Chapter 35 Fish Talisman
Qi Xuansu left Taiqing Square and walked all the way back to Haichanfang. As soon as he entered Beifangmen, he met his neighbor Cui Daogu.
Qi Xuansu put away his thoughts and put on a smile: "Aunt Cui."
"Xiao Qi." Taoist Cui was startled when she saw Qi Xuansu, "Just in time, someone from Fangsi came to see you just now and said that someone sent you something and asked you to pick it up. You happened to be not at home, so you asked me Send a message."
Qi Xuansu was a little surprised: "Aunt Cui is here."
"You're welcome, we're all neighbors." Taoist Cui didn't show too much politeness to Qi Xuansu, hailed an ox cart and hurried away.
Qi Xuansu changed direction and walked towards Fangsi.
Yujing City has a city-by-city pattern, but it does not implement a city-by-city system. There is no curfew or access control. Moreover, the twenty-four squares in Yujing are huge, equivalent to the 108 squares in the ancient city.
Daomen set up twenty-four divisions in each of the twenty-four divisions. Their functions were somewhat similar to the five-city military and horse divisions in the imperial capital. They were responsible for patrolling the streets and keeping vigil, clearing streets and ditches, and banning fires.
As the development progressed, Fangsi's powers and responsibilities became larger and larger. Neighbor conflicts, dispute mediation, issuance of certificates, etc. were also the responsibility of Fangsi. At the same time, Fangsi also had some functions of a post station. All letters and packages would be sent to Daomen. The letters sent to the corresponding Fangsi, who will then send someone to notify them to collect them.
Qi Xuansu came to Fangsi. It was a courtyard with two entrances. After passing the concierge, the first room was where the packages were received. It was divided into two rooms, inside and outside. There was a table and a chair in the outside room, and a female crown was sitting behind the table. , was holding a storybook novel with colorful illustrations and was so absorbed in reading it that he didn't realize Qi Xuansu came in.
Qi Xuansu glanced at it. The illustration in the book showed a handsome young man and a rich lady, with willows Yiyi and Xiaxi gurgling. They must be talented and beautiful.
Qi Xuansu waited for a while and saw that the female crown showed no intention of coming back to her senses, so he had no choice but to reach out and tap on the table.
Only then did Nu Guan come back to her senses. After looking up and seeing Qi Xuansu, she quickly put the bookmark away, then closed the storybook in her hand and asked, "This fellow Taoist..."
Qi Xuansu said: "Get the object, Qi Xuansu."
"Wait a moment." Nu Guan stood up and went to the inner room. After a while, she brought a package the size of a jewelry box, wrapped in oil paper and sealed with fire paint.
The so-called fire paint is to melt the paint stick solidified on a copper stick first on the fire, paste it to seal it, and then stamp it to indicate that the recipient will open it.
Nu Guan put the package on the table and said, "Please show me the ultimatum, fellow Taoist, to prevent anyone from pretending to claim it."
Qi Xuansu followed his instructions and took out his own ultimatum and handed it to Nv Guan. After checking that it was correct, Nv Guan handed the ultimatum and the package to Qi Xuansu.
Qi Xuansu thanked him and left Fangsi with the package.
The female crown didn't pay attention to this small episode and continued to sink into the world of the storybook.
After Qi Xuansu returned home, he went straight to the study and took a look at the name on the paint. There was only the word "Ah Qi" and he couldn't help laughing.
He had thought about it before and concluded that the only person who would mail the package to him was Qiniang, and the word "Ah Qi" confirmed his guess.
It's just that the name "Ah Qi" has a very girlish temperament, which made Qi Xuansu sigh that time is not forgiving, and Ah Qi eventually became Qiniang.
Qi Xuansu tore off the oil paper from the package, and there was really a jewelry box inside, with a small lock on it.
This kind of lock has no key and looks like a horizontal cylinder. It is divided into four parts. Each part can be rotated up and down. It has nine characters, for a total of thirty-six characters. You must guess all four words correctly to unlock the door. If you miss three times, the mechanism of the box will be triggered and everything in the box will be destroyed.
Qi Xuansu pondered for a moment, and based on his understanding of Qiniang, he turned out the four words "Tian", "Xia", "Tai" and "Ping" in sequence, which were the inscriptions on the Taiping coin.
A soft sound and no movement, which means that the first opportunity has been used.
Qi Xuansu was slightly surprised, and then turned out the four words "Cheng", "Ping", "Wu" and "Worry", which were the inscriptions of Wuyou Qian.
Still not right.
Qi Xuansu became a little nervous. After thinking for a long time, he slowly turned out the four words "ping", "an", "ru" and "yi", which were the inscriptions on the Ruyi money.
Just a "click" sound was heard and the lock opened.
The lid of the box opened by itself, and the box was divided into two layers. A letter was placed on the first layer. The envelope was written in regular script: "Tian Yuan personally opened it" and was signed "Qiniang".
Qi Xuansu picked up the envelope and found that the seal was not sealed with fire paint, so he took out more than ten pages of letterhead.
A handsome stroke of regular script makes it easy for people to think of a girl with eyes like autumn water and cold stars, rather than the murderous Qiniang.
Qiniang mainly said three things in the letter. The first thing was the follow-up in Fengtai County. After Qiniang reported the matter to the Qingping Association, the Qingping Association decided to convert Qi Xuansu from a peripheral member to a full member. Cipai His name is still "Jincuo Dao", he has 600 meritorious deeds, and he uses the pseudonym Wei Wugui.
The other two incidents are related to Qi Xuansu's permanent appointment.
The first is the issue of remuneration after becoming a full-time official. The "Mother and Child Talisman" will be issued once a year instead of once a month. There will also be ten yuan of worry-free money, a Blood Dragon Pill, and a Ziyang Pill every month. From September Official distribution begins.
