Day and night tour

Chapter 299 Nine Incense Sticks Offering

"My life has been changed?"

Xu Jingshan rubbed his bald head fiercely, but he did not seem surprised at all. Instead, he breathed a sigh of relief as if a stone had been lifted off his chest.

"Isn't it?"

Zhao Wuya's eyesight was not very good, so he did not notice his expression. Instead, he thought from the bottom of his heart that Xu Jingshan was surprised.
He didn't care whether Xu Jingshan could understand it or not, and handed the compass to him, explaining seriously,
"Look at the hexagram of your inner plate. It shows that your fortune lies in books, and your fortune will be broken by books. This means that reading can change your future, but your future can also be broken by reading.
It is said that success or failure is due to it. Reading has modified your fate twice in a row, but the first modification was small and the second modification was big. "

Xu Jingshan looked at the densely packed compass carvings and couldn't understand anything. It was even harder to understand than the cursive calligraphy of those great calligraphers.

He could only listen to Zhao Wuya's translation.

"Success or failure depends on books. Your divination is more accurate than that of the great masters of Dunjia."

"You seem to be mentally prepared for this hexagram?" Zhou Xuan had already seen the clues early on and finally asked.

Xu Jingshan thought carefully about his childhood experiences and said, "The hexagrams are consistent with my past. You may not know that I have been a bookworm since I was young..."

When he said this, Zhou Xuan and Zhao Wuya found it hard to believe it.

The main thing is Xu Jingshan's appearance, with a bald head, shirtless and wearing a suit, he looks like a bandit leader. How can he be related to a scholar?

When he said he was a succubus, the two of them were already unable to hold their breath, but it was hard to explain the taste of a rich woman, so they just accepted it.

But when Xu Jingshan mentioned that he was a bookworm, Zhou Xuan and Zhao Wuya already laughed out loud.

"What are you laughing at?"

Zhou Xuan: "My donkey is pregnant. I am happy just thinking about it."

"What are you laughing at? Is your donkey pregnant too?" Xu Jingshan turned around and asked Zhao Wuya.

Zhao Wuya was still laughing: "Their donkey... Kuku... got pregnant by my donkey..."

"..."Xu Jingshan.

"Boss Xu, please continue... continue..." Zhou Xuan continued to say to Xu Jingshan.

Xu Jingshan then said, "I was a good student when I was young, but my family conditions were not very good. My parents were tenant farmers, and the land belonged to a landlord in the town. The landlord's surname was Zheng, and I called him Uncle Zheng.

Lord Zheng had two sons, but neither of them was successful. One of them was addicted to gambling and the other spent his days in brothels.
It just so happened that when he saw me, he thought I was too smart and clever, and I loved to borrow books from his collection, so he thought I was a bookworm.
People with a talent for incense can enter various major halls and have a bright future. Similarly, people with a talent for reading can enter various government offices and the Huifeng Medical College under the Bone Elders Association, and their future is also promising.
Lord Zheng had no hope of having descendants, so he wanted to train me. If I became famous in the future, I could also bless his two useless sons."

At this point, Xu Jingshan looked up at the sky and said, "Mr. Zheng accepted me and I acknowledged him as my godfather. From then on, my parents had their own fields, which were given by my godfather, and I was taken to the Zheng residence. Every day, I ignored the outside world and devoted myself to reading the books of sages.

This is my destiny, my destiny is in the book."

"How can I explain my failure in life due to a book?"

Zhao Wuya asked again.

"When I turn seventeen, I will be able to take the college entrance examination in a few months. With my grades at that time, I will be able to work in the government office, but I hope I can be admitted to Huifeng Medical College."

Huifeng Medical College is the most important industry under the Bone and Veterans Association. Many of its students have become doctors at Shan De Hospital, and some have joined the Justices of the Peace Foundation.
No matter whether he is a famous bone doctor or a wealthy businessman from Taiping, they are all powerful figures in a small town. Lord Zheng's strategy of "making the most of rare goods" is finally showing results.

“As a result, on the night I came to Mingjiang Prefecture to prepare for the exam, I saw an old man dressed in a very celestial manner.

