Pawn Crossing the River

Qi Xuansu left Taiqing Square and walked all the way back to Haichanfang. As soon as he entered Beifangmen, he met his neighbor Cui Daogu.

Qi Xuansu put away his thoughts and put on a smile: "Aunt Cui."

"Xiao Qi." Taoist Cui was startled when she saw Qi Xuansu, "Just in time, someone from Fangsi came to see you just now and said that someone sent you something and asked you to pick it up. You happened to be not at home, so you asked me Send a message."

Qi Xuansu was a little surprised: "Aunt Cui is here."

"You're welcome, we're all neighbors." Taoist Cui didn't show too much politeness to Qi Xuansu, hailed an ox cart and hurried away.

Qi Xuansu changed direction and walked towards Fangsi.

Yujing City has a city-by-city pattern, but it does not implement a city-by-city system. There is no curfew or access control. Moreover, the twenty-four squares in Yujing are huge, equivalent to the 108 squares in the ancient city.

Daomen set up twenty-four divisions in each of the twenty-four divisions. Their functions were somewhat similar to the five-city military and horse divisions in the imperial capital. They were responsible for patrolling the streets and keeping vigil, clearing streets and ditches, and banning fires.

As the development progressed, Fangsi's powers and responsibilities became larger and larger. Fangsi was also responsible for neighborhood conflicts, mediating disputes, issuing certificates, etc. At the same time, Fangsi also had some functions of a post station. All letters and packages would be sent to Daomen. The letters sent to the corresponding Fangsi, who will then send someone to notify them to collect them.

Qi Xuansu came to Fangsi. It was a courtyard with two entrances. After passing the concierge, the first room was where the packages were received. It was divided into two rooms, inside and outside. There was a table and a chair in the outside room, and a female crown was sitting behind the table. , was holding a storybook novel with colorful illustrations and was so absorbed in reading it that he didn't realize Qi Xuansu came in.

Qi Xuansu glanced at it. The illustration in the book showed a handsome young man and a rich lady, with willows Yiyi and Xiaxi gurgling. They must be talented and beautiful.

Qi Xuansu waited for a while and saw that the female crown showed no intention of coming back to her senses, so he had no choice but to reach out and tap on the table.

Only then did Nu Guan come back to her senses. After looking up and seeing Qi Xuansu, she quickly put the bookmark away, then closed the storybook in her hand and asked, "This fellow Taoist..."

Qi Xuansu said: "Get the object, Qi Xuansu."

"Wait a moment." Nu Guan stood up and went to the inner room. After a while, she brought a package the size of a jewelry box, wrapped in oil paper and sealed with fire paint.

The so-called fire paint is to melt the paint stick solidified on a copper stick first on the fire, paste it to seal it, and then stamp it to indicate that the recipient will open it.

Nu Guan put the package on the table and said, "Please show me the ultimatum, fellow Taoist, to prevent anyone from pretending to claim it."

Qi Xuansu followed his instructions and took out his own ultimatum and handed it to Nv Guan. After checking that it was correct, Nv Guan handed the ultimatum and the package to Qi Xuansu.

Qi Xuansu thanked him and left Fangsi with the package.

The female crown didn't pay attention to this small episode and continued to sink into the world of the storybook.

After Qi Xuansu returned home, he went straight to the study and took a look at the name on the paint. There was only the word "Ah Qi" and he couldn't help laughing.

He had thought about it before, and the only person who would mail the package to him was Qiniang, and the word "Ah Qi" confirmed his guess.

It's just that the name "Ah Qi" has a very girlish temperament, which makes Qi Xuansu sigh that time is not forgiving, and Ah Qi has finally become Qiniang.

Qi Xuansu tore off the oil paper from the package. It was really a jewelry box with a small lock on it.

This kind of lock has no key and looks like a horizontal cylinder. It is divided into four parts. Each part can be rotated up and down. It has nine characters, for a total of thirty-six characters. You must guess all four words correctly to unlock the door. If you miss three times, the mechanism of the box will be triggered and everything in the box will be destroyed.

Qi Xuansu pondered for a moment, and based on his understanding of Qiniang, he turned out the four words "Tian", "Xia", "Tai" and "Ping" in sequence, which were the inscriptions on the Taiping coin.

A soft sound and no movement, which means that the first opportunity has been used.

Qi Xuansu was slightly surprised, and then turned out the four words "Cheng", "Ping", "Wu" and "Worry", which were the inscriptions of Wuyou Qian.

Still not right.

Qi Xuansu became a little nervous. After thinking for a long time, he slowly turned out the four words "ping", "an", "ru" and "yi", which were the inscriptions on the Ruyi money.

Just a "click" sound was heard and the lock opened.

The lid of the box opened by itself, and the box was divided into two layers. A letter was placed on the first layer. The envelope was written in regular script: "Tian Yuan personally opened it" and was signed "Qiniang".

Qi Xuansu picked up the envelope and found that the seal was not sealed with fire paint, so he took out more than ten pages of letterhead.

A handsome stroke of regular script makes it easy for people to think of a girl with eyes like autumn water and cold stars, rather than the murderous Qiniang.

Qiniang mainly said three things in the letter. The first thing was the follow-up in Fengtai County. After Qiniang reported the matter to the Qingping Association, the Qingping Association decided to convert Qi Xuansu from a peripheral member to a full member. Cipai His name is still "Jincuo Dao", he has 600 meritorious deeds, and he uses the pseudonym Wei Wugui.

The other two incidents are related to Qi Xuansu's permanent appointment.

The first is the issue of remuneration after becoming a full-time official. The "Mother and Child Talisman" will be issued once a year instead of once a month. Every month, there will also be ten yuan of worry-free money, a Blood Dragon Pill, and a Ziyang Pill. From September Official distribution begins.

