Da Zaojun

Chapter 54: Xin Wuya, the Child Student ( words long chapter, please read and vote)

"When it comes to dealing with ghosts, the City God belongs to the underworld system, and perhaps he has these uses as well."

The two men returned along the same route and caught a stone mantis each and took it back.

According to the Five Elements, the stone mantis belongs to the earth element, and can only be broken apart by forcibly refining it with fire or using the power of the wood element.

Although Song Wuji's stove fire is okay, it is more suitable for cooking and exorcising ghosts, and is not yet at the level of smelting metals.

But as a "bug", this thing is afraid of fire. If it can't be burned to death, it can be scalded to death. The stone shell on the outside has not changed at all, but the meat inside is almost cooked. After it died and the meat was cut open, it was found that the edible part of a stone shell mantis as big as a washbasin was less than a small bowl.

Just as Song Wuji was thinking, if it tastes like crab meat, he would make crab meatballs, and if it tastes like shrimp meat, he would make shrimp dumplings. If there is no recipe in the kitchen book, he can also create it directly.

But then he heard Lu Han remind him: "Be careful, something is following us."

Song Wuji immediately put the stone mantis materials into the incense cabinet, looked around, and saw the scarecrow that had chased the two of them in the weeds.

[Blood Puppet Scarecrow]
The scarecrow jumped up and down, its body speckled with blood and a few bird feathers faintly visible, and it chased the two people again: "Do you think I look like a human? Do you think I look like a human?"

The scarecrow chased closer and closer, and soon it overtook Song Wuji and blocked his way: "Young man! Do you think I look like a human or a god?"

Song Wuji kept silent, and so did Lu Han. The two looked at each other and both saw how difficult it was to deal with this monster.

The scarecrow is similar to a human in that it is made in the shape of a human and wears tattered clothes. It is used to drive away birds and protect crops.

The similarities between a scarecrow and a god are probably that they are made of wood and grass... but the flesh is made of mud and the skin is made of lacquer, and there are no scriptures or grains hidden inside.

But I don’t know which naughty kid pasted a broken door god painting on the scarecrow’s face, which was like the finishing touch to a dragon’s painting, making the scarecrow look so evil.

Compared to the yellow-skinned man asking for a title, that thing is at least a flesh and blood body, and his background is known. Song Wuji has no idea what this scarecrow is.

Seeing that Song Wuji and the others didn't answer, the scarecrow continued to ask, "Look at me wearing clothes and a hat, am I a human?"

The scarecrow's voice sounded like wind blowing through dry bamboo, even uglier than Lu Han's flute.

Song Wuji did not turn back, but a copper coin dart appeared in his hand. The dart was wrapped with talisman paper, which could activate the fire-starting technique when shot out.

"Look, I have wood bones, grass tendons, and a painted face. Do I look like a god?"

The more you question, the more a force acts directly on the "heart", forcing people to speak.

Whether you acknowledge him as a man or a god, or whether you deny it, there will be terrible consequences.

Compared to the power of ghosts and monsters, the power of this blood puppet scarecrow is more similar to the "rule ghost story", which is the power of the "evil god".

Just when Song Wuji was about to call out his name and then activate the Fire-Conducing Technique, Lu Han stepped forward and spoke with righteous indignation, "Do you think you should be a human or a god?"

"Mencius said: 'Man has four hearts: the heart of compassion, the heart of shame, the heart of courtesy and humility, and the heart of right and wrong. If you have these four hearts, you are a human being; otherwise, you are not."

The blood puppet scarecrow was lost in confusion: "Four hearts? What are four hearts? Heaven and earth gave me a spirit, but not a heart. I don't have a heart..."

"It seems that I am not a human being."

Then his face turned fierce: "Do you have a heart? Give me your heart!"

"Everyone has his or her own heart. My heart is useful to me, but useless to you. You are not me, and you can never become me!"

"I don't understand! Since I'm not a human and I don't have a heart, do you think I'm a god?" He became even more aggressive, and the facial features in the painting looked extremely evil.

Lu Han said, "The gods follow the will of heaven and respond to people's wishes. Xunzi said, 'Accumulate good deeds to become virtuous, and the gods will naturally be satisfied, and the sage heart will be ready. If you accumulate good deeds, you will be a god, but if you don't, the opposite will happen."

The evil features of the Blood Puppet Scarecrow were suddenly confused: "Then I am neither human nor god, what am I?"

"You are a child." Lu Han said, "The Book of Changes says: 'It is not I who seek the child, but the child who seeks me, and our will responds.'"

"The Master said: 'To learn without thinking is to be lost; to think without learning is to be in danger.' If you only think here but don't learn, how can you understand whether you are a human or a god?"

The facial features of the scarecrow's door god painting were tangled together, with good and evil flowing. His instinct made him want to kill Song Wuji and Lu Han, and use their hearts and skins to make himself more like a human or an evil god, but his spiritual consciousness that knew how to think made him want to recognize his own nature even more.

