Divine Tang Era

After finishing his meal, Xu Dan wandered around the neighborhood, looking for any medicinal herbs he could gather.

You can't go out empty-handed.

He only came out because he wanted to practice the Seven Star Flying Steps. He specifically chose a place close to the city. All the valuable medicinal herbs in the vicinity had already been dug up, so there was nothing left for him to dig up.

After looking around and finding nothing of value, I grabbed a few guinea pigs and took them home.

Guinea pigs resemble groundhogs, also known as honey badger, about the size of a small piglet. They are chubby, goofy, and unafraid of people, preferring to nibble on grass, making them a major pest on the grasslands. However, locals don't like to eat them because they carry a disease virus; it's said that someone ate them in the past, leading to the death of half the town.

The elite troops of the Tang Dynasty conquered this place, bringing advanced technology and civilization.

Seeing the serious harm caused by guinea pigs, some chefs specially developed dishes featuring guinea pigs. Unfortunately, the locals didn't like to eat them, but visitors from outside the area took a liking to these dishes.

Guinea pigs are everywhere in the grasslands, an inexhaustible resource, which is why they have become a delicacy in Jingning.

Xu Dan believes that the reason why the locals ate guinea pigs, leading to the death of half the city, was mainly due to their lack of hygiene.

Locals used to enjoy eating raw meat, especially animal meat with fresh blood, appreciating its juiciness. This way of eating might be fine once or twice, but eating it repeatedly would eventually cause problems. Therefore, when eating guinea pigs, the skin, head, tail, paws, and internal organs must be removed, leaving only the most desirable parts.

In this way, they can eat anything, not just guinea pigs.

Jingning Tavern offers a crispy guinea pig dish, where the skin is coated with syrup and then roasted in an oven with white pine wood.

Xu Dan wouldn't dare eat this kind of food. Because wild animals often carry diseases in their skin, eating it could turn a normal person into someone with health problems. Therefore, he usually peels the skin off everything he eats.

Children were present when the guinea pigs were being caught.

It wasn't just about catching guinea pigs; he followed Xu Dan the whole time, never leaving his side.

Now, Xu Dan was confused and didn't know what the little guy was up to, so he couldn't help but ask, "Aren't you going home?"

The child jumped up and down happily when he heard him speak, and followed him when he left. Xu Dan's eyebrows twitched slightly, and suddenly an idea struck him. He visualized the Big Dipper, stepped on the seven stars, and a beam of starlight gathered under his feet, propelling him forward at great speed.

"Now he's going to fall behind!" Xu Dan thought smugly.

After running for a while, I suddenly realized something was wrong. I looked up and saw that the little guy had somehow gotten onto my head. He was even smiling happily when he saw me looking at him.

Xu Dan quickly stopped, but stopping while running caused him to be propelled forward by inertia, and he was pulled to the ground.

「呸」

Xu Dan spat out the grass in his mouth and said angrily, "Why are you following me? I'm not your mother."

"Hehehehe"

The child thought he was playing with him, and happily jumped around Xu Dan, clapping his hands.

"Is this guy stupid?" Xu Dan looked at him, speechless. He couldn't chase it away, he couldn't scold it, and he couldn't hit it. There was nothing he could do but let it follow him. He wanted to see where this little thing could take him.

So he sped up and ran towards Jingning City.

As she ran, she looked left and right, only to find the child was gone. She looked up again, and the child looked down at her, eyes wide and innocent, revealing a clear naiveté. Just as she had expected, the child ran up to her head again.

It's strange how the little guy managed to get on his head so silently; Xu Dan couldn't figure it out.

Jingning City was just ahead. Xu Dan ran quickly, getting closer and closer.

Upon reaching them, he deliberately stopped and slowly walked past the soldiers guarding the city, greeting them, "Hello everyone, thank you for your hard work."

The soldiers guarding the city only saw a flock of black crows fly past them, their expressions extremely strange, unsure of what to say. Seeing their silence, Xu Dan turned back, re-entered the city, and greeted everyone, "Hello, everyone."

"Young man, hurry up and go inside!" an older soldier sighed.

"Old Donkey, did you see anything?" Xu Dan leaned closer and whispered. Having been in and out of the city gates for so long, he knew a few of the guards, one of whom was the old donkey in front of him.

"Young master, my surname is Lü, the Lü of Lü Buwei, not Donkey. Don't call me Old Donkey," Lü Yu said helplessly.

"Okay, old donkey." Xu Dan nodded seriously, then asked the same question again, "Did you see anything?"

"What?" Lu Yu asked warily.

"Didn't you see anything?" Xu Dan asked curiously.

"I didn't see anything," Lu Yu said loudly, pointing to a large mirror hanging high on the city wall. "See that mirror? No matter what kind of demons or monsters they are, they can't hide under the Soul-Revealing Mirror, so you don't have to worry about being haunted by ghosts at all."

"That's good." Xu Dan looked in the mirror, nodded, and didn't say anything more.

He was already cursing in his heart.

What a stupid mirror! The little guy is clearly sitting on his own head, and it says all demons and monsters can't hide. Pah! Pah! Pah! Pah!

Xu Dan originally wanted to go home to avoid worrying Yun Niang and her son after not returning home for a night. However, thinking that the little guy was still above his head and might bring disaster to the family, he didn't go back and instead went to Donglai Palace.

In the Donglai Palace, the chubby Wang Shouyi leaned against the offering table, holding a whisk in one hand, his head bobbing up and down, drool dripping from his mouth.

Xu Dan tiptoed over and whispered in his ear, "Someone's stealing the incense money!"

Wang Shouyi immediately jumped up, staring wide-eyed at the fuel tank, but found nothing. He turned his head and saw Xu Dan grinning at him. Needless to say, it was this guy teasing him again.

"What are you doing here? Go somewhere else if you have nothing to do. Donglai Palace is not a place for children to play," Wang Shouyi said with a dark face.

"Sigh, I was thinking of buying some amulets to take home, but it seems you don't want to sell them anymore."

Xu Dan sighed dramatically and turned to leave. But he found himself unable to move. Turning around, he saw Wang Shouyi tugging at his sleeve.

"Brother Xu, what kind of talisman do you want to buy? Just tell me, I have everything here. If you don't have it, I'll have my master draw it right away."

This guy is still as greedy as ever. Xu Dan didn't tease him anymore, looked around, and said, "Do you have a quiet place here? We can talk."

Wang Shouyi assumed he was afraid of being seen, so he led him through a side door to a secluded room at the back. "Alright, no one will bother us here. Just tell me what talisman you need!"

"Didn't you see there's someone next to me?" Xu Dan asked casually.

Upon hearing this, Wang Shouyi became solemn. He immediately made a hand seal with his right hand, then wiped his eyes with his index and ring fingers before removing them. A clear, shimmering light flashed in his eyes.

The child saw his glowing eyes and looked over curiously.

"Where did you come from, this prodigy?" Wang Shouyi asked.

"Lingtong" is a term used to refer to children. I recall using this term in a past life, but it generally refers to celestial children or divine children. I'm unsure what "Lingtong" refers to here, so I asked, "What kind of 'Lingtong' are you talking about?"

"A spirit child is usually formed from a fragment of the true spirit of a child with spiritual roots who dies young; or it is formed from a fragment of the spirit of a child who dies. Usually, the spirit child's spirit disappears soon after death, and the spirit child also vanishes into the world. But your spirit child is too strange. Not only can it appear during the day, but it can also run around with you everywhere," Wang Shouyi said in surprise.

If Xu Dan knew what was going on, he wouldn't need to come looking for him.

Then he recounted the story of the sudden appearance of the spiritual child.