Folk customs begin with the entire funeral procession

Chapter 181 The Transaction, The Compass (Two-in-One)

Chen Miao followed Xie Songde and walked a few steps to the side.

"Mr. Chen, I wonder if you could sell me some peach wood charms and talismans?"

"To be honest, I am indeed a little afraid that what happened to Huang Jinjin could happen to me and my family."

"So I want to ask for more, so I can prepare some for my family as well."

"How about one peachwood charm and one talisman, 100,000?"

Chen Miao looked at Xie Songde, who seemed somewhat expectant, and shook his head.

Seeing that Xie Songde wanted to say something more, Chen Miao interrupted him.

"It's not that I don't want to sell, but I only have four peach charms left. I'll contact Boss Xie again after I make them when I get back."

"No need for 100,000, 50,000 will do."

"Also, how much do you plan to take?"

Chen Miao thought about the price of the talismans that Zhong Cai had mentioned before, and didn't ask for more.

"How about ten sets?"

After thinking for a moment, Xie Songde gave a number.

Chen Miao nodded.

"Okay, I'll contact you when it's done."

"Okay, okay, then I'll wait for your news, Mr. Chen... By the way, Mr. Chen, could you give me a bank account number so I can transfer the money to you later?"

Chen Miao left his account information with Xie Songde, said goodbye, and then got into the car with Chen Muqing.

Xie Songde watched Chen Miao and the other two leave before returning to his car and instructing his driver to drive.

While in the car, Xie Songde had someone transfer 500,000 yuan into Chen Miao's account.

Chen Miao shook his head after seeing the text message notification on his phone.

This money came easily.

Chen Miao thought of the sixty or seventy talismans in his talisman box. If he sold more talismans and peach charms, he could start working on the renovation of the soul-suppressing room in the funeral home.

Afterwards, Chen Miao and Chen Muqing had a meal, and after dropping them off, they drove to Zhong Cai's place in the suburbs.

……

"Hey bro! How have you been lately?"

Chen Miao put down the meat and vegetables he had bought along the way and said with a smile.

He and Zhong Cai last met half a month ago. In the last two months, they have been meeting every one or two weeks.

Either Zhong Cai takes Xiao Bai to the funeral home, or Chen Miao comes to find Zhong Cai.

Over time, their relationship became more familiar.

"You never drink when you come here, but you always buy snacks to go with your drinks."

Zhong Cai looked at the things Chen Miao had brought, chuckled, and took out his own wine. Xiao Bai also sat down beside him.

Zhong Cai used to think that drinking alone was meaningless, but recently, when he was with Chen Miao, even if he was drinking alone, the feeling was different.

So sometimes people drink alcohol, but sometimes they don't drink alcohol at all!
"Don't drink and drive, right? When you came to my place, didn't I drink too?"

Zhong Cai laughed and scolded, "Then why don't you say I drank it when I went there too?"

Basically, Zhong Cai would stay overnight at Chen Miao's place before leaving.

"Alright, you've come at the right time. I've been drawing some talismans for the past two weeks, so let's exchange them."

"After this, I plan to take Xiaobai out for a trip to meet those seniors and friends."

Chen Miao suddenly realized that this was to let Xiaobai become more familiar with the area and pave the way for him in advance.

Thinking of Zhong Cai's various but not simple skills, Chen Miao glanced at Xiao Bai with some envy.

Without asking any further questions, Chen Miao took out his talisman box.

"That's great! I really love your talismans, brother."

Zhong Cai smiled and, seeing Chen Miao's urgency, went back and took out his own talisman box.

"I drew twenty talismans this time, and with the ones I had left over, I have twenty-eight in total."

"It's the same old exchange method: just leave me at least one copy of each type."

When Chen Miao heard that there were twenty-eight, his eyes lit up.

He immediately opened his talisman box.

Zhong Cai glanced at the thick stack of talismans that Chen Miao had slightly popped up as the box was opened, and his eye twitched.