"I am neither a god nor a human. I am a child."

This definition allowed Lu Han's righteous spirit to burst out and wash the scarecrow. Then, the scarecrow was as if Nangong Wenya had wiped its head, and it changed from its original gloomy and terrifying appearance to a small book boy scarecrow.

Lu Han said: "You can become my disciple and decide whether to be a human or a god in the future!"

Song Wuji was stunned: Is this the magical power of scholars - talking nonsense?

This reminded Song Wuji of the part in "Wulin Wai Zhuan" where Lu Xiucai deceived Ji Wuming. Well, both of them had the surname Lu, but Lu Han was a juren, so his fame was one level higher than Lu Xiucai's.

"Now, kowtow to me three times and take me as your master. You should know that I would not accept someone like you who can't even read. My disciples must at least pass the Tongsheng examination. But today, seeing that you are eager to learn, I have made an exception and accepted you as my disciple. You should cherish me."

The scarecrow had been fooled and immediately knelt down and kowtowed three times to Lu Han.

While he was bowing, Lu Han said to Song Wuji, "Give me something to eat to refresh myself. This guy has drained all the righteousness from me. Luckily, I've done a lot of exercises and know how to crack and solve them, so I didn't fall into the trap of whether he was a god or a human. Those few moments just now were even more stressful than when I took the provincial examination."

Song Wuji immediately peeled the foundation-building eggs, gave him two to eat, and fed him two drops of Yi Mu Yue Lu, asking Lu Han to slowly recover the spirit of the Three Treasures. Once his divine will was restored, his great literary aura would naturally also slowly recover.

By this time, the scarecrow had also finished his kowtow. Lu Han supported Song Wuji's hand, barely holding on to his knees and pretending to be calm. "Since you have accepted me as your master, do you have a name?"

"Heaven and earth gave me a spirit, but not a heart or a name. No, my teacher just said I was Tong Meng, so my name is Tong Meng."

Song Wuji thought to himself: No, you do have a name, it's [Blood Puppet Scarecrow]. Lu Han said: "No, Tong Meng represents you, Chaos, a temporary substitute for someone who is neither human nor god. It's not your name. Besides, you shouldn't call me that. In front of the teacher, you should call yourself "disciple". I won't punish you this time. Next time you do it, you'll have to copy the Disciple Rules ten times."

"A name is given by one's parents; nature cannot give names. As the saying goes, once a teacher, always a father. It was alright for you to be ignorant before, but from today on, you have accepted me as your teacher, so you cannot be without a name."

"You have the bones of grass and wood, yet you have a heart for learning. Just as the saying goes, 'Xinxin students,' removing the grass radical signifies your transformation. How about giving you the surname Xin? The name Wuya means the boundless ocean of learning. As Zhuangzi said, 'My life is finite, but my knowledge is limitless. To pursue the limitless with the finite is dangerous.'"

The Scarecrow learned quickly. When he heard he had a name, he was overjoyed: "I have a name! I have a name!"

At this time, his body changed further, and Song Wuji also saw that the name above his head also changed, from the previous red [Blood Puppet Scarecrow] to the white [Tong Meng Student Xin Wuya].

This change did not occur out of thin air. It extracted something from Lu Han, making Lu Han look even weaker.

Song Wuji quickly fed him another pure yang bun to increase his yang energy.

After the transformation, the young student Xin Wuya had the door god painting on his face wrapped around his entire body, turning it into a very realistic piece of cardboard, with no straw exposed outside. His lower body was also transformed from a wooden stick into a pair of legs and feet, but he still hopped when he walked, so there was actually no difference whether he had changed or not.

After a long while, Lu Han recovered: "What I just lost was my luck, but I have become his teacher, which is in line with my official position of "teacher" and my duty to educate the people."

"This fellow turned out to be a Ninth Rank Evil God. I guided him into the right path and completed the same ritual as Chen Xiu's skull sacrifice and martial arts offering. He has officially completed his Ninth Rank cultivation. The next step is to prepare for the Eighth Rank. Although there is no further path, I have a guess. Perhaps he can follow the path of the Confucian Sage, with three thousand disciples and seventy-two sages."

Song Wuji nodded: "Then will he listen to the instructions of the teacher? Can he enter the city? Will he suddenly rise up and harm the people?"

"No, unless he is sent to his death." Lu Han said: "But he must not be allowed to enter the city. I will teach him a lesson later and let him patrol."

Song Wuji gave a thumbs up and said secretly: It turns out that there is no mediocre person who can pass the imperial examination. There is no such thing as rote learning. If you really study hard, you can't even pass the examination to become a scholar.

The three of them returned all the way to Taichang County, and Lu Han directed Xin Wuya to eliminate the little monsters he encountered on the road, under the pretext of showing his strength so that he could teach him according to his aptitude.