Then Qi Xuansu also has the qualification to participate in the second-class assembly of Qingpinghui. According to Qiniang’s introduction, the Qingpinghui is not as hierarchical as the Taoist sect. There are only four levels: A, B, C and D. Ding is a peripheral member, C is a formal member, and B is a formal member. They are elite members, and Class A is the core member.

Now Qi Xuansu is in the third class, but Qiniang is in the second class. Qi Xuansu is classified under the name of Qiniang and can participate in the second class gatherings.

Only then did Qi Xuansu know that there were two types of members within the Qingping Society, one was an independent member who voluntarily joined the Qingping Society, and the other was a vassal member who was forced to join the Qingping Society for various reasons.

Independent members can only enjoy the treatment corresponding to their own level, but they can make their own decisions in everything. Qi Xuansu is a vassal member, subordinate to Qiniang. The advantage is that he can enjoy some of Qiniang's benefits, such as participating in second-class gatherings, and Qiniang will also deal with the aftermath for him without charging any fees. The disadvantage is that he loses some of his autonomy, such as choosing When it comes to errands, Qiniang has the full say.

Qi Xuansu had no objection to this. He had been here for so many years and there was nothing wrong with it.

As for how to participate in the gathering, a ritual spell needs to be prepared. Qiniang specially sent the materials required for the spell, related usage, and bill details. The fee was deducted from the coffin book that Qi Xuansu kept with Qiniang. Now there is less than one left. Worry-free money.

Qi Xuansu put down the letter and opened the second layer of the box.

The second layer was several times deeper than the first layer. There were two candles, a box of incense, a small vermilion gourd, a stack of blank talisman paper, a box of cinnabar, a vermilion pen, and a fish talisman.

The fish talisman is Qi Xuansu's identity certificate. It was made by Qingping Association using secret methods and is unique. According to the color, it is divided into "jade white", "golden purple", "silver scarlet" and "bronze green". Qi Xuansu's fish talisman is It is silver in color, with the words "gold staggered knife" engraved on it.

In addition, the fish charm also has two uses, one is the "key" to enter the gathering, and the other is used as a sumeru object.

The so-called Sumeru object can be put into a mustard seed and taken out of thin air. According to the appearance, the size of the universe contained in it varies. The inner world of this silver fish talisman is extremely small. It is probably no different from the jewelry box sent by Qiniang. It can only be used to store materials used in ritual spells.

As for how to enter the gathering, you have to use ritual spells.

Qi Xuansu waited patiently until midnight, and then began to prepare the spell according to the method given by Qiniang in the letter.

First, pour a cup of imitation candle dragon blood from the vermilion gourd. Zhulong is an ancient mountain god. He sees it as day, looks down as night, blows it as winter, and calls it as summer. Its blood naturally has extremely magical effects. It’s just that Zhulong is no longer in the world, and its blood is nowhere to be found. Later, Daomen developed imitation Zhulong blood. Although the effectiveness is only 10% of the original product, the price is still extremely expensive, equivalent to gold on the black market.

Qi Xuansu drew a picture of Pisces on the ground using imitation candle dragon blood, then placed black and white candles at the two points of the Pisces and lit them.

These two candles are not ordinary. The black candle is made of the blood fat of Lili, and the white candle is made of the blood fat of Philip.

Lili looks like a pig, with chicken feet on its feet. It barks like a dog. It is good at escaping from the ground. Wherever it passes, the ground rises and falls.

Feifei looks like a raccoon dog, with mane hair and a white tail. Raising it can relieve people's worries.

Both are rare and exotic beasts.

There is also incense stick, which is equally good and is the famous "reviving incense". Legend has it that there is a soul-returning tree in Kunlun Wonderland, which looks like maple or cypress. Its flowers and leaves smell fragrant for hundreds of miles. Pick its roots and boil them in a cauldron to extract the juice. After refining it like lacquer, you can get the soul-returning fragrance. The aroma can be smelled for hundreds of miles, and the dead body is on the ground. It is alive after smelling the scent, so it is called "returning to the soul".

The "soul-returning incense" Qiniang sent to Qi Xuansu did not have such medicinal power. It could only warm and nourish the soul, but it was also extremely expensive. A stick of incense cost a worry-free money.

Hundreds of years ago, these three were extremely rare things that were marketable and priceless. However, a big change happened hundreds of years ago, and many exotic medicinal materials that had been extinct reappeared in the world along with the ancient immortals.

The Taoist sect has implemented controls on this. Strictly speaking, these materials can only be produced by the Taoist sect, but now they appear in the hands of the Qingpinghui. Zhang Yuelu said that behind many secret societies there are secret support from Taoist sect big shots, which is true.

Qi Xuansu placed the fish talisman in the center of the Pisces formation, and then used a red pen dipped in cinnabar to draw the talisman on the blank talisman paper according to the pattern given by Qiniang.

The ink pen is worth five worry-free coins. The pen holder is made of mottled bamboo with stars and black spots in the green. The tip of the pen is red and translucent. It is made of the tail hair of a weathered weasel. It can be used to draw talismans and get twice the result with half the effort.

Qi Xuansu finished the painting in one go and painted two pictures in a row.

Finally, Qi Xuansu took the incense burner, lit a stick of incense, and burned the two drawn talisman papers on the black and white candles respectively.

After doing all this, Qi Xuansu sat quietly with his eyes closed, and soon felt an overwhelming fatigue coming over him.

The candle was suddenly extinguished, and the blood stains on the ground gradually faded away, leaving only the diffuse smoke and the red dots of the incense head, flickering in and out of darkness.

Qi Xuansu kept sitting cross-legged, with a calm face, steady breathing, and fell into a deep sleep.