Chang'an Catching Demons

Chapter 11: Shadow Reappears

The New Year's flavor of Chang'an is getting stronger. The New Year's stalls in Xi'an City are full, with sugar paintings, noodles, and dried plum branches piled up into hills. In Lin Yu's mixed yard, the white fox "Snow Ball" was chasing the red line ball in Su Yao's hand, while Chen Feng squatted by the charcoal basin and looked through the newly sent file.

"Speaking of which, it's really peaceful since the incident of fighting the Black Wind Mountain." Chen Feng rubbed his hands and let out a white breath. "Wei Laodao said that the vitality of the remnants of the Shiyang Religion was seriously damaged, and he couldn't make waves in a short time."

Lin Yu was wiping the evil bell, and the bronze bell was rubbed brightly: "The calmer it is, the more careful you should be. Evil is the best at exploiting loopholes when slacking.

As soon as the words fell, there was a rush of footsteps outside the courtyard. It was the new owner of the shadow studio in Xi City, surnamed Wang, a short and fat middle-aged man. At this moment, his face was red and his cotton coat was open.

"Taoist Lin, Chen Fangtou, help me!" Manager Wang rushed into the yard, holding a broken shadow in his hand, "That studio... is making trouble again!"

When everyone followed Master Wang to the West City, there were many people outside the theater, and they all looked frightened. The oil lamp in the shed suddenly turned off, and the sound of silk bamboo was intermittent, mixed with the laughter of children, which was exactly the same as the scene when Zhao Banzhu was alive half a year ago.

"I just put down this shed a few days ago, thinking about a few lively plays before the year," Manager Wang's voice trembled. "During last night's audition, there was suddenly an extra shadow in the backstage, that's it..."

The shadow in his hand is an old life, with dark lines embroidered on the corners of his robe, and there is an indescribable gloom between his eyebrows. Lin Yu took the shadow. As soon as he touched it with his fingertips, he felt a cold air climbing up his fingertips - the resentment on the shadow was the same as that of Zhao's shadow.

"Go into the shed and have a look." Lin Yu pushed open the hidden shed door, and the snowball rushed out of his sleeve, and he sniffed it vigilantly.

On the wooden frame in the center of the stage, there is indeed a row of shadows hanging, some men and women, some old and some young, which are the ones that were refined into shadows by Master Li in those years. It's just that at this moment, they are all stiff, as if they have been hung up again.

"It's strange. These shadows were obviously burned by Wei Laodao half a year ago." Chen Feng frowned, "How could it happen again?"

Su Yao walked to the backstage and pointed to the wooden box in the corner of the wall: "Look, this box is exactly the same as the one in those years."

The box was locked. Chen Feng opened the lock with a knife, but there was nothing inside. He only found a yellowed note at the bottom of the box, with a line of words written in vermilion: "You owe me, you have to pay it back."

"Who is pretending to be a god?" Manager Wang was so scared that his legs were weak. "Could it be the evil soul of Master Zhao?"

Lin Yu shook his head: "Although the resentment is heavy, there is no breath of the dead soul. It's more like... someone imitating the shadow of that year." He looked at the snowball, which was grouching at the pillar on the east side of the stage, and his hair stood on end.

There is a faint shadow hidden behind the pillar. Lin Yu sacrificed the peach wood sword and shouted, "Gome out!"

The shadow rushed out. It turned out to be a half-sized teenager, wearing a white-washed short, holding a shadow in his hand, which was the old shadow mentioned by the shopkeeper Wang. When the teenager saw that he was found, he turned around and wanted to run, but was hit by the snowball and fell to the ground.

"Who are you? Why are you pretending to be a god here?" Chen Feng snad forward to hold the teenager down.

The teenager bit his lip and said nothing. He just clutched the shadow in his hand, and tears rolled in his eyes. Seeing that he was pitiful, Su Yao squatted down and said softly, "Don't be afraid. Tell us the reason. If there is any difficulty, we will help you."

The teenager sniffed and choked up and said, "My father is the apprentice of Class Master Zhao. He was injured by the witchcraft of Carpenter Li half a year ago and has been in bed. I heard that the shadow of this studio can gather ghosts. As long as it attracts enough yin qi, it can cure my father..."

It turned out that the teenager's name was Xiaoshi. His father was helping in the theater when he was injured by the shadow of the carpenter Li, which damaged his yang qi and lingered on the bed. The little stone rushed to the doctor in an emergency. He asked a Taoist priest for a method, saying that using the old shadow to attract yin qi can "use yin to supplement yang", so he secretly sneaked into the stable, imitating the movement of that year, and wanted to cure his father.

"What about the Taoist priest?" Lin Yu asked, "Where did he get the shadow he gave you?"

