Treasure Bottle Continent, Qingxing Kingdom south of the great river.
A straw-sandaled youth carrying a sword on his back stood at the edge of a crowded opera stage, chewing heartily on a steaming bucket cake. He did not look at the heavily made-up dan actress, only at the stage props.
Night had fallen deep. Within a residence in Yuxuan Kingdom Capital City that was indeed often haunted, though not by a charming ghost who caused trouble, a Daoist priest who had finally found leisure after a busy day lit a lamp to read miscellaneous books. Two small dishes of "book-side" snacks sat on the table. Wu Di, a Daoist priest somewhat famous for fortune-telling from his street stall, was flipping through a copy of Tiangong Kaiwu, reading as he went, though only selecting passages he liked. He reread the sections on "Taoshan" and "Hammer Forging" twice. During this time, the Daoist began reciting from the preface in a vigorous voice. "Among all things under heaven..." "This book has nothing to do with gaining fame through the Imperial Examination Arts. Good, very good! Now that is Confucius's own way with real weight to it!" A woman's eerie voice drifted in from outside the window, genuinely spine-chilling. "Yet you are reading it with such relish." The Daoist shamelessly replied, "This poor Daoist is a privately registered Daoist priest. Why should I study the books of scholars traveling to the capital for examinations?" Later, the female ghost in a vivid scarlet dress standing outside the window—once a palace official responsible for opening chests and inspecting pomegranate skirts for the female Emperor—grew utterly bored. She rose on tiptoe and bent her fingers to tap the window paper, telling the Daoist to read the chapter called "Fermentation," which sounded fascinating from its title alone. The