Day and night tour

Chapter 382 The Method of Feigning Inequality
"What paper figure?" Zhou Xuan asked Guishan Daoist.

Guishan Daoist instinctively looked around, and only after confirming that no one was around did he cautiously ask, "Master, do you know what the temples and shrines in this Jing Kingdom are used for?"

"Temples and monasteries are, of course, for worship."

Zhou Xuan said very frankly.

Buddhist temples install Buddha statues, Taoist temples install deity statues. Once the statues are in their proper places, a few sticks of incense are lit, and they receive the worship of believers, that's all that matters.

“Master, temples and monasteries are not only used for worship, but also for some kind of ritual to conceal evil.”

Guishan Daoist probably also felt that the "pretending to be dirty" was a shady business, so when he spoke, he carefully looked around, afraid that someone would hear him and tarnish his Daoist name.

Zhou Xuan became interested and asked, "How exactly do you pretend to be dirty? Tell me about it."

"In short, it involves inserting internal organs into some statues and shaping their consciousness, so that these statues can act like living people and do some evil... well... slightly insidious things."

"You old turtle-like Taoist priest, you speak quite meticulously, nitpicking over words." Zhou Xuan asked again, "You mean, you can concoct a dirty act for the paper figure and help me find some actors?"

"Of course, let alone being an actor, even if you just pretend to be dirty and create a beautiful paper doll, you can bewitch those rich young men... The pink skull can bewitch, bewitch, bewitch..."

In his moment of triumph, Guishan Daoren let slip a secret and hastily shut his mouth.

"Stop hiding it. I'll just ask you, can you, the guardian of the temple who's been around for four incense sticks, really pretend to be dirty?" Zhou Xuan was too lazy to beat around the bush with the Taoist of Guishan and went straight to the most crucial question.

"Yes, yes."

"Then just pretend, so you don't have to dress up as a woman."

Zhou Xuan thought for a moment and then said, "How many rituals involving feigning filth can you perform in one night?"

"A maximum of five."

“Then let’s get five,” Zhou Xuan said.

“But those materials are not easy to find…” Guishan Daoist hesitated again.

Since he said that pretending to be dirty is a bit strange, the materials must not be ordinary incense sticks or yellow paper.

What do you need?

"There are two types of 'poisoning' methods. One involves using idols of deities. These idols are mostly used to steal people's wealth and fortune, and require evil Buddha statues and unorthodox ritual implements."
Another method uses paper figures, which requires the internal organs, bones, and blood of a living person... It also requires paper figures, straw, and other materials, which are relatively easy to obtain; the main difficulty lies in obtaining the paper figures themselves.

Guishan Daoren knew them like the back of his hand.

Thinking of this, Zhou Xuan took out his pocket watch and handed it to Daoist Guishan, saying, "Take this watch and go find the painter. Just tell him what materials you need, and the old painter will arrange everything perfectly for you."
As for who you want to impersonate using the method of feigning evil, I'll tell you personally when we go to the Taoist temple later.”

"Sigh, sigh."

Guishan Daoist usually just wandered around Huifeng Medical College aimlessly, unaware of Zhou Xuan's extraordinary status in Mingjiang Prefecture.

A pocket watch serves as a token; whatever materials are needed, one can simply ask the painter for them.

However, as he took the pocket watch, Zhou Xuan pulled it back a little and said to the Taoist Guishan, "By the way, old Guishan, since we need living people's blood and bones to fill the pockets, that's perfect. But remember to do it properly; splatter that blood all over your Taoist temple."
May your Taoist temple be filled with the spirit of blood and vitality.

"This is?"

"Don't forget, you're playing the role of Bifang's Taoist, and that evil rat from the abyss is still watching you."

Zhou Xuan said, "The reason why Taoists can quickly increase their incense offerings is because they use people as incense offerings. If your Taoist temple doesn't have overwhelming blood energy, how can you deceive the spies of the vicious rats?"

"Master, you've thought this through very well." Guishan Daoist took the pocket watch and returned to the medical school to contact the painter.

"I found a painter and asked him to give you two Snow Mountain Ginseng roots. You should also hurry up and improve your cultivation level..."

"I know, I know." Guishan Daoist had a feeling...
He felt like he had been living a carefree life for many years, but now he inexplicably felt like he was going to work.

"Why are there so many problems?"

He mumbled something and left.

After Guishan Daoren left, Zhou Xuan began to ponder the matter of "Mirror Flower Water Moon".

On the original site of Xiao Erge's family home, a building was constructed to deceive the people of Mingjiang Prefecture and make them believe it to be real.