Therefore, Xin Wuya worked very hard. Although Xin Wuya was a scarecrow, he was a three-talented person. Lu Han had already learned that he had three abilities.

One is to grow dry grass vine tentacles to whip and control. These tentacles have the ability to absorb water and can suck the opponent's body fluids dry, turning them into a mummy. It is called "Hundred Herbs Heart Binding Rope".

One is a curse called "Shape Replacement Technique", which can capture the enemy's energy and lock it in itself. If the enemy attacks him, it is equivalent to attacking himself, and the damage suffered is shared equally by both.

The last one is called the "Heart-Torture Curse," which is exactly what he had been asking: "Do you think I look like a human or a god?"

But now, he probably couldn't ask this question, after all, Lu Han had already solved this problem for him.

Xin Wuya had to think of a new soul-touching question, otherwise the power of this heart-torturing spell would be greatly reduced.

Song Wuji tried to get closer to Xin Wuya: "Your name is Xin Wuya, and mine is Song Wuji. We are both from the Wuzi generation."

But Xin Wuya ignored Song Wuji and only listened to Lu Han. Besides, he was made of grass and hated fire. Song Wuji had the fire element, which made him disgusted.

While waiting to return to the city, Lu Han instructed Xin Wuya, "Wuya, your master is going into the city to do something. You must not harm others. Before entering the city, your master will leave you a question. Think carefully about it and ask it when we meet next time. If you answer it incorrectly, there will be a punishment. You must do something for your master. If you answer it correctly, your master will reward you and teach you more principles."

"The question now is, within this political landscape, what are your responsibilities? What do you want to do in the future?"

Song Wuji translated: Young man, what is your dream?
The scarecrow's brain was also made of straw, and it wasn't very smart. It suddenly seemed like it had crashed, and it stopped in place, motionless.

Only then did Lu Han and Song Wuji enter the city and report their observations to the county magistrate Tian Chengbi.

This was also Song Wuji's first formal work report.

However, Lu Han entered the county government office first, and finished talking with Tian Chengbi before letting Song Wuji in.

Song Wuji was waiting outside. The Cat Detective found this place and rubbed around his legs. Song Wuji simply grilled the mantis meat over a flame and fed it to the Cat Detective to try and see if it was poisonous.

The meat of the stone mantis is crispy and chewy. It takes a lot of effort for the cat to eat it, but it must taste good because its tail is wagging constantly.

After patting the cat's head and smoothing its fur, Lu Han came out and said, "Come with me to see Tianxian."

Song Wuji followed him in and saw Tian Chengbi wearing official uniform. He looked much more haggard than before, with more wrinkles and a darker face.

"Earlier, County Lieutenant Chen said that you were the second person in the city to achieve the ninth rank, and that you were quite skilled in martial arts. Just now, Lü Han also spoke highly of you, saying that without you, he would have been unable to fulfill his duty as a Confucian scholar. Now, it seems that heroes are indeed born young."

Tian Chengbi first praised Song Wuji for a while, then said directly: "These good words are all empty, and this county will not say much. You have been a hero since you were young, and I don't care if you have any adventures. After all, your life experience has an irreconcilable hatred with demons, and everything you do is open and aboveboard, without any hidden agenda. Instructor Lu hopes that your spirit is pure and innocent, not a double-faced person."

"Therefore, this county has decided to allow you to participate in the major decision-making of Taichang County."

Song Wuji was shocked: "So fast?"

"After all, now is a time of chaos and demons, not the past. Strength is respected, and this county knows it. Moreover, with the danger ahead, it is only natural to select the virtuous and capable."

"Now let me tell you, there are three crises in the city. The first is the demons outside the city, the second is the city god, and the third is the people's hearts."

"The demons outside the city are external demons, but if everyone inside is united, we have nothing to fear."

"What I'm afraid of is that we can't be united. The City God is definitely not a good person. He has the intention of swallowing up the luck of the entire city. However, his power has not yet recovered, so he conspired with me to fight against the demons."

"As for the people, they don't know the truth, or they can't understand it even when it's right in front of them. For example, right now, a large number of people don't trust the government, but instead believe in the City God. They don't help repair the city walls, but instead spend all day praying to the gods."

"We fight the City God but don't destroy him. We also cooperate with him. But the more we cooperate, the more vulnerable we become to him."

"For example, the Twenty-Four Departments of the City God have now largely recovered and have recruited a large number of walkers, nearly two hundred in number. These walkers practice our Five Rats Moving Technique and eat human food and salaries. We are in charge of all of this."

"But most of the proceeds from killing demons are handed over to the City God Temple. For example, the Medical Bureau. Doctor Li and his colleagues are willing to help us, but due to the restrictions of the imperial edict, they must hand over 50%. The remaining 50% they have to keep for themselves, or pass on to relatives, friends, or family members and descendants. In fact, less than 20% can be distributed to the government."

(End of this chapter)