fairy family

Chapter 17: True Water, True Fire, and the Fever Armor Substitute Ritual
After the transaction was completed, Yu Que was not in a hurry to leave.

He put the two book ghosts into his sleeves and took out a hundred-dollar bill.

Ma Yinglong did the same. The two of them stood there, as if they were sworn brothers. They bowed to the sky and the earth, and chanted:

"People in the world of the living have to leave, ghosts in the underworld have to leave their hometowns, the underworld is similar, so why not do business with them?"

After the tribute, Ma Yinglong came over and said, "Brother, I have fire."

Seeing that the man had taken out a fire starter and was blowing it to light it, Yu Que did not hesitate to go forward and borrow a fire, then lit the paper money in his hand and threw it into the sky.

A puff of green smoke floated up, and the paper money scattered in the mist and turned into nothingness.

The same was true for Ma Yinglong, but this man was much more generous. He held at least ten hundred-dollar bills in his hand. After they were ignited, they fluttered around like snowflakes.

Yu Que smiled and said, "Boss Ma is really generous and willing to spend. He will definitely make a fortune!"

Ma Yinglong smiled politely: "Haha, thanks to this seventh ghost episode, Ma finally got his wish today. Naturally, I have to give more money for the road!"

The reason why the two burned paper money and turned it into ashes was that they followed a custom of doing business in the ghost market. It was similar to the custom of scattering paper money at the funeral of a deceased person, and was called "toll money."

Whenever two parties have concluded a business deal in the ghost gathering, it is best to scatter some incense and paper money and burn them for the wandering ghosts around. In this way, the wandering ghosts will not be jealous of the businessmen and do bad things secretly, so that the businessmen will not just happily finish the business in the ghost gathering, but end up dying on the way back.

Yu Que didn't quite believe this statement at first. In his opinion, almost everyone in the ghost gathering had a family god, so why would they be afraid of wandering ghosts? They should just be looking for them.

However, as soon as the paper money burned, he found that his body became even colder, and the ghost mist clung to his body more stickily, covering his figure.

He looked across and the Ma Yinglong who was just within his perception seemed to have disappeared suddenly.

This made Yu Que suddenly understand that the "toll" was actually burned for this ghost market.

"As expected, every place has its own rules. This toll is actually the equivalent of a tax."

Fortunately, according to the rules of Guiji, there is no requirement for the amount of toll money. You can burn a hundred yuan or more a day. Especially for those who are doing business in Guiji for the first time, you don’t have to burn any money. Guiji will not hinder new customers.

Therefore, Yu Que did not think about burning a few more, but tightened his robe, and while the fog around him was still thick, he suddenly stepped into a remote corner and walked out of the ghost market.

As soon as he left, Ma Yinglong kept calling out "Brother, brother" and emerged from the mist around him, wanting to say a few more words to Yu Que.

When he saw that Yu Que had left, the man could only sigh with regret.

the other side.

After Yu Que walked around three times, going in and out, and buying some miscellaneous items in Guiji, he finally left Guiji completely.

After leaving, even though Guiji provided some protection for the merchants and could prevent others from following them, he still felt creepy walking on the empty and foggy streets.

The county town at night is safe but not safe either, especially since he is carrying valuable items with him.

Fortunately, he walked through three streets in a row without any bad guys jumping out from in front or behind him, so Yu Que relaxed his mind and thought that he didn't need to go around in circles anymore and could go straight back.

However, after he stood there thinking for a while, he headed not towards his home, nor towards the paper-making shop where he worked as an apprentice, but towards the west of the city.

With the blessing of the cat-faced household god, Yu Que was like a night cat, climbing up and down in the dark, climbing walls and houses as if they were walking on flat ground.

After more than half an hour, he arrived at the entrance of an alley with clusters of red lanterns hanging. The houses in the alley were tall and low, and the windows were all small, like a cage.

This place is the famous red-light district and den of brothel in the Seventh Ward City, named "Heping Lane". There are three streets in total, full of eating, drinking, whoring, gambling and smoking. The three streets are connected together, and all the necessary activities can be arranged in one go.

As soon as Yu Que reached the entrance of the alley, he smelled a strong aroma of longevity cream, which made his face slightly red, and he felt like he had to do something in his heart.

Rows of women and men, some graceful and some strong, were standing at the entrance of the alley soliciting customers.

When the women saw Yu Que, they all swayed their bodies immediately, looking lifelike. Their revealing cheongsams and bodies looked charming and lewd under the dim red lanterns.

"Young master, come and play!"

"Oh, what a handsome young man, what a rare visitor."

The prostitutes exuded the fragrance of longevity cream, looked charming and tempting, and kept moaning in a low voice.

Yu Que originally saw the figures of these women, and because of his young body, he was particularly moved. However, after smelling the strong scent of the longevity cream on their bodies, he immediately frowned and walked towards Heping Lane with his head down.

