"Do you know what place this is?"
The clerk was invited into the room, and Wang Daoxuan pointed to the record and asked.
At this ti, it was already the late hours of the night. The clerk had been busy for several days from before dawn until now, and had not closed his eyes, so he was already very sleepy.
Hearing Wang Daoxuan's question, he pretended to look down and check, but didn't actually see anything clearly, and replied with drooping eyes, "Replying to the Daoist, I am not sure."
"Hmph!"
Beside him, Lv San was imdiately displeased, "You didn't even look, are you toying with us?"
The appearance could fool ordinary people, but not a magician who had awakened their divine skills.
"Uh..."
The clerk's mind suddenly cleared a bit, but he still gave a bitter smile, clasped his fists, and said, "Gentlen, I'm just a small clerk, here to help run errands and do odd jobs. I really don't know the affairs of the governnt."
While speaking, he glanced at the to again and said, "I may not know about this matter, but I recognize this book. No matter what place is recorded in it, it's likely long disappeared."
"Oh, how so?" Wang Daoxuan was sowhat curious.
The clerk quickly explained, "This is the Capital, the best place under heaven. If evil spirits were to fester here, causing public resentnt, wouldn't it be a joke?"
"Therefore, whether it's the Captain Bureau or the Law Enforcent Hall, they are all very attentive. Whenever they hear about unruly gatherings, the Captain Bureau will investigate. During the holidays or on the first and fifteenth of each month, the City God Temple will also send out soldiers to patrol around the Capital."
"Books like 'Two Song Geography Demonic Strange Records,' 'Collection of Evil Sacrificial Temples Along the Cao River,' 'Jin Dynasty Capital Demons and Strange Records,' and 'Imperial City Roots Old Tales,' serve as references for past court investigations."
"As long as it's near the Capital, basically, it's all been checked thoroughly."
"Like this 'Collection of Evil Sacrificial Temples Along the Cao River' you're reading, it's about incidents from the Great Xing Period of the previous dynasty, and the location was north of the ancient ferry at the Huitong River. Tis have changed, and it's now a populated area."
"If you gentlen were to go there, you're likely not to find anything."
"That's not right!"
Wang Daoxuan remarked curiously, "If it had been checked before, where did Fatty Lin get the beast-shaped Nuo mask from?"
The clerk said helplessly, "Those were matters of the previous dynasty. Law Enforcent Hall personnel ca from all over the Four Seas. The decrees were not strictly enforced at the ti, so it might have been leaked out then."
Hearing this, Wang Daoxuan and his companions looked at each other.
Though the clerk was slippery, his words were not without reason.
"No rush."
Wang Daoxuan contemplated, "We can continue to deduce."
"If that item had leaked out from the previous dynasty, and Fatty Lin obtained it by accident, he must have discovered so clue but couldn't find it himself, so he sought Kong Shangzhao for help."
"If it were just an ordinary treasure, Kong Shangzhao wouldn't take the risk, and Kuai Dayou, who has experienced much, wouldn't follow them for a trivial matter. This item must intrigue the three of them!"
"Scholar Kong is good at unraveling clues, and the clue must still be in these books..."
With that, they continued searching through the books.
This ti, they searched purposefully, specifically looking for records that seed to pertain to treasures related to Nuo masks, and finally had a discovery.
"Found it!"
Lv San picked up the 'Jin Dynasty Capital Demons and Strange Records' and pointed to a page, "Daoist, look, is it this?"
Upon hearing this, Wang Daoxuan took it over and examined it closely.
The capital was once the Great Jin Zhongdu.
At that ti, besides the Jin people, many foreigners gathered there, and this 'Jin Dynasty Capital Demons and Strange Records' recorded many bizarre customs not included in official history.
Though mostly absurd, it holds reference value.
Under the flickering lamplight, on a particularly dark yellow page with edges that seed water-stained, Wang Daoxuan saw a hair-raising illustration and description:
"Nuoshen Tomb, excavated at the south suburb of Zhongdu where earth veins intersect, is not for a godly rite, but to imprison the head of the ancient spirit 'Xiao Sheng.' Its eye can 'pierce the Nine Netherworld' and 'lead to the Yellow Springs'... A secret envoy of the Jin court 'Opens the Eye of All,' using ancient thods to create 'Soul Suppressing Living Terracotta Warriors,' sealing its orifices, locking the Earth Vein Evil Eye, forbidding its power of communication with the Netherworld... Every Yin year and Yin month, it must be fed with blood to draw on its power, but not fully awaken it... Yet it ultimately backfired, the ground collapsed and the temple was destroyed, the living terracotta warriors all turned into stone zombies... Later generations avoided it, calling it the 'Ghost Eye Pit'..."
"The State Preceptor obtained wood from Taodu Mountain, and refined a Prison Suppressing Stake to suppress it!"
The head of 'Xiao Sheng' closely resembled the beast-shaped Nuo mask acquired by Fatty Lin.
"It's wood from Taodu Mountain, I understand now…"
Wang Daoxuan suddenly realized, his eyes full of incredulity.
Seeing the puzzled looks of everyone, he explained with a complex expression, "Brother Yan and I once collected and compiled legends about the Netherworld of ancient tis."
"The earliest record cos from 'The Book of Docunts: Canon of Yao,' called Youdu, because when the sun travels there, it sinks into the earth, and all becos dark, hence it's called Youdu."
"Back then, it was said that Youdu was ruled by an avatar of Houtu or the Earth Earl, who had a terrifying appearance, wielding nine ropes, a head with sharp horns, a humpy back with blood-covered hands, a tiger's head on a bull's body, and three eyes, pursuing human souls to eat."
"Youdu was fearso, and wandering souls and ghosts were unwilling to go there, drifting all around. These wandering souls were managed by Shen Shu and Yu Lei on Taodu Mountain."
"Taodu Mountain has giant peach trees, spanning three thousand li. Atop stands a golden rooster, crowing as the sun rises. At that mont, the night-wandering spirits return in droves, lining up beneath the ghost gate of the base of the tree. Shen Shu and Yu Lei, the two gods, oversee them, pulling aside and binding the evil ones with ropes of reed, feeding them to hungry tigers. Thus, all ghosts were fearful and dared not violate the prohibition..."
Lv San was puzzled, "Isn't this stuff mythological legends?"
Wang Daoxuan shook his head and said, "Myths and history are always interconnected in so ways."
"It's said that during the Han Dynasty, there was a Taodu Mountain in Lu; I don't know if it's true or false, but the Jin Country State Preceptor got a piece of it, and refined it into a Magic Artifact to suppress the head of the ancient spirit Xiao Sheng."
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