Daomu Biji: Restart

Seeing Jin Wantang's face pale, Xia Wen immediately waved his hand and explained, "Don't be afraid, don’t be afraid. Although I say I’m not a real person, I’m not some monster either."

The atmosphere had been relaxed as they talked about metaphysics the whole time, so when it got to this point, Jin Wantang should have found such words funny and ridiculous. But now, they actually sounded very real. And this Xia Wen didn’t seem like the joking type at all.

"We’re different from you people,” he said to Jin Wantang, “so the way we walk looks somewhat peculiar."

"Then, if I may ask… are you an immortal?" Jin Wantang couldn't understand what was going on. Maybe it was all just in his head, but when he looked into Xia Wen's eyes, it almost seemed as if the other man’s pupils were getting smaller and smaller and the scleras were getting bigger and bigger. He immediately wanted to run away.

These were clearly the eyes of some kind of animal.

Xia Wen approached him at this time and said, "We are a kind of thing called “shigou diao”, but there’s really nothing special to it. People are normally born with seven souls, but sometimes there are those who are born without all seven. The second of these seven souls is called the shigou soul. I was born without this soul, so I can't be classified as a human being."⁽¹⁾

Jin Wantang froze for a moment and then breathed a sigh of relief. "If the seven souls are incomplete," Xia Wen continued, "it inconveniences our movements and we can't walk like normal people. We have to concentrate when we walk, because the shigou soul is located in the ear, which contains organs that help us maintain our balance. The organs themselves are fine, it’s just that they’re useless. As a result, we can only rely on our eyes to maintain our balance."

If you’re disabled, just come out and say that you’re disabled, Jin Wantang thought to himself. Why are you making up names? Why can’t you be counted as a human being just because you’re missing a piece of your soul? You look like an ordinary man, don’t you?

But Xia Wen's eyes that were looking at Jin Wantang really did seem to be different from how they looked during the day, which made Jin Wantang feel very uncomfortable. "Is there anything special about these ‘shigou diao'?" He asked Xia Wen.

"They’re very different,” Xia Wen replied. “There’s an upper limit to learning anything, but we’re not human, so there’s no such thing. But I can't tell you the specifics. You only need to know one thing: my body is lacking something, so I have to fill it with other things. As for what to fill it with, I absolutely can’t say."

When Jin Wantang looked at Xia Wen, he couldn’t help thinking that the other man looked more and more like an animal. But he calmed himself down and started to relax after seeing Xia Wen’s reaction, because he really felt that the other man wasn’t Qi Yu.

But if he wasn’t Qi Yu, then he must be the God of Wealth.

Just to be sure, Jin Wantang asked, "Then… is Qi Yu also one of these ‘shigou diao'?"

"He’s more than that. When he was born, he was lacking many things," Xia Wen said. "When people like us die and get cremated, we can’t let other people watch. This is because the contents of our bodies are different from other people. If you see the skin burn away, something big will happen in the future. Moreover, if we have any children, only one of them will be like us.”

Jin Wantang wanted to keep asking questions, but Xia Wen waved his hand and suddenly lost his temper, "Brother Jin, I think you don't believe what I’ve said at all."

Jin Wantang had already thrown caution to the wind at this point and said to him, "You suddenly appear, toss out all kinds of rhetoric, and then say you’re Wang Zanghai’s reincarnation. And to top it all off, you say you’re not human and that you have information on the world’s second most valuable tomb. You obviously have a purpose, so how can I believe you?"

Xia Wen, who was feeling particularly aggrieved at this time, said to him, "I was sent here by fate; my motives are pure. I thought you would believe me, so I told you the truth, but I didn't expect you to be so guarded. My family is rich beyond belief and has unique knowledge, so what good is it for me to lie to you? Since you don't believe me, I'll take my leave now."

With that said, Xia Wen turned and walked away. But the way his body moved was very strange. His body turned first while his head seemed to be half a beat behind. As a result, his head didn't fully turn until his body was already facing the other way.

But there was no way Jin Wantang would let him go. At this time, another God of Wealth popped into his head. He thought that since he couldn’t take advantage of this God of Wealth right in front of him, he definitely couldn’t lose out on Xie Yuhua’s financial offer. So, he quickly moved forward to stop him. "In fact, I don't completely disbelieve you," he said. "Can you wait and tell me your information on the gold board? I don't want to lie to you. I also have something in my hand that’s related to your experience!"

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TN Notes:

(1) Shigou diao can mean something like "dead dog hanging", "hanged dead dog", or "hanged dog corpse". Take your pick. Shigou specifically means "dead dog" or "dog corpse". According to Daoism, a person’s soul is comprised of seven mortal souls (known as po “魄”) and three immortal souls (known as hun “魂”). The seven mortal souls represent carnal life and desires while the three immortal souls represent spirit and intellect. According to this website here, the seven mortal souls are: stinking lung, remover of filth, flying poison, thief swallower, yin sparrow, hidden arrow, and dead dog.

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Shew, almost didn't get this out. Question for you guys: do you want the pinyin for "dead dog hanging" instead or are you fine with what I've got? (I always have trouble deciding) The pinyin for "dead dog hanging" is "shigou diao". It's going to be mentioned quite a few more times so figured I'd better ask now. If you do want the pinyin, I'll also be changing the "dead dog soul" stuff to "shigou soul". Just let me know what you guys want and I'll fix it after work tomorrow(merebear needs to go to bed lol)(*^‿^*)

Update: I changed it. Hope it flows better.