In the past, there was a fish seller named Cheng Dagui in the fish market at the wharf of Dongjiang Prefecture. His ancestors have been selling fish for generations, and they have not only passed down the art of selling fish and slaughtering fish, but also passed down a fish-killing knife.
The knife was willow-shaped, with a short palm, but it was unusually sharp. Cheng Dagui took this knife, scraped the scales, cut the belly, removed the gills, and removed the internal organs, and the whole process was smooth and pleasing to the eye. It's a pity that no matter how good the craftsmanship is, you can only earn some silver taels to make a living.
Early this morning, before Cheng Dagui's fish stall opened, Qian Jun came down with a group of men. Qian Jun is a poor person of the government stationed in the fish market, and collects both taxes and protection fees. Usually, as soon as Qian Jun came, Cheng Dagui had already taken the initiative to give the money with both hands, but last night his son was sick and spent all the money, and the business had not yet opened, so he gave up his hand and told the reason and begged the other party to come back later.
Qian Jun waved his hand dissatisfied, and when his subordinates were about to smash the stall, a middle-aged Taoist priest came. This Taoist priest is about forty years old, not tall, but his eyes are bright. Cheng Dagui recognized him, he came here every day these days, not to buy fish, just to watch and kill fish.
Seeing this, the Taoist priest said to Cheng Dagui: "Poor Dao comes to see you kill fish every day, and you should pay some silver taels." As he spoke, he took out some broken silver from his body and handed it to Cheng Dagui. Although Cheng Dagui was a little embarrassed, he also wanted to get over the difficulties in front of him first, so he accepted the money and handed it over to Qian Jun. Qian Jun weighed the silver and left.
Cheng Dagui immediately thanked the Taoist priest, and the Taoist priest signaled that he did not need to be polite. At this moment, a guest came to buy fish and asked Cheng Dagui to cut it into pieces. Cheng Dagui took out the knife, scaled it, cut the belly, and finally cut it into pieces of thin and uniform thickness, gave a thumbs up and said: "It's really a good knife, it's done in one go, and it's pleasing to the eye." ”
Cheng Dagui couldn't help but ask, "Dao Chief, why do you come over every day to watch me kill fish?" The Taoist priest said, "I can't hide it, I'm mainly here to see the knife in your hand." ”
Knife? Cheng Dagui picked up the fish-killing knife suspiciously and looked at it, although this knife was a family heirloom, it looked very ordinary, "What's so unusual about this knife?" ”
The Taoist Master said mysteriously, "This knife is a treasure. I have the heart to collect, the price is easy to say, would you like to **?
Cheng Dagui refused without hesitation. Since ancient times, the craftsman's guy is bigger than the sky, and he will never sell it. The Taoist priest was not angry, and only asked him to find himself when he wanted to.
This matter spread quickly, and the people in the entire fish market said that the Taoist priest was a strange person, and he must have seen that Cheng Dagui's knife contained a priceless treasure. Hearing this, Cheng Dagui could only smile bitterly, this knife was caught by his grandfather when he went out to sea to fish, and he didn't take it seriously, so he threw it in the firewood room. Later, when he sold fish, he was reluctant to buy a new knife, so he sharpened it and used it. The old Cheng family sold fish for three generations, and the knife was passed down like this, how did a broken knife become a treasure?
A few days later, early in the morning, as soon as Cheng Dagui set up his stall, Qian Jun brought someone over, saying that from today onwards, taxes and protection fees would be doubled. Cheng Dagui angrily contradicted him twice, Qian Jun was furious, and with a wave of his hand, several of his subordinates rushed up and pressed him to the ground and beat him hard. After they walked away, Cheng Dagui found that the fish-killing knife was missing.
It turned out that what the Taoist priest said to Cheng Dagui that day reached Qian Jun's ears. However, after snatching the knife, he looked carefully, and could not see anything famous, so he went to the antique shop and pawnshop to ask, and was almost kicked out, saying that it was only made of mortal iron, and that it was so worn, that it was worthless. Qian Jun thought about it, since the Taoist priest said that this knife was a treasure, then simply sell the knife to him.
Upon inquiry, the Taoist priest temporarily lived in a Taoist temple in the south of the city. After Qian Jun came to the door, he took out the fish-killing knife and said straight to the point: "I heard that you like this knife, make a price." ”
When the Taoist priest saw the knife, he smiled and said, "Good knife, how much do you want to sell?" ”
Qian Jun had the courage to stretch out a finger and said, "Ten taels, no, one hundred taels of silver." ”
The Taoist priest laughed and said, "It's not expensive." So saying, he went into the inner room and brought out a hundred denarii.
Qian Jun regretted it, secretly shouted that it was cheap, and couldn't help but ask curiously: "Dao Chief, what's so strange about this knife?" ”
The Taoist priest laughed and said, "How can ordinary people know the magic of this sword? Let's just open your eyes today. So saying, he came to a wall with his sword, and on the wall was a map of the eight immortals crossing the sea. As soon as he stretched out his hand, he grabbed a dragon-like horned and scaly creature from the painting, and despite its struggles, he picked it with a fish-killing knife, and the living creature was disemboweled, and he plucked its liver, put it in his mouth, and then threw the dragon-shaped thing back into the mural.
