Chapter 31 Searching for the Spoils

Shi Xuan packed the incense, candles, small banners, cloth, tokens, the banners, flagpoles and fragments of the black banner into his bag one by one. He planned to explore the cave of the two-headed tiger after resting and recovering his energy. After the search was completed, he would see if there were any methods and materials to repair the magic weapon.

After collecting the items, Shi Xuan found that the dark clouds that filled the sky and made the whole manor dark had disappeared. The bright moon was like a wheel, casting a cold light. The yard after the battle seemed like a dream, and the previous danger seemed to be an illusion.

Bathed in the bright moonlight, Shi Xuan recalled that the dark clouds just now were indeed very strange. Now thinking about it, it was probably caused by the formation, but it was not aggressive.

When he came to his senses, he saw that the two people in the pit had come out, one holding a few pieces of meat. Seeing Shi Xuan looking over, Ding Mingde said with some regret: "Master, I didn't expect that although this monster looks big, there is only so much left after removing the completely charred part."

Shi Xuan smiled and nodded, thinking that with such a powerful lightning, there are still so many pieces of meat that are not completely charred. It can only be said that the two-headed tiger is good enough. Shi Xuan himself did not think that there would be any remaining tiger meat at the beginning, but just hoped to pick up a few bones. Tiger bone soup and tiger bone wine are all good things, especially for a tiger spirit that has lived for who knows how many years, the effect may be better.

"Master, I don't have much meat here, but I think tiger bones are good things, so I picked up a few bones that are not completely rotten." Unexpectedly, Yan Jujian and Shi Xuan have the same opinion.

"Not bad, not bad. The tiger meat itself is a little burnt. Let's roast it and eat it tomorrow. Use half of the tiger bones to make soup, and you two can take the other half back to soak in wine. It is very effective in strengthening the body and curing rheumatism and other diseases. Oh, by the way, let's catch a few animals tomorrow to test it. This tiger has become a spirit, so the meat may be poisonous." Shi Xuan showed his nature as a foodie very pertinently.

Yan Jujian entered the room and tore off half of the gauze curtain. Then the three of them put the meat and bones in one by one. Ding Mingde put it last and asked the two: "Master, this piece of meat is not bad. It's not burnt at all. But where is it from?" He showed the remaining piece of meat in his hand to the two.

"Ha, this is a good thing, although only half is left. You haven't even heard of tiger whip?" Shi Xuan couldn't help laughing when he saw this half of the thing, and Yan Jujian also laughed twice.

Ding Mingde made a small mistake, so he quickly wrapped up the gauze curtain, and took a bunch of things including tiger meat, tiger bones, and tiger penis into the room and put them away. The three of them didn't think that it was midsummer, and the meat would probably go bad tomorrow. They all assumed that the meat of such a fierce tiger spirit would go bad for at least several days.

After cleaning up, Shi Xuan and the two piled the corpses of the ghosts outside the house and in the room, as well as the charred parts of the tiger spirit, in the middle of the yard, and Shi Xuan used the fire-burning spell to ignite and burn them. Because Shi Xuan planned to wait until tomorrow morning to recover his energy before searching the manor, he didn't want to smell the rotten smell all night.

"Although the tiger spirit has been killed, there may still be some small ghosts wandering around. You two can sleep in my house tonight. If there is an accident, I can take care of you two." After finishing the work, Shi Xuan called the two to his house.

Yan Jujian understood that Shi Xuan was right. The martial arts master who was a little unruly and arrogant before entering the manor now obeyed Shi Xuan's words: "Master, you are right. Then I, I will go get the quilt and just lie on the ground."

"Me too, me too." Ding Mingde felt that it was good to have the protection of the master, and he didn't expect to sleep on the bed.

"Okay, we are all in trouble, so don't call me master. You can call me Brother Ziang, Brother Shi, or Taoist priest. Also, Brother Mingde, you can sleep on the bed later. I and Brother Yan still need to meditate and circulate qi, so we don't need the bed." Shi Xuan looked at Yan Jujian.

"Well, we still have to search the manor tomorrow. I and the master... Brother Shi still need to meditate and circulate qi to recover our energy. After all, there may be some unknown dangers in the manor." Yan Jujian was actually a little curious. Does the master also need to meditate and circulate qi like he practices martial arts? Is this the case for all Taoists?

After several refusals, Ding Mingde saw that the two men were determined and had to go to bed to rest. Shi Xuan asked Yan Jujian to meditate on the chair near the inside, and he moved a chair to sit beside the bed.

After sorting out the talismans and taking emergency measures, Shi Xuan began to sit cross-legged with his five hearts facing the sky. After all, he was still in the manor and could not be careless. Shi Xuan did not want to capsize in the gutter.

After a small number of cycles of Qi circulation, Shi Xuan slowly gathered his spirit and entered the state of visualization. He thought that he would be very tired after the battle and would enter the state of visualization slowly, but he did not expect that this time he entered the state of visualization more easily than before, and even when he used the secret method to restrain his thoughts, it was easier than usual.

