"...and then there are the various Magical Creatures of the Shan Xiao family."
Xiao Xiao's gaze passed over the edge of the barrier raised by the Hexagram Magic Circle and fell deep into the forest submerged in wind and snow. He narrowed his eyes and adjusted his glasses.
"In the Magical Creatures taxonomy, the Shan Xiao family belongs to the chordates, mammals, and primates. It possesses an extremely rich variety of subordinate species, most of which make laughter similar to that of humans."
"For example, Xiao Yang of the ghost genus, humanoid subgenus, also known as the 'Mountain Spirit,' is human-shaped, large-bodied, black-faced, covered in hair, and has reversed heels. It laughs when it sees people. The males are called Mountain Elders, and the females Mountain Maidens."
"Another subgenus of the ghost genus, the ghost subgenus, has Jiang Xiao as its representative species. They are three to four zhang tall, green all over, bleed from their eyes, and can breathe fire from their mouths."
"I remember Jiang Xiao looking like a bird, doesn't it?"
The Fat Wizard tilted his head and glanced back at the Doctor, delighted at having caught a tiny slip. "I mean, doesn't it look a lot like a swallow?"
"That's Shui Xiao, not Jiang Xiao."
Xiao Xiao glanced at him with the air of someone forgiving ignorance and patiently explained, "The Secret Words of the Dark Pearl says, 'There is a bird as large as a magpie, black-bodied with fleshy wings, a swallow-like head, and a long-haired tail. Seeing it foretells floods.' That describes Shui Xiao. It can be considered part of the Shan Xiao family, but it likes floating corpses rather than laughter, and its cry resembles an infant's. It definitely has nothing to do with those things in the woods, so I didn't mention