He came into my room and said to me, "Young man, can you find a mountain of gold and silver, or a beautiful and charming wife from reading books?"

Zhao Wuya was very interested and asked, "How did you answer?"

"I said, "Yes, I can read it." The old man asked me again, "So, from your reading, can you understand the principles of serving the country and the people and caring about the world?"

This topic is too big. I studied just to have a good future, and I didn’t think too much about it. I just said… I didn’t think about these principles.”

Xu Jingshan said: "As soon as I finished speaking, the old man sighed and said that I was born in the star Wenqu, and when I was born into the world, I should have sages in my heart and read the books of sages. In the future, I will become a literary saint of the generation..."

"Library, library, library"

"You guys are going too far..."

"I'm thinking of our donkey again."

"I think the same as he does."

Zhou Xuan and Zhao Wuya pinched their cheeks to stop laughing... It's hard to keep calm when a great literary master has become a bald man selling wild delicacies.

"That old man said that I was originally a human being..." When Xu Jingshan talked about the "literary saint" again, he deliberately stopped. When he saw that Zhou Xuan and Zhao Wuya had stopped laughing, he continued to preach.
"I was destined to be a scholar, but that Lord Zheng secretly calculated my fate and took me to his mansion to study secular books and bring blessings to the descendants of the Zheng family.

In the words of the old man, this is how fate is changed. A great literary saint can only become a wealthy and humble doctor in the end. What a pity, what a shame.

"That old man is none other than Master Xigu."

Xigu Zhenjun is the one printed on the "Western Coin" of Zhou Xuan's square coins...

"What happens next?"

"After that, I became confused and didn't know what happened. But from then on, my fate took a turn. I didn't like reading anymore. I was fine reading some miscellaneous books, but when I read some profound knowledge, I got a splitting headache and felt like I was living a life worse than death."

Xu Jingshan said: "I failed the exam because of this strange disease, but from then on, I started my career of selling mountain products. Fortunately, I have a good knack for business, and within a year or two, I was already very successful.

Thinking back, it must have been Xigu Zhenjun who blamed me for wasting the fate of a literary saint, so he took it back. From then on, I no longer had any affinity with learning. "

When Zhou Xuan heard this, he asked cleverly, "Did you marry your first wife before or after the college entrance examination?"

Some people in Jing country got married very early, and started a family at the age of fourteen or fifteen. When Xu Jingshan took the entrance exam, he was already seventeen years old. At this age, it was natural for him to start a family, so he needed to ask clearly.

"After the exam."

After hearing the reply, Zhou Xuan sorted out his thoughts and felt that although what Xu Jingshan asked for was just a small matter of getting married and having children, it was extremely difficult to accomplish.

"You are a literary saint who was born on earth. Lord Zheng took a fancy to your fate and took you back to his family, hoping that you would take care of the Zheng family after you passed the exam. However, he accidentally changed your fate.

This was the first time that my fate was changed and it touched the stars.

When you were taking the entrance exam, you met Xigu Zhenjun again. He blamed you for not being able to achieve anything, so he took away your fate, making it impossible for you to learn profound knowledge. This was the second time your fate was changed, and it was Zhenjun who took action. "

Zhou Xuan crossed his arms, studied Xu Jingshan's face, and said, "The real reason why you are in such a miserable situation now is probably because your fate was taken away by the True Lord. If you want to change your fate back, the principle is simple.
Just ask Master Xigu to return your destiny to you..."

Then the question is coming,

Where is Xigu Zhenjun?

"The Realm of Time and Shadow."

Zhao Wuya chimed in.

"Why in the Time Realm?" Zhou Xuan asked.

"The four great Taoist gods are all in the Realm of Time and Shadow."

Zhao Wuya pointed to the direction of the sky and said, "Brother Xuan, do you know the stars in the sky? Four of them are the magic tools left by the four great gods to guide the disciples of Taoism.
Your four-sided money can be fulfilled, which means that the gods and stars are shining and guiding you. "

"So, if I want to find Xigu Shenjun, I have to go to the Realm of Time?"

"You can't go yet. You don't have eight incense sticks."

Zhao Wuya said.

