It was only twenty minutes later that the doctor came in with a bundle of black things wrapped in a handkerchief. He cut open the womans blouse with scissors, pressed the bundle onto the bleeding holes, and then bandaged it up. He patted his hands and said: "When she wakes up, dont give her water to drink, and for three days, she cant eat meat or fish, especially not chicken blood or pig blood, anything with blood is forbidden."

  "What about those two?" I said, pointing at another woman on the ground and that man with the surname Qian.

  The doctor was wearing a pair of cloth shoes on his feet, and two toes were already exposed. He kicked the man with one foot and said, "Its nothing serious, these two are just fumigated, they inhaled two mouthfuls of toxic gas, they will wake up by themselves."

  Fatso glared with wide eyes and said: "Is that it? Seventy yuan! Youre even more ruthless than the state-run shopping mall!"

  "Every day, someone comes to change her medicine. The Miao old mans family across the street has a rooster. Remember, when you have time, go get some rooster saliva and apply it to her tongue, but dont blame me if I didnt warn you, there will be no good outcome if she bites you before she fully recovers."

  As he saw the barefoot doctor was about to leave, Cha Wenbin stepped forward and said: "Sir, may I have a word with you?"

  "Stop being so polite, everyone calls me Niu Dapao. Im older than you all by a few years, dont call me Mr., Im just an ordinary person and cant stand that title. If youre willing, you can also call me Pao Ge, if not, then just use my real name."

  Fatso laughed and said: "Whats it to you if they call me Cannon?"

  "In the past, people in the martial arts world really called me Cannon Master. Alright, I wont waste any more time on idle chatter with you, I know what you want to ask." He looked up and down at Cha Wenbin and said: "Youve practiced before, which school are you from?"

  Zha Wenbin made a fist and bowed: "Seniors are present, I dare not be presumptuous, I am from the small door of the Tianzheng Dao school."

  "That also counts as a disciple of Mao Shan, we are considered fellow disciples, but that was in the past, I was driven out long ago, so dont call me senior anymore. That little fatty is right, just call me Cannon Grandpa instead, its smoother." Cannon Grandpa continued: "In the past, it was bitter, this unlucky guy was born into war, my whole family fled south, but that place wasnt peaceful either, we escaped to Nanjing and ended up in a city of death. I was dug out from under a pile of corpses."

  The old cannon rolled up his pants legs for us to see, and on his left leg there was a piece of muscle that was clearly sunken in. He also lifted up his clothes, and on the left side of his abdomen there was a scar from a knife wound about an inch long.

  "That year I was only three years old, what did I know? A bullet hit my leg and I was stabbed with a knife. When someone picked me up, I still had some breath left and was taken to Xiangyang to recover until I was seven years old when I entered the Maoshan."

  Looking at those wounds, to be honest, we who were born in peaceful times cannot feel it, but also cant help but look up to this sloppy doctor, he continued:

  "I was seventeen when I left the mountain, at that time the mountain was so poor that we couldnt even afford to cook rice. We were also looked down upon by others as being from a lower social class, and could only wander around to find work to fill our stomachs. At that time, one of my senior fellow disciples was only four months older than me, and the two of us almost traveled all over China, finally settling in Hunan."

  "Did you also rob the tomb?" asked Cha Wenbin.

  "I know that doing this line of work is morally wrong, especially for someone like me whos a member of the Taoist sect - it goes against the teachings of our ancestors. But what choice do I have? People are struggling to make ends meet, and those dead people are just hoarding treasure - whats the point of that? Shouldnt money be used by the living instead of being wasted on the dead? All I did was take their money and burn it as paper offerings to return it to them. Since I knew a thing or two about the trade, I teamed up with my fellow disciple and we made a pretty penny off of several big scores. We even had our moment in the sun for a few years. But when youre always walking by the river, you cant avoid getting your shoes wet - my fellow disciple got into trouble, and one time he triggered a trap in a Western Han tomb and got shot with two arrows, straight through the heart. Thats when I decided to quit."

  "How did you become a doctor?" I asked.

  "Ever since my senior brother had an accident, I returned to Xiangyang, and the money I earned over the years was all spent on incense and candles for the door. I originally wanted to live a peaceful life, reciting scriptures and meditating to help those disturbed souls and deceased senior brothers attain liberation. Who knew that a group of red armbands came to our mountain gate, overturned our ancestral tablet, and I couldnt bear it so I fought with them. As a result, I was sent to the farm to raise livestock, and gradually learned some veterinary skills. It wasnt until two years ago that I returned. Xiangyang is not a place I want to go back to; my master knows I used to be in that line of work and has already expelled me from the sect. This place is after all my own roots, and its quite comfortable here. Alright, when you have time, come with me to drink some wine, my homemade corn liquor. Ill leave first." He said this, shook his hand, hummed a little tune in his mouth, and walked out the door.

