Official Letter from the County Magistrate

Liu Jin solidified the Taiyin gauze robe, and a cold, silvery light slowly flowed across its surface, continuously absorbing moonlight into the fabric. He looked down at the cold light flowing across the robe and suddenly thought of something else.

The fire of the moon is the essence of the moon's radiance and belongs to the yin element. Since the moon's radiance can condense the fire of the moon, then the sun's radiance can naturally condense the fire of the sun.

The problem is that this world is rife with ghosts and demons, and yin prevails over yang. During his stay at the Sanyi Temple, he saw the moonlight pouring down like a waterfall at night, but during the day he rarely felt the pure essence of the sun that was enough to condense a spark.

The sun here seems to shine through an invisible veil; its warmth is intense, but the pure, masculine essence is so thin it's almost nonexistent.

He tried to circulate the Reverse Life Triple Technique at noon, hoping to use himself as a guide to absorb the essence of the sun. However, after absorbing for two hours, he couldn't even condense a spark the size of a needle tip from the sun's essence.

It's not that the method is wrong, it's that the raw materials are insufficient. Even a skilled cook can't cook without rice, and the Fire-Swallowing Taoist had no fire to swallow; no one would believe it if you told them.

But if we can't find a ready-made source of solar fire, perhaps we can find a medium that can attract it.

Just as the Lingzhi Demon Fire comes from plant spirits and the Taiyin Fire comes from the essence of the moon, as long as a sufficiently powerful Yang-attribute medium can be found.

For example, a naturally occurring pure yang spiritual object, or a magical artifact that has been tempered by the sun's essence over many years, could be used as a catalyst to forcibly pull the sun's fire out of the thin sunlight.

However, such a thing is even rarer than the fire of the sun itself in the world of Liaozhai, and it can't be rushed. He kept this idea in mind, planning to inquire about it when he visited Laoshan another day.

Zhou, the head镖师 (bodyguard/escort), kept his word. Early the next morning, he went up the mountain carrying two hands full of gifts.

The freshly baked osmanthus cake from Zuixianlou, the top-quality cinnabar and talisman paper from Wangji Pen and Ink Shop, two bolts of the best plain cotton cloth from the town's cloth shops, and a jar of twenty-year-old aged wine dug out from his own cellar.

Two porters followed behind him, each carrying a bag of white rice, the bags stamped with the words "Zhenyuan".

Zhao Fengnian's eyes widened when he received the gifts, especially the two bolts of cotton cloth, which he needed to make a few Taoist robes to change into.

He carried the items into the storeroom one by one, planning to make Taoist robes from cotton cloth, draw talismans with cinnabar, and have osmanthus cakes for breakfast, while humming a tuneless little tune.

Liu Jin sat on a stone bench in the courtyard, with his cultivation notebook spread out in front of him. He was recording the characteristics and insights into controlling the Taiyin Fire, and he simply nodded slightly to Chief Escort Zhou as a greeting.

Zhou, the head镖师 (bodyguard), sat down at the stone table, thanked Liu Jin again for saving his life the day before, and then took out an official letter from his pocket bearing the official seal of the Jinhua County government and handed it to Liu Jin with both hands.

The official letter stated that there was a long-standing unsolved case in the county, and the county magistrate had long heard of the profound magical powers of the Taoist priest at Sanyi Temple, and earnestly requested the priest's assistance.

Liu Jin did not accept the official letter, but simply gestured for him to continue.

Zhou, the head镖师 (bodyguard/escort), stepped aside. Behind him stood another person, a man in his early thirties, wearing a faded blue long gown, with a thin face and furrowed brows, clearly a minor official who dealt with documents year-round.

He stepped forward, bowed respectfully, and introduced himself as Tao, a clerk in the county government.

Master Tao said that the case occurred in the Jiang family mansion in the west of Jinhua City, which was originally the old residence of the wealthy Minister Jiang.

After the Jiang family fell into ruin, the house remained empty for several years. Later, it was bought and renovated by a salt merchant surnamed Xie. The whole family moved in, but the incident happened less than a month later.

First, the women in the household heard a man reciting poetry in the middle of the night, but when they opened the study door, there was no one there. Then, half of the food in the kitchen disappeared for no reason. The steward thought that the servants had stolen the food, so he beat two maids but still couldn't find out the reason.

