Chapter 1 A Fox and New Magical Items

The little fox looked uncomfortable, with two more small bags on its body, packed full of books. He looked at Ji Xiang, puzzled:

"Master Ancestor, aren't we leaving Shuntian now?"

"No, we still need to find someone to commission some new magical instruments."

Ji Xiang replied.

The little fox's expression became curious: "New... magical instruments?"

In his little mind, images of treasures from storybooks appeared: flying divine swords, magic brushes that could turn still life into reality, golden rings to restrain cattle...

"I know, I know!"

The little fox was a bit excited: "Those magical instruments are all written about in *Journey to the West*! Like the Ruyi Jingu Bang weighing 13,500 jin, chainmail armor of gold, a phoenix-winged purple-gold crown, and also the Nine-Toothed Rake, the three golden hoops, the Yin-Yang two-qi bottle, the Three-Pointed Double-Edged Lance, the As-You-Wish Iron Rod, Five-Colored Immortal Clothes, the Banana Leaf Fan, the Eight Trigrams Furnace..."

"Master Ancestor, is the person you're going to find a great immortal who can make these magical instruments... ah... is it...?"

Halfway through his words, his voice suddenly became smaller. It turned out that Ji Xiang, covered in firearms and books, was staring down at the little fox.

"When did you read *Journey to the West*?"

"Just... just in the Longde Hall... you all went to fight the Jurchen, and I saw His Majesty put a book on the table, so I secretly read it..."

"Hu Xiaoshi! You have time to read *Journey to the West* but no time to draw talismans? Is that your attitude towards learning?!"

Ji Xiang's tone suddenly became strange. The little fox was like a child caught reading extracurricular books, sweating all over and looking pale.

"I, I only glanced at it a few times. I read fast, and I didn't even see the whole plot..."

He didn't see the whole plot because he was afraid you guys would come back.

In order to gloss over the matter, the little fox immediately mentioned something else.

"Master Ancestor, you don't know, it seems that during the Jiajing Emperor's reign... he once searched for the original manuscript of *Journey to the West*, but couldn't find it, and he often read it over and over again, even making annotations."

"I heard this from Hu Long."

Sure enough, the little fox saw that Ji Xiang frowned and fell into thought upon hearing this gossip.

The little fox didn't know what Master Ancestor was thinking.

We don't know either, and we dare not ask. Clutching his small command flag tightly.

Ji Xiang, on the other hand, was pondering whether this news corresponded to what Liu Mengyin had said, that the old man Lei Xuan had once searched for the original manuscript of a book and strongly supported Liu Mengyin's writing... so it was *Journey to the West*.

The predecessor of *Journey to the West*, *Journey to the West: A Plain Tale*, already existed in the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties, and contained classic content such as Wei Zheng slaying the dragon, Xuanzang's journey to the west, and the battle of powers in Chechi Kingdom. The complete *Journey to the West* was compiled by Wu Cheng'en during the Jiajing period by collecting and supplementing materials.

Back then, it was said to be a very popular book... so much so that people rode its coattails and wrote *Journey to the East* and *Journey to the South*...

"Hmm! Interesting?"

Ji Xiang suddenly paused.

This was a bit strange!

Liu Mengyin's desire to write a novel about gods and ghosts was affirmed by the old man Lei Xuan, which was supported by the Jiajing Emperor.

The Jiajing Emperor couldn't find the original manuscript of *Journey to the West*.

The Japanese used ghostly transformation techniques on the Korean battlefield, turning false book spirits into reality, combined with Western magic.

The Wanli Emperor, influenced by the events on the Korean battlefield and threatened by the Jiajing Emperor, began writing a book under the pressure of these two fears.

These clues seemed to be connected. Could it be that the Jiajing Emperor was subtly guiding the Wanli Emperor to value Liu Mengyin and encourage him to write?

"This, not being able to find *Journey to the West*, so he's having the Wanli Emperor write a substitute?"

Wanli Emperor: Writing, writing!

Damn, *Ming Dynasty Those Things*, huh!

