One divination a day, a trainee celestial master

On the winding mountain road leading from the county town to Cuiwei Mountain.

Jiang Shou rode his powerful new three-wheeled motorcycle at breakneck speed.

The evening sunset painted most of the sky and the rolling Cuiwei Mountains in a magnificent golden-red hue.

A cool evening breeze brushed against his face, but it couldn't dispel the faint gloom in Jiang Shou's heart. Especially the limping woman with red eyes, and the little girl quietly doing her homework by the hospital bed.

"Sigh..." Jiang Shou sighed, shaking his head vigorously, trying to shake these heavy images out of his mind.

After the tricycle rounded the last bend, Shouyi Temple came into view.

The last rays of the setting sun poured down upon the area directly above the main gate of the Taoist temple. The three large gilded characters "Shouyi Temple" on the newly installed plaque, crafted from pure black walnut wood, reflected a dazzling golden light in the sunset.

Looking at the impressive gold signboard, Jiang Shou finally felt a little relieved of the pent-up frustration in his chest.

"Forget it, if the sky falls, the tall ones will hold it up. Why should I, a half-baked person who even needs a lighter to light a talisman, worry about so much?"

Jiang Shou drove the tricycle into the yard and quickly unloaded the goods.

He put the newly bought yellow paper and cinnabar into the study, and then carried the heavy gas cylinder into the kitchen to be connected. Finally, Jiang Shou carried the white plastic bucket containing seven or eight fresh crucian carp and several large black carp straight to the backyard.

Next to the old well in the backyard, there is a small pond built with bluestone bricks. This pond was originally used by the old man to raise water lilies or ornamental fish, but it has been abandoned for too long. A thick layer of decaying leaves has accumulated in it, and there are several gaps on the edge of the pond, which are overgrown with weeds.

Jiang Shou put the fish bucket aside, went inside to change into a pair of shorts, rolled up his trouser legs, grabbed an iron shovel, and jumped into the pool.

"Splash, splash..."

Jiang Shou bent over and began his hard labor. He used a shovel to clear away the stinking rotten leaves and silt from the bottom of the pond, pulled out the weeds from the cracks in the rocks, and finally went to the back mountain to bring back a few smooth stones of suitable size. He mixed some yellow mud with them and repaired the broken edge of the pond very well.

Just as Jiang Shou was working with great enthusiasm.

"Clatter." A soft sound came from the green-tiled eaves of the backyard room.

Jiang Shou looked up and saw that the plump orange cat, Pang Hu, had wandered over at some point.

It perched comfortably on the edge of the eaves, looking down at Jiang Shou who was busy in the mud. It didn't bark, just lay there lazily like a high-ranking overseer, its thick orange tail swaying slowly and rhythmically in the air behind it.

"What are you looking at? Haven't you ever seen such a diligent abbot?" Jiang Shou wiped the sweat from his forehead and glared at it irritably.

It took more than half an hour to finally clean the pool. Jiang Shou connected the water pipe, thought for a moment, and then put it down. He started drawing well water directly, and the clear, cool well water poured bucket after bucket into the pool with a "splashing" sound.

"Thump! Splash!"

Jiang Shou picked up the plastic bucket and dumped all the lively, fresh fish inside into the pool.

Startled, the fish began to thrash about frantically once inside the water, with several large crucian carp even leaping out of the water and splashing up white sprays.

On the eaves, Fat Tiger, who had been half-closing his eyes and pretending to be deep, suddenly widened his amber cat eyes to a wide, bright look the moment he heard the splash of water!

But in just a moment, this "cunning cat" quickly averted its gaze, turned its head to the side, and continued to pretend to be nonchalant and serene.

"Holy crap!" Jiang Shou keenly caught this detail, immediately pointing at the fat tiger on the roof and issuing a fierce warning, "You gluttonous cat, I'm warning you! This is strategic reserve food sponsored by my dad. It's fine if you eat what I cook normally, but don't you dare mess around when I'm not around! If you dare to sneak in and catch fish, I'll shave off all your orange fur!"

Fat Tiger turned its head to the side in a very human-like manner, pretending not to hear Jiang Shou's threat. But its right ear, which was standing up, twitched slightly involuntarily.

Jiang Shou: "......"

……

As night fell, Jiang Shou, having changed into clean clothes, turned on the valve of his newly bought gas cylinder and lit the stove.

Blue flames instantly leaped up, licking the bottom of the iron pot.

"This is what stir-frying is all about! Those induction cookers don't even belong in the kitchen!"

Jiang Shou excitedly brandished his spatula. Tonight's main event was a dish that would absolutely test one's cooking skills—stir-fried pork kidneys and pork liver!

Sauté scallions, ginger, and garlic until fragrant, then add thinly sliced ​​pork liver and pork kidneys with decorative cuts. Under the intense heat, a loud sizzle erupts as the flames instantly lock in the moisture. Jiang Shou's wrist flicks, adding soy sauce, cooking wine, and pickled wild chilies, his tossing motions fluid and graceful.

Before long, a plate of stir-fried liver and kidney, with its bright red color and incredibly tender texture, was ready to serve.

