Chapter 72: Water Pool and Fire Swamp

The days that followed were somewhat mundane.

The foxes at the Fox Immortal Hall gradually began to manifest their spirits, and various shamanesses and spirit mediums also began to "go out into the world" to practice.

If it were a matter of finding lost items or dealing with minor spirit disturbances, the foxes could still handle such trifles; however, when it came to the delicate work of selecting auspicious dates, the foxes did not quite understand.

They could only begin to learn again; every time someone asked, a whole pack of foxes would huddle together, holding an old Almanac and flipping through it.

By now, the Fox Immortal Hall had gathered some Incense Fire; at the very least, those spirit mediums and shamanesses offered a stick of incense daily, though how many of the other commoners truly believed was uncertain. Those who could truly make a wish and then return to fulfill their vow were few—if one in ten did so, that would be considered a very high conversion rate.

As for Niu Congcong, because he had reported the Evil Sect to his great-uncle, the Criminal Official, he had been grounded to study by Niu Dafu upon his return. Having been stimulated by the foxes' learning ability last time, the child had truly made up his mind to focus on his studies for a period.

He did possess some magic, so if one truly wanted to control him, it would actually be impossible.

The County Commandant, Chen, eventually went up the mountain and arrested a group of Daoists and nuns, but before he could interrogate anything out of them, pressure from above arrived, ordering him to release everyone. At the same time, because he had disobeyed orders and sealed the mountain on his own authority, he was severely lectured.

As for the matter of the Longevity Sect, it seemed to have vanished without a trace once more.

……

"Right, right, right! Install this large vat, install that large vat next to it, and set that small stone-carved bridge in the middle for me."

In the backyard, two large pits had already been dug and the large vats buried; these were large-bellied pottery vats, each worth two taels of silver, making four taels for the pair. These vats were as large as those kept in temples for storing water to fight fires, half a person tall, and could hold about one cubic meter of water.

At this moment, the part exposed above ground was only three point six inches, and the positions of the two vats resembled a giant Supreme Ultimate, with the "True Yin and True Yin" positions in the center.

A bridge carved from stone spanned the yin and yang, resting upon them.

This bridge was named the "Immortal-Ascending Bridge."

Xu Jia's parents were both watching; Xu Jia had spent extra money specifically for this matter over the past few days, causing the two of them no small amount of heartache.

"What is the use of this?"

Xu Jia explained: "This is called Yin-Yang Mutual Aid. One vat is called the Supreme Yin Jade Liquid Pool, and one is called the Sun True Fire Swamp; they are used to assist in cultivation. When the time comes, firewood must be laid in the Fire Swamp vat and ignited by the light of the sun, while in the Jade Liquid vat, one must collect half well water and half rainwater to serve as this Heaven-Earth Dew."

"As for what it is used for, it is for refining and crossing over souls; later, when people enter this, they must be careful not to fall into the vats."

Xu Jia's parents seemed to have a realization: "Then who are you refining? Who are you crossing over?"

"It is a hanged ghost." Xu Jia set their minds at ease: "Didn't the servants in the residence say it was haunted before? It is just such a Condolence Guest spirit, and it has already been subdued."

Xu Father did not suspect anything further, only asking: "The guest-welcoming Daoist of Shanju Guan has been murdered; it is said to be the work of an Evil Sect. The little acolyte who came to deliver the letter last time did not even know the guest-welcoming Daoist had been harmed. I went to the county office yesterday to discuss essays with the County Magistrate, and the County Magistrate asked about you; after all, your death and Return to Soul were too bizarre."

Xu Jia gave a hum: "What did the County Magistrate say?"

"He wants to see you; it just so happens I said you intend to take the County Examination to become a scholar and are studying hard."

"I am asking about your essays and learning, Father, what did the County Magistrate say?" Xu Jia was not afraid of the County Magistrate investigating his Return to Soul; the City God coming to investigate would be more like it.

"That naturally showed great improvement. The County Magistrate even gifted me a collection of essays, saying my writing was too mechanical, as if I had built a frame first and then added things on top. So he gifted me a collection of essays by famous masters through the ages, saying that if I read through them, the literary talent would naturally radiate out and cover the mechanical quality."

