Wen Yuxian was born on Mount Emei, a renowned sacred Buddhist mountain.
Master Guanyun was Wen Yuxian's junior sister. Although they were not related by blood, they were as close as sisters. Yan Shouyi speculated that if his grandmother Wen Yuxian and Master Guanyun were to meet, his grandmother's guilt would likely lessen.
However, the affairs of the Folklore Research Society had been too complex recently, leaving Yan Shouyi and Wang Jiwang incredibly busy and unable to take Wen Yuxian to Mount Emei.
As they were discussing, Yan Shouyi's phone rang. He glanced at the time and said with resignation, "I have to go to a morning meeting."
The Folklore Research Society was growing larger and more involved with each passing day. Yan Shouyi himself had never imagined that he, who had wandered the martial world for over a decade as a reclusive cultivator, would one day become a corporate slave attending meetings every day.
However, Lin Zitong was far more experienced with meetings than Yan Shouyi. Therefore, she did not show any of the reluctance of a young woman. Instead, she nudged Yan Shouyi, urging him to go quickly and not be late.
Yan Shouyi bid farewell to the lotus pond and headed towards the assembly hall. Along the way, he saw many new faces.
He had tried his best to remember everyone's appearance and names, but there were still a few unfamiliar faces appearing each day.
Yan Shouyi didn't recognize them, but they were very familiar with Yan Shouyi. They greeted him with smiles, their eyes showing a touch of idol-like excitement.
Yan Shouyi was now a celebrity in the Xuanmen world.
Last time at Longhu Mountain, as the successor of a folk sect, he had obtained the Longhu Secret Texts and had almost become the next Heavenly Master, which had already shocked all the major orthodox sects.
However, his fame among the folk sects was still quite limited. Even if people knew him, they only knew him as Yan Chou's son and Yan Baixiang's grandson. His reputation was built by his elders.
But now it was different. He had become the brightest star in the eyes of the folk sect successors, a leader everyone aspired to, through his own efforts!
After two months of development, Yan Shouyi's name was known throughout the Xuanmen world.
For others, the orthodox sects and the folk sects were two different circles. Even for one circle to know one's name was already an extraordinary feat. But Yan Shouyi had achieved this feat twice.
He displayed the maturity and grace befitting a chairman, nodding in response to everyone who greeted him. In a short while, he arrived outside the assembly hall.
At this moment, many elders were seated in the assembly hall. Reporting their work to Yan Shouyi daily had become the norm.
The central position in the assembly hall belonged to Yan Shouyi. Wang Jiwang's seat was beside him, followed by the seats of various elders, arranged on both sides.
At this time, Wang Jiwang, Luo Ning, A Gong, and others were all present, only Long Feicheng's chair was empty.
Yan Shouyi asked curiously, "Where is Xiao Long?"
"There have been two more supernatural events in the east of the city. Xiao Long volunteered to investigate them. He's been dealing with them all night and should be back soon," Wang Jiwang replied.
Yan Shouyi nodded, sat in his chair, and listened to everyone's reports.
First was Wang Jiwang.
Yesterday, the Folklore Research Society had recruited three more folk sect successors: a puppeteer, a coffin bearer, and a rare suona player.
Wang Jiwang roughly categorized them based on their professions as folk sect successors, such as the corpse category (corpse drivers, corpse keepers, embalmers, crematorium workers, corpse stitchers, etc.), the craftsmanship category (Luban craftsmen, puppeteers, paper effigy makers, etc.), and the skill category (illusionists, coffin bearers, suona players, etc.).
After Wang Jiwang's report, He Xiping and Weng Qianxiang spoke.
The two had established a new intelligence outpost. To date, every province in the country had an intelligence outpost of the Folklore Research Society. Moreover, each outpost had collaborated with local storytellers, rapidly gaining the support of local folk sect successors. Their development was both wild and rapid.
The establishment of intelligence outposts also fulfilled the wishes of some folk sect successors who did not want to leave their hometowns but wished to join the Folklore Research Society.
The others also reported on their work, primarily concerning their expeditions to subdue demons and ghosts.
As everyone was engaged in a heated discussion, Long Feicheng entered the assembly hall, his face weary, carrying the Caiwei Sword on his back.
Seeing his good brother return, Yan Shouyi curiously asked, "Xiao Long, how did you handle the two supernatural events last night?"
Having been by Yan Shouyi's side for so long, Long Feicheng had learned a lot through osmosis, even if his talent was lacking. While he couldn't compare to the masters, he could at least handle minor matters like dealing with small zombies and minor ghosts on his own.
Long Feicheng sat in his chair and waved his hand, saying, "Don't even mention it, it was all just trivial nonsense!"
Luo Ning flipped through the records and spoke for Long Feicheng, "You handled two supernatural events last night."
"First, a woman fell to her death in a residential complex last week. Afterwards, another resident in the same building reported that their golden retriever would flinch every time it entered the building's main entrance, where the woman had fallen. The owner suspected it was the lingering spirit of the deceased woman, and that dogs could see things humans couldn't..."
Long Feicheng took a sip of tea and said dejectedly, "It sounded eerie, but after I arrived at the scene, I discovered it was a faulty electrical wire in the aging complex causing a short circuit! People wearing shoes didn't feel it, but the golden retriever, with its bare paws, got a mild shock every time it passed by, so of course it flinched!"
Upon hearing this, everyone burst into laughter.
In reality, for ordinary people, it was rare to encounter a supernatural event in their lifetime. Some things sounded eerie, but upon discovering the truth, one realized they were not so extraordinary.
Luo Ning added, "But the second incident does sound like a genuine haunting. There have been reports of a water ghost appearing in the river west of Yongning Town. Three children from nearby villages have been dragged into the water, and after being rescued, they all had black palm prints on their calves."
"This is indeed a haunting!"
Long Feicheng, however, still looked weary and uninterested, saying, "When I arrived, I caught the water ghost and asked him why he didn't reincarnate. The water ghost said he had to catch a substitute before he could leave. But he had been searching in the nearby waters for twenty years and still hadn't found one. I asked him why, and this scoundrel actually said his swimming skills were poor!"
A water ghost... poor swimming skills?
Everyone was baffled.
Long Feicheng continued, "I was also puzzled why a water ghost would have poor swimming skills. Turns out, he drowned because he had poor swimming skills back then. If he had good swimming skills, he wouldn't have died."
What he said made so much sense that even the assembled masters found it unanswerable.
Yan Shouyi asked, "How did you handle it in the end?"
"I brought him ashore and sent him to the City God Temple for salvation. Although the fellow couldn't drown anyone, it was too miserable to be soaking in the water all the time. I couldn't bear it!"
Long Feicheng said that when the water ghost tried to grab the children, not only did he fail, but he was also kicked a few times by the children. After the children were rescued, the villagers poured sticky rice into the river. The water ghost, burning at the bottom of the water, cried out in agony. It could only be described as tragic.
To be a ghost to such an extent was truly pathetic.