"He said... I bought it from a black-robed man," Xiao Stone recalled. "He also said that as long as I do it according to his method, my father will be fine in less than three days."

Lin Yu's heart sank: The black-robed man is also a remnant of the Eyang sect! They deliberately gave the shadow with resentment to the little stone, just to borrow his hand to re-draw the yin qi in the west city and disturb people's hearts.

"Nonsense!" Lin Yu said sternly, "Yin Qi will only hurt people's lives. How can it cure diseases? If you go on like this, not only will you not be able to save your father, but you will also be entangled in resentment!"

The little stone was so scared that his face turned pale and he sat on the ground: "Then...what about my father?"

"I'll have a look with you." Lin Yu put away the peach wood sword and said, "If it only damages the Yang Qi, maybe it can be saved."

Little Stone's home is in the slums of West City, a low earthen house, and the cold wind pours in through the cracks of the wall. Zhao's apprentice was lying on the bed, with a waxy yellow face and weak breath. There was an incense burner beside the bed, and the incense burning in it was similar to the smell of the "lock soul incense" in the palace.

"It smells good!" Su Yao recognized the incense ash, "It's the same as the lock soul incense you used in those years!"

Lin Yu extinguished the incense candle and said in a low voice, "It's really a trick of the Yang religion! They first consume your father's yang qi with the lock soul incense, and then let the little stone attract the yin qi, just to make him completely reduced to a yin corpse!"

He took out three "warm sun charms" and pressed them together on the patient's heart. The golden light of the charm flashed. The patient coughed and his face turned a little rosy. One piece a day, paste it for seven days in a row, and then wipe the body with wormwood boiled water, and the Yang Qi can slowly recover.

The little stone kowtowed repeatedly: "Thank you, Taoist priest Lin!"

When I left the slum, it was already dark. The lanterns in the West City lit up, reflecting the snow, which was a little warm. Chen Feng looked in the direction of the theater: "The people of the Eyang sect are hiding in the dark. It's not a solution to be so passive."

Lin Yu touched the Zhen Xie bell in his sleeve, and the copper bell was slightly hot: "If they want to disturb Chang'an, they will definitely show their horse's feet. We just need to guard the key places and wait for them to throw themselves into the net.

The snowball suddenly rushed to the front and roared at the shadow of the street corner. Lin Yu looked up, and the figure of a man in a black robe flashed in the shadow, and soon disappeared into the night.

"Chase!" Chen Feng pulled out a knife and chased after him, followed by Lin Yu and Su Yao.

The black-robed man ran very fast, through several alleys, and actually ran towards the direction of Dongming Temple. Lin Yu's heart moved: Could it be that their target is Wei Laodao?

As soon as he arrived at the foot of Dongming Guanshan, the black-robed man suddenly stopped and turned around. The bronze mask on his face glowed coldly in the moonlight. Lin Yu, don't be safe." His voice was hoarse, and his bone stick was on the ground, and more than a dozen shadow puppets appeared out of thin air.

"I've been waiting for you for a long time." Guanmen suddenly opened, and Wei Laodao came out with a dust brush, followed by more than a dozen Taoist priests holding magic weapons. "The remnants of the Yiyang Religion dare to come to the door to die!"

It turned out that Lin Yu had already been prepared and asked Chen Feng to send someone to inform Wei Laodao, waiting for the black-robed man to throw himself into the net.

A war unfolded in front of Guan. The peach wood sword collided with the bone staff, and the charm was intertwined with the black gas. The snowballs flexibly shuttled between the dark soldiers, biting their ankles from time to time to win opportunities for Lin Yu and others.

In the fierce battle, Lin Yu split the mask of the black-robed man with a sword, revealing a young face underneath, which was somewhat similar to Li Song's.

"Are you from Li Song's family?" Lin Yu said in shock.

A trace of hatred flashed in the eyes of the black-robed man: "I'm his nephew! You killed my uncle, and this feud will not be shared!" He suddenly stabbed the bone stick into his heart, and he actually wanted to repeat Li Song's mistake and forced himself into the devil.

"No!" Lin Yu sacrificed the evil bell, and the bronze bell made a deafening sound, and the golden light was like a net, covering the black-robed man. The black gas of the demon was suppressed by the golden light, and the man in the black robe screamed and fell to the ground, out of breath.

The puppets of the dark soldiers lost control and turned into black smoke one after another. Wei Laodao looked at the corpse of the black-robed man and sighed: "i***t, you are blinded by hatred."

The lights of Dongming Temple swayed in the night. Lin Yu looked in the direction of Chang'an and knew that this was just another pause. The shadow of the Eclipse Religion has not dissipated, and the mystery of Chang'an continues to write a new chapter. The snow ball rubbed his palm, as if to say that no matter how dangerous the road ahead is, there are always people walking side by side.