Xu Jia clicked his tongue: "Is this County Magistrate a master of the literary world? To actually say your essays have a mechanical quality—isn't he talking about me? I must take a look, what kind of essays are they?"

Xu Father almost rolled his eyes; you have high seniority, huh? What do you mean 'talking about me is talking about you'? It's as if 'if a father does not teach, it is the son's fault.' However, he still said: "Those essays are indeed full of sentiment; I cannot write like them no matter what. Some are almost to the point of kneeling and worshipping."

Xu Jia was not in a hurry to refine and cross over the Soul; it required a good day, and there were not many good days in a year. Xu Jia calculated the next good day, which happened to correspond to the Summer Solstice.

At this time, he called people to install the large vats and the stone bridge, then walked to the study, wanting to see what kind of essays they were, and how they compared to the eight great prose masters of the Tang and Song dynasties from his previous life. However, for the County Magistrate to be willing to gift a book to Xu Father showed that in the Magistrate's view, although Xu Father's mechanical quality was heavy, there was still hope for him to pass the provincial examination.

Seeing the two chatting and ending up on the topic of essays, Xu Mu recalled the past; father and son were always like this, only back then it was Xu Father educating Xu Jia, and now the order was reversed.

But the more they interacted like this, the more natural it became, much more relaxed and intimate...

Xu Mu sighed and put the matter of finding a matchmaker to arrange a marriage back on the agenda.

Xu Jia had already picked up Gui Linggao, who was gnawing on ink and paper. Having consumed Literary Qi and drunk ink, Gui Linggao had turned much darker, and the patterns on the tortoise shell were faintly manifesting characters.

Xu Jia did not investigate too much; he was not Fuxi and could not comprehend anything from it.

He just picked up the book of essays and read, seeing "Eight Generations of Prose" written on it.

The preface stated that since a certain dynasty, prose had begun to decline, so the editor chose ancient prose from before the eight generations to compile into a volume, hoping later generations would inherit from their predecessors and carry it forward.

An otherworld version of the "Ancient Prose Movement."

Xu Jia flipped through it; from the Chu and Yu eras to the end of Wu and Yue, they were all beautiful essays of Jiangnan, a model of the southward shift of the literary world's style. After all, the four dynasties all originated in the southern regions, with few from the north, so the literary lineage was in the south, lacking some grandeur but possessing more skill in the subtle details.

Looking closely at a few, they were indeed not inferior to the prose of the eight great masters of the Tang and Song dynasties from his previous life, and were much fresher than the dry imperial examination essays.

"Reading these essays can relieve fatigue." Xu Jia felt his wisdom increase slightly and spoke.

Xu Father agreed wholeheartedly: "It is a pity the imperial examination does not test this, though it is also fortunate that it does not."

Xu Jia originally did not want to plagiarize, but now thinking about it, as long as he did not sign his own name, it would not count as plagiarism, so he said: "I previously said 'the learned are teachers,' Father, do you know whose essays those are?"

"They are also by a great prose master, but he has never been famous. I will write them for you."

Having said that, Xu Jia wrote down the three essays: "Discourse on Teachers," "Discourse on Horses," and "Discourse on Dragons."

"Eh?" Xu Father initially thought Xu Jia was making up allusions and fabricating predecessors, but seeing these three essays, he absolutely did not believe they were written by his own son.

"Who is this master Han Yu?"

"To be able to write such essays, he shouldn't be nameless in history, right?"

Xu Jia laughed: "Overseas there are the Great Nine Continents, among which is a great dynasty, the Tang Dynasty. These were written by a Prime Minister of the Tang Dynasty. My previous life's reincarnation was in the overseas Nine Continents. It is normal that you haven't heard of him; after all, you only know of the lands within the seas, how could you know of overseas affairs? Only Immortal figures can roam the four seas and recognize such masters."

Xu Father was silent, already having been fooled by Xu Jia.

He sighed in the end and said: "My life is limited, but the sea of learning is boundless."

(End of chapter)