In the early years of Tongzhi, the vigorous Taiping Rebellion had just failed. After the fall, Tianjing (Nanjing) was in a bloody mess, with countless casualties and indescribable desolation. After the chaos was over, people gradually returned to their homes and started farming and weaving again. There is a temple behind Xiaocang Mountain in Jinling called Dabei Temple. Before the turmoil, the incense and Buddhist sounds were prosperous, but after the war, only the front hall and the back building were left among the originally majestic several palaces. , the monks inside were even more desperate and fled, and there was no trace of anyone anymore. There used to be a scholar named Wu Mingtao living nearby. He came from a scholarly family since he was a child. He originally planned to study hard to gain fame. Unexpectedly, he encountered this military disaster when he was just in his weak years. When the Taiping Army captured Nanjing, he escaped alone. Now when he came back, he found that his whole family had died in the disaster, leaving him alone. Not only that, but several of the family's former residences were also destroyed in the war. At this moment, the family was already ruined and helpless. In desperation, he saw that although Dabei'an was dilapidated, it could still provide shelter from wind and rain, so he temporarily lived in the back building of Dabei'an. When he had nothing to do, he opened a private school in the front hall and taught seven or eight children to make a living. His students are all children from nearby villages. Their families make a living from farming and have little money left, so they do not pay tuition. They just take turns to have one student take care of the food every day. Although it is a simple meal, it is still better than starving to death. Dabei Temple has experienced years of war, and there are no monks left. Except for a few of their masters and disciples, there are green hills around the temple. There are many tombs on the mountains, and there are many coffins that were not buried in time and are exposed in the wild.
One evening at dusk, several students had already returned home from school. Wu Sheng had nothing to do, so he left the temple and stood on the hillside overlooking the scenery. At this moment, the sun is setting in the west, the sunset is like fire, the mountains are stacked, and the twilight is vast, it is a picturesque scene. Wu Tao was watching with a sense of relaxation and joy, when he suddenly noticed a man in white walking hurriedly on the slope of the back mountain. When Wu Tao saw this situation, he was not only a little puzzled, because it was getting dark now, and there was no one living on the back mountain. How could anyone be walking in this wilderness? Even if someone comes here occasionally, isn't he afraid of the wealth wolf and beast on the mountain? Wu Tao was puzzled and kept staring at the man in white, wanting to see where he was going. I saw this man walking like the wind with erratic steps. He walked under a pine tree and disappeared in a flash. Wu Sheng was greatly surprised when he saw this. He thought he was dazzled for a moment. He wanted to take a closer look but couldn't see clearly because it was getting late, so he had to go back to the back building to rest full of suspicion. As the sun set the next day, Wu Sheng still stood outside the temple and looked at the mountains. Unexpectedly, when the sky was getting dark, he saw the white shadow walking quickly in the forest again. This time, it disappeared directly under the pine tree. Gone. When Wu Sheng saw this, he was very confused. He thought that in this barren mountain, ordinary people would not even dare to go out at night, but who was still walking here at night? Could it be robbers and thieves? He had always been bold, so he wanted to see what the coffin ghost was, but when he looked up and saw that it was dark and the road was dark with clouds covering the moon, he had no choice but to give up and go back to the back building to have an early rest.
As soon as it dawned the next morning, Wu Sheng hurried straight to the back mountain before the students came to class. He panted and walked through all the obstacles for a cup of tea, and finally reached the hillside of the back mountain. Looking around, there was nothing unusual except for the dense woods and dozens of barren graves. When he walked to the pine tree where the man in white disappeared, he saw a black coffin parked on the ground, surrounded by The weeds were already knee-deep and looked like they had been there for a while, but they had not rotted away despite the wind and rain. When Wu Sheng saw the coffin, he couldn't help but wonder: Could it be the one causing the trouble? However, he looked around the coffin carefully and found nothing unusual. Not only did he think of the man in white again, but he was also filled with doubts and puzzled. Just as he was thinking about whether to go back first, he suddenly saw an idea flash in his mind: "The Book of Changes says: The white one is the golden elephant. Could it be that the robbers hid the stolen gold and silver in this coffin to hide it from others? What if? If that's the case, does God take pity on my poverty and let me make a fortune?" The more I thought about it, the happier I became. I couldn't help but feel itchy and eager to try. I couldn't wait to step forward and open the coffin lid. As a result, I stretched out my arms and pushed hard several times, but the coffin lid didn't move at all. He looked around carefully but there was no sign of the falcon, and he was inevitably a little frustrated. Looking up, I saw that the sun was already at its peak and the students were about to come to class, so I had no choice but to return in frustration. I thought about it all the way, and finally decided to come back in the evening with an ax and use it to split the coffin. Then I would have all the gold and silver, wouldn't it be great? Having made up his mind, he quickly returned to the hall and finished his homework for a few students. After eating the dinner brought by the students, he stood on the hillside outside the temple and watched. When the sky darkened, the man in white disappeared just like the night before. He saw it clearly in his eyes, and secretly rejoiced in his heart that the time had come, so he took his ax and went straight to the back mountain.
