Rock Carving Part 1

At this moment, Tan Xiao didn't have the mind to immediately chase after the corgi. "Aunt Zhu, please lend me your car, I need to take my mom to the nearest community hospital." First, to get a rabies vaccine, and second, with such a large wound, she might need stitches.

"Does Teacher Tan faint at the sight of blood? Oh my god, that dog..." Faced with this sudden incident, Zhu Yixin panicked for two seconds, then quickly arranged for a car to take them to the hospital, and called the city management department to report that there was a mad dog here.

After she finished the call, she saw Tan Xiao also making a call.

"...Okay, Sister Mu." Tan Xiao hurriedly told Bureau 404 about the situation, and Bureau 404 urgently began to hunt down the corgi in the city.

In his opinion, Tan Chunying didn't seem to be fainting at the sight of blood. She was already a person who had lost her soul, and it was more like she had been startled, her soul unstable. This was why he had been hiding it from Tan Chunying all along, as those who had lost their souls were more easily frightened.

Tan Xiao took his prop bag, carried Tan Chunying on his back to the car, and Kong Xuan floated over, his face gloomy, saying, "Check her talisman."

Tan Xiao suddenly remembered, that's right, when he discovered that Tan Chunying had lost her soul, he specially drew a "Peacock Arrives Here" talisman for Tan Chunying to carry with her.

If Tan Chunying hadn't taken it off, theoretically this talisman could block Huodou.

But at this time, "theory" seemed useless. According to the rules of the human realm, there shouldn't be a Huodou that could escape the Five-Colored Divine Light - even if we take ten thousand steps back, Kong Xuan was not in his true form in the human realm at this time and could not exert the highest power of this life-bound magic weapon, but the Huodou was still just a Huodou after all.

Tan Xiao took out the card holder that Tan Chunying carried with her, and pulled out a talisman from it. Inside the frosted talisman cover, that talisman had already faded from cinnabar to a dull gray.

- This meant that the talisman had taken effect, and fortunately there was this talisman, otherwise Tan Chunying's life might have been in danger.

However, Kong Xuan's face looked even more unsightly. Invoking a god's name to subdue a ghost, this talisman also had a great deterrent effect. This beast dared to destroy the talisman and hurt people in front of him. There was nothing more provocative than this, especially with Kong Xuan's temperament. He squeezed out two words from between his teeth: "Dead dog..."

Before he could say more, the implication was obviously that he didn't want Huodou to stay in the human realm any longer.

Tan Xiao frowned, the more he thought about it, the more he felt that something was wrong.

When he first saw Huodou, he thought it was here for revenge, but targeting family members for revenge was a bit despicable. But then again, of the twelve Huodou, although he alone had eliminated three, weren't there still nine that were captured by other masters of Bureau 404?

It didn't make sense to say it was bullying the weak and fearing the strong, since it dared to confront Kong Xuan head-on.

Zhu Yixin was also in the car, and the photographer followed along, filming the sudden incident.

At this moment, Zhu Yixin looked at him curiously, not understanding why Tan Xiao had the mood to fiddle with Tan Chunying's talisman, and his face didn't look too good.

She comforted, "Tan Xiao, don't worry, the silver lining is that the bite was on the limbs and not the face. After the wound is treated, it will be fine."

"Mm, okay." Tan Xiao forced a smile and responded.

"Is your leg okay?" Zhu Yixin glanced at his legs. He had just jumped down from the second floor, which had a certain height, nearly scaring her to death.

"Leg? It's fine." What could happen to Tan Xiao? He glanced at the camera. "Oh, we occasionally need to practice our skills too. It's better to be proficient in both civil and martial arts."

At the community hospital, with Zhu Yixin's help, Tan Xiao washed Tan Chunying's wound, got her vaccinated, and even stitched it up with two stitches.

Tan Chunying was lying in the ward, still unconscious, and Zhu Yixin was communicating with the doctor.

Taking this opportunity, Tan Xiao opened his bag and used cinnabar to draw a talisman on Tan Chunying's hand, chanting a calming incantation: "First soul, quickly guard the seven spirits; second soul, quickly guard the Niwan Palace; third soul, receive the heart's regulation..."

Although Tan Chunying was missing a soul, the remaining souls still needed to be calmed.

As Tan Xiao chanted, the photographer was still filming from outside the door, and he didn't mind. After he finished chanting, Zhu Yixin and the doctor also came over. The doctor checked Tan Chunying's condition and was about to order an examination when Tan Chunying let out a low moan and slowly woke up.

Tan Chunying held her forehead, still feeling a sense of confusion: "What happened?"

"It's okay, you fainted at the sight of blood. We're in the hospital now and have already given you an injection." Zhu Yixin said softly.

"Is that so..." Tan Chunying thought for a while, looking a bit puzzled. "That dog, it looked very abnormal." Its eyes seemed to glow, and when it pounced, there was a particularly oppressive feeling that didn't match its body size.

"It was indeed abnormal, it probably had rabies." Zhu Yixin thought she was talking about the symptoms of a mad dog. "You should rest well for now. We'll take you back later."

Tan Xiao went to get some medicine for Tan Chunying. Zhu Yixin asked him, "I saw you drawing talismans and chanting incantations for your mother inside just now?"

"Yes, praying for blessings for her." Tan Xiao said very naturally.

"Then you," Zhu Yixin asked curiously, "what were you thinking at the time? Do you think it would work?"

People are usually very curious about what attitude a shaman really has in his heart towards the things he learns and practices, or in other words, how much faith he has.

Zhu Yixin knew that the rituals of some shamans might not necessarily have an effect, but under their fanatical belief, they could really enter a certain state of confusion and even deceive themselves.

