The Legend of Tokyo Taoist

Chapter 49 On-the-job Training (8)

"Hunting... urban legends?!" Inuyama Heita repeated, not knowing what to say, so he could only ask cautiously: "Is it something like a monster hunter? It sounds a bit dangerous."

"It is dangerous, indeed." Qian Xiaoyi said, "But it is not that dangerous. You now know about the ghost domain, and you also know that the ghost domain will change with people's cognition and will appear in different places. So this plan is mainly to investigate which places in Tokyo have ghost domains. The purpose is to investigate intelligence. The word 'hunting' may be a bit exaggerated, but it sounds cool, doesn't it?"

"So it's just an investigation..." Inuyama Heita breathed a sigh of relief. He then asked, "But why choose this time? Didn't you say that as the news of the members of the former Lucky Mutual Aid Society spreads, our agency's commissions will gradually increase? How can we have time to investigate urban legends? Is it too late?"

"It is because the commission is coming soon that we need to figure out the distribution of ghost areas in Tokyo before then." Qian Xiaoyi said seriously, "In the first three months, I was unfamiliar with the place and not proficient in Japanese, so my efficiency was very low. It took a lot of effort just to investigate the market of the exorcism industry. I really couldn't distract myself to take care of the ghost areas. As a result, I happened to solve the Lucky Mutual Aid Association. The business came too suddenly, so I can only use this time to investigate as much as possible. To use the electronic game terminology that young people are familiar with, we are opening a map to determine the location of the dungeon."

Inuyama Heita thought about it and asked, "But what good will this do for us?"

"If you want to deal with the enemy, you must understand the enemy." Qian Xiaoyi said, "The Art of War by Sun Tzu says, if you know yourself and the enemy, you can fight a hundred battles without danger. Heitaro, do you know any methods to exorcise evil spirits?"

Inuyama Heita said: "That... should be a talisman or something? Both Taoist priests and Onmyoji use those things."

"Yes, the spell is indeed a method." Qian Xiaoyi nodded, and then asked: "Do you know the principle of how the spell works?"

"Who knows?" Inuyama Heita quickly shook his head.

Qian Xiaoyi said: "Talismans originated from the witchcraft culture of the Eastern Han Dynasty in my country, were promoted by Taoism, and later spread to Japan, and were integrated into Yin-Yang Taoism. Although the styles are slightly different, the principles are the same. I will tell you about the most common one... An orthodox talisman consists of three parts, namely the talisman head, talisman heart, and talisman tail. Do you know the functions of these three parts?" He dipped his fingers in some tea instead of ink and drew a talisman on the table that looked very mysterious.

Inuyama Heita widened his eyes, waiting for Qian Xiaoyi's explanation. He was a little excited. This kind of thing could usually only be seen in movies, and this was the first time he saw it in real life. If he could learn a little bit, he might not have to be afraid of those things in the future. So he excitedly asked, "Please tell me."

"The head of the talisman, the top one represents the founder of the school, the one below is the god that the talisman is intended to invite, and the 'imperial decree' is the command given by the god." Qian Xiaoyi pointed at the water stain on the table with chopsticks and explained simply: "The center of the talisman is the effect and content of the talisman, and the circle outside is the level of effectiveness. Different schools have different ways of drawing, curing diseases, suppressing, sealing, killing, basically all kinds of content, and the last foot of the talisman is the summary of the talisman, which means what you want to use this talisman for. Do you understand?"

Qian Xiaoyi spoke very quickly, making Inuyama Heita a little confused: "Although I can understand the general meaning, can you be more detailed?"

"Okay." Qian Xiaoyi continued, "To make it easier for you to understand, let me tell you how the talisman works. Simply put, if the entire Taoism is a company, then ordinary Taoist priests are social animals. When you, a social animal, go on a business trip, you encounter some difficulties and need someone from above to help you deal with them. Then the talisman is your application form. The talisman head is the name of your department and boss, the talisman heart is the content and level of your application, and the talisman foot is your reason for application. Only when these three parts are complete can an application form be formed. The accompanying spell is the dedicated line for reporting the application form. You can't make a mistake with any of them. When you fill out the application form and report it, the person above will pass on what you want to you through the application form."

Inuyama Heita suddenly realized: "So that's it! Simple and clear, easy to understand, but your metaphor..." Taoist priests and office slaves, they don't match at all!

Qian Xiaoyi waved his hand: "Just understand what I mean." Inuyama Heita then asked curiously: "You just mentioned that the talisman is to ask for the power of the gods to help deal with troubles... Are there really gods in this world? After all, there are ghosts and monsters."

Qian Xiaoyi curled his lips and said, "I don't know. Maybe it exists, maybe it doesn't. This thing cannot be disproven. So the whole world may have been created by a god who looks like Italian meatballs."

"The Flying Pastafarian?" Inuyama Heita complained, "You are a Taoist priest, right? Is it really okay for a religious person to say these things? Are you a heretic?"

Qian Xiaoyi shrugged nonchalantly: "Ha~ If you have the guts, ask them to fly over here to cancel my Taoist certificate~ ahem... I only dare to say this abroad, do you know why?"

"Why?" Inuyama Heita speculated, "Are you afraid that someone will report you and revoke your Taoist license?"

"Wrong, although it is partly right, but it is wrong." Qian Xiaoyi sighed: "The real reason is... these gods here are not very responsible!"

"Eh?!" Inuyama Heita said in surprise: "But didn't you just say..."

"Whether it's gods or ghosts, for me, it's still the same two words: cognition." Qian Xiaoyi said: "Think about it, if the influence of ghosts represents the yin side of yin and yang, that is, the negative side, then how can we fight it?"

"Use the positive side!" Inuyama Heita blurted out, "Use the positive side to offset it, which is... God?"

"That's right." Qian Xiaoyi said, "If ghosts are people's cognition of negative emotions such as fear and resentment, then gods can also be regarded as the opposite cognition. Using the positive cognition to suppress the negative cognition is the way the talisman works. But since I came to Japan, I found that..."

Qian Xiaoyi spread his hands and said, "The effects of some spells have been greatly reduced. The reason is that... some of the Taoist gods prayed on the talismans are not well-known by people here."

Inuyama Heita was amazed: "Because the spread is limited, it can't form a strong awareness, which affects its effectiveness."

Qian Xiaoyi sighed and said, "That's right, just like you can't use spells or rosary beads to deal with vampires, you can only use crosses, holy water, wooden stakes and the like. Even God can't control Tengu and Sadako, it's crossing the line~"

(End of this chapter)