"It's not easy to come up with a plan yet."

The more difficult the idea, the more you need to proceed steadily and surely.

Zhou Xuan turned the wooden cigarette tray upside down on the ground, sat on it, and rested his head on his right hand, posing as a "thinker."

“I will directly rebuild the original appearance of Brother Er’s family, and then have the paper figures of the old Taoist priest play the roles of Brother Er’s parents and neighbors… As long as the people of Mingjiang Prefecture see this, they will know that rebuilding Mingjiang Prefecture can not only restore the houses, but also bring the dead back to life. My goal will then be achieved.”

Thinking of this, Zhou Xuan began to take action.

Creating a fake building requires both a concept and actual materials.

Zhou Xuan then called out to Miss Wall from the secret realm.

"Ah Qiang, come help!"

"What can I do to help, Ah Xuan?"

Miss Wall, Cerebellum, Blood Well Brain, Red Ginseng Big Brother, and Third Brother were playing games and having a great time.

"Can you summon flesh and blood to build me a house?"

Zhou Xuan said.

Miss Wall is the "Blood Maiden" of the Flesh and Blood Dynasty. She controls flesh and blood and can condense a thick city wall in a few moments.

Having a "bricklayer" as your own can save you a lot of trouble.

"Let me take a look."

Miss Wall's consciousness emerged from Zhou Xuan's secret realm, transforming into a tiny three-inch doll. She sat on Zhou Xuan's shoulder, looked around for a while, and said, "This place is nice. There are rotting corpses everywhere, the corpses of donkeys. There's plenty of flesh and blood."

This place is called Donkey Shed Shop, and it deals in the business of donkeys. After the fire disaster, countless donkeys fell in this scorched earth.

What kind of building do you want?

"That's it."

Zhou Xuan took out a stack of Bodhi leaves from his pocket. These leaves were the memories of the families of the group of suicidal children at Guishan Temple. He had obtained them from Zen Master Huanxi that afternoon.

After "sending plays to the countryside," Zhou Xuan did not throw away the leaves, but kept them temporarily.

Within the leaves, one can find the memories of Xiao Erge's parents, and what Xiao Erge's home originally looked like can be clearly seen within these Bodhi leaves.

Miss Wall's consciousness entered the Bodhi leaf, and after pondering it carefully for a while, it used its ability to control the power of flesh and blood to build a brick building on the spot, restoring the original appearance of Little Brother's house.

The brick building has two floors. Not to mention the main structure, even the tables, chairs, beds, and dressing tables were made to look incredibly lifelike by Miss Wall's flesh and blood.

However, since the materials used in this house are derived from flesh and blood, everything inside feels like raw meat to the touch—soft, sticky, and mushy.

Zhou Xuan wandered around the room several times, going from upstairs to downstairs and then back upstairs.

"How's this house? Is it alright, Ah Xuan?" Miss Wall was waiting for Zhou Xuan to inspect it.

"Looks pretty good."

Zhou Xuan said, "If we were to put the old Taoist priest in dirty paper figures and have him walk around inside the house, it would really have the feel of rebuilding an old house and the return of the dead... However, using this small house to deceive the eyes of the people of Mingjiang Prefecture would not be impactful enough."

"How is that not enough? This house is already very realistic... As for the raw flesh feel of the house, you can explain it to the people of Mingjiang Prefecture—the reconstruction of Mingjiang is like bringing Mingjiang Prefecture back to life and allowing it to grow again, so naturally it has the feel of flesh and blood."

Miss Wall is now deeply influenced by Zhou Xuan, and when she lies, she doesn't even need to write a draft.

Zhou Xuan shook his head again, saying, "Since it's a gambling scam, if it's done on such a small scale, it lacks meaning, and the scale isn't big enough. Not many people will believe in this scam, and it doesn't solve the root problem."
We're going to put on a grand show.

Before the house was built, Zhou Xuan thought the plan was acceptable, but after it was built, he became somewhat dissatisfied. He felt that this elaborate deception could be further developed and eventually become a grand deception that could fool all the people of Mingjiang Prefecture.

Zhou Xuan immediately sat back down on the wooden tray of cigarettes and pretended to be deep in thought.

This time, after much contemplation, Zhou Xuan was able to formulate his ideas in a more organized manner.

"Most scams in this world are just stories. To make this elaborate show that can fool the people of Mingjiang Prefecture, I first need to come up with a theme story."

"How can we package the story of the people of Mingjiang Prefecture who died and came back to life?"

