Chapter 77: Seventy-seventh day of quitting the circle. Fuck, why is there a pig! ...

In the lounge of the haunted house just across the wall, Bai Yingxin was wearing headphones and watching a variety show while eating popsicles that Jingyu brought from the funeral service next door.

However, the network in the haunted house has not been very good these past two days, and it freezes from time to time.

Today too.

Halfway through the variety show, a dizzy-eyed figure popped up in the center of the screen, with the words "caching" displayed below it. The laughter and playfulness on the show suddenly faded. She took off her headphones, rubbed her ears, and was about to turn to Jingyu to complain about whether she needed to change her broadband when a faint cry of pain echoed in her ears.

Bai Ying was stunned for a moment, then took off her other earphone and listened carefully for a while. The words that came to her mouth turned into: "Boss, did you hear the screams? It was very tragic, very tragic, the kind of horrific."

"Screams? No."

Jing Yu glanced at Bai Yingxin's face, which was full of a strange expression, and naturally changed the subject: "The internet is down again?"

As he spoke, his fingers on the table moved quietly, and his fingertips drew up a layer of thick ghostly energy and silently attached it to the wall in the middle of the two rooms, further enhancing the sound insulation effect.

Then I muttered in my heart——

Isn't it just killing a ghost? What kind of cruel and inhumane methods did Sang Qiqi use? Why was Bai Yuan Bird's cry so shrill? Even with two layers of ghost energy, could Bai Yingxin, a hard-of-hearing person, detect something unusual?

"My broadband is about to expire, so I'd better switch to a different provider this year." Jingyu got up from the sofa and walked to the router. He tapped it twice and turned around to ask, "Is there internet now?"

The iPad screen returned to the hilarious scene from the variety show, completely diverting Bai Yingxin's attention. She nodded quickly, "Got it, got it."

-

After Sang Qiqi sent Master Bai Yuan and his apprentice to their deaths, she returned to the funeral home carrying the bodies of the gray stork and Bai Tong.

She didn't go through the main door, but through the haunted house's window. She jumped from the second-floor back window into the alley, then slipped through the window of the funeral service's storage room and dumped the bodies of the man and the bird in a corner. She clapped her hands and was about to push the door open when Zhang Lin came in, clutching the doorknob. He wasn't surprised to see Sang Qiqi, but when he caught sight of the two bodies in the corner from the corner of his eye, he gasped and slammed the door shut.

Sang Qiqi, who was almost hit on the nose, said: "......?"

She took a step forward, but before she could open the door and ask Zhang Lin what he was doing, she heard his deliberately raised voice through the thin door panel: "Excuse me, please go sit over there for a while. The storage room is a bit messy. I'll tidy it up first and then call you over to choose. Is that okay with you?"

Another unfamiliar voice followed closely behind: "It's okay, no need to tidy it up."

Zhang Lin: "Yes, yes. Please wait a moment. I'll ask the boss to give you a 20% discount!"

An unfamiliar voice said, "Really? Then take your time to get ready. I'll be free later, so don't worry!"

The footsteps faded away. Zhang Lin craned his neck to see the guest sitting down on the sofa, and the breath he had been holding finally subsided. He turned the doorknob again and met Sang Qiqi's innocent face. His expression drooped, and he asked unhappily, "Why are you here? Fortunately, I reacted quickly. If that guest had seen Bai Tong's body, we would have been selling funeral services in prison from now on."

Sang Qiqi touched the tip of her nose, feeling guilty for a rare moment.

She simply thought that the mortal world was a society ruled by law, and that her carrying Bai Tong's body through the main gate was a bit provocative. She had thought of climbing through the window, adhering to the principle of less trouble, but who knew she would run into Zhang Lin leading a customer to the storage room to select funeral supplies?

"I was in such a hurry that I forgot to bring my Qiankun sack." Sang Qiqi made a pitiful, apologetic expression towards Zhang Lin, then sidled past and quickly went to the cashier counter to pull out the Qiankun sack. Then she returned to the storage room and stuffed the corpses of the man and the bird into it. "Okay, you can bring the guests now. Thank you for your hard work. I'll treat you to dinner tonight!"

