Chapter 83: Chong Technique

Niu Congcong received his instructions and went to find people to weave the grass rope net.

Weaving grass rope is not difficult, but ordinary people are accustomed to using their right hands and not their left; this is "contrary to nature." Generally speaking, in some places, using the left hand to twist grass rope is only done during funerals, when wearing mourning hemp and filial piety garments tied around the waist.

The people Niu Congcong found were all old ladies; for every three feet woven, they were given one wen. These old ladies were all skilled workers, and although twisting rope with the left hand was not as efficient as the right, they soon became familiar with it.

Chatting about local gossip while twisting the grass rope, they had piled up a heap in less than an hour. Each person collected twenty or thirty wen in copper coins and left happily.

Xu Jia then began to teach Xiaopangdun how to weave the net and tie the knots.

It is rumored that Fuxi invented the fishing net after observing a spider weaving its web, and the spider web is very similar to the Eight Trigrams Diagram. In ancient times, there was also a tradition of recording events by tying knots, but minor matters were not recorded; it was basically used to record divination and celestial phenomena, hence the practice of "tying knots for trigrams."

The knot Xu Jia was tying was the Eight Trigrams knot. First, he set the Eight Trigrams edges, then fixed the center, and struck the yin-yang core knot. Then, expanding outward from the yin-yang knot, he determined each one starting from the Qian trigram. There were six layers, corresponding to the line phases, and finally, it was woven into a "Qiankun Eight Trigrams Net."

At the eight corners of this net, stones were used as weights. At each knot, red thread was used to hang the yang lines, suspended with rooster tail feathers, and black thread was used to hang the yin lines, suspended with hen tail feathers.

It looked much more gaudy this way and was not as good-looking as before, but the Eight Trigrams gather Qi, and this net gathered the Qi of the chickens, so it would not be guarded against by the chicken demon.

As for the chicken cage, they were everywhere at the old ladies' homes. He casually chose a dome-shaped cage, and Xu Jia opened an altar to draw a talisman. This talisman was the "Lushan Spirit-Capturing Talisman," used in conjunction with the Spirit-Capturing Curse. This "spirit" refers to "evil spirit," not the literal meaning.

Having made these preparations, he set off directly for Qingfeng Pavilion.

The ancients set up a pavilion every ten li for travelers to rest. A song testifies: "Outside the long pavilion, beside the ancient road, fragrant grass reaches the sky."

Qingfeng Pavilion was located on the official road fifteen li outside the city walls of Yushan County, but no pavilion chief had been appointed to manage road conditions or apprehend bandits.

This chicken demon had gathered a flock of wild chickens and had a group of birds under its command. Even if it could not defeat people, it could still drive them to carry out "airstrikes."

Previously, local gentry had gathered Kuaikuai and martial arts school disciples to come and catch it, but they ended up being drenched in bird droppings. Even travelers who were just passing through and not stopping were attacked for no reason.

When Xu Jia arrived outside Qingfeng Pavilion, Hu Jinhua had already arrived with a pack of foxes. Besides Hu Duxiu, Hu Butang, and Hu Delu, seven or eight large foxes from the Back Mountain had also come. All of them had green light in their eyes, staring at that pavilion.

Hu Jinhua bowed respectfully to Xu Jia: "Master Xu, when shall we make our move?"

Xu Jia saw that these foxes now all had sleek, oily fur, much better than before; it seemed they had been living quite well recently.

"Among the twelve hours, the chicken is located at the You Hour. They rest at this time, basically at sunset and dusk. At this time, the birds return to the forest, but this chicken demon is not an ordinary chicken, so it is hard to say if it will break its habits."

"We will act at the You Hour, but let us set up the magic array first."

The place Xu Jia had his eye on was a bamboo forest beside Qingfeng Pavilion. The bamboo forest was a yin location, and given the environment of the Jiangnan West Circuit, it was normal for poisonous snakes and insects to breed there.