Disciples in the human world of Jingguo, after ascending to the Eight Incense Sticks and becoming demigods on earth, will hear the call from the World of Time.

Only with this call can one enter the world of time.

"People who have been to the Underworld basically cannot return to the human world. It is said that there are hordes of demons and monsters everywhere. It is extremely difficult to survive there."

Zhao Wuya said this and then added: "I guess I can only give up on this Yama divination... These divinations all have rich rewards, but it's a pity that the flowers in the mirror and the moon in the water look real, but once you touch them, they disappear. It's very annoying."

Zhao Wuya no longer expected to change Xu Jingshan's fate. He wanted to exchange a few more pleasantries with Xu Jingshan before leaving.

There is nothing wrong with doing some cheap fortune-telling business on the street. You can earn money by doing each fortune-telling, even if it is not much. If you stick to it every day and look for dragons and fortune-telling everywhere for five, six, seven or eight years, won't you have burned seven incense sticks?

Is it worthwhile to make a fuss about this "King of Hell"?

He followed his inner plan, said a few polite words, and was about to turn around and leave, but when he was about to leave, Zhou Xuan stood there in a daze.

"Brother Xuan, let's go. The work done by Master Xigu is beyond the reach of us Taoist priests on earth."

"Brother Xuan..."

Zhao Wuya kept urging him, but Zhou Xuan seemed not to hear him and held his chin in deep thought.

"Brother Xuan, it's time for us to get on the road."

"Don't worry, I have a question."

Zhou Xuan stared at Xu Jingshan and said to Zhao Wuya, "Ya Zi, the master of the King of Hell's hexagram was guided and blessed by certain beliefs, so he found me to solve the troubles in the mortal world, right?"

"Yes."

"Xu Guangtou...Xu Wensheng came to me to ask for divination under the guidance of Xigu Zhenjun.

The way to resolve his troubles in the secular world is to find Master Xigu."

Zhou Xuan said, "Then the question is, Xigu Zhenjun must know that the two of us cannot go to the Time Realm to find him, so why did he still instruct Boss Xu to wait for us?"

"Forehead……"

"He knew we couldn't do it, but he directed Boss Xu to come to us. Isn't this just a waste of time?"

Zhou Xuan said: "So, I can't figure out the solution to Venerable Qiye's hexagram, but the solution to Boss Xu's hexagram will definitely not be in the Realm of Time."

"Where can that be?"

Zhao Wuya also figured out something and asked quickly.

"Boss Xu, is your store really not famous?"

"No." Xu Jingshan looked around.

"I look at this shop and it seems familiar to me. I am both a Taoist priest and a storyteller. Storytellers use dreams as their medium. Your shop has the flavor of dreams."

Zhou Xuan walked to a painting on the west wall and reached out to touch it.

Once you get the drawing paper,

Zhou Xuan felt a sense of elasticity and delicacy. The drawing paper actually felt like human skin.
But when he looked at the drawing paper carefully, it was genuine rice paper. Whether it was its structure, texture, or details observed with the naked eye, it was exactly the same as ordinary rice paper.

"Just like the flaws in a storyteller's dream, the appearance and texture of things are not what they seem."

Zhou Xuan said this.
Zhao Wuya also ran to touch the rice paper and touched the painting all over, but he couldn't make any difference.

"That's not right, Brother Xuan, why don't I feel the difference?"

"Because you are not a storyteller, your sense of touch and vision of dreams are not very good. In addition, your perception is not as strong as mine. This dream is very real. It is not perceptible unless you have been immersed in this for a long time."

Zhou Xuan's words hurt Yazi's self-esteem.

But when Yazi thought about it, he felt that it made sense.

Distinguishing dreams is the storyteller's livelihood. If people from other halls could distinguish them so easily, then how could storytellers stand out among the nine ancient halls?

Zhou Xuan walked towards Xu Jingshan and asked, "This store is a dream, and you are the person in the dream."

"Am I the one in the dream?"

Xu Jingshan was stunned by what he said. There was actually a few barely noticeable gray spots on his forehead.

The color of this spot was already very familiar to Zhou Xuan, who had witnessed life and death countless times.

This is the color of bones.

"How many years have you lived in the dream? Is your experience real or false?"