As a result, one of the prostitutes was bold and fierce. She leaned over and took the initiative to move towards Yu Que: "My little rascal, why are you here so late..."

Fortunately, when Yu Que's eyes flashed and exuded a murderous aura, the woman's body stiffened, her smile stopped, and she didn't dare to tease him anymore. She could only look at Yu Que with a shrinking look, with a flattering and pleading look on her face.

Many of the prostitutes were miserable people, so Yu Que did not make things difficult for them and just passed by them in silence.

Soon, amid the strong smell of longevity paste, he found a red-light inn with a lighter smell near the end of the alley, staggered in, and asked for a meditation room in the basement.

The reason why Yu Que did not go home tonight was that he was afraid of disturbing his uncle and others at home. The reason why he did not rent a hotel somewhere else was also simple.

In the dead of night, few people would suddenly stay in a hotel alone. Even if it was a quiet room specially provided for the use of immortals, it would be easy to expose that he had just returned from a ghost gathering and might be targeted.

But it was different when he came to Heping Lane. Until dawn, there were always many customers coming here in the dark, and it was a mixed crowd, so no one would notice him.

Moreover, the price of staying overnight here is the lowest in the Seventh Ward, and there are various quiet rooms and meditation rooms, and even privately-run fire rooms for refining the mind. It can be said that this is the place with the most complete facilities for local practice except for the county school.

Yu Que stepped into the underground Zen room and locked the stone key. After taking a quick look, he took out an incense stick as thick as an arm from his sleeve and inserted it in the center of the Zen room.

A cloud of smoke slowly rose up and soon filled the ten-foot-square stone Zen room.

This incense is called "blind incense" because it can block the line of sight and prevent prying eyes.

The most amazing thing about it is that it can take shape like a flower bud, and then the smoke will not leak out, but will be confined within a radius of ten feet and can burn all night.

Yu Que prepared protective measures and just sat cross-legged on the stone slab, feeling relieved. To be honest, he had been to two ghost fairs alone, and had also done a business involving an eighth-grade rampant ghost. Carrying heavy goods back and forth made him quite nervous these days, just like when he went out to look for ghosts before.

After all, compared to ghosts, humans are often more cunning.

If he is careless for a moment, he may be plotted against by the bad guys, and then not only will he lose all his money, but he may even lose his life.

Fortunately, the transaction was successful. Next, he only needed to refine all the book ghosts, and he would not have to carry things around with him.

In the Zen room, Yu Que originally wanted to burn incense, bathe, calm his mind, and then refine the book ghost. But after sitting cross-legged for a while, he opened his eyes helplessly and no longer hoped to be quiet.

"I have chosen a meditation room in the basement, but I didn't expect the sound insulation to be so poor. You are selling dog meat under the guise of mutton."

Yu Que listened to the faint obscene moans and muttered to himself.

However, he did not want to change places. After all, you get what you pay for. Better quiet rooms are often more expensive. Besides, the shouting all around was so loud that it seemed safer to a certain extent.

Anyway, he was only refining the book ghost tonight and not performing any refining work.

Without further delay, Yu Que held an ash jar in one hand and a jade jar in the other, closed his eyes, white hair grew on his body, and corpse qi emerged.

He first bit the tip of his tongue, then spat a mouthful of blood from the tip of his tongue toward the gray urn.

Sizzle! A frying-like sound was heard, and the negative energy on the urn surged, entwined and formed into a caterpillar the size of a baby's foot, with tadpole-shaped words flickering on it.

Yu Que didn't open his eyes either. He flipped his palm and let the urn fall to the ground and break into pieces, but the corpse qi was entangled on his fingers and he picked up the caterpillar object.

He rubbed it with his hands several times to check whether the bookworm ghost was intact again. Then he opened his teeth, gulped, and swallowed the thing.

Refining a bookworm ghost is different from refining a cat-faced ghost. The latter has to be the household god and needs to be praised, chanted, and well served. It is also best to swallow the incense ashes and bone ashes that the cat-faced ghost possesses.

However, the bookworm ghost is only a disposable ghost, so there is no need to worry about it. Moreover, the incense ashes and bone ashes that this creature possesses are purchased by others, and it is not hygienic and safe to swallow them carelessly.

Swish!
As soon as the bookworm ghost entered Yu Que's stomach, he heard the sounds of worms eating mulberry leaves and gnawing on book paper.

Then a chill rose from his abdomen and rushed to the top of his head, making his eyes blurry. In his eyes, densely packed with worm-like words appeared, crooked, swaying, and shouting.

Gradually, the words in Yu Que's eyes stopped moving, and the rustling sound of chewing books in his ears turned into the sound of murmuring, as if an old scholar was reading a book in his ear, shaking his head.

