Chapter 15: Thorn Substitute
Kong Xuan had been waiting for an opportunity to let Tan Xiao know who he had offended. He had imagined all sorts of things, but he never expected that Tan Xiao would sacrifice Yuan Feng when something happened...
He was already trapped in Tan Xiao's paper mask. How could Tan Xiao not offer sacrifice to him when he encountered trouble? Fortunately, it was him who came to offer sacrifice to Yuan Feng, and he scared Tan Xiao to death.
On the side, Mu Fei was shocked when she heard about this relationship. She couldn't help but mutter, "I said that you are so powerful at such a young age because your ancestors signed a contract with the great god... Your points coefficient is different from ours, right?"
Tan Xiao: "..."
Tan Xiao was no less shocked than the others. "There's such a thing as inheriting a wizard's throne? And what kind of contract is it that is renewed for a thousand years?"
The wizard didn't seem to say anything, but Kong Xuan asked sensitively: "What do you mean, you don't want to?"
Mu Fei said quietly, "Brother Tan Xiao's family has been in the tourism industry for a long time, and I asked him to come and help. And he is still in school, so he may not have much time to be a wizard. However, there should be other descendants of Chu Wu, right?"
Tan Xiao smiled embarrassedly. He was grateful to the Peacock God, but some of what Mu Fei said was also within his consideration.
Kong Xuan had a gloomy face. Who doesn’t want to go to school?
He originally wanted to leave, but if he left, Tan Xiao would definitely worship other ghosts and gods without caring. Tan Xiao's house has a wall of masks. And if we don't talk about the tourism industry, it's okay. Once we talk about the tourism industry, what will the reputation of the spirit witch be in the Tan family now?
Okay, I'll force myself!
Kong Xuan got angry and said angrily: "I have made up my mind about this matter. You are the designated acting wizard. Stop talking nonsense!"
Tan Xiao: “!!”
...Why is there forced buying and selling? Tan Xiao felt something was not good and looked at Mu Fei for help. As the old saying goes, it is not good to sign a contract with ghosts and gods casually.
After hearing what Kong Xuan said, Mu Fei and Liu Qingquan were looking at Tan Xiao with envy. What was this about being chased by a great god and being fed by him?
Tan Xiao: "..."
Kong Xuan looked at the iron cabinet with legs and asked coldly, "What do you want to do? Are you going to kill him?"
Ah Jin was suddenly surrounded by murderous intent and couldn't even shout for help. He "looked" at them in horror, and the data was flowing slower and slower.
Tan Xiao saw that Kong Que wanted to force himself to work hard, so he quickly stopped him: "No, no, Master, please show mercy."
"The primary problem now is that all his data backups are lost, and he himself doesn't know how to recover it. He is a modern monster, and we are wondering how to crack it?" Mu Fei also helped to explain.
The 404 Office has a complete set of procedures for handling cases involving non-natural organisms, but not all of them will be destroyed on site.
A Jin's appearance didn't even look like a flesh and blood body, which made Tan Xiao a little unsure how to use it.
Kong Xuan looked at Ah Jin and asked, "Isn't this what Chu Wu is best at? Aren't the 'backup' and the substitute you mentioned synonymous?"
"You mean, Jing?" Tan Xiao suddenly understood and asked in surprise. Seeing Kong Que nodded with satisfaction.
Jing is a kind of shrub. In ancient times, it was used as a punishment stick. It is also the shrub used to make people apologize for their crimes.
In ancient Chinese characters, the character "荆" looks like a human figure with two Xs.
Jing is the same as Chu.
According to the legend of the Chu State, Yuxiong, one of the ancestors of the Chu people, married Nüli. Nüli died in childbirth after her ribs were cut open. The shaman of the Yuxiong tribe replaced Nüli's broken bones with brambles and buried her.
To commemorate this great-grandmother, Yuxiong's tribe was called Chu people from then on.
Using rattan to replace a human body is the earliest substitute magic of the Chu witches!
——Just like the body Kong Xuan is using now in the school on earth, it is also made of brambles. He also has to give that body short hair, otherwise it would violate school rules.
That makes sense. Tan Xiao matched the theory with reality. For a moment, he felt the joy of solving a problem. He said to Mu Fei happily, "Sister Mu, let's find Jing Tiao to back up the server."
"This, this is how to back it up?" Mu Fei felt that this spell was quite retro compared to A Jin's. It even sounded a little outrageous, but in theory it seemed, maybe, probably made sense. "Then... let's go find the bramble now."
Tan Xiao was just about to leave.
Kong Xuan asked coldly: "Did you forget something?"
Tan Xiao: “Ah?”
Kong Xuan pointed at the simmering wood incense and said word by word: "You're using this to fool people?"
Tan Xiao: "..."
Kong Xuan's resentment was about to turn into a physical form.
Since he came from the lower world, he has not had a single meal, nor has he had any food, drink, or incense.
Tan Xiao even wanted to eat and drink in front of him!