Zhang Lin: "...I want to eat KFC."

Sang Qiqi: "I'll buy you a whole bucket."

The child, instantly coaxed into submission, turned and trudged off to find the customer, who had barely settled down and pulled out his phone when Zhang Lin stood before him, explaining that the storage room had been tidied and that the urns were ready for selection. He blinked, his expression bewildered for a moment, then asked uncertainly, "Is the 20% discount still available?"

Sang Qiqi popped her head out from behind the shelf and said quickly, "Beat him up."

The customer immediately stood up and said, "That's great. I'll go pick it out right away."

This pick contains twelve urns.

Zhang Lin moved the urns one by one to the cashier counter. Sang Qiqi looked at the height of the stacked urns, which was almost as tall as a 180-year-old man, and was a little surprised.

Usually, people buy a lot of paper-made items in her shop, but it is rare to see urns piled so high.

She couldn't help but ask for confirmation: "Why are you buying so much?"

The customer also lent a hand while moving the urn. He took the tissue Sang Qiqi handed over, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and sighed softly, "To be honest, I'm actually buying it for someone else."

Purchasing agent?

Sang Qiqi, somewhat unsure, opened her Li Zi homepage and took a quick look. The store's logo was still up, intact. Looking at the sales figures, they saw a slight increase every once in a while, proving that customers were placing orders and that there were no irregularities in the purchasing process. Most importantly, the online store's prices matched the in-store prices, and shipping was often included... Wasn't it a bit strange that they were still using a purchasing agent?

Noticing Sang Qiqi's puzzled expression, the guest quickly explained, "It's a long story. Something strange happened in my hometown. In our small village, a lot of people have died recently. Furthermore, when the bodies were being taken to the funeral home for cremation, the crematorium exploded."

Sang Qiqi: “?”

Cremator explosion?

"You heard right. The crematorium exploded, injuring several staff members. It was quite a big deal, even making the local news." The customer opened the bottle of mineral water that Sang Qiqi had paid for the gossip, gulped down two mouthfuls, moistened his throat, and continued, "Everyone thought the funeral home would be fine after replacing the crematorium with a new one. Unexpectedly, when the staff placed the deceased's ashes into the urns, the urns either shattered into spider webs or exploded into flying fragments."

"The weirdest thing is, no matter how many urns I changed later, nothing worked," the customer lamented. "My parents told me about this, and I posted it on a forum as an urban legend. Many people suggested I buy a few urns from you and send them back to see if they would explode."

Having said that, even an inexperienced kid like Zhang Lin could sense the problem.

Sang Qiqi reminded him, "This may not have much to do with the quality of the urn."

The customer was stunned: "Some netizens also said so. There was also someone claiming to be a Taoist priest who came to introduce himself and said he wanted to go back to my hometown with me to visit."

"Oh? A Taoist priest?"

"Yes, I saw his identity verification and posts on the forum, and he is indeed a Taoist priest."

Seeing Sang Qiqi's curiosity, the customer took out his phone and found the forum app he'd mentioned. The forum, called Lumingshe, was quite popular in China, covering topics ranging from entertainment gossip and relationships to economic trends, student employment, and urban legends, with over 100 million users.

Sang Qiqi opened the Taoist's account homepage and glanced at it. The certification on it read: Disciple of Huanlongtai.

"I've heard of this Taoist temple; it's quite impressive," Sang Qiqi said. "If the certification is okay, it would be great to take this Taoist priest back to your hometown to visit."

"Other netizens on the thread said the same thing, and the Taoist priest said he would pay for his own round-trip transportation and asked me to just treat him as a fellow traveler. I figured it wouldn't be a big deal for me, so I agreed."

Sang Qiqi nodded and stopped talking to the Huanlongtai disciple. Instead, she asked, "So, do you plan to mail these urns or bring them with you? I suggest mailing them. Carrying so many is too much trouble."

After a pause, she added, "I'll pay for the postage."

The other party did not hesitate: "Mail it!"

Sang Qiqi: “…”

She took out a pen and wrote down the address the customer had given her. She read the note twice and suddenly frowned. Duan Sui, who had pushed the door open, noticed the change in her expression and asked, "What's wrong?"

