly immortal cultivation to suppress all the evil in this place forever, that this outrageous incident was barely put to an end.

From then on, during every Qingming Festival, Zhongyuan Festival, Shangsi Festival, Hanyi Festival and other festivals, there would always be some trouble on this section of the canal, and some passengers and sailors would be pulled to the bottom.

But the Cold Clothes Festival has passed. Without the help of the evil energy rising on the day of the Ghost Festival, the wronged souls of those river workers would never have been able to break through the evil energy in the canal and drag people into the water to eat their flesh and sleep on their skins.

Although many thoughts flashed through his mind, Ding Hai's expression remained unchanged. He stood up and smiled as he sent the captain out of the cabin. Then he turned around and took out two amulets from his luggage.

With a flick of his finger, a peace charm was firmly attached to Qianhe's head while he was chewing on a steamed bun: "Junior brother, you heard what I said just now. Let's not sleep tonight. Let's meditate and chant sutras to get through it."

After speechlessly taking off the peace blessing, Qianhe rolled his eyes at his seemingly steady senior brother and said, "Senior brother, is it that serious? We brought all our belongings with us on this trip to recognize our ancestors.

Let alone other things, the aura exuded by the ancestral sword on your back can scare ordinary evil spirits into trembling and causing trouble for us. How unhappy must the water ghosts in this section of the canal be. "

It's not that Qianhe is overconfident, but knowing his own family background, he really doesn't believe that there will be any evil spirits who would be so blind as to provoke them on this journey to return to their roots.

Let’s not talk about the senior brother, who just turned 18 and has already passed the three stages of submission, nourishing the essence, and settling the mind, and is a Taoist genius who is aiming at the foundation-building stage, let’s just talk about the weapons that the two brothers are carrying.

The Seven-Star Evil-Slaying Sword left by the founder of the Beimao Evil-Slaying lineage. This sword has been nurtured by the ancestors of this lineage. Any martial artist who knows a little bit of boxing and kicking can easily kill evil spirits with it.

My master has been practicing for decades with a lightning-struck jujube wood whisk. This whisk is more powerful than a blessed willow branch in hitting ghosts. Every time a willow branch hits a ghost, the ghost is one inch shorter. Every time the whisk hits a ghost, the ghost is three points smaller. An ordinary ghost will be scared to death after three or four hits.

There are two Five Thunders Demon-Slaying Talismans that have been enshrined in front of the statue of the ancestor for more than ten years. Either one of them has the power to kill fierce ghosts.

Not to mention the rest of the various ritual instruments, talismans and secret treasures.

With this kind of configuration, a thousand-year-old ghost would shake his head and retreat away, and a hundred-year-old ghost would consider himself unlucky if he accidentally got slapped in the face while passing by.

"Also, if a water ghost really comes to my house to bring bad luck, will it help if you stick a peace charm on my forehead?"

"Why wouldn't it be useful? The amulet is specially designed to help people break bad luck and change their fortunes, and to help people turn disasters into blessings.

When we were carrying Tan Sitong's corpse last night, we were buffeted by the tremendous resentment in his body. Now our luck is terribly bad. We almost owe God two fights of luck.

If we don't wear the amulet to change our luck, who knows how long we will be unlucky. If we hadn't been unlucky last night, how could we have been targeted by those minions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs? "

Looking at Ding Hai's image of a person who believed in fate, Qian He patted his head speechlessly. Who would believe this if he told others about it? The famous Taoist Fei Yu in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region was famous for his belief that fate was decided by me, not by God, and that everything would be perfect. But now he was actually promoting taboos and superstition.

If the common people and wealthy businessmen who had received his kindness and help knew this, they would probably be shocked.

Looking at his senior brother who was beginning to suffer from intermittent insanity again, Qianhe helplessly continued to eat the steamed bun.

Ever since the master responded to the ancestral altar's call to go south to eliminate demons three years ago, the unattended senior brother has been having a seizure every now and then.

He often says things that are incomprehensible, such as "Niu Dun's coffin lid is about to burst" and "The Lord of Thunder is really awesome", and he does things that even foreigners cannot understand.

However, no matter how crazy he was, it seemed that my senior brother had stepped onto the fast track of cultivation since then, taking one step forward every year, and in just three years he was standing at the gate of the Foundation Establishment Realm. Perhaps the world of geniuses is inherently crazy.

After the Golden Crow set in the west, the red clouds in the sky were gradually eroded and covered by the thick darkness.

At first, the waning moon in the sky was a little hazy due to the clouds, but it finally brought some light to this land.

But as the night deepened, the hazy waning moon was covered by dark clouds at some point, and both sides of the canal instantly fell into deep darkness. Only a few fireworks with a green glow were left floating down the canal, as if they were pursuing something, or avoiding something.

Under the dim candlelight, two figures, one big and one small, sat cross-legged in the cabin, silently reciting the Maoshan Sect's evening lessons as the water hit the shore.

Tai Chi is high and thick, light and clear, rising to the sky

If a person can cultivate the highest truth, he can become a true immortal.