When Zhou Xuan thought of the dead and resurrected, he naturally thought of Shepherd City and the bridge spanning the River Styx in Shepherd City—countless wandering souls, like wind-up puppets, walked numbly.

Zhou Xuan was once one of those puppets. He almost fell into the River Styx while walking, but luckily his grandfather rescued him and entrusted the boatman in the River Styx to bring him back to the Zhou family troupe.

Thinking of this, Zhou Xuan suddenly had an inspiration. He looked up sharply into the distance and murmured, "The City of Shepherd Souls descends... A hundred ghosts parade at night... The gates of hell open... The dead return to life."

"What a great story."

As Zhou Xuan spoke, he became excited, clapping his hands together and saying, "The theme of tomorrow's performance is the arrival of Shepherd Soul City..."

"Your topic is too broad. Shepherd Soul City is magnificent. Even the boundless Yellow Springs Stone Bridge cannot be built with just the flesh and blood materials from this donkey shed."

Miss Wall immediately rejected Zhou Xuan's crazy idea.

As the former Sighing Mother Wall, Miss Wall certainly knows what Shepherd City looks like.

"Unless all the flesh and blood materials of the entire Mingjiang Prefecture are gathered together, it might be possible to build Shepherd Soul City."

"That's what Miss Wall said."

Zhou Xuan shook his head and said, "Miss Qiang, building Shepherd Soul City does not require flesh and blood."

"If not flesh and blood, then what can we use?"

"The stage for Caixi (a type of traditional Chinese opera) is similar to a stage. In addition to the accumulation of physical materials, we can also use two other methods."

"What methods?" Miss Wall asked.

"Light and shadow, sound."

Zhou Xuanji said confidently, "To create a grand stage, besides the stage setup itself, you also need projection and surround sound."
Lighting and surround sound are sometimes more important than a physical stage in creating atmosphere.

"That sounds pretty impressive, a projection? Sound? But where do we get all that stuff?" Miss Wall asked.

Zhou Xuan gently patted Miss Wall's forehead and said, "Don't forget the cerebellum in our secret realm; it's an expert in projection and sound projection."

"Oh……"

Miss Wall immediately realized what was happening.

"Take down this flesh and blood hut. Tomorrow at noon, under the blazing sun, we will bring Shepherd Soul City here."

The City of Shepherds descends, a hundred ghosts roam the night, the gates of hell open wide, and the dead are brought back to life.

Zhou Xuan immediately left the donkey shed shop to prepare for this grand opera performance...

……

Inside the Guishan Taoist Temple, the painter used the "laws of space" to act as a porter, making six trips in a row.

For the first five trips, they carried in a living person each time. On the sixth trip, they carried in a large snakeskin bag filled with paper-making materials such as silk cloth, colored paper, bamboo strips, and straw.

"Could all these living people be rats transformed?" Guishan Daoren asked the painter.

Taoist Guishan still wants to deceive the evil rats of the abyss. If he sends in the rat-transformed person, wouldn't he be exposed?
Therefore, when he took Zhou Xuan's pocket watch to the painter to ask for the person, he specifically stated that the living person sent to perform the "cloaking" method must not be a rat-turned-human.

"Don't worry, they are all clean-cut people from Mingjiang. We have repeatedly warned them not to believe the rumors spread by these scoundrels, or to spread rumors and smear Mr. Da. These five scoundrels are stubborn and have been maliciously spreading rumors, so I caught them."

"Alright, they don't seem to have much skill, do they?" "No, they didn't even light incense, just a little bit of heart damage." After the painter finished speaking, he used the "Law of Space" again and left the Turtle Mountain Taoist Temple.

The painter had barely left when Zhou Xuan arrived.

"Mr. Big."

"Are all the materials ready?"

Zhou Xuan glanced at the five living people bound together on the ground like dumplings. There were men and women, and each of them had their eyes covered with black cloth and their mouths stuffed with a tight wad of cloth.

The five people could not make a sound; they could only writhe on the ground like worms.

"The people have arrived, and the materials have arrived. We can start making paper figures to pretend to be dirty."

Guishan Daoist said with great conviction.

"Ah."

Zhou Xuan responded and started counting on his fingers, outlining the plan for Guishan Daoist, saying, "Old Gui, let me count for you, five people, five honorary titles, two of whom will play the roles of Xiao Er's parents."

The other two people played the roles of Xiao Er's neighbors.

The last person played the role of a messenger from the underworld wielding a stick of water and fire.

