$600, Tanka people (2/2)
"Have you eaten?"
"How about we eat some of the food I just went to beg for?"
Lao Miaozhu was also a hospitable person and pushed the big bowl he was holding in front of everyone.
There were several salted fishes placed in the bowl, and under the salted fish was a thick layer of cooked wild vegetables.
Taoist Yuanqing glanced at the food in the bowl of the old temple Zhu Hai, and suddenly felt envious of the old temple Zhu. Although the other party was located in the mountains and fields, the temple he looked after was obviously very popular on weekdays, and several surrounding villages could gather together. With money, to build such a big temple, several villages should be relatively wealthy.
When doing temple celebrations in a place like this, you don’t have to worry about eating and drinking.
For example, Yuanqing runs a Taoist altar and has six or seven disciples, but his living standards are far inferior to those of his disciples.
Salted fish and other meaty food are good things that you may not be able to eat even during the Chinese New Year.
However, he now joined the Beilu Mountain Gate, and the living standards of his family and his former disciples were also rising day by day. In front of Master Chilong, he couldn't keep his face and brazenly pick up food from other people's bowls, so he quickly declined. : "No, no, brother allows us to settle in the temple. We are already very grateful. How can we still share the vegetarian food that brother has transformed into?
We have prepared dry food ourselves, so we need to make a fire to cook.
Thank you for your kindness, brother! Thank you for your kindness! "
After hearing this, Laomiao Zhu did not continue to give in. He sat on the steps with a bowl in his hands, picked up a small salted fish with chopsticks, took a small bite, and then said to the others: "Then you are free, I will eat it first.
There is firewood in the temple, so you can just light a fire in the temple without having to go outside to get cold! "
"Okay, okay!" Yuan Qing nodded in agreement.
Although there was some firewood accumulated in the temple, everyone was too embarrassed to use the pile of firewood that a lonely old man had saved for who knows how many days. They went out and spent some time to pick up a lot of firewood. .
A fire was lit in the temple.
Brothers Xianzheng and Xianyi placed the iron pot on the fire. The flames danced and licked the bottom of the pot, illuminating the temple in flickering light.
Xianchun put the washed brown rice into the pot, covered it with a wooden lid, then sliced the wild vegetables and dried meat and laid them out. When the rice was almost cooked, he put the dried meat and vegetables into the pot. .
Chilong Zhenren wetted the cloth with wine and carefully wiped the sword in the box.
Su Wu held a thick copy of "Qingwei Five Thunder Gods Secret Technique" and raised his eyes to see the 'Five-Tong God Statue' hanging on the wall opposite the temple door. The 'Five-Tong God' was not a humanoid god, but a humanoid god. It's a giant snake rising from the bottom of the river,
The big snake has five heads,
Each of the five heads opened its bloody mouth, and each of the bloody mouths outlined a golden portal, with vaguely Dao Yun Ji talismans emerging from the portal.
His eyes fell on the Yunji talisman outlined in the door. Su Wu's eyes narrowed slightly, and he turned to look at the old Miao Zhu who was silently eating in the corner.
Just as he was about to ask, the wooden door of the temple was pushed open.
Two sisters, Tong Baimei and Tong Qingzhu, walked in from the door holding a large bundle of firewood.
The two of them were in the motorcade, so they were naturally embarrassed to do nothing and just eat for free. Therefore, even if no one asked them to do something, they would try their best to do what they could.
The two women piled firewood in the corner and sat down close to the fire.
Xianxing moved to the side to make room for the two girls to sit around.
Several women gathered together to practice the piano and flute all day long, and their relationship became somewhat closer.
Tong Qingzhu quietly raised her head and glanced at Su Wu. Su Wu sensed her gaze and turned to look at her. She was so frightened that she lowered her head, picked up firewood and put it into the fire to hide her peeping movements.
Su Wu frowned slightly and spoke to the old temple in the corner: "Old man, where did this Wutong God come from? Is it the god enshrined in the Taoist sect?"
Fujian is humid and hot, close to water, and there are many water snakes. There is a lot of "snake worship". The Dan people have no land and use boats as their homes. They go down the rivers and seas to fish and hunt for a living. They often encounter snakes, so they often build temples near the water. There are many temples in Fujian that use various snakes as the main sacrifices to the gods.
For example, "God of the Snake" and "Snake King Bodhisattva" are all manifestations of "Snake Worship".
It is also an ancient belief in witches and ghosts.
The "Wutong God" has been worshiped in obscene temples in all dynasties. Therefore, the god often sacrifices "human sacrifices and blood food". The so-called "human sacrifices and blood food" means using living people as sacrifices. This god is popular in the Jiangnan region. Mostly appear in the form of a short old man or a boy.
When he arrived in Fujian, he turned into a giant snake with five heads.
Su Wu didn't care too much about the changes in the image of folk gods.
What concerned him was the five-door Yunji talisman emerging from the huge mouth of the Wutong God.
So I will ask questions to the old temple.
Judging from the scene reflected on the statue, the ‘Wutong God’ is most likely connected with the Fujian Taoist Gate.
But why would the Taoist sect get involved with such evil gods?
Isn't this inviting trouble to oneself?
At this point, the only thing Su Wu could think of was that the numerous Taoist altars in Lushan Daomen in Fujian Province had gradually been cannibalized by Tujiao and Wumen, and thus integrated with Tujiao and Wumen, and they were no longer able to worship evil gods. No longer maintaining a too serious attitude of rejection, he accepted it half-heartedly and half-heartedly on his own Taoist altar, where he worshiped the gods.
