Chapter 11: 10. One Person Does Not Enter a Temple, Two People Do Not Look into a Well

10. One Person Does Not Enter a Temple, Two People Do Not Look into a Well

It was unknown how much time had passed before the sky outside the window gradually brightened.

Zhou Sanji, who had been motionless like a sculpture in the darkness, moved his body and casually tucked the blanket corner for Zhou Chang lying on the bed: "It is almost the fifth watch; we must get up at the fifth watch to go out and chant the 'Sutra of Purity and Quietness'.

Are you still unable to move?"

As he spoke, his eyes looked elsewhere, not casting a single glance at Zhou Chang's face.

"I cannot move," Zhou Chang responded thus.

That garment Zhou Chang had brought back from the small coffin in front of Yinsheng Laomu's grave, after the incident with Li Xiamei, was left with only a few threads. After returning to the residence in Qingyi Town with Zhou Sanji, he had made many attempts, but none could restore the 'Thought-Garment' even slightly.

Without the 'Thought-Garment' covering his whole body, his control over Zhou Chang's corpse was barely better than nothing.

An alien and distant air filled the space around the two. Zhou Sanji cleared his throat uneasily and said: "I have already sent a message to my senior brother; when he arrives, we will discuss it together. Perhaps there will be another way to make you walk and move, so you are not paralyzed like this.

Do not worry.

For now, I will help you up and support you to sit at the courtyard gate. When the fifth watch comes, everyone in Qingyi Town must stand guard at their own door and recite the 'Sutra of Purity and Quietness'.

Chanting the sutra is also to scrape away those delusions in people's hearts, so as to prevent the 'Thought-Demons' from breeding."

Zhou Chang nodded and asked following Zhou Sanji's words: "I have not learned the 'Sutra of Purity and Quietness'; how will I chant along when the time comes?"

"It is fine. This sutra is actually just a set of rhymes; I say it once, and you will remember it." Zhou Sanji smiled, raised his eyes to look at Zhou Chang. The moment his gaze met Zhou Chang's, the eager light in his eyes suddenly dimmed greatly, and his voice became low: "Listen well, this set of rhymes is—'One person does not enter a temple, two people do not look into a well, three people do not hug a tree, do not lean on a railing alone.

Do not go out when the night is dark, do not open an umbrella upon entering a room, ring a bell after three breaths of looking in a mirror, knock on the main door first upon entering a house'..."

The 'Sutra of Purity and Quietness' spoken by Zhou Sanji was indeed a set of rhymes.

Many folk taboos were compiled into this set of rhymes, for the purpose of teaching people that by following these taboos, they could often attain purity and quietness, avoid trouble, and prevent the 'Thought-Demons' from breeding.

"Actually, very few people can completely follow these rules. You just need to memorize them; when the time comes, stand at the door and recite them once.

Anyway, the people in the town recite like this every day, but very few actually do everything exactly as the sutra says." Zhou Sanji gradually opened up.

Zhou Chang memorized this set of rhymes in his heart and asked the old man again: "Besides Qingyi Town, does every other place also rise at the fifth watch every day to chant this 'Sutra of Purity and Quietness' together?

Is there anyone who does not get up at the fifth watch to chant the sutra?"

Hearing Zhou Chang mention this point, Zhou Sanji's expression became somewhat serious: "Anyone staying in Qingyi Town must get up at the fifth watch to chant the sutra. If neighbors discover someone is at home but does not go out to chant, they will immediately keep an eye on you.

They will also secretly tell others that you stayed at home and did not go out to chant the sutra—by then, everyone in the whole town will be staring at you, watching you for several days in a row. By then, you will know what that feeling is...

It is also because everyone is terrified by the 'Thought-Demons'; once they discover any slight difference in others, they are like birds startled by a bent bow.

I know that besides Qingyi Town, several nearby towns and villages also have the rule of rising at the fifth watch to chant the Sutra of Purity and Quietness. As for other, more distant places, I am not clear, but even if they do not chant the Sutra of Purity and Quietness, there must be similar rituals.

"Can such rituals really prevent the breeding of 'Thought-Demons'?" Zhou Chang frowned.

People gathered in the morning to recite the scriptures, yet they could not fully comply with the content required in the scriptures; this ritual system was left with only superficial meaning and possessed no actual effect.

