Holding a spirit flag and carrying a three-foot wooden sword on his back, the Taoist monk in black clothes and a blue cap, with a silk cloth covering his face, stood in the ancestral hall at the village entrance. He looked at the empty altar, then at the towering tablets, calculating continuously with his fingers.
"Brother Song, there's not even a dog in the village, let alone people."
"We've searched both in front and behind the village, and there's no sign of a fight. It seems to have been deserted for a long time."
Before long, two Taoist boys with their faces covered in 'unknown masks', wearing sackcloth and straw sandals, one holding a golden bell and the other with a silver bell on his wrist, came in to report.
"This shouldn't be..."
Brother Song struck the ground with the spirit flag, and with a thud, the flagpole was driven a foot deep into the ground, standing upright. Then he took out a roster from his robe and began flipping through it, checking with his fingers.
