"Not necessarily, and that's only if you want to privately reconcile. You can also go through official channels, since you still have some karmic entanglement with them."

Zhao Qishan thought for a moment. "Can I listen to what they have to say first?"

Right now, he was thinking about how many working days the official process would take. It would be best if this could be resolved as soon as possible. Although they looked quite cute, he hoped they wouldn't bother him again in the future.

Tan Xiao asked the sugar sprites, "Alright, you can state your demands. If they're not excessive, we can discuss further. Uncle, you listen. No need to speak. If you hear something you disagree with, don't get agitated. Listen to the end and then we'll discuss together." He gripped his staff tightly.

The sugar sprites were frightened again. They huddled together cheek to cheek, wanting to tell Zhao Qishan to get out of the Zhao family, but not daring to say it, because the shaman clearly wanted them to leave the Zhao family. "We, we want, first Zhao Qishan must quit smoking!"

"I want to quit smoking myself!" Zhao Qishan immediately said, feeling a bit ashamed. Hearing these sugar sprites' accusations, he felt somewhat embarrassed. These sugar sprites had even considered the dangers of secondhand smoke to the family.

"Uncle, just listen for now. You can't casually agree either." Tan Xiao reminded again. Zhao Qishan's words didn't quite count as agreeing, but were borderline. He might feel it was no big deal, and it was more or less for his own good.

But one must remember not to easily make promises just because the sugar sprites were weak. Promises had real effects. Humans might forget, but gods and ghosts remembered.

"Sorry..." Zhao Qishan slapped his face, annoyed at how quick his mouth was.

"If you promise, you can't smoke even one cigarette!" The sugar sprites danced around Zhao Qishan, giggling. "The gods and ghosts bear witness. If you dare to smoke again after promising, you will suffer the pain of diabetes!"

Zhao Qishan was stunned. Fortunately, he hadn't hastily agreed just now! Quitting smoking really wasn't such an easy matter. Now looking at the somewhat comical jumping figures of the gummy candies, Zhao Qishan's mood changed again. He got goosebumps, especially recalling his fleeting thought that his daughter might want to keep them as pets.

He looked at Tan Xiao, but remembering Tan Xiao's words, he held his tongue.

Tan Xiao gestured reassuringly. "Any other demands?"

"One last demand, put the gummy candies at the front of the shelf!" The sugar sprites continued making requests. "Is that all?"

Tan Xiao looked at Zhao Qishan. "If you agree, then the cause and effect will be settled privately. Director Mu will take them back, and the following process will have nothing to do with you."

"Everything else is fine, just the smoking part." Zhao Qishan gestured, feeling it was too strict.

Tan Xiao lowered his head again, "As the negotiator for the incense owner, the second condition can be relaxed a bit. First, absolutely no smoking at home and in public places. Then gradually reduce it in other places."

When he said this, he saw the candy spirits raising their hands in dissatisfaction, so he pointed at the one missing an arm. "In exchange, we can fix the arm for your injured member."

The candy spirits whispered to each other, suspiciously asking, "Can you really fix it?"

They hadn't proposed this request, naturally thinking it was irreversible.

Tan Xiao thought for a moment. "Let's try."

Now that both sides had reached an agreement, they could prepare to form a contract.

Just in time, Barry had also completed the exorcism ritual for Kui Eleven. He was brought over by Zhao Qishan's mother. Inviting gods is easy but sending them off is hard, so of course some rituals are needed.

However, the preparations of the two sides were different. Barry prepared chicken blood, cinnabar, and talismans.

Unlike Barry, Tan Xiao was going through recipes in his mind. Fortunately, Zhao Qishan's family ran a supermarket. Tan Xiao searched and found all the ingredients. To fix the candy spirit's arm, isn't that just making gummy candy?

These candy spirits were red, so Tan Xiao used dragon fruit, smashed and filtered it, then treated it with gelatin sheets to melt into a liquid, mixed with fruit juice. He took the candy spirit, made a mold matching it, and refrigerated them together for half an hour. The arm then solidified on its body, coated with some icing sugar.

When opening the fridge again, the other candy spirits were all staring nervously.

Tan Xiao pried the disabled candy spirit out of the mold and placed it on the ground. It also nervously looked at its own hand and tried to lift it -

It didn't break off!

The other candy spirits excitedly crowded over, poking at its new arm. "Wow!!"

As newborn spirits, they had a new discovery. Although they couldn't regenerate, their bodies could still be repaired as long as they found a suitable divine doctor!

As for Tan Xiao, he continued to pry out the other gummies. Well, one dragonfruit's worth, so he made a big bowl. The rest were shared for everyone to eat.

Kong Xuan tossed one into his mouth. Mm, soft, bouncy and sweet.

Tan Xiao had intended to share, but every time he pried one out, Kong Xuan would eat it. The others saw this and figured, forget it, we better not fight a high schooler for snacks...

Amazing!

The candy spirits were originally very afraid of Tan Xiao, having been punished by him before. But now they spontaneously felt reverence, crowding together to watch Tan Xiao pry out gummies to feed the bird.

"Stop staring, aren't you afraid?" Tan Xiao joked. Of course these candy spirits wouldn't be afraid. For one, these gummies didn't have the same life as them. And even if they themselves were eaten, they didn't seem to hold a grudge about not tasting good.

"Say, what's the difference between you and Nüwa to them..." Mu Fei said.

Tan Xiao: "..."