How much would that cost?!
“I have a total of sixty-eight talismans here. Excluding the four that I took from you before and haven’t finished using, I have sixty-four left.”

"Among them, there are thirty spirit-suppressing talismans, twenty blood-light talismans, and eight yin-dispelling talismans that can be exchanged."

As Chen Miao spoke, he took out the 58 talismans of the three categories and placed them aside.

"In addition, I can also take out two high-quality spirit-suppressing talismans and two high-quality blood-light talismans."

If the previous fifty-eight talismans made Zhong Cai's eyelids twitch, then these two exquisite talismans made his eyes light up.

"Is this high-quality talisman the same kind you gave me to deal with that flying zombie before?"

Seeing Chen Miao nod, Zhong Cai hurriedly asked, "How do you plan to change it?"

Chen Miao smiled and said, "Let's exchange one premium talisman for two ordinary talismans. I'll choose first, and you can choose how to settle the account afterward."

"These...two, are they appropriate?"

Zhong Cai looked at Chen Miao.

"Why is it inappropriate? Do you think I'm asking for too much, brother?"

Chen Miao said with a smile.

Chen Miao had long had an idea about high-quality talismans.

If it were anyone else, Chen Miao would never have taken out such a high-quality talisman.

But since it's been brought out, it's not for making money.

After all, Zhong Cai had helped him a lot; aside from anything else, the knowledge about entering the underworld was enough to benefit Chen Miao.

Moreover, with the high-quality talisman, Zhong Cai will be more at ease when going out to do things.

The idea behind the previously gifted century-old peach wood was similar.

After all, it's not easy to have a friend like that.

What's more, he's taking Xiaobai on a trip this time. After all, Xiaobai calls him Uncle!
"It's not that you're overpaying; I just think you're getting ripped off by exchanging it like this!"

Zhong Cai hurriedly said.

"I don't feel like I'm losing out, brother, what are you saying? Just switch. If you don't switch, Qi Ning will switch when he gets here."

Upon hearing Chen Miao's words, Zhong Cai immediately pushed his box over.

"Come on, choose quickly!"

Chen Miao smiled and began to select items.

After some selection, Chen Miao took out two Yang-suppressing talismans, two Illusion-breaking talismans, two Evil-dispelling talismans, two Miasma-dispelling talismans, two Guiding talismans, and two Mind-clearing talismans.

Although there are supposed to be twenty-eight talismans, after distribution, there aren't many talismans in each category.

Chen Miao couldn't really leave only one card for Zhong Cai, so in the end he only picked twelve.

"Alright, that's all. You choose, bro."

Zhong Cai looked at the talismans he had left and wanted Chen Miao to choose a few more, but if he did, he would run out.

He sighed inwardly, feeling that he hadn't drawn enough this time.

Then, Zhong Cai took one high-quality spirit-suppressing talisman and one high-quality blood-light talisman from Chen Miao's talisman collection, thus offsetting the four talismans.

As for the remaining two premium talismans, Zhong Cai did not take them.

One reason is that Qi Ning is coming later, and another reason is that Zhong Cai also needs some ordinary spirit-suppressing talismans.

It's impossible to throw a high-grade talisman at ordinary ghosts, right?
Zhong Cai couldn't bear to part with it.

Two are enough.

Situations like those in Fengmen Village cannot continue indefinitely.

Afterwards, Zhong Cai selected four spirit-suppressing talismans, two yin-dispelling talismans, and two blood-light talismans.

After making his selection, Zhong Cai noticed the talismans in Chen Miao's talisman box were still piling up. Suddenly, he went back to his room.

Not long after, Zhong Cai came out carrying something.

"Chen Miao, take a look at this and see if you can use it."

Chen Miao took the compass, about the size of two palms, from Zhong Cai and asked with some surprise, "Brother, what's the significance of this?"