Yu Que was in high spirits at this time. His lips moved as he silently read the line of insect writing in his eyes:
"'An Introduction to the Water and Fire Refining Technique', compiled in the 315th year of the Incense and Fire Calendar, with the seal of the refiner Luo Ding."

The words that appeared in his eyes at this moment were exactly the entry-level inheritance of the alchemist that he had been waiting for for a long time!
After quickly reading it silently, Yu Que found that the inheritance was clear and organized, with pictures and paintings, and there were also human figures walking in front of him, as if someone was guiding someone else to practice cultivation.

This made him very happy:
"With this inheritance, my life of cultivation can begin."

Immediately, with joy in his heart, he completely immersed himself in the inheritance of "Introduction to the Science of Water and Fire Refining". Words and pictures passed through his eyes and were imprinted into his mind and memory.

In just less than half an hour, Yu Que's eyes became clear, and he had an unprecedented understanding of the role of a true alchemist.

It turns out that the full name of the position of the alchemist is "Water and Fire Alchemy Ritual Master".

Refining refers to refining the souls of the dead with real water and real fire; saving refers to practicing fasting and practicing Taoism to save the ghosts. The combination of the two means refining ghosts and gods and suppressing evil.

The key to becoming a cultivator is to master the use of true water and true fire.

According to the description in “An Introduction to the Science of Water and Fire Refining”, there are strange waters and fires in the world that can nourish the spirit, increase aptitude, turn bones into flesh, burn diseases, burn suffering, and burn ghosts and monsters, and are extraordinary and magical.

The immortals obtain this rare water and fire and nourish it with their spirit. This is real water and real fire, and they can then refine ghosts and gods with twice the result with half the effort.

Of course, exotic water and fire are rare, and even the most common inferior water and fire are not something that a refiner can easily possess. Often in a city, if there is one kind of true fire or one kind of true water, it is already considered good.

For example, as far as Yu Que knew, in the Seventh Ward where he was, he had only heard that there was a kind of "real fire" in the crematorium of the county school, but no real water.

Therefore, if the cultivator does not have the True Water and True Fire outside his body, he can just use the True Water and True Fire inside his body.

In the inheritance that Yu Que obtained, there is an excerpt titled "The Inner Method of Tai Chi Sacrifice and Refining", which says:
"Water, when refined, is called water. It is not water, but the moisture of my essence. Refining my essence gives birth to his essence, so it is transformed into water and refined therein. Fire, when refined, is called fire. It is not fire, but the light of my spirit. Refining my spirit gives birth to his spirit, so it is transformed into fire and refined therein. When the essence dies and the spirit is separated, although one fell and became a ghost in the past, the essence gives birth to the spirit intact, and now he will ascend and be born into heaven. If one refines, he will be saved; if one does not refine, he will not be saved. Therefore, it is said that water and fire refine and save..."

It means that the master of alchemy can use his own essence and spirit, mixed with various external means, to refine ghosts and gods.

Among the various entry methods, they are roughly divided into two categories, fire methods and water methods.

Among the fire methods, there are charcoal roasting, baking, frying, and grilling; among the water methods, there are wine moxibustion, vinegar moxibustion, salt moxibustion, honey moxibustion, and so on, which are quite similar to the methods used in the kitchen.

Yu Que pondered these and suddenly realized what he lacked after working in Zheng Laohei's shop for a month, which was the water method for regulating ghosts and gods.

Now that he has obtained this inheritance, he only needs to study the water method more before he can try it himself and try to refine ghosts and gods!
After sorting it out.

Yu Que opened his eyes in the underground Zen room, with a look of joy in his eyes that lasted for a long time.

He reviewed it again and confirmed that he had obtained a complete introductory inheritance of alchemy, which had pictures and text and detailed steps. He wanted to stand up and stamp his feet to celebrate.

However, just as he stood up, he suddenly realized that he was holding another book ghost in his hand, which he had not yet digested.

This book ghost is the eighth-grade book ghost obtained from Ma Yinglong. The appearance of this item is not bad, but because it is too valuable, it is not allowed to be examined, and there is no introduction on the surface of the book ghost, so it is still unknown what kind of inheritance it is.

"Compared to the Refining Bookworm Ghost, this thing is just a bonus for me."

He thought to himself: "I have gained a lot tonight. I wonder what kind of inheritance this eighth-grade book ghost will have. Can it give me another big surprise?"

It only takes two days to complete a task, so he did not delay any longer and immediately made another effort. He spat a mouthful of blood from the tip of his tongue onto the urn, pulled out the book ghost inside, and swallowed it.

Soon, another wave of dense text appeared in front of Yu Que's eyes.

An inheritance titled "Knotting Hair and Burning Armor Substitute Ceremony" was imprinted in his mind, making him feel moved and magical...

(End of this chapter)