Zhou Xuan remembered that when he was in Shepherd City, a large group of dead souls were walking mechanically on the bridge, but among them was a netherworld official, holding a water and fire stick, patrolling back and forth.

He wanted to create a spectacular performance of "The Descent of the City of Shepherds," but without that underworld messenger, it would lack something.

"Is there anything else about the messengers of the underworld?"

Guishan Daoist was completely perplexed: "Master, I've told you before—if you're going to use a deity to fill a vulgar container, you have to use an evil artifact. The underworld messenger is also a type of deity artifact."

"No one is asking you to actually make a ghost messenger. You just need to make a paper figure, dress him in the clothes of a ghost messenger, and give him a water and fire stick so that he looks like a ghost messenger."

Zhou Xuan patiently and persuasively explained.

"OK, got it."

Upon hearing this, the Taoist of Guishan began to work. He first made a rough draft, poured out the paper-making materials from the snakeskin bag, found bamboo strips and thin rope, and began to weave a bamboo frame.

Paper figures are not made entirely of paper. They have bamboo strips as a frame, which is then filled with straw. After the rough shape is completed, they are wrapped in silk cloth and colored paper, and finally painted with wolf-hair brushes to add color and finishing touches.

As the supervisor, Zhou Xuan sat on a bamboo chair and watched. He noticed that the paper-making skills of the Taoist Guishan were quite proficient.

"Old turtle, you used to make paper offerings?"

"Before I became a Taoist priest, I was a paper craftsman, making paper horses, paper figures, and paper houses for the dead. That was my specialty." The bamboo strips in the hands of the Taoist priest of Guishan were very docile.

"And then what happened? How did you end up becoming a Taoist priest?"

"Being a Taoist priest is great. There are no exorbitant taxes and no hard labor. Although you have to follow some precepts, it's still better than being exploited by others."

At this point, the Taoist of Guishan gestured the number "nine" with his right hand and said, "When I was a paper craftsman, I went hungry for nine meals in three days. Since I became a Taoist, I've gained weight and become plump and healthy."

Zhou Xuan smiled and thought, "The profession of Taoist priest is indeed suitable for an old tortoise who can lie down and relax."

In less than an hour, the rough drafts of five paper figures were completed. Guishan Daoren then quickly stuffed straw into the inside of the paper figures, filling them to the brim.

Guishan Daoren also completed the painting on the silk cloth and colored paper used to represent the skin.

Having settled these matters, Guishan Daoren began to feign filth.

He lit an incense stick, walked up to a woman, and removed the gag from her mouth.

The woman immediately let out a shrill scream.

"Who are you? Let me go! Let me go!"

Taoist Guishan immediately used the end of an incense stick to make a cut on the woman's cheek, leaving a bloody mark.

Blood seeped out.
The Taoist priest dipped the incense stick in his hand in blood, lit it with a tinderbox, and a wisp of murky mist shot out, heading straight for the woman's face.

The woman smelled the fragrance and immediately stopped howling; her mouth remained numbly open.

"what's your name?"

Guishan Daoist asked softly.

“My name is… Yu Ru.”

“No, your name is Mao Qin,” said Guishan Daoren.

Mao Qin was Xiao Erge's mother.

"My name is Mao Qin, my name is Mao Qin," the woman kept repeating Guishan Daoren's words.

The Taoist priest from Guishan then used incense to fumigate the woman, saying, "You are already dead, but I can miraculously bring you back to life."

"Master Dao, save me." Even the woman's voice when she pleaded for help sounded mechanical.

The Taoist priest of Guishan nodded and asked again, "If I want to bring you back to life, I need to know where your five internal organs are. Tell me, where is your heart?"

"Here...here..."

The woman wanted to fight, but because her hands were tied, she couldn't move them at all. However, she pointed to the location of her heart, which was pounding as if it were about to jump out of her chest.

After fuming his right hand with incense for a while, the Taoist priest of Guishan inserted it into the woman's chest and penetrated her body. When he pulled his hand out, he was holding a beating heart.

From then on, the Taoist priest of Guishan did the same thing.

"The liver side governs water, and it enters the yang person's water level."

"The spleen governs the yang qi and is associated with the body's vital energy..."

At this point, the internal organs had been filled, and what remained was a matter of the divine consciousness.

Guishan Daoren walked to the woman whose five internal organs had been removed and whispered in her ear, "Maoqin, your five internal organs have been returned to their places. Look at your skin... where is it?"

"Where...where...where is it?"

the woman asked.

"It's over there."