This dragon has not yet taken shape, it is just a Jiao, but the liver is delicious. The Taoist priest said with relish, chewing on the bloody liver.
This scene made Qian Jun almost stupid, the dragon liver and phoenix gall are just the legendary delicacy, and this Taoist priest actually killed the dragon to take the liver! He settled his mind, and then stammered, "This, this is ......."”
The Taoist priest shook the fish-killing knife and said: "This knife is not a mortal thing, but a divine weapon, plus the Cheng family has used it to kill fish for decades, and the blood of tens of millions of fish has seeped into it, and the treasure is psychic, and it has become a sharp weapon for dragon slaying." ”
Qian Jun naturally couldn't believe such bizarre words, but the scene in front of him made him have to believe it, and he was so frightened that he crawled away.
Soon, Cheng Dagui came out of the back room, and when he saw the Taoist priest, he knelt down and called the old immortal. The Taoist priest laughed and said, "This is just some tricks, just a small skill of carving insects, I am not an immortal." With that, he returned the knife to Cheng Dagui. Cheng Dagui didn't dare to take it, and said: "Although this is a broken knife, but you spent a hundred taels of silver for it, how dare I ask for it?" ”
Don't worry, the monastic money is not so easy to get. The Taoist priest stuffed the knife into Cheng Dagui's hand, "It won't be long before he regrets it." ”
In this way, the knife returned to Cheng Dagui's hand. Qian Jun came and went in the fish market every day, and naturally looked at it, but he didn't dare to say it, because the Taoist priest's "dragon slaying technique" scared him.
It is said that on this day, the yamen of Dongjiang Mansion issued an announcement, saying that the emperor's birthday is imminent, and the local government will offer treasures. But Dongjiang Mansion has only been fishing since ancient times, how can there be any treasures, the announcement has been issued for a long time, and the collection is some inconspicuous objects. The official was in a hurry, so he gave a heavy reward. In this way, Qian Jun's mind began to be active again.
Because he knew that Cheng Dagui had the protection of the gods, he didn't dare to rob the money this time, so he went over to discuss with Cheng Dagui. Cheng Dagui had already been instructed by a Taoist priest, and if he offered the price again and again, he would not sell it. In the end, Qian Junyi gritted his teeth and offered five hundred taels of silver. This price happened to reach the reserve price given by the Taoist priest, so Cheng Dagui pretended to be reluctant to sell it.
After getting the treasure knife, Qian Jun couldn't help but be overjoyed to offer the treasure, but he thought that the magic of this knife was that he would slay the dragon, how could he know this kind of spell, so he went over to ask the Taoist priest again. However, the scholar said that he was going to retreat during this time, and he was reluctant to leave, until Qian Jun took out a hundred taels of silver, and then he said: "Although it is inconvenient to travel on the poor road, I can teach you a spell to let people know the magic of this knife." ”
The spell is very simple, it is to put the knife in the fish pond. Because this is a dragon-slaying knife, the fish are frightened and will inevitably compete to worship. In order to verify, the Taoist priest also deliberately put the knife into the fish pond in the yard in front of him, only to see the knife into the water, and after a while, the pool was like a boiling pot, and the fish were churning and chasing. Qian Jun was overjoyed, thanked the Taoist priest, took out the knife and hurried to the official mansion to offer treasures.
When the people in the government saw that the knife was inconspicuous, they naturally didn't believe it, so Qian Jun told him the origin of the knife and tested it himself. When everyone saw it, it was really a knife into the water, and the fish were rolling, which was very magical, and they decided to dedicate it to the emperor. However, the name of the Dragon Slayer Knife violated the emperor's taboo, so it was renamed the Divine Knife.
On this day, the Taoist priest came to see Cheng Dagui kill fish as usual. Now, Cheng Dagui has changed to a new knife, although the new knife is not as easy as the old knife, but it is not much worse. Cheng Dagui asked curiously: "You came to see me kill fish because of that knife, and now that I don't have that knife, why do you still come to see me kill fish?" ”
The Taoist priest smiled slightly and said, "I'm looking at your skills in killing fish." Without that handy knife, you can still kill fish so lightly and smoothly, which shows that the skill is not in the weapon, but in the heart, and only millions of times of tempering can you be handy. This is a great inspiration for cultivating my state of mind. ”
It turned out that Taoist priests looked at killing fish, not for knives, not for fish, but for cultivating Taoism. Cheng Dagui couldn't help but ask again: "My knife is originally mortal iron, why does it have the miraculous effect of making the fish worship?" ”
The knife killed the fish for decades, and the fish blood had already soaked into the body of the knife, and it was normal for the fish to chase after each other. The Taoist priest smiled, "However, after a long time in the water, the blood will dissipate, and it will naturally have no effect." At that time, Qian Jun's retribution will come. ”
Sure enough, the knife was presented by the government at one level, and each level of government felt that this knife was too ordinary, and they were not at ease, so they wanted to test its efficacy. When it finally came to the emperor's hands, the subordinates threw the knife into the water, and no matter how they stirred, the fish also turned a deaf ear. The emperor was furious and sent someone down to investigate, and after checking, this knife was actually called the knife of dragon slaying in Dongjiang Mansion, so all the officials in Dongjiang Mansion and Qian Jun were imprisoned for their crimes.