Then Qi Xuansu also has the qualification to participate in the second-class assembly of Qingpinghui. According to Qiniang’s introduction, the Qingpinghui is not as hierarchical as the Taoist sect. There are only four levels: A, B, C and D. Ding is a peripheral member, C is a formal member, and B is a formal member. They are elite members, and Class A is the core member.
Now Qi Xuansu is in the third grade, but Qi Niang is in the second grade. Qi Xuansu is classified under Qi Niang's name and can participate in the second grade gathering.
It was not until this time that Qi Xuansu knew that there were two types of members in the Qingping Society. One was an independent member who voluntarily joined the Qingping Society, and the other was a vassal member who was forced to join the Qingping Society for various reasons.
Independent members can only enjoy the treatment corresponding to their own level, but they can make their own decisions on everything. Qi Xuansu is a vassal member, affiliated with Qi Niang. The advantage is that he can enjoy some of Qi Niang's treatment, such as participating in the second grade gathering, and Qi Niang will also clean up for him without charging any fees. The disadvantage is that he has lost some autonomy, such as choosing errands and tasks, which is entirely up to Qi Niang.
Qi Xuansu has no objection to this. He has been here for so many years, and there is nothing wrong with it.
As for how to participate in the gathering, a ritual spell needs to be prepared. Qi Niang specially sent the materials needed for the spell, the relevant usage and the bill details. All the expenses were deducted from Qi Xuansu's coffin book with Qi Niang, and now there is less than one hundred worry-free money left.
Qi Xuansu put down the letter and opened the second layer of the box.
The second layer was several times deeper than the first layer. There were two candles, a box of incense sticks, a small vermilion gourd, a stack of blank talisman paper, a box of cinnabar, a vermilion pen, and a fish talisman.
The fish talisman was Qi Xuansu's identity certificate. It was made by the Qingping Society with a secret method and was unique. According to different colors, it was divided into "jade white", "golden purple", "silver scarlet", and "copper green". Qi Xuansu's fish talisman was silver scarlet, with the three words "golden wrong knife" engraved on it.
In addition, the fish talisman has two other uses. One is to be the "key" to enter the gathering, and the other is to serve as a Sumeru object.
The so-called Sumeru object can put Sumeru in a mustard seed and take things out of thin air. Depending on the appearance, the size of the universe inside it is different. The universe inside this silver scarlet fish talisman is very small, probably not much different from the jewelry box sent by Qi Niang, and can only be used to store materials used in rituals and spells.
As for how to enter the gathering, it is necessary to go through rituals and spells.
Qi Xuansu waited patiently until midnight, and then began to prepare the spell according to the method given by Qi Niang in the letter.
First, pour out a cup of imitation Zhulong blood from the vermilion gourd. Zhulong is an ancient mountain god. It is seen as day, night as night, winter as winter, and summer as summer. Its blood naturally has extremely magical effects. However, Zhulong has long been gone from the human world, and its blood is nowhere to be found. Later, the Taoist sect developed imitation Zhulong blood. Although its effectiveness is only 10% of the original, the price is still extremely expensive, equivalent to gold on the black market.
Qi Xuansu used imitation Zhulong blood to draw a double fish on the ground, and then placed black and white candles at the two points of the double fish and lit them.
These two candles are not ordinary. The black candle is made of Li Li's blood fat, and the white candle is made of Fei Fei's blood fat.
Li Li looks like a pig, with chicken feet on his feet, and his cry is like a dog barking. He is good at escaping underground. Wherever he passes, the ground undulates.
Feifei looks like a raccoon, with a mane and a white tail. Raising it can relieve people's worries.
Both are rare exotic animals.
There is also a stick of incense, which is also very good. It is the famous "returning soul incense". Legend has it that there is a return soul tree in Kunlun Fairyland, which looks like maple and cypress. The fragrance of flowers and leaves can be smelled for hundreds of miles. Pick its roots and boil them in a pot to extract the juice. Refined like lacquer, it is the return soul incense. The fragrance can be smelled for hundreds of miles. Dead bodies on the ground can come alive by smelling the breath, so it is called "returning soul".
The "returning soul incense" sent by Qi Niang to Qi Xuansu does not have such medicinal power. It can only warm the soul, but it is also extremely expensive. One stick of incense costs one worry-free money.
These three were extremely rare things hundreds of years ago. There was no price in the market. However, hundreds of years ago, a big change occurred, and many exotic animal medicinal materials that had been extinct reappeared in the world along with the ancient immortals.
The Dao Sect has implemented control over this. Strictly speaking, these materials can only be produced by the Dao Sect, but now they are in the hands of the Qingping Society. Zhang Yuelu said that many secret societies are secretly supported by Daoist bigwigs, which is absolutely true.
Qi Xuansu placed the fish talisman in the center of the double fish formation diagram, and then drew the talisman on the blank talisman paper with a red pen dipped in cinnabar according to the pattern given by Qi Niang.
The red pen is worth five worry-free coins. The pen holder is a mottled bamboo with black spots in the green, and the tip of the pen is bright red. It is made of the tail of a weasel that has become a climate. It is used to draw talismans, which can achieve twice the result with half the effort.
Qi Xuansu finished it in one go and drew two pieces in a row.
Finally, Qi Xuansu took the incense burner, lit a stick of incense, and burned the two pieces of drawn talisman paper on the black and white candles respectively.
After doing all this, Qi Xuansu closed his eyes and sat quietly. After a while, he felt an irresistible fatigue coming.
The candle suddenly went out, and the bloodstains on the ground gradually faded, leaving only the diffuse smoke and the red dot of the incense head, flickering in the darkness.
Qi Xuansu remained in a cross-legged sitting position, his face calm, his breathing steady, and he fell into a deep sleep.