Sure enough, Mr. Xu quickly introduced him. "This is Barry. He's a colleague from the Qi Province Bureau 404. Old Ba, this is our underage outside helper."

"Spirit Master Tan." Barry stood up to greet Tan Xiao, not daring to look down on him because of his young age. "I've long admired your great name!"

Only when he stood up did Tan Xiao see he was holding a not particularly large single-sided sheepskin drum. Looking carefully, Tan Xiao asked, "Hello... You practice Duan Gong magic?"

Barry nodded vigorously, "Good eye!"

This was quite rare. It turned out Barry also practiced folk magic!

Duan Gong and spirit masters were both types of folk shamans, spread across many provinces in China, evolving with differences based on local customs. Barry was obviously heavily influenced by Qi shamanism.

Like Chu, Qi Province used to have a strong shamanistic culture. The most famous was their shaman dance "Shang Yang Dance", with many of its movements incorporated early into their traditional opera, just as famous as the Chu shaman "Snake Handling Dance". The difference was in function - the "Shang Yang Dance" was for praying for rain.

Before there was Elder Baoping who practiced orthodox magic at Laomei Temple, now there was Barry who practiced folk magic teachings.

Although they were shamans from different places, Tan Xiao felt close to him upon meeting. The two exchanged a few pleasantries in the video.

"Fellow colleagues, and Spirit Master Tan, let me introduce - based on our field investigation, one progress is that we've traced the source of the Huodou. It should be a pet shop in Qi Province. This pet shop was once hit by a meteor, but made the news because the owner had paranoid delusions and bought a lot of insurance for himself and the shop. People laughed at him for worrying needlessly, but who knew, just like the ancient Qi people, he really was hit by a meteor."

Barry synchronized the current investigation progress with everyone. "Then we went to learn that the shop likely lost twelve animals at the time. I now reasonably suspect those twelve all formed into Huodou due to fragments of the Tiangou star. Their tracks started from Qi Province and then expanded to surrounding provinces. And this process was definitely guided by human intervention.

"This force behind it is also a major focus for us besides tracking the other Huodou. Many of our colleagues are also initiating divinations about this fiend, but maybe the information is still too lacking, so we're also collecting more intel.

"Actually, after tracking for some time, we've also locked onto the tracks of at least four or five Huodou, and are organizing manpower to capture them all. Then we have another investigation direction, which is the process of elimination."

It was a very simple principle. Existences that could evade Kong Xuan were definitely few. And the number of great demons in the human realm was limited. Investigate them one by one first. And this task actually overlapped a bit with a project the Bureau 404 had been working on recently - the once-every-sixty-years demon census. Some existing data could be utilized.

Twelve of them! Tan Xiao felt a bit dizzy listening, but fortunately they said other tracks had also been found and were being hunted down simultaneously. Progress was still heartening.

"The other party stayed in Chu for a relatively long time. The density of cases here is higher. I think it's related to the high concentration of Emperor's Essence in Nanchu on Gengshen Day."

Everyone knew this and nodded. In short, Chu Province needed to intensify its investigation.

"So I also plan to go to Mount Qiyun tomorrow or the day after to observe Nanchu's feng shui," Barry said. Mount Qiyun was an important mountain range in Nanchu and also a high point. Furthermore, if any demons were hiding, they would definitely like to hide in such deep mountains and old forests. If they wanted to look for traces of other Huodou, this place was definitely suitable.

Tan Xiao nodded. "If I don't have class, I'll go over too. Oh, I know local shamans there. I can ask them to lead the way."

"Thank you for your hard work. You have so many classes but still make time to help," Barry said.

Then he saw Tan Xiao sigh in the video. "No choice. My family god said, don't just know how to go to class. You also need to go out and exercise. Physical tests are very important too."

Barry was dazed for a moment. "Your family god is this specific?"

Tan Xiao shifted his body, revealing the family god who was half-floating behind him while reading a textbook. "Yeah... verbatim."

Barry almost spat out his drink. He looked at the other colleagues from the Chu Province, showing a puzzled expression. Why did they not tell me that Chu shamans had secretly evolve so much?

"Don't look at us, we were hoping you could explain. Can you shamans summon gods 24/7?" Mu Fei joked, knowing that Kong Xuan descending to the mortal world to study was not common knowledge.

Barry: "..."

......

Holiday.

Tan Xiao took the family god to Qiyun Ridge again. Because he hadn't finished his homework, he didn't leave with the group from Bureau 404, but went a step later.

