Start practicing from Mr. Fox

Chapter 118 The Pen Used by the Great Confucian Scholar
"I wonder what the Dragon Lord likes? We can't very well go to see the Dragon Lord empty-handed."

"That's it!"

The turtle spirit smiled and nodded.

"You're the most suitable person to ask me that. The Dragon King has many aquatic creatures around him, but he trusts me the most."

"Of course, otherwise we wouldn't have entrusted the Dragon Envoy to deliver the message. Judging from the Dragon Envoy's appearance, we can tell that he is the most valued strategist among the Dragon Lord's Water Palace strategists."

"You have a good eye!"

The old turtle was overjoyed.

"However, I am not some dragon messenger, but the river and canal supervisor under the Dragon King."

"They are also important ministers of the Water Palace and important officials of the Dragon King. I really feel bad that they came here on their own initiative!"

Chen Ji praised the turtle spirit so much in just a few words that it lost its bearings. Not only did he explain what the Dragon Lord liked, but he also revealed the Dragon Lord's origins.

"My lord is a descendant of the Dragon King of the Northern River, possessing the bloodline of a true dragon. Before coming here, he loved the elegant literature, anecdotes, and strange tales of the human world. After coming here, he still does the same."

Chen Ji was taken aback upon hearing this.

Unexpectedly, the son of the Hutuo River is actually a descendant of the Four Rivers Dragon Kings.

The Yangtze River, the Huai River, and the Ji River were the four ancient major rivers, and each of them had a Dragon King, but their duties differed from those of the Dragon Kings of the Four Seas.

The Four Dragon Kings are mostly responsible for preparing naval forces and punishing and sealing away evil spirits and calamities.

The four Dragon Kings are mostly responsible for regulating water systems, controlling clouds and rain to protect human agriculture and irrigation.

Although the Four River Dragon Kings are river dragon kings, their power is comparable to that of the Four Sea Dragon Kings, and they are even higher than the Four Sea Dragon Kings in the sacrifices of human emperors. They are second only to Heaven and Earth.

Even the Qiantang Lord and Dongting Dragon King recorded in supernatural tales are not as powerful as the Four Rivers Dragon Kings.

In some places, the Five Sacred Mountains and the Four Rivers are listed together, which shows the influence of the Four Rivers.

If this dragon son is truly a descendant of the Four Dragon Kings, he is indeed extraordinary.

However, it does make sense why someone with a bad reputation would still do good deeds.

The Four Dragon Kings enjoy human sacrifices and hold divine positions. I've heard of those who lack power, but I've never heard of those who lack virtue.

Chen Ji thought about many things, but the thoughts flashed by quickly, lasting only a few breaths.

Looking at the turtle spirit again, it was just as it had been before.

"I understand. I will definitely bring some gifts that the Dragon Lord likes when I visit."

"That's good. Your Majesty's available time and the time you will go to the Water Palace are written here. You may come here on your own."

"must."

Chen Ji nodded and, together with the demons, saw the old turtle off.

Only then did he begin to read the letters.

The handwriting on the envelope was neat and elegant, just two simple words.

"I understand."

The text inside made Chen Ji chuckle.

The content is simple.

"I understand. You may come in five days."

"Is this the Dragon Lord's handwriting?"

Miss Bai glanced at the letter and suppressed a smile.

The Dragon King's reply was quite nonchalant, but his handwriting was really not flattering.

Let alone comparing it to human scholars, it's really no match for even a fox that has only recently learned to write.

If one could judge a person solely by their handwriting, then describing them as arrogant and domineering would be quite apt, as they write each stroke until the brush bristles are completely bristled.

A letter isn't small, but it's full after writing just one sentence.

"It seems so. It seems that reading books is a refined pursuit, but that may not necessarily be true."

Chen Ji shook his head.

At least he had never seen such a pretentious and affected demon.

Even Baojie Jun and Mr. Su can at least write beautiful characters.

"What should we bring as a gift? It's not easy to find something that can be used as a container for the Five Sacred Mountains Emperors' dirty things. If it's too little, the Dragon Prince probably won't agree."

"There's no rush. Let's wait a couple of days. Judging by the dates, it should be a suitable time to worship the saint. Perhaps we can even find some things at the academy to give as gifts."

