Lin Yang was startled by the boss and jumped up, but he quickly reacted: "But just now when we passed by the opposite side, we saw an old lady also sitting in this position... that is, there was an old lady, right? It wasn't just me who saw it, right?"

At this point, Lin Yang suddenly felt a deep chill rushing up from his spine, the coldness penetrating into his bones, and he couldn't help but shiver.

Lin Yang admitted that since the incident with his second uncle, his courage was not as great as before. Even though he rationally knew that he couldn't be so unlucky every time to encounter such things, once bitten by a snake, he would fear the well rope for ten years.

"Yes, I saw it too." Yu Zhenzhen looked at Lin Yang with disdain, feeling a bit speechless at his weak-kneed appearance. Was it really necessary to be so scared?

Receiving the affirmative answer and seeing the speechless yet amused looks of the others, Lin Yang laughed heartily and said, "Haha, just embarrassing myself, I'll get used to it."

The others: "..."

"The old lady you mentioned across the street, she's different," the boss narrowed his eyes and said, "Three years ago, the old lady was so ill that she was about to pass away. Her family asked my father to arrange the funeral. According to the old custom, we placed a covering paper on her face. But just as my father was leading her children to circle the coffin, we saw the covering paper being blown up... The old lady slowly sat up by herself."

His tone was heavy. At this point, everyone's hair stood on end. Imagine in a mourning hall in a mountain village, an old lady lying in a coffin with a yellow paper covering her face. Suddenly, that yellow paper was blown up by her breath, revealing the old lady's withered mouth, and her originally stiff body started to move...

Lin Yang said with a pale face, "Feigning death? A zombie?"

"It should be called a living corpse. Anyway, in our place, she can do things that living people can't do. Everyone in the village knows about this, and the tourists who have stayed at my place also know. I have no need to lie to you."

"There's even such a thing?" Yu Zhenzhen said in disbelief, "Coming back to life after death?"

She had just mocked Lin Yang, and now she was also freaked out.

"It's just a state of apparent death," Tan Xiao was the only one who could still speak and joke freely at the moment. He said to the boss, "In ancient times, many places would keep the corpse for a few days before burial because medical knowledge was not advanced enough to completely confirm that the deceased was truly dead. That old lady at that time should have been dying at home and was not sent to the hospital, right?"

There have been tragic cases where people in a state of apparent death were difficult to distinguish and were buried alive by their families. Therefore, many places adopted various methods to monitor the deceased to prevent "feigning death".

The boss glanced at Tan Xiao, feeling a bit dejected. "Uh... hmm..."

This strange event had been a perfect conversation starter for the boss and the guests at the inn for the past few years. Everyone would find it fascinating and have a deep impression of this place.

If the guests were scared, he would also tell them a theory similar to Tan Xiao's, so that they wouldn't be too afraid to stay at his place.

Now Tan Xiao directly stole his words, making him feel a bit down. He still wanted to take the opportunity to scare these students a little.

"But your father, that Dao Gong, would have to stop his business then." Tan Xiao remembered that he had just said when the old lady passed away, he asked his father to arrange the funeral, which meant his father was a local shaman.

The local shamanism of the Qiyun Yao people is collectively called Shi Gong. Among them, those who perform exorcisms are called Shi Gong, those who preside over funeral ceremonies and deliver the souls of the deceased are called Dao Gong, and females are called Xian Niang. Lin Yang's mother had previously sought talismans from a Xian Niang.

And as Tan Xiao mentioned on the bus earlier, the Pai Sect sect was also heavily influenced by it, especially in the situation where the Qiyun Yao and Han people lived together in the Qiyun Mountains, the relationship was even closer.

Tan Xiao recalled and said, "According to the rules of the Qiyun Yao, if the deceased 'comes back to life' before burial in a funeral, then this Dao Gong can no longer preside over ceremonies, and his attire cannot be used either. It needs to be stored in the ancestral hall until the resurrected deceased truly passes away. Otherwise, it will anger the ancestral gods because the previous ceremony was not completed, and the deceased was also unable to serve the ancestral gods."

Even this, he knows?

Some of these rules, even some of the more modernised Qiyun Yao people here may not necessarily know. The inn boss stared at Tan Xiao and said, "Young student, you know quite a lot."

"Of course, he is also a shaman." The students present almost said in unison, then looked at each other. Well, they all seemed inexplicably proud of this.

Tan Xiao was a bit embarrassed.

Lin Yang raised his thumb and pointed it at Tan Xiao, "A genuine inheritor of the Nanchu shaman lineage. Although we're not from the same sect, we can be considered colleagues."

