Welcome Feast

"All right, enough about this. It’s no fun going on about it!"

Gu Sheng couldn’t be bothered to argue with Gu Mengmeng, so he simply brought out Xiao Chunzi (Liu Daimei), that immovable mountain of a reason. "Xiao Chunzi hates cigarettes and alcohol. Is that good enough?"

"Good enough!"

Gu Xuanwu helplessly opened and closed his mouth, then spread his hands. "But you can’t just condemn everyone because of that! It’s not like everyone who smokes and drinks will run into trouble. That was an accident so tiny it could barely be called one. Why target smoking and drinking?"

"All right! Both of you, say a little less!"

The moment Xiao Chunzi (Liu Daimei) spoke, Gu Xuanwu immediately shut up. He glanced at Liu Daimei with some reluctance, moved his lips, and ultimately said nothing.

"Come on! Drink!"

A wave of frustration welled up inside Gu Xuanwu. He raised his cup and clinked it against Gu Sheng’s, then tipped his head back and drained it without waiting for Gu Sheng to drink with him. Gu Sheng also drank a cup of yellow wine. In this era, yellow wine was still what people drank at grand banquets. Its sweetness made it easier to swallow than baijiu.

"Old Zhang, since when has your tolerance been this bad?"

Seeing Gu Sheng’s face flush after just one cup, Gu Xuanwu joked, "Xiao Chunzi controls how much you drink. Don’t tell me she controls your tolerance too!"

"Didn’t I say I’d quit? It’s been ages since I last touched it!"

Gu Sheng shook his head helplessly. His tolerance had never actually been very good. Or rather, he was highly sensitive to the taste of alcohol and could feel even the slightest trace of it, making his face flush easily whenever he drank.

In The Nine Cauldrons World, monkey wine was fruit wine with a low alcohol content. On top of that, he had been practicing Internal Fist, which accelerated absorption, so his face had rarely flushed. But now he was eating with other people. He couldn’t possibly use Inner Force to force the alcohol out just to compete in drinking!

"Haha~"

Gu Xuanwu laughed for a while before saying to him, "By the way, you aren’t going out again now that you’re back, are you? You have no idea how busy I was while you were gone. I had to do the work of two people all by myself!"

"Who said I’m not?"

Gu Sheng wasn’t about to let Gu Mengmeng have his way so easily. He took Liu Daimei’s little hand and flaunted their affection at him. "Mei’er says she still wants to look around. We’ve been traveling nonstop lately, and it’s been exhausting. Isn’t there a Hot Springs Villa near Wen County?

"I’m planning to take her there for two days, so we can soak in the hot springs and relax. We’ll set out later."

"Hey! Wait, isn’t this a little much? You shouldn’t spoil your concubine this much!"

Gu Xuanwu was dumbfounded. He shouted at Gu Sheng, "Old Zhang, that’s not fair! I put aside my work and came here personally to welcome you back. I was even planning to work with you tomorrow. And now you’re pulling this? That’s going too far!"

"Oh, I knew it!"

Gu Sheng shook his head and leaned against Liu Daimei’s shoulder with a laugh. "See? I told you Gu Xuanwu was being unusually solicitous. If it wasn’t for some ulterior motive, he wouldn’t be acting like this. Look, his fox tail is showing!"

"Commander!"

Liu Daimei spoke to Gu Xuanwu in a sweet voice. "My Xianzong finally has a chance to spend time with me. Please be understanding!"

"I…"

Gu Xuanwu had no way to deal with Liu Daimei. Still fuming, he turned to Gu Sheng. "Zhang Xianzong, you’re something else! Fine, I’ll approve another ten days of leave. After that, get your ass back and handle your official duties."

"Now that’s more like it! Cheers!"

Gu Sheng smiled at Gu Xuanwu, raised his cup, and clinked it against his. The warmed yellow wine slid down his throat, leaving his stomach pleasantly warm.

"By the way, Old Gu, how’s the matter of finding a Sorcerer going? Have you found any leads?"

