With virtue

Zhao Yunshu, who borrowed the power of the ghost general, only tried it once, but it intimidated the strange ghosts.

Seeing this, he immediately understood what was happening, and shouted, "Come out!"

The dark shape trembled violently at the shout, as if it had been gripped by an unseen hand. After struggling for a moment, it stopped moving and obediently slid out from the shadows in the corner, gradually solidifying under the light.

It was a small, jet-black snake with sharp fangs. Its entire body was as black as ink, and its scales gleamed with a faint, eerie light. Its vertical pupils were a strange dark green, and its tongue flickered in and out of its mouth. However, at this moment, it had its body tightly curled up, its head pressed extremely low, almost touching the ground. It was trembling with fear at the imposing presence of the ghost general, and it didn't even dare to flick its tongue any further. Only the tip of its tail was trembling slightly.

"A viper?" Zhao Yunshu's eyes widened.

He had just been telling Zhou Chengan the story of Old Man Chen's resentment turning into a snake, when suddenly, a snake crawled out of his own house!

He subconsciously glanced around to make sure there were no other snakes in the room before calming himself down and focusing his attention back on the black snake curled up in a ball. This viper was only as thick as a chopstick, clearly a newborn snake that had not yet grown into a threat.

but……

This shows that the problem with Ding ware is not kiln ash, but rather the work of someone!

He got off the bed, walked to the viper, and squatted down.

Sensing the approaching imposing presence of the ghost general, the little snake shrank even tighter, its entire body almost coiled into a ball, only its two tiny, beady eyes peeking out as it timidly gazed at him.

Zhao Yunshu stared at it for a moment, the red light in her eyes still lingering, and said in a low voice, "Don't mention me. Just pretend nothing happened."

The little snake nodded hastily, its movement somewhat resembling a chick pecking at rice, its slender head bobbing up and down in a rather comical way.

"Take me back to where you came from," he said again.

The little snake nodded again, slowly unfurled its coiled body, flicked its tongue twice at him, and then silently slithered towards the door, reaching the threshold.

Zhao Yunshu did not open the door. The old door creaked as soon as it was opened, which would only disturb others and make it difficult to explain.

He looked up at the roof beam, took two steps back, and with a light leap, grabbed the crossbeam with both hands and flipped onto the roof.

The kiln workers' dwellings were all single-story tiled houses with gentle roof slopes; they could easily slip out by simply removing a few tiles.

The night outside was cool and still, the moonlight dim, and the kilns in the distance were burning brightly, their red light reflecting off the low-hanging clouds and turning half the sky a dark red.

The night at the Quyang kiln site was not quiet—the bellows of the kiln roared, and the occasional shouts of the night shift kiln workers echoed through the valleys. But these sounds served as cover, and no one noticed a Taoist priest crouching and walking on the roof.

The viper had also emerged from the hole in the corner of the wall, its slender body gleaming faintly in the moonlight, and was swimming along the base of the wall into the depths of the kiln.

Zhao Yun stretched out his body and silently swept between the rooftops, following the little snake at a distance.

After passing through several rows of sheds and around warehouses where porcelain clay and glazes are stored, the terrain gradually slopes down.

The kiln was built against the mountain, and the further you went in, the deeper you went into the valley, where a musty, earthy smell began to fill the air.

The viper stopped in front of a steep slope, looked back at Zhao Yunshu, flicked its tongue twice, and then slithered down the slope.

Zhao Yunshu landed lightly on the ground. Upon closer inspection, she discovered an extremely well-hidden earthen cave at the bottom of the steep slope. The entrance was no bigger than a well opening and was completely covered by several clumps of withered thorns.

If it weren't for the snake leading the way, it would be difficult to spot even in broad daylight.

He bent down and pushed aside the thorns, and a chilling aura rushed towards him, faintly mixed with a rotten smell similar to decaying wood.

The viper led them here, then with a whoosh, it disappeared into the darkness.

Zhao Yunshu did not rush to follow them inside, but instead lay down at the cave entrance and looked down.

Upon seeing this, even someone as bold as him, capable of unleashing thunderous force, couldn't help but furrow his brow.

The earthen cave was not deep, only about half a zhang deep. At the bottom was a circular pit, no more than five or six chi in diameter. It had definitely been artificially modified. The bottom of the pit was covered with a layer of dry grass, and seven or eight pieces of porcelain were neatly stacked on the grass.

Zhao Yunshu wasn't exactly an expert on porcelain, but he could at least distinguish between good and bad pieces, mainly by comparing their quality to that of modern porcelain.

The old Taoist priest's two white porcelain pieces were already of superior quality, but these porcelain pieces in front of us are all better than those two!

The body is fine and white, the glaze is smooth and lustrous, and the glaze color is white with a slight bluish tinge. The body of the jar is engraved with fine lotus patterns, the carving is exquisite, the patterns are like hair, and they have a slight luster.

With such quality, it would be more than enough to be placed in a shop in Dingzhou City, or even sent to the governor's mansion as a tribute.

But that's precisely the problem.

Why not display such high-quality porcelain in a shop and sell it for a price, instead of hiding it in this secluded earthen cave?

He turned to the little snake and asked, "What happened?"

The little snake raised its head, flicked its tongue at him, tilted its head, looked down at the porcelain in the cave, and then looked up at him again, its beady eyes filled with confusion.

Clearly, it knows nothing about it.

It was just a nascent viper, and it was already rare for it to have even a slight understanding of human nature. Asking it to answer such a complex question was really asking too much of it.

Helpless, Zhao Yunshu turned her gaze back to the white porcelain in the cave.

There's probably no way to find a solution now, so let's just keep an eye on things for now.

Master Zhou's illness can also cause vipers to appear, so there might be a connection. We'll see how things go when we talk to Master Zhou about treatment later.

He returned to his room and stayed there until dawn.

The next morning, just as dawn was breaking, the kiln site became bustling with activity.

The night shift kiln workers were adding the last batch of firewood to the kiln, while the day shift craftsmen walked in twos and threes, carrying their tools to the brick-making workshop. Several apprentices were drawing water from the well to wash their faces, and when they were hit by the cold water, they cried out in pain.

The dull sound of pounding clay could be heard from the clay workshop, one pound after another, like tamping, but in reality there was not much difference between tamping and tamping, both were about pounding the clay with great force.

The aroma of firewood and damp mud mingled together, creating the flavor of breakfast.

Zhao Yunshu came out of the house, greeted Chen Wanchuan, and then went straight to Zhou Chengan's residence.

Zhou Chengan lived in a small, secluded courtyard at the west end of the kiln site, which was better than the shared sleeping quarters of the other kiln workers. This was a privilege given to the senior craftsmen.

The courtyard gate was tightly closed. He went up and knocked twice, and a coughing sound came from inside. After a while, Zhou Chengan opened the door.

The old craftsman looked even worse today than yesterday; his eyes were sunken, his lips were bluish, and his fingers, which were resting on the door frame, were still trembling slightly. When he saw Zhao Yunshu, he forced a smile and said, "Daoist Master, you're up so early. Please come in."

Zhao Yunshu entered the room and, without much pleasantries, went straight to the point: "Master Zhou, I thought about this all night, and I still feel that your illness has nothing to do with kiln ash, but rather with external resentment invading your body. If you don't draw out the resentment as soon as possible, in a few days, it won't just be a matter of coughing and wheezing."

Zhou Cheng'an said with a wry smile, "Daoist Master, it's not that I don't believe you, it's just that Master Yuanmeng has also examined my illness and I've taken his medicine, and it has indeed made me feel a bit better."