Chen Ji smiled.

"Besides, we might not even need to send it then."

"Oh?"

Miss Bai raised her eyebrows, wanting to hear what other ideas Chen Ji had.

Chen Ji shook his head slightly.

"That's hard to say, we'll find out when the time comes."

"Alright, anyway, the master always has a way."

Miss Bai nodded and didn't ask any more questions.

Chen Ji did not hide the presence of the demons in the courtyard when he spoke these words to Miss Bai.

Those who knew the inside story didn't take it to heart and continued drinking tea as usual. However, the newly arrived Iron Pot Demon and Copper Toad Demon stared wide-eyed, unable to believe what they had heard.

"The Dragon King of the Hutuo River? A sage? A mountain god? One of the Five Great Emperors?"

A string of names appeared, and the two demons froze in mid-air.

After a moment of stunned silence, he looked at the mudfish demon and the little fox beside him.

"Is what they say true?"

"Yes."

"Indeed."

Baojie slowly opened his mouth.

“The master once gave me a poem that directly helped me break through my current level, and at that time the master had only been practicing Taoism for a little over a month.”

"Hiss! I really don't know how high your cultivation level is to have this ability!"

The two demons were deeply moved.

"It's about several stories high!"

The little fox said respectfully.

"It's a pity you're not foxes. Otherwise, if you listened to the teacher's lessons, you might have been able to pass the fox studies exam and become orthodox demon cultivators in the future, without having to worry about being chased by Taoists and monks."

"May I ask what exactly this 'Fox Studies' is?"

Bai Ershisan then explained it to them in detail.

Chen Ji, sensing something amiss, returned to his room to examine the newly added chapters in the Chronicles of Strange Tales.

"Bronze Toad"

"Chen Sheng, a renowned Taoist priest from Jingxing, was skilled at capturing demons and ghosts. One day, the villagers of Tongshan Village invited Chen, saying that a demon was causing trouble in their ancestral hall and asking Chen to exorcise it. Upon entering the village, he found the ancestral hall filled with eerie energy and learned that the village possessed a thousand-year-old bronze toad that could transform spring water into bronze. The villagers harbored malicious intentions and wanted to take its place, exchanging information about the bronze toad for evil magic to possess its body. They failed for a long time, but fortunately, Chen Sheng rescued them. His soul was ignited by the Netherworld Fire, and he was restored to the bronze toad. He performed two rituals to thank Chen, and Chen thus mastered the art of bronze puppetry."

Chen Ji's eyes flickered; he hadn't expected to receive the Bronze Puppet Technique this time.

When I watched the bronze toad demonstrate this technique, I was thinking that if the technique was related to the bronze toad, such as the petrification technique or the rusting technique, it would be an excellent technique.

As for the bronze puppet technique, I never even considered it.

After all, this is almost a natural ability of the copper toad. Just like the mudfish demon's ability to hide things, it doesn't even have any magic. How can it learn it?

He couldn't care less about anything else at the moment, so he closed the Chronicles of Strange Tales and began to study the Bronze Puppet Technique carefully.

He looked at it carefully and checked it thoroughly before letting out a sigh.

It's a pity.

This bronze puppet technique is completely different from the bronze puppet technique used by the bronze toad.

The technique Chen Ji learned only allowed him to first refine copper coins and then use them to create a copper puppet once a connection was established. This puppet could be easily controlled to move and speak, but it couldn't be used by the copper toad to create a puppet that could actively seek out silver.

However, it's already quite good as a puppet; it might even have a surprising effect at crucial moments.

Luckily, I had some copper coins on hand.

Chen Ji slowly opened his mouth according to the incantation recorded in the cultivation method.

"Copper for the bones, gold for the skin, heaven is round and earth is square, heed my command, accomplished!"

Then he exhaled a breath.

In an instant, a copper coin began to swell from the inside out, transforming into the likeness of Chen Ji. Apart from his skin and clothes being made of copper, he was otherwise indistinguishable from Chen Ji.

"It's really amazing!"

"It's really amazing!"

After Chen Ji spoke, the puppet repeated the sentence.

Chen Ji nodded in satisfaction.

"This thing is indeed interesting. It seems I should practice it more in the future. It would be even better if it could have more uses."