"I don't understand, but at least for now, the Jiajing Emperor can't have much influence on the Wanli Emperor, since the writing progress is only at zero percent."

Ji Xiang wasn't too worried about this. After all, in this era, writing a book took decades. The emperor couldn't possibly be writing every day, and even if he found a ghostwriter, it would still take at least five or six years.

And if he found a ghostwriter, the power of faith would belong to the ghostwriter, not the Wanli Emperor. Getting a named credit was useless, so he would have to do it himself in the end.

Moreover, the Jiajing Emperor had been tricked by him, and now he seemed to be hunted down like a dog in the Reverse Mountain and Rivers, so he probably didn't have time to care about the Wanli Emperor's affairs. For the time being, some of the hidden dangers within the capital of the Great Ming had been resolved.

But next, things blooming everywhere were the big things that the Reverse Mountain and Rivers gang wanted to do. It was estimated that various rebellions and uprisings would soon appear, since the Little Ice Age was almost upon them.

This was the cycle of the Heavenly Dao, not shifting due to human will, only obeying the arrangements of "Heaven".

Lost in thought along the way, Ji Xiang and the little fox arrived at Zhao Shizhen's residence.

Zhao Shizhen had been a registrar in the Court of State Ceremonial for eighteen years. This position was mainly responsible for reviewing and verifying seals and some etiquette matters. Only one person was assigned to this position, without any great power. Last year, he finally got promoted from the eighth rank to the seventh rank, but he was still a minor official. His salary was not high and he was relatively destitute, after all, his money was spent on research. People with no hope of promotion often achieve something in another area.

So his residence was also located at the junction of the inner and outer city, lodging in an alley. He didn't own his own house. Although he didn't have much money, his location, if placed in later generations, would make him one of the Chaoyang masses...

Now, the Court of State Ceremonial also had no work. The Wanli period was a serious period for officials to slack off. Except for the Ministry of Personnel, which had almost no holidays, other officials had about three days off a month. But the Wanli Emperor himself didn't attend court or work, so others didn't even attend the morning court. Slacking off? That was considered real work...

Arriving at Zhao Shizhen's residence, the door was also an old employee, looking like it had experienced a lot. Ji Xiang didn't dare to knock, so he had the little fox knock, fearing that he would break the door panel with one touch.

Dong, dong, dong!

The little fox knocked on the door while shouting, "The Daoming Dao Record Division, Zhengyi Northern Extremity Benevolent and Majestic Grand Master, is here to visit Lord Zhao."

Soon there was movement inside the door, and someone spoke. Zhao Shizhen's wife opened the door in the small alley courtyard. There were no servants in his house. The rule that women in the Ming Dynasty generally did not show their faces was only limited to wealthy families, and the Zhao family clearly did not have this condition.

When the woman saw the little fox, her eyes lit up slightly. Then, seeing Ji Xiang, she was a little startled, because Ji Xiang was covered in military equipment. She thought someone was coming to smash the door.

Hearing that Ji Xiang was here to visit Zhao Shizhen, she asked Ji Xiang to wait a moment, as her husband was inside talking to someone.

"Someone from the Dao Record Division? I don't know anyone."

Zhao Shizhen came out of the house and walked into the dilapidated courtyard, accompanied by a foreign, bearded man.

Seeing Ji Xiang's robe, he was greatly surprised. Only the Celestial Master who guarded the door back then wore something similar, but some places were different. Moreover, the person in front of him was actually carrying firearms all over his body!

Zhao Shizhen was also startled and took two or three steps back.

He didn't dare to be negligent and asked strangely:

"This appearance... may I ask who you are...?"

Small officials of the seventh and eighth ranks didn't have the right to participate in the court assembly at Fengtian Gate, so they didn't recognize Ji Xiang at all.

Ji Xiang smiled slightly: "This poor Daoist heard from Celestial Master Zhang that you are making some useful magical instruments here? This poor Daoist wants to offer you some suggestions and also ask you to make a copy for me separately."

With that, he patted the firearms on his body, making a dull thumping sound.