Gu Sheng put down his cup and began asking about the haunted house containing Yue Qiluo. In the Wu Xin: The Monster Killer World, sorcerers truly existed.

Although the television series had only shown Wu Xin, a fake Sorcerer, Bai Liuli, a spirit, Chuchenzi, who was mediocre at best, and Yue Qiluo, who could no longer be considered a true Sorcerer, the one who looked most like a Sorcerer was Shirakawa Rin—and she was a villain. She should technically be an Onmyoji from Japan who used Shikigami.

"Don’t mention it. How could people with genuine ability be so easy to find?"

Gu Xuanwu took a heavy swallow of wine and grunted, "I followed your suggestion and gathered some tricksters in another residence, letting the Sorcerers who came by test their abilities.

"Good grief, every last one of them was a fraud. Only one fortune-teller had any real ability, but the moment he reached the sealed residence, he turned around and left. He said that whatever was inside wasn’t a ghost but a fiend, and it was beyond his ability to deal with.

"By the way, Old Zhang, didn’t you say that filthy thing was injured by your Protective Talisman? Where did you get that Protective Talisman? Do you have any more? Which expert did you obtain it from back then?"

Gu Xuanwu was being extremely attentive. This concerned his life, so how could he not worry? After all, he was the owner of the residence. Wouldn’t the ghost’s first target be the people of the Gu residence? Buying a haunted house had already caused him plenty of trouble.

"Forget it. My mother obtained it when I was little, from some place called Qingyun Temple!"

Gu Sheng shook his head. "I once heard my father say that when the older generation of Qingyun Temple was still around, quite a few of them were capable. But by the time it was passed down to Daoist Chuchenzi’s generation…"

"That Daoist is very capable when it comes to management. Many high-ranking officials and nobles have connections with him, and even the president knows him. He might still have some skill at fortune-telling and the like, but when it comes to subduing demons and capturing monsters, he’s far inferior to his predecessors.

"You know that these days, reading feng shui earns more than exorcising monsters and subduing demons, without any danger. How many people would still be willing to learn those abilities?"

"No way!"

Gu Xuanwu dropped heavily back into his seat. The haunted house had been giving him a splitting headache lately, and he had been counting on Gu Sheng to offer some advice. Who would have thought he would receive news like this instead?

"Old Gu, don’t dwell on it too much. Take it easy. When the boat reaches the bridge, it will naturally find a way across."

Gu Sheng patted Gu Xuanwu on the shoulder and smiled at him. "Besides, I didn’t say Chuchenzi was incapable. It’s just that he used to focus more on feng shui, fortune-telling, and things like that.

"Qingyun Temple has produced great Sorcerers before. They certainly aren’t lacking in ancient texts and records. If he’s willing to think of a solution for you, I won’t say he can completely eliminate that Evil Spirit, but sealing it should still be possible. So you can invite Daoist Chuchenzi down the mountain to assess the situation first."

Though Chuchenzi in the television series wasn’t as capable as he was in the original work, the fact that he was later able to help Wu Xin set up a Soul Suppression Talisman formation showed that Chuchenzi wasn’t lacking in skill or talent. Qingyun Temple wasn’t lacking in ancient texts either. Chuchenzi had simply immersed himself too deeply in the mortal world, leaving his cultivation too weak. He didn’t know much about subduing demons and eliminating monsters.

"All right. I suppose we can only try that first!"

Gu Xuanwu looked somewhat deflated as he sat gloomily in his chair.

"Old Gu!"

Gu Sheng’s eyes shifted, and he lowered his voice. "There’s something I didn’t mention just now. I actually know another piece of information.

"The Japanese Shirakawa Clan is said to have had an ancestor who came to the Central Plains as an envoy during the Tang dynasty and exchanged knowledge with a great Sorcerer. The Shirakawa Clan has inherited its abilities for more than a thousand years, so they’re no pushovers—especially when it comes to subduing demons and monsters. Their clan seems to have a trading association in Shanghai as well."