"..."

Whether the sentence was too long or Chen Ji didn't finish speaking, the puppet didn't repeat itself this time.

Chen Ji looked at the puppet again, chanted an incantation, and retrieved the bronze puppet.

Another copper coin appeared on the ground.

"It's convenient enough."

Chen Ji carefully put away the copper coins, thinking that this was probably a kind of "scattering beans to create soldiers" in some sense, except that what was scattered were coins instead of beans. It also required pre-refinement, which was quite troublesome.

If this spell were used during a magical duel, hundreds of bronze figures would appear from behind, I wonder if it would frighten the opponent.

Of course, we also need to figure out what will happen to this bronze figure after it is damaged.

If it can be restored to copper coins, that's fine. But if it needs to be refined again, that will take a lot of effort.

However, these are things to be studied later; let's go out and discuss them first.

Chen Ji pushed open the door and went out, only to see Miss Bai chatting with Zheng Yuan.

The demons that could be seen inside the house earlier have now all concealed themselves.

The Clover-Holding Lord lazily drooped its leaves, the Loach Demon had long since hidden in the well, and the Iron Pot Demon simply revealed its true form, leaning against the wall, completely unrecognizable as a demon.

"Mr. Chen, you've finally come out!"

When Zheng Yuan saw Chen Ji come out, his eyes lit up, and he quickly stood up, bowed, and greeted him.

"I'm here to deliver a message from the Prefect. The date for the sacrificial ceremony to the Sage has been set for the day after tomorrow. We've already promised the Sage to replace the plaque for the academy, so we can do that at the same time. If the Daoist needs anything, please let me know so I can take care of it as well."

"Thank you for your kindness, Governor. But my things are already prepared, so I can just go there. I should tell the academy teacher to prepare an open space in the flower garden or park, as I will also need to send some other things over."

"That's easy, I'll definitely let you know."

"Then I won't bother you any longer, Daoist Master. I'll head back now."

Zheng Yuan nodded, turned to leave, and was about to walk out the door when Chen Ji called him back.

"Wait a minute."

"Master, is there anything else?"

"When you get back, you can tell your colleagues who went to Tongshan Village that day that the ancestral hall there is back to normal."

Chen Ji said slowly.

"Already well?"

Zheng Yuan was taken aback and subconsciously looked into Chen Ji's eyes.

Although he knew Chen Ji wouldn't lie to him about something like this, he still felt a little strange upon hearing the news.

When the constables returned and reported on the village affairs, they all shook their heads, and he knew that this matter would be difficult to handle.

Unexpectedly, Chen Ji had already solved this problem in just a few days.

So, out of curiosity, I asked what was going on.

Chen Ji did not try to persuade him, and concealed the fact that the Copper Toad's cultivation could turn springs into copper and turn stones into gold. He only told Zheng Yuan some of the information he could.

Even so, Zheng Yuan's eyes widened in disbelief.

The story of the bronze toad worshipping the moon and stealing a soul is so incredible that even supernatural tales might not be able to come up with it!
But seeing it happening right before my eyes is still a bit shocking.

After a long silence, he bowed and took his leave, seemingly lost in thought, even appearing unusually dazed as he left.

However, Chen Ji had no time to pay attention to him.

I'm already overwhelmed with my own affairs, and there's a whole host of other things to do. I need to focus on my own tasks first.

So he seized the time to practice breathing exercises.

The training ended just as the moon rose above the eaves, making it the perfect time to catch up on lessons.

So they brought in the Four Foxes again and taught them the same way as before.

The moonlight hung low, draping Chen Ji in a light veil, flowing slowly through the courtyard, attracting the other demons and ghosts to open their eyes and listen to Chen Ji's explanation.

This continued for three days.

Bai Qi and the others' cultivation had improved considerably. Even the other demons and ghosts who were listening in felt that it was very beneficial, and they wished they were foxes so that they could become disciples and study properly.

When Zheng Yuan visited again, it was already time to offer sacrifices to the sage.

Chen Jixian offered incense to the sage in the void.

This was also to avoid disturbing the sage's rest with any loud noise.

As for offering incense, it should be ineffective for ordinary people who don't go to the academy. However, the sage once said that his talent and the sage's talent originated from the same source, so there's no need to worry about that.

