"Oh, no, no. The trip to Qihuangmen went smoothly, and my eldest disciple's illness is almost cured. Thank you for your concern, Senior Brother." Shen Qingmang said, "I came to see you, Senior Brother, because one of the rabbits raised by my second disciple died accidentally, and the body was found near here."
"Here?" Shi Mingli looked around. "But I didn't set up any barriers, let alone any harmful spells. I was in the library last night and didn't come back, so I didn't see any rabbits."
"I know it definitely wasn't my senior brother, and I don't have any intention of accusing him." Shen Qingmang said gently, "But the rabbit's death was a bit strange. It didn't seem like a natural death, nor did it seem like it had eaten something bad."
"What kind of death?"
"It's so dry and shriveled, like it's been exposed to the sun for a month. There's not much flesh left on it, just skin."
"Are you sure he was killed today?"
"I don't know. The rabbit didn't come back last night. It could have been yesterday or it could have been today."
Shi Mingli thought for a moment, then took out a turquoise gem from his sleeve and threw it into the air. Shen Qingmang stared at the gem with some curiosity.
"This is a reflection bead. It can detect traces left on the land within a radius of ten miles." Shi Mingli explained.
"Oh oh." She quickly looked down at the ground and immediately realized something. "Are these rabbit footprints? The dense footprints next to them are Ah Rong's. She must have been walking around here, found the rabbit, and then took it away. Hmm... where did it go before?"
"The footprints are extending backwards." Shi Mingli pointed. "There, there are traces of it on the wall."
The two people followed the tiny rabbit footprints all the way back and came to Shi Mingli's study.
Shen Qingmang stared at the footprints on the doorstep and asked in confusion, "Why did it go to your study? There are only books here, and nothing to eat."
"Yes," Shi Mingli said, "it's the flower cake you sent me earlier. Yesterday, while I was reading, I took out a piece and placed it on the table. I had intended to eat it tonight, but I noticed a discrepancy between a note in the book and another I'd seen in the library, so I went to the library and didn't take the flower cake."
"So that's how it is... Is it convenient for me to come into your study, Brother?"
"Okay." Shi Mingli extended his hand and Shen Qingmang stepped into the study.
There were only a few crumbs left in the porcelain plate on the table. Under the illumination of the reflection beads, small footprints appeared on the edge, extending all the way under the table. It seemed that this greedy rabbit was still not satisfied after eating the flower cake and went somewhere else.
Shen Qingmang followed the footprints and stopped in front of a closed cabinet door.
"What's in here?" she asked.
Shi Mingli opened the cabinet. "It's just some miscellaneous items. No flower cakes or other food."
"Then how could it be... Hey? A spirit-calling talisman?" Shen Qingmang squatted down and took out a talisman from the cabinet.
"You said before that the soul-summoning talismans are unsafe, so I collected all the soul-summoning talismans from Wuya Peak and stored them here." Shi Mingli also squatted down and stood next to her. She immediately moved outward to make space for him.
"Eleven, four missing." Shi Mingli held the Reflection Bead. "There are claw marks and some talisman paper scraps. Maybe it ate the talisman paper."
"Huanhuan loves to eat food with spiritual energy, such as various spiritual herbs. Its long lifespan is also related to its consumption of spiritual herbs." Shen Qingmang pondered as he spoke: "So this time, after eating the pastries, it smelled a scent of spiritual energy, so it went into the cabinet to chew on the talisman paper?"
"That's probably the case. There are footprints here too. That's probably the route it took to leave."
"Yes, it connects with what we just saw. It jumped outside the temple, but eventually couldn't jump anymore and died there." Shen Qingmang stood up. "There really is something wrong with the spirit-summoning talisman. I didn't expect a rabbit to test it first."
"What do you mean, Junior Sister?"
"It's obvious that something went wrong after it took the talisman. Look at these footprints; they're much messier than the ones on the table. It was moving freely before, but after taking the talisman, it became sluggish. Doesn't this prove that the talisman is harmful?"
"We can't jump to conclusions. We need to examine the corpse," said Shi Mingli.
"I know. I just made a guess. What I need to do next is to verify it. However..." Shen Qingmang looked conflicted. "I want to catch another rabbit and feed it a few more talismans, but A Rong may not agree."
"Take me to see the rabbit's corpse first."
"good."
Shen Qingmang and Shi Mingli returned to Yushu Hall together. Huanhuan's body was placed on the ground by Si Rong. The three of them surrounded the body without saying a word, and no one knew what they were thinking.
"What's wrong?" Shen Qingmang asked, "Did you find any clues from it?"
"Big Brother said there are signs of spiritual energy escaping from it." Si Rong spoke with a slight nasal tone. "I can't see it. But Huanhuan is so smart, maybe it really has spiritual power."
"Let me take a look." Shi Mingli approached, and Shen Qingmang also came forward. After a moment, the two came to the same conclusion as Gu Suihan.
"We're getting closer to our hypothesis." Shen Qingmang murmured, "But in order to verify the hypothesis, we still need experimental subjects."
"Master, what are you talking about?" Si Rong asked in confusion.
"We suspect Huanhuan died because she ate the Soul Summoning Talisman, but we don't have any solid evidence." Shen Qingmang paused and said, "Arong, I know this sounds a bit cruel, but can you lend me another rabbit? I want to verify whether Huanhuan's death is really related to the Soul Summoning Talisman. This Soul Summoning Talisman is used by all the peaks. If we can verify that it is harmful, it will help them stop the loss in time."
"Master, this is too cruel." Si Rong shook his head fiercely. "I won't agree."
"Master, I have a way." Gu Suihan glanced at Shi Mingli and said.
"What method?"
"Master, if you want to verify whether this rabbit died from the Soul Attracting Talisman, wouldn't it be enough to just let it eat it again? I can use the Soul Resurrection Technique to restore this rabbit, but it only works for a quarter of an hour. Is a quarter of an hour enough time to observe it?"
"Resurrection is a forbidden technique." Shi Mingli looked at him warily: "Where did you learn it from?"
"Since Master Uncle also knows this technique, it means that this forbidden technique is not completely forbidden. What's so strange about me having come into contact with it?"
"Will the forbidden technique cause you much harm?" Shen Qingmang asked worriedly, "Your external injuries have just healed. Otherwise, you can teach me the mantra and I will try to recover."
"No need. It's a simple little magic. It won't take much effort to recall a rabbit." After Gu Suihan finished speaking, he placed one hand on the rabbit's back and whispered two spells.
A snow-white rabbit gradually appeared, looking around and hopping out. Shen Qingmang first took a piece of flower cake to tease it, and found that the rabbit was still lively and energetic after eating it, so he fed it another piece of talisman paper.
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