That night there was a bright moon in the sky and a gentle breeze. Taking advantage of the moonlight like a mirror, Wu Tao followed the mountain path and arrived under the pine trees in the back mountain in a matter of seconds. He first sat on the ground with his back against the pine tree and took a breath. After he had regained his energy, he stood up. He walked to the coffin with an ax in his hand, used all his strength to hit the coffin lid and chopped it down. There was only a "clang" sound, which made the valley buzz, and an inch-long gap opened on the coffin lid. Seeing this, Wu Sheng became even more energetic, and he kept cutting with both hands. Just listen to the endless dull sound of "Kuang Kuang", echoing in the surrounding mountains, startling countless birds all around. He chopped ten times in a row, and saw that the gap was getting bigger and bigger, and finally he cut a large hole about a foot in diameter in the coffin lid. Wu Tao saw that the hole was big enough to put his hands in and take out the contents, so he threw down his ax and impatiently walked to the coffin and looked down from the hole.
It doesn't matter if you don't see it, he was shocked when he saw it. I saw the bright moonlight overhead shining from the entrance of the cave, illuminating a green face. This strange face had dry skin and no beard on the lips. The eyes were closed and the mouth was slightly open. It was the corpse of a young male dressed in white. The strangest thing was that the white clothes were vaguely similar to those worn by the people Wu Tao saw a few nights ago. This time, a cold sweat broke out on his back, and he sat down on the ground with a weak kick in his legs. After a while, he found that there was no movement in the coffin, and finally came to his senses. The coffin ghost thought about why he was so unlucky. He thought that there was gold and silver in the coffin, but unexpectedly it turned out to be a corpse. Could it be that God was teasing him? Can't? But then I thought about it, maybe there were a lot of gold and silver treasures buried with the dead body in the coffin. It was here anyway, so I just didn’t do anything and didn’t stop. I put my hand in there to explore, or there was something. Money treasures are also unknown. Thinking of this, he gritted his teeth and stood up, walked to the coffin and leaned down, almost face to face with the corpse. He cautiously stretched his hands in, wanting to touch and see if there was anything valuable next to the corpse.
But after touching it tremblingly, he found that there were no burial objects in the coffin. It was obviously a thin coffin, and it was not a place for a strongman to hide his treasure. Wu Tao was disappointed and couldn't help but feel extremely depressed. Just as he was about to take out his hand, he suddenly felt that the left hand of the corpse was tightly clenched into a fist, as if it was holding something. He couldn't help but feel secretly happy. What he held in his hand was either pearls or gold. If he was lucky, if it was a treasure like a luminous pearl, then I wouldn't make a fortune. At that moment, he used both hands hard, trying to open the fingers of the dead body. Unexpectedly, the dead man's hand was held tightly. He tried his best to open one of his fingers. He felt that the finger was thin and thin, with sharp tips and seemed to have long nails. Wu Tao was a little puzzled. He had never heard that people could grow such long nails after death. Just as he was about to open the second finger, he suddenly noticed that the body under him was shaken. Before he could react, he saw A pair of red eyes have been opened, and the yellow pupils have shrunk to the size of green beans, staring at him. He suddenly felt numbness on his scalp and chills on his bones, and he opened his mouth to scream, but he couldn't scream even after opening his mouth for a long time. Looking at the corpse's scarlet lips, revealing two sharp fangs, it seemed as if he could hear two sneers of "hehe" in a trance, just like the cry of a night owl in the sky. Wu Sheng's mind went blank for a moment, and he was even more stunned. He finally reacted, shouted and pulled his hands out of the hole, turned around and stumbled straight away. I heard a "bang" behind me, and the coffin lid flew out. I was so frightened that I didn't dare to look back. I rolled and crawled towards the temple.
