"Alright, then come with me!" Pan Jianjun was getting anxious.

"One last question," Tan Xiao said, having learned a bit from following the archaeology team, "Just how old is this town guardian artifact? If it's a cultural relic, the old Dao Gong can't just handle it casually, right? It needs to be protected in its original location."

Pan Jianjun: "...Huh?"

He was dumbfounded. This town guardian fished out of the river can't be dealt with freely? This thing needs to be protected where it was found? Then what about the young people in their village who were afflicted?

Pan Jianjun scratched his head frantically, "Wait, let me ask my dad. I don't know how old this thing is either."

"Boss, it's okay. Even if it's a cultural relic, other rituals can be used as substitutes. The relevant departments will handle this too," Tan Xiao comforted Pan Jianjun, trying to make it happen.

The main thing was, as soon as he heard Pan Jianjun say he could teach him the folk remedy, he was immediately moved. Not just him, even if Tan Chunying was here, she'd probably also be instantly tempted.

Ethnic minority medicinal formulas are so popular these days. Many health and massage places tout all kinds of Yao and Tibetan medicine, offering things like Yao baths and head therapies.

And from the looks of it, they don't know the people from Bureau 404. This kind of thing can totally be coordinated through them.

"Tan Xiao?" The teacher called out to Tan Xiao from not far away, noticing he still hadn't caught up.

"Let me tell our teacher!" Seeing the teacher, Tan Xiao remembered his agreement alone wasn't enough.

Tan Xiao was a minor. Leaving the group to stay behind required permission from his parents and teacher.

Tan Xiao slightly embellished Pan Jianjun's reasons and repeated them, only saying Pan Jianjun's father wanted to exchange techniques and cooperate with his family.

Sure enough, after Tan Xiao told the teacher, she required him to call Tan Chunying. Hearing the reason, Tan Chunying very much agreed and immediately told the teacher, "I can go pick him up later myself. Thank you for the trouble, teacher. He won't be returning to school for now!"

The teacher knew the nature of Tan Xiao's family, and that the village was relatively safe. Otherwise, the school wouldn't have chosen this place for the practical activity. "Alright then. Since your family has something going on, you stay here for now. Call if anything comes up, and let me know when you get home. Sigh, practical activity and you're already talking business..."

Technical exchange indeed. The teacher wondered if this Yao medicine for hair loss from lesson planning would be effective.

"Thank you, teacher." Tan Xiao saw from afar that his classmates had all boarded the bus. A figure seemed to still be looking this way from the window, probably Kong Xuan based on the position.

After a while, Tan Xiao was @-mentioned in the class group chat by Lin Yang: [Brother Xiao, why aren't you on the bus yet? What are you talking to the teacher about over there?]

Tan Xiao replied: [You guys head back first. There's still some water in my thermos, give it to Kong Xuan.]

Tan Xiao thought and said: [I'm staying behind to exchange some practical experience with the shaman of this Yao village.]

Three full seconds of silence.

Then in an instant, the class group exploded.

[Awesome]

[Master, I kneel before you]

[Hahahahahaha]

You could even see the form teacher Ji Huiming's emoji mixed in: [Laughing Crying] [Question Mark]

......

The bus from Nanchu No. 1 Middle had already left.

Tan Xiao walked back to Pan Jianjun's inn with him. From their attire, the middle-aged man who came looking for Pan Jianjun earlier was still here. Beside him stood an old man with short cropped hair, wearing a set of old cloth garments, with mud stains on his pants, looking like an old farmer working the fields.

And that was indeed the case. His daily occupation was farming. Even at this age, with the family's improving conditions, he never stopped.

From a distance, Pan Jianjun shouted, "Dad!"

Pan Jianjun's father was named Pan Longxiang. Before he could finish tending the family's land today, he was hurriedly called over to help. He had just been talking to the middle-aged man beside him. Seeing his son standing next to a handsome young man, who politely nodded in greeting, "Greetings, Dao Gong."