"Real... no... it doesn't seem real... I can't quite remember."

"You remember it clearly, think about it, and think about it again."

Seeing that there were more and more white spots on Xu Jingshan's face, Zhou Xuan felt that forcing Boss Xu to remember his past life was very effective.

This person in the dream has lived for an unknown number of years. He does not know when he was alive or when he died. In the dream, he is no different from a living person, but once the dream fades away, he realizes... that he has long been a skeleton.

"Boss Xu, do you really have the destiny of a literary saint? And was your destiny really taken away by Xigu Zhenjun?"

"Yes, I am a great literary saint... Xigu Zhenjun pitied me, sighed for me, and blamed me... It was Lord Zheng who changed my fate... I remember it..." At this time, most of Xu Jingshan's face had turned into white bones, and his flesh had rotted away.

He said in a strong voice: "Master Dao, I am not applying to Huifeng Medical College, I am applying for the imperial examination.
I killed nine wives, all of them were killed by me... Every year, my family would hold a big wedding... For nine consecutive years..."

He will arrive here with no skin left on his body, only a bare skeleton.

When the skeleton collapsed,

He only left one last sentence: "I have a long dream. I only ask you to remove the souls of my nine wives. They are haunting me, preventing me from reincarnation and making me suffer forever..."

At this moment, Xu Jingshan finally expressed his true demands.

The appearance of the store has also changed.

The exquisite fur shop was in ruins, with dozens of human skins hanging under the broken bricks and tiles.

And on the plaque in the hall, there was a word "囍" posted.

The word "囍" is festive and is usually written in red by ordinary people. However, this "囍" character, with black characters on a white background, looks like it is hanging above the mourning hall.

"Boss Xu's nine weddings were probably filled with evil."

Zhao Wuya felt that the atmosphere in the store was too gloomy, so he asked Zhou Xuan to leave the store first before talking.

"Ah."

Zhou Xuan agreed. It was really too gloomy here. The yin energy was like a wave, covering his body. He felt an indescribable discomfort.

After leaving the store,
Zhou Xuan entered the secret realm.

This time, there was still a lot of progress in the Yama divination. After Xu Jingshan realized that he was just a person in a dream, he recalled his past events.

When he was alive, there was still the imperial examination, so he lived in an older era.

His fate was changed by Lord Zheng, and his fate was taken away by Master Xigu, and then he started to bring bad luck to his wife.

He killed nine women in a row, and the spirits of his dead wives entangled his soul, preventing him from reincarnating.

His wish was very simple, which was to separate his soul from the souls of his nine wives so that he could reincarnate smoothly.

As long as you are reincarnated,
Even if this divination is over, what remains is that Zhou Xuan will receive a large amount of incense and some benefits that have not yet been stated.

At this point, things are going smoothly.

"In order to strip away his wife's ghost, we need to find Boss Xu's ghost."

In the store with the word "囍" posted, Boss Xu is just a walking corpse. His soul is gone, his skeleton has disintegrated, and his life force has been completely drained away.

"But it should be easy to find."

Zhou Xuan went to the Taoist temple in the secret realm, opened the door, and shouted, "Jingzi, start the divination."

Zhou Xuan has some in stock in the Chenghuang Taoist Temple.
A sacrifice of six incense sticks and a sacrifice of Peng Hou Zuo Ba Wang Jiu were both swallowed up by the blood well, but Zhou Xuan did not use the two sacrifices for divination, and they were both kept in the blood well's account.

Now it seems that these two sacrifices are useful.

"Jingzi, help me predict the exact location of Boss Xu's soul."

Zhou Xuan said.

When Xuejing heard this, heavy snow fell in the Chenghuang Taoist temple.

Snow outlines the word "nine".

"Did you make a typo?"

Zhou Xuan was very surprised: "I just want to ask where Boss Xu's soul is. Do I need a sacrifice of nine incense sticks?"

He originally thought that for a man like Boss Xu, asking about the soul or something, offering six incense sticks as sacrifices would be the best he could do.

The result: nine incense sticks?

Are you kidding me?
There was no intention to change the name of the Blood Well, and the original word was retained - a soul. To find it, a sacrifice of nine incense sticks must be made.