"You're a snake shaman!" The boss clicked his tongue. Now he understood. He had scared the wrong person. "No wonder you know."

"What's a snake shaman?" Lin Yang thought that the Chu shamans danced the snake-handling dance, so it was the same thing?

"That's what the Shi Gong call us. It's a neutral term, depending on the tone." Tan Xiao explained. Just like how Tan Chunying also called them Yao skulls. In the eyes of the Yao shamans, there were many types of Han shamans, and they were accustomed to classifying them based on their characteristics.

"The signature shaman dance of the shamans is the snake-handling dance, so they are called snake shamans. If they are female, they are also called snake sisters."

"If they are Qi shamans, they are called Yang shamans. But it's not the Yang of cattle and sheep. It's because the Qi shamans are good at bending one foot to imitate the one-legged divine bird Shang Yang and dance the 'Shang Yang' dance."

When Tan Xiao spoke of these, they were actually all theoretical knowledge. He had no interaction with shamans from other places and had gone to school. He had only heard about it from Tan Chunying. "My mom sometimes also calls them 'hopping shamans'..."

Everyone reacted for a moment. Hopping shamans? Oh, dancing on one foot, right? Madam Tan was really sarcastic...

"Umm, Tan Xiao, has your family ever encountered such a case of coming back to life after death?" Yu Zhenzhen asked cautiously, "Is this something that can be asked?"

"Of course. Our neighbor, an old lady, every time she seems to be dying, it's my mom who goes to help with the arrangements." Tan Xiao didn't even need to recall this. He had witnessed it with his own eyes.

"What do you mean by every time?" Yu Zhenzhen felt like she had discovered a bug.

"Because she was really critically ill many times, but she pulled through every time. There were two times when even the burial clothes were changed." After a person dies, the body becomes stiff, so they would watch for the person to be on the verge of dying and change the clothes in advance. But this old lady actually woke up again.

So Tan Xiao really had no sense of mystery about coming back to life. It was just that there was no medical equipment at home to strictly determine death.

Lin Yang raised his hand, "Ah, but, didn't they say that the shaman can only perform the ritual again after the person has truly passed away? Or are the customs of shamans different?"

"Yes!" Tan Xiao said, "It's like this: our family often doesn't follow the rules."

Everyone: "............"

"Then what about those who follow the rules, they can never perform rituals again, won't they have no income then?" Yu Zhenzhen asked uncertainly, she didn't quite understand the rules of this profession.

Tan Xiao laughed.

At this, even the boss laughed, "Little classmate, do you think being a shaman brings much income? It's not like those feng shui masters in legends. We shamans all have regular jobs. My family has been doing this for generations too, but my dad still has to farm normally. When people come to request, he goes to officiate, and the payment is just a few jin of meat and rice.

"Later when the economy got better, many shamans quit, as they could earn more working outside. In my generation, I don't take on rituals anymore either. Of course running a B&B is better!"

Otherwise, directly participating in tourism song and dance performances would bring in even higher income. Anyway, in the past there could be several shamans in one village, now there might not even be one per village.

Yu Zhenzhen glanced at Tan Xiao, realizing, oh right, there was already a precedent, how come she didn't think of that.

As they were talking, a middle-aged man rushed in from outside. Seeing the boss, he said anxiously, "Jianjun, where's your old man?"

"He went to the fields, can't sit still." The boss, named Pan Jianjun, responded and asked, "What are you looking for him for?"

The other party stammered, "Something bad happened at my home, my mom told me to come find him, said to call for the Dao Gong."

"Wait a moment, I'll give him a call." Although Pan Jianjun's father could no longer perform rituals, the herbal medicines from Qiyun Yao were also very famous. Shamans often used both divine arts and medicines.

The village elders still liked to get medicine from his father. Hearing that an elder at home was looking for him, he figured it was just to get some herbs, so he immediately took out his phone to contact him.

Seeing this, Tan Xiao and the others also looked at each other. "Boss, thank you, we won't disturb you anymore."

They had just been chatting excitedly and almost forgot that Kong Xuan and the assignment were still waiting. They all put down their water cups and thanked the boss before going out.

After leaving, Yu Zhenzhen still felt a bit of pity, "Was he coming to ask the boss's dad to perform a ritual? I really wanted to see it."

"Didn't he say his father can't officiate rituals anymore, it's probably something else. If you want to see rituals, can't you go watch at Brother Xiao's home?" Lin Yang started promoting.

Tan Xiao also said, "Not just watch, you can even learn if you want. My mom said after I go to college, she'll start a summer shaman interest class. It's also very ancient and mysterious."

