The ultimate master in the city

Chapter 31 Monk Yuanzhi Captures Demons

Monk Yuanzhi and his cousin went to the house in the dark and found that it was the house of the person who had come back to life. At this time, there were already some people crowded at the door, and they were all very frightened. Some were even squatting by the door vomiting.

Monk Yuanzhi was anxious and pushed his way through the crowd. Once inside the room, even with his extensive knowledge, he felt nauseous, his scalp tingled, and his heart raced.

On the bed lay a person whose head was half gone, with pools of red and white blood flowing down his body. His body was covered in white bones and bloody flesh, as if he had been bitten by some monster. Judging from the outline, it was the wife of the man who had come back from the dead. Next to her was a human skin with missing eyebrows and drooping eyes, which was the same skin of the man who had come back from the dead.

The couple's son knelt on the floor beside the bed, crying his heart out.

The room was filled with the stench of blood, and the villagers were all horrified and at a loss.

Monk Yuanzhi, his breathing rapid, gritted his teeth, thinking to himself that he usually only did things for money, but today, for his aunt's sake, he would act as a free exorcist. He immediately waved his hand sharply: "Brother, bring me my tools!"

My cousin was also quite frightened, and asked blankly, "What is that?"

"That's the handbag I brought!"

"Uh..." The cousin was also flustered, thinking that Monk Yuanzhi was about to chant some sutras to help the dead, and quickly ran home.

Monk Yuanzhi walked to the bedside, glanced at the dying woman, and then touched the human skin. Based on his experience, he believed that the person today must be some kind of demon that had crawled into the coffin, taken the dead woman's skin, and come to impersonate a cannibal.

The deceased's son, already heartbroken, was enraged when he saw the monk Yuanzhi touching him. "What are you doing! Get away!"

Monk Yuanzhi moved away from the bed, clasped his hands together, and said, "Amitabha! I am a wandering monk who happened to come here to see what is going on."

The young man and the villagers were skeptical because he spoke in a refined manner and had a shaved head.

Just then, the cousin brought over Monk Yuanzhi's bag. Monk Yuanzhi immediately changed into a "brocade robe," held prayer beads in his hands, and chanted a Buddhist prayer: "Amitabha!"

As the saying goes, clothes make the man and a saddle makes the horse. When Monk Yuanzhi put on this outfit and struck this pose, with a compassionate look on his face, he immediately looked like a highly accomplished monk.

The cousin stared in disbelief, then the young man cried out and grabbed his legs: "Master! Please save my parents!"

The young man was terrified. How could he save the couple in their current state? He was filled with grief and helplessness, and instinctively sought an explanation when he saw the "high monk."

The monk Yuanzhi, with an air of superiority, patted the young man's forehead and said, "Don't be afraid! Don't be afraid! Tell me the whole story in detail."

The young man cried, "Master, I don't understand either! Last night, my family had dinner, and then my parents washed up and went to bed. Just now, I heard my mother screaming, so I got up to see what was happening. Then I saw a dark figure run out, and that's how my parents ended up like this!"

Monk Yuanzhi's heart skipped a beat, and he said, swinging his prayer beads, "Amitabha! This humble monk already knows the whole story. This person today is not your father, but a demon in disguise! The dark shadow just now was its true form!"

"What, what should we do? Waaah..." The young man burst into tears.

Monk Yuanzhi clasped his hands together and looked at the growing number of villagers outside the door, saying, "Fellow villagers, are you willing to help?"

They were all neighbors, so naturally everyone was willing to help, saying, "Master, just say the word!"

"Alright!"

Monk Yuanzhi pulled a small, pointed-mouthed bottle from his robes. This bottle was an antique from the Tang Dynasty that he had swindled from a farmer in Shanxi. He had consecrated it daily by chanting sutras according to scriptures, intending to use it as a tool for exorcising evil spirits. He immediately took a drop of blood from the young man's mother and smeared it around the rim of the bottle, chanting, "Auspicious treasure bottle seeks out demons! Hah!"

hum!

The bottle suddenly emitted a buzzing sound.

The monk Yuanzhi held the magic bottle; it made a sound when the mouth was aligned correctly, and remained completely silent when it wasn't—it was quite miraculous. After confirming the orientation, he said, "Women, stay and watch the corpse; the rest of the laborers, come with me!"

So, with Monk Yuanzhi in front, the old and young men followed behind, carrying flashlights, rakes, and other tools, and a large group of people rushed out of the village.

They walked and stopped for twenty minutes and came to a new grave. When they looked, they saw that it was the grave of the deceased, except that there was a dark hole in the grave mound.

Monk Yuanzhi stopped here, took two steps back, and thought to himself that there was no need to dig anymore, which would save trouble. He gripped his prayer beads tightly in one hand and pointed to the hole with the other: "Shine a flashlight in and take a look."

Several people carefully shone their flashlights inside and saw that the coffin lid had been lifted, leaving only a pile of broken bones; the flesh was gone.

"The meat has been eaten by the monster! That monster is too evil and cruel!"

Monk Yuanzhi shook his head, but he felt strange. If the monster wasn't in the coffin, where could it have gone? Could it be a local monster with a lair, not a wandering wild demon?

He moved the antique bottle around in his hand, and it hummed again. He frowned: "Go! Follow me!"

This time, the group only walked for five minutes before stopping. A large river appeared in front of them. In the moonlight, the river was shaped like a gourd, narrow on both sides and wide in the middle. The water surface was shimmering and deep, and the bottom could not be seen.

The sound from the vase was the loudest here. Monk Yuanzhi pointed to the river and asked, "What place is this?"

An elderly man stepped forward and said, "Master, this is the Tuojiang River. It flows to the sea in the east and reaches Anhui in the west. We call this river the Hulu River."

Then, cautiously, she asked, "The monster you're talking about... isn't it the one in here?"

Monk Yuanzhi asked curiously, "What? Is there... any special significance to this river?"

"If it's a monster in here, then we can't afford to mess with it!"

The old man's face turned pale, and he said in a trembling voice, "The Hulu River has never dried up. Before liberation, it was often haunted by river demons. They would flood the villages within a few miles, and we had to sacrifice young boys and girls to make the floodwaters recede. We consulted countless Taoist priests and high monks, but no one could solve the problem. It only became a little quieter in recent years after liberation. If this is the work of the river demon, we can only suffer in silence!"

Monk Yuanzhi felt a chill run down his spine. This monster existed before the liberation, so it must have hundreds of years of cultivation. With his own mediocre skills, he was in serious trouble!

Now that he had calmed down, Monk Yuanzhi regretted meddling and said seriously, "It's too dark. Let's deal with this tomorrow. Let's go back!"

This whole affair was all bark and no bite, leaving many people puzzled.

Monk Yuanzhi followed his cousin home, and his cousin complained about him the whole way, saying that he was just fooling around.

Monk Yuanzhi didn't explain, but was thinking about how to save face tomorrow. He lay in bed all night without closing his eyes.

The next morning, right after breakfast, the village chief, accompanied by a group of people, escorted the young man who had lost his parents to the door. He knelt down before Monk Yuanzhi with a thud and said, "Master, what should we do today? We must subdue that monster no matter what, otherwise no one in our village will dare to stay anymore. It's too scary!"

Monk Yuanzhi was now confident. He had spent half the night thinking and came up with a way to exterminate the demon without lifting a finger. He said, "Rest assured, in three days that monster will be utterly destroyed!"