At this time, snow began to fall again in the Taoist temple, and four words were written on the ground - you can buy on credit.

"No more credit, no more credit."

Zhou Xuan waved his hand quickly and strode out of the secret realm.

"Good fellow, Nine Sticks of Incense! If I buy it on credit, let's not talk about whether I can beat Nine Sticks of Incense, let's just say, where can I find Nine Sticks of Incense in this vast country?"

Zhou Xuan's mind returned to reality, staring at the dark and strange shop. After a moment, he looked at the word "囍" written in white on a black background and murmured,

"The price of nine incense sticks at the Blood Well must have its reasons. Why is a soul worth nine incense sticks? Is it just because he was a great literary saint in the world when he was alive?

Wasn’t the fate of the Sage of Literature taken away by Xigu Zhenjun? He is not a Sage of Literature either.”

Zhou Xuan pondered over it but could not find the answer, so he went back into the store and searched again. He found nothing but a pair of bloodstained invitations in a rotten cabinet. The handwriting was mottled.
After careful examination, he found the recipient's handwriting was strange and he could not understand it. He only understood the last line... On November 4, the 22nd year of Dawu, an auspicious day, I wish you long and prosperous future. Xu Yuan respectfully presents this letter.

"The twenty-second year of Dawu?"

Zhou Xuan turned around and asked, "Ya Zi, how far away is the twenty-second year of Da Wu from now?"

"The Dawu Kingdom has existed for 180 years, and the Jing Kingdom has existed for more than 60 years. Adding them together... it's been almost 220 years since now."

"Xu Jingshan, turned out to be a person from more than 220 years ago."

The letter contained an invitation to Xu Jingshan's wedding. As for "Xu Yuangong", this person must be Xu Jingshan's father.

It is reasonable for an old father to write the invitation for his son's wedding.

Zhou Xuan handed the letter to Zhao Wuya, but Zhao Wuya couldn't understand the recipient's handwriting.

Zhou Xuan had no choice but to carefully fold the letter and put it in his pocket, then said to Zhao Wuya, "Let's go, Yazi, let's go back to Dongshi Street?"

"Are you not going to continue collecting incense?"

Zhao Wuya asked Zhou Xuan.

"The greatest incense is to help him resolve this matter."

Yun Ziliang has said that the King of Hell's divination has been calculated, and there are many benefits and the incense is very prosperous. This is a big job.

……

Dongshi Street, Zhou's Cleaning Shop,

Yun Ziliang was drinking tea and listening to some music, while Xu Li was tidying up the newly painted screen.
The ditty did not come from a record player. Yu Zhengyuan opened his voice and sang a folk song from Pingshui Prefecture to Yun Ziliang.

"Boss Yu's music sounds really interesting."

"The boss is not worthy of it."

After Yu Zhengyuan finished singing a song, he waved his hands repeatedly in response to Yun Ziliang's praise. In the opera industry, not everyone can be called the boss; one has to be a famous actor on the stage.

Only someone like Liu Jiaotian can be called "Boss Liu".

"Have you studied opera before?" Yun Ziliang asked again.

"The masters and brothers in our Zhou family troupe all learned opera first, but their singing was a little off, so they changed their professions and became water tank players, reed pipe players, and economists."

"Then your Zhou family's theater is really great. A person who was eliminated can sing so happily. If he is the mainstay of the theater, what will happen?"

"Liu Jiaotian is the mainstay of our Zhou family troupe. Once she opens her voice, the big stars of the orthodox opera troupe have to stand aside and are not even worthy of carrying her shoes."

Yu Zhengyuan was so proud when he talked about Liu Jiaotian's plays.

"Then I really need to listen to it some other day."

Yun Ziliang crossed his legs, tapped his knees, and recalled the little song Yu Zhengyuan had just sung.

Zhou Xuan walked in, exhausted, grabbed the teapot, took two sips, and said, "Old Yun, the second deputy king of hell is here again."

"Come on, come on. You can't untie it anyway."

"There's hope this time." Zhou Xuan said.

"There is a play, what play is there? In my life, I have encountered the King of Hell's hexagrams 29 times, and I have only solved one of them."

