At the end of the Qing Dynasty, there was Tang Lishan, a Hunan native who made a living in Beijing, who often collected junk in Dongxiao City. Dongxiao City is also called a ghost market, selling all kinds of things of unknown origin, both authenticity and falsehood. Legend has it that someone bought an inconspicuous thing for a small amount of money and made a fortune, but more often he went there to find cheap goods, but he was fooled by the news. Tang Lishan is cautious, and he has no capital. He has no chance of being fooled and making a fortune, but he always hopes that one day the times will turn and he will be able to make a lot of money.
One day, Tang Lishan shook his rattle and walked past a chicken feather shop. Someone shouted, "Raggedy collector, do you want these things?" Tang Lishan went over to take a look, but saw a pile of rags and clothes, and some messy things. The chicken feather shop was actually an inn, and it was full of beggars and the like. The room was very cheap, and because there was no bedding, he piled chicken feather straw in a pile, so that the beggars could stay overnight and avoid the cold.
Of course, there wouldn't be anything good in this kind of place. Tang Lishan flipped through it casually. Seeing that the clothes were so tattered that even the people who carry the soles of the shoes might not want them, there was a broken candlestick that could be used as scrap metal.
He asked about the origin of these things, and the owner said that it was left by an old beggar. The old beggar stayed overnight and didn't survive the cold at night. He froze to death in the store and cost himself a broken straw mat.
Tang Lishan collected two random items, the same was the broken candlestick, and the other was a piece of wood. The wood was good red sandalwood, light and hard, and should have been very long, but now most of it was broken, leaving only an inch, and some strange patterns were engraved on it. Tang Lishan did not know what the use of this rosewood was, and thought it would be good to use it as a castanet.
Tang Lishan was no exception. Another day, he went to the countryside to collect things and walked to a very remote village. When he came back, it was already late. He saw a Taoist temple by the roadside and wanted to stay overnight. When he walked in, he found that the temple was so broken that the three clear statues in the hall were no longer visible. He cleaned a place by the hall and lay down to sleep.
After sleeping in the middle of the night, he suddenly heard a noise, as if the wind and rain were approaching, and Tang Lishan thought to himself that it was really good luck. If he slept rough, he would have to get soaked. When he slept soundly, he smelled a fishy smell in his nose, and suddenly woke up.
As soon as the fire started, Tang Lishan screamed in fright. It turned out that not far away, there was a big snake staring at him, the big snake could not walk, but he wanted to enter, as if he was afraid of him. Tang Lishan secretly complained, wondering how there could be such a big snake in this temple. He wanted to escape in his heart, but his legs were so weak, and he was worried that when he was together, the snake would come up and take a bite.
One man and one snake confronted each other for most of the night. Seeing that the snake never dared to move forward, Tang Lishan had the intention of retreating, but he didn't seem to dare to retreat, and thought to himself, what kind of colleague is this? At this time, he had calmed down a lot, but he saw that as long as the snake moved a little, his burden also bulged up, and when the snake was about to retreat, the burden deflated again. He knew very well that there was nothing alive in his burden, so he wondered if a mouse wanted to steal dry food and get in, and the snake followed the mouse? If the mouse was released, the snake would definitely chase the mouse away, and he would be able to get out.
As soon as he untied the bag, a golden light suddenly flew out of the bag. Before Tang Lishan came to his senses, he saw the snake's head fall to the ground and its body was still twisting. Looking at the bag again, there was nothing unusual in it, and it would no longer move.
This snake was killed, and Tang Lishan was afraid that other snakes would come out. God knows if that kind of strange thing will happen next time. Immediately, he didn't even dare to sleep, and immediately got up and escaped from the Taoist temple.
After walking for a while, when the sky was about to light up, he heard someone shouting from behind him, "The gentleman in front, please stay." Tang Lishan wondered if he had been robbed.
He ignored the cry and walked quickly forward, but heard the faint sound of wind and thunder behind him. After the dust was flying, a figure caught up with him very quickly, just like flying. He was stunned, not knowing who the person who was coming. Seeing that he could not escape, he simply sat down on the side of the road, thinking that if the strongman came, he would tell him clearly that if the person was angry and wanted to kill him, he would at least fight to the death.
When the man caught up with him, he realized that it was a Daoist with an iron flute stuck in his waist. The Daoist ran for a while just now, and he was too tired to breathe at that time. When he saw him, he made a courtesy: "Sir is the person who just stayed at the'Chengxin Temple '?" "Chengxin Temple" must be the name of the broken Daoist Temple, Tang Lishan nodded and said, "Yes, what do you want to do? I, a rag collector, have nothing for you." The Daoist said deeply: "I know that Mr. is an expert in the world, a swordsman of game dust, and the surname of the poor is Han. I want to worship Mr. as a teacher."
As soon as he said this, Tang Lishan was stunned and shouted, "Are you fed up? I'm not an expert swordsman." But the Taoist priest didn't believe it and said, "Poor Dao was originally the master of the'Chengxin Temple ', but the'Chengxin Temple' was occupied by the snake demon. Because of the failure of the fighting method, Poor Dao was driven out by the snake demon. In the past few years, he went to the deep mountains to make a few swords, but I still don't know if he can kill the snake demon. It's just that when he came back just now, he found that the snake demon has been eliminated by the master. This place is so remote, and there is no one else on the road except Mr., who is the one who excludes the snake demon?"
Tang Lishan saw that the Taoist priest couldn't make sense, so he told the story again, and he also said that he didn't know how the big snake died, so he saw a golden light flying out of the bag, and the snake's head fell to the ground. His bag was full of collected junk, if the Taoist priest wanted it, he could take it.
Seeing that he did not seem to be shirking, the Taoist priest said, "Sir, open the bag and let me take a look." As soon as Tang Lishan opened the bag, the Taoist priest's eyes glowed when he saw the piece of rosewood, and he snatched it to check it carefully. Only then did Tang Lishan find that the rosewood was stained with some blood, and the Taoist priest wiped the blood clean, but saw that the patterns on the wood became clear, and there was a faint golden light.
The Taoist priest sighed and asked Tang Lishan where this came from. Tang Lishan said that it was collected from a chicken feather shop, and it was originally an old beggar's thing. The Taoist priest sighed, "This is a section of the Evil Mighty Sword, that old senior must be a swordsman of the game dust." He asked Tang Lishan if he could give this thing to himself. Tang Lishan wanted to make a profit, so he said it was a priceless treasure, and he had to take it with him for self-defense.
The Taoist priest hesitated for a moment, took off a piece of jade pendant from his body and said, "This is a family heirloom, although it has no spiritual energy, it is also a treasure of the world. Take this for your Slaying Evil Mighty Sword." Tang Lishan saw that the jade pendant was very transparent, and it was definitely worth a lot.
Tang Lishan later found an antique shop to sell the jade pendant. The boss was taken aback when he saw the jade pendant, invited an expert to inspect it carefully, and took it with 2,000 taels of silver. Tang Lishan asked why the jade pendant was so valuable, and the boss told him that it was worn by Duke Han Wengong at the beginning and was extremely precious.
Tang Lishan remembered that the Taoist priest claimed to be surnamed Han, so he said that Han Wengong was a Taoist priest. The boss spat at him and said that Han Wengong was Han Yu, the head of the eight great families of Tang and Song Dynasties, so how could he be a Taoist priest? He had a nephew who was a Taoist priest, also surnamed Han, who was Han Xiangzi among the eight immortals.