There was also a plate of stir-fried pork, stir-fried seasonal vegetables, and of course, the ever-present pan-fried fish—today it was a large crucian carp—served on the square wooden table in the backyard.

Sure enough, when Jiang Shou brought the dishes to the square wooden table in the corridor, Pang Hu was already sitting upright on the edge of the table, waiting for the meal to be served.

Seemingly extremely satisfied with the "wok hei" (wok aroma) produced by the gas canister tonight, Fat Tiger even meowed at Jiang Shou for the first time ever, as if urging him to hurry up and start eating.

"Eat, eat, all you ever do is eat."

Jiang Shou rolled his eyes, ladled out a bowl of rice, and sat down.

He waved to signal that dinner was served, and just as he picked up his chopsticks, preparing to take a piece of the tenderest-looking pork liver to try, he...

"Whoosh—" A streak of orange lightning flashed past.

Jiang Shou hadn't even had a chance to properly savor the smooth and tender texture. Most of the pork liver and kidneys on the plate had already ended up in Pang Hu's stomach.

"Were you a starving cat reincarnated in your past life?!" Jiang Shou was on the verge of tears, and could only pick up the rice and shovel the remaining twice-cooked pork into his own bowl.

……

After dinner, it was already late at night.

Jiang Shou took a hot shower and lay sprawled out on the hard bed in the side room.

Outside the window, the moonlight was bright, autumn insects chirped, and a gentle breeze rustled through the bamboo grove.

Jiang Shou took out the dark-colored Suihan Token from his pocket.

The four lines of blue, glowing characters about "dissociation syndrome" still floated quietly on the back of the wooden plaque. The hexagram remained unchanged, and there was no sign of it disappearing.

Jiang Shou threw the wooden sign to his chest, stared blankly at the ceiling, and sighed.

On the one hand, he was extremely resistant to this task. To draw such a complicated soul-summoning talisman with his dantian's true energy, and then have to go to the county hospital's intensive care unit to summon the soul? The difficulty was simply hellish.

He had prayed to the patriarch all day, hoping that the task would be automatically refreshed tomorrow.

But on the other hand... when he saw the limping woman with red and swollen eyes outside the intensive care unit, and the little girl who was so quiet and sensible on the edge of the bed that it broke his heart, his damned sympathy started to ache again.

If I don't take care of it, what if the task for the Cold Season really refreshes tomorrow?

Will that man named Chen Sancan never wake up again? Will that crumbling family completely collapse?

"Ugh... So annoying!" Jiang Shou irritably stuffed the Suihan Order under his pillow and turned over.

Since he couldn't figure it out, he decided to stop thinking about it. Once his mind was clear, Jiang Shou suddenly and inexplicably recalled the policewoman he had encountered at the corner of the hospital stairs during the day.

A fleeting glimpse at the corner of the stairs in the county hospital.

That delicate nose, those rosy lips, those sharp yet alluring peach blossom eyes. And most importantly... the astonishing swaying motion as she went upstairs, almost making the buttons of her uniform fly off.

"It seems her surname is Xia... The male police officer called her Captain Xia."

Jiang Shou swallowed, feeling a dryness in his throat. "The surname Xia... that's a nice surname, and the person is really good-looking too."

In the quiet, cool mountain night of early autumn, the twenty-five-year-old, vigorous young abbot, thinking of the allure of that light blue uniform, shamefully felt a dry mouth and a surge of heat.

"Amitabha Buddha... I'm so sorry, my Dao heart is unstable..."

Jiang Shou tossed and turned in bed, his mind filled with images of a bloody, headless female corpse and a police uniform button about to burst open. Finally, to the rhythmic chirping of cicadas, he drifted off to sleep.

……

Outside the window, the bright moonlight poured down like water, illuminating the ancient eaves and mottled walls of Shouyi Temple, creating a serene and beautiful scene.

On the roof of the main hall, a large orange cat was walking slowly and silently across the blue tiles with light, feline steps.

Its amber eyes gleamed with a cold light in the darkness, occasionally sweeping across the deep forests around it, like a dutiful guardian beast patrolling its territory...

……

The next day. Dawn breaks.

Jiang Shou got up early and, without fail, completed his morning breathing exercises of the "Guanyi Xinfa" under the old locust tree in the yard.

Feeling the increasingly solidified true essence in his dantian, Jiang Shou, feeling refreshed and full of energy, stretched out a big yawn in satisfaction.

After washing up, he went to the main hall and respectfully offered three sticks of incense to the Three Pure Ones and the grandfather in the side hall.

"May the Ancestral Master bless me, please refresh the 'Gold in the Soil' quest for me today, preferably one close to the Taoist temple, I'm dirt poor right now..."

As Jiang Shou muttered something devoutly, he reached into his pocket with anticipation and pulled out the wooden plaque symbolizing the cold winter.

[Kan Hexagram, Line 63] [Thunder rumbles in the night, blood splatters before it; a terrified soul falls, its spirit loses its place.]

[The man from the Dongcheng Porcelain Factory lies unconscious on the third floor of the county hospital, his mind elsewhere.]

[It is advisable to use a talisman to summon the soul back to the body.]