This is a very interesting story said to be happened during
the end of Qing Dynasty:
As the story goes from the mouth of grandson of the raft
sorcerer:
There was an old man in Yichang (宜昌) who was an exponent in Chen Province Magic (辰州符). This old man normally
sells his Chen Province Fu (辰州符)
and at times, he also heals the sick. So the old man was quite famous at that
time.
At that time, Yichang river mouth was the main path for
transport of wood platoons. In old days, logs were transported by tying them
together forming platoons and these platoons were thrown into river upstream so
that the water may transport the logs to the downstream. There would be one or
two raft gangs (排帮) on the
platoon to manage one platoon. Naturally, these raft gangs were also exponents
in sorcery.
One day, after a cup too many; this old man boasted in front
of a group of young men that he can make these platoons stop moving in the
middle of the river. Of course no one believed him, but the young men nonetheless
dragged old man to the river bank and forced him to stop the platoons by
whatever means.
I supposed the old man too wished to show off, so he asked
someone to give him a few pieces of chopsticks. Old man stabbed the chopsticks
into river bank and start chanting. Indeed, all of the platoons stopped moving
as if blocked by an invisible force. The raft gangs on the platoons immediately
start performing sorcery too to make their platoons move again. Strangely,
whatever the raft people did, the platoons remained stagnant as rocks.
After a while, one of the raft sorcerers went into his tent
on the platoon and pull out a chicken. This raft sorcerer chanted some mantra
and then took a sip of rice wine and then blew the rice wine at the head of the
chicken. Almost immediately, the Chen old man shouted in pain. It turned out
that the old man was blinded at the moment the rice wine was blown at the
chicken head.
The old man at once sat on the ground and asked someone to
handle him some rice grains and after that, he chanted some mantra and then
threw the rice into the air. Miraculously, the old man can see again.
People around the old man said the raft gangs were too
wicked to perform black magic at him. Had it that the old man stop at that
point, everything would end peacefully because he was the one who has started
this commotion. But under the instigation of the crowd, the old man again asked
someone to bring him a few pieces of chopsticks. This old sorcerer then
arranged all of the chopsticks side by side. Once this is done, he started to
chant mantra and slowly pick up one chopstick at a time.
Strange things started to happen to the platoons: the logs
forming platoons started to scatter and dispersed in the water. Seeing this
scene, the raft sorcerer to panic and he started to start another round of
chanting. Instantly, all those logs begun to pile at river bank.
The raft sorcerer knew that he was the victim of other’s
sorcery. So, he started his investigation and finally got the name and address
of the culprit. Again, if this raft sorcerer stop at that point; everything would
be fine. But he persisted on as he was indeed a cruel person by nature.
Once the raft sorcerer knew the old man’s address, he
immediately went to the house of the old man. At the front door, the raft
sorcerer took out a handful of sand and started to chant. After that, the
sorcerer threw the sand at the old man’s front door and left.
In the evening, the old man’s household was besieged by
strange red measles. Everyone in the house felt pain and itch all over their
body. As soon as the old man returned home, he started to perform counter magic
to save his family members. Sad to say, the old man was too late; he only
managed to save the strong ones. The old man lost many of his love ones over
night.
The old man was angry and sorrowful, he ran to the river
bank to seek out the raft sorcerer. Without saying anything, he stroke at the
raft sorcerer’s back. And the sorcerer returned the favour by giving the old
man’s chest a hit of his palm.
After returning home, the old man died in a few days. An
autopsy was carried out at his body and found a red mark resembles the shape of
a plum flower. And further autopsy revealed that the old man’s heart was
pierced by 5 pieces of needles! Everyone knew it was the working of the raft
sorcerer’s ‘plum flower palm’ (梅花掌).
A few days later, another batch of wood platoons passed by
the river but the sorcerer in charge was not the original sorcerer. People ask
him the reason and this new sorcerer said that his predecessor had died in his
hometown.
According to this new raft sorcerer, the previous sorcerer
returned home and immediately sat into a big earth urn. He asked his wife to
cover the urn top with a big rock and use fire to steam the urn. The raft
sorcerer gave his wife instruction that the steaming process must carried out
for 5 days. However, his wife felt curious and opened up the urn cover on the 4th
day. Sad to say, once the cover was opened, the raft sorcerer immediately
succumbed. It was visible at this back that 4 needles has cane out and a 5th
needle head just emerged.
The moral of this story is that it is of no benefit to learn
magic if one does not have proper mental cultivation. Apparently both of the
sorcerers succumbed under ‘plum flower’; it also reminds us that there is no
win-win situation in magic duel too. Even though I have the original manual of ‘plum
flower palm’ ritual, I have not studied it. So I would not know if anyone can have
the same accomplishment as well.
Addition info:
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