Picking up the Wind Calming Pill, Xu Jia entered the bamboo forest. At the same time, with a cinnabar brush in his hand, he used himself as the center to radiate an Eight Trigrams disk in all four directions, corresponding to the Purple Star above and the Twenty-Eight Mansions around him to calculate the orientation.

Then, he drew Talismans directly onto the bamboo he found.

This array was nothing else but a modified version of the "Five-Poison Killing and Plague-Avoiding Talisman," originating from the Nanyang "Descending Head Technique," which had become the "Five-Poison Gathering and Plague-Dispersing Talisman."

Nanyang Descending Head masters like to capture poisonous insects to refine Descending Head, using various magic arts to attract wild poisonous insects into this "poison basin," making them kill each other to produce "Chong Qi," which is used to refine Descending Head and Gu Technique.

Most of the Nanyang methods were brought over from Min. Among the methods in Min, besides the Lushan Sect being a major school, there was actually a "Chong Sect," which later became quite prevalent in places like Southern Yunnan and Burma. Xu Jia had studied these heterodox paths extensively because orthodox methods were often ineffective, while evil methods were very efficacious.

Orthodox methods might have been efficacious in the past, but the conditions for efficacy were harsh; you had to be recognized by the Ancestor above, possess a proper Register and official position, and observe precepts or a whole host of prerequisites. But evil methods could basically be used as soon as they were learned; out of ten attempts, seven or eight would be efficacious.

After setting up the Chong Technique, Xu Jia took out the centipede-pearl Wind Calming Pill, placed it in a small Incense Burner, and lit Mugwort inside.

Mugwort is originally used to repel insects, but it can also serve as a primer to amplify the efficacy of the Wind Calming Pill.

Mugwort smoke can follow the flow of Qi. When Feng Shui masters look for auspicious Feng Shui spots, they light Mugwort smoke to find the Feng Shui eye.

Now, Xu Jia was burning smoke to follow the Qi, making it flow into the caves of various poisonous insects.

Having arranged these things, Xu Jia finally exited the bamboo forest.

Hu Jinhua was already very wary of this bamboo forest: "Master Xu, what kind of magic is this? Why does it feel so full of evil energy?"

"This is an Evil Art, so naturally it is full of evil energy. However, if you keep righteous thoughts in your heart, you will not fear the evil Qi clouding your mind. If you want to learn it, you will have to wait a while longer."

Soon, the bamboo forest became restless. First, several green snakes began to writhe, then spiders of all sizes crawled about, then toads from underground holes crawled out, emitting croaks. Centipedes crawled out from the withered branches and leaves, heading toward the place where Xu Jia had placed the Incense Burner.

The centipede-pearl radiated a fatal attraction.

Xu Jia instructed: "Be careful of living people wandering into it. Hu Jinhua, scatter urine and cast an Illusion Technique on the three sides of the bamboo forest, and have the little foxes guard the remaining side."

"Hui Zhuo, when the You Hour arrives, you shake the rattle-drum and imitate the sound of a heartbeat."

Hui Zhuo nodded. Although there were no convenient timekeeping tools, he could estimate it quite accurately.

Xu Jia himself entered the bamboo forest alone again to continue performing the "Chong Technique."

Otherwise, once the Mugwort smoke burned out, the insects would stop their agitation.

Inside the bamboo forest, the Mugwort smoke gradually permeated with Chong Qi, forming a poisonous "Chong Miasma," and the poisonous insects became increasingly active.

Waiting for the You Hour to arrive, at dusk, yin energy permeated; it was the time for demons and ghosts to be active, shifting from the time of humans.

Congcong's rattle-drum began to shake. Because Xu Jia requested that it imitate the sound of a heartbeat, the drumbeat was very rhythmic, but it made people feel flustered.

"Dong dong!" "Dong dong!"

The wild chickens at Qingfeng Pavilion were already about to rest, but the drum sound made it difficult for them to sleep. The chicken demon was still very clear-headed at this time. Suddenly, a gust of wind blew, and a burst of fragrance wafted over, making its heart itch unbearably.

But it was still very cautious and did not set out personally, instead dispatching some bird subordinates to investigate.

(End of chapter)