MMLZ CH1
“Cinnabar, a rooster, peach wood…”
Xu Yan checked the list one by one to see what items he had yet to purchase.
“I didn’t expect doing a ritual would need so many things. No wonder they say hiring a Taoist for a ritual isn’t cheap. Just the cost of materials alone—if you charge too little, or worse, do it for free—you’ll end up losing everything.”
“Xu Yan, is Uncle Jiu not coming today?”
“Want a couple of fish? Just caught this morning from the river—look how lively they are!”
The fish vendor grinned proudly, holding up a fish and shaking it around enthusiastically. The overly friendly gesture made Xu Yan feel a bit overwhelmed. He quickly waved his hands in refusal.
“No thanks, Uncle Wang. We still have a few fish at home. I’m just here to pick up a few more items. Master is resting at home.”
Pushing his bicycle, Xu Yan hurried away, but behind him, he could still hear Uncle Wang joking around with others.
“Old Wang, look at you—scared off our town’s big talent again.”
“Old Li, what nonsense! How am I scary? I just wanted him to buy more fish!”
“Yeah right…”
The enthusiasm of the townsfolk was a bit too much for Xu Yan to handle. A few days ago, when he first came to buy vegetables, Uncle Wang had given him a buy-one-get-three offer on fish. Second Aunt, who sold vegetables, gave him a whole basket for the price of a handful…
It took some getting used to, but the people of this era were truly simple and kind.
After double-checking that he hadn’t forgotten anything, Xu Yan finally got on his bike and headed back home—or more precisely, back to the Yizhuang (a Taoist mortuary hall).
Yizhuang was located on the outskirts of Renjia Town—desolate, quiet, and sparsely populated. The roads were bumpy and uneven. Riding a bicycle as transportation left Xu Yan’s butt sore. Having been used to driving a car whenever he went out in his previous life, he still hadn’t adjusted.
“Master, your disciple is back!”
At the gate of Yizhuang, Wen Cai, who had been basking idly in the sun, saw Xu Yan returning and called out cheerfully. He came forward to help unload the goods.
“Wow, you bought quite a bit this time. Junior brother, was the town lively? How does it compare to the Western world?”
Xu Yan had only recently transmigrated. On the day he crossed over, he had been picked up by Master Jiu (Uncle Jiu), and his identity had been assumed as an overseas returnee intellectual. With his family wiped out in a tragic accident, Uncle Jiu took him in and made him his disciple.
Not only had he inexplicably transmigrated due to some so-called merit system, but he also landed smack into a pile of corpses. Xu Yan nearly peed himself in fright. Luckily, those corpses helped solve his identity problem.
A returning intellectual from abroad, family annihilated by bandits, only survivor—it was a clean backstory. Otherwise, explaining who he was and where he came from would have been a nightmare.
Fortunately, in this era, there were no national ID cards, and with China’s vast territory and scattered population, household investigations were a pain, which saved him from a lot of trouble.
“Second senior brother, that’s the nineteenth time you’ve asked. Of course, the town’s different from the West. At least it’s not full of blond-haired, blue-eyed foreigners walking everywhere.”
Xu Yan unloaded the goods from the bike with a helpless look.
As he picked up the goods, Wen Cai asked sneakily:
“Junior brother, is it true that Western women are really curvy—y’know, big in front and back?”
Xu Yan chuckled bitterly.
“You can’t generalize like that. Every place has women with all sizes. But yes, in general, Western women tend to be more… robust.”
Sometimes, Xu Yan really wanted to show Wen Cai and Qiu Sheng some of the… “educational content” on his old phone. That would show them what a real Western showdown looked like.
“There are plenty of foreigners in the provincial capital. You can go see for yourself someday, senior brother.”
“What are you two chatting about? Qiu Sheng went to the shop?”
Uncle Jiu, dressed in what looked like pajamas (though Xu Yan still couldn’t distinguish between pajamas and formal wear in this era), poked his head out.
“Yes, Master. Senior brother already went to the shop. Second brother was curious about foreign women, so we were chatting a bit.”
Xu Yan blinked as he threw Wen Cai under the bus.
Uncle Jiu frowned, clearly not pleased.
“You’re interested in foreign women?”
“No, no! Master, don’t listen to junior brother’s nonsense!”
Wen Cai quickly shook his head and rushed inside with the goods. Uncle Jiu sighed, gave Xu Yan a side-eye, and said,
“You too—knowing your second brother’s simple-minded nature and still teasing him. Anyway, you got everything?”
Xu Yan grinned and nodded.
“Yes, all bought and accounted for.”
Just a harmless joke—he knew Uncle Jiu wouldn’t get angry over something this trivial. Xu Yan only teased Wen Cai because he was always so curious and asked the same thing dozens of times a day.
“Good. After your martial arts practice, take a proper rest. Tonight, come with me on a trip. Wen Cai will stay to guard the Yizhuang.”
Nodding in acknowledgment, Uncle Jiu turned and walked back into the courtyard, completely unaware that Xu Yan had frozen in place outside the gate.
Even though he knew this day would come, Xu Yan was still nervous.
Would the ghost… be terrifying?
“Oh right, are foreign women really that big?”
Suddenly, from inside the courtyard, Uncle Jiu turned back and asked.
Xu Yan was dumbfounded. He nodded slowly—yeah, they kinda were. At least compared to local women, Westerners were usually larger in that department.
“Ohhh~~”
Uncle Jiu nodded thoughtfully.
“Got it.”
What the heck was that?!
Xu Yan was speechless. He locked up his bicycle, brought in the rest of the items, then began his martial arts practice. The form was taught by Uncle Jiu, said to be good for strengthening the body. As a Maoshan disciple, one couldn’t rely on spiritual power alone—they needed a strong body too.
After completing a round of the health-preserving routine and working up a sweat, Xu Yan washed up thoroughly before returning to his room to rest.
“System.”
Lying on the bed, Xu Yan called out to the system.
Xu Yan
Gender: Male
Maoshan Sect, 20th Generation Successor: (Mortal)
Cultivation Techniques: (None)
Body Training: (None)
Talismans: (None)
Remaining Merit Points: 0
A whole row of “None”, and zero merit points.
Merit—wasn’t that something out of prehistoric cultivation novels? Why did it exist even in this movie-like world? Xu Yan couldn’t make sense of it. All he knew was, he had nothing—no powers, no techniques, no training.
Since he had only recently become Uncle Jiu’s disciple, the master hadn’t yet taught him any Taoist magic or talisman crafting. All he knew was a basic health-oriented martial art—not even enough to count as body training.
Sleep. I need to sleep.
He had to join his master on a ritual tonight—or more accurately, he was about to be a ghost’s sacrifice, not a ghost catcher.
Just thinking about the upcoming ritual made Xu Yan anxious. Senior brother Qiu Sheng was busy helping his aunt run a shop. Wen Cai, the second brother, was too goofy. Since someone had to stay back and guard Yizhuang, Xu Yan—the newbie—was chosen to tag along.
Uncle Jiu’s plan was clearly to expose him to real-world situations before teaching him magic.
At Xu Yan’s current strength, “doing a ritual” pretty much meant getting captured by the ghost—not the other way around. If not for following Uncle Jiu, he wouldn’t even dare go near the place.
Maybe this system and being a Taoist exorcist are related.
I’ll find out tonight.
For now—sleep!