"Hey there, little snake shaman." Pan Longxiang shook hands with Tan Xiao. He spoke with a bit of a local accent, but was still easy to understand. "Sorry to trouble you in a bit."

"Longxiang, can we hurry? If it gets dark, my son will be even harder to find. The mountains are too dangerous. Even with dozens of people searching, we still haven't found him." The middle-aged man on the side said anxiously. As time passed, his expression grew more and more panicked.

Tan Xiao originally thought from their conversation that retrieving the ritual attire was just to re-establish the altar for the iron tortoise. But now hearing this man's words, seems there was more to it?

"What mountains?" Tan Xiao asked. Did his son get lost in the mountains? What does that have to do with the Pai Sect's iron tortoise?

The middle-aged man glanced at Tan Xiao unintentionally, but immediately recognized him and exclaimed, "I've seen your live show! You're the drummer of that band!"

Tan Xiao: "..."

I'm not, I haven't.

Tan Xiao wanted to explain, but Pan Longxiang stopped him.

"Alright, alright, talk about that later. Let's take care of business first."

Pan Longxiang glanced at his fellow villager. If he didn't owe his family a favor from years ago, he wouldn't make an exception for this, much less go retrieve the ritual attire under false pretenses.

He frowned, "Lei Yong, what's the use of you getting anxious about this now? When your son dragged the iron tortoise to your house, you didn't know to be anxious? You've been out and about, not taking the old rules of the mountains seriously anymore, huh."

"I'm going to find a way to get the ritual attire from the village up the mountain. You prepare the pork, chicken..."

He listed off a string of items, telling the other party to get them ready, to give Lei Yong something to do and not go crazy.

Lei Yong nodded and made a mental note. He had no choice. He was among the first batch from the village to go to school, spending most of his time outside and rarely coming back.

The old customs buried in his childhood memories indeed hadn't been thought of in a long time. Especially since evil fears the light. Ever since the mountains got electricity and started receiving tourists, it seemed to happen even less.

But this matter was too bizarre. Strange things kept happening at home. After his son went missing, there was still no news. He could only ask Longxiang for help.

The village shamans had gradually either changed professions or gone out to work. Even Longxiang had temporarily stopped his practice in the last couple of years. He was an old-timer, having moved down from the Yao village at the mountain top. He was still familiar with matters of the Pai Sect.

Lei Yong also knew the masters usually used divine medicines in pairs. Old Man Pan was also an excellent herb gatherer, more familiar with the mountain paths than anyone. This point was very important. It's just that Old Man Pan insisted on having his ritual attire before agreeing to help.

"Little Snake Shaman, please come with me to the ancestral hall in the village on the mountain," Pan Longxiang said as he prepared to take Tan Xiao on his motorcycle to his village. The old gentleman was in good shape and straddled the motorcycle.

Tan Xiao also got on the back seat, and Pan Longxiang drove up the mountain road.

"Dao Gong, what did that uncle mean just now about finding someone?" Tan Xiao asked curiously. He had come to help persuade the ancestral hall, but he also wondered what exactly had happened.

This was originally a village matter. Whether it was those young people or Pan Jianjun, they were all evasive in front of Tan Xiao and didn't want to tell the truth.

But Pan Longxiang had called Tan Xiao to help. He had his own principles for dealing with the world. Even though Tan Xiao was young, he couldn't deceive him. No matter how young Tan Xiao was, he was still considered a fellow practitioner.

"Did you see the iron turtle at the head of our village?" Pan Longxiang asked.

"Yes, I saw it. There was a suppressing inscription in snake-foot script on it. I wanted to ask, is it really a cultural relic? If it is, it can't be moved casually, right?" Tan Xiao took the opportunity to ask.

"It's not quite that. Although that thing is old, it's not considered a crime," Pan Longxiang said.

Since Tan Xiao had seen the iron turtle and observed it carefully, Pan Longxiang believed he understood it to some extent. After all, he was a shaman.