Sang Qiqi: "What a familiar address."

Zhang Lin came over to take a look and immediately realized, "Didn't they just send out a batch of paper figurines this afternoon? They're also in Yuantie Province, and it seems to be the same village."

Sang Qiqi was reminded by him, and belatedly realized that this was the address left by the little girl who took a photo with them at the barbecue stall. Express delivery was not convenient in the village, so the two mailing addresses were not specific to a specific household, but rather "XX small supermarket".

Is it such a coincidence?

Seeing Duan Sui looking a little confused, Sang Qiqi shoved the note at Zhang Lin and told him to pack up first. She then briefly reiterated the strange story the customer had told her. Hearing that a disciple from Huanlongtai would be accompanying the other party to the village, Duan Sui said, "Although Huanlongtai's reputation isn't as great as Liuyun Temple, they even outshined Liuyun Temple during the national Taoist temple exchange three years ago. I think with this disciple going, we should be able to quickly resolve the issue."

"Liuyun Temple was trampled on by Huanlongtai?"

Three years ago, Sang Qiqi spent most of her time in the underworld, so she didn't know much about the affairs of the human world. This was the first time she heard about this matter, and she was really surprised.

"I'm not very clear about the specific circumstances. I just heard that Huanlongtai won unfairly, and they didn't attend the exchange conference for the next two years." Duan Sui spoke slowly according to his memory. Sang Qiqi sighed repeatedly after hearing this. She turned around and contacted Mingxin on WeChat, and asked: I heard that at the National Taoist Temple Exchange Conference three years ago, your Liuyun Temple was pinned to the ground and beaten by Huanlongtai?

Duan Sui: “…”

Zhang Lin: “…”

Mingxin: “????”

Less than three seconds after the message was sent, Mingxin's phone call came like a bomb.

Sang Qiqi clicked the call, and the other party glared at her. With a voice so loud it could have shaken the entire funeral procession, he roared, "Who told you that? Nonsense! How could our dignified Liuyun Temple be beaten to the ground by Huanlongtai?"

Sang Qiqi rubbed her ears, which were almost shattered, and asked doubtfully, "So you won?"

Mingxin choked and stammered, "No."

Sang Qiqi: “…”

There was silence on the other end of the line for a long time. Ming Xin seemed to notice Sang Qiqi's speechlessness and rolled his eyes. "It's a long story. During the magic exchange, the disciple from Huanlongtai couldn't win and used a vicious curse, almost sending my senior brother to see the Grand Master. Although he stopped at the last moment, this vicious behavior is still outrageous. Anyway, I don't think Huanlongtai won the magic battle that day. It was just those old judges who muddied the waters and supported their own side."

Considering the degree to which Liuyun Temple rejects evil curses, Sang Qiqi's reaction to Mingxin was not surprising.

What’s more, the other party almost killed Mingxin’s senior brother.

Mingxin muttered to himself for five minutes, calling Huanlongtai a rubbish Taoist temple. His mouth was dry from cursing, and then he finally asked, "Why are you asking about the feud between Huanlongtai and our Liuyun Temple?"

"A customer just mentioned it, so to satisfy my curiosity, I came to ask you."

Mingxin: “…”

It's quite rare to see someone talking about gossip so confidently.

but……

Now Mingxin was the one gossiping: "What kind of customer is this? He actually mentioned Huanlongtai?"

Sang Qiqi was too lazy to repeat it again, so she forwarded the post that the customer showed her to Mingxin after hanging up the phone.

Mingxin sent an OK emoticon and didn't reply.

Sang Qiqi also turned her attention elsewhere. She bought Zhang Lin a KFC family bucket as agreed, then took Duan Sui to the cashier, opened the Qiankun sack, and gestured for him to look at the man and bird inside.

Sang Qiqi's expression was a bit distressed: "I forgot when I proposed the idea of ​​using someone else as a substitute. Bai Tong's body is basically useless. It seems that he can't use it..."

Duan Sui's expression was calm: "It's okay, I've seen the few pieces of talisman paper left by Bai Yuan, two of which are used to exchange spirits."

"Soul exchange?"