Coming to Qiyun Ridge again, it seemed no different. When passing by the fish pond at the village entrance, there were still anglers pointing at him... Tan Xiao didn't expect they would still remember him, even netizens would have forgotten!

This wasn't the peak season for vacations at Qiyun Ridge, but after the beginning of spring, there were still more people coming for outings. Tan Xiao and Bureau 404 agreed to meet at the homestay of Pan Longxiang's family. He walked to the door with familiarity, and heard a clamor coming from inside.

"You still don't believe you're possessed. Who the hell runs a hundred miles barefoot in one night, and chooses Sunday specifically? You wake up without even lactic acid buildup pain."

"...You really, don't try to cheat me out of money, okay? You can't even argue with me."

"Who's arguing with you? Then you tell me, why did you stop sleepwalking when you went to sleep at the hospital?"

"Nonsense, because that's the hospital!"

"Bullshit, the hospital didn't give you medicine, just let you sleep. It's clearly because of the evil problem in your home!"

Tan Xiao took a look. The ones talking were a young man in a leather jacket and a middle-aged man with a stubbled face holding a cigarette butt. The two were arguing incessantly.

"Is that the Duan Gong Barry?" Tan Xiao quietly confirmed with Kong Xuan, not seeing the other people from Bureau 404 made him a little unsure. "What is his original form, can you tell?"

"Yes." Kong Xuan took a look, trying to distinguish Barry's roots. "...I can tell but I don't recognize it."

Don't recognize, can't name the object.

Tan Xiao originally wanted to discuss a few more sentences, but was attracted by their conversation. It sounded like Barry had figured out that this uncle had encountered some evil event, but the uncle refused to admit it.

Moreover, the content of this incident sounded very familiar. Tan Xiao thought about it, wasn't it the sleepwalking man in the news shared by Lin Yang at the beginning of the school year? At that time, he was still wondering whether it was real or fake sleepwalking.

--It was just that Bureau 404 had been too busy recently to take care of him, or they saw he wasn't dangerous and put it on hold first. Tan Xiao made such a speculation based on his understanding of Bureau 404.

On the other side, Barry and "Sleepwalking Man" were arguing incessantly.

This sleepwalking man would inexplicably leave his own home at night every once in a while, appearing in Qiyun Ridge the next morning. It had been reported in the city news. But it had been happening for so long and he still hadn't solved it.

Everyone thought it was a sleepwalking wonder. This morning he appeared in Qiyun Ridge again, so he ran to the village to eat farmhouse food. Who knew he would encounter a strange leather-jacketed man who heard him telling other diners about his experience and insisted he must be possessed, even claiming to be some official.

What a joke!

Sleepwalking Man had watched "Walking X Science" since he was a child. How could there be such things as ghosts moving houses or night flying in the world? The doctor said it should be sleepwalking, and not being tired must be psychological suggestion.

As for the official, it was even more nonsense. The first moment he heard it, he laughed and said, "You mean, you're from the Dragon Team?"

Barry had arrived early and had already greeted Old Pan. At this time, he pulled over Old Pan. "This is the Yao family's Dao Gong, just ask him if he also thinks you have a problem."

He thought, now that two sects of shamans say you have a problem, you still won't admit it. Besides, if he was lying, he'd want to reveal his true form!

Pan Longxiang kept nodding, "Seems so!"

Sleepwalking Man laughed, "You already said he's a Dao Gong, what you two say is equally unreliable."

"Then whose words do you want to hear?" Barry asked amusingly. He had already decided to show Sleepwalking Man a trick.

Sleepwalking Man looked around, wanting to find someone from the diners to speak, but it was the off-season to begin with. The people who had just chatted with him all went back to fishing, not even interested in watching. But with this look, he saw Tan Xiao and Kong Xuan at the door.

Sleepwalking Man's gaze stayed on Tan Xiao's face for a few seconds, recognizing him. Sleepwalking Man also had a daughter in school and had seen Tan Xiao's show, "Hey, you're Tan Xiao, right?"

Tan Xiao nodded.

Not mistaken, Sleepwalking Man threw away his cigarette butt and extended his hand, "You heard us talking, right? Please say a few words. I'm willing to listen to you. You're both a spiritual culture inheritor and educated, what you say must make sense!"

Tan Xiao looked at him and said innocently but firmly, "Listen to me, you're definitely possessed."

Sleepwalking Man: "..."

Author's Note:

Kong Xuan: I didn't intend to break the rules, it was all the head teacher taking the lead in making a fuss.

Tan Xiao: The harder you work, the more scientific.