So he spoke even more openly, "The young people in our village took Lei Yong's son, who had just returned for a vacation, to play in the Nanxi River. They touched the exposed iron turtle, lifted it up, thinking it was interesting or something that could be sold for money. They discussed calling someone to take a look at it later and even wanted to live stream it. After lifting it up, they temporarily put it in Lei Yong's house.

"But this iron turtle had a spell cast on it by the Pai sect priests in the past to suppress the evil spirits in the river. They rashly moved it back.

I was in the fields all day and didn't know about this. Within a few days, these young people had bad luck one after another. The pigs, chickens, and sheep in their homes were found to have gone blind! They themselves also felt unwell. Lei Yong's son went into a frenzy today, ran out of the house, and rushed to the top of the mountain. He still hasn't been found."

When Lei Yong's son ran away, at first the family looked for him but couldn't find him. Then they mobilized the neighbors to join the search. It was a mess at the time. His companions who had fished out the iron turtle with him were already scared. Seeing the situation, they quickly wanted to throw away the iron turtle, but fortunately Pan Jianjun stopped them in time.

It was no wonder they were afraid. When the Qiyun Yao said the top of the mountain, it wasn't an ordinary hiking trail, but a deeper area where tourists were prohibited. Even ordinary Qiyun Yao wouldn't casually enter the deep mountains as it was too dangerous, unless they were professional guides or herb gatherers like Pan Longxiang.

Lei Yong's son didn't even bring his cell phone, making it difficult to locate him even if they went to the police station.

"They searched for almost a whole day but couldn't find him. Only when the elders at home reminded them did they think of asking me for help. I said it was possible, but I must use the methods of our Yao family's shaman teachings and set up an altar to perform rituals. Otherwise, let alone whether he can be found or not, even if he is found, he may not survive."

After Pan Longxiang finished explaining the whole matter, he didn't hear a response from Tan Xiao behind him.

He laughed and said, "Oh, you're a student. Do you think this old man is exaggerating? Those are just folk customs and coincidences. The young people had hysteria, a collective hysteria disorder."

He knew that many fellow practitioners nowadays often sought scientific and cultural explanations for these rituals.

Tan Xiao was a bit exasperated. The old Dao Gong knew quite a few terms. Indeed, many phenomena of encountering demons and ghosts were explained this way now, and there was truth and falsehood. Just like before, Tan Xiao also believed that many problems were caused by parasites and food poisoning.

"No, I believe you, Dao Gong," Tan Xiao was just thinking that he had seen the iron turtle and it was the real deal. He just didn't know the specific situation of those young people.

"I was thinking, there are two possibilities for what happened to them. One is that the thing suppressed in the river escaped, and the other is that the suppressing object backfired."

—Although the iron turtle was cast to suppress the river, it also had its proper place because of this. Arbitrary movement would have unexpected effects and even cause trouble. This was why Pan Longxiang didn't allow them to place it randomly.

"Hahaha, you're not bad! You're not just agreeing with me for the sake of my medicine formula, are you?" When Pan Longxiang heard Tan Xiao's guess, hey, it was really rare to find a true fellow practitioner!

He knew their family was all into performances now, but it was hard to say. This young man might have some spiritual ability! After all, there were real shamans in his ancestral lineage.

"Of course I also want the formula, that's why I didn't return to school," Tan Xiao made no secret of it. Anyway, Pan Longxiang had already agreed. "But I really do believe it too."

He had never deliberately concealed it, even that time with Sister Mao, it was half true and half false.

"So in your case, is it a yang transmission?" Pan Longxiang asked with interest.

The inheritance of shamans was divided into yin transmission and yang transmission.

Like Pan Longxiang himself, he had a yang transmission, having learned from his father as his teacher. Incantations, scriptures, rituals, everything was painstakingly memorized by him. As for how much innate spiritual resonance one had, it depended on the individual. There were many cases of each generation not being as good as the previous one.

He also knew that some fellow practitioners received transmissions from ancestors or a predecessor who favored them in their dreams. After a serious illness or a dream overnight, they would know all the spells. This was called yin transmission.

