Chapter 1828 - "Startle," "Flash," "Peak," and "Wind"

Cui Hantang's face showed displeasure, like someone whose TV show had been spoiled. Rather unwillingly he said: "That's right."

"Hmm?" Mu Min perked up at hearing this might help with the case. "Tell us properly—what exactly is going on?"

"Mm! Mm!" Cui Hantang cleared his throat and took another sip of tea before saying mysteriously: "Speaking of ghost-rearing, it's actually similar to raising gu insects. Both are secret arts of sorcerers that aren't passed on! As the saying goes: 'True transmission is one sentence; false transmission fills ten thousand books.' You may hear sorcerers speak mysteriously, but when you actually use these things, it's really just a few moves back and forth!! Speaking of which, it's quite a long story."

Everyone looked at him—Is this going to be a storytelling performance? Liu San hurried to say: "Get to the point, get to the point."

Cui Hantang glanced at him: "The point lies in four words: 'Startle,' 'Flash,' 'Peak,' and 'Wind'!"

"This 'Startle'—some places also call it 'raw theater.' Generally it uses physical or chemical methods unknown to the public to treat props, performing effects that leave people astonished and uncertain, creating psychological awe, reverence, and trust toward the practitioner. Additionally, things like drawing talismans, reciting incantations, invoking spirits, and performing rituals are all part of 'Startle.'"

"'Raw'—in jianghu jargon means 'fake.' That's quite apt." Mu Min observed.

Cui Hantang nodded: "Now for 'Flash.' Chief Mu, since you know jianghu secret language, you know magicians are called 'Flash Artists.' As the name implies, a sorcerer's 'Flash' is magic tricks. Like this!"

As he spoke, he quickly withdrew his right hand into his sleeve. When it emerged again, he shouted: "Fire!"

He snapped his fingers, and a pale blue flame appeared on his index finger. Before everyone could be startled, his left hand flipped over, revealing a blank yellow talisman paper. He quickly and quietly chanted a few incomprehensible syllables, then suddenly intoned: "Heaven and earth without limit, borrowing power from the cosmos."

His right-hand flame touched the talisman. An incredible sight occurred: a mung-bean-sized fireball appeared on the talisman. This fireball then rapidly traversed the paper. Wherever it passed, mysterious talisman script appeared on the paper's surface. In an instant, the fireball burned out and a complete talisman paper appeared before everyone's eyes.

Everyone was startled. Though they knew it was essentially a magic trick, seeing it up close was still quite impressive.

"Naturally, my finger and the talisman paper were both treated with chemicals," Cui Hantang extinguished the flame. "This 'Flash' relies on hand movements—requires much practice until faster than the eye can react. Basically a magician's technique. Of course this is the simplest version—simple as it is, this stuff could still earn money in the 21st century. 'Flash' also includes larger-scale versions, like stage magic. When Daoist Fu 'dueled arts' with various sects in Shandong, these sects all used such techniques. Of course those are more complex and harder to crack. But they can all be categorized as 'Flash.'"

"You should become a magician." Lin Boguang laughed. "With that hand speed, stage performance would be no problem."

"Please, please. Actually my skills don't compare to Zhang Biao from the Intelligence Bureau. At least with magic, I'm purely an amateur enthusiast." Cui Hantang showed rare humility—because though he understood the theory of 'Flash,' most of the actual hand techniques were taught by the quasi-magician Zhang Biao. Betraying one's teacher would not do.

"This 'Peak' is the most powerful—the sorcerer's core skill, their true abilities. Generally including martial arts, techniques, gu, poisons, hexes, stars (hidden weapons), and so on. Broadly speaking, astrology, navigation, dragon-vein geomancy—all count as 'Peak.' These are each school's closely-guarded secrets. Itinerant sorcerers without proper lineage transmission can't learn much 'Peak' and mainly rely on 'Flash.'

"Finally, 'Wind' refers to reading the atmosphere, observing words and expressions, scouting locations, and gathering information. These are personal skills. There are also 'matchmakers'—meaning 'shills'—who help arrange the scene, deploy props, feed lines, and so on. When several methods are flexibly combined, the variations are truly endless, reaching almost unimaginable levels."