When visualizing the breeze and the bright moon, Shi Xuan's soul cultivation, which had a small bottleneck, began to strengthen again. After the whole visualization, the whole person was refreshed, just like taking a hot spring bath after being tired.

Shi Xuan guessed that it was probably at the last moment of life and death that he was able to suppress the thought of fear and cast the spell calmly, which allowed him to further control his soul, thereby improving his soul realm, so there were so many surprises when he was doing visualization.

The "Bao Lu" explained at the beginning that the core of this set of exercises is: control, or also called control. Control of one's own body, control of one's own internal energy, control of one's own soul, and control of one's own spirit. Only when you understand yourself and control yourself can you talk about how to practice Taoism.

However, Shi Xuan is not very clear about control and mastery. This is mainly because his level is still low and many problems cannot be encountered. In addition, it is also because there is no one to guide and communicate with him. This further strengthened Shi Xuan's determination to search for Taoism.

Although Shi Xuan was worried that there would be ghosts that escaped the net at night, it was quiet all night, not even the sound of insects or birds. Just like that, the whole night was silent until dawn.

Shi Xuan regained his energy through visualization. Seeing the rising sun outside, the warm sunshine, and smelling the fresh air, he couldn't help but stretch. He just felt that life is so wonderful and should be cherished.

Shi Xuan's movement woke up Yan Jujian. He meditated until midnight last night. He couldn't bear the physical and mental exhaustion, so he found a few stools, made a simple bed and fell asleep. "Brother Shi got up. It’s so early, and I seem to be in good spirits.”

"Maybe the Taoist method of moving qi is better at regulating it. Let's wake up brother Mingde and go look around together. We will come back at noon to get tiger meat to eat." Now that Shi Xuan has regained his energy, he looks at the double-headed tiger's lair. There are some things that are full of curiosity. It would be best to have information about the black banner.

"I came here this time to look for an old friend, but now it seems that the odds are against me." Yan Jujian felt a little sad, "I hope we can find his relics later and build a tomb for him in the future."

"Well, at least we have avenged him. There is no point in talking now. Let's get ready to go." Shi Xuan could only say this.

After waking up Ding Mingde, he didn't dare to stay in the yard by himself, so he naturally agreed to follow Shi Xuan to Zhuangzi to check. Then Shi Xuan took the two of them to search in the direction where they saw the two-headed tiger coming last night.

The houses in Zhuangzi are full of stale smells. Except for a few rooms that contain quilts and other daily necessities, the rest of the rooms have not been used for many years and have nothing of value.

The farther back we walked, the stronger the fishy smell in the air became. It was very similar to the smell on the two-headed tiger last night. It seemed that we had gone to the right place. According to the source of the fishy smell, Shi Xuan slightly adjusted his direction. After walking through and entering the house, the front suddenly opened up. A piece of unmaintained land appeared in front of the three of them. There were some trees sparsely planted on it and there were many trees around it. There were white skulls and mutilated corpses, and some even looked like they had just died a few days ago.

Yan Jujian signaled to Shi Xuan that he wanted to look for his friends among the corpses. Shi Xuan naturally would not disagree, but when he saw the big black hole at the end of the clearing and under the mountain wall, he couldn't help it. He thought about the journey along the way. Xing Lai didn't see any ghosts in his heavenly eyes, so he nodded and said: "Brother Yan, please take a closer look at these bones. I just opened my heavenly eyes and saw them. These are not ghosts. They are not dangerous. Pindao." Let’s go to the cave to explore first. Brother Yan can retreat to the cave if he encounters danger.”

"I understand that based on the level of ghosts last night, unless it is the tiger-headed monster at the end, it will not be a problem for me to reach the cave at this distance." In terms of Qinggong, Yan Jujian is still relatively confident, although he is not a martial artist. He is a top Qinggong master, but compared with those ghosts that move like normal people or are slow, he is really much stronger.

Seeing that Yan Jujian had no objections, Shi Xuan was about to go to the cave. Ding Mingde saw that the cave was dark and remembered the terrifying tiger-headed monster last night, so he volunteered to stay and help Yan Jujian find the body.

Along the vague path, Shi Xuan walked to the cave. Standing here, he could smell the fishy smell, blood smell, rotten smell in the cave, and even the common odor of wild beasts. Shi Xuan had to endure the strange mixed smell and walked into the cave.

The inside of the cave was not dark, there were some torches lit along the way, and there were no forks. Except for accidentally kicking some bones, Shi Xuan successfully walked to the innermost part of the cave. It was a circular space with only a few small blocks inside. The flat stone looks like a crude table.

There were three books messily placed on the table, as well as a large bowl with some black water left in it, like medicinal soup. In addition to the table, there was a pile of things covered with thatch in the corner. Through the cracks in the thatch, Shi Xuan saw that there were herbs inside, the ones grown outside Zhuangzi. From the whole situation, it can be seen that the two-headed tiger came out in a hurry last night and didn't even collect the books.