Bai Youhui looked somewhat frightened. He continued, "That's not all. This morning, my second uncle woke up and saw the giant golden toad smashed to pieces. He immediately vomited blood. He knelt in front of the broken toad and kept kowtowing and apologizing. I don't know what he was muttering. My father said he looked a bit crazy. My father was afraid something bad would happen, so he called a doctor."
He had one question: "Seventh Sister, do you think it was the Weasel Immortal who smashed the giant golden toad?"
Yuan Qi thought for a moment and said, "It's hard to say. A few days ago, I saw your second uncle parading around with a giant golden toad. There was a toad spirit living inside that toad, which could indeed bless your second uncle's family to get rich. However, I don't know who might have disliked it and smashed the giant golden toad."
Actually, she had already figured it out, but she just didn't want to say it outright, afraid of causing herself trouble.
Bai Youhui stared at Yuan Qi in disbelief: "Toad, toad spirit?"
He stared at Yuan Qi for a long time, looking somewhat incredulous: "Are there really spirits and monsters in the world?"
He was a little scared and asked worriedly, "Won't it come out and harm people?"
Yuan Qi chuckled and patted his hand: "Generally not, their cultivation is not easy, they would be caught if they harmed people."
"Oh." Bai Youhui felt a little relieved. As long as it didn't come out to harm people, that was fine. He still felt lingering fear when he thought of the huge toad carcass he had seen.
Yuan Qi said, "Next time I see spirits and monsters, I'll take you with me to broaden your horizons."
Fortunately, Bai Youhui did not come to ask Yuan Qi to come out of seclusion to save his second uncle's family, but instead told Yuan Qi about the details of what happened back then.
That morning, as usual, Master Bai brought his family to kowtow before the giant toad. But when they arrived at the gate, they found that the giant toad had been smashed to pieces. In the most conspicuous place was the toad's corpse, a bloody mess. Half of the toad's head had been eaten, and one of its legs was missing.
Logically speaking, someone should have heard about such a big thing, right?
Unfortunately, all the servants and masters in the mansion were fast asleep, and no one heard any commotion. Even the gatekeeper was still fast asleep and had no idea that the giant toad had been smashed.
When Master Bai saw this, he was completely dumbfounded. In the blink of an eye, he spat out a mouthful of blood. His concubines were terrified, and even Master Bai's eldest son was frightened. He quickly scrambled to the Bai residence to report the news and ask for help.
Old Master Bai then sent Third Master Bai and Bai Youhui to investigate.
When the two arrived, Master Bai ignored all attempts to dissuade him, held the toad's corpse, and wept bitterly, as if he had lost his own parents.
Bai Youhui asked Yuan Qi curiously, "Seventh Sister, since that giant toad has become a spirit, it must be quite powerful. Who do you think killed it?"
He stared intently at Yuan Qi and repeated his doubts: "I suspect that Huang Xian killed him. What do you think, Seventh Sister?"
Yuan Qi said, "Maybe. But don't even think about inviting me to take a look; I won't go. Master Bai brought this upon himself, so he can't blame anyone else."
“I know, I know. After we got back, my dad talked to my grandfather about it. He also suspected that it was the Weasel Spirit who did it. He told my grandfather that it was fortunate that the Weasel Spirit didn’t come to our house. My grandfather asked me to ask you if our family worships the Weasel Spirit to make amends, so that the Weasel Spirit can’t come to our house to cause trouble, right?”
Yuan Qi smiled and said, "You can try it. If the incense burns continuously without going out, then the Yellow Immortal doesn't object. Otherwise, give up on this idea."
In the afternoon, Yuan Qi was meditating with his eyes half-closed when several women arrived.
Yuan Qi stared at the women and immediately understood. The oldest of them sat down in front of Yuan Qi.
"Young Taoist priest...we have a question for you. You're not a Taoist priest from Wuji Palace, are you?"
Yuan Qi smiled and said, "No, my master is Master Chongxu of Fusang Temple."
The women visibly breathed a sigh of relief, exchanged glances, and the eldest woman spoke first, still very wary.
“Young Taoist priest, we heard that you are very capable and your divination is particularly accurate, so we came to ask you. A few days ago, we brought back the statue of the Three Pure Ones from Wuji Palace to worship. The day before yesterday, when I was worshipping, the statue suddenly exploded.”
She pointed to a scar on her forehead and said, "Look, this is where I was injured when the statue exploded. Not long after, I heard that the Chongyang Hall of Wuji Palace was blown up, and a lot of evil spirits flew out. Do you think what I'm worshipping is an evil spirit? Could we be possessed by evil spirits?"
The other women chimed in, "Yes, yes, young Taoist priest, please check if we have any evil spirits on us. If we do, we'll pay whatever it takes to exorcise them for us."
Yuan Qi looked at the group and calmly reassured them, "You don't have any evil spirits on you, so once the statue explodes, everything will be fine. The evil spirits inside will also be killed by the explosion."
"Oh~" Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
"It's good that there are no evil spirits."
"We're relieved that the evil spirit is dead. But just to be on the safe side, could you give us a talisman or something?"
Yuan Qi casually pulled out several amulets from his cloth bag: "One tael of silver each."
The women didn't haggle and all bought the amulets. They lingered at Yuan Qi's stall for a long time before leaving.
In one afternoon, several groups of people came to Yuan Qi to ask about this matter, and Yuan Qi answered them all patiently. He also sold a lot of peace charms and gained many believers for Fusang Temple.
Upon returning to the Jiang residence, they happened to run into Jiang Junjing, who was also returning from outside. Jiang Juncai looked exhausted.
"What's wrong with my brother?"
Jiang Juncai sighed, "That day, the Emperor was in a bad mood and beat many ministers. He even made me do it myself, and told me to beat them to death. How could they withstand my beating? I held back and the Emperor scolded me. I had no choice but to beat them hard, and as a result, I beat the Vice Minister of Rites to death. Alas..."
"Is His Majesty in a bad mood because of the incident at Wuji Palace?" Yuan Qi asked tentatively.
Jiang Juncai said, "Yes, the Vice Minister of Rites is old and in poor health."
Yuan Qi could tell that he felt somewhat guilty.
He advised him, "It was the Emperor's order. Doesn't the Emperor know the condition of the Vice Minister of Rites? You have done your best, and the Vice Minister of Rites won't blame you. By the way, what was the Emperor's attitude when the incident happened at Wuji Palace?"
At this moment, Jiang Zhengqing also got out of the car and said behind the two of them, "What other attitude could it be? They feel humiliated."
He also advised his son, "It has nothing to do with you. The emperor is just taking this opportunity to punish those officials who are usually two-faced. None of those who were beaten today are innocent."
Yuan Qi repeated, "Father, I want to know His Majesty's attitude toward the Wuji Palace's keeping of evil spirits."
Jiang Zhengqing replied, puzzled, "He was very angry, but he didn't seem angry enough. He just gave the Grand Preceptor a few light criticisms and told him to make immediate corrections."
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