Everyone was so engrossed in his explanation that they forgot to interrupt. No one urged him to get to the point anymore. Fortunately, Cui Hantang brought the conversation back on his own and began discussing the secret arts of 'ghost-rearing.'

He continued: "This so-called 'ghost-rearing' has all sorts of terrifying rumors. The production process is extremely disgusting and horrifying—I won't go into details here. It's just ceremonial stuff, mostly belonging to the 'Startle' category. It makes people who see or even just hear about it feel afraid, serving to throw their minds into disarray. But the 'Peak' element genuinely has its secrets." Cui Hantang took another sip of tea, even smacking his lips, seemingly somewhat enthralled.

Everyone had initially found him rather mystical, but listening further, they actually found it quite substantial. They could not help becoming absorbed.

"Actually, for sorcerers, 'ghost-rearing' and 'gu-rearing' are basically the same thing. Both involve finding venomous insects, poisonous plants, and strange beasts in nature to domesticate, selectively breed, and crossbreed to make them fiercer and more toxic, then using them to harm people. Using extracted venoms or live bites to kill. Like snake venom—if the snake species is unknown, the right antivenom can't be found, making detoxification impossible. Some specialize in cultivating various human parasites, using eggs to parasitize and kill. Some supreme masters can even cultivate deadly pathogens like rabies virus, tetanus, flesh-eating bacteria, and such, killing without trace. It's essentially ancient bioweapons."

Mu Min said: "Now that you mention it, I recall: before, when I accompanied Social Investigation Department Elders on field research in Li and Miao areas, I heard that in some villages, gu-keeping was prevalent. There was 'Five Poisons Gu,' 'Golden Silkworm Gu,' and such. At the time I found it quite exotic—so the novels really do have basis in reality!"

Cui Hantang said: "Novels don't come from nowhere. Though the principle of Five Poisons Gu may not actually be five venomous creatures devouring each other, the prevalence of 'gu-casting' in the southwest must have some actual efficacy—probably using some kind of poison."

"Now specifically tell us about this 'little ghost.'" Mu Min was most concerned with the case.

"This second type... should be a small primate-type animal. Very small..."

Now it was Lin Boguang's turn to shake his head: "How small can a monkey be? Running around on the roof, with all these sentries inside and out—are they all blind?"

"I've heard of finger monkeys—these super-tiny monkeys. But they're Amazon rainforest creatures. Getting one to China would be quite difficult." Liu San knew something about the animal kingdom.

"Ultra-small monkeys don't only exist in the Amazon. I won't even mention Madagascar's aye-aye—let's just say Fujian's Wuyi Mountains produce 'ink monkeys.' These can live in a brush holder. Do you think sentries could spot it? This monkey's palm really does look like a small child's hand. Sorcerers who raise this kind of monkey use special methods to make their teeth and claws carry multiple pathogenic bacteria or toxins. Being scratched or bitten not only causes poisoning but also bacterial infection—at minimum you'd get sepsis. Similar to Komodo dragons. But the opponent didn't count on Mayor Liu's room having glass windows."

Cui Hantang chuckled a few times before continuing: "This monkey's body is very small. Normally it uses its claws to scratch through window paper and enter the room to kill the sleeping victim. But your windows are glass. Close the window and it simply can't scratch through. That's how you escaped another disaster."

Liu Xiang smiled bitterly: "Thank goodness we're time-travelers."

"That's why the advancement of productive forces isn't for nothing." Cui Hantang laughed. "As for the third step—it involves using those horrifying scenes at Mao Family Inn to release the signal of intending to curse-kill you. Though the exposure of Mao Family Inn was accidental, I have no doubt that even without those two bumbling police officers, the inn's secrets would still have been discovered. It's just that by then the people would have already fled. I imagine these past few days there's been talk on the streets that the evil practitioners at the inn were secretly performing rituals to curse Mayor Liu to death? That's the 'mind curse' you fell victim to. As for why Mayor Liu was so susceptible—the nervous exhaustion from hyperthyroidism is one issue. But there's another issue."

Author's note: The details and descriptions of Daoist arts in these chapters (and several subsequent chapters) are entirely from fellow author Cui Hantang. Special thanks.

(End of Chapter)