During the Chongzhen period of the Ming Dynasty, there was a young man named Yu Gong, who was known for his heroic righteousness when he was young, and was keen to practice his fists and feet. Once, his servant accidentally contracted a disease that was prevalent at the time and was bedridden, and Yu Gong was very worried about it.
At this time, there was a fortune teller on the street who was skilled in divination, and it was said that he could predict life and death. Yu Gong decided to visit the fortune teller, hoping to learn about the servant's condition. However, when he came to the fortune teller, before he could speak, the fortune teller had already guessed his intention, saying that the servant's condition was not serious, but that Yu Gong himself was in danger.
Yu Gong was surprised, so he asked the fortune teller to divinate a hexagram for himself. After the fortune teller made a fortune teller, he was shocked to tell Yu Gong that he would die within three days. After hearing this, Yu Gong was shocked. The fortune teller then proposed that he was willing to cast a spell at the cost of ten taels of silver to ward off evil spirits and avoid disasters. Yu Gong thought in his heart, life and death are fate, how can spells change the will of heaven?Therefore, he ignored the fortune teller's suggestion and got up to leave.
When the fortune teller saw that Yu Gong was unmoved, he urgently shouted: "Cherish life, don't lose a big thing because of a small thing, and don't regret it in the future!"When Yu Gong's friends learned of this, they were all worried about him, and they persuaded him to take out all his money and begged the fortune teller to help him resolve the disaster. However, Yu Gong did not listen to the advice of the people.
In the blink of an eye, the third day passed, and Yu Gong sat upright in the inn, quietly observing everything around him, but there was no sign of illness all day. When night fell, Yu Gong closed the doors and windows, lit the oil lamp, held a sword, and sat upright in the house. In the dead of night, he saw no sign of death. When he was about to rest, he suddenly heard a subtle "rustling" sound from the crack in the window.
Yu Gong hurriedly stepped forward to check, only to see a villain carrying a spear into the house, and after landing on the ground, he instantly became as tall as an ordinary person. He immediately drew his sword and leaped forward, but the little man flickered and failed to hit. The villain suddenly shrunk back in size and tried to escape through the crack in the window. Yu Gong quickly stepped forward and slashed hard, and the villain fell down in response. He shone it with the light and found that it was a paper man, which had been cut off by the waist.
Yu Gong didn't dare to lie down and rest, so he continued to sit there and wait. After a while, a monster burst in through the window, its face hideous, like a ghost. As soon as the monster landed, Yu Gong slammed it and cut it in two, and the two bodies wriggled on the ground. Yu Gong was worried that it would get up again, so he slashed again and again, and the sword hit, making a crisp sound. On closer inspection, it turned out to be a clay puppet, which had been smashed to pieces.
So, Yu Gong moved to sit under the window and continued to monitor the crack in the window. After a long time, he heard the sound of a cow panting outside the window, and a monster pushing the window frame so hard that the walls of the house shook as if they were about to collapse at any moment. Yu Gong was worried about being crushed under the room, so he decided that it would be better to rush out and fight the monster, so he slammed open the latch and rushed out. I saw a great ghost, tall, level with the eaves, in the dim moonlight, its face as black as coal, its eyes flashing yellow, its upper body naked, its feet without shoes, its bow and arrows, and its waist with arrows stuck in it.
Yu Gong was stunned, the ghost had already pulled the bow and released the arrow**, he hurriedly used his sword to shoot the flying arrow, and the arrow fell to the ground. He was about to fight back when the big ghost drew his bow and shot an arrow. Yu Gong hurriedly jumped away to dodge, and the arrow pierced the wall and made a sound. The ghost creature was extremely angry, drew his saber, and swung it like a violent wind, slashing at Yu Gong. Yu Gong flexibly attacked, and the big ghost slashed at the stone in the courtyard, and the stone immediately broke. At this time, Yu Gong got out from between the big ghost's legs and slashed the big ghost's foot and neck with his sword, making a sound of metal impact.
The ghost was even more enraged, let out a thunderous roar, and turned to raise his knife to slash again. Yu Gong fell down again and got into the big ghost's crotch, and the big ghost's knife fell and cut his skirt robe. At this time, Yu Gong had already drilled under the ribs of the big ghost, and he swung his sword and slashed, making a metal-like impact sound, and the big ghost was stabbed and fell to the ground and lay stiff. Yu Gong stepped forward again and slashed indiscriminately, making a sound like a wooden bang. When the light shone on it, it turned out to be a puppet, the same size as a human, the bow and arrow were still tied to the waist, and the face was depicted hideously and terrifyingly, and blood flowed out of the place where it was hit by the sword.
Yu Gong lit a candle and sat until dawn. Only then did he realize that these ghosts were all sent by fortune tellers, intending to kill people in this way, so as to prove that his fortune was effective.
The next day, Yu Gong told all his friends about the strange incident that had happened to him, and they went to the fortune teller's residence together. The fortune teller saw Yu Gong and the others coming from a distance, and immediately disappeared using stealth techniques. Someone proposed: "This is stealth, which can be broken with dog blood." Yu Gong prepared the dog's blood according to this method and went to the fortune teller again.
When they arrived at the fortune teller's quarters, the fortune teller used body magic again. Yu Gong quickly sprinkled the prepared dog blood on the place where the fortune teller was standing, and saw that the figure of the fortune teller immediately appeared, his head and face were covered with dog blood, his eyes flashed, and he stood there like a ghost. Yu Gong immediately arrested him and escorted him to the official palace. Eventually, the fortune teller was sentenced to death for harming others by casting spells.
Yi Shi said: I once said that spending money on fortune telling is foolish. There are very few people in the world who can accurately predict life and death. If the hexagram is not tested, it is indistinguishable from the unknown. What can I do when I know that my death is coming?What's more, the use of fatal divination is terrifying.
Excerpt from "Strange Tales" Disclaimer: The content of this story is fictional, and the literary creation aims to enrich the reader's spare time.