Zhong Cai explained with a smile, "This is a compass I used before. It can be used to find the precise direction when setting up a feng shui arrangement, and it can also be used to find special fluctuations of yin energy within a certain range." "You should understand the feng shui arrangement part. As for the second function... do you know how I followed that jumping zombie to your funeral home back then?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Miao looked at the compass in his hand.

"Is that it?"

Zhong Cai nodded.

"Did you notice anything different about it?"

Chen Miao looked down to observe.

He wasn't very familiar with the compass, and when he set up the "Covering the Ghost Eye" feng shui arrangement before, he hadn't yet reached the point of using a compass for precise layout.

However, he still knew roughly what a compass was.

Soon, his gaze fell on the center, where there were two pointers, one up and one down!

"See?"

"The lower pointer is the original magnetic needle of the compass, but the thin red needle above is used to point to the second situation."

"Normally, only the bottom magnetic needle will move... Lift the compass up again and see if there's a hole underneath."

"Do not flip it. The compass must never be flipped, otherwise it will be inaccurate when calculating the feng shui layout. Also, the compass must not come into contact with mobile phones or electrical appliances."

Upon hearing this, Chen Miao raised the compass high and saw the hole below, which was just the thickness of a finger.

"If you want to use the second ability, you need to insert your finger into it."

"There is a sharp spike at the bottom of the hole that will prick your finger and activate the second function."

Upon hearing the word "pricked finger," a thought flashed through Chen Miao's mind.

"Brother, is there a talisman in this compass?"

Zhong Cai nodded.

"Yes, but ordinary talismans only need to be activated with blood once, but this talisman in the compass requires continuous consumption of blood."

"Its range is roughly 500 meters in radius. Within this range, if the concentration of yin energy reaches a level that can give rise to ghosts, the pointer will point to it. If there are multiple such points, it will point to the nearest one."

"If you lose track of a ghost while searching for it, you can use it to help you. Of course, it can also help you if you want to find a dark place."

Zhong Cai made his point very clear.

Chen Miao nodded.

This thing can really make up for one of his current shortcomings.

Because of the existence of Yin energy, Chen Miao can sense the strength of Yin energy at close range, but if the distance is too far, Chen Miao has no way to perceive it.

If, as Zhong Cai said, they lost track of the ghost, Chen Miao really wouldn't have a way to find it.

With this, we don't have to be clueless anymore.

As for finding yin places, a skill that is very important to Zhong Cai, Chen Miao doesn't care.

"Brother, this is a nice item. Are you going to use it to exchange for talismans?"

Seeing Zhong Cai nod, Chen Miao said, "I don't know much about this market. Brother, how much do you want to exchange?"

Zhong Cai glanced at his compass and said, "Ten."

Chen Miao nodded.

"Okay, twenty then!"

Zhong Cai was stunned.

"I'll say ten!"

"Alright, buddy, one is a consumable, and the other is reusable. Do you think I'm really stupid?"

Before Zhong Cai could say anything, Chen Miao continued, "If you feel that we would both be at a disadvantage if we exchanged things this way, then how about this?"

"This compass is a gift from you, brother. These twenty talismans are a gift from me to you. What do you think?"

Zhong Cai was both amused and exasperated upon hearing this.

"Isn't this the same?"

“It’s different. Let’s leave it at that, brother. Which talismans do you want?”

Seeing that Chen Miao was determined, Zhong Cai did not refuse any further.

After all, that compass was indeed worth enough for twenty talismans.

Then Zhong Cai took out sixteen spirit-suppressing talismans and four blood-light talismans.

In this way, Zhong Cai obtained a total of twenty spirit-suppressing talismans, six blood-light talismans, and two yin-dispelling talismans from Chen Miao. With so many talismans on him, he felt much more confident traveling with Xiao Bai!
Chen Miao chuckled as he put away the compass and counted the thinner talismans he had collected.