Later, it got worse. Family members were experiencing sleep paralysis in the middle of the night, and when they woke up, they couldn't move. There was a pair of dark handprints clearly imprinted on the blanket on their chest.

The salt merchant Xie invited a Taoist priest to perform a ritual. The priest stayed in the house for two nights, but ran away before dawn on the second day, saying that there was more than one ghost in the house, two women, and that they were quite powerful, so he should find someone more skilled.

The Xie family moved back to their old house, leaving it empty again. However, when the neighbors passed by the Jiang residence at night, they could still hear intermittent reading voices coming from inside the courtyard.

Zhao Fengnian was putting his third piece of osmanthus cake into his mouth when he heard "two women" and his chewing speed suddenly slowed down.

When he heard the words "reciting poetry in the study," the whole piece of cake got stuck in his throat. He gulped down half a cup of tea before swallowing, and blurted out, "Isn't this 'Little Xie'?"

Master Tao and Chief Escort Zhou both turned to look at him. Zhao Fengnian realized he had let something slip and quickly tried to cover it up.

"Xiao Xie, what I mean is, this salt merchant surnamed Xie had a lot of trouble as soon as he moved in. This house is incompatible with the surname Xie, so it should be called 'Xiao Xie's House' to be more appropriate."

Master Tao nodded with some skepticism, secretly noting that this young Taoist priest reacted faster than the abbot, but spoke incoherently.

Zhao Fengnian dared not say another word, so he changed the subject, patting his chest to Master Tao and saying that the Sanyi Temple had taken on the case and would handle it when the time came. After Master Tao left, he closed the courtyard gate and returned to the stone table. Liu Jin turned a page in his notebook, looked up at him, and said, "Speak."

Zhao Fengnian plopped down on the stone bench and recounted the entire story of "Xiao Xie" that he remembered.

In the old house of Jiang Bulang, there are two mischievous ghosts. The older female ghost is named Qiu Rong, and the other female ghost is named Xiao Xie. Both of them are young people who died in the house before they died.

The two ghosts are not inherently bad; they are just playful and like to tease the new residents, but they never harm anyone.

The scholar Tao Wangsan rented a room in the Jiang residence to prepare for the imperial examination. At first, two ghosts cut his beard in the middle of the night, put soil in his noodles, and poured cold water on him in the middle of the night. Later, they gradually became familiar with each other. Xiao Xie ground ink for Tao Wangsan and Qiu Rong brewed tea for him. The two ghosts not only did not harm him, but took care of him in every way.

Tao Wangsan taught them to read and write, and the two ghosts learned a lot of poetry and prose from him, and over time they developed feelings for each other.

Later, Tao Wangsan was implicated in a wrongful case and imprisoned. Xiao Xie and Qiu Rong traveled thousands of miles to clear his name and eventually moved the underworld, allowing him to be reborn and become a real human couple with Tao Wangsan.

......

"Xiao Xie! It's actually Xiao Xie!"

"Qiu Rong and Xiao Xie are the most contrasting and adorable ghost couple in Liaozhai, oh no, I mean ghost partners. One is a volatile and domineering older sister, and the other is a soft and sweet girl. They scare people every day but have never killed a single person."

"The part where Zhao Fengnian almost let slip was hilarious. He got osmanthus cake stuck in his throat, and he had to use his quick wit to get it back in place."

"The story of the haunted house in Jiang's residence is quite sweet in the original Liaozhai. Two ghosts serve as a scholar's page and maid, accompanying him as he studies and prepares for the exams. They travel a long distance to rescue him, and in the end, their story is incredibly moving. Liu Jin taking on this job is like going to see a famous scene from Liaozhai live."

"However, he was there for the practical effects of the Taiyin Fire; he was just pretending to watch the show, but really wanted to try out a new technique."

"Speaking of which, he's currently draped in a veil of Yin Fire; won't he freeze to death if he gets close to ghosts?"

"Which would you choose, freezing to death or burning to death? Besides, ghosts are inherently yin in nature, and the Taiyin Fire is the essence of the moon, which is actually more compatible with ghosts in terms of attributes."

......