Yu Zhenzhen: "...... That, that works too."

......

Tan Xiao used his own cup to get some hot water and mixed in some warm water for the sitting Kong Xuan.

Kong Xuan felt he had long recovered, but this was Tan Xiao's kind intention, so he drank the entire pot of water in one go.

Tan Xiao was shocked by his "capacity". Is it that good? Could it be that the boss actually used spring water? "Drink up, do you want more?"

"...... I could drink more." If Tan Xiao wanted to give him more to drink, that is.

Tan Xiao couldn't figure out if Kong Xuan was thirsty or not thirsty anymore. "Then drink more later, don't drink too fast."

At this time at the village entrance, some classmates were already digging soil and rocks. The scene was bustling with activity.

The weather had cooled down by now. Most people who came to play at Qiyun Ridge were fishing enthusiasts. Not far away there was a large pond directly diverted from the Nanxi River. Some fishing enthusiasts were sitting by the pond, also quite quiet.

So apart from the lively and quiet work of the third class students, only the sound of flowing water, insects chirping and grass swaying could be heard, which had a different kind of charm.

Tan Xiao's group had also selected their observation point and were making soil profile observations and records.

As the activity was coming to an end and everyone's observation records were completed, the teacher began to unfurl the red banner they had brought, which had the name of this activity and the school class on it.

"Let's take a group photo, everyone." The teacher called for everyone to line up on the slope and asked the villagers to help take photos.

"Teacher, the class monitor brought a camera, let her use the camera to take it, it's good for editing!" Someone shouted.

Yu Zhenzhen switched to the camera and took a few shots. After taking the group photos, she took the camera and aimed it at Tan Xiao and Kong Xuan to capture them.

In the golden sunlight, Tan Xiao was holding a soil sample in his hand and was being amused by Lin Yang into a light laugh, while Kong Xuan stood close to him, looking lost in thought as he gazed at Tan Xiao.

The focus was precise and the lighting was beautiful. Perfect.

Yu Zhenzhen ran over to show Tan Xiao, "How is it? How is it? My skills are pretty good, right?"

Tan Xiao looked at it for a long time and praised, "The resolution is really high!"

Yu Zhenzhen: "......"

Yu Zhenzhen: "I'm giving you a chance to praise again."

Tan Xiao looked carefully again, then pointed at Kong Xuan and said, "It's quite good, you captured the light in Kong Xuan's eyes."

Hearing this, Lin Yang immediately started spreading rumors on the spot, shouting, "What, Kong Xuan's eyes are shining while looking at Xiao Xiao?"

Kong Xuan: "!?"

Kong Xuan immediately scolded, "Nonsense, how are my eyes shining?" How could he be looking at Tan Xiao with shining eyes, why would he shine!

Seeing him looking fiery, Tan Xiao once again felt it was familiar. He thought, what's wrong with praising this, "It means there's light in your eyes, it looks quite good."

Kong Xuan looked to the side, indifferently saying, "How can human eyes shine."

It's not like he used magic...!

"How can they not?" Yu Zhenzhen was even more agitated than him, "I added catchlights for you with the flash, how can your eyes not have light! Here, look how obvious it is!"

If Kong Xuan said there was no light again, she would be unconvinced and had to argue it out clearly!

Kong Xuan: ".........."

Yu Zhenzhen snorted and continued looking at the photos, very satisfied. The models were good-looking so the results were naturally good. She immediately used a phone card reader to transfer the pictures. As soon as she posted them in the class group, everyone started discussing the pictures, zooming in to look on their phones.

Only Kong Xuan didn't look at the group and couldn't see the pictures. He didn't have a phone at all, let alone joining various class official groups, small groups, gossip groups.

Such things, Kong Xuan originally felt were unnecessary. But now he was thinking, should he get a phone?

Tan Xiao directly took the camera and showed Kong Xuan, "Look, it's taken quite well."

Kong Xuan glanced at it and froze for a moment. From a third-person perspective, it actually looked like this. He hadn't even noticed that he had been staring at Tan Xiao in a daze.

But in that moment, the slanting sun shone through the tree shade onto the boy, outlining his beautiful and brilliant silhouette, seemingly even more dazzling than the aura when he was channeling spirits.

Kong Xuan: "This photo isn't very good."

"Nonsense, it's obviously great, everyone likes it. I like it too." Lin Yang thought to himself, "The lighting is really good, I'm not inferior to either of you."

Kong Xuan slid his hand on the camera screen, cutting Lin Yang out of the frame, leaving only him and Tan Xiao.

This is good.

Lin Yang: "..."