…………

In order to avoid unnecessary complications, Ding Hai and his companions did not silently recite the Lingbao Duren Sutra, Taishang Laojun Changshu Qingjing Sutra and other scriptures that might easily cause disputes between humans and ghosts.

But people have no intention of catching ghosts, as ghosts can harm people's hearts.

A gust of cold wind with a fishy smell rose from the small cabin out of nowhere, and the dim candlelight was blown out by the wind before it could react.

The cabin, which originally had some light, suddenly became pitch dark.

The moment the cold wind started to blow, Ding Hai, who had been meditating with his eyes closed and reciting scriptures, woke up with a startle.

The moment the candlelight dimmed, he snapped his fingers and a yellow talisman instantly flew to the extinguished candle.

The sky is round and the earth is square, the law is nine chapters

The Thunder Department responded to the call, and all the ghosts hid

Five Thunders - destroy evil - punish evil spirits - kill
Blue sparks flashed, and a tiny bolt of lightning appeared out of nowhere, striking several vague black shadows in front of the candle.

"Ahh..." At a glance, several sneaky people who sneaked into the cabin were killed by Ding Hai's Five Thunder Talisman.

He and Qianhe restrained their breath and silently recited the sect's evening scriptures, which was indeed a sign of weakness and not wanting to cause trouble.

With the cabin door as the boundary, you go your way and I go mine, and no one provokes anyone.

But showing weakness does not mean being cowardly. The wandering ghosts dared to blow out the lamps and remove the candles in front of the two brothers. Those evil spirits wandering in the cabin would probably rush over to eat their flesh and blood and devour their souls soon.

The reason for giving in to the minions of the Imperial Household Department was that the Qing Dynasty had ruled this land for nearly three hundred years.

Although it has been weakening in recent years, it still has a deep foundation. Even if he, a young Taoist who has only been practicing Taoism for a few years, squeezes out all he has, he can hardly shake it in the slightest.

But you lonely ghosts also want to enjoy the treatment of the Qing Dynasty, but you don’t even take a piss to see if you deserve it. If I can’t cure the Qing Dynasty, I can’t cure you either.

"Brother, the color of the fire has changed." While Ding Hai was killing the ghost with a snap of his fingers, Qianhe was not idle either. He took out a fire starter swiftly and wanted to bring some light to the cabin again.

However, the light emitted by the fire stick after it came into contact with the air was completely different from before. The pale green flame scared Qianhe.

After taking a look at the fire stick in Qianhe's hand with green flames flickering in it, Ding Hai's face turned grim.

They carried their tinder with them, so there was no way they could be replaced or sprinkled with phosphorus powder.

After eliminating these factors, there is only one possibility left that can cause the flame to change color.

They were being pulled towards the underworld and were no longer in the world of the living. The flame lit by the tinderbox turned from ordinary fire into ghost fire due to the change in environment.

"Take out your whisk and follow me. If a ghost attacks you, beat it to death. It's best if it dies completely. If you run into a big ghost that you can't beat with your whisk, don't be reluctant to give up the two thunder talismans."

After instructing Qianhe to be careful, Ding Hai tied the Seven Star Evil-Slaying Sword to Qianhe's back. The magic sword is spiritual, and it can protect Qianhe's retreat even before it is unsheathed.

After feeling that everything was arranged properly, Ding Hai stopped talking and walked quickly to the cabin door with his fingers forming a sword.

Thunder and fire from the sky, destroying the evil in the world

Beidou arrives, all evil is easily warded off,

A condensed magical power formed a complete evil-destroying talisman in the air. With a shout from Ding Hai, the evil-destroying talisman rushed towards the cabin door. The originally closed cabin door was instantly shattered by the great force of the dragon and the tiger.

After the wood chips cleared, a moss-covered and decayed corridor came into Ding Hai's sight.

When he looked back at the cabin where he was standing, he saw that the cabin that was intact just now had become tattered and looked like it would fall apart at any time.

"Master Huo, there is a sound of fighting ahead. Why don't we take a detour? If it's a fierce ghost blocking the road, we'll all be finished."

"Take a detour. There is a way to go around. This speedboat is not big to begin with. There is only one way from the cabin to the deck, unless you break through the bulkhead above and climb directly onto the deck.

But the ship's captain has wrapped the bulkhead above our heads with a layer of pig iron to reinforce the cabin. It would take a long time to break it open with bare hands. If we had that much time, the ghosts on the ship would have eaten us to pieces."

At the corner of the corridor, Huo Yuanjia, who was carefully protecting his friend Nong Jinsun, rejected the suggestion made by his bodyguard Zheng Shanao with a wry smile.

The situation is unclear now and I don't have any sharp weapons at hand. Instead of spending a lot of effort to break through the pig iron partition on the top of my head and climb onto the cabin, I might as well save some energy to fight the ghosts in the corridor and the cabins on both sides to see if I can escape.

"Brother, there is someone at the corner." Qianhe, who was following closely behind Ding Hai, looked nervously at the dark corner of the corridor.

(End of this chapter)