I saw the zombie in the coffin jump out, spread its arms horizontally, and rush towards Wu Tao. Wu Tao was running away in front while listening to the rustling of grass behind him. He couldn't help but cry secretly in his heart, thinking that there was no human habitation in this barren mountain and wilderness. It was the third watch, so even calling desperately would be of no avail. In addition, when the coffin lid had just been cut, He exerted too much force and lost strength, and he was so frightened that his strength was gradually exhausted, like an arrow at the end of a crossbow. Not only was he panting like an ox, but his feet were also running slower and slower as if they were filled with lead. He could hear the sound of cutting through thorns behind him gradually approaching him, and he felt extremely anxious. As he was running, he suddenly remembered that he had heard from the old man that zombies had stiff legs and could not jump over ditches. Thinking of this, he watched carefully while running, and ran towards the bumpy ditch. Unexpectedly, the zombies were chasing after him as if they were walking on flat ground, and their speed did not slow down at all. Now Wu Sheng was even more frightened, secretly thinking that my life was at stake. Fortunately, this mountain road is not too long. After a while, we can see the temple in the distance, just dozens of steps away. Wu Tao was overjoyed, he immediately cheered up, stepped faster, passed through the dilapidated temple gate and headed straight for the back building. The zombies followed him without stopping, saying "hehe" in hot pursuit. Wu Tao ran into the building door with his front feet. Just as he was about to turn around and close the door, he found that the zombies had arrived. Fortunately, there were two floors in the back building, and he lived upstairs. Terrified, he quickly climbed up the stairs on hands and knees and fled to the second floor. As soon as he reached the second floor, he was exhausted and panicked. He could no longer hold on and fell down in front of his bed.
At dawn the next day, several children came to the front hall on time to wait for their husband to start class. Normally, my husband would have been waiting here at this time, but today he has never been seen. Seeing that the sun was rising, several children couldn't wait any longer. They were worried that the teacher might have some illness and couldn't get up, so they decided to go to the back building to have a look together. But when they reached the back building and were about to go upstairs, they looked up and saw a man in white with disheveled hair, standing in the middle of the stairs with his hands raised and his legs slightly bent, his back turned to them, motionless. Several children shouted several times but there was no answer. They didn't know whether this person was alive or dead. Seeing this strange situation, the children were frightened and ran away shouting. They ran back to their homes and said to their parents. After seeing what they had just seen, several adults hurriedly gathered together and rushed over. Only when they saw it did they realize that it was a zombie attacking someone. So everyone found a long broom and asked the bravest villager to climb up the stairs and sweep it gently. The zombies rolled down the stairs in response.
When everyone came forward to take a closer look, they couldn't help but gasp. Not only did this zombie look ferocious, but several inches of white hair had grown on the palms of its hands and soles of its feet. Everyone quickly found a few scales and pressed them on its chest. To prevent it from hurting anyone again, he just walked upstairs. As soon as they reached the second floor, they saw Mr. Wu foaming at the mouth and lying next to the bed. He was touched and still breathing weakly. He quickly asked someone to boil hot soup and drink it down. Wu Tao groaned and slowly woke up. When everyone asked him, he told everything about last night truthfully, and everyone understood after listening. One of the older villagers said to him: "You are so lucky. It must be difficult for a zombie to go up the stairs, so he didn't crawl to the middle of the stairs until dawn. I didn't want the Yang Qi to be strong after dawn, and it was controlled by the Yang Qi. That's why it was frozen and unable to move. When we came here, it was still jumping upwards." Wu Sheng then took them to the pine tree in the back mountain and guided them to look at the coffin. They found that there was nothing in the coffin. No. When the villagers saw it, they said: "This is the son of a couple from the previous village. The old couple was already sixty years old and they only had an only son. Unexpectedly, he died of illness last autumn. He thought that no one would bury them after they passed away, so he buried them. They put him in white clothes before they were buried, but before they could bury the couple, they were killed by the rebels, so that the coffin has been parked here. Unexpectedly, it turned into a zombie in the end." So everyone returned to the back building, and together They tied the zombie and carried it back to the coffin, set up a pyre and burned it completely. When it was burning, the sky was clear, but as soon as it was burned, it started to rain heavily, and it rained for three full days before it cleared up.