Testing the Waters
A Fu didn't return until after noon.
Zhou Yang finished refining the last batch of scrap iron and stopped working.
A Fu doesn't provide meals, but he did give Zhou Yang an hour at noon to rest and do some work.
He threw a few pieces of scrap iron into the furnace, heated them until they turned orange-red, then used tongs to take them out and toss them onto the anvil to forge them.
Zhou Yang only hammered for a short while before feeling exhausted.
He wasn't particularly frustrated. Back when he hadn't learned Breathing of the Ghost, he couldn't even hold onto a blacksmith's hammer for more than a few blows.
Now that he has learned this breathing method, which is clearly harmful to people, and combined with the dead people's food he eats every day, Zhou Yang's physique has gradually improved compared to before. Even in a normal state, he can still grab the iron hammer for a while.
Zhou Yang then activated the Breathing of the Ghost and repeatedly struck the small hammer.
Before long, he forged several pieces of scrap iron into one piece, stretching it into a strip about the length of an arm.
The Chang Dafeng, who had been crouching at Zhou Yang's feet, had already disappeared into the "Knife Credit Ledger" behind Zhou Yang as the hammers fell.
middle.
At this moment, Zhou Yang placed the piece of iron behind the stool he was sitting on, and then opened the "Knife Credit Ledger".
On the third page of the tattered book, ink dots wriggled in the blank space, slowly settling into ink characters. "A Woman Rides on a Golden Pagoda."
Queji, the owner of the Quejicang Silversmith Stall on the Linzang Kora Route, and his son Aji, were ordered to go to Nengsheng Liberation Temple to cast a "golden stupa."
The blank spaces in the first paragraph on the third page have been filled in.
Zhou Yang never expected that Chang Dafeng's last image alone would completely fill in the missing part of the first paragraph of this story.
The photos of the deceased that he collected in Guan Village often required two or three strands to fill most of the blank space in a paragraph.
Perhaps Chang Dafeng possessed spiritual cultivation, which is why the quality of his posthumous image is better than that of ordinary people?
Zhou Yang's thoughts wandered slightly, but he quickly focused back on the words and sentences presented in the book.
The book tells the story of a father and son silversmith who were ordered to cast a golden pagoda for a temple.
The content is brief.
There doesn't seem to be much information for Zhou Yang to deduce.
But names like "Queji Cang" and "Aji," which are so different from the norm, inevitably made Zhou Yang's imagination run wild.
It is speculated that the region mentioned in the book is a place much more distant than where he is now.
Based on this passage alone, Zhou Yang could not grasp the full picture of the story.
He turned back to the second page of the book, stared at the "debt of love stained crimson with blood" for a while, then put the book back on his waist. He then got up, went out and wandered around the blacksmith's yard before returning to the shed.
Standing in the corner of the shed, Zhou Yang took out a paper package from under his paper clothes.
Unfolding the paper package revealed a patch of yellow mud inside, with a blood-stained note tucked away.
This is a handful of soil stained with Cao Qing's "deadly aura," and inside is a note with Cao Qing's name written on it and stained with Zhou Yang's blood.
Zhou Yang planned to use it to complete the Gate of Opening Ritual of "The Draft of Divine Makeup and Ghost Painting".
He was in Guan Village, and if he made the slightest mistake, he would be doomed.
Therefore, every step we take must be taken with utmost caution and careful consideration.
Once this Gate of Opening Ritual is completed, Chang Dafeng and Ding Ling can even use the Ghost Rhyme of the Opera Ghost -teasing ritual as bait to attract the attention of other ghosts, reducing the original several days required for the entire ceremony to just a few hours.
But Zhou Yang must not do that.
Reducing the duration of the ceremony also reduces the buffer time left for the user.
Even for Zhou Yang to successfully complete the Gate of Opening Ritual in Guan Village was already a risky move.
Where would anyone dare to shorten the steps and time required for the ritual?
He had to proceed step by step.
Zhou Yang must, at the hour of Wei today, mix pig's blood with yellow mud stained with the dead aura of Cao Qing, write Cao Qing's name on a piece of paper stained with his own blood, burn it to ashes in a fire, and use the ashes to stuff the intestines.
If this step is done at home, it is necessary to use the embers from the wood-burning stove.
This would inevitably lead to some questioning from the Huang Shaozi, and it might even discover something.
However, since A Fu is not in the shop at the moment, it would be much simpler for Zhou Yang to complete this step here.
This is why he wandered around the courtyard several times.
Even so, Zhou Yang could not completely calm his mind.
He carefully put away the paper package, paced back and forth in the shed a few times, then suddenly stopped. "Buzz—"
The air around Zhou Yang appeared slightly distorted, as if it were being scorched by fire.
Unseen by the naked eye, Handprint Ripple outwards around him, gradually covering the entire shed.
Beneath the Supernatural Ripple, the lingering Ghost Rhyme of the scene will all be revealed.
It was then completely erased by the ripples.
However, the ripples of Zhou Yang's Handprint Ripple, which were circulating repeatedly in the room, could not reveal even a trace of the Ghost Rhyme within.
"Is A Fu really not a ghost?"
"There are no lingering Ghost Rhyme here—ordinary ghosts don't have the awareness to suppress their Ghost Rhyme traces."
Thinking this, Zhou Yang suppressed the Supernatural Ripple.
He took the charcoal from the stove with the tongs, put the oil paper wrapped in his pocket on the charcoal to burn, and waited until the paper package and the strip of paper inside were burned to ashes and mixed with the mud before Zhou Yang put the ashes away again.
This step is not difficult to perform.
But by the time Zhou Yang finished, his face was covered in sweat.
He was terrified that A Fu might suddenly return, and he was constantly worried that A Fu's eyes might be watching his every move from the corner of that dark shack.
Fortunately, this step was finally completed, and Zhou Yang felt relieved.
"He also said he wanted to live a spectacular life."
"This cowardly appearance is far removed from those heroic and valiant men, isn't it?"
Zhou Yang chuckled to himself, and was about to sit back down on the stool behind the door when the curtain of the shed was suddenly lifted.
At that moment, Zhou Yang's heart, which had settled back into his stomach, jumped into his throat again!
He instinctively wanted to wipe away the charcoal ash on the ground with the sole of his shoe, but at the crucial moment, he suddenly suppressed the urge to do something, and just turned his head to look at the doorway, his expression slightly surprised!
The ground of the blacksmith's shed was covered in charcoal ash.
His attempt to rub against it with his foot only made things worse!
Do nothing for now, just deal with the unexpected event according to common sense!
Through the gap where the curtain was lifted, A Fu's dark yellow face appeared.
He grinned slyly, his tiny eyes, barely bigger than pinheads, darting around and scanning the shed. His gaze suddenly fixed on Zhou Yang, who looked astonished. "Why aren't you working properly? What are you doing, wandering around my house like this?"
Zhou Yang's heart skipped a beat!
He frowned and replied, "I've finished all my work this morning."
"Where have you been wandering around your house?"
He did indeed wander around A Fu's house several times!
But Zhou Yang didn't admit it!
In that instant, his mind raced!
The answer I gave now may seem like a defiant statement, but it is actually the result of much deliberation and consideration!