"It can also be called possession. It involves paying a negligible price to transfer a designated soul to a designated body. In the hands of some veteran Taoists, this kind of talisman is a life-saving tool when life hangs by a thread." Duan Sui used Qing Wan's death as an analogy. "If Qing Wan had this talisman when he battled that hot-tempered Taoist, he could have transferred his soul into Bai Yuan's body, or even into a nearby creature, at the moment of death."

However, this would result in two souls fighting for one body, and Bai Yuan would be trapped in the bird's body and unable to perform spells. But compared to death, these two situations were not a problem at all.

"If the Spiritual Society asks, just say that Bai Tong was seriously injured when he fought you and me, and he had to transfer his soul in order to have a chance of survival."

The logic is fine.

After listening to this, Sang Qiqi gave Duan Sui a thumbs-up and added, "I had thought about the voice problem in advance. I just contacted Taiwei Sanren, and he said he would send us some talisman paper. If nothing unexpected happens, we can deceive most people, unless the other party is even more powerful than him."

There may be Taoist priests in the Tongshen Society who are more powerful than Taiwei Sanren, but the Taoist priests that Bai Yuan can come into contact with are definitely not as strong as Taiwei Sanren.

"Once the talisman paper arrives, let's go cosplay and see if the plan can be successful?"

Sang Qiqi asked expectantly.

Duan Sui nodded in agreement.

-

The next day, near dusk, the door to Sang Qiqi's funeral service was pushed open by a courier. The usual delivery driver pulled a large box from the cart behind him and handed it to Sang Qiqi. "Boss Sang, this is a package from Liuyun Temple in Jiashan Prefecture. Please sign for it."

"So big?" Sang Qiqi was a little surprised. She shook it in her hand. It was surprisingly heavy. How many talismans had Taiwei Sanren stuffed in this? Curious, she quickly signed her name and, as soon as the courier left, she couldn't wait to open the box.

The boxes are packed in two layers, with two boxes on the top and bottom.

Sang Qiqi first opened the upper box, which contained a letter, a brush, a bottle of cinnabar, a stack of bright yellow paper, and an introductory guide to the art of talismans.

Sang Qiqi: “……?”

What do you mean, let her draw the talisman herself?

She tore open the envelope, her eyes fell on the letter, and scanned it quickly. The general meaning was that although Taiwei Sanren had provided her with a lot of talisman paper, as the saying goes, it is better to teach a man to fish than to give him fish. He was very optimistic about Sang Qiqi's achievements in the art of talismans.

Sang Qiqi: “…”

Taiwei Sanren actually expected a ghost to learn spells and magic, and expected her to achieve something?

What a forward-looking outlook.

Sang Qiqi felt mixed emotions as she folded the letter back into the envelope and opened the box below. Inside the box were neatly stacked talisman papers. Sang Qiqi carefully picked one up and examined it. There were over a hundred of them, each with a different symbol on its surface.

Sang Qiqi heard Mingxin mention that it was not easy for a Taoist priest to draw a talisman. Although Taiwei Sanren had practiced Taoism for many years and had a lot of talisman papers on him, the fact that he could take out more than a hundred of them at once was enough to show his sincerity.

Following Taiwei Sanren's instructions, she sorted the talisman papers into categories and labeled them. Sang Qiqi politely studied the introductory guide to the art of talismans. Upon opening it, she discovered that the book covered not only how to draw talismans but also how to chant the formulas. As for the fingering technique, it didn't matter; the book explained it and suggested whatever looked cool, even offering a few BKING hand gestures.

Sang Qiqi picked a talisman paper painting tutorial that interested her, carefully read it several times, and practiced several times with her sketchbook. Finally, she was ready to use her brush and cinnabar. She tore off a piece of bright yellow paper and leaned over the cashier to slowly draw the rune symbols from memory. With a good memory and a knack for drawing, reproducing a talisman paper exactly was not difficult. But strangely, as she chanted the formula while drawing, the brush in her hand seemed to encounter strong resistance. If she wasn't careful, the tip of the brush would stop, leaving a red dot and ruining the talisman paper.

No wonder Mingxin said that when he was learning the art of talismans, Liuyun Temple was in urgent need of paper and silk.

