Heavenly Official Sends Evil

Chapter 948 Jiazi Suppresses Evil
Wu Xianwang asked Feng Yu, "What's wrong with this painting?"

Feng Yu took down the painting of a banyan tree: "Usually, ancient scholars or officials would choose paintings with auspicious meanings for decoration. Most of them would be plum blossoms, orchids, bamboo, chrysanthemums, pine trees, cypress trees, lotus flowers, etc. But I have never heard of anyone using a banyan tree to express their aspirations through painting."

Old man Li Weigong argued, "Maybe it's just a painting that was hung up randomly?"

His wife, Jiang Li, chimed in: "We have a lot of potted plants at home. Banyan trees also symbolize good fortune and prosperity, so why can't they be hung on the wall?"

At this moment, the fashionable old lady Lin Xianglan interjected: "Ordinary people can decorate their homes however they want, but places where people of a certain status frequently receive outsiders are rarely decorated casually."

Wu Xian nodded: "That's the truth."

He once helped some bosses catch their mistresses, and to keep the process secret, he only recorded the bosses' code names in his notes.

For example, "Shangshan Ruoshui No. 8", "Houde Zaiwu No. 6", and "Tiandao Chouqin No. 36"...

“This painting of a banyan tree is hanging on the back of my clothes, and the meaning of the painting is indeed not good, so I have paid special attention to this painting. However, the material of this painting is the same as other paintings, there is no hidden layer in the scroll, and there is no hidden door on the wall behind the painting.”

Wu Xian pointed to the courtyard: "I even went to check that banyan tree. The aerial roots of the banyan tree are hollow and there is nothing hidden inside."

The clues went cold again, and the old folks were at their wits' end. They could only wander around the yard looking for anything unusual. Li Weigong broke off a branch from the banyan tree, muttering to himself, and poked at the tree aimlessly.

Wu Xian continued to flip through the map book.

This booklet records all the civil engineering and construction activities since the county government office was built, including when a fire broke out and when new buildings were added.

Wu Xian skimmed through the pages, but his gaze froze when he came across a passage, and he couldn't help but read it aloud:

"At that time, Xuanling had just suffered from a demonic calamity, the people's livelihood had just stabilized, and the county government was newly built."

“A red-haired, black-faced Taoist priest arrived here and presented each of the six chief clerks and the county magistrate with a precious treasure. He then ordered the erection of a statue of the ‘Jiazi Tai Sui’ in the central courtyard of the county government office, decreeing: ‘Every year in the Jiazi year, the seven of you should dance around the statue to worship Tai Sui and ward off evil spirits…’”

"Red hair and black face... The storyteller once said that it was this Taoist priest who ended the evil deeds."

"In this light, those four families on the third floor are descendants of the six heads of the county government and the county magistrate when the county government was first built. They knew from the beginning that there was a calamity caused by evil spirits and have passed down the secret to this day."

"That's why the Su family had their heir, Su Xianqing, learn martial arts from a Taoist priest in his youth, and that's why the brothel owners were unwilling to hand over their treasures..."

"The statue of the Jiazi Tai Sui should be the same one used for the annual auspicious and inauspicious Tai Sui, but I've searched everywhere here and haven't found it. The original spot where the statue was is now occupied by a banyan tree..."

Wu Xian continued flipping through the booklet, but it didn't say when the statue was gone, nor how the banyan tree came to be.

Perhaps the recurrence of disaster in Xuanling County is related to the appearance of the banyan tree, making it impossible to worship the Jiazi Tai Sui anymore.

Just as Wu Xian was pondering, he heard Lei Weiguo's voice from outside the door:
"There's something strange about this tree!"

Wu Xian hurriedly ran out and saw Lei Weiguo holding a banyan tree branch in his hand.

Is there something wrong with this branch?

“It’s not about the branches. Li Weigong found it while poking around randomly… I can’t explain it to you, come and see for yourself.”

Lei Weiguo inserted the slender branch into the gap of the aerial roots. At first, it went in easily, but as he was inserting it, the branch suddenly stopped, as if it had hit something.

Wu Xian's expression changed slightly, and he hurriedly ran to the other side to take a look, only to find that the branch had not touched anything, but it was stuck in mid-air and twisted due to Lei Weiguo's continued force.

It's not that there's nothing hidden inside the banyan tree, but rather that it's invisible! "A long time ago, someone deliberately planted this banyan tree and used a magic spell to hide the statue, all to prevent the descendants of the four families on the third floor from fulfilling the sixty-year covenant. This is the beginning of all the tragedies."

"The reason why the county magistrate hung the painting of the banyan tree behind him was probably because he had doubts about the banyan tree."

Wu Xian coughed lightly and looked at the six old men.

"Thank you so much, everyone. If it weren't for your help, I might have had to work on this for a long time."

The clues are all hidden in the books. Wu Xian could find the clues even without the old man's help, but that would take a lot of time.

"A hidden statue is concealed within the banyan tree. We only need to dance around the banyan tree to unlock the secret hidden behind the door. Just dance..."

Wu Xian's voice grew weaker and weaker, and the seven people stared at each other in disbelief.

"Um... does anyone here know how to dance?"

After a moment of silence, sanitation worker An Guilan raised a weathered hand with black mud between the fingers: "In my hometown, we have a custom of dancing around a bonfire. The movements are very simple, but I don't know if this counts as a dance..."

Wu Xian laughed: "Of course it counts!"

call!
Lei Weiguo lit the Burning Dream Blade on the banyan tree. The high temperature instantly ignited the tree, and the flames climbed up along the bark's texture, igniting the leaves as well, and a huge bonfire lit up the courtyard.

Under An Guilan's command, Wu Xian and the others formed a circle. Sparks danced like fireflies, and the shadows of the seven people stretched out as the flames flickered. The sound of their footsteps gradually gained rhythm.

An Guilan couldn't help but hum a folk song from her hometown. Her thoughts drifted back to her distant hometown, and she recalled what she looked like when she was young. Tears streamed down her face from the corners of her wrinkled eyes.

"Perhaps it's time to go back to my hometown for a visit."

As the seven people danced, the surrounding environment began to change.

One by one, the chandeliers went out, a cold wind suddenly blew into the room, and the ceiling disappeared piece by piece. Looking up, one could clearly see a full moon and a sky full of stars, and everything around became vivid and alive.

In this cruel blessed land, such a romantic scene is a rare sight...

……

When the changes around them stopped, the dance of the seven people finally came to a halt.

By this time, the huge banyan tree had been burned down, and the statue finally revealed its true form. The statue was very similar to the 'Yearly Fortune and Misfortune God' used for worship outside. It did not wear armor, nor did it have a terrifying three heads and six arms. It appeared much gentler and was more easily accepted by ordinary people.

The statue's face was covered with soot from the burning banyan tree, obscuring its features. A clump of viscous resin was burning on its head.

There are words behind the statue!

Wu Xian walked around and saw a line of words engraved on the base behind the statue:

"From dawn till dusk, we dance in the forward direction to welcome the future, and dance in the reverse direction to trace back to the past, endlessly repeating, without limit..."

Moving to the front, another line of text is written on the base:

"The annual Tai Sui, Jiazi, can suppress evil and predict good and bad fortune in the past and future."

(End of this chapter)