Tan Xiao smiled slightly and said, "In that situation, I hoped it would work."

Really? Zhu Yixin looked at this young man, not knowing why, but the two details today made her want to probe a little into the young man's words.

......

When Tan Chunying had rested enough and was ready to go home, Tan Xiao said, "Aunt Zhu, don't trouble yourself, we'll go back on our own."

"But you didn't drive here, we'll take you back." Zhu Yixin said.

"No, my friend is here to pick me up." Tan Xiao pointed to Kong Xuan across the street. The familiar license plate number next to Kong Xuan was a Bureau 404 car. After the people from Bureau 404 arrived, he took the opportunity to go over there and manifest his physical form.

Zhu Yixin indeed saw Tan Xiao's classmate whom she had met before. His outstanding appearance was very easy to recognize even from a distance.

She felt that Tan Xiao probably did it on purpose, maybe he didn't want the things they were going to talk about next to be filmed, after all, Tan Chunying still had a performance contract.

Zhu Yixin understood and said, "Okay, then you two rest well, let's keep in touch on WeChat."

Tan Chunying herself didn't think that much, and really thought Tan Xiao had called Little Kong to pick them up. Although it was unnecessary, it was also fine.

After a friendly farewell, she went to sit in the Bureau 404's car. Tan Xiao glanced over, the driver was Ah Jin.

"Tsk." Tan Chunying looked at her wound, genuinely worried about the performance contract. "Sorry to trouble you, Little Kong. Tan Xiao, with this injury, do you think it will be inconvenient for me to hold the drumsticks during the performance?"

She tried to gesture and always felt it would affect the performance. Inwardly, she cursed that corgi. This was troublesome. The gala performance was a great opportunity, the best chance for their dance drama to shine. She pondered how to minimize the impact on the performance.

"Mom, let's not go home right away." Tan Xiao said, wanting to take Tan Chunying to the Bureau 404.

"Huh?" Tan Chunying didn't understand. "Then where to? Little Kong's place? He lives on the same street as us, right? That works too. We can walk back from his place."

Kong Xuan really wanted to say, I live at your place. He exchanged a glance with Tan Xiao. "No, that's not it."

After some thought, Tan Xiao felt that the Huodou seemed to be directly targeting Tan Chunying.

He didn't know why, but it was very necessary to take Tan Chunying to the Bureau 404 to register and check. Some things might be hard to hide. If Tan Chunying was really involved, or even targeted, then even if she was soulless, it was all the more important to clarify and investigate in order to protect her.

"Mom, did you feel there was anything strange about that Huo... that dog?" Tan Xiao asked.

"I mean, it was definitely off." Tan Chunying seemed to understand Tan Xiao's meaning. Unlike Zhu Yixin and the others, she had locked eyes with Huodou. "What exactly do you mean? Is that dog carrying some mutant virus? Zombie dog? Cloned dog?"

Tan Xiao: "..."

Her imagination was running wild, but in a sci-fi direction.

"No," Tan Xiao glanced at the still-bright calming talisman on Tan Chunying's hand. "Have you ever considered that we shamans might really be able to exorcise ghosts, and that monsters might actually exist in the world?"

Tan Chunying said expressionlessly, "Your mom just got injured and you're in the mood to joke around? Did you eat poisonous mushrooms?"

"It's precisely because you're hurt that I don't want to..." Tan Xiao said helplessly.

Tan Chunying carefully studied Tan Xiao's expression. Not crazy. She knew her child well. As an insider among the jianghu swindlers, he was unlikely to fall for some unscientific scam, unless he was really certain.

Thinking this, Tan Chunying took a deep breath. "What exactly do you mean?" She looked at Kong Xuan, the driver, and these two people again. What was going on?

"Kong Xuan is my ancestral god." Tan Xiao stated frankly.

Kong Xuan was about to speak up. "I'm still..." But Tan Xiao elbowed him. One shocking thing was enough for today. Did he want to scare his mom to death?

Tan Chunying was instantly confused, at a loss for words. She felt her son had gone mad from academic pressure, but Tan Xiao's mental state seemed good.

"Auntie, allow me to try." With permission, Kong Xuan pointed a finger in the air in front of her brow.

A point of spirit light swept Tan Chunying through the events Kong Xuan and Tan Xiao had experienced over the past year - of course omitting their private interactions. This kind of operation on the soul definitely couldn't be done with any trickery.

"Oh my god!" Tan Chunying covered her mouth. Only now did she know what part-time job her son was doing!

At this moment, Tan Chunying's mood could be compared to Tan Xiao's when he first discovered he was a real shaman.

"Now we suspect that Huodou has an unusual background and ulterior motives. It attacked you, so we're telling you the truth and taking you to the Bureau 404 for further investigation." Seeing Tan Chunying gradually coming back to her senses, Tan Xiao continued. He remembered something. "Mom, do you know that you were born soulless? Did Grandpa ever say anything?"

Tan Xiao was a descendant of Chu shamans. His ancestors all had some spiritual resonance, and were even registered with the Bureau 404.

Tan Chunying was soulless, but would Grandpa know something? There had been no way to ask before. Now that Tan Xiao brought it up, it wasn't just because there was a chance, but more so because he was starting to feel... there might be something fishy about this matter.

"I... I don't know. It seems... did he say that before? But he should have..." Tan Chunying had some difficulty organizing her words. Recalling it, she always felt it was hazy and very vague, and she had never even realized this.

"Let's not think about it for now. We can talk more when we get there." Tan Xiao stopped her in time. Tan Chunying couldn't take too much stimulation in the first place.

Tan Chunying leaned against the seat back, blankly staring at the car roof to calm her emotions.

"Is Auntie alright?" Kong Xuan asked, tilting his head. His inquiry carried no flattery.