Given Tan Xiao's background, both situations were possible. He might have become enlightened on his own, or he might have received a yin transmission from an ancestor.

Tan Xiao thought for a moment, "I have both yin and yang transmissions, let's just call it a family transmission..." He received family education at home, but the Peacock God also taught him some things. However, the Peacock God now also lived in his home, so it wasn't wrong to call it a family transmission!

As they were talking, Pan Longxiang's motorcycle had already arrived at the village on the mountain. The degree of modernisation here was not as deep, and the ancestral hall was at the entrance of the village, but it was locked. Pan Longxiang found an elder in the village and spoke to him in Yao language for a few sentences, then pointed at Tan Xiao.

The old man looked at Tan Xiao with cloudy eyes and said in Chinese with a stern face, "You are from the Tan family?"

—Whether it was among folk shamans or in the folk tourism industry, the Tan family shamans had quite a reputation.

Tan Xiao took out the business card he carried with him and said, "Yes, hello. Our family has discussed with the travel agency and now wants to develop a tourism route with Dao Gong Pan called 'Nourishing Health Nanchu Tour'. We will utilize Dao Gong Pan's ancient Yao formulas to develop fumigation and health preservation projects, experience the Nuo culture of the Han and Yao people in Nanchu, and also enjoy the sea of clouds at Qiyun Ridge..."

Pan Longxiang: "..." If he didn't know better, he would have thought it was real!

Tan Xiao's story was much more detailed and realistic than Pan Jianjun's. Pan Jianjun just wanted him to use a performance to deceive people, while Tan Xiao directly made up a whole route, which was even more deceptive. After all, in terms of performance alone, they should be competitors with Tan Chunying, so it only made sense if they cooperated on the same route.

Sure enough, the old man in the village believed it right away. Many Yao villages in Qiyun Ridge had similar collaborations, including song and dance performances. It seemed that the Pan Longxiang also wanted to change careers. There was nothing shameful about wanting to make money, it's just...

"Sigh, can't you just custom-make costumes and props for the performances? I know many people's performance outfits are all newly made identical clothes." The old man was not without knowledge, as there was no shortage of tourists coming to Qiyun Ridge. He was just a bit reluctant to return the props, after all, it would break the old rules.

"The route we are developing is a boutique one, so of course we need to show tourists some old things that they can recognize as not factory-made." Tan Xiao responded quickly, "Don't worry, we are asking him to do performances, not rituals. It won't touch any taboos."

"If that's the case, then wait for me to bring it. But you must not break the rules, otherwise you will be the most unlucky one." The old man reminded again, this time directed at Pan Longxiang.

"I understand." Pan Longxiang was prepared long ago. He would try his best to appease the ancestral gods.

Pan Longxiang's props were buried under the ancestral hall. The old man called the young and strong men to dig up the soil, revealing a large urn containing Pan Longxiang's complete set of Daoist props.

Pan Longxiang held his props, caressing them like treasures. "Not bad, they have been regularly oiled and cleaned for me."

These were all passed down through generations, different from the ones Tan Xiao's family donated to museums. His had been used generation after generation without being replaced.

Time was tight. As soon as he got the items, he immediately drove Tan Xiao back along the mountain road.

While Tan Xiao and Pan Longxiang went to get the props, Pan Jianjun had already helped set up the tables at home, with incense, candles, and paper money offerings all neatly arranged. After all, he had been exposed to it since childhood, although he had not taken over the altar himself.

Pan Longxiang put on his Daoist robe, with a long drum around his waist and a Dharma bell in his hand. In an instant, his entire aura changed.

Pan Longxiang's props also included some Nuo masks. Nuo culture had a long history among the Qiyun Yao as well, and they had a tradition of performing Nuo dances. However, the style of these masks was quite different from those in Tan Xiao's home. It was said that according to Qiyun Yao customs, all the masks for a single altar were carved from the same tree.

"Jianjun, go out. You haven't taken over the altar, so you can't watch." Pan Longxiang first drove Pan Jianjun out. Since he wasn't in this line of work, his son couldn't casually watch the core rituals.