"The Wutong God is a god invited from several villages around us from the Tianwei Taoist Altar hundreds of miles away.
We don’t know what the Taoist god is, we only know that it is the righteous god enshrined on the Tianwei Taoist altar!
Tianwei Daoist Temple, you don’t know it?
The red-headed master inside is very powerful!
They can communicate with gods, and a spell can invite gods to ask questions. If something too strange happens here, we will ask the red-headed master to help resolve it.
A few days ago,
young people were often killed by rocks falling from the mountains on the newly repaired road at the entrance of Baixi Village, so the red-headed master from Tianwei Daoist Temple was invited to come over. After they came, they invited the gods and asked the people of Baixi Village to dig the mountains and take stones there, build a memorial archway, and paste the talisman.
Hey - until now, no one has been killed or injured by rocks falling from the mountains when passing by there! "The old temple keeper wiped the oil stains from his mouth and talked to Su Wu.
He probably rarely met people who could communicate with him on weekdays. Once someone asked him questions, he immediately opened up and poured out all the things that were related to each other.
Red Dragon Zhenren wiped the shining sword, and the sword light was reflected on the Wutong statue.
The bearded old Taoist said to Su Wu at this time: "The Tianwei Taoist Temple is no longer a Taoist sect that respects Jingyang Tianshi as the master of the altar and establishes three ladies as altar gods. It is in cahoots with lewd temples and evil worship, and is connected with the witch sect and local religion inside and outside, huh--"
He raised his eyes and looked at the old temple keeper.
The old temple keeper was stunned by the murderous spirit contained in his seemingly plain words, and was speechless for a while.
But Red Dragon Zhenren's expression became easy-going, and he first asked the old temple keeper: "Did the Red Head Master sacrifice living people when performing rituals?"
"Sacrificing living people?
They are all damned people! "The old temple keeper waved his hand, "Those who have husbands but still have affairs with other men and are unfilial to their parents would have been put into pig cages and killed by having their hearts gouged out in the past. Now they are being offered sacrifices to the gods, which is a good thing for them!"
"It seems that there is a ritual of sacrificing living people." True Man Chilong nodded.
The palm under the big sleeves grasped the handle of the sword, making a creaking sound.
Su Wu did not talk to the old temple keeper again.
The atmosphere was silent for a while.
The old temple keeper stood up tremblingly, holding a large bowl with half a bowl of rice and food left, took out a key from his waist, opened the door of a small inner room on the side of the temple, and said to the people outside the door: "I usually live in this small inner room. It's late, so go to bed early after dinner.
If you have anything to do at night, remember to call me!"
"Thank you for your trouble, old man. "Su Wu nodded, and when he saw the old temple keeper turning around to go into the inner room, he suddenly asked again, "Is the Wutong Temple popular on weekdays?"
"Yes.
They are all fishermen from the Tanka family. Before going out to sea to fish, they all come to the temple to worship.
When they return home safely, their families will also fulfill their wishes in the temple.
There are also people who pray for children and good fortune.
The five doors in the mouth of the Wutong God correspond to fortune, wealth, longevity, luck, and offspring. "
The old temple keeper turned around and pointed to the bloody mouth of the snake head of the statue. The bloody mouth stretched open a golden door, and the Taoist Yunji talisman vaguely emerged in the door.
He pointed to the Yunji talisman painted in golden red and said, "Look, these words, are they good fortune, wealth, longevity, luck, and "offspring"? I can't read. "
Su Wu looked at the golden and red Yunji talismans intently without saying anything.
The old temple keeper thought he had agreed and said with a smile: "Young people can also worship Wutong God for the sake of passing the imperial examination or getting married. The incense is under the statue platform. It's up to you!
If it comes true, you can come to fulfill your wish. If it doesn't come true, don't worry about it!"
After saying a few words, the old temple keeper hunched over, took the bowl and went back to the inner room and closed the door.
Red Dragon Zhenren put the sword into the box, took the bowl of rice with dried meat and wild vegetables handed over by Xianxing, turned the bottom of the rice, and said to Xianxing: "Give me some rice crust."
"Yes. "Xianxing quickly agreed and scooped some golden rice crust into the bowl of Chilong Zhenren.
Tong Baimei took the rice spoon from Xianxing, also filled a large bowl of rice, spread dried meat and wild vegetables, and carefully handed it to Su Wu: "Little Taoist priest, it's time to eat."
"Thank you." Su Wu nodded.
Although the two Tong sisters look similar, it was the second sister Tong Qingzhu who had fought with him, not the eldest sister who was almost made a living sacrifice by the evil spirit, so he would not vent his anger on the other party.
Tong Qingzhu, who was watching, quickly picked up a pair of chopsticks and handed them to Su Wu with both hands.
Su Wu ignored her, picked up a pair of chopsticks himself and began to eat slowly.
Tong Qingzhu did not dare to have any opinions and took his own bowl from his eldest sister.
The eldest sister smiled at her slightly,
which made her somewhat panicked and lost mood a little better.
"In the statue on the wall, the five cloud-shaped talismans do not have any special effects.
The five cloud-shaped talismans are all representations of "making a petition and guiding others".
The believers worship this god,
and through this god, they are expressing their wishes, hoping that the gods can guide their wishes and realize their wishes.
This Wutong God is a "shell" and a "door". "While eating, the True Man Chilong suddenly raised his head and said a few words to Su Wu.