How could relying solely on a set of chanting rituals prevent the breeding of 'Thought-Demons'?

Instead... once the ritual had flaws or errors, people's uncertain suspicions gathered together, perhaps making it even easier to accelerate the birth of the 'Thought-Demons'!

"I don't know..." Zhou Sanji grinned at these words, his face showing an expression of complete indifference. "Everyone has tried countless methods before, and the 'Thought-Demons' have not been seen to decrease even a little; instead, they have become more and more numerous...

Once a 'Thought-Demon' is born, it is basically impossible for people to kill it.

They must rely on killing people to maintain their sanity.

In this way, 'Thought-Demons' become more and more numerous, while living humans become fewer and fewer... Now, living humans gather together in groups of several towns and villages; there are hardly any big cities left. Some people even hide in remote mountains and wilds where few people go, yet they still cannot avoid being attacked and killed by 'Thought-Demons'...

Moreover, in this world, the ones who eat people are not just 'Thought-Demons'—do you think I invited Lord Zhong Kui over without paying a price?

Perhaps one day, you will see what price I have paid.

So now, everyone just gets by, counting one day at a time. If a rule can be followed, we follow it; if it cannot be followed, then forget it..."

Hearing this, Zhou Chang fell silent.

He could imagine how dangerous and terrifying the world he was currently in truly was. After all, 'thoughts' could not be bound, and when thoughts became the source of 'Thought-Demon' breeding, the ravaging of 'Thought-Demons' among humans was already an obvious matter.

Especially since in this world, not only living humans have thoughts; the dead, wild beasts, grass, trees, soil, and stones all breed thoughts.

But he did not expect that in the current world, living humans had become rare animals.

The human world was actually dominated by 'Thought-Demons'.

Zhou Sanji helped Zhou Chang up to lean against the bed edge and carefully dressed him.

He had been wrapped in the quilt all night, still like a block of ice, his face wooden. Suddenly, he spoke again: "Can 'Thought-Demons' really not be killed?"

"Do you ever have times when you cannot sleep at night and think wildly?

You tell yourself not to overthink, yet your mind just cannot stop—during that time, do you feel you can control your own thoughts?

If an individual cannot even control their own wild thoughts, how can they possibly hold a ghost formed by the 'wild thoughts' of who knows how many things?" Zhou Sanji answered Zhou Chang without raising his head; he thought Zhou Chang's question was quite ridiculous. "Your most important matter right now is to first find a way to make yourself able to move.

As for the rest, you do not need to worry."

"When will your senior brother be able to come?" Zhou Chang, supported by the old man at the shoulders, got off the bed. Five 'Thought-Silks' swam out from his brow, connecting to the blocks of muscle on his body, allowing them to slightly cooperate with Zhou Sanji's movements, so as not to make Zhou Sanji's support too tiring.

These five Thought-Silks were the entire remainder of that garment in his thoughts.

Whether this Thought-Garment could be repaired completely was still an unknown. If the Thought-Garment could not be repaired, Zhou Chang could only try to obtain a method to control the current body from other channels.

"I don't know. He lives in the neighboring Maoniú Town. He went on a long trip seven or eight days ago; we do not know yet if he has returned.

If he has returned, once we get the news, he should be able to come over very quickly." Zhou Sanji supported Zhou Chang with one hand and held an oil lamp with the other, moving his body out of the aisle between the two narrow beds. The flame of the oil lamp in his hand flickered, illuminating the blurry scene inside this main hall.

On the wall facing the main door of the hall, a shrine was nailed.

Incense smoke curled up on the shrine, and the inside was blurry.

Under the shrine, a sacrificial table was propped up.

A pitch-black tablet stood on the sacrificial table, with a row of gold-painted characters spread across the tablet: Tablet of the Deceased Grandson Zhou Chang, Birth Year and Month: Wuzi, Jiayin, Wuwu, Jiayin...

Zhou Chang, supported by Zhou Sanji, sat on a bamboo chair near the door. Looking up, he suddenly saw that pitch-black tablet, as if he had seen his own tombstone.

—On this tablet, only the name of the deceased was different from his, but the birth date and time were exactly the same as his!

He had not expected that Zhou Chang's birth date and time were completely consistent with his own birth date and time!

A nameless feeling floated in Zhou Chang's heart. He recalled the dream he had had before, those tombstone-like figures calling out names similar to his...