Pan Jianjun said reluctantly, "Then why is he still inside? Dad, be careful he might secretly learn from you." But he only agreed to teach the recipe, not the other moves.

Tan Xiao: "..."

To be honest, he was seen through. He really did want to learn something.

"If you can learn it, it's the skill of a snake shaman." Pan Longxiang said. They had their own set of principles. Tan Xiao was a fellow practitioner. If the ancestral masters on the altar agreed, then Tan Xiao would be able to learn. If they didn't agree, Tan Xiao wouldn't be able to learn even if he watched.

Moreover, based on what Tan Xiao said on the way, it showed he was a person with heart. It's just that following Tan Chunying, he probably had difficulty finding a true shaman master to guide him. Sigh, since the young man was willing to believe, he also wanted to help a bit.

"Watch closely." Pan Longxiang said meaningfully.

Tan Xiao sat obediently to the side. "Okay, thank you Dao Gong."

The Qiyun Yao emphasized polytheistic worship, revering various nature gods and ancestral gods. They also imitated deities from other ethnicities and religions, including both shamanism and other sects.

Moreover, just like shamans, almost every shaman worshipped a different set of gods and developed their own system.

Therefore, not only the ethnic minorities, but the entire folk shamanism of Chu was characterized by its inclusiveness, worshipping a great variety of ghosts and gods.

Otherwise, how could it be said that Chu had a flourishing shaman culture?

The gods worshipped by Qiyun Yao shamans in a single altar numbered at least around a hundred. If it was a large-scale event within the tribe, it could gather four to five hundred gods of all sizes.

The altar currently set up by Pan Longxiang also had eighteen deities.

The gods Pan Longxiang was inviting now were not ancestral gods, but local deities in charge of mountains, forests, and rivers. He was asking where Lei Yong's child was, inviting him to return on his own. If he couldn't come back by himself, where should they go to find him?

The offerings Pan Longxiang placed in front of the shrine were a rooster, pork, and other cured meats from the family. But unlike shamans, these were all raw. He inserted chopsticks vertically into the bowls, shook the Dharma bell, and chanted, "Inviting the Qiyun General to come, the immortal wind blows down the incense burner. Enter the first door, enter the second hall, tell your disciple how to proceed. I know his surname, I know his name..."

Stepping the pace of Yu, reciting the shaman words, Pan Longxiang's body began to tremble as he shook his head, entering a mysterious state. He hadn't performed rituals for a long time. Today, as he did it, he felt there was a strong spiritual response.

After reciting just a few verses of the shaman words, the incense and candles actually began to sway. A gust of wind blew through the hall.

Pan Longxiang felt that in the blink of an eye, a revered god seemed to appear before him. The god was dressed in splendid robes, with a feathered headdress, looking extremely magnificent. Moreover, his aura was overwhelming, as if he was here to make trouble.

Pan Longxiang couldn't help but be stunned. Strange, in his many years as a shaman, it was rare for a great god to personally appear. It was mostly a kind of dialogue in the dark, or meeting them in dreams.

Moreover, looking closely at the image, he always felt that it didn't match any of the eighteen deities on the altar today, or even the more than a hundred gods worshipped in his home!

The divine might was majestic, unlike a rural yin god. What on earth did he unintentionally invite, and it even had an angry appearance? This was difficult to handle!

Pan Longxiang's heart felt like it had been flushed with snow water. He cautiously asked, "Disciple asks which revered god is on the altar? What instructions do you have?"

Tan Xiao, who was watching obediently on the side, stared at the visitor's long hair and clothes, finding them more and more familiar...

Wait, the clothes seemed to be the ones he had picked out.

No way, right?

Tan Xiao exchanged glances with that semi-transparent figure, confirming the fierce eyes!

Tan Xiao quickly stood up and said awkwardly, "...Wait a moment, Dao Gong, this seems to be a mistake. It looks like he's here for me."

Pan Longxiang: "??"

Author's Note:

Your friend Kong Xuan has once again activated his skill: Intercepting the Hotline