Ten pieces of paper and silk were ruined in just half an hour. Sang Qiqi put down her brush with regret and turned to look at Duan Sui.

Duan Sui found the look in her eyes quite amusing. He consoled her, "It's only been half an hour."

Sang Qiqi: "I understand the principles. I'm not a genius, so how can I learn it right away? But do you really not need to learn?"

Duan Sui raised his eyebrows and asked tentatively with a long tone, "I can learn, but...you need to cosplay as the Grey Ibis, and I'll cosplay as Bai Tong?"

When Sang Qiqi was asked to cosplay as a grey ibis, her slightly irritated and resentful expression faded. She picked up her brush again at the cashier and straightened her back. "I think I can learn a little more."

As Sang Qiqi immersed herself in her rune-writing skills, time flew by. She looked down at the talisman paper, nearly complete but still with a faint red dot. She exhaled softly, pinched her wrist, and continued to toil. As the moonlit night gradually faded to a faint white, a commotion erupted outside. Duan Sui pushed open the glass door and saw the breakfast stall ready to go. He turned to look at the girl, her lips tightly pursed as she persisted in drawing the talisman, and then went out to find something to eat.

After more than ten minutes, Sang Qiqi finally put down her pen.

She carefully picked up the talisman paper and held it before her. The runes painted in cinnabar on the bright yellow silk looked strange and illogical, yet they held a profound meaning. After twenty years of living and two years of dying, this was the first time she had completed a talisman. Sang Qiqi was incredibly excited. She glanced past the paper, instinctively searching for Duan Sui, but found the sofa not far away empty.

Um?

Where are the people?

After spending the entire night with her, how could he disappear at this critical moment?

Just as the thought was coming to mind, a shadow fell across the entrance of the one-stop funeral shop, followed by the crisp chimes hanging above. A handsome young man, draped in the morning dew, approached and saw Sang Qiqi staring at him eagerly. His eyes met, and he immediately noticed the talisman she raised towards him: "Dangdangdangdang!"

Duan Sui looked at the transformation symbol.

Although he had no knowledge of talisman paper, he could still judge how well the talisman paper was drawn by the smoothness of the lines.

The corners of his lips curled up into a smile, his narrow eyes filled with tenderness and praise: "Boss Sang is amazing. He drew his first talisman paper in just one night. It looks not much different from the one sent by Taiwei Sanren."

She had originally wanted Duan Sui to praise her, but after hearing him compare her to Taiwei Sanren, Sang Qiqi felt a little embarrassed: "There's still a difference. We should be modest, modest."

"Then let's try out the effects of this talisman paper?" Duan Sui suggested, handing the breakfast in his hand to Sang Qiqi. "But first, eat to restore your strength."

Sang Qiqi was so preoccupied with the Transformation Talisman's effectiveness that she had no time to think about eating. Besides, eating human food wouldn't restore her strength, unless she found a few evil spirits for a snack. However, she didn't refuse Duan Sui's offer. She took the pancake, devoured it in a few bites, and then couldn't help but turn to the introductory manual to learn how to use the Transformation Talisman.

After mumbling for a while, she rubbed her hands and said to Duan Sui, "I'm going to start."

Duan Sui moved aside.

Sang Qiqi held the talisman paper between her index and middle fingers. She narrowed her eyes and muttered the incantation silently. The moment the wind blew in from the door, she shouted, "Change!"

The talisman paper was thrown towards the coffee table. The moment it touched the coffee table, thick black mist spread out silently from the talisman paper, wrapped around the coffee table, and then quickly dissipated after a few seconds.

With a snap, the round coffee table turned into a fat wild boar.

Duan Sui: “…”

Sang Qiqi: “!!”

Her eyes were filled with surprise as she pointed at the wild boar and said, "It worked!"

Duan Sui looked at the pig, then at Sang Qiqi, and thought that the thing transformed by the transformation talisman was indeed very much in Sang Qiqi's style. He praised it repeatedly, "It looks exactly like a real pig."

But the problem is——

Zhang Lin happened to push the door open and walked in. He glanced over and screamed in surprise: "Fuck! Why is there a pig?"