The heart of a deskmate can also hurt.

Tan Xiao laughed, handed the camera to Kong Xuan to let him see for himself, and went to pack up the soil samples.

I need to get a phone! Kong Xuan slid the scroll wheel again, the photos cut forward a few shots, all of the houses taken by Yu Zhenzhen. When he slid to the front, a scene from the bus appeared:

Tan Xiao was sitting on the outside, head leaning back, the boy's flexible body nestled in the seat, head slightly raised, arms folded, eyes closed and resting, exuding a gentle and tranquil aura. On his legs lay a larger body, bent over and burying its head, like some kind of large animal acting coquettishly.

"This one wasn't sent to the group, right?" Lin Yang glanced at it and asked.

Kong Xuan almost shrank back, feeling a sense of shame, even though it was he himself who had publicly rested his head on the other's knees on the bus.

"It seems I forgot. Kong Xuan, do you want this one? If you do, I'll send it to you separately." Yu Zhenzhen glanced at it and said.

Kong Xuan hesitated for a moment, inexplicably feeling guilty, and said, "I want it!"

"Oh, hahaha." Yu Zhenzhen looked at Kong Xuan, "Add your WeChat ID?"

Kong Xuan was silent. "...I will have one."

"What will you have, you're just unwilling, right? We're deskmates, is it necessary to not even let me add your WeChat?" Yu Zhenzhen complained in a low voice, "I won't sell your WeChat ID to other girls in the school."

Kong Xuan: "...I don't have a WeChat ID. You keep it for now, wait for me."

Yu Zhenzhen was surprised. If Kong Xuan said that, it meant he really didn't have a WeChat ID, and wasn't just making excuses. She had misunderstood her deskmate. "Okay, okay."

"Alright, we should go." The geography teacher next to them looked at his phone and called everyone to return to the bus.

Kong Xuan walked at the very front. He had secretly cast a spell on himself, eager to show off to Tan Xiao that he was no longer carsick.

As everyone walked to the parking lot in twos and threes, a group of young people suddenly came from the village, looking to be in their early twenties. They were pushing a cart with something covered by a cloth, pushing it towards the pond, chattering, "Let's just dump it here."

"Wasn't it dredged from the river before?"

"The pond and river are connected, what's the problem?"

"Yeah, come on, throw it in."

They uncovered the cloth, revealing a huge black iron turtle inside, looking to weigh at least a few hundred pounds, with some inscriptions on it that were blurred and illegible.

"Wow, what's this?" The students who were still at the original spot all curiously gathered around to look, and asked the geography teacher, "Teacher, what is this?"

"What do these characters say? I can't recognize them."

The geography teacher also couldn't identify what the text was, and asked, "Young man, this looks like an old artifact, what is it for?"

These locals didn't say anything, just glanced at him.

The geography teacher felt a bit awkward for a moment.

Tan Xiao took a look, the text written on it was clearly snake-foot script. He could make out some characters, something about water monsters lurking, as solid as a metal fortress, and the turtle's body was also engraved with many talismans.

He blinked and said, "This should be an iron turtle cast down by Pai Sect in the past to suppress the river. It is said that during the Yuan Dynasty, there were floods in Dujiangyan, and they also cast an iron turtle weighing 16,000 jin to suppress the water, which is one of the ancient methods of suppressing victory. It's the dry season recently, so this was salvaged recently?"

The so-called suppressing victory means "suppressing and overcoming", which can be understood as suppressing or restraining.

"Awesome, awesome." The students started making a fuss, this sounded quite interesting. Tan Xiao had just given a science lesson about Pai Sect on the bus earlier.

"Yes... it was salvaged recently." The few young men looked at each other, their expressions a bit subtle, and it seemed that it was only after Tan Xiao spoke that they understood this was something from Pai Sect. "This is... Pai Sect suppressing the river?"

The people of Qiyun Ridge had more or less heard the legend of Pai Sect driving corpses in the water when they were young, and their impression of them was mysterious, evil, and fearful, although in theory Pai Sect was helping to release the dead.

"So are we still dumping it or not..."

"If we don't dump it, are you going to keep it at your house?"

The few of them whispered, not wanting the onlooking outsiders to know what exactly was going on, and directly took the iron turtle off the cart, intending to throw it into the pond.

But with this commotion, the people fishing over there became unhappy.

"What are you doing, you're going to scare away my fish." Someone stood up and accused, "And throwing things in? So big, are we still fishing or not?"

He spoke very righteously, because the people fishing here had all paid money to the village, charged by the hour, and ate and stayed in the village, which was a legitimate demand of the consumers.