He stared at Tan Xiao intently. If Tan Xiao dared to refuse again, he would shut down the server.
"...Okay, let's go to the vegetable market first."
…
Tan Xiao borrowed the staff kitchen of the funeral home - the head of the funeral home had a puzzled look on his face and didn't mention it. The beef was cut into small pieces, with all the tendons and tendons intact. After blanching, star anise, cinnamon, nutmeg and other small ingredients were stir-fried, and then the beef was put into the pot with cooking wine and soy sauce and simmered on low heat.
Mu Fei was also helping Tan Xiao. When Tan Xiao was cooking the beef, she helped to remove the fishy smell from the fish head with ginger slices and marinate it to make it tasty.
This is a huge male fish head, weighing at least four or five pounds. It is steamed together with chopped red and yellow peppers and fermented black beans. Two spoonfuls of oil are drizzled on it when it comes out of the pot. With a "sizzling" sound, the hot fish head reveals its tender white color in the mist, and with the bright color of the peppers, it looks delicious.
Add a plate of stir-fried water spinach, it doesn’t need much cooking, it is naturally crispy and fresh.
Tan Xiao cooked the beef over high heat until the sauce thickened, then sprinkled some bell peppers on it for garnish, making the beef fat, glutinous, tender, and not greasy.
Kong Xuan was inspecting it nearby.
The first time was when Kong Xuan and Tan Xiao met at first sight in the tomb of the King of Chu. The second time was when Tan Xiao was offering sacrifices and Kong Xuan was attracted by the food and drink.
Kong Xuan knew Tan Xiao's cooking skills very well, but after tasting the new dishes, he nodded slightly, realizing that he really couldn't let Tan Xiao get away.
The meal helped Kong Xuan get rid of most of his anger. He just saw Tan Xiao and Mu Fei going out to buy groceries and do things separately. When they met again, he almost didn't recognize Mu Fei. He knew that his illness had come back again.
In this case, it cannot be considered a serious crime for Tan Xiao.
but……
He wanted to see how long Tan Xiao could wait before he found out that he was Kong Xuan. Anyway, it was impossible for him to say it out on his own, that would be even more embarrassing. Humph, even if he had face blindness, it would be impossible for him to not recognize him for a long time.
Tan Xiao noticed that Kong Xuan was looking at him strangely while eating, and he felt uneasy. He thought of a way to politely refuse the Peacock God. "Let's do it."
Before that, they split into three groups again. He went to buy vegetables, Liu Qingquan looked after A Jin (although A Jin did not dare to run away), and Mu Fei picked brambles.
Tan Xiao tied up the brambles and originally wanted to make a human shape, but when he saw that A Jin didn't even have a human shape and only had two legs, he hesitated for a moment and just tied out two legs.
He put the whip substitute on A Jin and was still a little unsure about the spell, after all, he lacked practical experience.
Kong Xuan walked around and held Tan Xiao's hand, whispering, "Concentrate."
Tan Xiao felt the coolness on his hands. He closed his eyes and felt the spiritual response that was illusory but real. He unconsciously made hand gestures and began to chant: "Substitute, take over, transform the thorns. The spiritual energy will become your body. Listen to the Yin with your left ear and the Yang with your right ear. Step on the data with your left foot and the program with your right foot!"
Mu Fei: “…”
Tan Xiao opened his eyes again, only to see that Kong Que had loosened his hand. The substitution technique was complete. He took down the vitex substitute, or rather the vitex backup, and said, "Let's put this in the machine room and try it out...right?"
I hope programmers won’t be shocked when reading this.
"Okay, okay." Mu Fei once again resisted the urge to say something outrageous, grabbed A Jin, and stole a glance at the Peacock God. Not to mention his appearance, it was the true form of the God. It was rare to see such a scene.
Mu Fei was even a little reluctant to let it go. She cupped her hands and said, "Thank you, great god, thank you, brother. I'll take this guy back and register it."
Once every sixty years, the 404 Office has to update their "Non-Human Management Work Responsibility List". These newly born monsters and elves should be classified into which category, and which responsible unit's functional scope they should be assigned to in a certain area. These all need to be compiled, and there may even be some wrangling involved. They are very busy.
"Wait." Kong Xuan said calmly: "This thing is still useful to Tan Xiao, so you can't take it away. You can take the backup."
Tan Xiao looked up blankly. He didn't want A Jin, so what was he here for?
Mu Fei's steps froze, "Ah?"
This is what Kong Xuan did when he came to the mortal world.
The reverberating voice of Kong Xuan's real body echoed faintly in the empty room: "Two thousand years ago, Chu Wu received divine instruction and wrote the Classic of Mountains and Seas. Now it is time to write a sequel. This matter still falls on Chu Wu. Tan Xiao, you have to record all the changes in the past two thousand years one by one and pass them on to the three realms."
Tan Xiao: "Classic of Mountains and Seas?!"
Everyone knows about the Classic of Mountains and Seas. It is said that it records ancient geography and mythology.