Guishan Daoist swiftly severed the ropes binding the woman with a swift, knife-like motion, then grasped her hand and raised it in a certain direction.
When the woman stopped, her fingertips were pointing precisely at the paper cover of the "Maoqin"—a piece of silk and colored paper that had been drawn in advance by the Taoist Guishan.

When the woman was pointed to "cardboard," she seemed to receive a guidance, slowly got up, and walked towards it step by step.

Upon approaching, the woman picked up the cardboard pieces and pasted them one by one onto the paper figure.

There were as many as twenty pieces of paper in total. With each piece the woman pasted on, her skin gained a layer of wax paper color, while the paper figure Mao Qin took on the color of a living person.

While the woman was applying the stickers, the Taoist priest Guishan was standing to the side, quickly recounting Maoqin's memories of her life.

This is the process of shaping consciousness, creating both the color and memories of a living person.

After those twenty pieces of cardboard are pasted up,
The paper figure now looks like a living person, while the woman who was just alive has become a paper figure.

"I... am dead... but you... are alive."

After the woman finished speaking haltingly, she collapsed to the ground with a thud.

But the paper figure Mao Qin suddenly opened its eyes, its expression filled with sorrow, calling out to its son, "Xiao Er... Xiao Er..."

"Shhh."

The Taoist priest of Guishan immediately fell silent, and Maoqin closed his eyes and stopped speaking, as if he were asleep.

"So, sir, are you satisfied with this young man's mother?"

Guishan Daoist asked.

Zhou Xuan witnessed the whole process. He patted Guishan Daoist on the shoulder and said, "Old Gui, I didn't realize you, you coward, were actually quite talented. Not bad, not bad."

"I can certainly do some things, but the Master has too much to do, I want to take a break..."

Guishan Daoren's laid-back attitude has kicked in again.

"No matter what, we must get through tonight."

After Zhou Xuan finished speaking, he shifted the focus to Mao Qin: "This paper figure Mao Qin has finished pretending to be dirty and is ready for you to use?"

"They are relatively obedient at the moment, but they are still lacking in human blood and living human bones."

Guishan Daoist pointed to the woman's corpse on the ground and said, "This is about spilling blood and peeling bones?"

"You want me to stay away?" Zhou Xuan suddenly felt that Guishan Daoist was sensible. Even in such a bloody and dangerous situation, he knew to tell him to stay away.

"If I could avoid having the Master do it himself, I, Old Turtle, am a bit squeamish about blood... I wouldn't be able to bring myself to do it."

"..." Zhou Xuan.

Zhou Xuan coldly said, "If you're going to do something, do it properly. You get on with it first. I have other important matters to attend to."

"Master...Master..."

"Old turtle, remember what I told you, blood and qi filling the sky... I won't witness the rest of the 'filling the organs' process. Goodbye."

Zhou Xuan immediately left during the day.

Inside the Taoist temple, the Taoist priest from Guishan stared at the female corpse on the ground, a troubled expression on his face. He truly couldn't bring himself to do it. Removing the internal organs, at least, wouldn't draw blood; he could bear it.
But the process of taking blood and bones is far too cruel.

"I already said I wouldn't do this job... but the master insisted I do it..."

In desperation, the Taoist priest of Guishan blindfolded himself with a black cloth, grabbed a door bolt, and smashed it haphazardly against the female corpse, hoping to avoid seeing it altogether.

……

Outside the Taoist temple, Xiaoshu Li Dazhu, taking advantage of the darkness, crept up to the temple gate. Peeking through the crack in the door, he saw Guishan Taoist holding a thick door bolt, brutally beating a woman who was oblivious to her fate.

"This Daoist from Bifang is too cruel. Does he want to turn people into mincemeat?"

……

After leaving the Guishan Taoist Temple, Zhou Xuan went to the top floor of the teaching building, where the painter, Xishan Wang, and the musician were drinking.

The wine was offered by the King of Xishan.

“Master, in the book you read today, you praised my Hu family repeatedly. I am very pleased with your gratitude... it’s all in the wine.”

When the King of Xishan saw Zhou Xuan, he immediately raised his cup... He was clearly a little tipsy.

"We'll drink later. By the way, where's Brother Peng?"

Zhou Xuan said.

"Brother Peng has returned to Pengjia Town," the musician said.

Zhou Xuan said, "Let Brother Peng come back. The four of us will discuss an important matter—tomorrow, let Shepherd Soul City descend upon Mingjiang Prefecture."

pat!

King Xishan was stunned, and the wine cup in his hand fell to the ground and shattered into pieces...

(End of this chapter)