  Hes gone, we should also go to sleep. After a sleepless night and adding seven big tuanjie (a type of Chinese pastry), I dont even know what this is all about.

  At around 4 or 5 in the afternoon, the door was pushed open and Dr. Niu and Old Man Miao came in together to change the dressing for the woman. Old Man Miao held a rooster in his hand, rubbed salt on its beak, and hung it upside down by its feet. Before long, a sticky liquid started dripping from the roosters beak, which was saliva, directly onto the mouths of those men.

  After finishing all this, Old Man Miao opened the door again to take a look around, making sure no one was there before locking it and turning back to scold us: "You few little rascals are too unreasonable! Not telling the truth almost caused loss of life. If we cant explain clearly, well all be in trouble with the law!"

  I glanced at the doctor and said, "Doctor Cannon, youve taken our money, are you going to sell us out?"

  "What nonsense!" Old Miao glared at me and said, "You think that since no one is in charge here, you can do whatever you want, right? Speak up, whats going on with the others? Im guessing its not good if theyre looking for a public chicken."

  The old man had an innocent expression on his face, which meant sorry, I didnt say anything, and I dont know anything.

  So, he had to tell Miao Lao the whole truth, but Cha Wenbin still added a few words: "Dont spread it around, we discovered that Ye Ren Tun was strange when we first came here, and over the years, many people have mysteriously lost their lives here. It almost took Xiao Bais life too. Im afraid if this gets out, many people will panic, and once they do, itll be hard to control, and something bad might really happen."

  Old Miao gave me a sideways glance and said, "Whats up?"

  "Same as what we encountered in that broken mountain temple, its that kind of thing. It doesnt mind the crowd, and this place has a heavy yin energy, making it easy to breed that stuff. The Zhang familys village has been restless for several years, Im afraid something big will happen before it settles down. This place is not suitable for human habitation."

  He looked at Cha Wenbin with a very satisfied expression, and his eyes seemed to be full of approval. He said: "This kid is not bad, I was not as capable as you at your age. This place is not good, its hard to thrive. Its too far from the crowd, surrounded by mountains on all sides, and theres only one place with human habitation within a hundred miles. The river winds through the two mountains, four green dragons turn their heads to gaze out, all taking water from this western mountain peak, and then gathering together in the Wild Mans Village. Its not easy to avoid trouble!"

  Zha Wenbin smiled and said: "Its actually a good place to bury an emperor, but once buried, it will be destined to be a short-lived dynasty. Senior, do you think what I said is right or not?"

  "Ah? Hows this explained?"

  "Since ancient times, a country has only one ruler and one dragon. When two tigers fight, one must be injured. According to the predecessors words, there are four dragons occupying this place. Dragons represent one water, one mountain, and one master, with a proud and aloof nature, most unwilling to share. Have you ever heard of any emperor in history who was willing to share his kingdom with others? With such beautiful Feng Shui, when multiple dragons come to fight for it, they must fight to the death. In the end, its just a waste of dragon energy, and it ultimately benefits those things."

  The cow doctor nodded and said: "It makes some sense, kid, go on."

  "When the dragons energy is exhausted, it becomes a dead dragon, and a dead dragon will have resentment. Think about it, if an emperor were truly buried here, but ended up with a short-lived dynasty, how could he be willing? The Taoist teachings emphasize the harmony of yin and yang, and the dragon represents the ultimate yang and masculinity. If there is resentment after death, it would be the ultimate yin and evil. Is it comparable to the ordinary resentful spirits that people become after death? Moreover, this place originally had four dragons converging, and when the dragons energy reached its peak, it declined from prosperity to decline, and when it declined to the bottom, evil reached its peak. Therefore, if a person is buried here for a hundred years, it will inevitably become a great disaster." Zhang Wenbin turned to Miao Lao again: "Miao Dage, I have a suggestion. For anyone who passes away in the village, please use cremation and do not leave the whole body behind. Otherwise, all those buried in the village will turn into resentful spirits."

  Lao Lao Ye, after all, was still an old revolutionary. Although he had also seen some strange things before, his stance remained firm: "Youve been here for so long, which ghost or monster has provoked you with such nonsense?"

  Cha Wenbin naturally wouldnt get angry with him, but instead said: "I have a proposal, Old Man Miao can open the coffin and examine the corpse. I dare to guarantee that if its an earth burial, the body will definitely not rot, no matter which year it was buried in, regardless of whether its male or female, old or young, do you believe it or not?"