In fact, there has been no consensus on who the author of this book is. Tan Xiao had read a theory before that it was a descendant of the Chu nobles who moved to Shu, and used some records of the Xia and Shang wizards to compile it over several generations.
Mr. Lu Xun simply said that this is the ancient witch book.
There are indeed many records about "witches" in "Classic of Mountains and Seas". Moreover, the worldview of "Chu Ci" is consistent with that of "Classic of Mountains and Seas", which shows the influence.
Now what Kong Que said has been confirmed. The author of "Classic of Mountains and Seas" is indeed a wizard from the Chu people. This is consistent with the statement written by the descendants of the Chu nobles - the King of Chu himself is a wizard, so it is normal to have wizards among the nobles.
Of course, verification and other things are secondary now. What's even more shocking is that no wonder Kong Que insisted on inheriting the title of Chu Wu. It turns out that he wanted to commission a manuscript... no, to designate someone to do the work and write a sequel to "Classic of Mountains and Seas" for him!
All the people and ghosts at the scene were stunned.
Mu Fei thought to herself, I told you what’s wrong, why is the great god looking for a wizard for no reason?
Tan Xiao was confused and said, "I haven't even got my high school diploma yet, so it's not appropriate for me to write a book, let alone a classic." He suddenly thought of something and asked, "Hey, wait, does this job give me extra points in the college entrance examination?"
Kong Xuan crossed his arms and said, "The Book of Life and Death gives you extra points, so you can cross the Naihe Bridge first."
Tan Xiao: “………………”
Anyway, the news came a bit suddenly.
More than a month ago, Tan Xiao didn't even think that he, a spiritual master, had real abilities, and that there really were ghosts in the world. It was even more impossible for him to write a sequel to the Classic of Mountains and Seas in his life plan.
Tan Xiao glanced at Mu Fei and said hesitantly: "It's an honor, but for things like this, wouldn't it be better to ask the authorities to coordinate..."
Gods and witches have a symbiotic relationship. Gods need witches as their spokespersons so that they can descend to the human world to act, and witches need God to descend to the human world so that they can gain power.
But things are different now.
Mu Fei and Liu Qingquan looked at each other and fell into deep thought.
Tan Xiao is right. If you open your mind, this sequel to "Classic of Mountains and Seas" and the "Non-Human Management Work Responsibility List" they are going to update are actually similar things in essence!
One of the things everyone has to do, such as capturing and registering new monsters, is completely overlapping.
Kong Xuan sneered and said, "You Chu witches should be 'official'. Who told you that you can't even become the King of Chu or a duke?"
Tan Xiao: “…………”
King of Chu, see you King of Chu again, it was my fault that I didn’t become the governor.
"Well, I'll ask my leader for instructions on this matter when I get back. The real server can be guarded by my brother first. But I think we can seek common ground while reserving differences." Mu Fei said cautiously. She couldn't make the decision on this matter.
How can I put it? If we don't seek common ground while reserving differences, and want to snatch the monster from the peacock and register it? That's probably wishful thinking. Legend has it that the son of Yuanfeng is born with five-colored divine light, which is divided into five elements, and nothing can escape his control.
It is difficult for us 404 to handle assigned cases, especially for some non-humans who are hiding deep and powerful, it is difficult to find out the bottom of them. If we can cooperate, wouldn't it be a good thing for each other to complement each other's strengths?
Mu Fei thought of what Peacock God said about his alliance with Chu Wu. God and Wu have a close relationship. This matter might still fall on Chu Wu...
The more Mu Fei thought about it, the more excited she became. She felt there was a lot of room for cooperation. She looked at Tan Xiao and said, "I don't know whether You will be given priority to cross the Naihe Bridge, but according to the rules of our human race, if you have made a significant contribution, it is not impossible to get extra points in the college entrance examination."
Tan Xiao: “!!”
If you say so...
Tan Xiao immediately took out his pen and humbly asked Kong Que, "Master, what do you think is a good title for our sequel?"
Let alone the cooperation, Kong Xuan felt very relieved to see his wizard being so well-behaved. He said in a gentle voice, "Since you have learned high school Chinese, you should think about it."
Haha, the great man also knows high school Chinese.
Moreover, when he thought about it carefully, the Peacock God had been very happy to help him several times. He was a little angry just now, but he calmed down immediately after eating something. He was much better than those strange and difficult to deal with ghosts and gods in the stories that Tan Chunying told him when he was a child.
Tan Xiao pondered it carefully, "It's called Ji Yao Chuan? Shan Hai Xu Jing?"
He only had experience writing high school essays and memorials for sacrifices, and had no experience writing a book, let alone a sequel to a famous work. He was under a lot of pressure. Suddenly, he glanced at the pitiful Ah Jin who didn't dare to look up, and said, "Wait, aren't you a server for a literature website? That's a good match for your profession. Do you have any ideas?"
Ah Jin raised his head tremblingly and said in a trembling voice: "I became famous after writing the sequel to Shan Hai Jing part-time"?
Everyone: “………………”