“It’s really interesting.”

Zhou Xuan briefly told Yun Ziliang what happened today and explained it clearly to him.

Yun Ziliang couldn't sit still anymore, so he stood up and said, "It means that as long as we find the soul of Xu Jingshan, the hexagram will be solved... It sounds like there is hope, right?"

“It sounds like there’s no hope.”

Yu Zhengyuan was pouring cold water on the side.

"What's the matter, senior brother? You just came to Mingjiang Mansion and you're cursing me." Zhou Xuan said with a smile.

"How can it be called a curse? Does this Xu Jingshan run many wooden warehouses?"

"You know that too?" Zhou Xuan asked.

"He's very famous in Pingshui Prefecture."

Yu Zhengyuan said: "More than two hundred years ago, Xu Jingshan was a well-known wealthy businessman among the nine prefectures of Jing State. All the major government offices and halls had some shares in him, and his business was huge.
Later, he disappeared quietly, and no one saw him alive or dead. Pingshui Prefecture spread the rumor that Xu Jingshan had found a dragon's lair to bury all the money he had earned.

He himself was buried in that grave, so all these years, people have been looking for him, trying to find out how rich he was when he was alive. All that gold, silver, and jewelry can be wasted in a few lifetimes, there is no way to waste them all. "

“There is also this matter.”

Only then did Zhou Xuan realize that "Xu Jingshan" was not bragging in the fur shop. The twenty-four wooden warehouses were all boasted about.

"Don't you have the divination of Blood Well Heavenly Venerable? Just ask it. After you ask, you will find it immediately."

Yun Ziliang helped Zhou Xuan with some ideas.

"Asked."

"What did Blood Well Heavenly Master say?"

"I want a nine-stick incense offering."

Zhou Xuan's words were like a powerful hammer that hit Yun Ziliang on the head, making him limp and sit on the chair dejectedly: "Then there's no hope. Nine incense sticks, there are quite a lot in the sky, you have to kill them."

Zhou Xuan relied on the resurrection of the Blood Well and borrowed the aura of the Blood Well to kill one of Gong Zheng's Dharma bodies. It was extremely difficult to kill a god in the sky.

With his current level of incense, forget it.

"Old Yun, why are you still so depressed? You have to think about it from another perspective. Just knowing where a soul is is worth nine incense sticks. If you really find it, how much benefit will it bring?"

Zhou Xuan said.

"Then it can't be found?"

"There are clues."

Zhou Xuan took out the invitation from his pocket, handed it to Yun Ziliang, and said, "Take a look, this is the invitation that Xu Jingshan sent out when he got married, but I don't quite understand the name of the recipient. There is no such ending in calligraphy."

Yun Ziliang took the invitation, took a closer look, and said, "This is the shaman's writing - the word Wu. Mr. Peng is not here. If he were here, he would be able to tell it to you at a glance.

I don’t quite recognize the word “wu” either.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Yu Zhengyuan had already leaned over to take a look. After a few glances, he was able to distinguish the handwriting and said, "Oh, the recipient's name is Hu Yunhai. The letter first wrote his official name, and then his honorific title, Mr. Hu San."

Zhou Xuan and Yun Ziliang looked at Yu Zhengyuan at the same time: "How do you know the word wu?"

Yu Zhengyuan was even more confused, and said, "Junior brother, it's fine if Mr. Yun didn't remember it, but why didn't you remember it? The Nuo gods of our Zhou family troupe originated from witches, and the troupe owner was also a witch. The prayers for the troupe's big work were written in witch language.

I've handled so many businesses that I'm familiar with them all."

“……”Zhou Xuan.

With Yu's translation, Zhou Xuan immediately said: "The Hu family has four generations, Yun, Deng, Chang, and Qing. The third master Hu is also called Hu Yunhai, so he is the great wild immortal of the Hu family."

"You have learned a lot, you even know Yun, Deng, Chang, and Qing." Yun Ziliang looked at Zhou Xuan with a new respect.
How could he know that this was the hot knowledge Zhou Xuan had learned while eating mutton soup and chatting with Cui Jie in the morning, and he was also learning and applying it now...

(End of this chapter)