"What did you see?" Li asked.
"...a cat." Xia Fan hesitated for a few seconds before answering. It was really difficult for him to connect the animal in front of him with the evil spirit that harmed people. "Is it the culprit that keeps the Tian family awake at night?"
"Well..." Li showed a thoughtful look, "It is the reason, but not necessarily the culprit. The biggest difference between the sprite and the charm is that it has no obvious hostility towards living creatures. The reason why it appears in the room is probably because it follows Habits during life." At this point, she looked at Xia Fan, "Go and ask the old man if she had a civet cat at home."
Xia Fan turned around and left the house, then quickly came back, "Old Mrs. Tian said that her family did have a cat before, but it suddenly died of illness half a month ago, and her daughter-in-law cried about it for a while. What do you mean? , Could this cat be—"
"It's the cat from the Tian family." Li knelt down and held the cat in his hands, "But it is no longer a living thing, but a virtual demon, an illusion made of Qi."
Xia Fan hesitated for a moment, then reached out and touched the cat's head. Not only could he feel the furry touch, but also the warm residual heat. The latter even squinted his eyes in comfort, and it looked no different from a real living creature.
"Does this count as a resurrection from the dead? Since Tian's wife likes this cat, maybe we can-"
"No!" Li pricked up his ears and shouted, "Wake up, death is death, dead things cannot come back to life, don't confuse the two!"
Xia Fan was slightly startled. This was the first time he saw such a sharp expression from the fox demon.
"There is no way to resurrect the dead! Once dead, consciousness no longer exists, and even if it remains, it is nothing more than an empty shell. Just like this tabby cat, its course of action is just repeating its life. Even the touch and reaction are the same. As long as you and I close our eyes, it will return to the virtual state again."
"Even if the woman likes this cat, can she stare at it all day long? Besides, there is more or less Qi in the human body. If you live with a demon made of Qi for a long time, your own Qi will also become disordered. The result is that she becomes increasingly weak and her lifespan is greatly shortened." Li shook his head, "I see that she is in such a sluggish state, half of it is due to her own weakness, and the other half is probably caused by this virtual monster. You send the monster to her, The essence is the same as murder!"
"Uh... I'm just assuming," Xia Fan coughed twice, "You don't have to be so angry, right?"
"It's not possible to assume. It at least proves that you have this idea, and confusing the boundary between life and death is an absolute forbidden area for alchemists!" The fox demon said in an unquestionable tone, "My master has mentioned many similar things - some alchemists are mastering In the process of being angry, they mistakenly thought that they could reverse life and death, and finally went astray. No one ended up with a good end, including Privy Council Hagoromo. Don't you think it's ridiculous? You don't care when you are alive, and you regret it when you die. , even if it violates the law of heaven. I just don’t want to see you become this ridiculous!"
Is she... worried about herself
"Okay, okay, I know I was wrong." Xia Fan backed down in line with the principle of correcting mistakes, "Then what should we do with this cat—no, this virtual demon?"
"It is a projection of Qi. With stronger Qi, you can break its form and make it return to the world." Li raised the cat in front of him.
"I understand." Xia Fan nodded and picked up the wooden sword again.
…
"The matter is settled." After walking out of the house, Xia Fan said to Mrs. Tian who was waiting expectantly outside the door.
"Little Taoist Master...are you telling the truth?" The latter looked surprised.
"Yes, you can check in with peace of mind, I promise the sound will not come back again."
"Well..." The young woman who had been half-hiding behind the old lady timidly poked her head out, "Master Taoist, I want to ask you, is there really a ghost in our house?"
"It's not a ghost, but the cat you two raised. It probably couldn't bear to leave you two, so it left its soul here after death." Xia Fan slowly said the words he had prepared in advance, "Although it still misses you two. Master, but the road between life and death is very different. After I communicated with it, I have let it go on its journey with peace of mind. Don’t worry, it should be reincarnated again soon."
Of course this is not the case. According to Li, the energy of dead things no longer has consciousness, let alone the emotions of reluctance and nostalgia, but he thinks it is easier for ordinary people to accept it this way.
In addition, the moment he thrust the sword into the body of the civet cat, he deeply felt the difference between dead things and living things. The wooden sword penetrated the virtual cat without any resistance, and the latter showed no pain and still maintained his coquettish appearance until It turned into a wisp of smoke and disappeared.
"It's Ah Hua!" After listening to Xia Fan's story, Tian's wife immediately covered her mouth and burst into tears. "It, it is a stray cat that my husband and I adopted together. It was good at first, but suddenly died of illness for some reason... Wuwu... You said it couldn't let go of its owner... It turns out that it didn't blame me, that's great..."
As the woman whimpered, her previously pale face regained a hint of rosiness.
"No wonder the little Taoist priest asked me about raising cats." Mrs. Tian also felt relieved and took a big breath. "As expected of a famous teacher, a great disciple. Little Taoist priest, you saved the lives of our family!"
As she spoke, she knelt down again, causing Xia Fan to be in a hurry again.
"The Tian family will never forget your great kindness!"
"Thank you, Lord Taoist, I owe you my life..."
"No, no, it's just a piece of cake. And the money for the clothes and window paper—"
"Then how can you make the trail grow? If it spreads, it will make the neighbors laugh! If you persist, I will kneel here and never get up!"
Faced with such a situation, Xia Fan had no choice but to give up.
He could tell that although some of the Tian family's words did not convey their meaning or they were pretending to be solemn, their gratitude came from the bottom of their hearts without any trace of hypocrisy.
Even before leaving, the old lady did not forget to forcefully stuff a basket of eggs into his arms and deliver it to the door of the inn without giving him a chance to refuse.
When they were about to leave, Xia Fan asked a question that he had been wondering about for a long time.
"Why don't you go to the Privy Council?"
Yes, although Fenghua County is not a big county, it still has county offices and inns. These government agencies can report evil spirits to the Privy Council in big cities or prefectures and counties. For such unconventional anomalies, the local Privy Council should be responsible for dealing with them.
"The little Taoist priest is joking," the old lady said, covering her mouth, "It costs money to invite the officials. If they don't move, it will cost dozens of taels of silver. How can we afford it?"
"A few dozen taels?" Xia Fan said in surprise, "No matter how harmful the evil spirit is?"
"That's the lowest price. If it's dangerous, you'll definitely have to pay more." The old lady had a strange expression on her face. "If you can't get the money together, it'll be troublesome. The government doesn't care what your situation is, they will just rush into your home and search. Oops, why am I talking so much... Anyway, thanks to people with bodhisattva-like hearts like Taoist Zhao and Taoist Xiao, we are able to live in peace."