There are forty ordinary talismans left, and two high-quality talismans that can be traded. I suppose that will be enough for Qi Ning to exchange when he arrives.

"By the way, brother, can we use that talisman you drew on your body in the locust tree in Fengmen Village to exchange for it?"

When Zhong Cai saw Chen Miao ask about the Turtle Breathing and Yang-Locking Mantra, he shook his head.

"I sent you the Spring Breeze Technique in the Small Courtyard before because I asked that fellow practitioner, and he didn't mind it being shared outside."

"The other one is the Heavenly Heart Locking Yang Secret Technique. This is not a secret technique passed down in my sect, so I can teach it to you as well."

"But I cannot exchange the Turtle Breathing and Yang Locking Spell, the method of making a compass, the location of Yin places that I know, and the drawing techniques of those talismans with you."

"The Turtle Breathing and Yang Locking Mantra is a secret technique of my sect and cannot be passed on to outsiders. The location of the Yin Earth is also passed down by the elders of my sect and can only be passed on to disciples."

"As for the method of making the compass, it was passed down to me by an elder out of respect for my master, and it cannot be passed on to outsiders."

"Although some of the talismans were not passed down by my sect, they all have their origins. I cannot pass these things on without asking for other people's opinions."

"So, sorry."

Chen Miao waved his hand.

"Not at all, it was my fault, I shouldn't have asked."

Chen Miao was also embarrassed by his abruptness.

If you think about it, given the things Zhong Cai gave him before, if he could really exchange them, he would have just taken them out.

It's even possible that he could teach it directly to Chen Miao.

From this, Chen Miao once again witnessed Zhong Cai's perseverance.

Previously, Qi Ning said that Zhong Cai would not join the Management Bureau because of his sect, but Chen Miao didn't think much of it at the time.

This time, Chen Miao finally felt it.

Just then, Qi Ning arrived.

Qi Ning's eyes lit up when he saw the talismans on the table.

He put down the wine in his hand and started taking things out.

This trade fair was arranged by Chen Miao and Zhong Cai, and then Qi Ning was contacted.

Zhong Cai was happy to associate with Qi Ning, someone who had shared hardships with him, and Qi Ning was even more happy.

In fact, investigators prefer to associate with monks outside who have the right values.

The Administration Bureau has restricted the range of items that investigators can exchange using their level system, but the methods of these cultivators cannot be restricted.

For example, the high-quality talisman in Chen Miao's possession is something that only a Class C investigator could obtain!

With a card in hand, Qi Ning can be bolder when undertaking missions.

Moreover, this trade fair is not a one-off event!

The transaction between Chen Miao and Qi Ning was completed quickly.

Chen Miao only had his eye on one thing in Qi Ning's hand: the Ghost Cube!
Chen Miao gave Qi Ning two high-quality talismans and two ordinary spirit-suppressing talismans in exchange for a Ghost Cube worth fifty points.

As for whether the deal was worthwhile, they each had their own opinion.

Sometimes, what is traded is not just goods.

Zhong Cai did not trade with Qi Ning for two reasons: firstly, he did not have enough to trade with; secondly, Zhong Cai had some points from Fengmen Village before, which he had exchanged for items with Qi Ning's help, so he did not lack items from the Administration Bureau.

After that, the three of them ate and chatted.

During the conversation, Chen Miao asked about another purpose of his visit.

"Brother, Brother Qi, do you know anything about curses? I've run into a situation..."

Chen Miao gave a brief account of Huang Jinjin's situation.

"Blood Infant Curse" was the first technique Chen Miao had ever encountered that was purely harmful to people and had no possibility of being used elsewhere.

Since the other party has such a vicious method as "Blood Infant Curse" that targets infants, are there any other methods?
Therefore, Chen Miao wanted to learn more about this topic in case he needed to.

As it turns out, Chen Miao made the right choice in asking these two people.

……

(End of this chapter)