The candy spirit whose arm was fixed walked up to Tan Xiao and bowed.

"It's nothing." Tan Xiao indicated there was no need for such courtesy. "This was part of the agreed conditions in the first place."

"Even so..." The candy spirit raised its face gratefully. It lifted its hand in a salute, clearly imitating the students in the neighborhood. "The arm you fixed for me is pure natural fruit juice gummy, while I, I'm just an industrial candy spirit!"

Tan Xiao: ".........."

The others gave a dry laugh. Damn, even this works?

Since the candy spirits were subdued by Tan Xiao and their arms were also fixed by him, naturally he was the one to recite the farewell passage. "Dark sky, dark earth, the incense owner invites me to send off the guests... There are thousands of homes in the world, why rely on one? The cause and effect are settled, never look back!"

Tan Xiao's side was considered done. Looking over at Barry's side, he had also completed the exorcism ritual for Kui Eleven and was about to put it back in the wooden box. "Do you have anything else to say?"

"Nothing more. I will obey the leadership in everything and not cause trouble for you." Kui Eleven said with a grin. "By the way, fellow masters, remember my name. If you need to raise undead soldiers in the future, you can call me to work. If you're willing to give me face, it would be best to set up a spirit tablet for me to be a underworld god. Meeting is fate after all."

He said this, but the masters present were not rookies. Naturally, they all just smiled faintly without a word.

Kui Eleven's gaze circled around and landed on Tan Xiao. "Shaman, are you sure you've never invited me before? I still feel like you look very familiar..."

Tan Xiao didn't even need to look back at Kong Xuan. He said loudly, "When have I ever invited you? Don't try to sow discord!"

How was this sowing discord? Kui Eleven wanted to get closer, but Tan Xiao slammed the box shut, sealing him back inside.

When leaving, Zhao Qishan insisted on packing snacks for everyone, especially for a certain two high schoolers.

"Okay, okay." Tan Xiao couldn't refuse, so he pulled open Kong Xuan's sleeve, shyly saying, "Stuff it in here, don't put it in my pocket."

Zhao Qishan stuffed a whole shrimp stick inside, but the sleeve didn't even bulge. He paused, then threw in chocolates, yogurt...

"My god!" Zhao Qishan glanced at Kong Xuan, as if understanding something again. Just how many in this group were actually human?!

......

The follow-up was handled by Barry and Mr. Xu. Tan Xiao returned loaded with snacks.

When he met the teacher at school and heard Ji Huiming ask about the escape room, he remembered that he seemed to have made up a lie. The other classmates, hearing about such an awesome room, also gathered around.

"That script... after we finished playing, the owner said the cost was too high and canceled it." Tan Xiao had to say this, otherwise should he introduce Teacher Ji to go experience it at 404?

Ji Huiming said regretfully, "There aren't many people in this market who put effort into making good products anymore!"

Tan Xiao nodded randomly, "Mm-hmm."

"But you two have pretty good stamina, still having the energy to go to an escape room after finishing homework." Ji Huiming took out a registration form from behind. "Want to sign up for the school sports meet?"

As soon as he took it out, the students who had been gathered around all scattered. Teacher, this is showing your true colors.

"Don't run, don't run! Who will run the 5000 meters in the end!" Ji Huiming tried to stop everyone.

The 5000 meter long-distance run was a tough and tiring task that ordinary people naturally couldn't handle. Tan Xiao also quickly turned around to push Lin Yang.

He first thought of Lin Yang, the PE class representative. "It's time for you to shine."

"Xiaoxiao, I'm running 5,000 meters, so you have to run at least 3,000 meters, right?" Lin Yang chuckled. Running 5,000 meters was no big deal for him, and the main point was for everyone to participate together.

Yu Zhenzhen immediately applauded Lin Yang, "A real man, truly worthy of being Tan Xiao's deskmate." She accidentally referred to Lin Yang as Tan Xiao's deskmate again.

"Yes, yes, the class officers are all leading by example," Ji Huiming laughed.

"I'll definitely sign up for an event..." Tan Xiao knew there was no escape, so he went to get the registration form. But as soon as he grabbed it, Kong Xuan snatched it away.

Earlier, everyone had been nominating each other, but no one dared to bother Kong Xuan. Kong Xuan was usually aloof, and even when Ji Huiming personally asked him several times during the school anniversary, he didn't respond. In the end, it was Tan Xiao who got him to participate.

Kong Xuan looked at the registration form, thinking that running 5,000 meters was nothing remarkable, and it wasn't worth Tan Xiao being the first to nominate him. "I'll sign up for everything!"

Everyone: "Huh?"

"Haha, Kong Xuan, it's great that you're enthusiastic, but each person can only sign up for a maximum of two individual events," Ji Huiming said, noting that Kong Xuan had an excellent physique. "Look at which events you have the most confidence in. We want to participate and win as many prizes as possible. For example, the 5,000-meter race must be completed within at least 20 minutes. To secure a prize, the requirements are even higher."

Lin Yang: "Yeah, I ran it in 17 minutes last year!"

Kong Xuan glanced at Tan Xiao, who quickly shook his head. Kong Xuan coldly smiled, "Teacher Ji, I'll run it for you in 17 seconds."

Tan Xiao: "..." He still couldn't stop him.

Upon hearing this, Ji Huiming slowly pulled the registration form from his hand, "Mm, Lin Yang, you'll run the 5,000 meters, right...?"