So he released his talent and recited in a low voice, then lit the incense stick in his hand and placed it in the direction of the academy.

Then he went to the academy with Baojie Jun, Miss Bai, and Zheng Yuan.

Several streets away, you could see the entire academy adorned with red decorations. At the front gate, there was a long table with countless offerings, and at the very front, a grand feast of three kinds of sacrificial animals.

At this moment, the supervisor was anxiously waiting for something below the stage.

He almost ran over when he saw Chen Ji coming.

"Master Chen, Miss Bai, you've finally arrived."

"Hmm? Why is the warden so tense?"

"Daoist Master, isn't it all because of you!"

The town official sighed.

"I had already planned to start the sacrificial ceremony, but the ceremony just wouldn't go on. The incense would go out as soon as it was lit, and even changing the academy teacher didn't work."

"In the end, the gentleman consulted the statue of the saint and finally received a single sentence."

"What?"

"The sage wants the gentleman to preside over this sacrifice."

"..."

Chen Ji was stunned; he truly hadn't expected it to be like this.

He did not hear this response when he offered incense to the saint.

I don't know why I suddenly have to...

"I agree."

While Chen Ji was still pondering what was going on, Bai's voice had already reached his ears in a low voice.

It's still the same as before, using telepathy to communicate secretly.

Chen Ji looked at her in confusion, wanting to ask Miss Bai what she meant.

"This isn't a reminder from a sage; even I was about to forget it."

Miss Bai was half envious and half sentimental.

"All sacrifices involve the merits of Heaven and Earth, which is why emperors worship Heaven and Earth and ordinary people worship their ancestors."

"Taoist priests worship various gods, Buddhist monks worship Buddha, and Confucian scholars worship sages—these are all based on the same principle."

“In the past, if the sacrifices were organized by the town supervisor, the teacher, or the instructor, they were mostly for the benefit of themselves and the local culture and education. Now that the sage has chosen you, he probably wants you to have this share of the merit of the sacrifice.”

"..."

"Would the garrison commanders agree to that?"

Chen Ji asked in astonishment.

Miss Bai shook her head slightly.

"I'm afraid they don't know about these things, so they're not very enthusiastic."

Chen Ji nodded silently.

If that's the case, I really need to find an opportunity to ask myself if I have any relationship with the sage. I'm afraid I can't accept this kind of favoritism.

"Taoist Master? How is it?"

Seeing that Chen Ji was still thinking, the supervisor couldn't wait any longer and urged him on.

"If we don't start now, we'll miss the auspicious time, and the sage will probably be even more displeased."

"It's not that I don't agree, it's just that I've never presided over anything like this before, and I really don't know how to begin."

Chen Ji said slowly.

Upon hearing this, the governor breathed a sigh of relief.

“This is indeed a problem. We usually worship saints for those who have made meritorious contributions in the imperial examinations. But this time it’s different. It’s for capturing demons. We’ve never experienced this before.”

"However, since the sage has appointed a Taoist priest, if one is sincere, one should simply state why one is here to offer sacrifices and what offerings one has brought. If one is sincere, the sage will not blame one."

"I see, then I'll give it a try."

Chen Ji stepped forward, holding three incense sticks in his hand.

There was a thick, butter candle on the table, just the right size to hold incense and light it.

In an instant, wisps of smoke rose up without any obstruction.

Looking at the statue of the saint again, I wonder if it's just my imagination, but it seems to have a hint of a smile on it.

However, it's not advisable to observe for too long at this moment.

So Chen Ji held up the incense with both hands, bowed respectfully, and then recited the incantation aloud.

"Shen Sheng from Sendai thanks the Sage for revealing his divine miracles, capturing the plague demon and protecting the people. I offer him a grand sacrifice of three kinds of sacrificial animals, and also present him with a writing brush used by a great Confucian scholar, which I have found among the Four Treasures of the Study!"

"???"

These words caused an uproar among the crowd behind him.

"What did Master Chen give as a gift?"

"It looks like a pen."

"Is this something that can be given to a saint?"

The crowd was utterly shocked, but only Miss Bai smiled faintly as she looked at the inconspicuous bamboo joint in Chen Ji's hand.

This is going to be really interesting!

(End of this chapter)