The young men who wanted to dump the iron turtle were stunned for a moment, looking at each other, and said irritably, "Okay, okay, let's go further and throw it in the river."

They grunted and tried to lift the iron turtle back onto the cart.

"Dacheng, Chuanzi, don't move!"

Someone shouted from afar.

The man rode a motorcycle over while shouting and scolding, "Who told you to dump it randomly, just because you salvaged it, you can put it back anywhere? Don't anyone move!"

"That's the boss from earlier." Lin Yang whispered to Tan Xiao. Tan Xiao took a look at the clothes and it really was.

Pan Jianjun rode his motorcycle over and reprimanded them, "Just leave it here and don't move."

The young men looked at each other helplessly, "But..."

"Humph," Pan Jianjun snorted coldly, "I know about Lei Zi's matter, you didn't say you were going to his house to help, and wanted to secretly deal with it here, is this something you can handle? Leave the iron turtle here, all of you get lost."

Hearing this, the few young men didn't dare to even fart, and quickly put down the cart with the iron turtle and ran.

The students from Class 3 watched with great interest. Although it was confusing, it felt like there was a story. What exactly happened, how will this iron turtle be dealt with?

The geography teacher, having more experience, saw the iron turtle and guessed that the village had rules about not being able to casually handle things that were salvaged. Qiyun Yao still preserved quite a lot of folk customs.

He was actually also interested and thought it looked quite fascinating, but there wasn't enough time. They wouldn't make it back to school. "Alright, alright, you all go back too, don't look anymore. If you still want to see, have your parents bring you here to play another time."

It was clear this couldn't be handled in a short time. The remaining students also reluctantly walked towards the parking lot.

Tan Xiao was about to leave as well, but Pan Jianjun grabbed him, "Little Snake Shaman, wait a moment."

Tan Xiao stopped in his tracks. The other students didn't notice and kept walking. He asked, puzzled, "What's the matter?"

"Your surname is Tan, right? I heard someone call you that, I'm not mistaken, am I?"

"That's right."

"My old man heard you were here. He knows what you do and said he wanted to trouble you for a favor. As you can see, the iron turtle that guards the water in our town has been fished out. To put it back, we need to perform a ritual according to the old rules." Pan Jianjun considered how to explain it to Tan Xiao, "My old man wants to set up an altar now, but his tools are all locked up in the ancestral hall."

Tan Xiao's heart fluttered. Could it be that his reputation had spread all the way to Qiyun Ridge?

Tan Xiao said embarrassedly, "I didn't bring my tools either, so I can't set up an altar." Besides, he wasn't familiar with the ritual procedures of the Pai sect and the Qiyun Yao Master. Could he just casually get involved?

"Huh? No." Pan Jianjun said with amusement, "How could we ask you to set up the altar? My old man said he knows of the famous shaman Tan Chunying. You're Tan Chunying's son, right?"

Seeing Tan Xiao nod, he continued, "My old man's idea is to have you come forward, saying that you represent your family, to invite my old man to collaborate on a performance or something. That way, the elders at the ancestral hall in the upper village will return the tools to my old man. Otherwise, they won't easily give them back to him. They're afraid of angering the ancestral spirits."

He had looked into the nature of the Tan family. Earlier, Tan Xiao had disrupted his attempt to scare people, but at a time like this, when time was tight, he really had to ask for Tan Xiao's help.

Tan Xiao wanted to say something but stopped.

Pan Jianjun: "Please, it'll only take up some of your time. I'll drive you back afterwards, how about that? My old man said he knows your mom's personality. He can teach your family a few Yao medicinal formulas that tourists will definitely buy!"

As soon as Tan Xiao heard about the formulas, his heart stirred. "...But isn't the old Dao Gong himself afraid of angering the ancestral spirits?"

"My old man will bear the responsibility himself, or burn some substitutes. After all, he's the only Dao Gong nearby now." Pan Jianjun sighed, then suddenly seemed to wake up and looked at him with dissatisfaction, "Classmate, there's no need for that, right? Are you deliberately using this to mock my old man for being superstitious and conservative, and therefore unable to make money? If you don't want to help, just say so directly. If I can't get to you, I'll call the tourism company again."

Tan Xiao: "..."

Tan Xiao: "You're overthinking it...! I'm just showing concern. I'm willing to help!"

It wasn't too disappointing. He was used to it. Pan Jianjun seeking him out was the same as most people - they mainly hoped he could serve as a lucky charm.

Author's Note:

As soon as Kong Xuan got in the car, where's my spirit shaman!! Where are my spirit shaman's shoulders!!!